PART FOUR: The PATRICK family
Dated 30 August 1858, a poorly worded property deed,
signed by “John & Linney Patrick,” complicates the story of a mysterious
town of Orlando that unfortunately still cannot be fully resolved today. All that
can be done now is to try and speculate the deed’s intent. The Patrick deed
conveyed 113.94 acres to Postmaster John R. Worthington (Part Three), and yet there
is no record as to how the Patrick’s came to own the land.
Orange
County History Center at right fronting on 1857 Village of Orlando
Making matters more difficult to figure out today is
that the description of the land spelled out in Patrick’s deed identifies a piece
of property 119.95 acres in size. Nothing is mentioned in their deed about
exceptions, so what then are we to assume of the missing 6.01 acres?
What we do know is that the four-acre original town of
Orlando was on the land as specified in Patrick’s deed. Shown in the photo
above is Heritage Park out front of Orange County’s History Center. The park occupies
most of the original four acres that made up Orlando from 1857 to 1875. The
Patrick deed of 1858 failed to mention anything about a town on their land. These
four acres however account for the bulk of the 6.01 acres discrepancy.
Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL had gifted the
four acres to the county ten (10) months prior to the Patrick’s selling their
113.94 acres to Postmaster Worthington.
Two unknown facts are important facts in attempting to
resolve the mystery of how Orlando came to be. First, it’s unknown how the
Patrick’s came to own the above described land. Second, its unknown how Ben
Caldwell qualified for his homestead deed. The U. S. Land Office issued a deed
to “Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama for ALL 119.95 acres mentioned
above. He, according to deeds, owned the land that the Patrick’s sold to
Worthington.
One fact about Orlando history that “John & Linney
Patrick” have over all other pioneers introduced thus far in this series is
that they were included in the 1850 Orange County census, listed as family #45
of 55 families living in all of Orange County at that time.
John Patrick (age 40 in 1850, born South Carolina);
and Lyna (age 31 in 1850, born Georgia); appear with five children: Richard
(age 10 born GA); Joseph (age 8 born GA); Ellen (age 5 born Florida); Rebecca
(age 3 born Florida); and Cornelius (age 2 born Florida). The first Patrick
child born in Florida was 1845, which supports family history that says the
Patrick family followed Aaron Jernigan to Florida. The Jernigan’s arrived
around 1843.
Were John & Linney Patrick “Squatters”?
Aaron Jernigan, Isaac Jernigan, and Wright Patrick each filed their own
application for homestead land. John Patrick did not, despite the fact he and
his family were living in Orange County as early as 1845, and were still
residing at the “Orlando Post Office during the 1860 census.”
1880 attachment to the Reid-Patrick Orlando Village land settlement
Robert R. Reid of Palatka, in 1880, recorded
a series of documents in an attempt to settle long-standing land ownership
disputes dating to the 1850s. One such document included the Patrick family.
The drawing above was an attachment to the Reid-Patrick settlement, a sketch
showing two “Patrick” parcels, (each circled in red by this author).
One of the two “Patrick” parcels is shown
as adjacent to the village and north of Lots 1, 2, 3 & 4 of the 12 Lot
Village of Orlando. (Orange County History Center is located today on most of
the land shown to be “Patrick” land in 1880). The other Patrick parcel is shown
as west of Lot 7 and is identified as the “Patrick home”. (This parcel is today
the southeast corner of Orange Avenue and Central Boulevard).
The very same two “Patrick” parcels were then
shown on a Plat of Orlando recorded by Robert R. Reid in 1881. The plat, as shown
below, shows the original village of Orlando as shaded, and shows both Patrick
parcels as well. Pointed out by red arrows (added by this author), arrow 1
points to the Patrick land north of the village – today the location of the
History Center. Arrow 2 points to the “Patrick Home” at the southeast corner of
Orange Avenue and Central Boulevard.
1881 Plat of
Orlando by Robert R. Reid of Palatka
The Reid document confirms that a Patrick
family had a “home” located adjacent to the four acres village of Orlando as of
1880, so the questions remaining are which Patrick family, and when was the
Patrick “home” built? Can the square box on Reid’s 1881 plat shown marked with
a red “3-?” (added by author), provide an answer to these
questions?
The land marked “3-?” was
sold June 12, 1867. Identified as south of the E. W. Speir (Mizell) Store (Lot
10 of the Village) and land owned by “William Whitted,” east of land owned by
“W. A. Lovell,” and south and west of land owned by “Teasdale & Reid”, this
one-square acre was sold by “John & Linny Patrick.” Involved as stated
landowners in 1858 and again in 1867, the Patrick family of the earliest days
of the Village of Orlando were obviously John & Malinda (Linney) Patrick.
And it seems plausible to suggest this Patrick family lived at Orlando long
before there was a place called Orlando.
Surnames Whitted, Lovell, Teasdale and
Reid each had a place in the story of Orlando, but we first need to delve into
the Alabama mystery man – land donor, Benjamin F. Caldwell.
Next
Friday, May 3, 2019: Benjamin F. CALDWELL of Talladega, AL
“First
Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of
how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange
County seat of government.
Orlando
Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found
their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to
settle at Orlando.
Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin
FOR MORE ON THE
PATRICK’S
CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s
Paradise, and
First Road to Orlando
and Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County
Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award
winning books
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