"A class of people neither freemen nor slaves": from Spanish to American race relations in Florida, 1821-1861

(31.) Will of Zephaniah Kingsley, probate file 1203.

(32.) Ibid.

(33.) The will is dated August 19, 1837. See probate file 1756, which commenced in 1839.

(34.) Richards's free black mistress, Teresa, their children Lewis, Michael, and Christiana, along with Josephine (all named in his will), migrated to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. See Ortiz, Emigracion de Libertos 53, 117-118. The Florida News, March 5, 1847, carries a sheriff's notice for a $250 reward for John, who had escaped from jail. Fortune's property was sold at a sheriff's auction. See News, December 19, 1845. Fortune lived in Jacksonville until the Civil War. For John's service in the Union Army, see Daniel L. Schafer, "Freedom was as Close as the St. Johns River; The Blacks of Northeast Florida and the Civil War," in El Escribano; The St. Augustine Journal of History 23 (1986-1991):116.

(35.) Probate file 850 (August 29, 1837). For sale of Tena see Florida Republican, January 3, 1850.

(36.) Probate file 853 (Jan. 19, 1841). Hagar's residence is in the 1850 Census. For John F. Brown, probate file 79.

(37.) Probate file 1906 (Feb. 8, 1860).

(38.) 1830 Census; Arch F. Blakey, Parade of Memories: A History of Clay County (Orange Park, Florida, 1976) 37-38; Duval County Probate File for George Fleming, Jr. (no. 911, March 29, 1851).

(39.) Judge's Order Book A, 1-9, has emancipation records for Francisco Sabate (by his father Andrew Sabate), Emilia (by Sarah P. Anderson), Cyrus (by a "local man of colour" through a white army officer), Kate (by Washington M. Ives), and Petrona and sons Roman and Jose (by a free black, Geronimo Alvarez). P.B. Dumas and David R. Dunham were the Clerks of the Circuit Court During these years. In 1841, Richard Weightman directed executors to give freedom and a horse and saddle to Manuel. See Wills and Letters of Administration, No. 1, page 58. See the 1850 and 1860 Censuses for Josefa Fontane's residence in St. Augustine.

(40.) Ibid., 5; and the 1860 Census of Clay County. Magnolia is now known as Green Cove Springs. George J. F. Clarke and Benjamin A. Putnam were the intermediaries.

(41.) Ibid., 5-6. The 1850 Census gives Charles's age as 100 years, and Sally's as 48. Sally was born in Africa.

(42.) Louise Biles Hill, "George J. F. Clarke, 1774-1836," Florida Historical Quarterly 21 (January, 1943): 197-235.

(43.) George Clarke, biographical folder, SAHS. Clarke's brother Charles also married a free black, Patty Wiggins. See the Patriot War Papers; MC-31, 1812-1846, Folder 48 (SAHS).

(44.) In 1850 she was Hannah Bennet, age 45, a washerwoman with a daughter, Cecelia Clark. In 1860 she lived in Palatka, Putnam County, listed as 52, a mulatto washerwoman, and an "idiot," living with Cicella, 20, also a mulatto washerwoman, and Margareth, age 2.

George Clarke's extended family can be traced through the St. Johns County censuses from 1830-1860. Felicia (Philis) married a white man, William Garvin, and as his widow became a substantial property owner. The 1830 census lists her as living in the City Barracks section of St. Augustine, the head of a household with seven other residents. In St. Augustine were thirty free Negroes, all members of Clarke's extended family. Deaths, and emigration to Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Cuba, reduced the numbers significantly by 1860, when only William, the youngest son of George and Flora, still resided in St. Augustine. See the typescript by Louise B. Hill in Clarke's biographical folder, SAHS.