Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Nueva Espana West_Florida
Resource page for research regarding the territory and colony of West La Florida (Florida)
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Contents |
Colony Origin/History
1512 De Leon discovers Florida. 1513 West Florida was owned and governed by the Crown of Spain
1519 Mobile Bay was the first body of water in the New World to be accurately charted by the Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda.
1528 De Narvaez invades Florida. European Contact started in 1528, a century before the Pilgrams landed, when Cabeza de Vaca spent eight years in North America. Conquistadors led their troups along the Gulf Coast.
1539-41 De Soto's expedition. Hernando de Soto, the Spanish conquistador, landed in Florida and began his 4,000 mile search for El Dorado, the legendary lost city of gold. His journey took him through several southern states. Over the next several centuries, disease and warfare caused large losses of American Indian lives.
1559 Arellano De Luna was chosen by Luis de Velasco, Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico), to establish a settlement on the Gulf Coast. The force of 1,500 anchored in Pensacola Bay (which they called "Ochuse") and set up the encampment of Puerto de Santa Maria. The settlement was abandoned in 1571 and the Spanish sailed away, the local area was not populated again by Europeans until 1698 or 99
1565 Saint Augustine founded by the Spanish
Adelantamiento of Florida: 1565-1568 (1973) by Eugene Lyon "The advancement of Florida"
1682 la Sale takes possession of the lower Mississippi Valley.
In 1682, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a French explorer, completed a four-month voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi. He claimed the Mississippi Valley for France, and named it Louisiana in honor of French King Louis XIV.
1686 A Spanish expidition under Juan Enríquez Barroto and Antonio Romero rediscovered Pensacola Bay 819The section between the Perdido and Apalachicola Rivers was purchased by the U. S.
1699 Spanish settle Pensacola. The settlement was called Santa Maria de Galve, stablished and maintained as a deterrent to French colonial expansion. Immigrants from the Canary Islands, known as Isleños, are induced to resettle the area.
1699 The French settle Biloxi. Biloxi was established as the first French settlement in Louisiana, with Mobile (1702) following soon behind. When D'Iberville stopped in Cuba on his voyage to colonize the Louisianas, he hired a retired pirate named deGraffe to pilot him to the Mississippi Coast. No one else knew the waters well enough to do it.
1711 St. Louis de la Mobile . Originally at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff, the French fort was moved piece by piece to the new site of Mobile in 1711 when yellow fever swept through and devastated the first settlement of Mobile
Sept 14 1712: Antoine Crozat, entered into a contract with the King of France. Sept 14 1712: The King granted to him for the term of fifteen years, the exclusive commercei of all the country known as the colony of Louisiana, embracing the country upon the Alabama and Tombigby, with their entrance to the sea; of all the lakes, rivers and islands connected with the lakes of Pontchartrain, Maurepas, Borne, etc.; of all the country upon the Mississippi and its numerous tributaries, from the sea as high up as the Illinois river, together with that of Texas. He also ceded to him "forever" all the lands which he could establish himself upon, all the manufactures which he could put into operation, and all the structures which he should erect.
The population of Louisiana, now turned over to Crozat, consisted of twenty-eight families, twenty negroes, seventy-five Canadians and two companies of infantry of fifty men each, the whole numbering three hundred and twenty-four souls at six forts of miserable construction, built of stakes, trees and earth, and portions of them covered with palm leaves. These forts were situated as follows: one upon the Mississippi, one upon Ship Island, one upon Dauphin Island, one at Biloxi, one at the old and the other at the new settlement of Mobile.
1716 Fort Rosalie (Natchez) established and named in honor of the Countess of Ponchatrain. The City of Natchez marks this as it's founding date. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1763 after the British won the Seven Years' War, the French ceded the fort and Louisiana to British control. The British renamed it Fort Panmure. During the American Revolutionary War, Spain declared war against Great Britain and took control of the fort, holding it from 1779 to 1798. After 1798, the United States took over.
1718 New Orleans founded. New Orleans, on what was called the Isle de Orleans, was established in 1718 to secure the lower Mississippi against France's rival colonial powers, Spain and Great Britain. 1755 Seven Year War between France and England in America begins. (French and Indian War)
1762 Preliminary Treaty between Great Britain, France, and Spain. (Nov. 3.)
1763 Treaty of Paris. Louisiana ceded to Spain; the Floridas to England. (Feb. 10.) Proclamation of George III constituting province of West Florida. (Oct.7.) Johnstone, Governor.
- 1763 West Florida was traded to England.
1764 Louis XV. commissions M. d'Abadie to deliver Louisiana to the Spanish representative. (April 21.)
1766 Ulloa arrives in Louisiana to take possession for Spain. (Mar. 5.) Fails to do so.
1767 Great Britain establishes 32° 28' as the northern boundary of West Florida. Elliott is appointed Governor. The British takeover of Spanish Florida in 1768 resulted in the westward migration of tribes that did not want to do business with the British, and a rise in tensions between the Choctaw and the Creek, historic enemies whose divisions the British at times exploited. The change of control in Florida also prompted most of its Spanish Catholic population to leave. Most went to Cuba, including the entire governmental records from St. Augustine, although some Christianized Yamasee were resettled to the coast of Mexico. [1]
1767 Governor Johnstone entered into treaties governing trade, criminal justice, and the activities of the Indian commissioners.
1767: British West Florida Governor Johnston is recalled to England. Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne is named acting governor of British West Florida, replacing Johnstone.
1767:Ogden Mandamus, signed in London in 1767 by King George.[2]
1769 Count de O'Reilly takes possession of Louisiana for Spain. Alejandro O’Reilly was sent to quell French resistance, which he did, executing five French resistance leaders. His force grew to three regiments of 600 soldiers each.
1770 Peter Chester becomes Governor of West Florida. Peter Chester, arrived in 1770. Chester served until the Spanish took Pensacola in 1781
1775 War between England and the English colonies in America begins. Many loyalists fled to British West Florida.
1777 France allies herself with America.
1778 Willing's raid into West Florida.
1779 Spain declares war against Great Britain. Galvez, Governor of Louisiana invades West Florida; captures Fort Bute (Sept. 7.) and captures Natchez and puts it under Spanish control
1778, Galveztown, West Florida is founded near Baton Rouge. British refugees and American Loyalists fled the American settlement of Canewood and settled in Spanish territory with the permission of Count Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana and viceroy of New Spain (Mexico). In honor of the Spanish Governor, the refugees named their settlement "Galveztown".
1779 Galvez sent immigrants from the Canary Islands, known as Isleños, to Galveztown
1780 Galvez captures Ft. Charlotte (Mobile, Alabama) (Mar. 14.)
1781 Galvez captures the English Fort at Pensacola. (May 9)
1783 Treaty of Paris. The Floridas ceded by Great Britain to Spain. "In 1783 Florida was once again under Spanish rule, but now Spain was a war-weakened country. England had strengthened Florida's mainland considerably (except for the Indians) by her favorable land grants. The Loyalists who had fled south to remain under the English Crown once again had to move, and many did. The Bahamas were their natural choice as it was English."[3]
- 1783West Florida was taken back by Spain
1795 Treaty between Spain and the United States.Pickey Treaty
The 31st parallel decided upon as the boundary line between the United States and the Floridas. The British had moved the boundary from the 31st parallel north, northwards to a line drawn due east from the junction of the Yazoo River and the Mississippi, the present day location of Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the American Revolutionary War, Spain claimed the British border at the day of the Treaty of Paris while the United States insisted on the old boundary.
The treaty directed the United States and Spain to jointly survey the boundary line, and Andrew Ellicott served as the head of the U.S survey party. He raised the first American flag over Natchez at Ellicott Hill. The treaty set the western boundary of the United States, separating it from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana as the middle of the Mississippi River from the northern boundary of the United States to the 31st degree north latitude. The agreement put the lands of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations within the new boundaries of the United States
1800 Secret Treaty of St. Ildefonso. Louisiana retroceded to France. (Oct. 7.)
1803 The Louisiana Purchase, treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States signed. (April 30.) United States takes possession of Louisiana and the Island of New Orleans. (Dec. 20.)
1810 Convention of Buhler's Plains, West Florida. (June 10.) Memorial to Gov. De Lassus by citizens of West Fla. Convention of Baton Rouge. (Aug. 22-25.) Treachery of De Lassus discovered. (Sept. 20.) Spanish Post of Baton Rouge stormed and captured.(Sept. 22.) Independence of West Florida declared. Fulwar Skipwith was elected President (Sept. 26.) West Florida between the Mississippi and Pearl rivers annexed to the United States upon petition of the West Florida revolters. President Madison's proclamation issued. (Oct. 27.) - 1810 The West Florida parishes between the Mississippi and Pearl Rivers were annexed by U.S. 1812 Louisiana admitted to the Union. (Jan. 22.) Annexed territory of West Florida joined to the State of Louisiana by Act of Congress. (April 14.) Pearl-Perdido portion annexed to Mississippi Territory.
1812 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812 The War of 1812] was a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies and its American Indian allies.
1813 United States takes possession of the Mobile district of West Florida. (April 15.) When the United States annexed the Baton Rouge district, which was controlled by the unrecognised Republic of West Florida, in 1810, the Mobile district remained under Spanish control. The Mobile district was declared by Congress to be annexed to the United States on May 14, 1812, immediately prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Britain, with whom Spain was allied, and incorporated into the Mississippi Territory.[4]
1814 The Battle of New Orleans was a series of engagements fought between December 23, 1814 through January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812.
1817–1818 First Seminole War. “Following the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain, American slave owners came to Florida in search of runaway African slaves and Indians. The Indians known as the Seminole, and the runaway slaves had been trading weapons with the British throughout the early 1800s and supported Britain during the War of 1812. From 1817-1818, the United States Army invaded Spanish Florida and fought against the Seminole and their African American allies. Collectively, these battles came to be known as the First Seminole War.” [5]
1818 General Andrew Jackson seizes Pensacola in his unauthorized Seminole War.
1819 Florida cession treaty concluded with Spain. (Feb. 22.) West Florida was legally acquired by the United States.
1813 The section between the Pearl and Perdido was annexed by U.S. Presidential Proclamation. 1820 King of Spain ratifies Florida cession treaty.
1821 Cession of the Floridas proclaimed. (Feb. 22.) Formal transfer of the Floridas to the United States.(July 17.)
Government Structure
1512 De Leon discovers Florida.
1682 la Sale takes possession of the lower Mississippi Valley. In 1682, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a French explorer, completed a four-month voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi. He claimed the Mississippi Valley for France, and named it Louisiana in honor of French King Louis XIV
1763 Treaty of Paris. Louisiana ceded to Spain; the Floridas to England. (Feb. 10.) Proclamation of George III constituting province of West Florida. (Oct.7.) Johnstone, Governor.
1783 Treaty of Paris. The Floridas ceded by Great Britain to Spain. "In 1783 Florida was once again under Spanish rule, but now Spain was a war-weakened country. England had strengthened Florida's mainland considerably (except for the Indians) by her favorable land grants. The Loyalists who had fled south to remain under the English Crown once again had to move, and many did. The Bahamas were their natural choice as it was English."[6]
The West Florida parishes between the Mississippi and Pearl Rivers were annexed in 1810, the section between the Pearl and Perdido was annexed in 1813, both by U.S. Presidential Proclamation. The section between the Perdido and Apalachicola Rivers was purchased by the U. S. in 1819.
Original Structure
Spain used the religious as a tool of colonization.In addition to the presidio (royal fort) and pueblo (town), the missión was one of three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial territories. Asistencias ("sub-missions" or "contributing chapels") were small-scale missions that regularly conducted Catholic religious services on days of obligation, but lacked a resident priest. Smaller sites called visitas ("visiting chapels") also lacked a resident priest, and were often attended only sporadically
Evolution of Government Structure
1512 The Laws of Burgos, signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon, focused upon the welfare of the conquered native peoples
1542 Leyes Nuevas, issued November 20, 1542 by King Charles I of Spain regarding the Spanish colonization of the Americas, are also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians", and were created to prevent the exploitation of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas by the Encomenderos (large enterprise landowners) by strictly limiting their power and dominion.
1573 The Laws of the Indies were an attempt to guide and regularize the establishment of presidios (military towns), missions, and pueblos (civilian towns), King Phillip II developed the first version of the Laws of the Indies.
1764 The first british governor was Captain George Johnstone, who arrived in February, 1764, at Pensacola with a British regiment and many Highlanders from Charleston and New York.[7]
1795 Treaty between Spain and the United States. Pickey Treaty The 31st parallel decided upon as the boundary line between the United States and the Floridas. The Spanish were forced south of the 31st parallel
1810 When the United States annexed the Baton Rouge (Feliciana) district, which was controlled by the unrecognized Republic of West Florida, in 1810, the Mobile district remained under Spanish control. The Mobile district was declared by Congress to be annexed to the United States on May 14,
1812,[1] immediately prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Britain, with whom Spain was allied, and incorporated into the Mississippi Territory.[8]
Settlers
1686 A Spanish expidition under Juan Enríquez Barroto and Antonio Romero rediscovered Pensacola Bay
1699 Spanish settle Pensacola. The settlement was called Santa Maria de Galve, established and maintained as a deterrent to French colonial expansion. Immigrants from the Canary Islands, known as Isleños, are induced to resettle the area.
1699 The French settle Biloxi. Biloxi was established as the first French settlement in Louisiana, with Mobile (1702) following soon behind. Some of the original French families are in this area today[9]
1763 Treaty of Paris. Louisiana ceded to Spain; the Floridas to England. (Feb. 10.) Proclamation of George III constituting province of West Florida. Most of the population leave.
1767 Great Britain establishes 32° 28' as the northern boundary of West Florida. Elliott is appointed Governor. The British takeover of Spanish Florida in 1768 resulted in the westward migration of tribes. Not only the Spanish but many of the Christianized Indigenous population are deported to the Ports of Havana and Veracruz in Mexico
1775 War between England and the English colonies in America begins. Many loyalists fled to British West Florida.
1779 Galvez, Spanish Governor of Louisiana invades West Florida; captures Fort Bute (Sept. 7.) and captures Natchez and puts it under Spanish control
Migrating From the Northern Colonies
The British takeover of Spanish Florida in 1768 resulted in the westward migration of indigenous tribes to western Louisiana, Cuba and Mexico via the port of Veracruz.
1767 Great Britain establishes 32° 28' as the northern boundary of West Florida. Elliott is appointed Governor. A flood of immigrants headed to British West Florida, some via the Cumberland Gap, down the Ohio to the Mississippi River, settling on the east bank of the Mississippi between modern day Vicksburg, MS and Baton Rouge LA. Others entered British East Florida via Georgia.
1767 Ogden Mandamus, signed in London in 1767 by King George.[10]
1775 War between England and the English colonies in America begins. Many loyalists fled to British West Florida. British Florida remained loyal to the Empire during the Revolutionary War.
1779 Spain declares war against Great Britain. Galvez, Governor of Louisiana invades West Florida; captures Fort Bute (Sept. 7.) and captures Natchez and puts it under Spanish control. British refugees and American Loyalists fled the American settlement of Canewood (Cane Creek?) and settled in Spanish territory with the permission of Count Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana and viceroy of New Spain (Mexico). In honor of the Spanish Governor, the refugees named their settlement "Galveztown". "Galveztown was beset by disease, hurricanes, foods, drought, and war. By the 1790s the villagers were described as living in “the most abject want and misery.”[11]Many of the inhabitants were from the Canary Islands who had been forced to colonize Spanish West Florida
1795 Treaty between Spain and the United States. Pickey Treaty The 31st parallel decided upon as the boundary line between the United States and the Floridas. The Spanish were forced south of the 31st parallel. A flood of immigrants headed to the area between the 32° 28' and 31st parallel , some down the Ohio to the Mississippi River. Others obtain passports in Georgia to cross the Indian Nations of the Mississippi Territory. Still more forged an overland route from Tennessee connecting a series of Indian trails that later became the Natchez Trace
1803 The Louisiana Purchase, treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States signed. (April 30.) United States takes possession of Louisiana and the Island of New Orleans. (Dec. 20.)
1812 Louisiana admitted to the Union. (Jan. 22.) Annexed territory of West Florida joined to the State of Louisiana by Act of Congress. (April 14.) Pearl-Perdido portion of West La Florida annexed to Mississippi Territory.
When the United States annexed the Baton Rouge district, which was controlled by the unrecognised Republic of West Florida, in 1810, the Mobile district remained under Spanish control. The Mobile district was declared by Congress to be annexed to the United States on May 14, 1812,[1] immediately prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Britain, with whom Spain was allied, and incorporated into the Mississippi Territory.[12]
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Ships
Shipbuilding and Marine History A collection of proven records of the shipbuilding and marine history of the Pascagoula River area and old Jackson County
American Indians
The Natchez are extinct.
Chahta or Choctaw Tribes Of The Gulf Coast still exist. The Houma tribe are Muskogean-speaking like other Choctaw tribes. They were still in the Mississippi portions of West Florida as late as the 1830's. Presently the remnants of the Houmas are located in the swamps of southern Louisiana.
The Creek Tribe of the Alabama The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognized tribe of Native Americans in Alabama. (The state has recognized eight other tribes.) Historically speaking the Muskogee language, they were formerly known as the Creek Nation East of the Mississippi.
Seminole Indians, (Creek: Sim-a-no’-le, ‘separatist’, ‘runaway’ ). A Muskhogean tribe of Florida, originally made up of immigrants from the Lower Creek towns on Chattahoochee river, who moved down into Florida following the destruction of the Apalachee and other native tribes.
"While still under Spanish rule the Seminole became involved in hostility with the United States, particularly in the War of 1812, and again in 1817-18, the latter being known as the first Seminole War. This war was quelled by Gen. Andrew Jackson, who invaded Florida with a force exceeding 3,000 men, as the result of which Spain ceded the territory to the United States in 1819"[13]
Native American History and Genealogy
A Creek Indian Bibliography: Creek Indians Sources for History, Biography and Genealogy; Print and Internet Links by ©Anne E. Gometz
Native American History of Geneva County, Alabama
Indentured Servants
"In 1663, by Royal Decree of May 6, 800 Canarian families were sent to the Spanish island; it is assumed that this to avert the danger that the French seize it, since to that date they already had occupied what is now Haiti. In 1678, the Spanish crown published "El Tributo de sangre (The tribute of blood)", whereby, for each ton of cargo for a product that a Spanish colony in America sent to Spain, this sent five Canary families, but generally, the number of families sent exceeded 10 families. Thus, during the late seventeenth and eighteenth century, hundreds of Canarian families were removed to Venezuela, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, with others going to places like Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina or the south of the present United States. These families were sent to populate various parts of Latin America. The tribute of blood was forbidden in 1764" [14]
Slaves
When the Crusaders returned to Europe from the Middle East they had acquired not only Moorish slaves but, also, a new taste for sugar. Sugar production spread across the Mediterranean and it was labor intensive. The Iberians colonized the Atlantic Islands off the coast of Africa. The Azores, Madeira, Cape Verdi and Sao Tome Islands were unpopulated and with slave labor became profitable sugar cane plantations within a few years. Unfortunately for the Guanches, the Canary Islands were populated by an ancient Berber culture. They were soon assimilated into the slave populations of the Moors and Atlantic Africans, creating a pattern of colonization that would be replicated in the Americas.
After the Indies and Florida indigenous peoples were depopulated by European disease and slavery the demand for labor was satisfied by this mixed race of people from the Atlantic Islands off the coast of Africa. The Canary Islands became the port for the Spanish and Portuguese fleets exploiting the America's. The Guanches' blood was soon diluted by the influx of different races at this major port of call and henceforth the people of the Canary islands are referred to as the Islenos.
Around 1570 the Portuguese conquered Angola and commerce was established with North Central Africa. From that time until 1867 45% of all enslaved Africans were from that area of Africa. [15]
Many slaves and free blacks in Florida were Atlantic Creoles, men of Spanish African descent. These mixed race men often grew up bilingual and were sailors and interrupters.
Spanish Law, derived from Roman Law, did not consider slavery a permanent situation. They were required to work certain hours a day and had religious holidays free. In their free time they could earn cash by working on civil projects or even fishing to buy their freedom. Spanish law as implemented in Florida, supported three social tiers of whites, free people of color, and slaves. The Spanish government, like the French, recognized interracial marriages and allowed mixed-race children to inherit property.
Slave populations were low in Florida until the British arrived in 1762
During the 18th century the Spanish had outlawed slavery and slaves who escaped the British were freed if they converted to Catholicism.
The Documenting Runaway Slaves (DRS) research project is a collaborative effort to document newspaper advertisements placed by masters seeking the capture and return of runaway slaves. The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
African and African American Studies, Loyola, New Orleans.
Economic Resources and Information
Amerindian Slaves, citrus groves, Indigo, tobacco and furs were the main exports. The virgin forest provided mast and pitch for the maritime industry. Sugar and cotton became more important with the development of sugar refining by Etienne de Bore’ and cotton ginning by Eli Whitney
Panton, Leslie & Company was a partnership formed at St. Augustine, capital of British East Florida, by William Panton, John Leslie, Thomas Forbes, Charles McLatchy and William Alexander in 1783 for the purpose of trading with the Indians of Florida and adjacent territory claimed by Spain[16][17]
Dr. William Coker, historian at the University of West Florida, has collected over 50,000 papers related to the trading firm and In addition to selecting, preparing and microfilming them, Is creating a narrative guide to the papers, which should be completed.[18][19]
Panton Leslie and Company Collection, 1739-1847
Land Grants
- Settlement within the Spanish system required patience and time. In its most restrictive, under the body of laws known as the Recopilacion de Indias, the new settler assigned lands in one of the new towns had to reside on the land for four years to acquire possession. They must take physical possession within three months of the grant or it would automatically revert to the King. If a settler had not possessed the same land for ten years, he would not be entitled to composicion, the final legalization and confirmation in title. Rural settlement was not contemplated in the early years and almost all of the laws related to granting of lands concern new towns or urban areas. Even here, the design of the towns was strictly regulated
and certain criteria were set up to assure good living conditions. It was assumed that the European concept of town living would be perpetuated in the new lands, including living in the towns (on a town lot) and farming an outlying parcel. Over time, these strictures broke down, but not entirely, as can be seen in the histories of Pensacola, St. Augustine, Mobile, Natchez and other southeastern settlements. (S. Lyman Tyler, 1980)
The following is about the British Land Grants:
West Florida was the first British colony west of the Appalachian Mountains and began to attract many of its non-military settlers from the regions to the east. Combined with the efforts of Phineas Lyman’s Company of Military Adventurers, this penetration of formerly Spanish territory constituted a small sort of land rush. The proclamation of October 7, 1763, promising land to military veterans, from 5,000 acres to field grade officers (Majors or above) to 200 acres for non-commissioned officers and 50 acres to privates, acted as a spur to Lyman’s Company and others. Also of great importance was the use of the “head-right” system of granting land. In West and East Florida, the system was basically the same. One hundred acres of land were allotted the head of the family and fifty acres for each additional member of the family brought to the province. The concept of family included servants or slaves also. For an additional fifty shillings per acre, up to one thousand additional acres could be purchased. Conditions of the grants included the clearing of at least three acres for every fifty granted within the first three years. If the land were in the marsh, desirable for growing rice and indigo, then draining of three acres was required. The emphasis in each case was on the physical occupation and improvement of the land. (Fabel, 1988) On lands considered barren, three neat cattle must be raised to obtain consummation of the grant. Some grants also included text requiring a specified dwelling house. The one required of Daniel Hickey on the banks of the Mississippi River had to be “at least Twenty feet in length and sixteen feet in breadth.”
The Impact of Spanish Land Grants on the Development of Florida and the South Eastern United States
- When the United States took possession after the Louisiana Purchase, it passed a law in the next Congress nullifying any grant of land made after December 20, 1803. Another part of this law forbade any recognition of grants made exceeding six hundred and forty acres. A later law, passed in 1807, recognized lands granted to families who had been in possession ten years prior to 1803, provided the grant did
not exceed two thousand acres.
- American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 1st session of the 1st congress to the 2nd session of the 35th congress, inclusive: commencing March 4, 1789, and ending March 3, 1859, Volume 5
- Spanish and British Land Grants in Mississippi Territory, 1750-1784
Conflicts Within The Colony
1778 Willing's raid into West Florida.
1779 The Battle of Baton Rouge
1780 Galvez captures Ft. Charlotte (Mobile, Alabama)
1781 Galvez captures the English Fort at Pensacola.
Philemon Thomas and the West Florida Revolution
Research Resources
Spanish Records: Locating Anglo and Latin Ancestry in the Colonial Southeast. by Mills, Elizabeth Shown. National Genealogical Society Quarterly 73 (December 1985): 243–61. Digital image. Elizabeth Shown Mills, Historic Pathways
Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas 1576-1803, published by the University of Notre Dame archives under the sponsorship of the National Historical Publications Commission.
There are numerous other collections both in the United States and in foreign countries which pertain to the ecclesiastical as well as to the secular history of colonial Louisiana and Florida.
References to these collections may be found in Philip M. Hamer's Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the United States (Yale University Press, 1961), the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, Roger Baudier's The Catholic Church in Louisiana (New Orleans, 1939), Jean Delanglez's The French Jesuits in Lower Louisiana (1700-1763) (Loyola University of New Orleans, 1935), Charles Edwards O'Neill's Church and State in French Colonial Louisiana: Policy and Politics to 1732 (Yale University Press, 1966), Caroline Mays Brevard's two-volume History of Florida from the Treaty of 1763 (Florida State Historical Society, 1934), Michael V. Gannon's The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida 1513-1870 (University of Florida Press, 1965), and Michael J. Curley's Church and State in the Spanish Floridas (1783-1822) (Catholic University of America Press, 1940).
The Florida State Historical Society has published in several volumes a number of manuscripts and documents pertaining to the history of their State. Documents edited by Manuel Serrano y Sanz and pertaining to both Florida and Louisiana may be found in Documentos Historicos de la Florida y la Luisiana Siglos XVI al XVIII (Madrid, 1912).
For Louisiana itself there are James Alexander Robertson's two-volume edition, Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States 1785-1807 (Cleveland, 1911), and a recently published collection of items edited by Jack D.L. Holmes, Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de la Luisiana 1792-1810 (Madrid, 1963), which forms volume XV in the Coleccion Chimalistac de Libros y Documentos acerca de la Nueva Espana.
Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site
Documents relating to Spanish grants, in Louisiana Published 1835. Library of Congress
The History Files Florida
Alabama
The USGenWeb Archives Project - Alabama
Alabama Department of Archives and History Research at the Archives
Guide to Genealogy Records in Mobile, Alabama McCall Library, University of South Alabama
Planters and Plantations, Alabama Review Article by Robert Rae, July 1976
The Baldwin County Historical Development Commission
Florida
USGenWeb Archives Project for Florida
The West Florida Genealogy Library The collection includes books on African-American and European genealogy, family histories, heraldry, and hereditary society records. The Native American collection covers the local Cherokee and Creek tribes with some Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes included.
P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History Spanish West Florida 1881-1921
Louisiana
The Cajuns of the Florida Parishes
KnowLA; Encyclopedia of Louisiana
LOUISana Digital Library The LOUISiana Digital Library (LDL) is an online library of materials from Louisiana institutions. The LDL contains photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, oral histories, and more that document Louisiana's unique history and culture.
Loyola University: A-Z Resources
The Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies
- "Records of West Florida, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA Courthouse, Vol. IV, pp. 213 - 200. During 1936 - 1939 the Spanish records were translated into English by the W.P.A. under the supervision of Mr Stanley Clisby Arthur, State Superintendent of Federal Archives in Louisiana, and five copies of the badly deteriorated original volumes of the Spanish records were made. These five copies were bound into 19 volumes. The original books and one set of the transcribed volumes are in the Courthouse of East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. West Feliciana Parish at St. Francisville, La, Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, University of Southeastern Louisiana at Hammond, LA, and the State Library of Louisiana also have copies. The Church of Later Day Saints Library in Utah has a microfilm of the records.
USGenWeb Project Louisiana Archives
Tulane University Special Collections
Louisiana Genealogy Materials, Louisiana State University
Explore Southern History The Republic of West Florida (1810)
Jackson LA Museum The Bonnie Blue Flag
Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society
An atlas of Louisiana surnames of French and Spanish origin Robert Cooper West, Geoscience Publications, Louisiana State University, Jan 1, 1986
Mississippi
First Settlers of the Mississippi Territory
[Biloxi Historical Society Spanish Colonial Period [1780-1811]
Hancock County Historical Society The Republic of West Florida
Research Guide for Genealogy Research University of Southern Mississippi
The Natchez Trace Collection (NTC) is actually a series of collections totaling more than 450 linear feet of materials documenting the history of the Lower Mississippi River Valley from 1760 to the 1920s. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
Newton County Historical and Genealogical Society The Juzan Family of Spanish West Florida and The Choctaw Nation
WikiTree Resources
US Southern Colonies Spanish US Southern Colonies Spanish La Florida EAST
Existing Categories
Category:Creek_War Category:First_Seminole_War Category: Gulf Coast, War of 1812 Category:US_Occupation_of_West_Florida
- Battle of Baton Rouge 1779
- French and Indian War 1754-1763
- Louisiana Religious
- Louisiana Rebellion of 1768
- Louisiana Militia in the American Revolution
- Galvez Expedition
Related Free Space Pages
Please add a short description, and separate "paragraphs" using the = keys on either side of the title as needed. See the next paragraph for an example that uses 6 = signs on either side.
Surname/Family Pages
Spanish
- Islenos
French
- French
English
First settlers of the Mississippi Territory
- Colonist
Cemeteries
For the period we are researching, 1512 to 1821, few grave markers exist. Generally the markers were hewn from cedar boards, which have long since rotted, and burial was on the homestead.
One of the oldest cemeteries in the oldest settlement in the Florida's,Saint Augustine National Cemetery , was not established until 1821.
The location of some burial spots have been entered at Find a Grave
Free Resources
The West Florida Republic Trail
Paid Resource Sites
The Horse Soldier Research Service offers a Standard Research Package for individual soldiers. For soldiers who served anytime from the Revolutionary War to the Spanish/American War.
Canary Island Settlers at Terra de Buyes [Terre-aux-Boeuf] at a Settlement called Galveztown y Senora de Galvez, 1779-1783 under Census Records
Images and Maps
University of Florida's Map & Imagery Library
Early Maps of the American South — Local Maps: Harbors and Islands (Gulf Coast
Further Reading
West Florida and its relation to the historical cartography of the United States; (1898) Library of Congress.
A view of West Florida, embracing its geography, topography, &c. with an appendix, treating of its antiquities, land titles, and canals, and containing a map, exhibiting a chart of the coast, a plan of Pensacola, and the entrance of the harbor. by John Lee Williams. Published 1827 Library of Congress
A concise natural history of East and West-Florida– Bernard Romans. "Concise Natural History can be placed firmly in the genre of colonial promotional literature. Romans's book was an enthusiastic guide aimed at those seeking to establish modest holdings in the region:"[20]
The History of the Short-Lived Independent Republic of Florida Smithsonian Magazine, May 2013, By William C. Davis
A Scottish View of West Florida in 1769 - FIU Digital Library
British West Florida FL GenWeb
A History of Florida Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology
Atlantic Loyalties: Americans in Spanish West Florida, 1785-1810 (Google eBook) Integrating social, cultural, economic, and political history, this is a study of the factors that grounded--or swayed--the loyalties of non-Spaniards living under Spanish rule on the southern frontier
Pensacola's Medical History: The Colonial Era, 1559-1821, by William S. Coker
Mississippi Under British Rule - British West Florida
Florida Historical Society Digital Library
A Brief Bibliography of Florida History
SOME of the EARLY LAND CLAIMS; FAMILY NAMES, EVENTS OFFICIALS WHO WERE THE FIRST TO SERVE, Jackson County MS.
"Five Centuries on Biloxi Bay: A Chronology of Ocean Springs, Mississippi Presenting the history and genealogy of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, a wonderful and diverse community on the Mexican Gulf, which was founded by French Canadian soldiers of fortune and their French cohorts with the establishment of Fort Maurepas, in April 1699. Ocean Springs was incorporated in September 1892." Ray L. Bellande & Ocean Springs Archives
An account of the surveys of Florida, &c. with directions for sailing from Jamaica or the West Indies, by the west end of Cuba, and through the Gulph of Florida. To accompany Mr. Gauld's charts. By: George Gauld " “After Florida came into the possession of Great Britain, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, sent out Mr George Gauld to make a thorough survey of the whole coast. He was employed in surveying the coasts and harbours of West Florida, and the west coast of East Florida from the summer of 1764, to the year 1781, when he was made prisoner by the Spaniards, in their invasion of Florida. These surveys were not published until the year 1790, after the death of Mr Gauld.",[21]
The journal of Andrew EllicottIn 1796, George Washington commissioned Ellicott as the U.S. representative on the commission for the survey of the border between the Spanish territories in Florida and the United States [22]
Robin Fabel’s The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783 (University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1988)
Robert V. Haynes’ The Natchez District and the American Revolution (University Press of Mississippi , Jackson, 1976).
Grace Elizabeth King 's [1] families of New Orleans with illustrations by E. Woodward
The Story of the West Florida Rebellion by Stanley Clisby Arthur, The St. Francisville Democrat 1935
Interactive Map
Interactive Map of Mississippi County Formation History
Interactive Map of Louisiana Parish Formation History
Sources for this Page
"Records of West Florida, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA Courthouse, Vol. IV, pp. 213 - 200. During 1936 - 1939 the Spanish records were translated into English by the W.P.A. under the supervision of Mr Stanley Clisby Arthur, State Superintendent of Federal Archives in Louisiana, and five copies of the badly deteriorated original volumes of the Spanish records were made. These five copies were bound into 19 volumes. The original books and one set of the transcribed volumes are in the Courthouse of East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. West Feliciana Parish at St. Francisville, La, Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, University of Southeastern Louisiana at Hammond, LA, and the State Library of Louisiana also have copies. The Church of Later Day Saints Library in Utah has a microfilm of the records.
- ↑ The Scratch of a Pen : 1763 and the Transformation of North America: 1763 and the Transformation of North America (Google eBook)
- ↑ http://www.fccofchester.org/ourhistory/jerseysettlers.html
- ↑ http://www.keyshistory.org/FL-Fla-Sp-2.html
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_District
- ↑ http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/sem_war/sem_war1.htm
- ↑ http://www.keyshistory.org/FL-Fla-Sp-2.html
- ↑ http://www.flgenweb.org/history/britishw
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_District
- ↑ http://www.co.jackson.ms.us/img/history/timeline.pdf
- ↑ The History of the Jersey Settlers
- ↑ Plazas and Power Canary Islanders at Galveztown an Eighteenth-Century Spanish Colonial Outpost in Louisiana
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_District
- ↑ http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/seminole-tribe.htm
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle%C3%B1o
- ↑ Encyclopedia of African American History [3 volumes] edited by Leslie M Alexander, Walter C. Rucker Jr., pg 21
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panton,_Leslie_%26_Company
- ↑ http://www.electricscotland.com/history/world/panton_leslie.htm
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/r/e/Nedra-A-Creamerinnerarity/FILE/0027text.txt
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/r/e/Nedra-A-Creamerinnerarity/FILE/0031text.txt
- ↑ http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/978-0-8173-8423-4-A-Concise-Natural-History-of-East-and-West-Florida,872.aspx?skuid=2292
- ↑ Sketches, Historical and Topographical, of the Floridas; More Particularly of East Florida by James Grant Forbes; Memoir on the Geography, and Natural and Civil History of Florida, Attended by a Map of That Country, &c. by William Darby. 1821. The North American Review. University of Northern Iowa: Jul. Volume 13, Issue 32, Pages pp. 91-92.
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ellicott
Lafon’s General Map of Louisiana (1806)
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December 9, 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Romans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lorimer_(doctor)