All the rain cancels canoeing outing

For those that know me you probably realize the area I live in has been hit with massive amounts of rain this week. So far the estimates for my area are nearly 20 inches with some areas in the county nearing 30 inches in just under a weeks time.

We have been very lucky in that we haven't experienced any REAL flooding. Our backyard is about 1/2 underwater with some being up to about a foot deep. Our yard slopes off to the back left and so that is the worst area of course. It's not near the house and unless we have days and days of more solid rain I'm not concerned. The front yard is safe as well. The yard slopes down toward the road and forms a little ditch. It's a pain to mow the grass but keeps us dry. Many in the county are nowhere near as lucky and have water standing in their homes. Along I-95 on my way into work there are cow pastures that are solid water as far as you can see. Allegedly parts of Daytona International Speedway are underwater as well though of course they won't let anybody in to officially see and they are denying problems.



Well I'll thank the heavens the worst so far for us is we have had to cancel a canoeing outing this weekend. We were going to go with a couple of friends to Cracker Creek Canoeing on Spruce Creek. Chris and I went a couple weeks ago and walked around and had a good time. The photo to the left is Eganulti (a Native American word for "house by the water") built in 1907 by James Gamble of Proctor and Gamble fame. This house, a citrus packing house, and a "Snow White Cottage" are all on property. There are also walking trails that we didn't take since it was about 90 degrees when we were there. While the canoeing of course costs it was free to walk around the grounds. The buildings were closed and there are paid tours you can take. Despite not going in any buildings it was still a fun hour or so. Now it's just a matter of rescheduling!

New Smyrna Beach Sugar Mill

Located just off Highway 44 in New Smyrna Beach are the remains of the Cruger-dePeyester Sugar Mill. The remains of the mill date to the 1830's. What is left is mostly some coquina walls and a couple small pieces of machinery the rest having been carted off either to the Dunlawton Sugar Mill just north in Port Orange or taken away by those dealing in scrap metal. There are some interpretive signs but no literature for the visitor to take with them. According to one of the signs during the 1890's a story in the Atlantic Monthly hypothesized that these were the remains of a chapel. Some even suggested that Christopher Columbus had been in the area. Of course these were just romantic dreams.

According to the signs sugar cane was made in the following fashion: 1) A steam powered cane crusher extracted juice 2) The juice was then heated until it thickened and then ladeled into cooling troughs 3) The crystalized sugar was then packed in barrels to dry in a storage room called the purgery. 4) Once dry it was ready for sale.

Also on property is a short and rather disapointing nature trail. Plan on the walk taking about 5 minutes at most and don't get your hopes up for seeing anything too interesting. The property also has some picnic tables and facilities. It would be a nice area to have a picnic lunch. Overall if you stop to see the ruins plan on spending no more than half an hour. The park is free and closes at dusk.

Henry A. Deland House

My dad collects postcards of Deland, Florida. So I figured there had to be some kind of book out there on the subject. Being in the book industry I checked books in print and came up with the title Around Deland A Postcard History. The problem was the book is a local publisher and was not distributed by any major wholesalers. I tried the phone number given--disconnected. Tried Google for the publisher and came up blank. Ebay, Amazon, Powells, Advanced Book Exchange, half.com, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Borders--NOTHING.

My last effort was Googling the book title. It came up on the website for the West Volusia Historical Society. Why didn't I think of that? Deland is in West Volusia--just too easy I guess. The book was listed on their website for sale. $20 plus shipping OR I could take a quick trip to the societys gift shop and pick it up. That's what we decided to do.

The gift shop is located inside the Henry A. Deland House located just off highway 92 in downtown Deland. We managed to get the last copy they had. Hopefully dad will like it.

The Deland House was originally built in 1886 by George Hamlin the first attorney in Deland. In 1893 the house was purchased by John B. Stetson to be used for faculty housing at Stetson University. In 1903 the house was sold to Charles Farriss an instructor at Stetson. Farriss made considerable changes including adding a second floor, moving the stairs, adding a porch, and adding stained and leaded glass throughout. In 1988 the house was purchased by Robert and Hawtense Conrad and donated to the city. Over the next two years renovations were made to bring the house back to the style of when Charles Farriss lived there.

The house is available for tours Tuesday-Saturday from noon until 4:00pm with the last tour starting around 3:00-3:15. The charge is $5. Also located on site is the Robert M. Conrad Research and Educational Center which houses the Society's library, exhibit space, meeting room, and preservation areas for photos and newspapers.

Outside is the Lue Gim Gong Memorial. Gong was born in 1860 in Canton, China and moved to the U.S. in 1872. In 1886 he moved to Deland, FL. Gong was known as "The Citrus Wizard". Gong earned fame for a cross pollination of "Hart's Late" and "Mediterranean Sweet" producing a new orange called the "Lue Gim Gong". The orange ripens in early fall and is more cold resistant than others. It won a Silver Wilder Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gong also worked with grapefruit, roses, and other plant life. He passed away in 1925 and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=gong&GSfn=lue&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=8461255&

http://www.delandhouse.com/

Florida census records added to Ancestry.com

Florida State Census Collection Now Available Online
The following was written by The Generations Network, parent company of Ancestry.com:

PROVO, Utah -- According to historical documents available as part of Ancestry.com's new Florida State Census Collection, actress Faye Dunaway, famous for her performances in "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Mommie Dearest," was a four-year-old living with her parents and brother in Florida in 1945 and NASCAR co-founder William France, Sr., was already in the car business by 1935, listed as a mechanic living in Daytona. Now others with Florida roots can make discoveries about their own relatives. Ancestry.com, the world's largest online resource for family history, has digitized and indexed the 1867, 1875, 1935 and 1945 Florida state censuses, which contain more than 3.8 million names and 75,000 original images. This is the first time these censuses have been indexed, making the information easily available and searchable online.

Florida is one of only two U.S. states (South Dakota is the other) to have completed a census as recently as 1945, which means many Floridians can potentially find their parents -- or even themselves -- while searching the collection and building their family tree. Using powerful search tools, users can easily discover the name, address, place of birth, level of education and occupation of family members and others living in the same household, as well as locate and view digital images of the original census documents handwritten decades ago.

"With the addition of our new Florida State Census Collection, never-before-discovered family histories will be found at the click of a mouse," said Gary Gibb, vice president of U.S. content for Ancestry.com. "Censuses are one of the best resources for tracing your family history and Ancestry.com is adding the 1945, 1935, 1875 and 1867 Florida state censuses to the largest and most complete census collections available on the Web."

Some famous Floridians found in the Florida State Census Collection include:

Faye Dunaway -- Four-year-old Faye Dunaway is found in the 1945 Florida census along with her younger brother, Mack, and their parents. According to the census, her father, John, was serving in the Army, while her mother was involved in "defense work."
Janet Reno -- This former U.S. Attorney General is found as a 6-year-old in the 1945 census living in Dade County with her father, Henry, who was working as a reporter.
Edith Ringling -- Edith Ringling, wife of Ringling Bros. circus founder Charles Ringling, is the only family member noted to be living at the Ringling Estate during the 1945 Florida census and her occupation is listed as circus proprietor.
William France, Sr. -- NASCAR co-founder William France, Sr., was already in the car business at 25 years old. The 1935 Florida census lists him as a mechanic in Daytona.
Abraham Lincoln Lewis -- Florida's first African-American billionaire and his wife are found in the 1945 Florida census, retired and living in Jacksonville, Florida.
Ancestry.com also offers a wide expanse of other Florida historical records, including the 1885 Florida State Census, a Florida Marriage Collection (1822-1875 and 1927-2001), the Florida Death Index (1877-1998), Florida Passenger Lists (1898-1951) and Florida Land Records.

Ancestry.com offers more than 7 billion names and 26,000 databases, including census, birth, marriage, death, immigration and military records; family trees; stories and publications; and photos and maps. The site currently boasts the world's largest online collection of census records, U.S. military records and immigration records as well as the largest compilation of Jewish and of African-American family history records on the Internet. Ancestry.com offers a free 14-day trial subscription and easy tips to help people learn more about researching their own family history.

About Ancestry and The Generations Network

The Generations Network, Inc., through its flagship Ancestry.com property, is the world's leading resource for online family history. Ancestry.com has local websites in nine countries and has digitized and put online over 7 billion names and 26,000 historical records collections over the past ten years. Since July 2006, Ancestry.com users have created more than 8.1 million family trees containing 780 million profiles and 15 million photographs and stories. The Generations Network also includes myfamily.com, Genealogy.com, Rootsweb.ancestry.com, MyCanvas.com, dna.ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Magazine. More than 7.6 million unique visitors spent over 4.5 million hours on a TGN website in October 2008 (comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide).

Sardis Church Cemetery

Tonight I was working my listings at http://www.findagrave.com/ . The cemetery I was working on was Sardis Cemetery in Jefferson County, Florida http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=30672293&CRid=2264890& This is a cemetery that I came across with my wife when we went to Tallahassee to see a Florida State football game--GO NOLES. We were staying at a KOA outside of town and on the way we passed a small church and the cemetery was behind it.

Saturday morning before going in to town for the game we stopped to have a look around. Turns out the cemetery wasn't too big so my wife and I each took a camera and photographed the whole thing. It was already getting hot but I had a good time. There were large numbers of certain surnames including Armistead, Cooksey, Hatchett, McClellan and others. The cemetery included everything from veterans to infants to those almost 100 years old. Truely a local church cemetery.

I was so wrapped up in the cemetery portion I never did get a photo of the church. We're going to another game later this year and staying at the KOA again so I'll stop by and get a few photos of the church.

So far I haven't quite listed half of the photos I took so please check back as I will be adding more names and photos.