Who Was Jonathan Dickinson?

I'm the executive director and we have a guest tonight for you Dana Phillips and I'd like to welcome her we have had a very busy summer it was it was really weird because some days it'd be busy and some days we'd sit and gossip all day so that's been the water is a problem and yet people want to come down here and see what it's all about so it really it's odd that it does draw a business as well as turning business away so we are working hard we've got Dixie's all planned we've got our programs all the way up to April some really good programs I'll just give you a brief history of what

we're doing October will be Steve Vitale and the old Colorado Inn and all the places he's bought on Seminole Street and turned that into a beautiful section of town um November will be the Whitakers we're looking forward to them coming in and giving us a program and they're going to bring some paintings with them I they may even have some for sale uh December is our open house at the Museum um and Linda Gary is she here she's having a birthday party for her father that day but all of you will get the information in the newsletter January we're having Josh from the Jupiter Lighthouse do a program on Trevor Nelson uh February it's a

program on nausea urson by Adrian Moore in April it's the Schaefer murders also done by Adrian Moore and April and May I'm still working on so it looks like we're going to have some really good programs and I want all of you to come out and join us and keep them welcome and right now I'm going to turn it over to Dana and let her give you her program thank you I'm gonna try to use not use a microphone can everyone hear me okay if I speak like this thanks but appreciate that um my name is Dana Phillips and I am excited to be here this evening I will really thank you very much for

coming out on a Tuesday evening at seven o'clock what a beautiful view what a beautiful building that we have this venue to learn about who is Jonathan Dickinson um before I start on what the story I want to tell you about I would just like to just take a moment to remember what occurred 17 years ago and that we keep their memory and our hearts and our minds close to 3 000 people were killed six thousand people were injured and so that is be mindful uh with that again I'm David Phillips uh I want to tell you about myself and how I got involved in this story it's it's an amazing story some of you

in the audience are we've got some serious historians here amongst us and so I'm going to be challenged this evening by your wealth of knowledge on this as well but I want to First explain that what I'm doing tonight is to tell you a general story about Jonathan Dickinson a true event that occurred right here on our beaches 322 years ago it's a fascinating story I moved here three years ago I wish I could say I was like many of y'all that lived here locally your whole lives what a beautiful place I moved from Charleston South Carolina first weekend I was down here I asked my husband to take me to any of the local

museums so that I could learn about this local history Stewart Heritage Museum was one of my first stops I explained that I just moved here from Charleston and I don't know anything about the area and they said oh you need to read this book some of this this book might look familiar to some of you I said well okay you know I'll uh what happened and he said well there was a guy that got Shipwrecked here and the only place he could get help was if he walked all the way to Charleston and I thought well I just I just drove nine hours from Charleston how did that possibly occur so that's the hook that

caught me right there so I started reading this now when I say it's a very hard read it's a very hard read it's in journal form it's 300 plus years ago it's kind of like Old English uh it's it's not flowing it's it's where Dickinson just simply jotted down uh daily events the weather temperature the wind what he was thinking about brief little Snippets so it was really hard to get into so I'd open it up I'd read some and I'd put it down and then I get a little farther along and I'd find some amazing fact that was interesting that caught my attention and months later six months eight months later my book turned

into rather teared research through and so I was fascinated by the story absolutely fascinated and I didn't know why anyone else didn't know about it it's kind of like if you lived in Boston and you didn't know about the Boston Tea Party it's that big and I was I was just kind of Blown Away about it so I I went to my closest library to to my house which happens to be Florida Classics Library some of you might know of a gentleman named Mr Val Martin he is an amazing um historian sells local books and he was the only person that knew about this and so we would spend hours talking and talking and talking

and talking and talking my God I can't believe this is such a great story and I said to Val why don't more people know about it and he said I don't know maybe it's because it's a hard read and I said well maybe someone should write something so it's an easier read because people up here in Stuart in the 50s and 60s and 70s were reading that book and they knew that story but our society has changed over the years and we're less likely to sit down and read a book and Val looked at me and he said well you better get busy and he put the task on me so uh all I did

was talk to people like yourselves what are you looking for I I heard I mean we need pictures tell us the story with pictures and and so I um I wrote and Illustrated this book so I can better explain this hard story however I do challenge all of you to try it's great um Okay so we're gonna have to go back in time for me to get you 300 plus years back uh everyone's familiar with going over the bridge we look out the inlet we're trying to see is it blue water is the tide going out are boats getting out today how beautiful it is this is uh an important uh slide for us to

continue to remember as we go back in time this was what the inlet looked like prior to being the lighthouse being built so it was very common for people to travel up the coast of Florida past Georgia to go to their destination and they knew in their minds if they were to Get Shipwrecked this is what you're going to be doing you're going to have this there's nothing there there's not a place to find water or food it's just a primitive wilderness in the mid-1800s some of you are familiar with the House of Refuge I want to just take a moment to to tell you a little bit why this is important they these buildings

were built for one purpose and this is in 1876 the one purpose was those people who choose to get on a wooden ship and travel up the coast if by chance they shipwreck and survive the chances are very slim that they're going to survive the elements of this primitive area that we live in the House of Refuge had people there that their simple job was to get up in the morning and walk North and walk south to see if there was any survivors of shipwrecks Jonathan Dickinson did not have that option let's go back in time a little bit more to 1861 1865. everyone here is familiar about the Civil War this is a baseline

for how we're traveling backwards in time this is where the first shot was that's sent off into Fort Sumter and we could do the next slide this is where in 1861 Abraham Lincoln's elected your 16th president why is this relevant to our story next slide is because in 1860 the lighthouse was finally being completed meaning when you drive over that bridge next time to look at that blue water and see if folks are getting out and how the tide is I want you to remember right as Abraham Lincoln was becoming presidents was when this area kind of began to evolve prior to that next it was very very primitive Native Americans lived here and survived

and thrived the lighthouse was being built in a in a jungle in a in a Wilderness that the um soldiers that were working on it had to stop several times because of mosquitoes and the the Heat and the the malaria that was going on so we got to go back some more to get to John Dickinson there in the inlet if you have been to the Dubois house the Du Bois house is built on top of an 11 000 year old midden that's m-i-d-d-e-n that think of it like it's a large trash pile this is where for 11 000 years natives thrived in this Inland they fished and they they had families and they had

communities and the trash or the bones or the the the bow and arrow that snaps and breaks they just don't throw it into a pile and it just keeps getting bigger and it keeps getting bigger and bigger and this is a great cross-sexual sectional reference for us to think about what our community is and it is today this also is a sign of flat down there that verifies on people can send to that journal and and so forth all right so let's go back another hundred years to why we shoot fireworks eat hamburgers and hot dogs and celebrate the birth of our nation the Declaration of Independence um 1776 seemed like a long time ago

but it really isn't I was just talking about 11 000 years we're a young country 1776 we got excited to declare ourselves as an independent country and this is all still relative to Jonathan Dickinson so Jonathan Dickinson this is let me tell you about the guy he's he lives in Port Royal Jamaica he's wealthy Merchant meaning he was buying and selling and trading Goods he was a gentleman his father had two plantations they were wealthy uh and could live forever in Port Royal Jamaica a thriving Port I need you to compare it to the Boston uh they were sending Goods back and forth and back and forth why would Jonathan Dickinson want to leave we

need to think about why why would you we need to think of Jonathan Dickinson as a human being just like any of us why would you want to consider traveling to the new world when you have to worry about a few real issues one issue you're going to trust your wooden ship is going to take you on this passage for the next few months and that the people that you're traveling with are going to make sure you have plenty of supplies number two Pirates are real this isn't Disney characters it's not fun and games these guys full-time job is to steal and take everything away from you and if you're lucky that's all three we

need to consider weather now we can predict um our hurricanes coming in or our weather patterns are we can our phones go off or the news comes on and it tells us Dickinson's time they had no idea there was a general idea but they had no idea so when you're on a wooden ship maybe being attacked by Pirates and you don't know what kind of weather you're traveling into just simply because you want to go to the new world you got to have a real inner Drive especially since today we're looking at these images of a major storm hitting in the Carolinas and Virginia here in the next 48 hours think of that fear it's

real one reason uh Jonathan Dickinson might have considered leaving Port Royal to come travel to the new world was there it was an earthquake four years prior to him leaving an earthquake that was so devastating that it took the entire island of Jamaica two-thirds of the animals were underwater try to imagine out of nowhere buildings are falling into the water there are hundreds if not thousands who have been killed they don't have places to bury them there's disease running rampant through the city there's dilapidated buildings that are crumbling and falling as we speak there's first there's hunger it's it's not the place you want to be the mosquitoes the heat the horror of your town

falling into the water Dickinson's family uh had a merchant shop on the on the Harbor that had mild damage the two plantations Inland were fine so Jonathan Dickinson really kind of came out of this unscathed so why would he want to leave to come to the new world if he's okay if he's doing pretty good that's a decision that he kind of rubbles with for four years and then finally comes the conclusion he's ready to take all the risks to come here again Pirates are real if you were traveling in a ship then you had flag that represented Spain for example a pirate ship might be looming off the harbor that sees your flag and

then they're going to hoist their Spanish flag and sneak around and come sneak in get close to you and take all your belongings this was real it was scary now this is what Jonathan Dickinson and people around the world knew about Florida of the time if it was primitive it was Jungle it was Native American different tribes who they would considered possible cannibals now they all they had was floater reader things that were coming into town that they could read a pamphlet on so maybe it was not factual but it's what they believed in their heart that if you get Shipwrecked you're in the jungle with primitive Native Americans who possibly could do the most

terrific thanks these are a couple etchings that Dickinson might have been looking at back in that time so people across the world for different reasons are wanting to come to the New World Jonathan Dickinson's wealthy he's not having to deal with religious persecution or he's not having to deal with running for his life he just simply wants to some people were coming over to the new world as what was called in indentured servants meaning if I am poor and I have a religion that goes against my country and I want to try to make a life for myself in the new world what I can do is I can go sign up my name to

work for you for six years where you're going to be in charge to make sure I have shelter and food and then other than that I do whatever it is you want me to do so some people are coming over to be indentured servants to get their free ticket to come to the New World Dickinson didn't have to worry about that here's an example of bustling porch all over the world at the time this was an industry this is where the gentlemen and ladies and and the merchants were trading and selling and making lots and lots of money it was busy busy busy here's some examples of different routes into the new work but that's

the English French Spanish Swedish Russians this was common it's kind of hard for me to imagine that it's common for me to get on a wooden ship and set sail for the next few months and not know about Pirates and and storms all right so this gentleman William Penn some of you all might ring a bell with him he has something to do with Jonathan Dickinson William Penn uh he had an idea it was a radical idea at the time he had this idea that he was going to create a community where all of us are going to live peacefully as one we're not going to shoot the Indians we're going to live amongst them

we're going to call ourselves the Society of Friends also known as Quakers he's the one that decided to create this colony in Philadelphia ironically his father and Jonathan Dickinson father Jonathan dickens's father were friends and so we can only imagine that Dickinson is sitting at his table on his Plantation in Port Royal as a young boy listening to these two older men discussing religion and politics in this new way of thinking and his father may be giving him some influence to say why don't you go to the new world and start up our family business and your brother will stay here so Williamson had a radical idea not only being friendly amongst Native Americans but

they wanted equal rights for women as well it was a new way of thinking in 1696. so this is where this Story begins here we are is Jonathan Dickinson the morning of August 23rd 1696. here's where we can imagine he's waking up he's so excited he's been thinking about this for years and finally he's made all of his Arrangements to gather all of his belongings and go to the new world Philadelphia Pennsylvania a lot of planning went into this there was a law that prevented anyone from just hopping on a boat and taking off to wherever you want to go because the dangers of pirates so if you want to go somewhere you have to

organize a group of ships so that is called a frigate so Jonathan Dickinson organized this with about a dozen other ships and they make a decision after their planning and coordinating that they're going to all go together I question why in the world is in August we all know they they had a gist they had an idea that this is when there's Dangerous Waters but keep in mind Pirates knew that the ocean's pretty calm in the summer and that's when people want to travel and so if you want to travel they're going to catch you then so maybe maybe maybe use that so Jonathan Dickinson his very young wife Mary and his six-month-old son Jonathan

Dickinson Jr decide to board their ship the Reformation we can only imagine what Mary's thinking about this she didn't have a journal but as women we can relate to her and say are you sure honey you know we're really going to take the six-month vote on this trip at this time but nonetheless this is what they decide so we can all imagine 25 people we've got the captain and the mates and the uh he's got a couple friends with him one's a preacher and he did have a handful of slaves that he did bring over you can imagine the sun is shining the winds are blowing the seagulls are calling off into the air as

they leave their home of Port Royal on their new adventure to the exciting New World their plan was to leave Port Royal scoot up around Cuba move up the coast of Florida and arrive in Pennsylvania in November just in a couple months maybe making some stops in different ports to reload on supplies but it was a pleasant trip this is very important Jonathan Dickinson decides to keep a journey now with a quill pin A little dab of ink he makes little little brief entrances into his journals somewhat stating uh today weather is this and the winds were that and we saw Cuba off to the distance and it's just basic stuff but without his journal

we would never know the story today so it's very important that he's done this on September 23rd middle of the night he's got in his journal he's written down a big wind now a big wind is what people in the 15 and the 1600s would state in their logs when it was a possible hurricane how big of a wind how big of a storm we don't know because they always said a big win he was big enough to separate him from the frigate who continued travels up the Gulf Stream to their destinations they also Mark in their logs Reformation when aground middle of the night September 23rd here's where I'd like you to try to

imagine the fear the wind's howling the the rain is pelting it's pitch dark the stars are shining screams the the the the the wood chip is abruptly being pushed and dragging along the sharp edges of the reef frightened to death they finally come to a stop and they help each other off and they kind of count is everyone here and of course it's still raining you're soft and wet you're exhausted from all of this and they start Gathering their belongings and trying to assess what are we going to do we kind of have an idea that we've landed in the middle of this Wilderness primitive jungle and possibly will become subjects as captured strangers on

their lands as they assess their damage and gather their belongings and started to hear new sounds things they weren't familiar with sounds of the Jungle sounds of frogs cicadas gnats the mosquitoes are all over them they're just trying to gather their thoughts what are we going to do what are we going to do what they don't know is that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of natives of whole Bay are watching from behind the mangroves and the Palms assessing what they're going to do with these strangers see they're they're so far in South Florida that they didn't really see white strangers very often they hadn't met they had interacted with Spanish to some degree but this

was very strange and they felt very threatened and annoyed by this the Dickinson doesn't know following morning as the sun's coming up over the horizon and they're trying to gather their thoughts and what to do these hundreds and hundreds of natives of Hope hey come charging down out of the dunes Dickinson writes in his journal that they sound like howling wolves they're screeching in there screaming out and they're snatching their belongings Dickinson's party a few of them of the men they pick up their rifles to defend themselves and Dickinson says uh-uh put them down we're outnumbered so as they're taking their belongings the natives start to scream nicoleer nicolier nicolier Dickinson says I don't know

what you're talking about he's he's in English and he does not know their language they do not know his language they're screaming Nick Lear because they're trying to ask are you English because they don't like English eventually Dickinson says Philadelphia they don't understand either there's a language barrier next one not only do they take all their belongings but they also strip them of their clothing so here you are thirsty you've survived the Shipwreck you're hungry you haven't slept you're scared fear has just got to be taken over you you have to be bitten up by all these mosquitoes and and and you're uncomfortable as a gentleman wealthy Merchant going through this experience your feet are

blistered as you're walking over all these hot Sands if you're familiar if any of you are boaters if you're familiar with pecks Lake on the intercoastal the exact location of Jonathan Dickinson's shipwreck that evening is on the up directly on the other side so keep that in mind because they marched them from that area all the way to the Inland Jupiter Inlet that's a long walk they marching down and here's where the natives are aiming Greek they're not they're not anything less than uh snatching grabbing pushing pulling knife point their intent is to take them to their King there is a name that is used amongst American Native American tribes and it has different pronunciation

pronunciations this is particularly uh as Dickinson States in his journal his name is cassaki they're taking him to cassique and depending on kasaki's mood you're either going to live or not here's where we can send Ryerson and Cheryl away the community of the natives of Hope Bay are living in his journal he doesn't talk about the ice and the way guys so that's why I continue to refer to the natives of obey here's kasuki and his cheeky Hut where he is discussing what to do what he wants to do this is where they see that the native they don't grow crops these natives are not growing crops of corn for Harvest later if you're hungry

you get your net or your pole and you go catch anything you catch everything you're eating sharks and Stingrays and uh mackerel and conchs and oysters and anything that happens to be in the inlet he also describes in the book that the way that they prepared those fish sometimes they would smoke the fish all right it's important to make a note that they did not waste anything so any of the fishermen out here that are proud of their catch they know that they have to go home and clean the fish the natives did not do that so there was everything that was thrown into the pot of which they would boil the water and everyone

can think about how bad that's got to be uh and they would boil a little everything it has the hundreds and hundreds would fill their belly and feast together at the end of the day Dickinson notes in his journal that cassakey offered they could have the leftover boiled fish water now at this point at the journal that I'm reading I'm like geez like this is the part where he's going to complain this is the part where he's going to say something and he says no he says uh you know a blessed be to God that I've been given some nourishment to last another day mind you Mary his wife is trying to nurse and keep

this baby alive the there's talk in the journal about the women would snatch the infant from her and they would take turns nursing the baby which made Mary cringe but at the same time she wasn't producing milk so she got over it and she started being thankful they did not know of Jonathan Dickerson Jr was going to survive they didn't know if the Native Americans of Hobe wanted to keep the baby with them and raise it as a Native American it was a day by day uh fear it is Harsh yet I I want to pause just to say how how beautiful it must have been to be a Native American on the inlet with

your culture thriving for so many generations and and it's such a beautiful pure way so it is something to pause and not think of them as um bad people they were simply being reactive to these strangers on their land and they didn't know what they wanted to do one last thing is katsuki it was interestingly enough had an interest for all their all of their belongings but also fine clothing whether he was going to trade with Spanish maybe or whether he's going to wear it maybe that's part of the reason why they strip them of their clothing because if we're going to kill you we don't want holes and blood-stained garments how about that so

thank you for that capacity yeah go ahead Robert at night Dickinson describes in his journal how the hundreds would gather and they would celebrate and it had a big bonfire and he talks about how again they're howling like wolves they're screaming meanwhile Dickinson and party are trying to just survive a night try there is no shelter so some of us let's put this in perspective so at night when you're sitting on your back porch under your screen and Patio drinking your glass of iced tea or whatever and the gnats start biting and they chase us back in the house because we can't take it not five minutes of it these guys are sleeping they have

to dig a hole in the ground to try to get away from the gnats and put any kind of palm proms over them just to survive another day meanwhile the sounds of the natives in the background it's it's um it's it's a minute by minute day by day way of surviving don't forget about the wildlife that's all over the place Bobcats Panthers raccoons snakes you're in the middle of the jungle eventually they are able to get away from cassakee and the natives of hoe Bay now I would like you to consider if you're happen to be in Jupiter Inlet you've survived a shipwreck you've survived being captured by local Native Americans where are you wanting

where are you able to go if you need help you're thirsty your sunburned your lost weight your where are you going to go in 1696 to get anybody to help you St Augustine so start walking it's a long walk it's 200 miles and this is where Dickinson and the party at 25 start up the coast to find any help at this point this is where unfortunately some of the parties start to die off a week can't keep up with the group uh the the healthier ones are trying to bring and carry you're my friend we've done this together we're trying to help you out but you can't and so this is where they start to

pass away uh go ahead Robert I had a little technical difficult so this is um when you think about them walking at well you're like how did they cross an inlet they cross the Inland because they had to come Inland and they they would follow along ancient Native American Trails where they would follow in To Where the River got more narrow where they could cross to follow the Indian Trails to get back up to keep their Direction they finally get to St Augustine and uh see those things they're used to this remember I understand stranded Shipwrecked survivors went to St Augustine and so often St Augustine would take you at the doors and say great

we'll feed you we'll give you some water in here some you know a bit of shelter but now we're going to just kind of keep you captive as our slave because we need you to help build our St Augustine forward ironically they had finished building their Fort about a year before Dickinson showed up and so they said well here's a little thin water but we're a Spanish colony and your English so you can't you're not doing any advantages for us so you need to keep going to the next English colony which happens to be in Charlestown Charlestown South Carolina so glad you made it those 200 miles but now I need you to keep moving

another 300 miles we will be nice to share with you some of our yemassive Native American tribe to take you in their Dugout canoes up the rivers of Georgia along the marshy seagrasses of the Low Country in which we are going to then cart you into Charleston Harbor here Charleston Harbor is a thriving English colony and they had heard word that they were finally coming here and these that the city erupted in Celebration you have survived you're a hero you know so much information that we don't know come in the governor says you can stay at my Plantation we'll put you up and you can say this is around December then and they said you

can stay till the spring we want you to be fed and clothed and and celebrated here in Charlestown we'll give you a new wooden ship and set you back up to your destination of Philadelphia in the spring April 4th 1697. finally arrived in Philadelphia they're so happy the friends of society are rejoicing and bringing in their friends and they are Overjoyed by uh that God had helped them get through this journey uh Jonathan Dickinson um finishes up a journal and he shows some of his closest friends and they're like this is just amazing you need to publish this he's like no no this is just for my friends and finally they convince him you know

let's publish this now Philadelphia at the time is so young it doesn't even have any a printing press so he has to wait a couple years but he finally gets it published we'll come back to that in a minute you can send our Jonathan Dickinson who survived this shipwreck and walked our beaches was so well loved in Philadelphia that he is elected mayor 17 12 17 13. and again he's elected in 1717-19 he raises a family he has a prominent home he becomes a merchant again buying and selling Goods out of the pork he's thriving he's mayor re-elected and at this point his journal is starting to cycle out into the country and then is

starting to find its way over in England and in Port Royal and all the places around the world now why do you think his journal becomes a best seller around the world because if you're thinking about leaving England or wherever and whether you're an indentured servant or whether you're wealthy and you want to be a part of the new world you're reading his book it's Sensational like I Native Americans the Shipwreck the possible Pirates the weather and you just can't get enough because you are ready to make that step yourself it literally becomes a best seller around the world 322 years ago here's an example of an advertisement for it here we see our Quaker

friends helping each other you know we see our Native American friends and it is advertising and it was uh trust to come here uh people around the world are obedient it's it's hot cakes off the shelf uh I was able to find some old copies because obviously this has taken over my life for six months or eight months just because I'm so excited and I think oh if I can get my hands on like a first edition that would be just awesome I'm so excited and I find one for thirty thousand dollars of course I look over to my husband this it's a consideration right and he said no it's not but the the idea

of the reason is thirty thousand dollars Early Edition is because it is that important to our early America it's it's our Pioneers it's uh the people that came here uh and fought all kinds of adversities to uh to make it they have leather-bound copies that were being printed out in the 1700s um if you were think of it if you were let's say you were in the early Americas in your two-room log cabin and you have your table and your chairs and your Basics and you have your little bookshelf with your Bible there is a good chance you probably have that sitting there as well if you are a plantation owner and you're wealthy well

I'll take the leather Edition to show my wealth and my knowledge here's different examples of different printings over the last 300 plus years it's printed in different languages there's different titles because they kind of would you know change it up to tell you this story sure it's helped for defense I'd like to read to you oh first yes so why do we know that this happened the Shipwreck happened right at Peck's Lake on the other side on the beach side why I speak hmm evidence yes we have evidence so when the ship wrecked and they were getting all their belongings and the natives came charging down taking all their belongings Jonathan grabbed his journal try

to keep it and one of the other uh men grabbed what's called an astro lady now why did he want this it's because he needed to know his exact location so he knows exactly where he's got to go so he quickly takes the astral Lake and he gets away just short enough amount of time and he lifts it up to the Horizon to take his measurement to know exactly where they are natives pull their bows back because they think this is a weapon what are you pointing at what are you doing they pull there and this is where the instant writes in this journal we had saved one of the Master's quadrants in Siemens calendar

with two other books as we walked along the bay the time suiting our mate Richard litany took an observation and we found ourselves to be in the latitude of 27 degrees in eight minutes some of the Indians were offended at it when he held up his quadrants observed one would draw an arrow to shoot him but please God hitherto to prevent them from shedding any of our blood the 27 degrees in eight minutes that's it and if you know how to read maps that's all the information you got and you know exactly how to pinpoint it side note for those of you who know Val Martin wonderful gentleman I went and talked with him one

day and said um ah geez I wish we knew where they landed where is the Shipwreck where do they where they land and he goes oh that's on page 11 right by the second paragraph you know exactly where it was I sometimes hesitate to tell people exactly where it is because there is no marker for the Shipwreck it's on um Federal preserved property so if you're planning on taking your um your treasure hunting cap and try to find some gold you will get arrested uh I don't believe there has been any official archaeological dig out there what it's it's there it's it's there now the coast has changed over these hundreds of years but there

is that there so that's why we know because he risked his life point that to the horizon my question to everyone as we talk about this real live human being true story is I would like you to put it in relationship to your own lives when you're thinking about a rough day I tease students when you're thinking about all the homework you have to do you know at least you don't have to walk to St Augustine you know like you put it into perspective uh I was doing a lecture at a yacht club and the gentleman were sitting in the audience I said so y'all fishermen on your nice big boats with the twin engines

and your Yeti cup and your Yeti cooler and your splatter up don't be complaining that it's hot or too buggy you know they put it in perspective a little um next one so this is his this is the last paragraph he wrote in his journal and I think it's a great way for him you to sum up his overall way of thinking thus having completed our hard passage to their wearing God's Great mercy and wonderful loving kindness have been largely extended unto us in delivering and for preserving us to this day and time I hope that I wish all those of us that have been spared hitherto shall never be forgetful nor unmindful of the

lowest State we were brought into but that we may double our diligence in serving the lord God is the breathing and Earnest desire of my soul amen this that's how he that there's a whole that was his whole attitude the whole the whole way up um next when uh technical difficulties were fun um so I want to kind of come to a close to let you know what happened to Jonathan Dickinson once he's established he's mayor he's doing well he ironically got back on Wooden Ships from Philadelphia and went and took it back down to Fort Royal Jamaica he did that to visit his family he took his wife and his three children at that

point and he would travel back up and and that was a there was a mindset to that it's something we don't necessarily have today and it's common you'll hear this these two words you'll hear it when you study about Jamestown and Roanoke early 1600s Americans is called God's Providence it's a it's a it's a way of thinking uh it has a negative we're not a positive side to the thinking it says if it's God's will that I have survived and it's God's will that I will continue or it might be changed around to say well we showed up and all the natives have you know died of disease and that was God's Providence it's a

way of thinking so we can't really say that Jonathan dick is him was Brave and courageous it was just he had a mindset to move forward in his life that's why he went back to Port Royal and back again and he did the trips a few times and the Pirates finally caught him and they finally did catch him on one of his trips back and he said okay I quit I'm not doing this anymore but with that I appreciate you very much letting me share with you um an important man that happened here um and to also make one last note that being that it was a bestseller in the early 1700s his book his

journal we can consider that some of our early Pioneer fathers Ben Franklin George Washington uh Thomas Jefferson uh perhaps had read that story as they grew into men and then decided to form the words in pursuit of happiness on a document that we live by today so thank you very much and if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer