Doña Maria LaFort Commyns

I represent Doña Maria LaFort Commyns, a blanca woman born in New Orleans. (My name sometimes appears as “LaFon.”) I appear in the 1784 census as a 26-year-old, with my husband, Don Tomas Commyns, and our three children. At the time of the 1820 census of Pensacola, I was 62 years old (though the census says I was 52), widowed, and living with my four adult children, a sailor named Ramon, and 3 young children whose relationship to us is not specified. My death notice in The Floridian says I died of dysentery on September 25, 1823 – and that I was 75 years old, which conflicts with the ages given in the censuses. Perhaps I was a lady who let her age remain a mystery.