Arthritis: Horse chestnuts, melted wax

This 1927 article from
The Independent newspaper
in St. Petersburg, Florida,
talks about diet as a cure
for arthritis.

Arrgh, arthritis. It plagues me. I feel for the pioneers who suffered from it. They didn't have access to things like joint replacements and specific exercises that lessen symptoms.

They did, though, have access to pharmaceuticals. Like today, some were addictive and others were more benign. In the safer category, pioneers relied on aspirin's precursor willow bark and on aspirin itself as it became available.

As for the lethal drugs, they've always been a problem. Today, some people take addictive prescription opioids (I steer clear). In the late 19th and early 20th century, Floridians and others sometimes turned to laudanum, cocaine and even heroin. I couldn't believe that last one when I saw a photo of it in my research.

Holistic methods were popular. But science in frontier days hadn't yet advanced enough to fully understand arthritis. One 1880s study suggested it was caused by indigestion. Even the word arthritis itself wasn't always used in the literature I reviewed. The medical field sometimes called it rheumatism or gout. 

Indigestion was pinpointed after a doctor conducted studies in which patients fasted for four to eight days. Water and lemonade were allowed. Several patients achieved complete relief. Inflammation-causing foods aggravate my arthritis, so I'm guessing the cured people benefited from the same.

The researcher was Dr. Casey Wood, a professor of chemistry at a Montreal college. His study was included in C.E. Page, M.D.'s 1886 book, whose title begins with "The Natural Cure" and continues for another 23 words I won't bore you with.

The fasting news wasn't all good. Dr. Page tells readers, "In chronic rheumatism he [Dr. Wood] obtained less positive results..." Instead, Dr. Page suggests chronic sufferers do the following - and very modern it sounds: 

"Moreover, in chronic cases—cases of long standing—the best results may be hoped for—in fact the best possible results have invariably followed—from an abstemious (frugivorous) diet, together with simple bathing, as special symptoms may indicate,—and an improved general regimen, as to fresh air, exercise (inaugurated gradually), beginning, perhaps, with passive exercise, as rubbing, etc."

In other words, show some restraint when eating, lean toward natural foods including fruit, and do some exercise. Sound familiar?

Another tome, the 1913 book "Natural Cure," suggested arthritis sufferers were being poisoned. The author said exam of the eye's iris could determine if poison was in the patient's system. What shocked me were the substances that author Dr. Henry Lindlahr mentioned:

“We have treated many hundreds of cases of so-called chronic neuralgia, neuritis, rheumatism, neurasthenia, epilepsy and idiocy, due to the pernicious effects of quinine, iodine, arsenic, strychnine, coal-tar products and other virulent poisons taken under the guise of medicine.”

Sounds scary. I've always heard quinine was a lifesaver for combatting malaria.

I wonder if commercially available "cures" contained some of the above-mentioned items. Newspapers of the era advertised potions and pills whose ingredients weren't always disclosed.

The newspapers also reported on other types of cures. One small notice in a 1934 edition of the Key West Citizen said short lengths of radio waves were being used to treat "infectious arthritis" and other conditions. A 1915 issue of the Daytona Daily News claimed arthritis and other common diseases had practically been banished in the United States by use of distilled water. 

And a 1915 issue of the Ocala Evening Star issue reported on "a new cure for rheumatism" put forth by the Academy of Medicine in Paris. The cure was said to also work for arthritis and gout. Patients were to cover the afflicted body part with melted paraffin that formed a protective, warm shell. 

I'm old, and I remember my Sicilian immigrant grandmother doing exactly that - dipping her painful, arthritic hands in melted paraffin warmed to a certain temperature. I don't know if it helped. I do know I have arthritis in the same joints she did. Maybe I'll give it a try, for its soothing benefits if nothing else.

One thing I won't try is a practice Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. scorned in his Medical Essays book, a collection of essays he wrote from 1842 to 1882. (Dr. Holmes was a noted physician and father of the Supreme Court justice of the same name.)

One essay recounts a lecture he gave, at which he chided listeners who laughed at odd cures from the distant past. Are we any better today? he questioned. Then he asked how many were carrying horse chestnuts in their pockets.

Yes, horse chestnuts in pockets. Apparently, that was a thing for a while. People claimed the practice cured rheumatism. Holmes told the audience he encountered people of all classes proclaiming its benefits. Did they rub them and get some kind of relief that way? Today, horse chestnut seed extract is considered alternative medicine.

Horse chestnut trees don't grow well in Florida. Pioneers here who ascribed to the theory either brought them when moving here or had relatives or friends mail down a few of the shiny nuts. Anything to find relief. 

And the search for cures continues.

Popes: creating a second nature

Pope Leo XIII, pictured in
the January 24, 1902 edition
of New Enterprise newspaper

Pope Pius X, pictured in
the June 9, 1906 issue of
the Pensacola Journal

My planned topic for this month (which I don't remember!) is on hold. I'm too wrapped up with the death of Pope Francis and the coming conclave to elect his successor. RIP, Pope Francis.

Catholics, no matter where or when we live/lived, consider the pope our spiritual father. His words and actions resonate. We mourn when a pope dies. That's held true for 2,000 years. It was true for Florida Catholics during the state’s frontier years.

At that time, the Catholic Church considered Florida as mission territory. AI tells me that in 1900, Florida's Catholic population was about 30,000. The state's total population in 1900 was 528,542. So, Catholics comprised 5.7 percent of Florida's population in 1900. 

Today, Catholics number about 1.9 million in Florida out of a population of 22.9 million. We’re up to 8.3 percent of the population

Yet, I’ve noticed many non-Catholics mourning the loss of Pope Francis, here and elsewhere. I was surprised to read online comments from self-described atheists who admired him and mourn his passing. His humbleness, embrace of every individual and concern for the poor and marginalized were among their reasons.

That made me wonder how popes were perceived during Florida's frontier years. And how their deaths and elections were handled by the media in an era when Florida was prone to anti-Catholic sentiments.

Two popes were in office during a chunk of the frontier era: Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X. Their combined papacies covered 36 years, from 1878 to 1914.

Pope Leo XIII guided the church from 1878 to 1903. It was a long pontificate. He was 93 when he died. Media coverage ranged from one sentence - yes, one sentence, without a headline, to half-pages of respectful comments.

The one sentence was in the July 7, 1903, Ocala Evening Star. It stated, “Pope Leo at the point of death.” The news was sandwiched between a notice that the Board of County Commissioners had set a tax levy of 17 mills and an advertorial for Bucklen’s Arnica Salve to kill the pain of cuts, wounds, bruises, burns and stiff joins. It was on sale for 25 cents at the Anti-Monopoly Drugstore. 

But other newspapers presented newsy and sometimes heartfelt tributes when the pope died on July 20, 1903. The Palatka News and Advertiser, on July 24, 1903, mentioned how the pontiff’s final two-week battle against disease “was watched the world over with sympathetic admiration.”  That tells me that more than the world’s Catholics were paying attention. 

Even more laudatory was this paragraph: “The dead pontiff was a great and good man. Viewed apart from all priestly considerations, measured solely by human standards, he towered high among the great men of his time by reason of scholarly attainments and those other qualities of leadership in the world of thought which insured for his every utterance a respectful hearing in all quarters of the globe. But it was in his spiritual leadership of millions upon millions of people that Leo’s real greatness will stand forth as a beacon of light to coming generations.” 

That’s quite complimentary. And, yes, journalists back then tended to use long sentences.

The same newspaper, on a different page, let readers know Florida Bishop Kenny ordered all churches in the diocese to hold special services commemorative of Pope Leo XIII. At that time, one diocese covered most of Florida. 

The early 1900 newspapers ran articles that explained how conclaves work, just as today’s media are doing. They reported the results, as media will do this year. And many voices, then and now, speculated about potential candidates and debated their merits. 

In August 1903, newspapers reported that Pope Pius X had been elected after four days of deliberations “behind locks and bars.” His assumption of office was marked by impressive ceremonies at the Vatican, noted the Gainesville Star on August 7, 1903. 

The papacy of Pope Pius X lasted from 1903 to 1914. On August 20, 1914, the Pensacola Journal was among many newspapers that announced his death at age 79. It and other newspapers stated that the pope’s dismay over the outbreak of World War I likely contributed to his death, which was medically attributed to bronchial, heart and lung trouble.

Some of his final words were widely reported. Pope Pius X despaired over his inability to stop the war, noting that in ancient times, “the pope, by a word, may have stayed the slaughter.” That wasn’t possible in 1914. Shortly before he died, he said, “Now I begin to think as the end is approaching that the Almighty in his inexhaustible goodness wishes to spare me the horrors Europe is undergoing.”

More than a century later, we heard echoes of that lament in the many times Pope Francis decried the multiple wars taking place across the globe. 

Popes, then and now, were and are labeled by people as modernist or traditionalist or liberal or conservative, etc., etc. Yet all share certain qualities no matter where they fall on people’s meters. Both Leo XIII and Pope Pius X cared deeply for the poor, for the marginalized, for those who suffered in war. As did Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, two of my favorite popes.

The New Enterprise, a newspaper from Madison, Florida, included a very telling statement in a January 24, 1902, article about Pope Leo XIII’s characteristics: “The pontificate creates a second nature.” 

So it does. So it does.

The ancient ritual of the conclave is set to begin May 7, 2025. It will again unfold as it has for centuries. And Catholics will embrace the new pope while continuing to honor and remember the former one. 

May the cardinals feel the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as it guides them. 

Lenten rules of 1900: eye-opening

Florida newspapers including
the Tampa Tribune let readers
know about Lent rules in 1900.

Are your Lenten obligations becoming difficult to observe? Be glad you're not living in 1900. 

The March 28, 1900, edition of the Pensacola News reminded Catholics about their Lenten obligations. The article headlined Rules for Lent was eye-opening to my 21st century self:

• Near-daily fasts: Catholics ages 21 to 59 were obligated to fast on all days of Lent except Sundays. That meant only one full meal per day was permitted and only after noon. Exceptions were allowed for sickness, hard work or "other well known reasons."  Basically, during Lent a person fasted - meaning restricting the amount of food - for a total of almost 40 days. Today, those fasts are required only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, although Catholics are urged to follow them on all Fridays. Rules of abstinence apply on those days, too.

• Fasting facts: Morning sustenance consisted of a cup of coffee, tea or chocolate and one thin cracker or piece of bread. The midday meal would be the full one. The evening collation was about a quarter of the food eaten at a full meal. Butter, cheese, milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables and fish were allowed. Notice that no meat or fowl is on that list. A timing exception was allowed when taking the full meal at noon was a "grave inconvenience."

• Meatless meals: No meat was allowed on all Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent, plus Holy Saturday and the Saturday of Ember Week. I'm a practicing Catholic but I had to look up Ember Week. It was at the start of Lent. Saturday of Ember Week meant the Saturday after Ash Wednesday. So, in addition to fasting, these days required abstaining from certain foods.

• No mixing: Catholics couldn't serve meat and fish at the same meal, even on Sundays.

• No dairy: Abstinence from eggs, cheese, milk and butter was recommended for Good Friday. 

• Exemptions: People working in strenuous jobs were exempt from fasting but still had to follow abstinence and other restrictions on certain days of the liturgical year. Those allowed to eat meat could have it only at one meal on days of abstinence. And even these working people had to follow the fasting rules on Ash Wednesday, Fridays and Holy Week. Interestingly, the exemptions for working people had only been in effect for five years at that time. The bishops had relaxed the rules in 1895. A March 3, 1900, issue of the Tampa Tribune also noted that those suffering illness, plus growing youth, pregnant and nursing women and the aged were also exempt. 

A few things haven't changed quite as much over the past 125 years. The holy season of Lent today -- as back then -- is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. But in 1900, it was also a time of seclusion from the world and its amusements. Another issue of the Tampa paper in March 1900 cited club meetings, church gatherings and Red Cross work as acceptable social engagements during Lent. Non-observers could continue filling their social calendars with things like lunch at the yacht club and dances at the Tampa Bay Hotel.

Without going into specifics - and aside from a dedicated prayer life - my modern-day Lenten fasting and almsgiving hardly measure up to those of yesteryear. I'm also reminded of the stricter fasting rules Muslims observe during Ramadan, although they, too, are allowed exemptions under certain conditions.

Lent is a time of reflection and spiritual realignment. Perhaps those old newspaper articles are meant for more than research. I'm no rad-trad Catholic. I'm a believer in the spirit of Vatican II. But there's much to ponder in past practices, including those reaching back 2,000 years to the time of Jesus. Lent is a good time for that contemplation.

Mother Hunt: Big love

The City of Daytona Beach
featured this photo of 
Sarah Hunt on their website page
about 2025 Black History Icons:
https://www.daytonabeach.gov/1441/2025-Black-History-Icons

Where to begin with the story of Sarah Hunt, aka Mother Hunt. The City of Daytona Beach and the Daytona Beach News-Journal honored this remarkable woman in February 2025 as a Black History Icon. She deserves the recognition.

A couple of big names tend to garner major Black history attention in Daytona Beach, with understandable reason. Mary McLeod Bethune and Howard Thurman are legendary giants, famous far beyond their Daytona Beach legacies. 

But for every Bethune and Thurman in the world, there are a thousand Sarah Hunts. In Daytona, she saw orphans and elderly in dire need and she did something about it. She took in children -- sometimes left on her doorstep -- and guided frail elderly to safety and security by providing a home for them all.

She officially founded an orphanage in 1924 on what is now George Engram Boulevard. The home is believed to have been the first black orphanage in Florida. 

The facility was first known as the Old Folks and Children's Home. It was later renamed the Florida East Coast Orphan and Child Caring Home. Sarah Hunt also founded a church across the street from the orphanage, the Mount Mission Missionary Baptist Church.

She received little to zero help from whatever state agencies existed in the 1920s and 1930s. Closely tied to her story are memories of her walking around the neighborhood with a basket on her arm, seeking donations to help keep alive those in need. She used her own funds and community donations to maintain the orphanage.

Little is known about the personal life of Sarah Hunt, yet the few details we have convey a sense of dignity, determination, strength and Christian love. 

She was born in 1857 or 1865 or 1867 and came to Daytona Beach from Georgia in 1905. Why she moved here is unknown. She died in 1936 from pneumonia and is buried in Mount Ararat Cemetery in Daytona Beach. 

One of her final acts - hours before her death - was to contact a local representative of the Florida state welfare system. She relayed her worries about the 25 children and six elderly people she looked after at that time. "She told the welfare worker the orphanage was totally without funds, that even the supply of food was limited." 

That information is from a Dec. 19, 1936 Daytona Beach Morning Journal newspaper article about Sarah Hunt's death. The same article noted she had been well known both locally and to state welfare agencies as Mother Hunt. 

The article explains that the Florida welfare department couldn't help because the orphanage wasn't licensed by the state. But Mother Hunt's plea traveled up departmental lines. The statewide director issued a statement encouraging private and church-led agencies to aid the orphanage. 

On the surface, it sounds like red tape prevented the state from taking over the orphanage. Still. I'm a little suspicious. Surely they could have done something. There obviously was a relationship and an open line of communication. But this was the Jim Crow South. Just the fact that the state director issued a supportive statement was probably outside the norm.

The 1936 article says nothing about Sarah's life before she reached Daytona. We learn a little more from her death certificate, which someone uploaded to the Find A Grave website. The certificate says she was about 79 years old when she died in 1936. That would put her birth in the 1850s. Her exact date of birth is listed as unknown.

Sarah was born in Rabun County in northern Georgia, a state where slavery still existed in the 1850s. Was she born to enslaved parents? Free parents? A forced encounter? Her father's name and birthplace are listed as unknown. Her mother's birthplace is also listed as unknown, but her name is given. The first name is illegible but the last appears to be Hunt.

Interestingly, the death certificate also lists Sarah as the widow of a Robert Hunt or Robert Hugh. She's shown as homekeeper of the "colored orphanage," and as having worked at that occupation for 50 years. 

That's far longer than she oversaw the formally established orphanage. That leads me to think she cared for others informally for decades before opening the dedicated home in 1924. It was her life's work. What led her to it? We may never know. But there is a clue in the 1910 U.S. Census.

The 1910 Census lists Sarah Hunt, age 45 (birthdate 1865), as a widowed dressmaker living on Daytona's Midway Street in a home she owned. If this is the same Sarah Hunt, she must have arrived from Georgia with some or all the money needed to buy a home. No local dressmaker could earn enough in five years (1905 arrival to 1910 census) to cover a down payment, mortgage and taxes. That she owned her home is significant. It was no easy feat for a widowed Black woman at that time and place. 

That Census also shows Sarah as living with one adopted adult child. Then there is the shocker: Sarah is listed as having four children -- none of whom were still alive. What happened to them? How did they die? My gosh, to lose all four children? It's unthinkable. One of my grandmothers lost four of her eight children and it scarred her for life. And she still had four who lived.

Sarah shows up in the 1914 Daytona Beach City Directory as a widowed nurse living on 2nd Avenue in a house she owned. And in the 1920 U.S. Census as a 53-year-old (born 1867) rooming-house proprietor in a 2nd Avenue house she owned. I love that she attained and maintained home ownership in such a challenging time.

Census records and directories don't provide a full picture. They leave questions. Far more telling is the way the orphanage was renamed Mother Hunt's Orphanage soon after her death. It speaks to how much she was loved, respected and admired.

The orphanage remained in operation. A March 7, 1961 article in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal notes that it was "the only licensed orphanage for Negro children in Florida." 

Mother Hunt's Orphanage eventually became the Sarah Hunt Methodist Children's Home. It merged with the Florida Methodist Children's Home in 1971. The two became the Florida United Methodist Children's Home, a longtime fixture on acreage near Lake Monroe in Enterprise. The Daytona Beach property later became part of Bethune-Cookman University. 

In 2011, a new structure at the Children's Home was named the Sarah Hunt Home. It's so fitting that her name lives on. A March 30, 2011 Daytona Beach News-Journal article covered the building's dedication. In the article, a Rev. Walter Monroe is quoted as saying Mother Hunt "tried to provide a haven and refuge for that [each] person to become whole again."

And perhaps, in doing so, Sarah Hunt also became whole, herself. 

Writers went solo on frontier

Learn more about the conference at this link:
https://www.catholicwritersguild.org/online-conference

I'm preparing to give a presentation at the Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference, Jan. 31-Feb. 2 (2025). During my research, I wondered whether writers gathered for professional meetings or conferences in Florida's pioneer days. Artists were known to flock together here. The art colony at Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine was famous during the Gilded Age.

All such gatherings in that age were in person, not virtual like the upcoming CWGO. If you're reading this before Jan. 31, 2025, there's still time to register for CWGO. It's a great conference and reasonably priced: $45 for Guild members; $65 for nonmembers. Presentations are Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and 2, and pitch sessions to publishers are Feb. 10-13. Learn more at https://www.catholicwritersguild.org/online-conference.

Back to the Gilded Age in Florida. I dove into one of my favorite research portals: old newspapers. And found few mentions of writers gathering for a conferences or meetings. I browsed newspapers from the 1890s to 1930. 

The lack of information was frustrating because Florida is famous for being a writer's haven. There's an entire book about it: The Book Lover's Guide to Florida. I have it; it's a fabulous look at authors who lived or wrote here, and the sites associated with them. Here's a link on Google Books. 

So, what did I discover about writing and Florida in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Well, St. Augustine did have a bookstore. The city's Tatler newspaper carried a notice in its Jan. 26, 1895, edition:

"A favorite haunt of book lovers is El Unico, the shop under the great arch of Hotel Cordova. ...All of the leading books are received as soon as issued, and every day one finds new volumes on the tables."

The scant mention of literary meetings concerned newspaper writers or out-of-state news. One example was a notice about British writer Rudyard Kipling resigning from the Society of Authors after being a member for 25 years. He disliked how the organization supported "charity books published in aid of the war." The war was World War I, as the notice appeared in the Daytona Daily News on April 14, 1917.

Members of the Alabama Press Association toured St. Augustine in January 1895 on a trip that included several other stops in Florida and in Cuba. The Tatler's coverage focused on places the members visited in the Oldest City and mentioned nothing about a conference or presentations. 

The only thing the gathering stirred up was gossip. A subsequent news item chided the city's Board of Trade for its conspicuous absence during the group's public welcome to the city. The power of print media was stronger back then. It was a time before the internet and even before TV and radio. Happily, the press association members said they had a great time in St. Augustine.

Writers were the ones who got the word out about Florida. Travel writers, authors, poets, novelists, essayists -- writers of all kinds and all levels of prestige - explored the state. The influx began in the mid-1800s and has never let up. But apparently in the early days, writers here didn't assemble for professional gatherings. They traveled here alone or with family or friends. It's almost hard for me to think about a time when writers conferences didn't exist. 

Writers gathered with other creative artists, 
as this 1912 issue of the Pensacola Journal
 tells readers.

Frontier writer interactions took place mainly on the personal or small-group level. Professional gatherings were worthy of newspaper mention. The Pensacola Journal in January 1912 let readers know that authors, poets, sculptors and musicians were assembled in Philadelphia for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. But Philly is a long way from Florida.

Some aspects of writing transcend both time and distance, however. A reader letter published in the March 1, 1893, edition of the Florida Agriculturist complained about the damage and misinformation "bad" writers can do. He? She? -- no name is given--was irked by a popular garden writer and speaker full of endless advice that many people followed. The letter writer visited the popular writer's plant nursery and found it to be a disappointing failure of wilted and dying flora.

Writers have always needed guidance. More reason to attend the CWCO! There's always something new to learn. Once you look at the list of presentations, I think you'll agree. Scroll to the bottom of this page to find links about presentations, presenters and pitch sessions: https://www.catholicwritersguild.org/online-conference

A look at pioneer landscape of Naples

Pioneer view of area that became Naples,
 Florida. This is a screengrab of a WCGU video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBW-tuD79Q

The end of the calendar year is perfect for mentioning old habits. Mine is about newspapers. I still subscribe to the formerly family-owned paper where I worked for many years.

Today, the newspaper is part of the USA Today chain owned by Gannett. When I log in to the online version of the local paper, I can also see stories from throughout the chain's holdings. This morning a letter to the editor popped up from the Naples area, more than 200 miles from me. The writer was frustrated about overdevelopment and overcrowding and the resulting traffic jams.

Located on Florida's southwest coast, Naples is a picturesque city and one of the state's wealthiest areas. Yet it is plagued by overdevelopment like so much of Florida. A look at Naples today makes it hard to realize how remote the area once was.

It's funny that the newspaper letter appeared in front of me two days after I watched a YouTube video about the early days of Naples. What a contrast. 

For this short holiday season post, I leave you with that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBW-tuD79Q. You also can find the video and many others by going directly to the WCGU page on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wgcu 

You'll see how the Naples area was developed in a resort-like manner almost from the start. It always fascinates me to see how settlements appeared in their early days. 

Thomas Merton's Florida connection

Fr. Frederic Dunne at his
election as abbot. Note his
motto at the top of the photo.
Photo is from the book,
The Less Traveled Road

The “small world” adage seems appropriate as I write this. How else to explain the link I found between the Florida frontier and one of the greatest spiritual writers of the 20th century?

That writer is Thomas Merton. The Florida link is Dom Frederic Dunne. He was the abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani who accepted Merton into the Trappist monastery in 1941. That happened in Kentucky, a long way from Florida. But Fr. Dunne not only had roots in Florida, he had roots in a Catholic colony established in the Florida wilderness in the early 1880s. 

At Gethsemani, Dunne noticed Merton’s talent and encouraged him to write. I believe he ordered him under the monastic rule of obedience to continue writing even when Merton resisted. (If you’re not familiar with Merton, do a Google search and you’ll see just how impactful that order to write would be.)

Merton later acknowledged Dunne’s influence and impact on his writing. Over the years, Dunne also become a spiritual mentor and father figure for Merton. The two remained close until Dunne's death in 1948.

So who was this influential figure who spent part of his youth in the Florida wilderness? He was one of the 14 students who sat at the kitchen table of Catholic home-school pioneer Cecelia Morse in the frontier settlement of San Antonio in south central Florida. I wrote a post about Mrs. Morse and her school a few months ago: https://frontier-florida.blogspot.com/2024/07/home-school-mom-catholic-ed-pioneer.html.

The settlement was a Catholic colony established by Dunne’s uncle. The younger Dunne spent some of his formative years there, between the ages of 11 and 16. This included years when his own father worked away from home because jobs were scarce on the frontier. 

A spiritual memoir about Dunne shares some important background about his years in the tiny Florida community. The Less Traveled Road by Rev. M. Raymond was published in 1953. Raymond was a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani and he knew both Merton and Dunne

In his book, Raymond draws parallels between the silence and solitude Dunne experienced in the wilderness environment and the silence and solitude he found at the Trappist monastery. Raymond also notes how the hardships of frontier life laid a foundation for the austerity of monastery life. 

Raymond drew on firsthand reminiscences of one of Dunne’s sisters about the family’s life in Florida - and just how solitary it was. For example, it took a week to travel to and from Tampa, a distance of 32 miles. The Catholic colony was also 45 miles from the nearest railroad. 

Dunne attended Mrs. Morse’s frontier homeschool for about four years before starting carpentry work to help support his family. Raymond believes the teacher gave Dunne’s intellect a solid formation. Dunne himself credited Mrs. Morse, his brothers, his older sister Katherine - who helped raise him after their mother died — and his uncle, colony founder Capt. Hugh Dunne, with providing guidance in the years when his father lived and worked many miles from home.

Another frontier influence was the establishment of a Benedictine monastery in the colony. Dunne gained firsthand knowledge about religious life in a place far removed from centers of Catholicism and centers of society. 

All those experiences helped shaped the abbot that Dunne was to become. He entered Gethsemani in 1894 and became abbot in 1935.

Dunne became renowned not just for guiding Merton, but also for the expansion he oversaw at Gethsemani in his years as prior and abbot. Yet by all accounts he remained humble, hard-working, down-to-earth, astute and intuitive. He’s a man I would have liked to know. 

Frederic Dunne as a
young man. Photo is from
The Less Traveled Road.