Builders of America’s 19th century Paradise in
Florida arrived from nearly every corner of the world. Amazing pioneers,
dreamers and doers, they selected land locations in a wide swath of a Citrus
Belt stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. A courageous
bunch of guys and gals, the pioneers came to Florida as well from parts of
every modern day State.
All 50 States played a role in founding central Florida, and
CitrusLAND will pay tribute to such remarkable individuals each Sunday
throughout the summer of 2018, doing so in the order States were admitted to
our Union of States. This week our spotlight shines on New Jersey, State #3, admitted December 18, 1787; #4, Georgia,
admitted January 2, 1788, and Connecticut, admitted as State #4 on
January 9, 1788. Within 32 days our
United States had grown to include five States.
NEW
JERSEY:
Henry A. CRANE of
New Jersey remained behind in 1842
after the U. S. Army pulled out of Fort
Mellon, a Lake Monroe fortress located a mile east of present day Sanford. The Army veteran filed
immediately for a homestead where the fortress then stood. Homestead Act
requirements hadn’t yet been changed to require homesteads be two miles from
the nearest fort, so CRANE’S homestead preserved, for a time, the landing site
which served newcomers to a remote Orange County for the next 38 years. Elias WOODRUFF, also a New Jersey native, arrived soon after, and became
Orange County’s first Postmaster March 1, 1845.
CRANE departed Orange County after the U. S. Supreme Court
cancelled his homestead, and WOODRUFF moved inland about two miles, to FORT REID, where, according to historical accounts, he built the
THIRD frame house in the 3,000 square mile County. Woodruff died at his
historic ‘WOODRUFF PLACE’ in 1863. Port of Mellonville, one could easily argue,
was the New, New Jersey!
GEORGIA:
Many a Southern Belle participated in central Florida’s early
development, and yet for each, life in this remote CitrusLAND was anything but
easy! Georgia native Christiania (GINN)
Speer was living on the south shore of Lake Monroe by 1848. In that year, Christiania purchased “a mule, ox wagon, two
steer and calves” at an Orange County Sheriff’s auction. She paid $32.11 for
the lot. Four years later the mother of six used 200 head of her own cattle as
collateral to acquire a used steamboat, the SARAH SPALDING. Christiania, and
husband Algernon Speer, homestead along the St. Johns River between lakes
Monroe and Jesup. Their orange grove, believed to be the first in central
Florida, was called The River Grove.
CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida's Paradise (Exhibit 15)
The Algernon S. SPEER RIVER GROVE as surveyed in 1845
Two sisters, Rebecca & Margaret SMITH, were born at St. Mary’s, GA, and they too became vital
players in shaping Florida. Rebecca married Attorney Joseph FINEGAN, Florida’s first railroad
contractor, an Irishman who later became Florida’s Confederate Brigadier
General. Rebecca’s sister, Margaret Mary Smith, widow of Territorial Governor
Robert R. REID at the time America’s
Civil War broke out, followed her only son north to the Virginia battlefields.
Mary founded a hospital at Virginia specifically to care for Florida’s wounded
soldiers. There were many! After War’s end, Mary first buried her son Raymond
at Virginia, and she then walked home to Florida, a distance of 900 miles.
CONNECTICUT:
The Hartford CONNECTICUT Courant reported the sad news in 1901 of the death of that city’s
long-time resident, Lucius STEBBINS.
The gentleman had died at age 91, said
the newspaper, at his home in ORLANDO, Florida. Lucius lived and worked at
Hartford prior to moving south to CitrusLAND in 1886. Stebbins purchased land east of Orlando, acreage encompassing
Lake COMO. There is also a Lake Como
a few miles west of Hartford, Connecticut!
At Hartford, Stebbins had been a publisher & printer. Among
his career successes was a patent in 1840
for perfecting printing colorized maps, and an 1848 patent for improving railroad brakes. Stebbins also acquired
the copyright edition of “Reading of the
Proclamation of Emancipation to Slaves in a Cabin.” The Stebbins copy was reported
as the first print of its kind. He also purchased, for $12,000, the engraving
of “Sherman’s March to the Sea.”
Orlando Sentinel reported March 14, 1986: “A 98 year-old
house, thought to be one of the oldest buildings in the Orlando area, was
damaged Thursday by fire. The tw0-story wood house at Lake Como Circle and
Newark Street was built as a farmhouse in 1888
by Lucius Stebbins.”
Sanford House Hotel (1886) on Lake Monroe, Sanford, FL
Henry SANFORD, founder
of Orange County’s Town of Sanford, currently County Seat of Seminole, and Elliott
S. DANN, an Ocoee homesteader and
builder, were likewise natives of Connecticut who found their way south to
CitrusLAND in the 19th century.
For more
on CitrusLAND and 19th century central FLORIDA: MELLONVILLE, the Woodruff family, and Henry A. Crane are all featured in: CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise. Learn more at my PARADISE
page at www.CroninBooks.com
Next Sunday: Massachusetts, Maryland & South Carolina
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