With the transfer of Florida from Spain to England in 1763, most Spaniards were unable to sell their houses and lots before their departure. Havana authorities appointed Juan Joseph Elixio de la Puente, a St. Augustinian whose family was deeply rooted in Florida, to dispose of the private property at a fair price.

 He made a real estate map in which he plotted every house and assigned it a number. On the margins of the map he listed the 393 numbers. The map represents St. Augustine real estate as of 1763.

It is here that a somewhat mysterious figure comes into the picture.

Jesse Fish appears to have been an opportunist par excellence who professed loyalty to whatever flag was flying over the nearest government building. He somehow convinced Puente that he would help in his difficult assignment.

Puente turned the unsold houses and lots, about 220 real estate items, over to Fish. The Spanish commissioner received from Fish a nominal sum for each house or lot.

This entitled the New Yorker to a general deed for all 220 properties. Fish promised to sell the houses at their fair value and then reimburse the Spanish owners. He also promised to journey to Madrid and London to expedite his real estate transactions.

The result was predictable. Jesse Fish pocketed the over 200 properties and lived in relative modesty on a huge, 10,000 acre plantation on Anastasia Island, which produced internationally famous oranges.

Twenty years of English rule came to an end in 1783. A great majority of the English left and many of the old St. Augustinians returned.

Jesse Fish refused to lose his tremendous investments, and stayed. He professed great joy at the Spanish return, denouncing the English and proclaiming that his sorrowful days had come to an end with the glorious return of the beloved Spaniards.

Somehow Fish managed to win the partial confidence of the new Spanish administrators. They did confiscate some of his extensive properties, but they did little else to the man. Some of the old St. Augustinians felt rather different about the Fish matter and were ready to demand the return of their property.

The New Yorker, in ill health, lived like a hermit on his Anastasia property. On February 8, 1790, he died.

The legal implications of the Fish transactions were gigantic. Apparently the Spanish administration in Florida decided the best solution was to auction off the unsold properties. Soon after the death of Fish and a public auction on April 8, 1791, a rash of legal suits was started by the old owners or their children and grandchildren to regain the old homesteads.