The Expedition party visited the Addison homestead south of Miami, at a place on the Biscayne Bay which later became known as Cutler. John Addison was a squatter who settled on land that was part of the Perrine Grant. Dr. Henry Perrine had been U.S. Consul in Mexico, and after his service he was granted by the U.S. Congress in 1839 land in the Biscayne Bay region. The Second Seminole War was underway at the time so he and his family settled first on Indian Key. In 1840, Dr. Perrine and several others were killed when the Seminoles attacked Indian Key. His family escaped and in subsequent years his son, Henry Perrine, Jr., made attempts to make the land profitable without much success. In the 1870s and 1880s settlers such as the Addisons and William Fuzzard began squatting on land that was part of the Perrine Grant. Perrine, Jr. began efforts to evict them in the 1890s, but the settlers formed a squatters union and with support from the Florida East Coast Railway successfully fended off eviction. In 1898, a settlement with the U.S. Government and Perrine's heirs led to the settlers receiving land. For a time, their small community was known as Cutler and later much of the land became part of the Charles Deering Estate.
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For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015