A Juan d'Espinosa in South Carolina in 1609

The Waterees. The Wateree Chicanee 1732-1736 lived opposite present Camden. 

1609. Twenty-five or twenty-six Spaniards from St. Augustine, Florida, in Company with their interpreter, an Escamacu Indian woman, Maria de Miranda wife of Juan d'Espinosa, took their ship far enough up the Santee River to meet with the chief of the Wateree Indians. The Chief of the Jordan River guided them into the river Jordan to the Chief of the Waterees.

South Carolina Indians, Indian traders, and other ethnic connections : beginning in 1670 / edited by Theresa M. Hicks, from the papers of Theresa M. Hicks and Wes Taukchiray. The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, SC, 1998, p. 46

Note: If this is the progenitor of the Pinholster family, then he was in SC much earlier (1609) than previously thought. This is before the Minorcans came to Florida in 1768. The Spanish called the Santee River the River Jordan. The town of Camden was not settled by the English until 1772 as the town of Fredericksburg. John Pinholster was born before 1776 and died about 1824. 

Transcribed by Teresa McVeigh 17 Jun 2019