cuban papers

[email protected] • Robert de Berardinis

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TheTheCuban Papers,Cuban Papers,

1571–18201571–1820

2009 Le Comité Annual Meeting


Colonial North America, 1600–1762


Spanish Luisiana, 1763–1820


Spanish Colonial Government

King (absolute)

Minister of IndiesCouncil of Indies (to 1790) Committees

VICEROYAudiencia de

Santo Domingo(Appeals/Admiralty)

Captain-Generalof CubaGovernor

IntendantPost Commanders Judicial Council

(New Orleans) (member)

Other Treasury Officials& Warehouse Guards

Military Units

Complicated isn’t it?


Officially called the Papeles Procedentes de CubaThey are part of the Archivo General de Indias in SevilleThe “next higher” level of archived Spanish colonial records for the Spanish provinces (depending on the point in time):

• Florida (las Floridas),• Luisiana y las Floridas,• the department of Téjas,• East and West Florida, and• East Florida.

They were kept in “ribbon-tied” bundles, legajos, often about 800–1000 folio pages. This explains their common name of the “legajos.”

What are the Cuban Papers?


• They begin in the 1570s (Founding of St. Augustine)

• They end in the 1820s (Cession to U.S.)

• They are part of the Spanish colonial bureaucracy with related archival materials in:

• AGI: Audiencias de Méjico, de Guadalajara, and de Santo Domingo

• AGS, Seccións Estado and Guerra

• Archivo General Militar, Segovia

• Archivo General de la Nación, Madrid

• Archivo Histórica de la Nación, México City




• There are about 1,000 relevant legajos

• They are filmed onto 1691 reels of microfilm.

• There are ten removed reels of legajos in 1981.

• There are at least 71 more legajos that need to be filmed.

• They also contain records for the provinces of:1. Cartageña, 5. Porto Cabello,

2. Castillo del Morro, 6. Santa Fe,

3. Coste Firme, 7. Santo Domingo, and

4. Nueva Granada, 8. Veracruz.

They are 60% Spanish, 25% French, 15% English, & Latin.


What do they contain?

Look Before Diving! • Some remain “unprocessed.”

• “Jack Holmes Collection.” LSU, Loyola, UFla., HNOC

• Many items are out of order in a legajo since Hill (1916).

• New calendar or guide at beginning of the legajo or edicion.

• Theoretically, the order is maintained after processing.

• Don’t forget Univ. of Florida calendar/index!



A. Correspondence to the Governors

1. From Post Commanders and other military officers

2. From private citizens

3. From minor public officials in the colonies

4. From the Ministry of the Indies

5. Includes the Council of the Indies

6. Includes “Interested” parties

7. From the Viceroy of New Spain (in Mexico City)



B. Correspondence from the Governors to the Captain General1. Includes the reply correspondence

C. Treasury Records1. Tax lists2. Pay reports of local officials3. Pay reports of regular military, not militia!4. King’s Warehouses’ reports and account books5. Reports of city syndicos6. Reports of the Intendant

7. Includes censusesD. Miscellaneous Reports


Where are they located?

Big Collections:Clayton Library, Houston, TexasHistoric New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LouisianaLibrary of Congress, Washington, D.C.Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LouisianaLoyola University, New Orleans, LouisianaUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, FloridaSmaller Collections:Alexandria Genealogical Society Library, Alexandria, LouisianaHarvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsNewberry Library, Chicago, IllinoisNorth Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North CarolinaNorthwestern State University, Natchitoches, LouisianaUniversity of Louisiana-Lafayette, Lafayette, LouisianaYale University, New Haven, Connecticut


Are there good finding aids?

1. Hill, Roscoe R. Louisiana Legajos: …. 1916 reprint; Ville Platte, La.: Provincial Press, 2003.2. Siles Saturnino, Reyes. Documentos relativos a la independen- cia de Norteamérica existentes en archivos españoles : A. toma II, Archivo General de Indias, Sección Papeles de Cuba : Correspondencia y documentación oficial de los Gobernadores de Luisiana (años 1777–1803). B. toma VII, … : Correspondencia y documentación oficial de varias autoridades de Luisiana y de las dos Floridas (años 1778–1817). C. toma IX, … : Correspondencia y documentación oficial de autoridades de Luisiana y de Florida Occidental (años 1764–1819).

Index

Index

Index


How are they archivally arranged?

They are arranged in 23 sections in the archives: 1. West Florida 13. Santo Domingo 2. West Florida (treas./mil.)14. Cuba 3. East Florida 15. Captain General 4. Louisiana 16. Captain General, not in § 15 5. New Orleans 17. Porto Cabello 6. Cartageña 18. Louisiana 7. New Granada 19. East Florida (treas./jud.) 8. Costa Firme 20. West Florida (treas./jud.) 9. Santa Fe 21. New Orleans (treas.) 10. Vera Cruz 22. Captain General, not in §§ 15, 16 11. Porto Cabello 23. West Florida, not in §§ 1, 2 12. Castillo del Morro


General Guide

1. leg. 1–82, Letters from Governors, 1766–1819 2. leg. 83–100, 2317, Letters from Intendants, 1781–1815 3. leg. 101–50, 1054–55, Letters to Governors, 1764–1823 4. leg. 151–58, Correspondence from Captains General and Governors of West Florida, 1782–1818

5. leg. 159–80, Royal letters and orders, military service records, military and civilian trials 6. leg. 181–86, Correspondence from Captains General 7. leg. 187–221, Correspondence from the Posts 8. leg. 222–27, Copies of Governors’ letter books, 1722–1819 9. leg. 228–69, W. Fla. Treasury/warehouse records, 1783– 1819

Index


You Too Can Read Spanish


General Guide

10. leg. 283–487, East Florida, 1703–1819 11. leg. 488–560, Treasury and warehouse accounts, 1763– 1818 12. leg. 562–630, Correspondence of the Intendants and the treasury, treasury officials’ service records, 1765–1821 13. leg. 631–668, 2318–2321, Bound books and other suppor- ting documents for treasury records, 1776–1805 14. leg. 669–706, 772, 830, Warehouse accounts and commer- cial matters, 1761–1821 15. leg. 2335–38, 2343, New Orleans and Plaquemines warehouse accounts, 1776–1801 16. leg. 2357–72, Miscellaneous letters (mostly Louisiana and Natchez), 1707–1819


Companion Archival Materials

1. Archives of the Government of East Florida, Library of Congress. 2. Archives of the Government of West Florida, East Baton Rouge Clerk of Court (FHL). 3. Favrot Family Papers, Tulane University Special Collections. 4. Juan Ventura Morales Papers, Louisiana State Archives. 5. Panton, Leslie and Co. Papers, Gale-Thompson (film), Univ. of West Florida (MSS). 6. Sebastien Vincente Pintado Papers, Library of Congress. 7. Spanish Judicial Records of the Province of Luisiana, Louisiana State Museum (FHL). 8. Stetson Collection, Univ. of Florida (MSS). 9. [Charles (Carlos) Trudeau] Surveyor’s Notebook, 1795–1797, Library of Congress. 10.Western Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri system.

Index

IndexIndex

Index

Index

Index

Index


Other Research Aids

Acosta Rodríguez, Antonio. La población de Luisiana española (1763–1803). Madrid: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales, 1979.

[Archivo General de Indias]. Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones españolas de ultramar. 27 vols. 1885–1932 reprint; Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967.

[Archivo General de Indias]. Libro de la florida de capitulaciones y asientos de gobernadores y generales, 1517–1578. Madrid: Archivo General de Indias, 1922.

Arthur, Stanley Clisby. Index to the Archives of Spanish West Florida, 1782-1810. New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1975.

Arthur, Stanley Clisby. Index to the Dispatches of the Spanish Governors of Louisiana, 1766-1792. New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1975.

Beers, Henry. French and Spanish Records of Louisiana: A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1989.


Other Research Aids-Rodriguez

Handy isn’t it?


Other Research Aids

Chappell, Bruce S. and Nettie Lee Benson. Calendar of the Papeles de Cuba, 1781–1821. Gainesville, Fla.: P. K. Yonge Library (Univ. of Fla.), 1984.

Coker, William S. and Thomas D. Watson. Indian Traders of the Southeastern Spanish Borderlands: Panton, Leslie & Company and John Forbes & Company, 1783–1847. Gainesville, Fla.: University Presses of Florida and Pensacola: University of West Florida Press, 1986.

Falcón, Guillermo and Wilbur Meneray. The Favrot Family Papers: A Documentary Chronicle of Early Louisiana. 5 vols. New Orleans: Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, 1988–2002.

Folch y Juan, Juan Vicente and David White, ed. Correspondence of Juan Vicente Folch y Juan in the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba Deposited in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville. Seville: Archivo General de Indias, 1975.

Hill, Roscoe R. Archivo General de Indias, Papeles de Cuba, Legajo 1794. 1912 manuscript; Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1960. This consists of the correspondence of the commandants of Pensacola, 1813–1816.


Other Research Aids

Hill, Roscoe R. List of Documents Relating to the History of the United States in Papeles Procedentes de Cuba Deposited in the Archivo General de Indies at Seville, in the Legajo Order of 1912. Mss. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Foundation, 1912–16. Contains a calendar of legajos 1500–02, 1550–69, 1708, 1737, 1750, 1789–1797, 1856, 1873–77, 1931, 1944, 1950, 1963, 2330, 2351–56, 2369.

Kinnaird, Lawrence. Inventory of Materials in the Library of Congress from the Papeles de Cuba Series of the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, 1655–1822. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1939.

Kinnaird, Lawrence. Spain in the Mississippi Valley, 1765-1794. 3 vols. Washington: G.P.O., 1949. Translations of materials from Spanish archives in Bancroft Library, UC‑Berkeley.

Potter, Dorothy. Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770–1823: Indian, Spanish, and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982.

[Research Publications]. The Papers of Panton, Leslie and Co. [Guide to the Microfilm Collection]. Woodbridge, Conn. and Reading, Eng.: Research Publications, 1986.


How to Research

Remember, no common law in Spanish areas. Women had equal property rights to men, kept their maiden names, had community property, had to inherit as did legitimate children.

Unless your ancestor was a big shot, research by place of residence or by place of passage.

Always attempt to consult treasury and warehouse books.

Civil lawsuits were favorite form of indoor entertainment, cross check against judicial records.

If loyalist, look into the Floridas, except Natchez (Georgia).

Check correspondence of syndicos to intendants and governors.


A walking tour of legajo 2360

Remember from the general guide:

16. leg. 2357–72, Miscellaneous letters (mostly Louisiana and Natchez), 1707–1819.


Legajo 2360, fol. 120 vo.


Legajo 2360, fol. 126


Bourbon County, Georgia??

Natchez



Men that hunts

Wom

an boy



Here is Chev. de Clouet,

the Post Commandant


The Cuban Papers

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