English-born residents in the 1900 Avon Park census
Summary
The manuscript schedules of the twelfth federal census, enumerated on 25 June 1900 by Henry C. Evarts (NARA Microfilm T623, Roll 167, Enumeration District 33, Sheets 18A–21B), document exactly ten English-born individuals living in Avon Park’s precinct out of 232 total residents (4.3 percent). While these families confirm that English immigrants played prominent civic and commercial roles in early Avon Park, the returns refute the enduring promotional myth of an organized English agricultural colony. The schedules also establish that the self-styled “Lord and Lady Bunbury” had vacated their Lake Pythias estate before the summer of 1900.
Enumeration structure of Precinct 14
In the 1900 census, DeSoto County’s vast northern territory was organized administratively under Enumeration District 33.[nara-1900-census-t623-r167] Henry C. Evarts, a resident of Frostproof who enumerated both rural homesteaders and town settlements, recorded the Avon Park community across Sheets 18A through 21B, assigning sequential household numbers 335 through 413. Every single person enumerated in the precinct was recorded as White (“W”) in the race column; zero Black or African American residents were returned in the precinct’s town settlement in 1900.
The English-born households
Ten individuals in five distinct households were recorded as native to England:
| Household ID | Sheet & Line | Name | Birth Date | Immigration | Occupation | Marital Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 335 | 18A, L40–41 | George Smith | June 1855 | 1885 | Farmer | Married (21 yrs) |
| 335 | 18A, L41 | Mary Smith | Nov 1856 | 1885 | None | Married (21 yrs) |
| 356 | 19B, L64 | Benjamin Francis West | Jan 1848 | 1878 | Banker / Citrus | Married (29 yrs) |
| 356 | 19B, L65 | Mary A. West | Feb 1840 | 1878 | None | Married (29 yrs) |
| 356 | 19B, L66 | Mary H. West | Dec 1875 | 1878 | Music Teacher | Single |
| 356 | 19B, L67 | Robert E. West | May 1877 | 1878 | Fruit Grower | Single |
| 394 | 20B, L62 | Frank Thompson | Sept 1837 | 1857 | Fruit Grower | Widowed |
| 395 | 20B, L66 | Kathleen Cheape | July 1848 | 1892 | Horticulturist | Widowed (Head) |
| 395 | 20B, L69 | Charles Everton | Feb 1867 | unrecorded | Boarder / Labor | Single |
| 395 | 20B, L70 | Caroline Everton | June 1868 | unrecorded | Boarder | Single |
| 399 | 20B, L79 | Charles Wilkinson | Jan 1828 | 1861 | Retired | Widowed |
[nara-1900-census-t623-r167][usgenweb-1900-desoto]
The West family and local finance
The most prominent English family in the 1900 return was that of Benjamin Francis West (1847–1926). Born in England, West emigrated to the United States in 1878 and arrived in Avon Park in the early 1890s. In 1894, he established B. F. West & Company, Bankers, operating out of a frame building on Main Street as the town’s first private banking institution.[maxwell-1976] West’s daughter, Mary H. West, served the community as an independent music teacher, while his son Robert assisted in the family’s citrus grove holdings.
Horticulturists and independent women
Kathleen Cheape (b. July 1848 in England, née Hambrough), widowed head of Household 395, arrived in Florida in 1892 following residence in Canada, where her sons Frederick (b. 1885) and Dudley (b. 1891) were born. In a period when few women were enumerated with independent occupations, the census designates her as a “Horticulturist” managing her own grove acreage.[nara-1900-census-t623-r167] Boarding in her household were Charles and Caroline Everton, both English natives who joined the town’s agricultural workforce.
The absence of the Bunburys
A persistent local legend holds that an aristocratic English couple, popularly styled “Lord and Lady Bunbury,” resided continuously on Lake Pythias from 1889 through the early twentieth century. The manuscript census of June 1900 establishes that neither a Bunbury nor any individual with an English title of nobility resided in Avon Park or anywhere in DeSoto County in 1900. Coupled with passenger manifests and British probate registers, the schedule corroborates that the Bunburys’ residence on Lake Pythias was short-lived and had terminated prior to 1900.
References
- nara-1900-census-t623-r167 — U.S. Census Bureau. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Population Schedules, Florida, DeSoto County, Enumeration District 33, Sheets 18A–21B (NARA Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 167; FHL Microfilm 1240167). 25 June 1900. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6W9S-T6R
- maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. 1976. Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida
- usgenweb-1900-desoto — USGenWeb Archives. 1900 US Federal Census, Avon Park ~ Precinct 14, DeSoto County, Florida, transcribed by Janine Rickner and Phyllis Borden. 4 September 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250904061514if_/http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/desoto/census/1900ap.txt
Where this comes from
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Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Population Schedules, Florida, DeSoto County, Enumeration District 33, Sheets 18A–21B (NARA Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 167; FHL Microfilm 1240167) (1900) · archival
- Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
- USGenWeb Archives, 1900 US Federal Census, Avon Park ~ Precinct 14, DeSoto County, Florida, transcribed by Janine Rickner and Phyllis Borden (2025) · secondary
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