/ 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
187 
that the boy’s mind might gather some 
more gems of poetry from the book on 
the stump or fence corner before him. 
After reading all the books he could find 
in the neighborhood and passing through 
the public schools, he entered the Univer¬ 
sity of Illinois. Here he made fine prog¬ 
ress, and would have been graduated with 
honors but for the collapse of his health. 
In his senior year he was forced to aban¬ 
don his beloved studies and begin the 
fight for his life. After a second collapse 
he determined to seek a warmer climate 
and selected Florida. 
He journeyed by boat and rail to New 
Orleans. From there he sailed May 18, 
1877, f° r Tampa on the Lizzie Hender¬ 
son. He landed in Tampa, May 22, 1877, 
and soon thereafter settled at what is now 
called the Tampa-Ozona cross roads, 
where he took out a homestead in the 
midst of the piney woods. Here he un¬ 
dertook the colossal task of developing a 
home, without capital, without food and 
without strength. His diary, which he 
kept through life, bears most eloquent tes¬ 
timony to the hardships that he suffered 
during his early days and his humility at 
times in having had to borrow the neces¬ 
sary food to sustain life until he could 
become established. With dauntless de¬ 
termination he struggled on and was re¬ 
warded by a great improvement in his 
health and by seeing the orange and 
lemon grove which he planted on his 
homestead develop into a property of 
value. 
With the permanent recovery of his 
health, Mr. Craver began to prosper in 
business. He had the first postoffice at 
his homestead, which was called “Yellow 
Bluff” and was commissioned on Septem¬ 
ber 10, 1886. This name was afterwards 
changed to Ozona. After the town of 
Sutherland was started, he built a store 
and opened a mercantile establishment, 
added a line of drugs, became the post¬ 
master, a notary public and general con¬ 
sultant for the entire community. He 
was conservative and wise in investing his 
earnings and soon accumulated consider¬ 
able property. On February 25, 1920, he 
died, being survived by a nephew, David 
Craver, of Tampa, and two nieces, Miss 
Alice Craver and Mrs. Mary Williford, 
both of Sutherland, Fla. 
JOSHUA PITT FELT 
Mr. Joshua Pitt Felt was born in Bigg 
Flats, N. Y., December 7, 1844. Re¬ 
moved to Emporium, Pa., in early child¬ 
hood with his parents, where he spent the 
greater part of his life, being engaged 
chiefly in merchant milling. He became 
interested in citrus fruits in 1885 and 
came to Emporia, Volusia county., where 
he planted his first orange grove, and 
where he built his winter home. His 
faith in the future of the orange business 
was never shaken by subsequent freezes 
and he was actively engaged in the grow¬ 
ing and shipping of citrus fruit from 
1885 until his death in Eustis, July 3, 
1919. 
1 
