History of DeLeon Springs, Florida

Florida’s original people

Remnants of DeLeon Springs' history is found throughout the area. Shell mounds give evidence that American Indians first called the area home, and in 1990, a 6,000 year old dugout canoe was found in the spring. Mayaca Indians used the local spring, now known as DeLeon Spring, as long as 6,000 years ago. In 1566 Pedro Menendez described his encounters with the Mayaca along the St. John’s River and in the vicinity of DeLeon Spring. Mayaca was the name used by the Spanish to refer to a Native American tribe in central Florida, to the principal village of that tribe and to the chief of that village in the 1560s. The Mayacas occupied an area in the upper St. Johns River valley just to the south of Lake George. By the late 1600s, the Mayaca Indians were no longer found in the area. After the Mayaca were forced out by the Spanish, the void was filled by the Seminole Indians.

Plantation History

In 1790, William Williams obtained a grant for the 2,020 acres of land that became Spring Garden from Carlos III, King of Spain.

William Williams' Land Plat.

William Williams was born about 1743, in Anson County, North Carolina. In 1776, he migrated briefly to Wilkes County, Georgia, with his brother, Henry. William moved to the Bahamas at one point but decided to move back to Florida in the early 1800s, along with his nephew Samuel Williams, the son of his brother Henry.

In 1803, Samuel received a Spanish land grant of almost 4,000 acres on the Halifax, known as the Orange Grove Plantation. William obtained a land grant of 2,200 acres on the Halifax River in Mosquito County near the land owned by his nephew Samuel. Finding the East Volusia land of poor quality, he gave up all but 180 acres there and petitioned the land office in St. Augustine for another grant. In 1804, he was given the balance of 2,020 acres inland near the St. Johns River. He named it Spring Garden (now known as DeLeon Springs). William died in St. Augustine on Nov. 28, 1807 and left his Spring Garden property to his nephew and namesake William Williams, the younger son of his other brother, Abner. The younger Williams was 16 years old when he inherited the Spring Garden property from his uncle, and he managed the farm until he joined the War in 1812. The younger William Williams sold the Spring Garden property in 1823.

Major Joseph Woodruff of Spring Garden

In 1823, Major Joseph Woodruff purchased some two thousand acres of land in Florida, on the St. John's River, 70 miles south of St. Augustine from William Williams for $3,000. He called his place Spring Garden. It is about halfway between DeLeon Springs and Daytona. It was then a wilderness, inhabited by the Seminole Indians. Major Woodruff is said to have owned about 250 slaves and he contemplated growing cotton and sugar cane.

Major Joseph Woodruff of Spring Garden, was a Major of Infantry in the U. S. Army, the second son of Col. Joseph Woodruff of Broro Neck, and Mary Forrester. After he resigned from the military in 1822, Major Woodruff decided to purchase land in Florida.

In late 1823, Major Woodruff purchased 2,020 acres of land at DeLeon Springs, Florida, on the St. John's River, 70 miles south of St. Augustine from William Williams (the nephew of the man who obtained the Spanish Land Grant). Joseph moved his family to Spring Garden in November 1823 and began their homestead. They remained until the summer of 1828 when Joseph took his family back to Charleston. They were preparing to return to Florida when Joseph died on October 12, 1828 in Charleston, South Carolina.

At the time of Joseph Woodruff's purchase of Spring Garden, there were only 4 counties in the Florida Territory. Spring Garden was in the section belonging to St. Johns County.

At the time of Joseph's death, Spring Garden had become part of Mosquito County, Florida Territory.

In 1836 during the Second Seminole War, the Seminoles attacked the plantation killing Henry Woodruff, destroying the mill and buildings and stealing slaves and cattle. The Indians held the plantation lands for two years until expelled by the US Army when Joseph Woodruff, another nephew of Maj. Joseph Woodruff, led a militia force against the Seminoles forcing them from the area. 

Colonel Rees was among the many plantation owners who filed claims for lost property during the War. See H.R. Doc. No. 225, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1839), which includes the following:

TAMPA BAY, June 11, 1837 

SIR: Your letter of the 18th ultimo has been received, with the papers relating to the claim of Mrs. S. Murphy. No more negroes belonging to Colonel Rees have been brought in, and it is not probable that any more will be surrendered by the Indians. It was proposed, at one period, to employ four of Colonel Rees's negroes as guides, but the capitulation of the Indians rendered them unnecessary; they were therefore not employed. I am, sir, &c. 

T.B. LINNARD

James Riz, Esq.,

St. Mark's, Florida. 

Research Note:There is perhaps a military connection between the owners of Spring Garden. Major Joseph Woodruff was in the Army up until 1822 and was often stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, near Charleston, S.C. His brother-in-law, Maj. Benjamin Daniel Heriot was his fellow officer at Fort Moultrie. It might be interesting to pursue whether or not Col. Orlando S. Rees also served at Fort Moultrie. Davis-90577 20:00, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

Thomas Starke (1854)

Florida became the twenty seventh state in the United States on March 3, 1845. By the time Thomas Starke purchased Spring Garden the county name had been changed to Orange County, Florida.

Thomas Starke bought the Rees Plantation (Spring Garden) about 1849 from Orlando Rees family. He rebuilt and enlarged the sugar mill and added a cotton gin. In the 1850s his son, John Starke converted the sugar mill to a grist mill still powered by water. During the Civil War, the Starke Plantation provided grain and produce to the Confederates during the Civil War. In April 1864, troops under the command of Gen. William Birney destroyed the plantation and the mill according to legend pushed the equipment into the springs. In 1872 Maj. George Norris of Batavia, NY bought the property and rebuilt the mill. 

Volusia County was formed in 1854 out of Orange County.

Timeline

Before 1513: Florida’s original people at Spring Garden were the Mayaca, who occupied the region for thousands of years, building shell middens and ceremonial/burial mounds.

1513-1763:Spanish Florida. Territory divided into East and West Florida

1763–1783:Territory of Great Britain

1783–1821: Spain claims territory

1804 - 1823:William Williams

1817-1818: First Seminole War

1821: Spain cedes Florida to United States

1822: Florida Territory organized combining East Florida and West Florida. Escambia County (area of West Florida) and St. Johns County (area of East Florida) formed.

1823 - 1828:Major Joseph Woodruff

1824:Mosquito County was split off from St. Johns (including area of Spring Garden)

1828-1831:Jane Woodruff and other Woodruff heirs

1835–1842: Second Seminole War

1831-1849: Col. Orlando Rees

1849-1861:Thomas Starke

1855-1858: Third Seminole War

1861-1874:Civil War - Spring Garden lies fallow

1861: Florida secedes from the United State

1865: Florida rejoins the United States

1874-present day: Spring Garden held by a variety of owners