The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-11-24
BITS OF HISTORICAL 1NFoRMA-
TON

is filled with interesting bits of his
torical information. These articles
are contributed by Mr.. w. A. McRae,
clerk of the circuit court of Jackson
county, and Mr.. J. A. Ormond, secre-
tary and treasurer of the Florida
Land Title and Trust Company, from
which We make the following ex-
tracts:
For more than two hundred years
the Spanish and English flags waved
alternately over the Floridas. st. Au-
gustine, the oldest city in what is now
the United States, was established in
1865, on the east coast, and later
(1693), Pensacola, on the west coast,
was founded. Except in the few
towns and villages, the Indians every
where roamed at will through the
great forests, hunting and fishing,
clearing the land and raising their
crops, undisturbed by the Spaniards.
In many respects, the Indians were
the real owners of the land.
AS would naturally be expected,
trouble arose between the Indians
and their American neighbors on the
north. For peace and safety, since
Spain could not quiet these troubles,
it was believed that the United States
should acquire possession of Florida.
1t was proposed that Spain should eX-
change Florida for a part of Louis
lana, next to Texas, but this plan
came to nothing The Spanish gov
eminent, realizing that it would take
large army and heavy expenses to
keep the Indians under control, sign
ed a treaty on February %, 1919, by
which Spain agreed to cede Florida
to the United States for $6,4OO,OOO
The exchange of flags took place
on July 10, 1921, at st. Augustine, and
on July II, 1921, at Pensacola, Gen
eral Andrew Jackson, the military
governor of Florida, arranged for the
exchange of flags at Pensacola, while
the same ceremony was conducted at
ST Augustine by Adjutant General
Butler.
In describing this ceremony, in
which one nations withdraws her au-
thority and control and in which an
other, and, it might be said, a rival
nation, takes upon herself the respon-
sibility of government the writer
says
There on one side of the public
square stood the flagstaff from which
still floated the Spanish colors. At a
signal from General Jackson the
American flag assembled Meeting
half way, the two flags rested togeth-
er as if to declare friendship, then
the flag of our country assembled and
the Spanish flag was lowered, and
Florida was now a territory of the
United States"
On July q, 1921, shortly after as
Stunning the duties of provisional gov
ernor, General Jackson divided the
Floridas into two counties, i. e., Es-
Gambia and ST. Johns, the Suwannee
river being the dividing line. On Au-
gust II, 1922, Escambia county was
subdivided that portion between the
Chattahoochee and Suwannee rivers
being called Jackson. The popula-
ton of the territory of Florida in
1880. which was the first census, was
only 34,73O 1t will be interesting to
note that in 1880 there were fourteen
counties in Florida, and, naming them
in order of their population, they
were as follows: Leon, 6494; Gads-
den, 1895; Jackson, 1907 Jefferson,
1912; st. Johns, 253S; Escambia,
251S; Alachua, 22O4; Duval, 1870;
Nassau, 1911; Walton, 1907; Wash
ington, 97S; Santa Rosa, SOS; Orange,
Changed from Mosquito), 1888; Ham
ilton, 553; Madison, 525; Monroe, 517.
Palatka was founded in 1921, Jack
sonville in 1922, the settlement of
Scotch Presbyterians at Euchee Anna
in 1928, Tallahassee in 1924. Month
cello in 1928, Mariana in 1929, Key
West and Apalachicola in 1880, and
st. Joseph in 1886. Mariana, the
county seat of Jackson county, was
surveyed and plated in the year 1929,
and incorporated the same year. The
map of the town shows 100 acres in
the original plan. With subsequent
additions, and under its new charter
it embraces a territory two and a
quarter miles long by mile and a
quarter wide, and comprises nearly
1000 acres.
Jackson county has taken the lead
of the west Florida counties in the ex-