Naming Lakes Sue &
Virginia
1890
Orange County map of Lakes Sue and Virginia
During my ‘Naming the Winter Park Lakes’ presentation recently
at the Winter Park Historical Association, I was asked about the
accuracy of my version of how Lake Sue and Lake Virginia were
named. It was a legitimate question since another written history had assigned
credit for the naming differently: “Much, if not all the timber came from a sawmill
of George W, Moyers,” says an alternate version about where the wood came from
to build early Winter Park structures, “whose operation was located on a
portion of Lake Virginia’s shore now occupied by Rollins College.” Mr. Moyers,
concludes that alternate version, “named Lake
Virginia after his state of origin, Lake
Sue for his wife, the former Miss Henkel.” I believe this alternate version
is wrong!
I stand by the documented account as stated in my book
‘Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders and Namesakes.’ As is so often the case in
early Central Florida histories, oral histories are mistaken as facts to draw
incorrect conclusions. There was indeed a pioneer named George W. Moyers, who
did in fact have a sawmill and was indeed married to Susan Henkel. But Lake Sue
was not named for Susan (Henkel) Moyers.
Lake Sue is known to have been named as of mid-1882
because it is mentioned in a deed dated the 3rd of July of that year.
George W. Moyers never owned land on or near Lake Sue as of that date, whereas William
F and Susan P. Russell were homesteaders on 160 acres when they sold forty
of those acres to a Mr. Joseph H. Bruce, issuing a deed to the man which
contained the following wording: “about eleven and one-half acres being land,
and the remainder of said tract being in Lake Sue.” Russell’s deed correctly
gives the location of Lake Sue as Section 18, Township 22 South, Range 30 East
(Note the 18 printed on Lake Sue in the map above). “Mrs. Susan Russell,” after
the death of her husband, also placed an ad in the Orlando Evening Star
of 29 February 1884, attempting to sell her remaining 100 acres, land which,
according to her ad, was said to be located on “Lake Sue.”
3
July 1882 Lake Sue deed by William F. & Susan P. Russell [OCID#18839022136]
George W. Moyers had relocated his family from
Virginia by 1880 and was a resident of Orange County in the census of that year,
but his original homestead was not at Winter Park. The Moyers homestead of 1880
was in Township 21 South (not Township 22 South), six miles north of Lake Sue. West
of Altamonte Springs, Moyers property was near today’s intersection of
Montgomery Road and Highway 436. When Moyers arrived in 1880, Altamonte Springs
was at the time in its early development, and Winter Park had yet to establish
itself.
1890
Orange County map of G. W. Moyers west of Lake Orienta, Altamonte Springs
The 1880 Orange County census lists the youngest
Moyers child as 2 years old, born in Virginia. Moyers family records reflect
that a son Kagen was born at Altamonte Springs, Florida, on “16 February 1881.”
In February 1882, George W. Moyers purchased land at Winter Park, receiving a
deed which described his property as located on the shore of Lake Osceola in
Section 5, Township 22 South, 30 East. An 1884 map of Winter Park (see below) shows
the Moyer property as located on the shore of Lake Osceola.
1884
Winter Park map showing G. W. Moyers parcel on Lake Osceola
Lake Virginia
was already named when George W. Moyers relocated from Altamonte Springs to
Winter Park. In fact, Lake Virginia was already named when Moyers arrived in
Florida. We can establish this fact from another recorded deed dated May 29,
1878. The Moyers family was still at Virginia when Bolling R. & Helena Swoope
signed a deed which included this description of the parcel being sold: “to a
point in Lake Virginia.”
The Swoope’s had purchased 40 acres on Lake Virginia on
October 13, 1876, acquiring the land from a friend and fellow Virginian, Anzi
Arthur. Swoope and Arthur were residents of Augusta County, Virginia.
Lake Sue was indeed named
for the wife of a pioneer who had homesteaded on the lake, but the last name of
the pioneer was Russell, not Moyers. And Lake Virginia was in fact named
for the state of Virginia by a resident who had relocated from that state to
the Winter Park area, but the name of that pioneer was, I firmly believe based
upon extensive research, Swoope not Moyers.
References for my research of each of the 303 lakes
included in Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes can be found verified
for I list them at the end of each lake.
Early Central Florida written history does indeed
contain inaccurate information, but this is so, I believe, because of the tragic
times our pioneers endured while attempting to tame a wilderness that was
anything but kind to these newcomers. Survival topped the to-do list of every
day life, and the recording of an accurate history was far down on that same list.
But we have today an opportunity to peruse the many dated documents of
yesteryear – and right their story.
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