Port El Cópano
José De Escandón was born in May of the year 1700 in Soto
la Marina, Spain. At the age of fifteen he moved to Merida,
Yucatan and pursued a military career. He enlisted in a cavalry company, Compania de Caballeros Montados in Encomenderos. By the age of 27 he was already a lieutenant and
was a colonel only 7 years later.
José De Escandón
LORE: At the age of 70,
José De Escandón found himself
accused by Diego Corrido of maladministration. But José died on
September 10, 1770, before the
trial had time to finish, and he was
buried in Mexico City. In 1773,
and by petition of his son, Manuel
Ignacio de Escandón y Llera, the
Court cleared José of all charges.
Still a lieutenant in Queretaro, José became a hero of New
Spain by forcing the Native Americans into Spainish submission. In 1727 he ended an Indian uprising in Celeya and
gained the rank of sergeant major in his regiment. Five years
later, another Indian uprising around Real de Minas de Guanajuato was added to his credit. And in 1734, he captured
10,000 rebellious Indians in the district of San Miguel el
Grande. José had made quite a name for himself for such
a young man and was notably well respected in New Spain,
and by his fair treatment of 400 Indian prisoners, even the
Indians were beginning to like him, though they may have
had little choice.
Escandón married Dominga Pedrajo in Soto de la Marina,
province of Santander, Spain on April 30, 1727. His wife
died in 1736, and a year later he remarried María Josefa de
Llera from Querétaro. They had seven children together.
In 1767, Escandón delivered on promised land Grants and expetited the colonization of South Texas from the Rio Grande
to the San Antonio River.
LORE:
This is a real Gold
Doubloon, and you will probably
never see one in South Texas. If
you want to find one of these,
then you better start heading towards the West Keys.
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