
CREDITS – DICK BERGMANN Rare 1890 Envelope postmarked “Malco”
It was like an episode from PBS’s popular TV show – History Detectives, a local historical item with a large mystery behind it. The item: a very rare envelope with a most unique cancellation showing it was postmarked at Malco Florida and mailed in 1890 to a St. Clair Whitman of Cedar Keys, Florida. “Malco” was the official name of the first post office established on Marco Island October 20, 1888 at the request of Capt. W.D. “Bill” Collier (the builder of the Old Marco Inn). Capt. Collier, when asked why the name was “Malco,” said the post office would not allow him to name it Marco. Three years after it was established, on June 4, 1891, Collier convinced the postal authorities to change the name to Marco, but only after they had established that there was no other “Marco” in Florida. Collier’s post office was located on the original Key Marco, now known as Old Marco Village. In 1896, the archeologist who dug up the Key Marco Cat near the Old Marco Inn, Frank Hamilton Cushing, referred to the large main island south of Key Marco as “Caxambas Island.” Clearly things would be very different today had that name been retained for the entire Island!
But who was St. Clair Whitman of Cedar Keys? Unfortunately there is no letter contained in this 121 year old envelope, so we wonder what would have been the reason to communicate with Cedar Keys – a group of small islands located along the upper west coast of

The Whitman Family c. 1900 – St. Clair Whitman shown wearing a black hat, his wife Nellie to his right, his father Charles with the long beard, daughters Hattie and Nellie in front and his son Charles standing behind his mother Nellie. PHOTO CREDIT – ANCESTORY.COM
So what was the connection in 1890 between St. Clair Whitman and someone here on Marco? Further research shows historic and deep ties between the residents of the village of Marco and Cedar Keys. Before 1886 when Henry Plant brought his railroad down to Tampa, the principal port city in the area was Cedar Keys, Fl. Capt. Bill Collier, as a young man from 1871 to 1879, operated a shipping business via schooner between Ft. Myers and Cedar Keys. In fact, we know that on January 20, 1880 Capt. Bill Collier married Margaret (Maggie) Eliza McIlvaine of Cedar Keys, Florida when she was 22 years old and he was 28. Their first daughter Emma (“Nanny”) Collier was born later that same year on the schooner “Emma White” as it sailed back to Marco from Cedar Keys. After their first child was born

Captain W.D. “Bill” Collier with a model of the clam dredge he invented. PHOTO CREDIT – GLENN DUGGER
This tie to Cedar Keys, created by the marriage of Capt. Bill Collier, continued to impact Marco Island for generations. In fact, after Collier had invented the clam dredge and encouraged J.H. Doxsee to establish his clamming factory in Old Marco in 1910, Capt. Collier realized that many more employees were needed. The hurricane of September 29, 1896 hit Cedar Keys with 125 mph winds and a 10 foot storm surge sweeping over the town killing more than 100 people. The economy was damaged further two months later by a large fire and all of the trees which had supported the local pencil manufacturing industry were destroyed. Then, by 1909, the oyster beds were worn out. Capt. Collier’s encouragement for employees to come to Marco to work in the clamming industry was probably well received.
Workers moved from the Cedar Keys area of Florida to Marco to harvest the local clams which were cooked and shipped out by train. The small settlement where these families lived on Marco was known to the locals as “Cedar Keys” and was a group of homes located in an area northwest of Rose’s Marco River Marina; Bald Eagle Drive passes through the middle of this now invisible pioneer settlement.
Today Cedar Keys, Fl. is now singular – Cedar Key– and there is only one inhabited Key as a

The Fiber Factory near Cedar Keys where the Whitman family worked.
So what is the relationship of St. Clair Whitman with Marco? The final answer may lie in the historical records of Cedar Key, Fl.; however, based upon his being 22 when he received the letter from Malco in 1890, a good guess for now is that either he or his wife was a childhood friend of Capt. Bill’s wife Maggie Collier.
I want to thank Dick Bergmann for sharing with me this unique envelope, and thank Faye Brown for her information on the location of the settlement of “Cedar Keys” on Marco Island and for sharing her mother’s recollections of the area.
Lastly, for “treasure hunters,” probably the only local envelope rarer than a “Malco” postmark would be one with a Comfort postmark; “Comfort” only lasted seven months before June of 1892 when the post office accepted Chokoloskee as the new official name. So remember to keep your eyes open for rare historical items!
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