BROWARD Fall 1979 Issue Price $2.00 IDqe alnurnal of tqe iSrnwarb Qtnuntu llitatnrtcal Qtnmmtaainn Broward County The Forman Family­ Everglades Pioneers Fort Lauderdale Mrs. Stranahan's Own Story Dania A History of Dania Plantation How It Was At the Beginning Profile Ned Buntline's War in the South Florida Everglades , , Celebrating its third year of publication, this Broward Legacy includes selected reprints and articles by contempor­ ary authors. Charles Forman, D.V.M., has contributed an article about his parents which he composed for the ded­ ication of the Hamilton McLure Forman Building, now under construction at the South Florida Education Center. Con­ structed by the University of Florida Department of Agriculture by direction of the State Board of Regents, it will cost in excess of one million dollars. Dr. Forman and his brother Hamilton are local bankers, developers, and philanthro­ pists. Like their father, they are consummate politicians whose interests embrace education, historical preservation, housing, ecosystems, mortuaries, and a host of other local and state concerns. For more than seventy years, longer than any other woman, Broward County's first school teacher cast her beneficient shadow over the county. Ivy Cromartie Stranahan deservedly was known as the First Lady of Fort Lauderdale and patron of the Seminole Indians. She died on August 30, 1971, after surviving her husband Frank for more than forty years. In 1961 the XI Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma published a mimeo­ graphed edition of Pioneer Women in Education, dealing with pioneer education in Broward County. Prior to publication, Chapter members interviewed Mrs. Stranahan in 1960 and 1961. With permission from the Chapter, the Legacy article is published as an edited version of their interview. In 1948 local realtor Luther Remsburgh promoted sales in the westerly county location of Plantation. That year the newspapers carried Remsburgh's prediction that the few dozen inhabitants of Plantation even­ tually would increase to 25,000 within twenty-five years. To most Broward Countians, this prediction was so far fetched as to boggle the mind. At this time the principal developers in Plantation were Chauncey Robert Clark, Senior and Junior, both transplanted northerners. The Clarks conceived the plan of locat­ ing settlers on large tracts in their Everglades development. Hence, the name Plantation for a city whose present population exceeds thirty thousand. Broward Legacy carries the son's story of how their dream city survived floods and other natural disasters during its first three years of existence. The City of Dania celebrated its seventy-fifth birthday in 1979. It is the oldest incorporated community in Broward County. Many historical artifacts remain to be preserved in this coastal community. Mrs. Marlyn Kemper is Director of Historic Broward County Preservation Board, Department of State, State of Flor­ ida. Awaiting publication of her history of Broward County, tentatively entitled BROWARD 'S HISTORY: FROM EVER­ GLADES,MANGROVES, AND SAWGRASS and subtitled: A TREATISE ON THE GROWTH OF FLORIDA'S BROW­ ARD COUNTY, she has consented to the publication of Chapter Two, "Dania." Broward Countians eagerly an­ ticipate its publication which will portray the saga of men and women who carved an empire out of the watery wil­ derness known as the Everglades. Popular knowledge and appreciation of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842, are slight compared to the pub­ licity given to the United States' conflicts with the western Indians. Innumerable books, articles, and movies of the western Indians' warfare with the United States have saturated the public for a century. In con­ trast, few ever have seen a prime time movie or documentary which emphasizes the Seminole con­ flict. Yet, this was the United States' longest and most costly Indian war. No doubt, one reason why the Seminole War has been slighted, in spite of several scholarly books on the subject, has been a lack of popular treatment of specific episodes of the conflict. To remedy this hiatus, BROWARD LEGACY presents contrasting accounts of one dramatic war episode. Colonel William Selby Harney's second expedition into the Everglades in January 1841 drew na­ tional attention to the Florida conflict. In addition, it proved to the Americans and Seminoles that the latter no longer could validly boast that American troops lacked the stamina and courage to invade their watery wasteland in pursuit of their people. Young Edward Zane Carroll Judson, alias Ned Buntline, published a melo­ dramatic account of the expedition in which he participated. While his account is poorly written and con­ tains some inaccuracies it does, however, enliven the activities and personalities of the war. An accompanying army officer published his own factual account of the same expedition. In conjunction, these two records provide some comprehension of the difficulties and bitterness which propelled the protagonists. Continued inside back cover BROWARD Legaey Staff ID.egacu Cooper Kirk, Ph.D. Volume3 Falll979 Numbers 3 &4 Acting Editor Edward J. Foley, Ill Production Editor Carolyn Kayne In This Issue • • • Assistant Editor Marcia Million and Loretta Scott Editorial Assistants Behind Scenes The Forman Family: Everglades Pioneers Advisory Council on Publications by Charles Forman, D.V.M . .. .. .. ... .. ..... ..... .. ... 2 And Educational Programs Regina Tomlinson, Chairman John C. Gerard, VIce-Chairman A History of Dania Patricia Smith, Secretary by Marlyn Kemper .. .. ..... .. .. .. .. ... .. .. ... 10 Hibbard Castleberry Edward J. Foley, Ill Carolyn Kayne Edward Zane Carron Judson, Alias Ned Buntline Marlyn Kemper by Cooper Kirk ................. ... .. .. .. .... ... ...... 16 Cooper Kirk George McClellan Stuart Mciver Second Expedition of Col. Harney in the Everglades Marcia Million Wilma Williams by Army Officer .... ...... .. ... .. ....... ......... ... 19 Sketches of the Florida War Broward County Historical Commlsalon by Edward Zane Carron Judson . .............. ....... 21 F. K. Walker, Chairman Wilma Williams, VIce-Chairman Mrs. Stranahan's Own Story Pat Cunningham, Secretary CathiMn Anderson by Ivy Cromartie Stranahan . .. .. 28 Ray Collier Belmont Com, Jr. Gypsy C. Graves Documents Concerning A Voyage To the Miami Region in 1793 Terry Heyne by Richard K. Murdoch .... ........ .... ............ .... 32 Dr. Susie Holley Garson Kauffman Sarah Keating George McClellan Plantation Genesis: 1946-1949 Leonard Robbins by Chauncey R. Clark, Jr ....... .. .. .. .... ............. .. 38 Margaret Staten Broward County Board of Commissioners Howard C. Forman, Chairman On The Cover ... Fran Groes, VJc.Chalrman Pat Brown Hamilton M. and wife Blanche Forman were as thorough-going pioneers AnneKolb Jack L. Moes as ever lived in the Everglades. This is a photograph of Ham Forman George Platt about the time when he retired in the 1950's. Gerald Thompson © Copyright 1979 by the Broward County Historical Commission. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information and retrieval systems- without permission of the publisher. BROWARD LEGACY is published semiannually by the Broward County Historical Commission, 101 B Southeast New River Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 . Single copy price, $2.00, subscription, $4.00. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are from the archives of the Historical Commission. Neither the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida, nor the Broward County Historical Commission are responsible for the statements, con­ clusions or observations herein contained, such matters being the sole responsibility of the authors. - 1- THE FORMAN FAMILY: EVERGLADES PIONEERS By Charles Forman It is now hard to believe that my parents Hamilton McLure and Blanche Collins Forman, names intimately as­ sociated with the growth and develop­ ment of Broward County, began their lives here in 1910 in a tent located miles deep in the Everglades. They and others like them sacrificed and labored to make this land habitable and produc­ tive; tens of thousands now live, work, and play in comfort where the alli­ gator, water moccasin, rattlesnake, and mosquito had predominated a few short decades ago. Born on June 24, 1886, in Nashville, Illinois, Hamilton McLure Forman was nurtured in politics by his fa­ ther, attorney WilliamS. Forman. Wil­ liam had moved from Natchez, Missis­ sippi, as a small boy and had served consecutively from 1878 through 1899 as mayor, state senator, United States congressman, and United States Com­ missioner of Internal Revenue. Wil­ liam died on the day when Ham grad­ uated from the University of illi­ nois Law School in 1908. Hamilton married his high school sweetheart Blanche Collins, a beautiful elementary school teacher and princi­ Mrs. Blanche Forman in 1911 with ex· chicken eating alligator. pal. Born in Clinton, Illinois, on July 18, 1884, Blanche grew up and received velopment of one of America's last Many of the first purchasers, how­ her elementary and high school educa­ frontiers, South Florida and the Ever­ ever, stood aghast at their initial tion in East St. Louis, illinois. Her glades. viewing of what they had bought. Wa­ father, Dan Collins, was one of the At that time approximately 150 to ter overlaid the land half the year most respected and admired livestock 200 people, who mainly were farmers, and the sawgrass swamp had no access