Clarissa (Sanders) Fish (abt. 1775 - 1845)

Born about 1775 in Saint Augustine, St. Johns, Florida

Descendants

Died 1845 at about age 70 in St. Augustine, St. Johns, Florida, United States

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Biography

Tadeo Arrivas, agent for Jesse Fish, Jr., solicited the freedom for a slave of John Sanders 19 April 1798.

In 1812, the biracial family of Jesse Fish, Jr. lost his estate because he died intestate and without having married his black common-law wife Clarissa. In the aftermath of that incident, Fish's mother, Sarah Warner Fish, in 1823, deeded 500 acres her son had owned on the Matanzas River to a "certain black woman named Clarissa now free, formerly servant to my son Jesse Fish and commonly called Clarissa Fish," and to Clarissa's "seven coloured children." In 1825, one of Sarah Fish's relatives, Gabriel W. Perpall, sold to Clarissa Fish and her children a house on St. Francis Street for $500, and she in turn sold her Matanzas tract to John Perpall for $1,000. In 1830, Clarissa Fish headed a St. Augustine household consisting herself and eight other free blacks and one slave.

"I, Sarah Fish, widow give to Clarissa Fish, servant to my son Jesse, a certain black waoman, and to her 7 colored children..that tract of land at Matanza containing 500 acres of land granted by the Spanish Government to my son Jesse."

Clarissa Fish received an Episcopal burial when she died in 1845. Death records report that she was about 60 years of age.

Clara was born about 1775. She passed away about 1845.

Sources

• East Florida Papers, University of Florida, Microfilm # 154.

• Deed Book F, p 162.

• 1830 and 1840 US Censuses.

• Death records of Trinity Episcopal Church. "Free colored." Book 1, 1821-1904. St Augustine Historical Society.

• Fish-English-Torres Ancestry Tree