This work was written and researched by A. M. Brooks, who was born as Abbie M. Brooks, but also wrote as Sylvia Sunshine. She wrote a great deal about Florida, including the work, Petals Plucked From Sunny Climes, which is a highly acclaimed and well researched account of the Florida area prior to the 1870s. This work, The Unwritten History of St. Augustine, is the culmination of a very daunting task, going through five huge volumes of records regarding the development of Florida found in the archives in Seville, Spain. Yet, for all of her hard work, little is known about the life and history of A. M. Brooks. Perhaps ironically, she was always tracking the past, but leaving very little of her own behind, save for her writings.