JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: Hibernia, A sense of place

Hibernia, A sense of place

By David Johnson

15 August 2008

Wherever you live I think an appreciation of and a sense of place is important. By luck I found this little church in my little burg. (Thanks GeoCaching.com and IceCreamMan) It is little known, but it is one of the 5 oldest wooden church structures still in use in Florida.

There is some irony with this chapel. Margaret Fleming financed the building of this church. She died shortly before its completion in 1878 and the first service in it was her funeral, just before the construction was completed.

Her Father-in-Law, George Fleming () immigrated from Ireland and settled in the late 1700's on what is now referred to as Fleming Island, just south of Orange Park and Jacksonville, FL. (And across the St. Johns River from the Bartram Trail). He and his wife (Sophia Fatio) tended orange groves and other crops on their plantation. George Fleming named his island plantation Hibernia, the Latin word for Ireland, in honor of his island home country. The 1,000-acre island property was gained by a land grant from the Spanish.

The land had previously be cleared and planted, but had been abandoned. The property was on the west bank of the St. Johns River and was therefore in what was then called "Indian Florida". Land to the east of the river was called "Spanish Florida". The Spanish had pretty much dispersed the Native Americans from that side of the river. When William Bartram visited Florida he traveled down the St. Johns in a small sailboat and held to the east side of the river for safety, though he did encounter a few Indians on the east side. He mostly described those encounters as friendly and praised the Indians for their civility and willingness to help him with his studies of the environment.

George Fleming's grave is the oldest grave recorded in the church cemetery.

Fleming left the plantation to his son Lewis. Lewis married Augustina Cortes, descendent of Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes. Augustina died during childbirth in 1832 leaving Lewis alone to raise their two children.

Lewis later married Margaret Seton in 1837. She was a devout Episcopalian. They built a plantation home in 1845 that became known as the "Great House" (their previous homes had been burned by local Indians).

After Lewis' death in 1862, Margaret became the overseer of the plantation. During the civil war, Union Officer Guy Henry forced Margaret and the children to vacate the "Great House". After the war, Margaret returned to the Great House and continued to oversee the plantation. Margaret opened her home as a bed and breakfast to the tourists that traveled the St. Johns River, to supplement revenues for the suffering plantation

Margaret would educate and teach scripture to her slaves and plantation workers in the sitting room of the Great House over those years. As her congregation grew, Margaret needed more space and thus began construction of the chapel in 1875.

Margaret passed away in 1878 just before the chapel was complete. In a case of bittersweet irony the first ceremony held in the as yet unfinished chapel was Margaret's funeral service. In 1880, the church was moved to its current location., only a few feet from where Lewis and Margaret are buried.

Compilation of headstones in the cemetery:

A sense of place. It ain't Plymouth Rock or the Lost Colony in Roanoke (Virginia Dare) but it is significant. It is a scant few miles from St. Augustine (Oldest school house in America is there). It is on the west side of the St. Johns River, which was known as Indian Florida at the time, the St. Augustine side to the East was known as East Florida. Lewis married Augustina Cortes, a descendant of Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes. His mother's stone is in the background (Sophia Fatio) His second wife's head stone is out of shot to the left (Margaret Seton Fleming).

Notes:

77 tombs stones noted in the historical link above in 1967 include these references:

ANNE HERBERT ANDERSON, died July 27, 1891, aged 3 months. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

AUGUSTINA CORTES FLEMING, wife of Lewis Fleming, born 1806, died 1832.

MARGARET FLEMING, born November 7, 1813, died April 6, 1878.

GEORGE FLEMING, born 1760, died 1821;

His wife

SOPHIA FATIO, born 1765, died 1848.(wife of George Fleming)