page_title: John William Pearson
section_title: Seminole Wars and Business in Florida
hierarchical_section_title: John William Pearson / Seminole Wars and Business in Florida
caption_attribution_description: Orange Springs Methodist Episcopal Church, in Orange Springs, Florida
context_page_description: John William Pearson was an American businessman and a Confederate Captain during the American Civil War. Pearson was a successful businessman who established a popular health resort in Orange Springs near Ocala as well as a hotel, grist mill and a machine shop. Orange Springs was a popular destination for tourism in northern Marion County until the opening of Silver Springs and Ocala by steamboat after the American Civil War.
  Pearson is best known for forming the Oklawaha Rangers named after the Ocklawaha River in Orange Springs. The Oklawaha Rangers were used in the American Civil War for guerrilla tactics against the Federal troops throughout North Florida and Central Florida. Pearson became mortally wounded while leading Company B of the Ninth Florida Infantry Regiment across a cornfield at the Battle of Globe Tavern. He resigned his command as a result of his wounds and died in Augusta, Georgia while making his way home to Orange Springs, Florida.
context_section_description: Pearson was drawn to Florida because of the Seminole Wars in 1835. He was a volunteer of Hindley's Company in the Second Seminole War. After the war Pearson settled down in Marion County and married Sarah Martha Pearce on October 5, 1842. In Marion County he became business partners with David Levy Yulee. Pearson and Yulee jointly bought property at a springs called Orange Springs in 1848. Yulee may have considered establishing a railroad through Orange Springs but the coming of a civil war halted this idea causing him to sell out to Pearson. Orange Springs was then built up as a health resort by Pearson. By the 1850s he became a successful businessman owning an inn, gristmill, saw-mill, furniture shop, and a machine shop.
caption: Pearson donated the land and material used for the construction of what is now the Orange Springs Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery in 1852.[6]
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