Francisco Dauphin was born in France about 1734 and came to the Pensacola area by the late 1760s or early 1770s when the civilian population was less than three or four hundred. In 1778 he was living on 434 Zaragoza Street which was a residence and a bakery. In the 1820 census, when he was ninety-one, he was a widower and his occupation was "sailor" - which he may have been at one time.¹

Francisco was married to Ysabel Pichol by 1770. Ysabel, who was older than Francisco, was a widow. She had two daughters that we know of by then, Maria and Antonia Lafond. Maria, born about 1758 in Louisiana, married Thomas Commyns and Antonia, born about 1768, married someone named Hernandez.²

Francisco is mentioned as early as April 1770 in colonial papers of the Spanish Judiciary as the husband of Elizabeta Pigeol, widow of Pierre Lafond of Mobile. Elizabeth is the French version of the name Ysabel. Pierre was not Ysabel's first husband. She was named in a marriage contract as Elizabeth Pugeau when she married Jacques Langliche (or Langtiche) some time after the marriage contract which was dated 2 November 1758. After his death, which was some time before 1766, she married Pierre Lafond. Pierre had been the tutor to the minor children of Jacques and Elizabeth. Pierre was her husband in 1766 and he died some time before 1770 as Elizabeth was married to Francisco Dauphin by that time and their first child, Maria, was supposed to have been born about 1769.³

Francisco and Ysabel had four children: Maria, born about 1769; Santiago, born about 1770; Francisco, born about 1774; and Francesca, born about 1777. Ysabel died before 1820 when the census was taken and Francisco died sometime after that. Their places of burial are unknown. There is no more information about their children Maria and Francisco, but Santiago lived a long time. In the 1820 census he is fifty years old and single and he is a guide. Santiago and his father were living at the time with Francesca and her husband, Dr. Eugenio Antonio Sierra. Santiago died in 1845 in Pensacola and was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery. His notice of death says he was about eighty years old, but his age in the 1820 census was recorded as fifty and is probably more accurate.⁴

Francesca, the youngest of the four children, and listed in the 1784 census as [Francisca] Dauphin, age 8, married Dr. Eugenio Antonio Sierra, sometime around 1797, probably in Pensacola. Francesca was Eugenio's second wife, his first wife having died in 1797. Francesca and Eugenio had six children: Eulalie, born about 1798; Isabella Eugenia, born 1799; Irene Marie, born about 1802; Joseph, born about 1804; Juan, born about 1813; and Stephen E., born about 1816.⁵

Francesca was listed in the 1820 census as [Da. Francisca] Dauphin his wife, age 45, born Pensacola. She died on 6 September 1833 in Pensacola and is buried beside her husband in St. Michael?s Cemetery.⁶

Notice of death of Santiago Dauphin, ca. 1770 - 1845. Pensacola Gazette, 8 February, 1845, p.3.

Copy of a portrait of Ysabel Pichol Dauphin, courtesy of Cynthia Brosnaham Richardson, descendant and researcher.