Don José Vidal (March 12, 1763, in A Coruña, Spain – August 22, 1823, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

) was a Spanish

grandee Grandee (; , ) is an official royal and noble ranks, aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...

who served in many different roles during the last decade of Louisiana's colonial period.

Biography

Early life

Don José Vidal was born on March 12, 1765, in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Career

He was secretary to

Manuel Gayoso de Lemos Don Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Amorín (May 30, 1747 – July 18, 1799) was the governor of Spanish Louisiana from 1797 until his death in 1799. Biography Early years and military career Born in Porto, Portugal, on May 30, 1747, to Sp ...

, the Spanish Governor of the

Natchez District The Natchez District was one of two areas established in the Kingdom of Great Britain's British West Florida, West Florida colony during the 1770sthe other being the Tombigbee District. The first Anglo settlers in the district came primarily fro ...

from 1792-1797. He preferred to remain on Spanish territory, and petitioned the Spanish Governor-General

for a

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

from Natchez. Gayoso granted the petition, with the stipulation that Vidal erect a “strong house” (

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

) on the property. In 1798 Don Jose moved his family from Natchez across the river and became the Commandant of the new Post of Concordia. Don Vidal also worked to develop a town at the fort, building the first

steam-power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. He also owned a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop – facilities to support the town. Concordia Parish later derived its name from the fort. The town was called Concord by 1801. The Orleans Territorial legislature in 1811 changed the name of the city to Vidalia after its founder. Vidal had donated land along the river to the city, where its civic buildings were later constructed. He also donated land for the first school in Concordia Parish. He lived most of his later years in Vidalia, although he went to New Orleans on business.

Personal life

He was married and had children.

Death

He died August 22, 1823, in

. He was buried in the Natchez City Cemetery.

References

Don José Vidal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Jose (Don) Spanish untitled nobility 1823 deaths 1763 births 18th-century Spanish people 19th-century Spanish people Immigrants to New Spain