José de Escandón,
South Texas colonizer, was born in Soto la Marina,
Santander, Spain, on May 19, 1700, one of three sons of
Juan de Escandón and Francisca de la Helguera. He is
known as the colonizer and first governor of the colony of
Nuevo Santander, which extended from the Pánuco River
in Mexico to the Guadalupe River in Texas. He founded over twenty towns or villas and a number of missions in
the colony, including Camargo, Reynosa, Mier, and Revilla
south of the Rio Grande and Laredo and Nuestra Señora
de los Dolores Hacienda north of the Rio Grande. Escandón received his early education in his native town. At the age of fifteen he arrived at Mérida, Yucatán, where
he served as a cadet in the Mounted Encomenderos
Company. In 1727 he subdued an Indian uprising in
Celaya and received the rank of sergeant major of the
regiment at Querétaro. In 1740 the viceroy of Mexiconamed him colonel of the military companies of
Querétaro, since he had been successful in pacifying the
Indians. In 1746 Escandón was commissioned to inspect
the country between Tampico and the San Antonio River,
later known as Nuevo Santander. In January 1747 he sent seven divisions into the area, and in October he presented a colonization plan. After delays by the Spanish
bureaucracy, Escandón was made governor and captain
general of Nuevo Santander on June 1, 1748. In 1749 he
was made Count of Sierra Gorda and Knight of the Order
of Santiago by Fernando VI, and he began establishing
settlements along the Rio Grande. The first two were
Camargo (founded on March 5) and Reynosa (March 14). On August 22, 1750, Escandón granted José Vázquez
Borrego fifty sitios for the founding of Dolores, and on
October 10 he sent Vicente Guerra to set up Revilla, twenty
leagues northwest of Camargo. On March 6, 1753,
Escandón founded the town of Mier, and in 1755 he
granted permission to Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y
Garza to found Laredo, the largest and most successful
permanent Spanish settlement in Southwest Texas. On April 30, 1727, Escandón married Dominga Pedrajo in
Soto de la Marina, province of Santander, Spain. She was
the daughter of Juan Manuel de Pedrajo and Dominga de
Revilla. She died in 1736, and in 1737 Escandón married
María Josefa de Llera from Querétaro. After the appointment of a royal commission in
1767, the settlers of Nuevo Santander were assigned the
land grants that Escandón had promised them. Grants
were made to residents of the colonies of the Rio Grande,
thus starting the colonization of South Texas from the Rio
Grande to the San Antonio River. José de Escandón was
accused by Diego Corrido of maladministration, and he
had to leave for Mexico City to defend himself. He died
during the trial, on September 10, 1770, and was buried in
Mexico City. In 1773 his son Manuel Ignacio de Escandón
y Llera petitioned the court for a settlement; a decision
rendered by the court completely exonerated the count.
