Don Jose de Jesus Rodriguez

San Antonio, TX

Born in San Antonio de Béxar in 1810, Juan Ximenes joined the fight for Texas independence in 1835–1836 and was among the storming party that took Béxar on December 5, 1835. Honored in his lifetime as a citizen, soldier, and Texas Ranger, he died in 1877, and the state raised this marker to his memory in 1963.

San Antonio, TX

Born in San Antonio in 1797, José Antonio Menchaca was a Tejano who cast his lot with Texas independence and fought at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He lived out his long life in the town of his birth, dying in 1879, and this state marker honors him and his wife, Teresa Ramón Menchaca. Their shared memorial stands as one of many placed across Texas in 1936 for the centennial of independence.

San Antonio, TX

Placido Olivarri, born in San Antonio in 1815, served as a guide to the Texas Army in 1835 during the opening campaigns of the Texas Revolution. A Tejano who knew the country intimately, he lent that knowledge to the cause of Texas independence. The state marked his grave, alongside that of his wife Micaela, during the 1936 centennial.

San Antonio, TX

Born in San Antonio in 1783, José Francisco Ruiz served as an officer in the Mexican army before casting his lot with the Texas cause, becoming one of the few native Tejanos to sign the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence. He went on to represent his people as a senator in the first Congress of the Republic of Texas. He died in 1840, honored in the city of his birth.