I represent Anastacio Garreta, a free pardo boy born in Pensacola. I was a child of Juan Garreta, a Spaniard, and Maria Bara, a free parda woman. Families of mixed ethnicity like ours were quite common in Spanish West Florida, as the Spanish did not have the same social taboos as Anglo-American society.
I was baptized by Father Coleman at St. Michael’s on May 10, 1819, and my father acknowledged me as his hijo natural. At the time of the 1820 census of Pensacola, I was 1 year old; by the time of the changing of the flags, I had three siblings. Also living with us was Don Francisco Egido, a retired Spanish military officer, but his relationship to us is unclear.