Second Mission Period 1587
- 1616
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21. PUTURIBA or PUTURIBATO
Possibly could be SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO DE PUTURIBATO a village on the northern end of Cumberland Island, was at least briefly the site of a mission, but little is known of its history and some of what has been written about it is open to question. Puturiba's foundation has been set as early as l585, which seems unlikely. Another source seems to identify Puturiba with San Pedro Mocama and dates its foundation to the arrival of Fray Lopez in 1587. That same source suggests that Yustaga's San Pedro y San Pablo de Potohiriba of 1657 originated from the relocation of part of the Tacatacuru population to western Timucua, noting that in 1657 the first mention of the mission San Pedro de Potohiriba appears, placing it in the western Timucua area. In 1655, however, the Yustagan Poturiba was already there sixty leagues from St. Augustine at a time when San Pedro Mocama was still on Cumberland Island twenty leagues from St. Augustine. What is firmly established by documentation is that at the start of the Guale revolt of 1597 Puturiba was a mission on Cumberland Island's northern end with its own friar, Fray Pedro de Chozas, and distinct from San Pedro Mocama which was then under the administration of Pareja, probably because of the absence of Fray Lopez on one of his trips to the mainland coastal and interior Timucua. In his command report on the villages with Christians that were under his jurisdiction, Fray Lopez did not mention Puturiba, but Andrés, cacique of Potoriba, was among those present at San Pedro in 1604 for the governor's visitation and among those whom Altamirano mentioned as having been confirmed by him at San Pedro. Lanning remarked that Puturibato had a small chapel and that it was called San Pedro y San Pablo de Puturibato. A site for this mission has been identified.
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REFERENCES Dr. John H. Hann
"Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Vistas with Churches in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries"
© Copyright. John P. Walsh. April 23, 2002