The story of the people who were here before the gabachos cannot be forgotten, nor should it.
My eight Great-Grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. He was the founder of Laredo, Texas.
Creole is a Spaniard born in the New World.
Tomás Tadeo was born on June 4, 1709, in the Valle del Carrizal, Reino de Nuevo León, being baptized on the same day in the Cathedral of Monterrey. He was the son of Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera and María Josefa de la Garza-Falcón, belonging to the Creole nobility as descendants of the main founders of the Kingdom of Nuevo León, as alleged before the bishop of Guadalajara in 1707 in order to obtain the dispensation required by his two kinships at the time of their marriage. His father was the grandson of the Andalusian Francisco Sánchez de la Barrera, councilor of Monterrey, and his mother daughter of the real ensign Juan de la Garza-Falcón (primo-brother of Blas de la Garza-Falcón[[2]), in effect descendants of some of the most prominent founders of the kingdom, such as Diego de Montemayor, Marcos Alonso de la Garza Falcon, José de Tremiño, Juan de Farías
As was usual for the young Creoles of his environment, he entered from a young age to the militia, serving in the defensive system of the northern border of the viceroyalty of New Spain, particularly in the Royal Presidio of San Juan Bautista del Rio Grande, from which numerous expeditions of population as well as defense against the French of La Louisiana were directed. In 1749, then-Captain Sanchez de la Barrera left with his troops from the Royal Presidio del Rio Grande until he reached a place called “El Paso de Jacinto” (currently “Indian Ford”), located in the center of the current city of Laredo.
After arriving “El Paso de Jacinto”, he considered that this would be a favorable place to establish the “villa of Spaniards” that had been entrusted to him, whose objective was to establish a permanent nucleus of the Spanish population in the region, protected by a garrison or prison that reinforced the defense against the French advance of Louisiana towards Texas.
The permit to found the town was granted on May 15, 1755, by the then-governor of the Province of Nuevo Santander, Colonel José de Escandón, 1st of Sierra Gorda.
Captain Sánchez de la Barrera called the new town “Villa de San Agustín de Laredo ” because of his personal devotion to San Agustín de Hipona, and in reference to the town of Laredo, province of Santander, in Spain, as the new town was part of the Province of Nuevo Santander.
The foundation was initially made with only three Spanish families (in addition to other miscees and indigenous), although they gradually increased considerably, as recorded in the seasonal differentiation already in force since at least 1779. 3] In 1781, he ordered that Spanish families move to the northern part of the Rio Grande to avoid altercations with the region’s Chichimecas. 4]