[2] Céspedes married Maria de la Conception Basabe Arostegui on July 22, 1754, in the Cathedral of Havana, Cuba.
He also recommended that the King impose time limits for the repossession of unoccupied property to avoid confusion when the former proprietors or their heirs asserted their claims.
Céspedes wanted to register all legitimate proprietorships purchased from such realtors during the British Period; by this means he hoped to forestall disruption of the traditional real estate system in St. Augustine.
Following the Spanish exodus of 1763, twenty years of British rule, and the retrocession of Florida to Spain in 1784, Céspedes faced many problems concerning the disposition of property.
[7] Céspedes began to attract settlers to East Florida, granting them lands, exemption from taxes for ten years, and delivery of cash bonuses.
[10] Alexander McGillivray, a Creek diplomat and trader, wrote to Céspedes in 1789 after walking out on talks with United States representatives in Georgia.
[11] Céspedes gave botanist André Michaux permission to explore East Florida in search of new species of plants.