The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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O. R. Thacher

O. R. Thacher (1837 – March 11, 1912), often recorded in legal and genealogical records as O. R. Thatcher, was a pioneer resident, grape grower, land agent, and newspaper editor of Avon Park, Florida[nygenweb-thatcher-death][dsc-1905-09-22][fshs-1897]. As founder and editor of The South Florida Sun, he authored the primary surviving week-by-week record of Avon Park during the first decade of the twentieth century[dsc-1905-08-18].

Origins and Arrival in Avon Park

Thacher was born in New York in 1837 (noting in September 1905 that he was born in the same year as neighbor Frank Thompson, who turned sixty-eight on 18 September 1905), originating from the town of Hopewell in Ontario County, New York[nygenweb-thatcher-death][dsc-1905-09-22]. In a signed retrospective column published in The De Soto County News on 6 October 1905 (“In Avon Park Thirteen Years — A Retrospect and An Outlook”), Thacher recorded that he first saw Avon Park on 4 October 1892, when fewer than twenty settlers lived in the community[dsc-1905-10-06]. Reviewing the thirteen years since his arrival, he named the fifteen residents already living at Avon Park on 4 October 1892 who still remained in town in October 1905: William and Mary King (“the first settlers”), Mr. and Mrs. F. S. Prior, Mr. and Mrs. O. J. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. William Krause, Frank Thompson and his daughter Mrs. E. J. Masters, Aaron Bassett, Charles Wilkinson, Dr. Seth B. Kittell, Henry T. Wray, and William Krause Jr., adding that Arthur Winthrop Sargent and his family arrived the following month, in November 1892[dsc-1905-10-06].

In Avon Park, Thacher engaged in experimental viticulture on the sandy ridges of the Lake Wales Ridge and served in the management of the Florida Development Company. At the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting held at Avon Park in October 1894, two months before the first freeze, Thacher (printed in the Savannah Morning News dispatch as “O. B. Thatcher”) was elected superintendent of the Florida Development Company alongside President Oliver M. Crosby, Vice President and Treasurer N. S. C. Perkins, and Secretary R. D. Hall[savannah-1894-10-16]. By April 1897, the Florida State Horticultural Society appointed him to its standing Committee on Grapes, serving alongside Crosby (who chaired the Committee on Tropical Fruits)[fshs-1897].

In addition to fruit cultivation, Thacher acted as a local attorney-in-fact, conveyancer, and property manager for non-resident and overseas investors holding land in DeSoto and Lee counties. On December 31, 1900, he executed formal powers of attorney for British investors Harry and Eva Burnet of Jamaica[nygenweb-thatcher-death].

Editing The South Florida Sun

By June 1900, Thacher had established The South Florida Sun at Avon Park to promote the agricultural settlement of what he termed the “Excelsior Lake Region” of south-central Florida; on 23 June 1900 The Savannah Morning News reprinted an item from the South Florida Sun reporting favorable weather in the Avon Park orange groves and James McBride’s $5,000 orange crop sale to E. A. Thomas[savannah-1900-06-23].

Lacking a local high-volume steam printing press in isolated Avon Park, Thacher arranged in 1905 and 1906 to publish the paper as a standing weekly feature within The De Soto County News in Arcadia, the county seat[dsc-1905-08-18]. Under the masthead “Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park, Florida: Conducted by O. R. Thacher” (with standing notices directing readers: “communications intended for this Department should be addressed to J. O. Thacher [typographical variant for O. R. Thacher], Avon Park, Florida”), he reported local news, building construction (such as John C. Burleigh’s residence and the Hotel Verona), citrus conditions, weather observations, and early political debates regarding the division of DeSoto County[dsc-1905-08-18].

State business directories continued to list Thacher as editor and publisher of the South Florida Sun in both 1907 and 1911[gaz-1907][gaz-1911].

Death

Thacher died at his home in Avon Park on March 11, 1912, at the age of 75 years[nygenweb-thatcher-death]. His passing coincided with the conclusion of the South Florida Sun and preceded by only a few months the arrival of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the 1913 municipal incorporation of the town.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Ontario County NYGenWeb, Ontario County Newspaper Death Notices, s.v. Thatcher (1912)
  2. Florida State Horticultural Society, Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Florida State Horticultural Society (1897) (1897)
  3. R. L. Polk & Co., Florida Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, s.v. Avon Park (1907)
  4. R. L. Polk & Co., Florida Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1911, s.v. Avon Park (1911)
  5. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 18 August 1905, page 8: Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park, Florida (1905)
  6. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 22 September 1905, page 18: Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park Locals (1905) · newspaper
  7. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 6 October 1905, page 8: In Avon Park Thirteen Years — A Retrospect and An Outlook (1905) · newspaper
  8. The Morning News (Savannah, Ga.), The Morning News (Savannah, Ga.), 16 October 1894, page 6: Annual meeting of the stockholders of the Florida Development Company at Avon Park (1894) · newspaper
  9. The Savannah Morning News, quoting The South Florida Sun, The Savannah Morning News, 23 June 1900, page 8: Florida column quoting the South Florida Sun of Avon Park (1900) · newspaper

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