I represent Doña Francisca Madrid Hernandez, a blanca woman born in Pensacola.
In 1817, my husband, Don Gabriel Hernandez, submitted a request for a land grant from the Spanish Crown for 320 arpents of land, with this explanation: “… since the death of his father-in-law, Don Martin de Madrid, he has been occupied working on a Plantation belonging to his brother-in-law, Don Millan de la Carrera, who has just sold it to the Retired Lieutenant Don Jose Noriega, and although the latter has generously offered him to continue to occupy the place until such time as he can gather the growing crop, or as long as convenient to him, the Petitioner having a large family consisting of his wife, four children and four servants, sees that it will not be advisable to cultivate land note one’s own…”
It continues: “…Petitioner being desirous of devoting himself entirely to farm work, because unable in this Town to find employment at his trade of Ship Wright, except occasionally…”
At the time of the 1820 census of Pensacola, I was 26 years old. My husband, another blanco born in Pensacola, was listed as being a farmer, so presumably he made the career change he was looking for. We had three young children listed in the census, which surely makes one wonder if we lost one between 1817 and 1820.