JANUARY 1738
January 1738
Wesley's Warming Journey
By Brenda Rees © All Rights Reserved
January 1738 John Wesley has left “America” and the developing Colony of Georgia and debatable borders with Spanish Florida. While he is onboard a ship returning to England, this Journal entry still falls under the “Sixth Savannah Journal.” A new year had begun and time was now marching toward his warming statement in Aldersgate. During this month long journey across the Atlantic Ocean to return to London, England, Wesley has time to write and reflect. He makes several mentions to his “heart” such as on January 8, 1738 and January 24, 1738. Wesley has talked about a warmed heart before as mentioned in this blog.
If you are new to this blog, consider starting with the Introduction of Wesley’s Warming Journey Blog and then each month from February 1736. Earliest months were grouped together, but Blog is now by month. This blog carries you from Wesley’s landing at Tybee Island in 1736 eventually through his warming at Aldersgate back in London in 1738. You might see signs that Wesley’s warming began in America, the Colony of Georgia and Spanish Florida. My academic paper on the Florida-Georgia border dispute is included at the end of this month’s blog as Wesley’s time in America has come to a close. Brenda Rees | Shaping Florida 1-29-2012
SIXTH SAVANNAH JOURNAL cont.
Picture of Rev. George Whitefield display at World Methodist Museum in Lake Junaluska, North Caroline by Brenda Rees ©. The ships of Wesley and Whitefield pass, unknown to each other. Wesley returns to England on the ship “Samuel” and the “Whittaker” bears Whitefield to America.
Sunday, January 1, 1738 – On this first day of 1738, Wesley wrote, “All in the ship, except the captain and steersman, were present both at the morning and evening service, and appeared as deeply attentive as even the poor people of Frederica did, while the word of God was new to their ears….”
Monday, January 2, 1738 – Wesley is sad as he lamented, “Being sorrowful and very heavy, … .” His spirits were lifted in the evening when he instructed a cabin boy.
Friday, January 6, 1738 – The preceding days had found Wesley “averse from speaking” and he read “Abridgement of Mr. de Renty’s Life.”
Saturday, January 7, 1738 – Wesley wrote, “I began to read and explain some passages of the Bible to a young negro.”
Sunday, January 8, 1738 – In one of the mentions of “heart” by Wesley, he wrote “In the fullness of my heart, I wrote the following words:” …. Wesley continued to reflect on these thoughts.
Friday, January 13, 1738 – Wesley is affected by another storm. This time he wrote, “I was at first afraid; but cried to God, and was strenghthened.” He compared the sound to cannons and American thunder. He preached with vigor the next day and made a resolution to his style of preaching. He stated, “I no sooner executed this resolution than my spirit revived, so that from this day I had no more of that fearfulness and heaviness which before almost continually weighed me down.” This was quite a revelation and warm statement.
Tuesday, January 24, 1738 – News from a passing ship told of England’s nearing shore. Wesley wrote of his heart as he approached England, “I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me? Who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief?....” He continued on about papists, and English, Lutheran and Calvinist authors. He spotted “whitish sand” and was uneasy about striking upon the rocks of Scilly. Saturday, January 28, 1738 – Land was observed.
Sunday, January 29, 1738 – Wesley wrote, “We saw English land once more, which about noon appeared to be the Lizard Point. We ran by it with a fair wind, and at noon the next day the west end of the Isle of Wight.” Beach Head is in sight. Tuesday, January 31, 1738 – Wesley is preparing to land in England and unknown to him the Rev. George Whitefield has passed on another ship on his way to America.
Please find the following academic paper on “John Wesley in Spanish Florida” by Brenda Rees as presented to the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference in 2006.
THE
FLORIDA –
GEORGIA BORDER DISPUTE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HISTORICAL TRAVELS OF JOHN WESLEY IN THE COLONY OF
GEORGIA AND SPANISH
FLORIDA DURING 1736 – 1737
A PRESENTATION FOR THE 2006
GULF SOUTH HISTORY AND HUMANITIES CONFERENCE
BY
BRENDA ANDERSON REES
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA
OCTOBER 5-7, 2006
Copyright 2006
All Rights Reserved
(Original paper written in Methods, University of West Florida, Carolyn Knefely, Instructor, April, 2006 )
John Wesley, founder of Methodism, preached in
Florida during 1736-1737.
By analyzing John Wesley’s personal journals and diaries, geography, maps, treaties, conflicts, an Act of Congress, an 1887 U.S. Supreme Court case, and other documents, a case can be made that John Wesley preached not only in
Georgia, but also in
Florida.
To date, a review of history books on
America,
Florida,
Georgia, or Methodism, that mentions John Wesley, James Oglethorpe or the Methodist movement in
America, will cite Wesley in
Georgia, a British colony, but fail to mention that he was also in Spanish Florida.
That John Wesley was in
Florida is significant and should be reflected in the literature.
This paper, and a growing acknowledgement of the diversity of
America, will allow this to happen.
Wesley’s tremendous volume of published writings influenced the founding of
America and documented many moments.
His
Calm Address had enormous circulation.
He lived to be 88 years old and died in 1791. His last letter was written to fight slavery, particularly in America. La
Florida or
Florida’s borders have twisted and turned many times.
As the oldest European named state on a map of
America,
these border changes were fraught with almost inexhaustible disputes between warring nations and peoples.
From secret treaties ceding parts of
Florida from
Spain to
France to outright disregard for borders by Englishman James Oglethorpe,
John Wesley’s host in
Georgia, it is no wonder that writers, historians, and Wesley have been unaware or unsure of
Florida’s borders.
Understanding
Florida and
Georgia’s
natural borders and geography is important as both have seaward or coastal barrier islands.
John Wesley visited such a barrier island and wrote of the landscape throughout his journals and diaries.
Frederica, on the coastal barrier
island of
St. Simon’s Island, now in
Georgia, was in
Florida in Wesley’s time.
Wesley lived, fell in love, and labored as an evangelist in Frederica.
The original charter for
Georgia was between the
Savannah and
Altamaha rivers.
St. Simon’s Island in
Glynn County,
Georgia, is “south of the
Altamaha River.”
Wesley observed white sand and blackish sand.
Florida’s physical borders have been changing and receding, like its political borders, for some time.
The shape of
Florida affected by water, time, and geography influenced
Florida’s history and John Wesley’s religious travels.
Geography, religion, and history are connected as stated in Edwin Scott Gaustad’s atlas, “Contrary to this modern (in) sensibility, the
New Historical Atlas of Religion in America suggests that geography matters; that human relationships to the land matter; that region and religion affect one another.”
The shore where John Wesley landed to join James Oglethorpe in the Colony of Georgia and Spanish Florida was similar to today’s shoreline; although with renewed acceleration coastal cities will be submerged.
Archaeological and history research should proceed with this in mind.
The land, the sand, and the sea level had stabilized around 3,000 years before present.
Sea level was rising about 25 cm per 100 years and had slowed down to about 4 cm per 100 years.
Barrier islands developed.
Archaeologist Max White said, “Barrier islands, often bordered on the mainland side by saltwater marsh, form some of the most picturesque places in
Georgia.”
Understanding Frederica is on a barrier island matters as it is south of the
Altamaha River, Colonial Georgia’s purported early southern border.
With the geography of
Florida and
Georgia in mind, the debate of the political borders can now begin.
The political border dispute from a historical Spanish perspective is over 500 years old.
Native peoples’ claims, thousands of years old, or their aboriginal depopulation,
are not addressed in depth here.
Native peoples also regularly replaced other native peoples from occupied land.
But, to begin the exploration of complex European border struggles for control, it must be acknowledged American history is anglicized.
As a result, Spanish history has been ignored, slanted or treated in a condescending manner by many American historians.
Perhaps this is why no one noticed John Wesley had been in
Florida before now.
While the British busily established colonies in the early 1600s, other countries, particularly Spain, also settled, produced documents, and drew maps of this new world.
In fact,
Spain had settlements in
Florida about 40 years before
Jamestown and
Plymouth.
Pensacola had a settlement in 1559 and
St. Augustine established in 1565.
Some Spanish settlements, now located in modern
Georgia, were in Spanish Florida very early and in John Wesley’s time.
Max E. White said, “Along with efforts to establish settlements, the Spanish began missionary work among the tribes, and in 1568 two Jesuits were stationed along the
Georgia coast in Guale territory.”
It is evident a number of events catapulted the Spanish, as well as Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English into shaping the new world.
Centuries old historical treaties and documents are important in understanding the
Florida –
Georgia border dispute.
Early European battles and attempted domination of the new world must be taken into account.
Background is needed here and is similar to that offered by Justice Bradley in his Opinion for the Coffee v. Groover case cited in this paper.
Justice Bradley said, … “As the case before us depends upon a disputed boundary between two states, it cannot be properly understood or determined without adverting to the historical facts connected with that boundary….”
Two historical events, Pope Alexander VI’s papal bull, the
Inter Caetera of May 4, 1493, and Ponce de Leon’s arrival on the
shore of Florida in 1513, are particularly significant in understanding early European world supremacy tactics.
Historian Francis Simkins wrote, “In 1493 Pope Alexander VI divided the world outside
Europe in two halves as though the earth were an apple.
He gave Africa, Asia and
Brazil to
Portugal, and the rest of the
Americas and the
Philippines to
Spain.”
This decree, while disputed or ignored by other countries,
was issued by a known world political, spiritual leader. The
Inter Caetera of May 4, 1493 said, “…by which the Pontiff donated and granted dominion over all lands discovered and those yet discovered to the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella.”
This papal bull was after, and in response to,
Columbus landing on an island off the mainland of
North America in 1492.
Columbus had been “acting under a prerogative granted by the king and queen of Spain….”
In 1513 Ponce de Leon consummated the land of Florida and North America for Spain by actually landing on and penetrating the shore of what was to become Florida and the United States of America.
There are numerous other treaties and documents that particularly affect the
Florida –
Georgia border dispute following Ponce de Leon’s claim of La
Florida for
Spain in 1513.
Early on, the French challenged the Pope,
Spain, and
Portugal as French corsairs frequented
America.
Another Treaty of Madrid between
Spain and
France was in 1526.
The Treaty of Madrid in 1670 addressed the border dispute between the British colony of
Carolina and Spanish Florida.
This 1670 border “was latitude 32°30”, about ten miles north of the Savannah River, where Hilton Head is located, and the present boundary between
South Carolina and
Georgia.”
However, this did not stop the English from encroaching on Spanish Florida.
An extra complicating factor was native peoples used this border dispute to rile up the Spanish and English against each other.
Historian Charles Arnade said, “The major region of dispute was the unsettled land between the
Savannah and the
St. Johns rivers, that is, between English Carolina and Spanish Florida, which historian Herbert E. Bolton called the ‘
Debatable Land.’”
Part of this contentious land, known for a while as West Florida and
East Florida, played a larger role in American history than has been fully realized.
John Bannon, in
Bolton and the Spanish Borderlands, included, “In a very real sense the
Florida –
Georgia area shows the defensive role which the Borderlands often played in the broader American story.”
Although in West Florida, the French and Spanish did show signs of border agreement in 1719 by recognizing the
Perdido River as the boundary between French Louisiana and Spanish Florida.
Documents and treaties tell part of the story, but it is also early maps from the 1500s forward that illustrate the broad expanse of Spanish borders in North America and help explain how John Wesley was in
Florida.
A map of La
Florida by Geronimo de Chavez of
Spain shows
Florida encompassed all of the current southeastern
United States as well as land to
Texas and up to
Newfoundland.
Other maps reveal encroachment or disputed borders between the European powers, with almost all showing
Spain having at least some claim to the area where John Wesley traveled in 1736-1737.
A map of Queen Anne’s War from 1702-1713 shows troop movements of French, British, Spanish and Native Americans.
Another map of
Florida to
Mexico 1685-1721 shows the northern limit of the Spanish claim by the Treaty of Madrid in 1670.
Georgia was founded as a British Colony in 1733.
Now, Spanish Florida added
Georgia to its list of entities vying for a piece of its claimed land.
Border conflicts closer to Wesley’ time and
Georgia’s beginning are abundant.
Georgia’s early boundaries are often noted.
One such reference stated, “When the colony of Georgia was founded, the ceded lands lying between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers and extending their headwaters indefinitely toward the west were occupied by Indians….”
It is amazing such a peaceful river, the Altamaha, as depicted in a picture published with William Bartram’s work,
had such consequence on contentious disputes. With border conflicts and changes already centuries old by the time John Wesley visited Spanish Florida and the British Colony of Georgia; it is understandable he did not realize he preached on
Florida soil. While Wesley admitted to being lost and not knowing exactly where he was as he traveled about on occasion,
he knew of
Florida.
In
The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. edited by Nehemiah Curnock it said, on Thursday, December 9, 1736, “With Mrs. Musgrove he read an account of
Florida.
On his return in the evening he twice visited Mrs. Clark, the woman referred to in the text.”
Even after Wesley returned to
England in 1737, the
Florida –
Georgia border dispute raged on.
Boundaries were not settled between these “old empires … until the middle of the nineteenth century.”
From Pope Alexander VI’s papal bulls dividing the world, to the United States Supreme Court case in 1887, encompassed the
Florida –
Georgia border dispute.
So, while Frederica was in
Spain’s domain while Wesley was there 1736-1737, the
Florida –
Georgia boundary dispute lingered on for another 150 years.
Maps and treaties show this lingering conflict.
It was not just a passing conflict, but a serious claim by
Spain on the disputed area before, during, and after Wesley’s time.
One map shows Frederica and
Santa Catalina south and within the northern line of Spanish claim.
Text with the map, in Mark Carnes’
Historical Atlas of the United States, said, “
Spain,
England, and
France all attempted to control the strategic Southeast.
Despite conflicting claims and the construction of forts and settlements, the Southeast remained in Spanish hands until after the Seven Years’ War, when, in 1763, it was ceded to
Britain in return for
Cuba.”
Another map, 1700-1760, depicting Colonial Frontiers illustrated Spanish control and predictably took in the Frederica area.
Following this review of maps of Spanish Florida, more treaties and conflicts that affected the
Florida –
Georgia border are important to note as
Spain continued to claim disputed areas.
A few are before Wesley’s visit, but most are after and important as they show continued dispute.
They are: 1702, English Campaign against St. Augustine;
1739, War of Jenkins Ear;
1740, English Campaign against St. Augustine;
1742, Battle of Bloody Marsh;
1763,
Treaty of Paris;
1783, Treaty of Paris;
1795, Pinckney’s Treaty;
1800, Treaty of San Ildefonso, October 1, 1800 (also known as the Secret Treaty);
1812, War of 1812;
1819, Adams - Onis Treaty;
1872, An Act of Congress in 1872;
and 1887, U.S. Supreme Court case
Coffee v Groover. The 1887 Supreme Court case acknowledged border encroachment between Spanish and British provinces.
After traveling to the nineteenth century and the U.S. Supreme Court case of the
Florida –
Georgia border dispute, we must step back and look once more at the
Florida –
Georgia world of James Oglethorpe and John Wesley.
John Wesley reckoned his whereabouts from Oglethorpe.
Oglethorpe knowingly stretched the borders of
Georgia.
An example of Oglethorpe’s creative map and border making included text in Thomas Hodler’s
Georgia atlas which said, “The Martyn Map (first map of
Georgia) was used by
Georgia’s founder to project an appealing image and to gain public support.”
One Emanuel Bowen map of 1752 showed the borders of
Georgia as between the
Savannah and
Altamaha rivers.
The Emanuel Bowen map and text on the inside cover of Hodler’s atlas showed an extensive border for
Georgia and said, “Also interesting is Bowen’s treatment of
Georgia’s southern boundary, the
Altamaha, here spelled Alatamaha.
Bowen shows a branch of that river threading to the sea between
Cumberland and Amelia islands, far south of its true course.”
This depiction illustrated “cartographic warfare.”
Oglethorpe traveled at least all the way into
Florida’s Fort St. George.
A map reproduced with permission from the Colonial Office in
The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. edited by Nehemiah Curnock illustrated Fort St. George on
St. George’s Island, south of Amelia Island, Florida.
In a large fold out map in this same book, Frederica is clearly shown on
St. Simons Island.
As early as 1735, Oglethorpe was setting up colonists in Frederica.
Land titles from the list of original settlers are somewhat sketchy from the Frederica area.
Mrs. Pat Bryant noted in
A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia, “Fee simple titles to the land were not given by the trustees.”
Whether and how Oglethorpe had attained additional land from native peoples might also be questioned.
One treaty for
South Carolina “forbade the establishment of trading posts south of the
Savannah River.”
Wesley’s first contact with native people came on Saturday, February 14, 1736.
The day before he had word he was to meet “Tomo-chachi.”
Tomochichi “was chief of a small party of Creek Indians settled four miles from
Savannah and four hundred miles from the main body of the Creek Tribes.”
Yamacraw chief Tomochichi admitted he had been banished and had just moved into the area.
Tomochichi’s ability to cede anything might be questioned.
Oglethorpe continued “… to increase his power surreptitiously….”
There is evidence of a later cession by native peoples to
Georgia concerning the
Altamaha, but well after Wesley left.
“In 1782 at
Augusta and 1785 at Galphinton, certain Creek tribes ceded lands between the
Altamaha River and the
Florida boundary to the Georgians. These treaties were disputed by other Indians, led by Alexander McGillivray.”
Notwithstanding, disputed cessions are used by Oglethorpe to justify expansion into Spanish Florida.
Wesley was aware of conflicts with the Spanish. On Thursday, May 27, 1736, Wesley acknowledged, “Within and without there were the gravest causes for anxiety.
The Spaniards disputed Oglethorpe’s right to establish an English colony on St. Simon’s
Island, claiming it as a possession of the Spanish Crown, and Horton knew that the colony was a rope of sand.”
On Friday, August 27, 1736, Wesley noted “Fr. Don Antonio de Arredondo came to St. Simon’s from the
Havanna, to treat with Mr. Oglethorpe.”
Another confrontation between Oglethorpe and the governor of Spanish Florida, Francisco
del Moral Sanchez, in 1737, produced “an agreement with Oglethorpe according to which the Georgian withdrew north from the
St. Johns while sustaining his claim as far as the
Altamaha.”
Sanchez may have paid for this concession with his life.
Spain refuted his actions of conceding even to the Altamaha and considered latitude 32˚ 30” up near
South Carolina as a border.
On Friday, August 13, 1736, Wesley said, “…where I delivered Mr. Oglethorpe the letters I had brought from
Carolina.
The next day he set out for Fort St. George.”
Fort St. George is south of
Florida’s
Amelia Island.
Likewise,
Cumberland Island, where Oglethorpe had set up a camp, was occupied by those under the pastoral care of Wesley.
Fort Clinch, near
Fernandina,
Florida, overlooks
Cumberland Island,
Georgia, just across the
St. Marys River.
A clear view of the beach from
Fort Clinch is offered where those under Wesley’s pastoral care might have wandered and guarded.
Wild horses from that era still run free on the beach.
The true head of the St. Marys and its course to the Atlantic marks today’s
Florida –
Georgia boundary.
The “Georgia Fractions”
show a lingering conflict.
The border analysis of
Florida from early Spanish claims through various treaties and wars lends credibility to the discovery presented in this paper and builds the case that John Wesley preached in
Florida.
Wesley’s journals and diaries reveal in his constant stream of commentary a multi-racial, multi-cultural world co-existing in Colonial Georgia and Spanish Florida.
Understanding John Wesley’s location, where he traveled and preached, developed methods for sermons and hymns, and how it eventually led him to found what has become the United Methodist Church is important.
Nehemiah Curnock included a notation in the Wesley Journal he edited that, “…the spirit of the evangelist…was in him long before he reached
Aldersgate Street….”
This could apply to Wesley’s time in
Florida.
The religious world he entered when he stepped off the boat anchored near
Tybee Island was contentious like the border as “…the Protestant religion, the maintenance which was regarded as all important.
On the west of the province were the French, and the Spaniards to the south – Papists all.”
Wesley, aware of the Spanish presence in his developing parish, took Spanish lessons from Dr. Nunes, a Spanish Jew.
He wrote of many peoples and conflicts.
He met Dutch, French,
English, Germans, Italians, Spanish,
and native peoples.
Serious conflict was everywhere.
He wrote graphically of fighting, burning, and torture among the French and Chicasaws.
On the trip over, Wesley taught an officer of the Prussian government, Mr. Van Hermsdorf, who later organized “the defense of Frederica against the Spanish.”
While this great mix of humanity and an epic battle among European powers raged in the new world, Wesley’s overwhelming and inspired evangelism, plus a botched love affair with Miss Sophy, eventually hastened his time off the shores of Florida and Georgia.
These great trials and exposure to diverse people had a significant impact on Wesley and could be attributed to his conversion.
John Wesley visited Frederica, a key settlement, at least five times.
Each Frederica trip can be examined by reviewing Wesley’s journals and diaries.
In the First Frederica Journal he arrived on Saturday, April 10, 1736,
and departed on Saturday, April 17, 1736.
In the Second Frederica Journal he arrived on Sunday, May 23, 1736,
and departed on Wednesday, June 23, 1736.
In the Third Frederica Journal he arrived on Friday, August 13, 1736,
and departed Thursday, September 2, 1736.
In the Fourth Frederica Journal, he arrived on Saturday, October 16, 1736,
and departed Monday, October 25, 1736.
In the Fifth Frederica Journal he arrived on Wednesday, January 5, 1737,
and departed on Wednesday, January 26, 1737.
Wesley’s parting words to Frederica were, “After having beaten the air in this unhappy place for twenty days, at noon I took my final leave of Frederica.
It was not any apprehension of my own danger, though my life had been threatened many times, but an utter despair of doing good there, which made me content with the thought of seeing it no more.”
In addition, if the borders were adjusted and recognized by the Spanish treaties, such as the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, even
Savannah and all areas south would also be considered in
Florida.
This would include many areas listed in John Wesley’s journal as places he visited.
This paper is one small illustration of a significant historical event that can be more accurately illuminated by examining
Florida’s historical borders.
Most of the history about
Florida does not reflect its true historical significance in American history.
Florida shaped more than just the 2000 presidential election.
The physical shape of
Florida played a key role in shaping the history of
America and the
Methodist Church.
Just as Charles Vignoles admitted in his 1823 book
Observations Upon The Floridas he slighted information on West Florida because he did not have the resources to go there in preparing his book,
other writers and historians have slighted Spanish Florida and missed Wesley’s visit.
Wesley, the founder of Methodism,
spent time in
Georgia, a British colony, and Spanish Florida.
John Wesley not only preached and had influence in
Florida, but
Florida had a significant role in his conversion experience.
The rough and wild terrain, as well as the wild behavior, affected him. Furthermore, Wesley wrote extensively and influenced America in its early development. To know exactly where he was while he was in America is important. That
Florida shaped
Wesley, America’s history, and the history of the world is a theory worthy of further exploration.
Brenda Anderson Rees, unpublished research, 2006.
