Women's History Month - Day 21

 

Frontierswomen of Central Florida

Jane (Murray) Sheldon

A Women’s History Month Tribute

By Richard Lee Cronin, CroninBooks.com

21 March 2022

 

Day 21

CitrusLAND is observing Women’s History Month by honoring extraordinary Central Florida frontierswomen. And as we celebrate Women’s History Month throughout March, we are also featuring each day a History Museum, listing their days and hours of operation.

See also our featured History Museum in this Post

 

Jane #Murray Sheldon of New Smyrna

Jane Murray was a teenager when she came with her mother to Mosquito County in the Florida Territory. It was the 1830s and they were among the first female settlers in a land having fewer than 75 white inhabitants. The 1840 Mosquito County census reported three women and a total of 70 men. You now know two of three.

Born 1812 at Philadelphia, Jane’s father’s death was the reason for Jane and her mother to come to Florida. Her mother had no place for them to live, no place but a Spanish Land Grant of 600 Florida acres that belonged to her father. The property was near present-day New Smyrna.

Around Christmas 1835, while Jane’s husband was off on business and she was alone with her children, Indians began attacking area settlers. She escaped by raising a sunken boat on the shore, caulking its holes with rags, and then hiding in the nearby mangroves.

Jane (Murray) Sheldon survived an Indian raid only to be attacked again by Union gunboats. On 26 July 1863, she watched helplessly as the gunboats approached, and without warning, began firing on her residence. Once again Jane ushered her family away from home, this time with grandchildren in tow, and hid in the nearby woods until it was safe to return home.

 

Jane Murray Tract (lower right) on Indian River

 

One of Orange County’s earliest Post Offices was New Smyrna, and one of the county’s earliest postmasters was Jane (Murray) Sheldon (Volusia County was formed in 1854), without a doubt the bravest of brave Central Florida frontierswomen.

[Further reading: CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise by Richard Lee Cronin]

 

Mary #Olson Sundell of Lake Mary

Lake Mary of present-day Seminole County was named, according to a longstanding legend, for a minister’s wife. The minister and his wife Mary, as the legend says, lived on the lake’s north shore.

Lake Mary Post Office was established February 26, 1887, providing an actual date for the lake’s name’s origin. Therefore, whoever the lake was named for of by would have had to be in the area by at least that date.

Mary Amelia (Olson) Sundell (1839-1921), wife of Reverend John F. Sundell (1843-1913), seems a good fit for the Mary in the legend. The Sundell’s arrived in America around 1870, and after first settling at Aroostook, Maine, came south to Florida sometime after the 1880 census.

Florida Land & Colonization Company of London sold three acres to Mary Sundell on March 29, 1887, about a month after the Lake Mary post office was established. Her parcel was described as: “All that island in Lake Mary and being on the NE ¼ of the NE ¼ of Section 15; Township 20 South; Range 30 East.” The lake was named in the sales contract to Mary Sundell, but again, that sale followed the naming of the lake and the post office.

1890 Map of Lake Mary (In Orange County at this time)

Mary Sundell was certainly in the area around the lake around the time of the naming, but is that sufficient to state emphatically that the lake was named for Mary Sundell?

William Webster was the first Postmaster at Lake Mary, and six weeks before Webster opened the post office, David J. Pulling, on January 7, 1887, likewise bought a lakeside parcel. Pulling’s deed however does not mention the lake by name. David Pulling had married Susan (Webster), a sister of Postmaster William Webster.

David Judson Pulling was the son of Ezekiel & Mary (Judson) Pulling, and David had recently buried his mother prior to coming to Florida. Mary (Judson) Pulling never lived in Florida, but her son did, and he settled on Lake Mary mere weeks before a Lake Mary post office opened.

The preacher’s wife, Mary (Olson) Sundell, also lived on the lake about the same time. So, who was Lake Mary named for?

[Further reading: Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes by Richard Lee Cronin].

 

Follow Author & Historian Richard Lee Cronin

https://www.amazon.com/author/richardcronin

 

 

Ethelyn #Parfitt Zell of Mount Dora

Ethelyn Maud Parfitt (1875-1948), better known to Mount Dorans as “Mrs. G. L. Zell”, continued her Woman’s Club membership until the time of her death, October 11, 1948. Hearing of the news of her friend’s death, Edith Edeburn Keller came out of retirement long enough to contribute to a frontpage obituary: “Mrs. Zell, An Unsung Soldier, Dies at Mount Dora Residence.”

“Her friends in Mount Dora say she was a heroin of World War II. They say her devotion to duty was just as demanding as that of a combat pilot or a foot soldier. She climbed the long flight of stairs to the aircraft warning post above the First National Bank,” wrote Edith Edeburn.

The founder of Mount Dora Topic added: “During the late war, Mrs. Zell busied herself with war work, to the exclusion of other activities. As assistant chief for the local aircraft warning service observation post, she served over 1,000 hours, filling not only her own allotted shifts, but holding herself responsible for many hours when the regular observers failed to appear.” And when not looking for approaching warplanes, said the Topic, “she was on hand at Red Cross headquarters, folding surgical dressings or doing whatever work was on hand.”

The Zell home at Eleventh Avenue and McDonald Street was built in 1918, and throughout her 30 years of wintering and residing full-time at Mount Dora, Ethelyn became best known for her work spearheading the beautification of Annie Donnelly Park. “For a number of years, she was a member of the Park Board, her special interest being the Donnelly Park, which, under her direction, became a real beauty spot with its artistic landscaping and planting”.

Ethelyn Zell established a Donnelly Park Beautification Fund and as Secretary of the Park Commission, personally accounted to the City for the income and expenditures of that Fund. An avid lover of flowers, she and her husband brought many of the rare flowers and plants to Mount Dora. “The climbing Lily was Mrs. Zell’s favorite,” wrote retired editor Edith Edeburn Keller, “and the Florida exhibits at World’s fairs in Chicago and New York were kept supplied with a profusion of these flowers from her garden.”

The beautification of Annie Donnelly Park by Ethelyn (Parfitt) Zell complimented that of her predecessor, “Mrs. Alfred Rehbaum,” aka Ruth (Merrill) Rehbaum (1897-1944) [See post of March 19]. Both ladies were active members of the Mount Dora Woman’s Club.

[Further Reading: Mount Dora: The Lure. The Founding. The Founders. By Richard lee Cronin]/

 

Our History Museum of the Day

Lake Mary Historical Museum

Photo courtesy TripAdvisor

158 N. Country Club Road

Lake Mary, FL 32746

Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 AM to 3 PM

407 – 585-1480

Questions or comments: Rick@CroninBooks.com