In the early 1670s a Valencian named Juan de Pueyo came to St. Augustine and began to work his way up in the counting house, beginning as the clerk of the half-annate. According to the treasury officials, since counting house salaries were low they also gave him the post of constable, which carried its own assistant in the chief guard of the customs house. Pueyo knew the importance of family. He was promoted to chief clerk around the time his wife’s sister married the accountant’s son. As chief clerk of the counting house Pueyo supervised the assistant clerk, and as customs constable, the guards. By 1702 the Valencian, serving as interim accountant, stood at the governor’s left hand during the Acclamation of Philip V as one of the provinces’ first ministers. For someone who had started as an under-bookkeeper he had come a long way. [Note 12: Gov. Marques Cabrera 6/28/1683; Parish Register Marriages; Gov. Quiroga y Losada and the royal officials 5/8/1689; Matheo Luis de Florencia and Juan de Pueyo 3/15/1702] AN286 (Bushnell KC)