Francisco Espaillat
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- Isidoro de Peralta y Rojas
- Joaquín García y Moreno
Francisco Espaillat | |
|---|---|
| Lieutenant-Governor of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo for the Northern region | |
| In office 1783–1786 | |
| Monarch | Charles III of Spain |
| Governor |
|
| Succeeded by | Miguel Negrete |
| Administrator of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Santiago | |
| In office 1781–? | |
| Preceded by | Francisco Antonio Velilla y Torres |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 May 1734 |
| Died | 20 October 1807 (aged 73) Aguadilla, Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, Spanish Empire
|
| Children | 14 |
| Relatives | Francisco Antonio Velilla (father-in-law)
|
| Occupation | public officer, cattle rancher, sugar, tobacco and indigo planter |
| Profession | surgeon and physician |
Francisco Espaillat y Virol (1734 – 1807) was a French-born surgeon, public officer, cattle rancher, and sugar, indigo and tobacco planter in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo. As the largest slaveholder in this Spanish colony, he became one of the wealthiest men there and the ancestor of most of the present-day elite in Santiago, and the Dominican Republic elite in general, as his descendants used to marry with other upper-class families.
Born in Masclat, Duchy of Guyenne (today in Lot), Kingdom of France to a blacksmith (whose name in Spanish documents appears translated as Juan Espaillat) and his wife (Margarita Virol y Lamargot), on 29 May 1734, Espaillat was a surgeon who settled briefly in Cap-Français, then capital of the French colony of Saint-Domingue located in Western Hispaniola.[1]
Life in Santo Domingo
In 1756, Espaillat migrated eastward to the Spanish side of the island of Hispaniola, settling in Santiago, capital of the Northern region of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo also known as the Cibao region, invited by Antonio Quiñones;[1] two years later, he was legally authorised to exercise his profession in the Spanish colony.[1]
From 1761, Espaillat started to buy lands, ranches and sugar mills so by the late-1780s he owned 15 hatos (cattle ranches), 2 estancias and 4 sugar mills and his net worth was estimated at 200,000 Spanish dollars (equivalent to $7 million in 2024).[2] His fortune was so massive that he was undoubtedly the richest man in Cibao and one of the wealthiest men in the Spanish colony, rivaling Old money elite families from the city of Santo Domingo such as the Guridi, Coca-Landeche, de la Rocha, and Angulo, and even surpassing individuals from the Castro-Rivera, Campuzano-Polanco, and other 12 elite families.[1][2][nb 1] He became the largest slaveholder —by a large margin— in the Spanish colony with over 1,000 slaves throughout all of his properties. Most of his slaves were imported from either Saint-Domingue or Africa, and many records of the African ethnicities of his slaves are still preserved.[3][4]
His butler was Pedro Armaignac, of French origin too.[4]
Espaillat became a Spanish subject on 17 August 1787 when King Charles III of Spain naturalised him by decree; he paid a tax of 5,100 maravedís (18.75 Spanish dollars).[1]
Espaillat was the Medic and Main Surgeon of the infantry troops in Santiago, La Vega, Monte Christi, and Puerto Plata.[1][2]
He became administrator of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Santiago and had a salary of 60 Spanish dollars per month.[2]
As a philanthropist, Espaillat donated over 5,700 Spanish dollars to the Our Lady of the Assumption Hospital in Santiago.[2] He also treated poor patients for free.[1]
Later life and death
Espaillat fled the island in 1805 with his family, after the invasion of Jean-Jacques Dessalines to Santo Domingo, fleeing the massacres against the Dominicans committed by the Haitian army, moving to Aguadilla, in the Western side of the Spanish Captaincy General of Puerto Rico.[1]
He died in 1807 alienated from the great fortune he amassed and without the power he once held.[1][2] Nevertheless, his children were able to return to Santo Domingo and retrieve his estates in 1815 during the España Boba period. They bought new slaves as their former slaves were freed.[1]
