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Facts and Events
References
- According to Patsy Ariola Morgan, a descendant of Richard Simes and Maria Concepcion (Perez) the following:
"Richard Simes was born in Bristol, England, ca. 1764, the son of John Simes and Margueritte Chisley. When his father died in 1780, he shipped out to Jamaica on one of His Majesty's frigates. This ship was captured off the Cuban coast in 1781 and Richard spent one year as a prisoner of war in Santiago di Cuba. He was "released" to serve on a Franch vessel plying between Havanna and New Orleans that happened to be short handed. After two years, he decided that life at sea was not for him and he traveled to Rapides Parish, where he farmed for three years. From there he had "to transport" himself to Natchitoches Parish where he again took up farming for a period of four years. He finally crossed in to Texas in 1791, settling in Nacogdoches. (From the number of aliases used during this time and his own phrasing when he applied for citizenship in 1809, it is the opinion of his great-great granddaughter that he jumped ship.) While in Natchitoches, he met and married Maria de la Concepcion Perez, a native of Bexar, born ca. 1770. She was the daughter of Joseph Cristoval Perez and Maria Josepha de Luna, both natives of wife of Eduardo Arriola; Jose de Jesus, husband of Maria de Jesus Mora; Jose Ignacio, husband of Ignacia Yabarbo, first, and Nancy Early, second; and Maria Benigna, wife of Antonio Del Rio. Richard seemed to be highly thought of by the citizens of Nacogdoches. He was a prosperous man, owning a town lot with a log house purchased from Pierre Engle, and a ranch of one league located on Ayish Bayou, with three log houses and two cultivated fields enclosed by a rail fence, 50 heads of cattle, 6 horses and 4 oxen. Richard died prior to 1830, presumably in Nacogdoches. His daughter, Candelaria Simes Arriola, is the great grandmother of the author of this sketch."
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