Vicente Manuel de Céspedes
| Vicente Manuel de Céspedes y Velasco | |
|---|---|
| 1º Governor of the Spanish East Florida | |
| In office June 27, 1784 – July 1790 | |
| Preceded by | Patrick Tonyn (in the British East Florida) |
| Succeeded by | Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada y Barnuevo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1721? Valencia, Spain |
| Died | 1794 Cuba |
| Spouse(s) | Conception Basabe Arostegui |
| Profession | Governor |
Don Vicente de Cespedes y Velasco (1721?-1794)[1] was a Spanish governor of Santiago de Cuba (1781-1782) and, especially, of East Florida (1784-1790).
Biography
Don Vicente Manuel de Zespedes (Cespedes) y Velasco was born in Valencia, Spain,[2] probably in 1721.[1] His paternal grandfather, José de Céspedes, was a lieutenant general of the Spanish Royal Army and Governor of Rosalcazár in Oran (Algeria), and his maternal grandfather, Martín Arostegui Larrea, was a Knight of Santiago (1750) in Spain. He joined to the Spanish Royal Army in his youth, attaining the ranks of Field Marshal [2] and Colonel.[3]
In 1781, he was elected acting governor of Santiago de Cuba, but this charge only kept a year, so that left him in 1782.[2] A few years later, he was appointed Governor of East Florida by Bernardo de Gálvez en 1783,[3] occupying the office in June 27, 1784. In July 12 British Governor Patrick Tonyn ceded the Castillo de San Marcos to Cespedes, which ended the British regime of East Florida and began Spanish administration.[4] In addition, during his government, Cespedes granted permission to Botanist André Michaux to explore Florida in search of new species of plants, achieving its goal.[5] He was replaced by Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada y Barnuevo in the government of the colony in July 1790.
He died on October 21, 1794 and he was buried in the Cathedral of San Cristóbal of Havana.[2]
Personal life
De Cespedes married Maria de la Conception Basabe Arostegui the July 22, 1754, in the Cathedral de San Cristóbal de Havana, Cuba.[2]
Legacy
- According American botanist Asa Gray (1810 – 1888), the flowering plants´s genus name "Lespedeza" was gave in honor to Céspedes. However, when the book Michaux´s Flora Boreali-Americana of 1802 about plants was being printed, the name of "Céspedes" had a misspelling, passing to "Lespedez".[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 U.S. States F-K.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Capellanía de San Miguel De Jiquiabo (In Spanish), Post by Don Aurelio José Miguel Isamat, anarchists of Catalania, in 2009. Page 5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 La Capitanía General de Cuba y la defensa de Luisiana y Florida ante el expansionismo norteamericano (1783-1789) (in Spanish: Captaincy General of Cuba and the defense to Louisiana and Florida front American expansionism). Posted by Juan Bosco Amores Carredano in 1998.
- ↑ George A. Smathers Library Homepage University of Florida Digital Collections Home.
- ↑ Lespedeza – From Asia with a Spanish Twist!.
- ↑ Taxonomy and Ecology of Woody Plants in North American Forests: Excluding. Written by James S. Fralish and Scott B. Franklin. page 568.