Nestled away from the hustle and bustle of Maitland, west of
the city’s main north-south Maitland Avenue artery, is a quiet residential
community built around a serene Lake SYBELIA. Amidst all the tranquility a
lovely lake such as this offers, it is difficult to imagine the emotional
occurrence of April 6, 1873, the tragedy that led a lakeside landowner to naming
this charming body of water.
145 years later, what occurred at the Matthew R. Marks
residence on Lake Sybelia in 1873 is best left to the Southern Christian
Advocate publication: “She had nursed, with that sleepless diligence and
patient watchfulness springing only from a mother’s love, her little daughter
Jessie, through a protracted illness, even until the last hour. On the day
after the death of her infant, her husband desired her to accompany him to the
grave, but she did not have the strength. She looked, however, from the window,
and as the dull sound of the earth falling upon the coffin broke upon her ears,
her finely strung heart gave way.”
Anna SYBELIA Marks, wife of Major Matthew R. Marks, daughter
of Judge Eli Hill of Terrell County, GA, the newspaper added, “died on the 6th
of April, at Lake Maitland, Orange County, Florida, of general exhaustion.
Three days and four nights of intense suffering closed her mortal career.”
Founded in January, 1871, the community of Lake Maitland, as
the original town had been called, was one of the first Orange County towns to attract
snowbirds. But the area was still quite primitive, and doctors were few and far
between. A #cflParadise land agent, Matthew R. Marks bought land at Maitland in
May of 1874 and August of 1875, one year after of the death of his young bride
of only three years.
Women who ventured into Florida’s wilderness deserve a special
place in the history of this region. Lake Sybelia, provided we remember how it
came to be known by that name, remains a wonderful tribute to one such lady.
A footnote to this post. While researching Matthew R. Marks in
partnership with another local historian, it was that partner who, a few years
back, came upon the obituary of Anna Sybelia Marks. Central Florida lost that
historian last year. Christine Kinlaw-Best deserves special recognition for her
special contribution to preserving Sanford history.
Tomorrow: Miss HODGSON from across the Pond
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