USA > Florida > Orange County > Early settlers of Orange County, Florida; reminiscent-historic-biographic, 1915 > Part 3
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22
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
JUDGE WILLIAM MARTIN
JUDGE WILLIAM MARTIN
William Martin is a native of North Carolina and came to Orange County in 1884, locating at Apopka, then the best known place in the county, and where a number of citizens of Orlan- do first located.
After practicing law until 1887, he
moved to the county seat, Or- lando, and went into the office of Abrams & Bryan, Judge Bryan being his close friend.
In 1890 he was elected Justice of the Peace and later was
elected County Judge, which office he has held for sixteen years.
Judge Martin is a fraternal man of a niim- ber of organizations, known and liked by all his associates.
When one visits the courthouse he naturally gravitates to the County Judge's offices, the second door to the right of the entrance, and he generally sees seated at his desk a quiet unassuming gentleman who will greet one and all pleasantly and yet with a certain reserve, which is the outer door left ajar to the good and generous heart of a man who is not given to exclamation points, but who holds his friends closely and attends to his duties with extraordinary fidelity.
It is because of these traits of character that Judge William Martin has held the office he fills for so long a period as sixteen years and probably will continue to hold as long as he wants it or can be prevailed upon to keep it.
HON. A. B. NEWTON
Mr. Newton is a Mississippian, having been born in Itawamba County, that state, in 1864. He received his education in the common schools and academies of that county.
He was first married to Miss Minnie Odella Harrison, at Tilden, in 1887. In 1892 he came to Orange County, Fla., locating in Winter Garden. His wife died in 1893, and in 1898 he married Miss Alice Bennett Carothers, of Shannon, Miss.
Mr. Newton is a man whom his fellow citi- zens regard so highly, in whom they have so much confidence that they insist he must serve them.
Since his twenty-fifth year, Mr. Newton has held a number of public offices. At that early age, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in his home county. In 1904 he was a presidential elector on the Parker and Davis ticket.
In 1900 he served as a member of the Flor- ida Legislature and was instrumental in fash- ioning several important measures.
In 1915 he was again elected to the Legis- lature, where his influence was always on the right side of public questions and his influence
was invariably used for the general good of the people. He is regarded as a man of poise and courage in his section, a busy business man, having held the position of agent for the Coast Line and the Tampa & Gulf railroads, en- gaged in or- ange buying and packing, was editor of the "Richo- chet," and
later owner and editor of "The Orange County Citi- zen," which he sold to C. E. Howard. Also carried on a large mercan- tile business.
IION. A. B. NEWTON
23
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
SHERIFF C. M. HAND
C. M. Hand is now the sheriff of Seminole County, Fla .. but before Seminole was born of Orange County, he was an old citi- zen, having landed in Melonville in 1879, locating at Fort Ried.
His father, Hen- ry Hand, opened a blacksmith's and wagon shop at this place, one of the first in the county and later took up a homestead on the Wekiwa River, near Longwood, SHERIFF C. M. HAND where he made an orange grove, which the "great freeze" destroyed, necessitat- ing the removal of the family to Sanford.
Here C. M. Iland engaged in the livery busi- ness and general contracting for several years, was deputy sheriff of Orange County, elected chief of police of the city, and also mayor.
Upon the division, which created Seminole County out of Orange, he was appointed by the Governor, Sheriff of Seminole and in the first election was elected Sheriff, which, at the time of this writng, he holds.
Sheriff Hand was one of the enthusiastic Sanford men who believed in home rule for his city and thought a division should be made of what is now Seminole County from Orange. He is a hustler and it is said of him that he makes a good officer and is very satisfactory to his constituents.
He is a great lover of sport, and if there is anything doing in ball games he is sure to be somewhere within sight of the diamond. The boys think Charlie Hand is a right hand man because of his convival and jovial tempera- ment, and while the law-breaker may fear ar- rest at his hands, he well knows that here is a sheriff who can do his duty and remain humane in his treatment of a prisoner.
J. W. MATCHETT
Here is a man who wrestled with Nature and made her divulge the secret of giving up the best of her fruits. He marked out a line around Lake Conway, dammed it up and told the lake to come no farther, dug a deep well for flowing water, drained his muck land to serve for drainage and irrigation.
Mr. Matchett is a born Floridian, his birth- place being Eureka, Marion County, in 1863. He came to Pine Castle, Orange County, a boy, in 1874 and attended the public school, such as it was, and on arriving at manhood clerked in the store of J. M. Blitz for a year. Feeling the need of a business education, he attended Moore's Business College in Atlanta, Ga., a year, and returned to Pine Castle and engaged with C. R. Tyner as clerk and bookkeeper. Later, he filled the same position in C. R. Tyner's general store at Plant City, having general charge of the business.
Returning to Pine Castle he taught school at Oak Ridge, of which Taft is now a part. Within two years he was again engaged in merchandising, superintending the general
store of Albert Thompson, being appointed postmaster of Pine Castle at this time, holding the office for eight years. Six years of school teaching followed and then he engaged in cit- rus fruit culture and vegetable growing, which has been successful.
He was elected justice of the peace three times, serv- ing twelve years. In 1895 was elected Superintendent of Pine Castle Sunday School and lias held this place for twenty years, being also Deacon and Clerk of the Baptist Church.
J. W. MATCHETT
24
E.IRLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
L. J. DOLLINS SECRETARY ORANGE COUNTY PIONEERS' ASSOCIATION
L. J. DOLLINS
The subject of this sketch was born on a farm in Franklin (now Moore) County. Ten- nessee, on February 24th, 1851. He moved with his father and family to Coffey County about 1857-8. Here the lad with his older brother, Ilugh, and sister, Mary, attended such schools as the time and country afforded, the family removing to Saline County, Illinois, in 1863.
Having abandoned everything in their Ten- nessee home in troublous times, they arrived in their new home at the beginning of winter with only ten dollars, and he and his brother Hugh engaged in rail splitting, while the father, being a skilled farmer, got employment assisting the neighboring farmers in farm work. A farm was in the meantime purchased, and business of home-making started. The children attended the country schools. As the lad advanced he entered the Harrisburg High School, where he graduated in 1872-3. By this time he had begun teaching school. In 1873-4, he went to Lebanon, Ohio, where he took a Normal course, after which he returned to his home school and taught his fourth term in the five years. ITis health failing in December, 1875, he came to Orange County, Fla., arriving at Lightwood Camp, kept by A. C. Miller, on the 20th day of Janu- ary, 1876. Was married in June following to. Miss Alice Strickland of his home town in Illinois, and settled on a homestead on the
14th of August, 1876. Here he resided five years, dividing the time between school-teach- ing and farming. Was appointed Deputy Clerk of the county under Mr. J. P. Hughey in Sep- tember, 1881, and served one and one-half years. His wife died in May, 1882, leaving him with one child four years old. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1885.
In 1883 he was married to Miss Kellie Rush- ing, of Arkansas, with whom he lived until December, 1893, when she died, leaving the husband with five children, four of her own and one by former marriage. These children are : Mrs. W. S. Jones, of Orlando; Mr. Hugh D. Dollins, of Washington, D. C .; Thomas A. Dollins, of Roanoke, Va., Mrs. John W. Jones, of this city, and Lieutenant Carl W. Dol- lins, of Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Dollins after remaining single for nearly seven years, was married to Miss Alice J. Roberts, a former school-mate, of Hillsboro, Tenn., with whom he is living. For several years, he retired to his farming interests, but in 1902 he opened an office for the practice of law, and did a small real estate business. He has straight- ened out many kinks in titles and estates, and rendered many knotty problems, that hindered progress, easy of solution. He built the Dol- lins block in 1887. He built for himself and others several fine homes, and now resides at his elegant home place at 728 West Central Avenue.
25
E.IRLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
WILLIAM P. BLAKELY
Mr. Blakely is a
native of Tennes- see, the city of Nashville, and de- cided to go to Florida when he finished his educa- tion in the High School of Colum- bia and Carson and Newman Col- lege, Jefferson City, Tenn.
Casting about for a suitable lo- cation. he selected Orange County, upon the recom- mendation of W. G. White, the mer- chant prince of WILLIAM P. BLAKELY Orlando at that time ( 1881). Up- on locating at Ocoee he was employed by Cap- tain B. M. Sims, and with him, as the fore-
most citrus grower of the county, learned all the secrets of this fascinating business, and there was much to learn, as nearly all the old groves were clumps of trees planted about the houses of the early settlers or budded on sour wild trees found in. the woods. The few men, like Captain Sims, who followed orange growing for profit, had it all to learn-the soil, its needs, fertilization, the best trees to select, the nature of the tree, the enemies and the friends of the fruit.
After two years of this employment he, in 1883, accepted the position of school teacher, as that part of the county began to grow, and held this position during twelve terms. In the meanwhile he devoted attention to bring- ing up an orange grove and had a fine pros- pect of bearing groves when the destructive cold of 1905 wiped them out. While working to resuscitate his trees, he conducted the mer- cantile business bought of John Hughey, and served as postmaster from 1907 till 1915. He held one county office, that of Justice of the Peace during 1885-SS.
MRS. C. V. CALDWELL
Mlrs. Caldwell came to Orlando, Florida, from Danville, Pa., in 1887, and securing the Summerlin Hotel on Lake Eala, converted it into a select tourist house and all the years since she has made of it a resort to which pa- trons delight to come.
In the old days this hotel was the headquar- ters of many politically inclined and if walls had as many tongnes as they are said to have ears, the dining room of this old place could tell many a story.
As it is, a mere step onto its shaded porches brings into fond remembrance many of the
old-time faces-among them Major Marks, Doctor Foster Chapman, Hardy Garrett, Ed. bert Allen, Willis L. Palmer, Walter Smith, Seth Woodruff, Major Bradshaw, Dr. Kilmer, Dr. Porter, Edward Hudnal, Jerome Palmer, and many others, some of them now in the world beyond, others still active in the affairs of Orange County and elsewhere.
The newer places of resort spring up all about us, but Mrs. Caldwell's "Summerlin Ilouse," so long as it stands, will linger fondly in the minds of the older settlers of Orange County.
E.IRLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
J. B. CLOUSER
J. B. Clouser was
born in Perry County, Pennsyl- vania, Oct. 15th, 1838, was raised on a farm, chose the trade of a car- penter, at which he worked until he entered the army of the North in the civil war. Was a member of the 149th P. V. Co. D. ("Buck Tails") ; was discharged at the end of the war and resumed his trade, and was married in Nov., 1865. He bought J. B. CLOUSER and cleared up a home in Center Township. Perry County, Pa., where he lived till November, 1881, when he, with his wife and two children, removed to Orange County, Fla., settled at Longwood, which was a town staked off in the woods, the streets not yet being cut out ; built the Longwood Hotel for E. W. Henck, then took charge of the novelty works of P. A. Demans, Longwood, as fore- man. At this time it was the only planing mill and novelty works south of Jacksonville. At that time, instead of hearing the whirr and clatter of machinery, one heard the crack and vell of the Florida cow boys,- and the public roads were merely crooked, surface-roads, or more properly, trails with no bridges. The
South Florida Railroad was then under con- struction, having been completed as far as Orlando. The rolling stock consisted of one coach, one flat-car and a diminutive little en- gine called "The Seminole." But it was a sur- prise to see the thing speeding along through the wilderness of Orange County. There was no telegraph connection with the outside world till the year after.
Orange culture was then in its infancy. No school houses. Schools were held in private houses, or rather, shanties. Now, there is a good school house and public library, several churches, hotel, good residences with modern improvements, good roads, hard surfaced- some with clay, some brick.
The freeze of 1895-6 was a hard experience, but pluck and perseverance bridged over the hard places and proved a "blessing in disguise." When he arrived in Longwood in 1881, the only hotel accommodations were a bale of hay and an old blanket in the upper story of a box board shanty.
After four years in the employ of P. A. Demans, he, his son, C. A. Clouser, and F. J. Niemeyer, his son-in-law, embarked in the merchantile business, till 1911, when his wife died, when he retired from business. His son, C. A. Clouser, had withdrawn from the firm of J. B. Clouser & Co. previous to this and moved to New Smyrna, Fla., where is in the auto- mobile business, and F. J. Niemeyer carried on the business of their store under the firm name of F. J. Niemeyer.
It is gratifying to note the many changes for the better in the thirty-five years of resi- dence here in Florida.
27
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHARLES H. HOFFNER
THE OLD WAY
Mr. Hoffner was born in Muscatine, Iowa. in 1856, and lived in Havana, Ill., until 1878. At that time he went to Litchfield, Minn., where he married Miss Edna I. Angier in 1886.
Florida held out a beckoning hand, and in 1889 he moved to Orlando, where he lived for three years and then settled on the Randolph Peninsula of Lake Conway, where he has re- sided since. He has developed that section from a lonesome settler's home to a village of homes and has assisted in bringing it into close
connection with surrounding places by means of newly constructed roads.
Mrs. Hoffner was born in Clearwater, Minn., in 1865, moved to Litchfield, and graduated in the schools of that place in 1882. They have had five children, all living except Law. rence, who died in infancy.
Harry A. graduated from the Orlando High School in 1911, held a responsible position in Orlando and is at this writing filling a position of trust in Jacksonville.
THE NEW WAY
28
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
BENJAMIN LUTHER GRIFFIN
B. L. GRIFFIN
MRS. B. L. GRIFFIN
B. L. Griffin was born in Telfair County, Ga., Nov. 20, 1858. His father was Yancey R. Griffin and his mother Rebekah Wilcox, daugh- ter of Gen. Mark Wilcox, for whom Wilcox County was named. Gen Jno. Coffee, his grandfather. also had a Georgia county named for him.
Mr. Griffin came to Orange County, Fla., December, 1879. As there was no railroad, he came by boat to Sanford, from which point on the St. Johns all supplies were hauled over such roads as the country afforded. Ox or . horse carts were the usual means of convey- ance-two-wheel carts, the man riding the mule and the family in the cart. The fortunate owner of a buckboard was quite up-to-date.
The men in the county were -nearly all bachelors and there were few ladies. Mr. Griffin married Miss Henrietta E. Griffin in 1883. She was born in Guinnett County, Ga., in 1864, her father, Dr. Able Griffin, coming to Orange County in 1880. Her brother built
the first saw and grist mill in this section, lo- eated at the Iron Bridge on the Orlando-Oak- land road.
Mr. Griffin contracted to cut ties for what is now the A. C. L. Railroad, the first being a narrow gauge road, and often when the train was overloaded, he put his sturdy shoulder to the car and helped it move along the high places. llis wife, before marriage, at the age of seventeen, lived with her brother at Long- . wood, and during her stay of eight months made the acquaintance of one young lady. Girls did not run about mueh in those days. This brother, Jno. W. Griffin, bought a large grove of Mr. Jas. Fudge, near Longwood, and also 6,000 acres of land north of Kissini- mee, at that time within Orange County.
The family has lived in Orange County all these years and is composed of the father, mother, A. Lee,, a son 25 years old, and E. Luther, the younger son, 21 years of age.
EARLY SETTLERS OF OR.INGE COUNTY
20
S. J. T. SEEGAR
S. J. T. SEEGAR AND WIFE
Mr. Seegar is a northeast Georgian and came to Orange County, Florida, in the year 1884. lle engaged in saw-milling, which he success- fully followed for four years. Since that time he followed fruit and vegetable growing with great success, now the owner of two orange groves and cultivates thirty acres in vege- tables. Mr. Seegar has a family of six children.
Mr. Seegar chose well when he selected the beautiful and thrifty Ocoee section for his home. It is one of the best of farming and fruit-growing localities in Orange County and is a wonderfully thrifty community and dur- ing the orange season its busy packing houses and railroads make it one of the busy places on the map.
EDWARD MALTEN STRONG
Virginia and Georgia have been the greatest contributors to Orange County's earlier growth, and these early settlers brought within them- selves very strong characteristics in knowledge, determination and stick-to-it-iveness necessary to eventual success as pioneer builders in a new county. Without men of this nature, Orange County would have remained a wil- derness and with such men it has progressed by virtue of pure strength of manhood.
Some of these men, naturally, must have been developers of the soil, masters of the forest, growers of the fruits, and others, timber work- ers and house builders, all of them necessary to a wholesome and uniform growth of the county.
The subject of this article came to Orange County, Florida, from Bedford County, Va., Feb. 3, 1881, landing at Astor, on the St. Johns River. His original intention was to take up a homestead, but owing to some
trouble in land matters he went into other lines.
Contracting and carpentry engaged his attention, as well as the culture of oranges.
In 1885 he was marshal of the town of Apopka. On Feb. 22, 1893, he married Miss Witt, who is also a native Virginian.
Mr. Stroug's father and brother served in the Con federate army, from which they were honorably discharged.
EDWARD M. STRONG
30
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
HENRY NEHRLING
HENRY NEHRLING
Henry Nehrling was born May 9, 1853, at Howard's Grove, Sheboggan County, Wis. His parents were Carl Nehrling and Elizabeth Ruge Nehrling. both from Efurt, Thuringia, Ger- many. .
His parents and grandparents came over to this country in 1852, settling in the primeval forest of white pine and hardwood trees of Town Hermann, Sheboggan County, Wis.
"In this wild, but beautiful region," says a writer in "Wisconsin Men of Progress," "Henry Nehrling received his first and lasting impressions. Ile was taught to read and write by his mother and grandfather, and was then sent to the Lutheran Parochial School near Howard's Grove. He had to walk over three miles to this school through the forest, which was very beautiful and scarcely touched by the settler's axe."
Such an experience could not fail to make a deep impression upon a boy alive to the beauties of nature, and Henry Nehrling came to manhood with a passionate love for the beauties of the forest and field.
In 1869 he entered the Teacher's Seminary in Addison, DuPage County, Ill., and graduat- ed in June. 1873. He became teacher in a Lutheran school in Harlem, a suburb of Chi- cago, and obtained a similar position in the city of Chicago in 1876. Ilis favorite books were works on travel, particularly on travel
of naturalists in the tropics. Ornithology and botany were his favorite studies. He did not only study books on the subject, but went out on the prairie and in the forest.
Always having been a lover of the South, he left Chicago in February, 1879 and made Houston, Texas, and later, Lee County, Texas, his home-mainly to study the bird and plant life. He took a position in a private school, as a means of livelihood, and devoted all his leisure hours to the study of his favorite sub- jects.
In 1883 he bought a piece of land at Gotha. Fla. In 1887, General Conrad Krez, collector of customs for the fort of Milwaukee, ap- pointed Henry Nehrling as his deputy and this position he held also under General Krez's successor. In 1890 he was appointed custodian of the public museum, which position he held for about thirteen years.
The life work of Mr. Nehrling is his great book "Native Birds of Song and Beauty." 2 vols., also in German under the title "Die Nordamerkamische Vogelwelt." These works appeared between 1889 and 1896. It cost him 18 years of study and observation, and scarcely ever has a work been received with such en- thusiasm by the critics and nature lovers. The hundreds of reviews that appeared in this country and abroad were all extremely favor- !!!.. We take pleasure in quoting only one
31
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
written by that great naturalist-Dr. Elliot Cones, for "The Auk" (Vol. XIV, 1897, p. 336) :
"No more attractive and presentable volumes on our birds are now before the public; and we trust that this labor of love, as it certainly has been on Mr. Nehrling's part, may meet with the full measure of recognition it so well deserves .. "
The people of Orange County can well be proud of having the most beautiful garden within their boundary lines-"the finest garden west of Palm Beach, and the richest in plants in all the state," as one expert has proclaimed. I refer to Dr. Henry Nehrling's magnificent collection of plants at Gotha, about ten miles west of Orlando. It is a pity that the road from the village of Gotha to the Palm Cottage grounds is in such a frightful condition. Be- ing a thorough scholar, Mr. Nehrling has, of course, always the scientific side of gardening in view. But in spite of this his grounds, cov- ering about ten acres of land, are rich in beau- tiful landscape effects. There are cozy nooks and corners everywhere and tangled masses of climbing plants reaching from one tree to the other. Native trees, particularly magnolias, predominate. Mr. Nehrling is of the opinion that our native evergreen trees and shrubs should form the foundation of all our plant- ings. The flora of Japan and China follow next. We have seen how glorious evergreen shrubs and trees which we never had seen be- fore-Cleyeras, Camellias, Viburnums, Raphil- olepis and many others. And how grand are the many beautiful specimens. of palms!
The Amaryllis are the glory of the garden in March and April-all Mr. Nehrling's own hybrids, the finest in existence. "Nehrling's Ilybrid Amaryllis," so often mentioned in Reasoner Bros. and Dreer's catalogues, have a world-wide fame. And from May to No- vember the indescribably gorgeous color effects of more than 150,000 Caladiums are a sight to see. This is the largest collection of fancy Caladiums consisting at present of about 2,000 distinct varieties. A large number of new va- rieties originated under Mr. Nehrling's hands,
and the most gorgeous he named after his lady friends.
One variety with satiny plum-colored center and golden zone was named Mrs. Marian A. McAdow; another one, velvety glowing crim- son, received the name Mrs. Jessie M. Thayer ; a variety with a transparent rosy red center, bears the name of Mrs. Frances Laughlin. A bright rosy red kind was called Mrs. W. L. Palmer; a variety with beautiful lavender colored leaves will be known under the name of Mrs. H. L. Beeman and many others too numerous to mention. Though all the Caladi- ums grown here are extremely beautiful, these new kinds show a very decided improvement.
Mr. Nehrling is a very busy man, having besides his daily work in the garden, a large amount of literary work to perform. But he it always delighted to meet cultured people in his grounds and he is a most charming enter- tainer. Northern people, seeing these grounds for the first time, cannot help but exclaim : "Oh, what an earthly paradise! How is it possible that such a luxuriant plant life can maintain itself on such a poor sand-hill?"
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