Postmark May 2, 1899

L.L. Meggs,
General Store and Real Estate
Marion County

Orange Springs, Fla., May 1, 1899

My Dear Nellie

I found your mother’s table linen last night. My old Plug came near turning me out the buggy getting around it. I sent it out today by Sarah Graham & trust she gave it to you.

Nellie I don’t see why it should be any one’s business to say so much about our correspondence especially if that is what caused you to not want to write 2 letters a week. However dear if it’s your wish I’l not quarrel with you about it. Then too you may have other reasons. I can hear your words asking me why I would get so blue & not be cheerful as I used to be. I have thought of it often since you asked me. My dear didn’t I tell you, that, when you said I looked like a happy boy. Yes the smile often dwindles to as sad care worn face carried by a boy that has never know what real life is & when I am in that kind of speel you can look into my face & read what kind of a harvest a boy that leads a life of [illegible] reaps. But by your influence can’t I cast away all these blueish feeling. Write to your own boy, Glass.

I often try to wear a pleasant face as the little book tells us. Never more [illegible] over fellows with shadows on our faces where we ought to have sunlight.

Martha Mizell Lang

The following is an account of the life of Martha Mizell Lang, Nellie Lang's mother, as told by Nellie's sister Kate Lang Dane in 1963. It is from the publication Miami of the Pioneers: A Picture History by Marjorie Meggs Gowin and Peter Thomas Skaggs Gowin, copyright 1976.

This story was written by her youngest daughter, Kate Lang Dane (Mrs. Seymour Dane) in 1963, just prior to Mrs. Dane's death.

Martha was born February 14th, 1846, at Sunny side, near Folkston, Georgia. Her parents were Letitia Rhea (Ray) Paxton Mizell and Joshua Everett Mizell, who had lived in Camden County until Joshua's Uncle William Mizell gave him his home farm in Charlton County, Georgia.

Letitia Paxton was the daughter of Joseph Paxton and Martha McClesky. Martha McClesky was the daughter of James McClesky and Isabella Rhea (Ray). James McClesky was a revolutionary soldier, serving in North and South Carolina; and a Captain in the Third Regiment of Georgia Militia in the War of 1812. He emigrated to Georgia from N.C. shortly after the revolution. (DAR Natl Number 381897).

She was only sixteen when the war between the states began. She shared the work of maintaining a home for ten; helping to milk the cows, make the butter, spin the cotton and weave the clothes which were needed for her family and for the slave family of six. Educational opportunities were few, but her Aunt Sarah, who shared the home was a great reader, and supplied the magazines and books the family read. The Christian Advocate was a monthly paper and Godey Magazines were greatly appreciated. She taught school and was paid with Confederate money, which soon became worthless. Her devotion to her brothers, Jack and Everett, who were in the Confederate Army, made her happy to join with others who had been asked to make shirts for the soldiers.

She was a woman of great strength of Character and devotion to duty. On the 6th of February, 1867, she was married to Felder Lang, a soldier in the Confederate Army, who had come home to Camden County only two years before. Their home for a while was Incachee by the sea, near Brunswick. Here they share cropped with the owner, Burwell Atkinson. Martha making the butter, after milking the cows, and giving the butter as rent. Soon her father, Joshua Mizell, gave them a small house and one hundred acres near him. One daughter had been, Letitia Lang Howell. The family soon built a new house which was the birth place of five more children.

Martha took part in the affairs of the community and boarded the teachers until a public school system was established. She was determined to have the children get an education, so about 1883 she got her husband, Felder, to let her buy a home in Folkston where the children attended school.

This did not last long, so she was back on the farm boarding teachers again until she looked forward to better things.

When the family moved to Fort McCoy, Florida, in 1887, she set about to have a nice home with fruit and flowers and friends whom she made. A second move to Ocala, Florida, and a third to Dade County, Florida, brought her happiness, but the same old duties. A life long Methodist, she placed her membership at Trinity Methodist Church, Miami, Florida, in 1907.

In 1906 she joined the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Southern Cross Chapter. While living at her final home in Miami she delighted in the visits of her children:

Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Howell of Branford and four children
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lang and their three children
Mr. and Mrs. B.G. McDonald of Folkston, Georgia
Mr. and Mrs. William Glass Meggs, Sr., of Miami, Florida, and their six children
Mr. and Mrs. Guy C. Lang of Branford, Florida
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Dane, of Redlands, Florida

(All are deceased now)

In 1933 she rented her home at 675 W. Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, and went to live with her daughter, Mrs. Seymour Dane, in Redland, Florida. Here she joined the Home Demonstration Club and the Woman's Club of the Redlands, and was an active member of the club.

She died in Redland on January 26th, 1936, and was buried from the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Glass Meggs, Sr. She is buried in Woodlawn Park Cemetery, Miami, Florida. Rev. H.G. Tyler of Trinity Methodist Church of Miami, Florida, officiated. Death was caused by pneumonia just two weeks prior to her 90th birthday.

From the records of Marjorie M. Gowin (Mrs. T.S.)

Postmark April 28, 1899

L.L. Meggs,
General Store and Real Estate
Marion County.
Orange Springs, Fla., 4-28, 1899

My Darling Nellie,

You didn’t ask me to write however guess you’l be glad to know the old Plug didn’t turn me out & break my arm I mean.

Nellie I’m up first thing & I’m thinking of you & guess I’l think of you until I fall asleep tonight.

I do hope the whole crowd of you can come Sunday & We’ll wake the Old folks up.

I’l be on time & I couldn’t do anything but eat [illegible] you for I would have to be with you the whole time.

Your own boy
Glass

Postmark April 27, 1899

Wednesday Eve .7.

My own Darling Nellie

I made an extra effort after receiving your letter to get out to see you this eve but failed. Our old plug will have to go to Palotka & Loek tomorrow & I didn’t think it prudent to drive her tonight. I tried to hire a horse but couldn’t get one but what I’d be out all night on the road & didn’t care to do that. I was very anxious to come then when I read your letter & you wrote as though something I’d said about marrying another girl had worried you. I was more anxious to come talk it any time you wish & make out of it what you can. Think of you half as often as you think of me!! Yes dear!! I think of you near all the time. Could I let you slip from my memory a moment!! No, not for the world because you are my all there why not think of you first last & all the time. Nellie, Sister & Bro expects you all to be with us Sunday dinner. I told them of your spring lunch plan & they mean to meet you at church so don’t bother to bring your lunch.

God bless you dear one & pray that we will soon be nearer and dearer to each other.

Your boy
Glass

Postmark April 25, 1899

Friday aft.

My darling,

Your long good letter reached me today & truly I was glad to learn you were not sick.

Darling you love long letters & I love you so I will try to write long ones.
If though you only knew how tired I was you’d say write a short one this time.
We have had a fine trade today. Largest order amounted to $133.35 so it warmed us up a little while.

I thought of uncle Paxton all the time & did wish I didn’t have to work so hard as you know he pitied me so for having to do so much.

I think Guy will come up late this aft & I hope he will. I sent word to Mrs. E’s I’d be out.

Guy said he wanted to learn to waltz & I wish he knew now.

I am glad you think enough of my promise to my God to not resist on my coming to see you however I don’t think there is very much danger do you for I always keep my promises.

No dear, I never fear that we will quarrel & break up. I don’t think there is any danger at all unless you prove to me that you are only flirting with me & don’t realy love me.

I am so sorry for you in regard to how you suffered with your teeth. I know how to sympathise with you however I’ve never had any filled. My teeth are all like dogs teeth (sound & round) & not a hollow tooth in my mouth.

I think Mrs. McDonald is right about your photo & send me one as soon as you have it taken so I can look at it now & then. I’l not [illegible] until after we are ---- Well you know.

I thought sure I’d get an invitation today but you didn’t send one. Maybe you haven’t any yet.

Darling Mother doesn’t even know where you are so how could she write. You must write to her every week after we are married.

Nelly when I was young I didn’t worry over business & money working like I do now & I sometimes I wish I didn’t now. As to the drive out & selling the cows you say. Were you a Gould you’d send me $45 for such a letter. Now darling I am glad you prize the letter but $45 would be no inducement for me to write another or not so much as you think. You refer to my letter. I didn’t allude that the worry was the whole cause of my feeling so well but it was knowing I had gone to make a trade & had succeeded.

Success is the whole of it & had I failed to make the trade then I would have know I had failed & then the question would be show if I had done my part & where ever there is failure this is hard to do & where you succeed it isn’t.

Darling money isn’t all to me. I prize you higher than all the money on earth & for the love I have for you inc writing you several (long) letters & not because I think you’l pay me.

It’s hard for me to write long letters because I never practice it but for your sake I try.

A few lines always seem to me a plenty. Just enough so I’l know Nelly is ok & let them come after, though if I write you long letters you write me long ones for I am happy when I am reading your letters & it takes me longer to read long one[s] so I’m happy more.

S is ok he left soon after I got there last Sunday & stayed all day. Went to see her Lucas.

My mother doesn’t even know your address or I guess she would write to you.

When we marry you must write her every week.

I write about twice a week & only a few lines.

Write long letters to your poor boy.

Glass

Have letters every day from people waiting rooms in Old Globe & guess will let them have them as I don’t want it to stand empty all summer. But if you come home we can get rooms some where else until they leave.

Felder Lang

The following is an account of the life of Felder Lang, Nellie Lang's father, as told by Nellie's sister Kate Lang Dane in 1963. It is from the publication Miami of the Pioneers: A Picture History by Marjorie Meggs Gowin and Peter Thomas Skaggs Gowin, copyright 1976.


This is the story of Felder Lang written by his youngest daughter, Kate Lang Dane (Mrs. Seymour Dane) in 1963, just prior to her death.

Felder Lang was the son of Isaac Lang, Jr. and Caroline Atkinson. Caroline Atkinson was the daughter of Burwell Atkinson and Anne Felder. Burwell Atkinson was the son of John Atkinson, Revolutionary soldier, and Elizabeth Gardner. Anne Felder was the granddaughter of Henry Felder, of Orangeburg, SC. Henry Felder was a member of the Continental Congress from St. Matthews Parrish, Orangeburg Township, for effectually carrying into execution the Continental Association during the revolution. He was a Captain in the Revolution and his seven sons were in his company. Henry Felder cast arms for the Americans during the war, had two dwellings burned by Tories, and was killed in the burning of the last one. One of his cannons is on the square at Orangeburg on display. His oldest son, John Felder, took over the company, and was killed trying to escape from capture by the British. (Salley’s History of Orangeburg County, SC)

Felder Lang was born August 13, 1842, near Brunswick, and the Old Town of Jefferson at Langsbury, GA. This was the home of Isaac Lang, Jr. and Caroline Atkinson.
He was married to Martha Mizell of Charlton County, Georgia, on the 6th day of February, 1867, at the home of her father, Joshua Everett Mizell, six miles from Old Center Village, later Folkston, Georgia. Officiating was Rev. Mallette, who had been his teacher in boyhood, and who also married Felder’s sister, Susan Lang to Gideon Mallette.

At the age of about eighteen, he and his brothers Nat, Neuton, and Richard joined the volunteers to fight for State’s Rights in the Confederate Army. He rode horseback (his own horse, Prince) to Jonesburry, Georgia, where he was enlisted as a member of the Fourth Georgia Cavalry under command of Captain Clinch. He became a scout and was in Atlanta when the city was burned by Sherman’s Army. He related that the Confederate soldiers were almost without food or clothing when he saw a warehouse as large as a two story store go up in smoke. This was the supply of the Confederate Army. He saw destruction of farms, homes, cities and villages within a radius of one mile wide from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. Sherman ordered his men to destroy the food supply. He did, only sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas were left, with some corn and cattle. He was somewhere along the St. Mary’s River when the Confederate Soldiers fired upon the Union gun boats that sailed up the river to Traders Hill (truly a trading post for cotton, corn and cane grown even as far South as Kissimmee, Florida). The gun boats did little damage, returning to St. Mary’s without knowing that the defense was made by a small number of men.

Felder Lang was at the battle of Olustee, Florida, where he did his part in defense there. At the close of the war he was a 2nd Lieutenant in command of a Company of Cavalry known as Company D of the 4th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, elected May 4th, 1863. In late years he moved to Florida and the State of Florida gave him a pension for having done his duty in what he believed was right for the South.
The Lang home was near Folkston. Reconstruction days found him a surveyor of land and timber. He surveyed the little town of Folkston for Dr. Folks who established the town about 1873. At Burnfort on the Satilla River he became the favorite surveyor of lumber men who brought rafts from Darien, Georgia, to be sold to the mills at Bailey’s Mills near Brunswick. Here his children were born, Letticia Caroline Lang (6/27/1868), Louis Everett Lang (8/24/1870), Julia Eleanor Lang (Nellie – 6/14/1876), Lucia Bernice Lang (11/27/1873), Guy Carlton Lang (1/11/1879), Kate May Lang (5/12/1881). All are now deceased except Nellie Lang Meggs (Mrs. W.G. Meggs) of Miami, Florida.

During the presidency of Grover Cleveland, Felder Lang served two terms in the Georgia State Legislature as representative from Charlton County, Georgia. At this time, the first Railroad in the County was from Savannah to Jacksonville. This was about 1873. The road is now a part of the Atlantic Coastline.

In 1894 he sold the farm and cattle and became a turpentine operator at Uptonville, Georgia. In 1898 he sold the place and moved to a place near Citra, Florida, where he and his son Louis operated another turpentine farm. At this time he accumulated 17,000 acres of pine land on which were many cool sandy bottomed lakes. The Post Office was Ft. McCoy, but he soon established a village post office named Dexter, Florida, with himself as postmaster.

In 1904 he bought the home of Mr. C.M. Brown in Ocala. This place of twenty acres had been up to 1896 a fine orange grove. The great freeze of 1896 had killed all the fruit trees, so it was only a farm. In December of that year Mr. Brown invited him to see Miami before he went to Ft. Myers or Inverness, either of which might have pleased him as a place of retirement. After seeing Miami in December of 1904 he said he had never seen a place so beautiful and full of promise. So he bought from H. Price Williams, overseer of the Lawrence Place next door, a citrus grove on the Miami River, consisting of a bungalow, a boathouse and a barn. He named it Incachee, like the Atkinson home in Georgia, which was the home where he lived when he was first married.

The Williams family had a flower business and sold roses to the Royal Palm Hotel at the mouth of the Miami River. Fruit which had been selling at $7.00 per box dropped so low that the grove was no longer profitable. Also, Felder’s sight was failing and he anticipated the blindness he suffered the last years of his life. He sold the grove in 1913 and moved to 675 W. Flagler Street, Miami, where he died of a hernia at the age of 76 (March 8th, 1919). He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Miami, Florida.

Felder Lang was a man with a great sense of humor, integrity and honor. He loved people and loved to have them around him. He was an Elk, both in Ocala and Miami. Some of his Miami friends were R.E. Hall, W.W. Farris, Edward Lummus, E.B. Romph, J.H. Tatam, C.T. McCrimmon, J.W. Girtman, Dr. James M. Jackson, Captain Marsh, Captain J.C. Kuney, Captain Ross, W.A. Marsh, H.G. Copinger, Mr. John Ellis and H.H. Kilpatrick.

Postmark April 22, 1899

L.L. Meggs
General Store and Real Estate
Marion County
Orange Springs, Fla., 4-21, 1899

My Dear Miss Nellie,

I enclose a puzzle which youl find a hard one if you’ve never seen it worked. Have it worked by Sunday if you have time.

My dear!! Why didn’t you come up this week? I wanted to see you real bad & do for heaven sake dear one never tell me again I worry you & am getting troublesome for I’ve had the blues near the whole week.

Be ready Sunday so we can get an early start to S.S. I have lots to tell you.

Lovingly your boy,
Glass