Genealogy For Beginners

A six-week Beginning Genealogy Course will start on Thursday, January 19, 2012 from 9:30 to noon in meeting room 1 at the Central Brevard Library located at 308 Forrest Ave. in Cocoa. The class will meet each Thursday through February 23, 2012.

The $30.00 fee includes all materials and a one-year membership in the Brevard Genealogical Society. Class size is limited and pre-registartion is required.

Materials include a 3-ring binder with course syllabus which contains summaries of all classes, a supply of genealogy forms, archival sheet protectors and notebook paper. Instructors will be Vera Zimmerman and Betty Eichhorn with other guest lecturers.

For more information contact Vera Zimmerman at (321)453-4932, verazimmerman@flbgs.com or visit the Brevard Genealogical Society website to register.

Oranges and Douglas Dummitt

Well, it is that time of year again, you thought I was going to say something about the holidays didn't you, but no it is orange season! Driving around the county the other day I noticed that all the grove owners have their stores open and seemed to be doing a brisk business selling our famous Indian River Citrus. Citrus is one of those industries, like tourism, that define our state and provided a livelihood for many of our early settlers. Although the groves aren't as numerous as they used to be, due to freezes and development pressures, Brevard county was home to one of the earliest and most prosperous groves founded by Douglas Dummitt or Dummett. Dummitt, whose family had moved to East Florida from Barbados, supposedly sold his first crop in 1828 and he created a sweet and sour hybrid by 1835. Dummitt's service in the Second Seminole War, Civil War and his controversial living arrangements with a former slave have been the subject of numerous articles and books over the years.

While I have read most of these it was another book that I picked up recently that threw me for a loop so to speak. The book, Frolicking Bears, Wet Vultures, and Other Oddities by Jerald Milanich is composed of articles written by the journalist Amos Jay Cummings describing his travels in nineteenth century Florida. On a trip in March of 1873, the year Dummitt died, he visited with him and his observations were not exactly what I expected. Regarding the Dummitt house Cummings states that, "The mansion was built of unplanned boards. They had neither been painted or whitewashed and had become black from the action of the weather. The house contained but one room. The Captain's bed, well protected by mosquito bars, stood in the southwest corner. Two or three wooden chairs were scattered about the room, and a hen was laying her egg on a sort of work bench in the corner nearest the door. The walls were neither lathed nor plastered, and streaks of daylight could be seen beneath the side boards. There were no windows in the house. Light was admitted through a square hole, which was covered with rough wooden shutters." This proves that the house often referred to as "Dummitt's Castle" and pictured below was most definitely a later nineteenth century addition to the property.

Although Cummings raves about the condition and productivity of Dummitt's grove, "none were so large or so fine," he also says that its money making potential is greatly hindered by the fact that anybody who wants the oranges must come to Dummitt and arrange the picking and shipping by themselves. Cummings states that Dummitt was fond of saying that he "wouldn't pick a damned orange for you if you would give me two million dollars a minute," and that "Dummitt works for no man-not even himself," was a common saying on the Indian River. The fact that nobody lived within twenty miles of Capt. Dummitt meant that most of his fruit went to waste and Cummings reported that Dummitt "cares little for money and is contented so long as he makes a living."

Just thought this was some very interesting insight into our area's earliest settler and if you care to be further enlightened on the real living conditions in the "good ole days" just check out Cummings descriptions of the mosquitoes on the Dummitt place!

Kentucky Genealogy & History on OverDrive



Kentucky Bluegrass

 I have heard lots of great comments about our Brevard County Libraries eLibrary Catalog and for those of you interested in genealogy and history, particularly in the "Bluegrass State", it just got even better!

OverDrive has a program called Community Reserve, in which participating libraries upload their own content to the OverDrive collection. This content can then be used by other libraries at no cost. Through Community Reserve, we have added 176 new titles, all Kentucky genealogy (such as city directories, marriage and cemetery records) to our collection. Click HERE for a screen shot which takes you to the Advanced Search page for OverDrive. In the Subject line click on the arrow for the pull down menu and the new titles can be found under the subject headings of "Kentucky Genealogy" and "Kentucky History".

Hopefully more communities will add content as OverDrive evolves, so check back and see.

Fun With Old Photographs

As genealogists we take great delight in finding new names to add to the family tree, but perhaps nothing is more exciting than being able to add a face to go with that name. The Central Brevard Library has a great collection of books that can assist you in finding out more about any old photographs you might have in your family, from tips on dating them by studying the clothing of the subjects, to the type of photo itself. The first type of photograph that was used widely in America was the Daguerrotype which was patented in 1839. After the daguerreotype came the ambrotype, tintype and then the paper prints we are more familiar with today. In addition to our great book collection the Brevard Genealogical Society will be offering a workshop on how to identify and date old photographs on Monday Sept. 12 at 9:30 at the Central Brevard Library in Cocoa. So come and bring some of your photos to share with the group.

College Park House Today

I have always been fascinated by old photographs and have collected many of family members both recent and pretty ancient. It is amazing what old photos can tell you about the subjects and perhaps yourself as well. Those of you who know me know that I have a thing for the Spanish style architecture of the 1920's and that I have restored several houses from that period. When I bought my first house from that period I showed a picture of it to my now 100 year old grandmother, who promptly said, "it reminds me of our house in Lake Worth Florida." Well, I almost fell off my chair as I had never heard that my family had been in Florida before my parents, and I certainly didn't know anything about them having a house there. I did know that my great grandfather, Abel Post, was a noted builder and contractor in Michigan and turns out that during the height of the Florida land boom in 1925 he followed the masses of people that moved to Florida to make their fortune in real estate. My grandmother attended school in Lake Worth and told me about some of her adventures including how she skipped school one day and ended up flying in a bi-plane over the coast, which got her lots of trouble with her mother later! My grandmother did not remember the address of the house her father built there, but did remember the general location and the style of the house. I high tailed it to the Palm Beach County courthouse where I located the deed with my great grandparents names on it and the clerk helped me determine its current location in the College Park Subdivision. A drive by found a beautifully maintained Spanish style bungalow that was exactly "my style."

A year or so ago when my grandmother moved to an assisted living facility the family cleaned out her house and found the snapshot above, which said "Florida 1926" on the back of it and also gave the identities of the people pictured. My mother handed it to me and said, "Isn't this the house in Lake Worth?" I recognized it immediately and was thrilled to finally have a photo of my great grandfather and his children, including my grandmother in the middle, standing in front of their newly constructed house. You can see that the front yard is still sand and the now lush landscaping is brand new. Anyway to me finding this picture and the stories behind it helps explain why I am so drawn to that period of history and to that type of architecture, as I know my great grandfather must have been as well. Just one photograph opened up a whole part of my family history that I had never known about, and I am sure some of the photos in your collection might be clues to finding out some of your family's past as well. I encourage you to get started by using the library's resources and by attending the upcoming workshop!

Self Publishing Workshop

On Monday, August 8 at 9:30 am at the Central Brevard Library Vera Zimmerman of the Brevard Genealogical Society will present a workshop on Self-Publishing. Vera will help guide attendees through the vast sea of self-publishing to turn your facts, documentation, and photographs into an attractive and informative book.

This workshop is free and open to the public.

Just A Question of Girls

The other day when I was searching the old archives of the New York Times for something, I ran across a totally unexpected article that I thought I might share with my readers, especially those interested in local history. Most locals will probably recognize the photo below of the house on Rockledge Dr., it being one of the largest and showiest homes on the River Road.

For most of its early history this was referred to as the Metzner home, it being the winter home of Martin A. Metzner and family. The Metzners were permanent residents of New York and they spent their summers in a grand mansion on the shores of Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island. The Metzners were probably the wealthiest family that wintered in Rockledge and as such were well known in the area. The Metzners had a son and three daughters and all were very active in sports and outdoor activities. 

The September 2, 1908 issue of the New York Times carried an article entitled, "Just A Question of Girls" which states that Sheriff Wells of Suffolk County, Long Island had arrested one of Martin Metzner's daughters for speeding some time ago, and that she had paid a fine of $10 and had been released, having stated her name on the paperwork as simply, "Miss Metzner." On Sept. 1, the Sheriff stopped her for "tearing along the Suffolk County roads" again and charged her with a second offense, which was a much more serious charge. However, the writer took delight in reporting that, "Mr. Metzner has three charming daughters, who look so much alike that even their friends have difficulty in distinguishing one from the other." When brought before the court the judge asked the accused if it was her second offense at which point her two sisters got up and stood beside her and each asked the Sheriff in turn, "Are you sure it wasn't I?" The Sheriff was at a loss to identify the culprit and responded in court, "Blest if I know." As a result the paper reports that Miss Metzner pleaded guilty to the speeding charge, but not to the second offense, and the Justice fined her $10, which she paid, and "the three Miss Metzners departed in triumph."

This happy family was to suffer a great tragedy in 1917 when the girl's brother and the Metzner's only son Nicholas W. was killed in a car accident on his way to Miami where he was going to receive his degree in aviation prior to his enlistment in the Armed Forces during World War I. The family was very involved in the war effort and Mr. Metzner even donated his private yacht to the Navy to be used in combat.