For those who have ever visited Estero, there is an area that, although owned by the State, is not part of the Historic Site. For our wonderful volunteers, it is known as the “Volunteer Village”. But once upon a time it was a working trailer park. ⁽⁽¹⁾⁾

Many people have always related Florida with trailer parks. They have, through time, taken on less than desirable reputations, but in 1941, the Koreshans were looking for ways to support themselves. They had what was probably a thriving printing business, but they apparently needed or wanted to diversify their income so they had the idea to build a trailer park on the north side of the Estero River.

In the September 1941 issue of the “Flaming Sword”, in the “Community Current Events” column it was written:

“WORK ON THE Estero tourist park is progressing. The eight-acre tract has been mowed. Ditches have been dug and two water pipe lines are being laid. A sixteenfoot road is being shelled from the Tamiami Trail west to the river. In the tract is a grove of native Oak Trees and Cabbage Palmettos and giant Bamboo fronting on the river, where bees have been kept for more than forty years. The bees are being removed and this natural beauty spot will be preserved as a park for the use of camping tourists. The natural beauty will be enhanced by the planting of Azaleas’, Tree Ferns and flowering shrubs and vines. The tourist park site is irregularly triangular, fronting 600 feet on the Trail, 1000 feet on north side and having a meandering diagonal river frontage of approximately half a mile. Just inside the front fence White and Purple Bauhinia Trees will be planted. These will be a mass of bloom during the tourist season and will not be injured by any cold weather that is experienced here.”

However, not everyone apparently thought the trailer park to be a good idea. Claude Rahn wrote to Laurie Bubbett with his thoughts in a February 1942 letter. He said:

“… Was also glad to get the news of Estero, the good and the bad and the indifferent. The trailer park venture never has aroused my enthusiasm–my principle reason being perhaps the question that always presented itself to my thoughts ‘who is there capable of running such a project at Estero, and still leave any profit for the Unity?” Of course they could probably get some outsider to do it, but the cost of a competent man would probably eat up most of the profits, if there were any. Now that the war is on, and travel restricted to those who have auto tires, it looks hopeless. It has always seemed to me that while it is commendable to look upon the bright, side of a new venture, one should also carefully consider the darkest possibilities that might arise, and then after due consideration if there was a gambler’s chance to succeed – take-the chance, but be sure to leave a bridge standing over which to make a safe retreat if it should become necessary, Now that Allen ⁽⁽²⁾⁾ has gambled and apparently lost, has a bridge over which he may have looked ahead to carry him been built strong enough to carry the financial load?” ⁽⁽³⁾⁾

Later on, a new member of the Unity was give the task of running the trailer park. Hedwig Michel, the “last Koreshan” apparently made it work because it remained in use for a long time until the State decided to make better use of the area in the 1990’s.

To view two other photos that were taken in the “trailer park” just click the links below. They don’t show a whole lot of the trailer park unfortunatley. The first one shows Allen Andrews and others celebrating Thanksgiving in 1948, and the other shows Emma Norton ⁽⁽⁴⁾⁾, Elizabeth Rahn (wife of Claude), Adah Price, Cora Newcomb and Bella Armour, all in their later years.

Road Construction — In the last post we made mention of the current road construction on the Tamiami Trail, or US-41 which passes through Estero. Here is a photo taken from the first construction. This photo was taken about 1958-1960[?] Notice the Art Hall which is seen on the right hand side of the photo. You can also see the original entrance to the Unity. This was when the road was being widened to four lanes from a two lane road. ⁽⁽⁵⁾⁾ [Click for a larger view].

1. Photo 5-58[↩]
2. Allen Andrews, who was President of the Koreshan Unity at the time[↩]
3. Claude Rahn to Laurie Bubbett-19 February, 1942 – Laurie Bubbett Correspondence [↩]
4. Emma Norton was the sister of Dr. Teed[↩]
5. Photo 5-57[↩]

This month we want to feature the woman for whom our major collection was named, Cora Stephens. The Stephens collection is in the hands of the State of Florida despite the Koreshans… Not the present day “College of Life”, but the Koreshans of 1950.

Let me explain. For any number of reasons, the Koreshans believed that when one of their number died, their personal belongings we of no account, so generally things were discarded. I suppose that is like most of us. When people pass away, we hang on to certain items — mementos.

In this particular case, Cora Stephens, who was the caregiver for Emma Norton, the sister of Cyrus Teed, chose to hang on to a number of items that had belonged to Emma, and ultimately Dr. Teed. These included photographs, letters and publications.. Obviously, in 1950, when Emma died, there was probably no talk about a State Park, or an archive. It probably wasn’t totally clear what would have happened to her belongings, simply because Emma had a number of letters and memorabilia that had belonged to Dr. Teed.

All we do know is that Cora took these items into her care and later on, after she left the Unity, she took these items with her. The reasons as to why this happened are unknown. All that we know is that years later, Cora Stephen’s daughter-in-law donated these items to the State of Florida. That is how we acquired this collection which makes up the bulk of the holdings in our archives.

According to Evelyn Horne:

Notes from Evelyn Horn: Cora Stevens (Stephens)
Cora Stevens (sic) came to the Koreshan Unity, Estero, Florida April 1918 with her husband Joel from their home in Mt. Tabor, N.C. with three children, Wade only eight years old–Mace, who became a printer and barber by trade–Alafae, a beautiful teenage girl. The children were all educated at the Koreshan School. They were all active in music and performing in plays, entertaining in the Art Hall. Alafae was a dramatic reader of poetry. Sister Cora worked in the kitchen and dining hall. She loved to make beautiful cakes for special occasions of Koreshan celebrations. In late years she often visited her grown-up children, who married. Alafae Strande who lived in Phil. and the sons in Tampa, Florida.

We are always happy when we find more information about the Koreshans, especially when it sheds light on individuals and on everyday life in the Unity.

This month I want to explore the Teed family. We usually only hear about Cyrus, but Jesse Sears Teed and Sarah Ann Tuttle had eight children who lived into adulthood.

This month we feature the fourth child, Charles Jackson Teed who was born on July 3, 1843 in Moravia, New York. We don’t know what Charles thought about his brother Cyrus, and his activities as Koresh, however, Charles did leave us some of his own history, thanks mostly to his younger sister, Emma Teed Norton, who went on to follow her brother.

Charles served in the Union Army, enlisting on August 15, 1862, serving in the 144th New York Infantry. You can view part of his enlistment record by clicking on the image below:
He served until 1865. On February 23, 1874 he married Amelia McLaughlin, who was from Tompkins in Delaware County New York.

Their first child was a girl, Ella, who died sometime before 1880. They had two other known children. Sarah, born about 1877 and Marvin, born about 1886.

“Charley” as he was apparently known, died on February 12, 1887. His distraught widow wrote a letter to her sister-in-law, Emma Teed Norton, Charley’s (and Cyrus’) sister on February 24, 1887, just 12 days after his death. You can view the original letter below.

 — June reminds us the the ‘season’ is definitely over. Hurricane season has officially begun and the hot days, and humid nights drag on for then next six months or so.

This month marks the birthday of Jesse Sears Teed, father of Cyrus, but instead of featuring those ‘known’ Koreshans, we thought we would, once again highlight some of the lesser know members of the Unity. We, once again, feature a somewhat obscure Koreshan who, although his time with the Unity was somewhat short, had a major impact, at least on the infrastructure of the Unity. His name was Richard Jentsch ⁽⁽¹⁾⁾ , born in Germany on the 8th of June, 1883. He came to Estero in 1906. It is unclear how long before that time he had been a member of the Unity.

He was a member of the Unity Orchestra, and this grainy photo is all that we have of him. His claim to fame came in 1906, shortly after his arrival when he took part in the “fight” in Fort Myers when Dr. Teed was struck by Sheriff Sanchez and arrested. Jentsch was a part of it. According to historian Elliot Mackle, writing in the “Florida Historical Quarterly”:

“A crowd quickly gathered around the four men. The train had by that time arrived, and the Baltimore party, escorted by the mayor of Estero and by a young Koreshan named Richard Jentsch, had begun walking toward a hotel in the center of town. Upon meeting the crowd they recognized Dr. Teed. Jentsch sprang forward to defend his messiah, and was followed almost immediately by the three Koreshan boys in his charge-Claude Rahn ⁽⁽²⁾⁾, Roland Sander ⁽⁽³⁾⁾, and George Danner. ⁽⁽⁴⁾⁾

Jentsch struck Sellers and was then himself struck down by blows from the crowd. Claude Rahn, trying to separate Sellers and Dr. Teed, was hit in the mouth by a stranger. George Danner, seeing this, ran forward, kicked Rahn’s attacker, and then retreated. The man yelled, “Grab the kid.” Someone did, and Danner was knocked into the crowd.”

Jentsch is better known in the Historic Site as a member of the Koreshan Orchestra and an active member of the theatre troupe. He eventually left the Koreshan Unity and got married to a fellow Koreshan, Cecile Read Woodruff, who, according to the records we have, was almost forty years his senior. Jentsch died on April 14, 1915, just four months prior to his wife, who died in August of 1915.

1. Richard Jentsch geneaology[↩]
2. Claude Rahn geneaology[↩]
3. Roland Sander geneaology>[↩]
4. George Danner genealogy[↩]

From the Koreshan Archives:
 —  This month the Koreshans go digital!! On April 13, 1930, a crew from Fox Movietone News came to Estero to film Allen Andrews explaining the Cellular Cosmogony. As far as we know, this film was never used in any of the “Movietone” newsreels and did not appear in theaters.

These were outtakes, or simply raw film that was never edited. It is interesting to note a couple of things. First, Allen Andrew’s voice. We can hear what he really sounded like. Second, it sounds as though, towards the end, that they were hurrying him up and he begins to talk rather fast. Finally, you can hear the “inner sphere” that holds the sun, moon and stars, “squeak” as it is turned.

 —  This month, I want to repeat a previous post, mainly because I want to highlight the differences between the ‘real’ and the ‘ideal’. Koreshans preached equality of the sexes, but they also had to live in a world which (at the time) did not even allow women to vote.

So, this month we look at some correspondence of Annie Ordway, also known as Victoria Gratia. Victoria (and many others, including Koresh), considered herself the rightful successor to Cyrus Teed (Koresh). Teed proclaimed her the “Pre-Eminent”. He gave her the name “Victoria Gratia Koresh”. When Teed died in 1908, Victoria was in Washington D.C. attending to Koreshan business. She immediately returned to Estero and arrived back on December 26th. The New York Times reported that she immediately ordered his body interred (NTY-December 27, 1908). This apparently caused an uproar among the faithful and within no time at all, Victoria was replaced by the Board of Directors. She relocated to Sanford Florida and on the anniversary of Teed’s birth in 1920, [see pencilled date on the image – 1919 appears to have been added even later] she wrote a proclamation offering to return to the colony at Estero. The document consists of eleven pages in total. It is made up mostly of references to Teed’s writing about the role of Victoria.

It has never been completely clear why the Unity at Estero became divided over the leadership of Victoria, although, as the New York Times article points out, Victoria had ordered the body of Doctor Teed to be interred and there was disagreement with that from the rank and file members of the Unity. That was probably the biggest reason, but there could have been resentment over Victoria’s role when Teed was alive, and his death made her power null and void in some people’s minds. Either way, she fell out of favor very quickly, but there always remained a group, albeit small, who believed she would someday return.

As the years past, and the Unity broke up even further, the return of Victoria became less and less of a possibility. By the time this ‘proclamation’ was written there was little likelihood that she would ever return. On top of all that, the whole idea of an elite leadership seemed to have faded.
Of course, the majority did not accept this offer and Victoria eventually moved to St. Petersburg Florida where she died on January 8, 1923. Victoria, a.k.a. Annie Ordway was born Annie Grace Glossen in Boston, on April 10, 1844. She was married to David Ordway and at some point left her husband, presumably to join Dr. Teed’s movement.