The St. Augustine Branch of the Sparrow Family

It was a researcher at Ancestry. Com who had discovered the links that Captain Jack Sparrow had within the United States and they went very deep. They lived in every state of the union and in several countries throughout the world. Some were very rich, others not so much. They worked in a variety of different careers and came from different walks of life. This had all come about as the result of Johnny Depp wanting to know his family history. He now had more distant cousins in the US and throughout the world that he had ever imagined.

The researchers estimated that the number of persons related to Captain Jack Sparrow in the US were at least 2 or 3 thousand in the US. World wide the number was about 4 thousand.

The Captain later had felt guilty about abandoning Angelica when she told him she was with child. He had gone back to the island where he'd abandoned her six weeks later but no one was there. He searched the island but didn't find her or any evidence that she'd ever been there. He looked far and wide for Angelica and the child but never found them. No one seemed to know what had happened to them.

This was something that he had regretted doing and had admitted such on his death bed.

St. Augustine 2002

Angelica restaurant had been a fixture on and off in St. Augustine for nearly 200 years. The restaurant was named for Angelica Gomez who arrived in St. Augustine 1756. Her daughter Maria was born shortly after she arrived. It was said that Maria's father was Captain Jack Sparrow.

The current owner of the restaurant, Theresa Gomez had discovered a time capsule in a hidden wall when they were remodeling the restaurant. She also found an old diary which surprisingly was in good condition. The diary was written in Spanish.

May 15, 1756

"A couple of days after Captain Sparrow abandoned me and our unborn child on the Island, a merchant ship came by and rescued me. I cared for the Captain's wife Catherine who was ill.

September 15, 1756

Sadly Catherine died. She was buried at sea. I committed the sin of taking her wedding ring and I hid it. The Captain never missed it. I am very heavy with child which is why the Captain of the merchant ship doesn't bother with me. I lied to him telling him that Captain Jack Sparrow killed my husband and I was taken captive and forced to do chores. I also lied about my name, saying that I was Angelica Stewart.

September 20, 1756

Arrived in St. Augustine. Left the merchant ship. The Captain felt sorry for me, so he gave me some money, so at least I would have a place to stay. I had to lie about my name, I'm now Angelica Stewart and I have to hid my Catholic faith as St. Augustine under British control isn't friendly towards those who are Catholic.

September 24, 1756

Maria was born right before the sun came out. Everyone believed my lies. In St. Augustine Captain Sparrow is hated. Sometimes I hate him, and other times I loved him. It was on Christmas Eve that my dear Maria was conceived in the middle of the night with a full moon shining unto the ship. We had shared a bed since Halloween of 1755. Jack had promised me that I wouldn't be with child as he had never produced any offspring that he knew of.. Notice the word, knew of. Knowing his reputation and knowing how he'd been around with many different types of women, I shouldn't have believed him. Unless one is celibate, I don't know how you avoid risking being with child unless you physically couldn't have children. There are ways to reduce the risk of pregnancy but …. this is too private to put in writing and I'm a prim and proper lady even though I've sinned.

December 24, 1755

It had taken Captain Sparrow several months to seduce Angelica. She refused to have anything to do with him, even though she had agreed to come unto his ship. He had already taken her virginity and because of his actions, she was kicked out of the convent. She was blamed for what happened which made her blood boil when she thought about it.

"I want to be with you forever." the Captain said to her as he kissed her over and over again.

Captain Jack Sparrow knew exactly what to say to the ladies that he bedded. He whispered sweet nothings into Angelica's ears. He was careful that what she said wasn't dirty or nasty. She wasn't like those who worked at the bar or those who were prostitutes. Most of the women he slept with were rough,nasty looking, smelled back and swore like sailors. Angelica wasn't like that. She was different.

Angelica ended up being a madam and opening up a bar and a brothel for the British soldiers that came to town in St. Augustine. She did this for survival. No one would have believed her if she'd told them that she had once wanted to become a nun. Captain Jack Sparrow corrupted her. She made sure that her girls were protected and didn't tolerate abuse, something that other madames didn't really do.

Maria brought out drinks to the men who mostly were nice to her.

When she died, her daughter took over the brothel shortly the Spanish took Florida from the British. She had to flee during the fighting but came back shortly after the Spanish had taken over. When Angelica's daughter died, her son and daughter in law opened up a tavern. For the next 200 years or so, Angelica's descendants had owned a hotel and restaurant, a restaurant and a tavern and in the 1960's a clothing store. In the 1800's, they had become respectful and their past had been mostly forgotten.

The family history that Teresa Gomez knew had been handed down from generation to generation. It had finally been written down 50 years earlier.

Teresa's sister Lourdes Gomez was a well known Hollywood actress.

The St. Augustine connection also included a well known writer, a news anchor, A admiral in the NAVY, a Professor at West Point and a high ranking official at the Pentagon. All of these individuals loved the water and loved being in and around the water.

According to the researchers, Johnny Depp was a very, very distant cousin about 20 times removed. Their common ancestor was Captain Jack Sparrow.

The NASCAR and Kentucky connection to Captain Jack Sparrow

Jack Mark Sparrow was born in Lexington Kentucky the same day and year as Johnny Depp. Many people in his family were involved in horse racing. One owned a stud farm, two others owned horses that ran in the triple crown series. Others were involved in the finances of horse races.

Unlike the rest of his family which had been in the horse racing industry since its inception, Jack Sparrow decided he wanted to become a race car driver. He went to California when he was 16 years old to learn how to ran cars.

He took the money that his grandparents had given him to invest in a race car when he was 18 years old.

Daytona 500 1982

At Valentine's day 1982, Eighteen year old Jack Sparrow won the Daytona 500. It was a shock to everyone as the day before Jack Sparrow had run in the Busch series and had finished 34th. Many people thought that was a fluke. It wasn't as Jack Sparrow over a 30 period had won over 80 races, 3 championships, the last one being the year he retired from racing which was 2012.

As far as drivers go, Jack Sparrow marched to the beat of a different drummer. He was not your typical NASCAR driver. The organization tended to be conservative, religious and was conservative on most political issues.

Jack Sparrow was criticized for not officially marrying his common law wife Martha Green in 1984 Following Kentucky law, he proclaimed that Martha was his common law wife after it was announced that she was pregnant. It was after 3 children and 15 years later that they finally married per their children request.

The story about being related to Captain Jack Sparrow had been told to Jack since childhood. Jack knew that he was related to Jack Sparrow thru his son Mark Sparrow who had originally settled in Coastal Virginia and then came west. Mark Sparrow was married twice and had a total of 10 children some of whom went to Kentucky and were scattered throughout the state.

Captain Sparrow had a brief fling with a British aristocratic in the Bahamas which caused quite a scandal. She also ran off with the Captain who left her in Coastal Virginia shortly after their son was born. He had stolen money from a bank and had given her the money to live on and then left. He always seemed to know what was going on as the Captain showed up when Mark turned 18, when Mark got married and when Mark's wife had her first child.

His wit and charm kept people from getting very angry with him.

Jack was a direct descendant of Mark Sparrow from his first wife.. Lillian Rose Sparrow who was one of Mark's granddaughters from his second marriage had married into the Depp family sometime in the 1850's.

When Jack Sparrow and Johnny Depp met for the first time in 2002, they both discovered that they each had a daughter whose name was similar to Lillian Rose, Jack's daughter's name was Lillian Rose, Johnny's daughter was Lily-Rose. Lillian Rose was 15 years old older than Lily-Rose and both women were born on the same day.