Spanish Florida - Home Page

“La Florida”

About Spanish Florida

Spanish Florida (La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery.
Spanish Florida was established in 1513 when Juan Ponce de León claimed peninsular Florida for Spain during the first official European expedition to North America.
La Florida formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The territory was initially much larger than the present-day state of Florida, extending over much of what is now the southeastern United States, including all of present-day Florida plus portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
Florida’s Spanish colonial heritage began nearly 100 years before Jamestown and ended when Florida became a territory of the United States in 1821.

La Florida's Timeline

Age of Exploration – 1513 to 1565
First Spanish Period – 1565 to 1763
British Period – 1763-1784
Second Spanish Period – 1784 to 1821
American Period – 1821 to Present
The content that requires a Membership is labeled as “PREMIUM CONTENT.”
These items are available on the Spanish Florida for Members Only Page in our Members Area. A membership login is required to access those files.
IMPORTANT: Please contact, and credit, the CGC if you use any part of this collection by sending an email to secretary@cubangenclub.org.

Roman Catholic Cathedral Parish
of St. Augustine

The University of Florida has posted on-line translations of the Cathedral Parish records by Emily L. Wilson, a long-serving librarian of the St. Augustine Historical Society.

The Cemetery Records of St. Johns County – Compilation

The first volume of The Cemetery Records of St. Johns County was published in 1992 by the St. Augustine Genealogical Society. It contains the records for the following cemeteries in St. Johns County: Mission of Nombre de Dios, Switzerland Cemetery, Sampson Cemetery, Pellicer Creek Cemetery, Sons of Israel Cemetery, Hewson Cemetery, and Sanksville Cemetery. It includes an index. This was donated to us by Martha Ibañez Zervoudakis, CGC Director,  from her private collection.

St. Augustine Church Records Indexes/Extractions
 
These indices were transcribed and compiled by CGC Member, Stephen Renouf (Trustee – Spain Society and National Society,
Sons of the American Revolution)
We are grateful for his generosity in sharing his incredible work with us.

St. Augustine Census Indexes/Extractions

1784
1786
1787
1793

The Stetson Collection

The John Batterson Stetson Collection (150,000 photostats) contains documents drawn from the Archivo General de Indias and relates to all phases of Spanish activity in the Southeast Borderlands from 1518-1819.

The Stetson Collection contains information on all phases of the Spanish presence in the American southeast from 1512 to 1783. The collection emphasizes the 1565 settlement of St. Augustine. The original Stetson Collection is located in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History at the University of Florida.

The completed archival calendar to the Stetson Collection is made up of an annotated 3″ x 5″ card index to photostats of documents from various Spanish archives. You may view the INDEX on 3 reels at Florida International University’s Green Library. Reel 1 covers 1512-1640; Reel 2 covers 1641-1734; and Reel 3 covers 1735-1783.

The downloadable PDFs below are images of those microfilms made into PDFs. Please note this is ONLY the index. If you find a document of interest, you may view the microfilmed copy of the document at FIU.

Some of the documents did not have dates so the determination “n.d.” was given – namely, “no date”. Those items are always at the beginning of a given year. The items then follow chronologically.

Also vailable online at the University of Florida Digital Collections

La Florida - The Interactive Digital Archive of the Americas

Lost Voices

Virtual Archive to access almost 4,000 high-resolution images of original documents from the Diocesan Archives of St. Augustine, Florida. Each page is accompanied by a complete transcription and English-language translation.

Phase I of the Lost Voices project focuses on the years between 1764 and 1882, over which period St. Augustine’s parish priests and friars registered thousands of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials. These sacramental records provide rich details about the town’s colonial-era residents. In them, we hear the lost voices of the men, women, and children who formed St. Augustine’s community, a multi-ethnic society of Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans.

La Florida Site

Spanish Colonial Period - East Florida Papers

The East Florida Papers is a collection in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The Papers represent the official local record of the government of St. Augustine, Florida, during the late colonial, or Second Spanish, period (1783-1821), along with some documents about earlier eras. St. Augustine was at this time capital of Spanish East Florida (which comprised the Florida peninsula east of the Apalachicola River). Census records, royal orders, decrees, and other documents can be found in this collection. The documents have been housed in the nation’s capital since 1905. One segment, the Spanish land grants from this period, are maintained at the Florida State Archive and are available online.

Source: University of Florida

Timeline for east florida

Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate Program

The Florida State Genealogical Society's (FSGS) Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate Program honors descendants of Florida pioneers who settled in Florida prior to statehood on 3 March 1845. The FSGS offers 2 certificates: Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate - State - This certificate is awarded to a descendant who can prove their direct lineal descent from an ancestor who settled in Florida prior to Florida's achieving statehood on 3 March 1845 and Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate - County - This certificate is awarded to a descendant who can prove their direct lineal descent from an ancestor who was a resident of a county of Florida before the county was formed (a much EARLIER date.) The complete Pioneer database can be accessed on the FSGS site.

The following members of the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, Fl., Inc. have proved Spanish/Cuban ancestors to the oldest county in Florida,

St. John’s County, which was established on 21 Jul 1821.

Florida Pioneer

  1. Juan Dominguez de Viana
  2. Antonio Matias Miranda Romero
  3. Maria del Rosario Sanchez Castañeda
  4. Tomas Antonio Magin Joan Bonav
  5. Estefania Davila y Salvatierra
  6. Nicolas Ponce de Leon
  7. Manuel Ponce de Leon y Davila
  8. Nicolas Ponce de Leon y Ruiz de Zartucha
  9. Lorenza de los Angeles Ruiz de Zartucha
  10. Fernando Xavier de Salas y Solana
  11. Antonio de Salas y Victorica
  12. Maria Dolores del Pozo
  13. Maria Escalona
  14. Catalina Hernandez
  15. Antonia Jacinta
  16. Francisca Perez Arica
  17. Juana Manuela Solana y Escalona
  18. Alonso Solana y Hernandez
  19. Alonso Solana y Jacinta
  20. Alonso Solana y Perez
  21. Juan Lopez de Aviles
  22. Ana Lopez de Aviles Calvillo
  23. Isabel Calvillo
  24. Juan de Llera
  25. Lorenzo de Llera y Mendiola
  26. Barbara de Mendiola
  27. Juan Abrantes
  28. Bernardo de la Cruz
  29. Juan de la Cruz
  30. Maria del Pino Lopez
  31. Lorenz Quintana Ramos
  32. Maria Barbara Rayten
  33. Lucia Rodriguez
  34. Antonio Rodriguez Lopez
  35. Antonio Rodriguez Talavera
  36. Lazaro Sanchez
  37. Maria Catharina Werner

Descendant

  1. Martha Ibañez Zervoudakis
  2. Martha Ibañez Zervoudakis
  3. Martha Ibañez Zervoudakis
  4. Teresa Sardiñas
  5. Antonieta Bernardino
  6. Antonieta Bernardino
  7. Antonieta Bernardino
  8. Antonieta Bernardino
  9. Antonieta Bernardino
  10. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  11. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  12. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  13. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  14. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  15. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  16. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  17. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  18. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  19. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  20. Lourdes del Pino and Raul Olazabal
  21. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  22. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  23. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  24. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  25. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  26. Marisela Soto (nee Cabezas Pumar)
  27. Mairelys Perez
  28. Mairelys Perez
  29. Mairelys Perez
  30. Mairelys Perez
  31. Mairelys Perez
  32. Mairelys Perez
  33. Mairelys Perez
  34. Mairelys Perez
  35. Mairelys Perez
  36. Mairelys Perez
  37. Mairelys Perez

Type of Certificate(s)

  1. County and State
  2. County and State
  3. County and State
  4. County and State
  5. State
  6. State
  7. State
  8. State
  9. State
  10. County and State
  11. County and State
  12. County and State
  13. County and State
  14. County and State
  15. County and State
  16. County and State
  17. County and State
  18. County and State
  19. County and State
  20. County and State
  21. County and State
  22. County and State
  23. County and State
  24. County and State
  25. County and State
  26. County and State
  27. County and State
  28. County and State
  29. County and State
  30. County and State
  31. County and State
  32. County and State
  33. County and State
  34. County and State
  35. County and State
  36. County and State
  37. County and State

Of Special Interest

Four Alonso Solanas

by Lourdes del Pino

This set of notes was prepared as an aide during my research for the Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate application. The chosen Pioneer was Alonso Solana, who began his services in 1613 at the Presidio of St. Augustine.

Years ago transcriptions were made of the old St. Augustine Church records, which are very useful as a basis for beginning research of the old Floridano families, but contain many errors. One of these errors is the provenance of the first Alonso Solana.

The usual material that would easily prove descendance, such as baptismal, marriage and death records have been lost or practically destroyed by time and insects in the case of the St. Augustine Parish, therefore it was necessary to find proof in other documents. This was accomplished by obtaining documents from the Archive of the Indies through the Portal for Spanish Historical Documents (PARES) and the Stetson Collection. These documents, some of which are included in these notes, will hopefully clear any doubt about the provenance of the first Solana of St. Augustine.

Downloadable PDF

Floridanos to Cuba (1763)

Florida was discovered by Juan Ponce de León en 1513, and in 1565 became the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States of America under the leadership of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, decades before the founding of Jamestown and the arrival of the Pilgrims. Saint Augustine was the seat of Spanish rule in North America for about 200 years.

In 1762 the British attacked and occupied the city of Havana, Cuba, and under the conditions of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Florida was given to the British Crown in exchange for Cuba and the Philippines. At that time, the Spanish citizens of Saint Augustine were resettled in Cuba and a few in Campeche, Mexico.

Based on the original list of Saint Augustine inhabitants resettled in Cuba, Sherry Johnson, professor of History at Florida International University, tracked these families in Cuba and produced the following work. One of our volunteers, Lourdes del Pino, has used additional information provided by Sherry Johnson to add to this work. We are truly grateful to both of them for their hard work. We are especially grateful to Sherry Johnson for her generosity in sharing her years of experience and fruits of her research with all of us!

Downloadable PDF

Widows and Orphans of La Florida Receiving Aid (1770, 1789 and 1805)

Beginning in 1770, the widows, female orfans and mothers of military men who had served in the Presidio of Saint Augustine in Florida and were living in Cuba after the cession of Florida to the British, were granted “limosnas.” Under this system these women received annual monetary aid to sustain their families. We have transcribed the lists for 1770, 1789 and 1805. We thank Sherry Johnson, professor of History at Florida International University (FIU), for generously providing the 1789 and 1805 lists.

Downloadable PDF

Sources: 

(1770) AGI Signatura Antigua 87-1-5
(1789) AGI signatura desconocida
(1805) Archivo Nacional de Cuba Legajo 6 Signatura 27

The Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, Florida, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit designated organization founded in February of 2001.

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Last updated January 01, 2024


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