The Minorcan Legacy is the third and final story of Malachi Lamarca. The three historical fiction books—The Minorcan Revenge, The Minorcan Odyssey, and The Minorcan Legacy—explore his life, Minorcan culture, and the history of St. Augustine. In this final installment, the British lose America’s War of Independence in 1781 and are sent back across the sea. The province of East Florida returns to Spanish rule before becoming a territory of the United States in 1821. Enslaved Africans who had been granted freedom under Spanish law have that freedom taken away under the “Fugitive Slave Clause” written into the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Malachi, a leader in the Minorcan community, staunchly opposes slavery on the fundamental belief that no human should ever be owned by another. He rejects justification for slavery in any form. While he finds support among most Minorcans, he also encounters resistance from those who suffered under the lash of a Black overseer in the colony. Their deep-seated animosity toward Black men persists, despite the reality that the overseer himself acted under coercion and faced brutal punishment for disobedience. The descendants of the first generation of Minorcans, Greeks, Italians, and Corsicans who arrived in 1768 and endured harsh mental and physical conditions at the New Smyrna colony are still present in St. Augustine and other parts of the world. Their presence serves as a lasting tribute to the more than 400 colonists who survived the journey from New Smyrna to St. Augustine in 1777. Yet a tragic reminder remains. The graves of the 964 Minorcans who perished in New Smyrna have never been the subject of a dedicated archeological project. They are known as the “Missing Minorcans.” Where are they? When will they be found and honored?

Robert P. Jones, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, former St. Augustine bricklayer, and longtime fisheries association executive, is in his 93rd trip around the sun. He is passionate about telling the story of the Minorcans, who arrived at the New Smyrna colony in 1768—and, after nine harrowing years during which over half the colonists perished, walked seventy miles north to freedom in St. Augustine. His passion is personal. His late wife, Malinda Usina Jones, to whom he was married for 67 years, was a descendant of an original Minorcan colonist. Her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Catalina Moll Usina, is among the 964 colonists whose graves remain lost in the soil of New Smyrna Beach, Florida.