My Grandfather's (Sort Of) Secret Past - Part 3

The Sort Of Secret Past theme revolves around unanswered questions about when and why my father left his home in Yalaha, Florida somewhere around 1920 to live with a sister in Lakeland. My sister and I had the impression that our father's father, George Johnson King, had passed away when our father was around twelve years of age. Long after our father's death in 1971, however, we became aware that George Johnson King had passed away when his son was eighteen years old.  Moreover, our father had lived away from his parents and his birth town of Yalaha (originally called Bloomfield) for at least three years prior to his father's death and possibly longer. I realize this is an earth shattering news breaking mystery suitable for NBC's DATELINE, especially when combined with our impression that our father just didn't tell us much about George Johnson King, almost as if there were secrets about his father he didn't want revealed. So all together, the information we do have combined with the information we don't have has created an intriguing puzzle. I've been working on solving this puzzle for some time now but haven't come up with any definite conclusions.

                                                        ROAD TRIP

Last week my wife and I had the opportunity to get away from the house for a day so we travelled up to Florida's Lake County to revisit Yalaha and use some of that county's historical resources to help solve the puzzle. Lake County has a records division in the county seat, the city of Tavares. They have records dating from 1887 on microfilm including land deeds, probate records, and tons of other documents, enough to make a genealogist, albeit an amateur genealogist like me drool!  With the assistance of a very cordial and helpful staff we were able to gather and photocopy 15 pages of documents pertaining to George Johnson King; specifically his will and all of the correspondence and notarized documents required for his widow, Agnes Ellen (Sweet) King to be legally established as the executrix of her late husband's estate. Agnes was "assisted" in all this by her oldest daughter, Carol Elizabeth (King) White, who had developed a thorough knowledge of legal matters in her employment in a lawyer's office in Orlando. She also served as a Florida Notary Public so was able to assist her mother in that regard as well on the numerous documents requiring notarization.

                             

I previously had obtained records of land purchases made by George Johnson King as well as his father in law, William Sweet, father of our grandmother, Agnes (Sweet) King. A few of the land purchases by William Sweet were subsequently resold to his two daughters, Elizabeth (Sweet) Henry and my grandmother,  Agnes King for $1, even after Agnes had married George (they married in 1890). I can't think of why that would be unless possibly William didn't like his son in law?  Who knows? Maybe I'm reaching too far for conspiracy-type answers to the puzzle but it does seem kind of strange. Then again, maybe it was some kind of legal thing or family tradition. William and George must have gotten along with each other at least a little because George became the manager of The Sweet King "Three Pines" Grove with the title of General Dealer on their letter head stationary. Together, William and George had purchased well over 100 acres of land in Bloomfield between 1888 and 1915 with small portions utilized for homes while the remainder  (I assume) was the grove where "Guavas a Specialty" were grown.

This photocopy appears to be an order form

                                               

I don't know when the Sweet King Grove enterprise started up but estimate around the early 1900's. One of my father's sisters, Nellie (King) Wright had indicated that her father had opened a general store in Bloomfield but after an unspecified period of time the business failed because George Johnson King "extended credit too freely." George's first recorded land purchases in Bloomfield were in 1905 even though he arrived in Bloomfield in 1885.  William Sweet, on the other hand (and who, by the way, had operated a successful general store business in Michigan) came to Bloomfield in 1888 and started purchasing land right away. William is listed as a "farmer" on the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census records while George is listed in 1900 with the occupation of "mail carrier" and in 1910 as "general farmer." In 1920 George listed his occupation as "farmer" on a fruit farm and listed himself as the "employer" of the business (as opposed to worker or working on account). William Sweet died in 1918 so if indeed, The Sweet King Grove was a joint venture, George appears to have assumed the position of head cheese, on paper at least.  But five years following his father in law's death, George Johnson King died.  I can only guess at his business acumen in the fruit farm realm but as his daughter Carol noted in her letter to a Lake County judge handling George King's estate, "my father left no cash on hand to speak of."  Actually, that was not true. George Johnson King left a cash account in the First National Bank of Leesburg, Fl with funds totaling $14.27. So I guess I'd have to agree with my Aunt Carol's assessment of "no cash to speak of."  In a will drawn up in 1920 George left his estate to his widow. In addition to the bank funds, the estate consisted of land that Agnes King subsequently sold off in the 1920's mostly to large citrus grove conglomerates. So after his death, The Sweet King "Three Pines" Groves offering "Choice Florida Fruits" and where "Guavas (were) A Specialty" was pretty much swallowed up by the big growers. Our search at the Lake County Records Division included a search for any probate records. I had assumed any legal matters with the business would have been there but there was nothing listed under the names of George, William, Agnes, or the citrus farm names, Sweet King and Three Pines Groves.

Right after our search in Tavares my wife and I headed over to the public library in Leesburg, about 10 miles West of the Records Division office. We had been told by more than one source that of the twenty or so libraries in Lake County, the Leesburg and Clermont branches had the best genealogy sections. Leesburg was closest so that's where we went. I concentrated my search on the microfilm files of the local newspaper, the Leesburg Commercial. They only had one roll of film covering editions from the 1880's up to 1927. From thereon out the microfilm collection was extensive but too late for the time period of my search; from the time George Johnson King arrived in Bloomfield, 1885, to his death in 1923. The one roll I was able to view was pretty spotty with some years including only a few editions and other years nothing at all.  I started targeting dates of death for George Johnson King and William Sweet but there were no copies of editions published those days. I was able to pull up pages a few weeks to a month from their death dates but no mentioning of either came up. The newspaper did not appear to have a general obituary section.  Rather, the only death notices I observed were either for prominent state or national citizens or, locally, victims of crimes. Frequently I saw articles about "Negro" crimes and punishments. These served as a reminder to me that up until the 1960's and 1970's, Florida and Lake County in particular were hot beds of extreme racial hatred and violence perpetuated by Jim Crow tactics to keep "Negroes and other undesirables" in their place.  It makes me wonder if my ancestors might have been more than casual bystanders in racial hatred.  I sure hope not. But somebody had to pick the choice Florida fruits off the citrus trees in my grandfather's citrus groves and more than likely it was cheap black labor. Anyway, another theme I noticed in the Leesburg Commercial was frequent articles on agriculture education, especially pertaining to citrus. Articles describing agriculture diseases and remedies and techniques for productive fruit farming were sometimes even the headlines and front page news. And as predominant as the articles were, advertisements by vendors who could provide the fertilizers and tools necessary to operate a successful farming business were posted on almost every page of the Leesburg Commercial. Agriculture was big news and of big importance in Lake County, Florida.   But, again, I found nothing directly mentioning my grandfather nor his father in law. Except this:



The Leesburg Commercial, Friday March 13, 1896

This poor quality edition published in 1896 seems to be a complimentary description of George J. King and is largely illegible but I was able to find it in a section of the paper listing short blurbs about local businesses. As best as I can decipher it says,

"Geo J. King, one of Bloomfield's stirring and progressive citizens, - - - - - on business Tuesday."

That's the best I can make of it and I'm not sure of the accuracy. The rectangular dark spots appear to be scotch tape type repairs to torn newsprint that might have been a good idea at the time but were not compatible with microfilming.

The microfilm records of the newspaper are not indexed in any way so unless you have a specific date in mind when you're searching and if the paper was kind enough to write about your object of interest, the only thing you can do is scroll through and hope your eyes catch something. The only other thing I found of interest was a 1913 section on Bloomfield that listed two items of interest.



The Leesburg Commercial, August 8, 1913



Much more legible, these stated:

"Miss Carol E. King of legal fame, of Orlando, is home on a vacation."

                       and

"Mrs Geo. King and daughter, visited the merchants of Leesburg Wednesday."

I'm not sure what the "legal fame" comment is about on Carol King but I have no doubt it pertains to George and Agnes King's oldest daughter, Carol Elizabeth King, born in 1891 in Bloomfield. Her sister, Nellie Irene King, born in 1894 wrote an autobiography that included the statement, "In July of 1911 I came to Lakeland, Florida, where my sister, Carol Elizabeth King had preceded me by several months."  Nellie ended up living the remainder of her life in Lakeland and raised a family there. Carol ended up living in Orlando with her husband, perhaps as early as 1913 the year of the article but at least by her 1920 listing on the Federal Census. On both the 1920 and 1930 Federal Census records Carol's occupation is listed as "stenographer in law office" so I guess that's why the newspaper cited her for possessing "legal fame."  Nellie married in 1915 and Carol married in 1917. So the daughter who "visited the merchants of Leesburg" with her mother in 1913 could have been either one of two girls.

No road trip to a records office and a genealogy section of the library would be complete without looking at the land our ancestors walked on. From Leesburg we drove South on US 27 and cut over the short distance to Yalaha. We drove up and down a few times on Bloomfield Avenue which was the main drag through town when my ancestors lived there and now one of three main drags running North and South through the area. Most of the East and West connecting roads that linked Bloomfield Ave to the other two, Yalaha Road and Guava Street,  have disappeared into wild vegetation and farm land. My Aunt Nellie, the younger of my father's two sisters has been my inspiration to get involved with genealogy. In 1973 she wrote her autobiography in about a 7 page outline of her parent's ancestors and her husband's as well. And she left the awesome gift of a hand drawn map and narrative of her memories of the houses in Bloomfield.

The "start/end" dotted lines and numbers are my description of searches I have made in the past on separate occasions with my wife, my son, and my daughter. Aunt Nellie had written in 1973 that the home of William Sweet was still standing but not livable. Highlighted in yellow (by me) on Nellie's map, we have never been able to find any remnants of William Sweet's home nor any other structures that would have belonged to my ancestors. There are some homes along Bloomfield Avenue but all probably built in the last 50 or 60 years or later. Behind most of the Bloomfield Avenue homes, roughly within the rectangle designated by points 1, 2, 6, and 4 there is dense vegetation and older trees which I have been advised is prime territory for rattlesnakes. I have not and will not be strolling anytime soon through this territory, no matter how strong the urge to walk where my ancestors walked.

Our last stop of the day before heading home was at the Yalaha Bloomfield Cemetery located on Guava Street, two blocks East of Bloomfield Avenue. To check the condition of the cemetery grounds and pay our respects to my grandparents, George and Agnes King, my great grandparents, William and Agnes Sweet, and my grand aunt Elizabeth (Sweet) Henry. Also buried in the same plot are Elizabeth's daughter Elgie and Elgie's daughter in law, Ruby. Elizabeth, Elgie, and Ruby all had the same luck in their marriages, as in not much luck at all so their ex-husbands are buried elsewhere in parts unknown. So basically William Sweet and his wife, Agnes (Montgomery) Sweet are buried with their two daughters and extended family.

I anticipate wrapping up this saga of my grandfather's sort of secret past in my next posting, which will be the same title, Part 4. My search goes on but I need to draw some conclusions about the "secret" and get on with it. I will never be able to conclusively prove anything resembling a skeleton in my grandfather's or my father's closets but I am beginning to formulate a picture in my mind of what transpired when my father left home to attend school away from his father. My search always goes on but I'll try to recap my conclusions on the matter in Part 4. Soon, I hope.