De León, a Tejano Family History

2. The de León Ranches in Texas, 1800-1813

       , – Genealogical Chart M ARTÍN DE LEÓN (M. 1795) + PATRICIA DE LA GARZA 1. Fernando (b. 1798) 2. María Candelaria (b. 1800) 3. José Silvestre (b. 1802) 4. María Guadalupe ‘‘Lupita’’ (b. 1804) 5. José Félix (b. 1806) 6. Agápito (b. 1808) 7. María de Jesús ‘‘Chucha’’ (b. 1810) 8. Refugia (b. 1812)  The de León Ranches in Texas, – •  On January , , Martín de León and his wife of five years, Patricia de la Garza de León, stood before the notary public at Presas del Rey in the Eastern Interior Provinces of Northern New Spain. Patricia, then about twenty-six years of age and the mother of two children, signed over her dowry of almost , pesos in cash, goods, and livestock to her husband . The couple was investing everything they had to establish a ranch on the Nueces River in Texas, one of the four Spanish Eastern Interior Provinces.1 At the beginning of the new century, the threat from the acquisitive United States had boiled over again. What New Spain needed was another dynamic Charles III and a second José de Escandón to help settle Texas. What they had was the weak-willed Charles IV, who seemed to have little interest in the colonies of the New World except for what they could supply in silver bullion. The Spanish government no longer had the funds to encourage young men like Martín de León to make extensive settlements. Money was being siphoned off to defend Spain from Napoleon ’s armies. The French were sending spies and their propaganda into Texas, and the aggressive, land-hungry United States was surreptitiously encouraging illegal Anglo traders. In  Brigadier Pedro de Nava, commandant general of the Eastern Interior Provinces, informed the Texas governor: Aroyalorder,sentthroughsecretchannels,hasarrivedorderingtheutmostcareto preventthepassagetothiskingdomofpersonsfromtheUnitedStatesofAmerica. ThekinghasbeeninformedongoodauthoritythattheUnitedStateshasordered emissaries to move here and work to subvert the population. Baron Carondolet, governor of Louisiana, has been ordered to work diligently against these greedy persons from the western states and says there has been some movement by them into the interior of this province.2 TheimmediatethreatwhichsentMartíndeLeónonhistreknorthward came from an Irish-American adventurer and horse trader named Philip Nolan.Asearlyas,NolanhadrequestedpassestoenterTexastocollect horses as remounts for the Spanish governor of Louisiana while the area still belonged to Spain. Commandant General Nava signed the permits for the expeditions of –. But within two years the Spanish Governor at Natchez had learned of Nolan’s involvement with General James Wilkinson, who, it was rumored, planned to conquer the Spanish Southwest. Under orders to keep out all foreigners, especially Americans ,NavaorderedNolannottoenterTexasagain.Thatfall,whenNolan  • D L, A T F H ignoredtheorderandcrossedtheLouisianaborderintoTexaswithtwenty to thirty men, the Spanish government in Mexico City leaped to the assumption that it was an invasionary force. Captain Martín de León and his Fieles de Burgos had been called up to defend the border and joined the militias from Nuevo Santander and Nuevo León as well as the garrisons along the Río Bravo at Laredo, Revilla, Mier, Camargo, and Reynosa and inland at Refugio. The units patrolled the roads from Nacogdoches to San Antonio and La Bahía looking for Nolan and his army. At last, in March,SpanishtroopsfromNacogdocheslocatedNolanintheWaco Indian territory. Ordered to surrender, Nolan refused, and the Spanish forces killed him and captured his men. With considerable relief, the government ordered Captain de León and his Fieles de Burgos, along with the other militias, back to their home bases.3 Martín de León, perhaps already familiar with the region he and his menhadbeenpatrolling,determinedtosettlearanchinthenewlands.In ,withPatricia’ssupportandhersubstantialdowry,Martínmovedhis familytoLaBahíadelEspírituSantoontheSanAntonioRiver.Thehamlet was an active if not particularly large settlement. Since there were few largetreesontheflat,expansiveplains,mostofthehomeswerejacalesbuilt ofthelocalscrubwoodandgatheredclosetothewallsofthepresidio.The officers and the slightly better-off ranchers (for no one was truly wealthy onthefrontier)hadbuiltadobeorstonehomesofoneortworoomsalong the road from the interior or scattered upriver toward San Fernando de Béxar. The population of almost , people consisted of soldiers or retired soldiers and their families and a growing number of civilians such as Martín and Patricia de León.4 During the mornings a constant bustle surrounded the presidio. Wood smoke from the breakfast fires mixed with dust from the corrals as soldiers brought in the horse herd from the pastures farther upriver to exchange for the mounts in the corrals. The half-wild horses, trapped on the vast Mustang Plains, provided rebellious but...