Bunce's rancho: Tampa Bay families born on the bay, ruled "Indian," shipped west (Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, 1831–1838)

SUMMARYBunce's rancho: Tampa Bay families born on the bay, ruled "Indian," shipped west (Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, 1831–1838) [Connections: Tampa Bay, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDSpanish-Cuban fishing ranchos ran year-round from Tampa Bay to Estero Bay by the early 1800s. Customs inspector William Whitehead wrote in 1831 that all the women at the ranchos were Indian and many children had Spanish fathers. Baptismal records from Regla, Cuba (1807–1827) list 20 children of Spanish fathers and Indian wives. William Bunce's Tampa Bay rancho had 10 Spaniards and 20 "Spanish Indians" in 1838; Bunce said most were born there and spoke Spanish, and that they "had never been in the country ten miles in their lives." In 1835 Augustus Steele told Indian agent Wiley Thompson they were "Spanish fishermen under the Spanish government"; Thompson ruled they were bound to the Seminoles by family ties and must go to the reservation. In 1838 the Indian wives and children at Bunce's rancho were forced to emigrate, and some Spanish husbands too. Twenty-one Charlotte Harbor men petitioned for release, arguing they were Spanish, not Indian

PATTERNThe same families could be "Spanish," "Indian" or "Seminole" depending on which official wrote the paper; the label decided who was deported

LENS (WW9)On Tampa Bay a family's name on paper decided whether it stayed or was shipped away: the bay's own people were renamed and removed

OPENWikipedia summary; check the primary letters (Steele 1835, Thompson 1834–35, Bunce 1838) in the American State Papers or OIA Letters Received, and the Regla baptismal registers

SOURCESpanish Indians (Wikipedia, citing Covington, Hammond and others).