THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (9th in a series)

THE DEMISE OF THE ORMISTON COLONY

The last installment of “Settling" ended with the 68 Scottish colonists experiencing a snowfall on January 9, 1886. Dead fish washed ashore and Selvin Tate, the nephew of the Archbishop of Canterbury and promoter of the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company (FMIC) disappeared. The high hopes of the colonists, who had left Scotland three months ago, were dashed.

One reason for the failure of the colony is that the families were of the upper middle class. Not one had ever been a farmer. If housing had been available as promised, the colonists might have stayed. Nearly all had left by May 1, 1886.

Weeks before the intended arrival of the Colonists, Sir John Gillespie an official of the FMIC had ordered A. C. Acton, their local manager, to erect temporary housing for the colonists. He was also ordered to have a dock ready to moor the arriving shipload of Scotsmen. Acton was a very sick man, however, and unable to get much done.

In January 1886, John Hamilton Gillespie, Sir John Gillespie’s son was sent to Sarasota to relieve Acton and he began to lay out roads and sidewalks in the “downtown” area, build the DeSoto Hotel on Main Street (inset ca.1886), and more. A number of the colonists were employed in the building program.

Had the “Colony” arrived six months later, or the construction begun six months earlier, it might have been a success. Lumber for the dock and hotel was brought by schooners to the foot of Main Street, thrown overboard and floated to shore where it was transported by mule “powered” wagons to its final location.

Construction of the dock was backbreaking work that required the workers to stand in the cold water as deep as chest high. For this they earned $2.00 for a long day. A warehouse was built at the end of the dock to house merchandise.

Immediately upon its completion the side-wheel steamer Erie began making regular stops at Tampa and Sarasota.

In 1886, Dr. Thomas Wallace, who came with the colonists had a 1½-story house built on Main Street and placed a cot in one of the rooms where patients could be treated. He also established the first drug store.

Furman and Bill Whitaker opened the first General Store, aside from the Company Store. Hamlin Whitaker opened a market where he sold meat from a freshly butchered steer (ice was not available).

The first blacksmith, cobbler, and wagon builder whose name was Jack Tatum, came to town in 1886. He could shoe the most stubborn mule, remake any part of a wagon, mend any saddle and fix any sewing machine. It was said that he had a “wheel” left over after fixing a clock and it still kept good time.

In 1888 the FMIC issued a promotional booklet touting the weather, investment and recreational opportunities. It pointed out that Massachusetts’s death rate was 1 in 254, New York’s was 1 in 473, and Florida’s was 1 in 1,457. Establishment of these numbers was not explained.

In 1894, the Inn on Main Street hosted its’ first convention, a group of Baptists. The DeSoto Hotel had 30 rooms to rent.

The DeSoto Hotel and its furnishings cost 5,000 pounds (about $15,000). Tourists returned annually to spend 2 or 3 months to shoot birds, catch fish, and sail the calm waters of Sarasota Bay. Others came to fight tuberculosis or rheumatism.

Steamers carried passengers from the dock at the Hotel’s front door to the Tampa terminus of the railroad. The Mary Disston, known as the Dirty Mary, that also hauled freight, was one of the steamers.

Sarasota was becoming a “boom town.”

DeSoto Hotel - Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources.

To be continued..

Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.

THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (8th in a series)

NO “TEMPORARY TOWN HOUSE”, NO TOWN, AND NO ROADS

At the end of last month’s “Settling”, the Ormiston Colony consisting of 68 Scottish colonists, found themselves in Sarasota without the promised “rent free house” (for 6 months) in town, no hotel under construction, or pier. The colonists then proceeded to make the best of their predicament, and some of them went to live in the homes of settlers.

The Lawries and the Brereton family found shelter in the old cedar bucket plant down the bay at the foot of Cunliff Lane. Tom Weir, the manager of the company store, passed out cots and bedding to those who had none. The Lawries had brought a large tent with them, and turned it over to the Brownings who pitched it under the pines near the company store.

Soon Mrs. Browning was busy at a campfire, making Scotch scones and pancakes with plenty of tea. That night, some of the Browning children slept in the company store. While the children slept, the older members of the family gathered around the young “natives” who did their best to make a good impression on the pretty, red-cheeked Scottish girls. The Whitaker family, the Riggins, Abbes, Tuckers, and Tatoms, all homesteaders, did what they could to help the newcomers.

The only thing the company store had for sale was a barrel of crackers that was emptied by the colonists’ children soon after their arrival. Hamlin Whitaker (inset ca.1890) made sure the colonists wouldn’t go hungry, however, as he went out with his cast net and in a short time came back with a load of mullet. Then he helped clean and fry them. They were just ready to eat when Emile Whitaker came along with some bread his mother had baked for the strangers. Later, the Whitaker boys showed the Browning girls how to bake bread in a deep pan over a campfire.

New Year’s day was always a big holiday for the Scotch and the colonists gathered at the cedar bucket plant and celebrated in a grand manner. Mrs. Lawrie and Mrs. Brereton unpacked their linen tablecloths, china and silver and set the table – rough planks on trestles. Tom Burges brought a large plum pudding his sister had made for him before he left Scotland. The pudding was cut into thin slices so that each person could have a piece—to be reminded of home! The portions of plum pudding were tiny but there was plenty of other food. The settlers had brought in game and fish, and the plates were heaped high. “It’s even said that the colonists had more than one “wee nip” of Cuban rum and Sarasota’s “dynamite” before the day was over.

That New Year’s day celebration, January 1, 1886, was the last happy gathering for the colonists. From then on, they had little cause to rejoice about anything. On January 9, the winds turned from south to north, the temperature dropped, and a cold rain began to fall. It snowed. In subtropical Sarasota! Some of them wondered whether it might be windblown ash from a distant fire until the children made and threw snowballs.

Dead fish washed ashore and a stench filled the air. The colonists became very irate and John Tate, who represented the Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. (FMIC) and had traveled to Sarasota with the Ormiston Colony, left hurriedly. It would be unfair to end this episode allowing the reader to conclude that the FMIC was a sleazy organization with the single purpose of obtaining the colonists 100 pounds sterling. The promised town and the 40 acre farms had been platted and registered with the Clerk of Courts, and over the next 18 months, FMIC spent 50,000 pounds on improvements. Would it be enough?

In buggy - Mr. Hamlin Whitaker, Mrs. Nell Adams, Mrs. Charles Abbe. On ground - Mrs. Anton Kleinoscheg (Aunt Carrie), ca.1890.
Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources A.K. Whitaker Collection

(Continued..)

Copyright ©
Leland Desmon
The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.