Situated partially within the eastern confines of the Ocala National Forest and entirely within Florida's Lake County, the Paisley Precinct encompasses about 120 sq. miles of Florida scrub, roughly bordered by Alexander Spring Creek to the north, Lake Norris to the south, the St. John's River to the east and Blackwater Creek on the west.
Both "Paisley" and Lake County until May 1887 were within the northern reaches of a once much larger Orange County, Florida, in the latter of which today also sits the more widely known City of Orlando.
Crow's Bluff (before mapmakers dropped the possessive apostrophe and Yankees thought it referred only to birds roosting in its tall pines), Hawkinsville (approximately 2 miles to the north of Crow's Bluff) and St. Francis (alternatively spelled as "St. Frances," and to the south of Crow's Bluff a similar distance as is Hawkinsville to the north) ". . . were three separate river towns located on the west bank of the St. John's River. These three river towns played a large part in the settling of the Paisley area," according to "History of Paisley," edited by Lillian Lappe and Sue Nunes.
Ellison Hilliard Crow, this correspondent's lineal great-grandfather, established Crow's Bluff on the St. John's (which likewise today has suffered a dropped apostrophe) River's western shore, whereupon operated by the Crow family was a rope-drawn river ferry that crossed to the river's eastern shore and, lying to the east a few miles farther inland, DeLand, Fla.
Ellison H. and Emily E. (Simmons) Crow's second and third (of seven living) children, Joshua T. and Samuel J., were born in Hawkinsville, where a doctor was found at the time.
In time, constructed about halfway between the Crow's eastern-shore landing and DeLand were train tracks.
Eventually obsolescing the day's land and river-travel methods, the trains that operated on those tracks -- which sapped family income derived from boats offloading freight at the landing -- eventually forced the Crow family farther inland and who homesteaded land eventually named "Ponceannah," a favored name of founders Ellison H. Crow and family friend, The Reverend Louis Ballard.
In Ponceannah, Ellison H. Crow along with sawmill owner and partner R. L. Kirkland opened a general store. Along with other aspects (lacking only a school, at least insofar as official county historical documents reflect), Ponceannah for decades was a self-sustaining community.
Then came the automobile and a "shrinking" of distance and time between communities.
Though fading in time as a named settlement, the name "Ponceannah" would later supplant an originally named "Crow Burial Grounds" (established by Ellison H. Crow), becoming "Ponceannah Cemetery."
Ponceannah Cemetery's still-existing governing association was legally chartered in 1891 and the cemetery's entrance can be found along Lake County Road 42, southwest of Paisley, Fla. (Google Map link = http://tiny.cc/43egq).
Ellison H. Crow's descendants to this day refer to it simply as "Ponceannah."
Though Paisley and DeLand (immediately to the east of which sits Daytona Beach) and surrounding area have dramatically changed over the decades since, they remain active communities, although Paisley retains its small-town character relative to DeLand, which is Volusia County's seat.
Before altogether leaving Crow's Bluff, Ellison H. Crow (born 1819, died 1905) served as a bugler in the War Between The States.
Crow fought under the command of Florida "Swamp Fox" Captain (later, General) J.J. Dickison -- often incorrectly cited as "Dickinson" and, infrequently, as "Dickson" -- that is, should one believe the spelling of Dickison's name on his tombstone, which is found in Jacksonville's (Fla.) Old City Cemetery and a picture of which accompanies a very thorough The Jacksonville Observer profile of Dickison (viewed by following the link http://tiny.cc/tzpfd). Crow was among the cavalrymen who sank the USS Columbine, the attack of which was detailed in the above-cited story.
In February 1994, Crow's service in the War Between The States was recognized and honored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp 741, Tavares (Fla.), who placed a granite marker at Ellison H. Crow's Ponceannah gravesite.
Best Regards,
DC Williams
Post Script: Of possible interest to some readers, among early Paisley-area residents were Elias and Flora (Call) Disney, the parents (and respective kin) of Walt Disney.
Though some Walt Disney biographical references place their marriage as having occurred in Acron (a.k.a., "Ackron" and "Akron"), Fla., another Paisley area community, those who personally knew the Disneys placed the ceremony in yet another nearby community, Kismet, as well as a post-nuptial residency in Paisley where, again, Disney kin are still found. A few years following their nuptial, Elias and Flora Disney moved to Daytona.
At the time there were separate cities: Daytona on the mainland, Daytona Beach on a barrier island, as well as other area communities which merged in the 1920's to form a larger, consolidated Daytona Beach.
While in Daytona, Flora Disney gave birth to Walt Disney's two oldest siblings, Herbert and Raymond, before the family relocated to Chicago, where Roy, Walt and Ruth were born, respectively.
Walt Disney as an adult decades later often visited kin who lived (others still do live) in Paisley and his love of the area's land gave birth to Walt Disney's originally conceived "City of Tomorrow," (a.k.a., "Tommorowland," "Futureland") but which after his death became a vastly different "Walt Disney World."