Tejano History

Garza Falcon, Jose Antonio De La

Tejanos |

       GARZA FALCÓN, JOSÉ ANTONIO DE LA (1739–1797). José Antonio de la Garza Falcón, soldier and public official, was born in 1739 in Cerralvo, Nuevo León, Mexico, the son of Capt. Blas María de la Garza Falcón and Catarina Gómez de Castro. He received his education in Cerralvo and Camargo, joined the Spanish presidial company of Camargo, and later became a lieutenant in the Cavalry Militia of Province and Frontier stationed at Camargo. In 1766 rumors that the English were preparing to establish themselves on the lower Texas coast led to several requests that Garza Falcón investigate the scene. In the summer of 1776, responding to a request from José de Escandón, who himself was acting at the behest of the viceroy, the Marqués de Cruillasqv, Garza Falcón explored the coast from the Rio Grande to Corpus Christi Bay. Later that year he was ordered to explore Padre Island by Diego Ortiz Parrilla,qqv who had been instructed to investigate the islands off the lower Texas coast. Garza Falcón may have complied, or he may simply have given Ortiz Parrilla a report, dated September 1766, that was based on his exploration several months earlier. 

 

Full article on the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas Online

   Courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.