Library Record
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Title |
Edge of Wilderness A Settlement History of Manatee River and Sarasota Bay, 1528-1885 |
Summary |
Edge of Wilderness traces the story of the Sarasota-Manatee area. In pioneer and certainly prehistoric periods, the waterways were the main form of transport. The prehistoric peoples left all evidence of their life in the ground itself. Some artifacts and shards and shell fragments can be found in their mounds within Sarasota and Manatee Counties. The native peoples were not easily conquered. However, the diseases of the Europeans along with their guns, both played their part in the destruction of the native Indians. For hundreds of yeas after Menendez and DeSoto, Spain held Florida. From the sixteenth century into the nineteenth, Florida remained under Spanish rule. There was an exception, when the British held Florida as a fourteenth colony in the late eighteenth century. Finally, Florida was attached to the growing colonies that were to become the United States. By the time Spain ceeded Florida in 1819, the ancient peoples were gone. Florida was opened to settlement in the mid eighteen hundreds. The Armed Occupation Act opened 200,000 acres from south of a township line near Palatka to the Peace River. The offer of free land was restricted to anyone over eighteen years old who was able to bear arms, clear five acres, and properly file claims. Each claimant was obligated to build a habitale dwelling and to live there for five years. Coastal islands were excluded, nor could one settle within two miles of a permanent military post. The offer expired after one year. Claims were processed along both coasts, but the Ocala area attracted the bulk of the claims. In all, just under the 200,000 acre total was patented from federal to private ownership. Included in those patents were about 6,000 acres opening the Manatee River-Sarasota Bay lands. In 1845 Florida became a state. There were problems with the Indians who had fled into the less settled parts of Florida and the Indian war did not end until 1858. By 1860 Manatee had recorded great post-war gains. About 900 souls populated settlements along Manatee River, Sarasota Bay, Peas Creek (Peace River), Horse Creek Myakka River, Fish Eating Creek, all the way to the Kissimmee River. Nearly one third of those were slaves. The Florida legislature convened the winter of 1860 and passed a bill for a new constitution. They voted to adopt an ordinance of secession in January of 1861. Florida provided the Confederacy with two products during the war, salt and beef. Salt was considered so important that a man working in the salt works would be exempt from the military. Jesse Knight was a cattleman who moved with his family from Knight's Station to the area south of Osprey known now as Nokomis. His cattle were sent up toward Baldwin to be shipped to the Confederate troops. |
Object Name |
Book |
Author |
Matthews, Janet Snyder |
Published Date |
1983 |
Physical Description |
6 x 9 464 p., with pictures, maps and sketches |
Catalog Number |
2008.01.37 |
Year Range from |
1976 |
Year Range to |
1983 |
ISBN |
0-914381-00-8 |
Number of images |
2 |
Call# |
975.961 MAT |