 In 1821, Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States, and in 1824, two Key West men, Joshua Appleby and a man named Snyder, sent an employee, Silas Fletcher, to open a store on Indian Key.The store was to serve wreckers, settlers, and Indians in the upper Keys, and a settlement of primarily Bahamian wreckers and turtlers grew up on the island.By 1829, the settlement was large enough to include a dozen women.