MAGILL FAMILY IN LABELLE
Terry Hamilton-Wollin
My family were among the early LaBelle settlers. My great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Magill, was acquainted with Capt. Hendry and corresponded with him. They arranged a land swap via the mail and she, along with her husband, John Hamilton Magill, are buried at Ortona Cemetery. Mary E. Magill's children were Evan Pettus Magill, b. 1892; Mattie Estella Magill Thomas, b. 1894; Sybil Mary Magill Sirmans, b. 1896; Inez Cerita Magill, b. 1899; and William Lorenzo Magill, b. 1901. Evan Pettus Magill and Mattie Magill Thomas are buried at Ft. Denaud Cemetery. William Lorenzo and Inez Cerita are buried at Ortona Cemetery. Sybil Magill Sirmans is buried in Glen Burnie , MD.
John Hamilton Magill's brothers, Robert Henderson(Tobe), Benjamin Franklin and James Madison , sister Mary Jane (Jennie) and her husband Marion Clark and their families traveled from Oklahoma to take up residence in LaBelle. They came via train to Cedar Key, then packet to Ft. Myers and finally barge to LaBelle. Mattie Magill Thomas taught second grade for many years in LaBelle. Sybil Magill Sirmans was a waitress in the original Flora & Ella's and it was there that she met Doc Sirmans, and later married him. Sybil Magill Sirmans was considerably younger than her husband and was widowed at a young age. she returned to LaBelle and became a very fine seamstress. Her two daughters, Alma and Thelma, attended LHS. Inez Magill worked for the Clerk of Circuit Court in Hendry County, then in Everglades City. She wrote "From Ticks to Politics," which is on the library shelves of the Florida State University System. Edith Magill, their cousin, was the high school librarian in LaBelle. Maud Magill Carlson ,a sister of Edith Magill was a missionary in the Florida Keys and was drowned along with her husband Rev. Swen Robert Carlson during the massive hurricane in 1935 that devastated that area. The Carlson Memorial Methodist Church is named for them.
The Magill family was the First Pioneer Family so honored at the first Swamp Cabbage Festival. As part of that celebration, , Mattie Magill Thomas, restarted the old clock in the court house tower, which had not worked for 30-some-odd years. Mattie Magill Thomas began her teaching career on Sanibel Island. At that time there was no bridge from the mainland to the islands and no bridge connecting the two islands. She was taken across by packet boat and only left in the summer and at Christmas. It seems that she had 6 pupils, and boarded with the family of one of them. They all lived on Captiva Island. The school house was located on Sanibel. Each morning she rowed across from Captiva to Sanibel and started a fire in the school hours, then rowed over to ferry her students across. After school they all rowed back to Captiva again. When she told me this story, I asked why, if they all lived on Captiva, they didn't have the school house on Captiva. "We just never thought of it, I guess," was her answer.
I have as a word document the entire Magill Family History written in 1950 by A.C. Magill , updated in 1990 and annotated in 2001. I also have a wonderful memoir written by Irma Magill Delaney Mosely in 1990. She vividly recounts life in turn-of- the-century LaBelle
Terry Hamilton-Wollin
My family were among the early LaBelle settlers. My great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Magill, was acquainted with Capt. Hendry and corresponded with him. They arranged a land swap via the mail and she, along with her husband, John Hamilton Magill, are buried at Ortona Cemetery. Mary E. Magill's children were Evan Pettus Magill, b. 1892; Mattie Estella Magill Thomas, b. 1894; Sybil Mary Magill Sirmans, b. 1896; Inez Cerita Magill, b. 1899; and William Lorenzo Magill, b. 1901. Evan Pettus Magill and Mattie Magill Thomas are buried at Ft. Denaud Cemetery. William Lorenzo and Inez Cerita are buried at Ortona Cemetery. Sybil Magill Sirmans is buried in Glen Burnie , MD.
John Hamilton Magill's brothers, Robert Henderson(Tobe), Benjamin Franklin and James Madison , sister Mary Jane (Jennie) and her husband Marion Clark and their families traveled from Oklahoma to take up residence in LaBelle. They came via train to Cedar Key, then packet to Ft. Myers and finally barge to LaBelle. Mattie Magill Thomas taught second grade for many years in LaBelle. Sybil Magill Sirmans was a waitress in the original Flora & Ella's and it was there that she met Doc Sirmans, and later married him. Sybil Magill Sirmans was considerably younger than her husband and was widowed at a young age. she returned to LaBelle and became a very fine seamstress. Her two daughters, Alma and Thelma, attended LHS. Inez Magill worked for the Clerk of Circuit Court in Hendry County, then in Everglades City. She wrote "From Ticks to Politics," which is on the library shelves of the Florida State University System. Edith Magill, their cousin, was the high school librarian in LaBelle. Maud Magill Carlson ,a sister of Edith Magill was a missionary in the Florida Keys and was drowned along with her husband Rev. Swen Robert Carlson during the massive hurricane in 1935 that devastated that area. The Carlson Memorial Methodist Church is named for them.
The Magill family was the First Pioneer Family so honored at the first Swamp Cabbage Festival. As part of that celebration, , Mattie Magill Thomas, restarted the old clock in the court house tower, which had not worked for 30-some-odd years. Mattie Magill Thomas began her teaching career on Sanibel Island. At that time there was no bridge from the mainland to the islands and no bridge connecting the two islands. She was taken across by packet boat and only left in the summer and at Christmas. It seems that she had 6 pupils, and boarded with the family of one of them. They all lived on Captiva Island. The school house was located on Sanibel. Each morning she rowed across from Captiva to Sanibel and started a fire in the school hours, then rowed over to ferry her students across. After school they all rowed back to Captiva again. When she told me this story, I asked why, if they all lived on Captiva, they didn't have the school house on Captiva. "We just never thought of it, I guess," was her answer.
I have as a word document the entire Magill Family History written in 1950 by A.C. Magill , updated in 1990 and annotated in 2001. I also have a wonderful memoir written by Irma Magill Delaney Mosely in 1990. She vividly recounts life in turn-of- the-century LaBelle