Dr. Andrew Turnbull

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ANDREW TURNBULL

Andrew Turnbull (1718–1792) was a British Consul at Smyrna. He organized the largest attempt at British colonization in the New World by founding New Smyrna, Florida, named in honor of his wife's birthplace. New Smyrna, Florida Colony, founded in 1768, encompassed some 101,400 acres (410 km²) and was nearly three times the size of the colony at Jamestown.

Turnbull married Maria Gracia Dura Bin, the daughter of a Greek merchant from Smyrna, Asia Minor, secured a grant of 40,000 acres (160 km²) of land in conjunction with Sir William Duncan, for the East Coast of Florida, with the requirement from the English government that it be settled within 10 years in the proportion of one person for every hundred acres. Turnbull sailed for America in 1765 and in St. Augustine, Florida, he secured the grant of land from Governor James Grant. The land grant was located about 75 miles south of St. Augustine, in what is now New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He then returned to England where he secured financing for his forthcoming venture through bounties from the government and the Board of Trade, and then sailed for the Mediterranean to search for his colonists "for a Tract of Land in East Florida on which I might settle a small Colony of Greeks," as Turnbull explained in a letter to Lord Shelburne.

In June, 1767, Turnbull arrived with his ships in the Mediterranean, and he visited Minorca; Leghorn, Italy; Smyrna, Asia Minor; the island of Melos; Mani, Koroni, Greece; Methoni, Greece; Crete; Santorini; Corsica; Mahon. He found opposition from French, Italian, and Turkish authorities, who did not want to see their subjects leave, but after persistent efforts, he finally rounded up about 1,400 colonists and left for his new colony in East Florida, which he was to name "New Smyrna" in honor of his wife, a native of Smyrna, Asia Minor.