Jesse Fish (1724 or 1726–1790) was a shipmaster, merchant, and realtor who lived in St. Augustine, Florida under both Spanish and British rule, and is infamous in the town's history to this day. He was a schemer involved in contraband trade and illegal real estate deals, and operated as a slaver, smuggler, and usurer. By his slaver activities Fish introduced most of the bozales, or African-born slaves, registered in Spanish Florida during the decade (1752–1763) preceding Spain's cession of Florida to Great Britain. He has been accused of spying for England and Spain as a double agent during the Seven Years’ War, but there is no evidence to support the claim.
Early years
Little is known about Jesse Fish's life, although records of some of his business associations and dealings exist. He was born in Newtown on Long Island in New York, where his ancestors had acquired substantial property in the 1600s. His father, Capt. Thomas Fish, married Elizabeth Kip, daughter of Jesse Kip of Newtown, in 1717. Jesse was born in 1724 or 1726, and arrived in St. Augustine in 1736 at the age of ten or twelve, sent there by William Walton, Sr., New York's most successful merchant, probably aboard a Walton Company sloop captained by his uncle Abraham Kip. Kip made at least twenty passages between New York and St. Augustine from 1732 to 1739.
In 1738, the year before the War of Jenkins' Ear began, the Spanish Bishop of Tricale, Francisco Menéndez Márquez, observed that all Englishmen had been banished from St. Augustine except for a teen-aged Jesse Fish, whose presence was deemed necessary for the procurement of flour and meat from New York. A petition made in 1747 for the return of Spanish prisoners from British incarceration lists Jesse Fish as master of the Walton's flag of truce vessel, the sloop Mary Magdalene.Franklin 2005, p. 177
A major shift in colonial economic policy occurred when the Royal Havana Company was permitted to contract for goods with merchants in Charles Towne and New York, who could then ship directly to St. Augustine. After 1740, English goods from the colonies were plentiful in the provincial capital; Fish continued to function as merchant and broker to supply the city from the 1740s through the 1760s. Records from the Presbyterian Church in Newtown, New York show that three out of four of the transport captains were connected with the Fish family, thus linking the Long Island mariners with St. Augustine.Franklin 2005, p. 189 The Lawrence family of sea captains provided a vital trade connection between British New York and Spanish St. Augustine, while Jesse Fish, as Walton Company agent in Florida until 1763, was the liaison between the Lawrence family, the Walton ships, and St. Augustine. The Lawrence captains and the Walton merchants were first cousins, once removed.Franklin 2005, p. 185
Fish lived most of his life in St. Augustine except for occasional trips to South Carolina, Havana, and New York City. He is not known to have traveled to Europe, although he mentioned his desire to make a passage to England and Spain in his letters. As a boy he learned the Spanish language and customs in the household of the Herreras, a prominent St. Augustine family. The Herreras raised Jesse with their own son, Luciano, and the two remained lifelong friends. Luciano was one of only eight Spaniards to stay behind in St. Augustine during the British occupation, and it was he, rather than Jesse Fish, who spied on the British administration for Spain.Gold 1973, p. 2The Gálvez Family and Spanish Participation in the Independence of the United States of America Light Townsend Cummins. Revista Complutense de Historia de América, ISSN 1132-8312, Nº 32, 2006, p. 184 In later years Herrera helped compile a register of Fish's properties.
Mid-career
When he reached adulthood, Fish worked for the Walton Company as a factor. The New York partnership won a contract to furnish Spanish Florida provisions and supplies when the Royal Havana Company of Cuba was unable to meet the province's demand for trade goods. Illegal trade with the English supplemented St. Augustine's scant agricultural production and the unreliable situado, or royal subsidy. By 1726, the Waltons were shipping staple items into the port, and Fish eventually became their agent. He and his employers prospered, and although loyal to his Protestant faith, Fish was a respected businessman in the Catholic town of St. Augustine.
When Florida was ceded to the British in 1763, almost the entire Spanish population of St. Augustine emigrated to Cuba and elsewhere in New Spain, being promised restitution, new grants of land and employment opportunities. Many Floridanos believed that the Protestant English would not permit free practice of their Catholic faith, giving them a further incentive to leave. More than 3700 people embarked from the presidio of St. Augustine and its outposts between April 1763 and February 1764.
The Floridanos were allowed by the terms of the Treaty of Paris to sell their property to English subjects within a period of eighteen months, but few buyers were found, leaving Spanish agents unable to dispose of St. Augustine properties. After the last of the emigrants had left, Juan José Eligio de la Puente, formerly chief official of the royal accountancy (Oficial mayor de la Royal Contaduría), returned to St. Augustine from Havana with an appointment to dispose of the remaining Spanish property. Because the incoming British soldiers had little money, and civilian settlers hoped to receive outright grants of land from the British Crown,History of St. Augustine - The British and Second Spanish Periods http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00094846/00003/2j p. 2 few of them were interested in acquiring Spanish real estate. Under these conditions and with the uncertainty of future sales, Puente was eventually compelled to transfer all the unsold Spanish property to an agent who would represent its owners. In July 1764, most of the houses, lots, and lands, amounting to almost 200 estates in and around St. Augustine, were conveyed from Puente to Fish.
This agreement with the Spaniards was fraught with peril for Fish; it was an illicit transaction, and as a British subject he could be charged with treason if it was discovered. Fish previously had been involved in another illegal enterprise: in the autumn of 1762, when St. Augustine was bereft of supplies, Fish, Puente, and John Gordon, the well-to-do Scottish Catholic merchant from Charles Town, had smuggled provisions in from South Carolina to prevent the settlement from starving. This was an act of treason for British subjects in a time of war between England and Spain. Even so, by 1765 Fish controlled most of the property in the city, holding more than one third of the lots and more than one-half of the private houses.
Fish bought some of the properties for his own investment portfolio, paying low prices for the city plots he intended to sell later. Substantial property in St. Augustine was purchased in the names of Jesse's uncle, Jacob Kip, William Walton,Report on history of the DeMesa - Sanchez house http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00091263/00106/11?search=walton+company page 11. and Enoc Barton, who had lived with Fish and his son as a youth. Most of the remaining houses and lots were purchased individually by English settlers needing homes for their families. Fish also acquired more than forty two acres of land outside the presidio, about one-fourth of the occupied area, while a few English speculators secured the rest of the available property surrounding the town for future sale. A total of 185 structures and lots were appraised at over 6,000 pesos; he obtained control of several church properties as well. In the confidential arrangement with Puente, Fish agreed to dispose of the unsold properties when immigration increased and after real estate prices recovered, even beyond the time constraints imposed by the Treaty of 1763. The proceeds, minus his realty expenses, were to be paid through Juan Puente. Fish's critics accuse him of failing to transmit some of the receipts and of charging exorbitant fees, taking advantage of the Floridanos for his own profit. Fish insisted that he acted honestly and that he in fact suffered great financial losses for his efforts.Corbett 2012, p. 123
Fish acquired the largest accumulation of realty holdings in colonial St. Augustine—only the Crown of Spain controlled more property in the Floridas than he. Between 1763 and 1780 he transferred the titles of 138 estates, some of which were traded several times. His realty business prospered during 1763–1770 when he sold ninety-five separate pieces of property. Then in 1774–1778 when British Loyalists were moving south to Florida, and the Minorcans of New Smyrna fled Dr. Andrew Turnbull’s colony, St. Augustine was full of refugees in need of housing. The shortage of housing increased property values, and Fish’s real estate office again thrived, but he apparently did not maintain proper accounts, and later regretted not having necessary records. His old friend, Luciano de Herrera, compiled a long report describing many of his real estate transactions which was issued only in the last years of his life.Deagan Koch 1983, p. 274
This register, called "Accounts of Jesse Fish", and now part of the East Florida Papers, contains entries of debits and credits, realty sales records, and lists of local proprietorships. It is likely Luciano de Herrera collaborated with Fish to prepare such a comprehensive document. In some of the transactions recorded, Fish's service fees exceeded the closing prices of the property. Loans, repairs, and various other charges were also counted as debts owed Fish by the Floridanos, whom he represented for exorbitant rates. The "Accounts" indicates he disposed of all the unsold property at a profit, yet despite his multitude of financial dealings, no records have been found of payments made to any of the former Spanish inhabitants.
It is possible Fish paid the Spaniards on one of his several trips to Cuba; in 1766 Governor Grant gave him permission to sail on the pilot boat Dependence to Havana to settle some of his accounts, but the results of that trip are not known. A petition made by Fish to the Crown of Spain in 1789 alleged that he had paid some of the former property owners, but he also admitted outstanding debts of "many thousands of pesos". Subsequent testamentary proceedings in the St. Augustine judiciary supported his contention of having made some payments. Many of his creditors had died in Cuba during the epidemics of yellow fever which struck the island, but more of them survived to confront Fish later. Some of the Floridanos, their heirs, or representatives eventually returned to Florida to reclaim their properties or seek the compensation owed them. The secret compact with Puente had been made in order to prevent the properties from being forfeited to the crown at the expiration of the period allowed; however, the sale was not recognized as valid by the Spanish authorities upon their return in 1783. The 185 lots thus reverted to the King of Spain, and were sold at auction on terms very favorable to the purchasers.