The Lake House
The Lady of the Lake - Part 3
Central Florida pioneer James G. Speer, in
1868, sold the exact acreage fronting Lake Pineloch where today the Lake House
of this series sits. William Barber of Orange County was Speer’s buyer, but
then, nine months after issuing a deed, the transaction was voided by court order.
Our countdown to Pine Castle Pioneer Days continues with
this, Part 3, of the Lake House on Lake Pineloch.
Orlando of 1860 was a straggly cow pasture surrounding
a small log courthouse which sat in the center of an imaginary town square four
acres in size. There were three or four houses, one being the residence of Postmaster
John R. Worthington, whose house doubled as the boarding house whenever a
circuit judge came to the county seat to hold court. When court was not
in session, which was most of the time, there was little reason for anyone to attempt
the arduous journey to the forsaken village of Orlando.
Between 1860 and 1868, bad conditions at the village
of Orlando worsened. The townsite was, truthfully, auctioned off - on the log
cabin courthouse step - in 1867. Fewer people were calling Orlando home
than in 1860. Even Attorney James G. Speer had departed Orange County for a new
residence in today’s Dunedin, where on December 21, 1868, Speer signed over the
Lake Pineloch property to William Barber. Seventeen days after signing it,
Speer’s document was recorded by the Clerk of Court at Orlando.
There were no such places as Pine Castle, Edgewood,
or Belle Isle in 1868, and the fellow who was to introduce the Pine
Castle place name to central Floridians was still residing at Louisville,
Kentucky. Few souls ventured south to Orlando, and even fewer dared to venture further
south to Fort Gatlin.
A Lake House on Lake Pineloch did not yet exist in
1868 either, although across the lake stood a huge tree - the Council Oak – itself
serving once as a lake house of sort for the Seminole Indians. And while settlers
had by this time discovered Lakes Conway and Tohopekaliga, land south of the
county seat at Orlando remained predominately unsettled wilderness. Mostly
unsettled, that is, but not entirely so. A few of Orange County’s earliest
pioneers, including one very special lady, had obviously known something in
1860 that most other settlers did not.
Aaron Jernigan,
Benjamin Whitner, Joseph McRobert Baker, and Mrs. James G.
Speer had all begun to accumulate acreage along the old forts train – from
Lake Monroe south to Fort Gatlin - including land south of Orlando and doing so
before the start of the Civil War.
Isaphoenia Cleopatra (Ellington) Speer,
first wife of pioneer James G. Speer, had purchased, in 1860, three large
parcels along the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin trail. She bought 40 acres at Fort
Reid, mile marker 2 of the old trail, another 160 acres on Lake Ivanhoe,
mile marker 20 of the old trail, and still another 160 acres on Lake
Pineloch, mile marker 27 of the trail.
War then came to the States and everything in central
Florida changed. During the War, a third of Orange County’s young men perished.
And whatever wealth might have existed prior to the war, it was wiped out during
the war. By War’s end, the most prominent of Orange County’s earliest settlers
were gone. Even the Speer’s had taken up residence on the Gulf Coast.
In 1867, where Dunedin, Florida is today, Isaphoenia
Cleopatra (Ellington) Speer, the first wife of James G. Speer, both residents
of Orange County beginning in 1854, died. She died while still owning our Lake
House property – deeded solely in her name.
James G. Speer eventually returned to Orange County,
but before doing so, he sold the 160 acres on Lake Pineloch. But Attorney Speer
neglected to approve the sale through Probate Court, so in September of 1869,
the sale was voided. Rather than Speer correcting the sale to Barber, a new
buyer suddenly – an Attorney from New Orleans – snatched up all 160 acres.
William Mayer Randolph was
the new buyer, but he did not homestead this property. Instead, Attorney
Randolph issued two new deeds, splitting the 160 acres into two halves, deeding
one-half to new Orange County resident Francis W. Eppes, and the other
to Nicholas P. Trist, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
It needs to be pointed out that, in 1869, there were thousands
of available acres to homestead, but Attorney William M. Randolph wanted these
specific 160 acres that had previously been deeded solely to the first wife of
James G. Speer.
Why? What was so special about these 160 acres
bordering the west shore of Lake Pineloch in 1869? Could it be the voided
transaction and new deed had something to do with Isaphoenia (Ellington) Speer
being a great-granddaughter of Martha Eppes?
The answer and more when The Lake House concludes next
Friday, February 25, 2022.
The
History Tent
Beneath
the Giant Oaks
Pine
Castle Pioneer Days
February
26 & 27, 2022
Guest
speakers each day at 11AM, Noon, 1 PM, 2PM & 3PM
FREE Parking, FREE Admission, FREE Listening!
ALSO; stop by my Cronin Books Booth and say hello!
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