Manatee County, Florida: Facts, Folks & Photos

By Stan Paregien, Sr

Stan Paregien's latest eBook," Manatee County, Florida: Facts, Folks and Photos " is a literary tossed salad. It is an intriguing combination with one part travel guide for the beaches and other attractions in Manatee County, one part who's who of today's leaders and yesterday's heroes and heroines, one part family photo album, and one part a history book containing over 450 photos and 470 biographical sketches. It is written in a conversational style with touches of wit, wisdom, mystery and spice.

Chapter 1, "Manatee County Facts," is a quick chronological look at the main events which have happened in Manatee County since ol' Juan Ponce de Leon set foot here in Paradise in 1513. There've been a heck of a lot of other footprints left in the sands of Manatee County since then, and this book notes many of them.

Chapter 2, "Manatee County Cities & Communities," presents facts and information about Manatee County's larger cities and the smaller communities as well. All of 'em are fine places, so Stan gives you the inside scoop behind the usual road signs and flashing neon lights. Real people live here and most all of them love it, except maybe for a few diehard sourpusses. You'll find helpful lists of things you may need to find.

Chapter 3, "Manatee County Folks," is where you'll want to spent a bunch of your time. There you'll see photos and biographical sketches of hundreds of Manatee County people. Learn why the heck we do things like we do them (Hint: "Because that's how grandma and grandpa used to do it.") You'll meet some of our wonderful pioneer families, a great many solid citizens, plus a lot of folks who work doggoned hard to make this County an even better place to live or to visit.

Chapter 4, "Manatee County Photo Gallery," is a large and varied photo collection which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, a bounce in your step and reduction of your acid reflux problem. Well, heck, two out of three hits is darned good in baseball. You'll get a kick out of the these photos -- new ones, old ones, funny ones, sad ones and all in between.

Chapter 5, "About the Author," contains Stan Paregien's bio, plus a list of his more than a dozen other eBooks available online through your favorite retailer.

The last part, Chapter 6, is titled "Resources." It contains an extended list of books and articles you can read, videos you can watch and websites you can visit to learn even more about Manatee County.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Paregien, Sr
• Release date: May 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370532858

Stan Paregien, Sr

Stan Paregien Sr was born in Wapanucka (Johnston County), Oklahoma to Harold and Evelyn (Cauthen) Paregien. The family moved west the year after his birth and he grew up on ranches and farms where his father worked in southern California.One of those places where Harold Paregien worked was the Newhall Ranch, a corporate ranching and farming operation that stretched for miles either side of the highway from the towns of Newhall (now Santa Clarita) to Piru. Stan was already in love with anything cowboy, mostly by watching those great B-Westerns at the local movie theaters. And then on the Newhall Ranch (officially known as the Newhall Land & Farming Company) he and his sister Roberta acquired horses and rode happy trails all over the ranch.Paregien graduated from high school in 1959 at Fillmore, Calif. He married Peggy Ruth Allen from nearby Ventura, Calif., in 1962. They immediately moved to Nashville, Tennessee for Stan to study Speech Communication (and history and Bible) at Lipscomb University. He graduated in 1965. In 1968, he received his master’s degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Then he completed all 60-hours of the classwork toward a Ph.D. in Speech Communication at the University of Oklahoma (but did not complete his other requirements). He has taken and is still taking continuing education courses in Life Skills through the University of Hard Knocks.He is a former full-time minister, a newspaper reporter and editor, a radio talk show host, a director of mental health facilities in both Texas and Oklahoma, and a salesman of various products. His hobby since 1990 has been writing and performing cowboy poetry and stories. He performed at the annual National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas for a total of some 25 years. Through it all, he has been and is a freelance writer and author.He prefers just calling himself a "storyteller" in the tradition of Mark Twain, Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton, Garrison Keillor, Ansel Adams, Norman Rockwell, J. Frank Dobie, Agatha Christie and others. Sometimes he tells stories through narration, sometimes through poetry and often through photography.Stan and Peggy have two adult children, Stan Paregien Jr who lives with his family in the St. Louis area; and Stacy Magness who lives with her family near College Station, Texas. They also have four grandchildren (going on five, with an adoption in progress) and two great-grandchildren. The Paregiens lived in Edmond, Oklahoma for some 20 years before moving to Bradenton, Florida in June of 2013.Be sure to take a look at his other e-books which are also available online, including:S. Omar Barker: Las Vegas New Mexico's Legendary Cowboy PoetHis biography and 50 of his poems.The Cajun Cowdog: 15 Cowboy Stories for Adults**Just that people under age 13 probably can't appreciate it.Cowboy Earmuffs: 15 Cowboy Stories for AdultsA Rainy Day Reader: 100 Poems for Your EnjoymentWoody Guthrie: His Life, Music & MythOklahoma Almanac of Facts & Humor, (Parts 1& 2)The Austin Chronicles, Book 1: Boggy Depot Shootout (a Western novel with adult themes)The Austin Chronicles, Book 2: The Abilene Trail (a Western novel with adult themes)The Day Jesus DiedRootin’ Tootin’ Cowboy Poetry (Stan's original poems)Guy Logsdon: Award-winning FolkloristJim Shoulders: King of the Rodeo CowboysClara Luper: Civil Rights PioneerThoughts on UnityHe also recently published two paperback books through Amazon.com's KDP "Print-on-demand" process. Those two books are:S. Omar Barker: Las Vegas New Mexico's Legendary Cowboy PoetThe Day Jesus Died: Revised VersionOr just Google "books by Stan Paregien."

Book preview

Manatee County, Florida:

Facts, Folks & Photos

by Stan Paregien Sr.

Smashwords Edition

Copyrighted 2017 by Stan Paregien

Stan Paregien, Publisher – Bradenton, FL.

Distributed by Smashwords.com

ISBN: 9781370532858

Cover Design & Photo Credit:

Southern end of Coquina Beach at sunset on Nov. 6, 2015.

Anna Maria Island, FL. – Copyrighted by Stan Paregien

This is both a travelguide and a lively history book featuring over 450 photos and 470 biographical sketches.

All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the express written prior permission of Stan Paregien, the author and publisher. If you enjoy this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Contact Stan Paregien in Bradenton, Florida at: [e-mail]

Dedication

It is my pleasure to dedicate this book to all military people, past and present, and to their families who sacrifice so much supporting them.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1:

Manatee County Facts

Chapter 2:

Manatee County Cities & Communities

Chapter 3:

Manatee County Folks

Chapter 4:

Manatee County Photo Gallery

Chapter 5:

About the Author

and His Other Books

Chapter 6:

Resources

Introduction

The late Elizabeth Libby Crews Warner and her husband, Joe G. Warner, were long-time residents of Manatee County. They worked together in getting three books published about the area and the culture they dearly loved. In 1999, with husband Joe just a year from dying, Libby Crews Warner agreed to be interviewed by a college student. Mrs. Warner's last words to that young person were: Well, thank you. We enjoyed it. Not plenty of times we get to talk. Nobody cares anymore.

Many older people share that feeling and some even say it. But, thankfully, there are lots of exceptions. And those exceptions are why lovers of history, like myself, do what we do. We simply don't want the wonderfully inspiring, encouraging and humorous stories of our people to be lost. Not even the few sad ones.

This book of mine really started back in 2011 or so when my wife Peggy and I were considering moving away from the all-too frequent tornados, ice storms and constant winds in our native state of Oklahoma. We began investigating retirement communities from Arizona to Florida. Most Oklahoma retirees in our income bracket elect to move to south Texas, southern Arizona or to New Mexico. But there were other options as well.

We bought travel books, studied scores of web sites and talked with friends and neighbors. We asked for and received countless colorful brochures from specific states and cities, along with buckets of brochures from realtors and Chamber of Commerce representatives. The more information we received, the more we leaned toward somewhere near the beaches of sunny Florida. So we began a large number of visits to this land of palm trees, beautiful beaches and tropical vegetation populated with many hundreds of 55+ retirement communities for active folks like us.

We would fly into Tampa, rent a car and stay in our niece's unoccupied seasonal home just to the west in Largo. We used that as our base while we spent a week or so each time researching the pluses and minuses of various towns and retirement villages within them. We concentrated on the west coast of Florida, from Clearwater down to Venice. It was a challenge, to say the least, to find the kind of housing we really liked and to winnow that number down to a much smaller number we could realistically afford. After all that, we still had a staggering variety of choices.

Early in 2013, we made our choice. We found a comfortable, fully furnished manufactured home in a 55+ community of some 267 residences. There was a nice clubhouse and kitchen, a library, a work-out room, an inviting swimming pool and hot tub, the ever-popular shuffle board courts, horseshoe pits and more. Several friendly, welcoming residents eagerly told us about what life was really like there. So in June of 2013, we moved to Bradenton—the County Seat of historic and beautiful Manatee County. Our new adventure had begun.

Today the adventure continues each day. Sometimes we get so busy in the golden years of our retirement that we have to hit the reset button, chill out and just bask in the sunshine and inhale the aromas of the year-around flowers and revisit the tropic-like Gulf waters and pristine white beaches.

I planned this book with these ideas in mind: (1) It should be written in a lively, easy-to-read style; (2) It should be an invaluable reference tool for full-time residents of Manatee County; (3) It should be an interesting and useful book for people visiting Florida—and particularly, Manatee County—for the first time; and (4) it should honestly point out the good, the bad and the ugly of Manatee County.

Mission accomplished.

Well, okay, that's the firm opinion of one not-so-unbiased person. Me.

Critics are likely to say of this book either, You sure put way too much stuff in there or You sure left out a lot of stuff that should have been in there. My response to both criticisms is this: Yep, that's right. I put in a lot and I left out a lot. The book is much larger than I intended at the start. And I never even dreamed I would end up with 450 photos and 470 biographical sketches. That's a bunch, but I have double that material left untouched in the wings. So . . .

Personally, I have never read anything that even comes close to my book in terms of readability, comprehensiveness or usefulness. I'm pleased with it and eager to share it with others. And I hope you will be so doggoned pleased with your copy that you will buy others as Christmas or birthday gifts, or for friends or relatives who are thinking about moving or visiting here.

Hey, you may even want to send one to such a person up north when we're sunbathing in 80 degree weather and up there they have snow a foot deep and the temperature is dipping toward zero. That should get their attention.

Here's another way you can help me. If you notice a spelling error or a factual mistake, please let me know. Seriously, please do. Because I plan can make periodic changes to the text (at least in this eBook version). I am hoping to find a traditional book publisher who can quickly issue my manuscript in a printed version . . . or a wealthy patron or company who would like to pay to get it done in a regular book format.

And if you have additional information or a better photo of a subject, please send it. The photo should be of good quality and, if it is a digital image it should be in a jpg or jpeg format. Send it by email to me at: [e-mail]. Or send a high quality copy (not your original photograph) by snail mail to me at 1127 48th Avenue East, Bradenton, FL 34203. No items can be returned and accepting them does not guarantee their use. Please make sure that your name, address, phone number and email address (if any) are included.

Thank you, kindly, for your help.

-- Stan Paregien Sr.

May 3, 2017

Chapter 1

Manatee County Facts

In the pre-historical days of Florida's history, the tribe of Timucan Indians lived in the area of Manatee County. Those folks had a good thing going in this beautiful land. They took advantage of the rich soil and became successful farmers. The Gulf and the Manatee River were brimming with fish of scores of varieties so they became avid fishermen. They were also a hardy breed who were fiercely protective of their land and way of life. They had it all to themselves, thank you, for hundreds of years. And then, out of nowhere it seemed, iron-fisted white men with swords and guns and huge attack dogs anchored their ships on the doorsteps of the Timucans. Their lives would never be the same.

1513

Juan Ponce de Leon and his lean and mean force of Spanish explorers and fighters landed at the northeastern edge of our state on the site of present-day St. Augustine in 1513. He was after gold and land and, way down on the list, a fabled Fountain of Youth. He claimed the whole land for Spain, and he named the place Pascua Florida after Spain's annual Easter-time Feast of Flowers. fest. And so it remained until the entire Spanish Territory was bought by the good ol’ U.S.A. in 1821.

1521

Now there is a year that not many places in the United States can directly connect their dots. It was in 1521 that Juan Ponce de Leon – came ashore on present-day Manatee County soil. He was still looking for a fabled Fountain of Youth, but he found nothing but trouble and moved on. You see, the local natives – the Timucan Indians – resisted the unwelcomed invasion of their homeland by foreigners and their big, fierce war dogs. So the Spaniards cut their losses, set sail and moved on.

1539

Another Spanish explorer, Hernando DeSoto, landed on our shores (i.e., what today is Manatee County) in 1539. Oh, sure, his GPS was out of whack at the time so he accidentally found our beautiful area rather than the fabled El Dorado (city of gold). Ever since that time, investors and locals have found gold in the warm weather, rich soil, ample drinking water, pearly white beaches and waving palm trees which continue to attract both tourists and new residents. Gracias, Señor DeSoto.

1810

Today's archeologists have discovered evidence that a small community existed near our Manatee Mineral Spring around 1810. The community was called Angola. And the inhabitants were black Seminoles and formerly enslaved Africans.

1821

In 1821 the U.S. government bought the territory we now call Florida from the government of Spain. It was a way of getting the pesky and powerful Spanish to move on down the road, and a way of providing more room for our westward expansion. Neither country could envision this area of vast swamps and grasslands becoming a tourist mecca for people from around the world. It was in 1821 that the immigrating whites destroyed the small black community called Angola.

1842

More than 300 years after DeSoto set foot on Manatee County soil (and promptly left ASAP) another man came here. That person, Josiah Gates, was a man of determination and vision. At the age of 39, he moved his family in 1842 from Fort Brooks (in what is now the Tampa area) to his homestead on the sunny banks of the Manatee River. He was drawn to a garden-like area with a spring of cool, sweet water (known today as Manatee Mineral Spring). The area was mainly populated by Seminole Indians and some Spaniards. This fellow Gates and his family thus became the very first documented Anglo residents, as they settled on land close to present-day 14th Street East area near the Manatee River. Henry and Ellen Clark also settled near the spring, and he built a small trading post there.

This small settlement eventually became the town of Manatee. At its height, its western border would be present-day 1st Street of Bradenton (i.e., think the Red Barn area) and it would be a narrow, rectangular land a few blocks wide which would follow Manatee River all the way to its eastern border at the Braden River.

1843

Joe Atzeroth and his wife Julia (aka: Madam Joe) and daughter Eliza came American in 1841 from Bavaria. Then they moved to Terra Ceia Island on April 12, 1843 for the purpose of homesteading 160 acres of land. That and with the hope that the mild climate would improve Julia's poor health. The name Terra Ceia meant Heavenly Land, which it was for some but not so much for others. After it, it was a remote area filled with jungle-like vegetation and a wide range of wild animals and critters. Her husband died in 1871. [ Also, see entry for 1876. ]

1844

Major Robert Gamble, Jr. and 60 or more of his black slaves arrived from Tallahassee with his deed to 160 acres of prime real estate just off the north side of the Manatee River (at present-day Ellenton). That was courtesy of the Homestead Act. No one bothered to ask the original inhabitants, the Indians, for their permission, of course. Gamble had his workers build him an adequate but modest house, as well as quarters for them. And then he set out to add to his land and to farm it all, with the principle crops being sugar cane which he shipped to the international market in New Orleans. And he also began building a mansion suitable for a gentleman plantation farmer. That mansion project took him about six years to finish to his liking.

1845

Elbridge Ware and his wife, Louisa (Wyatt), accompanied her father—Col. William Wyatt—to Manatee. They had all come from Tallahassee after the Colonel had been sounded defeated in his bid to become the territorial governor of Florida. Elbridge and Louisa Ware chose a piece of property on a small creek just west of where First Presbyterian Church stands today. Later, the creek would be named Ware's Creek in their honor. William Wyatt, however, chose to homestead east of there between the home of Josiah Gates and Dr. John Braden's home (known as the Braden Castle because of its solid, fort-like construction) near Braden River. Also in 1845, the residents of our land danced a jig when Florida became a state within the United States. They were ready to let the good times roll.

1846

In 1846, pioneer settler and merchant Henry Clark hired Thomas Kenny to build a sailing ship for him. Clark loaded that new ship, The Atlanta, with molasses and transported it out of Manatee River and all the way to New York City. In those days, sugar cane fields in the 100s of acres produced a tremendous amount of molasses. And virtually all of the sugar cane farmers used enslaved black Africans to clear the jungle-like wilderness, to farm the crops and to do household chores.

On Oct. 14, 1846, a hurricane struck Manatee County with a vengeance. The high wind and tidal surge damaged or destroyed numerous houses, barns and out-buildings. The home of new residents Elbridge and Louise Ware was destroyed, but not before she gave birth to their second child, Henry Ware. On that very day, Hector Braden (brother of Dr. John Braden) was returning to his home from Tampa. He rode his horse into the normally tranquil waters of Little Manatee River. This time the river was flooded and he drowned. Plus, Henry Clark's transport ship was returning from its maiden voyage to New York City when it encountered the hurricane and sank with plantation owner William Gamble and all the crew drowned.

1849

The settlers of the village of Manatee soon organized a Methodist Church and built themselves a nice building in which to meet. One unusual feature of the building was that it had holes cut in the floor at the back of the building where tobacco chewers could spit. The new building was located on 15th Street East and was initially called Union Congregation. Later, it was known as Manatee Methodist Church. In the 1950s the state of Florida designated the building as a State Historical Site. When the congregation decided to build a new building, the old one was moved to a location on the grounds of the Manatee County History Center on Manatee Avenue East. It now serves as a convenient meeting place for many different organizations and events each year. Ezekiel Glazier was chosen to build their second church building.

The charter members of Manatee Methodist Church in 1849 were Rev. L.G. Leslie, R. Franklin Branch, M.D., Vashti Branch, Nancy Wyatt, Rev. Ezekiel Glazier and his wife Abigail Glazier, Mary Fife, Henry S. Clark and his wife Ellen Clark, and Thomas Kenny.

Dr. William H. Whitaker, one of the founders of the Manatee Methodist Church, planted 20 acres of orange trees close to the Manatee River in 1849. In 1935, William P. (Willie) Mixon and his wife Rosa bought that land for $12,000 from First National Bank. That was a great amount of money there at the tail-end of the Great Depression.

1850

In 1850 the aim of the government, urged on by would-be settlers in south central Florida, was to get rid of the native Seminole Indians. The plan was to pay them (as little as possible) and push them west to Oklahoma. Unfortunately, Assinna Othukeehloko—the Chief of the Seminoles (better known to whites as Billy Bowlegs)—didn't like the plan.

Meanwhile, down in Manatee County a man named Robert Gamble, Jr. had about completed the building of his dream home. Gamble, who was born on a plantation in Virginia, had managed to build a strikingly impressive and beautiful house. His workers made concrete for the home out of a home-grown mixture of sand, coquina shells, lime, sugar cane juice and water. It looked for the world like one of those grand plantation mansions back in Virginia, resembling something along the Doric Revivalist architectural style. The walls were two-feet thick, both for purposes of insulation and a fort-like protection against any assault. His property soon amounted to more than 3,500 acres. It was a good life, indeed, for he and his family. It was also in 1850 that pioneer settler Henry Clark died.

1851

The very first marriage ceremony took place in Manatee County when Mary Jane Wyatt became the bride of William H. Whitaker in a ceremony performed by Dr. Franklin Branch, M.D. Mary Jane was the sister of Mrs. Elbridge (Louise Wyatt) Ware, whose second husband was Frederick Tresca.

1853

More than seven years earlier, Elbridge Ware—for whatever reason—left his family and never returned. Louise Ware waited the statutory seven years for him to be declared legally dead. And then, in 1853, she married a Mr. Frederick Tresca. He was the keeper of the lighthouse located on Egmont Key. Frederick and Louise (Wyatt Ware) Tresca a few years later had two children of their own, William and Ugenia.

On Jan. 14, 1853, Masonic Lodge #31 was chartered by the very first settlers of Manatee County. That lodge is still very much alive and well, and today it is located at 402 15th Street East in Bradenton, Florida.

1855

In 1855, the Federal government allowed the Seminoles to go to their camp in the Big Cypress Swamp. And then the government had troops raid the Seminole's village and stole virtually all that they had. That led to the Third Seminole War, from 1855 to 1858. The Seminoles retaliated by killing some whites, burning and looting homes and stores in Manatee and other small towns, and giving the settlers a taste of what they had been given.

Meanwhile, the State of Florida created Manatee County on January 9, 1855. Today's Manatee County sure ain't the one your great-grandmother knew. Today's version is far smaller than the original county. In 1855, the border for Manatee County ran from the bottom of Tampa Bay east over to the Kissimmee River. Then it went south to Lake Okeechobee. From there, the border went due west to the Gulf (making it just north of the Lee County line) and then up the coast line back to Tampa Bay. The county seat was at a tiny village called Pine Level.

The legislators, operating with their infinite wisdom, in 1887 took out a carving knife and cut out a big chunk of Manatee County to create what today is DeSoto County. That made Manatee's county seat actually located in the new DeSoto County. So Manatee's main body of voters in Braidentown and in Sarasota rammed through a proposal to establish Manatee County's county seat in Braidentown.

Also in 1855, the widow of pioneer settler Henry Clark—Mrs. Ellen Clark—married her second husband, Captain Archibald McNeil.

1856

The citizens of Manatee County were in for a rude awakening on one day in February of 1856. That was when the Seminole chieftain Billy Bowlegs led a band of warriors that attacked Dr. John Braden's home, known popularly as Braden Castle because of its 20" walls and imposing construction. The Seminoles caused no injury to the dozens of people hiding inside the Braden home. But they did steal several of Braden's slaves, plus numerous mules and miscellaneous supplies. During the long period of confinement, Mrs. Frederick (Louise Wyatt Ware) Tresca gave birth to a son, William Tresca. Two other women also had babies during the time the group was barricaded against the Indian threat.

1857

A nationwide depression happened in 1857. It was so bad that in New Orleans they closed the market for both sugar and molasses. It was a financial disaster for many sugar cane growers in Florida, and caused the failures of both Major Robert Gamble's extensive plantation east of Palmetto (at present-day Ellenton) and that of Dr. John Braden. The ripple effect hurt small businessmen and banks in the area as well.

1858

The Third Seminole War ended in 1858. In the end, Billy Bowlegs had no choice but to accept a paltry amount of money for agreeing to move his 123-member clan to Oklahoma. Today, descendants of those Seminoles have their national tribal headquarters in the town of Seminole, county of Seminole, in Oklahoma. And nearby is a small town named Bowlegs in honor of this warrior and chief.

1859

In 1859, Dr. Franklin Branch and his wife, Vashti, sold their property near the Manatee Mineral Spring to Captain John Curry (formerly of the Bahamas and Key West). The large Curry clan of about 29 folks built several houses nearby, with a few of them still standing.

1861

During the Civil War (1861-1865), Manatee County and its relatively small population conducted business as usual. The main irritation was a naval blockade enforced by the Union. Some local shippers, such as Captain John Curry, occasionally ran the blockade but it was a dangerous thing to do. Curry and others finally decided to hide their ships and boats until after the war.

In addition, Union sailors landed at the village of Manatee and burned down the community's grist mill. They moved upstream to the Gamble Plantation (in present-day Ellenton), where they used gunpowder to blow it up.

On the other hand, one thing which locals did that frustrated the Union forces was to conduct cow hunts on behalf of the hungry Confederate troops. Teams were organized to go off into the swamps and byways to shoot and butcher wild cattle (often called Cracker cows), then they delivered the fresh meat to the Rebel army.

1865

After the Civil War ended in 1865, two shipbuilders from Key West, Florida sailed up Manatee River. They liked what they saw, so they--brothers John Fogarty and Bartholomew Fogarty, bought land on the south side of the river. There they built their boat works and their home. Plus they recruited their other brothers to join them in their new venture and at their new location, an area which not surprisingly soon became known as Fogartyville (a part of west Bradenton). The Fogarty Brothers were noted for building transportation ships and fishing boats out of the hardy native cypress trees. The industrious and bold Fogarty Brothers also developed a successful shipping business for themselves, exporting such items as cattle and smoked mullet.

In 1865, Dr. John Crews Pelot, M.D. and Mary Cooper Pelot became the first Pelot's to migrate to Manatee County. The couple had three children, Josiah Crews Pilot (died in infancy), Charles E. Pilot, and John James Pilot. Mrs. Mary Cooper Pelot died in 1873 just a few hours after giving birth to John James. Dr. Pelot remarried in 1879 to Katie Gates.

In 1865, Judah P. Benjamin went from being the Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America to being a hunted traitor to the United States. In May of 1865 he covertly made his way to the Gamble Mansion in what today is Ellenton, Florida. It was Captain Archibald McNeil and Captain John Curry who were primarily responsible for helping make it possible for Benjamin to escape to Bimini and on to England.

1866

In about 1866, Captain John Curry sold his property near the Manatee Mineral Spring to a Dr. George Casper. Casper built a nice home near the corner of 4th Avenue East and 14th Street East. One day the good doctor just disappeared. No one ever knew what happened to him.

1872

Peter S. Harllee moved to Manatee County (as had his older brother John Wardell Harllee, a few years earlier). John W. Harllee had firmly established himself as an owner of a mercantile store, while Peter focused on importing cheap Texas horses and mules and selling them to locals.

1876

Mrs. Joe (Julia) Atzeroth and her husband and daughter Eliza moved to Terra Ceia Island on April 12, 1843. Joe died in 1871. Julia (Madam Joe as she was popularly known) soon moved across the Manatee River to live in the Fogartyville area. And in 1876 she planted some Mexican coffee in the rich Manatee County soil. [See the entry for 1880 for more.]

1877

St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church was established in Parrish in 1877. They meet at 11801 Erie Road.

1879

Braidentown's first public pier was built by George Riggin at the foot of Main Street in 1879.

1880

Sometime in the 1880s, Peter Stuart Harllee bought some farm land just north of today's downtown Palmetto, in Palm View along present-day Highway 41. Peter also built himself a magnificent two-story pole barn that was the envy of every dirt-poor farmer. The structure had a number of stalls on the ground level, with a storage area for livestock feed, tack and supplies. Upstairs is where he stored fertilizer and seeds of various kinds. The Harllee Barn became a famous local landmark.

Also in 1880, Mrs. Joe (Julia or Madam Joe, as she was best-known) Atzeroth was living in Fogartyville. That's where she harvested the Mexican coffee plants that she had planted back in 1876. She thus became the first person to ever harvest coffee in the continental United States. She sent the very first pound of her coffee to Washington, D.C., to the Commissioner of Agriculture. And for that she received a small monetary award. [See entries for 1843, 1871 and 1876 for more information.]

Also in the 1880s, the sand-bar filled shallow waters of far north Sarasota Bay were dredged to provide a channel wide enough for shallow-draft steamships to navigate. The Mistletoe steamship was one such vessel which began regularly scheduled service (passengers, supplies and produce) between Tampa and Sarasota. The beauty was they never had to get into the open gulf. Fishermen in Sarasota, Cortez and Bradenton were particularly ecstatic about being able to easily send their delicacies north to the larger markets.

Also in the 1880's, the Pillsbury family of Chicago moved to Manatee County. Asa Nettleton Pillsbury (1878-1969) was only a child at the time, but he developed boating and fishing skills as he grew up. Then as a young man, back in 1905, he and his wife Cora acquired a 10-acre piece of land out on the edge of Palma Sola Bay. He had known Captain Bartholomew Fogarty much of his life, and Asa learned the secrets of building dependable boats from him. Soon he had established his own boat building operation, specializing in small sailboats for fishermen to ply the area's shallow bays.

In about 1880 the St. Stephens African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Bradenton. Their building burned down in 1907. They meet at 629 Martin Luther King Ave. East in Bradenton.

1883

In 1883, a man named Ennis Johnson moved to Manatee County. He started a drug store which he named Manatee Drug Company (It was located across from the Manatee United Methodist Church on 15th Street East).

1884

Willis E. Driscoll, D.D.S. and his wife Louisa moved all the way from Bedford, Indiana to Manatee County in 1884. He thus became the very first dentist in the sparsely populated region. He was 43 years old when he arrived. And to survive, financially, he became a circuit riding dentist. Soon his son, Clarence Driscoll, D.D., worked together. They carried what few dental instruments they had in a doctor's bag and traveled by horseback or sometimes by a buggy. It was an adventure, to say the least, as they had to be on the watch for alligators, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes, and bandits. Willis Driscoll was a popular and successful dentist, despite the fact that he was nearly deaf.

C

harles E. Abbe

It was on Dec. 27, 1884 when a dark chapter in the history of old Manatee County was written. There was an honest and ethical businessman named Charles E. Abbe who had moved to the village of Sarasota (then part of Manatee County, remember) back in 1876. He was a highly respected and active member of a small congregation there of the Church of Christ. Through his business acumen, he not only built his house on what is now Osprey Avenue (near Hillview), he soon added a store.

On August 16, 1878, he officially became the very first postmaster of Sarasota. One of the requirements of his job was to document and report who were living on land to which they had no deed. At that time there were a lot of squatters who illegally occupied various locations within Sarasota. A vicious vigilante committee called the Sarasota Vigilance Society warned him to stop making those reports, but Charles Abbe bravely continued to do so. Then on Dec. 27, 1884, the vigilantes captured him. They killed him and threw his body into Sarasota Bay, and it was never recovered. A few of the vigilantes were arrested, with some of these quickly escaping, and the ones who actually went to trial because of not enough evidence.

1886

The St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church started in Bradenton in 1886. They meet at 525 Martin Luther King Avenue East in Bradenton.

1887

A pioneer resident of Manatee County, Joseph Herman Simpson, wrote a series of articles for the Bradenton Herald in 1915 on History of Manatee County, Florida. In that series he noted, The yellow fever raged in Manatee in 1887 and 1888. The deaths from it were: Dr. E.E. Johnson, Harriet Angelena Wilson, Rosa Lemon Driscoll, Rev. J.R. Crowder, John W. Harllee [Peter Harllee's brother], Gussie Lucille Clark and Arthur Hunter Wilson.

1893

A black congregation of worshippers was organized as St. Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church in Palmetto in 1893. They meet at 203 17th Street West in Palmetto.

1894

By 1894, Peter S. Harllee had become quite prosperous due to his expertise in large-scale commercial tomato farming. He was elected as the very first mayor of Palmetto in 1894. And that same year, J. Ira Gore established his newspaper, The Palmetto News.

1895

In 1895, Samuel Gates (a grandson of pioneer settler Josiah Gates) and his wife Lula Curry Gates bought the house which Dr. George Casper had built near the corner of 4th Avenue East and 14th Street East. There Gates grew a large crop of celery, so large he was called The Celery King. He even bottled water from the Manatee Mineral Spring and sold it to local hotels and restaurants.

1896

Thomas Edison's new-fangled gadget, something or other called a telephone, came to Manatee County in 1896. Telephone and telegraph lines were extended from Tampa to Braidentown. It was a rag-tag operation, with lines sometimes on conventional poles and sometimes attached to convenient pine trees. Within a year, the community was swamped with a total of 27 telephones.

About this time, a visitor to rural Manatee County would likely not travel far until he encountered a moonshine still. Oops, wait a minute. I mean a turpentine still. Of course, there were probably a few moonshine stills, but the production of turpentine was a lively business at the time. Turpentine—sometimes called oil of turpentine, spirit of turpentine, or wood turpentine—was often made by taking the natural resin from pine trees. That was done by wounding the tree with a V-shaped cut. The tree would ooze out resin as a defensive measure to treat its wound, and that resin would drain into small buckets. Then then resin would be placed in a copper still and heated over an open fire. Part of the resin stays in the bottom of the still, while part of the resin evaporates and ends up in a condenser as turpentine. It actually took about 1,344 gallons of pine gum (sap) to distill a 50-gallon barrel of turpentine. The end solvent was often used as a thinner for oil-based paints, or as an additive to beeswax to create furniture polish, or for a variety of medicinal home remedies.

The fact is, though, that the laborers who harvested the turpentine were mostly poor, uneducated blacks. The bosses sometimes provided shacks for the laborers and a few had company stores where the blacks fell prey to paying high prices for items and being virtual slaves of the bosses. Remember of coal mining song Sixteen Tons? One verse said, You load 16 tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. I owe my soul to the company store. And so it was here in many cases. There were other bosses who paid law enforcement officials for the use of the otherwise free convict laborers.

A black congregation of worshippers was organized as St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church in 1896 in Palmetto. They meet at 1701 1st Avenue East in Palmetto.

1898

In 1898, a gentleman named Charles Bishop provided the residents of the Bradenton area with a community library. He donated some 600 of his own books to the cause, and they started the library using old shelves at the back of a fruit and candy store. Well, shucks, it was a start.

John James Pelot graduated from Florida Agriculture College at Lake City in 1984. He obtained his pharmacy license in 1898. He and his father then purchased the Manatee Drug Company from Enos Johnson and renamed it, Pelot's Pharmacy.

1898 marked the beginning of the Spanish-American War. Some of the more adventuresome young men of Manatee County signed up to fight. One of those who answered the call was young Hans Wyatt.

1900

Early in the year, Louisa Driscoll—the wife of dentist Dr. Willis E. Driscoll--died. Later that year, Willis Driscoll and his two adult children, Clarence (also a dentist) and Rosa came down with the dreaded and often deadly disease of yellow fever. Willis and Clarence survived, but Rosa died.

In about 1900 the St. Luke Primitive Baptist Church was organized as a black congregation in Palmetto. They meet at 540 12th Street Drive West in Palmetto.

1901

Peter S. Harllee, local exporter of commercially grown tomatoes, was called upon to serve as mayor of Palmetto for the second time. He also served for a time as a Manatee County Commissioner. And the descendants of Peter and Alice (Bullock) Harllee went on to become leaders in agriculture, education, politics, law, and banking. In 1999, a survey included Peter S. Harllee among 20 of the most influential people in Manatee County's history.

1902

John James Pelot was elected Mayor of Manatee County on the same day his first son, John Crews Pelot was born, June 1, 1902. He had four other children including, Francis Cooper, Julia Beatrice, Mary Elizabeth, and Lillian Catherine Pelot.

Two crossings on the Manatee River made life a lot safer and faster for those wanting to cross its dark waters. First, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad extended a line from St. Petersburg and built a railroad bridge across to the village of Manatee. Second, a regular bridge was constructed between Palmetto and Braidentown. The existing ferry services were about to become as old-fashioned as buggy whips.

1903

On Oct. 1, 1903 the Central Hotel was opened for business on the south side of Manatee Avenue in the village of Manatee. For a time, it housed the Manatee Drug Company (pharmacy and soda fountain) on the ground floor. The company later moved across the street to the Davis Building (erected in 1910) and, still later, changed its name to Pelot's Pharmacy. And that pharmacy still operates right there today.

The Village Improvement Association in 1904 moved Bradenton's growing library from the fruit/candy store to the back of a millinery store. Later that year, though, the V.I.A. bought a lot on which to build a structure to house the library. By 1915, when Palmetto already had a nice library thanks to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, Bradenton's leaders applied for and eventually received a $10,000 grant. On Oct. 12, 1918, the Bradenton Public Library opened its doors with great fanfare. Today, that building houses Manatee County's Historical Records Library. And the city fathers of Braidentown officially changed the name of the town to Bradentown. That was to last until 1924 when it was changed to just Bradenton.

In 1903, Judge Graham hired Captain Hartwell Davis to build his large two-story frame house on Main Street (near 15th Avenue) in Bradenton. That house was the very first to feature electricity. In fact, there was an electric transformer in the Davis' basement, a transformer that actually provided the power for an electric trolley which between the long dock and Fogartyville. Today in the ruins of the dock at the shore may still be seen, with some of its tabby construction.

In 1903, a black congregation organized in Bradenton as Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. However, in 1957 they renamed the church Rogers Community United Methodist Church in honor of black businessman and community leader Garfield DeVoe (G.D.) Rogers. They meet at 1100 15th Street East in Bradenton.

1904

Asa Lamb, a banker in Mississippi, moved to Palmetto and built his lavish, 7,000 sq. ft. home -- Lamb Manor -- on three acres along the Manatee River water front in Palmetto. That was in 1904.

Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church was established as a black congregation in 1904 in Bradenton. They meet at 501 9th Avenue West in Bradenton. And Ward Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1904. They meet at 1005 5th Street West in Bradenton.

1905

Manatee River National Bank built a new building at 450 12th Street West in Bradenton. Using native yellow rock, they erected a three-story building in the classic Renaissance Revival style of architecture. They built it to last, and it is still there today.

1907

Then another Pillsbury family member, one Edward Ithamar Pillsbury (1844-1930), began building boats on his own. He started his business in 1907 and called it the Snead Island Boat Works. He named his first workshop in honor of his own son, Asa Harmon Pillsbury (1900-1985). That building now stands on the grounds of the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez.

1908

The Johnson Helm House (also known as the Helm-Nanney House), built by Johnson Helm and his wife Fannie in 1908, is an historic 3-story Richardsonian Romanesque style stone house still located at 2104 53rd Avenue, East (i.e., State Road 70) in Oneco (just east of Bradenton). Today it is just to the west of Oneco United Methodist Church. That style of architecture goes all the way back to the man who designed Boston's famous Trinity Church, Henry Hobson Richardson. The man who actually built the Helm house was Mr. J.S. Maus. He and his crew of 16 carpenters, stone masons and craftsmen worked some 18 months to complete it.

John M. Helm and his wife Mary J. (Neely) and their son Johnson Helm had bought and settled on this property in 1877. Johnson Helm had been born in Delaware County, Indiana on April 4, 1860. So he was only 17 when the family moved to Florida. It was Johnston Helm's father, John Helm, who is credited with grubbing the land to plant an orchard of orange trees. He became a successful grower and a director of the county's first bank, the Bank of Manatee, in Braidentown (as Bradenton was called). His land was described as being a few rods from the Oneco post office, five miles from Braidentown. Johnson and Fannie Helm ran a nearby rural grocery store until 1938. Much later, in 1985, the elegant and very unusual 4,000 sq. ft. house was bought by Pat and Margaret B. Nanney. And that is why many folks today refer to it as the Helm-Johnson House." It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 2, 2009. In January of 2017, a careless driver careened off of 53rd Avenue and smashed into the porch of the historic house.

1910

A hurricane came through the area in 1910, and one of the casualties was the Tampa-based steamship, The Mistletoe, owned by John Savarese. A salvage company finally raised the ship and it received a thorough make-over. It was re-christened, this time with the name being The City of Sarasota. It sailed another six years before sadly ending its usefulness as a mere barge and, then, as scrap wood.

1911

In 1911, Charles Covington built a Victorian-style home for his own family at 614 11th Avenue West in Bradenton. Charles Covington's expertise in construction designs and techniques quickly put him in demand from both those of modest means and also the wealthy. His skills helped him cross the normal racial barriers of that day. This early-day black resident became as popular a home builder among upscale whites as among the blacks. He had hoped to attract other affluent blacks to that section of town. As of January, 2017, that old house was barely standing.

1912

A gentleman named William Smith in 1912 bought some land north of Palmetto. He subdivided it with the idea of mainly selling lots to migrant farm workers and other poor people. He advertised his land as being in East Terra Ceia. However, in 1918 the folks with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad argued that the name was too easily confused with nearby Terra Ceia. The officials gave the locals a list of names and from it they chose Rubonia as the name of the community. And that one stuck. By the 1940s the ladies had begun Silver Leaf Women's Club.

1913

The original Manatee County Courthouse was built in 1913, and it had an ornate cupola atop the building. Both an addition and a subtraction to the building took place in 1926 (the subtraction was the removal of the cupola). And a second addition was added in 1966.

Meanwhile, on Anna Maria Island in 1913, inventor and businessman John M. Roser built the Roser Community Church in memory of his late wife. And it is still serving the island community to this day.

1914

On Dec. 10th, Dr. Willis Driscoll—the very first dentist in Manatee County—was in poor health and announced he had sold his dental practice to a Dr. H.L. Chilson, D.D.S.

1915

Robert M. Beall, age 22, founded a small dry goods store on Main Street in downtown Bradenton on April 17, 1915. He called his barebones-but-successful store The Dollar Limit because nothing was more than $1.00.

Local folks were darned proud when, in 1915, Manatee County High School won the Florida state football championship in their division.

1916

The county experienced a spurt in growth beginning in 1916. The city bought about 69 acres from the estate of Major Adams on what today is the corner of Ninth Street West and 17th Avenue West. Their intention was to make the area into one filled with community activities, such as the Manatee County Fairgrounds and a baseball field and station. Today all that remains intact is the property where McKechnie baseball field and stadium are now located. The very first Manatee County Fair was held on Feb. 28, 1916.

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was established in Palmetto in 1916. They meet at 1026 72nd St. Court East in Palmetto.

1917

Willie Mixon and his wife Rosa moved to the tiny village of Manatee, Florida in 1917. He had just been discharged from the U.S. Army after having served during World War I. In 1939 they bought a farm with an orange orchard which dated all the way back to 1849. When the couple's first crop of oranges came in, they had no marketing plan. They didn't quite know what to do with the beautiful, delicious oranges. So they just loaded some on their Model T Ford truck--along with their six children--and drove west to Bradenton and sold them to patrons of the Dixie Grand Hotel. And that is how historic Mixon Fruit Farms began their business. The family actually marks 1939 as the official beginning of what is today Mixon Fruit Farms located at 2525 27th Street East in Bradenton.

1918

Bradenton's own impressive Carnegie Library was built in 1918 at 1405 4th Ave. West. And along with hundreds of other libraries across America, most of the funds came from steel-king Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic Carnegie Foundation.

1920

In the aftermath of World War I, inflation drove the price of materials and labor upward. So young Robert M. Beall adjusted to the changing market, upped his prices and changed the store name to reflect it. The Dollar Limit became V Dollar Limit (the V being the Roman numeral for the number 5). He also started a two-year term on the Bradenton City Council.

Also in 1920, Dr. Charles W. Larrabee and his wife, Dovie, bought the large two-story house which Dr. D.M. Leonard had used as both his office and his home. They turned it into their office and home. The Larrabees were from Boston. He was both a general practitioner and a surgeon, and Dovie Larrabee was a registered nurse. They called their business The Larrabee Hospital. Later, they changed the name to Bradenton General Hospital.

1921

A powerful hurricane swept in from the Gulf in 1921 and made a direct hit on the small commercial fishing village of Cortez. Damage was done by both its high winds and surge of water. The village's landmark Albion Inn hotel was damaged but survived, while many other structures did not.

It was in this year of 1921 that state legislators in their infinite wisdom took a meat cleaver to Manatee County as it was known at the time. When they were through slicing and dicing, they had whittled Manatee County down to a fraction of its former self. From it, like God taking Adam's rib to create Eve, they created the new counties of DeSoto, Highlands, Glades, Hardee, Charlotte and Sarasota.

St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church was established as a black congregation in Bradenton in 1921. They meet at 1006 1st Street in Bradenton. And the New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was started as a black congregation in 1921 in Parrish. They meet at 11915 82nd Street East in Palmetto. In addition, the Providence Baptist Church, also a black church, was started in Palmetto in 1921. They meet at 501 11th Street Drive West in Palmetto. And Turner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was started in 1921 in Palmetto. They meet at 317 11th Street Drive West in Palmetto.

1922

The Kiwanis Club in Bradenton was chartered in 1922, with clothing retailer R.M. Beall as one of the charter members. Beall was also serving on the Bradenton City Council at the time.

1923

It was none other than R.M. Beall, an avid baseball fan, who spent a great deal of time and money trying to convince a major league to make Bradenton their home for spring training. He was the main reason that the St. Louis Cardinals made the decision to relocate their spring camp here. That also led to the construction of McKechnie Field.

1924

On June 3, 1924, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (Judah P. Benjamin Chapter) placed a monument in Bradenton on the west side of what is now the Manatee County Historic Courthouse. They provided the marble statue there in honor of the men who served in the Confederate military during the Civil War which ended in 1865. One side of the tall monument has a tribute to General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army. Florida, of course, is the deepest southern point in the United States and we were officially a part of the Confederate attempt to secede from the Union.

RM. Beall, with inflation increasing the cost of his merchandise, changed his store's name in Bradenton from Dollar Limit Store (i.e., $1.00) to V Dollar Limit (i.e., nothing more than $5.00), and he moved the store to 1026