Our
Indian brothers and sisters were here over 10,000 years before the
white settlers came with their new ways of doing things. Later in
our history, more Indians
chose to immigrate here along with the settlers.
Florida has
the distinction of being a Territory for a longer duration than
any other in the United States. Many records are available for
this reason. Florida
has had several flags flown above it
including Spain, France, and Great Britian . Each granted
land to immigrants. There are lots of land records and census
records during this time. As you will see, some bought land
grants from other settlers.
A certain number of people
had to reside here before statehood could be achieved. Florida is
the most well documented Territory. We first were a US Territory
in 1822, statehood did not come about until 1845.
Terrell
Thompson has compiled a massive amount of history about these
15 families who settled in Eastern Florida. He has consented
to have parts of it recorded here for your enjoyment and edification.
All copyrights remain with Terrell Thompson. FLGenWeb
Archives is proud to be able to present his
work to you. Thank you Terrell.
The
families are those who settled Florida during its days
prior to statehood in 1845 when we became the 27th state. He has a
Pioneer Family Tree you can view.
In his own words:
My name is Terrell Thompson. I am working on an
online Ancestry Tree called "Florida First Coast Pioneer Families" my
focus group
is
about 15 families that settled on Spanish Land Grants in the
period 1790-1820 on the First Coast. There is one family that
settled here before 1790 but a Spanish Land Grant was not
available at that time. One of two families purchased land from
another grantee. If you are interested in seeing how
they grew in Florida and moved over our state, view his site.