Maria Rita de los Reyes (married to Miguel
Flores) had three siblings all baptized at the San Fernando Cathedral. Her sister, Gertrudis married Vicente Vara
and also settled in Von Ormy around 1870.
The Reyes sisters were the daughters of Jose Policarpo de los Reyes who
was baptized on 28 Jan 1801 at San Fernando Cathedral. His father was Jose Santiago de la Trinidad
de los Reyes who was baptized at San Fernando Cathedral on 17 Jul 1757. His father was Juan de los Reyes who died on 01
Jun 1801 at Mission San Jose and was born circa 1721. Juan de los Reyes was a Mission Indian. The records fail to record from which tribe he
was, but his last wife was noted to be from the Borrado tribe.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Flores Family of Von Ormy
Many of the Flores
family of Von Ormy, live along Benton
City Road (aka Floresville) and in Von Ormy
Heights. The earliest known Flores was Gregorio Flores who was born around 1790 and
was married to Maria Josefa Garcia. It is not known where they were from, but
on 19 Feb 1809 they baptized their son Jose Antonio Flores in Nadadores, Coahuila, Mexico. Jose Antonio was married to Maria Marta
Baltasar also from Nadadores on 09 Jan 1825.
They were the parents of Francisco Flores, who was born on 11 Mar 1828
in Nadadores and married Antonia Munos on 05 Mar 1844. She was also from
Nadadores. They came to Texas
following the American Civil War in 1867 or 1868. They had six children: Miguel, Presciliano,
Ponciano, Felipe, Refugia, and Juliana who was born in Texas.
The Flores’ originally settled in Atascosa County
and can be found there in the1880 census. Miguel Flores married Maria Rita de
los Reyes on 19 Apr 1880 and settled in Von Ormy. Francisco, Miguel, Maria Rita, and many other
Flores are buried in San Patricio cemetery in Bexar, Texas.
Casillas/Casias Family of Bexar County
This family came to spell its name two ways,
Casillas and Casias. But this is the same family and the name change occurred
in the early 1800’s when they moved away from Mission Espada. The first
Casillas in the New World was Martin Casillas who was born in Almendralejo, Spain
in 1556. He was an architect and was
commissioned to design the Cathedral in Guadalajara,
Mexico. He married his wife on 18 Sep 1582 in Puebla, Mexico
and had several children including Domingo Casillas, born 1595 in Guadalajara. Three generations later his namesake Domingo
Casillas was born in Tonala, near Guadalajara. He was married to Juana Ana de la Rosa also
from Tonala. Their son Juan Casillas was
born in 1716 and married Maria de Luna from Guadalajara.
They moved north to Mission Lampasos, Coahuila. Juan was not a soldier; he was one of the
very few who moved north as a businessman.
Juan and Maria had a son, Carlos Casillas, who was born on the Mission in 1731. He married a girl from the Mission named Maria del Carmen Vasques, whose
background is Basque and Jewish. They
moved to San Antonio
as private citizens, again at a time where nearly all other settlers were
soldiers around 1790. They originally
moved into La Villita, but in 1792 when Mission Espada was secularized Carlos
and his son Juan purchased homes at the Mission. Today these rooms are still in use and are
part of the convento where the
current Franciscan Friars live. Juan
served in the Spanish Army and was posted at the Alamo
and several other missions. He was also
a mail currier between San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Later Juan
served in the Texas Revolution with his nephews Pablo and Mateo under Juan
Seguin at the siege of Bexar, when the Texas Army first took the Alamo from Mexico. At this point many of the Casillas/Casias
family moved off the mission to San Antonio,
Losoya, Somerset
and Von Ormy. Juan’s son Santiago settled in Von Ormy where he married a local girl
Matiana Orosco and baptized nine children at the old Santisima Trinidad
Church. Nearly all the Casillas/Casias families from South Bexar
County descend from
Carlos Casillas.
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