Thursday, May 30, 2019

ORLANDO Founding Families: The HULL Family


Part Nine: The HULL Family of Orlando

Most every key to unlocking the intriguing mystery of Orlando’s origin is consistently found to be a woman! It’s true! Like that of the obscure Caldwell family’s connection with Lady Isaphoenia Speer, even the reasons for pioneers Thomas H. Harris, Jr. (Part 8), and William Benjamin HULL, Jr. of this installment, first came to a remote central Florida wilderness was because of a woman. So, in order to learn why they founded the village of Orlando, we must delve into the genealogy of each amazing frontierswoman who arrived in the 1850s as well.

  
William Benjamin & Emily Harriett (Watson) Hull

EMILY of Cobb County, Georgia
   
William Benjamin HULL, Jr. was 26 years old when he and his bride Emily came to central Florida with his grandfather, arriving on Christmas Day 1855. A biography of William, published in 1915, tells of their arriving in Orange County with a party of 34. Migrating from Georgia’s Cobb County, the Hull’s settled first at Fort Reid, a mile east of today’s Sanford, but then, in 1855, not much else existed in all of Orange County than the tiny settlement of Fort Reid.

As stated in last week’s installment of Families of the Village, Thomas H. HARRIS, Jr. also arrived in Orange County during 1855. Harris had come to Florida from Cobb County in Georgia as well, and their common arrival date was not coincidental!

12 Chapters, each beginning with a biography of an amazing 19th century central Florida frontierswoman: CroninBooks.com
CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition 2016

A Village of Orlando did not yet exist on Christmas Day 1855, but Caldwell’s of Talladega had at that time already made a lasting imprint on central Florida. William Harris & Obedience Caldwell signed a June 13, 1855 deed at Talladega, Alabama, a document recorded at Orange County, in which they named daughter, Isaphoenia C. Speer, as a resident of Orange County. Between signing the deed and the Christmas Day arrival of Harris and Hull, William H. Caldwell died at Talladega.

A family’s plan for central Florida was already in motion though, only now, after the death of that family’s Patriarch, other members of the family would take on the task of carrying the plan through to fruition. The plan? Establish a county seat along a new railroad route connecting Lake Monroe with Tampa Bay. Sound absurd?

The newly enacted Florida Internal Improvement Fund, designed by Florida’s General Assembly to improve transportation by building railroads and canals, took affect January 6, 1855. Governor James E. Broome, neighbor, friend and relative of Benjamin F. Whitner, Sr., father of the Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner, Jr., became the first Chairman of the Fund’s board. Arthur M. Randolph of Tallahassee, also a surveyor, was appointed the Fund’s official surveyor. Benjamin Whitner Junior had recently completed 540 square miles of surveys in South Orange County and had purchased a considerable amount of acreage surrounding today’s Lake Gatlin.

Awarded the 2017 Historian Award by Pine Castle Historical Society
Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County
CroninBooks.com

Across Lake Monroe from Mellonville, residents on the lake’s north shore were about to celebrate the first anniversary of Volusia County as Harris and Hull arrived in 1855. Formed December 29, 1854, largely from Orange County, Volusia County had confiscated all of Orange County’s prime oceanfront property – as well as half of the 1850 population of 500 courageous pioneers. Sanford wasn’t to be for another two decades. Of seven Orange County post offices when Volusia County was formed, only two were still located in Orange County after Volusia arrived on the scene.

Newcomers to the south shore of Lake Monroe, like Harris and Hull, had but a small pier awaiting at the recently abandoned Orange County port of entry called Mellonville. A U. S. Supreme Court 1850 decree in favor of Moses Levy’s Spanish Land Grant caused the canceling in April 1850 of Henry A. Crane’s homestead, upon which was located the old fort and pier.

“One must take a buggy and follow the picturesque old Fort Mellon Road among the groves and gardens of a prior generation.” South Florida Railroad, 1887
First Road to Orlando: The Mellonville to Orlando Road
CroninBooks.com (2015)

With the lakeside town of Mellonville abandoned, a tiny village of Fort Reid awaited any pioneer brave enough to venture inland nearly two miles. In 1855, Orange County’s Fort Reid was it! There was of course Jernigan Post Office, established May 1850 in the vicinity of today’s Orlando, but Jernigan served a widely scattered community of only a hand full of families. Homes and stores were nonexistent in 1855 along the lonely sand rutted trail south from Fort Reid to the abandoned Fort Gatlin at trail’s end. 

As desolate as Fort Gatlin was in 1855, within three days of the Hull family arriving at Fort Reid, Thomas HULL, on December 28, 1855, purchased 120 acres two miles east of Fort Gatlin – acreage fronting what is today Lake George. Thomas Hull bypassed 28 miles of uninhabited wilderness, a full day’s ride from Fort Reid, to settle on land in the middle of nowhere. And Thomas HULL was 83 years old when he arrived at Orange County. After burying Winifred (Evans) Hull at Cobb County in 1853, his wife of 55 years, Thomas Hull joined 33 others in a land party heading south to central Florida. But why did they come to Orange County?

Thomas & Winifred (Evans) Hull lived at Georgia’s Cobb County during the 1850 census. Their neighbor was James McDowell Watson, wife Nancy, and seven children. One of the seven children was Emily H. Watson, age 14, the future bride of William Benjamin Hull, Jr.

Nancy Watson however was Emily Harriett Watson’s stepmother. James McDowell Watson’s first wife had died in 1842, when Emily was but 5 years old. The biological mother of Emily Harriett (Watson) Hull was Anne Harris, daughter of Thomas & Martha (Moffett) Harris (1808-1842). Remember John Moffett Harris, son of Thomas H. Harris, Jr. of last week? Anne Harris was a sister of Thomas H. HARRIS, Jr.

Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer and her stepbrother Benjamin F. Caldwell were born at Abbeville, South Carolina. So too were Anne (Harris) Watson and her brother, Thomas H. Harris, a niece and nephew of William Harris Caldwell, father/stepfather of Benjamin and Isaphoenia. One big happy family, it appears, was gathering in the wilderness of Orange County, Florida.


AND THE WINNER IS...

An election was called for October 16, 1856 in which all 73 registered Orange County voters were asked to vote on where Orange County’s Courthouse should be located. The winning location, wrote historian and UCF Professor Paul W. Wehr in his book ‘From Mosquito to Orange County’ (2016), published by the Pine Castle Historical Society, was not a town, but rather: “Section 26, Township 22 Range 29, south and east.”

Survey Section 26, Township 22 South; Range 29 East
Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road inside red rectangle

Rather than selecting a town, 31 votes, a majority, chose a “surveyed region” over “Orangeburg, [27 votes], Fort Reed (sic) [13 votes], Centre [1 vote] and Lake Monroe [1 vote].”

The one square mile Section 26, Township 22 South; Range 29 East is today bordered by Colonial Drive (SR Hwy 50) on the north; Westmoreland Drive on the west; South Street on the South; and Palmetto (near Rosalind Avenue) on the east. A landmass 640 acres, the only notable land feature in 1856 was a short stretch of the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road crossing the “southeast quarter.”

Voters cast ballots in October 1856. The Orlando Post Office was established September 19, 1857. Benjamin F. Caldwell’s deed, giving four acres for a courthouse site, was signed October 5, 1857, the exact same day of Governor James E. Broome’s final day in office. Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road took on a new name, “Mellonville Road,” although for that brief portion passing through the new town of Orlando it became known as “Main Street,” or Magnolia Avenue as it is known today.


William & Emily Hull had relocated from Fort Reid to Orlando, but when the Civil War began, William enlisted with Captain Joshua Mizell’s regiment. Emily remained at Orlando running their boarding house for the occasional traveler in need of rest. Injured twice, William Benjamin Hull was captured at Gettysburg and imprisoned at Fort Delaware until War’s end. (George Terrell, an Orlando neighbor, was also taken prisoner at Gettysburg, sent to Fort Delaware, but he died there. Twelve thousand prisoners, said Prison Dr. Mitchell, were held on an island capable of perhaps holding four thousand. Dr. Mitchell wrote of “an astronomical number of deaths daily).”

William B. Hull however had been among the fortunate. At War’s end he was released, transported as far south as Palatka, where he walked home to his Emily. He and Emily then sold their Orlando town lots, to William A. Lovell, and settled instead on the outskirts of Orange County’s seat.

Orlando was not able to establish itself during its brief history prior to the Civil War. There was no time build a courthouse, no time to construct a railroad. Four years of War followed by a long military Reconstruction Period meant town building had to wait.

U. S. Provost Marshal, Mellonville, FL July 24, 1865: “On behalf of Mrs. Isaac N. Rutland, I make request that a certain mule, the property of her husband, which is now in possession of the United States, be returned to her, Respectfully, Deputy Naval Officer, C. D. Lincoln.”

The Rutland Mule Matter, by Richard Lee Cronin
CroninBooks.com (2015)

The “Abbeville Consortium,” did in fact accomplish their primary goal: Orlando became Orange County’s seat of government. But would their town survive the test of time? Fact is, Orlando would likely have become a Ghost Town had it not been for a “Palatka Consortium,” a fascinating bunch of guys who – for very special reasons – kept a family’s dream alive.

Next Friday, June 7, 2019: The “Abbeville Consortium” Reunion

Friday, June 14: The Reid / Reed / Read family of the “Palatka Consortium”

IS THIS A FUN SUMMER OR WHAT?

“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.

My Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous people who found their way down a lonely dusty forts trail – and became the first families to settle Orlando.


Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin
Visit my Amazon author page by clicking on the link below


FOR MORE ON CENTRAL FLORIDA HISTORY

First Road to Orlando: The Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road

And beyond TRAIL’S END; 

Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award-winning books


Thursday, May 23, 2019

ORLANDO Founding Families: The HARRIS Family



Orlando didn’t even have a real name. It was out in the middle of nowhere, without so much as a creek to give it a harbor.”
Orlando Sentinel, December 26, 1943


Where along this trail would YOU have built Orange County’s 1857 courthouse?

Students and scholars of Orlando history alike know of Benjamin F. Caldwell and James G. Speer, but what about Thomas H. HARRIS, Jr.? He too had ties to the founding of 1857 Orlando, and yet the important role he played has long been overlooked.

James G. Speer signed the October 5, 1857 deed gifting land from Benjamin F. Caldwell for the site of Orange County’s Courthouse. Two other signatures however also appear on the document. John R. Worthington, mentioned earlier in this series as Orlando’s first postmaster, witnessed the signature of James G. Speer. Also appearing on the deed is the signature of Thomas H. Harris, Jr., affixing his name as the “Justice of the Peace.”

Harris and Worthington therefore were both in close proximity to the newl village of Orlando on October 5, 1857. Appointed postmaster September 19, 1857, and owner of Worthington’s boarding house at Orlando, one might expect John Worthington would be available to serve as a witness, but, and it’s an important but, Worthington was not in Florida one year earlier, as Aaron Jernigan was forming Orange County’s 1856 Militia.

Thomas H. Harris, Jr. however was listed on Jernigan’s March 10, 1856 militia roster. So too was John Moffett Harris, the son of Thomas H. Harris, Jr.

Five days after Jernigan organized his militia, as we learned from research of historian and retired UCF Professor Paul W. Wehr, Benjamin F. Caldwell, on March 15, 1856, purchased 119 acres in Orange County that included the site donated in October 1857 for a courthouse. So, of four known individuals associated with the founding of Orlando: Caldwell, Speer, Worthington and Harris, only two are known to have been in 1856 Orange County – Speer and Harris!

Thomas H. Harris, Jr. appears again in an odd Orange County deed recorded November 23, 1857. In that document, “John Patrick” gave one acre to “Captain A. Jernigan, Thos. H. Harris and Henry Hodges, a committee appointed by the subscribers to a free church to be built at Orlando.” Stated as being in the Southeast Quarter of Section 26, the deed is a bit odd because, as established in earlier installments, the Patrick’s had sold this land to John R. Worthington earlier that year. Also, Benjamin F. Caldwell thought he owned the very same parcel. (Multiple owners of the exact same land - the main ingredient in the intriguing story of Orlando’s mysterious founding!)



Thomas H. Harris, Jr. and John Moffett Harris are relevant to the founding of Orlando for a variety of reasons, but especially so because of their pre-Civil War ties to Cobb County, Georgia, and their post-Civil War ties to Isaphoenia C. Speer on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Born at South Carolina, Thomas Harris died January 7, 1884 at Pinellas County, Florida. His gravesite can be viewed in the ‘Anona Pioneer Section’ of Serenity Gardens Memorial Park at Largo, Florida.

A settlement of Anona appeared on an 1888 Hillsborough County map. The county of Pinellas was not formed until 1911, and prior to that year Largo and Dunedin were in Hillsborough. John M. Harris homesteaded on Clearwater Harbor, in the vicinity of the Anona Ghost Town, north of where his father was buried in 1884. A little further north on Clearwater Harbor was homesteader Josiah R. Wise, the very Wise man who witnessed James G. Speer’s signature, at Hillsborough County, on an 1868 deed recorded at Orange County. The deed was voided in 1869, but it serves to place our James G. Speer in the vicinity of Thomas H. Harris, Jr soon after the War.

Josiah R. Wise married Catherine Speer, daughter of James G. Speer, and relocated soon after to central Florida with his wife and father in law. Josiah R. & Catherine Wise became post-Civil War residents of Oakland of West Orange County.

As Civil War broke out in the South, the families of Harris and Speer departed Orange County. Both settled as neighbors on Clearwater Harbor. But who followed who?

Isaphoenia C. Speer died at Hillsborough County in 1867, we know this from the Probate Court. Widower James G. Speer returned to Orange County, but Thomas H. Harris, Jr., after arriving in central Florida circa 1855 from Georgia, remained on the Gulf Coast. One might think, therefore, that the Speer’s had followed Harris to Hillsborough County during the War.

Although Thomas Harris, Jr. came to Florida from Georgia, he had been born at Abbeville, South Carolina in 1811. His father died at Abbeville in 1826, and one of two administrators of the man’s estate happened to be William Harris Caldwell, father of “Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega,” and the stepfather of Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer.


Above: 1826 Will of Thomas H. Harris, Sr. naming William H. Caldwell Administrator

Again, the plot, as they say, thickens! Before Orange County’s population topped 1,200 persons, three natives of Abbeville, South Carolina became involved in creating a county seat of Orlando. Thomas Harris, Jr., Benjamin F. Caldwell, and Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer were also related.

Coming from Cobb County, north of Atlanta, GA,” we learn from a biography of an early Orange County pioneer published in 1915 describing his arrival on: “a glorious Christmas Day 1855, they first located at Ft. Reid and a year later moved to the neighborhood of Orlando.” One might at first think the pioneer was Thomas H. Harris, Jr., but the biography was in fact telling of the arrival of William Benjamin Hull. And this will be a great place to pick back up next Friday.

Next Friday, May 31, 2019: William Benjamin Hull

“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.
My Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous people who found their way down a lonely dusty forts trail – and became the first families to settle Orlando.

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin


FOR MORE ON CENTRAL FLORIDA HISTORY

First Road to Orlando: The Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road
And beyond TRAIL’S END; 
Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award-winning books