William Whitaker | |
|---|---|
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| Born | c. 1821 |
| Died | 1888 |
| Monuments | Whitaker Gateway Park and Whitaker Bayou |
| Spouse | Mary Jane Wyatt |
| Children | 12 |
| Relatives | Hamlin Valentine Snell (half brother), William Wyatt (father-in-law), Alexander Whitaker (descendant) |
William Henry Whitaker (c. 1821–1888) was an American Seminole War veteran and pioneer who, under the provisions of the Armed Occupation Act, established the first permanent settlement in what is now Sarasota, Florida.[1][2] There he traded mullet with Cubans to bring the first groves of economically important oranges to the state.[3][4] He later married Mary Jane Wyatt and with her raised Nancy Whitaker, the first child recorded in what now is the county of Sarasota and a family of eleven children. His father-in-law, William Wyatt, was a constitutional delegate who helped to originate, and signed, Florida's first constitution. At the end of the Civil War, he helped Judah P. Benjamin escape to London.[2]
Whitaker was an eighth-generation descendant of Jabez Whitaker, brother of Alexander Whitaker, the Jamestown colonist and theologian who baptized and performed the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe.[citation needed]
- ^ Burnett Gene M. (1986) Florida's Past: People and Events that Shaped the State. Pineapple Press Inc., Sarasota, FL
- ^ a b McDuffee, Lillie B. (1961)Lures of the Manatee - A True Story of South Florida's Glamorous Past. Foote & Davies Inc., Bradenton, FL
- ^ Fine, Sally. Sarasota Herald Tribune Sunday November 19, 1991
- ^ Whitaker, A.K. One Man's Family 1969. Page 3 Manatee County Public Library Historic Photograph Collection hosted by the University of South Florida http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/m1.search. "Some credit Bill with planting the first citrus grove in Florida - others say the first in Manatee - Sarasota area. I feel that some others must have had small plantings for their own use while in the area so it seems more reasonable to me to say that Bill's was probably the first commercial citrus grove for he did sell and ship the fruit later"