August 2, 1998

Bairdville Home Of Charlotte County's Last Pioneers

First Of Two Parts

The last pioneers of Charlotte County were hardy souls who filed homesteads from 1905-1920 for marshy land no one else had wanted east of Punta Gorda. Where a store, school, church, saw mill or similar "civilized" enterprise was established in those days the place became a recognized locality. Such a place was Bairdville -- now gone and nearly forgotten. Only a few fence posts of indestructible "lightered" pine mark the sites of former buildings.

The little village gathered around the dairy farm of Luther C. Baird and wife Blanche of Chicago. They retired in 1911 and homesteaded 160 acres southwest of the intersection of State Roads 74 and 31 -- now part of the Fred Babcock-Cecil Webb Wildlife Management Area.

According to homestead deeds at the Arcadia courthouse, adjacent claims were filed two years later by the Huffman family which moved here from Texas. They were Mr. and Mrs. Luther E. and Sarah Christine (nee Gary); their youngest daughter Edna; their son and daughter-in-law Samuel D. and Rosa R. with son Sam H.; and their daughter Mrs. Nettie Collins and six children. Each family claimed 160 acres. Nettie's son Jack was an engineer at the Punta Gorda ice plant and probably was the one who induced the family to come here.

Soon they were joined by Baird's son, Louis C., and other settlers. Most were out-of-stater's unfamiliar with the problems of Florida's sandy soil and flat land. Nevertheless, all toiled to drain the land, clear trees and build homes "in paradise." At its height, Bairdville boasted a population of about 50.

The Punta Gorda Herald enlisted a correspondent named "Meadow Lark" at Bairdville in 1913 to chronicle its growth:

January 9 -- The men have not returned to work on the Bermont-Punta Gorda road. For about 14 successive miles from Punta Gorda the road is cleared and makes fine traveling. No ponds to slosh through, no palmettos nor sunken logs to bump over, and no big crooks to lengthen the way -- as was the case.

April 10 -- Mrs. Collins and family arrived this week and are well pleased with this country. They will make their home here. Miss Edna Huffman, who is a teacher in Texas, will be here with her parents in a few days. Mr. Huffman has 160 acres of land.

April 17 -- L.E. Huffman arrived last week and has set posts ready to fence 10 acres. He will begin breaking ground at once.

We are pleased to learn that Hon. S.M. Sparkman has succeeded in having a survey of Shell Creek ordered to determine the feasibility of improving the same to make transportation of boats safe.

April 24 -- In a few days S.D. Huffman will be here with a loaded (railroad) car from Texas.

May 8 -- Everybody is anxious to have a school next fall. All are willing to donate their services to erect the building. It is hoped to have 16 pupils.

May 22 -- Messrs Josh Mizell and Hasslet of Punta Gorda were at Baird's ranch to see the combination plow and grubbing machine. It requires three oxen, a boy, and a man to turn over one acre in a day.

Mr. L.E. Huffman and his daughter, Mrs. Nettie Collins, spent Saturday and Sunday in Punta Gorda with her son Jack Collins.

May 27 -- Sam Huffman arrived Monday with five horses, a mule, and household goods to make Florida his permanent home. L.E. Huffman will complete his house in a few days.

July 22 -- Mrs. Nettie Collins has 16 acres grubbed ready for the plow. She has a horse to exchange for the breaking of 20 acres.

* * *

Fortunately we have colorful details of the fading years of wilderness Florida -- through the recollections of Sam Houston Huffman, son of Samuel and Rosa. Arriving here at age 5, he grew up at Bairdville. Sam today, at age 92, is a retired insurance actuary presiding over a model citrus estate known as Rainbow Park. It was carved from the wilderness along Prairie Creek by him and his father. There Sam and his late wife of 65 years, Florence, created new varieties of oranges.

"As you would guess from my name, I was born in Texas," says Sam. "My father, Sam Daniel Huffman, was a teacher. My grandfather, Luther Edwin Huffman, was a master home builder and cabinet maker. At age 70 and in poor health, he visited his daughter here in December 1912 to see if the climate would help him.

"He did improve at first and wrote my father about the mild climate and lush tropical growth. At his urging, Dad applied for a teaching job in DeSoto County, then including Charlotte County. Both moved here in April 1913 and filed homestead claims."

With prospects of two teachers, the drive for a Bairdville school gained momentum. Said the Herald on September 22:

"Miss Edna Huffman is teaching near Ft. Meade. She will finish the term she is engaged for before taking up the school at Bairdville."

"Dad's first assignment was at the town of Charlotte Harbor where he was principal-teacher for the 1913-14 school year. I had turned six. We lived in an old, vacant store one block north of today's Harbour Inn.

"My sister, Winnie, was born there. Father charted an 18-foot boat to get a doctor from Punta Gorda. I believe it was Dr. McQueen. The water was so rough, father and the doctor both got seasick. "When they arrived, baby Winnie was already born and crying. The midwifes had done a fine job said the doctor. Father gave him $10 and sent him home with the skipper of the boat.

"Sadly, Grandfather died October 16 of uremic poisoning. Grandmother Sarah proved out their homestead claim with help from my Aunt Nettie Collins and my father.

"While Dad was at Bairdville for Grandfather's funeral, he attended a meeting to start a school there. A movement to raise money for it was begun."

The Herald reported in November that

"Mr. P.W. McAdow of Punta Gorda contributed liberally to the fund being raised to build a school house." In February 1914, the paper said: "Prof. Huffman closed his school at Charlotte Harbor and will be with his family at Bairdville."

Finally in March 1914, the Herald correspondent Meadow Lark announced:

"School will begin March 9. Professor. S.D. Huffman will teach at Bairdville for five months. Grandma Huffman has donated one acre of land for this school house which will be set out in fruit and ornamental trees."

NEXT WEEK --Bit By Moccasin

cutline -- man and woman in field

Photo By Lindsey Williams

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Huston Huffman in this photo of several years ago discover the site of Bairdville now an open field in the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area.

August 9, 1998

Young Sam Huffman Survives Bite by a Water Moccasin

Last Of Two Parts

The most vivid memories of Sam Houston Huffman, when a lad at Bairdville, was learning his three "Rs" and getting bitten by a water moccasin.

"During the summers, we lived on our homestead and managed a small herd of 10 cows whose milk we sold to Mr. Baird," he recalls. "Usually I commuted with my father to his school at Fort Ogden. One year, however, I stayed home and attended at Bairdville. My Aunt Rosa Lanier, wife of Slade Lanier, one of the earliest settlers at Shell Creek, was the teacher.

"Aunt Rosa strongly believed in fundamental subjects like reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic. She drilled us in multiplication tables day after day, and similarly in reading and spelling. The only other subjects in the lower grades were history and geography.

"Since we were all in one room, we were able to hear the lessons being taught in all grades. The repetition was good for our memories. We had morning and afternoon recess as well as a lunch period at noon.

"Mr. Baird was honored at the end of our summer session by asking him to make a speech. It was on 'The Value of Time.' I remember him talking about those 'silver hours, golden minutes and diamond seconds.' The phrase has always stuck in my mind.

"I remember Mr. Baird as heavy-set, of medium height, with full-length sideburns and a short stubby beard on his chin. He was highly educated. To me he looked like a very distinguished man.

"At age 10, I was put in charge of our little herd. I did all the milking and brought the cows home from the open range each evening. My horse was brought with us from Texas and was called Selom. He was half mustang and half race horse and was the fastest horse around. All of the cowmen tried to buy him.

"Many times I chased deer when I brought the herd in for the night. I could keep up with the deer for quite a distance. Occasionally I would have to leap Selom over fences and logs three or four feet high. Selom cleared them easily.

"I sometimes scared the neighbors by running Selom full speed while squatting on his bare back and holding onto his long mane. I cried at age 14 when my father traded him for a used Ford car. I promptly learned to drive the car, and my tears soon faded.

"When I was 12, Dad accepted the position of principal at the Vero Beach High School. The family traveled by covered wagon cross country to the east coast -- without roads a good part of the way. We took with us two Jersey cows for milk. My brother and I walked and led them.

"We came to a slough, about a mile wide, that led to a large hammock, or high ground. The water got so deep my brother and I had to sit on the back of the wagon and hold the cows' lines while they swam at some points until we reached the hammock. Upon reaching the hammock, we found two rough looking men camped there with dogs. Dad was very apologetic. He said he was lost.

"The men consulted together several minutes. I could tell Dad was very scared. He intentionally acted stupid. Finally they gave us directions.

"It was about sundown, but my father drove all night, with the cows tied to the back of the wagon, for fear the two men would follow and kill us. He was positive they were two fugitive murders who were the objects of a statewide search.

"Until I was l5 I bought all my clothes with money earned by trapping raccoon, opossums and skunks at Bairdville. I would skin, stretch and dry the pelts then mail them to fur houses.

"I would start trapping about December l5 and stop about March 15, the period when furs were prime. Prices for a raccoon pelt were $5, opossum $2 to $3, skunk $l to $2.

"My biggest thrill during all my days of trapping was one cold Christmas morning when I went down to the big pond on our homestead and found two very large raccoons in my traps. Atoday's dollars.

"Dad would buy me five 16-gauge shotgun shells each week. He was unhappy with me if I did not bring home one rabbit or five quails for each shot.

"I would follow a covey of quail for an hour, if necessary, to get them in a bunch so I could kill five to ten in one shot. We considered quail part of our food supply just like our chickens.

Struck By Water Moccasin

"One afternoon, while my parents were away, I decided to surprise my mother with some quail, of which she was very fond. I got Dad's shotgun and pursued a covey.

"I was barefoot, as most kids were at home. While walking through the water at the edge of a pond to get behind the quail, I stepped on the head of a large water moccasin. It struck into the sole of my left foot.

"I thought I had stepped on some barbed wire, but when I looked closely there was the snake. I pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger three times. However, the shells would not fire because they had become damp during the summer rains.

"I could not afford to waste any more time on revenge and walked quickly to the house. I put a tourniquet at the calf of my leg then applied some ammonia to the fang holes. Dad kept a bottle of ammonia for spider and snake bites.

"With the bottle of ammonia, I started hobbling to the road, now SR 74, a mile or so away. I did not dare run for fear of increasing the circulation of blood in my leg. Luckily I met my parents coming home in our Ford car which Dad had obtained in trade for Selom.

"Dad was excited and got the car stuck while turning around. I took the controls while he and Mother pushed us out. Mother walked home; but my father and I headed for town at top speed on the narrow, bumpy road.

"I drove, leaning to one side, with my left foot in Dad's lap and controlling the car's speed with the steering column gas lever. He held the ammonia bottle to the fang holes in my foot.

"We went straight to the doctor's office. While Dad held my foot, Doctor McQueen injected a large amount of potassium permanganate in each of the fang holes. It took all my self control not to scream.

"Doc McQueen said I should recover in about a week. I hobbled around the house and was well by the time the doctor had estimated.

"In 1920, Father purchased a beautiful tract on a bend, or rainbow, of Prairie Creek where I live today. We needed a temporary house, so Dad and I tore down the kitchen and dining room extension of our homestead and moved it to Rainbow Park.

"We should have moved all the house because it was burned later when cowmen made their annual burn of winter wire grass to make way for new range grass.

"It wasn't long after this that the open range was outlawed, and the frontier days were over."

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers