Hacienda La Concordia
Prior to Edward Lind's acquisition of Hacienda La Concordia in 1852, its ownership is unclear. The earliest information available is that on April 24, 1827, William Henry Tracy (1796-1852) as agent of José Balestier and Frenchman from Rouen Carlos Félix Aroux (ca.1796-1837), purchased the one hundred ten acre sugar estate known as Hacienda Concordia from Pedro Santos Santelli (1790- ) for $25,000 . Balestier's ownership is verified by the fact that in June 1840 José Balestier mortgaged Hacienda La Concordia to Samuel N. Gott for 13,841 pesos which he could not have done unless he owned it.
Gilberto Bermúdez Navedo in his book Desarrollo Economico de Guayama 1810-1855 states that on April 19, 1841 a group of plantation owners from Patillas filed a request to to reopen the old road between Patillas and the Port of Arroyo. This road had been closed by order of the administrators of Hacienda Concordia in Barrio Palmas whose owner was American Charles Walker due to the fact it was marsh lands and affected certain establishments of the hacienda. As a result, the Guayama Municipal Government granted William Henry Tracy as general representative and administrator of the hacienda eight days to clear the road.
William Henry Tracy (1796-1852) was an American from Connecticut who established himself first in Saint Thomas and in 1822 arrived in Puerto Rico and applied for his naturalization papers on July 31, 1830. He married two sisters, Hetty Ann Coit Murdoch who died when forty five years old in 1840 and then married Francys Coit Murdoch. He never had children with either one. According to Eli Oquendo Rodriguez in his book Guayama: Hacendados, Estancieros y Comerciantes Extranjeros published in 2021, in the early 1830s William Henry and Jean Baptiste Balestier, the brother of José, established the commercial firm William Henry Tracy & Co. on a 55-45 basis. Just a year later Hacienda La Concordia was indebted to William Henry Tracy & Co. for 8,976 pesos which debt had increased to 27,682 by 1840. In order to repay the debt, as stated above, in June 1840 José Balestier mortgaged Hacienda La Concordia to Samuel N. Gott for $13,841. The only mention Oquendo makes of Charles Walker is that on May 7, 1840 William Henry Tracy sold to Charles Walker 27,682 pesos worth of monies owed him by Hacienda La Concordia for advances made to purchase supplies and equipment. However, this transaction was voided three weeks later on May 27, 1840. That same day a similar agreement was made by Tracy this time with Samuel N. Gott who advanced Tracy 13,841 pesos.
In November 1849, after the death of José Balestier, a judge ordered Hacienda La Concordia to be put under administration. However, William Henry Tracy opposed the ruling alleging he had purchased Hacienda La Concordia from the estate of Jean Baptiste Balestier and his brother José Balestier. Tracy agreed to sell Hacienda La Concordia to EdwardLind, however, this transaction did not materialize due to Tracy's sudden death by apoplexy or a hemorrhagic stoke. In a will dated August 1850, William H. Tracy and his wife Francys Coit Murdock included Hacienda La Concordia as theirs and named Eduardo Lind as executor of the estate. Five months after his death, Tracy’s widow and only heir, sold Hacienda La Concordia to Lind on August 7, 1852 for 89,100 pesos according to the deceased wishes.
Edward Lind acquired Hacienda Henrietta and its eight hundred cuerdas for 103,500 hard dollars from Charles F. Overman heirs on April 5, 1852. That year he also acquired other land totaling approximately seven hundred sixty cuerdas for an additional 179,000 hard dollars. C. T. Overman in his book A Family Plantation; The History of the Puerto Rican Hacienda La Enriqueta states that although Hacienda La Concordia was only part of the seven hundred sixty cuerdas, all of them were later referred to as Hacienda La Concordia. Overman states that one of the sellers involved in the seven hundred sixty acre transaction was Francisca Coit de Fray who accepted a 75,600 pesos mortgage as deferred payment. Overman states the parcel of land she sold had been acquired from Carlos Wyman who had previously mortgage it to Eduardo Cervoni. The information regarding Wyman and Cervoni is unclear but there is no doubt that the parcel sold by Francisca Coit was Hacienda La Concordia. Overman appears to misspell the name Francisca Coit de Fray which should be Francisca Coit de Tracy.
Overman also states that other seller in the seven hundred sixty acre transaction were Julia Huguemin de Rigo Favarges who in 1842 mortgaged about fifty acres of her Hacienda Julia in favor of her son Agusto Adolfo Favarges for 53,600. It is clear then that the lands acquired from these two sellers were not part of La Concordia. Other sellers were; Adela Favarges, Adolfo Favarges, Maria Collazo Ortiz, José Cintrón, Pablo Ortiz, Eugenio Manatou, Luis Mariani, Juana Sanchez, Bábara Sanchez, Teresa Manatou, Luis Sanchez and a Mrs. Augustini.
The Concordia and Henrietta were contiguous properties and during Edward Lind's ownership each one retained its separate legal status although they were commonly referred to as La Enriqueta. To the best of our knowledge, the house pictured below in 2014 was the manor house of Hacienda La Concordia.