 Cooley later moved to Alligator Pond ( near present @-@ day Lake City , Florida ) , where he set up a farm and traded with the local Seminole tribe led by Chief <unk> . The territory of East Florida was formally transferred from Spain to the United States in 1819 , under the Adams @-@ Onis Treaty . In 1820 , Spanish merchant Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo began settlement of a 280 @,@ 000 @-@ acre ( 1 @,@ 130 km2 ) claim in the Alachua territory , which had been granted to him by King Ferdinand VII of Spain . Cooley negotiated with Don Fernando on behalf of the displaced Indians but was unsuccessful . Cooley moved away in 1823 — possibly to escape the Spanish influence — to the north bank of the New River . 
