Judge James G. Speer remains as much a part of ORLANDO’S mysterious origin as any potential town founder. But so too is Judge Speer’s first wife, Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer. The second Speer family to settle at Orange County, James and Isaphoenia appear to have followed a cousin, Algernon S. Speer, who had settled on the south shore of Lake Monroe in the early 1840s.
Historians tend agree James Gamble Speer arrived during 1854. The first recorded transaction by the Clerk of Court for James G. Speer appears to have been September 13, 1854. Speer also served in Aaron Jernigan’s 1856 Orange County Militia, listed on the muster rolls as a private. But unlike most newcomers, James G. Speer did not apply for a homestead, a fact which makes it difficult to establish where the family had settled first. By 1860, James & Isaphoenia were living where today exists the town of Oakland, in West Orange County.
The Speer’s at Oakland is itself a fascinating story, but before that, a huge question mark remains. Where was the Speer’s Orange County home from 1854 to 1860?
James Speer outlived most
of the earliest Village of Orlando organizers. C. E. Howard, publisher of Early
Settlers of Orange County (1915), included an extensive biography of “Judge J.
G. Speer,” in which Howard wrote of Speer: “He
took an active part in the organizing of the county.”
Judge Speer was also the individual signing for Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama in 1857. That October land donation, for the site of Orange County’s Courthouse, even earned Speer a permanent place near the top of the list of potential town founders. But Judge James G. Speer had signed the 1857 deed by attaching a Power of Attorney. In other words, Speer had signed for Benjamin F. Caldwell. So, what did that mean?
Born June 23, 1820 in South Carolina, James G. Speer had not only been married twice while a resident of Orange County, his two lovely brides truly complicate the task of solving the mystery of Orlando’s founding. The man had children from each spouse, which further complicated the job for 19th century historians desiring to learn of and report the story of Orlando’s founding.
C. E. Howard’s ‘Early Settlers of Orange County’ (1915) explained Orange County’s selection of a county seat process this way: “This was a three-cornered fight: Fort Reid; The Lodge (so called because here was located the only Masonic Lodge in the county), now Apopka City; and Fort Gatlin, each place being championed by its settlers. A distant cousin, Dr. Sidney Speer, led the Fort Reid forces; Isaac Newton led the Lodge crowd; and Judge Speer led the Ft. Gatlin settlers, and Fort Gatlin won. At once the question of a name came up and was named “Orlando” by Judge Speer for one of Shakespeare’s actors.” Howard’s description appears conclusive until one considers the half-dozen other versions of how Orlando came to be.
C. E. Howard, publisher of Early Settlers of Orange County (1915)
Last week, Part Five of this series told of half-sibling Benjamin F. Caldwell and his apparent lack of interest in town building. As administrator of his father’s estate, young Ben gave the job of resolving his father’s Florida property to a brother in law, James G. Speer. But James already had a history in town building, the town being Belton, South Carolina.
James G. Speer had practiced law under Judge John Belton O’Neal, and apparently thought highly of the South Carolina Judge because the Speer’s named their son, John Belton Speer. The judge however was also interested in railroad building and became the first President of C & G Railroad of Anderson County, South Carolina. And along the C&G route a new town appeared, the town of Belton, South Carolina, named for the judge.
History of Anderson County explains what happened next: “One of the hopeful new settlers was Ephriam Mayfield. Trusting in the boom predicted for the place he ventured too deeply in its promised results and losing everything that he owned in despair killed himself in the woods adjoining his home.” The railroad was completed into Belton in 1853, and two years later, George W. McGee bought the recently completed hotel. So, some investors did okay, others, not so much! (Now seems a good time as any to mention that G. W. McGee was the brother of the wife of John R. Worthington, Orlando’s First Postmaster in 1857 – of Part Three of our series!)
On the 3rd of February 1853 defendant J. G. Speer admitted to owing $4,000 to J. W. Norris of Anderson County. Speer was slapped with the first of two judgments, one from Norris for $4000 and a second in the amount of $3,000 from J. N. Whitner. (Attorney J. N. Whitner was the uncle of Orange County Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner, Jr.).
Orlando’s plot thickens! Young Benjamin F. Caldwell had his hands full at Talladega, Alabama resolving his deceased father’s many properties, so he gave his brother in law in Florida a power of attorney to resolve the town building matter begun by his father. But Benjamin’s brother in law, James G. Speer, had already tried the town building thing, lost big, and still had judgments hanging over his head from that failed venture.
Orange County’s ‘town’ thing however meant a lot to Judge Speer’s wife, and so he accepted the assignment while staying clear of the matter at the same time. Meanwhile, hotelman McGee of Belton, South Carolina sent his sister Frances and her husband, John R. Worthington, to the little central Florida village of Orlando, where John built the Worthington House Hotel.
Note "WORTHINGTON HOTEL" as sketched on map above by John Otto Fries
As for why the town mattered to James Speer’s wife – that’s a ‘matter’ for next week, when the Speer family of ORLANDO continues.
Next Friday, May 17, 2019: Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) SPEER continues
“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 SPEER’S
CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s
Paradise;
First Road to Orlando
and
Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County
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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