Maria Vellon

I represent Maria Vellon, a free negra woman born in Africa. At the time of the 1820 census of Pensacola, I was 35 years old and lived with Santiago Sorbies, a French shopkeeper; our two children, and an elderly negro baker by the name of Pedro Dalmacio whose relationship to us is not specified. 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 appear quite frequently in the deed records of Escambia County, as I owned several parcels of property over the years and several slaves whom I later freed or allowed to purchase their freedom.