The treasurer’s individual functions were those of a cashier. He received the royal revenues paid in specie and disbursed the sums that he, the other officials, and the governor had approved. The coffer was his particular responsibility; he lived in the building where it was kept. Because little money got to Florida the duties of this office were light. The gossipy Accountant Arguelles said that once the yearly payroll had been met the treasurer had nothing to do. [Note 27: Bartolome de Arguelles 2/20/1600 and 11/2/1598] Perhaps this was why in 1628, the year the factorship was suppressed, the duties of steward were given to the treasurer and the position treasurer-steward was created. [Note 28: Francisco Menendez Marquez 1644-46] In vain Accountant Nicolas Ponce de Leon warned the king that letting Treasurer Francisco Menendez Marquez have access to the supplies as well as the money would make him more powerful than the accountant and governor together. [Note 29: Nicolas Ponce de Leon 9/12/1638] In 1754, after three sons and a grandson of Francisco had served their own proprietorships in the treasury, a Bourbon king took the further step of suppressing the accountancy and reducing the number of officials to one, the treasurer. [Note 30: Pedro Sanchez Grinan report, Madrid, 7/7/1756] But that is outside the scope of this study. (Bushnell KC)