page_title: Jesse Fish
section_title: Later years
hierarchical_section_title: Jesse Fish / Later years
caption_attribution_description: Original Anastasia Island lighthouse, now destroyed, in St. Augustine, Florida. Lower parts of the coquina tower dated to the First Spanish Period. Caption from en:Wikipedia at en:St. Augustine Light: "The 1824 lighthouse was established on the site of the Old Spanish watchtower."
context_page_description: Jesse Fish 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 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.
  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.
context_section_description: By 1784, Fish had lost most of his land holdings and had accumulated large debts in St. Augustine and Cuba. He still held Santa Anastasia Island, forty houses and lots, and six other tracts of uncultivated land near St. Augustine. His buildings were described by observers as being in advanced stages of decay; El Vergel was in a similar condition according to a Spanish appraisal. Acknowledging that the auction of Fish's possessions would not satisfy even half his indebtedness to the expatriates, Governor Zéspedes proposed that all the vacant property in St. Augustine, including Fish's share, should be confiscated by the Crown for distribution to returning Floridanos. He also recommended that the King impose time limits for the repossession of unoccupied property to avoid confusion when the former proprietors or their heirs asserted their claims. Zéspedes wanted to register all legitimate proprietorships purchased from such realtors as Fish during the British Period;  by this means he hoped to forestall disruption of the traditional real estate system in St. Augustine. Following the Spanish exodus of 1763, twenty years of British rule, and the retrocession of Florida to Spain in 1784, Zéspedes faced many problems concerning the disposition of property; his manner of addressing them was expeditious and suitable to the complex situation in St. Augustine.
  Fish finally paid some of the Spaniards for the sale of their Florida property, although during the last few months of his life, he claimed to be nearly destitute. To settle his obligations of over 9,000 pesos to the former proprietors, Fish offered the government all his property except El Vergel.  Apparently the offer was accepted—his heirs received El Vergel as their only inheritance. The site of the plantation was known thereafter as "Fish Island." Despite all of his real estate activities, El Vergel's citrus production, and various land holdings, he complained of penury and indebtedness, which he portrayed to the Waltons as insurmountable. In the spring of 1789 Fish wrote the King of Spain telling of his financial situation and requesting permission to make a voyage to Europe. His planned itinerary included a business trip to London and an audience with Charles IV to plead his case in Madrid. Fish was willing to place all his property in trust of a royal agent while overseas, but he probably never went since he died only eleven months after submitting his request. In his petition he alluded to his "meager" holdings in St. Augustine, although he admitted that the plantation on Santa Anastasia Island yielded enough produce to sustain his retirement there. For the rest of his life, Fish lived as a recluse at El Vergel to escape financial and marital problems. He stated his reasons for choosing self-imposed exile from St. Augustine bluntly: "Oppressed by my debts to the Waltons and afflicted by separation and domestic infelicity, I retired to my present habitation."
  After retiring, Fish avoided his wife and her family. He had married Sarah Warner, his second wife, in 1768 when he was in his forties. She was a native of Newtown, New York also, and daughter of James Warner, the newly appointed harbor pilot of St. Augustine. Two children, Jesse, Jr., and Fabiana Furman Fish, were born to the couple before they separated. Sarah inherited El Vergel after the deaths of her husband in 1790 and of their son in 1812, although her claim to the estate was later challenged by both the Spanish and the American governments.
  What exactly happened to Fish's previous wealth and vast land holdings is unknown. Fish had entered into some unprofitable business relationships with his relatives, especially his brother-in-law Jacobus Kip, whom he entrusted to represent his affairs in St. Augustine. His 1789 petition to the Spanish government stated that upon his retirement to El Vergel he had transferred most of the unsold real estate in trust to Kip, who was supposed to sell the property received from Puente and use the commissions to pay Fish's debts to the Walton Company. Fish had probably borr
caption: Original Anastasia Island lighthouse, now destroyed. Lower parts of the coquina tower dated to the First Spanish Period.
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