Tejano History
Ripperda, Juan Maria Vicencio, Baron De
Tejanos |
RIPPERDÁ, JUAN MARÍA VICENCIO, BARÓN DE (?–1780). The Barón de Ripperdá, Spanish governor of the province of Texas from 1770 to 1778, was born of nobility in Madrid. He entered the military service in 1743 and rose to the rank of colonel of cavalry in 1761. He arrived in Mexico from Spain in 1769 with a royal appointment as governor of Texas. During his several months' stay in Mexico City, he courted and married Mariana Gómez de Parada Gallo y Villavicencio, a native of Guadalajara. Shortly after the wedding, on October 22, the couple departed for Texas. On February 4, 1770, the baron assumed his new charge at the San Antonio de Béxar Presidio, where he and his wife decided to establish residence in the casas reales or government buildings, on the east side of the Plaza de las Islas, opposite the church of San Fernando. Six children were born to them there.
Full article on the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas Online