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A LIFE SKETCH
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]"% DON MANUEL GONZALEZ, or FLORIDA.
I A. D. 1767-1838.
1
BY LEONORA GONZALEZ.
Nora.-Tue Comurrn: on HISTORICAL Rasnncn have considered that a brief note
M on the family connections of the writer of the present sketch of Don Manuel Gonzalez
might be of interest. She is the daughter of Licut. Francis H. Sheppard, U. S. N..
who was a convert of Archbishop Ryan’s during his co-adiutorship in St. Louis. His
ten children have been reared in the Catholic Church. His first cousin. Mary F. Nixon-
Roulet. the author of "With a Pessimist in Spain," " St. Antony in Art," etc.. also was
. received into the Church by Archbishop Ryan. as was also her sister. Isabel Nixon
; . . Whiteley, author of "For the French Lilies,” "The Falcon of Langeac." etc. Mrs.
= Whiteley, besides being President of the Confratcrnity of St. Gabriel (offwhich a sketch
' ‘ by the writer of this note appeared in the last number of the RECORDS). is a member of ‘
the Couuxrnza on H1sronIcAL RESEARCH. All these are descended from Margaret 3
Parsons, the sister of Maior-Gen. Parsons, who obtained the position on Washington's ‘
staff. which Benedict Arnold coveted. It was through iealousy of this staff oliicer that '
Arnold became a traitor to his country. A descendant of another brother is the Rev.
Dr. Reuben Parsons, the well-known Catholic historian. Dr. Parsons says that it was
a tradition in his family that they were the first Catholics since Father Robert Par-
sons. S. I.. who was rector of the English College at Rome. in 1599. Father Parsons
himself was a convert, the Parsons family having been Protestants among the first in
England. He also converted his nephew George, who. too. became a Jesuit. The
American branch of the family are descended from his brother Thomas. who was born
about 1540. It is rather a curious instance of the revolutions of time that four members
of a family Protestant for twelve generations should return to the Church.-T. H.
‘AMONG the many characters of romantic interest con- T
nected with the early history of this country, that of Don
Manuel Gonzalez shines pre-eminently in the chronicles of
the Spanish pioneers of the South.
He was’ born in the year 1767 in the little seaport town
. of San Vicente de la Barquera, in the province of San-
" tander, on the mountainous north coast of Spain. His
family was among the first in the country, and, judging
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