Bryan H. Edwards

Historic South Dade Posted on by

By Jeff Blakley

When I was a boy, my mother used to take my brother and I to the Bryan H. Edwards park in Florida City, where we would play on the jungle gym and see how high we could make the swings go. We’d wander through the woods (part of the park was a tropical hardwood hammock before it was cleared out) and play pirate captain on the roof of the small building in the park. We’d also wander down to the pond in the marl prairie portion of the park and see if we could find a way to get through the fence, planted with a hedge of australian pine trees that surrounded it, much to our mother’s dismay. The wind blowing through the pine forest on the north side of the park was wonderfully soothing.

Those days are long gone – the park is now a year-round campground for travel trailers and the swing set and jungle gym are gone, too. So are the pine trees on the north side of the park. That land was cleared of its native vegetation after Hurricane Andrew devastated the area in 1992. And so, too, is the pond – it has been filled in to make space for more trailers.

It wasn’t until I did the research on the Brooker family that I learned that Henry Brooker, Jr.’s wife was Jacqueline Edwards, the daughter of Bryan H. Edwards, an early mayor of the city of Florida City. I had no idea – imagine that! I’ve lived here all my life and didn’t know who Bryan H. Edwards was. I’d be very surprised to learn that there is a plaque of some kind in the park identifying who Bryan H. Edwards was.

In the 1920 census for District 0040 of Dade County, Florida, Bryan H. Edwards appears on sheet 21-A. He was 42 years old, born in Georgia and his wife’s name was Lena. His occupation was “real estate.” Armed with that information, I went to Ancestry.com, where I found a well-researched public tree that supplied a lot of information about Bryan. His middle name was Hastic and according to his WWI draft registration card, dated September 23, 1918, he was born on December 24, 1877. Other information in the tree indicates that he was born in Macon, Georgia. In 1914, he was the vice-president of the Griffin-Edwards Construction Company and also the secretary of the Southern Package Manufacturing Company, both located in Macon, Georgia. There is a link on the website to ship arrivals and, investigating that, I discovered that Bryan had been in Guatemala and Honduras. A newspaper article in the Macon Telegraph dated February 10, 1914 announced the formation of the Griffin-Edwards Construction Co., noting that Walter D. Griffin, born in 1881, had “been in the contracting business several years.” His partner, Bryan H. Edwards, was an “experienced lumberman” and had “been engaged in the lumber trade nearly all of his life.” His travels to Guatemala and Honduras were apparently related to the plans of the Griffin-Edwards Construction Co. to engage in the wholesale lumber business.

Apparently, Bryan spent a considerable amount of time in Honduras, as his wife applied for a passport to visit him in Portrerillos, Honduras, in September, 1917. At that time, her address was 114 Coleman Avenue in Macon, which may have been a private residence at the time but it now appears to be part of the campus of Mercer University. No doubt, the house was in an upscale part of town, which would befit the wife of a businessman. Her last trip to Honduras ended on July 11, 1918, when she arrived in New Orleans on the ship Quimistan, just months before Bryan filled out his draft registration card in Florida City in September of that same year.

In an article which appeared on June 3, 1920 in the Miami Herald, “Mr. Edwards and family have moved into the old Hunt place at Florida City which he recently bought. It was vacated Monday by Mr. Franklin and family who moved to their old home in Ft. Lauderdale.” This is a reference to the house that John W. Hunt built for his family in 1913.

In the 1930 census, Bryan H. Edwards was living with his wife – his two daughters, Constance, born on April 17, 1902 had married James I. Ryle in 1920 and Jacqueline, born in 1905, had married Henry Brooker, Jr. in 1928. It is interesting that his occupation was given as “real estate agent” because, until Otis Wallace was elected, Bryan Edwards was the longest serving mayor in Florida City history, serving from 1922 until 1934, when he died.

What brought Bryan Edwards to Florida City? Most likely, the opportunity to earn a living in a safe location. His trips to Central America were related to lumber purchases for the Griffin-Edwards Construction Co., but the declaration of war against Germany by Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in the summer of 1918 probably disrupted the plans of many American companies and perhaps Bryan left for that reason.

Bryan Edwards died on 13 August 1934 at the age of 56 and is buried in Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Miami.

Bryan H. Edwards Municipal Park was established via a re-plat of the Homestead Addition to Florida City, dated 1927, executed on November 8, 1945. The land on the north side of the park was owned by his widow, Lena S. Edwards and her son-in-law and his wife, Henry Brooker, Jr. and his wife, Jacqueline Edwards. No doubt, they were instrumental in the establishment of the park.

William C. Norwood

Historic South Dade Posted on by

By Jeff Blakley

William C. Norwood, a merchant, came to Florida City from West Palm Beach in 1910 and homesteaded in sections 25 and 26. Searching the Bureau of Land Management records yielded the information that he was granted patent 289088 on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 25, township 57 south, range 38 east and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 26, township 57 south, range 38 east on August 22, 1912. Homesteaders could either wait the statutory time for proving up a homestead (7 years) or pay $1.25 per acre cash. Norwood evidently elected to do the latter, for he purchased the land on July 27, 1911 and paid it off on January 25, 1912. The amount he paid for the land, $200, would be equivalent to a little less than $5,000 in 2016 dollars.
william-c-norwood-patent

Norwood patent
This land was located 1/2 mile south of Palm Drive on either side of Redland Road. It extended 1/4 mile west and 1/4 mile east of Redland Road and went from S.W. 360th St. (Lucille Drive) to S.W. 368 St. This land is rather low-lying – the original pine rockland was located to the north and west of this property.

William’s mother was Mary Emma Feaster and his uncle was Thomas Andrew Feaster (1858 – 1944), a large land-owner in the Florida City area. Thomas was in Miami as early as 1907 and owned the Miami Meat Market at 1317-19 Avenue D. In 1932, he was president of the Florida East Coast Growers Association, headquartered at 109 S.E. 1st St. in Miami. The Feasters were from South Carolina and the Norwoods were from Georgia. One of his cousins was Elbert A. Froscher, a prominent Realtor in Homestead. Elbert’s mother, Lavenia Feaster, was one of William’s aunts.

In the 1910 census for precinct 15, Homestead, William C. Norwood, his wife, Mittie (Martha Carolyn Cox – Mattie) and his daughter Carolina W. appear. William was 28, Mattie was 22 and Carolina was 3. William and Mattie had been married for 5 years. William was born in Florida, while his father was born in Georgia and his mother in South Carolina. Mattie was born in Florida, her father was born in Georgia and her mother was born in Alabama. William’s occupation is listed as “general farmer.”

In an article that appeared on October 11, 1912, in the Miami Herald, “Mr. W. M. (sic) Norwood’s new warehouse is a great addition to our town. It is built on the business lot bought of Mr. Edward Stiling and is on the corner of Avenue A and Palme (sic) avenue.” Norwood’s store, according to an article that appeared in the May 2, 1913 edition of the Miami Herald, was built “in front of his warehouse, erected a few months ago.” Norwood had obviously been working hard, if he had established his homestead and opened a store and warehouse by mid-1913. The store was located on the west side of the railroad tracks, where Rosita’s Mexican restaurant is now located.

Here is William’s WWI draft registration card, in which his occupation is listed as “Merchant”:

W C Norwood Draft Card
 

W C Norwood Draft Card
Investigating further, I found a record on FindAGrave for William Chaudoin Norwood, who died “after a short illness from dilatation (sic) of the heart.” He was born on January 5, 1881 in La Grange, Brevard, Florida and died on May 10, 1919 in Florida City. His obituary makes for interesting reading – click on the FindAGrave link and read it. His obituary says he “spent his youth and early manhood in Titusville later moving to West Palm Beach and Miami, and finally making his home in Florida City, where he had accumulated considerable valuable property.”

Here is a photograph of his tombstone, from the FindAGrave site:
william-c-norwood

The 1945 Florida census stated that Martha C. Norwood had at least some college education and worked as a secretary. At that time, she was 57 and living at 1452 S.W. 2nd St. in precinct 79, which is in Miami. Jean Taylor, in her book The Villages of South Dade, wrote that Martha was the “secretary to the city attorney of Miami for seventeen years.” The fact that her mother-in-law’s brother was Thomas A. Feaster, a prominent man in Miami social circles, probably helped her land the job. It seems as though she never re-married after William’s untimely death.

William A. King

Historic South Dade Posted on by

By Jeff Blakley

William Alfred King was the first section foreman in this area for the Florida East Coast railway. He was born on 29 December 1860 in Troy, Pike County, Alabama. On February 28, 1882, he married Frances Elzada Jones in Hatchechubbee, Russell County, Alabama. She was born there on December 24, 1866. Their first child, Bertha, was born on January 25, 1883. Hatchechubbee is an unincorporated community in Russell County between Seale and Hurtsboro.

In 1900, he was in City Point, Brevard County, Florida, working as a section foreman for the railway. When I started digging into the history of City Point, I saw a listing for City Point Community Church and, reading the short entry, the name J.C. Norwood leaped out at me. Was he related to William C. Norwood, I wondered? William C. Norwood is buried in the LaGrange Cemetery in Mims, which is 25 miles north of City Point. The land for the City Point Community Church was donated by John C. Norwood, who was of some undetermined relation to William C. Norwood. The preacher of the LaGrange Church, 15 miles north of City Point, was William Chaudoin, which just happened to be the first and middle name of the William C. Norwood who settled in Florida City. Small world, indeed! I don’t doubt that William A. King knew of the Norwood family, though he may not have known William C. Norwood, as he was 20 years younger than King. Norwood homesteaded in Florida City in 1911 and William A. King homesteaded in Homestead, in 1906. King’s homestead was the E 1/2 of the NE 1/4 of section 7 T57S R39E and the W 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of section 8 T57S R39E. This land is bounded by S.W. 169th Ave. on the west, Avocado Drive on the north, S.W. 164th Ave. on the east and King’s Highway on the south. It abutted 80 acres of John U. Free’s homestead on the south, which Free had also homesteaded in 1907.

On May 2, 1910, William A. King, his wife Fannie, and their daughters Joe, age 14 and Marie, age 7, were living on their homestead. They had older children, Adele, born in October of 1882; Bertha, born in January, 1884; Willie, born in March of 1886, and Benjamin, born in November of 1888 in Barberville, Florida, but those children were out on their own by 1910.

On August 31, 1912, shortly after he proved up his homestead on May 12, 1912, King submitted a plat for the subdivision of his land, like his neighbor to the south, J. U. Free and many others. In Homestead and Florida City in the early 1900s, real estate speculation was at least as great as it was in the years leading up to the most recent occurrence: the collapse of the housing boom in 2008.

W A King s Subdivision

W.A. King’s Subdivision

The eastern part of lot 23 of this subdivision is where the Breezeway Drive-In once was – it is now the site of a shopping center, anchored by Winn-Dixie.

In 1920, he and his wife were still living on their homestead, but all of their children had left home. King and his wife were enumerated right after J.U. Free, so apparently J.U. Free and his family were still living in the house he built when he homesteaded his land in 1907. Neither of them had sold all of their land holdings at that time.

William King lived in Homestead until at least 1935, when he appeared on the Florida State census. According to a tree on Ancestry, he died on 14 June 1936 in Sharpes, Brevard, Florida. Sharpes is 2 miles north of City Point, so William returned to the same place he started out in many years before.

King’s daughter Bertha had married George B. Faber in about 1906 and stayed in Brevard County. Perhaps William was living with his daughter at the time of his death.

Adele married Jerome Twitchell Feaster, who was a cousin of T.A. Feaster (William C. Norwood’s uncle) and lived in Miami. T. A. Feaster had been employed by the Miami Beef Company and had farmed in Florida City since at least as early as 1912. No doubt, he worked with his nephew, William C. Norwood, whose mother was Emma Feaster, to help him get started. The Feasters were originally from South Carolina, but some of them moved down to the Titusville area. Willie married Henry Lee Russell and lived, for a time, in Florida City.

Benjamin married Mable Powers, the daughter of Mrs. J. A. Tanner, in September of 1913. After his marriage, later in the month, he was overseeing a survey crew at Cape Sable. Prior to his marriage, he had been in business with his father, contracting and delivering ties to the railroad.

Benjamin’s sister Marie married Chesley E. Saunders, who was born in Brevard County, like his wife. He was a fisherman who lived at 401 N.E. 1st Avenue in Homestead in 1927. Chesley and Marie, along with Marie’s father, are buried at Palms Woodlawn in Naranja. William King’s daughter, Joe, married Homer Self on October 6, 1912 in a ceremony at the Redland church. Mrs. Lily Lawrence Bow played Mendlesohn’s Wedding March on the organ.

In the wedding announcement for Benjamin and Mabel, published in The South Florida Banner on September 12, 1913, his parents were said to be “one of the most substantial and respected families in Homestead.”

Thomas J. Letchworth, a prominent real estate man who developed the Rosewood subdivision on Kings Highway and lived on the street in the 1930 census of Homestead, was probably responsible for having N.E. 15th Street named Kings Highway. It was named in honor of William A. King, according to the obituary for Fannie King, who died in Quitman, Georgia on October 18, 1926.

William A. King and his wife are buried in a large mausoleum at Palms Memorial Cemetery in Naranja, adjacent to James D. Redd’s grave site.

Walter A. Frazeur

Historic South Dade Posted on by

by Jeff Blakley

About a year ago, I went to a meeting of the Historic Preservation Board of the City of Homestead and learned that one of their items of interest was to designate the former Southern Bell central office, located on N.W. 2nd St. behind the former Breedings Drug Store on Krome Ave., as a historic building. Since I had retired from Southern Bell/BellSouth/AT&T after 34 years, that project intrigued me but I had no time to devote to it. Now, though, since I’m researching early pioneers in the Homestead area, I’ve been able to learn a few tidbits that have led to some interesting discoveries about the origins of the telephone company in Homestead.

I got my first clue by reading in Jean Taylor’s book, The Villages of South Dade, that in 1912, J.U. Free opened the People’s Telephone Company on the second floor of J.D. Redd’s dry cleaning shop (wrong on all counts). To establish his telephone company, J.U. Free “bought out the three circuits owned by Walter Frazeur.” That was also not true. For an account of how the Dade County Telephone Company came to be, read this post. Who was Walter Frazeur and where did he come from? That is the subject of this post.

Many serious family history researchers don’t think much of the information available on Ancestry.com because much of it is unsourced or copied from other trees without much thought by members. Those are valid reservations, but the information is, like Jean Taylor’s book, a good starting point. Thus, I went to Ancestry and found a public tree that included Walter Arthur Frazeur. He was born on May 26, 1875 in Goodland, Newton County, Indiana, the son of Walter Gilette Frazeur (1849-1916) and Almeda M. Harris (1850-1921). Walter and Almeda were married in 1868 and started a family. Their daughters Lillian and Gertrude were born in 1869 and 1871, respectively, in Illinois. By 1888, the Frazeur family lived in Topeka, Kansas, where Walter and his brother Ben were commission merchants for Frazeur Bros. On January 17, 1907, Walter G. Frazeur, of Topeka, Kansas, filed a patent for “a gas burner attachment for stoves, furnaces and the like …” It seems that Walter G. Frazeur was something of an entrepreneur and he seems to have passed that trait on to his son, Walter A.

In about 1904, Walter A. Frazeur married Ora Phena Benning and started a family. His daughter Thelma was born in March 15, 1905, Gertrude Adele in about 1908 and Robert Stone on October 28, 1909. Ruth Beatrice was born in 1912 and their last child, Walter G., Sr., was born in 1914. Walter came to this area sometime before April 9, 1910, when he filed his claim for 160 acres of land in the SE quarter of section 33-56-38 in the Redland. This property is bounded on the north by 272 St., the south by 280 St., the west by 212 Ave. and the east by 207 Ave. Like so many other settlers, he may have worked for the Florida East Coast Railway. His WWI draft registration card, dated September 9, 1918, says that he was a carpenter employed by the Key West Electric Company. His wife, Ora, resided in Homestead while he lived in Key West. Interestingly enough, the draft card spells his surname as “Frazier” but he signed his name as “Frazeur.” His family continued to grow after he moved to this area, as Ruth was born in about 1912 and Walter G. in 1914. Walter A. Frazeur, who was an engineer for the McAllister Hotel in Miami at the time, was murdered on December 14, 1922 by Louis Stephen Blocker, who in 1920 lived in “Naranja Village” and probably worked at the Drake Lumber Company sawmill in Princeton as a manager. The Drake sawmill closed down in 1923 and Blocker may have been negotiating with Frazeur over the purchase of a sawmill when the murder occurred. According the newspaper accounts from the time, Blocker accused Frazeur of stealing everything that he (Blocker) owned. Blocker was tried and convicted of first degree murder, appealed, was convicted of second degree murder and was sent to Raiford prison in Starke, Florida before being pardoned and released in November of 1927. He died in Miami on March 14, 1949.

At the time of his death, Walter left a substantial estate. In addition to his homestead, he owned lots in Tatum’s Ridgedale subdivision, Tatum’s addition to Homestead, the Boulevard addition and the R.L. Moser 2nd addition.

Walter left his widow and 5 young children. Ora appears in the 1930 census with Robert S., 20, and Walter G., 15, living in her household on S.W. 2nd St. in Homestead. Robert S. was Robert Stone Frazeur and was named after Walter’s sister’s husband. Robert, known to many in Homestead as “Bobby,” walked the streets of downtown Homestead, always dressed in a suit. He rang the bell for the Methodist Church on Sunday mornings and people noted that they could set their watches by when the bell was rung.

Walter Gillette Frazeur, Sr. married Janet Lenora (known as “Elnora”) Simpson on January 2, 1937, probably in Homestead. His son, Walter G., Jr., was born in Key West on July 25, 1937 because his mother had gone there to visit her sister. When the time came for Walter to appear, his mother could not return to the mainland quickly because the Key West Extension had been destroyed in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 and the Overseas Highway was not yet complete. Walter, Sr. owned an automobile repair business in Homestead and his son, Walter G. Jr., worked for him. Walter, Jr. died on February 20, 2015 in South Carolina.

Thelma Frazeur married first Philip L. “Ben” Jenkins (1898-1963), who is buried at Palms Woodlawn. “Ben” Jenkins’ parents, Philip L., Sr. and Georgia V., are buried at Palms Woodlawn also, but they died in Eureka and Bradenton, Florida, respectively. Philip L. Jenkins, Sr., a school teacher, was another early settler in this area. He claimed 160 acres in the area of Eureka Drive and Naranja Road in 1901. Her second husband was a Mr. Pitts and her third husband was John F. Bogusky. Thelma and John are buried at Palms Memorial in Naranja.

Gertrude Anita Frazeur married Armando Alfonso, a descendant of King Alfonso VIII of Spain, in Key West. He is buried in the Key West Cemetery.

Ruth Beatrice Frazeur married Mario V. Alfonso in 1929 in Dade County. He was a brother of Armando and worked as a steward for Pan American World Airways in Miami.

It would be interesting to find out more about Walter Arthur Frazeur. He apparently was a man of many talents, a trait that seemed to have run in his family, as he was a carpenter, built the first telephone network in Homestead, owned a sawmill and speculated in real estate.