Diary of Margaret Peck Johnson boating down the Indian River and in White City, 1894
Item
Title
Diary of Margaret Peck Johnson boating down the Indian River and in White City, 1894
Description
Diary of Margaret Peck Johnson (1864-1935), made during her boat travel on the Indian River and in White City in 1894. Margaret, her husband (William T. Johnson), two children (Pearl and Sallie) take a boat from Cocoa, Florida down the Indian River to the St. Lucie Inlet, then west and north up the St. Lucie River to White City, Florida. They are accompanied by another couple, Calvin and Minnie Coutant, from Cocoa to Fort Pierce.
The first 28 pages (14 Jan 1894-23 Feb 1894) of the diary details the fish and game caught along the river and meals cooked, activities, people met, and towns visited, including a stop in Fort Pierce where the men helped Willie's father build a store for several days. Comments on the flora, including flowers, ferns, and orchids are made throughout. The diary then details the family's lives settling in the newly established planned community of The White City (23 Feb 1894-12 March 1894). The family purchased two lots and there are several mentions of how nice Col. Myers was to them and activities in the community.
The White City settlement was established in 1893 by Louis Albert Francois Pio (14 December 1841 – 27 June 1894). Pio was one of the founders of the Danish Social Democratic Party in Denmark. He fled to America because of persecution, and he and several other Danes attempted to establish a socialist Utopian colony in Kansas, but it failed. He then had many jobs in America, including as a journalist and editor, and also managing the Florida Exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. At the fair, he met railroad tycoon Henry Flagler, who convinced him to promote a new town along the rail lines. Pio wrote pamphlets, articles, and placed ads about the community, targeted toward the Danish. The settlement was named "The White City" (although the U.S. post office refused to recognize the article "The" as part of the name in 1894) for two reasons: One, in commemoration of the World's Fair (the main street was also "Midway Road" for the same reason), and two, because the company would not sell land to Black people or employ them in any way. ("Florida's White City," The Sun, New York, 6 May 1894, p. 15) Pio died in June 1894, soon after the community is established. [The "Mr. Peer" mentioned in the diary may refer to Pio.] Soon after, Col. Myers absconded with the community's funds. Settlers were left destitute, and then faced a "Great Freeze" in winter 1894-1895, which killed most of the crops. It took several years for residents to recover.
It is unknown if the Thompson family experienced any of this hardship. However, they were back in Alabama for the 1900 Federal census. It is unknown if this is an excerpt from a much longer diary. There is a note on the last page that it was given to Margaret's daughter Sallie B. Johnson in Jan 1902.
Diary was donated in 1871 to HSMC by Mary E. Cates in memory of her grandmother Margaret Johnson (the diary author) and the two little girls mentioned in the diary (Sallie was Cates' mother), and by the generosity of her first cousin, Wilburn McAlister (Pearl's son), who had the original diary for many years.
The first 28 pages (14 Jan 1894-23 Feb 1894) of the diary details the fish and game caught along the river and meals cooked, activities, people met, and towns visited, including a stop in Fort Pierce where the men helped Willie's father build a store for several days. Comments on the flora, including flowers, ferns, and orchids are made throughout. The diary then details the family's lives settling in the newly established planned community of The White City (23 Feb 1894-12 March 1894). The family purchased two lots and there are several mentions of how nice Col. Myers was to them and activities in the community.
The White City settlement was established in 1893 by Louis Albert Francois Pio (14 December 1841 – 27 June 1894). Pio was one of the founders of the Danish Social Democratic Party in Denmark. He fled to America because of persecution, and he and several other Danes attempted to establish a socialist Utopian colony in Kansas, but it failed. He then had many jobs in America, including as a journalist and editor, and also managing the Florida Exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. At the fair, he met railroad tycoon Henry Flagler, who convinced him to promote a new town along the rail lines. Pio wrote pamphlets, articles, and placed ads about the community, targeted toward the Danish. The settlement was named "The White City" (although the U.S. post office refused to recognize the article "The" as part of the name in 1894) for two reasons: One, in commemoration of the World's Fair (the main street was also "Midway Road" for the same reason), and two, because the company would not sell land to Black people or employ them in any way. ("Florida's White City," The Sun, New York, 6 May 1894, p. 15) Pio died in June 1894, soon after the community is established. [The "Mr. Peer" mentioned in the diary may refer to Pio.] Soon after, Col. Myers absconded with the community's funds. Settlers were left destitute, and then faced a "Great Freeze" in winter 1894-1895, which killed most of the crops. It took several years for residents to recover.
It is unknown if the Thompson family experienced any of this hardship. However, they were back in Alabama for the 1900 Federal census. It is unknown if this is an excerpt from a much longer diary. There is a note on the last page that it was given to Margaret's daughter Sallie B. Johnson in Jan 1902.
Diary was donated in 1871 to HSMC by Mary E. Cates in memory of her grandmother Margaret Johnson (the diary author) and the two little girls mentioned in the diary (Sallie was Cates' mother), and by the generosity of her first cousin, Wilburn McAlister (Pearl's son), who had the original diary for many years.
Source
Scan gift of the Historical Society of Martin County.
Contributor
Rights
No Copyright - In the United States: The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Format
36 pages
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
2025.023
HSMC 2013.37
HSMC 8799
HSMC-2025-023-Peck_diary
Original Format
Text
Collection
Citation
Margaret Peck Johnson (1864-1935), “Diary of Margaret Peck Johnson boating down the Indian River and in White City, 1894,” Martin Digital History, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/items/show/14693.