An enslaved boy born into the household of Don Baldirio Tomas Vilaseca around 1813 in Spanish Pensacola. His race was recorded as negro.
He was sold by Tomas Vilaseca to Ramon Santiago for $325 on 4 APR 1823. [Escambia Co. (FL)Deeds A/34]
On 8 September 1823, Ramon Santiago signed his will, enumerating among his goods a “negrito” named Juanillo, about ten years old (There is more in the description, but I think his will was copied into the probate records by someone who did not speak Spanish and there are entire sentences that make no sense at all.) If I am reading Santiago’s will correctly, the sole heirs to his estate were Don Manuel Gonzalez and Don Juan de la Rua. Theoretically there should have been a settlement of the estate giving de la Rua legal possession of Juanillo, but if one exists, I have not found it.
Bill of Sale: 31 January 1824 – Sold by Juan de la Rua to Adelaide Tallasco, a free woman of color, for $300. John was described as being about 10 years old, “born in this city of a negro woman belonging to Mr. Thomas Vilaseca,” from whom he was originally purchased. [Escambia Co. (FL) Deeds, A/161]
Adelaide Tallasco left an enslaved man named Juanillo, a negro “of the age of about 15 years, more or less,” to Henry Michelet in her will filed on 22 NOV 1832. If this is the same John that passed from Tomas Vilaseca to Ramon Santiago to Juan de la Rua to Adelaide Tallasco to Henry Michelet, I have not been able to trace him any further than that.
St. Michael’s baptismal records show that the only baptisms of enslaved people in the household of Tomas Vilaseca were for three children who were all born of a woman named Julia, identified as negra in two records and morena in one. It is possible Julia was John’s mother, but I have not confirmed this relationship.
SOURCES:
Escambia County, Florida Deed Records (A/161)
Escambia County Florida Probate Records. Will of Adelaide Tayasco, filed 22 NOV 1832.
Baptisms of Cesar Sebastian Jose (1819); Antonio Leon (1822); and Maria de la Paz (1824). Baptismal Records of St. Michael’s Church, Pensacola, FL.