Edited by Spessard Stone from Earnest B. Simmons' final article, published in the Fort Meade Leader of April 6, 1916
It was an awkward place where the Leader's make-up man divided my last article in the First Families of Polk County right in the middle of a sentence.
Using the military map of Lieut. Ives, of date of April 1856 as a basis, let us consider some of the old settlers outside of Fort Meade township.
North of the present Homeland and Lake Buffum road, and just east of Flatford on Peas Creek, was the house of John Skipper(1) the father of all the Skippers of Polk and DeSoto counties.
Mr. Skipper was noted for being of different political faith from most of his neighbors. A Republican among many Democrats, he was a sturdy character, a virile and positive man, and his many esteemed descendants seem to have inherited the characteristics of their sturdy old ancestor.
Some three miles south of Fort Fraser and on the outskirts of the present city of Bartow, lived Readding Blount(2), the father and grandfather of the Blounts of Bartow and vicinity. The family, from the first, has been God-fearing and, through several generations, the Blounts have been powers for church work and better government.
The fortunes of politics a few years ago put scions of two of these first families in opposition to each other for a certain county office. I am glad to state they conducted a clean campaign and each left a clean record behind him as an officer.
Fort Fraser was located about two miles north of Bartow, there was no Bartow then, near the southwest corner of Lake Hancock. East of Fort Fraser, at Gandy's Ford on Peas Creek, was Fort Carroll.
North of the fort, and near Lake Hancock, lived Rabe Raulerson (3), an esteemed gentleman who has many descendants in this county.
On the south prong of the Alafia , grouped closely together, were the homes of Widow Prine, Andrew Wiggins and James Whidden.
It was the husband of Mrs. Prine (4) who was killed in the battle of Peas Creek, following the Seminole raid on the Tillis place.
Andrew Wiggins is spoken of as a famous hunter of the period. He later migrated to Texas.
James Whidden, as it is well known, was the ancestor of one branch of this much esteemed family.
On Payne's Creek, on the Ft. Chokonikla and Ft. Brooke road, lived several families, Joe and Tom Underhill(5), Tom Summerall (6), and Dick Pellam (7).
Almost all the settlers of this period seem to have been grouped together around the head waters of the Alafia or along the upper end of Peas Creek. Many, if not most of them, lived along military roads.
Gen. Twiggs' route starts at Ft. Brooke and, running in a general direction south and east, connected Fort Meade, Clinch, Kissimmee, Drum, Vinton and Capron, the last fort being on the east coast, opposite Indian River and north of Fort Pierce.
Another, and more northerly route, starting at Fort Brooke, and made by Col. Taylor (8), ran almost due past Fort Fraser and Carroll to Fort Gardiner, thence it ran south looking around Lake Rosalie, passed down the west side of Kissimmee, and, crossing Kissimmee River at Fort Basinger, it loops around the northeast side of Lake Okeechobee, turns south and comes to an end in the Everglades, near the south end of the big lake.
No date is given on these roads on this map, but from the date of the Battle of Okeechobee on Taylor Creek, near the present Okeechobee City, Dec. 25, 1837, we would place the construction of these roads during the Indian War period, between 1835 and 1842.
The establishment of the above named forts was probably coincident with the building of the military roads and the settlement of the country and was subsequent to these two events. (9)
In closing, I would like to call attention to the excellent character of the first settlers of Polk County. These pioneers were sturdy, honest, God-fearing men and women who respected and trusted each other. There were no locks on the doors in those days and a man's word was considered as good as his bond.
Of all the settlers here prior to the Civil War, there were only three families who were at all roguish. To show how blood and early training will tell in such matters, I will say that one of these rogue families has furnished criminals in each generation for three generations, and the descendants are still giving society some concern.
On the other hand, I have only to call attention to such families as the Blounts, Whiddens, Durrances and Tillises to show the beneficent effect of good blood and correct and early training.
This County has been peculiarly fortunate in the character of its first settlers. All honor to the First Families of Polk County.
I will esteem it a favor if anyone who knows will correct any misstatements in these historical articles and will supply me with additional information. We want to make this history as exact and complete as possible, and, to do this, we must work quickly, for we still have only a few of the first settlers with us.
(1) John Levi Skipper (1826-1907) in the 1870s settled east of present-day Zolfo Springs.
(2) Readding Blount settled at now Bartow in 1851.
(3) Noel Rabun Raulerson(1820-1910).
(4) Olive Turner Prine was the widow of Robert Prine, who was killed at age 28.
(5) Joseph Underhill (1795-c1881) was the father of Thomas Underhill, who was killed in 1864 in the Union raid on Fort Meade.
(6) Thomas Summeralls (c1822-1862) prior to his death moved to Calvinia on Horse Creek.
(7) Richard Pelham (1825-1902) homesteaded just north of Fort Green in present-day Polk County.
(8) Zachary Taylor, a veteran of the Second Seminole War in Florida, was United States President from March 4, 1849-July 9, 1850.
(9) The construction of the forts named occurred in the Second Seminole War of 1835-42 and 1849, but Fort Brooke was founded in 1824.
This article was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of July 5, 1990.
January 31, 2001