My Hispanic History
My Great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather
Juan Andreu was one of the brave group of indentured servants
to set sail for the new land of Florida
in the spring of 1768.
Dr Trumbull was starting an indigo plantation
in Los Mosquitos, New Smyrna Beach.
There had been a severe drought in Menorca
and the Andreus like many other
Menorcans were ready for a new life.
All three ships arrived at New Smyrna during the summer of 1768.
It was a very humid area filled with biting misquitoes
and strange dragon-like reptiles.
They were horrified and tired.
Juan Andreu was used to his hot arid island
in the Mediterranean Sea.
Two hundred of the 1403 indentured servants,
had perished on the crossing.
The ship carrying the African slaves to work
on the plantation had sunk
in a hurricane.
By 1776, hard work, unsanitary working conditions
and malaria reduced the colony by half.
In 1777 Juan Andreu and about 600 others
walked north to St. Augustine.
Dr. Turnbull no longer exercised rights over them.
In St. Augustine, the Menorcans flourished.
They became farmers, and fishermen.
MARIA ALVAREZ
My storytelling character, Maria Alvarez,
is portrayed as a 19th century Menorcan
living in St. Augustine.
She is the wife of a fisherman who owns
his own schooner and the grandmother
of 14 grandchildren.
Maria tells her grandchildren and their friends
the folktales from Spain.