Vicente Álvarez Travieso

Vicente Álvarez Travieso (1705–1779) was a Spanish judge or politician that exercised as first alguacil mayor (1731–1779) of San Antonio, Texas, whose office was held by him until his death. He was one of the people who contributed most to the community of the isleños of San Antonio because, through of their demands to the leaders of New Spain was able to improve the lives of the Canarians in the city, seeking, inter alia, a medical care, without the which many Isleños would not have survived. He was mayor of San Antonio in 1776.

Biography

Vicente Alvarez Travieso was born in 1705 in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). He was the son of José and Catalina (Cayetano) Álvarez Travieso. His family was established in San Antonio, Texas in 1731, ^[1]when he was 25 years old. ^[2]

After leaving the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife together with other Canarian families, they went first to Mexico, where crossed several villages. He married his girlfriend Mariana Curbelo in Cuautitlan, Mexico. After arriving in San Antonio de Béjar, the Isleños performed a municipal government and Alvarez Travieso was elected Alguacil mayor of for life. He then used his new position to fight for the rights of the canarians that had just arrived in the city, becoming thus the leading spokesperson for the new settlers and in a negative element for the colonial administration.

In this sense, must be underline a number of important facts: When the isleños needed medical care but were denied permission to travel to Saltillo, Mexico, to obtain it (January 24, 1736), Alvarez Travieso sent a series of demands^[1] (which were finally accepted in 1770, with the government of Ripperdá, and who allowed the Canarian go to El Saltillo for that they were cured).^[3] Also sent other lawsuits on behalf of their peers. One of them, sent in 1740 was intended to ensure work of Amerindian missions on the lands of the settlers and the right to sell their products to presidio. The missionaries appealed to the Viceroy, but yet he managed to retain their privileges. Sent another demand, in 1756, that was directed against the monopoly that the missions' virtual have on land and water rights, and that favored only to around the village to which the Canarian had no access. When the claim of Don Vicente of a ranch on the banks of Cibolo Creek was rejected by friars Quereteran of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Acuña Mission, he sued again in 1771. The sentence obtained in Mexico City was favorable to private farmers from Bexar but, however, was not carried out, and the Álvarez's title in Rancho de las Mulas remained cloudy. The isleños's access to water surrounding the villages it was accepted but ironically, they became the owners this water, preventing access to it to the Franciscans Spanish in the same.

He was elected mayor of San Antonio in 1776.^[4] The Alvarez Travieso´s family, despite the lost cattle in the area, continued to struggle, but the Members of the clan kept their cattle loose, so that many of their cows moved away from the pastures near. To prevent such of "excesses", the Governor Vicencio Ripperdá conducted two tests against the theft of livestock of the San Antonio River valley. Travieso Alvarez died just after the procedure, the January 25, 1779, but fighting continued in the younger generations.^[1]

After his death

In 1785, the Mulas became property of his son Thomas, one of the sons of Vicente Alvarez Travieso, but others challenged the right of Thomas to inherit the land. However, in 1809, the ranch was transferred to Vicente, the son of Thomas, and remained in their hands after Mexican independence despite the prominent role that Vincent had played in the revolutionary years against monarchical.^[1]

Personal life

He married with Maria Curbelo, daughter Juan Curbelo, in September 18, 1730 ^[3] and they had eleven children.^[1] Since that they the Isleños were still in Mexico, before coming to Texas, Vicente Alvarez Travieso also had problems with the leader of the canarian in Mexico and future mayor of San Antonio, Juan Leal which gave him a loan when were with others canarian in San Luis Potosí, in route to Texas. Álvarez Travieso not paid the loan within the time fixed by what Juan Leal claim it back when they arrived in Coahuila, just before reaching San Antonio. After this statement began a dispute between the mayor and Alvarez Travieso, who was mayor alguacil.^[3]

References

External links

• A Guide to the Vicente Alvarez Travieso Papers, 1771-1783
• My Genealogy Home Page: Information about Vicente Álvarez Travieso