Anglo-Americans in Spanish Archives

Description

We often forget that a large chunk of colonial America was once under Spanish control. When early in the 19th century this territory came under U.S. jurisdiction, the records of the colonial administration were sent to Cuba, thence to Seville, Spain, where they were housed in various archives.

In Seville, the researcher can still find the papers relating to the administration of the Spanish-American colonies, in particular, census lists, lists of landowners and slaveowners, and arrival lists. From the principal archives in Seville (e.g. Archivo General de Indias), and from other archives, Lawrence Feldman has extracted the names of about 7,000 Anglo-American settlers, arranging them in tabular format by state. Thus, from the records mentioned above, Mr. Feldman has compiled name lists and associated data (places of residence, dates, occupations, etc.) from the records dealing with Mobile and Tombecbe (Alabama), Pensacola and Saint Augustine (Florida), Baton Rouge (Louisiana), Natchez and Nogales (Mississippi), and New Madrid (Missouri), with smaller lists for Belize in Central America.

Not only is this data unique, but it is otherwise totally inaccessible to the American researcher.