Today I begin my endeavor to explore the connection between Alabama and Cuba. I have already burned up most of the afternoon but I have made some incredible discoveries. Ariande, Canimar, Pantonia, and Heloisa. These are plantation names from the Canimar River area of Matanzas,Cuba. Pantonia is my latest discovery. It may have been an Innerarity family plantation in Cuba. It is mentioned in the Innerarity Family Papers at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Another important discovery which occurred this afternoon was the history of the land title to the city blocks on Mobile's waterfront which now contain the Adam's Mark Hotel, AmSouth Bank and the City of Mobile parking garage.Benito Caro's family lived in Pensacola, Mobile and possibly Cuba. When he died in about 1814 or 1815, he owned most of downtown Mobile from Royal Street to the river. Caro's son in law, Daniel Duval, bought this property from Caro's widow and heirs in 1821. When Duval died in 1824 he owned the area bounded by Royal Street on the west, by the Mobile River on the east, by lots belonging to Lewis Jordan on the north and on the south by lots owned by James Innerarity, John Innerarity and the estate of John Forbes( all three of these men left heirs and plantations in Matanzas). After Duval's death in 1824, his widow Catherine Caro Duval had four illegitimate children by Mobile businessman, Philip McLoskey. Around 1828, McLoskey sent Catherine and his four illegitimate children to Cuba. These children,born between 1824 and 1830 were James McLoskey, John McLoskey, Victoria McLoskey and Phillip McLoskey. The irony here is that James Innerarity also had illegitimate children in Cuba. James' Cuban plantation was named after his first wife, Heloise. He may have married Laura Manuella Centenno, a Cuban. Their son, Frank Innerarity was born in Cuba in 1832. The other four children Innerarity had with Laura were born in Mobile. These children did not inherit from Innerarity.
I also found the Forbes Purchase case, Mitchel vs. United States(1835), on the Web. Click on http://www.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/USSCT_Cases/MITCHEL_V_US_1835.HTM
This concludes my first installment of Cuba, Alabama. Robert Register