Seminole High School - Salmagundi Yearbook (Sanford, FL)

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THE IRVING BACHELLER CONTEST The Irving Bacheller Contest, an annual feature of Founderhs Week at Rollins, was held February twenty-third at the Bacheller estate, hGate oh the Isles? Seminole High School carried the honor of having Georgena Hart among the seven contestants selected from the entlre state. The subject of her essay was hGeneral Henry Shelton Sanford, A Pioneer of my Home TOWII . Georgena is to be congratulated for the efflciency of her work throughout her high school term. 28

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. , e V $$th x4e 9616;:g; N ,VTVK? $2 x, O , ,x 7 i AWX f x g. - M wmaggxxwx - RXy e SN. 9x62 MW WY $ K2 126 y g2 0V 1s V9 The above students have been approved by the faculty as honor students of the Class of 1934. They have made an average of 90 or above throughout their four years of high school. MARY NICKEL MARTHA BISHOP THELMA BENSON MARIAN LUNDQUIST ROBERT PEARSON GEORGENA HART VIRGINIA LAWTON NAOMI HUTCHINS NAOMI GREER 27

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q, Jhxbr dJXJxajfx xxxxxxxxu General Henry Shelton Sanford, efl Pioneer of My Home Town In selecting General Sanford as the subject of my essay I feel that I have chosen one of the most outstanding of our citst pioneers. Not only was Sanford named for him, but he did much for our community that merits his recognition. General Henry Shelton Sanford was born June 15, 1823, at Woodbury, Connecticut. In child- hood he was tutored and later studied at Cheshire Academy. He next attended Washington College, which is now known as Trinity, but after two years he was compelled to leave because of asthma. Physicians advised him to travel for his health. So in 1841 he took several sea voyages and later went to the Far West, where he lived among the Indians for a while. For a time he travelled abroad and studied at the University of Heidelberg, where the J. U. D. degree was conferred upon him. At Trinity he was given the LL. D. degree in 1849. In 1846 his diplomatic career was begun when, at the age of twenty-three, he became an attache to the American Embassy in Russia under Minister Ralph F. Ingersoll. From then to the time he became Minister Resident to Belgium on March 20, 1861, he performed various other diplomatic services. He married Gertrude Ellen De Puy of Philiadelphia, and they had eight children. In 1871 General Sanford became interested in Florida. He took a trip up the St. Johns River and he decided to make investments in this section. He purchased 12,535 acres at Lake Monroe on the St. Johns River. This tract of land Was then known as the Levy Grant. He be- came acquainted with Judge Wofford Tucker, who had come here about 1870; and they formed a business partnership. The natural advantages of the location appealed to these two men, especially the river, which afforded easy and cheap transportation facilities; and they decided to lay the foundation of a town. The services of Captain R. H. Marks and Mr. John A. McDonald were secured to make a plat of the town. Sanford Avenue was the first street to be cut. In laying out the town, General Sanford generously donated land to each denomination which consented to build a church, also the lots for the schools and a park for each. In the winter of 1871 General Sanford returned from Sweden bringing seventy-five Swedes and settled them on a tract of land west of the town, which he called St. Gertrude in honor of his wife. Here an orange grove was started, but it was found that the land was not suited to the citrus culture; and, the higher land being preferred for orange groves, another site was chosen, Where thirty acres were cleared and planted. This became known as Belair Grove, where in the fall of 1872 seventy-Iive more SWedes were brought over and located. This be- came the experimental ground for General Sanfordis citrus nursery, and many varieties of full- bearing orange, lemon, and kumquat trees are even now mingled with the giant oaks and tropical foliage of this plot. General Sanford's studies, travels and connections abroad enabled him to conduct a wide variety of horticultural experiments. It is due to him that Florida was introduced to many new cultures, notably that of the lemon. He was very liberal in distributing stock for budding to other growers. Up to this time nothing but the native sweet orange had been cultivated. He imported many trees from Europe, such as lemons, oranges, and limes. The other fruits on his grove included almond, pineapple, native and imported; tamarind, mango, fig, pomgranate, loquat or Japanese plum, sour sap, custard apple, maumee apple, guava, Barbados cherry, pecan, olive, and peach. In 1876 the following plants were reported as doing welle Cinchina 0r Peruvian bark, the true variety that furnishes the best quinine; coffee, Japanese persimmon, New Zealand flax, Barbary date palm, the tea tree. The grove thrived so wonderfully that in 1876 General Sanford was induced to increase it to one hundred acres. As the settlement grew, it became a question as to what it should be called. One day when General Sanford was taking tea with Judge Tucker and his daughter, Miss Louisa Tucker, the naming of the town came up in the conversation. Miss Tucker said that there should be no question about it, but that it should be named for its founder. So on a set day they gathered at Judge Tvuckeris to dedicate the town. An orange tree was planted in the yard to commemo- rate the event. Thus was our city named Sanford. General Sanford died at Healing Springs, Virginia, May 21, 1891. At one time General Sanford said, HSanford lies at the mouth of New York Harbor, and will one day be the greatest city of interior Florida as its soil, its health, and 1ts climate justify me in believing its resources for pleasure resorts and for business are unlimited? The vision of this pioneer is being materialized in the Sanford of today. eGEORGENA MAY HART 29