Tejano History
Ganzabal, Juan Jose De
GANZABAL, JUAN JOSÉ DE (?–1752). Juan José de Ganzabal, a missionary priest in Spanish Texas, was assigned to the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro, a Franciscan institution in Mexico. He and Father Mariano Francisco de los Dolores y Viana were staunch advocates of the San Xavier missions, on the San Gabriel River near the site of present Rockdale, Texas. It fell to Father Ganzabal to make special pleadings with the auditor de guerra for crown support of the missions and a presidio to guard them. That task occupied him in Mexico City for eight months in 1748. Despite opposition in Texas from Governor Pedro del Barrio Junco y Espriellaqv, by July 1749 three missions had been established on the San Gabriel River. Ganzabal was the first regular missionary at San Ildefonso Mission, where he directed his initial efforts toward the recruitment of several bands of Orcoquiza Indians. In May 1750 a horrible smallpox epidemic spread through neophytes of the mission, and Father Ganzabal could do little other than minister to the needs of the dying.
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Full article on the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas Online
Courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.
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