Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net
Copyright © 2012 by Ginger L. Pedersen and Janet M. DeVries
All rights reserved
Cover image: Laura Woodward (1834–1926), Workmen’s Camp, Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1893, collection of Edward and Deborah Pollack.
First published 2012
e-book edition 2012
Manufactured in the United States
ISBN 978.1.61423.668.9
Library of Congress CIP data applied for.
print ISBN 978.1.60949.657.9
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is dedicated to my mother, Christa E. Pedersen, whose spirit left this earth during the writing of this book. May she enjoy many lovely afternoons with the Deweys and their cats and dogs in the eternal paradise of the Blessed Isle.
–Ginger L. Pedersen
Contents
Foreword, by Harvey E. Oyer III
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Spilmans and the Taylors
“One Awful Night in My Tenth Year”
Westward to the Land of Lincoln
“Begin to Talk Florida”
The Dreamer of Dreams
“Night in a Long White-Draped Room”
The Lake Worth Country
The Hermitage
The Blessed Isle
The King Arrives in the Jungle
The Great Freeze and the Orphaned Town
A New Century and New Challenges
The Bird Whisperer and the Journey Home
Bibliography
About the Authors
Foreword
In 1895, my recently married great-grandparents, Captain Frederick and Lillie Pierce Voss, were hired by two men from Michigan, William S. Linton and Major Nathan S. Boynton, to ferry them in our family boat to the south end of Lake Worth, where the two visitors looked over some land. These men would later purchase this land, and Major Boynton would build a hotel along the beach ridge and plat a small town to the west named after himself.
So went the story that I grew up hearing and, like others, have passed along ever since. However, there was a problem with this story. It was not entirely correct. As the fine research of Ginger Pedersen and Janet DeVries uncovered, Major Boynton was not the person who platted the little town that today bears his name. In fact, it was a husband and wife named Dewey who platted the town of Boynton—today the city of Boynton Beach.
Pioneering Palm Beach illuminates two of the most remarkable, yet least known, personalities in Palm Beach County’s pioneer history: Frederick Sidney Dewey and his wife Byrd “Birdie” Spilman Dewey. Posterity knows so little of their accomplishments and contributions because they left no children and, therefore, no one to carry on their name and story. Pedersen and DeVries, however, have uncovered their story, one that is told in rich detail in the contexts of both American history and local pioneer history.
Birdie’s family history in America dates to the very origins of English colonization. Her ancestor arrived in Jamestown in 1609, was traded to Powhatan Indians for a piece of land, lived among the Powhatan, learned their language and befriended the legendary Pocahontas. Birdie was also the grandniece of President Zachary Taylor.
Fred, a Civil War veteran from Indiana, was a cousin of Admiral George Dewey. He met and married Birdie in Illinois. Soon they moved to Florida, trying their hand at various occupations and attempting to find their Eden in different Central Florida locations before venturing deep into the vast wilderness that would later become Palm Beach County. They were true “pioneers,” arriving in the years before Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway would open this vast jungle wilderness to the rest of the world.
Together, Fred and Birdie would carve out a homestead in the wilds of what would later become West Palm Beach, living in isolation deep in the pine woods with their beloved pets. They would soon acquire a beautiful waterfront parcel just south of what is today downtown and build their home, Ben Trovato, which would become an important scene of pioneer social life as Birdie ascended the ranks of the nascent Palm Beach social scene.
Along the way, Birdie wrote autobiographical accounts of their life adventures. However, she often disguised them as fictional stories, sometimes about their dog Bruno. She was an exceptional writer of national stature, with a witty and engaging style. Her articles appeared in the leading publications of her day, including Ladies’ Home Journal, Vogue and Good Housekeeping. Her first book, Bruno, was a bestseller. It was published by one of America’s preeminent publishers—Little, Brown and Company—alongside the works of such noted American writers as Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson. Bruno was one of the first novels to be written in our area and marked a milestone in South Florida’s important literary history. Pedersen and DeVries’ expert detective work definitively ties Fred and Birdie’s real-life story to the many adventures chronicled by Birdie in her popular articles and books.
Fred served as a county commissioner, county tax assessor and county tax collector at the time when this region was still part of Dade County. His responsibilities took him from the Florida Keys to the St. Lucie River. He later worked as a land agent for Henry Flagler, the father of modern South Florida, and even befriended the oil and railroad tycoon. After Fred’s death, Birdie became the field secretary of the Florida Audubon Society and traveled the state lecturing on conservation. She had an uncanny ability to tame wild birds and mimic their calls.
Along the way, Fred and Birdie bought and sold landholdings from modern-day Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale to modern-day Boynton Beach, Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. They planted citrus and engaged in all forms of agriculture. Their skills and intellectual interests were many. Their humility is evident in the fact that they owned the land and filed the plat for the town of Boynton, choosing to name the town after Major Boynton rather than themselves.
I am most grateful for the research in this book, as it has brought to light two largely unknown but certainly remarkable people in South Florida’s history. Pedersen and DeVries have made an outstanding contribution to the scholarship of Palm Beach County’s pioneer era.
Harvey E. Oyer III
President, Lake Worth Pioneers Association
Former Chairman, Historical Society of Palm Beach County
Acknowledgements
The authors encountered so many helpful, inspiring people along the journey of researching and writing this book. Debi Murray, director of research and archives at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, enriched the quality of the text with her limitless knowledge of resources and provided expert editing of the manuscript. Harvey Oyer III wrote the inspiring foreword from the voice and vision of his pioneer family. Professor Rodney Dillon also lent his expertise on Florida history in reviewing the manuscript.
It took many months, but locating and connecting with Byrd Spilman Dewey’s great-great-grandnieces brought her present-day family into the project: Lila “Peaches” Rankin, Loretta Lydic Amerman and Janis Lydic Hebert. They shared priceless photographs and family letters.
Our editors at The History Press—Jessica Berzon, Hannah Cassilly and Ryan Finn—mentored and guided us seamlessly t
hrough the publishing process.
The following persons provided valuable resources and information:
Professor Patricia Alvarez, Palm Beach State College
Dr. Evan Bennett, Florida Atlantic University
Marlene Blye, Eustis Memorial Library
Louise Carter, Eustis Historical Society
Roger Cope, Cope Architects
Donna Corry, Flora Illinois Public Library
Beth Davis Fabiano, Greenlawn Funeral Home and Cemetery
Jeff Geiger, Jacksonville Public Library
Thomas A. Grunwald, Sayre Institute
Richard W. Hoover, Sr., son of Judge Earl R. Hoover
Dawn Hugh, History Miami
Christine Kinlaw-Best, Sanford Historical Society
Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post
Teresa Martinez, Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Office
Marjorie Watts Nelson, Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County
Dottie Patterson, Delray Beach Historical Society
Deborah Pollack, Edward and Deborah Pollack Fine Art
James Ponce, historian, West Palm Beach, Florida
Michelle Quigley, Palm Beach Post
Joyce Reingold, Palm Beach Daily News
Tim Robinson, author, Stuart, Florida
John Shipley, Miami-Dade Library
James Shires, historian, Maysville, Kentucky
Dr. Voncile Smith, Boynton Beach Historical Society
Susan Swiatosz, Flagler Museum
Jan Tuckwood, Palm Beach Post
N. Adam Watson, State Archives of Florida
David Willson, Palm Beach Daily News
Help with photograph preparation and manuscript editing came from Dr. Jennifer Campbell, Bridget DeVries, Edwin Hill, Michael Naughton, Charles Sass, Dr. Sharon Sass and Zara Siassi.
A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Audubon of Florida and the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
For more information, please see the website at www.byrdspilmandewey.com.
Introduction
The name “Palm Beach” brings to mind the ocean, the palms and the playground of the wealthy and famous in Florida. But few realize the humble beginnings that arose out of the sawgrass and scrub. Florida in the 1880s was a wild and scenic place, brimming with possibilities and pitfalls. It certainly attracted the wealthy, the dreamers, the builders, the farmers and the hucksters, all of whom looked in the Florida mirror and saw something very different. Among all those early Florida pioneers were two rather extraordinary individuals, both deeply rooted in American history but forgotten over time.
Florida’s genesis is inherently interesting, and it begins with the land itself. Land research involves looking through massive old land tract books in the courthouse, scanning through microfilm and deciphering legal land descriptions. The authors of this book became interested in how Boynton Beach, Florida, began. The common belief was that Major Nathan Smith Boynton arrived in 1895 from Michigan, bought five hundred acres of land and built a hotel for northern guests trying to escape the cold and see the tropics. The story continued that Boynton founded the associated town to house hotel employees and farmers.
However, when the authors searched the original town site’s land transaction records, it was not the name “Boynton” that was written over and over again, but someone else’s name. That name was “Birdie Dewey.” In page after page in the tract books, Birdie Dewey bought and sold lots and acreage. Who was this person, and why were so many land transactions under her name?
The authors searched the Internet and found that Birdie Dewey’s full name was Byrd Spilman Dewey, and her husband was Frederick Sidney Dewey. The Deweys were listed on a website as being among the original pioneers on Lake Worth, the body of water that runs twenty-one miles parallel to Palm Beach County’s coastal barrier island. During the Second Seminole War, soldiers named the lake for General William Jenkins Worth.
The site also revealed another fact about Birdie Dewey: she was a prominent author of her time. Now the story had its first new layer. The authors’ investigations began to offer many new facts about this most interesting couple, their life in the Florida wilds and the paradise they created in West Palm Beach, Florida. It did not take long to locate Birdie’s first book, Bruno. The book was found in a 1906 Christmas catalogue selection publication. Further research revealed that the Google Books project had scanned Bruno as part of the initiative to preserve out-of-print books.
Published in 1899, Bruno is the story of a beloved dog the Deweys once owned. Labeled as a children’s book, it is one of those books that can be read by someone of any age and have a different meaning and significance. But the book’s setting was even more intriguing—the story was told against of the backdrop of their early pioneer days in Florida. The book’s characters are named Judith and Julius, but research will show that they are stand-ins for Fred and Birdie.
After the authors read Bruno, it was clearly evident that these were not ordinary people, nor was this an ordinary story. Her writing showed great literary ability and a hypnotic and lyrical writing style that enchants the reader. Excerpts from Bruno will guide the reader through this book’s early chapters, as it chronicles the Deweys’ difficult beginnings in Florida. Many passages from her other writings will also provide clues and insights into the Deweys’ life in Florida. These first clues started an intense research effort to uncover the Dewey story through modern methods on the Internet and old-fashioned detective work through telephone calls, letters and road trips to the various locations where the Deweys had lived around Florida.
Although the following chapters are chronologically organized, the story unfolded in a nonlinear fashion. After finding Bruno, the authors found references to an additional book entitled The Blessed Isle and Its Happy Families, held in a few libraries. What was The Blessed Isle? Did Birdie write other books? The authors phoned the Historical Society of Palm Beach County to see if there was additional information on the Deweys; in fact, the society’s archives contained a Dewey folder. The authors went to the archive in the old courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, the county seat. The society’s archive file provided the first in-depth information on the Deweys.
A Cleveland, Ohio judge found the crucial clues to tell the Dewey story. Judge Earl R. Hoover was a historian who had done much to chronicle Cleveland’s history, and he had become particularly interested in Jonathan Edwards Spilman, a Kentucky reverend who had written one of the most beloved melodies in America, namely “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton.” In his research on Reverend Spilman, Judge Hoover had also uncovered Reverend Spilman’s daughter, Byrd Spilman Dewey. He became so fascinated with her and the mystery of why she was so unknown that he conducted his own investigation when he visited the West Palm Beach area in 1966. His detailed, twelve-page chronology of Birdie’s life laid a foundation on which the Deweys’ time and life in Florida could be chronicled, particularly their time in South Florida. The authors used his meticulous research as a reference throughout the writing of this book.
The most significant find was yet to come. An article from a 1909 Maysville, Kentucky newspaper mentioned that the Deweys were visiting Maysville, Birdie’s childhood home, and that she had published an article series entitled From Pine Woods to Palm Groves for the Florida Review, a literary journal. After much searching, the authors found the 1909 journal in the Jacksonville City Library. It proved to be a well-written and detailed account of Palm Beach County pioneer life and was a significant historical discovery that sat unnoticed in an obscure journal for more than one hundred years.
With these introductory words, the story to be told will ensure the Deweys’ place in Florida’s history, as well as share Birdie’s writings and philosophy with a new audience. Much of the evidence found will also rewrite history books as to the beginnings of one of Palm Beach County’s major cities. The Deweys’ journey through Florida spans more than sixty years through the incredible growth of the period
from 1881 through 1942. They were alongside the greats of the era, including Henry M. Flagler, oil and development tycoon, and the world resort he created in Palm Beach. The Deweys saw it all, and Birdie’s pen captured it for future historians and readers to rediscover their amazing story.
The Spilmans and the Taylors
The Spilman family’s start in the mysterious and foreign place called America is an interesting tale. The year is 1609. A boy of thirteen has boarded a ship in England named the Unity, and it is headed to resupply a fledging town in the New World called Jamestown. That boy, Henry Spelman, arrived in Jamestown in October 1609. Henry paid for his passage by being an indentured servant. After less than two weeks in Jamestown, Henry met Captain John Smith. Young Henry was essentially “traded” to the Powhatan Indians for a piece of land and was to live among the Powhatan Indians and learn their language and culture so that the colonists could befriend and trade with the Indians. With the coming winter, the fledging colony could not support itself with the meager supplies and crops they had. Upon the supply ship’s arrival from England, the Unity’s crew and passengers found the surviving colonists in very poor condition, with only one-third of the original colonists still alive.
Henry learned the Powhatan language and lived among the Indians, and he helped the colonists barter with the Indians, often trading copper for food. At one point, hostilities between the colonists and the Indians reached a critical point, and Henry fled the Powhatan village with a friend, seeking refuge with the neighboring Patawomeck Indian tribe. The Patawomeck Indians captured the boys, and the tribesmen killed Henry’s friend. John Smith wrote the following on Henry’s fate in his work Generall Historie: “Pokahontas the King’s daughter saved a boy called Henry Spelman that lived many yeeres after, be her meanes, amongst the Patawomecks.” Henry did live with the tribe and married a Patawomeck woman, who took the English name Martha Fox; Spilman family lore has noted that Fox was one of Pocahontas’s many sisters.
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