I represent Bernard Romans. I was a man of many talents: a naturalist, surveyor, engineer, and soldier. I was born in The Netherlands about 1720 and was employed by William Gerard de Brahms, Surveyor General of the Southern District as a “Draughtsman, Mathematician, Navigator.” I began my work in East Florida in in 1766 but went to Georgia as Deputy Surveyor soon after. I returned as de Brahms’ assistant in 1769 and worked on the Gulf Coast as far as Tampa Bay. I worked independently beginning in 1770, and reached Pensacola in 1771. There I began working with Indian Superintendent John Stuart, who was then concerned with ascertaining and publishing the boundary line that had been negotiated with the indigenous nations. Governor Peter Chester approved of my work and he arranged for me to have an official appointment and salary as the colony’s botanist. I published the first account of a devastating hurricane that came through West Florida between August 30 and September 3, 1772, which is now called the Bernard Romans Hurricane of 1772. In 1773, I went to New York to publish all the information I had gathered during my time in the Florida colonies. In 1775, my A concise natural history of East and West Florida was published. About that time, I joined the American cause and fought with the rebels; I was captured and imprisoned until the end of the war. I died at sea in 1784 while returning to America.
Sources: 3, 35, 36