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Establishing the Smyrnea Settlement; the First Thirty Months (July 15, 1768-January 9, 1771)
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, July 15, 1768 Turnbull had just “arrived from our settlement on the Hillsborough River. Our people are fixing as fast as possible on the line of our tract which makes the banks of the Hillsborough where we have 8 miles in front. This will be all settled in a few days more with families whose houses are about 70 yards one from another. The lots of land they are to cultivate run back. As the land on the banks is very proper for the culture of vines, cotton plants and mulberry trees for feeding silk worm, I think it will become not only a very advantageous settlement but well equal in beauty to some of the finest prospects on the Nile and as our great expense is now over I hope in two or three years to fix a second range of families on the meadows nigh the great swamp, about two miles backward from the first line. A ridge of pine lands between the first and second range will be a common to both. The edges of the extensive meadows on the side of the swamp farthest back will be a proper situation for a third range, and the banks of the St. Johns River immediately behind the last swamp, will be very proper situation for a fourth. These four lines may have a thousand farms on them in seven or eight years hence and then it will be one of the best and most advantageous tracts in America.” “Expense would be too great except we have the government in maintaining the first importation by allowing us from six pence to nine pence a day a head for three-fourths of the year until their labor furnishes them some pat of their food. As to other importations, it will be easy to maintain them from the present establishments now made which will be a trifle of expense to which I am now obliged to for all our provisions are brought from Carolina and Georgia. As no minister knows the advantages of settling a country in this manner better than Lord Hillsborough I flatter myself that he will take us under his protection and assist us in the spirited manner which he is remarkable for when he sees the true interest of Great Britain is advanced by it. Seven of our ships are arrived. The eighth is a strong good ship with plenty of provisions on board so I'm not worried. As soon as I finish business here, I plan to take up my residence on the plantation and will only be in town when it can't be avoided. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, July 17, 1768 “I came here lately from our Plantation to settle accounts with the captains who brought our People from Europe, and also to provide many things wanted for our colony. I have begun to fix the families on the banks of the Hillsborough where we have eight miles in front. This will be all settled in farms in a few days. Each family to have about seventy yards in front on the River and to run back to as many acres as the family can cultivate. By this disposition every family or farm house will be about two hundred feet one from another and as lands on river are not only good but fit for vines, cotton plants, and mulberry trees for making silk, I flatter myself that it will not only be very advantageous settlement to the proprietors, but it will also form a fine Nilotic prospect. The Increase of families from these now imported will soon admit of furnishing a second range on the sides of the meadow nigh the swamp, about two miles back from River line. A ridge of Pine Lands may be left as a common between both. The sides of the back swamp about five miles from the river will be a proper place for a third line of farms, and a fourth may be formed on the edges of the rich marshes on St. Johns River. I mean that part of it behind and contiguous to our tracts. “If we can have aid of government in maintaining these people for nine months or one year, I can engage with that help and the sum we agreed on to be laid out, that these four lines shall have above a thousand families or farms on them in seven or eight years, which would make our Tracts become the most valuable ones in America. I only mention the maintaining these first People, for others brought afterwards would cost little, from supplies being easy from the first settlers. Consequently this first expense would be the only one necessary for Peopling this Province. This aid to us becomes the more reasonable as the want of labouring hands to raise provisions obliges us to fetch every thing from Georgia and Carolina, which almost doubles the price by expense of freights and other charges. “In a letter from Mahon I mentioned the expedient of an annual ship to bring people from that island to this place, which would be a great help to peopling this province, and I hope that will be done, if nothing is given to us for the maintenance of the Greeks and others now imported. This however would be expensive to government and in a short time would cost more money than what I think ought to be granted us. I presume, Sir William, that you might mention this to Lord Hillsborough, no minister knows the advantages which arise to a nation from this manner of people better than he does, and I flatter myself that he will assist us in that spirited manner which is remarkable, for in the advancement of the commercial interest of the nation, which is certainly the case at present, this province will soon furnish more valuable articles of commerce and in greater quantities than all the northern colonies together. But if no assistance is given to defray a part of the great expence of this first importation tho' it will damp the peopling of this country, and discourage me from future attempts towards it, I will not however, [limit] our present settlement, where our people are at work and in high spirits. Seven of our ships are arrived, the eighth and missing is the largest and stoutest of them all. The East Florida Schooner is now loading provisions for us at Savannah in Georgia, and another large schooner is freighted to bring corn and rice for us from Charlestown in South Carolina. “I have desired Col. Laurens to draw on you, Sir William, for the amount which I flatter myself you will order to be punctually paid. I believe that Gov. Grant laid out more money on cattle and Negroes than I intended. The expence for the cattle is a necessary and advantageous one, but I grudge that of the Negroes, as I see that it does not succeed in the extraordinary measures of it. Besides a Negro plantation is of all things the most unpleasant, and instead of peopling a country, often risks unpeopling it. Governor Grant from spending two years in South Carolina, where they cultivate with Negroes, had prejudices in favour of that way of cultivating. But I think he will soon become a convert to our system from seeing the alertness, and quick manner of working of our people. I said nothing to Gov. Grant about what he had done as he takes great pains to do us service. “I wrote you three or four days ago almost in the same words with the first part of this letter, and I propose also to trouble you with a copy of this, which I will send by another ship. The delays of letters by sea makes it in some measure necessary to send copies.” July 27 addendum to “acquaint you that the last ship is arrived with the People in good health and Spirits, tho' they have been now four months onboard without setting a foot on shore. The ship proceeds with them tomorrow to land them at the mouth of Hillsborough River.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, August 2, 1768 Turnbull promised to get all his accounts ready to permit his partners to see how the money was disposed of. “In your last letter of the 11th March you thought it right that I avail myself of the advantages which come from furnishing People for the provinces in America. I intend it and expect to reduce the expenses we have been at for these first settlers to a moderate price. It is very just that every grantee who brings settlers here through me should contribute a part of the expense we have been at to begin this affair.” Turnbull intended to write to Lord Adam Gordon in London to acquaint him with the conditions under which Mediterranean people could be transported to East Florida. Gordon, or so Turnbull thought, would communicate the news to the East Florida Society at their next meeting at the Shakespeare Head Tavern. Turnbull wrote: “I had resolved on sparing some of the people now with me to Mr. John Murray, about as many as would cost a thousand pounds, having drawn on him for the sum, which was laid out with our money, but on proposing it I found it impossible to be done without raising a discontent from separating them. This made me desist from it and consequently I have kept them all on our account. It is imagined by some people that these foreigners will soon leave us. This is so far from being the case that I believe the greatest part of them will never remove from this spot they now settled on which it shall be my care to make them as comfortable as the circumstances will admit of. Our last ship is departed for the mouth of Hillsborough River to land the people he brought and I hope they are ashore by this time. “I have been detained here, chiefly in settling my accounts with the captains. Some endeavored to give me trouble, but they have lost their labour. I've just received your letter of 6th May and am very happy that you are paying my bills. Any demur that way would have ruined me and our scheme absolutely.... “The freight of the ships are the heaviest expense we have got to pay. Providing also for so many people for almost one year will also cost a good deal, but not so much by two-thirds as maintaining the same number of people from Great Britain or Ireland, but this need not be mentioned as I flatter myself that maintaining them for six, nine, or twelve months will be at the expense of government. Governor Grant has wrote to Lord Hillsborough about it...I've now laid in and ordered provisions for at least four months, some or rather the greatest part of which is landed and forwarded to our settlement and some of it not yet ship't at Carolina. I'm now going to our plantation.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, August 20, 1768 The last ship of the ships from Gibraltar had arrived in St. Augustine by this time and was putting passengers ashore at the settlement when Turnbull wrote this letter on August 20th. Turnbull planned to leave St. Agustine the next day “for the settlement where as yet everything goes on well, though we arrived here in the worst season of the year and in the most rainy weather imaginable. Which is not only inconvenient but has retarded our work.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Orange Grove [James Penman's plantation; today at Daytona], August 22, 1768 “I have the honour to inform you that Mr. Toronty's schooner was retaken here this day after the East Florida had fired one gun at her, and she is now aground in going up to the store to unload. About thirty people on got off. Some of them went of on Sir Charles Burdett's boat, some in Mr. Macdougal's canoe, and others went ashore on the South Beach, without water and bread. The chief mutineers are among the last fugitives, and therefore I intend to offer here twenty dollars a head for every one of them who shall be brought to me, and I beg your Excellency would be pleased to desire Mr. Skinner to put up such an advertisement in St. Augustine, which I think the more necessary as I immagine that most of them will cross the Mosquito Inlet and make for towns. I have one Carlo Forni by me here. He is accused of being the ringleader in this affair. Mr. Watson, Captain Rogers, Mr. Earl, and the soldiers I brought from Mahon surprised him at the store on Friday night and drove a boat away from thence. This store they kept possession of and by that means got to the south point of the Inlet from whence I ordered some good marksmen to annoy the boats employed in [sweeping]? out the schooner which I found them doing yesterday morning early when I went down to the Inlet. “I came up here late this evening to meet Captain Rainsford, and to prevent the party with him going any farther if consistent with his orders, but as he is not yet arrived, I intend to go to the store to dispose of the prisoners, having ordered them to be confined on board the shore vessels till my going to them tomorrow morning. As I was on the beach at the Inlet this morning when the sloop and schooner appeared, I observed the surprise of the mutineers, which were so great that fifteen of them jumped into a boat and went ashore at a point on the south side of the Inlet without arms, provisions or anything other. Certainly nothing was ever more expeditious than this success or more on trial for the schooner was then within a cables length of the Bar. The villains are so much the more culpable, as they have stove all the puncheons of rum some etc, which they could not carry off.... “All the wounded are recovering. Cutter almost well. Two of the mutineers were killed on Friday night and Saturday morning.” James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 75-77 Andrew Turnbull to James Grant [No place, possibly Orange Grove], August 23, 1768, early in the morning. “I trouble your Excellency with this to acquaint you that I thought it best to send the Carlo Forni, I mentioned in my letter of last night, and not to put him among the other prisoners as he was one of the chief mutineers. I ordered him here from Earls apprehending that his adherents and accomplices might attempt his rescue if they had been informed of his being so nigh as Earls, he arrived since yesterday about the time the others were taken prisoners by your sloop and Mr. Drayton's schooner. This Carlo pretends that the fourteen or fifteen Greeks and Italians who made their escape in Sir Charles Burdett's boat were the first promoters of the disturbance and the most active in every part of it. They have not provisions to carry them to the Havannah, so that they will certainly be obliged to put ashore on the coast to the southward. “As to the others who went off in Mr. Macdougals canoe, they cannot be far off; as that boat cannot live in a swell. I hope that the hunters will find them and the others who went away in such a fright that they did not even take a bit of bread with them or anything to subsist on. I hope the reward offered will produce most of them. If possible I'll come to town seven or eight days hence to settle with Mr. [Lorans] ? and Duncan. I recollect also that the New York man has not been paid for his rum, his never having come nigh me was the reason for my forgetting that piece of business....” James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 78-80 Andrew Turnbull to James Grant New Smyrna, August 25, 1768 “I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that I am now endeavouring to settle everything as before, by sending the families back to their plantations which they had left to form a body here. On examining some of the chief plotters I find that Carlo Forni has been the sole cause of all this disturbance by flattering some of the most unruly of the Greeks and Italians with hopes of great things at the Havannah. These had several consultations when at work in the woods, but the time of the execution of their scheme was not even concluded on till the morning they mutinied. “Carlo Forni then took on him to command, saying these gentlemen had done him the honour to chuse him as their chief. They seem to me to have been about twenty at most at first only, but being masters of all the firearms they obliged all the rest, I mean Italians and Greeks, to join them, ordering their sentries to shoot every man who attempted to go off. They then began a general plunder not only of every thing in the stores, but also of what the Mahonese had of effects here. This booty engaged many others to join in plundering, especially after they had given leave to all to take as much rum as they pleased. “Many, however, made their escape to the woods and from thence to Earls, and many from the schooner. All that tribe of pilferers I think of punishing here. As to the plotting men, I send six of them prisoners with Captain Rainsford to take their tryals, and I hope that some of their bodies will be hung in chains in this river as pyrates. “As to Carlo Forni, he is an execrable villain. When he was taken he came on shore to ravish two young girls. I do not, however, condemn him of any intentions of murder. On the contrary, he seemed always inclined to spare every body; except one of the overseers who he ordered to be murdered, but it was not done by the refusal of the person who was to execute the orders. The loss suffered by this affair by their staving of casks of rum , wine and oil amounts to about a hundred pounds, but that of sloops is more considerable, for there was so much corn and bread with them on board that they threw most of them overboard, when they stuck on the barr on Monday morning. I cannot yet tell how much this loss may amount to but I hope it will be under two hundred pounds, which I hope to get out of the sweat of these pilferers brows before they leave me. I am sorry I cannot come to town to settle with Mr. Toronti, Mr Gordon and Duncan, as Mr. Cutter is still confined to his bed by a wound in the groin, another in the head behind the ear, and a third which carried away three fingers of his right hand and almost cut off the other. He is now in good spirits and desires his respects to your Excellency. “Two of the mutineers were killed. One in retaking the store and another in pilfering from the Mahonese. Several are wounded but none mortally. The Greek priest was forced onto a boat with some other Greeks with whom the boat sunk and the priest was drowned. Some of the Corsican clan of Greeks were persuaded into the plot by their understanding Italian and were active in the mischief of destroying and plundering, but they were not arrived in this place when this was first thought of. “I have desired Captain Rainsford to leave twenty men, as thirty of the mutineers were lurking about the Inlett. A detachment of six with a corporal may be necessary now and then to bring some of them in. We are nigh to three of them today. “Poor Stork died yesterday morning about three hours before I got here. He seemed to be better when we left him, but they tell me that he fell into convulsions when the mutiny began and lost his senses two days afterwards. “We endeavour to come to Town next week to settle with Mr. Toronz, Mr. Gordon and Duncan. You will see, Sir, that this is wrote in a hurry, which I can not avoid at present.... James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 78-80 Andrew Turnbull to James Grant New Smyrna, August 29, 1768 “Your Excellency's letter came to hand yesterday afternoon. I observe what you are so kind to advise about my staying a few days till everything is settled which I intended to do as you will see by my letter of the 26th which Captain Rainsford carried to town. I thought of being in town next Sunday if possible, to settle with Mr. Torontz, Duncan and others, but I am afraid it will be a day or two later as I intend to stay till Mr. Cutter is able to go about as usual. All his wounds are in a fine way. “I gave you a very long account of this disturbance in my letter to Captain Rainsford, therefore shall not trouble you with anything further at present. Only that twelve of the most capable of the mutineers are to come to stay in Captain Regal's Schooner. The others were punished yesterday morning at the whipping post. They are all now at work and I dare say will behave well for the future. “Though this affair carries a loss with it, yet I think it a kind of lucky accident to the colony for at present it not only clears us of villains but it will keep the others in awe for the future. As to the people who are fled I intend to send some hunters after them. I have already spoke to Tompkins, he promised me three days ago to be here tomorrow. I think of sending London with him and a small party of soldiers. Davis went to St. Johns the day of the mutiny and is not yet returned. “I am much obliged to your Excellency for advertising the premium for catching these fellows. I think that most of them will be starved for want of food, but if any of them attempt to escape by land that reward for catching them will probably have a good effect. I am very sorry for six of my best rowers who the mutineers obliged to embark in Sir Charles's boats as the wind was favorable for three days after that boat went out and the weather moderate, I am afraid these people are far to the southward. But whatever is the fate of these people. I think we had great luck in stopping the schooner which was owing entirely to your Excellency having dispatched the sloop and schooner so soon, for a few hours delay would have lost her. When the two vessels came off the bar, the schooner was then behind it, and would have certainly got out next tide or in six hours after they appeared. “Mr. Cutter desires his respects to your Excellency and is sorry that the cheese he intended for you is diminished to a lump, which, however, he sends forward as it is much better than none, even that lump is something. He sends it by Captain Regal who sails down today or tomorrow with the prisoners and soldiers on board. Mr. Delachery also goes with him.... James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 92-94 Governor James Grant to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, August 30, 1768 “A vessel sails in the morning for Charlestown, Dr. Turnbull is at New Smyrna and of course can't profit of this opportunity to inform you of the State of his affairs and yours in this country. The Mutiny or Riot which was raised in the settlement by the Italians and Greeks will probably make a noise and get into the newspapers with many additions to what really happened. The affair is crushed and I'm convinced no such attempt will be made in future as they were luckily overpowered the third day notwithstanding the distance, but that you may be particularly informed of every circumstance of the affair which has come to my knowledge, I take the liberty to send you for your information only, a copy of my letter to His Majesty's Secretary of State upon that subject, in which for the future security of your settlers and other inhabitants of that part of the country I propose building a fort and establishing a garrison at Mosquito Inlet. I have pointed out a fund to defray the expense, and as “When I received the Doctors express with the first account of the riot, I was ill of a fever, but I was so uneasy at the Doctor's situation and so anxious to send him assistance, that I forgot the sickness, moved about for some hours, and employed every boat and every man civil and military who I thought could be of use in getting the two vessels in order and readiness to sail. My anxiety about the poor Doctor, was of more use to me than any medicine he could have given me, for I have been in perfect health ever since, yet take the liberty to trouble you with a new account of a cure for fever as it succeeded better with me than bark. “In the Scuffle at New Smyrna Mr. Cutter, the Doctor's principal manager, was confined as a prisoner and wounded in three places in the Head, the right hand and the groin, the poor man has lost three of his fingers but is in a fair way of Recovery, he is very clever, very intelligent, and at the same time active, sober and faithful, his Death would have been an irreparable loss to your affairs, for he speaks all languages, and from the account I have of him from Mr. Turnbull, and from the Carolina planters who were for some days on the spot and admired Cutters management. I do not believe another man could be found to conduct such a number of people collected together from so many different countries and nations. “Poor Stork the Florida author went to New Smyrna with Mr. Turnbull, where he was taken ill and was left to come round to this place by sea, he fell into convulsions when the mutiny began, lost his senses two days after and died the 24th instant about three hours before Mr. Turnbull got back to New Smyrna. I had the honour of receiving your letter of 5th February but I did not think it necessary to trouble you with an answer as I did not have anything in particular to communicate to you, about your East Florida affairs, and as I at that time look't every hour for Dr. Turnbull's arrival. “The Embarkation and Importation of so many people must run high, many incidental charges as I expected which the doctor could not foresee, and of course could not enter into his calculations. ‘Tis no doubt an immense undertaking but the Doctor is so assiduous, so active, so attentive and in fact so fit in every respect to conduct the whole that I am very sanguine in my expectations of success from his settlements, but the Inhabitants must be kept in order and prevented from playing tricks in future, and as so large a settlement becomes an object of government you surely should be assisted in subsisting the settlers for a certain time, that is till they can reasonably be supposed to raise provisions for themselves. Such a measure I should imagine might be agreed to, tho' government may not think it advisable to pay for the importation of Inhabitants as such an aid should be apply'd for as you are precluded from any Bounty except for Greeks and they are so few in number that it is not worth taking.” James Grant Papers, Roll 2, File 131-132 Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, September 10, 1768 Turnbull informed Duncan that he had just arrived in St. Augustine from the settlement, where a riot instigated by Carlo Forni “had thrown things into some confusion.” Fortunately, the riot had been quelled, and measures taken to prevent “disturbances” in the future. Turnbull acknowledged that Governor Grant had already alerted Duncan to the event, and assured him that the loss was not above one-half of what it at first appeared to be. “The Chief of the riot had engaged about twenty to second him, these seized the arms, and compelled above 200 men, women and children to join them, most of whom escaped from them next day, and returned to the plantations. This Carlo Forni intended to carry them all to the Havannah, where he intended to sell them as servants. This was the reason of his compelling such a number to go with him, which he effected the easier by giving them Rum in great Plenty. The Families, then fixed on their Farms, continued there ‘till they heard of my being in the neighborhood; they then assembled and were preparing to join me in order to attack the Rioters, which in the meantime was done by the two armed vessels the governor sent to our assistance, as he has already acquainted you. “Everything is now quiet, and the Families are hard at work, on their Farms which make a line of eight miles on Hillsborough River, each farm having two hundred feet front on the River, with leave to run back as far as they can cultivate. I have begun a second line with twenty Families farther back in the tracts. All these new settlers are hard at work, and ensure such success to our undertaking by their activity and Intelligence, as will certainly reimburse us of the whole of our Expense, both Capital and Interest, before my contract is finished.” Turnbull acknowledged the receipt of letters from each of his partners, Mr. George Grenville and Duncan, and said that he was sorry it happened, but not surprised that they were limiting his spending to an additional £2000 Sterling, each man to pay half of that amount. “I am very sensible that I deserve this and though I've far exceeded our bounds, tho' not intentionally, if I had thought they would run so high, I would have taken other measures.” But as many things happened that resulted in his enlarging the scheme, the expenses consequently mounted. Turnbull, however, expressed confidence there would be no new expenses. All that was currently needed was subsistence food for the settlers until they could provide for themselves from cultivation at the settlement. “ “If a memorial in my name is necessary, please order it. I mention in my name along, because I immagine you would not choose to appear in it, it may seem to the world that I contracted with you to just such a number of People on your lands here at so much a head. This would make this aid have the appearance of being given to me alone, tho' it must be added to the mass of Expenses, and would be a great help to us. Our Olive Trees are sprouting out very well but most of the vines perished by the long voyage. But this is already partly supplied by the cuttings of the Madeira and other vines. Vineyards will render ten pounds an acre at least in this country.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, September 12, 1768 Turnbull complained of the many bills for provisions he had been receiving from merchants in Georgia and South Carolina. Everyone, he said, was pressuring him for payment. The settlers, however, were adjusting well: “I have letters from Smyrna, all are well and housing themselves for the winter in the best manner they can. I am very impatient to be among them again, but am detained supplying them with many things.... “Dr. Stork had been [ailing] or some time when he desired to go to Smyrna with me. The fatigue of the journey made him worse, notwithstanding he would not return, but went on with me. He complained of lowness of spirits, had a small but quick pulse, and complained of a dull heavy pain under his right ribs. He said his liver was affected, and despaired of recovery, four days after his getting to Smyrna, he fell into convulsive quakings and spasms, and died three days after. I buried him there as decently as I could. I believe his affairs were not in good order which probably affected him. He died the 30th of August.” In another letter written on September 12, 1768, the second day back in St. Augustine, Turnbull sent the latest news of the aftermath of the riot that had occurred the previous month. Four more runaways had been captured on the eighth of September, and one of his overseers in command of a party of six armed men was in pursuit of still other runaways. “This country is so much intersected with large rivers that it is difficult for runaways to escape.” Turnbull's anxiety about his partners failing to honor bills continued. He said the settlement would be stopped and he would be personally ruined if this were to happen. He again apologized for not contributing an equal share of the expenses, but lacked the financial resources to do so. He pledged to contact the London merchant, Thomas Nixon, “to desire him to find money for me if he can at eight percent which is the interest here. I have proposed to give my bond for it, or a mortgage, on which I have here ‘till I can get some more of my own money together.” “I intend to write to the [East Florida] Society to acquaint them on which terms I can bring settlers into this Province from the Southern parts of Europe. I intend this as an assistance to our affairs for I will not take the trouble except I can have from ten to fifteen in every hundred for our plantations. Income without expenses, this may help to make our way cheap at last. Tho' very dear at present. I do not however tell them that I propose this advantage which is little enough considering the trouble, fatigue and expense we have been at in settling this affair.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, September 21, 1768 The colonists were “getting on well,” Turnbull said and he was then “much employed in supplying their many wants....The continual attention necessary for this and for the unavoidable necessity of providing for them daily hinders me from feeling, except at times, the apprehensions which hang over me, of your not accepting my bills. You must see the necessity of going on. Else all lost. People would not only dispense but starve for want of provisions and neglect.... “When I arrived here the governor told me that he trembled for me when he considered the difficulty and expense of maintaining such a number of people in a province where everything must be broght from abroad, his apprehensions eased on my laying before him my mode of victualing, and the precautions I had taken not to be distressed for want.” The governor was providing great assistance finding food, but Turnbull was still in hopes of a subsidy from government to help with the expense of feeding the settlers for the first six or nine months, until the provisions fields at Mosquito Inlet were supplying the food needed. “Before I arrived in this country the governor had given the name of New Smyrna to our settlement. I have only changed it to Smyrnéa which is bad Greek for New Smyrna. This is only of one particular spot; I'll name the rest afterwards.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, September 22, 1768 Turnbull wrote that the settlers were doing “as well as can be wished and as they are sensible that I spare no pains to procure them every supply of provisions and convenience in my power, they put up with the want of some things without a murmur. The number of People we brought into the province being more than double the Inhabitants of this place and of the settlers in the province obliges me, at much expense and small trouble, to supply our provisions from the northern colonies, at extraordinary expense and inconvenience. This won't be felt by future settlers. Government should help maintain for at least six or nine months.” Turnbull argued that great advantage for the colony could result from introducing settlers from Southern Europe because it wold bring along “different modes of culture into the province, many of which seem superior to which is generally practiced in America; and we have now a prospect before us of bringing many valuable articles of commerce to market, as cheap if not cheaper than the French and Spaniards. I mean indigo, cotton and wines. Of these, however, and other prospects which now open to me, I shall not say much more for the future until the bringing of them to market carry a confirmation of what I now flatter myself of.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, October 3, 1768 A bill from Henry Laurens, a Charles Town merchant, for 1,000 bushels of corn carried on the Juno schooner had just arrived, along with bills for other provisions: Indian corn, barrels of salt and flour, seeds for gardens and agricultural fields, and miscellaneous. Another bill for 400 bushels of corn from Beaufort, South Carolina, and a third bill for “sundries for our people,” and sixteen barrels of flour and other provisions from Providence, Bahamas, had also arrived. Turnbull discussed his continuing concern about whether or not his partners would pay the bills. “I set out today for Smyrnéa, and do not intend to return for six weeks or two months except the want of something for our People compel me.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, October 11, 1768 “I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that the Black Captain Cesar of the Batchelor schooner brought in here last Thursday seventeen of the runaways with Sir Charles's [Burdett] boat. I have taken out nine of them and send the other eight to town to take their tryal, as these eight were rather more culpable than those in Town except Carlo Forni.” . . . James Grant Papers James Grant to the Earl of Hillsborough St. Augustine, October 30, 1768 “...The principal Italian and Greek mutineers who I mentioned in my Letter no. 9 to have made their escape in boats have since been retaken at the Florida Keys in their way to the Havanah. There are now above twenty of them in goal, ‘tis hard to fix upon the most guilty but circumstances will no doubt appear at the tryal, to determine which of them should suffer as examples to the rest, two or three will be sufficient for they'l hardly make such another attempt as not one of them has escaped. Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 5/550) Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, October 22, 1768 Turnbull was alarmed that a sloop from Providence with flour and bread supplies for the settlers had wrecked three miles from Smyrnéa. The provisions had been spoiled, forcing him to travel to St. Augustine to order more food. “Our People tried to get everything out of her,” he wrote, and they found the “flour not much damaged, bread all lost, and I was in great want of bread.” This was the first such disaster the settlement had suffered. Turnbull purchased more flour, nine barrels, and bread in St. Augustine from Spencer Man, and expected delivery by October 23rd. With this bill, Turner also sent another for three horses and corn mills he had previously purchased. “On my arrival at Smyrnéa 18 days ago I found our People sickly and many much disgusted from that sickness having carried off some of the oldest People and several children. This was caused by a sudden and violent storm of wind followed by incessant rain for three days. The Blast of wind uncovered some part of most of the Houses and Hutts, by which the families were exposed to wet and dangers which brought on a violent bloody flux, and carried off such as were afflicted with the scurvy, which manifested itself on many of them sometime after their arrival. An Hospital of 80 foot long was immediately built and I left them all recovering, I mean the sick, the others seeing that the Disorder proceeded from the weather, and that it was accidental recovered their Spirits and activity. Many of them now eat french Beans, pease and other vegetables of their own planting. The quick vegetation of this climate encourages them much. “Our Olive trees had new shoots of fifteen inches long in two months from their being put into the ground, this is reckoned extraordinary by the Olive men. I have also sown much seed for mulberry trees and am preparing land for our first vineyard, but as they do not give immediate profit I intend to plant provisions and cotton only next year, and shall not think of many articles of produce until the vineyards come up. The planting of cotton will be one of the most advantageous articles of cultivation. “Almost all of the Rioters who ran away for fear of punishment are now come in or brought in. Five or six of the most guilty are to take their tryals the next assizes, the other less guilty are at work and promise better behavior, their sufferings in the woods for want of food will I think deter them from future attempts to get off and the more as they found it unprofitable to get away. The many swamps and large rivers in this country make it improbable to strangers, and to those not familiar with proper conveniences for such traveling.” “[Despite horrible rain,] most of new planters make great crops of provisions, and the Indigo and Rice made this year is very good....In looking over our Tracts the last time I was at Smyrnéa, I examined 5000 acres of marsh land which lies before our Tracts. This will be worth five pounds an acre yearly the second year after it is dyked and ditch'd in. This spot is the most valuable part of Hillsborough River. “The rains have been so violent at St. Augustine that none of the Houses held it out. This caused more sickness and fevers here than ever was known before. Now the Sky is clear and every disorder is going off.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, October 28, 1768 This letter again expresses the great anxiety Turnbull experienced over the threat of his bills being refused for payment by his partners. If that were to happen, no merchants in America would trust Turnbull again. He–Turnbull–would immediately become a debtor, and in the North American colonies the “Debtor is immediately thrown into jail until he pays the money or finds Bail.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, November 8, 1768 Turnbull wrote to advise Duncan of bills that had arrived, and to announce that he was “setting out for our settlement, where I have sent two small vessels loaded with provisions, and seeds for planting. I have just received advice that seven of our missing People are in prison on the Island of Providence. Five of them were young men forced away by others, they are all to be sent here by the first opportunity. This affair of the Riot has ended so well, and with so little loss that I do not think that it has hurt us much, but rather the contrary, as it is now evident to the runaways that they cannot get away for wherever they go they are cast into prison and sent back again, measures having been taken to this effect everywhere in this neighborhood and in the Islands near us.” Turnbull had suffered a “severe fit of ague” that took two days to recover from. He speculated the illness was caused by his being wet for two days and two nights in the journey from Mosquito Inlet to St. Augustine. “If Roads are not made in the country, the swimming of Rivers and wading up to the middle to get through the swamps will not only be a great hindrance but will certainly kill some of us.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to James Grant From Smart's Mill, November 10, 1768 “I am sorry that Mr. Humphry's takes the alarm so easily; I can hardly think the people can be so mad as to think of running themselves into certain danger, and as to Priest and the other dear suspects, I immagine that things are exaggerated by the Tall Tale Performers. I am much obliged to Your Excellency, however, for sending another sergeant with some healthy men. It may be necessary to keep up some force there, till I can get them supplied more regularly than I have yet been able to do. I fancy that the want of flour has appeared hard to them. I depart tomorrow morning at day break and will endeavour to get among them as soon as possible, and shall certainly stay some time as you advise....” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, November 15, 1768 “I have the pleasure to acquaint your Excellency that the late apprehensions here were caused by murmurings which might have been of troublesome, rather than serious consequences had they gone further without being taken notice of. The confinement of the two chief chatterers has struck a panick in the rest, and there is not so much as a whisper of discontent. I have put some of the stoutest hands to make a road of six or eight feet wide in the front of the farms that the overseers may visit the workers with more convenience, and other [uses] than has been practicable yet. “A scurvy which brought on gangrene mostly in the mouth, is almost the only disorder among us at present. The weather is fine and without a drop of rain since the 18th of last month. “I am sorry the Black Captain does not appear. Mr. Wilson promised to drive him out of that port, if he is still there I should be obliged to Mr. Skinner if he wold put Mr. Wilson in mind of his promise. The sergeant was soon sensible of his error and now accounts himself at one for former faults. He keeps his command in good order, and lends me provisions, however, as he seems to have a spirit of avarice, I hope the other sergeant will still be obliged to concur, if [word not legible] departed from this place. “Mr. Macdougal, Penman and everybody on the River area are well, a Talk which met Captain Bisset have acquainted that his cotton look't very fine. Mr. Cutter and Humphreys present their respects to your Excellency. They are to be in St. Augustine about the middle of December. I don't know whether I shall come to town before that or not, as I intend to be here before they go to town.” James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 233-235 Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, November 21, 1768 “I have the honour to inform you that Captain Taylor with command arrived here last Wednesday. Penman, Bissett and Macdougal were here yesterday to take away what they had on board the Diamond. They are well. “We are all covered in white this morning with hoar frost, the thermometer was half a degree below the freezing point at sunrise, and ice as thick as a crown. We wanted a bracer, but this is a shocker. I can hardly hold the pen to write this, for our House is very summer....” James Grant Papers Governor James Grant to William Knox St. Augustine, November 24, 1768 The governor reported that the Greek colonists have been quiet of late, but they have been sickly, suffering from “a virulent scurvy contracted during their long voyage is their only remaining disorder.” The settlement has lost by death since landing 300 people, chiefly the old and young children. Grant felt that if given government support Dr. Turnbull would form a fine settlement, but the expenses have been so high and so many People were involved that it appears to be too great a project for private pockets. Therefore, the government should help the proprietors. Turnbull and his partners had already laid out at least £20,000. “He must look to the Public for assistance to enable him to prosecute his plan.” The settlers were expected to raise a little this year but they will have to be fed for many months yet, at great expense when so many people were involved. Grant noted that he had given great assistance to the settlement: “I saved a great quantity of garden seeds for him, of which, a grain does not fail here, when the greens grow up they will be of use to the poor people, who suffer from the scurvy, but our gardens [in St. Augustine] only begin to get in order [whereas] to the Southward at Smirnea they are in greater forwardness. The Doctor is now there.” James Grant Papers, Roll 2, File 168-170 James Grant to the Earl of Hillsborough St. Augustine, December 1, 1768 “The Greeks and Italians are quiet, but they have been sickly, a seasoning no doubt was to be expected upon their landing, but it has been attended with worse consequences than I looked for. They have lost above three hundred, chiefly old people and children. Mr. Turnbull writes me that they now begin to recover fast, and that the only disorder remaining among them is a scurvy which brings on gangrenes mostly in the mouth. When their gardens are got into order, ‘tis to be hoped vegetables will effectually remove the bad effects of a long and tedious voyage from the Mediterranean, the remedy is not distant as our gardens at present are much in the same situation with those in England about the end of April. At New Smyrna they should rather be farther advanced, and as seeds from England and the other parts of America are not to be depended on, I took care to save a considerable quantity for Mr. Turnbull from my own garden, of which a grain does not fail here, and of course he runs no risk of being disappointed in point of vegetables. “Twenty thousand pounds sterling at least, my Lord, have already been laid out fo the embarkation of provisions and clothing of these people, so large a sum is not to be recovered but by perseverance, and a farther expense. The settlers may do a little for themselves in the course of the winter and spring, but they must be assisted for many months and clothed at least for two years before returns can reasonably be expected. Tho' they are supplied with economy and good management there is no trifling article of expence, where twelve hundred people are concerned, even salt and Indian corn exclusive of every other species of provision run high. ‘Tis true they have fish the year round, oysters and shell fish in plenty during the winter months, but not withstanding those helps, till they can raise the necessaries of life for themselves, I am much afraid that the expence of supporting so large a settlement, will be found too considerable for private pockets. “I give Mr. Turnbull every little assistance in my power, and I can safely say that I am as anxious about his success as he can be himself; but unless your Lordship is pleased to take the Greek settlement under your protection and include it in the estimate for 1769, I am apprehensive that Mr. Turnbull will find great difficulty in carrying the projected plan into execution. It is upon a larger bottom than was concerted with his friends at home, and has already far exceeded double the sum which they agreed to advance, for which reason, my Lord, I am under some uneasiness about the future conduct of those gentlemen. They may probably tire of paying the large and frequent bills, which Mr. Turnbull is under an absolute necessity of drawing upon them. Their affairs certainly could not be in better hands, the Doctor is active, intelligent, and assiduous, but his friends tho' they have the highest opinion of Mr. Turnbull's integrity and ability, may possibly be alarmed at risking such large sums in a New World without a more immediate prospect of returns for their money. “What I now mention to your Lordship is entirely from private opinion for tho' I am sure the Doctor is convinced of my friendship and good wishes, he has never expressed a doubt to me of his correspondents going on, and therefore I believe he does not doubt of it. But in my situation, my Lord, I cannot avoid having many serious thoughts about a settlement which is of such consequence to this infant colony and tho' I have no reason to suspect that Mr. Turnbull's bills will meet with dishonour, I cannot help considering the dreadful situation which the Doctor and his Greeks would be reduced to if such a misfortune was to happen. A single bill being returned, My Lord, would put a total stop to his credit, and the people in that case must unavoidably perish for want, if I do not support them. “Your Lordship knows that I have no publick money, and indeed if I had a fund in my hands, I have no power to apply it for their situation. But it would be impossible to think of their starving. In such a case of necessity I must run the risk, draw upon the Treasury for the subsistence of these adventurers, and depend upon Your Lordship's protection to support me in what I do. Altho' this affair, My Lord, has hung heavy upon my mind since the landing of so great a number of people at a time, without any previous provisioning made for them, and without the consent of the other parties concerned, as the Mahonese crowded in unexpectedly upon Mr. Turnbull, I was unwilling to express the most distant doubt of his credit or success. But mentioning the circumstances to your Lordship in the manner I have done cannot hurt Mr. Turnbulls affairs....” Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 5/550) Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, December 3, 1768 Turnbull listed a number of bills in this letter, saying he had returned to St. Augustine to buy flour and provisions and would be returning immediately to be with the settlers as much as possible. The bills included charges of $14 per barrel for forty barrels of Irish pork, and charges for flour, rum, bread, and other provisions. Turnbull observed that the expenses were diminishing daily. “Our People are now recovered from an Indisposition which has been general in Carolina, Georgia, and this province. It seems to me to proceed from the astounding quantity of rain which fell this autumn, and was computed here to be at least twenty times more than last year. It carried off some of our very old People and a few of the youngest children, although it was not so violent among us as in this place, and it was more so still in Georgia. I left everybody at work in clearing to plant in the Spring. We shall think of nothing this year but provisions and a few cottons, in the mean time our vines and olives will be coming on.” The tremendous rainfall experienced at the settlement had not sunk the spirits of “the People.They are all now cheerful and contented; most of them declare that they will never leave their present settlements, and I am positive that if they are properly managed not one in ten will ever remove their present situation, both for advantage and convenience and pleasure being very engaging: every man has a large oyster bank before his door, on the side of a River alive with Fish and he finds that his land throws up an increase of every thing he puts into it. It shall be my care to make them sensible of every advantage and to profit from them....“People have not only laid the foundation of peopling the province, but also for supplying other newcomers....” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to John Graham St. Augustine, December 3, 1768 Turnbull alerted Graham, a Savannah merchant, that all of the Mosquitoes planters needed corn delivered, naming himself, James Penman, Captain Bissett, and Macdougal. Items ordered by Turnbull included forty barrels of coarse flour (or Carolina flour), 150 bushels of sweet potatoes, red peas, black peas, “a few firkins of hogg's lard, a box of green candles and fifty pounds [probably S.C. currency] worth of green wax in cakes, and you will do one a particular service in shipping half a dozen breeding sows, with a boar, and all the poultry the vessel can conveniently take on board. It is to be understood, however, that my commissions are not to be executed except the cargoes discharged at the Mosketo's, for freights are higher from this place to the Mosketoes than from Charlestown here. Of the Captains of the schooners not acquainted with the Mosquito bar, on his anchoring about a mile from it, hoisting a flag, a boat with a pilot will be sent to bring him over the bar. All masters of the vessels who have been there lately think that there is rather more water than on the St. Augustine bar, and better anchorage when over. It is meant that these commissions for provisions are to be executed and sent as soon as possible for we shall all be soon in want of them by the way of Carolina or any other opportunity will be satisfactory....” James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 255-257 James Grant to Andrew Turnbull St. Augustine, December 10, 1768 In this letter, the governor sent instructions for ordering supplies from Charles Town merchants, and for making arrangements with ship captains. He also chided Dr. Turnbull for naively making arrangements with untrustworthy adventurers: “Bills are come back protested upon [Charles] Bernard, which I have long expected, as I was absolutely certain that he he had no power to draw upon Mr. Lillingston. Joe Gray, who is deep in the scrape, has laid hold of the Negroes which Bernard hired to you, they tell me that you have advanced £25 Sterling to Bernard upon that account. If so, I am sorry for it, for you certainly will lose every shilling of the money, and if you have bought the Negroe wench from him, depend upon it she will be claimed and seized by Lord Moira's agent when he arrives, for Stanhope O'Shannon has no right to dispose of her to Bernard, and he has as little right to sell her to you, and I have just been saying to Major Moultrie who called in to tell me that Mrs. Turnbull had some thoughts of sending an Express to acquaint you that Joe Gray had laid hold of the Negroes hired to you, that you might come to town in order to recover the £25 Sterling from Bernard, which I have said would be unnecessary trouble for if you was upon the spot Bernard could not pay you a penny. “Mrs. Turnbull, Mrs. Dames, Moultrie, Box, and Catherwood dine with me tomorrow. I shall have conversation with the Greek about Bernard, she will not approve of the loss of the £25 and will say the Doctor make very bad bargain.” James Grant Papers Earl of Hillsborough to James Grant Whitehall, December 10, 1768 “I have received and laid before the King your dispatches by the Grenville packet numbered from 8 to 13. “It has given His Majesty great concern to find that the settlement carrying on under the direction of Doctor Turnbull, which His Majesty considers as an undertaking of great public utility and advantage, has met with obstruction and the proprietor sustained so considerable a loss from the mutineers behavior of a part of those colonists which had been collected at so large an expense and that they should have made so ungrateful a return for the kindness and tenderness with which they appear to have been treated. The assistance you afforded Dr. Turnbull was very reasonable and you conduct upon this occasion has met ith His Majesty's approbation. “I entirely agree with the Board of Trade in the opinion they gave in 1766 of the utility of a fort at the Mosquito Inlet, and am sorry that there were any motives to deter you from carrying their Directions into execution, but as it seems highly necessary from the present state of the settlement in that neighborhood that this business should be no longer delayed I will make immediate inquiry into the agents hands and hope by the next opportunity to be able to send you His Majesty's order for carrying on this necessary work. “I am very sorry that the claimants under the pretended Spanish purchases have thought fit to decline the mode of bringing their claims to an issue, which is pointed out in His Majesty's order in council of the 3rd of December 1766 which order appears to have been calculated to give every facility to a fair trial of the right, that could in reason or justice have been desired. “It will be my duty to lay your letter upon this subject and also the paper transmitted with it, before His Majesty in council, in order that such further steps may be taken as shall be thought expedient to get rid of claims so discouraging to the settlement of East Florida, which His Majesty is well pleased to find has notwithstanding made so great a progress.” James Grant Papers, Roll 16, File 261-263 Henry Laurens to James Grant Charles Town, December 14, 1768 Laurens listed items shipped to the Turnbull settlement. Items included forty barrels of rice, eighteen barrels of Indian corn, twelve barrels of Irish beef, 2,500 bushels of corn in bulk from Crooked River in Georgia, eight casks of salt and live hogs. “This beef, I presume, will be sufficient to serve the expected Greek settlers until I can ship the pork by some future vessel. We have seldom any quantities of pork in barrels brought to market before Christmas and this fall having been remarkably warm and moist hath been a discouragement to people to kill their hogs. Salt also in uncommonly dear and hopes of large importations is an additional hindrance....” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, December 26, 1768 “John Davis not coming to drive up the cattle as he promised, puts me to great inconvenience. I do not know what to do with that fellow, but in the meantime I have desired Mr. Humphrey to send me black Sandy, to enquire of the Indians hunting in the neighborhood of the Cowpens, for the cattle. I am afraid these Hunters mistake a steer now and then for a deer. But it will be no wonder as they see them dispersed and many of them without being marked. “My people are now almost all well, and work cheerfully. Mr. Penman's people tell me his great drain is now in the swamp, and that it is two feet deeper than the level of the water.” In this letter Turnbull commented about cold weather at New Smyrna, with the thermometer reading only 28 degrees at sunrise. He also enclosed the following note for a ship captain named Tucker: “If you can bring me a cargo of corn to this place, I engage by this to pay you four shillings more Carolina currency for it than the Charlestown price at the time of loading. With this condition however, that you take in eighty barrels of flour for me, at the usual freight from Carolina to this province. That flour is to be ship't by Colonel Laurens at Charlestown, and to be delivered here with the corn.” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, January 8, 1769 Turnbull lamented in this letter that his bills were being protested by his partners, who he thought seemed determined to not advance more money for the settlement. Turnbull said it meant “famine for our people, for they can not subsist here as yet, nor can anything be removed from hence, but by Sea, and at a great expense, therefore they must perish. As to me, I feel nothing for myself, for I could live, and even amuse myself among Wild Arabs, Savages or Hotentots, if I was drove to such Retreats. It is for these People and for the total loss of all that has been laid out...that I am concerned for.” Turnbull said he dreaded the thought of having “to abandon these People destitute of their daily supply, without which they can not subsist. They now go on cheerfully, being convinced of the fertility of the soil of their Lands....This dread of starving being only in my Breast has no effect on our affairs. I keep everything going on with Spirit and am resolved to continue until I am forced to stop.” He begged Sir William to keep paying the bills until the colony was established. As to his own fate he commented: “as to mine it will be jail.” He predicted that he would be forced to give up everything but that he would still carry on. But if his credit was called in question “the People must starve.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to the Earl of Hillsborough [Smyrnéa], January 7, 1769 Turnbull acknowledged that the expenses incurred for the settlement exceeded his calculations, but says that was no way to avoid it. Because of extreme weather conditions it took four months to sail from Turkey to Minorca, whereas the normal travel time is fifteen days. As a result of the delays, provisions for the prospective settlers ran low, and he had a difficult time obtaining a sufficient supply at Minorca because of extreme shortages there. Thus, prices for provisions were high. In addition, the voyage from Minorca to Florida consumed four and one-half months rather than the forty days which is generally required for that travel. After the settlers arrived, the Mosquito Inlet area was plagued by heavy rains for three months, which prevented them from working at full speed and damaged their provisions, hampering planting of provisions. Thus, the expenses mounted. “This colony needs people or it fails,” Turnbull stated. Roads were also needed, but people were of major importance. “The Banks of this River, which a few months ago were only marked by the different basking places of tygers, wolves, snakes, and alligators, are now covered with an industrious and cheerful People, for not only the vines and olives trees they have planted come on faster than in Europe, but every seed and plant yet tried come up and thrive.” Dundee City Archive James Grant to the Earl of Hillsborough St. Augustine, January 14, 1769 . . . “Carlo Forni, the Ring Leader of the Mosquetto Riot, and Guiseppi Massadoli, alias Bresiano, who wounded Mr. Cutter, Doctor Turnbull's principal manager, have been condemned and suffered as examples to others. I have reprieved and set at liberty Clatha Corrona, George Stephanopoli and Elia Medici until His Majesty's pleasure is known. Several others were tryed and acquit (sic) for want of proper evidence, which in fact was not material as two examples were quite sufficient. Doctor Turnbull has been for some time past with his settlers, they are all in good humor, get into health, and he writes me that they go to work chearfully. If they can only raise provisions for themselves next year, my Lord, everything will be well. Produce must follow, and if Mr. Turnbull can once begin to send Rice, Indigo, Cotton, Silk, Wine or Sugar to market he and his friends may be reimbursed the expence they have been at, which runs very high indeed.” . . . Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 5/550) Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnea, January 24, 1769 “I have the honour to inform you of the spirit of our affairs here. My former letters were so full of apprehensions that they must have been troublesome to you, but as my fears were grounded on what you wrote me that apologies for them tho' these still hang over me, they have not abated the spirit of our affairs here. “We have not only cleared a great deal of land but have carried on other things in the meantime. The want of conveniences for unloading our provisions pointed out to us the necessity of a wharfe. This we have provided for by building a very solid stone one forty five feet breadth, and carried one hundred feet into the River. It is said to be the best in America, and I find the advantage of it already both in time and labour as we can load or unload at all times of the tide. The want of such a convenience at St. Augustine was not only a great expence to me lately from the loss of time, but also a continual Risk of staving casks, and wetting dry provisions, for there is not a wharf there at which it is possible to load or unload but two hours in twenty-four, when it is high water. The wharfage for goods brought into this part of the country will soon amount to something, for its being the most convenient place in the Southern parts of this Province for shipping, all the produce of south and north Hillsborough with that of Halifax must come here. But without a view to this, we could not have gone on without it. “Another necessary work was a Road to all the Farms, not only for the convenience of the settlers, but also that we might daily and hourly visit them all. The Road I have made for this purpose is broad enough for carriages and is carried along the front of the two tracts which is nigh eight miles. This enables us to see our workers at all hours. “As to buildings all we have as yet is a store of forty five feet long, an Hospital of eighty, and a house thirty six feet long, in which I live with the Clerks. I do not mention ovens, smiths, forges, etc. The mending of Tools, and making what cannot be found for present use employs four Smiths of whom we have very good ones, as well as every other trade necessary in a new colony which enables us to carry on everything as easily, and with as much regularity as if we had been settled for twenty years. I have every [thing] almost ready for two magazines of eighty foot each, and 6 houses of forty foot long each all of which I hope to have up this summer. “As to our farmers, they are comfortably lodged in small houses with palmetto leaves, which makes a good kind of thatch, but I intend to lodge them in very neat houses as soon as possible to engage them to remain with us always, which they are inclined to do at present. I'll endeavor to keep them in that way of thinking. “Our chief employment at the present is cutting the woods on the lands we intend to plant this spring, and we begin to burn the cut down timber the first part of next month and then we prepare the ground for planting. All the land we now clear to be laid out in vineyards, though most of it must be in provisions for two or three years, till I can colect (sic) vines enough to plant it all. That range of vineyards to the north of the town will be about five miles in length, that to the south almost three miles. I intend also to begin the planting of olive trees to shade them in the eastern taste. We have many other little things in hands too tedious and trifling to mention. “Marriages go on fast among us, and I observe that most of the women grow bigg apace. The bad weather we met with on this coast before our arrival made many of our pregnant women miscarry. That loss is now in a fair way of being made good.... “I think I mentioned in a former letter that I had taken measures to have some Indigo makers from New Orleans and the Mississippi. The Indigo made there is much better than that of Carolina. This proceeds from the Carolina People not being familiar with the proper manner of making it. They have no standard rules but go by guess work in a very uncertain and slovenly manner.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, February 3, 1769 “I came here late last night after being five days on my journey between this and Smyrnea. The Roads are so bad that I got through with difficulty. [Better roads] are “Absolutely necessary.... “I left all our People in high Spirits and hard at work.” Dundee City Archives Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan [Smyrnéa], February 18, 1769 The need to purchase provisions in September is the main reason for the current extraordinary expenses. It was necessary to purchase all our provisions “for the coming summer until a new crop will be in store in May at furthest.” Until then, he was forced to purchase on credit. Thus, he sent along a bill for £2,500 Sterling. “As to my family, they have lived rather penuriously, this was partly of necessity as I was out of the Province, and from a Resolution which I have carried into practice which is that my salary and perquisites as Secretary [of East Florida] shall maintain my house in Town. As the perquisites increase I shall be able to do more, that is the reason that I have not asked the governor nor any of my friends here to take a dinner with me or drink a glass of wine at my House, which is the custom here....” The governor told Turnbull that he, Governor Grant, kept a good table to “entertain newcomers and strangers because he knows they cannot find a dinner anywhere else.” Turnbull was worried that Duncan would think him to be extravagant, “which that wrong headed man [Denys] Rolle had reported of the settlers here.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, February 19, 1769 Another case of severe fever had debilitated Turnbull and detained him. He had been out “twenty miles away from any covering or habitation” while traveling several hours. He had since recovered, and expected to leave for Smyrnéa the following day. He indicated his desire that the governor would soon issue an order for the military to begin making roads. The health of Turnbull's settlers had been much on his mind. He wrote that “seasoning to the climate has been severe on our old People and young children. The fatigue of a long voyage had weakened them too much, that they cold not stand the shock of such an uncommon bad season as that of last autumn....It gave me pain, and I endeavoured to save them but could not. We have lost about 300 of them, the rest are now in health and spirits. “Two of the chiefs of the August mutiny at Smyrnea were executed here last month, others were reprieved under the gallows, all the fugitives who ran away at that time are brought in to a man, eight of the last arrived here from Providence a month ago, they all seem to be willing to atone for past misconduct. They shall pay every half penny of the Damage sustained in that affair before they get out of my hands.” Dundee City Archive James Grant to the Earl of Hillsborough St. Augustine, March 4, 1769 . . . “Doctor Turnbull's settlers get into Health, he writes me that they have cleared seven miles in front upon the river, that they have got gardens and work chearfully, but I shall never be easy in my mind about that settlement ‘till they raise subsistence for themselves. Mr. Turnbull, to avoid drawing bills upon his constituents in London, runs to near [empty] in point of provisions. I have always recommended to him to have six months provisions constantly in store, and have often told him that if he at any time had less than four he might from the disappointment of a vessel run the risk of starving the settlement by not following my advice, and by persisting in too nice computations, which won't do when a thousand people living in a wilderness may be deprived of subsistence by an error in calculation. “Mr. Turnbull, just as I expected, finds himself at the moment very much pinched for provisions, as his supplies have not arrived exactly to the time, and he writes me that he has only Indian corn for a month at the Mosquettos. I shall take care to prevent his being distressed, tho' I have no objection to his being a little uneasy, and therefore without telling him or anybody else, I have sent the East Florida to Charles Town with directions to my correspondent to load her with Indian corn, and with private orders to the captain to proceed directly from Charles Town to New Smyrna, tho' I give out here that the vessel is going to Savannah for lumber and other things which are wanted.” Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 5/550) Andrew Turnbull to Governor James Grant Smyrnéa, March 5, 1770 “I had the honor of your letter last Friday by Moncrief. His going away immediately for fear [of] losing the tide did not give me time to answer it by him. “Debrahm's refusing his Betsy is of a piece with every thing he does and I think consistent with his character, which is mean, proud, dirty and disobliging. “I have calculated the expense of having provisions brought by land and find that it will run high. A horse cannot carry more than three or four bushels of corn. Each horse will cost two dollars a trip besides as much for a man to drive every two or three. I shall want forty loads of corn or flour a week which would cost a hundred dollars at least besides the expenses of carrying it to Smarts, and taking it away from Major Moultries. I am much obliged to you Sir for the offer of your flat to carry it to Smarts, but as the pilot boat will carry one hundred and fifty bushels of corn or flour in proportion, I beg the favor of her if she can be spared. “I would have sent Humphreys to town for the business of loading her if he had been well. He has had a return of his fever and is now in bed with it. This also prevents my coming to town and obliges me to trouble Major Moultrie to dispatch her. I have wrote to him that I would have ten barrels of pork put on board of her and to fill up with corn but if none is to be had, to fill up with flour. It will be as much as I can do to hold out three weeks longer. I have therefore desired the major to dispatch that supply as soon as possible. But if a larger vessel with a thousand or more bushels of corn should come in and if the corn can be purchased on condition of delivering it here, or of another vessel can be hired to bring it here, I have desired the Major to proffer a supply this way to that by the pilot boat. “As to writing to Charlestown or Savannah, my wants do not admit of the tardy way of doing business. In these places I must endeavor to make a shift till either the Georgia vessel, [Captain] Ryal, or [Captain] Buckle brings me a supply. The provisions I have in town will be sufficient for me till the latter end of May. The six hundred bushels of corn and peas which I am to have by the Georgia vessel would enable me to hold out a month longer. I look on their vessel as the most certain for I have a letter from John Graham in which he says that he will dispatch her in the beginning of February. “Woodside came to anchor on Thursday last to the northward of this bar, but so much [wide of] the land that he was not seen by the two men who were looking out for him. He came [nearer] the bar next day, was seen, and the pilot sent on board, but a northeaster threatened and he having only a very small rope with a grappling to ride by for he lost the only anchor he had at St. Augustine, got under sail and wrote me that having sprung a leak the night before, if the wind came northerly he would run for the Keys and as soon as he found black Caesar he would send the cargo by him to this place. Such a broken reed to trust to, that I do not depend on what I had on board. The five barrels of pork I was to spare to the soldiers is gone with the rest and the sergeant tells me that they have only one week's provisions. He sends a soldier to town to devise a supply. This letter goes by him. I am with the greatest respect....” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to Governor James Grant Smyrnéa, March 18, 1769 “I have the honor of your letter by the pilot boat and am much obliged to you for her. She, with the Georgia vessel came to anchor off the bar on Tuesday morning. The sloop came in the next day, but the schooner did not get in till yesterday afternoon. The westerly winds had almost filled up our inlets and as our best pilot here was sick, we durst not venture her in ‘till some of the cargo was unloaded. Our wants also demanded an immediate supply, consequently no time was lost in taking out part of the cargo with our two large boats, but as this way of unloading her was slow I desired Jemmy Smith to go out to unload some of the corn with the pilot boat. He went out on Thursday morning and came in that afternoon with above two hundred bushels besides some barrels. He objected against this ship as your orders to him were to return to St. Augustine as soon as possible, however he went on my telling him that I would take the blame of it, & did not hesitate, Sir, to take that liberty with you being persuaded that the friendly assistance you mean to us all here is not confused in such circumstances. “If the pilot boat can be spared once more, it would be doing me a singular service to bring me seed potatoes. I laid by a quantity of those I had by Buckle but they sprouted before the time of planting came. I ordered one hundred and fifty bushels by the Georgia schooner and have twenty only on board her. Mr. Graham had engaged for that quantity but when they came to be loaded they were so bad that they could not take them. I expected red peas from him also but he sent me none, though there was room in the schooner for more than she brought from Georgia. He has not observed neither what I wrote him about the flour. Much business often hinders a merchant from doing things well when they are attended with a certain detail. My commissions being trifling probably came in the way when things of greater consequence requiring all his attention Perhaps there may also be a Yankee agitation which infects everybody in America. The merchants do not seem to me to do business with that attention which the orders given require. Perhaps I may be wrong and blame without reason. I send a copy of the letter I wrote him with his answer that you may judge whether he has fallen under the censure here mentioned or not. It is, however, of no consequence as to the other article except the potatoes. It was strange that only twenty bushels of seed potatoes could be found. I can now hold out two months longer. The loan paid me enables me to do this, and I can borrow as much as will serve me one month more. I have a letter from Ryal, he said he would be with me before this time, but had been delayed by Mr. Stephen Drayton's being at Charlestown. James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, March 22, 1769 A ship from Georgia brought flour, pork, and other provisions, and Turnbull enclosed a bill sent out for James and John Graham and Co. Of Savannah. Turnbull was in St. Augustine at the time on business, but was pleased to report that “All of our People are in good health and spirits” and had planted 1,000 grape vine cuttings, in addition to their other work. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, March 28, 1769 Turnbull was unexpectedly back in St. Augustine on urgent business to find a vessel to carry food to his settlement. A small vessel carrying provisions and seed corn to Smyrnéa had an accident and sprung a leak in sight of the settlement. The accident forced the captain to sail quickly for Providence for repairs, leaving the settlement extremely short of food supplies. Governor Grant immediately sent the provincial schooner, the East Florida, to Charles Town for supplies. “Our People [are] busy and eager” and working at raising crops. In addition to that, their chief other work of late had been planting vines--21,700 had been, many were already bearing grapes. Turnbull intended to plant four times that many vines in the next spring season and more in future years. The “People” were also building magazines, houses, and boats, all much needed. In a few years we shall pay off every penny laid out and have a fine estate. “Our Farmers find that the soil is excellent for vines...coming on very fast.” Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, May 10, 1769 A letter from Duncan to Turnbull written December 2, 1768, had come into Turnbull's hands only a few days before this May 10 letter was written. Duncan was insisting on another contractual agreement between the partners because of the huge sums laid out for the settlement. The new agreement would divide profits and land into shares according to the amounts the partners had contributed. Turnbull responded that he was in agreement, and that he had always intended such a division appropriate. He pledged to travel to St. Augustine to consult with a lawyer on how to give security, but that could not go immediately as he was busy managing the planting of provisions for the next year's food supply. “Everything comes on well. Our vines have shoots this spring of above 12 foot long already, and other growths are in proportion.” A vine planter from Europe, at another grantee's estate, had visited the previous week and said that the soil at Mosquito Inlet and the general situation was good. “4,000 vines [are] generally planted on one acre and one man looks after five acres,” Turnbull reported, whereas “1,000 vines makes a pipe of wine at least, although I think ours will do more. Within three to five years vines give good wine grapes.” Duncan had been pressing Turnbull for copies of all accounts of the business. Turnbull said that the delays in sending the accounts resulted from the loss of the first clerk who died last month after illness from fatigue at Mahon and Gibraltar. Then the last clerk left had fever twelve times since arriving here, Turnbull said, and he had been too busy to do the accounts himself. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, May 17, 1769 A large schooner had recently brought provisions, but already the settlement was in need of more pork, red peas, seed for planting, Indian corn, nineteen bars of iron, salt beef, twenty barrels of rice, and indigo and cotton seed. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to George Grenville St. Augustine, May 30, 1769 “I readily agree with you in opinion that it is just and equitable that the division of lands cultivated and uncultivated, of Families, and of all other improvements whatever should be made after the term of our contract is elapsed in proportion to the Funds furnished by each of us, and I likewise agree that the revenue arising from the labor of our settlers during the time of our contract should be divided in like manner annually in proportion to the capital sums advanced by the three parties concerned.” Turnbull also agreed that the sums expended greatly exceeded what the partners had first agreed on. He apologized for the sums advanced to date: £22,261.2.10. Nevertheless, he asked for another £1,738.17.2 to raise the total to £24,000 Sterling. He pledged to add £600 of his own money to bring his capital contributions to £4000. With these amounts, and the bounty contribution of £1000 from government he felt the settlement could continue. The proportional contributions would then stand at £12,000 each for Grenville and Duncan and £4,000 from Turnbull, who said he would willingly do more but for losses in Turkey that hurt his financial situation. Accordingly, Turnbull waived the 1/2% of the nett annual produce to which he had been entitled, and proposed to divide the net annual profit of the plantation into 5 equal parts, 2 to go to Grenville, 2 to Duncan, and 1 to Turnbull. At the end of the contract he proposed to divide assets the same way. Turnbull indicated that he would continue managing after the 7th year, when the original contract terminated, “without fee or reward, and to prolong the Deeds of Covenants” to as long as his partners wanted. If partners would not agree to 2-2-1 proportional split, he proposed a seven part division (3-3-1) for both produce, people, and land. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to James Grant St. Augustine, May 30, 1769 Because of complaints about the New Smyrna settlers being foreigners and “Catholicks,” Turnbull said “I can engage to make than anything I please, and I would make them Turks tomorrow if I thought it would make them better planters for it, but this I do not intend nor to turn apostle nor act a Luther to reform them, Tho' I will answer that this will be very soon a Protestant settlement if a Clergyman is sent among them. A hundred pounds was set aside by the Board of Trade for a Greek Priest for our settlement, I brought a Priest with me but he was drowned by accident. That amount, yearly, would be a sufficient salary for a clergyman for Smirnea. But I should be sorry if a person I did not point out was named for it. An awful person might do much mischief.” . . . James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, June 1769 Turnbull was pleased to report that provisions planted in 1769 showed promise, and he hoped the yield would be large enough to feed the settlers in the following year. “But as the season has been droutly I have been obliged to use Egyptian methods of watering some of our fields, which succeeds well, tho' this and many other helps in Husbandry are new in America. They know no mode of watering but by overflowing, which can not be done but in particular low lands.” Dundee City Archives James Grant to William Knox St. Augustine, June 26, 1769 This letter discusses a number of problems and events then current in East Florida. The governor announced the illness of his assistant secretary, Dr. David Yeats, the malfeasance of the provincial surveyor, W.G. DeBrahm, and the marriage of DeBrahm's daughter to a “genteel young man,” Frederick George Mulcaster, a member of the Royal Engineers. He also discussed the subsidy of £2,000 Sterling for provisions for the New Smyrna settlers that the Earl of Hillsborough had authorized. To Dr. Turnbull, he said: “Gentlemen at home, are heartily tired of large and frequent draughts coming upon them, which are unavoidable, and the poor Doctor from the letters he receives becomes uneasy about the fate of his bills. But in fact ‘tis no wonder if his copartners are sick of the business as they have already expended £28,000. The little mite thrown in [by government] should be laid to as much advantage as possible for the good of the settlers. Provisions shall be bought at a proper season of the year, and at the cheapest possible [price], which has not hitherto been the case, for my friend the Doctor to save his correspondents runs frequently too near, and is then obliged to pay what was asked, which in fact increased the evil he was most anxiously endeavoring to avoid. “The original error and the cause of his distress was running rashly into numbers at Minorca, and as the embarkation, feeding and future support of fourteen hundred evidently exceeded three times the funds he was allowed by agreement to carry on his plan of settlement, if Lord Hillsborough had not taken up the affair heartily upon receiving my letter, and if Mr. Bradshaw had not thought of an expedient without making this money a charge in the estimate, we should have got nothing. Of course the settlement could not have carried on, and God only knows what would have become of the Mahonese. We could not have fed them and they must have fed upon us. I talk upon the supposition that the partners in London would have stop't payment, which I think must have happened, and will I dare say still happen if government is not induced to continue the same Bounty at least for two years more....” James Grant Papers (C.O. 5/550) James Grant to Andrew Turnbull St. Augustine, June 28, 1769 “My letter of the 1st of December to the Earl of Hillsborough upon the subject of your settlement has produced an order to me to supply your colonists to the extent of two thousand Pounds Sterling, specifying service, and drawing bills accompanied with proper vouchers to the account, upon the Treasury. This subsidy is not sufficient and yet it was obtained in consequence of my representation, though the Duke of Grafton and Lord North opposed the measure, to avoid precedents of a like nature. Mr. Bradshaw thought of a method without including it in the estimate. “I had a letter from Sir William Duncan, which is kind with regard to you, but he is tired of the bills, tho' he says he'l endeavor to go on till your proposals arrive, but he informs me that he must do it alone as his copartner will advance no more ‘till affairs between you are put upon another footing. I rather hope that your last bills will be paid. “If you will send me a list of provisions which will be wanted for your settlers, I shall order them to be contracted for, and sent when the proper season comes, I mean Rice and Flour, Pork and Rum, Corn and Peas ‘tis hoped you'l have enough of.” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan [Smyrnéa], July 1769 Turnbull confirmed that he had received letters from Duncan dated March 9 and April 21 of 1769, along with news from Governor Grant that Lord Hillsborough had agreed to supply the New Smyrna settlement with a £2000 subsidy. He noted, however, that he was deeply disappointed that specific limits had been placed on how the subsidy could be spent. Dr. Turnbull also announced that he had been confined to bed with fever. Dundee City Archive James Grant to the Earl of Hillsborough St. Augustine, July 21, 1769 “The £2000 allowed by His Majesty for the support of the settlement under Mr. Turnbull's direction comes very seasonally for the relief and subsistence of these adventurers. The money shall be lain out in the manner which is thought best adapted to the circumstances and necessities of the colonists, and when I draw for the amount or any part of the fund upon the Treasury, the accounts and proper vouchers shall be laid before your Lordship. “This undertaking has already cost Mr. Turnbull and his associates about £28,000. He was hurried into numbers at Minorca and had no idea of the expence and difficulties he was running himself into. His friends in London had only agreed to pay six thousand pounds and had no intention of laying out such large sums as have since been expended. They are, at this hour my Lord, £24,000 in advance if the Doctor's bills are paid, of which I have some doubt, as I have been informed that the gentlemen in London are most heartily tired of paying such large and frequent bills, which Mr. Turnbull now embarkt cannot avoid drawing. If those gentlemen should stop as I have long expected, the bounty which has been allowed will not be sufficient to maintain and clothe these colonists till they can raise provisions and other produce for their own support. “I therefore think it my duty to inform your Lordship that if Mr. Turnbull's correspondents stop payment the settlement must absolutely perish for want, if His Majesty is not most graciously pleased to continue the bounty, and even that will but just barely supply them with salt and Indian corn. If Mr. Turnbull's bills should return protested I will pay no money upon that account, the whole of the bounty shall be laid out to supply the present necessities of the colonists, for I apprehend I have nothing to do with any debt contracted prior to the order with which your Lordship has honored me. “I send your Lordship the names of the three persons reprieved, ‘till His Majesty's pleasure is known, with an account of the crimes for which they were condemned. I was at a mistake and apprehended, my Lord, that His Majesty's approbation of the reprieve was sufficient, without a full pardon, according to the practice of armies abroad, and therefore omitted mentioning the crimes to your Lordship. List of the names of the three Greeks reprieved by Governor Grant till His Majesty's pleasure is known. George Stephanopoli–found guilty of felony for forcibly taking and carrying away a boat belonging to Sir Charles Burdett, Baronet. Clatha Corona–found guilty of felony, for breaking open the warehouse of Doctor Turnbull and stealing from thence linnen, blankets, flour, etc. Elia Medici–found guilty of felony, for killing a cow, the property of Doctor Turnbull. Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 5/550) Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan St. Augustine, August 2, 1769 Turnbull reports that he has been dangerously ill with fever but has been recovering and will soon be strong enough to journey to Smyrnéa. He is still disgruntled by the Board of Trade's decision to limit expenditures of the £2000 subsidy from parliament to purchases of corn and other provisions to feed the settlers in the future. In response to requests from for more detailed information on expenditures, Turnbull reported that accounts were sent promptly but must have been lost in transit. He speculated that Thomas Nixon's merchant house would probably accept his bills but on condition that the funds would be reimbursed with proceeds from the coming Indigo crop. His partners' letters had also expressed doubts about the wisdom of his plans for the settlement, which apparently troubled Turnbull. “[You say] I'm planning too great things in having laid out so much land for vineyards. Although these extend between seven and eight miles it was impossible for me to take up less room for the families or farmers. Each has a front of 211 feet only, which is no more than one side of a square acre notwithstanding they take up seven miles and a half, and are rather confined there. Otherwise tho' they can run back some acres.” About his partners' objection to Turnbull's construction of a wharf at the settlement, he protested: “that was so necessary, I could not load and unload my provisions without [a wharf] but at a great expense and risk....I never had more than eight masons employed on it, and sometimes half that number. These masons are still employed in building smith's shops, ovens and in plastering the new magazines we have built.” Turnbull also defended his decision to bring an indigo maker from New Orleans to the settlement, saying it was based on the “Principle of Oeconomy,” and his lack of experience with making indigo and need for someone to instruct him. Although indigo makers from South Carolina generally demanded between £40 to 50 Sterling a year for their services, the New Orleans man came to New Smyrna for £5 a year. Furthermore, Turnbull believed that French indigo makers were better than Carolinians. In response to questions asked by Duncan in previous letters, Turnbull answered that he didn't know the exact number of acres planted because the seed would not be sown until the planting season began, between the end of February and the end of June. As to the number of cattle at the settlement, he was not able to give a precise number because the man he hired to tend the cattle “behaved so ill” that, out of fear of Turnbull's reaction, “he absconded and has not appeared since. I have two able hunters looking for him....” Turnbull was unable to bring any poultry to the settlement until six months after he arrived, the voyage from Gibraltar having “destroyed all my hoggs, sheep and poultry which I intended to breed.” But since then, he had acquired “a very good stock and begin to distribute them among the Farmers' wives. I had one sow with piggs when I came into the province,” but they were beginning to breed and he now had one hundred. His efforts at Indigo cultivation had not gone well at first, when he focused on raising provisions planted indiscriminately on any spot that had been cleared. At present, however, he was supervising planting of indigo to obtain a stock of seed for the subsequent year. Corn planting season had ended but the settlers continued to plant peas. Turnbull said that he had personally directed the labor and had followed a steady plan: “I defy anybody to find many faults.” He had decided that indigo was to be the chief crop until grape vines succeeded, “but the misfortune is that gentleman in England expect returns from hence before there is a possibility in Nature of producing them.” Everyone “blames the manager tho' perhaps his fatigues are incredible, and even to hurt his health, which is too much the case with me for I have got the better of an excellent constitution since I came into this province.” “I have 500 acres of land planted with provisions of different sorts, the drouthy months of June and July have hurt the last planting, but as we now have rains I hope that part of the crop will soon come on again.” Dundee City Archive Sir William Duncan to Andrew Turnbull London, August 4, 1769 “I have received all your letters to the 27th of May, with the bills you have advised us of along with them; I can not help observing that the letters we receive from you are seldom above two months in coming, often under it. You have acknowledged the receipt of the letters we wrote to you the second of December, but none since that time though I wrote to you the beginning of January, of March, and middle of April. We have accepted all your bills to the 27th of May and I will continue to accept them for the £300 you have advised us of, more you cannot want as before that time you must have been informed of the £2000 the government has given us, either by the letters I wrote to you or Governor Grant a great many months ago; or even by the letter sent by the Board of Trade which went in April. In order to save our colony and hinder your bills from being protested, I have exceedingly distressed both Lady Mary and me and ruined all our Schemes of Amusement; and I give you fair warning that I will not accept one bill more after the £300, happen what will. I think I have already advanced 13 or 1400 more than our partner; wherefore if you should want more money at any time for the future, which I scarcely think is possible, you must write to our friend beforehand and persuade him to pay up his share, till that is done I repeat it again, I will not advance one shilling more. “The best method to reconcile both him and myself with the disagreeable situation you have brought us to, if you have not time to send us over accounts how such great sums are expended; at least let us know exactly what you have done for them. Send us over plans of the lands that are cultivated and what productions of all kinds you expect from them. Send us over exact lists of the number of inhabitants both white and black, cattle and [livestock] of all sorts, and what perhaps may have more effect, prevail on Governor Grant to send me over his real opinion of the situation of our affairs in East Florida. You ought not to be surprised to find we are hurt. We have advanced £16,000 more than we had agreed to, and indeed more than in common prudence we ought to have done. “You, my Dear Sir, have your enemies, we all have, and though I have too good an opinion of your good heart and even of your good sense, to give credit to any insinuations in your prejudice whatever; yet the situation between our friend and me is very delicate. You know it was I that recommended you to him, wherefore for God sake make things as clear as you can to him, when he sees your care and diligence, If our settlements thrive, your fortune then becomes our affair as well as it is your own. “I have sent you the part of his last letter related to you enclosed. You will judge from that what you ought to do. I had a bill drawn on me for above £100 by one Toriano in Minorca, so you will be so good as to settle that affair with him, as I could by no means accept it. “Lady Mary and I join in our best compliments to you and Mrs. Turnbull....” Dundee City Archive George Grenville to Sir William Duncan, Baronet Wotton, July 20, 1769 [Enclosed in Duncan to Turnbull, August 4, 1769] “I was very sorry to find by your letter of the 17th which I received last night, that Dr. Turnbull has drawn fresh bills upon you for so large a sum as £1031.17, and still sorrier to see that by his letter of the 17th of May he lays in a claim for another draft of about 300 beside some trifling sums to balance his assets with the storekeepers in St. Augustine and for what running expenses he may be at which can neither be foreseen nor avoided so that I see no end to these drafts nor does Dr. Turnbull, yet [I] seem to be convinced of the absolute necessity there is to put an immediate stop to them. “I cannot help observing that all of the last drafts, great as they have been, are almost entirely for provisions. We were repeatedly assured that after the first crop the settlers wold raise provisions fully sufficient, at least for their own support. They've now been there above a year and in the course of this summer will be able to have raised two crops since their arrival, notwithstanding which I find that they are in a great degree to be supported at our expense till next year and then perhaps to the year after. What is Dr. Turnbull's agreement with the settlers themselves upon this article? “I am sorry to see so much of his attention given to the article of wine which as sanguine as he is, he does not hope to bring to perfection under three or four years, and which has never yet succeeded in any part of America. I heartily wish that instead of this he had at first turned his thoughts entirely to cotton and indigo and etc. which would have been of immediate profit and have defrayed some part at least of the enormous expense he has been at. He might afterwards have tried this project of wine at a less hazard. “I have already paid since our joint letter to him of the 2nd of December, which he acknowledges the receipt of, £1000: the same sum paid by you makes £3200: add to this the £2000 granted by Parliament, the £1200 you have already advanced to him, £1031:17 now drawn for & £300 of which he has given you notice of, and the sums advanced to him in this year exclusive of any sums furnished by himself and by the labor of the people, will amount already to near £8000. This I leave to your consideration who are equally interested in it with myself. You know my repeated declarations that I would upon no account go any farther after the last sums which I advanced and if I would, I really cannot do it at present without great inconvenience to myself. “The consequences of Dr. Turnbull's imprudence in drawing in this manner after the frequent notices given to him will I am sensible be very dangerous to the settlement and possibly fatal to it, but I cannot prevent it if there is no other way of raising the £1031.17 which he now draws for and of £300 which we must expect by his next letter, except by my advancing those sums. The only consideration which could prevail upon me to advance one shilling more than I have done is Dr. Turnbull's consent in his last letter that another agreement should be made between us, by which each partner may reap advantages in proportions to the sums he advances which he admits is highly reasonable and just and says is what he always intended and is willing to give every security in his power to insure those advantages in proportion to our risks and advances. “This is certainly fair in him and after his consent to it in this letter I apprehend that he would be bound to carry that agreement into execution. In return for this behavior, which is fair and candid in him, I should be very sorry to put him under the distress or disgrace of having these bills returned to him, if I could possibly help it, for which purpose therefore I will go as far as I really can do and will advance £650, that is to say half the sum now drawn for, and of the £300 draft expected from him, if you can strain a point for saving him from this dishonor, by raising the £650 which is the other half of these drafts. This is all that is in my power to do and if after the £1200 which you have already advanced you cannot consent to this, the bills must be protested unless Dr. Turnbull's own correspondents in the city will advance the money to prevent it. Whatever is done I think you must write to him immediately to represent the great difficulties which he has already brought both upon himself and us and to put an absolute stop to any other drafts upon us upon any accounts whatever for the future. He will then have the rest on the scrap of paper inclosed. Dundee City Archive Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, August 31, 1769 As my family will live here [at the settlement], “I have desired that some household furniture should be sent by the pilot sloop if you give leave for it, and if there is any room after taking all the provisions for the party [military garrison] here, and the other things wanted on the river. “Notwithstanding all the power of drought, and Egyptian swarms of worms, we shall have some thousands of bushels of peas and corn, if no other plague attacks us. I have planted about twenty-five acres of indigo for seed, it is all come up. Our sesamun also looks well. “Mrs. Turnbull presents her complements to your Excellency. She has had one severe fit of a seasoning fever, but it is now quite recovered, she thinks that the fatigue of the journey from town was the cause of it, which will probably make her apprehensive of taking another jaunt. “Rolle says that Ross would have made fifty pounds of Indigo an acre, the first cutting, if he had had his vatts ready. Much of the leaf was fallen before he began. Bisset had thirty bushels of corn per acre. Macdougal's corn looked as well as his, I should immagine that he will have as much. Penman will have some good rice, but his first planted will not yield above half a crop. Perhaps the later rains will give him a life in the second crop. He is resolved on indigo next year. “Mr. Humphreys is going to London by his father's desire, he is to take a look at St. Johns River before he goes. He inclines to come out again, which I shall be glad of.... James Grant Papers James Grant to Andrew Turnbull St. Augustine, September 1, 1769 Governor Grant notified Turnbull that supplies of provisions from South Carolina would soon be arriving at New Smyrna. He again encouraged Turnbull to plan the purchases more carefully, allowing lead time to negotiate reasonable prices as seasonal commodities fluctuated from reasonable to expensive costs. He also praised John Gordon, a Charles Town merchant, for negotiating reasonable prices as a favor to Turnbull's settlers, and for donating his commission. “I am glad to hear that Mrs. Turnbull has got the better of the indisposition with which she was vexed upon her arrival at Mosquitoes. I beg leave to assure her of my best respects. I wish she may like the place. “Mr. Fraser, the clergyman destined for St. Marks, arrived here a few days ago on board Capt. Fuller. Mrs. Fraser increased the family at sea. I have not seen her, but she is well spoke of and will be a good addition to your society. I shall send Mr. Fraser to New Smyrna as soon as he can conveniently leave this place, but I must beg your assistance to help him to a house when he goes there to prepare for Mrs. Fraser's protection. “There are eighty settlers on board Fuller for the village of Rolle, but the Esq. [Denys Rolle] and the Capt. [Fuller] differed, and the Member of Parliament [Rolle] was left behind to complain and protest. He will probably follow in another vessel with more adventurers.” James Grant Papers Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, September 9, 1769 “The news of the cargo of corn being in such forwardness gave me great satisfaction. You have my hearty thanks, Sir, for the great trouble you take in conducting these affairs, which to me is of such consequence.... “We keep a good lookout for the schooner. Barber brought in at eleven feet on the barr at half flood. The pilot here never misses it....I will get a house ready for the clergyman as soon as possible. I should be glad if he staid in town a couple of months till the house is ready. My own house is not yet finished, however, if Mrs. Fraser...[several words not legible] she shall not wait long without doors.” James Grant Papers, Roll 18, File 321-323 Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan Smyrnéa, September 24, 1769 A letter from Mr. Nixon arrived with an account of £4030.4 he disbursed for ships from Mahon to Florida. Nixon demands payment, which Turnbull cannot accommodate, therefore he asks Duncan to take care of, along with another draft for £1,500 in expenses incurred in Florida. Turnbull also sent to Duncan a letter by Mr. Humphreys who came with Turnbull from Smyrna, Turkey, and shared in the work and management along with Turnbull, even managing during Turnbull's absences. Humphreys was returning to London at the request of his father. Turnbull encouraged Duncan to ask Humphreys “anything about this colony.” Since Humphreys wanted to return to East Florida to manage a tract in return for a one-third interest in the settlement, Turnbull recommended he contact Mr. Bradshaw, who Turnbull thought owned “the best [tract] in the province for Indigo. It is six hours ride from here [Smyrnéa] so I can consult and assist.” “The best method to begin in this country is to have Negroes to clear the land and afterward to bring Europeans, not British nor Irish, to settle on it as Farmers.” Europeans did not succeed as farmers in East Florida in Turnbull's opinion, because the “confined damp of the woods” hurt them and was “fatal to many, [whereas] the Negroes from guinea...are not subject to be so much affected by moist damp of the thickets as the Europeans.” They were accustomed to such conditions because “their country is covered by water much of the year.” Turnbull's advice to Bradshaw was to start with £3000 Sterling, two-thirds of it to be spent on purchasing Africans and one-third to be used for for supporting the settlement. He advised that the black slaves be landed in October to raise part of the provisions for the following year. In year two, indigo cultivation could begin, along with raising provisions for year two. During year three it would be possible to make a “considerable quantity of Indigo” and use the proceeds to bring in Europeans, after the hard work of clearing the woods is over and a food supply was established and waiting. These Europeans should be as young as possible, Turnbull advised, and should include some families to form farms. Afterwards, boys and girls from seven to seventeen could be brought to take advantage of the “pliability of young constitutions to climate.” Dundee City Archives Andrew Turnbull to James Grant Smyrnéa, October 7, 1769 “I was sorry to hear from Mr. Humphreys that Mr. Bowman had reported some things about our people being starved of hunger here, which is wide of the truth. Before I came here last Mr. Humphreys had advised that the people work't hard and were healthier than formerly and therefore thought that a small augmentation of their provisions was necessary. This augmentation consisted chiefly in rice and flour which I was obliged to diminish when I came here last as our rice and flour would soon have been at an end, but I allowed them in proportions of Indian meal and peas. The quantity of provisions which was ordered for each person per week was three quarts of corn, three quarts of peas, a quart of corn meal and a pint of fine flour made into bread or biskit, a quarter of a pound of rice, a pound of salt beef and some rum, besides green peas and pumpkins when the overseers think it necessary to give them. "What they have weekly from the store, I reckon equal to nine quarts of Indian corn, besides green peas and pumpkins from the fields and cabbages from their own little gardens. That is the allowance which has been continued to them ever since I came down last. What they had before was equal to it. The quantities mentioned above is for the families of men, women and children, which makes the share for grown people greater, as few children eat above a half of what is allowed. The pound of beef a week may seem little, notwithstanding they divide it into five parts for five days of the week. They are not fond of meat, but as a relisher within soups and pottage. They were served half a pound of meat a week in the passage from Mahon to St. Augustine, even that they did not eat sometimes. The single working men have a larger allowance, than that mentioned, especially in meat. “Captain Bisset rode throughout our plantation with me last week. He told me he was glad to see our people look so healthy and well, I am sensible, Sir, that you do not give credit to idle reports, however I thought it necessary to trouble you with this, that you may judge whether there is a foundation for such a report or not. I observed Mr. Bowman had some very large arguments in a most barbarous hard talking French, with a very worthless fellow, who I had often chastened for his laziness and groveling. I immagine it was from him that he had this extraordinary information. I did not interrupt his talk for I could hardly hear his French, tho' we saw he could speak easier than in English, and that he thought quicker and had more ideas in French than in his own language. This speech of his afforded some diversion for Bisset and me. I thought him a little weak brained. “I have received letters from Mr. Duncan lately, but Nixon wrote me that my letter with the proposals not being got to hand has made them think that I have got on their saddle horse, and am riding out of their reach. They talk of procuring orders from the Lord Chancellor and I don't know what more. I have wrote them. I have told them there will be no occasion for such orders, and that if they are resolved to employ the means of Law, they will find that the Laws of England are in full force in this Province, and vigorously put in execution. They are also very anxious about accounts not being sent on time. I have told them more than once that that department was under the care of Mr. Cutter, whose long sickness and death afterwards had distressed me in that point, but that I would get them in order as soon as I possibly could. The letter with proposals was sent to Georgia by Mr. Murray, as there was no opportunity for Charleston direct. Mr. Graham wrote me that he forwarded that packet to Colonel L [Laurens] whom was desired to forward the originals and copies by the first ships for England. These are not arrived, and this delay is put down to the account of bad intentions in me, tho' chiefly owing to the long passage of this letter by Johnston. This is not using me well, and as they are not diffident of me, I will endeavour to bring about a separation of goods and chattels. We shall never be friends again. Diffadent like jealousy is hardly ever eased. I immagine that somebody has been intimating some suspicions of my intending to wrong them, which is wide of my intentions. "I have always owned myself in the wrong for bringing so many people into the Province, but, tho' this was more from accident than intention, I resolved to devote my whole time, intentions, and endeavours to make up for that error, and I even flatter myself of beginning to reimburse them next year. But while I am doing my utmost on this, they are thinking that I have intentions of keeping everything to myself, which is just the reverse of my plan. They talk't to Nixon of very violent proceedings in [England] if the proposals did not arrive before, tho' they could not be in England before the latter end of August or beginning of September.... "October 9th. As the corn vessel from Charlestown does not appear I am more and more apprehensive that some accident has happened to her, and therefore beg your Excellency would please to order the December ship with corn may be hastened. Our own corn and peas will hold out two months more. Our consumption is nigh four hundred bushels of corn per month, and rather more of red and green peas. The rice being almost gone obliges me to give more corn and peas than formerly, as I have already mentioned in this letter. I wish to have new corn, for the old we had lately was so emptied by the weevils that it was a mere shell and it did not give so much meal as the new corn does, by thirty percent. I flatter myself that new corn may be shipped in November. I have flour enough for all my people for one month at least, without making use of other corn or peas. This in case of necessity, might carry me on to the middle of January, but I shall be sorry to use it all at once, not only as it is a very expensive food, but it would be inconvenient for me to provide more. I have gathered in some fine corn but the worms have destroyed at least nine ears out of ten. My peas got a knock from the last bad weather. Notwithstanding I have a prospect of about a thousand bushels more which I reckon on, and the provisions of peas for two months.” James Grant Papers, Roll 18, File 350-355 James Grant to Andrew Turnbull St. Augustine, October 12, 1769 Much of the governor's letter contained details of purchases and prices of provisions in Charles Town and the three vessels currently arranged to deliver the supplies to New Smyrna. Juggling the purchases, arranging transport, avoiding storms, and providing adequate food for the settlers was obviously a major addition to the governor's duties, and a constant source of worry lest the vessels be delayed or crashed and the settlers be hungry. “I have had the pleasure to receive your letters up to the 7th current from Smyrnea and am glad to hear that Mrs. Turnbull is well pleased with her house and the prospect of a good garden.... “My good Doctor don't be hurt by what Mr. Nixon writes you. Your friends in England have advanced you a great deal of money, nearly twelve thousand pounds apiece, ‘tis natural for them to be anxious about so large a capital, which from your being hurried into numbers at Mahon, has been laid out without their concurrence. Far from having a diffidence of you, they have had more confidence than most men have in the money way. You must not differ with them, you are too far embark't. I mean well in what I say, they are strangers to me. I have no connection with them, my concern is and always h |
