Searching for sources

At the beginning of my search, I found it rather difficult to find helpful primary sources. There were many secondary sources and books on that where on Juan Ponce de Leon and discussed his expedition, background, and provided some usual information, but nothing that was of true substance. I wasn't going to be able to right my research paper based off of a bunch of biographical information. At first, my idea of a primary source was basically a personal journal by Juan Ponce de Leon or someone on his expedition, but I soon realized that this was narrowing the possibilities when I wasn't finding any primary sources of this nature. With advice, I broadened my search for primary sources to include people who lived during the time period, fellow conquistadors, family members, and mostly anything I could find that was published relatively close to the time period.