| Nicolás Ponce de Leon | |
|---|---|
| 19º Governor of La Florida | |
| In office 1650–1654 |
|
| Preceded by | Benito Ruíz de Salazar Vallecilla |
| Succeeded by | Pedro Horruytiner Benedit |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1595 Colombia, Almaguer, Cauca. |
| Died | 1654 St. Augustine, Florida |
| Nationality | Colombian, Spanish |
Nicolas Ponce de Leon (1590/95-1654) Was an accountant of the Royal Treasury of St. Augustine, Florida (1631 -?) and Royal Governor of that state between 1650 and 1654.
Nicolás Suárez Ponce de Leon was born somewhere between 1590 and 1595, in Almaguer, Cauca, Colombia. He was the son of Alejo Suarez de Perea and Juana Ponce de León. His father was a lieutenant, captain and senior judge of the Viceroyalty of Peru, his paternal grandfather was Captain Alonso Suárez de Perea, and his maternal grandfather, Fernando Ponce de León, was one of the first discoverers and conquerors of the provinces of Peru.
In 1612 Nicolás Ponce began serving S.M. in Santa Marta, Colombia, when the province belonged politically to Venezuela. He married Estefania Mendoza D'Avila in Madrid or Seville Cathedral between 1625 and 1629, and they had three children: Elizabeth, in 1630, Estefania, between the end of that year and early 1631 and Manuel Ponce de León and D'Avila Mendoza was born in 1637.[1] His wife was from Madrid. Two years after his marriage in 1631, Nicholas Ponce and his family moved from Seville to Florida, where he graduated as an accountant of the Royal Treasury of St. Augustine. In 1650, he was appointed governor of Florida, a position he held until his death in 1654. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Augustine.[2]