Sunday, January 11, 2009

de León-Cantú del Río

Husband: (General) Alonso DE LEÓN GONZÁLEZ
Birthdate: 1639
Birthplace: Huichapan, Hidalgo, Mexico
Death date: 21 Mar 1690/91
Place of death: Presidio de San Francisco de Coahuila, Mexico
Father: (Capitán) Alonso PÉREZ DE LEÓN
Mother: Josefa GONZÁLEZ HIDALGO LEAL


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Wife: Agustina CANTÚ DEL RÍO Y DE LA CERDA TREVIÑO
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Place of death: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Father: Joseph Miguel CANTÚ DEL RÍO Y DE LA CERDA
Mother: María Teresa DE TREVIÑO GONZÁLEZ


CHILDREN


Child No. 1: Alonso DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
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Birthplace: Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León, Mexico
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Child No. 2: María Inés DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: F
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Child No. 3: Miguel DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
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Birthplace: Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León, Mexico
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Child No. 4: Andréa DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: F
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Child No. 5: María Isabel DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: F
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Child No. 6: (Capitán) Santiago DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
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Birthplace: Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico
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Child No. 7: (Capitán) Juan DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1665
Birthplace: Cadereyta de Jiménez, Nuevo León, Mexico
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Child No. 8: Matéo DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1672
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Spouse's name: Antonia GARCÍA DE SOSA Y PRUNEDA
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Spouse's name: Antonia DE ARREDONDO


Child No. 9: Juana DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: F
Birthdate: 1681
Birthplace: Villa del Pilón, Nuevo León, Mexico
Death date: After 20 March 1740/41
Place of death: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
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Child No. 10: Fernando DE LEÓN CANTÚ
Sex: M
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Spouse's name: Catarina PÉREZ DE LA DUEÑA

NOTES:

PRESIDIO DE SAN FRANCISCO DE COAHUILA. El 20 de abril de 1678, se trasladó desde Santiago del Saltillo del Ojo de Agua a los 20 soldados presidiales que habían quedado, para fundar el Presidio de San Francisco de Coahuila en la región en donde hoy se ubica la ciudad de Monclova. Presidio que tuvo como Primer Capitán al Alférez Fernando del Bosque. Prestó importantes servicios a la conquista y pacificación de la Provincia de la Nueva Extremadura. Con el tiempo cambió de nombre por el de Santiago de la Monclova.
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Notes for GENERAL ALONSO DE LEON-GONZALEZ:

Don Alonso de León, the younger, Spanish explorer and governor, third son of Alonso De León and Josefa González, was born in Cadereyta, Nuevo León, in 1639 or 1640. At the age of ten he was sent to Spain, where he enrolled in school and prepared for a naval career. He joined the Spanish navy in 1657, but his service as a naval cadet was brief, for he had returned to Nuevo León by 1660. Over the next two decades he led a series of entradas that traversed the northeast coast of New Spain as well as the banks of the Río de San Juan. By the 1680s De León had become a seasoned outdoorsman and successful entrepreneur. In 1682 he petitioned the viceroy of New Spain for a franchise to work salt deposits along the Río de San Juan, open trade with neighboring settlements, and search for mines. Those efforts netted a fifteen-year concession.

Toward the end of 1688 the Count of Galvez, on assuming the government of New Spain, was informed that some French adventurers had formed establishments on the coast of Texas, and he ordered Leon to go with an expedition, accompanied by a geographer and interpreter, to that, coast. Accordingly the latter set out in the beginning of 1689, and after a long march through the desert arrived at the Bay of San Bernardo, or Espiritu Santo, where he found a partly constructed fort, but no signs of the French settlers. Hearing from friendly Indians that five of them were with a neighboring tribe in search of workmen, Leon sent a detachment to capture them, and after several days the force returned with two of the French adventurers, Jacques Grollet and Jean L'Archeveque, the others having fled. He established a garrison, or presidio, and returned to Monclova, the capital of Coahuila, despatching the two Frenchmen to Mexico, whence the viceroy sent them to Spain, recommending measures to secure the coast against the French. A royal order came to establish more presidios and missions in Texas, and Leon was sent in 1691 for this purpose; but he so oppressed the Indians that there was a general rising in 1693, and nearly all the missions were destroyed. Leon was now recalled and retired to New Leon, where he founded the town of Cadereita, and died there. His report "Relacion de mi viaje a la Bahia de San Bernardo, dirigida al Exmo. Sr. visrey de N. E., Conde de Galves" (1689), is kept in manuscript in the archives of the council of the Indies. Besides this there are in manuscript in the library of the University of Mexico "Diarios de Alonso de Leon" (1689) and "Relacion y Discursos del descubrimiento, poblacion y pacificacion del Nuevo Reino de Leon, temperamento y calidad de la tierra, dirigidos For Alonso de Leon al Illmo. St. Du Juan de Manosca, Inquisidor del Santo Oficio de la N. E. ano de 1690."

In all, he had led four expeditions between 1686 and 1689. His initial reconnaissance followed the Río de San Juan to its confluence with the Rio Grande. After striking the larger river, Don Alonso marched along the right bank to the coast and then turned southward toward the Río de las Palmas (the Río Soto la Marina). This effort yielded no conclusive evidence that Frenchmen had visited the region. His second expedition set out in February 1687. This entrada forded the Rio Grande, probably near the site of present Roma-Los Saenz, and followed the left bank to the coast. De León then marched up the Texas coast to the environs of Baffin Bay but again found no evidence of Frenchmen. The third expedition, launched in May 1688, was in response to news that a white man dwelled among Indians in a ranchería (temporary settlement) to the north of the Rio Grande. On May 19, 1688 he headed the expedition to find and arrest the frenchman, Captain Monsieur Juan Jarri known to history as Jean Henri. That effort resulted in the capture of Jean Jarri, a naked, aged, and confused Frenchman. The fourth expedition left Coahuila on March 27, 1689, with a force of 114 men, including chaplain Damián Massanet, soldiers, servants, muleteers, and the French prisoner, Jarry. On April 22 De León and his party discovered the ruins of the French settlement, Fort St. Louis,qv on the banks of Garcitas Creek.

In 1687 De Léon became governor of Coahuila. Three years later he and Massanet cooperated in founding the first Spanish mission in East Texas. Taking command of the Presidio San Francisco de los Tejas on October 18, 1687, he reviewed his small force of soldiers. Some of his men who passed in review would later become the first Spaniards to settle in San Antonio in 1715. De León, an honest soldier and an early pathfinder in Spanish Texas, left the future Lone Star State for the last time in July 1690. He is credited with being an early advocate for the establishment of missions along the frontier, and he blazed much of the Old San Antonio Road on his expeditions. On August 12, 1689, he founded Villa de Santiago de la Monclova. His will was signed in 1691 and on March 20, 1691, he died a natural death in the villa de Pilon (Montemorelos), Nuevo Leon, Mexico. His survivors included his wife, Dona Agustina Cantú, four sons, and two daughters. His descendants still reside in the Mexican state of Nuevo León.
He wrote the book titled "Historia de Nuevo Leon".

Texas and Northeastern Mexico, 1630-1690 by Juan Bautista Chapa
Gallant Outcast - Texas Turmoil, 1519-1734 by Ben Cuellar Ximénez

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