Cowboys & Lawyers: Part 7
Attorneys of 19th Century Central Florida
A series inspired by Pine Castle Historical Society’s
Will Wallace Harney: Orlando’s First Renaissance Man
By Richard Lee Cronin
The Honorable William Mayer Randolph of #Fort-Reid & Fort Gatlin
Far too many noteworthy pioneers were neglected by chroniclers of Central Florida’s incredible 19th century history. One such long-overlooked Citrus-Belt founder was Attorney William Mayer Randolph. So admired by his peers was Randolph, that upon his death, the criminal and civil courts of New Orleans recessed as a memorial to their good friend and jurist. Even the Supreme Court of New Orleans shuttered its doors, and newspapers of that city set aside entire pages to report the man’s passing.
Randolph Street at Lake Conway, Harney Homestead, Pine Castle, Florida
Central Florida historians have casually mentioned his name, yet much like that of his friend and partner, Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner II, the accomplishments of each have been overlooked, and their vital roles in the formative years of America’s Paradise seem to have been forgotten.
The Randolph family does have two Central Florida roadways named in their honor, one at each end of the historic Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin trail. To truly do justice to both men however, the I-4 corridor of today could in fact be re-christened as the Randolph-Whitner Corridor.
Attorney William M. Randolph practiced law at New Orleans, Louisiana, and died at Vaucluse, Virginia. But at the time of his death, Randolph was planning to retire at Fort Gatlin. A son and daughter had planned to settle on nearby Lake Conway, and his wife Mary and another daughter had taken up residence at Fort Reid, as the opposite end of the trail.
Randolph Street of Fort Reid (Sanford)
Published memorials in New Orleans papers celebrated the man’s life. The memorial told of his lifetime achievements, beginning with his birth at Virginia’s Cumberland County in 1815, to the young man’s early education and training at West Point Academy. At an early age Randolph left the military and took up law, mentoring, said the memorial, under his uncle, the honorable Judge William Randolph. He departed his birth state to open a law firm at Tallahassee, in Florida’s Panhandle. He later moved to Kentucky and eventually New Orleans.
Attorney Randolph’s biographical sketch filled an entire page, detailing his triumphs in life before telling of how he died after a long painful death at Vaucluse, Virginia. In closing, the obituary memorial added: “Far off in Florida, beneath whose stately pines he now rests, there was a daughter whose very being was enfolded in her worship of her father.”
The “stately pines” were those of the Randolph family cemetery at Fort Gatlin, five miles south of Orlando. The daughter was that of Mary St. Mayer (Randolph) Harney, the deceased wife of Attorney Will Wallace Harney, Lake Conway homesteader and founder of Pine Castle, Florida. Harney’s wife had been buried atop Gatlin Hill only days after the family’s move to Florida.
William M. Randolph is “The Lawyer” of Chapter 8
Will Wallace Harney: Orlando’s First Renaissance Man
Arriving in the final days of 1869, William Mayer Randolph partnered in building the first-ever free-standing hotel south of Lake Monroe. Orange House Hotel was the first built in a land now possession well in excess of a hundred thousand hotel rooms. Located at Fort Reid, Mile Marker 1.5 of the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road, the historic Orange County hotel, now in Seminole County, within days of opening in 1870, hosted an equally historic railroad meeting.
Called to order March 3, 1870 by Judge John W. Price of Enterprise, seventeen organizers came together with the intent to organize the Upper St. Johns, Mellonville, Tampa and South Florida Railroad. Among an impressive roster of organizers was Attorney William Mayer Randolph, Attorney Joseph J. Finegan (see Part 6), Attorney Daniel R. Mitchell (see Part 1), Judge James M. Baker, and Central Florida’s first Surveyor, Benjamin F. Whitner, to name but a few.
William M. Randolph owned land at Fort Gatlin as well. The Randolph’s accumulated in excess of 300 acres adjoining the fortress and Surveyor Whitner’s property, and other Randolph family members became Fort Gatlin landowners as well.
The extent of Attorney Randolph’s connection in the original development of a Lake Monroe to Tampa Bay corridor was cut short by an extended illness followed by his death in 1876.
I had the privilege to tour Vaucluse, the vey home where William Mayer Randolph died in 1876. Today a bed and breakfast, one upstairs bedroom is aptly named “The Randolph Bedroom”. The exterior of the restored 1785 William Strother Jones Manor House below was included as well as an Exhibit in ‘Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County’, my award-winning history of the land south of Fort Gatlin, released in 2017.
The William Strother Jones Manor House
Vaucluse, Frederick County, Virginia
Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County
2017 HISTORIAN AWARD
Recipient of Pine Castle Historical Society’s
Ironically, legal issues prevented Attorney Randolph and partners from building their railroad, which would in turn encourage development along the route of their proposed railroad. Others were credited with turning the dream into reality a decade later, but Will Wallace Harney, and eyewitness to the real story, proclaimed the two most important central Florida pioneers to be Randolph and Whitner.
ADMISSION TO PIONEER DAYS IS FREE THIS YEAR!
This year, Pine Castle Pioneer Days is celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the arrival of Will Wallace Harney and William M. Randolph in central Florida. Cronin Books will once again have a booth – our third year. Look for my article in the Pioneer Days magazine explaining why this remarkable event of 150 years ago is so very important to the history of central Florida.
Will Wallace Harney: Orlando’s First Renaissance Man
By Richard Lee Cronin
Commissioned by Pine Castle Historical Society
More than a biography of one pioneer – this is a biography of Orange County
I invite you as well to stop in at the Pine Castle Historical Society ‘History Tent’, where every hour on the hour, from 10 AM to 3 PM Saturday and Sunday, guest speakers will present on a variety of fascinating topics.
1 PM: Richard Lee Cronin presents:
A Tribute to 150 years of Orange County Educators
Also, stop by my CroninBooks.com history tent and say hello. I’d love to talk central Florida history with you and perhaps even show you one of my books – or two - on the incredible story of America’s Paradise – Florida’s Citrus-Belt.
Next Friday – while I’m setting up at Pine Castle Pioneer Days, my Cowboys & Lawyers blog will set the stage with the history of Attorney William Wallace Harney.
No comments:
Post a Comment