Florida Historical Quarterly Volume 20 Number 4 Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 20, Article 3 Issue 4 1941 That “Odd Being” De Brahm Charles L. Mowat 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
[email protected]. Recommended Citation Mowat, Charles L. (1941) "That “Odd Being” De Brahm," Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 20 : No. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol20/iss4/3 Mowat: That “Odd Being” De Brahm THAT “ODD BEING,” DE BRAHM by C HARLES L. M OWAT Among the many interesting and distinguished figures who in one way or another were connected with the small community of British East Florida during its brief history none is more intriguing than its first surveyor general, William Gerrard De Brahm. A man whose versatility of genius went beyond even that of the typical eighteenth-century dilettante : a surveyor, engineer, botanist, astron- omer, meteorologist, student of ocean currents, al- chemist, sociologist, historian and mystical philoso- pher ; he was also something of an eccentric in character, whose peculiarities are heightened for us by the odd ways in which his imperfect knowledge of the English tongue expressed itself in certain of his writings. About the career of such a man, mov- ing on the margins of history, some obscurity necessarily lies, and none of the few brief accounts of him which exist tells his story in full or with complete accuracy 1.