The Garza of South Texas
By Lauro Antonio Garza
I have investigated the heritage of the Garza family that originated at the great “Rancho La Violeta” in present day Jim Hogg and Zapata counties of south Texas. This is an account of what I learned and how my investigation proceeded. I started my research with a census report from 1920 in Hebbronville, Texas. There I found that my grandfather, Medardo E. Garza, Sr., who was a young man of 31, living at Rancho La Violeta with his father's family. His father, Martiniano “Martín” Garza Flores was 59 at the time, and his mother, Paulita Villareal Benavides, was 53. They both reported their origin as being Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to SAGA records from “Guerrero Viejo” Martín and Paulita were married there on Feb. 6, 1886. We knew very little about my great grandfather's father, Pedro Garza. It was held in our family tradition that he was a "De la Garza" and that he may have been “De la Garza Falcon.” He was the first to drop the "De la..." and become simply Garza. We also knew from other records the names of his two wives and the names of his children from both marriages. Because Papa Martiniano was from Guerrero, I started there. Great great grandfather Pedro Garza married his first wife, Maria Refugio de Jesus Flores Buentello, on July 26,1843. He married his second wife, a maternal cousin, (possibly a niece) Placida Medina De la Garza on Jan. 26, 1864. These marriage records indicated Papa Pedro’s parent’s names. They were Rafael De La Garza and his wife, Cipriana Villareal of Agualeguas. I found it interesting that Blas Maria De la Garza Falcon, the famous colonizer of the first villages along the Rio Grande was also from Agualeguas and was a contemporary of Rafael. However, I promptly ran into dead end. I found no previous record for Rafael & Cipriana in Guerrero and I did not find them in Agualeguas either. I searched a genealogical database that pointed me to Vallecillo. As is still common today, a priest may travel from one parish to another to perform various sacraments and these actions are recorded at the home parish. The Vallecillo records listed Jose' Rafael De la Garza marrying Maria Cipriana Villareal on Feb. 18, 1800. This Vallecillo record told us that Rafael’s parents were Francisco De La Garza and Maria Antonia Treviño also of Agualeguas. According to Mira Smithwick, President of SAGA, records may be found in the Cerralvo records of the period. I did go back and search both the death records and baptism records in the Cerralvo books. One book of baptisms even listed grandparents, but the marriage records do not go back far enough in time. I found listings for Francisco and his wife Maria Antonia and of some of their children and some grandkids. Cerralvo death records showed Francisco passed away on Oct. 8, 1779 and his widow died on Dec. 5, 1792. I found records for some of their children and grand children. Strangely, I found no record of Pedro De la Garza, from this perspective. Francisco & Maria had six children for whom I have found records. They were: José Rafael, Maria Juana, Juan Maria, Maria Justa, José Ignacio, José Rafael Marcelo and Isabel Maria. I was stopped for a while after that discovery. There were many men in that region and time named Francisco De la Garza. I have found one in the Seabury papers, who had a wife of the exact same name, but the dates and the children’s names were wrong. I had only death records for Francisco & Maria and the some birth records for their children. For example, Maria Justa was born about 1773 and I suspected they, Francisco & Maria, must have married shortly before then, about 1770. But they were not in the Cerralvo marriage records which date back to 1761. At the time I didn’t know where to look. In 2004, while preparing to make a presentation for the Garza family reunion I was reviewing my notes and other documents and made a breakthrough. It had been there for over a year! Because the family line seemed to begin in Agualeguas, I investigated there. I knew that Francisco De la Garza was from Agualeguas and that he reported he had a youngster there around 1773 according to the records of nearby Cerralvo. I investigated the history of those two towns and discovered that Agualeguas was founded with twelve men from Cerralvo. Among them was a man named Juan de Dios De la Garza. I searched in vain for this fellow for many months and could not find a certain match. However, before learning of this information I wrote to the archivist of the Archdioscese of Monterrey back in 2002 for information. They wrote me back in May of 2003 and I’m afraid I simply didn’t snap to its contents until June 17, 2004! According to Mendirichaga, the Garza and Treviño families of Nuevo Léon actually came to the village of Hacienda San Francisco de Apodaca in 1605 about 20 years after its founding. This family, headed by Marcos Alonso De la Garza y del Árcon, was prominent in the history of northern México and southern Texas for the next two hundred years. There are many scholarly books, papers and many websites dedicated to the study of their history. When I reexamined the letter from Monterrey, I found the parents of Francisco De la Garza. His father was indeed Juan de Dios De la Garza and his mother was Maria Albina Quintanilla who were not from Cerralvo originally, but from Hacienda San Francisco de Apodaca! With that evidence I established that my family was from the same little town, Apodaca, and from the same period of time of the De la Garza family. I lacked only one more name to link up with existing genealogical tables for that family published by Mendirichaga. He had chronicled in detail the progeny of Marcos Alonso De la Garza y del Árcon for generations. To obtain what I knew was the last unknown name, I again approached the Archdiocese of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, México. In February 2007, after a great deal of effort, several letters and international telephone calls I was finally able to get a reply from the new archivist of the Archdioceses of Monterrey. (I began writing in March of 2006!) He wrote: Sr. Lauro GarzaASUNTO: El Sr. Lauro Garza de Houston, Tex., necesita saber quienes son los papás de Juan de Dios de la Garza y María Albina de Quintanilla, en el año de 1752, en Apodaca.Juan de Dios de la Garza no aparece, aparece Juan Diego de la Garza casado con María Albina Quintanilla, casados en Febrero 2 de 1744, los papás de Juan Diego son Alonso de la Garza e Isabel Gutiérrez, los de María Albina de Quintanilla son Gregorio de Quintanilla y María de Saldúa, anterior a ese año en los índices no aparece ninguno, ni Juan de Dios, ni Juan Diego casado con María Albina de Quintanilla. Estos datos aparecen en los libros del Sagrario de Catedral, porque Apodaca como Parroquia inicia en 1850 y en Matrimonios hasta 1857.
Monterrey, N. L. Enero 23 de 2007.P. Alfonso G. Miranda Guardiola. Responsable Archivo HistóricoAlonso De la Garza was the link! I believe it can be assumed that “Juan De Dios” and “Juan Diego”, married to a woman of the same name, in the same little town at the same point in time are actually one in the same. Padre Alfonso indicated in his letter that no previous parochial records exist for that town in that era. However, one record that is paramount, and we own a copy, is that of Professor Mendirichaga whose work on the history and genealogy of the De la Garza clan is the standard. I reviewed the book in search of Alonzo De la Garza and quickly found him. Listed on page 28 as Juan Alonso De la Garza who married Isabel Gutierrez. There is little else about him directly; however, he was from a very important and historically significant family. His father and family are described from pages 26 through at least page 31. According to Mendirichaga, Juan Alonso was the youngest of five sons, three of whom were very famous of the equally important Sergeant Major Francisco De la Garza Falcón and his wife Leonor de Renteria, also known as Leonor Sepulveda y Renteria. They had nineteen children! The names read like a Who’s Who in Early Northern Mexico and Texas History! Siblings of Juan Alonso include Capítan José Eugenio De la Garza Falcón; General Blas De la Garza Falcón and Sergeant Major Clemente De la Garza Falcón. Capítan José Eugenio De la Garza Falcón who served as both Alderman and Mayor of Monterrey and Mesta in early 1700’s. General Blas De la Garza Falcón who was twice Governor of Coahuila y Tejas in the 1720’s & 1730’s and was the father of the famous colonizers of South Texas Capítan Blas Maria De la Garza Falcón IV and his brother Capítan Miguel De la Garza Falcón. Sergeant Major Clemente De la Garza Falcón served Coahuila y Tejas in a similar fashion as his brother above. Many of the daughters married well and their family names live on through out the centuries. In reviewing the Juan Alonso De la Garza Falcón and his wife, Isabel Gutierrez, I learned from the work of Raul N. Longoria, whose excellent and very extensive genealogical research is available on the internet at http://www.raullongoria.net/Genealogy/FamilyTree/b43.html#P7596, that Isabel was also a De la Garza Falcón. Isabel & Juan Alfonso were, in fact, second cousins. They are both great grandchildren of Marcos Alonso De la Garza y Falcón. Now, we can easily trace the heritage thanks very much indeed to Professor Mendirichaga and several others, like Mr. Longoria and the many good people at the Spanish American Genealogical Society and the followers of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Sergeant Major Francisco De la Garza Falcón was the son of Capítan Blas De la Garza Falcón and his wife Beatríz Gonzalez. His parents were Capítan Marcos Alonso De la Garza Falcón of Lepe in Huelva province in Southern Spain and his wife from Ciudad de México, Juana De Treviño according to Mendirichaga. According to Dr. Cleotilde Garcia, M.D. who wrote the historical standard on Blas Maria De la Garza Falcón IV, Marcos Alonso was a Spanish nobleman who arrived in Ciudad de México about the year 1550 from Lepe in Huelva, Spain. Beyond that nothing else specifically is known. However, according to Heraldic dictionary of Spanish Surnames by Atinza y Navajas, the Garza surname originates in the North of Spain in the Galicia region near the Portuguese border in an area called Torre de los Garza 1000 years ago! 
May 16, 2008
Los Garza del Rancho La Violeta
The history of the ranch and its founders:
Don Martiniano Garza Flores and
La Doña Paula Villareal Benavides de Garza
