Florida Pioneer Biographies

Submitted by Descendants: The LUJAN / PAPY / TOPPINO Families Peter Antonio Gandolfo was born 3 April 1802 in Italy.  He arrived in Key West, Florida in 1829 traveling from the Kingdom of Sardinia which controlled his part of Italy.  Peter immediately declared his intention to become a United States…

Jane L. WATTS Submitted by Descendant:  Ellen Lavara Gainer WRIGHT William Gainer and Jane L. Watts, who hailed from Georgia, were married 21 January 1813.  During the campaign of 1818, William came into the Territory of Florida with Andrew Jackson, as a surveyor and mathematician.  Returning to Georgia, William and…

Submitted by Descendant:  Submitted by Descendants:  Laura Lee BERENSON, Johanna Schuster JONES; Emily Johanna PERKINS and Mary Pauline SCHUSTER Francisca, or Frances as she was known, was born in St. Augustine on 31 May 1792, and baptized there on 6 June as the daughter of Joseph and Maria Judith Fontanet. …

Submitted by Descendant:  Paula Townsend MARCZYNSKI Ansel Ferrell was born 14 Sep 1762 in Bute Co., North Carolina.  He was a Revolutionary War soldier who fought at the Battles for Guilford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs (among others), where he was slightly wounded.  When the South Georgia and North Florida area…

Submitted by Descendants:  Brendan Jennings, Frank Joseph III, Marie Cecelia, and Mary Frances SANTRY Juan Bautista Serapis Ferreira was born in Spanish East Florida’s St. Augustine on November 13, 1813 to Francisco Lorenzo Ferreira and Josepha Fernanda Martha Estefonopoly.  His paternal grandparents, Juan Bautista Ferreira and Isabel Bente Nixon, settled…

Submitted by Descendants:  Joseph Foster, Thomas Randall, and Timothy Joseph BUTLER Juan Bautista Serapio Ferreira was born in St. Augustine on November 13, 1813.  He was the grandson of Juan Bautista Ferreyra of Portugal who, with his wife Elizabeth Nixon of Charlestown, South Carolina, brought their family to St. Augustine…

Submitted by Descendants:  Andre Eugene FERREIRA Juan Bautista Serapio Ferreira was born in St Augustine, East Florida 13 November 1813.  It was at the beginning of Florida’s Second Spanish Period when his grandfather, Juan Bautista Ferreyra of Villa de Murcia, Portugal brought his wife Isabel Bently Nixon of Charleston, South…

Submitted by Descendants:  Idell Elizabeth, Michael James, William Aaron Jr., William Rickey BURNHAM Enos Evans served as a private in Col. John McKinnon’s company during the Florida Indian Wars. During one battle, Enos was shot in the neck.  According to John Love McKinnon’s book, History of Walton County, Col. McKinnon…

Submitted by Descendants:  Baxter Jennings, Dakota Jennings, Daniel Jordan, Justin Allyn, Justin Allyn Jr., LaRue Carlton, Reid James, Roper Jordan Jr., Roper Jordan III ELLIS Giles Underhill Ellis was descended from the Virginia Ellises who were early settlers in America.  The family migrated over a period of years from Virginia…