William Whitaker (pioneer) - Sarasota

Sarasota

Although the area had long been explored by the Spanish, few permanent settlements were established south of Gainesville. Taking advantage of the Armed Occupation Act, Whitaker was given six months of provisions and the right to 160 acres (0.65 km2), provided he built a home there and defended it for five years. In December 1842, he and his half-brother sailed to what is now Yellow Bluffs overlooking Sarasota Bay; the high ground, the freshwater springs, and evidence of burial mounds proved the land would be ideal for a home. There he built a simple log cabin and began fishing and farming. For a penny per fish, he traded with traveling Cubans, saving enough money to travel to Dade City to purchase cattle. It was from the same Cuban traders that he secured oranges and guavas, planting the first commercial citrus groves in the state. Florida now provides 75% of the country's oranges. William experimented with grafting oranges, dubbing his the "Whitaker Sweet".

He was active in civic duty in this period, serving as the Clerk of Elections for the 5th Precinct of then Hillsborough County where all of six voters were registered; he was later elected Sheriff. He purchased his cattle in 1847, two years after Florida achieved statehood, Whitaker taking "47" as his brand to mark the date of his venture. He weathered the '46 hurricane and the Great Gale of 1848 in his cedar log house, calling the latter "the granddaddy of all hurricanes." The hurricane ripped a path through Pine Island creating a new pass, lazily named by Whitaker "New Pass", a name it still retains. In 1851 he married sweetheart Mary Jane Wyatt, who moved to the cabin to begin a frontier family. Their marriage and child were the first of each recorded in Sarasota's county record. In that same year, with land warrant number 56934, he purchased 144.80 acres (0.5860 km2) from the state, buying at the same time an additional 48.63 acres (196,800 m2) for $1.25 each. In modern-day Sarasota this land stretches from Indian Beach Drive to Tenth Street, what Whitaker called Azarti Acres. The path he struck from Yellow Bluffs northward would become part of Tamiami Trail.