Katie Belle is indeed Mark Morse's great grandmother. Here is an excerpt from a newsletter authored by Mark Morse early 1989.
"But we couldn't resist slipping in a real name here and there like The Katie Belle Saloon. It is named after my great-grandmother Katie Belle Schwartz. And, Grandad says his Mother would be proud to have a saloon named after her. Van Patton is also a family name and Banner Tailoring Company belonged to Great-Grandad "Papa" Schwartz until the Great Depression."
In the fiction story of how Spanish Springs was settled Katie Belle Van Patton is the wife of John Decker Van Patton of Jacksonville. John built the large hotel and saloon called The Van Patton House in 1851.The saloon fast became a magnet for dusty, sunburned cowboys, gamblers and the men who are fast becoming cattle barons in central Florida.
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