Year: 1990
Type: article
Abstract: The year 1990 marks the celebration of Brandon's centennial, but the rich history of this Hillsborough County community dates back to the mid-nineteenth century.On January 20, 1857, John Brandon and his wife Martha Carson, a cousin of the famous Kit Carson, arrived in Tampa with six of their children and all their earthly possessions.Originally from Tishomingo County, Mississippi, they had traveled over 700 miles on a two-year journey through the wilderness.The Brandon family did not stay long in Tampa.Shortly after arriving, they moved to the Seffner area, about twelve miles east of Tampa, and settled there for approximately one year.Then, in August 1858, John Brandon purchased forty acres of land, just south of Seffner, in what later became the community of Brandon.He and his family built a log cabin and farmed the land until tragedy struck with the death of his wife Martha in 1867.Once more, John gathered his belongings and moved his family to Bartow, where he met Victoria Seward Varn, a Civil War widow with two children.Married on September 17, 1868, John and Victoria made their home in Fort Meade and had three children of their own.Six years later John moved his enlarged family back to Brandon, which was then known as New Hope, where he homesteaded 160 acres and fathered two more children.The origins of the name "New Hope" remain unclear, but John Brandon quickly became a leading citizen and benefactor of the community that now bears his name.In 1878 he donated five acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for a church building and the New Hope Cemetery.John Brandon died in 1886 and was buried in the Brandon Family Cemetery, located today at Brandon Boulevard (State Road 60) and Pinewood Avenue.
Author: Lisa W. Rodriguez
Language: English
Topic: Photographic and Visual Arts
Subfield: Museology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3083314561