The Old Country

1647

Alachua

The 1750 Spanish map showing Alachua and St. Francisco on the Spanish Trail
Click to view full map

The Alachua Savana had seen white men before. The Potano Indians in the savannah area  were enemies of the Spanish for many years after the founding of St. Augustine but by 1600 the Indians had pledge allegiance to the Spanish Governor of Florida. With an uneasy alliance, the mission of San Francisco de Potano was founded in 1606 by Franciscans priests in hopes to convert the Indians to Christianity.  The mission was located north of the Alachua Savana in what is now the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park west of Gainesville.  Located conveniently on the Spanish trail that led from St. Augustine to the Spanish settlement of Pensacola in the west panhandle of Florida, it also served as a trading post to the Indians and by mid 1600’s was well established.

By 1647, St. Augustine had been flourishing for over eighty years and the need for beef to feed the army and settlers increased with the population. To provide the needed beef, Francisco Menéndez Márquez started a cattle ranch or hacienda as they were called by the Spanish. The Native Indians were a problem which Franscico solved by making a deal with the Timucua Indian chief, then leading a troop of Spanish soldiers and Timucua Indians into the neighboring Apalache province, where they subdued the natives and took them as draft labor.[3] This was a win-win situation, it helped get rid of the Timucua’s problematic neighbors and it provided free labor to Francisco’s ranch.  Although Francico’s early ranch was known to exist, its name and location are unknown.  It is Francisco’s son Thomas whose hacienda is of more interest. Located on the Alachua savanna and was called Hacienda de La Chua, or “ranch of the sinkhole” after the large sinkhole that drained the savanna and giving the area and savanna the name, “Alachua”.  Although having never been found, it is speculated that that the main dwelling of the hacienda was on the bluff overlooking the sink.

At first the hacienda did well supplying over one third of the cattle of the colony but a series of events caused its decline and final demise. In 1656 the Timucuas, who once supported the Spanish, rebelled killing persons at La Chua, burning much of it and killing many of the cattle but the hacienda continued.  In 1672 an epidemic swept through the area killing many of the natives in Florida including those working at the hacienda who were more susceptible to diseases brought by the white men. With the native population dwindling, it was increasingly difficult to get more workers for the ranch.  By 1689 the price of beef had plummeted, from 21 pesos a steer in 1856 to six pesos in 1689. With each passing year it became increasingly difficult to guard the herds from Indian poachers and runaway slaves from the north. The cattle also attracted the attention of pirates and rustlers. Finally in 1706 the remaining small force at La Chua burned down their own blockhouse and fled to San Francisco de Potano, near present-day Gainesville. The old Don Thomas died in New Spain the same year his ranch was lost.

A few years after Francisco's death, the royal treasury in St. Augustine was audited, and it was found that between 16,000 and 20,000 pesos were missing. It seems that that Francisco had "borrowed" from the royal treasury and used the King's money to finance his ranch.
With the Spanish leaving, the center of Florida began to return to its natural state and fill with buffalo and deer. With the Timucans gone, a new tribe begin to form who found the Alachua area attractive, particularly because it was filled with thousands of wild black cattle, they called themselves the “Seminole”.

Next