Jose Simeon (Joseph S.) Sanchez

I am descended from Francisco Xavier Sanchez through his youngest son -- Jose Simeon Sanchez. I will attempt to post the J.S. Sanchez lineage on the blog shortly. There was a detailed geneology commissioned by the family back in the 1950's that was conducted by Eleanor Phillips Barnes (perhaps a Sanchez descendant herself).

I live on Amelia Island and am currently researching Jose Simeon's role in the military actions that took place here in 1812 and 1817. In seeking a land grant from the Spanish governor for plantation property in Alachua County in 1818, he cites his service in the Spanish militia. The way he states his request, along with he fact that he had a long military career later in life, suggests he may have been a junior officer of the Spanish garrison in 1812 and perhaps a more senior officer at the Battle of Amelia Island (McClure's Hill) in 1817.

Bibliography & Descendant Chart Updated

One bibliography has reference to source directly connected to the Sanchez Family and the other bibliography refers to reference not having Sanchez Family connections, instead information on the world they lived in.

The descendant chart for Francis Roman Sanchez was also updated. It is no longer abridged. Alexander Boneparte and George Washington Sanchez' families are included.

These improvements come from the suggestions of family members. If something is missing something significant, make a comment so that it can be added. If something is a mistake, make a comment so that it can be corrected.

Hopefully you will not find yourself in the chart. An effort has been made not to include living descendants. And we do have some long-lived cousins out there.

I wish I could include our St. Augustine cousins, but my information is incomplete.

These updates are only four months later than planned.

Find A Grave

I received an interesting email from Barbara Roberts that I think needs more sharing. She found the grave of Lindley M. Scarborough on the Find A Grave website [www.findagrave.com]. He was the first husband of Mary Elizabeth Wilson (daughter of Rafaela Sophia Maria Sanchez).

Lindley M. Scarborough, died 15 Dec 1862 at age 30 years. He is buried in Scarborough Cemetery, Lake City (Alligator) Columbia county, FL. Even the grave stone is shown on the website.

Where does Barbara find these things?

Yulee Railroad Days 2008 [Friday, May 30 - Saturday, June 7]

Driving through Archer recently I saw a hand painted sign "Yulee Days - June 7."

The celebration is over the railroad that connected Cedar Key with Fernandina. The railroad was completed about 1860 and built through the political efforts of U. S. Senator David Levy Yulee.

Francis Roman Sanchez knew the Levys especially in court.

The old railroad bed is State Road 24 (Archer Road) and a short distance west of the intersect of US-27 (University Ave.) is the Davis Center of the Santa Fe Community College, looking northwest from the Davis Center parking lot into an open field is where Alexander Boneparte Sanchez' farm was located.

After the War between the States the railroad provided an access to other places outside Archer and Alachua County. And later some descendants worked on the railroad.

It is over a week long celebration with activities all along the railroad. However June 7th the last day appears to be the big day.

Check the Yulee Railroad Days 2008 out and may be see some cousins there.

Please Participate - I am lonely.

I didn't know that so many Sanchez descendants are without opinions.

Each and every Blog entry has a place for COMMENTS. Most still read "0 comments."

Anyone can make a comment!

If you want to my an original Blog entry, let me know [tomsantacruz@gmail.com]. I will get you signed up.

Your opinions are welcome. Most of the readers of this Blog are cousins. I hate just writing to myself, learning new things this way isn't too productive.

DNA Links to the Family

With the rest of the information on this blog using historical events or current happenings, DNA is a little out of place or is it.

The following are the Mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA] results for a maternal descendant of Louisa Colding:

HVR1

• 16256 - T
• 16519 - C

HVR2

• 93 - G
• 263 - G
• 309.1 - C
• 315.1 - C

Louisa Colding is the wife of Alexander Boneparte Sanchez. Maternal descendants are all of their children, the children of their daughters, the children of the daughters of their daughters, the children of the daughters of the daughters of their daughters, and so on.

Who else might have this code as a match? Other maternal descendants of Louisa Colding's maternal ancestors.

It is claimed that the maternal DNA is more stable over the generations than the paternal. This is due to the way eggs and sperm are produced in humans.

Don't just rush out their and have a test done, it costs about $150 for just mtDNA. [For females this is the only genealogical DNA test. Certainly they inherit DNA from their father, but not what is tested for genealogically.] A cheaper alternate would be to submit a sample to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation [www.smgf.org/]. Then see if you match. Check the website for participation. Two important caveats are: you will not be given results, however your results will be searchable in the database, and your sample may be used for other tests (they claim they don't share the results.) Paternal DNA [yDNA] can also done this way.

I haven't found any paternal DNA information from this Sanchez line. If someone has some results, it would be interesting to compare with others. "To compare" is the reason it was done in the first place, isn't it. Realize you must be a male with the Sanchez surname for starters.

Challenges:

1. Are there any matches to the Louisa Colding results?
2. Are there results from other Matriarchs in the Sanchez family?
3. Are there any Sanchez paternal results?

DNA is a complicated topic. The Sorenson website explains a lot about it, even if you don't participate.