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What Is
A Minorcan?
When you visit St Augustine,
you will hear the word "Minorcan" many, many times. One of the questions
I am most frequently asked is "What is a Minorcan?"
A Minorcan is a person or a descendant of a person associated with a large group
of Mediterranean settlers who came to the New World in the summer of 1768 to populate
and establish a community south of St Augustine called New Smyrna Beach.
So how did the Minorcans end up at New Smyrna Beach?
In 1763, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' War, traded possession
of Florida from Spain to England, in exchange for Havana. Thus began the 21 years
in St Augustine's history known as the "British Period." In order to
make St Augustine attractive to wealthy British settlers, The Crown offered 20,000
acre land grants to anyone who would move to Florida and work the land and establish
businesses and plantations.
A certain Dr Andrew Turnbull, born in Scotland and who moved in high-society circles
in London, heard of this wonderful opportunity and a plan began forming in his
head: Why not put together a group of investors, and apply for 60,000 acres, and
populate it with indentured servants instead of paying for slave labor to clear,
plant and work that land?
So Turnbull applied for (and got) his 60,000-acre land grant. He named it New
Smyrna in honor of his wife's birthplace.
Turnbull had travelled extensively in the Mediterranean area; his wife was born
there and as a well-travelled man, he knew it well. He had it in his mind that
the people of the region would be perfect to populate and settle his new colony
in Florida; he reasoned that Florida and the Mediterranean area were similar so
he went there to recruit indentured servants for his venture. He intended to recruit
500 Greeks but had a surprise witing for him when he arrived there: living conditions
on the island of Minorca had been bad in the past few years, and hundreds of Minorcans
were willing to take a chance and leave their home. Turnbull promised the people
that if any of them became homesick or discontented with their new life, he would
send them back to their home.
The people signed up. How could they lose?
They lost badly. Turnbull was prepared to bring back 500 settlers; he left Minorca
with 1403 Greek, Italian and Minorcan men, women and children. He arrived in Florida
with roughly 800 settlers, who became known collectively as "the Minorcans."
The group expected to find New Smyrna cleared and housing already in place, as
Turnbull had promised. However, the ship carrying the slave labor Turnbull had
intended to do those tasks had gone down at sea and all souls were lost. Therefore
- the New Smyrna colonists were rushed to build their own homes, clear the land,
plant the land, gather and store enough food for the coming winter - and not necessarily
in that order. To Turnbull, clearing and planting were paramount.
Several years passed, and as the terms of indenture began to be fulfilled for
many of the colonists, it became clear that Turnbull had no intention of releasing
them from their contracts; nor had he ever intended to fulfill his promise to
return any of them to their homeland if they were dissatisifed. So, under cover
of darkness and encouraged by their spiritual leader, Father Pedro Camps, three
leaders of the community swam and walked to St Augustine to beg help from its
Governor, Patrick Tonyn. Governor Tonyn, no great friend to Andrew Turnbull, provided
the requested help.
In 1777, the Minorcan colonists abandoned the New Smyrna settlement and walked
to St Augustine to start over. Turnbull was left ruined and in enormous debt,
while many of the Minorcan colonists did a quite respectable job of building new
lives. Many of St Augustine's residents today are descendants of those Greek,
Italian and Minorcan peoples, and the influence of those colonists and their cultures
are still seen and felt all over the city.
