Early Florida Oranges 1790! Trees from Legendary Grove in East Florida to Philadelphia

[FLORIDA.] Thomas Wooster, Autograph Letter Signed, to Walter Stewart, April 24, 1790, St. Augustine, Florida. 1 p., 8" x 10". Tears on folds of address sheet, not affecting text; general toning and some soiling; very good.

With this letter, Thomas Wooster sent ninety orange trees from St. Augustine to Walter Stewart in Philadelphia. They were from the orchard of Jesse Fish, who had lived as a merchant, factor, realtor, and plantation owner in St. Augustine for more than fifty years. Fish died on February 8, 1790, ten weeks before Wooster wrote this letter.

Complete Transcript
St Augustine April 24th 1790
Dr Sir
Agreeable to your desire I have sent you a box containing ninety sweet Orange Trees from Mr Fishe famous Orange Groar here, and hope they will arrive in good order, as I have desired, the bearer Capt Grant to take particular care of them; the cost of them is one shilling New York Curry each, which I beg you will pay to Mr James Lockwood, whom I dare say you are acquainted with. I expect to sail for New Orleans in three or four days with a Cargo, from whence I intend to proceed for the Havanna, and from thence for Philadelphia, if an opportunity offers, but at any rate (whatever route I take) shall expect to have the pleasure of seeing you there in two or three months at farthest, in the mean time you will have begun to think on the proposal which I made to you in my former Letter by my Friend Mr Tunno, and as I shall bring with me Spanish Papers, if not a Spanish Bottom, I shall be enabled to proceed on the voyage without any hindrance or trouble. In the mean time I remain Dr Sir
your Obedt Servt
Thos Wooster
Genl Walter Stewart

Thomas Wooster (1751-1792) was born in Connecticut and graduated from Yale College in 1768. He served as an aide-de-camp to his father, Brigadier General David Wooster (1711-1777). In February 1777, he became a captain in Col. Samuel Blachley Webb's Additional Continental Regiment in February 1777, a position he held until resigning in June 1779. In 1790, he attempted to take colonists to St. Augustine in Spanish East Florida. He then settled in Louisiana, where he served as a captain of militia. He returned to Philadelphia to seek colonists for Spanish New Orleans. When he posted a notice announcing that anyone wanting a passport to New Orleans or to become a Spanish citizen should see him, the Spanish officials had to deny any connection with him. He was soon jailed for debts but died later in the year on a voyage to New Orleans.

Walter Stewart (1756-1796) was born in Ireland and emigrated to Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. At the age of twenty, he was appointed captain in the 3rd Pennsylvania Battalion in the Continental Line. He was reputedly the most handsome man in the Continental Army. He was soon made an aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates with the rank of major. In November 1776, Congress awarded him a sword and promoted him to brevet lieutenant colonel. He was later commissioned as the colonel of the 2nd Pennsylvania regiment and participated in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He retired from active duty in 1783 as a brigadier general. After the war, he was a merchant in Philadelphia. From 1793 to 1796, he was Inspector of the Revenue and Surveyor of Customs at Philadelphia. In 1794, he was commissioned as a major general in the Pennsylvania militia.

Jesse Fish (1724/26-1790) was born in New York and moved to St. Augustine in 1736 as an employee of the Walton Company. Two years later, all Englishmen had been banished from St. Augustine except Fish, who remained to allow the Spanish to procure meat and flour from New York. From the 1740s to the 1760s, Fish continued to serve as a merchant and a factor for the Walton Company to supply the city of St. Augustine. When Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763, most Spanish residents of St. Augustine left for Cuba. After a Spanish agent failed to sell most of the Spanish property to new English settlers, he conveyed the property to Fish, who by 1765 owned more than one-third of the lots in St. Augustine and one-half of the private houses. His realty business prospered between 1763 and 1770. In 1763, he built a great plantation house on Santa Anastasia Island, where he had orchards and orange groves. He exported tens of thousands of barrels of sweet oranges and hundreds of barrels of orange juice from his plantation, and before the end of the British Period (1763-1783), he was renowned for the quality of his citrus fruit. In the 1770s, his oranges were even popular in London. By 1786-1787, Fish owned seventeen African slaves to work his plantation. When Great Britain retroceded Florida to Spain in 1783, the new governor determined to redistribute real estate to returning Spanish settlers or their descendants. By 1784, Fish had lost most of his land holdings and had large debts in St. Augustine and Cuba.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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