1665-19 Pre-1915 Notes on East Florida
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1. The earl of Dartmouth, to whom De Brahm addressed this dedicatory letter,
was William Legge, second earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801). In Aug. 1772, he
succeeded Lord Hillsborough as Secretary of State for the Colonies and President
of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations. He retained these positions until
Nov. 1775,when he became Lord Privy Seal. Dartmouth,who has been described
as an "amiable pious man . . . entirely without any administrative capacity," en-
joyed a very close association with George III. De Brahm came to look upon
Dartmouth as his patron and enjoyed his confidence. There are a large number
of manuscript letters, reports, and other communications from De Brahm to
Lord Dartmouth preserved in the Dartmouth Papers now housed in the Stafford-
shire County Record Office, Stafford, England. For a description, see Historical
Manuscripts Commission, The Manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth (London,
1895), II, pp. x and passim. This section of the Report, including De Brahm's
first three chapters devoted to East Florida and the dedication letter, was first
prepared for Lord Dartmouth. The Dartmouth Papers include this material in
the form of a large notebook cataloged as D1778 II 495 b, Staffordshire County
Record Office, Stafford, England. There are differences between the Report here
presented and the Dartmouth notebook, however. For example, the Dartmouth
copy has a few more persons named in the list of East Florida inhabitants. Also,
the "Ephemeris" in the Dartmouth version lacks one week in length as com-
pared to the Report.
2. Dionysian Period, a period of 532 Julian years, after which the changes of the
f moon recur on the same days of the year; introduced for calculating the date of
Easter.
3. The large maps which De Brahm describes are still extant. The northern part is
filed under Colonial Office Records, "Maps and Plans," Florida/53 (hereafter
cited as C. O. 700,Florida/S3) in the collection of the Public Record Office,Lon-
don. This meticulously drawn manuscript map is inscribed, "A Survey of the
Part of the Eastern Coast of East Florida from St. Mary's Inlet to Mount Halifax.
Showing the ascertained boundary between East Florida and the Creek Indians."
It is approximately 4'4" by 6' in size. The remainder of the Florida east coast,
south to the Keys, is shown on the map now cataloged as C. O. 700, Florida/3,
in the same collection.This manuscript map was drawn by the same accomplished
cartographer and adjoins Florida/53. It is inscribed, "East Florida East of the
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