Now for something completely different...

I'm on the island of Malta at the moment, admiring their wonderful Holy Week traditions. But I've also been checking out the burial practices, which go way back, since the islands have been inhabited by one group or another since about 7000 BC. The really ancient peoples left all sorts of monuments of uncertain meaning, but the more modern groups - within the last couple of thousand years - are a little more intelligible. Here's what I visited today...

These catacombs (underground burial caves) were used first by the Phoenicians and then by the Romans and finally by the early Christians, of Roman and mixed descent, on Malta starting in the 200's and going up to the 9th century. This complex is one of many on the island. Underground, it looked like the photo below (sorry I can't post the pix more coherently but. Blogger's mobile app doesn't seem to permit it).

And moving way ahead to the 1200's and beyond, we see the lapida or stones set in the floors of all of the important churches here to mark the burials, under the floor of the church, of everybody from the Knights of St John, the Crusader knights who defended this part of the Mediterranean from hostile incursions, to more recent archbishops and local heroes. The markers are made of inlaid polished natural stones and cover the floors of most churches on the Maltese islands.

Sneak Preview of the “Latest” Marker

As everybody knows, there are over 1,000 people buried at Tolomato Cemetery but fewer than 110 markers, many of which are no longer legible or do not have names. Some of the people buried at Tolomato are quite significant in the history of St Augustine, and occasionally an historical group will do their research and ask to install a marker for them. And that’s how the Sons of the American Revolution, led by the president of the local chapter, Dr. Oscar Patterson, came to install a marker for Francisco Xavier Sanchez.  Here we see Dr. Patterson and Marcus Pickett positioning the new marker.

Sanchez was one of the handful of Spaniards who remained in Florida during the British occupation, and like most of the others, was a rancher and merchant who lived near or beyond the St. John’s.  St Augustine, of course, was British and not on the side of the Americans, but Francisco Xavier Sanchez did what he could to help the American side.  The British used St Augustine as a prison for French, German, Spanish and American prisoners, often treating them very harshly, and Sanchez made it his business to see that they got food and, after the war, were able to return to their countries on his ships. This was what won him the handsome marker that was installed today.

Francisco Xavier Sanchez was also the patriarch of a very large family, and left many descendants who were important in Florida history, including his son, Francisco Jose, who according to his great-great-great grandson was a “Delegate to the Florida Statehood Convention, wrote the first Florida State Constitution, was the US Marshal for the East Florida Territory, the first Sheriff of St. John’s County, Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Florida Mounted Volunteers during the Second Seminole War (2nd in command to General Hernandez) and held several political offices in Saint Augustine including mayor of the city.”

Below we see the vault of the James Sanchez family, who were mid-to-late 19th century descendants of Francisco Xavier. Since we don’t know where he is actually buried, we decided to place the marker next to the family vault.

And alert readers will also recall that the Sanchez family has appeared in this blog on an earlier occasion. While Francisco Xavier stayed in Florida, other family members went to Cuba during the British occupation. About two years ago, one of the Cuban-born descendants of the Cuban branch of the Sanchez family (descended from one of his brothers) came to the cemetery to look up their lateral ancestor – only to meet some of the American-born direct descendants of Francisco Xavier, who now live near Tampa and had come to look for this same relative.

Here is Marcus Pickett with the finished project. The formal dedication will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday, April 13, and you are welcome to join us.

A Hidden Cemetery at Mepkin Abbey

On a recent trip to South Carolina, I made my usual visit to beautiful Mepkin Abbey, and this time I saw something new. Because the trees are still bare, it was possible to make out an old cemetery on a steep bluff that is normally screened by leaves. There was a wooden walkway over a stream leading to it, so I set off to see if it was open.

Behind the wall, I found an 18th century cemetery that had belonged to one of the earlier owners of the property, the Henry Laurens family of Charleston, which acquired it in 1762.  They held it for many years, and a number of Laurens family members are buried there, as well as some Pinckneys (a name that occurs in St Augustine, probably from the same family).

The plantation had been established by the Colleton family in 1681, and has an interesting history.  Finally, after having passed through a few hands when the Laurens family sold it, Mepkin was bought by the publisher Henry Luce and his wife, Clare Booth Luce.  Both of them are buried in the garden of the property, now known as Mepkin Abbey, which they donated to the Trappists in 1949. It is now a monastery and botanical garden.

The Laurens cemetery is still kept tidied and maintained; above you see the beautiful ironwork of the gate.

And then on the way out I saw a sure sign of spring in this rather brown, bare landscape: snowdrops.

A Lighthouse Connection

One of the most interesting things that came out of our presentation last weekend was a discussion with our new board member, Brenda Swann, who is also the Deputy Director of Collections, Interpretation, and Programs at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. As such, she’s very much aware of the history of this wonderful site and its local connections, and she told us a fascinating story about the one of the first female lighthouse keepers (and first female Coasties) in the US.

One of the vaults in Tolomato bears the name “Andreu,” a Minorcan name that is now fairly widely distributed throughout St Johns County.  The vault bears a plaque dedicated to M. R. Andreu, given by his daughter, Nina. No date is given, and even the name of his wife is not given. 

The first Andreu buried at Tolomato seems to have been Marcos Andreu, who died in 1793. He was married to a woman whose name, based on the handwritten record I have, was Mariana Tedori.

Among their descendants was Juan Andreu, who was appointed the very first official lighthouse keeper of the St Augustine Light in 1824, 3 years after Florida became a Territory of the US.  His cousin, Joseph Andreu, became the lighthouse keeper in 1855, but sadly he fell to his death in 1859 while painting the lighthouse. 

At this point, Joseph’s widow, Maria de los Dolores Mestres, took over and became the lighthouse keeper and, technically, a member of the Coast Guard, since lighthouse keepers were considered members of the US Coast Guard.  Records exist of other women lighthouse keepers in the US, although she is certainly the first one of Hispanic descent.  She was the keeper until the outbreak of the Civil War, when the light was extinguished because St Augustine, a Confederate town, feared that it might guide Union troops to the city and aid their blockade of the port.

Maria also traces her lineage way back: Mestres was the Catalan (Minorcan) name that eventually was Anglicized to Masters, a name that any visitor to St Augustine will see on numerous businesses, buildings and even streets in the county.

All of these people are buried at Tolomato, although markers, as usual, are scarce.  But any members of the Andreu family who might have more information are invited to get in touch with the TCPA and build the record of their family.  (By the way, any errors in this account are mine, and not Brenda’s!)

Brenda also told us another interesting thing:  On the third weekend in February, the Lighthouse is hosting a “Sea Your History” event, including a sea-related presentation on Saturday by scholars from the Smithsonian. You can get more information by clicking here.  It’s the same weekend as our February Open Day, but you’d have time for both events!

You can also contribute to the knowledge base.  The door prize for attendees will be a DNA testing kit ($200 value), which is part of a project to build a worldwide database of migrations of the human population out of Africa…and even to St Augustine.

Another Opening, Another Show…

Here are your happy TCPA program presenters, celebrating after a truly wonderful group presentation at the Bishop Baker Center in St Augustine.  Left to right, we are: Elizabeth Gessner (I was  the MC and also discussed a few artistic views of Tolomato), Alicia Maskley (Preservation); Sarah Miller (Ground Penetrating Radar and Archaeology); Nick McAuliffe (Historical Records and Research); and Louise Kennedy (Genealogy and Burial Research). These are rather general descriptions of each person’s talk, but the overall idea was to give attendees an idea of what we do and to introduce them to some concepts in both preservation and historical interpretation of historic cemeteries, Tolomato in particular.  We also introduced the current board and elected our new board members, Greg Phillips and Brenda Swann.

Each of us did a 10-minute segment about our various specialties, and then the attendees had time for questions.  I have heard that there’s a video of the event, and depending on the quality, I may post it.

We also did a sneak preview of a new project…but if you weren’t there, you’ll have to wait for the formal announcement!  That’s a good reason to come to your TCPA events: to avoid the suspense. 

Looking at Tolomato

 

The photo above shows a wintry day at Tolomato Cemetery…a cold and breezy day, without many people walking the streets of St Augustine.  But warmer weather will come again, and we’re getting ready for the Spring visiting season. Although on our last Open Day this Saturday, which had similarly cold weather, we had a record of nearly 500 visitors…so perhaps the weather really doesn’t matter to most people.

We’re going to start this year by taking a long look at Tolomato, historically, in its material details, and even from its archaeological aspect at a special event this coming Sunday, January 27, at 3:00 pm at the Bishop Baker Center in St Augustine (159 St George Street, on the grounds of Cathedral Parish School).  Our gifted docents will present different ways of looking at Tolomato, ranging from our collection of historic photographs, to the diocesan records so beloved of genealogists, to underground GPR explorations and an inside view of our exciting preservation work.

Don’t miss this event if you’re interested in Tolomato Cemetery.  The presentation is free and there’s free on-site parking.

And this time we’re making a special request:  if you have any historic or even not so historic photos, postcards or other views of Tolomato Cemetery, bring them!  We’ll scan or photograph them with your documentary information about them for our permanent collection, and time permitting, we may even show a couple of them to the audience.  We are very eager to get more photos of Tolomato over the years, and anything you have is very welcome.  It doesn’t have to be very, very old: even a photo of your Aunt Maude taken in front of the gate in the 1980s would do!

We’re all looking forward to Sunday!

New Genealogy and Research Desk at Tolomato

 

We have set up a research table at the southwest corner of the Varela Chapel to aid in genealogy searches on our Third Saturday open days. Tolomato is the final resting place for many St. Augustine residents, about 1,000 of whom are buried there. While there are only about 105 markers remaining, they are visible lessons in history with a wealth of information to share about the people that are buried there. Your ancestor’s tombstone may be the only physical evidence of the life he or she has lived, and the information on it is important in tracing the story.

Below, Nick McAuliffe takes a group on a tour.

In addition to the transcriptions of inscriptions of the markers, we have information about those people whose graves have no markers. Many visitors come with genealogy questions, and we now have copies of the Cathedral Parish Records, the St. Johns County Death Records, and a map of our cemetery available to help them. We also have a copy of Matthew Kear’s thesis, In Reverence: A Plan for the Preservation of Tolomato Cemetery, St. Augustine, Florida, which established a framework for the Tolomato Preservation Project and provides detailed information on the cemetery. We are adding new material to our research collection as we find it. I am at the desk and ready and eager to help visitors every Third Saturday.

                                                             - Louise Kennedy

Our two “18th century docents,” Louise Kennedy and Lin Masley.