Doña Patricia de la Garza De León — Texas Pioneer and Patriot
Women’s History Month is celebrated annually in March to recognize and commemorate the achievements and contributions of women to history, culture, science, and all aspects of our society. This week, we highlight Doña Patricia de la Garza De León, co-founder De León’s Colony and the town of Victoria, community leader, and patriot of the Texas Revolution.
The foundation of Texas required extraordinary sacrifices, many of which are well-known from stories, legends, and Texas history classrooms — but sacrifice comes in many forms. Patricia de la Garza De León, the wife of empresario Martín De León and co-founder of the town of Victoria, risked her life and livelihood for Texas, and eventually had nearly everything taken from her. Here, we take a look at some of Patricia de la Garza De León’s sacrifices through the lens of the archival records of the Texas General Land Office.
Patricia de la Garza was born in 1775 in Soto la Marina, Nuevo Santander (now Tamaulipas), Mexico to an aristocratic Spanish family with military ties to the Spanish government.[1] She married Captain Martín De León, himself from another wealthy aristocratic Spanish family, in 1795. The couple founded a ranch before moving to the east bank of the Aransas River, near Corpus Christi, in 1805. Shortly after their arrival in Texas, Martín sought permission to establish a colony near his new ranch. He was denied first in 1807, then a second time in 1809. Spurned by the Spanish government, he focused on ranching and grew his herd of cattle to around 5,000 head while registering the first cattle brand in Texas.[2]
Mexican independence from Spain, and the more relaxed attitudes toward colonization that came with it, provided De León another chance at settling a colony. He petitioned to bring forty-one Mexican families to Texas and was approved on April 13, 1824. The colony was funded in part by his wife Patricia, who provided $9,800 and livestock she had inherited from her father. Together, Patricia and Martín, then in their late-forties and late-fifties respectively, founded the town of Nuestra Señora Guadalupe de Jesús Victoria (present-day Victoria). Victoria became the only primarily Mexican colony in Texas and quickly flourished under the leadership of the De León family.[3]
While Martín managed the business aspects of the colony, Patricia worked rigorously to build the community. She gave a small fortune from her family inheritance, furnished the settlement with cattle, and graciously opened up the lavishly furnished De León home for gatherings. A devout Catholic and proponent of education, Patricia also made donations to assist with the construction of a church, which was named Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and ensured that a school was created.[4] Nine years later, Martín died during a cholera epidemic in 1833, leaving Patricia to head the family and an estate worth around half a million dollars. She continued to carry out her duties to her family and the colony, and in 1835 she received a land grant for five labores (885.5 acres)[5] as the balance of land due to her late husband for fulfilling the empresario contact.
Although Patricia was an aging widow by the time of the beginning of the Texas Revolution, she fully supported the fight for independence and risked her life smuggling weapons on behalf of the Texans. Her four sons contributed materially to the Texian army and provided protection for colonists on their ranches. Two of her sons, Fernando and Silvestre, were arrested by the Mexican government.[6]
Despite their well-known role in aiding the Texian cause, the De León family suffered after the victory at San Jacinto. Fear, bigotry, and post-revolutionary discrimination against people of Mexican and Hispanic descent was prevalent in the Republic of Texas. Anglo settlers remained apprehensive and felt threatened by the idea of future retaliation from Santa Anna. Amid this atmosphere, the youngest De León son, Agapito, was murdered by thieves raiding the family’s cattle. Later, Thomas Jefferson Rusk exiled the Mexican families of Victoria to forestall any opportunity for an insurgency. The De Leóns, along with their extended family and colonists, were forced to abandon their livelihoods and possessions and flee the very country on whose behalf many of them had just fought, ending up in New Orleans. While there, Patricia sold 25,000 acres of land in Victoria County so she could support her family.[7]
In the aftermath of the Revolution and the expulsion of the Mexican families, Victoria transformed into a vastly different place due to the influx of Anglo immigrants from the United States. Her second-eldest son, Silvestre, attempted to return to Texas after six years, but he was robbed and murdered.[8] Patricia chose to return to Texas in 1844, only to discover that the fine clothes and furniture that had helped to make the De León home such a pillar of the community had been taken and distributed among squatters. Faced with a lack of resources and community support, she dedicated the remaining five years of her life to the church that she and her husband founded.
The De León homesite was donated to the parish and is the present site of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In 1972 that the state of Texas installed historical grave markers in Evergreen Cemetery to honor Patricia and Martín De León and their family’s service to Texas.[9]
[1] Handbook of Texas Online, Paula Stewart, “DE LEÓN, PATRICIA DE LA GARZA,” accessed February 08, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde66. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Modified on May 5, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[2] Handbook of Texas Online, Craig H. Roell, “DE LEÓN, MARTÍN,” accessed February 08, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde08. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Modified on May 5, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Stewart, “DE LEÓN, PATRICIA DE LA GARZA.”
[5] Title to Patricia de la Garza de Leon, 15 June 1835, Box 98, Folder 21, Records of the Spanish Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.
[6] Roell, “DE LEÓN, MARTÍN.”
[7] Chance, Joseph E. Jose María De Jesús Carvajal: The Life and times of a Mexican Revolutionary. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2006.
[8] Handbook of Texas Online, Craig H. Roell, “DE LEON, SILVESTRE,” accessed February 08, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde80. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[9] Stewart, “DE LEÓN, PATRICIA DE LA GARZA.”
