Folkway #21: Society

So, what societal patterns did Central Florida's pioneers follow?


The pioneers did not simply appear out of the sky and invent a society of their own.  They lived elsewhere before coming to this area, bringing with them the affiliations and customs of their prior neighborhoods.


There were actually several waves of settlement.


The first came in the wake of the First Seminole War, when the U.S. government offered free land as part of the Armed Occupation Act of 1842.  Many would-be settlers staked claims to land in the Pine Castle area, but only three succeeded in perfecting their claims: county clerk Peter Hyrne and the brothers Aaron and Isaac Jernigan.  Hyrne promptly sold his land to the Jernigans, leaving their extended family the only real residents here.


The extended Jernigan family included the Patricks, Hogans, Minshews, and Tylers; and had come down here en masse from the vicinity of St. Marys, Georgia.  They were border people, who were used to living in close proximity to warlike Indians.  So, they considered themselves perfectly suited for populating this new frontier.  And, they like the lack of neighbors, because it gave them the room they needed to graze their cattle.


The second (and largest) wave came following the War Between the States, and primarily consisted of Southerners who had been left in reduced economic circumstances following the Confederate defeat.  These included Judge William Randolph of New Orleans and his notable son-in-law Will Wallace Harney of Louisville, Kentucky; but also included former Tallahassee mayor Francis Eppes, who also happened to be a grandson of President Thomas Jefferson.


Among this second wave was the extended family of the legendary Granny Harris.  She was said to be so "mad at the Yankees" that she walked all the way to Central Florida from their former home in Washington County, Georgia.  Her close kin included the Kings, Hansels, and Tanners.  They were not as high on the social scale as Randolph, Harney, and Eppes.  But, they knew their economic opportunities were better here than they were in their former homes.


Smaller waves followed these.  They included New Englanders who came with the construction of the South Florida Railroad in the 1880s; "remittance men" from Great Britain; and even an "Ohio Society."