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.
This albert casias.the ninth youngest child to satiago and mantina casias is ramon casias.which is my grandfather's dad ,and my grandpa is juan franciso casias married agapita silva casias and my dad is pedro s.casias.just want more info cause we are so many.
ReplyDeleteMateo's Eldest Daughter Martina, married Juan's youngest son, Jose Manuel (known mostly as Manuel), tying the two lines back together. This particular line of Casillas. Thy bore Solomon Casillas, who fathered Maria Casillas, my paternal grandmother.
ReplyDeleteLove my family history
ReplyDeleteLove my family history casillas
ReplyDeletei try to trace the Juan Casillas from Tonala and what i found was his christening record by his father Domingo Casillas and Juana Ana de la Rosa their record shows they where Indians from tonala
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of books on the descendants of the Alarife Martin Casillas and his wife Mencia Cabrera. They had several children. Francisco, one of his sons was granted land and his descendants spread all over the region of "Los Altos de Jalisco". I was born in Valle de Guadalupe, which was originally named "Estancia de Casillas". I grew up in Santa Monica, California where many Casillas families established themselves. Most, do not know about their ancestors and do not seem interested. This is frustrating and sad. I stumbled upon your article while conducting more research on our last name. I am a proud Casillas!
ReplyDelete