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HISTORY OF
PINELLAS
PENINSULA
PINELLAS COUNTY
FLORIDA
/.'t'-
'^
By JOHN A. BETHELL
PINELLAS
A BRIEF HISTORY
of
THE LOWER POINT
By the; Oldest Living Settler
JOHN A. BETHELL
St. Petersburg, Florida
1914
PRESS OF THE
INDEPENDENT JOB DEPARTMENT
ST. PETERSBURG. FLA.
'2 45.-\l"l
Pinellas County
4S-
V-
MAP OF
PINELLAS PENINSUL
(PINELLAS county)
AND CONTtOUOUS PARTS OF
HILLSB0R0U6H AND MANATEE COUNTIES
FLORIDA
1911
Used by permission «/ f/ori«» Asjo
JOHN A. BETHELL
THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 7
From the Settlement of .\iitoiiio Maximo to the Out-
break of the Cival War.
CHAPTER II. 9
Attack on Big Bayou and Exodus of Settlers.
CHAPTER III i6
From the Close of the Civil War to the Founding of St.
Petersburg. Pioneers. Notes and Reminiscences.
CHAPTER IV.
Old Fort at Big Bayou. . .... 50
CHAPTER V. . -70
iCarly Business Centers--- Pinellas \'illage and Disston
City.
CHAPTER \T 7&
Arrival of Orange Belt Railroad and Birth of St.
Petersburg:. Conclusion.
Copyright 1911
JOHN A. BETHELL
CHAPTER I.
FIRST SETTLERS.
In beginning this narrative I will say that it is my in-
tention to confine myself to a historical sketch of the lower
end of the Pinellas Peninsula, from the year I 843, the date
of the first authentic settlement, until in the year 1 888, when
the last rail was laid and the final spike driven for the Orange
Belt R. R. in St. Petersburg.
And 1 will just mention in passing, that there were
Spanish people living in Tampa and here and there along
the coast, for many years before Florida was ceded to the
United States, who gave Spanish names to some of the
islands, as also to some points on the mainland. For in-
stance: Point Pinellas w^as called Punta Pinal, meaning
Point of Pines.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the first man to
settle on the Point was Antonio Maximo, who did so in
1 843, under a land grant from the United States govern-
ment for services rendered during the Seminole War of
1836-7 and 8.
At the extreme point, which now bears his name,
"Maximo," he proceeded to establish a fishery for the supply
of the Cuban market. Here he remained until about 1 848.
Also, about 1845, William Bunce located on one of the
Mullet Keys, known as Hospital Key, and for the same pur-
pose. This is yet familiarly known as "Bunch's Ranche,"
and the neighboring pass as Bunch's Pass. The hurricane
of 1848 totally destroyed both these ranches, thus putting
an end to the fishing business for the Cuban market in this
section until 1 859, when Abel Miranda, William C. and John
8 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
A. Bethell put up a ranche at Maximo, and carried on the
fishing business, until the beginning of the Civil War, which
put an end also to all traffic with Cuban markets.
The next settler after Bunce was John Lavach, who
located on what is known as the "Adams Place," on Boca
Ceiga Bay, near John's Pass. Then Antonio Papy at Papy's
Bayou; William Paul at "Paul's Landing," now included in
St. Petersburg as Bayshore Addition ; Billie Booker at Book-
er Creek, and not "Brooker" Creek, as it is now called;
James R. Hay, at the present Farrand Grove; Henry Mui-
phy on Boca Ceiga Bay, John's Pass; the dates of whose
settlement are not definitely known.
Abel Miranda settled at Big Bayou in 1 857 and John A.
Bethell at Little Bayou in 1 859. In 1 860 William T. Coons
located at what is now known as New Cadiz, having pur-
chased certain improvements made by James R. Hay, to
which he added very little during his stay. In 1861 there
w^ere but five families living on the Point, and at the out-
break of the Civil War all left with the exception of William
T. Coons. Of these, only three returned: Abel Miranda,
William C. and John Bethell.
Note:-The above paragraph should be corrected to
read: Billy Brooker at Brooker Creek, and not Booker
Creek.
CHAPTER II.
Federal Attack on Big Bayou and Exodus of Settlers.
In February, '62, the Federals and Tories made an at-
tack on the home of Abel Miranda at Big Bayou, and burned
it with all its contents, including furniture and wearing ap-
parel.
The commandant of the blockading fleet at Egmont
Key, manned a captured Key West fishing smack with men
from the fleet and smack's crew, with enough refugees to
make two barge loads, and sent her to Pinellas, Big Bayou, to
capture Abel Miranda and destroy his home. The smack
w^as furnished with a cannon and plenty of ammunition, in-
cluding shot and shell.
This outfit anchored off the Bayou some time before
sunrise. About 7 a. m. they opened fire with round shot.
They made three good line shots for the house, but they
w^ere about 200 feet too high and landed in the scrub. One
imbedded itself in the ground about the crossing of Fourth
Street and Lake View Avenue, Miranda found it after the
war and took it out to his new home and hung it to his gate,
and I guess it is about there yet, if some of the pot-hunters
have not shot it away at quail! That w^as the first time w^e
ever head cannon shot whistle over our heads, but w^e knew^
there was no danger so long as they were up in the air.
They then quit till about 8 a. m., w^hen they again
opened, with shell this time. I do not remember just how
many were fired in all, but the first burst, as we thought,
about ten feet over our heads, as we were standing out in
front of the porch. It seemed like the heavens had fallen
10 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
through, and scared us so that we did not know whether
Ave were killed or just paralyzed. I picked up several pieces
of the shell after the war and buried them by an orange tree.
They are there yet. While we were still standing there,
and before we got over our scare, they fired another, but
that ranged higher and exploded several hundred yards
away, as also did several more before we left for a more con-
genial clime. There were two hirelings on the place, but at
the crack of the first gun they "took leg bail" for parts un-
known, and we never saw them again till long after the war.
After we saw^ the two barges leave the smack, which
they did under cover of their gun, w^e then decided to leave
the home place. Miranda took his wife and son to William
Goon's, on Boca Ceiga Bay, for a place of safety, and then
returned to a bayhead about three-quarters of a mile from his
home, and remained there until about 3 p. m., w^hen he ven-
1:ured out in the opening, and as he saw nothing and heard
mo noise in the direction of his home, he concluded that the
wandals had left, and that he w^ould go a little nearer to
make sure.
There were three large shell mounds several hundred
yards west from his home, and if he could reach the larger
one undiscovered, in the event they had not left, and get
to the top of it, he could soon take in the situation, as the
mound overlooked his homestead, as also the Big Bayou.
He decided to advance cautiously, which he did under
cover of the pine trees. After he had reached a pine about
seventy-five yards from the coveted spot, he took a long
breath and waited a few seconds to peer around before mak-
ing a dash for the mound. As the way seemed clear, he
slipped from behind the pine to go ahead, when he saw a
man rise and stand up at the mound and look almost in the
direction of where he was standing. Quick as a flash he
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 11
dodged behind the pine again, and was about to crawl back
to his hiding place, thinking possibly the fellow had seen
him. But to be sure before doing so he thought he would
take another peep and see if he was still there. When he had
cleared the tree so that he could see, there were two instead
of one, facing and apparently talking to one another.
Although seventy-five yards away, Miranda distinctly
recognized one of his old and most intimate friends, the
captain of the smack, a Key Wester, who frequently visited
his home, to regale in milk and honey, for Miranda always
had a plenty for himself and friends and to spare. Miranda
told me that if the captain had been by himself, after he had
recognized him, he would have hailed him, but seeing no
chance to do so, he decided to go back to his hiding place.
After the close of the war Miranda received a letter
from the captain of the smack, enclosing a watch charm and
jome jewelry that his wife left on the sideboard in the excite-
ment and hurry to get away. He said that he regretted very
much and w^ould always regret the part he played in the de-
struction of his home, and distressing of his family, and
hoped they would forgive him for his very unkind act.
One of the most remarkable events of that day hap-
pened about a half hour after Miranda left his family at the
Coons' home, on his way back to the Bayou, when his wife
walked out on the rear porch and confronted a man in Fed-
eral uniform. As she was about to step back, he saluted
her and asked if she w^as Mrs. Miranda. "Yes," she an-
swered. "Where is Mr. Miranda? I want to see him." If
you had come by the cart road and not through the woods,
you would have seen him. Take the cart road back and pos-
sibly you might see him yet."
Miranda said that he went by the cart road to Coons',
and returned by it ; that he saw no one and that he believed
12 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
the fellow was one of the refugees in disguise from the fact
that had it been one of the ship's or smack's crews, he would
have taken the road, as they were not familiar with the
woods, and there were no through trails.
After we left the Bayou that morning we thought best
to separate — Miranda would go to Coons' with his family
and 1 would cross Booker's Creek and mount the top of the
largest mound that overlooked the surroundings, so that
I would not be suprised by the Tories, in case they should be
looking for us. But before we separated we agreed to meet
in the evening at "Beggs' hill," a mound in what is now Mrs.
Taylor's grove, and wait there until the crew should leave the
Bayou.
Not finding Miranda when I arrived at the hill, I con-
cluded not to wait for him, as the sun was only about a half
hour high ; but to take a cow trail along the Bayou front that
led to the home landing, through the palmettoes and myrtle
bushes, that were high enough to keep me from being seen.
When I got within about three hundred yards of the
landing I rose up and looked out on the Bayou and saw one
of the boats about a quarter mile away, and not seeing the
other one, thought it might have gone also, and started under
cover of the bushes again to get a little nearer. When with-
in fifty yards or so I came to a halt to wait until dark.
However, I had not long to wait; for in a few minutes
I heard some one say: "Is everything in the boat?" Then
I heard the answer, "Yes, sir;" then, "All aboard! Man
your oars and pull away!"
I waited until they were some distance away, when I
made my w^ay to the place where the home had been; for
there was nothing left of it but charcoal and ashes. All the
fences and out-houses and everything that had wood
enough on or about it to take fire, was burned. There was
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 13
light enough when I reached the spot to see the destruction
that had been done. About forty large fine orange trees in
the enclosure had shared the fate of the home.
And these were not all of the pitiful sights to be seen.
Some eight or ten head of chickens were hopping around
with broken wings and legs. There had been a great many
fowls on the place, but the fellows had to shoot them, as
there was no chance to get them any other way. Also sev-
eral of the shoats were crippled; some with legs broken, some
shot through the body. One had a bullet hole through its
neck and was living ; but one long-eared shoat that had never
been marked had a bullet hole through both ears. He must
have been posing for a target.
They carried off a great many chickens and hogs, large
and small; also, about five hundred pounds of home-made
bacon ; two barrels and several jugs of syrup ; over one hun-
dred pumpkins, several barrels of corn in the ear, and some
ten bushels of sweet potatoes that were housed.
I had two sloop boats; one of four tons and one of five
tons; the latter was hauled out for repairs, and they ruined
it by cutting up the decks and sides. As it was past rapairing
after the war I burned it. The four-ton boat was newly re-
fitted. They used it to carry the plunder to the smack. They
made two trips with it, well loaded each time. From the
top of the mound I had seen my boat go to the smack loaded ;
then return to the Bayou and back again to the smack a
second time loaded. About 11 a. m. they had fired the
home! I could see the smoke and flames very distinctly. The
smallest piece of petty meanness perpetrated by them was
the slashing the the skirts of an old worn-out saddle!
Miranda, not finding me at Beggs* hill, supposed I was
either killed or captured, so made his way to the place where,
the day before, stood his happy home. Night had now shut
14 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
in, but there was light enough from the burning embers to
see any nearby moving object. Whilst I was moving about
and wondering vs^hat had become of Miranda, I heard him
say: "Who's there?" I answered, "It's me, John." It
was quite a relief to us both when we met.
By this time it was too dark to do anything, so w^e con-
cluded that we had better go to where his family was, as
they w^ould be uneasy about him ; and come back next morn-
ing and try to get to Tampa. Before w^e left I thought it best
to take along a slab of bacon that I had recaptured from the
invaders. As we had been without food all day, I realized
that it w^ould come in good season when we should come to
where his family was quartered.
It was this way : On my arrival at the ruins, that even-
ing, I heard a great buzzing of bees, so walked over to where
they were, and found that one of the hives had been turned
upside down. As I turned to leave I espied a side of bacon
hanging to a spruce sapling by the hive. I took in the situa-
tion at once. The fellow passing with the bacon had thought
he would take some honey along also; but all he took w^as
"leg bail," for the honey and bacon were left behind, where I
found it. And that is how I "recaptured" it .
We returned to the Bayou next morning and, after put-
ting everything out of misery that was too badly crippled to
live, we made preparations for a trip to Tampa.
After walking around we found a small, leaky, wall-
sided, sadiron-shaped skiff twelve feet long and as many
inches deep, and four feet wide, that we had built for alii
gator hunting in Salt Lake. As it leaked badly, it had been
tied to the landing to swell up, and had been turned adrift
by some of the boat's crew that morning, as it was full of
water. It happened to come ashore in the marsh near the
landing.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 15
This was the situation: There were only two chances
for us to get to Tampa — foot it, or take that skiff. Our four
boats, with oars, sails, poles and paddles, were all carried off
to the blockade. We decided to take the skiff.
It did not take us long to get ready. We had no bed-
ding or extra clothing, as everything in that line had been
taken away also, or burned with the home. We dug a few^
potatoes and took a slice of the bacon the bees had taken in
charge, and set out for "Paul's Landing" to get a supply of
water, for the well at the home was full of charcoal from
the burning of the curb.
All we had to propel the skiff with was two split pick-
ets, so we were slow in getting to Paul's Landing, where we
could get a drink of water. There we filled a jug that we
found at the Bayou; also picked up an old paddle, with
which, and the two pickets, we struck out for Papy's Bayou,
and from there to Brushy Point, as it was the nearest land
on the other side of the bay.
We met with no mishap from the Bayou to Papy's, but
before we got to Brushy Point the wind rose up from the
north and made such a choppy sea that it was with difficulty
that we could keep the water out. One of us would have
to quit paddling every now and then to keep it free, it leaked
so badly.
We finally got across without any further mishap, and
then went on to Gadsden's Point, where we camped for the
night. Here we proceeded to roast some potatoes and broil
some bacon to regale on, as Vve were by this time very hun-
gry and tired. We had no bedding, so we lay down on the
sand by the fire. The next morning we set out again for
Tampa, where w^e arrived at noon. Next day Miranda hired
a team and went back to the Point and brought back his
family to Tampa. And so we bade good-bye to Point Pi-
nellas.
CHAPTER III.
From the Close of the Civil War to the Founding of
St. Petersburg.
The end of the Civil War found William T, Coons still
remaining on the Point, at what is now known as New^ Cadiz,
on Boca Ceiga Bay, as narrated above. As stated, he had
bought of James R. Hay at the outset of the war. Hay had
settled on the land that is now the Farrand place, on Lake
Viev/ Avenue, in 1 856, for the purpose of looking after the
cattle and hogs of the old Tampa stockmen. In the mean-
time he cleared and fenced several acres of pine land for
truck farming for the Tampa markets. In addition to this he
had also made the first improvements on the w^est side, on
the land later known as the "Hart place." Here he built
the first frame house on the Point. The main part of the
frame was of hewn timber; the weather-boarding was in
strips four feet long, six inches wide and three-quarters of
an inch thick; riven from pine timber. At the outbreak of
the war Hay sold these improvements to Coons for $25 and
an old silver watch; then abandoned his first named im-
provements and skipped to the blockaders at Egmont. After
the w^ar I bought the improvements from Coons and sold
them to Charley Reed, know^n during the Civil War as
"Charley the Dare-Devil," for his daring exploits. He was
the "Hobson No. 1 ." Reed sold later to Abel Miranda, who
sold in 1891 to Hart, whose name it has retained. Hay
never returned to this section.
Abel Miranda returned to the Point after the war in
1 866. As w^e have seen his fine start in stock raising, truck
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 17
farming and fruit culture, as also in the fish business for
the Cuban market, which was proving very lucrative, had
been wiped out in a single day. As there was nothing left
on the old homestead but a few orange trees, he decided to
locate on the land abandoned by James R. Hay, now the
Farrand property. After he got comfortably settled he re-
moved all the orange trees not injured from the Bayou and
replanted them in the now Farrand grove.
Before the war Miranda had bought William Paul's
improvements at what is known as Paul's Landing, and had
moved the buildings to the Bayou ; also about twenty young
sweet orange trees, mostly blooming, and had planted them
about the place at the Bayou. All but three of these were
burned and these w^ere removed to the new grove. Of the
balance I saved two by a little doctoring and careful nursing.
I have one of them now living in my grove. It is still in
good condition and never fails to have a good crop if the
season is fair.
Several years after Abel Miranda had located on the
Hay place he met a tourist who asked him why it was that
he didn't rebuild on his old place at the Bayou instead of
going two miles back in the woods. "Well," says Miranda,
"it is just this way: If I had built there again and it came
another w^ar, the d — d Yankees would have come in there
with their gunboats and shelled and burned me out as they
done before. Now, I am where they can't get their gunboats
through the woods to do it!"
When, in 1867, I returned to Big Bayou, I bought the
remnant of Abel Miranda's improvements with forty-four
acres of land. I also bought sixty-eight acres adjoining and
fronting on the Bayou from William Wall. The latter tract
•was bought from the State during "carpet-bag" rule by Cap-
tain John P. Andreu for fifty cents an acre. Cheap as land
18 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
was, few people in those days invested in it. If they wanted
a home they w^ould just select a good location, squat down
and go to work; clear and fence as much land as they need-
ed for their purposes. They raised all kinds of produce,
some for the northern markets, but mostly for local and
home consumption; also, stock, and set out a few^ sweet
orange trees. The people could have the free use of the
land for farms and pay no taxes on it, and when tired of
one place sell their improvements and squat elsewhere.
I proceeded to occupy and improve my purchase and
here I have dwelt happily for more than a half century.
(From close of Civil War).
Alex. Leonardy, son of Vincent, came here with the
writer in 1867 and remained w^ith him until his father's
arrival, when he w^ent to assist the latter in his farming
operations. After his father's death he managed the busi-
ness until his mother passed away. When the estate was
sold, he located near Disston and engaged in farming, fruit
culture and stock raising. He has also worked at house
building and painting, at which he is a skilled and honest
workman. Next to the writer, Aleck is the oldest living
landmark on the Point.
During 1 868 a number of new settlers came in. Vin-
cent Leonardy located on what is now^ Lake View Avenue,
where he built the home now owned by Mr. Curtis, and
settled down to farm life. He bought a small stock of cattle
and hogs; also entered and cleared land for farming, set out
an orange grove and various kinds of tropical fruits. He
raised the largest guava trees in the county; two of them
were large enough to make very good shade trees, and his
children had swings rigged in them. Later on he opened a
dry goods and grocery store in connection w^ith his farming
and stock-raising. He closed this business out as soon as
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 19
St. Petersburg was able to control the trade. Leonardy was
a skilled architect and master mechanic. He built the finest
houses in Tampa before and just after the Civil War. He
was honest, truthful, sober and highly respected by all who
knew hi m. He unfortunately fell off a ladder and died from
internal injuries, leaving a host of friends, but no enemies.
In the same year Captain John T. Leslie of Tampa and
Louis Bell bought Abel Miranda's improvements out Lake
View^ Avenue, together with cattle and hogs. Bell located
on the homestead and planted three acres in sugar cane,
w^hich would have proved a very profitable investment but
for the freeze of December 23, 1868, which nearly ruined
the crop, before it could be gathered and made into syrup
and sugar. However, he realized $550 from what he mark-
eted. Next year from three and one-half acres of cane he
shipped syrup to Savannah which sold for $740. After this
experiment on pine land, he decided to try ham-
mock land, thinking it would be better adapted
to cane, possibly; so he bought the maple hammock at Little
Bayou, cleared and fenced five acres, cut a ditch from the
bayou to the hammock to drain it, built a furnace for the
kettles, put up a mill and waited for grinding time to roll
around. It finally came, and failure with it; for the cane
was utterly worthless ; would not make syrup, though it was
large and full of sap. It had no sugar or sweetness in it. It
w^as just time, money and labor wasted.
He then planted corn, melons and pumkins, with the
same result. He finally moved back to the first home place,
where he made a very fine profit in trucking. I should have
remarked that the Maple Hammock could break the world's
record for producing moccasin snakes, if nothing else!
And right here I will say something about John Don-
aldson, a worthy negro settler and for years the only negro
20 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
settler on the Point — a man universally respected and one
who really kept pace with his white neighbors.
John came in with Louis Bell in 1 868 as a hireling, and
remained in that capacity for several years, until Bell sold
out. Then John went in to make a living on his own re-
sponsibility. He entered forty acres, now on the trolley and
at present owned by Mr. Sibley. He cleared and fenced
about five acres, planted it in cane, sweet potatoes and gar-
den truck for the Tampa market. Also bought some cattle
and hogs and set out a small orange grove. Built a very
comfortable home and married Mrs. Bell's housekeeper,
Anna Germain, a mulatto woman. John was a hard worker
and made a good living. His larder was always well sup-
plied with meat, syrup, sugar, milk and butter. He and his
wife were highly respected by all in this section, for honesty
and thrift, and he was faithful to his trust; so much so that
while in Bell's employ John was always left in charge when
business called Bell from home, although there were white
hireling on the farm. Once while I was postmaster here the
mail carrier had resigned and Dr. Sevier, contractor for thir-
ty-seven Star routes, asked John if he would like to carry the
mail. "If the pay is enough," says John. "How much do
you want," says the doctor. "So much a quarter," says
John. "Why, that is just what the contract pays me a year."
"I can't help it. Doctor; I can't carry it for any less." "Why,
you seem to be sort of independent ; you must be pretty well
off." "Yes, sir, I'm the best man off on this point. I own
forty acres of land, two horses, two yoke of oxen, and wag-
ons, a bunch of cattle, a good potato and cane patch, and four
head of niggers" — meaning his children. John got the car-
rier's billet, all the same, for only a trifle less than the doc-
tor's contract called for.
In I 868 James Barnett located at what was later Diss-
ton City — the first settler there. He built a home, cleared
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 21
and fenced several acres of land and set out a small orange
grove; also raised a good stock of cattle and hogs. Mrs.
Barnett was the mother of several children by a former mar-
riage, among them Henry Slauter, Mrs. Aleck Leonardy and
Mrs. Frank Futch. She was an energetic woman, a hard
worker and a good mother, Barnett was in the Confederate
service and was severely wounded at the capture of the
Union gunboat, "Water Witch," and finally died as a result
of his wounds, in 1 887.
In the year 1 869 John L. Branch located on the land
which is now the Foster grove, and planted out about all the
trees in the old grove. Later on he sold to Mrs. Schofield, a
lady from Indianapolis.
Another settler was George Hammock, who was a very
successful farmer and stock raiser.
North of the Coffee Pot Bayou in the same year Hop
Wilder and Emmet Berry located on land later owned by
Erastus Barnard, cleared and fenced several acres for raising
sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cukes and various other kinds of
truck for the northern market.
In 1 870 a former well known landmark — or w^atermark —
an old English sailor, Ambrose George Tompkins, drifted
into the Point, where he lived till his death some twenty
years later. He was a firm friend of Capt. Jas. Barnett, with
whose people he remained until his death. At the outbreak
of the Civil War the vessel he was on, to evade the block-
aders, put into where Miami now stands. From there Tomp-
kins proceeded to navigate the Everglades afoot and alone,
and duly arrived at Ft. Myers. Stranded thus within the
Federal lines with nothing to do, he entered the Union serv-
ice, and was put in charge of a supply boat running on the
Caloosahatchee. After the war he found his way to the
Point.
22 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
Jos. J. Bethell, one of the old pioneer settlers of Pinellas,
died at the home of his cousin, Mrs. John Fogarty, at Fo-
gartyville. May 6, 1912. His remains were brought to St.
Petersburg and buried in Greenwood cemetery.
Joe Bethell was born in Key West April 1st, 1 837. He
early developed a great love for the water, and from a mere
boy could handle and sail a boat as well as older heads.
When he was 1 7 he bound himself to two English sailmakers
for three years to learn the trade. When his time expired
he decided to work at the trade until he mastered it, which
he did, and had the reputation of being a fine workman. He
served through the Civil War and came to Pinellas in 1 870
and engaged in boating, fishing and oystering. He never
married, but "boiled his own pot" and meddled with no-
body's business. He w^as a faithful friend and a good neigh-
bor; was w^ell versed in the Bible, believed in a hereafter,
and crossed the river without an enemy.
In 1872 Oliver Johnson located on what is now the
Saw^rie property. He made quite an improvement in the
w^ay of clearing and fencing land. Finally sold out to James
A. Cox and moved to Middle Florida.
In that year also Dr. Hackney located north of Booker
Creek, where the Manhattan Hotel now stands. He built
a home and made quite extensive improvements in the way
of reclaiming sawgrass ponds and clearing land for farming
and fruit culture. Dr. Hackney was the first actual settler on
this tract, though John Taylor had previously made a small
clearing, but never settled.
During the year 1 872 James A. Cox also came in and
bought the improvements of Oliver Johnson, now the prop-
erty of Sawrie Brothers. Mr. Cox added a great many im-
provements, built a comfortable dwelling, cleared and fenced
more land and set out a variety of fruit trees, including many
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 23
oranges. The present Ingleside Grove was his home up to
the time of his death.
Another settler in that year was Judge William H. Ben-
ton, who located on the w^est side of Big Bayou, He built a
very comfortable home, cleared land for truck farming and
set out a small orange grove, engaging in the meantime in
hog raising, which was at that time a very profitable busi-
ness. After the starting of St. Petersburg he moved to that
town, where he had charge of General Williams' land busi-
ness till his death.
The hammock with orange grove north of Papy's
Bayou, now owned by Dr. Weedon, was first settled by a
man named Pillings, in 1872. I don't remember whether he
bought the land or just squatted on it, but he made quite a
clearing, fenced and raised very fine garden truck. He also
set out the original orange grove of sweet seedlings, still in
existence.
In 1872 William Hall came into the Point and located
on the north side of Booker Creek, on the old ford, and
just south of the Ninth Street bridge. It was his intention
to put up a sawmlil to be run by water power. After doing
quite a large amount of work in the way of getting out the
frame and grading, he abandoned the project and left for
other parts, probably because of lack of means to carry out
his undertaking.
In 1 873 came Judge William Perry and his brother
Oliver. They located on the future town site of St. Peters-
burg, and made their home on the block south of the A. C. L.
R. R., between Second and Third Streets; entered forty
acres, cleared and fenced five acres, planted three acres in
sugar cane, two acres in sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkins,
melons, etc., and set out some sw^eet orange seedlings. They
came fully equipped with every manner of implements for
farming and syrup and sugar making.
24 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
In the same year a Mr. Whitford squatted on the land
where the Sibley mansion now stands. He built a small
palmetto shack and cleared a small patch for vegetables*
Unsuccessful in his undertaking, he soon left for other
climes.
In the year 1873 the improvements made by Emmet
Berry and Hop Wilder, north of the Coffee Pot Bayou, were
taken over by a Mr. Capell.
W. F. Sperling was another new^ comer in the year
1873. He bought out all of Dr. Hackney's interest in this
section, cattle, hogs and about five hundred acres of land.
He also bought the Perry improvements, also eighty acres
where the school buildings stand, including in all
about six hundred and forty acres — one mile frontage — the
site of St. Petersburg. He added seventy-five trees to the
grove started by Hackney, also reclaimed the sawgrass pond
just north of the Hackney house, by putting in a large drain.
When Mr. Sperling located with his family in his new home he
w^as surely "monarch of all he surveyed;" for there was not
another family within a radius of one and a half mile of his
home.
Here is a curious incident of his settlement: After
Mr. Sperling bought the Perry place he took his w^ife one
morning for a drive to look over the improved portion of
his new purchase. While there he found a piece of railroad
iron brought there by the Perrys. He picked it up and
planted it on the ground near where the A. C. L. tracks are
now laid, remarking to his wife: "I have laid the first piece
of iron for the railroad!" — not realizing at the time how
nearly prophetic his words were to prove.
In 1 874 also came in several families from New Or-
leans, who settled around Boca Ceiga Bay.
Joseph and Beneventura Puig, brothers, located on the
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 25
east side of the bay on land adjoining that of Abel Miranda
on the north. They put in substantial improvements, includ-
ing several acres of oranges and other fruits, and did some-
thing at truck farmnig. In 1 886 they platted the site of
New Cadiz and started in the grocery business on a small
scale. The town never materialized and the grocery busi-
ness w^as a failure, but the postoffice of New Cadiz was
maintained for several years.
With the family came also Timothy Kimball, brother of
Mrs. Puig, who also made improvements on land near by,
and w^ho remains at the old home of his widowed sister. A
memorandum from Mr. Kimball reads:
"Ben Puig came first to the Point in the month of May,
1 874. In July of same year, Emanuel and I came out here
from New Orleans, and in September came Joseph Puig,
my mother and my three sisters. At the same time Richard
Strada and his famliy arrived."
Rafeno Manuel, or Emanuel, put out a grove north of
Clam Bayon, between Lake View and Tangerine Avenues
and west of the creek still known as Manuel's Branch. He
was a young man much liked, but died not long after set-
tling here.
Richard Strada, of this New Orleans colony, located a
considerable tract of good land on the east side of Boca Ceiga
Bay, and southeast of Abel Miranda's homestead, with a
long frontage on what is now Maximo Road. He was by
trade a sculptor and a skilled workman, who could command
the highest pay anywhere, but came here for the purpose of
making a home. Strada was a man of great energy, indus-
trious, and in every way competent; and in farming, fruit
culture and stock raising was very successful. In addition
to his farming interests he has embarked in various other
enterprises, both in town and in the country, in which he has
26 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
met with like good results. The old homestead is now held
by his stepson, John Young, who came with him to the coun-
try and is a very successful farmer.
D. W. Meeker was also a settler in 1 874. He put out a
grove near St. Petersburg, of w^hich place he later became a
resident, and finally postmaster. He moved north several
years ago.
The year 1 875 was destined to be a most important one
for Point Pinellas. In this year the city of St. Petersburg
may be said to have had its beginning, in the fortunate ad-
vent of the late General John Constantine Williams, whose
foresight, good judgment and broad and liberal ideas made
the present beautiful city with its elegant location and broad
thoroughfares a possibility.
The story of his coming savors strongly of romance and
might almost have stepped bodily out of the Arabian Nights.
General Williams had come from Detroit, Michigan, for the
purpose of selecting a suitable site for a small colony. In his
search he had gone as far south as Punta Rassa without
results. He had traversed the east side of Hillsboro County
w^ith no better success, and after looking over the Old
Tampa section, and Tarpon and Clearw^ater, he reluctantly
decided to abandon the project and return to Detroit. Thor-
oughly disappointed and disgusted, he chartered a boat for
Cedar Keys, the nearest place to a railroad station. On his
arrival at Cedar Keys he chanced to meet Mr. George W.
Pratt, of Comargo, Illinois, who seems to have made it his
business to find out every other body's business, which he
proceeded to do in the General's case.
"Did you go to Point Pinellas?" said the genial George.
"Damn Point Pinellas! I w^as told by a gentleman in
Tampa, also by one in Clearwater, that it is only four feet
above tide-water!"
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 27
"Not a word of truth in it!" said Pratt. "It is forty or
fifty feet above sea level, and I will say more than that ; it is
the healthiest and best section in the State of Florida. It is a
{jerfect Paradise, sir. I lived there several months with John
Bethell, and if you go there you w^ill find it as I say."
"Well, Mr. Pratt, I am glad I've met you. I will go
back and see this Garden of Eden you speak so favor-
ably of."
General Williams thereupon returned to Clearwater,
hired a team and set out for the Promised Land of Pinellas.
His first stop was at the home of Mr. James A. Cox, on the
heights south of the high bridge. The noble view^ of the bay
from here must have been very satisfactory to the General.
And when, after a few hours' rest, Mr. Cox piloted him over
the section, he was very much pleased to find the elevation
greater than Mr. Pratt figured it, also to see such fine timber
and farming land, besides such healthy, robust, enterprising
people, and such a prosperous little settlement.
After carefully sizing up the situation, he decided that
Pinellas was the place he was searching for, and made some
investments. He then returned to Detroit to settle up some
business and get his family. On his return he invested
largely in land, including the site of St. Petersburg. From
this time on he labored for the advancement of the Point, and
in his various schemes and enterprises gave employment to a
great many people, both before and after St. Petersburg was
well started as a business place and tourist resort. And
when the situation was ripe for the founding of a town and
the advent cf a railroad he bent his energies toward the ac-
complishment of this, his original purpose. His liberal deal-
ings with the railroad company brought in the Orange Belt,
and it was none of his fault that the S. S. O. & G. road did
not make its terminus here at the time.
28 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
It is a pity that General Williams could not have
lived to enjoy the later prosperity of his pet tow^n. And the
citizens of that rapidly growing metropolis might well con-
sider the propriety of some action looking to a suitable testi-
monial to the man who was in truth the Founder and Father
of St. Petersburg.
Soon after their father, the General, came three stal-
wart sons, B. C., John R. and J. C. Williams, Jr. Barney and
John came first, and w^ere for a time identified v/ith the in-
terests of their father. "Tine," as the other was familiarly
known, became a common carrier, plying between Pinellas
and Tampa with passengers, freight and the U, S. mail. Old
settlers will remember v/ith w^hat regularity the sharpie
"Nettie" used to make the trip to and fro regardless of
w^eather. While St. Petersburg w^as in its infancy, he gave
up boating and bought a lot on Central avenue, corner of
Second Street, on w^hich he erected a fine large building, still
known as the "Williams Block," for residence and business
purposes. He was the first to embark in mercantile business
in St. Petersburg proper, and for a time had a monopoly of
trade. Later on others joined in the onward march for the
"almighty dollar," but "Tine" had the largest and best equip-
ped store and, consequently, kept in the lead. For quite a
long time he controlled probably three-fifths of all the trade
of the West Coast, but close attention to business and indoor
confinement, and the years of toil and struggle so under-
mined his health that he thought it advisable to embark in
less strenuous enterprises and exacting less personal confine-
ment, and finally closed out.
B. C. Williams, also an enterprising business man of
St. Petersburg, after a year or more with his father, went to
work on his own account. His first move was in the fishing
business, but there being so little money in it in those years,
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 29
he gave it up to engage in boating, which he has been follow-
ing off and on to the present time in connection
with other interests. He first plied between Pinel-
las and Tampa, carrying freight and passengers. Then
from Pinellas he went to Gulf City, from which place he
carried freight and passengers and U. S. mail for several
years. Then he engaged in coasting and steamboating. In
these years he also became a skillful boat builder, doing hon-
est v^ork, for honesty was his motto. As mechanic or boat-
man he has but few^ equals. During his sea service he has
never met with any serious mishaps, though he has had sev-
eral hairbreadth escapes.
J. Mott Williams is too w^ell known to need attention
here. He did not come till much later, but he inherited his
full share of the family energy and enterprise, and never
could keep still. In addition to his many material interests
in and around St. Petersburg, he has that strong affection for
the sea that makes him never so happy as w^hen afloat on the
briny deep.
H. A. Wier came from Youngstown, Ohio, in 1876,
and located forty acres w^est and north of Wier Lake, known
later as Reservoir Lake, from which the water supply of St.
Petersburg came for several years. He cleared and fenced
several acres, on which he built a comfortable home, plant-
ed out about two acres in seedling oranges and many kinds
of Tropical plants, besides raising very fine garden truck.
He also erected a tower with windmill and tank on the edge
of the lake for irrigation punrposes. After the grove was
well in bearing he decided to sell and go West, being told
that the West offered superior inducements in the way of
farming lands and products. He finally traded his home-
stead for a farm in the West and moved out there, only to
find that the farm was mortgaged. I was told that it was
30 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
later sold to satisfy the mortgage. So after years of toil
and hardship, he traded off his birthright for a mess of pot-
tage. The land at Wier Lake has long been city property.
In this same year came also William P. Neeld, more fa-
miliarly known through this part of Florida as "Bill Neeld."
He bought forty acres, cleared, fence and planted out the
grove on Tangerine Avenue now owned by Mr. Blackstone,
with sweet seedling oranges, grapefruit, mangos, avocado
pears and various other kinds of tropical fruits. I think I
heard him say that after he had paid for his land he had just
twenty-five cents left to commence life with, which was
surely a very small capital for the gigantic task he v/as
about to tackle. But Bill was a hustler from wayback and
when out on the w^arpath small obstacles did not stand in
his way. At night he taught school for Vincent Leonardy's
children, getting his board and lodging thereby. Daytimes
he would clear land, split rails and such. Would take a day
or two off now and then to fish and hunt for profit; also to
compost fish and seaweed for fertilizer for his young grove.
He also composted leaves, muck and cattle droppings; for
in those days commercial fertilizers w^ere unknown, conse-
quently those not fortunate enough to own cattle had to
resort to other methods to procure it. And Bill soon
learned the art and became quite an expert in the business,
and when the supply happened to be not equal to the de-
mand, he would off shoes, for shoes w^ere an item in those
times though not as high priced as now, but there w^ere no
cobblers to mend the holes. With pants rolled up he
would take a sack and strike out for a palmetto patch, where
he would be seen bobbing around gathering leaves and cow-
chips. The sack full, he would back it to the grove, for he
had no horse — and that is how he made the prize grove of
the peninsula.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 31
After some years of toil and hardship, Bill began to
reap the rewards for his hard labor. For his trees flourished
and bore fruit abundantly and proved very remunerative.
I must tell an incident which gives a sample of Bill's
grit — some call it "game;" for he had enough of it to tackle
anything that moved on four legs, from a gopher down to a
'gator, and do it without a gun, as you will see.
One morning my wife set out to visit her mother, some
two miles away, with two small children, one a babe in
arms and leading the other, of two years, by the hand.
About a quarter mile from home was the old ford across
Salt Creek, outlet of Salt Lake, w^hich had to be crossed on a
foot log. At the crossing she gathered up the tw^o-year-old
and landed on the farther side without any mishap, but just
as she was about to set the child down something blew^ a
hard, guttural breath behind her. She quickly turned to see
what it was, when lo and behold! there lay a 'gator in the
edge of the marsh near the log, and on the side she had
crossed from. With the tvv^o children in her arms, she
turned and ran about one hundred yards, when she saw Bill
Neeld in a palmetto patch, gathering fertilizer as usual. She
called to him to bring his gun; that there was a 'gator in the
creek. When he came near he said: "I've got no gun, but
I guess this will do," whipping out his pocketknife and mak-
ing a bee line for his 'gatorship. At that moment the 'gator
w^as leaving for Salt Lake, but Bill wanted that 'gator, and
w^as bound to get him if there was any virtue in good grit
and cold steel. After a little maneuvering, he made a leap
and landed astride the 'gator's back, caught the left foreleg
with his left hand and with the knife in his right began tick-
ling the animal's most sensitive spots, till he finally put him
to sleep for all time.
32 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
Then the neighbors soon flocked to the battleground
and pulled his gatorship to dry land. I don't remember
just the length of the 'gator or how much he weighed, but I
do remember that he was no baby gator, but was quite a bit
larger than Bill Neeld. Possibly some not gifted with as
much grit as Bill, if perchance they should read this, might
say that I've been reading too many of the big fish and
'gator stories in the tow^n papers, but these are facts, never-
theless, and Bill is a living witness, and there are a few oth-
ers who will vouch for the truthfulness of the story.
But the "Pinellas Philosopher," as he was later called,
eventually got wheels in his head and wanted to see the
world go 'round, sold out his holding on the Point for much
w^ealth and moved over to the mainland, where he still
abides, as he says, at "No. I Easy Street, Paradise!"
In 1 876 R. E. Neeld moved in from Tampa and settled
at Big Bayou. Later on he opened up a small grocery store,
the first on the Point. This was a very great convenience to
the few settlers in the section, as it supplied their needs for
the time being.
In the same year Jacob Baum located on the south side
of Reservoir Lake. He built a home on the lake and set out
the orange grove later known as the Jackson grove. When
the railroad came in Mr. Baum, in connection with E. R.
Ward, opened up the Ward and Baum addition to St. Peters-
burg. His whole original entry is now platted, and much of
it built up in substantial structures.
A. B. Chandler located and improved land betw^een
Baum and Wier, but later removed to Tampa.
Miller Neeld settled here in 1 876 and put out a grove
just east of his brother William's. Sold in 1 885 to Robert
Stanton and bought and built at Big Bayou. Sold out his
PINELLAS COUNTY. FLORIDA 33
home there later on, and built in St. Petersburg. Is now a
resident of Washington State.
George R. Johnson came from Detroit with General
Williams in 1 876 to look the country over and decided to
settle. In the following year he returned to the Point ac-
companied by Barney Williams. He shipped part of his
goods by w^ay of Gainesville and part by Cedar Keys. He
hauled the carload landed at Gainesville overland by teams.
A year later he bought and improved the land now owned by
Professor Bartlett northwest of St. Petersburg, and lived
there many years. He also bought four hundred and forty
acres at Coffee Pot Bayou, which he later sold to Erastus
Barnard.
From New Orleans also came, in 1 876, Joseph R.
Torres, who bought Captain Barnett's improvements at
w^hat was later known as Disston City; Barnett locating
again on land about a half mile north. Torres was a Span-
iard, had been with Maximilian in Mexico, was an ardent re-
publican in the carpetbag regime in New Orleans, and was
something of a politician in his newr home — but a good
democrat ! He made some very good improvements, and
later platted some of his land into town lots, which became
the site of the village of Disston City. When the postoffice
of Bonifacio was established he became its postmaster and
retained the office till his removal to Seminole, in 1 888. He
also dealt in general merchandise for several years.
William B. Miranda came to the Point in 1 876, and
made a nice home out Lake View^ Avenue. He was a busy
w^orker in real estate matters for some years, removing to
St. Petersburg in the early nineties, where he died.
In 1877 C. McCoy bought lands at Little Bayou, but
never became a settler.
34 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
In 1 878 George W. Meares came in and settled on the
land which is now his home. He began with a small stock
of hogs and cattle, as was the general custom in the early
days. He next cleared about ten acres, split rails and fenced
it, planted four acres in seedling oranges and various other
fruits; also three acres in cane and about the same in sweet
potatoes and garden truck for the local market. As he was
a man of very limited means, and w^ithout rich kin to help
him, he could not afford to hire help in his w^ork. Conse-
quently it was a hard struggle from the start. But George's
hands w^ere never afraid; in fact, he rather enjoys w^ork, so
by dint of many hard licks and strict attention to business,
he has been paid a mighty good interest on the investment.
With a faithful wife and large family of well reared and edu-
cated children, he has much to be proud of and thankful for.
Meet George where or when you will, you will meet an
honest, straightforward, law^-abiding citizen, and always
ready to extend the hand of good fellowship.
In 1 878, also, Thomas Miranda came to the Point and
located on what is now Tangerine Avenue. Built a com-
fortable little home for his family of four, cleared, fenced
and planted some fruit trees and made a garden. He was a
Confederate soldier and as brave as they made them. I will
relate an incident that happened during and after the war.
He was an artilleryman and attached to Martin's Bat-
tery, Florida Brigade, stationed at the foot of Lookout Moun-
tain. When the Federals drove the Johnnies from their
guns, himself and another gunner, Dow Townsend, never
heard the order to retreat, and stood to their guns in the
face of a cavalry charge. It happened to be Colonel Living-
ston, late of St. Petersburg, who commanded the cavalry.
He rode up to Miranda and ordered him to surrender. With
that Miranda struck at him with the swabstick, and the
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 35
Colonel struck at Tom with his sabre, but neither hit the
other. When Tom saw the predicament he was in he and
Townsend turned to run, when some of the command raised
their guns to fire, but before they could do so the Colonel
called out to hold their fire and let them go; for, said he,
"They are too brave to be shot!"
After they got in the woods, which was only a few
steps from the gun, Tom said to Dow: "If I live to see that
man a hundred years from now I'll remember him," not
thinking at the time that they would ever face each other
again ; but they did, on more friendly terms than at Lookout
Mountain.
After the war Tom came to Pinellas and Colonel Liv-
ingston to St. Petersburg, prospecting, and while looking
through the Pinellas section he chanced to stop at Vincent
Leonardy's store. As he stepped in he came face to face
with Miranda. After gazing at each other for a few mo-
ments, Tom said: "I think I have seen you before, sir."
"Yes," said the Colonel, "I think I've seen you, too. I'm
the man you struck at with the swabstick when I charged
your gun at the foot of Lookout Mountain." "Yes, and I'm
the man you cut at with your sabre." They then advanced
laughingly shook hands and became intimate friends from
that time on. When Thomas Miranda died, years after, I
went to see him, and while standing beside the coffin. Colonel
Livingston came in and stood on the opposite side. After
gazing on him for a few moments, he said to me: "This is
the last of my poor friend, Tom! A brave man!"
Walter Holden came to Big Bayou in 1 879. The fami-
ly afterward moved away and later the home was destroyed
by fire, but the land is still retained in the family's possession.
In the early eighties there was an advent of settlers des-
tined to be factors in the upbuilding and development of the
country about Big Bayou.
36 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
In 1 882 Erastus Barnard became interested in the Point
and bought a tract of four hundred and forty acres at the
Coffee Pot. He and his family have been regular winter
residents of St. Petersburg since the town started, and he has
made many substantial improvements on his big farm. He
is a firm believer in the Point.
Another arrival in this year was C. B. Ware, who settled
near the Coffee Pot, w^here he still continues to reside as one
of the successful farmers and fruit raisers of the section. He
w^as County Commissioner from this district for several
years.
David Moffett arrived in 1 882, bought land back of St.
Petersburg and made improvements. Later he bought the
Wier place on Reservoir Lake and built a fine home there, on
Ninth Street, North. He has been closely identified with the
interests of St. Petersburg, has been first mayor, and coun-
cilman and is recognized as being one of the solid men of the
town.
Thomas Sterling came here from Connecticut in 1 883.
He had been a traveler in many lands and was a good judge
of situation as bearing upon health conditions, and after care-
ful investigation, concluded that the Sub-Peninsula held all
that man could desire. He bought about sixty acres at Big
Bayou and made very substantial improvements on the
w^ater front. He had about ten acres cleared, fenced and set
out in various kinds of friut trees, besides making a fine
garden. He built seven fine cottages, one of five rooms, for
his residence, as also a hotel 30x50 with twelve rooms.
In May he married a lady from Mississippi at Tampa
and came at once to their home at the Bayou. They escaped
the customary charivari by throwing open their doors to the
whole population and entertaining everybody — in all about
sixty guests. Their home soon became the center of much
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 37
of the social life of the section. Mrs. Sterling's pen was al-
ways busy and contributed many articles descriptive of the
country to the press, in and out of the State. Owing to in-
firmities of age he, in 1 89 1 , sold his holdings to the Catholic
Fathers, one of whom came as an embassy of church and
state from Spain to select a suitable location on which to
build a theological, scientific and pholosophical school for
the education of priests.
About this time William Thornton settled and improved
a tract on Lake View Avenue, no^w owned by Cashier
Thomasson, just west of the Leicht place. In 1 885 he
bought what is now^ Thornton's addition to St. Petersburg,
w^here he died soon after moving to his new^ home.
Joe Strause came in 1883, married a daughter of Vin-
cent Leonardy, and settled back of the Leonardy home, on
Tangerine Avenue. Built a cottage and put out a small
grove, where he lived for some years. Sold to Abel Miranda
in 1 892 and bought a grove farther up the peninsula.
Dr. John Abercrombie and family came to this section
in 1883 and located on land that is now the "Moss Ridge
Grove " of Joseph Sibley. He built a very large and com-
fortable residence amid beautiful surroundings, cleared and
fenced several acres and set out fruit trees of various kinds.
In the meantime he practiced medicine, going w^herever sick-
ness called him — though the Point was then as now emi-
nently healthy, and very few except children could really
spare time to get sick. He w^as known throughout the sec-
tion as the family doctor, which term was very appropriately
applied, as at the time he was the only physician in the pe-
ninsula. Dr. John is one of the kindest, most free-hearted
men who ever settled here. He has been a friend to the
needy, always sympathizing with the afflicted. He had
prescribed for and furnished medicines often w^here patients
38 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
were not able to pay for them. No one ever asked a favor of
him that was not granted if in his power to do so. The
grand old man has a host of friends and few^ if any enemies.
Since this w^as written he has gone to his rew^ard.
George L. King w^as another "live wire" in the early
days of this section. He located land north of Clam Bayou,
on Mule Branch, in December, 1 884. He brought with him
a small sawmill outfit from which, on Christmas day of that
year, he blew the first steam whistle ever heard in this region.
The mill had been landed on the sand beach a mile from
where he located it, and had to be hauled through sawgrass,
over palmetto roots and mud flats and across Clam Bayou
to the millsite on the Branch. It was a big undertaking, a
task that very few men other than George L. King would
have cared to tackle, but he was a man with an iron will, one
that never let obstacles stand in his way whenever he under-
took to accomplish any project that he had in view. About
two years later, to facilitate the supplying of logs, he hauled
the outfit back to the bay at New^ Cadiz, to which location he
had his logs rafted from Long Bayou, near John's Pass. The
mill, though small, cut lumber enough to supply the demand
for the time being, but the influx of homeseekers soon be-
came so great that a larger mill w^as called for. Consequent-
ly, King bought a millsite at the head of Booker Creek and
erected a much larger and finer plant, fully equipped w^ith
all the modern improvements of that time. St. Petersburg
was just started and, owing to the scarcity of building ma-
terial, its progress was very much retarded, but just as soon
as George L. King got down to business it began to grow by
leaps and bounds, and it was wonderful to see how rapidly
the town improved. I think it would be fair to say that King
was instrumental in giving St. Petersburg its first and great-
est boom, by way of furnishing material for building pur-
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 39
poses; for there were hundreds of cottages and many busi-
ness places built before another mill was opened up.
To furnish a supply of logs for the new mill, after a
while he constructed a pole road out into the timber west-
ward, for several miles, bought flat cars and rigged up a
"home-made" locomotive which worked successfully while
he continued in business.
In the same year Maltby and son came to Pinellas and
bought the improvements of James A. Cox, now owned by
Sawrie Brothers, and embarked in the manufacture of orange
and grapefruit wine. Later on they sold out to Sawrie
Brothers and located on Ninth Street, St. Petersburg, and
opened a new^ factory there.
T. A. Whitted came to the Point in 1 884 and built at
Disston. He later married here and after the founding of
St. Petersburg removed to that place, where he has since
resided. He was for many years the assistant of George L.
King in the mill business, as also of A. C. Pheil at the Nov-
elty Works.
Colonel B. F. Livingston bought land on Lake View
Avenue in 1 884, which he later sold to Cyrus Butler, to be-
come a part of the present fine Heathcote grove. He re-
turned to St. Petersburg when that town began to flourish
and made investments, and some very substantial improve-
ments. In 1901 he sold out and removed to California,
where he later passed on to a larger life.
David D. Klingner came hare from Iowa in 1 884 and
settled just south of the St. Petersburg limits on Fourth
Street, now in Bayboro. Sold later to Mrs. Miner and moved
to the Bayou, where he still has his home. He was a painter
by trade and a good w^orkman. For several years he w^as a
lighthouse keeper at Rebecca Shoals, and later at Anclote.
40 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
During 1 885 a number of families arrived from England
and settled in this section. The Harrison family bought and
improved land out Maximo Road and live there some years.
They all finally moved av/ay, the parents going back to Lon-
don. The place is now occupied by Mrs. Stephens. Adjoin-
ing tracts w^ere bought by Hugh Richardson and R. L. Locke,
also of the English colonists. Mr. Richardson became a
railroad official later and went to Jacksonville, w^here he is
now secretary of the Board of Trade. The Lockes put in sub-
stantial improvements in Disston City and carried on mer-
cantile business there for several years. The family finally
moved to a new^ home near Mobile.
Rev. Watt w^as another of these colonists. He bought
the w^est portion of the Leonardy grove, now owned by Stahl
Brothers, built a substantial residence thereon and lived there
for a number of years, finally returning with his wife to
England. The sons, Joseph, John and David, remained in
America, but left this section.
The Watson family bought and settled at Little Bayou.
The elder Watson was a professional gentleman in the old
country and did not take kindly to the new life. The freeze
came and losss of the home by fire soon after caused the
family to leave the Bayou. The young people are settled in
different parts of the peninsula. Prof. Herbert T. Watson
gives the following memorandum: "We started from Lon-
don, September 1st, 1885, and arrived at Point Pinellas the
first w^eek in October of same year."
William A. Wood was another young English colonist.
He had charge of the Disston Hotel for a time, later manag-
ing the Inn at Port Tampa, and a restaurant business at
Tampa.
Zephaniah Phillips came in 1 885 and settled tempo-
rarily at Disston. He soon after homesteaded the south end
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 41,
of Long Key, where he buih a home on the Pass, removing
his family there. He platted and sold the original site of
Pass-a-Grille City, and later built a cottage farther up the
island. Phillips was a firm believer in Pass-a-Grille and
never let an opportunity pass to further the interests of his
favorite scheme. He was something of a dreamer, but the
Pass is surely making good at last, and undoubtedly has a
fair future. In his last years he bought a home in St. Pe-
tersburg, where he died after a long and tedious illness. Phil-
lips had seen hard service as a Union soldier on the Missis-
sippi and was in bad health when he came here. He was a
fine all around mechanic and an inventor of no little merit.
Cyrus Butler came in 1 884, bought and improved land
betw^een Lake View and Tangerine Avenues, and made the
fine grove now owned by W. E. Heathcote. Although an
invalid, he was possessed of great energy and perseverance,
and came to be perhaps one of the best authorities on horti-
culture in the State. After bringing his fine grove into good
bearing condition he sold to Mr. Heathcote and left the
Point.
E. R. Ward came to Big Bayou in 1 885, built a good
home and went into the mercantile business. Just before the
railroad was completed he sold out his interests at the Bayou
and located in that part of St. Petersburg known as Ward-
ville, on the north side of the railroad. There he opened the
first store in that section and became the first postmaster in
St. Petersburg. Ward was a very enterprising man and full
of schemes. He had the first school house built at Pinellas,
Big Bayou, now fronting on what was known as Ward Ave-
nue. It was 20x40 feet, and many were the enjoyable socia-
bles held there by the neighbors as well as outsiders. There
were picnics, plays, dancing, card, checker and chess games,
most anything to while away the leisure hours and bring the
42 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
settlers in close touch with each other and put them on more
friendly relations.
Dr. G. W, Kennedy and Robert Thomas settled in 1 885
in what is now the northern part of St. Petersburg. Both
gentlemen did something in fruit growing and trucking, out-
side of their professional work. Judge Thomas died some
years ago, but Dr. Kennedy is still occupying his old home-
stead.
Herman Merrell came in the same year and bought a
tract west of Ninth Street, St. Petersburg. Built a cottage
and put out trees, but soon returned North to practice his
profession as a lawyer. He returned in later years and
makes his home here.
I have the following memorandum from Ed. C. Mc-
Pherson: "About August 12th, 1885, my father, E. B. Mc-
Pherson, and three sons, W. J., Charles and myself, left De-
land, Fla., in a one-horse wagon and camp outfit for Point
PinelUas. We spent nearly a month on the way, visiting the
towns and looking at the country. We arrived at Big Bayou
September I 0th and camped in an old stockade house on the
west side of the Bayou. Mr. Miller Neeld was smoking some
mullet and we got some nice fat ones out of the smoke
house when they were warm. They were the finest fish we
ever tasted. We looked around a few days, then went over
to Disston City. We met Mr. Z. Phillips, who showed us
around and introduced us to J. R. Torres, the city merchant
and owner of most of the town-site. We were so favorably
impressed with the location that father bought two lots and
some lumber from King's mill and put us up a house. Moth-
er, Sister Ella and Babb came in November. G. W. Bennett
came over from Tampa and we spent our first Thanksgiving
on Long Key near where we afterward built a home.
"Father chartered the schooner Delia, Captain John
Lowe, master, and he and Mr. Bennett went to Pensacola and
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 43
brought two schooner loads of lumber, and we started a lum-
ber yard. This was not a financial success, as there was not
enough dressed lumber used at that time to pay to keep it
up. During the winter father bought a printing outfit, and
he and Will started a little paper called the 'Sea Breeze,'
w^hich they published about a year. This was the first news-
paper on the Point.
"During the summer of I 887 the yellow^ fever broke out
in Tampa, and quite a number of refugees came to Disston.
They w^ere not allowed to land, so father allowed them to
occupy our home on Long Key.
"In May, 1 888, w^e built a small house in Ward and
Baum's addition to St. Petersburg, where we lived until
1 892, when father bought five acres on west side of Reser-
voir Lake, living there till his death, July 1 7th, 1895.
"We built the Episcopal Church on Lake View Avenue,
also the first Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg."
C. Durant was another settler of that year. After St.
Petersburg was started he followed his trade as a baker, and
built up a big business there. He had quite recently retired
to a less arduous office business.
George W. Anderson arrived in Disston City during
summer of 1 886 to locate on land that he had bought from
the map while in Texas. Not suited with this tract, he had
his deed transferred to another more desirable piece at Bear
Creek. He next proceeded to rebuild the steam launch
"Tarpon" for W. B. Miranda. His wife and daughter joined
him in June, after a very stormy voyage from Tampa in the
schooner "Cherub." Her trunk failed to arrive with her,
and during the night a pup got into her room in the hotel
and carried off her baby Jessie's clothes, so she had to borrow
a suit of baby Harold Bennett's to dress Jessie in till her
clothes could be found, which was not till late in the day. Mrs.
44 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
Anderson was an invalid and suffered coinsiderably from loss
of sleep caused by the noise of fish on the flats, they being so
plentiful and only a stone's throw from the hotel where
they were living. His next move was to fall in line with his
neighbors and get a cast-net, but as he could not throw it,
himself and wife would get on an old log pen so as to
stretch the net open, and at night time drop it over the fish.
They used to catch as high as twenty mullet at one cast of
the net. One night George turned out about one o'clock,
started a fire and cooked and ate fat mullet till daylight!
When the neighbors, thinking some one must be sick, came
to offer assistance, George said they had quite a laugh on
him. Another night the neighbors heard such a racket at
the hotel that they came over to see what was the matter,
only to find George and his wife, with a pair of gum shoes,
killing roaches. He finally set out a five-acre grove which
prospered till after he went to St. Petersburg. When the
freeze came he sold what was left of it.
Arthur and Ernest Norwood came from England to
Pinellas in summer of '86, and located in the Disston City
settlement. They built a small shack for a temporary home,
then cleared and fenced their land for gardening and citrus
fruits. Soon after thej'^ met with a streak of bad luck — their
little home caught fire in their absence and burned to the
ground w^ith all their belongings, leaving them practically
destitute, with only the clothes they had on and the tools
they w^ere working with. This loss was a very serious mat-
ter at that time, for the section was then in its infancy and the
few people in it were not moneyed men, though they were
ever ready to extend a helping hand to aid a fellow^ sufferer.
But Arthur and Ernest were men of real grit and here to
stay, and a few^ reverses did not discourage them. So they
quickly decided to begin life anew, and, with what aid they
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 45
could get from their neighbors in the way of work or other-
w^ise, and a small remittance from the old country, they
w^ere soon on their way to prosperity again.
The grub-hoe was their main dependence in those by-
gone days and they could wield it to perfection. Besides
they w^ere very handy with other tools and could daub a
little with the paint brush. I remember the postmaster at
Pinellas in those years wanted a sign painted for his office,
and as there w^as no sign painter to be had, Arthur Norw^ood
undertook the job, claiming at the time that it was out of his
line of business, but he w^ould do the best he could. When
the sign was finished it would bear inspection and would
compare favorably with the sign painting of today. It is over
twent years since then, and time has not entirely obliterated
it yet.
Arthur taught several terms of school successfully at
Disston, and v^hen Mr. Baumeister left that place in I 889, he
purchased the latter's stock of goods and went into the mer-
cantile business. Later on he removed to the Wardville
section of St. Petersburg, where he gradually built up a very
prosperous business in groceries and general merchandise.
Disposing of his grocery business at Ninth Street, he re-
moved to Fourth Street and Central Avenue, where for
several years past he has enjoyed a fine trade in the line of
dry goods and clothing. A self-made man, he began at the
bottom, and by being strictly honest, free-hearted, energetic
and persevering, he had about reached the top. He is one
grand success as a merchant and a man.
Nathan Odom came in 1 886 and bought land on Tan-
gerine Avenue, built a home and made an orange grove. He
lived there several years, v^hen he sold and went to tow^n.
G. W. Bennett brought his family to the Point in May,
1886. He made his first visit at Thanksgiving time, 1885,
46 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
and spent several days prospecting. Business matters kept
him in Tampa during the following months, much to his re-
gret. He made his home at Disston till 1891, when he
bought and settled at Maximo, where he has since lived in
comparative health and comfort. He credits the climate of
the Pinellas Peninsula with the last twenty-five years of his
life.
Another English settler was Robert Stanton, who
bought the Miller Neeld place at the corner of Tangerine
Avenue and Ninth Street, in 1 886, and built a good home, to
which he moved his family, and where they resided for
many years. He sold finally and moved to St. Petersburg.
There w^ere a number of new^ settlers around Disston
during 1 885 and I 886, the exact year of whose coming it is
difficult to determine.
There was Herman Beaumeister, who built a residence
and store and handled general merchandise till 1 ^89, when
he sold his stock to Arthur Norwood and went into business
in New^ York.
There was Sergeant James McMahon, educated for a
priest in Ireland, and graduated a thoroughbred soldier in
America. Slipped away to this country and enlisted in the
regular army at 1 7 years. Had served in the Seminole
wars; under Anderson at Fort Sumter at the siege; through
the Civil War as a Union soldier; had garrisoned, single-
harded several of our national fortresses since the war, and
was row on the retired list after having been in the thick
and thin of army life for nearly forty years. He bought ten
acres at Disston, built a home, put out a grove and spent a
good deal of his time there for some years.
There was Parmenas Early, John Mills, Johnnie Tripp,
Frank Futch, H. T. Sawyer, S. F. Brengle, John S. Calkins,
L. M. Longstreth, Boyd Thompson, J. W. McCardell, Jim
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 47
Hamilton and maybe others. Then there was Weihman and
Irwin, Badgat and Smeltz out on the avenue. The Point was
settling up.
In 1 887 the prevalence of yellow fever in Tampa tempo-
rarily put a stop to the influx of settlers.
Charles A. Rouff came here in November of this year
and bought five acres of land from Thomas Sterling on Big
Bayou ; cleared a portion for truck raising and fruit culture,
and built for himself and family a comfortable residence. He
was a machinist and engineer by trade and could do good
house and boat work. He built the residence of General
John C. Williams, now a part of the Manhattan Hotel.
In same year came D. F. S. Brantley. He was the con-
tractor who furnished the cross ties for the Orange Belt R. R.
Two of the self-made men of St. Petersburg are Ed. T.
Lewis and Ed. Durant, who came to this section when quite
young with their parents — Durant in I 885 and Lewis two
years later.
In 1 890 the "Two Eds" formed a copartnership and en-
gaged in mercantile business. At that time St. Petersburg
was in its infancy and so sparsely settled that it offered slim
prospects for the building up of a trade that should possibly
make them independent of the charities or a cold world for
all time.
Their stock — like their capital — was very limited, and
consisted of groceries, candies, cigars and tobacco. The ven-
ture was rather a haphazard undertaking and it was predicted
that so small a business would be an entire failure. But not
so; for they were young men of undaunted courage, ener-
getic and persevering, who always looked on the bright side
of things, remembering the old adage, "Where there's a will,
there's a w^ay. "
48 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
The business from the outset was prosperous, but Mr.
Durant did not fancy the grocery business, so decided to sell
out to Mr. Lewis and return to his calling, cigar making,
w^hich promised in the near future to become a paying busi-
ness. He now^ controls the largest cigar industry in this sec-
tion and possibly on the West Coast, and by being the right
man in the right place, he has built up a substantial trade and
made many friends and, doubtless, many dollars.
Mr. Lewis kept on climbing the "ladder of fame," and
being of a business turn, combined with economy, and strict
honesty in his dealings, he has mounted the top round of the
ladder and is now pretty much "monarch of all he surveys."
Mention has already been made in the early part of
this narrative of the settlement of Henry Murphy at the
mouth of Long Bayou, John's Pass. To his name might be
added those of several other early settlers along the northern
limits of the territory of which I have written. There w^ere
the Archer, Nash, Griner, Lealman, Sheffield, Ellis, Harris
and Arnould families, who settled at various dates, some of
them having settled previously farther up the peninsula.
From Ad'^ison Arnold I have this memorandum: "Herman
G. Arnold moved from Coffee County, Georgia, to Florida
in 1852, and married near Appalachicola, and moved to
Point Pinellas in the spring of 1856, and settled about two
miles east of the present site of Largo. He later moved to
and settled what is known as the old Hammock place, near
Lealman, where he lived until the war came on, during
w^hich he died."
The first steamboat built on the West Coast was built
at Big Bayou by Thomas Sterling and Charles Rouff. It
w^as built for the trade between Big Bayou, St. Petersburg
and Tampa. The dimensions of the lola were: Keel, 54
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 49
feet; TDeaxn, 1 3 feet; depth of hold, 7 feet; length over all, 59
feet. She was launched in 1885.
John Parsons designed and built this boat. Charles
Rouff, one of the owners, installed the engine and was her
engineer. He also aided materially in her construction, as he
w^as familiar with carpenter's tools and could do some boat
w^ork. As a house builder he was also skilled, and later on
designed and built the fine residence of General Williams,
now a part of the Manhattan Hotel. He was a machinist
by trade and a master mechanic.
The first sailing craft built on the West Coast after the
w^ar, was a sloop of nine tons, built also at Big Bayou, by
John A. Bethell, for Isadore Blumenthal & Co., to carry ce-
dar from Crystal River to Cedar Keys for their pencil factory.
The next largest was the sloop Flirt, five tons, built at
the same place and by same builder, for freighting. She also
carried the mail from Tampa to Cedar Keys for several
Tnonths after the steamer Cool was wrecked off Gadsden's
Point in 1874.
The smallest boat was also built by Mr. Bethell. It
^was eight feet six inches long, and Captain B. C. Williams,
then a young man, row^ed it from the Bayou to Tampa on a
direct line to Gadsden's Point, and from there to the ship-
ping off Big Island, where he stopped to take a short rest.
It was one of the boldest, most daring and dangerous feats
ever performed by any boatman that ever crossed the bay.
Dangerous simply because the least commotion of the w^aters
Avould have been certain to swamp the little shell of a boat
and left him at the mercy of a treacherous bay. The chances
for a drowning man were quite different from what they are
now. If a boat turns turtle on the bay now there is either a
sailboat, launch or steamer within a few hundred yards, so
a man has a fair chance in the daytime. Not so in those
50 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
days ; for sometimes it would be a week before there would
be a vessel seen on the bay, other than the mail boat making
the Tampa and Pinellas trip.
Old Fort at Big Bayou.
On the north side of Big Bayou, near the entrance,
stand several massive live oaks that mark the spot of a once
heavily timbered hammock of oaks, pines, cabbage palms,
sweet bay and various other kinds of trees, that w^ere grow-
ing on it until the year 1 859, when Abel Miranda bought and
cleared it for cultivation. Whilst clearing the land he made a
very unlooked-for discovery in finding the ruins of an old
fortification made entirely of oyster and conch shells, evi-
dently built by the discoverers of Tampa Bay, as a protection
against the hordes of aborigines that were usually on the
warpath.
This fort covered about an acre of ground and had but
three walled sides. One side faced northeast, one northwest
and one southwest. The southeast side was not walled up,
simply because the northeast and southwest wings extended
to the waters of the bayou. And again it may have been
left open for retreat by boats in the event of an attack by an
enemy, and the garrison not able to hold their own. The
walls on the northeast and northwest corners were at least
three feet high and gradually sloped to about two feet at
the waterfront.
This enclosure had two openings, at the northeast and
northwest corners, about fourteen feet wide, possibly in-
tended for sally ports. A remarkable circumstance about
the enclosure was that the ground inside was about two feet
lower than the land around the fort on the outside. There
were cabbage palms, oaks and pines growing in the embank-
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 51
ment as large as any In the hammock. How high this shell
had been piled up originally, how long and by whom, is a
mystery that will never be revealed.
A great deal of shell remains there yet to mark the spot
where the fort once stood, though in clearing the land the
shells were leveled and the timber piled on them and burned
to get it out of the way. Besides, much was hauled off and
burned in kilns for fertilizer.
It is very evident that there has been some fighting done
on that spot, from the fact that in clearing we found inside
the enclosure quite a number of arrow heads, some with
shafts nine and one-half inches long, in a finely polished
state, while some w^ere very crude.
Mounds at Points Pinellas and Maximo and Elsewhere.
Before and after the Civil War there was a cluster of
cabbage palms growing on the sand beach at Point Pinellas,
fronting on Espiritu Santo Bay, as it used to be called, which
was known as the "Three Cabbages." In 1884 the govern-
ment surveyors cut down two of the palms, leaving only one,
since known as the "Lone Palm," as being a better mark for
true bearings in running lines.
It also answered as a bearing to a very large mound in a
northwesterly direction and about three-quarters of a mile
distant. This mound differs in shape and construction from
any other mound in this section, or possibly in the State. In
1872, when Dr. Van Bibber was exploring the West Coast
for a location for a sanitarium, and Professor Agassiz was
looking up curiosities for the Smithsonian Institute, Captain
Eugene Coons met and brought them to my place at Big
Bayou. I then piloted them through the Point and to this
mound.
52 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
After inspecting it, they concluded that it was built in
layers of earth and shell to the depth of about three feet
to each layer. Though they could hardly tell for a certainty,
from the fact that the mound was so thickly covered over
w^ith saw palmetto that it was a very difficult matter to tell
precisely how thick the layers were or whether the earth and
shell were mixed as they went on. An excavation in the
north side, since made by employes of the Philadelphia
Acadamey of Natural Sciences, would seem to disprove the
separate layer theory. Other mounds constructed of earth
and shell seem to show that the shells were mixed in w^ith
the earthy material to better keep it in position.
There are three or more circular excavations like sink-
holes or pond bottoms, from which the earth was taken. The
present county road along the section line skirts the largest
of the holes, beyond which to the south and but a stone's
throw from the road stands the mound.
As the mound stands on the high timbered land about a
quarter of a mile from the present beach line, the transpor-
tation of the shell thither is a problem. The remains of a
causeway reaching the top of the mound and gently sloping
toward the south may have assisted in making the deposit
of shell. The mound is elongated in an almost east and west
line. The slope of the sides is abrupt, except on the south,
a? mentiored. The top at the south end had once been
leveled off for fifteen or tw^enty feet and terraced over.
It must have been in existence many years, perhaps
ages, from the fact that w^hen I first saw it, in 1 849, it had
pine trees growing on it equally large as any in the neighbor-
hood. I did not see the mound again until 1 859, and it was
then in a good state of preservation. But since the Civil
War vandal hands have preyed upon it so often that now
there is scarcely a vestige of the terrace to be seen.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 53
About three-quarters of a mile west and fronting on the
bay, G, W. Bennett's cottage site is the eastern extremity of
an interesting ridge or mound, which curves northward and
westward, traversing about a quarter of a mile, and comes
back along Maximo Road to the bay, then recurves eastward
twenty rods or more along the water's edge, with the ex-
tremity again thrown back toward the west like the end of a
monster's tail. It encloses ten or more acres, and is generally
called a serpent mound.
This mound is constructed of earth and shell mixed,
and the slope of the landward side is quite steep, so much so
that it may have been used as a fortification. From Maximo
Road west and along the bay is a regular tumble of mounds
of all shapes and sizes. Covered with a hammock growth of
palms, oaks, cedars and shrubbery, this extends another
quarter mile to near Point Maximo. These are also of earth
and shell, with a large percentage of shell.
Jutting out from this mound-base run two long straight
ridges or spurs in a northerly direction to a length of several
hundred feet, and still six to eight feet high. They resemble
railroad embankment or old earthworks. Perhaps it was
intended to complete the quadrangle for a defensive purpose.
A short distance north, at the edge of a bayhead, is still to be
seen a waterhole where the earth excavated was thrown up
in the middle of the two basins, making a solid passageway
between. These relics are of genuine interest and should
be preserved, as far as possible. West of Point Maximo is a
less striking continuation of the shell works for a good many
yards.
There are many isolated mounds in the lower Point.
There was a handsome group on the Kempe property at
Big Bayou, and the big oyster shell mounds at St. Petersburg
54 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
were many. It is a pity that they were not preserved intact,
in a public park.
It is very evident that many years ago there was no
Booker Creek, but all solid land where it now runs, from the
fact that on each side of the creek, several hundred yards
northwest from high bridge, and opposite each other, are two
embankments of oyster shell that at one time must have
been one very large mound spanning the present creek. Pos-
sibly some heavy cloudburst flooded the flatwoods to the
northwestward, coursed its w^ay through the land as it sloped
downwards and undermined the mound or forced a passage
through it and washed the land aw^ay, which was the making
of the creek. There is a descent of about fifteen or twenty
feet from the bayhead above Ninth Street bridge, and when
the flatwoods is flooded the fall of the water is so great that
it gradually washes out the creek and keeps it open.
Gruesome Find at John's Pass.
While hunting on one of the keys at John's Pass before
the war with Anderson Wood, we came across what had
once been a burial mound, but time, or possibly the gale of
1 848, that made John's Pass, had worn it down when it
swept over all the islands.
We would have passed it by unnoticed, as it only had
the appearance of a ridge of shell and sand, had w^e not
espied two human skulls and some bones. We concluded
there were Indians buried there and that there might be
trinkets buried with them. So we returned to our boat and
got a spade and hoe and went back and dug, but all we un-
earthed was bones. Thers appeared to be no trinkets with
them. As far as we could tell, the bodies had been buried
three tiers deep, heads north and feet south. We tried to
get a whole frame together to see the size of it, but the bones
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 55
were so matted together and so badly decayed that we could
not do so.
From the size of the bones, I do not think they w^ere a
larger people than ordinary. The two largest bones and the
only tw^o perfect ones w^e found were a thigh bone and a jaw
bone. Myself and partner each stood six feet, and if we
measured the thigh bone correctly it was about tw^o inches
longer than ours. My friend, with a face full of w^hiskers,
could slip the jaw^ bone off and on quite easily.
We w^ould have dug deeper into the mound, but on sec-
ond thought decided to quit simply because if those people
had not been killed in battle and buried there, it was probable
that they had died of some infectious disease, and possibly
some of the germs might still be lurking around those old
bones, and how^ did w^e know^ but that w^e had already become
infected! We covered the mound up again and left, taking
the skull, jaw and thigh bones to Tampa and gave them to
Dr. Creighton, as he w^anted to send them to the Smith-
sonian Institute at Washington. We also gave him tw^o pet-
rified teeth and several rib bones that we found on the out-
side beach at Pass-a-Grille.
The teeth must have belonged to some very large ani-
mal, and they did not look like they had lain in the water
very long, they were so bright and clear, and looked as if they
had been polished. The roots of the teeth were plainly visi-
ble and the cups in them were very distinct and looked like
they had never been used to masticate food. One of the teeth
weighed two pounds, and the other one and three-quarters.
The pieces of ribs vs^ere large and flat and not over fif-
teen inches long, and those w^ho saw them claimed that they
were from some family of the sea cow.
56 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
Game On the Point.
In writing up this little narrative I must not omit telling
about the game that abounded in this section before and for
some time after the Civil War. There were deer, bear,
coons, possums, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, geese, ducks,
w^hooping cranes, blue and white cranes, curlew^, quail,
plover, snipe, etc. Besides these there were panthers and
w^ildcats by the hundreds, and gators just as plentiful. All
one had to do w^as to load his gun and go off from his en-
closr^re, so as not to shoot any of his family, and kill a tur-
key or some other kind of game for dinner.
Quail was game that w^e never v/asted ammunition on.
We w^ould sometimes catch them in rabbit traps and turn
them loose. And snipe was too small game to tinker with.
I have stood on my porch and shot turkeys w^hile eating my
tomatoes. In duck season I would often kill at my water-
front landing enough to keep my family a day or two. Deer
frequently swam across the bayou. I overtook one crossing
one day and knocked it in the head w^ith my oar, and my
brother killed one with his hatchet.
The goose pond, about four miles northwest of the
Bayou, was a noted place for geese in their season, as w^as
also a sand flat northeast of Boca Ceiga Pass, that is dry
nearly all v/Inter. I have seen these flats literally covered
with geese, possibly a thousand or more. Geese were not
as easily killed as other game. They were always on the
lookout for danger, so it was a very difficult thing to get
near enough to kill more than a couple at a shot, though
my partner, Anderson Woods, once killed five.
We never in those days killed game for profit or for the
fun of it, as has been done in later years, but just what w^as
absolutely necessary for home consumption. When I first
settled here the bears, panthers, wildcats and 'gators preyed
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 57
upon the hogs to such an extent that we had to wage a w^ar
of extermination on them. They not only cleaned up the
pigs, but they killed the stock hogs; so in the fall of 1860
myself, Abel Miranda, Jas. R. Hay and Andy Woods decid-
ed we would turn out and clean up some of them. Miranda,
Woods and I killed in November and December ten bear and
captured three out of the fourteen we sighted. The other
outgeneraled us and made his escape. In that hunt we also
killed eleven cats, three panthers. Hay killed thirty-seven
cats alone, as he had good cat dogs, and he just hunted for
cats, though he would kill any other kind of animal that
preyed on stock if it crossed his path.
I do not remember just how many 'gators we killed in
the two months' hunt, but 1 do know that we killed every
one directly in our section that had a den in the creeks or
marshes at the hog crossings, and a good many that we came
aross in the woods while hunting game. We also killed
bear, cats and panthers before and after the Civil War, but
w^e never turned out before this for a general massacre. Af-
ter the Civil War bear and panthers w^ere very scarce, but the
cats and 'gators had multiplied very fast during the years of
the w^ar.
Our section was full of game for a long time after the
war, and there would be plenty of game now if it had not
been for the murderous guns in the hands of brainless pot-
hunters that slaughtered everything that had hair and feathers
on it. There were plume and song birds of every description
that the Creator had placed here to beautify and adorn Man's
Paradise, but the law^less marauders just about destroyed
everything that came in reach of their powder and lead.
The worst scourge that ever came to Point Pinellas was
one Chevalier, a Frenchman, from Montreal, Canada, who
located just west of Point Maximo for the purpose of killing
birds for the plumes, feathers and skins.
58 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
I don't know how many birds Chevalier and his ruth-
less gang slaughtered during the three years he remained on
the Point; for he brought a gang with him with a complete
outfit for the murderous business. 1 know it w^as w^ell into
the thousands. Even the harmless pelicans came in for a
share of powder and lead. Their wallets were made into to-
bacco pouches.
Two of Chevalier's agents, Pocket and Tetu, told me
that one season they got 1 1 ,000 skins and plumes and 30,-
000 birds' eggs, and with a force of eleven men with blow-
pipes it was impossible to blow the contents out of more
than one-half of these eggs before they were spoiled.. Then
they had to peck holes in the ends of the balance and spread
them out over the face of creation for the ants to do the rest.
That was the greatest destruction of the feathered tribe at
any time during the three years.
Chevalier would not have remained here in the Point
liad not some of our settlers aided him in his nefarious work,
from the fact that the hirelings he brought with him were ig-
norant of the bird rookeries on the land, and as they knew
nothing about boats, could not hunt on the islands. But as
some of the settlers enlisted in his hellish cause, then the w^ar
of extermination was waged on everything that had hide or
feathers.
I was told by one of Chevalier's pilots, or bird butchers,
that he piloted some of the gang to a rookery at the head
of Long Bayou in nesting time and killed over 1 ,000 plume
birds, and he said that about ten days after, while passing
by the rookery, the sight and stench of the dead birds was
sickening. The heads and necks of the young birds were
hanging out of the nests by the hundreds. They had killed
the mother birds and their young had died of sheer starva-
tio. "I am done bird hunting forever," said he. Did he
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 59
stick to his resolve? Not much! In less than one year he
was on the w^arpath again.
I have heard it said that alligators would fill up in the
summer time w^ith pine knots and keep fat all fall and winter
on them. I do not know if it is so or not. I know that I've
disemboweled a good many of them, and I never found any
pine knots in them. I've found leather-back turtles, and
ducks also. And I never found any hogs or pigs in any I
have opened, but I knew they caught them, all the same, for
I've seen them do it tw^ice in my life, and happened to be
near enough to checkmate them and get gator and pork-
er, too.
Pleasures of the Pioneers.
I must not omit letting my readers know^ about the
good, enjoyable times that myself, Miranda, Leonardy and
Bell, w^ith our families, used to have on the islands, just
after the w^ar, we being the only settlers at or near the Bayou
at the time.
Turtle-egging, bird-egging, 'coon and deer hunting v/as
the sport. In May, when the turtles and birds began to lay
v/e would fit out for a w^eek's cruise and go on the south side
of Edgar's Island — Pine Key — and pitch camp on the ex-
treme point of sand beach under some pine and oak trees
that afforded a very nice shade. We would take one day to
hunt 'coon and deer, one day to egg hunt and get stone
crabs, one day for shelling on the sandbank off Pass-a-Grille,
just to while away the time, as we did not w^ish to deer and
egg hunt every day.
We never killed more deer on a hunt than our four
families could use. The most we ever killed on any one
cruise was eight in five days — five bucks and three does. The
60 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
deer on the islands were a great deal larger than those on
the mainland, besides they were fatter and the meat better
flavored.
In getting birds' eggs we w^ould rob only the nests con-
taining a single egg, as they w^ere fresh and plentiful; and w^e
would always leave from fifteen to tw^enty turtles' eggs in the
nest to hatch.
We killed most of the deer on Hammett's Key, though
there was better hunting on Pass-a-Grille and one of the best
camp grounds on the West Coast. It seemed as if Nature de-
signed it for just such a purpose. But the harbor and anchor-
age in front of it were bad for small boats. The tide runs
very strong and when the wind is blowing from the north-
east small boats have to go up the bayou.
The first dock w^as built by George Faulkner, and in the
rear of it was the camp ground, which was first used for
this purpose by the Spanish smack fishermen in the forties.
It was about sixty feet square, in a cluster of cabbage palms,
three or four tiers deep. Whether the smack men thinned
out the palms or whether it was a natural opening, I
never heard say. All I knew about it was that it was a lovely
spot for camping.
The smack men used to take their smacks there to clean
them while waiting for a load of fish from the ranches.
There is some of their old pebble ballast lying on the water
there yet. They had a well dug in the rear of the camp,
walled up with horse-conch shells, but the gale of '48, when
it overflowed the key, filled the well up with sand, and it re-
mained so until 1857, when one John Gomez, a Spaniard,
who knew where it was, cleaned it out. Gomez carried
lumber there from Tampa and built tables and benches and
put everything in good shape. He had a fine boat and took
parties there on excursions.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 61
Before the war we did most of our camping and hunt-
ing at Pass-a-Grille on account of that good well of water
and the camp ground. Besides there were more deer on
Long Key than on the others, it being so much larger than
the other keys. Yes, and there were more rattlers on it than
on all the other keys put together. There were so many
rattlers and moccasins in that mangrove sw^amp near the
camp that we would never hunt in it; in fact, I don't think
the deer ever w^ent in it because of the snakes, as we never
saw any signs of their having been in it, though we alw^ays
saw plenty of tracks passing and repassing on either side
of the swamp. I have hunted that key the odd time and if I
ever failed to kill a rattler on each and every hunt I don't
remember it. And I have killed as high as three in a single
day's hunt. I have hunted on every island from Cape Sable
to Anclote, and Pass-a-Grille, or Long Key, beats them all
for rattlers. And it is very remarkable that in the tw^enty-
five years of hunting, off and on, I never lost a dog from a
rattler's bite; and I have had sometimes as many as seven
dogs on a camp hunt.
During the Seminole War of '56-7 Capt. Duke, of the
steamer Gray Cloud, took on board at Tampa about forty
hogs for troops at Fort Myers. When he got off Mullet Key
it was so stormy that he anchored there for four days. In
the meantime the hogs became so unruly and troublesome
that he dumped them all overboard. The most of them
made a landing, but some did not fare so well.
While the Gray Cloud lay stormbound at Mullet Key
Captain Duke gave permission to one Sampson, a negro,
employed by the Government as interpreter for the Indians
at Fort Myers, to go on shore for a hunt, and here is what
he killed in the one day's hunt : Eight large rattlers, which
he stretched out on the beach. 1 did not see the snakes, but
62 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
I heard Captain Duke tell it for a fact. Now, I have hunted
Mullet Key the odd time, night and day, through thick and
thin, driving, sneak and fire hunting, and never killed or saw
a rattler on it, though I knew they were there, as I would
often see their trails; but I have had pretty good luck on
Egmont killing rattlers, as it was a noted hole for them.
Sampson, the negro interpreter, was captured by the
Indians when quite a boy and lived with them until the war
of '37-8, when he quit the tribe, came to Tampa, and of-
fered his services to General Brooke, commandant of the
post, as guide, spy and interpreter for the command. He was
allow^ed to squat on the Government reservation, w^hilst there
was w^ar w^ith the Indians, and after its close General Brooke
secured a grant from the Government for five acres of the
reservation for services rendered. After the close of the
Civil War Louis Bell, a Confederate veteran, bought Samp-
son's claim for $25 and a yoke of oxen and wagon. The
Bells ow^n some of the property yet.
I must now^ tell you what became of the hogs that w^ere
thrown overboard from the Gray Cloud. Some of them
drowned, but the most of them made a safe landing and mul-
tiplied rapidly. Before the outbreak of the Civil War I often
v/ent to Mullet Key to hunt deer, and in the meantime would
kill a couple of good fat shoats whilst I w^as idle. There w^ould
sometimes be as many as twenty hogs in a drove feeding on
the sand flats, same as the coons. The gators must have
fared pretty w^ell on them, for there were lots of bones around
their dens. But they had w^orse enemies than the gators
during the Civil War, for the refugees exterminated them for
the blockading fleet at Egmont. After the close of the war
I hunted on Mullet Key again, but never saw a sign of a hog.
In '49 Captain Joe Lowe, while on his way from Key
West to the sponge banks, landed several head of stock hogs
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 63
on.Sanibel Island, knowing that they would soon accumulate,
and himself as well as the other spongers on their outward-
bound trips could stop there and lay in a supply of fresh pork
for the cruise. In '56 and '57, whilst 1 was with Captain John
Alderslade carrying beef cattle from Tampa and Manatee to
Kew West for the market, he would often stop there to get
a porker or two, and at the same time have a deer hunt, as
they w^ere very plentiful, as w^ere the hogs also. On the south-
east end of the island there were several acres of coco-plum
bushes that grew from tw^o to four feet high, which in the
summer months w^ould be loaded w^ith fruit. There v^^ere
two kinds, the w^hite and the blue, but they were one and
the same fruit. They were about the size of the ordinary
peach, with but one seed, and would last about as long as pal-
met to mast. They w^ere a very fine fruit and the hogs w^ere
very fond of them, as were also the coons; possibly the deer
liked them, too, as there would be plenty of tracks through
the grove.
The Gale of '48 and Changes Along the CoasL
The gale that destroyed everything in its track along the
West Coast in 1 848, among other things, washed dow^n the
ligfithouse on Egmont Key. When the lightkeeper. Marvel
Edwards, sav/ that the tide w^as going to overflow the island
t-iid that it w^as already tw^o feet deep around the dv/elling, he
placed his family in his boat and waded with it to the middle
of the isle and secured it to the palmettos until the gale was
over.
The tide rose so high that it w^ent over the v^indow^ sills
of the old brick dw^elling that -was built at the same time that
the lighthouse w^as, and has been the home for every light-
keeper from that to the present time. The dwelling v/hen
64 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
first built was of one story with a cellar and cistern under-
neath. When the new^ lighthouse w^as built another story
w^as added to the dw^elling.
Every island from Sanibel to Bayport w^as overflow^ed in
the '48 gale, and many new passes were made by it through
the islands. For instance. Longboat inlet and several small
passes between there and Big Sarasota; also John's Pass.
Before the gale Passage Key had a heavy grov/th of timber
on it, but the gale swept it all off and cut a channel into the
swamp that was on it, so that in 1 849 my father, while oiling
and turtling in the bay, used to anchor his schooner of eight
tons in there, as it made a very snug harbor for small ship-
ping drawing up to three feet of w^ater. The islands have
washed away a great deal in places since 1 848.
The northwest side of Mullet Key before the gale, from
the north point to within a half mile of the south point, was a
solid cabbage hammock w^ith three large buttonwood sw^amps
on the north point, but that gale broke away the foundation
and the land has gradually washed away, including the cab-
bage trees and swamps.
The gale was also the cause of the washing away of sev-
eral sand keys between Mullet Key and Pass-a-Grille. One
of these was of about one and a half acres in extent in 1 849,
and w^as v/ell nigh covered w^ith buttonw^ood, mangrove and
bay cedars. The laughing gulls and shearw^aters used to
lay their eggs there, and it was known as Panama Key. Af-
ter the war, some northern smack fishermen established
a ranch there to catch mullet and bottom fish for the Cuban
market. They never made a success of it from the fact that
the sharks cut their nets so badly that they had to quit.
There is nothing nov/ remaining of the key but a sand flat.
The sand key on the northw^est side of Pass-a-Grille
channel, before and for a long time after the w^ar, was on
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 65
the southeast side of it. There were several acres in this
key, with black and white buttonw^ood and mangrove grow^-
ing on the inside of the southeast point ; the rest of the key
■was well covered with a very thick grow^th of bay cedar. At
the east end of the key v/as a bend, or horseshoe, w^ith five
feet of water, making a fine harbor for small craft. It was a
great place for bird and turtle eggs.
On the southeast point of Pass-a-Grille in those years
also was a pond v/ith buttonwood and mangrove grov/ing on
its borders that w^as seventy-five or one hundred feet from
tide vv^ater. There w^as a very large gator that had his den
in this pond and myself and partner decided to kill him,
v/hich w^as not so easily done, for the reason that he w^ould
go in and out of the pond only at night. We tried to fire
hunt him, but never could find him. So one bright, still,
moonlight night we took our stand near his trail. We did
not have long to wait — possibly half an hour — before he
made his appearance, crossing the beach from the w^ater to
the pond. When he came near to our hiding place w^e
stepped out from ambush and filled his gatorship full of
"blue w^histles."
I did not expect to ever tell any gator yarns, conse-
quently did not weigh or measure him, but he was a very
large one all the same. The next largest gator that I ever
saw had his den on the bird rookery at the Boca Ceiga, or
northwest end of Long Key. Myself and comrade could
never get near enough to kill him with buckshot. We shot
at his head a great many times w^hile sw^imming in the chan-
nel, but never could kill him. From his size he must have
been an old residenter, or else he must have taken advan-
tage of the flood to get there from the River Ganges.
Well, I will now go back and take up the thread of my
discourse. The next part of Long Key to v^ash away vv^as
66 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
the west end. It was a very high ridge of sand beach of about
twenty acres, covered with a heavy grow^th of bay cedar. It
was a noted place for turtle and gull eggs. There w^ere also
three large duck and goose ponds a little southeast of the
ridge, where I often killed ducks, but I have been told re-
cently that tv/o of the ponds are entirely washed aw^ay and
that the gulf w^aters ebb and flow^ in the remaining one. and
that the high ridge of beach will soon be a thing of the past.
The next key betw^een Long Key and John's Pass was also
high and dry, but it has w^ashed aw^ay so much that there
v/ere several small, shallow channels cut through it when I
last visited the place.
Stump Pass, south of Big Sarasota, was made by the
'48 gale, as w^as also the pass below Little Sarasota, know^n
as Sarah's, or Casey's Pass.
Early Highways.
The first road to this section was made by the Old
Tampa stockmen from the John Taylor place to the James
R. Hay place, now^ known as the Farrand Grove, in 1836.
In 1837 Hay continued it on just east of Salt Lake to Big
Bayou. In I 868 John L. Branch cut a road from what is
now^ the Foster Grove to intersect the "Old Tampa Road, "
as it was afterw^ard called, about eight miles north of the
Farrand Grove. The people of Pinellas traveled this road
very often from the fact that Old Tampa w^as headquarters
for schools, churches, voting, entertainments, speech-mak-
ing and such like, just after the war.
Seminole War Experiences.
During the Seminole War of I 836-7, while mate on one
of the Government steamers, the "Texas Ranger, " then
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 67
plying between Tampa and Fort Myers for the purpose of
transporting troops and munitions of war, I had a very good
opportunity of seeing quite a number of the braves, their
squaws and little pappooses, captured or surrendered, that
were being shipped on our boat as prisoners of war from
Fort Myers to Egmont Key, which was their prison until
sent West to the reservation. All the prisoners were well
guarded while on the boat, and on arrival at Egmont they
were turned over to the commandant of the post for safe-
keeping; and they were safe when once on the island, for
no boats w^ere allow^ed to be kept there and none to land,
day or night, under any conditions w^hatever.
The Indians were very quiet and orderly w^hile prison-
ers on the boat, but just as soon as they landed and met their
relatives all order and quiet w^as turned into war w^hoops,
w^eeping, dancing and yelling like w^ild beasts.
Soon after the war began the Government saw^ there
was no possible chance of compelling the Indians to surren-
der and leave the State, by use of the regular troops alone,
so it issued a call for volunteers, some for infantry, some for
cavalry and some for boat service. The latter v/ere to go
through the Everglades, find the homes, capture the women
and children, destroy their gardens and keep the men on
the move so they could not do any farming.
These boatmen had very large metallic boats, that
would carry sixteen to tw^enty men w^ith all their outfit.
They w^ere built for going through the saw^grass, so as to
penetrate to the islands and sw^amps in the Everglades.
These boat companies did the hardest and most efficient
service. Without them the Indians v/ould never have sur-
rendered; and they received the least pay and no pension for
their services.
68 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
During the early part of the war the Government sent
out West to the reservation and had Jim Jumper, head chief
of the Seminoles, and some others of the tribe brought to
Tampa for the purpose of meeting Billy Bowlegs, the second
chief, and trying to induce him to give up and go back with
them to the reservation. But Billy refused to leave his home,
so Jumper accomplished nothing.
I saw the delegation when it arrived in Tampa. They
w^ere fine looking men, but their style of dress was most
amusing. Chief Jumper wore a high crown black beaver
hat, a pair of brogan shoes, striped ticking pants, red top
shirt and a blue blouse, and the rest were dressed about as
comically. Some would have on soldier shoes, pants and
blouse and red shirt and turban; others brogan shoes, soldier
pants, white flannel army shirts, striped coat and straw hat;
others would have on shoes, buckskin pants, red or white
shirt and a "Joseph's coat " of many colors, topped out with
a turban or striped cloth. It appeared as if each one dressed
according to his ow^n particular fancy.
They were first sent to Fort Myers on our boat, and
from there to Marco. From there w^e went with steamer
several miles inland until w^e came to shallow water. We
then took the boats and went several miles farther before
w^e could land them dry-footed. We then returned to the
steamer in double-quick time; for it w^as no place for sailors
among those mangrove islands. As soon as w^e got on
board w^e steamed for Fort Myers, glad to get to sea again,
out of reach of the scalping knife.
Our steamer w^as often ordered into critical positions.
Sometimes we were sent up the Caloosahatchee River from
Fort Myers to Fort Deno. The Caloosahatchee w^as a very
unsafe river to navigate, on account of its narrowness, as
also its crookedness. We were ordered to Fort Deno once
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 69
after a freshet, with supplies for the fort. When we got to
w^here the river was very crooked we had to go under slow
speed, and though the boat had a double engine and was a
side-w^heeler, and could back on one wheel and go ahead on
the other, it did not save her from being swept broadside by
the current into a large oak tree that smashed two state
rooms and a part of the dining room on the upper deck ; and
it took quite a long time to cut away the oak and get the
boat clear of it.
I have often thought of the risk taken in running up
that river without any protection whatever, with no guard on
the boat, and no guns of any kind for the crew, in case they
w^ere attacked by the redskins. If they had attacked us there
would not have been a man left to tell the tale.
70 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
CHAPTER V.
Elarly Business Centers. Pinellas Village.
In concluding this historical sketch of the lower Point
it will not be amiss to say something about the little town of
Pinellas — Big Bayou — of bygone days, as it was instru-
mental in building up the Point from Maximo to Lealman,
simply because it did a very large business and was head-
quarters for all this section, including Lealman, Largo and
the John's Pass country.
And, first, a word about the location of the village. Big
Bayou — Pinellas — has one of the best natural harbors for
small shipping from twenty-five tons down to skiff boats,
anywhere on the West Coast, from Tampa to Clearwater;
there is ample room with a depth of from four to eight feet
of water for five hundred of the above class to ride at anchor
in stormy weather in perfect safety. It is so land-and-bank
locked as not to be exposed to the heavy seas and full force
of wind encountered in the open.
From the channel entrance, or bar, to the head of the
Bayou is about one and a half miles and its greatest width
about a half mile. In spring there is four and a half feet on
the bar at mean high water, but in summer tides, when the
w^ind is south, there is six feet. Some of the lumber schooners
have come in drawing five feet eight inches and discharged
their cargoes at my dock. The Cecilia, the Peerless and the
Simpson were schooners of tw^enty-five tons that used to
rendezvous in the Bayou, and the schooner Venice of thirty
tons, partly owned by Judge Benton, used to run the block-
ade from Tampa to the Bayou during the yellow fever time
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 71
with goods for the merchants here; and these same vessels
drew from four to five feet of water.
After Mr. Sterling built the Hotel San Jose and got it
in running order, we had excursions from Tampa just as
they now have to Pass-a-Grille. Every Sunday the steamer
Sadie or the steamer Alafia came in vv^ith a crowd. The
Bayou in those days was not only a fire-cIass business place,
but a place for sport, fun and frolic, and every one, citizen
and transient, enjoyed it. The day will come w^hen Pinellas
will flourish again, but those good days of yore will never
return.
Thomas Sterling and General Williams arranged to ap-
propriate $1,500 to jetty the channel so as to turn all the
water from the Bayou into the main channel, w^hich w^ould
have been all that v/as necessary to clean it out and keep it
so. Charles Rouff and Judge Benton were to superintend
the construction and the scheme would have been carried
out, but some one of the parties most interested w^as in-
formed that such an undertaking w^ould be detrimental to the
business interests of St. Petersburg, and the matter w^as drop-
ped. Modern methods as used in Bayboro will yet make
Big Bayou the favorite harbor of the Point.
But to return to my story. It w^as some time after I came
back to Pinellas before home-seekers began to put in an ap-
pearance, and then they w^ere few and far betv/een, like
angels' visits. I had here, on the north side of the Bayou,
one hundred and twelve acres of land in a body, lying beau-
tifully and with a fine waterfront. I wanted neighbors more
than I wanted acres, and so I decided to sell or barter some
of my lands at a small price so as to induce people to settle at
the Bayou. And this is the way I sold it:
First, I traded two acres on the Bayou to William P.
Neeld for five acres on the rock road near Tangerine Avenue ;
72 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
then sold this five acres to Miller Neeld for $ 1 cash and ten
bushels of sweet potatoes, then worth 40 cents a busheL
Next I sold four acres to John P. Andreu for $20. I then
sold sixty acres for $250 to one Lyons in Tampa, who after-
wards sold it to Thomas Sterrling for $1,000. Sterling then
sold ten or fifteen acres to parties for homes, some of whom
located and made good improvements. Later on he sold
his remaining lands, w^ith all improvements, to a syndicate
of Jesuits for $10,000, including $1,000 paid John B. Wal-
ton for making the deal, and the purchase of the smaller
claims made the sixty acres cost them something over $1 3,-
000. I then traded fifteen acres, now the Kempe property, to
Captain Adolphus Russell for an old sloop that was worth
about $75. I bought my land from private parties, so the
one hundred and twelve acres cost me $590, but I got the
most desirable location, with the best water front on the
Bayou.
When the tow^n first started the growth was slow^, ow-
ing to the fact that it was just after the war, and no building
material to be had nearer than Pensacola, consequently v/as
very difficult to obtain, until a line of schooners from that
place opened up a trade v/ith the tow^n. Also the settlers
were dependent upon Tampa for their other supplies, until
R. E, Neeld opened a store for the people's needs — the first
store in the section. The next to open a business place was
Vincent Leonardy. It was then that Pinellas began to flour-
ish ; and it is surprising what a large business was carried on
in so small a town a little Jater on.
The first shipment of farm products w^as made before
there was any established place of business in the village.
This consisted of two hundred crates of vegetables, mostly
tomatoes, and six hundred crates of oranges.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 73
The first store, R. E. Neeld's, sold groceries only; Vin-
cent Leonardy, groceries and dry goods. A little later on
John T. Sloan opened up groceries, shoes, dry goods, hard-
ware, oils, stock feed, wholesale and retail; Simon Bell, gro-
ceries and feed, wholesale and retail; E. R. Ward, a general
assortment, wholesale and retail; James W. Harris, the
same; E. P. Grubb, the same; John A. Bethell, groceries,
feed and hardware, wholesale and retail.
Ward, Bethell and Grubb supplied the contractors who
built the Orange Belt R. R. with about all the provisions and
other goods they needed.
In conclusion, I will say something about the Pinellas
post office, w^hich was established in 1 876. It was the oldest
office on the West Coast. William H. Benton was the first
{X)stmaster, but at the expiration of six months, resigned in
favor of John A. Bethell, who then held the office fourteen
years and four months, when R. E. Neeld was appointed
postmaster under President Harrison's administration. At
the end of one year he resigned in favor of Mary E. Bethell,
who also resigned at the expiration of two years in favor of
.Mrs. S. C. Bethell, the last to hold the office. She served a
term of thirteen years, then tendered her resignation to the
Post Office Department, and as no one would take the office
it was finally discontinued.
Before St. Petersburg opened up the office did quite a
business. The cancellations amounted to about $74 a quar-
ter and sales to over $ I 00. The oldest settler in Point Pi-
nellas is John A. Bethell, and he holds a draft on the Post
Office Department for four cents, due him in settlement for
services as postmaster during the fourteen years and four
months as above stated — next to the smallest draft on record,
which was for one cent to Grover Cleveland. The largest
74 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
ever issued, as I have been told, was for $1 7,000,000, to the
Vanderbilts.
In 1 885 J. R. Torres platted a townsite on the high
bIu£F facing south on Boca Ceiga Bay, in Section 33, now
included in Gulfport. Interested with him in furthering this
enterprise were William B. Miranda, Joseph P. G. Watt and
John R. Jones.
By the close of I 885 a lively boom had started, a num-
ber of houses had been built on the townsite, a large hotel
on the waterfront, two or three stores, a substantial dock and
warehouse, and an air of prosperity pervaded the commu-
nity.
The hotel was fairl}' patronized from the start; several
young Englishmen tourists were in evidence, w^ith a prospect
of more. Captain John 1 . Lesley, of Tampa, platted tw^enty
acres adjoining the Torrest tract on the west, and by the
spring of I 886 real estate in and around the new tow^n was
ii, brisk demand and at pretty stiff prices. During the w^in-
ter a transportation company had been organized and the
steamer Mistletoe put on the run between the port and
Tampa.
The town had been named "Disston City," in honor of
Henry Disston, whose big purchase of Florida State lands
included many acres in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the ex-
istence of a little country postoffice in the neighborhood of
Tampa by the name of "Diston" made "Disston City" ob-
jectionable to the Post Office Department, as a name for
the post office, and it was known as "Bonifacio" in mail mat-
ters until I 890, when the Diston post office having been dis-
continued, town and post office alike became Disston City.
The real estate office of W. B. Miranda, Jones and
Watt was a lively place in those days. Miranda was a man
of great energy and was possessed of a lively imagination,
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 75
f ,'
as all pushing men of affairs are wont to be. And if his
schemes could have been materialized the lower end of this
peninsula might have had a far different history as a result.
In his fertile brain the little village plat on Boca Ceiga
Bay soon became simply the nucleus of a Greater Disston,
which should cover all the available advantages of the Point.
It was, maybe, a dream, but a dream that is likely to become,
under another name, a grand reality in the 3'ears that are be-
fore us.
In conjunction with several large outside landholders,
he planned the platting of practically all the south end of
the peninsula from Paul's Landing to John's Pass into five
and ten-acre lots with wide streets and avenues and a grand
boulevard along the entire w^aterfront. The greater part of
these lands was actually surveyed and platted, where the
owners consented and put up the funds, and many of the
squared stakes are still to be found that marked the platted
lines and avenues. General Williams and several other
land owners did not go into the scheme.
As long as Miranda could control the funds "Greater
Disston" boomed. Big lithograph maps of the greater city
were issued, which, together with a variety of lesser litera-
ture, were scattered liberally abroad. An English settler
was my authority for the statement that "next to New York
and New Orleans, Disston City was the best known place
in America as far as London was concerned!"
In those young days of the tow^n of Disston mass meet-
ings of the populace were extremely prevalent, in w^hich,
w^hatever the matter in hand, Citizen Torres inevitably bob-
bed up w^ith a lot of strongly w^orded "resolutions." And he
carried off his part well. Railroads were planned — on paper.
Water transportation lines were organized — without capital.
Flying machines were not in the air at that time, but if they
76 HISTORY OF PINELLAS PENINSULA
had been whole fleets of them — in imagination — would
have swarmed around the young town. Unfortunately, ev-
erything else was mostly "in the air," and stayed there!
But so carried away with their visions of their future great-
ness were these promoters and the people generally, that
even sleepy old Tampa, which w^as just beginning to wake
from a Rip Van Winkle state of repose, began to sit up and
take notice, and exhibited unmistakable signs of jealousy of
her enterprising neighbor.
In the spring of 1 886 there were three mercantile es-
tablishments in Disston. J. R. Torres carried a stock of gen-
eral merchandise, mostly groceries. He also ran the post
office in connection, being its first postmaster. H. E. Bau-
meister carried dry goods and hardware, principally, and R.
L. Locke, an English resident, trafficed in groceries.
In the same spring Will McPherson brought in a small
job press and type outfit and began the publication of the
first newspaper ever issued on the Point. At first it was a
simple kind of hand-bill affair, it being Will's first attempt
at the "delineation of the art preservative." Later, in June,
by the assistance of G. W. Bennnett, an old newspaper man,
it w^as thrown into regular newspaper form and presented a
very neat appearance, and was indeed no slouch of a coun-
try journal. Will named it the "Sea Breeze," and as there
happened to be no type in the office suitable for a head, Ben-
nett selected a chunk of black mangrove from the w^oodpile,
w^orked it down type high, and cut a head specially for the
paper. This "head" and a file of the "Sea Breeze" are yet
in the possession of Mr. McPherson.
After a year or more the concern was transferred to the
hands of Messrs. L. M. Longstreth and R. E. Neeld, who
changed the name to the "Express." It died I think of yellow
fever soon after.
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 11
For, in 1887 and 1888, yellow fever prevailed in
Tampa, during which time the Point was closely quaran-
tined. This in itself would make a full and interesting chap-
ter in this narrative. The fever never existed on the Point —
the microbes couldn't catch on here — but business was para-
lyzed; the boom languished, and the coming of the railroad
and birth of St. Petersburg were the death knell of Disston.
CHAPTER VI.
Arrival of the Railroad and Birth of St. Petersburg.
In the early part of 1 887 it began to look as if the long
expected railroad was about to materialize. There were ru-
mors to the effect that a certain Silver Springs, Ocala 6c Gulf
Coast line was heading in our direction and would strike
tidewater somewhere on the lower Point. By and by came
parties connected with the enterprise to look over the situa-
tion and decide on a terminus.
The site of St. Petersburg, with General Williams be-
hind it, was a very potent argument. Surveyors followed.
Lines were run here and there and various routes were pro-
posed.
Eventually the S., S., O. & G. got a franchise for a line
down the coast by way of Clearwater and Seminole to Mul-
let Key, with a side line to St. Petersburg. A tract of land
on the Williams waterfront was cleared and made ready for
the road. The road got tired before it reached the coast, but
Mr. Plant kept the franchise alive for years after he absorbed
the uncompleted line.
About the same time came the redoubtable Russian
hustler, "Uncle Pete," and General Williams made room for
his proposition. And St. Petersburg took name and shap>c
and the little narrow gauge Orange Belt R. R., now the
Sanford and St. Petersburg branch of the Atlantic Coast
Line, was the result. This line was built and the dock com-
pleted in December, 1 888. With this achievement ends the
scope of this little history.
I have aimed to lay a foundation for future historians
to build upon. The fast thinning ranks of the earliest set-
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA 79
tiers seemed to make it advisable that the attempt should be
made to put into shape for preservation some reliable ac-
count of the events of which there had hitherto been no
written or printed record made. But at the urgent request
of some of my friends I have done my best to preserve
herem such happenings as have come under my personal
observation, as well as such other incidents as have been
gathered from reliable sources during the more than half
century that my home has been in this section. In doing so
I have tried to make it a truthful record without any color-
ing of falsehood whatever.
THE END
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