Eleanor Barnes Sketch

by: halsema.org editors

Eleanor Barnes sketch of Roque Leonardi’s proper holdings inside St Augustine proper 1777-1801.

This is a cut out version from the paper she sketched upon.
This is the full 8.5 x 11 version with her notes which appear to be un-related to the sketch.

I stumbled across this hand drawn map at SAHS Research Library a couple of years ago. Charles Tingley and Leslie Wilson thought it was more than likely done by Eleanor Barnes since the handwriting all over the paper looks like her handwriting. You see in the right corner she makes reference to the Puente map and the Moncrief map.

The Puente Map is from 1764 which predates the Minorcan’s arrival into St Augustine by about 13 years. I don’t know too much about the Moncref Map except that John Moncref was the British royal engineer in about 1762 who worked on town improvements.

What I did to study a little bit on the history of how Eleanor might have developed this map is I examined the “Drost Tracings” and the Puente Map Key both of which you can find at SAHS Research Library. My notes tell me to examine “Block 35” of the Drost Tracings. The Drost Tracings are the work of Romola Drost who “traced” 5 different maps on top of each other (more or less) along with the history of who lived in which house. One of the maps she uses is the Puente Map, so you might want to also look at the Puente Map key in conjunction with the Drost Tracings.

My notes for the Puente Map Key say look at block “c” #’s 264 and 265 and block “j” #323. Those are pages 11 and 13 of the map key respectively.

You might also find the Mariano de La Roque Map key (1788) and interesting study where Roque Leonardy’s property holdings are concerned. The Drost tracings also use that map. Some people find the Drost tracings confusing. I found them useful in conducting this particular study.

If you take this little map Eleanor drew on your next walk through St Augustine you can at least get a rough idea of some of the houses he owned or lived in. If I remember correctly the properties on Eleanor’s map are close to or on the property owned by the Sisters of St Joseph. One being in proximity to the current O’Reilly house the other on or close to St Joseph elementary school.
. . . Doug Halsema