Part 11: Robert Raymond REID & friends:
“A stage wagon twice a week goes from
Orlando to Sanford and Mellonville through a region of country picturesque with
new groves and pine castles risen like Aladdin’s palace.”
Robert R. Reid
residence at Palatka, Florida
Orlando
parcels sold by the Reid’s during the 1880s were signed at Palatka, FL
Correspondent Will Wallace Harney, a resident of
Orange County, told of “stage wagon” service between Orlando and Lake
Monroe in 1877. The article, entitled “Florida Letter,” was penned at Will
Harney’s “Pinecastle” on Lake Conway. Twenty years had passed since Orange
County’s seat of government had been established by 31 registered voters choosing
Orlando as its site. An Abbeville clan (Part 10) had been the advocates of this
remote location. And a decade had passed since Robert Raymond Reid III made the
journey from his Palatka residence, arriving at Orlando in time to submit the
low bid of $900 for 113 acres surrounding the 1857 Orlando village. After
submitting his winning bid, Reid then returned home to Palatka.
COMING
THIS FALL: PIONEERS of South Florida Railroad’s route beyond Orlando: Founding families
of Kissimmee, Lakeland, Plant City, Seffner & others as the railroad continues laying down track toward Tampa Bay. Follow
this Blog or my CitrusLANDFL Facebook Page for details.
Robert R. Reid III did more to rescue the forsaken
village of Orlando than any other founder, but history failed to remember the Palatka
merchant for his accomplishments. He had stepped ashore at Mellonville in 1867,
before stage wagon service, and journeyed inland to Fort Reid, a small
settlement named for the fortress built at this location in 1842. Fort Reid had
been named by the Army for Territorial Governor Robert R. Reid II, father of
the Palatka merchant Reid who passed this way 25 years later, on his way to the
county seat - to rescue Orlando!
Reid had another twenty (20) miles to traverse south
of Fort Reid, following the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road, to arrive at
Orlando. Will Harney traveled this way two years later, describing the trail in
1869 by conjuring up Alexander Kinglake’s 1835 description of the Sahara
(Sinai), “Sand and sand and sand, and only sand and sand and sand again.”
But despite all the sand, Robert R. Reid III arrived at Orlando in time to
submit the winning bid at Sheriff John Ivey’s January 7, 1867 auction.
Robert R. Reid III was the
successful bidder at $900 of the 113 acres outlined in orange, but with
exception of four (4) acres outlined in red, the Village of Orlando. 40 acres
inside orange area, left of the green line, was platted by William A. Patrick. 80
acres right of green line was platted by Robert R. Reid III. More on this development in Part 12.
Among the many intriguing uncertainties of Orlando’s
founding are several mysteries involving R. R. Reid III: Why did Reid buy
Orlando? Why, after submitting his winning bid, did Reid III return home to
Palatka and do nothing for more than a decade with his newly acquired property? Why did Reid wait 13
years prior to recording Orlando’s first town plat? Why didn’t Robert R. Reid
III relocate to the land he purchased in Orange County?
Historian Kena Fries wrote this of the Palatka
merchant in 1938: “Robert R. Reid, a lawyer from Jacksonville, was engaged to
settle the dispute, and for his services was paid that part of Orlando known as
Robert R. Reid’s addition to the original town of Orlando. There was a romance,
Reid fell in love and married Mary Lovell. They left soon after.” Reid III
however was a not a lawyer, nor was Reid given the land for services rendered.
As for Mary, the daughter of William Allen Lovell, she married a Taylor, not a
Reid. Robert R. Reid III had married Mary Benet in 1850, not Mary Lovell, and
the Palatka couple remained married until her death at Palatka in 1889.
The particulars of Orlando’s origin are complicated,
so it is no wonder historians often got the story of the town’s founding wrong.
Even Orlando’s timeline is askew. Founded in 1857, the village wasn’t
incorporated as a town until August 1875. Jacob Summerlin financed building the three-story county courthouse that same year. And at the 1875 incorporation
meeting, locals all agreed to expand the town size from its original 4 acres to
a square mile. But despite Orlando’s 1875 incorporation, a town plat was not
recorded until 5 years later.
When the first town plat was recorded, it was depicted
on two pages and recorded with the clerk of court in 1880. At the center of the
town plat was shown the 4 acres donated to Orange County in 1857 by Benjamin F.
Caldwell. The north half of the 80 acres platted as Addition to Orlando
appeared on page one, with the owner listed on the page as Robert R. Reid. Page
two of the plat showed the south half of the town, and the owner was listed as
R. R. Reed. The correct name of course was Robert Raymond Reid III of Palatka, and
there is also an excellent explanation as to why Reid’s plat was 80 acres
rather than 113 acres. Reid III, one could say, was a peace maker.
Plat of Orlando recorded as two pages at Orange County in 1881 by Robert R. Reid III
Remember the Patrick family of Part 4, and how they
believed the 113 acres outlined above in orange belonged to them? And remember
Benjamin F. Caldwell of Part 5, and the deed showing he owned that
very same parcel? Well, by 1879, Robert R. Reid III of Palatka had one big mess
on his hands. He could not sell the acreage he had owned since 1867 without
first cleaning up his deed. Cohorts of Robert R. Reid III, including merchant
Jacob R. Cohen, had been instrumental in formally incorporating the Town of
Orlando in 1875, but then the past reared its ugly head.
Reid’s problems reached fever pitch in July 1879. Historian
William F. Blackman wrote of that year’s strange turn of events: “Some
question having arisen as to the legality of the existing Charter, the Mayor
issued a proclamation that the corporation of Orlando is dissolved by the
majority vote of the citizens of Orlando.” Orlando dissolved? Four years
prior Henry S. Sanford had made his pitch to move the county seat to Sanford.
Jacob Summerlin said never!
Founded by an out-of-state family, Orlando’s only hope
of rescue in 1879 rested with an out-of-town landowner. Orlando now looked to
Robert R. Reid III to solve a problem 22 years in the making. And had it not
been for what happened next, Orange County’s courthouse may well have been
relocated to Sanford, despite the objections of Jacob Summerlin.
Next Friday, Robert R. Reid III steps in to save a
mysterious little county seat named Orlando.
“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.
This
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
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