The "Minorcans" or "Menorcans" were a multi-ethnic group of early Florida colonists who initially settled the New Smyrna Colony in then-British Florida in 1768. The colonists came as indentured servants to found the plantation of Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a British physician who was given land considerations for his enterprise. The colonists were gravely mistreated and those who survived endured incredible hardship. In 1777, the majority of the colonists made a mass exodus from the colony, resettling in St. Augustine, Florida. Many of their descendants continue to live in St. Augustine to this day. The colonists and their descendants are referred to as "Menorcans" as a large portion of the original colonists were from the island of Minorca. Other ethnic groups represented were those of Greek, Corsican, Greco-Corsican and Italian.origin. (We know that at least 210 of the colonists were from Corsica. We suspect that many of those referred to as "Italians" were Corsican, too.)
The island of Minorca was a last stop prior to arrival to Gibraltar, which was the staging area for the 8 ships' departure to the new colony. At total of 1403 colonists left for Florida on April 17, 1768, and began arriving in Florida in June 1768.
It is unfortunate, but the majority of the colonists' descendants believe they are of Minorcan ancestry. In-depth research has shown that the majority of the colonists' surnames and given names were altered, in some cases over ten times, thus the confusion. Historians over the years have Minorcanized many non-Minorcan names and surnames for reasons of "consistency", making genealogy research a tad difficult! In some cases, names were changed by Turnball's overseers. Some colonists changed their names for reasons of better "fitting in", depending on who "had" Florida at the time. (In some of the heartier colonists' lifetimes, Florida changed hands between Britain, Spain and finally the United States.) Other spelling changes were simply typos that "stuck" or phonetic spellings of convenience.
Further confusion comes from the fact that Corsica was a Genovese possession at the time of emigration. Plus, the majority of Corsican colonists left from Livorno (Leghorn), a port town on the Italian mainland, thus they have been historically referred to as "Italians". Making matters more complicated is that many of the Corsican colonists were actually Greco-Corsican, from a settlement of Greeks that had made new homes on the island. Many of their names and surnames had been Italianized in Corsica so they'd better fit in, long prior to their departure. Those surnames that had not been changed have often been confused with those colonists who left directly from Greece. Yep, what a mess!
Not hopeless, though. Below are some variants in names and surnames that might help you to make some sense of it all. Please send additional surnames/given names/variants if you know of any! This list is by no means complete.
Corsican surnames lost in the shuffle...or
"Minorcan" & "Italian" surnames & variants that are suspiciously Corse:
