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Event - Jun 07, 2016

Book Talk on the History of Wesley Chapel

Jun 07, 2016 - 8:00 a.m. - Posted in Special Event

Author Madonna Wise will present at the Chamber of Commerce Monthly Breakfast on the History of Wesley Chapel. Historical research has been a lifelong passion from my earliest days compiling family history. Writing the very first history book of Wesley Chapel, Florida has been one of the most exciting projects to date. The book is to be released on March 21, 2016 by Arcadia Publishing/History Press. Madonna Jervis Wise is a retired school principal who served as a district school administrator in three Florida School Districts. She has lived in Pasco County for 43 years and been involved in an array of civic groups and organizations. The cover of the book reads: Wesley Chapel originated in the mid-1800s as a cohesive community of settlers who demonstrated a uniquely rural authenticity and independence of spirit. Evidence of Native American presence in the area has been documented as early as 10,000 BC. Lumber harvesting and turpentine production became prominent industries, while cash-crop farming, citrus, and livestock ranching provided sustenance for the pioneer settlement. Charcoal kilns, gator hunting and moonshine stills supplemented incomes, and spawned legends. The community was also identified with the monikers of Gatorville, Double Branch, and Godwin. From 1897 to 1902, Wesley Chapel boasted its own post office, two saw mills and a general store. Primitive roads left residents with an informal town nucleus, and services shifted to surrounding towns until the late twentieth century when postal service and incorporation emerged and the lumber trusts of John D. Rockefeller, Otto Hermann Kahn, and Edwin Wiley morphed into sizeable ranches. Madonna Jervis Wise serves as president of the Pasco County Historical Society, and has also authored nine books including, Images of America: Dade City and Images of America: Zephyrhills. Wise worked with several local family genealogists and historians who generously shared precious photos and affectionate stories of their pioneering family ancestors. First and foremost, the research on the Wesley Chapel book magnified the importance of INTERVIEWING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES FOR DOCUMENTATION, whether it be for historical or genealogical research. The story unfolded through the process of document review and interview. I did over thirty original interviews and reviewed hundreds of photos from family collections. Wesley Chapel was a cohesive frontier community. Dozens of people told me that the Fifth Sunday Sing captured the spirit of frontier Wesley Chapel. The community was known for its singing convention based on shape note music, and although singing was commonplace in frontier Florida, Wesley Chapel was acknowledged to be the most extraordinary. In an interview with 81-year old Cullen Boyette in July 2015, he recounted the gospel songs, Barber Shop quartets, and the extraordinary piano playing of Delbert Wells. Bill Smith said, the Fifth Sunday Sing was the Grand Ole Opry of Wesley Chapel. In the renowned book, The Historical Places of Pasco County, by Alice Hall, Eddie Herrmann and James Horgan, a book that is frequently used for historical documentation throughout Pasco County, it speaks of Wesley Chapel and Fifth Sunday Sings. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Wesley Chapel hosted the Pasco County Singing Convention, which drew large crowds. Since the late 19th century, the tradition of singing conventions was an important part of cultural life. They were printed in a musical system known as seven-shape notation, invented to make it easier to read music. The shapes employed in the seven-shape notational system are as follows: equilateral triangle = do, semicircle = re, diamond = mi, right triangle = fa, oval = sol, rectangle = la, and quarter circle = ti. Music was published in paperback books called convention books. There were opportunities for socializing as well as singing. Later they had all-day singing with dinner on the ground. Rosemary Trottman, noted historian said in her 1978 book, History of Zephyrhills: There was a closeness about the relationships of neighbors in Wesley Chapel and others of the central region and along the two rivers that is rarely found today. They went in bands from east to west to catch and salt mullet to dry for the year’s supply of fish. They traveled together to the county seat, first located at Tampa, then Ocala and finally at Brooksville. Hernando County has numerous records of Wesley Chapel. It is imperative to remember in documenting the history of Wesley Chapel which dates back to the 1840s, that Pasco County did not come into existence until 1887, and before that time one had to travel to Brooksville to obtain marriage licenses and official documents. Consequently the school records, deeds and much more can be found in Hernando County. When Pasco County was created, at a time when the umbrella county of Hernando was divided into Pasco, Citrus and Pasco, Precinct 4 Wesley Chapel was documented. The old timers considered the boundaries of Wesley Chapel to be the Wesley Chapel precinct boundaries from when Pasco County came into existence. The boundaries of Wesley Chapel as known by all the old-timers were Elam Road on the north to County Line Road on the south, and from New River on the east to Cypress Creek on the west. With open range, however, people shared spaces and did not appear to be territorial by nature; the marks and brands on livestock were the symbols of ownership. Some reminders of Wesley Chapel history: • The historical marker on Highway 54 was placed by the Pasco County Commission in September 2001. The historical advisory board of the Pasco County Commission was comprised of historically-mined people from all over the county who researched and vetted the marker. Scott Black, former mayor of Dade City was the chairman of that committee, and local businessman/accountant of Wesley Chapel, Michael Boyette, an accomplished Wesley Chapel historian, unveiled the plaque which proudly reads: The pioneer Boyett(e), Gillett(e), Godwin, and Kersey families received land grants in the area in the 1840s. The real influx of settlers, however, began around the War Between the States when the Stanleys and Coopers arrived. Originally called Double Branch for the twin creeks that flowed across the Boyette land, the community was named for the Methodist chapel that stood on the northwest corner of SR 54 and Boyette Road. A popular nickname for the area was Gatorville. Since its founding in 1878, the Double Branch Baptist Church (now the First Baptist Church) has served as a focus for community life. The church has had three buildings in its long history. Henry Ryals was pastor in the first building in 1880, Ed Bryant the second in 1935, and Lynn Foster the third in 1970. The turpentine still and sawmill represented early industries, though cattle ranching and hog farming on the then open range, crop farming, and citrus growing predominated. When times were hard people turned to charcoal making and even moonshining to survive. Construction of I-75 and the 1979 opening of the Saddlebrook Resort marked the beginning of the current growth of the community. Madonna interviewed descendants from each of these families listed on the plaque and was able to view the remaining turpentine foreman’s house which still stands after 150 years on the Barnes Ranch and is a legacy of the African American community that existed in Wesley Chapel. Many of the descendants of Wesley Chapel are buried near the marker in the cemetery on highway 54. • The Wesley Chapel pioneer cracker home of Daniel Smith was donated to the Cracker Country Hands-on Museum in 1979 and tells the story of Wesley Chapel at the hands-on museum housed at the Florida Fairgrounds. Daniel’s house was built in a barn-raising type neighborhood building in 1894; his ancestor William R. Smith settled in Wesley Chapel just after the Civil War-- http://crackercountry.org/index.php/come-visit/what-to-see/smith-house. The Smith family have volunteered at the house throughout the years to share the story of frontier life in Wesley Chapel. BOOK: http://www.amazon.com/Wesley-Chapel-Images-America-Madonna/dp/1467116157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456502080&sr=1-1&keywords=Wesley+Chapel#reader_1467116157


Location: Pasco Hernando State College-Porter Campus
Address, City: Wesley Chapel, Florida Wesley Chapel
Contact Name: Madonna Wise
Contact Phone: 813 782 0246
Contact Email: MadonnaJWise@gmail.com


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