From the Koreshan Archives:  — 
This month marks the birth of one of the lesser known members of one of the most prominent Koreshan families — the Bubbett family.

James and Evelyn Bubbett had three children. Their youngest, Laurence (Laurie) was president of the Unity during the time when things were coming to an end. His sister, Imogene, was married to another prominent Koreshan, Claude Rahn. She died at the age of 49. The oldest child — a son, named LeRoy, isn’t heard from in much of the literature and photographs held by the Koreshan State Historic Site.

LeRoy was born on September 5, 1871 in Quincy Illinois. By the time his parents moved to Estero, LeRoy was probably on his own and he appears to have stayed in Chicago. His belief in Koreshanity, however, remained with him and he acted as an “agent” of the Unity. He married his wife, Alice about 1894. They had two known children — LaReina and Victor, who were both born in Ohio.

LeRoy had some sort of malady later in life as his name turns up in the Koreshan “Community Current Events” as visiting Estero for his health. The last time, in June of 1936 it was written:

“After a visit of several months at the Unity, Leroy H. Bubbett left by train for his home in Chicago, much improved in health.”. However, by the fall of the year, it was written: “On Saturday morning, October 31, the Unity received a telegram from Mr. Leroy H. Bubbett, our representative in Winnetka Ill., to the effect that he would arrive in Fort Myers that morning and for someone to meet him. We did, but it was most evident that Leroy was not long for this world, for he arrived completely exhausted and a very sick man indeed. The end came the following Tuesday, November 3, at 3:30 p.m. Brother Roy, as he was familiarly known to us, was one of the early pioneers of the Koreshan movement in Chicago, coming into the home when a lad with his parents, Brother James and Sister Evelyn Bubbett. He performed much valuable service in those early days and since, and was ready at all times to champion the Cause of Koreshanity. He is survived by his wife and daughter, who reside at Winnetka; a son at Birmingham, Alabama, and his brother, Laurence Bubbett, of Estero. His son, Victor Bubbett, arrived in Estero Thursday morning following his father’s demise, and left the next day for Winnetka.”

September also brings the “beginning of the end” of the hot summer season, but the early beginning of the influx of our “seasonal” visitors. That means an increase in traffic and travel time. For the Koreshans who lived in a different time, travel on roads and bridges was a different kind of adventure.

In the “Community Current Events” column from September 1927, Dennis Richards wrote:

Florida is building highways so rapidly it is always impossible to say from day to day what the mileage of hard-surfaced roads is. …Florida now has approximately 9,500 miles of highway over which automobiles may be driven at high speed.”

Of course, we now have about 122,000 miles of highway in Florida. Richards also mentioned crossing the Gandy Bridge, connecting Tampa and St. Petersburg. It was built in 1924 and shortened the distance between the two cities from 42 to 19 miles.

From the Koreshan Archives  —  AUGUST

   This month we want to repeat the entry from this same month last year. 2009 was the 100th anniversary of the marriage of Annie Glosson Ordway and Charles Graves. Since there is so little known about Annie Ordway’s background, we wanted to repeat the post.

On August 29, 1909, Annie, known to Koreshans as “Victoria Gratia” , married Dr. Graves, the Koreshan dentist after the two were basically drummed out of the Unity after the death of Dr. Teed in December of the previous year (1908). For all her prominence, Annie’s history is rather vague. Here is what we know about her.

·  She was born in Boston Massachusetts on April 10, 1844 to Henry and Ann Glosson.
·  Her first marriage was to David E. Ordway. Little or nothing is known of him.
·  By the time of the 1870 Census, she was living in Chicago.
·  In the 1880 Census, she is listed with her husband, David, who was listed as a baker, and two sons – Harry, age 14 and George, age 6.
·  In the 1900 Census she is now shown as a member of the Koreshan Unity, although the census says she is still married, but only shows her married for one year. This probably has something to do with the Unity since the census also shows Teed and all but one of the females as married for one year.

Exactly when Annie either left or divorced her husband is unknown, but it appears to have been due to the lure of Cyrus Teed and the Koreshan movement. It is also unclear as to when Teed elevated her to the rank of “Pre-Eminent”, that is to say, the female head of the Unity.

Although it is not documented, it is believed that the reason for Annie Ordway’s removal as the leader of the Koreshans was that she recommended Teed’s burial after her return to Estero, following his death. This obviously did not sit well with those who beleived he would rise from the dead. She left the Unity and moved to St. Petersburg. she married Dr. Graves and died in 1923. There were some attempts by some members of the Unity to bring her back to Estero, but those efforts failed.

The late Evelyn Horne wrote:

“The first celebration of the Lunar Festival was at Estero, in 1902, where Dr. Cyrus R. Teed and Victoria both attended. There were also celebrations at the Koreshan Home in Chicago. The Estero celebration was an all-day affair, starting at breakfast in the Dining Hall–a musical program at 10:30 a.m.–at 2 p.m. a boat trip on the steamer “Victoria”, down the Estero River, along with Dr. Teed and 32 members. The steamer was decorated with gala-day decorations with flags and streamers.

Here are images of the 1880 U.S. Census and the 1900 U.S. Census records. Just click on the image to open it up, then look for the Ordway family.

From the Koreshan Archives —

This month we find the birthday of a Koreshan who rarely gets mentioned, but one who contributed a great deal to the cause of the Unity. I’m speaking of Nancy Cornelia Hawes Critcher She was born July 26, 1842, (please note that our genealogy pages show her birth in 1841. This has not yet been corrected) in Norwich Connecticut. She died on 11 October 1917. She was the youngest of four children born to Madison Hawes and Nancy Nelson Dam.

When she was 9 years old, she traveled with her mother to California. The three month ocean voyage around the Horn brought them to San Francisco in 1852 where they joined Nancy’s father, Madison, who had made the same trip in 1849. At this time Nancy was the only surviving child of Madison and Nancy. They lived on Taylor Street between California and Pine in San Francisco. Nancy went to a private school, to a Mrs. Purkitt, and she graduated from the Bush Street Denman School in San Francisco at the age of 12.

When she was almost 15 years old, on July 1857, she married Henry Critcher in San Francisco. Henry and Nancy lived in San Francisco from 1852 to about 1864 when they moved with her father, Madison, to the Octagon house in Brooklyn (now Oakland) in the East Bay.

They lived there until sometime after the 1868 earthquake during which the house was badly damaged. Henry and Nancy and their children returned to San Francisco where they lived in the home built in 1854 at the corner of Taylor and Pine. Henry died there in 1904. The house was destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, and later that year Nancy joined the Koreshan Unity.

She was on the editorial staff of “The Flaming Sword” and was considered to be one of the best posted writers in Scientific religion in the United States. Her death was caused by an accident when she fell and broke several bones. She retained her mental faculties until a few hours before she died. She was buried at the Horseshoe Bend Cemetery.

Writing in “Folks We Knew in the K.U.” Marie McCready wrote that Cornelia Critcher: “Had an almost bass voice; was for a short time caretaker at the children’s cottage in Estero; was the mother of around a dozen children.(–Rosalea McCready) I remember somebody asked her why she did not live with one of her children and she replied that they all had big families, and children’s activities were too much for her.”(–Marie McCready.) She did, indeed have 14 children, born from 1858 thorugh 1880. She wrote a number of articles for the “Flaming Sword

Here are some excerpts from Nancy C. Hawes Critcher’s letters:

Estero, December 28, 1906; Dear Children: The sisters wear a kind of combination corset cover and skirt, which takes the place of the usual skirt and is cooler than wearing so many garments. Moreover, as each one does her own washing and ironing, it is very desirable to have as few pieces as possible! They should be made of some thin material, not necessarily very fine. I suppose you know what thin material will wear best as you have lived in a hot climate so long…….You asked me to describe my room, etc. Everything here is very primitive and pioneery; the rooms are in dormitory fashion divided by sheets…..I have a very pretty little dresser that I bought in Chicago, and a single iron bed – a nice little rocker and the usual toilet articles, and am very comfortable….We quite often have visitors……I need a little money to supplement the diet, which is sometimes not quite up to the standard, especially in sweet things, which you know I am very fond of.

Estero, August 6, 1907; Dear Grace: ….I never knew time to fly so fast. I help in any way that I can – principally in the sewing line. Then I think I told you that, for a novelty, I preside (?) over a table of boys. I wish I could send you a photo of some of the features of the place. We have some beautiful bamboo trees and China Berry trees. The park is really beautiful.

LETTER, May 4, 1917; written to Grace V. Critcher Belshaw from Nancy Cornelia Hawes Critcher (signed “Mother”): Nancy tells about life in the settlement:
Estero, May 4, 1917; My dear Grace: ….You ask about our membership here and the work…We have about a hundred brothers and sisters here, (have not the exact numbers) and work of many kinds is carried on. We have a very well equipped printing establishment, where our two papers, The Flaming Sword and The American Eagle are published. The Sword is our religious and scientific magazine, a monthly, and the Eagle, a weekly secular paper, absolutely independent of politics, and advocating all measures for the public welfare….The printing office also does job work for outsiders, besides printing our own tracts and leaflets. We have a saw mill, carpenter shop, machine shop and an electrical shop; also a laundry where all who wish can have their washing done. Many, however, myself among the number, prefer to do their own; the ironing of the sisters’ things is done by themselves. I have become quite an expert laundress! We have an agricultural dept, and a dairy, which supplies milk for the family; pigs and fowls, dogs and cats! Our park is greatly admired by visitors; it is the finest in the county. The recent freeze did a great deal of damage to our ornamental shrubbery, and some of the less hardy trees, but the general effect is as good as ever. I miss the fruit of California. The semi-tropical fruits such as guavas, mangos, papaws, etc. do not suit my taste like the pears, peaches, plums, etc. of the old time. But as I did not come here for the luxuries of the palate, I do not complain. I am satisfied that this is the best place for me, where all are agreed upon the religious plane, though still showing all of the human frailties on other lines! I read the articles in your papers, and found many good points in them. Where we differ fundamentally, however, is in our estimate of the Lord Jesus, who, to us, is all the God there is. We take for our standard the first chapter of John’s gospel which makes that fact very plain. Our life here hinges entirely upon our belief in the fact that uses to the neighbor are the real test of all religion. Love to God and the neighbor is shown by the performance of uses of daily life, done unselfishly from love. That is the aspiration, not always successfully carried out, but always the aim. To return to the enumeration of our equipment, I find that I failed to mention two very important items, our boat and autos. We have two autos and many boats. One, a large freighting a passenger boat, runs to Ft. Myers three times a week, as a common carrier for the neighborhood. The others are used between our Mound Key place, and Estero Island, both for pleasure and service. On Mound Key our vegetables are raised by a brother who lives there, and the Island is very much appreciated as a place of rest and recuperation. A brother lives there, also, and raises vegetables and chickens, besides keeping the place in beautiful order. There is fine salt water bathing to be enjoyed there, also……..We have in the river any amount of oysters, to say nothing of some very fine fish among which are mullet, which I consider as fine as any fish I ever ate with the sole exception of salmon. I believe I have now pretty well covered the subject of our numbers and resources. None of them are developed to the limit of their possibilities, because we have not enough men to fill so large a requirement. This reminds me that I have not told you much about the work of the sisters. The sisters and the children of whom there are ten, do the dining-room and dish-washing work; they, also (not the same ones) do mending for the brothers, and others sew for such of the sisters as cannot do their own. One sister makes shirts and overalls very expertly. Others make sheets and bed screens, etc. Many of the sisters are like myself……and cannot do very strenuous work, although not by any means deficient in power to do mental work. Our old ladies would be a credit to any Old Ladies’ Home! The brothers, as a rule, are nearer middle age.

OBITUARY; Mrs. N. C. Critcher (Newspaper and date omitted):
Mrs. Nancy Cornelia Critcher, relict of the late “Forty-Niner,” Henry Critcher, known as the Admiral, who was one of the organizers of the San Francisco Stock Exchange, died today October 11, 1917, at the Koreshan Unity, located at Estero, Florida, a religious organization founded by the late Dr. Cyrus R. Teed. Mrs. Critcher was on the editorial staff of “The Flaming Sword,” the organ of the community, and was considered by those who knew her, to be one of the best posted writers on scientific religion in the United States. She left a family of seven sons and four daughters,–Mrs. Charles H. Crowell, living in Spain; Mrs. Grace V. Belshaw at Antioch; Mrs. Virginia C. Brittson at Vallejo; Mrs. Reginald Atthowe of San Anselmo, all in California, and a granddaughter, Mrs. Engracia F. Freyer, wife of Lieut. F. S. Freyer of the United States Navy, of Washington, D. C. One of her sons, Edward Payson Critcher of the Chicago Herald, was at her bed-side when she passed away. Her death was caused by an accident several weeks ago, when she fell and broke several bones. She never recovered, but retained her mental faculties until a few hours before she died. She was buried at the Koreshan Unity Cemetery at Estero. She was 76 years of age, and lived in San Francisco from 1852 until 1905, when she moved to Estero, Florida.

From the Koreshan Archives:
 —  June’s calendar isn’t quite as busy as previous months, however, the major calendar item this month is the birthday of Jesse Sears Teed, father of Cyrus. Jesse has been featured here before, so, instead of highlighting him again, we chose 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, 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. That fight was always used as the reason for Dr. Teed’s eventual death. Jentsch was a major player in that fight. 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, Roland Sander, and George Danner. 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 theater 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.

From the Koreshan Archives:
 —  This month we are looking at a member of one of the “Charter” families of the Koreshans, the Andrews family, and in particular, Annie Ray Andrews, the daughter of A.W.K. Andrews and Virginia Harmon Andrews. May 6 would mark Annie’s 131st birthday. She was born in Binghampton New York, the family home of the Andrews family. The book, “Folks we knew while in the K.U.”, written by Marie McCready says:

“Dr. Andrews, a physician and surgeon from New York state, and Virginia of southern birth, were among the first converts. Virginia, with her white hair and soft voice, was the typical “southern lady” type. …Annie Ray’s hair turned white while she was still young, which, with her black brows and lashes gave her a distinctive appearance.”

The photograph shows Annie on Memorial Day, 1909. One hundred and one years ago this month. Annie is on the left, along with her sister Margaret. The caption says: “30 May 1909 – 1911 E. Preston Street, Balitmore. Mr and Mrs. Satterfield, Annie Ray, Margaret and the Cat” Although there is no documentation to verify, it appears that Annie dropped out of the Unity shortly after Dr. Teed’s death. Whether or not she was ever a “believer” could probably be debated. She was a member of that second generation of Koreshans which included the likes of Claude Rahn, Laurie Bubbett, Allen Andrews and others. Annie lived in several places, including New York City. She apparenlty stayed away from the Unity for some time as one of the articles in the “Community Current Events” mentioned her visit after a long time away.
As far as we know, Annie Ray never married. She died in 1928 at the age of 49 and is buried in the Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia in the cemetery plot of her aunt, Susan Harmon Webb.

APRIL

 —  April is the month of the Lunar Festival as well as many other important dates in the Koreshan calendar. April 4th marks the 161st birthday of Virginia Harmon Andrews, the wife of Dr. A.W.K. Andrews. She and her husband were one of the first followers of Dr. Teed. A visitor to this website sent us transcripts a few years ago, of letters that Dr. Andrews wrote to his wife Virginia’s mother, Margaret Harmon explaining why he and his wife had come to believe in Dr. Teed’s mission. [see AM-0153]