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There were only 25 Franciscan clergy in FL

Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122

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The disputed chapter and the unsavory factional struggle within the order was undoubtedly more the effect than the cause of the decline of the Franciscans. The dispute between Creoles and Spaniards was the culmination of the gradual decline of the order which set in after 1670. After the founding of Charleston the friars had fought in vain against the encroachments of English traders and frontiers men on their missions in the Southeast. With little help from Spanish civil authorities—either in military support or in supplies—the missionaries could not meet English competition for the loyalties of the natives and had to abandon their mission villages. At the same time the number of friars serving in Florida began to decrease. In 1650 there were 55, in 1702 43. [Note 120: Informe del provincial de Santa Elena 3/13/1702] By 1738 this number had reached 25, and by 1759 only 10 regular clergymen remained. [Note 121: gov to king 10/26/1738; Informe de Joseph Solana 4/22/1759] Those departing claimed, like one Franciscan, that they did so with deep regret, “sadly and tearfully,” but most likely these were “crocodile tears.” Life and work in Florida were unrewarding. For those who remained in the colony, conventual politics came to substitute for missionary endeavors, formerly carried on to such a wide extend throughout the Southeast. That he factional struggle erupted was symptomatic of the decline, not really its cause.
(Tepaske GSF)