Dummett's Dugout




Pictured above is a Cypress sailboat whose ribs are made of natural crook live oak and all metal work is solid copper. When Cpt. Douglas Dummett held position of U.S. Customs officer at New Smyrna, he used this boat to travel between Cape Canaveral  and St. Augustine on business. Later in 19th c., it was used by Andrew Jackson, slave for Dummett, to haul oranges from the coast out to ocean-going cargo vessels. Called the Carolina at that time it could carry up to 50 crates of oranges in 1 load. Both oars & sails were used for power. Now in the collection of the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee.

BTW, I am having some formatting issues with this post but decided to post it anyway so that I don't get behind on my Thursday postings!

 

 

 

He Never Heard It Questioned

In 2011 I wrote a post about our area's best known early pioneer Douglas Dummett. Known as the founder of what became the Indian River area citrus industry, Dummett was also well known in his day for more controversial things such as his independent personality and for challenging the era's racial norms. Although Dummett has been the subject of much attention, I recently came across a document that I have never seen published or written about before that is interesting on several different levels. While searching for a naturalization record for an early German immigrant to Florida, I stumbled across a petition for naturalization from none other than Douglas Dummett! Since I knew that Dummett had come as a youth to Florida with his parents, I wondered what the heck that was doing in there. Apparently my surprise was the same as that felt by Dummett himself in October of 1840 when he was confronted with the issue of his citizenship. To use his own words, "he never heard it questioned until yesterday, and did not suppose until yesterday it was in any wise necessary for him to institute any proceedings in order to become a citizen."


Page 2, LDS microfilm #964745

Page one of naturalization

























In order to rectify this unacceptable situation, Dummett submitted a petition for naturalization in St. John's County Court that gives us a great deal of background information on his life, some of which was lacking direct proof until now. In essence he provides a short biography in his own words, which is something very valuable that we have not had until now. After stating that he was born in January of 1806 at the Island of Barbados, under the rule of Great Britain, he says that he emigrated when about fourteen years of age to the United States and after landing in New York City he went to New Haven, Connecticut where he resided with his father's family until 1824 when they moved to Florida. He further stated that he always believed that his father was a naturalized citizen as he owned real estate in Connecticut, was a large land and slave holder while he lived in Florida, and that he voted at elections there and expressed other rights and privileges of a citizen. As for himself, Douglas Dummett says that he has not left the United States, except once as a teenager to visit Barbados, that he has married a native Floridian, and all his personal and real estate are in Florida.

 Apparently he was "informed his Citizenship is contested by some," one can only imagine what prompted that, and that if he is not a citizen he is filing this application to rectify the situation. Among those that swore to Dummett's application was his mother Mary D. Dummett and Edwin T. Jenckes a powerful politician known as the "fat man of Florida" due to his immense size. If you click on Mr. Jenckes' name above the link will take you to a very interesting article written about him in the January 1952 issue of the Florida Historical Quarterly.

 

Oranges and Douglas Dummitt

Well, it is that time of year again, you thought I was going to say something about the holidays didn't you, but no it is orange season! Driving around the county the other day I noticed that all the grove owners have their stores open and seemed to be doing a brisk business selling our famous Indian River Citrus. Citrus is one of those industries, like tourism, that define our state and provided a livelihood for many of our early settlers. Although the groves aren't as numerous as they used to be, due to freezes and development pressures, Brevard county was home to one of the earliest and most prosperous groves founded by Douglas Dummitt or Dummett. Dummitt, whose family had moved to East Florida from Barbados, supposedly sold his first crop in 1828 and he created a sweet and sour hybrid by 1835. Dummitt's service in the Second Seminole War, Civil War and his controversial living arrangements with a former slave have been the subject of numerous articles and books over the years.

While I have read most of these it was another book that I picked up recently that threw me for a loop so to speak. The book, Frolicking Bears, Wet Vultures, and Other Oddities by Jerald Milanich is composed of articles written by the journalist Amos Jay Cummings describing his travels in nineteenth century Florida. On a trip in March of 1873, the year Dummitt died, he visited with him and his observations were not exactly what I expected. Regarding the Dummitt house Cummings states that, "The mansion was built of unplanned boards. They had neither been painted or whitewashed and had become black from the action of the weather. The house contained but one room. The Captain's bed, well protected by mosquito bars, stood in the southwest corner. Two or three wooden chairs were scattered about the room, and a hen was laying her egg on a sort of work bench in the corner nearest the door. The walls were neither lathed nor plastered, and streaks of daylight could be seen beneath the side boards. There were no windows in the house. Light was admitted through a square hole, which was covered with rough wooden shutters." This proves that the house often referred to as "Dummitt's Castle" and pictured below was most definitely a later nineteenth century addition to the property.

Although Cummings raves about the condition and productivity of Dummitt's grove, "none were so large or so fine," he also says that its money making potential is greatly hindered by the fact that anybody who wants the oranges must come to Dummitt and arrange the picking and shipping by themselves. Cummings states that Dummitt was fond of saying that he "wouldn't pick a damned orange for you if you would give me two million dollars a minute," and that "Dummitt works for no man-not even himself," was a common saying on the Indian River. The fact that nobody lived within twenty miles of Capt. Dummitt meant that most of his fruit went to waste and Cummings reported that Dummitt "cares little for money and is contented so long as he makes a living."

Just thought this was some very interesting insight into our area's earliest settler and if you care to be further enlightened on the real living conditions in the "good ole days" just check out Cummings descriptions of the mosquitoes on the Dummitt place!