florida's bahamian connection

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lorida sahamian onnectionGlenn Anderson

Independent Scholar

Culturally distinct settler groups almost alwaysmaintain ...some elements of their homeland cul-tures, at least for a few generations Castles andMiller 1993

A massive exodus of Loyalists from British East Florida penin-sular Florida) to the Bahamas and other destinations occurred at theclose of the American Revolution. Thousands of white Loyalists,together with their slaves, chose to relocate to the nearby islandswhere they could return in the event of favorable circumstances.The Loyalist exodus initiated a process which eventually trans-formed coastal Florida.Bahama Loyalists began to drift back to East Florida andsouthern Georgia almost immediateiv after the British evacuation ofEast Florida. They carne s n ~ l y like John Wood 1752-1829 , nowresting on the grounds of St. Marys Presbyterian Church on theCeorgia shore, or in groups, like the white fishermen of RivieraBeach. or the Black migrants to the Lower East Coast, who laboredon great construction projects the early years of the twentiethcentury Parrish 1940 to 1953; Cate 1956 . The movement, modifiedby United States immigration laws, continues to this day and isresponsible for many groups in Florida with links to the Loyalistpast.

The process was sometimes complex. Georgia historicallyplayed a major role in peopling the peninsula. Return to southernGeorgia frequently served as only one stage of the migrationprocess. Camden County, the days of communication by water,had a key role, because that part of Georgia had a common historyand cultural identity with East Florida Smith 1983 .Riley 1983 mentions 3,000 return migrants from the Bahamasto southern Georgia. Many of those migrants must have enteredthrough St. Marys, the closest port in Georgia to the Bahamas. and alarge percentage of them probably made Camden County their

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h lorida eographerhome, as argued by Smith 1983 . Later, as the focus of economicactivity shifted, those migrants were subjected to the pull of adeveloping Florida. Westward of Camden County lay the inhospitable Okefenokee, eastward the Atlantic, northward establishedpopulations, but , only about thirty miles to the south, Jacksonvilledeveloped as the Gateway City to Florida. Like the Bahamas.Camden County was, for many Loyalists and their descendants, away-station on the road to Florida.

Blacks sailed to the plantation islands of the Bahamas with theirLoyalist masters and shared many common values. They were anintegral part of the Loyalist march through history. S001e had ties ofblood with their former masters, but even more shared the thrift,industry, and ambition of the restless white Loyalists. The BahamianBlacks really constituted a subgroup of the Southern Loyalistpopulation (Saunders 1983 Their subsequent migration to Floridareintroduced Loyalist traditions to parts of the Lower East Coast.

Mack Walker 1964 in Scott, 1968 , in his examination of Cerrnanimmigration to the United States, emphasizes the factors of eco-nomic marginality and income fluctuations as catalysts for the earlyimmigration of relatively prosperous, modern, skilled, and educatedpeople. The first stream of return migrants from the Bahamas easilyconformed to the paradigm (Kershaw 1978 . Cotton s precipitousdecline in the Bahamas and the relaxation of governnlental restric-tions in East Florida prompted the re-settlement of Volusia s pluntahan country. Men with capital, education, and ambitious plans werethe first to realize the limitations of the Bahamas environment andto establish the initial Bahamian immigration networks in Florida(Strickland 1963

The seafaring peoples who settled the Florida Keys in the lSJO salso proved the validity of Walker s paradigm. One or two generations removed from the earlier planter migrants, they were of 111 rlmoderate means than the earlier Loyalist subgroup, but possessedresources superior to those who came later. Poorer white fishermenat Riviera Beach and the Black migrants to the Lower East Coastrepresented the next logical extension of that trend.

The Sugar PlantationsWith the retrocession of Florida to Spain, most ofthe British colonists withdrew and these estateswere abandoned. About the turn of the cen ury

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Anderson Florida s Bahamian ConnectionSpanish immigration policy became more liberal,a n d n um e ro us loyalist refugees ...were i nd uced toreturn ...the economic development of this shortstretch of the upper east coast exceeded t hat of anyother part of the territory... Boyd 1951

The re-development of the sugar plantations south of St.Augustine, around the turn of th e century, became th e most important, and perhaps the only, agricultural innovation during th esecond Spanish period. Failed Bahamian cotton planters formed th edriving force behind this form of economic activity. The sugarplantations continued to be th e most successful and significantFlorida centers of agricultural production until their destruction byt he I ndians and their Black allies the Second Seminole War. Th een d ca me in th e winter of 1835/1836 Strickland 1963 .

Both capital and labor proved essential for t hi s i nd us tr y. T heLoyalist planter elite of th e Bahamas possessed those key resources,but struggled to utilize them efficiently in t he B ahamas because th efield of economic opportunity seemed t oo l imit ed . E as t Floridaoffered greater potential, was well known to the Loyalists, and wasclose-at-hand. Under those circumstances and with the change inattitude of th e Spanish colonial administration, represented by th elaws of 1788 and 1790, a return migration of some of the Bahamianplanters appeared almost inevitable Rutherford 1952 . Need,proximity, and opportunity dictated th e time and direction of thatmovement. Further, it involved th e development of a well rememb er ed a re a and the revival of former British plantations.

Although th e number of white immigrants remained small,their economic and social impact loomed large, and they broughtTIlany sla ves w ith th em . T he tr ad iti on of heavy investment incommercial agriculture initiated during the British period wasmaintained and enhanced by this development. Additionally, theintroduction of large numbers of Blacks to East Florida s population, whi ch also began during th e British period, continued and itsdemographic consequences can be s ee n today Strickland 1963 .Both th e focus of modern peninsular Florida s agriculture and th ecomposition of the state s population appeared foreshadowed andinfluenced by this Loyalist migration.

Florida s state park authorities have identified sixteen plantat ion sites in a narrow coastal strip, no more than a fe w miles wide,starting at the Bulow plantation, now included the southernmost

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h lorida eographerportion of Flagler County, in the nor th, and running to just south ofNew Smyrna Beach signs posted by park authorities). Boyd 1951)had earlier named fifteen possible plantation locations in th e samearea, but sixteen is now the accepted figure. Bulow Creek, theHalifax Creek and River, the Tornoka River and Basin, and theIndian River Nort h provided a secure, connected network of tidalwaterways, protected by th e coastal barrier island and accessiblefrom the Atlantic at Ponce de Leon Inlet, n ea r N ew Smyrna Beach.Bulk cargoes moved easily and cheaply along this network and th ecoastal lands provided a richer environment for agriculture than thesterile interior Strickland 1963).

New Smyrna developed as a n i nde pendent center because itsnatural transportation network dictated that approach de Brahm1971). When the Loyalists returned, those geographic realitiesremained. An enclave type structure reflected communicationdirectly with th e sea and relatively important links wi th the Baha-mas. Convenient access b y w at er to the Bahamas became an important factor in this population movement, but it also played the samerole for all other Bahamian settlements in Florida.

These riverine plantations were very large, although only partof th e total acreage was actually cultivated. For example, JohnRussell, who immigrated from th e Bahamas, received a grant of4,000 acres which his h eirs sold in 1821, t he y ea r Florida became anAmerican possession, to Charles W. Bulow of Charleston, SouthCarolina, founder of Bulow plantation Strickland 1963). The threehundred Bulow slaves cultivated 1,000 acres of sugar cane, 1,200acres of cotton, and some food and fodder crops Tebeau 1971

Robert McHardy s plantation on the Tomoka of 1,762 acres wasanother Loyalist enterprise with ties to the Bahamas. He hadworked for hi s brother s Nassau mercantile firm before moving toFlorida. When his wife died, McHardy sent his Florida-born son toNassau to be educated, which he soon left to join the Royal Navy.These ties of family and culture with the Bahamas and Britainremained common on the Loyalist plantations of East Florida Strickland 1963).

Captain [ames Ormond I, former employee of Panton Leslie andCompany and former cotton planter from the island of Exuma inthe Bahamas, developed a 2,000 a cr e plantation at the head of theHalifax River. Although hi s w if e and son Emanuel r eturned toScotland on his death, in the 1820 s credit problems encouraged th efamily s return to the p la ntatio n. The o ld est son , James Ormond II,

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Anderson Florida s Bahamian Connectionleft Britain so quickly that he had to send for his wife and fourchildren. James s wife, the former Isabella Chrystie, was probably apart of the famous Bahamas Loyalist family of the same name Strickland 1963).General Samuel Williams, the descendant of a wealthy Britishfamily, received a large grant on the present site of Daytona Beach.Williams s widow later married Joseph M. Hernandez, a namefamous in Florida history. The old Loyalist s estate passed to hiswif four children in Florida, and his illegitimate daughter in theBahamas (Strickland 1963).

Sugar constituted the most successful crop produced by thissmall. cohesive elite, but cotton remained almost as important. Theywere Florida s two most important commercial crops. Corn wasgrown for domestic consumption and every plantation had stonehand-mills to grind grist. Industrious slaves had time to tend theirown small plots, and to hunt and fish. However, only the impressive ruins of the steam sugar-mills survive to mark this way-of-life(Strickland 196])The Keys

With Florida ceded to the United States by thetreaty with Spain, the way was open for actualpermanent colonization of the lower Florida coastby the Bahamas. By the 18305, the Conchs and theirtiny settlements along the Keys and coast hadgrown perceptibly. By the time of the War Betweenthe Sta tes, the migration had reached proportions ofa colonization (White and Smiley 1959).

In 1831, there were 12,259 Blacks in the Bahamas, representingthree-quarters of the population, and 9,268 of them were slaves.August 1, 1834, the day slaves won their freedom in the BritishEmpire, seemed a day of agony for the Loyalists with their harshracial attitudes because they were confronted with a potential threatto their position. It became yet another factor encouraging a wave ofimmigration to Florida. This time the immigrants came from ahumbler strata of society (Craton 1986).

American annexation of Florida in 1821 had been the initialfactor strengthening the pull of the peninsula for the maritime


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h lorida eographerpeople of Abaca and its satellites. The island environment o theFlorida Keys, so similar to the Bahamas, had provided a refuge fromthe Black problem and the opportunity to pursue such traditionalvocations as wreaking and turtling. Governor Colebrook of theBahamas on July 9, 1835 had written his superiors in Britain thatmany settlers in b c who possess sloops and trade with theUnited States have lately...speculated in quitting the colony.Records show a decrease in the total population of Abaco of seventy-three persons between 1834 and 1836 H-iley 1983).

Bahamian colonization of the Keys had commenced soon afterAmerican annexation and had shaped the unique cultural patternsof those islands. As early as February 1, 1834, a man named Curryhad sailed his American registered sloop into Nassau harbor fromKey West with a cargo o turtles for a firm of Bay Street merchantsRiley 1983). Even earlier, in 1828, Congress had established aterritorial superior court in Key West with admiralty jurisdiction, atleast partly to prevent wreckers from taking salvaged ships andgoods to Nassau or Havana WPA 1949). Before the Civil War,immigration from the Bahamas had helped make Key WestFlorida s largest city and had insured that the Conchs would be oneof the most important groups in the city (Tebeau 1971). Key West,with the opportunities afforded by rapid growth and with its harshrestrictions on Blacks, had been a congenial world for white Bahamians in those days WP 1949).

This immigrant stream from Abaco and its satellites wascomposed of a population formed by intermarriage and culturalfusion between the Loyalists and their Conch neighbors. The oldname for the original inhabitants of the Bahamas, Conch. b l ~ C n Cthe common appellation for all white Bahamians in Florida. Itseemed fitting that the more plebeian population of the Abacogroup should first carry this name to Florida, because the procl.)ss ofmerger was more advanced there Riley 1983).

Smiley and White 1959) characterized the Key West Conchs asfundamentally sea folk. They also said Conchs were an extremely close-knit group ...gracious, clean-living, kind and lurchgoing. Langley and Windhorn 1974) described the Bahamianpopulation of the Florida Keys as Methodist, honest and possessedof great family pride. Both works claimed the speech of the Conchpopulation of the Keys continued to vaguely reflect its Bahamianbackground. Many of the traditional values of the Conch culturalcomplex reflected the Loyalist background of the immigrants.

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Anderson Florida s Bahamian ConnectionIn the first period of settlement, Key West had almost all of the

pc-rrnancnt population of the Keys, but by the early years of thetwentieth century Bahamians were well established on Key Largo(Fernald and Purdum 1992 . Penetration of that area commencedwith the traditional Bahamian activities of mahogany cutting andboat building. These were accomplished by transients, a commonfeature of the early Bahamian utilization of Florida resources. Laterpermanently settled farmers grew pineapples, tomatoes, melons,and key limes (Langlpy and Windhorn 1974 .

t seems certain that the discrete Conch populations of the Keys.md Riviera Beach formed part of a much broader populationmovement. ud Curry and his family history, as narrated to theauthor. illustrate the lives of other immigrants who lost theirdistinct l3ahan1ian character through contact with other, muchl.ugcr, groups and th rough isolation from the centers of Conchculture. I lis t.unily settled in Manatee County before the Civil WarCurry 19 4 . In those days, the water connection between theManatee County arva and Key West was the S t important meansof comrnunic.ition with the outside world and there was someL ahanlian irnm igration to the county. Even a sugar industry, sotypical of Loyalist Florida, became a feature of the area, as evidcnced by the famous Carnble Plantat ion (Tebeau 1971 .

The Conch populations of the Keys and Riviera Beach constituter li groups that survived as discrete populations because the Keysrc-ma iricd geographically isolated and Riviera Beach had been toorecently settled by a numerically dominant group. Key West of thetwo. became more important because it served as a dispersal pointfor other currents of settlement and evolved into a more fullydeveloped cultural center. Conch residents of the island exercised amore active role in all facets of its life than their counterparts inRiviera Beach. For example, the unique Conch architecture of someof Key West s buildings is famous and remains a major touristattraction (Smiley and White 1959: 25-7; Riley 1983 . Further, the cityitself vas founded nlany years before the other community anddeveloped into an important center during the early years ofAmerican rule in Florida.

In terms of numbers involved as well as contr ibut ions made, themigration of Bahamians to Key West including some Blacks wasvery significant. By 1892 8 000 of Key West s 25 000 people wereBahamians. The maritime activity of sponging constituted theirprincipal livelihood (MohI1987). A numerous population, coupled

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h lorida eographerwith a clannish tradition, encouraged by the Loyalist past, guaran-teed group survival in a polyglot city with a strong Cuban element.Their isolated and insular culture contributed to an environmentwhich accommodated the free and permissive lifestyle of othergroups the Keys.lack igrants

Bahamian blacks had been familiar with Florida slower east coast, and particularly the Florida Keys,long before the building of Miami ....According toone Bahamian writer, these early visitors regardedFlorida much as another island of the Bahamas.Moh11987 .

Miami has always been an attractive destination for the Carib-bean peoples, but Bahamian Blacks seemed especially subject to thepull of the city on Biscayne Bay. From 1896 to 1920, the city grewfrom a few hundred to almost 30,000, and Black islanders, nearly allfrom the Bahamas, totaled 4,815 at the end of that period. Theislanders were over half the city s Black population, giving Miami aunique Caribbean flavor (Mohl 1987 .

Blacks came because they had long been familiar with theFlorida coast and the rapid pace of development of the Lower EastCoast created many opportunities. The scrubby pine and ooliticlimestone, comprising important parts of the physical environmentof South Florida, were similar to the unyielding soil and strugglingvegetation of the Bahamas. Bahamians knew how to coax trees,vegetables, and fruits from rocklands. A rapidly expandingeconomy and the ease with which Bahamians could practice theirsubsistence gardening in a familiar environment certainly seemedstrong inducements to immigrate Moh11987 .

Ten to twelve thousand Bahamians, one-fifth of the entirepopulation of the islands, had crossed the narrow seas to Floridabetween 1900 and 1920. Rising Florida agricultural production andincreased import duties on Bahamian agricultural products hadcrippled the fragile economy of the colony. The consequent uncm-ployment and underemployment had been important pushfactors encouraging emigration. Regular steamship service betweenFlorida and Nassau for the first time had made that option affordable and readily available to Bahamian Blacks (Mohl 1987 .


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Anderson Florida s Bahamian ConnectionFlorida s construction industry experienced boom conditions in

those days and the Florida East Coast Railroad was extended to theFlorida Keys after 1905 producing many jobs for manual laborers.The reputation of the Bahamians for masonry skill certainly madethem attractive employees in the building trades. Florida citrusgroves and vegetable farms expanded and Bahamians had thenecessary experience in both forms of husbandry. This early phaseof the development of the Lower East Coast required manual laborto build infrastructure and to establish the primary industries. Withtheir determination and tradition of hard work, Bahamian Blackshad the right qualities to exploit these opportunities (Mohl 1987 .

Culturally, the Bahamian impact on Miami, and especially onCoconut Grove, remained notable. They created a cohesive ethniccommunity with its own churches and social organizations. GuyFawkes Day was celebrated for many years and the annual CoconutGrove Coornbay Festival was a permanent addition to the calendar(MohI1987). Some of the unique Bahamian Black contributions tothe Miami cultural milieu certainly derived from the larger Loyalistcommunity, Even the Bahamian Black presence in Miami, and in theliahamas itself took place as a consequence of the Loyalist migrat ion of long ago.Riviera Beach

Between 1910 and 1914 about twenty-five fishermen builtshacks to shelter thorn on the island. At first the Conchsstayed only during the fishing season ....By 1920 the settle-ment had become a permanent community of about sixtyfamilies but n1any shanties were still occupied only duringthe winter fishing season (Foster 1991 .

Riviera Beach in some respects experienced a different kind ofcolonization than the process which started about eighty yearsbefore in the Keys. Both movements were initiated by a white,maritime people, but the numbers involved the Riviera Beachmigration were much smaller and that population settled in a verylimited coastal area. Working class its self-image, the nameConch was not used with the same pride as in the Keys andConchtown was a term of opprobrium. They also faced thesuspicion of racial mixture, which relegated them to a lower socialposition, and the Conch name carried the taint of that mixture.

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h lorida eographerBoth groups were noted for their sincere dedication to the Protestantreligion, but the dominant sect appears to have been Methodist inthe Keys and Pentecostal in Riviera Beach Langley and Windhorn1974; Foster 1991).

The primary sources of the Riviera Beach migration, SpanishWells and Eleuthera, suggest a greater representation of the descendants of the old Conch inhabitants of the Bahamas. Only LongIsland, of the three sources named Foster 1991), was in theLoyalist settled islands. Movement to the Keys had been, conversely, largely from Abaco and its satellites and t involved thevigorous descendants of the Loyalists from those northern islands.The presence of some racially mixed persons as an integral part othe Riviera Beach Conch community is consistent with the moretolerant racial attitudes of the original British population of theBahamas, and certainly not of the Loyalists Foster 1991).

Other cultural traits and common historical themes link RivieraBeach with the pervasive Loyalist culture of the Bahamas. Foster1991) described them as a close-knit group, in the same wordsmost authorities used to describe the Conch population of the Keys.They were so close-knit in the early days that marriages betweencousins became common and about ninety percent of them wererelated to one another. Riviera Conchs continued the defiant Loyalist tradition of deep pride in their British heritage. Like all Loyalistpopulations, they maintained a respect for the law and civilizedbehavior Foster 1991).

Bahamian fishermen initiated the movement to the Riviera areaby establishing temporary quarters at the old inlet during thefishing season. They had long known and used the rich areas withinthe Gulf Stream, and it was inconvenient to return to the Bahamasafter each fishing trip. In 1922 their settlement at Riviera Beach hadbecome permanent and legally incorporated. Riviera gre\v to a littleover 800 inhabitants in 1939, including a large majority of ConchsFoster 1991).

Fishing remained the dominant occupation, but boat buildingbecame another important Riviera activity. During Prohibition,building fast boats and smuggling from the Bahamas became v yprofitable. Several points in the Bahamas were within sixty miles ofthe Florida coast. The whole community benefited economicallyfrom this illegal trade, but only a few people actually participatedFoster 1991).

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Anderson Florida s Bahamian ConnectionTheir primary maritime activity continued to be fishing. They

formed a cooperative named the Fisherman s Corporation whichremained active for twenty years. Riviera Conchs even tried toestablish a statewide fishermen s union, but others lacked theirvision and cohesion (Foster 1991 . These activities seemed consistentwith the old Loyalist tradition of trying to maximize economicopportunity and attempting to exploit every favorable circum-stance.

Immigration from the Bahamas to Riviera remained easy. UNoone in the colony remembers ever being bothered by the U.S.immigration authorities. In the first part of this century, Britishsubjects from the Bahamas entered because it was inconvenient torctu rn to the Bahamas after each fishing trip. In 1922 their settle-m r t at Riviera Beach had become permanent and legally incorpo-rated. Riviera grew to a little over 800 inhabitants in 1939, with alarge majori ty of Conchs (Foster 1991 .Conclusion

The community at Riviera Beach proved to be the last Bahamiansettlement founded along the Florida coasts. Although its develop-merit S emS not to have been hindered by the new immigrationlaws, they ultimately precluded further enclave type Bahamiancolonization of the peninsula. Migration of poorer whites to Rivieraand Blacks to the Miami area c losed an era in the history of immi-gration from those Loyalist islands.

REFERENCES

Boyd, Mark F. 1951 The Seminole War: Its Background andOnset, Florida Historical Quarterly 30:57 69Castles, Stephen, and Mark Miller. 1993 The Age ofMigrationNew York: Guilford Press. 1-22.Cate, Margaret Davis. 1956 Early Days of oastalGeorgia 2d ed., St.Simons Island, Georgia: Fort Frederica Association. 103-9.Craton, Michael. 1986 A History of the Bahamas 3d ed., Waterloo,Ontario: San Salvador Press.


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TheFlorida GeographerCurry Charles. Personal Interview. 2 June 1994.De Brahm William Gerard. 1971 De Brahm s Report of the GeneralSuroeu in the Southern District of North America. Louis De Vorsey, Jr.,ed., Columbia South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.Fernald Edward A. and Elizabeth D. Purdum eds. 1992 Atlas ofFlorida Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Forbes James Grant. 1964 Sketches Historical and TopographicalThe Floridas; More Particularly of East Florida James W. Covingtoned. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.Foster, Charles C. 1991 Conchtoum. Boca Raton: Florida AtlanticUniversity Press.Kershaw Adrian C. 1978 Diffusion and Migration Studies inGeography in Diffusion and Migration: Their Rolc CulturalDeoelopment. Calgary Archaeological Association of the Departmentof Archaeology of the University of Calgary. pp. 6 1 ~Langley, Wright and Stan Windhorn eds. 1974 Yesterday s Florida eys Miami: E.A. Seemann Publishing.Mohl Raymond A. 1987 Black Immigrants: Bahamians in EarlyTwentieth-Century Miami Florida Historical Quarterly 65: 271-97.Neu: Smurna Beach Florida 1993 Map. USGS.Crmond Beach Florida 1993 Map. U S ~ SParrish Lydia Austin. Records of Some Southern Loyalists: Being acollection of manuscripts about some eight families most of whomimmigrated to the Bahamas during and after the American Revolution. Collected from 1940 to 1953. Typed manuscript. WidenerLibrary, Harvard University.Riley,Sandra. 1983 Hontctoard Bound: A History if the Baluuna Islandsto 1850 untli a Definitive Study of Abaco ill the A mcrican LoyalistPlantationPeriod Miami: Island Research.

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Florida s Bahamian ConnectionRutherford, Robert E. 1952) Settlers From Connecticut in SpanishFlorida, Florida Historical Quarterly 30: 324-6.Saunders, Gail. 1983) Bahantian Loyalists and Their Slaves London:Caribbean.Scott, Franklin D. 1968) World Migration in Modern TimesEnglewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Smiley. Nora K., and Louise V.White, eds. 1959) History of Key WestSt. Petersburg: Great Outdoors Publishing.Smith. Joseph Burkholder. 1983) [ames Madison s Phony War: ThePlot to Steal Florida. New York: Arbor House.Strickland, Alice. 1963) James Ormond, Merchant and Soldier,Florida J iistorical Quarterly 41: 1-22.Strickland, Alice. 1963) The Valiant Pioneers: A History of Ormond caclI Deland: Volusia County Historical Commission.l-cbeau, Charlton W. 1980) A History Florida 2d ed., Coral Gables:University of Miami Press.Writers Program of the WPA. 1949) A Guide to y West 2d ed.,New York: Hastings House.

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florida's bahamian connection

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