Chuck's Roots

I am not exactly sure what year the Haven Family came to Cedar Key. Chuck’s great grandmother Sarah Bryan Haven is listed in the 1880 census on Depot Key which was later named Atsena Otie.  Her youngest son Henry is listed with her, great grandpa William G. Haven was born in 1820 in Georgia and died in 1870, in Cedar Key. Henry the youngest son was born in 1860 in Columbia County, Florida also died in Cedar Key.

Uncle George Haven, also one of her sons lived on the island that is now called Sunset Isle. Aunt Mable one of the younger daughters of Charles W, and Louisa Haven used to say they could only walk over to visit Uncle George when the tide was out and the shell road was exposed. Sunset Isle is the next island past Haven Isle, heading into Cedar Key.

H. B. Haven, Chuck’s dad’s Railroad career began in Cedar Key, after he returned from WW1; he started working on the train that came into Cedar Key as a fireman, before it was shut down. 

His father, who was Chuck’s grandfather, Charles W. Haven was the section foreman on the tracks between Cedar Key, and Waldo, and when they closed down the Cedar Key Train I believe it was about 1932, Charles W. Haven was transferred to Waldo.

Henry Burroughs Haven married Gussie Collins and they went south before the Railroad closed down, and in the beginning he worked out of Sebring, Florida.

Henry B. Haven was born on Haven Isle which is the first Island as you are leaving the mainland at the end of the # 4 Bridge. He was born in 1893 and even though he was only three years old when the ‘Tidal Wave’ of 1896 hit, and because it was such a traumatic experience, he remembered it vividly!

His dad, (C. W.) was gone at the time, working on the line. His mother and the five children were home alone. They had no idea what was coming, but they knew something was! There was very little communication in those days, and they paid close attention to the signs of nature.

All the birds left, and the tide dropped so much it was bone dry, and there was not a breath of air it was so still.

Grandma Haven figured there was a ‘big blow’ coming, their name for hurricanes in those days. And she figured the old house might blow away, and so she decided it would be best to take her children and herself out to the top of the railroad trestle which was higher ground.

She lashed all of her children and herself to the highest point of the trestle with rope. Papa told us he could hear the freight train coming, but it confused him at first because the sound was coming from the wrong direction and it was dark, the roar he was hearing was the first wall of water coming in. 

He said, “It came right up to the bottom of the tracks that we were tied to, and then it receded, and a smaller wave came back in, and then a third wave as large as the first one, and then it began to blow”!

Their small family survived due to grandma Haven’s wisdom. Charles W. and Louisa Haven lived on Haven Isle for many years after the great storm and had six more children before the Railroad was closed down. Their little house didn’t blow away, but the roof did blow off, so many others were not as fortunate.

It was a very destructive storm; with an immense storm surge that some estimated to be about 32 feet wall of water which was about 5 feet more than the storm of 1842. Many lives were lost, and there was tremendous property damage, numerous sponge boats were sunk along with the entire crews as well as fishing boats which were sunk along with their crews.

Among the fishermen that were drowned were uncle George Haven and his brother Henry and his son Frank. Their bodies washed ashore on a small island called Five Brothers, and you can see that island from # 4 Bridge to the west. They were out fishing when the storm hit, and were anchored down near the mouth of the Suwannee River. They were last seen alive at a fish camp on Ax Island.

Their bodies were found by Mr. Orlando Robinson’s daddy. He buried them on that Island, and as long as he lived, out of great respect, he took care of keeping the graves clean and replacing the clam shells that he had covered them with when he buried them to mark the grave sites. He also blazed a cross on one of the Sabal Palms that was growing on the island, but that Palm has been gone for many years.

After he died Mr. Orlando took over the care of their graves, and when Mr. Orlando, died his son, Curley, continued the tradition. After Chuck and I moved back to Cedar Key Mr. Orlando told us this story and Curley was going to show us where they were located, but never got ‘round-to-it’ before he died.

Cedar Mill on Depot Key
later named Atsena Otie

People had lived on most of the barrier islands until that time; there had been a Cedar shingle factory on Atsena Otie Key and the township was located there, but most everything and everyone were wiped out in the storm, and no one has lived on the outer islands since then except for brief periods of time.

 The township was relocated to Way Key which is now called Cedar Key. The entire group of islands was called Cedar Keys.

The story of their drowning was written up in a newspaper article in the Atlanta Constitution, October 8, 1896, page 4, and can also be found in “The Search for Yesterday” a Levy County, Florida history publication. Cedar Keyan’s are a resilient people, they rebuild after the storms pass.

Chuck’s dad, Henry Burroughs Haven, was a railroad man.  When he retired from the railroad, he had worked for the Railroad forty four years.  Many years of that time, was spent as an Engineer.

West Lake Wales where they lived was a Railroad Community. Almost everyone who lived there worked for the railroad in some job capacity. 

To be continued with more of Chuck’s Roots . . . .