Cousins Reunited at Veterans' Day Picnic

Cousins Reunited:

Los Floridanos picnic at Little Manatee River State Park 

    WIMAUMA -- A small but devoted band of cousins gathered together for food and family connecting on Veteran's Day 2013 at Little Manatee River State Park, with thanks to the organizing efforts of Tom Santa Cruz for reserving the screened shelter complete with electricity for plugging in and comparing family trees.

    Partners, spouses and children added to the gathering, although a bigger turnout would have added to the event. 

    Sanchez (descendant) cousins include, standing, Bo Haven, Rick Sheffield, Ed Whitehouse; seated, Dee Graham, Tom Santa Cruz. Not pictured, Nickie Rucker.

Veterans in the Sanchez Family

Since we are going to have the get-together at the Little Manatee State Park on Veterans Day (11/11/13), it would be good to remember and honor at all the veterans in the family tree that we might find know of.

There were a few in every war this country has had since Florida became part of the U.S.

Many of the ancestors were in the Indian Wars.  There are records of many of there enlistments some received bounty land grants (some were converted to cash and some were settled on), a few lived to receive pensions,

There were Sanchezes in the Mexican War.  Roman B. Sanchez, who was in Livingston's Independent Comp., received a pension.  There were likely more.

There were Sanchez on both sides of the Civil War.  There is a databases of Soldiers and Sailor on both sides are listed in a National Park Service database.  The pension files in the Florida Memory Project are more than indexes but show the forms filed by the soldiers and their widows.

Were there Sanchez descendants in the Spanish American War?

For World War I there are the draft card files men of military age were required to file.  There are also service files of Florida soldiers and sailors in the Florida Memory Project.  Many of these servicemen returned with disabilities.

For World War II the free access files are few.  The Draft Registration Cards don't include Florida.  There is a list of Army Enlistments that is faulty.  There are commercial listings in Ancestry.com and 3fold.com that might be better. However we are in the range of recent memory.  Many of us can remember or remember what our parents told us about this war..

This summer list from the Korean War and Vietnam War have been published: Korean War POWs, Korean War dead and wounded for the Army, Vietnam War Casualties, and Vietnam War Deaths.  You might know of other databases with additional information you might share with us.

I don't have information on databases of service members in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have many of these veterans among us now.  Let us plan to honor their service when we gather at Little Manatee State Park to discuss much lighter matters of who is descendant from whom and eat some potluck goodies.

All of the off-color (blue or violet) are clickable Internet links to the mentioned databases.  Many public libraries have free access to commercial websites of  Ancestry.com and some to 3fold.com as well.

Florida Pioneers: Conquistadors, Colonialists, & Crackers

The Florida State Genealogical Society (FSGS) is offering a free webinar on Thursday, September 19th at 8 pm EDT.  It will last an hour.  You will need to pre-register and then login with a link sent to you on Thursday evening.

For the FSGS link click here.  Your Internet connection needs to be DSL or a high speed connection.  I have watched these talks on a hand-held tablet computer.

The presentation by FSGS Pioneer Certification Committee Chair Amy Crabhill Lay. The question… Is participating in a lineage program really worth it or is it just for pretentious people? YES! … and… NO! Learn more about lineage programs, what to expect during the application process, and what the FSGS requires for the Florida Pioneer Descendant Program. We will review types of source documents, what’s important for a successful application, and the reward of participation.

If you have not attended a webinar before it is like attending a public presentation, but you are watching it on your computer.  There is a live narrative with slides and such.  At the end you will be able to type in questions for the speaker.

YOU are invited to our family reunion on Veteran's Day!

Join the Tampa Bay area parientes for Veteran's Day

Los Floridanos Family Reunion

WHO:        Los Floridanos &  friends

WHAT:      Family gathering for fun, friendship & learning more about our stories.

Los Floridanos Historian Tom Santa Cruz, Ph.D.,
will tell the stories of how our ancestors first migrated into the Southwest Florida area.
The founder of the Francisco Xavier Sanchez Blog, he serves as a member of the board of directors of the Pasco County Genealogy Society, where he chairs the genealogy research committee. He is also a chemistry instructor for Hillsborough Community College.

WHEN:      Park opens 8am-5pm. Be there for shared lunch & special presentation following!

                  MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013

WHERE:    Little Manatee River State Park, Pavilion #1, Wimauma, FL

Little Manatee River State Park

Little Manatee River State Park map

Entrance to the park will be free on Veteran's Day, a Monday, Nov. 11!

Those who wish to make a weekend of this opportunity may wish to camp, as this state park includes full camping facilities.

For information about the park itself, contact (850) 245-2157.  

For more information on the Los Floridanos event, call Tom Santa Cruz at 813-783-2085.

PLEASE NOTE: This will be a shared picnic, so please bring enough for yourselves and some to share. There is no organized plan for food, drink or supplies, so we must be self-reliant. Volunteers, however, are welcome to step forward here. Thanks.

"Dicho" : Learning to decipher from Spanish to Spanish

Dicho : As they said it

Exploring the Spanish Archives & the stories of the ancestors

If you're wondering about what was on the minds of those Spanish and the folks they encountered in the early days, now there's a treasure hunt to help us find out!

Just like in this country there are new records online, the Archivo General de Indias   is now available online for those curious about digitalized primary documents from the European struggle for Florida.

It isn't easy to read. That's why I'm taking the Spanish Paleography class with Dr. Michael Francis at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg in Florida Studies, which turns out to be quite exciting. The project I will tackle is "Cartas de Governadores" 1564, exploring the Spanish and Hugenot conflicts off South Carolina.

As students of FX Sanchez, there is the possibility there of learning something about the heritage of the mother of his first children, Beatriz de Piedra, as both of her parents come from this era. Her father was a carpenter who made parts for ships in Charleston and her mother was born in the islands, but became his slave. What was the culture and controversy from which they arose and met? How did they create this woman who set the tone of the beginnings of the FX Sanchez family?

But now we are simply at the point of determining one letter from another, a word from a scribble. Plus the class is only to translate from the written script into the Spanish word, not into English. That we leave for the experts.

 The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

Aprender a leer otra vez

Learning to Read ... Again

Aprender a leer otra vez!

Although I haven't perfected my Spanish keyboard techniques yet, I'm excited to begin today my studies with Dr. J. Michael Francis, one of the country's leading experts of Spanish Colonial Florida.

He's letting me audit the class at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg, in the Florida Studies Department  Florida Studies - USF Saint Petersburg . 

 It's my first step toward clarifying and updating DOUBLE COUSINS with a new chapter on Francisco Xavier Sanchez and his two spouses, Beatriz de Piedra and Maria del Carmen Hill. VIVA!

This time maybe I can shed more light on the "median Spanish" documents by reading them myself. There's definitely something to be said for being in the moment with one's ancestors when reading their own handwriting.

Jose Simeon Sanchez, brother of Francisco Xavier Sanchez, signed the original Florida constitution

FX Sanchez Descendant Double Cousins Salute Tio Jose

Photo from Florida Sesquicentennial in 1995 features FX brother Jose Sanchez

 Lamar Graham, grandson of Delia Sanchez, daughter of Alexander B Sanchez, son of FX Roman Sanchez, son of FX Sanchez & Maria del Carmen Hill, with his 1st cousins late Charlotte Maddox & her sister Frances, both of Thomasville, GA, also FX Sanchez descendants, photographed by me (Dee Graham) at the 1995 FL Sesquicentennial in Port Saint Joe. See photo & info on Tio Jose Simeon Sanchez, their 4th great uncle, between the sisters' heads.

Lamar T. Graham, Frances Maddox and Charlotte Maddox in 1995

Cousin Earl Sanchez of Plant City and his wife, Debi Smith Sanchez, had a unique encounter with some of the Cuban Sanchez descendants when they visited Tolomato Cemetery in Saint Augustine seeking the grave of Francisco Xavier Sanchez.
Here a link to the story of the chance encounter as told in the Tolomato Cemetery blog:
Tolomato Cemetery Times

Earl Sanchez

Los Floridanos Make Connections:

Cousins & Connections: What Happened

Family Information Exchange for Descendants of First Florida Spanish Families

(Solana, Solano, Sanchez, etc)

St. John’s County South East Branch Library

6670 US #1 South

St. Augustine, FL

Saturday April 13, 2013

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

    Despite ongoing controversy about the topic, the Sanchezes were definitely the first to arrive to the library gathering of Los Floridanos at the informal meeting at the Saint John's east library where cousins and shirttail relatives gathered to meet and reunion with one another. While 15 people signed in, other spouses, children and friends accompanied the cousins to make this a successful event.

    Those who signed the book include Asaph and Marlaine Graham of Seminole, Fred and Diana Williams of Welaka, Earl and Debi Sanchez of Plant City, Tom Santa Cruz of Zephyrhills, Henry (Bo) Haven of Dade City, all from the Sanchez side, and Solanas Linda Brown of Jacksonville, Kathy and Christopher Garrett of San Mateo, and Crystal Solana Bryan of Saint Petersburg.

    Thanks goes especially to Crystal for setting up the meetings space and spreading the word.

Connecting the News

Photo at Tomolato Cemetery of FX Sanchez descendants includes cousins connected to Manatee County  Asaph Graham (face slightly hidden behind Ann Browning) on back row, then next, Travis Sheffield and Rick Sheffield. Kneeling in front are Dee Graham, holding grandson, Anthony Quandt Judd. (Photo by Alena Scandura.)

Earl Sanchez of Plant City is one person to the right from Rick Sanchez. Where is Tom Santa Cruz, because  you were there? More photos to come, but if the rest of you send in IDs we can add them to the photo. Please excuse any lapses of visual-naming memories.

Manatee folks mentioned in Bradenton Herald blog 

      After our trip to Saint Augustine for the memorial honoring Francisco X Sanchez's new status with the Sons of the American Revolution, Bradenton Herald columnist Vinn Mannix ran this photo and a feature in his blog about these attending descendants with Manatee County connections.

      Even though I'm in the photo, my name isn't mentioned since I'm now working as a reporter for the newspaper. Thanks to Vinn, who also wrote about my dad a few times and does a great job keeping up with local history.

bradenton-folks-share-lineage-of-noble

from Rev. Dee Graham

8th great granddaughter of FX Sanchez

More Information on the Tolomato Cemetery

There is a blog for the cemetery called, Tolomato Cemetery Times (the link should work).  There are several with Sanchez information:

• Family Reunion at Tolomato Cemetery (September 27, 2011), cousin Earl Sanchez mention this at the memorial service.
• Sneak Preview of Latest Marker
• Cleaning - against all odds - and Discoveries! (April 13, 2013) a picture of the memorial dedication is included.

It is proper etique to show links to other blog, but not to just copy them and include them without permission.

Even more Activity for Saturday, April 13th in St. Augustine

In a recent email from Dick Rousseau:

Crystal Solana Bryan will host a meeting on Saturday, April 13, 2013 in St. Augustine as follows:

Family Information Exchange for Descendants of First Florida Spanish Families

(Solana, Solano, Sanchez, etc)

St. John’s County South East Branch Library

6670 US #1 South

St. Augustine, FL

Saturday April 13, 2013

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Please plan to attend and exchange family information.

Any questions contact her at solanacrystal@Hotmail.com

This is about 10 miles due South of the Tolomato Cemetery Monument dedication that starts at 2 pm.  The library is on US-1 just North of the highway to Crescent Beach. There is plenty of free parking at this library.

Gosh! I better pack a lunch!

Memorial Marker for Francisco Xavier Sanchez

Preserving Florida’s History

Researchers at USF St. Petersburg are working to digitize a treasure trove of Spanish documents that shed light on Florida’s past in St. Augustine.

Exciting news -- the new professor at USF Saint Petersburg, J Michael Francis, has students digging into the original Spanish archives.

Wonder if we can locate more records on Francisco? Was there ever a marriage between him and Beatriz de Piedra? Can we find earlier family records?

Soon they will be online. Check out the story in the USF magazine:
http://www.magazine.usf.edu/2013/spring/features/preserving-floridas-history.aspx

Florida Trend Magazine

I got an email from Dick Rousseau that he received that you might like to follow up on:

Hello,

 

I'm a writer for Florida Trend magazine and we're working on an upcoming "La Florida" issue for the magazine. More than most of our issues, this one is going to include quite a bit of historical information. In partticular we are interested in finding descendents of some of the earliest Spanish settlers that still live in Florida to interview. I'm hoping you can help connect me with some of these descendents.

 

You can reach me at this email or at the phone numbers listed below. I'm eager to hear from you soon.

 

Cheers,

 

Lilly Rockwell
Associate EditorFlorida TrendOffice: (850) 391-9272

Cell: (850) 228-1664lrockwell@floridatrend.com

Florida Soldiers in Civil War (both sides)

Many of our ancestors served as soldiers during the Civil War.  There is a 6-volume set of books that includes information garnered from many documented sources about the soldiers and their military units from both sides of the conflict.

Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers, 1861-1865, by David W. Hartman (compiler) and David J. Coles (associate compiler); ISBN: 1568372884

It is an expensive set of books the Florida Catalog lists 44 locations in Florida to read this set.  It does not circulate and in county libraries that own it, it is in the "main" branch.  It is also in the larger colleges and universities in Florida.