ORLANDO Founding Families: The SPEER Maternal family

Part 7: The SPEER family of ORLANDO, Maternal side

Solving Orlando’s mysterious origin first requires accepting the fact Orlando REEVES is a work of total fiction. He never existed! Now, with that in mind, consider these two important yet little-known clues to solving the mystery: (1) Widower James G. SPEER decided to return to Orange County from Dunedin, Florida after the end of the Civil War; and (2) Thomas H. HARRIS chose to remain there on the Gulf Coast!

Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer, courtesy Winter Garden Heritage Foundation

The story of how Orlando came to be was complicated by a husband and father not wanting to hurt the feelings of those he loved. But the result of James being nice meant Isaphoenia needed to be forgotten! It’s not like he had planned it that way, more like history taking a strange turn!

It was 1868 when Judge Speer (Part 6), after burying Isaphoenia at Dunedin, returned to Orange County to learn James & Sansparillo Jackson had both died. The Jackson’s had purchased the 660 acre Speer estate on Lake Apopka prior to the Speer’s moving to Dunedin. A Jackson daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was living on the property when Judge Speer returned from the Gulf Coast. On February 7, 1869, Mary E. Jackson became James G. Speer’s second wife.

Judge Speer & Mary (Jackson) settled on land each spouse was familiar with, 660 acres that in 1858 had been purchased by the first Mrs. Speer. The second Mrs. Speer had inherited the land from her parents. So, with exception of a brief sojourn during the War, James had lived on the Lake Apopka property with Mrs. Speer for a decade. The only difference was the identity of Mrs. Speer!

Fast forward to 1887 and we find Judge James G. Speer recording a plat for Town of Oakland, a new town on the same 660 acres Mrs. Speer acquired in 1858. Children of the first wife of James G. Speer had married and were raising their own children in the Oakland area by 1887. And so too were children from Judge Speer’s second marriage.

Folks in 1887 were also becoming curious about their county’s history, and who better to ask than Judge James G. Speer. But what was he to say, that it all started because of his first wife?

PIECING TOGETHER A COMPLICATED PUZZLE:

As Confederates began firing upon Charleston’s Fort Sumter in 1861, Lady Isaphoenia Speer of Orange County had already accumulated 1,700 acres – land deeded in her name and her name alone (see also Part 6). The bulk of Lady Isaphoenia’s 1860 owned land is today the towns of Oakland and Winter Garden, but she owned three strategic parcels along the original Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road too: 40 acres at Fort Reid; 160 acres at Lakes Highland & Ivanhoe; and 160 acres at Lake Pineloch. By War’s end, Lady Isaphoenia had liquidated nearly all of her Orange County property and relocated with Judge Speer to Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Lady Isaphoenia (Ellington) Speer, a native of Abbeville, South Carolina, 7^th of 13 children born to John & Obedience H. Ellington, married James G. Speer in 1840. Obedience (Bedy) married John Ellington at Abbeville, SC in 1805, but by 1828, she had become a widow. Three of her 13 children at the time were under the age of 10.

In 1831, Widow Obedience H. Ellington married Widower William Harris Caldwell. Both were getting up there in age, but did have one child together, Benjamin F. Caldwell, born 1834 at Abbeville, prior to the Caldwell’s relocating to Talladega, AL.

William H. Caldwell became legal guardian in 1838 of Isaphoenia C; Parthenia A; and Justivia C Ellington, three girls ages 11, 12 and 14, each a daughter of deceased John Ellington.

At age 16, Isaphoenia C. Ellington married James G. Speer in 1840. Their first child, Catherine, was born the following year in South Carolina. And by 1854, the mother of four moved with her husband James to central Florida. Lady Isaphoenia, on March 27, 1858, made her first of many Orange County land acquisitions. 

ORANGE COUNTY FROM 1854 to 1857

1854: James & Isaphoenia Speer arrived in central Florida, but as stated last week in Part Six, their reason for moving to Florida is uncertain. Most new arrivals of that time applied for a free homestead – James Speer did not. Most new arrivals of the time left a legacy in the form of land ownership – James Speer did not. Some believe the Speer’s lived at Fort Gatlin, others say Lake Ivanhoe – but no actual land record exists prior to 1858 substantiating their residence location.

1855: Bedy H. & William H. Caldwell of Talladega, AL recorded a deed at Orange County on June 13^th, naming their daughter, Isaphoenia C. Speer; William Harris Caldwell, stepfather of Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer, died October 29^th at Talladega. Benjamin F. Caldwell, age 21, was living at Talladega with his wife, Louisa B. Morris. Ben & Louisa had married November 10, 1853 at Talladega. Benjamin became administrator of his father’s estate in October, 1855.

1856: James Speer enlisted with Aaron Jernigan’s Orange County, FL Militia, but so too did a Thomas H. Harris, age 46, and son John Moffett Harris, age 18. The father and son were both named on the March 10, 1856 muster roll. Benjamin F. Caldwell was not listed, but five (5) days later, on March 15, 1856, Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL purchased 119 acres of Orange County land that is now downtown Orlando. Meanwhile, back at Talladega, William, the first child of Benjamin & Louisa Caldwell, was born in November of 1856.

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1857: John R. Worthington became first Postmaster of Orlando Post Office, opened September 19^th, Thomas H. Harris was Orange County’s Justice of the Peace. James G. Speer signed a deed for Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL, donating four acres to Orange County for the site of a courthouse; At Talladega, AL on October 31, 1857, Benjamin F. Caldwell signed a power of attorney giving James G. Speer the authority to “take possession of all Caldwell real estate in Orange County and sell, grant or convey” all 119 acres acquired by Benjamin F. Caldwell a year earlier, in 1856.

Village of Orlando had become a reality by September 1857, but who was its founder and why? Speer and Caldwell are understandably the names most associated with the town’s founding, but one important surname, “ELLINGTON,” is missing. Neither Caldwell nor Speer displayed any real interest as developers, so why then did they go through the motions? Was the founding a town of Orlando on their honey-do list?

Fact is, of all central Florida pioneers mentioned thus far, only ONE is of a bloodline leading to ancestors (plural) named ORLANDO. A family connection is not found through Ben Caldwell. Nor is a connection found in the bloodline of James G. Speer. The lineal descendant of the name Orlando is John ELLINGTON (1778-1828), father of Lady ISAPHOENA.

John Ellington was born at Amelia County, VA. His Paternal great-grandmother was Martha EPPES (related to Francis Eppes of Orlando’s Lake Pineloch – and by amazing coincidence, the very same Lake Pineloch Eppes parcel was first owned by Lady Isaphoenia.) John’s Maternal line is where we find the Orlando’s. He was the nephew of Frances Orlando Jones of Virginia, and also a great-grandson of the Honorable ORLANDO Jones (1861-1719) of Williamsburg, VA. (Martha Washington, wife of President George Washington, was also a great granddaughter of Orlando Jones of Williamsburg.

William H. Caldwell, it appears, was in the process of memorializing noble ancestors for his stepchildren, doing so by arranging Orlando as the Orange County’ seat of government. He died before his work was finished, so his young son begrudgingly carried on after his father’s death. William Harris Caldwell didn’t come to the wilderness of Florida to establish a city though, he instead sent a trusted emissary. Families of the Village continues next week with the HARRIS family of Orlando.

Next Friday, May 24, 2019: Thomas H. HARRIS

“First Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange County seat of government.

Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to settle at Orlando.

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin

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

FOR MORE ON THE SPEER’S

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, and

First Road to Orlando and Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award-winning books

ORLANDO Founding Families: The SPEER Family

Part Six: The SPEER Patriarch: 

Judge James G. Speer remains as much a part of ORLANDO’S mysterious origin as any potential town founder. But so too is Judge Speer’s first wife, Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer. The second Speer family to settle at Orange County, James and Isaphoenia appear to have followed a cousin, Algernon S. Speer, who had settled on the south shore of Lake Monroe in the early 1840s.

Historians tend agree James Gamble Speer arrived during 1854. The first recorded transaction by the Clerk of Court for James G. Speer appears to have been September 13, 1854. Speer also served in Aaron Jernigan’s 1856 Orange County Militia, listed on the muster rolls as a private. But unlike most newcomers, James G. Speer did not apply for a homestead, a fact which makes it difficult to establish where the family had settled first. By 1860, James & Isaphoenia were living where today exists the town of Oakland, in West Orange County.

The Speer’s at Oakland is itself a fascinating story, but before that, a huge question mark remains. Where was the Speer’s Orange County home from 1854 to 1860?

James Speer outlived most of the earliest Village of Orlando organizers. C. E. Howard, publisher of Early Settlers of Orange County (1915), included an extensive biography of “Judge J. G. Speer,” in which Howard wrote of Speer: “He took an active part in the organizing of the county.”

Judge Speer was also the individual signing for Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama in 1857. That October land donation, for the site of Orange County’s Courthouse, even earned Speer a permanent place near the top of the list of potential town founders. But Judge James G. Speer had signed the 1857 deed by attaching a Power of Attorney. In other words, Speer had signed for Benjamin F. Caldwell. So, what did that mean?

Born June 23, 1820 in South Carolina, James G. Speer had not only been married twice while a resident of Orange County, his two lovely brides truly complicate the task of solving the mystery of Orlando’s founding. The man had children from each spouse, which further complicated the job for 19^th century historians desiring to learn of and report the story of Orlando’s founding.

C. E. Howard’s ‘Early Settlers of Orange County’ (1915) explained Orange County’s selection of a county seat process this way: “This was a three-cornered fight: Fort Reid; The Lodge (so called because here was located the only Masonic Lodge in the county), now Apopka City; and Fort Gatlin, each place being championed by its settlers. A distant cousin, Dr. Sidney Speer, led the Fort Reid forces; Isaac Newton led the Lodge crowd; and Judge Speer led the Ft. Gatlin settlers, and Fort Gatlin won. At once the question of a name came up and was named “Orlando” by Judge Speer for one of Shakespeare’s actors.” Howard’s description appears conclusive until one considers the half-dozen other versions of how Orlando came to be.

C. E. Howard, publisher of Early Settlers of Orange County (1915)

Last week, Part Five of this series told of half-sibling Benjamin F. Caldwell and his apparent lack of interest in town building. As administrator of his father’s estate, young Ben gave the job of resolving his father’s Florida property to a brother in law, James G. Speer. But James already had a history in town building, the town being Belton, South Carolina.

James G. Speer had practiced law under Judge John Belton O’Neal, and apparently thought highly of the South Carolina Judge because the Speer’s named their son, John Belton Speer. The judge however was also interested in railroad building and became the first President of C & G Railroad of Anderson County, South Carolina. And along the C&G route a new town appeared, the town of Belton, South Carolina, named for the judge.

History of Anderson County explains what happened next: “One of the hopeful new settlers was Ephriam Mayfield. Trusting in the boom predicted for the place he ventured too deeply in its promised results and losing everything that he owned in despair killed himself in the woods adjoining his home.” The railroad was completed into Belton in 1853, and two years later, George W. McGee bought the recently completed hotel. So, some investors did okay, others, not so much! (Now seems a good time as any to mention that G. W. McGee was the brother of the wife of John R. Worthington, Orlando’s First Postmaster in 1857 – of Part Three of our series!)

On the 3^rd of February 1853 defendant J. G. Speer admitted to owing $4,000 to J. W. Norris of Anderson County. Speer was slapped with the first of two judgments, one from Norris for $4000 and a second in the amount of $3,000 from J. N. Whitner. (Attorney J. N. Whitner was the uncle of Orange County Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner, Jr.).

Orlando’s plot thickens! Young Benjamin F. Caldwell had his hands full at Talladega, Alabama resolving his deceased father’s many properties, so he gave his brother in law in Florida a power of attorney to resolve the town building matter begun by his father. But Benjamin’s brother in law, James G. Speer, had already tried the town building thing, lost big, and still had judgments hanging over his head from that failed venture.

Orange County’s ‘town’ thing however meant a lot to Judge Speer’s wife, and so he accepted the assignment while staying clear of the matter at the same time. Meanwhile, hotelman McGee of Belton, South Carolina sent his sister Frances and her husband, John R. Worthington, to the little central Florida village of Orlando, where John built the Worthington House Hotel.

Note "WORTHINGTON HOTEL" as sketched on map above by John Otto Fries

As for why the town mattered to James Speer’s wife – that’s a ‘matter’ for next week, when the Speer family of ORLANDO continues.

Next Friday, May 17, 2019: Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) SPEER continues

“First Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange County seat of government.

Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to settle at Orlando.

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin

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

FOR MORE ON THE SPEER’S

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise;

First Road to Orlando and 
Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award-winning books

ORLANDO Founding Families: The CALDWELL Family

The CALDWELL family of Talladega, Alabama

Historians, when talking origins of Orlando, typically call out the name Caldwell among the town’s possible founders, but usually name the wrong Caldwell! But the mistaken Caldwell identity is understandable in light of all we now know.

Orlando circa 1880s, 24 years after its founding

Rollins College President and historian William F. Blackman, in 1927, introduced “Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama.” As founder evidence goes, Blackman’s research had indeed been convincing. Referencing an Orange County deed, Benjamin F. Caldwell of Caldwell gave four acres of land for a courthouse. The deed also identified the land around the courthouse site as “Town of Orlando.” Case closed! But was the town’s founding that cut and dry?

Recorded October 5, 1857, the deed described Town of Orlando as 417’ x 417’ square – or four acres. The village included twelve (12) town lots, eleven of which were gifted to Orange County as well. A 100’ x 100’ square Lot 10 was excluded from the land given to the county. Oddly, Orlando wasn’t located alongside a lake, so in the 1870s a well – shown above out from of the courthouse - became the town’s source for drinking water.

When looking over Caldwell’s deed two questions immediately came to mind. Who was this guy Caldwell, and why did he include the eleven town lots with his gift of land? If Benjamin was a developer, it’s easy to understand why he wanted the courthouse at center of his property. But why give away his land around the courthouse?

The only way for me to answer these questions was to learn more about this person Benjamin Franklin Caldwell. And so, I did!  I found he was 16 years old in 1850 and living at Talladega with his parents, William H. & Obedience H. Caldwell. I was then surprised to find Benjamin’s parents in pre-1857 Orange County deeds. One such deed, signed in 1855 by William H. & Obedience H. Caldwell of Talladega, identified their child who at the time was an Orange County resident – and that child was not Benjamin!

William H. Caldwell died in 1855. Benjamin, at that time age 21, became administrator of his father’s estate. So, learning this information, a second look at Benjamin’s 1857 deed found it had also been signed off by a probate judge. Benjamin F. Caldwell was serving as administrator of his father’s estate when he donated Orange County’s courthouse land.

Caldwell family in 1850 Talladega, Alabama census 

At the time of his death William H. Caldwell of Talladega was land rich. He had accumulated thousands of Alabama acres, plus some land in Florida. Ben had his hands full in resolving his father’s Alabama estate, and so he turned to his brother in law in Florida to assist in resolving the Orange County matter, a “matter” begun by his father for the benefit of Benjamin’s sister. (An older half-sister to be exact!)

The Florida matter had begun around 1854, while the father was still very much alive. It was at that time that Benjamin’s half-sister moved to Orange County, Florida. UCF Professor Paul W. Wehr, author of ‘From Mosquito to Orange County,’ published by the Pine Castle Historical Society, unearthed an interesting fact about Ben Caldwell.

Professor Wehr located a land office record showing Benjamin F. Caldwell purchased 119.95 acres of Orange County land March 15, 1856, paying $1.25 per acre. The importance of this document is its date, for it precedes recorded land deeds of 1857 and 1858 mentioned earlier in this Families of the Village series.

Caldwell and Patrick families both believed they owned the same parcel at the same time!

Although the Caldwell’s lived at Talladega, Benjamin was a native of Abbeville, SC. So too was his half-sister, but she was living in Orange County as of 1854. Benjamin F. Caldwell NEVER lived in the Village of Orlando, and only lived in Orange County for less than a year. (Benjamin arrived at Lake Apopka circa Christmas 1857 and departed circa Christmas 1858.

Benjamin Caldwell’s half-sister meanwhile had accumulated 1,700 acres throughout Orange County – all land deeded in her name alone. Like her step-father, Benjamin’s half-sister was also land rich!

Benjamin’s half-sister was the first wife of James G. Speer. And the Caldwell deed giving four acres to Orange County was signed by James G. Speer, but his signature was backed up by a power of attorney - signed by Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega. In other words, Benjamin had given Speer full authority to get rid of all of Caldwell’s Orange County land.

What then does all this mean? William Harris Caldwell, it appears, set out to establish a Florida town named for ancestors of his wife’s daughter, Benjamin’s half-sister, the first wife of James G. Speer. The ancestor was on the deceased husband's side of Benjamin's mother. In the process, William died, and so his son, not interested in being involved with this family matter, gave the Speer’s authority to complete the town building process if they so desired.

After finally closing out his father’s Talladega estate, Benjamin tried living near his half-sister in West Orange County, but that experiment lasted only a year. By Christmas 1858, the Caldwell’s were heading west to Cass County, Texas. Then came the Civil War, and Ben enlisted with the Texas Calvary. Benjamin F. Caldwell, in 1864, died as a result of friendly fire. Following his 1864 death in Texas, and except for a deed mentioning his name, Orlando lost all knowledge of a founder named Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama.

Caldwell family in Cass County, Texas 1860 Census including Ben's mother "Bedy H"

To a certain extent, Orange County history also forgot about Ben’s half-sister, Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) Speer. But we did not forget, and her story comes next, when Families of the Village continues next Friday, May 10, 2019.

       

Friday, May 10, 2019: Isaphoenia C. (Ellington) SPEER

“First Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange County seat of government.

Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to settle at Orlando.

ALSO AVAILABLE NOW AT AMAZON.COM

How 300 central Florida lakes were named: ORLANDO LAKES

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin

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

FOR MORE ON THE CALDWELL’S

First Road to Orlando, by Richard Lee Cronin
AND
CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, by Richard Lee Cronin

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award winning books

ORLANDO Founding Families: The PATRICK family

PART FOUR: The PATRICK family

Dated 30 August 1858, a poorly worded property deed, signed by “John & Linney Patrick,” complicates the story of a mysterious town of Orlando that unfortunately still cannot be fully resolved today. All that can be done now is to try and speculate the deed’s intent. The Patrick deed conveyed 113.94 acres to Postmaster John R. Worthington (Part Three), and yet there is no record as to how the Patrick’s came to own the land.

Orange County History Center at right fronting on 1857 Village of Orlando

Making matters more difficult to figure out today is that the description of the land spelled out in Patrick’s deed identifies a piece of property 119.95 acres in size. Nothing is mentioned in their deed about exceptions, so what then are we to assume of the missing 6.01 acres?

What we do know is that the four-acre original town of Orlando was on the land as specified in Patrick’s deed. Shown in the photo above is Heritage Park out front of Orange County’s History Center. The park occupies most of the original four acres that made up Orlando from 1857 to 1875. The Patrick deed of 1858 failed to mention anything about a town on their land. These four acres however account for the bulk of the 6.01 acres discrepancy.

Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL had gifted the four acres to the county ten (10) months prior to the Patrick’s selling their 113.94 acres to Postmaster Worthington.

Two unknown facts are important facts in attempting to resolve the mystery of how Orlando came to be. First, it’s unknown how the Patrick’s came to own the above described land. Second, its unknown how Ben Caldwell qualified for his homestead deed. The U. S. Land Office issued a deed to “Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama for ALL 119.95 acres mentioned above. He, according to deeds, owned the land that the Patrick’s sold to Worthington.

One fact about Orlando history that “John & Linney Patrick” have over all other pioneers introduced thus far in this series is that they were included in the 1850 Orange County census, listed as family #45 of 55 families living in all of Orange County at that time.

John Patrick (age 40 in 1850, born South Carolina); and Lyna (age 31 in 1850, born Georgia); appear with five children: Richard (age 10 born GA); Joseph (age 8 born GA); Ellen (age 5 born Florida); Rebecca (age 3 born Florida); and Cornelius (age 2 born Florida). The first Patrick child born in Florida was 1845, which supports family history that says the Patrick family followed Aaron Jernigan to Florida. The Jernigan’s arrived around 1843.

Were John & Linney Patrick “Squatters”? Aaron Jernigan, Isaac Jernigan, and Wright Patrick each filed their own application for homestead land. John Patrick did not, despite the fact he and his family were living in Orange County as early as 1845, and were still residing at the “Orlando Post Office during the 1860 census.”

  

1880 attachment to the Reid-Patrick Orlando Village land settlement

Robert R. Reid of Palatka, in 1880, recorded a series of documents in an attempt to settle long-standing land ownership disputes dating to the 1850s. One such document included the Patrick family. The drawing above was an attachment to the Reid-Patrick settlement, a sketch showing two “Patrick” parcels, (each circled in red by this author).

One of the two “Patrick” parcels is shown as adjacent to the village and north of Lots 1, 2, 3 & 4 of the 12 Lot Village of Orlando. (Orange County History Center is located today on most of the land shown to be “Patrick” land in 1880). The other Patrick parcel is shown as west of Lot 7 and is identified as the “Patrick home”. (This parcel is today the southeast corner of Orange Avenue and Central Boulevard).

The very same two “Patrick” parcels were then shown on a Plat of Orlando recorded by Robert R. Reid in 1881. The plat, as shown below, shows the original village of Orlando as shaded, and shows both Patrick parcels as well. Pointed out by red arrows (added by this author), arrow 1 points to the Patrick land north of the village – today the location of the History Center. Arrow 2 points to the “Patrick Home” at the southeast corner of Orange Avenue and Central Boulevard.

1881 Plat of Orlando by Robert R. Reid of Palatka

The Reid document confirms that a Patrick family had a “home” located adjacent to the four acres village of Orlando as of 1880, so the questions remaining are which Patrick family, and when was the Patrick “home” built? Can the square box on Reid’s 1881 plat shown marked with a red “3-?” (added by author), provide an answer to these questions?

The land marked “3-?” was sold June 12, 1867. Identified as south of the E. W. Speir (Mizell) Store (Lot 10 of the Village) and land owned by “William Whitted,” east of land owned by “W. A. Lovell,” and south and west of land owned by “Teasdale & Reid”, this one-square acre was sold by “John & Linny Patrick.” Involved as stated landowners in 1858 and again in 1867, the Patrick family of the earliest days of the Village of Orlando were obviously John & Malinda (Linney) Patrick. And it seems plausible to suggest this Patrick family lived at Orlando long before there was a place called Orlando.

Surnames Whitted, Lovell, Teasdale and Reid each had a place in the story of Orlando, but we first need to delve into the Alabama mystery man – land donor, Benjamin F. Caldwell.

Next Friday, May 3, 2019: Benjamin F. CALDWELL of Talladega, AL

“First Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange County seat of government.

Orlando Founding Families Series delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to settle at Orlando.

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin

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

FOR MORE ON THE PATRICK’S

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, and

First Road to Orlando and Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Visit my Amazon Author Page above for a complete listing of my award winning books

ORLANDO Founding Families: Postmaster WORTHINGTON

Postmaster WORTHINGTON

On February 15, 1864, as a small regiment of Florida’s 2^nd Calvary made their way to Olustee Station near Lakeland, they happened upon the enemy at Gainesville’s rail yard. Civil War archives describe the incident which followed as minor, but what happened at Gainesville that day forever changed the tiny Orange County start-up village named Orlando.

Location in 1861 of WORTHINGTON House; Lots 2 & 3 of Village of Orlando, FL

About a hundred Union soldiers snuck into Gainesville that day in 1864, intent on capturing a Confederate train. As they were preparing to do just that however, the Calvary showed up, and Florida’s Home Guard boys became intent on denying the Union any success. When gunfire finally ceased, several Union soldiers had been taken prisoners, two of Florida’s Calvary had suffered minor injuries, and another, Captain John R. Worthington, lay seriously wounded.

Sketch by Surveyor J. O. Fries of 1871 Orlando and “Worthington’s Hotel”

Orlando’s first-ever Postmaster and proprietor of a boarding house located on Lots 2 & 3 of the village, John R. Worthington of Florida’s 2^nd Calvary, died February 16, 1864 at Gainesville.

POSTMASTER WORTHINGTON:

A half dozen or more versions of Orlando’s origin have surfaced over the past 160 years, and one such version was that the town was founded by “Postmaster Worthington.” Having his name on the list of potential “founders” is understandable, for the first documented evidence of the town’s name is found in U. S. Post Office archives. That record reflects the Orlando Post Office was established September 19, 1857, and that the first postmaster was John. R. Worthington.

Despite being of age in 1856, Worthington was not listed in the roster of Orange County Militia that year, suggesting he had not yet arrived when the Militia was organized. John and his family were living in Augusta, GA in 1850, so the South Carolina native appears to have moved to Orlando after 1850, and likely during the year 1857. He is found in 1860 Orlando as a Widower, residing with three children: Daughter Henrietta (age 14); Son William Milton (age 16), and Son B. McGee (age 12). A family of six at 1850 Augusta, the Worthington’s were a family of four by 1860. By the end of America’s Civil War, Henrietta Worthington, by then living at Mellonville, would be the sole survivor of one of Orlando’s early founding families.

“There was a frame house north of the court house,” said Robert Roper to historian William F. Blackman in 1927, telling the historian of his visit to Orlando in 1861, as an 8 year old boy. The frame house, said Roper, was “owned by J. R. Worthington and used as a boarding house; here the judge and lawyers boarded when holding court.”

THE LANDOWNERS

Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL gifted the entire four acres of Village of Orlando, except Lot 10 (Part One), to Orange County for a courthouse on the 5^th of October 1857. Later recorded deeds establish John R. Worthington built his home on Lots 2 and 3 by 1861 – but the land was technically owned by Orange County.

Henry Roberson had opened a store on Lot 1 by 1861 – on land also owned by Orange County.

An 1858 James Yates deed (Part Two) mentions “J. R. Worthington’s land,” in a vaguely worded legal description. That same year, on August 13, 1858, another vaguely worded legal description was signed by “John & Linney Patrick”, conveying 113.94 acres to John R. Worthington. So, by 1858, James Yates, John R. Worthington and John Patrick all had ties to the exact same parcel.

But so too did Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, AL. The individual most often cited as the founder of Orlando, (or connected somehow to the town founder), Ben Caldwell received a homestead deed in 1860 - for the same 113.94 acres Worthington bought from the Patrick in 1858. To qualify for a homestead deed however, one had to live on the land five consecutive years – suggesting Benjamin F. Caldwell lived on his homestead beginning in 1855. We know he did not!

            Patrick to Worthington: 1858: “The south half and northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 26, Township 22 South, Range 29 East, containing 113.94 acres.”

            Land Office to Caldwell: 1860: “The south half and northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 26, Township 22 South, Range 29 East, containing 119.95 acres.”

(Slightly different in wording, the deed descriptions are the same. The acreage difference likely had to do with a one acre “Free Church Site” of 1857; the four-acre Village of Orlando of 1857; and that odd one-acre Needham Yates parcel of 1858 mentioned in Part Two).

The overlap of ownership is verified by a mortgage dated November 7, 1859, in which John R. Worthington secured a $675 loan from Palatka merchants Teasdale & Reid. John R. Worthington used his Village of Orlando land as collateral. The mortgage, issued prior to the land office deed of 1860 to Benjamin F. Caldwell, was still unpaid in 1867 when Robert R. Reid submitted the low bid at a Sheriff’s auction to buy the entire 113 acres village of Orlando.

Confusing indeed, but there is no simple way of establishing the fact that numerous individuals believed they legitimately owned land at what is today the hub of downtown Orlando. (NOTE: NINE (9) decades later, in the year 1973, a judgment was issued against the families and heirs of Caldwell, Patrick and Worthington in favor of a downtown builder to finally resolve a century of confusion and give the builder a clear title.)

John R. Worthington (1820-1864) had married Frances McGee (1820-1859) on the 13^th of April 1841. The couple’s first child, Henrietta, was born the next year. Frances (McGee) Worthington was dead however prior to the 1860 census.

Several months prior to John R. Worthington being killed at Gainesville, FL in 1864, his 18 years old son, William Milton Worthington, died of “disease” at Jacksonville’s Camp Finegan (Many a soldier who died during the Civil War died of just such a cause). The youngest boy, Burrell McGee Worthington, named for his Maternal grandfather, vanished by 1868.

John Worthington didn’t make it to Florida’s most famous Civil War battle. He died on the way, but the son of a prominent central Florida founder did participate in the Battle of Olustee. Arthur Alexander Speer, eldest son of Dr. Algernon & Christiania (Ginn) Speer of Mellonville, fought in and was injured during the battle. Arthur was discharged as a result, and he returned home.

Arthur A. Speer, in 1870, married the sole-surviving member of one of Village of Orlando’s first families, Henrietta (Worthington).

Henrietta & Arthur had four known children: Christiania, born 1871, named for Arthur’s mother; Arthur Ginn Speer, born 1872, named for Christiania’s father, Arthur Speer’s grandfather and planter of central Florida’s first commercial orange grove; Milton A. Speer, born 1877, named for Henrietta’s brother who had died of disease in the Civil War; and Ella Louise Speer, born 1881.

Arthur A. Speer died at Sanford in 1889 at age 50. Widow Henrietta (Worthington) Speer moved away from central Florida soon after, and she died at Birmingham, AL 1922, at the age of 80.

CARE TO SHARE HISTORY OF THIS FAMILY? Feel free to comment or add family history in the comment section. But please keep the subject matter of this blog. Thanks,  

 Next Friday, April 26, 2019: The PATRICK family of ORLANDO

“First Road to Orlando” is a history of the old Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road and of how a tiny village in the middle of a remote wilderness became the Orange County seat of government.

This Orlando Founding Families delves deeper into the courageous pioneers who found their way along a lonely dusty forts trail – to become the first families to settle at Orlando.

Central Florida History by Richard Lee Cronin

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

FOR MORE ON WORTHINGTON

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, and

First Road to Orlando

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