Deaconess Harriet Bedell was an Episcopal missionary who worked with Native American tribes, including the Florida Seminoles. She established the Glades Cross Mission in Everglades City, Florida, which was active between 1933 and 1960.

Deaconess Bedell with Seminole women and a child at Glades Cross Mission, Everglades City, Florida, ca. 1940

Seminoles visited Chokoloskee Island as early as the 1880s to trade at the store owned by C. G. McKinney, which he opened for business sometime after arriving on the island in 1886. Ted Smallwood succeeded McKinney in 1906 and established Smallwood's Store. The store catered to a thriving business with the Seminoles in alligator skins and otter pelts.

Seminole Indians at Smallwood's Store in Chokoloskee, Florida, ca. 1900. The Seminole women pictured here represent members of a family camped near Smallwood's Store on Chokoloskee Island in southwestern Florida. The archival record for this photograph identifies “Lena's mother” on the far left with “Frank Charlie's mother” to her right.

Ted Smallwood at his Post Office and Trading Post in Chokoloskee, Florida, ca. 1906

Ruby Tigertail in Chokoloskee, Florida, ca. 1910

Seminole families camped on a beach near Smallwood's Store while visiting the island, trading animal commodities for sewing machines, cloth, canned goods and other necessities. They built temporary chickees (“home” in Mikasuki), made sofkee (“corn gruel”), and supplied locals with venison and other wild game.

Other stores in the area frequented by Seminoles in the early 20th century included George Storter's and Charlie Tigertail's, both in the vicinity of present-day Everglades City. Charlie Tigertail's store was the first Seminole-owned trading post in south Florida.

Charlie Tigertail in Chokoloskee, Florida, ca. 1900

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