I represent Maria Magdalena Bonal, a free girl of color born to Don Francisco Bonal, a Spaniard; and Emilia Mombrun, a free parda woman. I was baptized by Father Coleman at St. Michael’s on September 28, 1820, a couple of months after my birth.
I do not appear in the 1820 census as I was born after the census was taken. My baptismal record at first listed my father as no conocido (unknown), which usually meant that a man either did want or was unable to acknowledge a child – but that was scratched out and I was then identified as his hija natural. He signed to confirmed his paternity.
My parents had three children older than me. 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.