The Tindall family stayed in Narcoossee for a little over four years but the dampness of the swamps continued to affect both George and his children’s health. George’s brothers had given them a piece of land between two cypress swamps where they built a log cabin high enough to stay dry in case of flooding during the rainy season. Sometimes the water would come up knee deep to the steps but would not last long. It would begin to dry off and leave a green moss on the ground and the children began to have chills and fever.

Mary finally had enough and told George that they needed to get away from the area before all their children were lost. George gave his large herd of cattle to his brothers and the family packed the two wagons once again. They traveled southeasterly, not knowing where they would end up. They came to a crossroad where a Seminole Indian guided them east toward Jupiter and brought them food. The Tindall family arrived in Jupiter in late 1890.

The mosquitoes were ferocious and the Tindall’s could get neither food for themselves or their horses. The horses ate salt grass until they died with salt sickness, leaving only the family to fight the mosquitoes and fleas. As soon as your foot hit the ground, you were covered with fleas. George Tindall discovered that the property where they ended up was available for homesteading.

They built a palmetto shack on stilts in case the water rose and had lived there for one year when a gentleman arrived and announced they were living on his homestead. Once again, the family picked up and moved approximately 300 yards, building another palmetto shack on the property they had filed for originally. The family’s meals were cooked in the open on a brick stove, so when it rained, they didn’t eat. The table was made from old boards found on the beach and they sat on boxes. Stella wrote “You had to hold on tight to your bread or the Jay birds (scrub jays) would have it!” By this time the two oldest boys, John A. and Young Tindall had moved back to the Kissimmee area. The Tindall’s had ten children but one child died at birth and was buried on the homestead at Palm Point as was a grandchild. Check back with us again next month as we continue the history of the Tindell family.