Property at the intersection of East Colonial Drive and
Cathcart Avenue, on the northern outskirts of downtown Orlando, have legal descriptions
that are a bit misleading. Shown as “Norman Robinson’s Addition to Orlando,”
the actual recorded plat states: “MRS. Norman Robinson’s Addition to Orlando.”
Cathcart Avenue itself has family ties not to Mr. Robinson,
but to Leora, wife of Norman Robinson. Further, Norman was no longer among the
living when the Addition to Orlando Plat was filed.
Leora (Bettison) Norman was more than a developer though. ‘American
Women, 1,400 Biographies’, published in 1897 by Frances Willard, includes a biography
of Leora: “It is conceded, that by her contributions to the press and her
pamphlet, “Living in Florida,” she has done more to induce immigration to the
state (Florida) than any other has accomplished.
Born at Little Rock, Arkansas, her parents, Dr. Joseph and Ann
(Cathcart) Bettison, moved soon after to Louisville, where as a young adult she
became a teacher. There, Leora met and married, in 1864, Norman Robinson, a
teacher as well.
Norman and Leora partnered in opening Holyoke Academy, a
private school they continued running until 1881, when the Robinson’s relocated
to central Florida. “Always the genius during her school-days, her writings
attracted attention, and many of her early efforts were published in the local
(Louisville) papers.” Among the acclaimed writings of Leora Bettison Robinson
were “Than,” and “The House of Spectacles.”
Between writing and expanding the town of Orlando, Leora home
schooled her daughter, Jeanette Cathcart (Robinson) Murphy. Born at Louisville,
Jeanette was raised in Orlando, and went on to become, as reported by the ‘Musical
Gazetteer’ in 1918, a “Singer, music teacher, and lecturer.”
The old forts trail originally traced the east side of
Orlando’s Park Lake of today, but was known in the 1880s as “Lake Leora.”
Tomorrow: Maitland, Florida’s Good Shepherd!
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