Ángel Navarro (1748–1808) was a leading early Spanish settler and patriarch of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The Navarro family played a prominent role in the Mexican and Texas revolutions. He was born in

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

in 1748 and settled in

Spanish Texas Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1519 until 1821. Spain claimed ownership of the region in 1519. Slave raids by Spaniards into what became Texas began in the 16th century and created ...

in 1769. Navarro was the seventy-second

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

(mayor) of San Antonio under Spanish Texas. He was the father of Texas statesman José Antonio Navarro, San Antonio alcalde

José Ángel Navarro (elder) José Ángel Navarro (1784–1836), known as José Ángel Navarro (the elder), was born in San Antonio de Béxar and became a soldier under Spanish Texas. He was the son of Ángel Navarro, a brother to Texas statesman José Antonio Navarro, and an ...

, and the grandfather of Texas state legislator José Ángel Navarro III. Ángel Navarro's daughter María Josefa Navarro married

Juan Martín de Veramendi Juan Martin de Veramendi (December 17, 1778–1833) was a Spanish (1778-1821, Mexican independence) and Mexican (1821–1833) politician who served as governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas from 1832 until 1833. Veramendi was also ...

, the Governor of

Coahuila y Tejas Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) f ...

from 1832 to 1833. This couple's eldest daughter, Maria Ursula de Veramendi, was the wife of Texas revolutionary

Jim Bowie James Bowie ( ) (April 10, 1796 – March 6, 1836) was an American military officer, landowner and slave trader who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He was among the Americans who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of him ...

. According to census records, Navarro was an active participant in the slave trade. One of Navarro's slaves was Maria Gertrudis de la Peña, an Indigenous woman who sued for her freedom in 1785 in San Fernando de Béxar (San Antonio) on the basis that she could not be enslaved because Indigenous peoples were granted some of the same rights as Spanish people in New Spain where slavery was also illegal. During her ownership by Ángel Navarro she was known as "Escalava" (slave) and accused Navarro and his family of "many ill-treatments". Upon purchasing her, Navarro promised la Peña that she would be freed within three years, but la Peña sought her freedom before that due to "the temper and style of the household." She petitioned Texas Governor Domingo Cabello y Robles and was granted freedom after the Governor ruled that Spanish law "greatly favors the freedom of Indians".

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* 1748 births 1808 deaths Mexican people of Spanish descent Mexican people of French descent Tejano slave owners People from Corsica People of Spanish Texas Slavery of Native Americans Slave owners from New Spain {{Mexico-bio-stub