On the outskirts of Deltona, between Courtland and Howland Boulevard, is a quiet street called George Sauls Street. People have lost the significance of it to Volusia history for decades. But rewind more than 150 years. Stagecoaches would roar along its dusty path, and an unlikely secret agent spirited a Confederate fugitive away into the night.
The street is named for early settlers who set down roots in what is now modern-day Deltona. In a place called Saulsville, once celebrated but later abandoned and almost forgotten.
George Sauls - Find a Grave Memorial 33274567
George Sauls, born in Nassau County in 1821, laid claim to a large parcel of land with his wife, Adeline. It was less than a mile from Osteen. The original petition for a land grant reads: "A petition for 350 acres in Spanish East Florida, at a place called Funk's Savannah, 1 mile above the public road to Georgia."
The Sauls built a four-room home using hand-hewn pine logs and carved pegs. (No nails.) A breezeway through the center led to a kitchen, an outhouse, and a well. Each room had a fireplace. By the end of the Civil War, George Sauls had enlarged the house. It now had a dining room, winter and summer kitchens, a pantry, and a second story. Their family had grown to nine daughters and one son.
The Sauls became close friends with the Osteen family. They educated their children together. The area took on the name Saulsville, a key stagecoach stop.
The Sauls depended on the land to provide everything they needed. They grew their own food, made their own clothes, and built a community. They welcomed religious leaders of many faiths to hold services in the west room of the home.
The Sauls valued education. George claimed to have only four days of "schooling" in his life. Still, he and Hezekiah Osteen shared costs to hire a tutor for their children for six months each year. When they built Chaudoin Hall at Stetson University, Sauls was one of the first $50 donors. He said, "I am for progress and wish to make a sacrifice for such."
A Secret Agent
Unknown, even to his family, George was a secret agent for the Confederacy. The governor appointed him to watch over the children and wives of soldiers in the Confederacy while they were away. He also took account of cattle, cotton, and tobacco taken to Lake Harney for shipment to the coast. During the war, family and friends remembered his unexplained absences at night. They spoke of an oath taken in his own blood for his tasks. But he never spoke about his commission. It wasn’t until 1933 that his surviving relatives learned of the part he played in the Civil War.
His most notorious role was aiding John C. Breckinridge, the 14th vice president and the Confederate secretary of war. As the Confederacy's fall was imminent, Breckinridge escaped to Florida. He reached the mouth of Lake George on the St. Johns. His party got the salvaged lifeboat from the federal Columbine from the Confederate Swamp Fox. It was a gunboat that the Confederates had captured during the Battle of Horse Landing.
From Holden's Landing above Lake Monroe, Breckinridge sent two men five miles inland to Saulsville. They engaged Sauls to meet the party at Cook's Ferry and help haul the lifeboat to the Atlantic Ocean. Breckinridge described it as "the only wagon to be had in that desolate country.”
With his oxen-powered wagon, Sauls took the party, boat, provisions, and ammo from Lake Harney to the Indian River at Carlisle's Landing.
This was a three-mile trek north to modern-day Titusville. Several versions of the story exist about the payment Breckinridge made for Saul's help. One account says Sauls refused to agree to a price of five dollars until he saw the money. Another says he charged the party an extra five dollars when his oxen suffered during the fly-ridden, two-day trip. Either way, Breckinridge wasn't pleased. He said Sauls "was very ignorant, but keener and more provident in all points of contract than any Yankee I ever saw."
A Thousand Dollars, an Orange Grove or
the Yankee Silvers Spoons
On their wedding day, Sauls offered each daughter a choice: a thousand dollars or an orange grove. He couldn't bear to see them leave. So, when each daughter married in the west room of the house, he took a long walk into the woods. He did not return until the ceremony was over.
Yet, at her wedding, Ruth Sauls, his granddaughter, refused to marry until her grandfather came home. She was the daughter of his only son, John. As a gift, Ruth received the same dowry, but she asked for the Yankee silver spoons instead.
The teaspoons, made from "Yankee" silver, were a gift from a polite colonel of the Union army. The colonel had taken provisions from the homestead during the war and offered to pay for what he took. When Sauls refused to accept his money, he directed the colonel to a well, bucket, and gourd on the west side of the house. Later, Sauls found 60 silver dollars tucked between two logs near the well. He later sent them to Richmond to have them melted into spoons.
Death and Lost History
When the railroad came to Volusia, much of the area grew. But Saulsville faded away. George Sauls died at 89. A local wrote a tribute to him that appeared in the newspaper years later.
“‘Old Man’ Sauls, for more than fifty years, a leading spirit in the community, was a kindly, hard working, thrifty, hospitable man, as honest as the Sunshine and as true as steel. He lived a long and useful life and died quiet and peaceful death.”
Saul's home and 15,000 acres of land fell to Deltona Corporation. The Volusia County Fair Association received the house as a gift. It is of historical value. The intent was to move it to the fairgrounds and turn it into a museum. On New Year's Day, 1972, a fire destroyed the house. Authorities blamed drifters or teenagers living in the abandoned home for the fire.
Sauls Home after the fire 1972
On April 4, 1976, over 100 people gathered at the site of the burned home. They included descendants of the Sauls family, county officials, and historical society members. They renamed the street George Sauls St. and placed a plaque on a coquina to mark the site of the home for future generations.
Deltona Misplaces its Pioneer History
In 1981, the Deltona Corporation sold the land with the Sauls house marker. The buyer then sold it to a developer. Ignoring the historical plaque that marked it, someone built a house on the site. Later, the homeowner got annoyed by people walking on their property to read the plaque. So, they complained to the city. Someone tore away the plaque and relegated it to storage. When the Sauls family realized it was missing, they demanded answers from the city. It was then moved to Osteen Cemetery, where it rests today next to the graves of George and Adeline Sauls. Yet, for many years, the plaque remained unchanged. It referenced the site of a house that no longer sat there. In 2006, the Volusia County Council updated the plaque to note its location. It now reads:
“The pioneer families of this cemetery put down roots on the Florida frontier — a place considered ‘desolate’ at the time. In the 1850’s, George and Adeline Sauls settled two miles west of here on a stage road. They constructed a large log home and raised 10 children; farmed and kept livestock; served travelers: and joined Osteens, Carpenters, and other neighbors in the Saulsville community to organize a church, hire a school teacher, and frame a society. In 1884, Sauls family members denoted this burial ground, along with an African American graveyard to the west. When his long life passed, George Sauls was remembered as ‘a leading spirit’ in his special section of Volusia County.” - Volusia County Council, 2006
Sauls House site plaque, Osteen Cemetery - Photo: Robin Mimna
The plaque does not mention its original location or provide a reason for its relocation. Lacking a marker, the original house site's location risks permanent obscurity.
Sources include:
Fearington, Blanche. “Rich In History, Sauls House Stands Aging and Alone.” Orlando Sentinel, Orlando 27, Dec. 1972
“Osteen History,” notes retyped in 1999 — Enterprise Museum
A.J. Hanna’s: Flight Into Oblivion, 1938. Johnson Publishing Co.
Ronald Williamson: The Daytona Beach News Journal, “Pair set out to replace historical site marker” Oct. 21th, 2006
Sauls Family-Early Setters of Volusia County Florida (n.d.):n.page. Roots & Branches Genealogical Society of West Volusia County. Roots & Branches Genealogical Society of West Volusia County. Web.
The Volusian, “George Sauls, one of the earliest settlers in the Osteen area,” May 1990
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