Builders of America’s 19th century Florida Paradise
arrived from nearly every corner of the world. Amazing dreamers and doers,
these pioneers 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, they came to Florida from parts of every modern day State as
well.
All 50 States played a role in founding central Florida, and
CitrusLAND is paying tribute to the remarkable individuals from around the U.
S. each Sunday throughout the summer, doing so in the order States were
admitted to our Union of States. This week our spotlight shines on Vermont, State #14, admitted March 4, 1791; #15, Kentucky, admitted June 1, 1792,
and Tennessee, admitted as State #16
on June 1, 1796.
VERMONT
Jacob
BROCK, Sr. (1810-1876) was born at Newbury, Vermont. A river Captain,
his side-wheeler steamboat, the DARLINGTON, began serving travelers on the St.
John’s River in 1853. Brock
continued running the river during the Civil War, and in March 1862, after refusing to stop as ordered
by the Union Navy, the Darlington was fired on, captured and seized. “Army
wagons, ammunition and camp equipment” were found, and so Jacob was imprisoned
at New York. He returned to Florida after War’s end, and after hs Darlington
was returned, it resumed service on the St. Johns until 1874.
Another Vermont native was Orange County’s first
postmaster. Ora CARPENTER
(1818-1902). Born at Derby, Vermont, Carpenter was appointed the ENTERPRISE Postmaster in June 1845, three months after Florida was
admitted as the Nation’s 27th State. The town of Enterprise became
part of Volusia County in 1854. Established
on Lake Monroe’s north shore, Enterprise was home to the BROCK HOUSE Hotel, built by Jacob Brock in 1854.
The Brock
House, Enterprise FL
Other Vermonters left their mark on Central Florida as well,
including Franklin B. FAIRBANKS (1829-1895)
of St. Johnsbury, VT. The main road leading into Winter Park, Fairbanks Avenue,
was named for this snow-bird and founder of Fairbanks Scales. The scale manufacturer also mentored a young
Vermont native apprentice-turned-partner of the scales business, Charles Hosmer MORSE. Yet another main
drag into Winter park is named for this Vermonter. Both men played major roles
in early development of the town of Winter Park and Rollins College.
KENTUCKY
Louisville life insurance agent George T. PITTMAN acquired 160 acres in 1881 along the west shore of Lake
DORR. At that time part of Orange County, Pittman founded a Town of PITTMAN, situated on the St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railroad. Pittman’s
sister liquidated her brother’s Pittman estate in 1889, and the one time town is today a ghost town.
Christopher
Columbus BEASLEY came to CitrusLAND in 1871 and founded the town of LAKE
MAITLAND. He opened a post office January 2, 1872, following in his mother’s footsteps, who had earlier served
as the Clinton, KY postmistress. Beasley subdivided his land and opened a store
on The First Road to Orlando. Over
time the ‘Lake’ was dropped to become simply, MAITLAND. Beasley’s first town lot sale was made in 1874, at the very site of the 1838 Fort Maitland. “Mr. Beasley, of Kentucky,” said an 1887
South Florida Railroad travel brochure, “planted
a grove on Maitland branch in the
early seventies.”
PINE
CASTLE pioneer William
Wallace HARNEY grew to adulthood at Louisville. First an Attorney, next a
newspaper editor, Harney relocated in 1869
to Fort Gatlin, with his father-in-law, William
M. RANDOLPH, and other family members including the PRESTON’S, a long-established Kentucky family.
Randolph Avenue in Historic Pine Castle FL is located on the original homestead of William Wallace Harney.
Widely known for his poetry, HARNEY’S writings include an 1874 poem; FLORIDA BEACH, from which we borrow one stanza: “The tide comes in, the birds fly low, as if
to catch our speech. Ah, Destiny! Why must we ever go away from the Florida
beach?” Harney was editor for a short-lived KISSIMMEE CITY newspaper, ‘The
Bitter Sweet’.
A stop further south on South Florida Railroad, Abraham G. MUNN “of Louisville, Kentucky”
acquired 80 acres in 1884, where he founded the Town of LAKELAND.
TENNESSEE
One of the great mysteries of central Florida history begins
with a young man from the State of TENNESSEE, the 16th State to join
our Union of States. I’ll get to him shortly, but first, there are a few other
Tennesseans deserving of recognition.
Captain Bluford M. SIMS
arrived in central Florida in 1865.
Formerly of Ocoee, TN, where he was educated at Hiwassee College, Sim’s was among
the earliest of settlers of West Orange County, more specifically the OCOEE area. A 1915 biography of Sims says he built the first frame county courthouse, replacing the
original log cabin courthouse of 1857.
Bluford was also an original stockholder and Director of Citizens’ National
Bank of Orlando, one of only two banks in 1893
Orlando.
John N.
SEARCY arrived from Tennessee and selected a homestead on the
outskirts of the new town of LONGWOOD.
An orange grower, Searcy is said to have been the 3rd person to
settle at Longwood, arriving seven years before South Florida Railroad made its
inaugural run from Sanford to Orlando, in November, 1880.
Now then, about the great mystery of Central Florida history. Isaac N. RUTLAND was born at Wilson
County, TN in 1824. He settled first
at Marion County, where he met and married a sister of Cinderella (STATEN) STEWART. Isaac followed the Stewart’s to Orange
County, where in 1860, along with wife
Margaret and four children, lived on the Wekiva River at Rutland’s Ferry. Busy State Road 46 crosses the Wekiva River at
that location today.
Isaac N. Rutland was one of two Orange County delegates at
Florida’s 1861 Secession Convention,
and one of seven (7) delegates to
vote NO. Six years later, in 1867, Widow
Margaret Rutland lived with her four children at Apopka. Four Rutland orphans were residing with their grandmother
in 1870 Georgia, and by 1880, two of the four Rutland kids had
returned to central Florida.
Isaac N. Rutland opposed Florida Secession in 1861.
Isaac N. Rutland had vanished. There was no record of the man,
none other than a hand scribbled note found in a file folder in far off
Washington, DC, a Post-War U. S. Provost Marshal file called The Rutland Mule Matter. Note: it’s all
true! Curious? Visit my MULE Page at CroninBooks.com website.
Next Sunday, Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana.
Available at Amazon.com - click on link below
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