Land Transfers

Envelope and hand-drawn maps of Michael Gladden, Jr.'s property, Lots 21 and 27 of Block J in Apopka, mailed to Ella Wall. Gladden (1899-1982) was the executor of the estate of George W. Oden (1862-1939), a successful businessman and citrus grower in Apopka, Florida. Gladden was born in South Carolina in 1899. He married Elizabeth Gladden and together they had a son, William, who was born around 1904. According to census records, the Gladden family had moved to Jacksonville as early as 1910 and then moved to Apopka. After Oden's death in 1939, Gladden continued to manage the legal documents of Oden's estate. Wall was an entrepreneur and businesswoman of Apopka who served as the inspiration for a character in Zora Neale Hurston's novel Mules and Men Wall was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1874 and moved to Apopka as a widow. Throughout her lifetime, Wall purchased four parcels of land. She operated an orange grove and also constructed small wooden buildings that she rented out to migrant workers. Wall was also a friend of Gladden until her death in 1938.