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SANIBEL HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND VILLAGE
The Sanibel Historical Museum and Village will present its next Twilight Talk program, “The Rutland Mule Matter,” with historian and author Richard “Rick” Lee Cronin on Jan. 16 in the Shore Haven.
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RICHARD LEE CRONIN
“The Rutland Rule Matter”
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Tickets are available for the Sanibel Historical Museum and Village’s next Twilight Talk program.
“The Rutland Mule Matter” will take place on Jan. 20 from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Shore Haven at the village on Sanibel. It will entail a presentation with historian and author Richard “Rick” Lee Cronin about his book, “The Rutland Rule Matter,” which explores a Central Florida historical mystery.
Education Committee Chair Virginia Darby explained that the Rutland House was the first building relocated to the village in 1984, which longtime beloved islander Clarence Rutland once lived in.
“Isaac N. Rutland is a historical mystery that Rick Cronin has tried to resolve,” she said. “So this is a story about a family that settled on Sanibel, has long roots to Florida’s history and is an absolutely intriguing historical mystery.”
“The Rutland Rule Matter” is a historical fiction about a Civil War incident involving the Rutland family. Clarence Rutland’s grandfather, Isaac, was an Orange County delegate from the 19th Senatorial District. He voted no in the 1861 Secession Convention. The story is told from the point of view of Othman, Isaacs’s son and Clarence’s father. Othman tries to learn how his father died, and why in 1865 Union troops returned his dead father’s mule to his mother in rural Florida. The book includes a bibliography, a number of indisputable facts and some logical conjecture about Isaac’s role in the Civil War, his death and subsequent “disappearance” from Florida historical records.
A Florida historian and author of more than a dozen published books, Cronin has an interest in late-1800s pioneers who helped shape modern Florida. His multi-year research uncovered a U.S. Marshal’s file from 1865 titled “The Rutland Mule Matter,” which provided new insight into Rutland’s fate and the legacy of the Rutland family, whose descendants played a significant role in Sanibel’s early history.
“The book is a compelling read,” Darby said.
“The first part of it is historical fiction. It’s an account of Isaac N. Rutland’s son trying to find out about his father,” she added. “The second half of the book is the historical explanation. It deals with the actual history of ‘The Rutland Rule Matter’ and the family.”
For the presentation, Cronin will begin with the Rutlands on Sanibel and work his way back, speaking about the families, going through historical discoveries and the experience of the Civil War history.
Afterward, there will be a Q&A with Cronin.
Darby noted that some of the family members will be in attendance.
“They’re going to be introduced,” she said, adding that they may answer questions.
Copies of “The Rutland Rule Matter” will be available for purchase.
“He’ll be available to sign those,” Darby said.
The village will also have other books available to buy.
Refreshments will be provided.
“We’re going to have treats from The Shack of Sanibel,” she said.
Tickets are $20.
The community is invited to reserve a seat.
“Anyone who loves Sanibel should learn her history,” Darby said. “And anyone who has read ‘A Land Remembered’ will resonant with this presentation.”
For tickets or more information, visit www.sanibelmuseum.org or call 239-472-4648.
The Sanibel Historical Museum and Village is at 950 Dunlop Road, Sanibel.
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IF YOU GO
What
Twilight Talk
When
Jan. 20 from 4 to 5 p.m.
Where
Sanibel Historical Museum and Village, 950 Dunlop Road, Sanibel
Details
Tickets are $20