MAITLAND, FL: Away from all the hustle, bustle and noise of Maitland Avenue,
west of the busy historic district of Maitland, a quiet residential
neighborhood of grand stately homes overlooks peaceful Lake Sybelia. Residents have long selected this pristine lake to live on,
with among the earliest of central Florida pioneers being Dr. Clement C.
Haskell of Boston, Massachusetts, one of crucial organizers of the 1880 South
Florida Railroad. Haskell chose to build on the south shore of Lake Sybelia in
the late 1870s.
Lake
Sybelia, Maitland, FL
Anna Sybelia (Hill) Marks of Maitland
Fourth in a CitrusLAND Series celebrating Women's History Month
Amidst all the tranquility this lovely lake has to offer, a horrific tragedy took place across the lake from Haskell’s future home.
The heartbreaking tragedy occurred April 6, 1873, and that incident led to the
lake’s naming. Today, 146 years later, what occurred in the spring of 1873 at
the home of Land Agent Matthew R. Marks is still best revealed by an obituary
published in the Southern Christian Advocate:
“She had nursed, with
that sleepless diligence and patient watchfulness springing only from a
mother’s love, her little daughter Jessie, through a protracted illness, even
until the last hour. On the day after the death of her infant, her husband
desired her to accompany him to the grave, but she did not have the strength.
She looked, however, from the window, and as the dull sound of the earth
falling upon the coffin broke upon her ears, her finely strung heart gave way.”
“Anna SYBELIA Marks,
wife of Major Matthew R. Marks, daughter of Judge Eli Hill of Terrell County,
GA,” reported her obituary, “died on the 6th of April, at Lake
Maitland, Orange County, Florida, of general exhaustion. Three days and four
nights of intense suffering closed her mortal career.”
Matthew Marks, in 1869, had formed a Fort Reid land agency in partnership
with his brother, Richard Marks. Soon thereafter, Matthew took special notice
in a town being laid out well to the south of Fort Reid, a community located at
the abandoned Army fortress of 1838, a fort that had been named for Captain William
Seton Maitland. Severely wounded at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp, Captain Maitland
was discharged and allowed to return home. His injuries however were so intense
that Captain Maitland only made it as far Charleston, SC, where he died, August 19, 1837. According to military records, “he drowned himself during temporary insanity
caused by wounds received in Florida.” A year later, a lake and the fortress
established alongside that lake were both named for Captain Maitland.
Founded in January, 1872 by Christopher Columbus Beasley, the
town of Maitland was established on the shore of Lake Maitland, and Beasley’s town quickly became one of central
Florida’s first community’s to attract snowbirds. Northerners bought acreage at
Maitland to escape harsh winters, knowing they had to travel 16 miles south
on a dangerous trail, crossing Soldiers
Creek, passing by Ten Mile Lake
and then getting safely around Rattlesnake
Lake, all before arriving at their winter cottages. The town of Maitland did
not have train service until the summer of 1880.
Life in 1870s central Florida was a daily challenge to each
and every pioneer, but living in the backwoods of Orange County was especially challenging
for women. Long before advancements in
medicine, childbirth was very often a life-threatening experience for the
infant, mother, and at times, both. Lake
Sybelia remains a memorial not merely to Anna, a courageous
frontierswoman who died at Maitland days after childbirth, but to all of the
amazing frontierswomen who ventured into 19th century central
Florida knowing full well the risks that came with living in Florida’s remote
wilderness.
1890 Maitland, Florida
But I cannot claim to have learned of Anna Sybelia (Hill)
Marks and her tragic 1873 death at Lake Sybelia on my own. Her discovery came
while I partnered in researching Matthew R. Marks with another central Florida
historian. Several years back, Christine Kinlaw-Best of Sanford Historical
Society and I shared in a research project, and among her finds was the obituary of Anna
Sybelia Marks. Matching dates to my property records of Matthew, records
establishing he owned land bordering the east side of Lake Sybelia, and in learning
of the earliest known date of the lake’s naming, the combined research led us
to the conclusion as to how this lake had been named.
Our goal was to publish a biography of Matthew R. Marks, but before
we could make that happen, central Florida lost a great researcher and historian. Christine Kinlaw-Best deserves special recognition for her never-ending contributions
to central Florida history, as well as to her discovery of Anna Sybelia’s
obituary.
To learn more on each lake identified in bold above, see
Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes below.
FAMILIES
of the VILLAGE
The
founders of ORLANDO
Begins
April 12, 2019 at this Blog Site
ORLANDO
LAKES: Homesteaders & Namesakes, is an encyclopedia of sort of central
Florida lakes, short stories telling of the origins of 303 historic lakes from Eustis and
Sanford in the north, to Kissimmee in the south.
During the 19th century, you see, all roads led to the county seat at Orlando!
Now available at Winter
Garden Heritage Foundation as well as Amazon.com. I invite you to check out
ORLANDO LAKES: Homesteaders & Namesakes. You can do so simply by clicking
on the convenient link below:
NEXT
FRIDAY: Gertrude of Mt. Dora
CitrusLANDFL
is celebrating central Florida’s amazing women during
WOMEN’S
HISTORY MONTH
Would you
like to know more about Maitland?
PROUD RECIPIENT OF PINE CASTLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AWARDS
2017 & 2018
2017 & 2018
First Road to Orlando, Second Edition (2015)
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