Settling British West-Florida Along the Mississippi River

[FLORIDA.] PETER CHESTER, Partially Printed Document Signed, ordering Surveyor-General Elias Durnford to survey a plantation in West-Florida for Thomas Creek. September 1, 1772. 1 p., 12" x 7.5". Small separation along fold.

Complete Transcript

WEST-FLORIDA.

By His Excellency Peter Chester Esquire Captain General

Governour and Commander in chief in and over his Majesty’s said Province.

To Elias Durnford, Esq; Surveyour-General.

You are hereby directed and required to measure, or cause to be admeasured and laid out unto Thomas Creek a Plantation or Tract of Land containing Eleven hundred Acres Situate near the Natches beginning upon the rear or East line of a Tract Granted to one Fairchild  and so extending to the Eastward along the North line of lands granted to the Earl of Eglington and along the south line of lands granted to Joseph Smith And on the rear of said Fairchilds Tract or on such spot where vacant and contiguous as shall be shewn to you in West-Florida: observing his Majesty’s Instructions in laying out the same, and taking the utmost Care you can, that the same has not been heretofore run out on any Warrant or Patent, but be vacant land; and return a Plat thereof, certified by you, into the Secretary’s-Office. within Six Months from this Date.

GIVEN under my Hand and Seal, this first Day of September Anno Dom. 1772

Petr Chester

Secretary’s-Office,

Certified by

[Docketing:]

1st September 1772

Warrant of survey for Thomas Creek’s 1100 Acres near the Natches

Historical Background

At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, as part of the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. In return, the Spaniards regained Havana, and most of the Spanish settlers relocated from Florida to Cuba. The British divided the territory into East Florida with a capital at St. Augustine, and West Florida, with a capital at Pensacola. West Florida included much of modern Alabama and Mississippi, as well as parts of Louisiana and Florida.

Unlike East Florida, there had been little settlement and development of West Florida. Thousands of British settlers arrived to take advantage of the new opportunities there. The western extremity of West Florida had few permanent residents until 1770, when a significant 12immigration began, especially to the Natchez District on the Mississippi River. That river was a convenient highway for settlers from the other British colonies in North America, and others came overland from the Carolinas. The hazardous nature of travel meant that many settlers came in groups.

Both East and West Florida declined to send delegates to the First Continental Congress, and the population remained loyal to King George III. Spain allied with France during the American Revolutionary War, and at the 1783 Peace of Paris, Great Britain ceded East and West Florida back to Spain.

Documents regarding Britain’s Florida colonies are quite rare.

Peter Chester (1720-1799) was born in Hertfordshire, England.  In August 1770, Chester became the last governor of British West Florida and served until the Spanish seized the colony in May 1781. He returned to England and settled in Bath.

Elias Durnford (1739-1794) was born in Hampshire, England, and served in the Corps of Royal Engineers from 1759. He served in the Seven Years’ War and became an accomplished artist. After the war, he was appointed chief engineer and surveyor general of West Florida. He was also paid for land surveying and earned a great deal from this business. He laid out the city plan for Pensacola after arriving there in 1764. He owned more than 50,000 acres in West Florida, including a 5,000-acre plantation on the eastern side of Mobile Bay. When Governor John Eliot hand himself in 1769, Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne succeeded him, and Durnford became lieutenant governor. He remained lieutenant governor until 1778. After the Spanish captured Pensacola, Durnford returned to Britain and continued his military career. He campaigned against French forces in the Caribbean and died from yellow fever on Tobago.

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