Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (December 29, 1922)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (December 29, 1922)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (December 29, 1922)
Subject
Windermere (Fla.)
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Citrus--Florida
Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)
Freezes (Meteorology)--Florida--History
Description
An original letter of correspondence between brothers and business partners Joshua Coffin Chase and Sydney Octavius Chase. Topics discussed in the letter include the latest Isleworth Grove report and possible allowances for depreciation, losses, and other deductions.
Chase & Company was established by brothers Sydney Octavius Chase and Joshua Coffin Chase in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove in Windermere, Florida. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes. Between 1894 and 1895, Central Florida was hit by several freezes and most of the citrus crop was destroyed. Chase & Company did not grow citrus crops again until 1904 when Joshua came back from an extended stay in California. Between 1894 and 1900, different types of pesticide equipment was created, including equipment driven by steam, machines, and horses.Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Chase & Company was established by brothers Sydney Octavius Chase and Joshua Coffin Chase in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove in Windermere, Florida. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes. Between 1894 and 1895, Central Florida was hit by several freezes and most of the citrus crop was destroyed. Chase & Company did not grow citrus crops again until 1904 when Joshua came back from an extended stay in California. Between 1894 and 1900, different types of pesticide equipment was created, including equipment driven by steam, machines, and horses.Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Creator
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Source
Original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, December 29, 1922: box 49, folder 20.84, Chase Collection (MS 14), Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1922-12-29
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, December 29, 1922.
Is Part Of
Chase Collection (MS 14), box 49, folder 20.84, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Isleworth Collection, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
235 KB
Medium
1-page typewritten letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Isleworth Grove, Windermere, Florida
Chase & Company Office, Sanford, Florida
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase, and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
Source Repository
University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections
External Reference
Warner, S.C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.
Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.
"Joshua Coffin Chase (1858-1948)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=960.
"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Transcript
Dec 29th 1922
Mr. S. O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
ISLEWORTH REPORT: Turned copy over to J. C. Twyman who has gone over same and written you regarding certain rulings in the handling of similar returns that have been called to his attention and are matters of record. With these rulings, he did not feel that Weill & Oliver would have much trouble in including the Department to allow depreciation, losses and other deductions that appeared in your original Isleworth report.
Yesterday H. W. Skinner, President of the Milwaukee-Florida Orange Company, was in the office. Upon his last visit to Florida he handled with Twyman the 1917 report of his Company. Twyman recalls very distinctly that the examiner handling this report on Milwaukee insisted that the company should make deductions on orange trees. The only question in Twyman's mind was the original values set up on the Sanford books when the Isleworth property was incorporated. At that time you made a valuation on the different groves without paying very much regard to replacement, depreciation or any other value. None of us handling the matter thought that the Isleworth Grove Company would be anything more than a holding company for the various properties in which we were personally interested.
If it is necessary to place a value on Isleworth in line with what we have always considered it worth, it would be necessary to capitalize certain freeze exempt features, which has never been done. The trunks of the old trees that were there prior to the freeze of 1894-95 and which came through that cold practically intact, indicate that we have a value there which we are entitled to capitalize. The freezes that have happened since 1894-95 have always done less injury to Isleworth than to other points, and this has enabled us to bring the property into proper bearing capacity and enabled us to have good crops and realize good prices for the past six years.
When this matter comes right down to a final hearing it may be necessary for you or Leffler or both to spend about a day or so wither in Philadelphia or Washington with Weill, and believe that when you get through with the examiner, he will understand that Isleworth is in a class by itself.
Yours very truly,
Mr. S. O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
ISLEWORTH REPORT: Turned copy over to J. C. Twyman who has gone over same and written you regarding certain rulings in the handling of similar returns that have been called to his attention and are matters of record. With these rulings, he did not feel that Weill & Oliver would have much trouble in including the Department to allow depreciation, losses and other deductions that appeared in your original Isleworth report.
Yesterday H. W. Skinner, President of the Milwaukee-Florida Orange Company, was in the office. Upon his last visit to Florida he handled with Twyman the 1917 report of his Company. Twyman recalls very distinctly that the examiner handling this report on Milwaukee insisted that the company should make deductions on orange trees. The only question in Twyman's mind was the original values set up on the Sanford books when the Isleworth property was incorporated. At that time you made a valuation on the different groves without paying very much regard to replacement, depreciation or any other value. None of us handling the matter thought that the Isleworth Grove Company would be anything more than a holding company for the various properties in which we were personally interested.
If it is necessary to place a value on Isleworth in line with what we have always considered it worth, it would be necessary to capitalize certain freeze exempt features, which has never been done. The trunks of the old trees that were there prior to the freeze of 1894-95 and which came through that cold practically intact, indicate that we have a value there which we are entitled to capitalize. The freezes that have happened since 1894-95 have always done less injury to Isleworth than to other points, and this has enabled us to bring the property into proper bearing capacity and enabled us to have good crops and realize good prices for the past six years.
When this matter comes right down to a final hearing it may be necessary for you or Leffler or both to spend about a day or so wither in Philadelphia or Washington with Weill, and believe that when you get through with the examiner, he will understand that Isleworth is in a class by itself.
Yours very truly,
Document Item Type Metadata
Original Format
1-page typewritten letter
Collection
Citation
Chase, Joshua Coffin, “Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (December 29, 1922),” RICHES, accessed April 16, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/2710.