María Candelaria Simon

I represent Maria Candelaria, a free parda woman born in Pensacola. I was confirmed in Pensacola on May 7, 1798, by the Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, Rev. Luis Peñalver y Cardenas. At that time, I was enslaved in the household of Juan del Dugue; and I was recorded as the child of the negra enslaved woman, Cecilia. At the time of the 1820 census, I was 30 years old, a free woman of color, making my living as a seamstress. I lived with Francisco Simon, a blanco fisherman. We had three children. 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 may have used Francisco’s surname.