Career
He had one brother named Juan del Junco. He occupied the office of Army General and before 1550, he served Philip II, of Spain, as an agent of the Kingdom of Naples, and later became an agent of Florida. He settled in Saint Augustine, Florida as a factor and Overseer of the Royal Treasury of Florida.
In late June 1579.
King Philip II of Spain sent one hundred soldiers to Florida to reinforce the province. Nearly 50 of them drowned when the Santiago el Menor galleon, which was carrying them, was sunk near the port of San Augustine. Pedro Menéndez de Márquez sent a request to Rodrigo de Junco for fifty more soldiers to replace the soldiers who had died in the Santiago el Menor sinking.
Rodrigo followed the order.
In addition, Rodrigo de Junco asked Philip II to send 30 slaves from Havana to Florida to work at Saint Augustine´s Fort, because the soldiers were reluctant to build the fort, and only using wood, as the construction of the Fort was not, according to them, part of their work. Philip II gave an order that these slaves were to be sent to Florida and work at Fort Saint Augustine for 4 years.
Most of them worked at Fort under harsh conditions, and twenty of them were sent to Santa Elena to repair the fort and built a platform there for a small period of time. In 1550, he returned to Seville, where power was granted on 16 March that year with the notary Diego de la Barrera to take effect in Florida.
About 1590 his family returned to Florida, where he became a governor until 1592, when he died in a shipwreck off the coast of Florida.
He was the second husband to Francisca de Miranda-Santo Domingo. They had at least two children: Bartolomeo del Junco y Miranda and Maria del Junco-Miranda.
