Original Pioneer Bios A-B

 The son of William Smith and Mary Jane (Sprague) Allen, he was born 31 July 1860 in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time of his death, 12 October 1954, he was the oldest living member of the Lake Worth Pioneers’ Association.

After Jacksonville was bombarded during the Civil War, the Allen family fled to Key West. A few years later, Mary Jane contracted yellow fever, and William moved her and their three sons back to her hometown of Ithaca, New York. She died when Dwight was only nine years old. Dwight attended school in Ithaca, and finished in Key West when his father moved back there. By 1873, his father had settled in Chokoloskee, near Everglades City on Florida’s southwest coast. From 1880—1883 Dwight served in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. Galena.

Dwight was appointed assistant keeper for the Jupiter Lighthouse in 1885, a position he held for six years. Many of the early settlers were keepers at the lighthouse. It was one of the few ways to earn “hard cash.” While at the lighthouse, Dwight entertained visitors by walking barefoot on the railing around the top and ending with a handstand. He had such great equilibrium from climbing riggings since the age of twelve.

In 1891, Dwight moved south to the shores of the lake of Lake Worth and became a farmer. On 10 October 1894, he married Ida Eugenia Russell of Russell, Oconee County, South Carolina, She was born 24 March 1873, one of fifteen children. The children of Dwight and Ida were:
* William Russell, Kibee Russell, George Dwight, Claramae, Margaret (Mrs. John D. Roberts) and Jane (Mrs. Oliver Gordon).

After his marriage in 1894, Dwight built sea walls along the shores of the lake of Lake Worth. At one time he was Customs House Collector.

On his 50 acre farm he grew oranges, pineapples and other fruit. Allendale Road in the south end of West Palm Beach marks the site of his farm land. In 1918, Paris Singer bought 40 acres from him to supply vegetables and fruit to the new Everglades Club.

Dwight’s father, William Smith Allen, was the first permanent white settler in Everglades City He was born in Enfield, Connecticut. When he married, he lived for awhile in Georgia, where he taught school. In the early 1850s, the Aliens settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where William was a bookkeeper for the Fairbanks Sawmilling Company. Years later, he served as Mayor of Key West. Dwight’s brothers, George Whiting and John William Allen, owned a drugstore in Key West, a busy, thriving town. They remained in Key West while Dwight came to the shores of Lake Worth. Most of the Lake Worth pioneers came from the North but Dwight Allen had been in Key West and Southwest Florida before settling here.

Dwight’s daughter, Claramae, took care of her father when he became blind in later years. She had several important secretarial jobs in Washington, D.C., and the Palm Beaches, and she served as Chief Clerk of Board #1 of the Selective Service Bureau for Palm Beach County. Claramae was secretary of the Lake Worth Pioneers’ Association for eleven years, active as an officer in her D.A.R. chapter, as well as in other organizations.

 Cornelius Vanderbilt Barton, son of Samuel and Lydia R. Barton, married Jessie Cluett, daughter of J.W. Alfred and Elizabeth R. Cluett, all from New York State.

C. Vanderbilt and Jessie Barton had established a winter home on the east shore of the lake by 1886, just north of Cap Dimick’s Cocoanut Grove Hotel. Barton Trail (later Barton Avenue) from lake to ocean was named for them.

The Bartons enjoyed the increasing social life of Palm Beach as more winter visitors came to enjoy the delightful climate. On a typical Sunday afternoon, they would join other prominent people in visiting the Charles I. Cragins at their beautiful estate, “Garden of Eden.” Transportation was by launch up the lake or by wheelchair, up the Lake Trail.

The C. Vanderbilt Bartons sold their home on the lakeshore in 1902 and took up residence at the Breakers Hotel.

The Bartons, senior and junior, were strong Episcopalians. They supported the building of the first house of worship in Dade County, the Episcopal Bethesda-by-the-Sea, in 1889. As Bethesda grew and moved into larger buildings, the Bartons continued to participate in and contribute to the church. In 1927, C. Vanderbilt and Jessie Barton donated the Pool of Bethesda in the north cloister wall of the Garth, with a statue of an angel, in memory of their four parents. After Jessie died, C. Vanderbilt gave the choir stalls, lay reader’s stall and clergy seat in memory of his wife.

C. Vanderbilt Barton died sometime between 1928 and 1940.

 Edwin Ruthven Bradley, son of Asa F. Bradley, was the oldest of six boys. He was born in July 1840 at Chicago, Illinois. He died 15 May 1915 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Miami.

This E.R. Bradley is not to be confused with the man, Edward R. Bradley, who operated a gambling casino in Palm Beach on Coconut Row and Main Street.

Asa and his son, Edwin, both have a postal service “first” to their credit. Asa was head clerk of the Railroad Post Office (first to sort mail on the train). In 1865, after service in the Civil War, 1862-1865, Edwin took over his father’s job, which he held for several years. After coming to Florida in the 1 870s, he became the first “B are- foot Mailman” in 1885.

Edwin Ruthven Bradley married an English girl, Lydia Phillips. She was born about 1841 and died in December 1914. She is also buried in Miami. Their five children were: Lewis and Guy, both born in Illinois, and Flora, Rose and Margaret (Maggie) born in Florida.

Edwin and Lydia left Chicago about 1875 for the wilds of Florida, near Orlando. By 1877, the family moved to Lantana, north of Lantana Point on the west side of the lake opposite the north end of Hypoluxo Island. First they lived in the Malden home near the present day Palm Beach Inlet. Because there were no neighbors, they went on south to Hypoluxo Island and occupied the H.D. Pierce home while the Pierces were living in the Orange Grove (Delray Beach) House of Refuge. The only other inhabitants were Mrs. Pierce’s brother, Will Moore, and William Butler.

In 1876, five government Houses of Refuge were built from the Melbourne area to Miami. Edwin became the second keeper of House #4 at Fort Lauderdale from 1883- 1884. It was there that Guy and Flora became very ill. Guy recovered, but Flora died, and was buried on the grounds of the House of Refuge.

In 1885, a rural mail route was established. Until this time, delivery of mail to the southeast coast of Florida had been very unpredictable. It was brought by anyone who might be coming south. The Jupiter Lighthouse had been the end of the line. To go south, the mail carrier had to walk the beach to Miami. At first, the carrier would go by boat to Juno, pick up the mail, and stop at Palm Beach, Figulus and Lantana. With the new route, the carrier crossed over to the beach at the haul-over (site of today’s South Palm Beach Inlet). The carrier traveled a distance of about sixty miles. He spent the first night at the Orange Grove House of Refuge, the second night at the Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge, and reached Miami on the third day. Edwin had the first contract, and he and his son, Lewis, took turns carrying the mail.

E.R. Bradley, as Edwin was popularly known, took an active part in the affairs of the settlement of South Florida. Having previously been a newspaper reporter, he wrote a column called “Lotus Cove” for The Tropical Sun, which was published on Indian River. Under by-lines of Ruthven, or Old Man Bradley. he told about the activities at the south end of the lake and mentioned the TOMS (tomatoes) he raised and sent to market.

Palm Beach County. created in 1909. was part of Dade County in the 1890s. Dade County was bounded by the St. Lucie River on the north, Cape Florida on the south and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The Everglades on the west was unexplored and unsurveyed. E.R.Bradley served as Superintendent of Schools for Dade County until 1895 when he resigned.

He was assistant superintendent of the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company which was dredging the East Coast Canal. It reached Miami at the same time the East Coast Railway reached West Palm Beach (1894.) Bradley was an agent for the Florida East Coast Land Company and the Model Land Company.

Edwin moved farther south into what is now Broward County, then to Flamingo, where he served as postmaster. He resided in Miami before moving to Goulds to live with his daughter, Maggie (Mrs. W.R. Burton).

Morris Benson Lyman, who came to Lantana in 1888, is given credit for being the founder of the town, because he started several businesses and sold some land. E.R. Bradley came to Lantana eleven years earlier (1877), and was the first to settle on the west shore of the lake, on the north of Lantana Point (west end of today’s bridge.) In 1877, the only inhabitants at Hypoluxo (the whole area at the south end of Lake Worth as it was called) were the Pierce family of four and two bachelors, Will Moore and William Butler.

Guy M. Bradley, son of pioneer Edwin Ruthven Bradley, was born 26 October 1870 and grew up on the shores of Lake Worth. He, along with other sons of pioneers, thought nothing of killing egrets and selling the feathers, prized for decorating ladies’ hats. Later, he saw the error of his ways and dedicated himself to preventing the killing of birds.

The Bradleys moved to Flamingo at Cape Sable in the late 1890s. There, Guy became a deputy sheriff and conservation officer for the newly- formed National Association of Audubon Society. He confronted some plume hunters, who defied him, and he was shot and killed in his skiff on 8 July 1905. He is considered to be the first park ranger in the Everglades, and he was killed in the line of duty.

Guy M. Bradley’s story is told in a diorama at the visitors’ center at Everglades National Park at Flamingo. 

 Edmund Munger Breisford (E.M.) arrived on the shores of Lake Worth in May 1880 [Pierce, p.129] on a hunting and fishing trip with his brother, John Hale Brelsford (Doc). They liked what they found and bought Frank Dimick’s place on the east side of the lake. Then E.M. went back to Ohio, leaving Doc in charge of their newly acquired home.

E.M. Brelsford, son of Dr. James R. and Dorinda Hale Breisford, was born 3 December 1853 at Belibrook, Ohio. In the fall of 1880, he returned to Lake Worth with his widowed mother and his sister, Minna, and rejoined Doc. They brought the first music to the lake. E.M. played the violin, Doc, the cello, and Minna played the piano.

The Breisford brothers went into partnership with Captain U.D. Hendrickson and constructed a general store on what became known as Brelsford’s Point. They built a dock for their schooner, “Bessie B.” to unload supplies from Jacksonville. The well-stocked store became a local gathering place, besides offering transportation to and from Jacksonville. The settlers applied for a postoffice, sending in the name Palm City to the government, but it was rejected because there was already a postoffice by that name in Florida. One man suggested Palm Beach, which was accepted. The postoffice was located in Brelsford Brothers’ store, with E.M. as the first postmaster.

Sometime later, the partnership was dissolved. Captain Hendrickson built his own store farther north on the lakeshore, bought a schooner, “Mary B.,” to get his own supplies, and went into competition with Brelsford Brothers. Now the other pioneers had their choice of two stores and two means of transportation. Because of the need for a regular service between Jupiter and Palm Beach, the Brelsfords and Cap Dimick organized a hack line between the two points in 1884.

In June of 1886, E.M. and Doc Brelsford took along two witnesses and set off for Gainesville to prove their homestead claims. The trip to Jacksonville was made in the “Bessie B.” From there they traveled by train to Gainesville. The return trip was not so smooth. The usual two- day ocean run from Jacksonville to Palm Beach lasted twelve days and nights, due to bad weather, but the homestead claims were proved.

In 1889, E.M. went to Jacksonville and married Laura Elizabeth Bell, of Ohio, and brought her back to Palm Beach. They had four children:
* Frederika, Marjorie, Mildred and Edmund, Jr. E.M. was interested in many facets of the new community. Not only storekeeper and postmaster, he was first commodore of the Palm Beach Yacht Club, a Mason (32nd degree), and a vestryman in the first church in Palm Beach, Bethesda, which he helped build.

E.M. and Doc sold their store location in 1893 to Henry M. Flagler, who built his mansion, “Whitehall”, on the property. The brothers then set about organizing the first bank in Palm Beach, Dade County State bank. Doc was president and they were both directors. In 1909, they moved it across the lake and renamed it Pioneer Bank. E.M. also helped organize the Bank of Palm Beach, the First Bank & Trust Company of Palm Beach and First National Bank in Miami.

E.M. and Laura decided to build a house of their own design at 1 South Lake Trail. When construction started in 1901, Laura took the children and stayed at St. Augustine until the house was finished. Named “The Banyans,” it was an impressive three-storied, white, Greek-revival mansion. It cost E.M. $13,000 and he supervised every detail of the building. The third floor had a large gymnasium with a stage, where the children would present plays for their parents. E.M. had two Banyan trees planted on the grounds, as well as rows of Royal Palms and other trees and flowering shrubs. “The Banyans” became the center for many social events.

Laura died, after a long illness, in a nursing home at Battle Creek, Michigan, on 14 September 1927. Funeral services were held at “The Banyans” and burial was at Woodlawn Cemetery, West Palm Beach. E.M. lived ten more years, dying 20 June 1937, and is buried beside Laura.

Frederika Breisford, born February 1892 in Tennessee, grew up in Palm Beach. She married David Forrest Dunkle, a lawyer, at “The Banyans,” where they lived at first, afterward moving to West Palm Beach. Their children: Elizabeth Carlisle Dunkle Axford, David Forrest Dunkle, Jr., and John Brelsford Dunkle. David, Sr., died 22 November 1956, Frederika died 5 December 1985, and they are both buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Marjorie Brelsford, born March 1895 at Palm Beach, married W.H. Tilson, and was living in Staunton, Virginia, in 1937.

Mildred Brelsford, born a twin in August 1898 at Palm Beach, married Charles Clarke, son of another pioneer, in 1921. They had a son, Thomas, and were living in Paris in 1937. Mildred died 12 December 1946 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Edmund Munger Brelsford, Jr., born a twin in August 1898 at Palm Beach, married twice and had four children: Alicia, Dorinda, Edmund M., ITT, and James Edmund. 

 John Hale Breisford (Doc) arrived on the shores of Lake Worth in May 1880 [Pierce, p.129] on a hunting and fishing trip with his brother, Edmund Munger Brelsford (E.M.). Finding game and fish plentiful, the climate delightful and the few settlers around the lake friendly and helpful, they decided to become permanent residents. After buying Frank Dimick’s property, E.M. went back to Ohio, leaving Doc in charge of their newly-acquired house.

John Hale Brelsford, son of Dr. James R. and Dorinda Hale Brelsford, was born at Bellbrook, Ohio, in 1856. Though he was known to the pioneers as “Doc,” there is no record of his having been a medical doctor. He was a sailor and businessman, and also a musician. When E.M. returned in the fall with their mother, Dorinda, and sister, Minna, the first real music was heard on the lake. Joining Doc on the cello was E.M. on violin and Minna on piano.

Doc and E.M. went into partnership with Captain U.D. Hendrickson and constructed a general store on what became known as Brelsford’s Point. They built a dock for their schooner, “Bessie B.” to unload supplies from Jacksonville. Their well-stocked store became a local gathering place besides offering transportation to and from Jacksonville The settlers applied for a postoffice in the name of Palm City, which was rejected because there was already a postoffice by that name in Florida. One man suggested Palm Beach, which was accepted. The postoffice was located in Breisford Brothers’ store, with E.M. as the first postmaster.

Sometime later, the partnership was dissolved. Captain Hendrickson built his own store farther north on the lakeshore, bought a schooner, “Mary B.”to get his own supplies, and went into competition with Brelsford Brothers.

Because of the need for a regular service between Jupiter and Palm Beach, the Brelsfords and E.N. Dimick organized a hack line between the two points in 1884.

The Brelsfords selected three adjoining sites for homesteads, running from lake to ocean. E.M. claimed the first one on the north, Doc chose the middle one, and their sister Minna and her husband, Dr. Henry C. Hood, took the southernmost. Doc named his “Rabbit Hill” and lived there with his wife, the former Miss Mary Cadby.

Doc and E.M. sold their store property to Henry M. Flagler in 1893, who built his mansion, “Whitehall”, on the site. They sold the “Bessie B.” to the Lyman brothers, who had built a store and needed to supply it. Doc and E.M. then helped organize the first bank in the lake country, Dade County State Bank. It opened on 1 May 1893, with Doc as president and E.M. as one of the directors. In 1895, a West Palm Beach branch was opened at Clematis Avenue and Olive Street, and later all operations were moved there from Palm Beach.

Doc Brelsford died 18 April 1897, leaving a son, John Hale Brelsford, to whom he willed one dollar, and left everything else to his widow.

 David Brown, one of the earliest settlers on the shores of Lake Worth, arrived in June of 1876 with his family. In 1870, they moved from illinois to Jacksonville, where David was a dairyman. There he was visited by Mason Dwight, who offered to sell him his house, located in what would some day be Palm Beach. Brown took a chance and, along with fellow Illinoisans Cap Dimick, Frank Dimick and Albert Geer, traveled south to Lake Worth. They were so delighted with the area, they determined to make their homes there.

David Brown was born in 1825 in Pennsylvania of Irish parents. His wife, Fannie E., was a native of Michigan. Their five children, all born in Illinois, were Anna: Jarvis, Roswell K., Lida P., and David E. (“Ned”). Anna was attending college in Illinois when the rest of the family moved to the lake, and she rejoined them in the fall of 1876.

The Browns had hardly gotten settled into the Dwight house on the east lakeshore, north of where the Royal Poinciana Hotel would be built, when Mrs. Brown got a plea for help. H.D. Pierce’s wife, Margretta, was in convulsions after the birth of her baby at the Orange Grove House of Refuge (present day Delray Beach). Fannie Brown, city woman who had never walked through beach sand, nor yet met Mrs. Pierce, went unhesitatingly to her aid. The two became fast friends, and their two sons, Roswell Brown and Charles Pierce, best buddies.

When the Dimicks and the Geers arrived with their families, the David Browns took them all in to live with them until their own houses were built. All their furnishings were piled on the wide porches. Somehow, Fannie managed to find beds for everyone. In October of 1876, there were twenty-eight people in the house, which included three infants, when a hurricane struck. One person remarked that it was the largest gathering ever on the lake and ordinarily would have been an occasion for merrymaking but, instead, they all crowded into the center hall of the house, listening to the roaring wind through the night. No lives were lost but many trees were down, and the Dimicks’ and Geers’ belongings were strewn far and wide.

David Brown afterward raised a large fine crop of tomatoes, hoping to ship them to northern markets, but they all spoiled en route due to the poor transportation facilities. However, this event inspired his fellow pioneers to build a tramway from the north end of the lake across the sawgrass to the southern end of Indian River, greatly shortening the length of time to market.

David’s oldest son, Jarvis (“Jardy”), accidentally tripped a shotgun set to kill deer and lost part of two fingers and took a buckshot in the thigh. The nearest doctor was 140 miles to the north, and he seemed to heal with Fannie’s good nursing, but in two weeks, he was dead. They buried him on their property, the first death in the little pioneer community.

In 1885, the heads of families around the lake decided it was time they had a school. David Brown and Squire J.C. Hoagland each gave half- an-acre of land for the building site. Other settlers donated lumber which was brought from Jacksonville by the Brelsford Brothers, free of freight charges. Roswell K. Brown and George Lainhart built the school, which opened in March of 1886 with twelve pupils, one of whom was Ned Brown.

No death records have been found for David and Fannie Brown.

Daughter Lida P. Brown married _____Trumbull and lived in Port Angeles, Washington. Son David E. Brown (“Ned”) also died in State of Washington. He had been an appraiser for the United States Customs Bureau, from 1900 to 1930. He was also a well-known authority on birds, especially those of Washington State. He and his wife, Mary, made their home in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, and had a son, Ford K. Brown, of Annapolis, Maryland. His sister, Anna Brown, predeceased him.