Juan Guillermo Béquer (born John William Baker; March 10, 1781March 16, 1860) was an American-born Spanish slave trader and planter who spent most of his life in
Cuba.
He was the son of Jacob Baker, a merchant based in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and his wife Hannah Smith. Baker moved to
Trinidad, Cuba in 1805, and became wealthy through his involvement in several businesses, including the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
and owning
sugar plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. He became a naturalized Spanish citizen in 1819, and changed his name to "Juan Guillermo Béquer". Baker was subsequently awarded the titles of
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic,
Knight of the Order of Charles III, and
Knight of the Order of Santiago by
Isabella II. He was to be made a member of the
Spanish nobility with the title of "
Marquess
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
of San Juan de
Piedras Albas", but Baker died before it could be conferred on him.
Baker built himself a mansion in Trinidad. Legend says that he was so wealthy that when Baker tried to lay a mosaic of
doubloons in the floor of the dining room, the Spanish authorities pointed out it would be improper to walk on the
coat of arms of Spain, so he inlaid them in the floor on their edges.
References
American emigrants to Cuba
Spanish slave traders
Spanish slave owners
19th-century Spanish businesspeople
People from Philadelphia
{{Cuba-bio-stub