Time to make some Updates

I was planning to make some updates to the bibliography and descendant charts. The stuff in the upper right hand side of the Blog.

I have some more books to add and a few more descendants.

If you have your genealogy information already online, let me know the Internet address and I will setup a link to it.

If you want to contribute to the updates or add some new feature, please let me know.

You could:

1. Add your update as a posting to this Blog,
2. Provide your update as a comment to this posting, or
3. Send it to me as an email at tomsantacruz@gmail.com.

I would like to finish this round of updates by mid-December 2007.

If you have additions to the descendant charts, please don't include living people.

Governor Patrick Tonyn

Patrick Tonyn (1725-1804) was the British Governor of East Florida (1771-1783) that gave Francisco Xavier Sanchez a considerable amount of grief.

Tonyn stayed on in Florida after its return to Spanish control. He worked with the Spanish governor, Vicente Manuel de Zespedes, sharing a bit of control over British Tories who choose to stay in Spanish Florida after the American Revolution. This went well for over a year until he provided a list of English speaking Floridians who needed discipline. The more relaxed Zespedes released Tonyn as an aid to his staff.

Francisco Xavier Sanchez got on the wrong side of Tonyn by associating with Dan Gritt, the leader of the Banditti [real bandits]. Tonyn then worked at connecting him other possible crimes.

Tonyn is a bit hard to understand. Andrew Turnbull was on his "enemies list" which resulted in the releasing of hundreds of Spanish speaking Minorcans. Prior to the release his had express concerns about arming the Minorcans in defense of the colony.

If you are interested, Tonyn's correspondence with Zespedes about Francisco Xavier Sanchez can be read in Zespedes in East Florida, 1784-1790 by Helen Hornbeck Tanner. Another book that discusses Gov. Tonyn's activities in Florida is Florida in the American Revolution by J. Leitch Wright. Both these books are available in most Florida libraries.

On the lighter side his portrait does make him look a little like George Washington.

Los Floridanos Activities - Part 2

Since I posted information on the Fall Los Floridanos Activities, I received another newsletter. It includes a Wikipedia write-up of the End of the First Spanish Period in Florida, more details about the picnic, and what appears to be the same information on the November and December Activities.

Concerning the picnic:

October 20
12PM Los Floridanos Picnic - Los Floridanos Society will host a family picnic for the members and guests at Fort Matanzas State Park located 9 miles south of St. Augustine Beach on Highway A1A South. There is no admission charge to this State Park. Please bring a dish to share. It can be a main dish, side dish, or a dessert The Society will be furnishing fried chicken, drinks and the paper products.

Los Floridanos items will be available for sale. Including:
Men's & Ladies Shirts with logos ($20)
20" X 27" Coat of Arms flags for Sanchez & Solana ($12)
Medallions ($15)
Caps with Logos ($10)
6' X 5" Los Floridanos Society Flags flown on the Bridge of Lions in 2001 with certification ($25)

Although not a requirement to attend the picnic, an RSVP will be helpful to determine the number of members & guests who plan to attend the picnic. Please respond with the # of attendees to the Los Floridanos address [P.O. Box 1891, St. Augustine, FL 32085-1891] or call Dick at 904-797-4952 or e-mail Anita at aschen@earthlink.net

The picnic area is small so if you can bring a folding table and something to sit on. Restrooms are nearby. I added a link to the park in the release above.

And remember there are other first families besides Sanchez.