I represent Don Jose Noriega, a blanco man born in Louisiana in 1788. My parents were Victoria Lesassier Noriega de Alba and Lt. Col. Joseph Noriega, Sr. In my 1796 request to the Spanish Crown for a grant of Lot 115, I was described as a Lieutenant of Infantry and “the only Adjutant of this Town,” though I had retired from active duty by 1818. In an 1817 request for a grant of land from the Spanish Crown to raise Sea Island cotton, it was noted that at several times after my retirement I had been employed by the Crown “with no salary or compensation whatsoever.”
I married Amelia Christin in 1816 at St. Michael’s parish in Pensacola. At the time of the 1820 census of Pensacola, I was 30 and listed as a farmer. We shared our household with my brother-in-law, Don Fernando Christin. In 1820 I was elected alcalde, or mayor, of Pensacola. Governor Jose Callava and I were still squabbling over a division of powers when West Florida was ceded to the United States.
I died July 10, 1827 and am buried in St. Michael’s cemetery.