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The aboicM4p d Ttst•hip •SS'Youth .R03.ar42.Ea•l s firs #1.y. rortiorl.e* ii.
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it was discussed with as such energy as it was
possible in any other part of the country. Nr- Bissell had
a good supply of news, having been away some time, which
enabled him to be a welcome visitor with all -
I still have a photograph of him in my possession,
taken soon afterwards. (See p. 10/3).
Christmas Passed with nothing out of the usual to
indicate such a time. From this time '-on .until 1861, there
was nothing to excite much interest except the monthly coming
and going of the:mail boats and the occasional new comer
or the departure of some of those already here.
One man arrived namedDra::�a who settled on the
beach opposite Miami, somewhere near where the harbor
entrance is to be made. Also, during this time, Captain
,i Amon FroT•_ s;as made keeper of Cape rlorida..light house,
moving here with his'family from Key West. Dr. Barrow, the
late keeper, went to Key West, but returned soon after,
living in one of the officers' quarters until a.house•was
built for him at the Punch Bowl, some two miles down the
bay, where he lived until the war broke out, when he
returned to Key ;:est, serving the people of Nonroe county
as county judge for years.
r • Geor=e 7er^uson also sold his belong na s amara
to
.:r. George
-o
and moved with his family to Key West,
and was interested in the commission merchant business
there for many years after.
3°
170
68 T EQ UESTA
steamer on the Benner line schooners and using his own boat from Key West.
One of the schooners running from Jacksonville continued running until after
the railroad reached Miami and she was wrecked on her way to Miami.
Now to get back to the settlers on the bay at Big Hunting grounds, John
Addison had settled in the early seventies. Also Charles F. Seibold who
came in a small schooner but disposed of her and made his home with the
Addisons. For years they were the only three people living there. Then in
the early eighties Dr. Cutler made a third and last attempt to make a settle- ,
ment on the Perrine grant. I think there were twelve or fifteen people all
together who landed there. They had a steam launch to run about the bay
and to the P. 0. at Miami as there was no other on the bay at that time. But
they did not last long. While they were there they made compty starch,
having brought a steam mill with them for the purpose. In fact it was the
only way anyone could make a living in those days. But they all left, the
only one sticking was Harry Fozzard. But while they were there they got
a Post Office and changed the name to Cutler. Fozzard married a Key Wed
girl and stayed there until the railroad reached Miami when he moved there.
The Post Office was discontinued and there was no one left at Cutler but
the Addisons. Charles F. Seibold had bought property at Snapper Creek an
moved there. In 1884 James L. Nugent came to Miami and located at fi
at Snapper Creek. He bought land from one end of the bay to the oth
That is, he owned land at Snake Creek, the head of Biscayne Bay, at Snap
Creek and south of Cutler. One never knew where to find him. About
time two men came to Miami. One man was Eley and the other Burkhar
Burkhardt took up a homestead south of Coconut Grove and Eley ho'
steaded later at what is now Miami Shores. Eley died on his pro
Burkhardt, after proving up on his homestead, was mail carrier bet
Lake Worth and Miami. When the railroad reached Lake Worth he wo
there until it started to Miami and worked until the hotel was completed
so far as I know left the state. He never was well liked anywhere he
In 1884 F. S. Moore came to Miami during the winter from Boston, Ma-
chusetts for his health, boarding at Brickell's. After his second winter,
made his home in Miami and entered the real estate business. At this
Dennis O'Neal came to Miami in a schooner. There was another man
him. They stayed 4intil spring and returned north. While here 0' Neil
Mr. Morse and they arranged to meet in New York as Morse had decid•
buy a small yacht and sail it to Miami. This time O'Neil stayed, taking
homestead on the shore of Miami River. He was a County Commies'
•
HENRY 1. WAGNER 69
for a while. Later he was keeper of the House of Refuge at New River and
lived there until he went north for the first time since coming to Florida and
disappeared completely. He was never heard from. About 1888 or '89
W. C. Valentine came to Miami, staying at Brickell's for a while before lo-
cating on New River about where Ft. Lauderdale now is. He was a civil
engineer and did much of the surveying in and around Miami. He was
drowned in New River. About this time Henry T. Prest came as County
Clerk. He was from Lake Worth. He took up a Homestead on the south
fork of the Miami River. In 1883 E. T. Field, Osborn and Lum came to
Miami. They were going to plant a coconut grove on the beach between
Narrow Cut and Indian Creek. With them was Richard Carney and
another young man. I do not remember his name, and Mr. Lum's son
Charles. They had a small shack built at Bremon's Landing to live in.
y had a load of coconuts come on a schooner and were planted and most
of them would have become trees but for the rabbits who are very fond of
nut buds. However a few survived and are now part of those growing
Miami Beach. Field or Osborn did not live on the beach after the Coco-
nts were planted. Charley Lum stayed for several years. He went north
d got married and brought his bride back, built a home on the beach
here they stayed for some time trying to make a living raising tomatoes
t could not do much, the land not being suitable. So he moved to a piece
property his father owned adjoining the Wagner land, or, that is, he
ovcd in a house belonging to A. C. Richards but on the Wagner property.
t we could see at once that he would never succeed in getting a mill built
make starch. While willing to work he was a farmer and nothing else.
I proposed to my grandfather Wagner that we offer to take him in with
on shares, which he accepted. He stayed a summer and winter and went
to New Jersey where he was from, mainly because his wife was home -
and they never came back again except for a winter visit some years
Dick Carney who came with Field, Osborn, and the Lums, stayed with
ley Lum on the beach for a while then went with R. M. Munroe at Coco -
Grove, played around with Munroe for some time then drifted over to
eacock's and helped Alfred Peacock in the store, at no time doing any hard
rk. At that time he was made school trustee, a position he held for years.
ter he was captain of a yacht for a number of years. When he died the
-up in the papers said that he was at one time Sheriff of the County, but
never was; nor did he change the babies of the ladies that came to the
120 THE COMMODORE'S STORY
having worked in the Cooper -Hewitt Wire Mills in
Trenton, and when he suggested that he might be able to
help them, it was like the calming of the gale!
Asking for a few spikes, hammer and plank, he soon had
them straightening wire as fast as it could be pulled
through the staggered spikes. This put us on good terms
with the party; nothing was too good for us, and we spent
many pleasant days on the Ready and at their camps along
the beach for the rest of the winter.
The end of the old base line had been marked by a
marble obelisk mounted on a granite base, south of the
lighthouse, but the sea had cut away the point, and the
site of the monument was in deep water. They therefore
located themselves by the center of the lantern table,
which had been used as a check for just such a contin-
gency. Some time later, when the party had covered
fifteen miles of the coast, I happened to remark that the
light had been built up thirty-five feet higher than it
was originally. Consternation resulted, as their field
notes had not mentioned this, and the question was, had
the builders carried the center of that table up in the
same axis as the old one?
Back went all hands to the Cape early next morning,
and after much calculating and observation it was de-
termined that the error was about half an inch. The
reader may remark "that wasn't much to fuss about,"
but if he will look up the methods of the Coast Survey,
their definition of accuracy will prove a revelation.
During the previous winter Messrs. H. B. Lum and
Stillwell Grover, of Red Bank, New Jersey, had sailed
from Key West in a small boat, looking for land to plant
coconuts. The journey itself was a bit of courageous
pioneering for them, since they knew nothing whatever
of sailing, and actually worked up along the keys with
jib hauled flat amidships all the way, being blown out
into the Gulf Stream more than once, and taking four
weeks for the trip. Lum finally bought a tract just north
1881() 2 i&g3
"PEACOCK'S," 1882-3 121
of Narres Cut, then called Brama's Landing, and later
did some planting.
This work interested his friend, Ezra Osborn, of Mid-
dletown, New Jersey (a well-known engineer, designer of
Hollywood on the Jersey Coast), and a company was
formed to secure all the vacant beach lands from Cape
Florida to Jupiter, about eighty miles, and plant them.
They got most of them, spending over a hundred thou-
sand dollars, and then Osborn's foreman, E. T. Field,
was put in charge of the planting. Gangs of men accus-
tomed to beach and surf work were brought from New
Jersey, with surf -boats, and schooners were chartered to
bring loads of coconuts from St. Andrew's, Greytown,
Nicaragua, and Baracoa, Cuba. For several years their
camps were a picturesque touch of life on the otherwise
desolate coast.
The coconut planting was contrary to my views, and I
declined to take an interest in the venture, being con-
vinced that coconuts could not be grown commercially
in this latitude, owing to poor land and occasional frost,
as well as the destruction of the young plants by rats and
rabbits. This has proven to be the case, the nuts being
poor in oil -content, their chief value, in comparison with
those of the West Indies and the South Seas. However,
when they embarked in it I did all I could to help them,
and was later agent of the heirs of Mr. Osborn for his
land on Key Biscayne, part of which I sold to Mr. W. J.
Matheson. Only a few of the many thousands of trees
planted by Field and Osborn are in existence, and the
direct result of this big investment in the region was a
heavy loss.
Mr. John Collins was one of the company, however,
and his interest directed attention to the Beach, which
has been one of the prominent factors in Miami develop-
ment. His great bridge, at the time of its construction
said to be the largest wooden bridge in the world, and the
several beach companies which have been so abundantly
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Thralls, of Warsaw, Indiana, and they have five
children: Joseph Cooble, Earl Mallory, James 1'.,
Jr., Cecil Sidney and Mary Marjorie.
Josilot HA►.rox, M. 1). That Doctor Halton
has expressed his abounding civic loyalty in con-
structive thought, action and service has proved
of enduring benefit to his home City of Sarasota,
where he stands in secure vantage place as one
of the leading physicians and surgeons in this part
of Florida.
Doctor Halton was born in Lancastcrshire, Eng-
land, January 9, 1881, and is a son of Henry and
Mary A. (Everson) Halton. He gained his rudi-
mentary education in his native land, and was a
lad of ten years when he accompanied his parents
to the United States in 1891, the family home
having been established at Bowling Green, Ohio,
and removal later having been made to Muncie,
Indiana, where he was reared to adult age and
received the advantages of the public schools,
including the high school. In 1907 he graduated
from Miami Medical College,•Ohio, and soon after
receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he
initiated the practice of his profession at Sara-
sota, Florida, which has since been the central
stage of his professional activities, as well as those
of progressive civic enterprise. The doctor has
been unflagging in his ambition to keep in full
touch with the advances made in medical and
surgical science, is a member of the American
Medical Association and the Florida State Med-
ical Society, and at the time of this writing, in
the autumn of 1922, he is taking a leading part
in bringing about the organization of the Sara-
sota County Medical Society, this new county
having been established in 1921, with Sarasota as
its judicial center. Doctor Halton took two post-
graduate courses in the medical school of Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; a
summer post graduate course in the Toronto
(Canada) General Hospital; a summer course in
the Institute of Surgery in the City of Chicago;
a similar course in the famed clinic and
hospital of the Mayo Brothers, Rochester, Min-
nesota; five summer courses in the Nev fork
Lying -In Hospital, and a similar number in
the New York Post -Graduate Hospital. In 1921
he erected and fully equipped the first and only
general hospital in the City of Sarasota, and of
this valued institution he continues the executive
head, in addition to giving close attention to his
Targe and representative general practice.
The doctor has been untiring in his efforts to
promote the civic and material advancement of
his home city. He was a member of the City
Council in 191o. and was a power in the move-
ment that resulted in the installing of the munic-
ipal water, sewer and electric -lighting systems, as
well as in bringing about the construction of good
sidewalks throughout the city. He was influen-
tial also in the formulating of sentiment and
action that resulted in the formation of Sarasota
County, formerly a part of Manatee County. As
president of the Sarasota Board of Education
Doctor Halton was insistent in his efforts to raise
the standard of the schools of the city, and it was
mainly due to his efforts that the local high school
was placed on the accredited list of the state. He
is a staunch democrat, is affiliated with the
Masonic fraternity, is a valued member of the
Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, is a member of
the Sarasota Golf Club, and is a charter member
of the Sarasota Yacht Club, of which he has
served as commodore.
june 0, 191o, recorded the marriage of Doctor
Halton and Miss Mart Colt, who was born in the
City of Hartford, Connecticut, a daughter of
Colonel Samuel and Mary (Cadwell) Colt, her
father having been the head of the great Colt
firearms concern that has long been a national
institution. Doctor and Mrs. Halton have no
children. They hold membership in the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, South.
JO/1N O. BRAI1MAN, who is living retired in his
attractive home at the corner of Henley and
Second streets in the City of Fort Myers, Lee
County, was born at Key West, Florida, February
18, 1840, a son of John and Mary (Kemp) Bra-
man, both natives of the fair Bahama Islands,
the forner's father, Minus Braman, having been
born in Holland and having been an early settler
in the Bahamas. The maternal grandparents of
the subject of this review were Samuel and Sarah
Kemp, the father of the former having likewise
been born on the Bahama Islands, of English
parentage. The marriage of John Braman and
Mary Kemp was solemnized at Key West, Florida,
and there Mr. Braman followed the trade of ship
carpenter.
John O. Braman gained his early education in
the school maintained at Key West in the early
days, and under the direction of his father he
learned the trade of ship carpenter. In 1877 he
established his residence at Fort Myers, a town
which had only twenty-two houses at that time,
and here he conducted for two years a general
store. The heavy expense incidental to the trans-
porting of merchandise to this point made the
enterprise unprofitable, with the result that Mr.
Braman resumed the work of his trade, at which
he worked at Tampa, Key West and other points,
the while maintaining his home at Fort Myers,
where he had real estate and other property.
From 1895 until his retirement in 1915 he con-
centrated his trade work at Fort Myers, and he
handled virtually all of the boat work in this
vicinity. He was influential in the movement
which led to the incorporation of Fort Myers,
served as a member of its first City Council and
erected the first city jail. He and his wife are
active members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, and he has always been aligned
in the ranks of the democratic party.
In April, 1862, at Key West, occurred the mar-
riage of Mr. Braman and Miss Matilda J. Kemp.
who was born on the Bahama Islands, a daughter
of 'William and Caroline (Thompson) Kemp,
likewise born on those islands. Of the children
of Mr. and Mrs. Braman the eldest is Caroline E.,
wife of Henry Funk, of Fort Myers; Mary Ella
is the wife of Vincent A. Archer. of Key West;
Frank resides at East Fort Myers, his twin
brother, Samuel, having been drowned in a storm
off Pensacola when he was twentv-two years of
age; Minnie is the wife of A. E. Russell, of
Tampa.
HENRY CunlNo DOZIER, M. D. The work he
has done in private practice at Ocala and as an
honored surgeon during the World war affords
sound basis for the reputation Doctor Dozier en-
joys as one of the thoroughly eminent surgeons
of Florida. He is a comparatively young man,
just coming into the prime of his skill, and has
already done work attracting favorable attention
from foremost American surgeons.
Doctor Dozier was born at Fernandina, Florida,
October 17, 1879, son of John and Julia (Royal.)
Dozier. He is a direct descendant through his pa-