Angeline Augusta (MAY) Mizell

TWO (2) Mrs. David Mizell’s lived among the 1,100 Orange County residents of 1860, but only one, the younger of the two, would spend most of her adult years as the family’s sole head of household. Angeline Augusta MAY married David W. Mizell, Jr. in 1854. He at the time was 21 years old. She had just turned 17.

Within a year of their marriage, the first of seven children was born. By the year 1860, David, Jr. had followed his parent’s to Orange County. David Mizell, Sr. located 5 miles south of Village of Orlando, acquiring 600 acres fronting Lake Conway’s Upper basin. David, Jr. and wife Angeline selected land east of village of Orlando, land fronting on present day Lake Underhill, three miles east of the nearest “dirt’ trail.

Far from the turmoil brewing north of their homeland, David & Angeline celebrated their 6^th wedding Anniversary in December of 1860. A few days later, delegates decided Florida would secede, and both Orange County Mizell families learned soon thereafter that the Confederate Army invaded Fort Sumter.

Civil War had begun, and life for Angeline, 24 and a mother of four, was about to take a drastic turn for the worse. Her husband David enlisted in Florida’s 8^th Infantry, so Angeline, like many a central Florida mother, daughter and wife, was suddenly on her own.

Every young man departed Orlando for the warfront. The only two village of Orlando stores were shuttered. Central Florida’s wilderness became more remote than ever.

David Mizell, Jr. mustered out of service in 1863, but two of his brothers, fellow comrades, were not as fortunate. David’s return home however was to be brief. In February 1870, Sheriff David W. Mizell, Jr. was ambushed and killed. Angeline was a mother of seven then, her oldest only 15. Angeline was on her own again.

On the 30^th of August, 1873, Widow Angeline purchased 50.4 acres, paying $1.25 per acre for property closer to town, yet still in a sparsely developed area. Her parcel is now preserved as the Harry P. Leu Gardens.

Angeline Augusta MAY Mizell, among Orange County’s earliest citizens, died October 25, 1911 at age 74. She had lived within a few miles of Orlando’s city center for 52 years, and at the time of her death, 57 years had gone by since marrying David Mizell, Jr.

Angeline had fewer than 15 of the 57 years of her marriage to enjoy the company of her spouse. During the other 42 years, she had survived on her own in the wilds of Florida. I’ve said this often, the story of central Florida is incomplete without inclusion of the story of the remarkable women who assisted in taming a #cflParadise.  

Tomorrow: The Village MOTHER.

A #WomensHistoryMonth Celebration - for more central Florida 19th century history be sure and visit www.CroninBooks.com