Why Juan Seguín’s baptismal certificate is housed in the Texas General Land Office Archives
Among the documents housed in the Archives of the Texas General Land Office, there exists an item singular to the collection: a certified copy of a birth certificate for Juan Seguín, a native-born Tejano who was a major political and military figure of the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas.[1]
The birth certificate, copied 32 years after Seguín’s baptism in 1806, allows us a rare glimpse of bexareño familial ties and the legal processes through which Tejanos navigated before and after Texas independence. Often copies of baptismal certificates were reproduced during important events in which the instrument functioned as a form of identification, such as graduations, marriage, or entrance to military or civil office.
In Spanish America, baptismal records formed the basis of identity and family lineage. Through the sacrament and the instrument that documented the act, parents and sponsors linked the child to the familial lineage. For example, an entry from parish baptismal records penned by Father José Clemente de Arocha, reveals that Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was born in San Fernando de Béxar on November 3, 1806, to don Erasmo Seguín and doña María Josefa Becerra. Father Arocha administered the sacrament of baptism on the seventh day of his birth; don Bernardo Amado and doña Martina Becerra assisted as his godparents, or sponsors.
The entry reveals much about the family’s social standing in the region. The honorific don/doña used to address Juan Seguín’s parents and godparents recognized the families’ standing among Tejano elites. More importantly, Father Arocha’s recognition of Seguín as the legitimate son of Erasmo and María Josefa determined Juan’s status in the community, providing the child with the tools necessary to inherit the family’s standing and all the appurtenances that came with it.
But why is a copy of Seguín’s baptismal certificate housed together with Seguín’s title? The 1825 Colonization Law of Coahuila y Texas sought to attract foreigners to settle in the state; by the 1830s the state Legislature wanted to compensate residents of the state who had settled in frontier towns for defending their communities at their own expense. The Legislature thus decreed these residents would pay a reduced price for the land they obtained thereafter.[2] Residents who had been settled for more than 24 years would pay one-half of the total price set by the Colonization Law; those of 35 years paid one-third, and those who had defended their towns for more than 40 years would be exempt from payment.
In his 1833 petition for land, Juan Seguín noted he was more than 25 years old. In order to receive land at a reduced price, the claimant had to provide proof from the Ayuntamiento (city council) that he had served and been settled in the area for the amount of time that he claimed. Although there is no mention as to why he had to submit a baptismal certificate in 1838, it is likely that Seguín wanted to provide additional proof of his residency to back his claim.
Created in 2004, the Texas General Land Office Save Texas History program is a statewide initiative to rally public support and private funding for the preservation and promotion of the GLO’s historic maps and documents.
[1] Certified Copy of the Baptismal Certificate to Juan Nepomuceno Seguín, 30 April 1838, Box 130, Folder 9, pp. 13–14, Records of the Spanish Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.
[2] The law that granted him land at fraction of a price: “Decree 128” in J. P. Kimball, trans., Laws and Decrees of the State of Coahuila and Texas in Spanish and English (Clark, NJ: The Law Book Exchange, Ltd., 2010), 146–148.
