Menorcan
Journey – Ancestor Jose Joaneda Floyd (Floid)
Jose
Joaneda Floyd (Floid) was my 4th great
grandfather. He was born in Ciudadella, Menorca, Spain in 1761.
Minorca is a beautiful Island just off the coast of the Spanish mainland.
In 1766,
Jose was six years old and with his parents they made their way to
the northern part of Florida with as many as 1400 others that left their
homeland to tame this wilderness. It took two ships and two months to arrive at
their destination. Their hopes were high. Jose became known as Joseph.
They found the conditions were harsh and after much hardship and starvation
they lost about half of their population. It was in 1776, Jose, now
16-years-old and with those that remained walked to St. Augustine, Florida
for a better life.
Popular
legend tells us that in 1513, Ponce de León, a Spanish
explorer discovered Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth
and he named the region La Florida which means "flowery land".
Jose
married Isabel Maria Dewees on 21 July 1794 in St. Augustine, St. Johns County,
Florida.
They had six children. Their first born was Catherine Theresa De Jesus Floyd,
who married William Hall. Catherine is mother to Mary Virginia Murray/Hall who
married John Carroll Houston III. Jose died in St. Augustine, Florida in
1818 at the age of 58.
Florida didn't become
part of the United States until 1898, after the Spanish American War.
In 1980, the Menorcan Society
was formed to promote the culture and heritage who left their home to make
a new life in St. Augustine.
St. Augustine celebrates every year the arrival of the
Menorcan people with traditional tasty food, music, and dancing. People dress
in period costume and have a parade of men and women riding on pure bred Spanish
horses, the breed is known as Andalusian.
Minorca, a small island in the
mediterranean off the coast of Spain with great character. Biosphere
Reserve. Where the traditional Minnorcan way of life has not been swept away by
mass tourism. Small harbours, sheltered coves, quiet beaches.
Minorca, an island with a mysterious prehistoric past whose legacy can been
seen over the whole island. Caves, talaiots, taules...Minorca, the
eternal face of the mediterranean. Within reach. All minorca's
charms are never more than 40 Km away.
Minorca is such a small island that you can
reach anywhere on the island in less than an hour. From east to west,
Minorca measures less than 50 km and at its widest the island only reaches
20km. To the east lies Mahon, and to the West, Ciutadilla. It seems
to us that a whole world separates these two very different cities, but for
mainlanders it's a short drive of never more than 45km. On Minorca, any point
on the island is the "surroundings" of everywhere else, as the island
only measures 700km. So we can take a brief look at the whole of
Minorca. The whole island being, as it were, the "surroundings"
of Fornells.
Mahon and Ciutadells polarise the
island. At present Mahon has 23,000 inhabitants and Ciutadella
19,000. These are small towns, with a relaxed way of life. Both of
them have harbours and their histories are quite distinct, to the point of
being antagonistic. Ciutadella, the ancient capital, was the centre of
Minorca until from the Middle Ages. There we can find the old palaces, as
you'd expect in home of of the nobility and church, Ciutadella being the seat
of the Bishopric. These beautiful and noble buildings can be seen today
in the narrow streets of the centre, once surrounded by massive defensive
walls.
