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Chapter 4: Spanish East Florida (1797 - 1819) Spanish Land Grabs Grants

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ver the next 25 years, Francis I and his two older sons would acquire over 22,000 acres of land in what would become Duval, St. Johns, and Putnam counties in northeastern Florida. A 16,000 acre mill grant, the largest grant by far, would be acquired by Francis II. Dying at

age 34, second son Jean Baptiste, also known as John B. or William, would add only 230 acres to the family’s cumulative land wealth. Youngest son John Charles, a generation younger than his siblings, would own at least 1,000 acres of land in Georgia (Glynn and Camden Counties) and then in Florida (Alachua County). Francis I’s first Florida land grant was for a 400 acre tract of land that had previously belonged to “John MacINTOSH who joined up with the Rebels in 1795.”1 His second land grant included a

request for the land of another rebel, JONES: Desiring to obtain all the land that corresponds to me respective to the number of my family members (28) and according to what Your Majesty concedes to his Inhabitants, I beg Your Excellency to concede to me 800 more acres of land also considering the case of suffering inconveniences from the Indians or from neighboring Nations and as a consequence we would be much more exposed…I also beg to be granted 250 acres of land on this side of the river that was granted to JONES, who, being a Rebel, fled the Country immediately to the home of PONCE (PONS) whose land was granted to Captain don Andrew ATKINSON who returned it to the Government in exchange for another piece of land on Amelia Island.2 Below is the first page of one of Francis I’s land grant petitions, dated August of 1799. The right side was customarily where the attorney wrote the petition, while the left side was where the Governor’s decision would be written.


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http://www.honorine.info/issuuchapters/Ch4 by Mark McDonough - Issuu