"A Minorcan Family Heritage, A St. Augustine Culture"

by Robert P. Jones

From indentured servants to a very special American Culture: One Minorcan family's story of life in St. Augustine, Florida from 1768 to 1966.

St. Augustine was settled over fifty years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. Spanish Colonists founded St. Augustine in 1565. It is the site of the First Mass, and the first Thanksgiving. Two hundred and three years later, during the summer of 1768, over 1250 Minorcans arrived in St. Augustine on their way to Dr. Andrew Turnbull's Indigo Plantation in New Smyrna. It is estimated that almost one hundred and fifty of the Minorcan immigrants died during the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Antonio Alzina (Usina) and Catalina Moll made the trek to St. Augustine as indentured servants, contracted to work for between 7 and 9 years. They were married in 1770 in New Smyrna. They had one son, Miguel. He became the first Usina from this line to be born in Florida. Catalina died young, then Antonio married Rafaela Capo Sabate a few months before the Minorcans fled the plantation and made the 70 mile walk on the King's Highway. The Usina family's narrative covers almost two hundred years and the descendants are too numerous to list.