Beginning in the late 1800s, my great grandfather on my father's side, Isaac T. Shumard, raised bees on the family homestead on Casey's Cay outside of Sarasota Florida. His primary product was queen bees that he marketed through his neighbor A. I. Root; the A. I. Root company is still in the bee business today. he also produced honey which he marketed through a store in Osprey and shipped elsewhere in Florida on Will Hamlin's sloop, The Phantom. Isaac is pictured here bent over one of his hives wearing a black vest.

Source: Pages 12 and 36 in "The Shumards of Florida: Their Roots and Branches

Isaac, pictured here with his daughter Florence, bred the queens and shipped them throughout the country (pictured here to the right among their bee hives). Florence (my grandmother Flossie's sister) married John (Mack) Hamlin whose brother Will Hamlin owned and operated the Phantom.

Sources: Page 303 "Edge of Wilderness: A Settlement History of Manatee River and Sarasota Bay" by Janet Snyder Matthews and page 37 "The Shumards of Florida: Their Roots and Branches

Local bee and honey transport was often done aboard the Phantom. Pictured at the left atop the Phantom are my father George on the left and my uncle Bert on the right.

Windmill Hill Farm honey is in memory of my Grandfather Guy Ragan. Guy married into the beekeeping tradition when he married Flossie Shumard in 1913.