The Oldest City

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury The fact that former Acting Governor Pedro Benedit Horruytiner had been a witness at the 1661 marriage of Francisca’s grandparents might indicate that the family was socially important; on the other hand, persons in such high positions often served as witnesses or godparents as a form of patronage. As the next generation came along, when Francisca’s parents were married, again important officials were witnesses, raising similar questions on their social relationship with the marrying couple.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury As some unknown family built the coquina house and enjoyed the thick walls and solid roof [of the ‘Oldest House’], two other people were growing up an ocean apart; they would become inhabitants of the house, the first to whom we can put names. Tomas Gonzalez y Hernandez, born in 1701 on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, followed other islanders to Florida about 1721.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Tomas Gonzalez y Hernandez, born in 1701 on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, followed other islanders to Florida about 1721. For two years he was a sailor...

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Maria Francisca, the oldest, minding her sisters, Leonor, Josepha, Caterina and Margarita Baby Fall 1723 (Dec 1 would be 9 months; shotgun wedding? Premie?) ...the first daughter marrying at the age of 14.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury For two years he was a sailor, but March 1723 saw big changes in Tomas’ life. On the first of the month he married Maria Francisca Guevara y Dominguez and just a week later he joined the garrison as a gunner in the artillery company.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury For two years he was a sailor, but March 1723 saw big changes in Tomas’ life. On the first of the month he married Maria Francisca Guevara y Dominguez and just a week later he joined the garrison as a gunner in the artillery company. Francisca Guevara y Dominguez was a fourth-generation St. Augustine girl. In marrying a newcomer, she followed not only a family tradition but a pattern of local culture, for the soldiers who came to reinforce the Spanish presence in Florida often found wives among the locally-born Spanish floridanas.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1724.5

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1726

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1727.5 Died August 17

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury ...But he [Tomas] and his fellows stayed within the walls of the fortress in March 1728, when Carolinians came down as far as Nombre de Dios, the little settlement within sight of the Castillo. Governor Antonio de Benevides, unwilling to risk the limited strength of his garrison, saw the English burn the little cluster of dwellings around the chapel before they returned to Carolina. Tomas could go back to his house safely that time.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1729

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1730.5

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1732

The Carolinians argued that “Carolina must take St. Augustine, or St. Augustine would take Carolina,” and Benavides watched with apprehension the signs of settlement at the Savannah River led by General James Oglethorpe. (Waterbury)

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1733.5

(Waterbury) In 1734 the new governor, Francisco del Moral Sanchez, was comparatively content with the defensive potentialities of the castillo, but moved almost at once to protect the town’s western approaches. Two blockhouses were built where the trail to Apalache crossed the St. Johns, Fort Picolata on the east bank and Fort San Francisco de Pupo across the river. If ever there was a time when St. Augustine needed a strong government, it was in these days of the growing British presence to the north. But after a few promising months, Moral’s term, 1734-37, marked the nadir of Spanish Florida’s governorship. He managed to alienate every element of the town—he arrested popular officers on pretexts, he supported one faction of the Franciscans against the other, he profited from the illegal sales of English goods at inflated prices when the town was in sore need of supplies. Moral believed that English expansion was still negotiable, and Oglethorpe’s emissaries were courteously received in St. Augustine. In turn Moral sent a delegation to meet with the British general at Jekyll Island. Meanwhile, settlements, forts and defensive works were springing up on the barrier islands off Georgia. While talks had been going on at Jekyll Island, St. Augustine’s troubles with her governor had been mounting. Despite his attempts at censorship, frank letters and complaints from the presidio had reached former governor Benavides in Vera Cruz; others from friars got through to Cuban convents; still more went to the governor at Havana and thence to Madrid.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1735

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1736.5 girl Margarita

From Mose in Secondary Literature by Amy • “The center of community life was the new church, completed in 1797. Inside, near the door, was displayed a crucifix recovered from ruined Nombre de Dios after the Palmer raid of 1728, reminding the parishioners of an earlier period of Catholicism in the city.” AN71

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Greater drama centered on the convent in March of 1737. On orders from Havana, Governor Francisco del Moral Sanchez was to turn over the town and Castillo to a replacement. Faced with the threat of an ignominious ouster, Moral Sanchez sought sanctuary in the Franciscan convent, creating a crisis between the friars and the secular authorities. Bishop Francisco de San Buenaventura, siding with the latter, went into the convent after the recalcitrant governor. (We can imagine the Gonzalez family watching with interest.) When the two came out, with the onlookers probably still agog, Buenaventura had prevailed, and Moral Sanchez boarded a ship bound for Havana. Quiet returned to the neighborhood, and family members resumed their normal tasks. Maria Francisca, the oldest, minding her sisters, Leonor, Josepha, Caterina and Margarita. While they played in the hard-packed dirt yard, she could work at the constant chore of grinding corn.

(Waterbury) March - Governor Manuel de Montiano (age 52) arrives in S.A., stays till 1749 By the time he reached St. Augustine in 1737, Manuel de Montiano, “Late of the infantry of Aragon,” had led grenadiers in Oran against the Moors, and had seen service in Central America. As governor now, he would use all he had learned and improvise as needed, for it was he who led the St. Augustinians at the time of their greatest threat, Oglethorpe’s 1740 siege. He knew, and the engineer Arredondo agreed, that St. Augustine was ill-prepared for any effective defense and so Montiano wrote Governor Guemes in Havana, analyzing the weaknesses of his castillo. He warned, “We are as bare outside as we are without life inside, for there are no guns that could last 24 hours, and if there were, we have no artillerymen to serve them.”

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Gonzalez Baby born 1738

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury The summer of 1740 brought an interruption to the usual routine, for General James Oglethorpe marched down from Georgia, determined that finally Florida should become British. On orders from Governor Manuel de Montiano, the Gonzalez family, their neighbors and friends gathered in shelters at the foot of the Castillo’s west walls, as far as possible from the British batteries established across the bay. Tomas was at his post with the heavy guns on the Castillo’s gundeck.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury For thirty days of siege, in the summer heat, the townspeople and garrison held out. To answer Oglethorpe’s bombardment, Montiano’s forces worked the big guns nights and day; for three weeks Gonzalez, with the other artillerymen, watched British mortar shells streak across the bay toward the fortress and responded with their own not inconsiderable firepower. The heavy firing, Spanish and English, meant sleepless nights for the St. Augustinians; rapidly dwindling food supplies meant hungry days.

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury With his bombardment ineffective, his men discouraged, and St. Augustine newly fed and supplied, Oglethorpe withdrew in late July. Tomas and his family could return to their house, unmarked by the shelling despite an assortment of cannon balls which had reached the area from the English batteries on Anastasia Island.39

Gonzalezes’ bio, by Jean Parker Waterbury Finally, on the night of July 13-14, vessels came up the Matanzas River loaded with flour and food from Havana for Montiano’s people.