A "Greek Community" in British East Florida: Early Plans, Selecting a Site at Mosiquito Inlet, and Initaring the Smyrnea Settlement
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
[London], Circa July 1766
“I acquainted your Excellency some months ago that I had then solicited an order for a grant of land in your Province under your government. I obtained that order last month, and am now preparing to depart for Charlestown in the beginning of September at farthest. I flatter myself of being in St. Augustine in November, and I bring my family with me, not doubting but that the soil and climate of East Florida will encourage me to continue in the intention. I mentioned before to your Excellency of settling a Greek colony in that Province. I cannot omit mentioning that I have the greatest satisfaction imaginable in being assured by your friends here that no protection, assistance, and advice will be wanting on your part to promote this affair.
Your Excellency’s
Most obedient and
Most humble Servant,
Andrew Turnbull
James Grant Papers, Roll 18, File 469-471
Lord Adam Gordon to James Grant
Dunkeld, August 1, 1766
Gordon’s letter announced that he had received a warrant for 20,000 acres and requested that the governor choose a suitable location for a tract “as contiguous to the Island of Tinian already granted to me, as I can get it.” Lord Gordon reminded Grant that he planned to visit East Florida in September 1767 and delivered the latest London gossip and election news.
Gordon also informed the governor that the province had acquired an important new settler, Dr. Andrew Turnbull, who “with his Grecian wife and family will be one of the most valuable acquisitions you yet have made. I recommend them most particularly to your notice and protection. He is honest and sensible and quite Florida mad....”
James Grant Papers
Lord Adam Gordon to James Grant
Cullen House, September 1, 1766
This letter to Governor Grant was carried from London to St. Augustine by Dr. Turnbull. The contents convey Gordon’s recommendation of Turnbull, and describe his “merit and good intentions. He brings out his lady, a Greek, along with him, all his family, the surest proof of his intention to settle with you.”
James Grant Papers
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan
Charlestown, [South Carolina], November 15, 1766
“ I arrived here the fifth of this month after a very agreeable passage. As our tools of husbandry were under some of the other goods in the ship, I have been detained here on that account, but they are now loaded on board a schooner bound for St. Augustine, by which we also go to that place, and if the weather permits we depart tomorrow.
“I have made it my business to find out the most intelligent persons in this place, and have had much satisfaction in seeing their plantations and their manner of raising rice, the Indigo plant, and other productions of this province. The soil is generally good, and seems very proper for the purposes we intend. The Olive Tree thrives well and the wild vines is much bettered by transplanting and pruning. The silk made here last season is equal to the Persian. Excellent cottons grow in the worst grounds and madder succeeds well. There are also many kinds of beans and peas here not known in Europe.”
. . .
“Some eminent planters here are now running out land on the St. Johns River and one of the most intelligent [planters] goes in the same schooner with [me] for that purpose. I was recommended to him by Lord Adam Gordon and I learned more from him in walking over his Rice & Indigo grounds than from all the others here. He has made Indigo this year worth six shillings a pound. Lady Turnbull sends warm regard to Lady Mary and to Sir William Duncan. She ‘likes the looks of this country.’”
In this letter, Dr. Turnbull also commented on the cultivation of okra plants in South Carolina, saying that the vegetable was boiled into “a gelatinous diet for our seamen” and that it was used to thicken soups. Turnbull was thinking of using okra as a “soy sauce for fish.”
Dundee City Archive
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan
St. Augustine, November 26, 1766
“I arrived here the 18th of this month with all my family and our artificers in good health and spirits, though the finding a home and making it fit to live in has taken up much of my time, yet I have been often in the environs of this place to [view] the productions of the neighboring plantations. Yesterday I wandered in the woods the whole day and dined on a racoon: a pine board fresh from the saw & supported by stumps of trees was our table and chairs, for we sat astride on the board. Dining thus in the open air, under a clear sunne [sic] sky, with such an appetite as a walk of such hours in the woods brings a [tear in paper] on such food as these woods affords, is very agreeable: & I am convinced that wolves & the other gentry of the forest do not live such hard & disagreeable lives as is generally immagined [sic], especially not [in] this Country where game and pray of every kind is incredibly abundant.
“As to the climate & fertility of the country in general, so far as I can judge from the weather since I have been here, and from the productions I have seen, they far exceed my expectations, and seem to me to be beyond what has been said of them. Some Sugar canes brought from the Havannah this Spring and planted last April by the governor here are thriving fast, and promise to be as good both for Rum & Sugar as any in the West Indies, and this without the least help or care. The cotton plant is stronger and better than any I ever saw in Turkey. The Indigo plant stands the winter, which it never does in the neighboring provinces; from this circumstance a better Indigo is made, and the labour of ten men is equal to that of twenty when it is planted and raised from the seed every year. As to vines they seem to be at home here. The woods are full of many different kinds. Some of them bear a good fruit: a few cuttings brought from Madeira last winter and planted in the governor’s garden, have got on more in one year than in two in Asia Minor, or in four years in Italy and France. They will give a good half crop the second year. I intend to form a little vineyard from this year’s cutting of them. Figs, dried Raisins will all become articles of export. Mulberry Trees grow well without care of cultivation, and if the Spring weather is in proportion to this we now have, the silk worms may be fed on the tree, which will be a saving of the labour of four men in five. Rice has given an extraordinary crop this year: and many other vehicles of commerce may be cultivated to great advantage in this country.
“As to the Greek scheme, this Province has every advantage to be asked for especially that of food, as theirs is chiefly on fish, the Rivers and shores swarm with them, and the banks of every river never nigh the sea, is almost one continual bed of very fine oysters. I can see now that there are many advantages in this part of the world, especially in some other considerable articles of trade which the Americans have not found out; as soon as my information confirms my opinions I will not fail to communicate them; but even without these, I can only see that a Greek colony will be of much more importance both to the Proprietors of Lands here & to the Mother Country than I imagined.
“I am now preparing to go about seventy or eighty miles to the Southward to see the country & lands that way. As I go on horseback I will take a different route in coming back, from that by which I go. Afterwards, I intend to see both sides of the St. Johns at [least] as far as the great lake, or perhaps [tear]. The governor here is well informed of everything relating to this province. He has taken great pains to give me every help in his power; he is the most of a man of business of any military person I have ever met with, and he has a strong desire of doing every service in his power to all who come to settle in his province. My scheme seems to him the only one which cannot fail in this province. As to Palatines or Germans he has already wrote to some of his friends not to think of them. I beg the favour of my respect to Lady Mary, & I am with great respect, Dear Sir William, Your most obedient servant.”
Dundee City Archive
James Grant to the Earl of Shelburne
St. Augustine, January 20, 1767
Dr. Turnbull has been appointed to the Royal Council. He sets out for England in a few days and from thence will travel to Turkey to recruit Greek men and women to cultivate the two 20,000-acre tracts he located in East Florida.
“All such Greek settlers, after the terms of their contracts are elapsed, shall be entitled o the same quantities of land as is given to His Majesty’s native born subjects...one hundred acres to the Head of a family and fifty acres for every other person of which such family consists.” subject to a one-half penny per acre quit rent annually.
Grant promised that Greeks who settled in East Florida would free exercise of their religion: “a church has been reserved in this town for that purpose and that town lots shall be given adjoining the said church to such Greek inhabitants as shall choose to settle at St. Augustine–that all possible attention shall be shown to Greek Priests who shall have Glebe’s assigned to them upon their arrival in this Province.”
James Grant Papers, Microfilm roll 1, file 311
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan in Walbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London
St. Augustine, January 21st, 1767
“The fifth of this month I set out for Hillsborough and Halifax Rivers. I was accompanied by two Deputy Surveyors and two gentlemen of this place, both good judges of land. I was twenty days on that tour; and have since been on another from the mouth of St. Johns River to the head of the great lake, about 160 miles from the sea measuring on the river. Most of the Lands contiguous to these Rivers and of the country, as far as I could penetrate into it with safety bear strong marks of rich and fertile soil, and I think that the advantages arising from settlements in this province will exceed the calculates you saw in London. I have located your tract and my own on Hillsborough River about three miles from Mosquito inlet. That part of the country is much preferable to the Northern. I mean to the north of this place and St. Johns. Cotton, grapes, sugar canes, Indigo, and other valuable articles of commerce will be raised on Hillsborough and Halifax Rivers. St. Johns has rice land enough to furnish all Europe with that grain, but its banks are damp and shelly from the immense swamp forests on its sides. The southern rivers are pleasant, airy, and wholesome.
“I shall not trouble you Sir William, with a long account of everything relating to our settlement as I hope to be with you soon for I go on board a schooner bound for Charles Town tomorrow, and from thence I intend to go by the first ship bound to England. I shall only acquaint you that I have engaged for and purchased fourty Negroes, with two able overseers. One is to clear land for provisions and to take care of some hundreds of cattle. The other is to raise cottons. I have also augmented the number of whites to about twenty. They are to be employed with building houses for the Greeks.
“I think from what I have seen of the lands in this province that the benefits arising from the Greek scheme will be greater than I at first imagined. The Proprietors of the land will find an ample return for the money he lays out, and the Greeks will find the labour lighter, and the produce greater than in the Islands off the archipelago. In fixing our tracts on Hillsborough, I had also an eye to a fishery on that River, which I think may soon be brought to a state of sisterhood with that on the banks of Newfoundland. It will furnish many thousand tons of fish yearly. The Spanish load several vessels every autumn with the fish they catch in this and other rivers of their Province. I saw a negroe load his canoe in twenty minutes with some very fine fish: he made use of a hand cast net.
“As I flatter myself, Sir William, that our scheme will be very advantageous, I have entered largely into expenses in preparing for our Greek Colony, and have drawn on you this day one bill for 496 pounds sterling, and five bills more for l00 pounds each, all payable at thirty days sight to John Graham & Co. on order. Please accept and pay all these bills. As soon as I arrive in London, which may probably be as soon as these bills, I will wait on you to satisfy you as to the disposal of these sums. Mrs. Turnbull and my family are well, She desires her respects to Lady Mary, I beg the favour of mine also. I am with great respect.”
Dundee City Archive
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
Charlestown, January 24, 1767
“I arrived here last night late. I found Mr. Penman, Captain Bisset, and Mr. Macdougal waiting here with great impatience for my coming, for they were told here that the lands in East Florida were not worth taking up. They depart tomorrow morning for St. Augustine, and by Col. Laurens advice take a look at the Altamaha, the Savannah, and St. Marys in their way: so that it will be at least a fortnight before they get to St. Augustine. Mr. Penman thinks himself greatly obliged to your Excellency for securing the tracts for him on Halifax. He has two other grants which he intends also to locate there and begs your kind assistance in securing them. Mr. Woolridge is the only person except our friend of the two fives, who he has reason to apprehend may get [there] before him, but I think Mr. Woolridge will have a good deal to do to manage and put forward the people he has brought with him for at least a month, so that I think Mr. Penman will be able to get to the Mosquitoes [first].
“Woolridge’s people are much of the same stamp as those he sent out with me. I wish him success with all my heart, but I am under apprehensions for him, there will be a charity to assist him. His clerk Mackenzie will be able to manage his plantation better than him. As Captain Woolridge is to locate Charles Townshend’s lands he has solicited Lord Shelburne to desire your Excellency to make him one of the Council, and the poor man’s head, or rather his wife’s, which directs both, is almost buried with all this; they have brought out a Landau and two fine horses for it. I have advised him to sell his horses here but am afraid that his vanity or fear will not admit of this measure. As Mr. Penman must have a house I have advised him to take Mr. DeBrahms[‘ house] till he can build. You will find him and his companions very worthy young gentlemen and, I shall be very happy to have them for neighbors, but am not so fond of Mr. Woolridge because he has not spirit to encounter the difficulties he must meet with. Mrs. Woolridge dined with Mr. Gordon the other day, he found by her endeavours to convert him that she was of the Whitfield sect and that she was fond of long prayers, which induced him to put on a Puritan like face and say grace as long as moderate prayers but he almost forgot to give thanks, to which she was obliged to remind him, by laying hold of the table cloth when the irreligious Africans were gathering it up.
“Doran will sail for St. Augustine in a few days. I will trouble you with another letter by him. This is wrote in mych haste as Mr. Woolridge is going on board the schooner. I beg the favour of compliments to all friends....
“P.S. Roberts is appointed Secretary of East Florida He was one of the Duke of Richmond’s secretaries and continues in the office under Lord Shelburne. I have no letters of politics, therefore don’t know what is doing.
“Mr. Murray desires his respect to your Excellency. Colonel Laurens recommends a ship bound for Cowes for me to go by.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 67-69
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan
Charlestown, Feb 1st, 1767
“You will see, by my last letters from St. Augustine that I have located our lands on Hillsborough River, and that I have purchased and engaged for fourty Negroes, and that two overseers are to be the care of these Negroes, also of the white people which are to be employed building houses and preparing for our Greek Colony. All that has obliged me to draw on you, Sir William, for about 1000 pounds at thirty days sight.
. . .
“I need not trouble you, Sir William, with anything of what I have done and what I think of Florida; all this is needless as I hope to be in London as soon as any of my letters. I shall only mention that the advantages seem to be greater than we could have expected, I mean to Proprietors of Land, and the country has every thing which one can wish for to make the Greeks happy.”
. . .
Turnbull informed Duncan that he intended to sail for Charles Town in two days time, aboard the “Ship Betsy bound for Cowes.”
Dundee City Archive
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
Charlestown, February 4, 1767
“I have agreed to give Doran thirty pounds sterling to go by the way of Georgia to take in Mr. Earl, his family, Negroes, provisions and whatever he has. I have also ordered ninety bushels of corn to be sent on board of him, and have desired Mr. Graham to buy more, if necessary, at Savannah. I have desired Mrs. Turnbull to pay the thirty pounds freight. I am sorry that Barton could not engage to go by Georgia, as he would have carried them also to the Musquetoes, but I think that the East Florida will be at St. Augustine before Earl, and flatter myself that your Excellency will send him with Mssrs Davis and Watson, if the latter has been able to [complete repairs?] in the house, [in which case?’ he might [travel] by some other opportunity.
“I am sorry to give this trouble, Sir, but without your kind assistance I could not have left the province so soon, and I can safely say that I have the ablest agent in East Florida. I must also [acknowledge] his supplying Mrs. Turnbull with whatever she may want for, as well as for what may be wanted for the plantation, which you will please to draw on Sir William Duncan on my account, for which I’ll take care of with Sir William....[I plan to arrive] about the autumn, when it is to be hoped provisions will be plenty at the Mosquitoes. I shall be glad if ten new Negroes are added to Earl’s gang.
“Mr. Penman, Bisset, and Macdougal departed from this place yesterday and [three words not legible] them if Mr. Penman goes by Watson to take care of the house keeper and her maid, she is not a mistress, but is the friend of Mrs. Taylor. I hope your Excellency will like these new planters as well as I do, I think we shall kick up a dust on the Halifax. Major Moultrie is fully resolved to join us, and I beg the favour of your entering application for me for one or two thousand acres of land opposite to Mr. Oswalds, the west line to touch to the eastward of Major Moultries, but I leave this entirely to your Excellency as I do not know whether my Negroes and whites entitle me to so much. It does not break any tract as it is alongside of Moncriefs where a large tract could not be laid, if two thousands [two land tracts of 1000 acres each] in two tracts it will take up all [available land] between Moncrief and Halifax.
“I hear a Mr. Roberts is appointed Secretary of your Province, he was put out of Mr. Shelburne’s office to let in Macleane, a good [choice], this I immagine, was by way of setting him down easily. I have had some battles and divers arguments about East Florida. I defend myself with my canes and I speak with great assurance of the black and green seed cotton, and am sometimes almost provoked to crack, but the late defeat of a certain gentleman from the west is to [word not legible].
“I beg to be remembered to Captain Sutherland. A line from your Excellency in May, which will find me in Turkey, in all probability, will be very acceptable. Please to direct to Mr. Turnbull at Mr. Thomas Nixon’s merchant [house] in London. This Mr. Nixon forwards letters to me when out of Britain. I am afraid Mr. Woolridge [is the] bottom. I’ll endeavour to persuade his friends to do something more for him and themselves, if they do not they will lose what they have laid out. He is industrious and may do well when at a distance from the table which he is certainly under bodily. I go on board today and hope to sail this night or tomorrow by the Medina, Captain Ratonge, bound to Cowes. I take your seeds with me as there will be no ship for London this fortnight. I’ll contrive to get them safe to London, two weeks lost for seeds in the spring may be the ruin of some of them for this season.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 90-95
John Graham to Andrew Turnbull
Savannah, February 10, 1767
This letter contains information concerning purchase of cattle in Georgia to be driven to East Florida for Dr. Andrew Turnbull and other planters. Graham said that a herd large enough to supply the Florida planters will be difficult to purchase and drive that far in a timely manner, “the inland herds, which might be large enough, not being used to the salts [are] as ... wild as deer.” Graham planned to buy instead “at Darien or Sappelo Island from the settlers there who are all of them possessed of a few cattle but none have large stocks. The only disadvantage that attends buying from different people will be the different brands, but on the other hand the cattle will all be tame, such as have been handled every day are better adapted for Dr. Turnbnull’s purposes. I would propose the 500 head should consist of at least 200 to 250 cows and heifers, 100 steers of different ages all about three years old and up, and the remaining part yearlings, etc. I am told such as these and all tame cattle will be well worth 27 shilling a head.”
Graham writes that it is possible to buy for less but that is not the way to get the proper proportions or ensure for losses driving a herd so far to the south. It would be better to give thirty shilling a head “delivered at the settlement.” Graham consulted every persons he knew who possessed the experience and knowledge for such a cattle drive, and they agreed with him on price and procedures.
“I have wrote to one Angus Clark who lives to the Southward, who has formerly drive cattle to Augustine on the business, and desired to learn on what he would contract with me to deliver the quantity at the Mosquitoes....I am told they must set off the first of May, and that it will require near three months to drive them, so as to deliver the cattle in good order, for if they are drove hard and are not rested often for days, even weeks together they never get there [healthy] but linger perhaps for a year and perhaps two, and then die.
“In the course of my offering to pay Earl’s debts to the late Mr. Grover’s Estate his attorneys have applied for letters of administration from whom I shall take a discharge and then take a mortgage of the Negroes that went to Mr. Turnbull
“Mr. Earl has picked out five young Negro men boys about the age you directed, and I hope they shall please. They were out of a parcel of fine slaves and could have sold at £42 Sterling to any of our planters. These I have agreed to at £38 each which I think them richly worth....I could have had bigger and abler men at the same price and will take care that they are well cloathed and they shall exclusive of plenty of [rum?] have the run of my kitchen....”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 103-108
Lord Adam Gordon to James Grant
London, February 14, 1767
Gordon included a list of members of the East Florida Society-wealthy British men interested in investing in Florida land- which met at the Shakespeare Head Tavern. The list contained nearly forty names, including that of Dr. Andrew Turnbull.
. . .
“Sir William Duncan is hard at work to make himself master of the modern Greek to converse with Mrs. Turnbull and the Greek settlers who you will soon have out with you.
“Our Florida Society goes on well and we hope and we hope it may in time produce some good to the province....They have done me the honor of electing me their president.
. . .
“I was sure you would think well of Turnbull. He is a sensible active man and I think will prove a great blessing to so young a child as is yours of East Florida. His letter gave great satisfaction, but I insisted on sinking that part which alluded to sending out Germans, least poor Doctor Stork who is Puff General for us, should have fainted and died of chagrin.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 115-116
John Graham to Andrew Turnbull
Savannah, Georgia, Feb. 21, 1767
Invoice for corn shipped by James Wallace on order of James Grant for Andrew Turnbull.
460 bushel Indian Corn at 13/6 £270 St. Currency
Large copper still and worm 101.5.4 Currency
Converted to pounds sterling 53.9
587 1/2 bushel Indian Corn at 4/ 117.10 Sterling
72 casks to pack corn in 4.16 Sterling
Freight on Schooner Industry 20.
£195.15
Dundee City Archive
John Graham to Andrew Turnbull
Savannah, Georgia, February 24, 1767
. . .
[I purchased for you] “five very fine young Negroe Lads at £38 each. They are such as I am sure will please. Mr. Earle was present and had his choice, and in fact are well worth £42, which sum they could bring at any time at the sale of a cargo.
. . .
“The schooner now waits for Mr. Earle, who is gone to the Island for his family, the moment he returns, she shall be dispatched for St. Augustine. Mr. Earle’s debt to Mr. Grover is £363.13.2 which I am to pay. This day though it exceeds the sum ordered, however without this he could not proceed to St. Augustine and after you had gone so far I could not but be willing this should likewise be done. Mr. Box is drawing a mortgage on his fifteen Negroes to you so that you will have a very sufficient security. So soon as I have settled everything with him and finished such necessarys [sic] as he says are absolutely wanted.”
Graham also informed Turnbull that he was planning to deliver the cattle Turnbull ordered to his plantation at “the mosquitoes,” and that several additional cargoes of enslaved Africans were expected to arrive in Savannah in the coming summer. “We shall choose well and get reasonable prices well under what I would sell them for.”
Invoice for goods shipped to New Smyrna.
Five New Negroe men £38 each 190
25 Yards Negroe cloth 2.6.11
making five suits clothes 0.12.0
Five Duffil Blankets 3.0.0
Five woolen caps 0.7.6
One barrel rice 529
without a barrel 170 699.wt. 3.2.9
1 rice cask, hen coops, barrel tar, oznaburgh, boards, three goats, fowling pieces, four kegs shott, gunpowder, one pair Quern Stone, grind stone, 15 bu. seed potatoes, 105 bushel corn. Total drawn on Sir William Duncan £616.11.0.
Dundee City Archive
John Graham to James Grant
Savannah, Georgia, February 26, 1767
Graham told Governor Grant that he was concerned about exceeding the limit set by Turnbull for Earl’s departure, but explained that he “could not but be willing to go a little further, for without this he would not have been permitted to take the Negroes out of the province, espepcially as he lacked sufficient security by the mortgage of his fifteen Negroes. Besides, Mr. Earl assured me he could as well had an order for £400 as for £300 but that he thought it would be sufficient having expectation of selling a stock of cattle which he has failed in doing.”
Graham pronounced “the five Negro lads young and healthy and such as I think will answer either to be put to hard labour or be tried as artificers. Mr. Earle had his choice....” At the price of £38 Sterling for each of the slaves, Graham thought they were a great bargain, “for at their age they are deemed preferable to grown men....I have given them all new clothes, two blankets, and a cap, and likewise a barrel of rice for provisions....” Just prior to the departure of the schooner for Florida, however, four of Mr. Earle’s fifteen Negroes ran away to avoid being sent on the vessel. Graham expected to recover the four soon and send them to St. Augustine on another vessel.
James Grant Papers
Lord Adam Gordon to James Grant
London, March 24, 1767
. . .
“We had a very numerous meeting soon after the Doctor’s [Andrew Turnbull] arrival, about thirty-six proprietors, and had a great satisfaction in his report.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 188-190
John Murray to James Grant
London, March 31, 1767
Mr. Murray had been granted 10,000 acres, and asked Governor Grant to “please have it surveyed and located as near as possible to the south of Dr. Turnbull. My plan of settlement and cultivation is the same with that gentleman. He is so kind as to have undertaken the management of it. It is therefore necessary that my lott should be adjoining to his. The land there is equally good according to the information he gives, as that he has pitched upon for himself and for Sir William Duncan, and if it is not already taken up, I shall be glad it falls to my share. If it is already taken, please delay locating mine until he returns, which I hope will be December or January next with 140 or 150 families.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 197-198
John Graham to James Grant
Savannah, April 2, 1767
“I have received your Excellency’s letters of the 4th and 17th March, it gives me great concern to find that Dr. Turnbull’s purchase [of enslaved Africans] is likely to turn out but a poor one. I was very sorry he bought the whole, some of them being dear at any price, but as you mention he shall want ten or twelve in the fall I will then make a point of making him amends for the last bargain. I would however recommend their being bought in the summer as there will be more time to season them before the pinching weather comes in.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 204-209
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
London, April 7, 1767
“In my last I begged the favor of your Excellency to reserve if possible twenty thousand acres of land to the southward of Sir William Duncan[’]s tract, and upon his line if possible. This land, as I mentioned in my last, is to be run out in the names of my children for which twenty thousand acres orders were given last Thursday by the President of the Council to have the King’s orders ready to be signed this week. These orders are now made out and will be signed either today or tomorrow. If [completed] in time I’ll send them out by Captain Gordon, by whom this letter goes.
“I also mentioned that this tract is for a great statesman who has almost swore me to keep it a secret, which we will talk of when I arrive at St. Augustine. He has insisted on being in partnership with Sir Wm. Duncan and me, and he is to make over his grant to my children. It is not Charles Townshend. But I beg, Sir, that this half-imparted secret may not be mentioned. You easily see, Sir, why I am so anxious to have that tract located as near the others as possible, as it is to be on the same footing as ours. Our capital is to be ten thousand. I also begged that Mr. John Murray’s ten thousand acres might be located to the southward of that, somewhere about Mr. Young[’]s Mount Plenty which is twelve miles to the southward of Sir Wm. Duncan[’]s south line. Perhaps there may be a tract of good land found nearer than that. He goes entirely on the Greek scheme and I am to bring Greeks with ours to put on it. I have enclosed his order from the King in the packet with this. I beg leave to remind your Excellency of my earnestly desiring that the salt marsh opposite or before our tracts may not be granted away, nor the Sea Beach opposite to us on either side of the Inlet. As I can see that we shall extend our plan as soon as the success of part of it encourages us to it, it will be convenient for us to have places for storehouses, fish scaffolds & etc. on the Beach, also for windmills and many other buildings. I do not pretend to advise your Excellency but this seems to me to be a rule which may be necessary by way of keeping little troublesome fellows from among us. The land on the sea beach is certainly bad, but it may be very useful and even of value for the purposes mentioned.
“Lord Shelburne is assisting me in obtaining a sloop of war to be victualed, manned, and navigated at my expence, to be continually employed in carrying Greek families from Port Mahon to East Florida. The Lords of the Admiralty have opposed this, but Sir Edward Hawke begins to give way. This seems to be no great thing, but it will be of consequence to us, as it partly gives a better idea of our scheme to the Greeks, and at the same time will be a certain conveyance to be depended on. If this is granted we shall probably join another freighted vessel to the sloop of war, by which means I flatter myself of introducing into your Province at least a thousand Greeks a year.
“I have been retarded in this affair by the bustle about the India affairs. The ministry, who support Mr. Sullivan, are in a fair way of turning out the present direction, and of turning a million a year of the Territorial Revenue of the India Company into the Treasury. Tomorrow is the day of Election. Governor Johnston just arrived in time to rip up Lord Clive[‘]s character to the Roots. Governor Elliot tells me he has been with him and that he cannot get him to tell him the least thing of West Florida he has so much on his hands in this East India bustle. Governor Elliot is a brother of Pat Elliots in the west of England. He was Capt. Of a man of war, and promises, from what I have heard and seen of him to be a proper person for that government. Murray’s enemies have been obliged to ask pardon and forgiveness before the Privy Council. It appears to the Council that his only crime consisted in protecting the French against those people, his accusers, who had intentions to plunder them. He has it in his option to go out if he pleases.
. . .
“I find your letters have been read in the Council. The L’d President talked to me of them and I can assure you Sir that you are in the highest esteem with them. But the internal embroils of the administration constantly prevents their thinking much of the external interest of the nation. I was with Lord Bute the other day. He said much in your favour. I find some of your friends are everywhere.
“[ ? ], the ship by which this goes, is not departed. Sullivan did not get into the direction of the East India affairs, but the Ministry have gained a compleat victory over the minority. In the House yesterday the question was whether the East India Affair should be postponed sine die or looked into. The minority were for putting everything off, but the ministry had 56 majority. It is immagined that this India business will fix the present ministry as the revenue from our territories then will ease the people of the most burdensome and lamented of taxes.
“While Mr. Pitt was ill the ministry was splitting. As soon as he was out and had been with the Army they all got together again. I think there is a great probability of the present administration being permanent. I carried my affair of the sloop of war through the Council and Board of Trade, but the Lords of the Admiralty pretended that all the sloops were in commission against the smugglers and refused me through that excuse.
“I go away next week, and now only wait for some grants and to finish other business which I cannot leave. This plaguing East India Business has been hurtful to me for...not being able to get my business thro’ the public offices. I repeat, Sir, my entreaties about the twenty thousand acres of land to the southward of Sir Wm. Duncans. I cannot get the grant for it till Tuesday next on account of the Holidays. I’ll send it by the first ship after this.
“I breakfasted with Colonel Barré this morning. Governor Elliot, Captains Jervis and Barrington and I with some others are to go with him to stay two days at his house at Muscle Hill. The Colonel with all these gentlemen (Governor Elliot excepted) and more, are to solicit for land in your Province, and Col. Barré desired me to tell you that in case of misfortunes here he will fly to your Province to live under your protection. Lord Shelburne is gone for ten days to Bowwood.
“The Bills I drew on Sir Wm. Duncan are accepted and will be paid when due. Sir Wm. Will write you about future draughts for the cattle & etc. which I desired might be bought. If Mrs. Turnbull wants money I beg you will supply her fifty or a hundred pounds at a time drawing on Mr. Thomas Nixon, Merchant in Lombard Street, London, who has my directions to accept all your bills for money advanced to her. It gave me much satisfaction to receive her letter of the 22nd February six days ago, but I was very sorry to hear that you had been confined by a fall, which I hope will not be attended with any bad consequences as Mrs. Turnbull writes me that you was much better. Some of the great grantees are preparing to send out people in the autumn, and Stork is to depart about a month hence to locate some of the great grants.
“I am sorry that Mr. Cumming’s sloop is lost. I immagine that the few things I sent out by her from Charlestown will also be lost. Governor Elliot does not go out till September. Governor Johnstone disheartens him a little about the Indians. It is said that no regiments will be relieved in America this year tho’ two or three are to go over. The Resolutions of the assembly of Massachusetts Bay are look’t on here as very extraordinary, and if not revoked may render the keeping of regiments in America necessary.
“I have seen Mr. Roberts, the Secretary of the Province. I find he flatters himself of staying in England. I dare say, Sir, that you will not be of the same way of thinking with him. A peopled Province may do very well without a Residence of their officers but a new colony will stand in need of every aid. I think I have heard you say, Sir, that the officers should be obliged to reside in the Province. I beg the favour of my compliments to all the ladies and gentlemen. I remember their civilities with pleasure and gratitude, and do not doubt of the continuance of them to Mrs. Turnbull.
“[P.S.] Tho’ Mr. Roberts told me that he did not think of going to Florida, yet I beg that your Excellency would not mention me in this affair, as I should be sorry to hurt such a man, time will prove best what he intends to do.
“I will trouble your Excellency with another scrawl before I leave London.”
James Grant Papers
John Graham to Sir William Duncan
Savannah, April 16, 1767
By a letter from Governor James Grant in St. Augustine written in March, Graham learned that Mr. Earle arrived safely in East Florida. “I have agreed for 500 cattle for you, to be delivered at Mosquitoes: 150 cows from 3 to 6 years old; 100 calves; 120 two-year olds, 1/2 at best to be heifers; 60 yearlings; 50 steers from 2-4 years old.” The asking price for the cattle was £3 each. Graham offered 27 shillings and 6 pence per head, “to be delivered to your plantation.” Governor Grant informed Grant that 350 of the cattle were to go to Turnbull and the other 150 to Mr. Penman. “I expect the [final] price to be 28/9 or very cheap, and especially when so many adults are among them.” The cattle drive was expected to begin by the 20th of May.
“Governor Grant promised Mr. Earle that he would receive a premium if he raised 2000 pounds of cotton in 1767. The governor also informed Graham that “Mr. Debrahm was to be married in the Wednesday following to Miss Roe at his house. That a proper settlement was to be made which was to be lodged in Mrs. Turnbull’s hands.
. . .
“Governor Grant approved me paying Earle’s debt. You have a mortgage for all his Negroes.”
Dundee City Archive
Report of the Board of Trade to the Earl of Shelburne upon Doctor Turnbull’s Memorial for a Bounty to Greeks imported into East Florida.
Whitehall, April 16, 1767
“In obedience to His Majesty’s commands signified to us in your Lordship’s letter of the 9th instant, We have taken into our consideration the memorial of Mr. Andrew Turnbull thereon referred to and are of opinion that it will be for His Majesty’s Service & greatly promote the speedy and effectual settlement of East Florida if His Majesty shall be graciously pleased to direct the ballance of the Fund established to encourage the Culture of Cotton, Vines, Silk and other articles of Culture in that Province, to be applied in payment of a Bounty of forty shillings per head to the first five hundred Greeks (children excepted) that shall be imported and actually settled in that Province, such bounty to be paid by the governor who must, in case this proposition is approved, be authorized to draw bills upon the agent for the amount. The ballance of this fund now lying in the agent’s hands unappropriated, in eleven hundred pounds; the amount of the bounty will be one thousand pounds; and we submit to your Lordship whether it may not be expedient; that the remaining £100 should be allowed to the first Priest of the Greek Church which shall be established in that colony.
“As to Mr. Turnbull’s proposal for the disposition of what Parliament may hereafter think expedient to grant for the service of this Colony, We think it will more properly become an object of consideration when the estimate on which any future grant shall be founded shall be directed to be prepared.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 254-56
James Grant to Andrew Turnbull
St. Augustine, April 26, 1767
“Your letter of the 4th of February I was favored with from Charles Town and was pleased to hear that you sailed....[for London, Marseilles, Turkey.] I wish it may find you surrounded with Greeks ready to Embark for East Florida where you may assure them all of a most hearty welcome from the Governor. Erle [John Earle, overseer hired by Turnbull] arrived early in March just as Bachop was preparing to sail with provisions for Picolata. Erle begged hard for the East Florida without delay. The season was so far advanced he would be able to raise nothing this year and a thousand other good reasons, to which he received fair answers. But the garrison of Picolata must have provisions....Erle like a good engineer then changed his method of attack and offered if I would send him to the Mosquitoes directly he would send two thousand weight of cotton this year to London. That was my price. Bachop was ordered to take him on board. I have promised Erle a premium into the bargain if he keeps his word. Bachop had a good passage, likes the Barr much better than this one [bar at the mouth of the Matanzas River at St. Augustine]. He landed your people and provisions safe and left Erle, his wife & etc. in good health and spirits long enough ago. Bachop is now on the St. Johns River and will bring Davis’s effects around.
“I send you a sketch of the Road from this place to your plantation and Mr. Oswalds which has been blazed by Grey Eyes, an Indian friend of mine, with a number of his attendants, accompanied from here by Davis and Black Sandy, who served for an interpreter. My bargain with the Indians was no purchase, no pay; do the work first and then the reward. He knew the country well, agreed to my terms and did the business, though your friend the Engineer thought it impossible. Your Guide Cracker Johnstone was of the same opinion, and you may recollect that one day at dinner.
“Moncrief assisted you with your crossing at Halifax River and Moncrief’s northeast course from the turning of a creek west of Bunkleys & etc. and so on north to the sea beach did not appear to me to be intelligible, and at this hour I think John Moultrie and Moncrief must have very confused ideas to imagine that I advised you to pay Johnstone for carrying you twenty miles round through very bad roads to a beach which you could have gone to in ten minutes from my dining room.
“Villa Robina []goes] on slow. The house is raised, in May it should be covered in. Watson behaves well. Two of your people made an attempt to get away. I sent a party after them. They were taken and put into goal, and afterwards sent to their work. Your gardener turns out ill, is affronted at having been sent to work in the country, attempted to go to Georgia, executed the plan ill and is now in prison, but will be brought to himself.
“Your Negroes were not good. You did not look narrowly enough at them, but by the care which was taken of them in your house and at Robina tis to be hoped they will be able to do business with Erle. The boys [five enslaved boys purchased from John Graham in Savannah] are well chose. I have desired Mr. Graham to buy ten Negroes for you to reinforce Erle as you desired, he will give you a bargain of them to make up for the bad slaves brought here. The East Florida will carry them and six months provisions from Savannah to the Mosquitoes, with a fresh supply of provisions from Charles Town to Erle, who will not be able to hold out to the next crop with what he carried with him.
“Mr. Penman’s Negroes and provisions will be carried round at the same time, and Bisset begins with a farm of five hundred acres near town. He has ordered twelve Negroes from Savannah, but there is an embargo upon corn in that province which is an inconvenience. The Penmans, MacDougal, Bisset, Woolridge, Funk, Delaire, have been near a month at the Mosquitoes. Moncrief followed them lately to assist in locating Mr. Charles Townshend’s tract. Townshend from the West Indies went with Moncrief, but hs is Grenada mad and will do no good. Laurens is expected next month, he is my friend, but I am concerned he goes to the Mosquitoes on purpose to find fault. Tis to be hoped Erle’s plantation will not disappoint him. My sugar cane looks well, my corn surprising. Joe Gray’s crop is promising....
“Rolle has quarreled with his indented servants. He has wrote me I dare say forty sheets of paper. My answers are very civil and exceeding short. Gerry [Woolridge] asked me in conversation whether Squire [Rolle] did right to stop his servants provisions when they refused to work. I told him very right thinking that he meant a dinner or a supper, but Rolle improved upon it and used for the most trifling offense to stop provisions from them for a week, ten days, a fortnight at a time in a wilderness where nothing could be got for love or money. The people almost starved, lived upon palmetto roots, in short no rules and bad treatment and Woolridge’s folly have done harm to the indented servants or rather to the gentlemen who import them, although yours and Penman’s do pretty well.
“Catherwood has brought a very ugly wife with him, I pity her much for he has turned out ill. I have married argument [W.G. DeBrahm, the provincial surveyor] to Miss Rowe, a good girl. The Father takes charge of a plantation for DeBrahm. I give him the use of the pilot boat for his survey and he buys thirteen Negroes with the money he was to pay for a vessel. At my desire before the marriage he [DeBrahm] settled £300 upon his daughter with forty pounds a year until his death or her marriage. This was very pleasing to Mrs. Turnbull who has a friendship for little DeBrahm. She is constantly with her. It will not be a marriage with Edmiston, but Rainsford like a fool intends to buckle with [name not legible] Daughter.
“Davis is hunting for [wild game for] Penman, he will be back in time to meet your cattle at St. Johns [River] and to conduct them by the new road to the Mosquitoes. You have nothing to do with driving the cattle or with losses they may sustain upon the road. You are to pay twenty-seven to thirty shillings per head delivered to Davis at the Mosquitoes, to the amount of £500. The five hundred head are to be compleated for Mr. Penman and the division to be made at the (Mosquitoes), Davis to take care of yours and Upton to take charge of Mr. Penmans.
“John Moultrie intends coming here in June en famille. I have ordered a thousand acres for you near Oswald. Moncrief, John Moultrie, his brother William, and the children of the late chief justice Moultry are all to have plantations in your neighborhood. I mean Tomoka. I have given orders for a survey [and] lands for Bisset and Macdougal if they choose it but Macdougal brought out no orders from Council. Lord Adam I have not heard from. They talk of his marriage in that case we shall lose a zealous East Floridian, but this you’ll know better. You’ll not forget Turkey Coffee and wax candles, with olive plants of different kinds. My Madeira vines are in great glory, [growth] from them this year is more I think than we expected. My vines along that wall according to your plan do well and could cover it this season, but a part of the wall next to DeBrahm fell in and the promise I had almost [lost a bet to a] West Florida Cracker an engineer [and] botanist and was out of pocket be it for a few hours before it fell in. We were poking about the vines and considering for a long while what was to be done with the wall, whether it would stand or not, and a support of cedar posts was determined upon.
“This goes by the post express of course by the packet to Falmouth, the Cowes, and to Turkey and may by that means be expeditious.
“Mrs. Turnbull is vastly well and in good spirits, she is much at Debrahms seldom at Cumings. Mrs. Woolridge a bad companion but Methodising is not the fashion here and we hear no more of religion. She dined with a dozen people at my house at Easter Sunday. The parson [Reverend John Forbes] was gone round to St. Johns on board of Bachop and you know I don’t say a long grace before after dinner, and yet there were no complaints but she is much to the southward & poor Jerry Sneak [Woolridge] is a great fool indeed. I was under a necessity of informing Mr. Townshend that his affairs in Florida would be ill managed. He has thrown away Mr. Townshend’s five hundred pounds and is so much under the table that he has no will of his own and she good woman is never two minutes of the same way of thinking. She has affronted half the town, particularly the [name not legible] family. She said they were all drunkards particularly the lady of the house. Jerry did not bring out his mandamus to be on the Council. I took the liberty to postpone receiving him and have remonstrated against his appointment in a letter to Macleane who is my particular acquaintance.
“Mr. Roberts is not yet arrived. Your letters from London will no doubt inform me how he came to be named contrary to the Earl’s intentions. Drayton’s appointment is still as you left it. They surely won’t put in another. I long to be at a certainty, tis tiresome, he would be a great acquisition to our society. Haldimand is appointed Brigadier of the District. Colonel and Mrs. Taylor will be here in the course of the summer.
“The two troops of Rangers are reduced in Georgia. I have applied for one [troop] here which would be of great utility and have endeavoured to convince the Earl of the propriety of the measure by informing him that the Indians carried off nine horses from this town and that I was determined not to put up with the affront and was therefore obliged to have a party of woodsmen to pursue them under the command of [James] Moncrief with orders to not return without the horses. The Engineer followed my directions, came up with the Indians above a hundred miles from this place, got the horses and gave the Princes a smart talk from me, that I would hang a white man if he stole one of their horses and that if they attempted such a thing again they should not escape so well. They were sorry, they said they were drunk and it was the rum. They gave up the horses very willingly and it was well. The Congress will not take place before the end of September, I postponed it for Mr. Stuart and shall then hold it without him.
“Erl’s debts to Grover ran higher than he expected and his funds did not answer his expectations having been disappointed on the sale of his cattle. Mr. Graham was under the necessity of advancing a larger sum, upon the security of Erl’s Negroes, than he was ordered. The mortgage drawn by Mr. Box is for £363 Sterling. Earl could not have brought his Negroes from Georgia without this advance and delay would have frustrated your plan for this year, and I have told Mr. Graham that he did right in exceeding his orders. If Graham’s brother had not put 105 bushel on board of Doran when you sent him to Savannah your 72 bushel would not have been sufficient for them at St. Augustine though a supply comes from here at times, but we could not have risked the starving at Mosquito Inlet. So that James Graham’s precaution was of great utility. I am surprised Colonel Laurens did not mention that there was an Act of Assembly in force in Georgia prohibiting the export of corn in that province.
“Your five Negro lads cost £38 Sterling each. Erl had his choice and they are worth the money. I flatter myself the other ten will be as good and perhaps come lower. I at first ordered them to be purchased in the autumn, but Mr. Graham desiring to include the summer in case a favorable quantity offered, I agreed to it. The balance of your account to Mr. Graham upon the £500 sent from hence in bills amounts to £95.5.11 including the 105 bushel of corn. I have directed him to draw for the whole amount upon Sir William Duncan as was indicated in my letter to him before you set out, but I shall draw the bills upon Duncan for your cattle and the ten additional Negroes.
“Young Davis is full of demands Cracker fashion. I give fair words and little money. Tis right to be in his debt if possible. The [liberal] advance to such people is not advisable when it can be avoided. The business of the cattle on the Georgia side will be settled without him. His presence there would have been attended with more expence than utility.
“Mrs. Turnbull paid Doran £30 Sterling. If he had not carried some rice to Savannah the demurrage you agreed to would have run high. But Graham informed me that when the rice was landed that, [and] while it remained on board, the vessel could not be considered on your account in point of time, though it was attempted. Demurrage is a bad thing on an agreement, one does not know where that is to end. I did not like your bargain with Mr. Shirley. The plan was to carry Negroes and provisions to the mosquitoes directly, bringing them here was doing nothing. I could just as easily have carried them from Savannah as have sent them from this place. £30 and demurrage when Doran had business of Shirleys to settle at Savannah was absolutely taking a man in. When you come back you must follow the planter’s rule never to pay money for it if you have not yet the £4 allowance for each Greek settler. This will be an expensive year....
“Mrs. Turnbull has never been so well or look’t so well since she came into this country. Sometime after you left us she got cold going to Robina. A second jaunt was intended but I went there, saw the house, told her it would not be worth seeing for three months to come so the plan was laid aside. The man and his wife brought to take care of Robina won’t answer. They are idle lazy crackers.
“If you do not think this a long argument you are ill to please in the Epistolary way. I can think of nothing more which interests you or your affairs. My country house is fitted up neatly for the reception of the young house keepers from Turkey. I cannot say so much for Cunningham’s farm tho’ he often talks of the Greeks who are to inhabit it.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 2, File 38-41
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
London, Circa April 1767
“This goes by Mr. [Charles] Barnard who is partner with some money’d people in an East Florida adventure. I am afraid that he will want much of your good advice as he is not so well acquainted with things of this nature as one could wish, but he seems to be good natured and active. The gentlemen he is partners with, intend to go pretty deep into the plantation scheme and trade if they see that it will answer.
“You will probably be surprised, Sir, that I have stayed so long here. It was to obtain a bounty on the importation of Greeks into your Province. Lord Shelburne supported me in this as much as possible, and I have at last almost finished it but as there was only £1100 which cold be applied that way. I am to have forty shilling a head premium on the first 500 Greeks, small children not to reckon, and the other hundred pounds for my Greek priest with a kind of promise to put him on the Establishment for the future. This affair, however, may be of more consequence than the present advantage, as it is breaking the ice in the premium way. A letter with orders on this bounty will be sent to your Excellency as soon as Lord Shelburne comes to town which will be four days hence. I wait to see all this forwarded. Lord Shelburne is also managing an accommodation with Mr. Roberts for me. I am to make him a pecuniary acknowledgment and he is to give up the Secretaryship to me, which is in part to be made up to him by Lord Shelburne giving something else for the present, but this affair is not concluded but will be off or on in six days hence.
“Lord Adam is just come in, and desired to be remembered to you, Sir, and to everybody in St. Augustine. He seems resolved on [adventuring] in East Florida. Since my arrival here many petitions have been thrown in for Lands in your Province. Some of them will make very solid settlers. I hope always to be in St. Augustine in January. Mr. McLean told me that you had wrote to him about the Mandamus for the Council. This will also be talk’t of before I go away, but however that may be I find myself more and more obliged to you. I have not got out the grants which I desired your Excellency to secure 20,000 acres for, but shall have them next week, for they have been delayed by the lazy clerks. I am thinking that of the land on each side of our tracts that [our third] 20,000 acres may be [located] more in the back of Sir William Duncan and mine if good land as I immagine it, but your Excellency will best judge of that from the description of the Deputy Surveyor after they have been to examine it and therefore I leave it entirely to your ordering.
“It is imagined that the Ministry will be [changed]. Lord Shelburne’s activity and favour with Lord Chatham gives jealousy to some of the other great ones in office and I can see that they wish him out, but I flatter myself that he will stand his ground.”
James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 343-3345
Andrew Turnbull to James Grant
London, May 1, 1767
. . .“ I depart tomorrow for Dover and thence for France. I have stayed here much longer than I intended but it was to finish the affair of the bounty on the Greeks. Lord Shelburne will write your Excellnecy about it. I am to have fourty shillings a head for the first 500 Greeks imported to Florida....My name is not to be mentioned, nor is it confirmed to me, that it is intended to assist bearing the extraordinary expense that I must be at in this affair.”
Also discussed was Lord Shelburne’s desire to appoint Turnbull as Secretary to the Council in East Florida. Mr. Roberts, already appointed to the post, was to receive another appointment. Turnbull asked Grant to continue Mr. Yates as at present, acting in behalf of the secretary.
James Grant Papers, Roll 13, File 301-30
|
