Mediterranean
Influence in
Colonial America:
the first illegal
immigrants?
by
Elizabeth Kelley
Buzbee
Question we will
try to answer
How is Minorca spelled?
When & where was the largest single migration of European immigrants into
colonial North American?
Why did Florida not join the rest of the 13 colonies in 1775?
Why do American-Menorcans celebrate June 17, 1777 as
their Independence Day rather than July 4th, 1775?
How did the Irish-Protestant governor of East British
Florida become the liberator of a bunch of Catholic
and Greek Orthodox peasants?
Why is Dr. Andrew Turnbull still described in the Physician’s Who’s
Who of American as an ‘American Patriot?’
Just how many unmarked graves are under the New Smyrna Beach
golf course?
This is Menorca
Minorca (Menorca both in
Catalan and Spanish
and
increasingly in English usage;
From
Latin Balearis Minor,
Florida changes
hands
• At the end of the French-American War, in 1764
the English trade the captured port of Havana
back the Spanish in exchange for both East and
West Florida.
• The entire Spanish population of the city of San
Augustine and surrounding area is expelled-leaving only seven Spanish families lingering in
the backwoods. Their descendents will be called
the Floridanos. At least one of these Spaniards
is most likely a spy.
Trained as a
physician, he
became
• Gov.by
James Grant
engaged
politics and
served in the
military during
the French &
Indian War.
Governor James
Grant
later Laird of
Ballindalloch
James Grant’s
mission
 The crown awards many prime plantation plots to
well-connected lords who become absentee landlords.
 Grant worries these massive areas of undeveloped land
will stay undeveloped while their owners wait for the
property values to rise. He encourages colonial
migration to East British with generous terms….but he
wants to fill his beautiful garden with gentlemen and
their slaves.
 He specifically excludes ‘crackers’ and their small
holdings & actively offers land grants and subsidies
for large plantations.
• He & Indian Agent, Mr. Stuart,
befriend both Upper and Lower
Creek tribes, who welcome them as
enemies of the Spanish.
• Grant upholds the British
government’s decision to limit
western expansion & respects
current Creek holdings.
• He will uphold the law equally for
both whites and Indians in his
province
,
Grant travels to the
Carolinas
&
to Georgia
to recruit
rich plantation
owners such as:
Vice-governor John
Vice-governor
John Moultrie
And
respected
Jurist,
Justice Wm.
Drayton
Vice-Governor
Grant travels to London
His lady,
Maria Gracia
Turnbull
Dr. Andrew
Turnbull
Dr. Andrew
Turnbull
 A Scottish physician who traveled
extensively in the near and Middle East.
While there, he is impressed by Egyptian
irrigation techniques.
 While in Smyrna, Turkey, Turnbull
married the beautiful Greek lady, Maria
Gracia Dur Bin & their first son, Nicol is
born in that ancient city.
The crops:
Indigo
With noble London investors,
Turnbull obtains
Silk
a crown grant
for two 20k acre tracts of land
Wine
located on the coast 75 miles south
of San Augustine.
Olive oilTurnbull and his silent partners plan to raise
indigo, a cash crop that also carries heavy
Hemp
government subsidies. Turnbull also wants to
grow mulberry trees for silk,
cotton
cotton & tobacco
as well as grapevines for wine
& olive trees.
75 miles south
of San Augustine
The Turnbull plantation
is bordered by the mouth
of both the Halifax
and Hillsborough Rivers,
just south of Mosquito Inlet.
Mangrove grows along the eastern bank of
the river and the whole area is covered in
swamps, but Turnbull has plans to build
an extensive canal system to drain the
swamps and to control the late summer
droughts that plague Florida.
The canals will provide a fresh water
supply for the processing of indigo
leaves into the dye pellets that are almost
worth their weight in gold.
Turnbull’s mission
 Turnbull sees himself as the
founder of cities.
 Instead of following the
example of the rest of the
landlords in East British
Florida who import slaves
from the other colonies &
Africa, he decides to bring 500
European indentured servants
into the country.
 He will name his city New
Smyrna to honor his wife &
heir and will bring in her
Greek countrymen to
populate it.
 His government grant exclusively stipulates
Turnbull is to settle “White Protestant”
colonists, but the doctor quickly convinces
Grant to let him return to Turkey to recruit
ethic Greeks from the Ottoman Empire.
 Gov. Grant promises him food and housing for
500 persons. The Greeks are seen as a likely
prospect– without pesky attachments to the
nearby Catholic Spanish in the Americans,
they will be a good buffer.
 This will not be the first time Greek
immigrants have been used in this manner.
June 1767, Turnbull goes to the port of Mahon, in
the western Mediterranean island of Minorca
where the British governor allows him to establish
a staging area for his immigrants.
He is even forced to pay off the local
Turkish government to take the few
he has recruited.
He meets
unexpected
resistance from
the Turks
who have been
warned Turnbull
is recruiting taxpaying subjects.
He has great
difficulty getting
more than a
handful of
immigrants ….
Before he goes to
Asia Minor, Turnbull learns of a group of
Italians and refugee French in Leghorn, Italy
who face deportation.
He collects 110 destitute, single young men
and sends them to Port Mahon
Turnbull has great success
among the highland Peloponnesians
of Mani, who tiring of constant warfare with their Turkish
verlords, follow him to Mahon. He removes about 100 persons.
Mani
From Corsica
He has better luck getting ethnic Greeks from Corsica,
where he recruits about 50 individuals.
As well as other ethnic Greeks from Santorini
including the first Greek woman
in North America, Maria Parta.
Displaced Greeks, French & Italians from other points in the
Mediterranean start congregating in Mahon
Meanwhile
back in
Mahon
While the
rest of the
Immigrants
are
arriving
… The
Italian
boys
Have been
busy
With the Menorca
girls
Because this
was the 3rd
year of a serious
drought on the
tiny island,
Their new in-laws
clamored to be
included in the exodus.
In Menorca,
the husband
joins
the wife’s
family…
so everyone
goes to America
The embarkation from
Mahon, Minorca
• On the day of embarkation, 200 stowaways
are found in the ships and Turnbull offers
them contracts, too.
• On April 17, 1768, 1,403 colonists set out in 8
ships for San Augustine, East British Florida.
The ships are over-crowed &
the crossing is a horrific nightmare
of two months for the lucky ones.
4 ships get blown off
course before
they, too, arrive in San Augustine
about two months late.
The on-board deaths [11.5%] will be
compared by one historian
to the death toll of a successfully
run slave ship [10-14%]
.
the disillusion
Within weeks of landing in San Augustine
and after marching 75 miles
into the jungle
the immigrants know they’d made
a serious mistake.
They are shocked to discover
that there is food
& housing for only 500 people.
Many had been told they could go home
any time they want…
but they can’t.
Turnbull refuses to allow his indentured
servants to plant crops, fish or build homes.
Rather everyone is expected to start
the cash crop, indigo.
The ones not planting indigo
begin digging irrigation canals
or building roads.
They are rationed 4 cups of grits a day
&
2 ounces of pork a week
Everyone eats from communal pots.
Over the next few years,
Turnbull mildly scandalizes
the Anglo gentry
by working his people on the Sabbath
and not making a difference
between house servants and field hands.
Over the next few days,
he horrifies the Menorcans
by forcing their artisans & carpenters into
the indigo fields,
& by forming work crews
of women and of children
as young as ten years of age.
.
They dig deep, wide ditches
lined with coquina through miles of swamp.
Portions of some of these ditches
still drain the New Smyrna Beach suburbs.
They are faced with minor irritations
like the housing setup,
the loss of religious holidays,
and the loss of siesta
and the composition of the work groups.
Within a month, New Smyrna is visited
by, “Cowcatcher’s” war party
The Creek demand to know
why there are Spaniards after Grant
has promised their removal.
Gov. Grant describes these people
as ‘not white people’ but
‘subjects of cruel
Spanish rule…’
just as the Creeks
had been.
This will be the first of many
episodes of Creek
harassment
On August 19, 1768, 300
colonists, under the
leadership of Carlo Forni,
steal a small supply ship, the rum &
slaughter a cow in an attempt to get to
Havana.
A British frigate catches them as they wait
for the tide to change.
20 of the rebels are imprisoned
in San Augustine where 5 are
tried for piracy & destruction
of property—even accused of
the ‘murder’ of Dr. Stork.
There is conflicting evidence.
The only witness not employed by Turnbull
states the gentleman, who was already ill, panicked and
fell over without being touched.
Turnbull, himself, in a letter to Grant immediately after
the incident describes Stokes’ symptoms of an apparent
stroke in great detail. He is a doctor—he should know.
3 are condemned to death
because Gov. Grant
feels 2 or 3 executions would
make “an impression”
on the rebellious colony &
“keep them from their tricks”.
In a particularly cruel act, at the place of execution,
Elia Medici is offered a pardon—if he acts as hangman
for Forni and Massiadoli.
After much weeping,
he is encouraged by Forni and Massiadoli
to save himself-- so he hangs his friends after
exchanging kisses and forgiveness.
The governor sends 27 troops to the
plantation to keep order and even though
the military presence drops to less than a
dozen in later years, there is no time
during the first decade that these peasants
are not working, literally, under the gun.
the deaths
• Between 1768 & 1769 there will be 636 deaths
from a combination of malaria, polluted water,
exposure to the toxic fumes created by indigo
processing as well as a combination of overwork
and malnutrition.
• By 1777, At least 6 will be murdered outright by
Turnbull’s overseers.
• By 1778, 1,052 will have died. This is a mortality
of 74% hardly abated by the few children [248
live to be baptized] born during this first decade.
friends
Government House is the site Of many
parties
Then, James Grant comes into his inheritance of
the Lordship of Ballindalloch; he also sickens in
the heat
so he leaves Florida in 1771.
The fracture
While keeping his friendship
with Dr. Turnbull,
Grant has no faith
in his management
abilities & recommends
London not consider Turnbull
as acting governor.
Turnbull is disappointed
and reacts to the chosen
vice-governor, John Moultrie,
with acute hostility that
results in polarizing
the small community
of local gentry.
The fracture
Turnbull goes over
Moultrie’s
head with a
stream of
complaints
to London.
It is a pattern
of behavior
that will
backfire
Turnbull’s financial
problems:
• His indigo crop is 1/3 of entire province’s in the first
year, but drops each year from a peak of 11k pounds to
only 1-2k in the last few years.
 Turnbull becomes increasingly short-tempered with his
helpless colonists. When a half-dozen farmers approach
him with a suggestion to keep some of the fields fallow
to increase the crop yield, he accuses them of being lazy.
 When they approach him again, he has them flogged.
• By 1774-1775 the crop is at its lowest at
only 1.6k, Turnbull’s partners are growing
dissatisfied with their profits &
renegotiate his contract-- and now to make
things worse, the artisans’ 5 and 6-year
contracts become due.
Contracts not
honored
• The first indentured servants who approach
Turnbull for their freedom & promised land are
intimidated into signing new contracts for 10
more years.
• This intimidation includes incarceration in the
plantation gaol, beatings, being sent out in the
fields to work chained to large logs, or being
placed in leg irons, decreased rations and even
threats to their wives and children.
• The rest get the message.
Gov. Patrick Tonyn
Is a military man
who is used to
giving orders &
maintaining a chain
of commands.
He’s been in the
frontlines in
Germany for years
and is not familiar-nor patient with
civilian authority
Gov. Patrick Tonyn
clashes with
local gentry
on both
political ….
Gov. Patrick Tonyn
…and
personal terms.
Even his wife
is not immune
to insult.
Mistress
Turnbull
refuses to
receive the
poor woman.
The new line up
Fr. Bartolome Casanovas attempts to
reach the new governor, but Turnbull
reports him as a spy for Spain.
He is placed on a boat for
Cuba without getting a chance to see the new governor.
In 1774, The colonists try a second time to get the governor involved
&
Fr. Camp is warned to stay out of secular concerns
or he, too, would be reported to the governor as a spy.
Turnbull is warned of Tonyn’s visit by Mulcaster
& the unproductive
visit only reinforces the colonists’ despair.
Later Anthony Stephonopole will testify that Turnbull promises
to let him go, if he will tell the governor things are fine.
Tonyn sees no reason to remove the troops.
The revolution
starts
General Augustine
Prevost
http://www.myhfm.org/efr.htm
General Prevost wants to fortify the walls around the
capitol, hunker behind inside the castle of St. Mark’s &
let the farmers & plantations fend for themselves
Governor Tonyn disagrees….He authorizes Lt. Col.
Thomas Brown to form the East Florida Rangers.
Brown promises Tonyn he
will protect the border up
to the St. Mary’s River—which he does.
• the war on the border between Georgia and Florida is
bloody and filled with episodes [on both sides] of
roving gangs carrying death lists and raids on innocent
farms and plantations.
• Tonya demands to know how many men of miliary age
are in the colony. Turnbull tells him he has 200 men
between the ages of 16 & 50-- but that they are needed
on the plantation—to feed their wives & children.
• At the same time, Turnbull tells his silent partners in
London that his declining profits are due to the
enlistment of his workers, but there is no evidence his
workers have been drafted.
Tensions in the
colony’s capitol
increase as
Turnbull and
Chief Justice
Wm. Drayton
face off the
governor about
creating an
assembly.
The Drayton Affaire
In late July 1775, Wm. Drayton
receives a letter from his rebel cousin in Georgia which includes
evidence that Tonyn’s dispatches to England have been
Compromised. Drayton alerts the governor… but his refusal to
give the governor the letter just worsens the breach between them.
The Drayton Affaire
Turnbull calls a meeting at the local tavern where
most of the significant townsmen declare their loyalty
to the crown– but protest Drayton’s treatment at the hands
of the furious governor.
The Bryan Affaire
Several months later, Governor Tonyn discovers that both
Drayton & Turnbull have been in communication with
Jonathan Bryan who has negotiated a 1 million acre deal
with the Creek tribe.
Only the crown can make treaties.
The Bryan Affaire
Governor Tonyn is furious & removes both men
from their government posts.
Andrew Turnbull & Chief Justice William
Drayton slip out of Florida and set sail for
London.
Both get reinstated in their positions & Drayton
returns home. Tonyn’s superior
demands that he patch up the breach in his local
government…
But
Turnbull stays in London to petition to get Tonyn
removed as governor.
Meanwhile… back on the
plantation
By Sept. 1776, the local
government &
Turnbull’s nephew in
charge of the colony
are warned that a rebel
ship from Georgia is on
its way to New Smyrna
to start an insurrection.
Drew Turnbull is convinced that the colonists will not
hesitate to join the Americans—particularly
if they get weapons.
Govern Tonyn is also convinced of this.
the legend
 About this time, a group of gentlemen are
visiting the plantation when one of them who
observes an overseer’s cruelty states that ‘if the
Menorcans knew their rights’ as English subjects
they would not stand for such treatment.
 A young serving boy, Arnau, alerts mother
about the comment.
 In a secret meeting, the colonists decide to try
for a third time to rid themselves of Turnbull.
More legend
 While different stories will name different
men, Pellicer, Llambias & Genopoly leave
in secret. One story says they walk &
swim to San Augustine, but another story
has them washed out to sea in their tiny
boat where they get picked up by a ship
on the way to Baltimore & finally get back
down to San Augustine---
 No matter how they got to the capital--these deputies are met by an suddenly
helpful governor who feeds them, gets
them clean clothes & sends them back to
the plantation with orders to bring anyone
who is willing to testify.
The trial
 April 1777, 90 people walk the 75 miles to San
Augustine to testify. Tonyn sends back all but 20
to complete the food harvest.
• While Turnbull is out of the country trying to get
him fired, Gov.Tonyn proceeds with a civil suit
regarding the labor contracts.
• He later justifies his decision by telling his
superior in London that there are ‘6 murders
that have never been investigated’
Letter from Tonyn
to London
• They have left twelve men, …. and there is
reason to believe that many and shocking
and unjustifiable actions will come to light, for
by the affidavits …… besides the distress,
tyranny and cruelties they have suffered, not
less than six murders have been committed, at
least six people have lost their lives, inquiry
has been made into it.
Depositions range
from the petty
– Francisco Segui, a cook in the Turnbull household
has his tip jerked out of his hands by Dr. Turnbull
– another man speaks of being imprisoned in the
colony gaol where he watches Turnbull put his
thumb into the man’s grits to make sure no one has
smuggled meat or cheese into the mixture
– Juan Portella overhears Turnbull tell an Italian
foreman, Lewis Sauche, if he cannot beat “a man to
the death” to get work out of him, maybe Turnbull
needs to replace him.
To the heart
stopping
– another house servant, Mateo Triay is accidentally killed by an
overseer, Moveritte, who throws an ax at another worker.
– Another overseer, Simon, beats a pregnant woman so badly
she miscarries within days—because she scorned his advances
– Pompey Possi accuses Dr. Turnbull of personally beating him
about the privates so badly that Possi stays in the fields all
night being unable to walk the several miles home.
– One sick man is beaten so badly that he drops in the field at
the end of the day also unable to walk home…he is found
dead in the fields covered in mosquitoes the next morning.
– Lewis Sauche, a foreman speaks of being placed in leg irons &
forced to sign a second contract for 10 years once his 6 years are
up.
To the heartbreaking
– Michael Alamon was a member of the ten-year-olds’
work group. He testifies that the overseer of the
children’s crew, Lewis Pouchintena, ordered them to
help him stone little Guillermo Vens to death when
the child is too ill to work. The children follow orders
and the child dies right there in the field.
– Another man tells of how his 6 month-old daughter
was placed alone in a cell next to his to force him to
sign a new contract…after listening to the baby cry
for 2 days, he signed a new contract for 10 more
years.
 In an attempt to compromise, the lawyers
and Drew Turnbull attempt to hash out a
deal making the colonists tenants of the
plantation, but they want nothing more to
do with Turnbull & beg the court to be
allowed to leave New Smyrna.
 Gov. Tonyn allows them to leave once
they get the food crop in.
On June 17, 1777
• when 600 colonists are given 24 hours to vacate
the premises, they leave with only what can be
carried by hand. The men, armed only with
sticks, guard the women & children as they walk
75 miles north on the Kings road [Hwy 1] to San
Augustine.
• They arrive in San Augustine and live in palm
huts or on the streets rather than return to
Turnbull’s domination.
• The East Florida Rangers get their troops and the
city of San Augustine gets a working class
neighborhood.
• Fr. Camps will remain with the 150 persons too
sick to walk. They follow Nov. 9, 1777 and “the
church of San Pedro is moved to San
Augustine.”
• They stay in Florida when it returns to Spain
and when Andrew Jackson marches into the
Florida a few years later, the next generation of
San Augustine Menorcans welcomes in the
Americans.
These are our names
•
•
•
Acosta
Andreu
Baguer
Bayer
Benet
Bonell
Canova
Capella
Capo
Carrera
Casanovas
Caules
Fallani
Famanias
Fornes
Genopoly
Genovar
Hernandez
Joaneda
Leonardi
Llambias
Lopez
Manucy
•
Marin
Masters
Oliveros
Ortegas
Pacetti
Papi
Pellicer
Perez
Perpaul
Peso de Burgo
Pomar
Ponce
Reyes
Rogero
Sabate
Segui
Sintes
Triay
Usina
Vens
Vila
Villalonca
Ximenez
These are our heroes &
Our monuments
And…This is our city
This is our story
Reference
Griffin, Patricia, "Mullet on the Beach: Minorcans of Florida (1768-1788)," Master's thesis, Gainesville:
University of Florida, 1977.
Schafer, Daniel, “Governor James Grant’s Villa: a British East Florida Plantation.
” El Escribano the St. Augustine Journal of History Vol. 37 2000
Schafer, Daniel, “St. Augustine’s British Years 1763-1784.” El Escribano the St. Augustine
Journal of History Vol. 38 2001
Panagopoulos, E.P., 1966. New Smyrna: An Eighteenth Century Greek Odyssey. University of
Florida Press. Gainesville, FL.
Diamant, Lincoln, “Bernard Romans: Forgotten Patriot of the American Revolution,”
Harbor Hill Books. Harrison New York 1985.
Insight Guide to Mallorca & Ibiza, Menorca & Formerrera edited by Andrew Eames.
APA Publications
Home Life in Colonial Days by s Alice Morse Earle originally published 1998.
Reference
The depositions:
http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Turnbull/letters/8.htm