Since John Bemrose\u27s Reminiscences of the Second Seminole War was published, additional information about the author has been found. Inconsequential though the new data is, perhaps some of the fun of uncovering it can be communicated to the reader. From the date of publication it has troubled me that I did not know what became of Bemrose after he had returned to his native England. The opportunity to fill in the unknown factors came during the summer of 1967, when I was in Britain

Mahon, John K.

English

University of Central Florida (UCF): STARS (Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship)

Florida Historical Quarterly Volume 47 Number 1 Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 47, Number 1 Article 9 1968 Postscript to John Bemrose's Reminiscences John K. Mahon  Part of the American Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Article is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida Historical Quarterly by an authorized editor of STARS. For more information, please contact STARS@ucf.edu. Recommended Citation Mahon, John K. (1968) "Postscript to John Bemrose's Reminiscences," Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 47 : No. 1 , Article 9. Available at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol47/iss1/9 POSTSCRIPT TO JOHN BEMROSE’SREMINISCENCESby JOHN  K. MAHONS INCE JOHN BEMROSE'S Reminiscences of the Second SeminoleWar 1 was published, additional information about the authorhas been found. Inconsequential though the new data is, perhapssome of the fun of uncovering it can be communicated to thereader. From the date of publication it has troubled me that Idid not know what became of Bemrose after he had returned tohis native England. The opportunity to fill in the unknownfactors came during the summer of 1967, when I was in Britain.I knew that upon his discharge in 1836, after a five-yearenlistment, Bemrose had returned to his native Lincolnshire andhad settled in the village of Long Bennington. My family and Idid not have to go far out of our way to Edinburgh to includeLong Bennington, and so we found ourselves there on July 17,1967, one of the midsummer days typical of England whendaylight lingers far into the night. An hour or so of inquiry turnedup some leads to persons thought to be named Bemrose who werealleged to live on a lane at the far end of the village. But thesecame to nothing, no one with whom we spoke had ever heardof John Bemrose.At that point we betook ourselves to the churchyard andbegan to go over it stone by stone, but found no marker to indicatethat Bemrose was buried there. Next we saw the vicar fussingabout the church, entirely too busy to do anything for us exceptto make it clear that there were fees for looking into the parishregisters. The vital records were at Lincoln anyway. Soon thevicar began to fear we would be in the way of choir practice twohours later, and so he found in his memory the name of FrankChalk, who knew much local lore and who had helped with therecord when many of the old headstones had been removed a fewyears before to make room for new ones. He insisted that I con-vey his apologies to Chalk for sending me, but I found there wasno need to apologize. Mr. Chalk was interested in my search and1. John Remrose, Reminiscences of  the Second Seminole War,  ed. byJohn K. Mahon (Gainesville, 1966). [ 59 ]1Mahon: Postscript to John Bemrose's ReminiscencesPublished by STARS, 196860 FLORIDA  HISTORICAL  QUARTERLYhe was familiar with the Bemrose name. Aged seventy-eight, hehad grown up with two of John Bemrose’s grandsons. Bemrose,Mr. Chalk told me, had established himself as a chemist in LongBennington after returning from his activities in America, andhe had prospered. There were two physicians living in the com-munity at the time, but Bemrose had attained a reputation formedical skill, and he was frequently called on to prescribe forsick folks. His five years as hospital steward in the United StatesArmy, some of it spent in Florida, had grounded him well forthis calling. Mr. Chalk directed to me then the building whichhad housed Bemrose’s shop.During the fascinating hour together in his small sitting room,Mr. Chalk identified Bemrose’s son as Weightman Bemrose, thefather of Mr. Chalk’s friends. It was apparent that Weightmanhad been named for Dr. Richard Weightman, who had beenBemrose’s superior officer as well as mentor and friend. Mr.Chalk owns a penknife and in the lacy engraving on a silverpanel in the bone handle is the inscription Richard J. Weightman.Chalk did not remember how he had come into possession of theknife, but it had passed from some Bemrose or other to him.How curious that I should hold in my hand, in a small, dim sittingroom in Lincolnshire, a knife used by a man during the SecondSeminole War, 3,500 miles away in Florida, 130 years ago. Mr.Chalk generously offered to give me this knife, but there seemedso little of John Bemrose left in Long Bennington that I thoughtit ought to remain there. Even Bemrose’s gravestone, Chalkopined, had been uprooted to make way for others, so that no onecould now so much as stand where he had been buried.Mr. Chalk did not know how long ago Bemrose had died, buthe gave me the name of a grandson living retired at Blackpool.I wrote to this gentleman, explaining about the printed Reminis-cences, and asked for information concerning his grandfather.In due time I received a letter from M. B. Bemrose, his brother;the one I had addressed had died six weeks before. The livingbrother did not indicate that he had ever heard of his grandfather’swriting, or that he was especially interested, but he very kindlysent me the original invoice covering John Bemrose’s funeral. Itrevealed that Bemrose had died on April 27, 1894, at the age ofeighty. The whole cost of his burial came to ten pounds, six2Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 47 [1968], No. 1, Art. 9https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol47/iss1/9POSTSCRIPT TO JOHN  BEMROSE’S Reminiscences 61shillings. Thus ends the story of the search in England. Uponreturning to this country I sent Mr. Chalk a copy of theReminiscences, asking him to make it available to other readersin Long Bennington as a memento to John Bemrose, but I amafraid the village has no library.It now remained to try to find out whether Bemrose had everbeen granted the pension for which he had applied in 1873. Asa veteran of the Indian Wars he had become eligible under theterms of an act of Congress, March 3, 1855. M. B. Bemrose hadindicated that he believed that his grandfather had declined thepension, but he was not sure. In Bemrose’s file in the NationalArchives in Washington I found a human interest story. Bemrosehad never drawn a cash pension. He might have been eligible bothfor a pension and a land bounty, but all that he received was awarrant for 160 acres of bounty land in Kansas. It is a reasonablepresumption that he was financially very comfortable at the time,and he may, as a result, have rejected the cash. In any case, hisland warrant was dated June 23, 1873, and he receipted for itat Long Bennington on July 15.He had apparently initiated a correspondence relative to hisbounty rights early in 1873 with William Tecumseh Sherman,then commanding general of the United States Army. Shermanhad troubled to reply and his autographs are in Bemrose’s obscurefile. Bemrose addressed the commanding general, it would appear,because he had never intended to keep any land granted him bythe government. He wished to transfer it to Dr. Peter Porcher ofCharleston, South Carolina, “. . . my dear old friend, whom ageand poverty has made wretched.” Dr. Porcher was an ex-Con-federate, and it was as much the war as it was age that hadrendered him poor and wretched. What Porcher had done forBemrose is not known, but the service was rendered when thelatter was an enlisted man, and was thus especially vulnerable.Dr. Porcher’s name does not appear anywhere in the Reminiscences.Whatever his good offices, to transfer 160 acres of bounty land,awarded for loyal service to the United States to a person whohad served the Confederacy probably took the influence of aGeneral Sherman to accomplish. Sherman tackled the problem,overcame it, and even offered to see that an army officer on dutyin Charleston would personally deliver the warrant to Dr. Porcher.3Mahon: Postscript to John Bemrose's ReminiscencesPublished by STARS, 196862 FLORIDA  HISTORICAL  QUARTERLYBemrose replied in a beautiful hand, expressing his deep gratitudeto the “noble” general. He chatted away with Sherman as if theUnited States Army had not been transformed by the Civil Warinto a larger, less personal, and grimmer service than the one hehad known. Memories of American friends, he told the general,provided him with “many sunny hours . . . for my great delightis to live in the past and prattle of former days.” One wondershow the residents of Long Bennington reacted to his talk of asavage war in a remote country. Probably due to Sherman’s inter-vention, Dr. Porcher received Bemrose’s land warrant. He soldit on June 18, 1875, and it is to be hoped for John Bemrose’ssake, that he was able to buy some comfort with the proceedsof the sale. 22. Recently two letters (January 12, February 29, 1968) were receivedfrom Mrs. Dorothy Donovan of Warwickshire, England. She identifiedherself as the granddaughter of Bemrose’s eldest son. Among her pos-sessions there is a book, dated 1834, which belonged to her greatgrandfather. In the margins on the pages are penciled notes describingthe  condi t ion  and  medica l  t rea tment  of  four teen  men wounded inFlorida during the Second Seminole War. (Typed notes in possessionof author.) 4Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 47 [1968], No. 1, Art. 9https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol47/iss1/9Copy of the invoice of Bemrose’s funeral, May 1, 1894.A recent photograph of the apothecary shop in Long Benningtonwhich Bemrose operated after his return from the United States.The front of the building has been altered somewhat.5Mahon: Postscript to John Bemrose's ReminiscencesPublished by STARS, 1968

Postscript to John Bemrose\u27s Reminiscences

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3097&amp;context=fhq

Postscript to John Bemrose\u27s Reminiscences

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Central Florida (UCF): STARS (Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship)