(First aired on Radio WBAR History show 1983, updated September 24, 2019)
By Lloyd Harris
Jacob Summerlin – King of the Crackers: February 20, 1820 – November 4, 1893
Jacob Summerlin, Florida pioneer, land owner, cattle baron, and philanthropist affectionately referred to by Bartowans as ‘Uncle Jake,’ but by the rest of the world as the ‘King of the Crackers,” was born on February 22, 1820 in Alligator (Lake City). Family legends reflect that Jake was born in a nearby fort during an Indian attack.
Note: The term “cracker” in the 19th and early 20th Centuries was not used as a term of derision, but alluded to one born in the deep South and used to popping or cracking whips, as it were, in driving cattle.
He was the son of Jacob Summerlin, Sr., and Mary Ann Hagan.
Jacob, our subject, was reputed to have been the first American child born in Florida after the territory was gained by the United States from Spain in 1819, and was one of eight children on the Florida frontier.
By the age of seven, Jake was fully acquainted with riding a horse and cracking a whip, and by age 16 had acquired a small herd of cattle. The same year, 1836 hostilities broke out between the United States and elements of the Seminole nation. During the Second Seminole War, Jacob served with his father in various Florida militia units in an active role during the conflict.
Jacob married Mrs. Frances Knight Zipperer in 1844, a widow of A. Z. Zipperer, and mother of infant son, Gideon Zipperer. The new family departed for their first home at Knight’s Station near his father in law, Samuel Knight. Knight’s Station was near modern day Plant City. Jacob brought a herd of cattle during the trek from north Florida. One account states that they set up housekeeping in the piney woods, with Frances cooking their meals in the open air while young Jacob cut trees to build a cabin.
The 1850 US Census reflected Jacob as a planter, with a growing family, besides his wife and stepson, the family then included Mary Ann age 4, Jasper age 3, and George nine months.
During the Third Seminole War, the family like many others in the interior, removed to Tampa and remained there for a few years, subsequently moving to Fort Ogden, and then Fort Meade.
Jacob prospered, a cattle hunter had only to range through the Peace River – Kissimmee River basin, brand free roaming cattle numbering in the thousands – all descendants of those original Spanish beasts escaping and proliferating over the preceding centuries.
The 1860 Hillsborough tax rolls listed Jake as owning more than 21,000 cows and personal property valued at $90,000. In addition he owned shipping pens on the Manatee River, Peace River, Cedar Key, Tampa, and Havana , Cuba.
The War Between the States broke out in 1861 and Summerlin contracted with the new government to supply 25,000 head of beef to the armies over a two-year period. His herds were producing an average between 5,000 to 8,000 beeves per year.
He also had a business partner, Captain James McKay of Tampa, who was a ship-owner, and entrepreneur like himself to run cattle to Cuba.
Cuban receipts were paid in gold. The phenomenal Cuban trade would have soon made him a millionaire, but the war interrupted and defeated that most lucrative enterprise.
Jacob Summerlin purchased the Riley Blount homestead at Fort Blount (now Bartow), in 1862, for the grand sum of $3,000 Confederate dollars. The deed was dated June 25, 1862 and the price was considered high for the time marked at about $19 per acre. The land was improved by the Blounts and this made a ready site for a town that Summerlin envisioned.
He moved his family to Bartow and homesteaded near present day Lyle Parkway. He planted an orange grove. It was noted that Indians living nearby worked in his groves and assisted in domestic service in the Summerlin home. The Blount lands encompassed 160 acres of the present center of the city. Jacob’s interests kept him constantly on the move ranging from Fort Ogden and Charlotte Harbor to the Suwanee River.
During the war, he worked in the Commissary Department and herded cows from this area to Waldo and north to Savannah where the bovine regiments were butchered, salted, and shipped to the armies defending the southland.
When he discharged his meat procuring contract with the Confederacy, he engaged in Blockade running with Captain McKay of Tampa and maintained the connection with the Cuban cattle interests. Together they had more than six successful trips eluding the Union blockade they brought medicines and needed supplies to the interior pioneer families. The venture reportedly made McKay rich and Summerlin even richer.
He, along with an African American servant, named Factor, were baptized into the fellowship of Peace Creek Baptist Church in 1864. During the War, the cattle operation was centered at the Methodist Campgrounds where the drovers would gather the herds of cattle preliminary to driving them north.
Three Union Army attacks made their way from Fort Myers to the Fort Meade area, but never compromising the cattle operations.
Present day Highway 17 north to Orlando and south to Fort Myers was said to have been blazed by Summerlin as an early cow trail.
Summerlin’s only combat activity was his participation in the attack on Union-held Fort Myers in retaliation for the blue clad troop’s intrusion after the burning of Fort Meade. The Fort Myers battle ended in a draw with no tactical impact.
Though tendered promotions, he declined them, as he always declined, through life, places of military or civic prominence. The war ended in April, 1865.
The Bartow community netted around 150 souls and there was a need for food and immediate sustenance. Jacob donated 150 cows branded, “W” and “O” for widows and orphans, thereby insuring that the entire community both white and newly-freed blacks would not find starvation at the door.
Planning to impact the community, he had the Fort Blount lands surveyed into lots, followed by his noteworthy munificent gift.
Jacob Summerlin donated gifts of land to insure and determine a new city’s direction in 1867. He gave 40 acres for the purpose of establishing a county site and government, 40 acres for educational purposes were deeded to trustees to sell and form a “free” school for the poor of the community. At that time there were few schools in the state and the ones that existed, even the Blount School, a log cabin near present day Hill Court, were operated on a fee system (tuition).
In addition to these gifts another 40 acres was granted to the Baptist and Methodist congregations, to establish and build, with their 20 acre grants, houses of worship.
To further bolster the town’s progress, which consisted of only a handful of buildings, he purchased a lumber mill and had the entire works hauled to Bartow by oxen to begin planning the local plethora of pines into boards. Original site was in the vicinity of the present day Bartow Machine Works or South Mill Avenue.
He paid $1,100 for the first two- story building the same year and dedicated the upper story to the Masonic Lodge, and the lower story to be used as a school, titled, Summerlin Institute.
In addition to the Masonic Lodge and school, the building found use for the county court, and church services.
Both the Baptist congregations and Methodists first worshipped in this place on alternating Sundays. The building was located on Zipperer Street in the present vicinity of the intersection of Carpenter and Summerlin Streets. The name Zipperer was soon changed to Summerlin Street, in keeping with the school, and to honor the benefactor.
The civil war years had created a void of practical education. In 1867 Summerlin relocated to Flemington, Liberty County, Georgia to enroll his children at the Walthourville Academy. Here the Summerlin children ranging in ages from 9 to 20 years of age honed their educational skills.
While in Liberty County, Jake established a new cattle market in Savannah trading with Spanish interests with shipping operating out of Fort Ogden. In addition he sought and gained control in a failed venture to clear out Peace River, from Charlotte Harbor to its headwater at Lake Hancock, for navigation. The river was just too choked with debris to become viable shipping route for his cattle.
In 1873 Jacob moved with his family to Orlando, which was the family’s home until his death on November 4, 1893. The social and cultural life of Orlando centered on the Summerlin family, and the Summerlin Hotel, which Jake built in 1875. The hostelry’s reputation for hospitality and social affairs extended throughout Florida, notwithstanding the drawbacks of pioneer days.
In order to retain Orlando as the county seat of Orange County, “Uncle Jake” contributed the necessary cash to construct a suitable courthouse, blocking a rival faction in Sanford seeking to remove the county site of government to that town.
Summerlin donated a strip of land, 60’ wide around Lake Eola, to the city in 1883 on condition that it be made into a beautiful park. The city lived up to its commitment of beautification, which was the beginning of a movement culminating in the city’s moniker, “The City Beautiful.” The same year, he sold his herd of 20,000 head of cattle, and lands for $100,000.
He had built holding pens, barns, general store, and buildings in addition to an 800’ pier at Punta Rassa, for easy access of steamboats to load cows bound for Cuba. He owned land in Havana, Cuba with holding pens and attendant buildings for the reception of his cattle. He established a home in Punta Rassa and between 1874 and 1883 shipped over 1,600,000 cows to Cuba.
On May 12, 1887 Jacob returned to his city, Bartow, to lay the cornerstone of his dream, the Summerlin Institute. He possessed only a very rudimentary education and yet sought, to endow, develop, and help others. His fortune was never squandered on himself for he used it, as the means and vision, for the elevation of his fellow man.
Throughout his life it was reported that in his travels, coming upon families less fortunate and visiting or staying a night, would leave behind a small bag of gold coins. He was instrumental in the development of Orlando, Bartow, Fort Myers, and other communities. Blazing trails, and laying roads his hand opened up the land. His life was spent for others.
It was said that he carried in his saddle bags, and read on his many treks and cattle drives, a copy of the book, “Life of Livingstone,” the missionary to the Dark Continent, by the Rev. S. A. W. Jewett. The book reflects a summation of the life of missionary explorer David Livingstone and one extract of Livingstone’s life certainly parallels the life of Jacob Summerlin, “He promoted the establishment of schools which . . . will doubtless be of great advantage to the country. He compared the different sects of Christians to persons passing down different streets to different churches – all would arrive at the same point at last.”
In the closing days of his life he resided in Orlando. His desire was to be buried in Bartow and upon his death in November 1893, his wishes were carried out. Inscribed on his tombstone are the compass and square of a Masonic brother and his only epitaph, though a review of his life could have covered an imposing monument, are these words, “Founder of Summerlin Institute.”
He looked ever forward; we look to the past, and say, “Thank you, Jacob Summerlin.”
His wife Frances died in 1896 and was buried next to her husband in Oak Hill Cemetery in Bartow.
Bartow May 12, 1887 Laying of the cornerstone for Summerlin Institute. The school was located north of the present Bartow Elementary Academy. The site was known as Summerlin hill among “old timers.” Uncle Jake was presented an inscribed cane with gold head and is on display at the History Center. Jacob Summerlin, bare headed, is to the immediate right of the cornerstone in the photo image.
Jacob Summerlin – King of the Crackers
“Imperial Moments, a look at Polk’s Past”
Radio Show essay, Wm. Lloyd Harris, 1983
Jacob Summerlin
February 20, 1820- November 4, 1893
Jacob Summerlin, Florida pioneer, land owner, cattle baron, and philanthropist affectionately referred to by Bartowans as ‘Uncle Jake,’ but by the rest of the world as the ‘King of the Crackers,” was born on February 22, 1820 in Alligator (Lake City). Family legends reflect that Jake was born in a nearby fort during an Indian attack.
Note: The term “cracker” in the 19th and early 20th Centuries was not used as a term of derision, but alluded to one born in the deep South and used to popping or cracking whips, as it were, in driving cattle.
He was the son of Jacob Summerlin, Sr., and Mary Ann Hagan.
Jacob, our subject, was reputed to have been the first American child born in Florida after the territory was gained by the United States from Spain in 1819, and was one of eight children on the Florida frontier.
By the age of seven, Jake was fully acquainted with riding a horse and cracking a whip, and by age 16 had acquired a small herd of cattle. The same year, 1836 hostilities broke out between the United States and elements of the Seminole nation. During the Second Seminole War, Jacob served with his father in various Florida militia units in an active role during the conflict.
Jacob married Mrs. Frances Knight Zipperer in 1844, a widow of A. Z. Zipperer, and mother of infant son, Gideon Zipperer. The new family departed for their first home at Knight’s Station near his father in law, Samuel Knight. Knight’s Station was near modern day Plant City. Jacob brought a herd of cattle during the trek from north Florida. One account states that they set up housekeeping in the piney woods, with Frances cooking their meals in the open air while young Jacob cut trees to build a cabin.
The 1850 US Census reflected Jacob as a planter, with a growing family, besides his wife and stepson, the family then included Mary Ann age 4, Jasper age 3, and George nine months.
During the Third Seminole War, the family like many others in the interior, removed to Tampa and remained there for a few years, subsequently moving to Fort Ogden, and then Fort Meade.
Jacob prospered, a cattle hunter had only to range through the Peace River – Kissimmee River basin, brand free roaming cattle numbering in the thousands – all descendants of those original Spanish beasts escaping and proliferating over the preceding centuries.
The 1860 Hillsborough tax rolls listed Jake as owning more than 21,000 cows and personal property valued at $90,000. In addition he owned shipping pens on the Manatee River, Peace River, Cedar Key, Tampa, and Havana , Cuba.
The War Between the States broke out in 1861 and Summerlin contracted with the new government to supply 25,000 head of beef to the armies over a two-year period. His herds were producing an average between 5,000 to 8,000 beeves per year.
He also had a business partner, Captain James McKay of Tampa, who was a ship-owner, and entrepreneur like himself to run cattle to Cuba.
Cuban receipts were paid in gold. The phenomenal Cuban trade would have soon made him a millionaire, but the war interrupted and defeated that most lucrative enterprise.
Jacob Summerlin purchased the Riley Blount homestead at Fort Blount (now Bartow), in 1862, for the grand sum of $3,000 Confederate dollars. The deed was dated June 25, 1862 and the price was considered high for the time marked at about $19 per acre. The land was improved by the Blounts and this made a ready site for a town that Summerlin envisioned.
He moved his family to Bartow and homesteaded near present day Lyle Parkway. He planted an orange grove. It was noted that Indians living nearby worked in his groves and assisted in domestic service in the Summerlin home. The Blount lands encompassed 160 acres of the present center of the city. Jacob’s interests kept him constantly on the move ranging from Fort Ogden and Charlotte Harbor to the Suwanee River.
During the war, he worked in the Commissary Department and herded cows from this area to Waldo and north to Savannah where the bovine regiments were butchered, salted, and shipped to the armies defending the southland.
When he discharged his meat procuring contract with the Confederacy, he engaged in Blockade running with Captain McKay of Tampa and maintained the connection with the Cuban cattle interests. Together they had more than six successful trips eluding the Union blockade they brought medicines and needed supplies to the interior pioneer families. The venture reportedly made McKay rich and Summerlin even richer.
He, along with an African American servant, named Factor, were baptized into the fellowship of Peace Creek Baptist Church in 1864. During the War, the cattle operation was centered at the Methodist Campgrounds where the drovers would gather the herds of cattle preliminary to driving them north.
Three Union Army attacks made their way from Fort Myers to the Fort Meade area, but never compromising the cattle operations.
Present day Highway 17 north to Orlando and south to Fort Myers was said to have been blazed by Summerlin as an early cow trail.
Summerlin’s only combat activity was his participation in the attack on Union-held Fort Myers in retaliation for the blue clad troop’s intrusion after the burning of Fort Meade. The Fort Myers battle ended in a draw with no tactical impact.
Though tendered promotions, he declined them, as he always declined, through life, places of military or civic prominence. The war ended in April, 1865.
The Bartow community netted around 150 souls and there was a need for food and immediate sustenance. Jacob donated 150 cows branded, “W” and “O” for widows and orphans, thereby insuring that the entire community both white and newly-freed blacks would not find starvation at the door.
Planning to impact the community, he had the Fort Blount lands surveyed into lots, followed by his noteworthy munificent gift.
Jacob Summerlin donated gifts of land to insure and determine a new city’s direction in 1867. He gave 40 acres for the purpose of establishing a county site and government, 40 acres for educational purposes were deeded to trustees to sell and form a “free” school for the poor of the community. At that time there were few schools in the state and the ones that existed, even the Blount School, a log cabin near present day Hill Court, were operated on a fee system (tuition).
In addition to these gifts another 40 acres was granted to the Baptist and Methodist congregations, to establish and build, with their 20 acre grants, houses of worship.
To further bolster the town’s progress, which consisted of only a handful of buildings, he purchased a lumber mill and had the entire works hauled to Bartow by oxen to begin planning the local plethora of pines into boards. Original site was in the vicinity of the present day Bartow Machine Works or South Mill Avenue.
He paid $1,100 for the first two- story building the same year and dedicated the upper story to the Masonic Lodge, and the lower story to be used as a school, titled, Summerlin Institute.
In addition to the Masonic Lodge and school, the building found use for the county court, and church services.
Both the Baptist congregations and Methodists first worshipped in this place on alternating Sundays. The building was located on Zipperer Street in the present vicinity of the intersection of Carpenter and Summerlin Streets. The name Zipperer was soon changed to Summerlin Street, in keeping with the school, and to honor the benefactor.
The civil war years had created a void of practical education. In 1867 Summerlin relocated to Flemington, Liberty County, Georgia to enroll his children at the Walthourville Academy. Here the Summerlin children ranging in ages from 9 to 20 years of age honed their educational skills.
While in Liberty County, Jake established a new cattle market in Savannah trading with Spanish interests with shipping operating out of Fort Ogden. In addition he sought and gained control in a failed venture to clear out Peace River, from Charlotte Harbor to its headwater at Lake Hancock, for navigation. The river was just too choked with debris to become viable shipping route for his cattle.
In 1873 Jacob moved with his family to Orlando, which was the family’s home until his death on November 4, 1893. The social and cultural life of Orlando centered on the Summerlin family, and the Summerlin Hotel, which Jake built in 1875. The hostelry’s reputation for hospitality and social affairs extended throughout Florida, notwithstanding the drawbacks of pioneer days.
In order to retain Orlando as the county seat of Orange County, “Uncle Jake” contributed the necessary cash to construct a suitable courthouse, blocking a rival faction in Sanford seeking to remove the county site of government to that town.
Summerlin donated a strip of land, 60’ wide around Lake Eola, to the city in 1883 on condition that it be made into a beautiful park. The city lived up to its commitment of beautification, which was the beginning of a movement culminating in the city’s moniker, “The City Beautiful.” The same year, he sold his herd of 20,000 head of cattle, and lands for $100,000.
He had built holding pens, barns, general store, and buildings in addition to an 800’ pier at Punta Rassa, for easy access of steamboats to load cows bound for Cuba. He owned land in Havana, Cuba with holding pens and attendant buildings for the reception of his cattle. He established a home in Punta Rassa and between 1874 and 1883 shipped over 1,600,000 cows to Cuba.
On May 12, 1887 Jacob returned to his city, Bartow, to lay the cornerstone of his dream, the Summerlin Institute. He possessed only a very rudimentary education and yet sought, to endow, develop, and help others. His fortune was never squandered on himself for he used it, as the means and vision, for the elevation of his fellow man.
Throughout his life it was reported that in his travels, coming upon families less fortunate and visiting or staying a night, would leave behind a small bag of gold coins. He was instrumental in the development of Orlando, Bartow, Fort Myers, and other communities. Blazing trails, and laying roads his hand opened up the land. His life was spent for others.
It was said that he carried in his saddle bags, and read on his many treks and cattle drives, a copy of the book, “Life of Livingstone,” the missionary to the Dark Continent, by the Rev. S. A. W. Jewett. The book reflects a summation of the life of missionary explorer David Livingstone and one extract of Livingstone’s life certainly parallels the life of Jacob Summerlin, “He promoted the establishment of schools which . . . will doubtless be of great advantage to the country. He compared the different sects of Christians to persons passing down different streets to different churches – all would arrive at the same point at last.”
In the closing days of his life he resided in Orlando. His desire was to be buried in Bartow and upon his death in November 1893, his wishes were carried out. Inscribed on his tombstone are the compass and square of a Masonic brother and his only epitaph, though a review of his life could have covered an imposing monument, are these words, “Founder of Summerlin Institute.”
He looked ever forward; we look to the past, and say, “Thank you, Jacob Summerlin.”
His wife Frances died in 1896 and was buried next to her husband in Oak Hill Cemetery in Bartow.
Bartow May 12, 1887 Laying of the cornerstone for Summerlin Institute. The school was located north of the present Bartow Elementary Academy. The site was known as Summerlin hill among “old timers.” Uncle Jake was presented an inscribed cane with gold head and is on display at the History Center. Jacob Summerlin, bare headed, is to the immediate right of the cornerstone in the photo image.
Copyright 2019 Lloyd Harris Imperial Moments
