Women's History Month - Day 23

 

Frontierswomen of Central Florida

“I see the Mountain!”

A Women’s History Month Tribute

By Richard Lee Cronin, CroninBooks.com

23 March 2022

 

Day 23

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

 

Fannie #Randolph Robinson of Fort Reid

Born 1854 at St. Louis, Missouri, Fannie #Lambeth Randolph was the second daughter of William M. & Mary (Pitts) Randolph. Arriving at Fort Reid (Sanford) with her parents as a teenager in 1869, Fannie lived at the historic Orange House Hotel at Woodruff Place, a rustic 1850s residence on an orange grove dating to when the house had been built.

Built in the 1870 by Fannie’s parents, Orange House Hotel was located along the First Road to Orlando. Fannie’s parents also involved themselves in the planning of a railroad that was to run alongside their hotel. But in 1880, South Florida Railroad decided to start its journey south from Lake Monroe a mile to the west of Fort Reid, rendering the first road to Orlando obsolete. That change in railway plans rendered the Orange House Hotel obsolete as well.

After marrying Benjamin Robinson in 1883, Fannie and her groom continued living at the Orange House, although it no longer served as a hotel. Three Robinson children were born to Fannie & Benjamin while living at Fort Reid and prior to Fannie’s death at age 38 in 1892.

The three Robinson children were sent to live with relatives in Alabama at first, but all three returned to Central Florida after their father remarried. Mary Randolph Robinson, Fannie’s first born in 1894, graduated from Rollins College, attended Columbia University, and settled at Orlando until her death at age 82 in 1967. Her sister Fannie Robinson, born 1886 at Fort Reid, married Donald A. Cheney. Her mother’s namesake, Fannie Robinson Cheney celebrated her 104^th birthday prior to her death in 1990. William Randolph Robinson, the third child of Fannie and Benjamin M. Robinson, born in 1890, died at Orlando in 1971.

 

Mrs. Fannie (Robinson) Cheney (1886-1990)

 

Mary #Randolph Harney of Pine Castle

The Randolph’s had relocated to central Florida after the Civil War to bring the scattered family together. Fannie Randolph, mentioned previously, came from St. Louis with her parents, and her older sister, Mary St. Mayer Randolph, having married in 1868 to Will Wallace Harney, set out for Florida from Louisville, Kentucky.

Mary traveled overland in a covered wagon, a journey of nearly a thousand miles that took the newlyweds thru the devastation that had been wrought by four years of war. The long-slow land journey however became more and more difficult for the young mother-to-be. The Harney’s arrived at Fort Reid in 1869, in time for the Randolph clan to celebrate their first Christmas in Florida. For Mary St. Mayer (Randolph) Harney, it was to be her only Florida Christmas. Two weeks after arriving at Fort Reid, and after first giving birth to William Randolph Harney, Mary died, at age 25, on 8 January 1870.

Mary was laid to rest on her parent’s Fort Gatlin property overlooking Lake Gatlin. Will Wallace Harney raised their only child, and he never remarried. As years past, the son William Randolph Harney departed Central Florida, choosing to live in Miami and later Jacksonville. but before he left central Florida, William paid to have the remains of a mother he never knew reinterred at Orlando’s Greenwood Cemetery.

Writer and romantic Will Wallace Harney never fully recovered from the loss of his wife. His poetry and writings after the death of his one true love became the legacy of Mary (Randolph) Harney. Even his popular poem ‘The Bergamot’, was not really about an orange blossom.

We had no other gifts to give

But just one withering flower,

We had no other lives to live,

But just that sweet half hour.

The Bergamot by Will Wallace Harney

 

[Further reading: Will Wallace Harney: Orlando’s First Renaissance Man, written by Richard Lee Cronin for, and distributed by, Pine Castle historical Society; and Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County by Richard Lee Cronin].

 

Catherine #Reames Roberson-Reaves

Piecing together Orlando’s mysterious origin is tantamount to assembling a challenging jigsaw puzzle. Pieces to the complex puzzle include a surveyor’s sketch, a black & white photo of Lake Eola, a false legend of how the town got its name, a boy’s recollection of his first visit in 1861 to the county seat, and of course, a young teenage girl turned bride, Catherine Reames. 

Robert Roper was the young boy recalling for historian William F. Blackman his journey to Orlando with his father in April 1861. He recalled the date because on their way they learned the Confederate Army had attacked Fort Sumter. Robert Roper’s visit is also verified by a deed, a dated document itemizing store goods William C. Roper purchased from Henry Roberson.

Robert Roper, 8 years old in 1861, recalled the Roberson name too, but then, he knew well the wife of Henry Roberson. One year prior, young Robert and Catherine had made the long land journey to central Florida together. Cousins, their families traveled by convoy from Meriwether, Georgia to Orange County just before the War. Catherine was at that time 15 years old.

The Roper’s settled at Oakland Plantation, where the town of Winter Garden is today. Bartlett & Mary Reames, along with daughter Catherine, continued a bit further, settling down at what was then a tiny village only 3 years old. Four (4) acres in size, the village was called Orlando.

Catherine’s father purchased one of Orlando’s 12 town lots. Lot 1 to be exact, Bartlett’s town lot was 100’ x 100’. The lot was located where Orange County Library now stands. Bartlett Reames partnered with Henry Roberson and opened a store. Then, Henry took a fancy to young Catherine, and they soon married.

Bartlett Reames also acquired 80 acres adjacent to the east of the village, land abutting what we know today as Lake Eola.

After loading the store goods purchased, young Robert Roper, his father William, Bartlett Reames, and a pregnant Catherine (Reames) Roberson, departed Orlando and returned to the Roper homestead. Henry Roberson also departed Orlando, heading to Virginia to fight with the Confederacy. And never again did Henry see his wife, nor did he ever lay eyes on his infant son, Henry Roberson, Jr.

At War’s end, Widow Catherine, still a resident of West Orange County, married a second time. Husband number two for Catherine of the Many R’s was Mark Bryan Reaves.

Catherine (Reames) Roberson - Reaves became an integral piece of a mysterious puzzle that is today the origins of Orlando, a baffling origin centered around a fictitious legend of a mythical Orlando Reeves. The problem, you see, was that after the War, in the late 19^th century, Catherine returned to Orlando briefly to resolve her first husband’s estate, land bordering Lake Lucerne. In doing so, Catherine signed the document as Catherine Reaves.

 

 

Catherine (Reames) Roberson - Reaves

 

Catherine (Reames) Roberson- Reaves is buried in Winter Garden. Her tombstone is surrounded by grave markers of other family members, individuals identified as both Reaves and Reeves. There was no such person as Orlando Reeves, but Catherine, she was the real thing!

[Further reading: First Road to Orlando, by Richard Lee Cronin]

 

Follow author & Historian Richard Lee Cronin 

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

 

Fannie Fraser #Ross Franklin of Montverde

Mishack Ross married Mary Fraser at Washington, DC prior to their relocating to Mississippi, where, in 1857, their first of two daughters, Fannie Fraser #Ross, was born. By 1870, Fannie, at age 13, was back in DC, enrolled as a student at the Visitation Convent in Georgetown. At age 20, Fannie Fraser Ross married at Washington, DC, her groom being Lt. James Franklin, who graduated that same year from the Naval Academy at nearby Annapolis, Maryland.

Lt. Franklin was assigned to the Pacific fleet, where he served on the U. S. S. Ashuelot until he was hospitalized due to an onboard accident. Discharged because of an injury, James & Fannie (Ross) Franklin came to Sumter County, Florida, homesteaded overlooking the west shore of Lake Apopka, and, like most every other pioneer of the early 1880s, planted orange trees.

Franklin Pond at Montverde was named for James & Fannie Ross, but name origins extend well beyond this tiny pond called Franklin. Although others had settled in this region long before the Franklin’s arrived, the community had yet to be formally named. The name Montverde, Florida does not appear in print until circa 1887, when the arrival of Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad encouraged the citizens to name their town. But Montverde likely meant little or nothing to most area settlers on the west shore of Lake Apoka. Most, but not all.

Perhaps it is merely a coincidence that a young student from Georgetown settled in a wilderness at the foot of Sumter County’s Sugarloaf Mountain. More a hill actually, but an unnamed hilltop until the arrival of Fannie (Ross) Franklin.

Sugarloaf Mountain was and remains familiar to Georgetown residents. A  distinguished family named Peters of Georgetown and Washington, DC had kept summer cottages at Maryland’s nearby Sugarloaf Mountain since the 1700s, one such cottage being called Montanverde, the other Montevideo. One could see sugarloaf from Montevideo, said to be Latin for, “I see the Mountain.”

Although a historic Novel which takes place in the 1880s, the true-life Fannie (Ross) Franklin is a character in this author’s book, The Rutland Mule Matter. A story about a real-like Central Florida Civil War coverup, the Franklin’s of Montverde offers the Rutland family advice about traveling to DC – an 1888 journey in search of Civil War information that might lead to finding their missing father, Isaac N. Rutland. In my Novel, Fannie suggests they take a side trip while in DC.

Fannie (Ross) Franklin lived at Montverde. She and husband James also deeded a portion of their land to establish the town of Montverde. The Franklin’s left their mark on Franklin Pond, and a schoolgirl named Fannie left her mark as well on the city of Montverde.  

[Further reading: The Rutland Mule Matter and CitrusLAND, DC, both by Richard Lee Cronin].

 

History Museum of the Day

Seminole County Historical Society

Museum and Gift Shop

Call for directions and times

Five Points, Highway 17-92

407-665-2489

 

Questions? Comments? Email Rick@CroninBooks.com