Don Martin De Leon
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founder of Victoria. Empresario of colonial grant from Mexico in 1824. Spanish cavalier, Indian fighter. First cattle baron of Texas. Born in Burgos, Tamaulipas, Mexico in 1765. Died in Victoria in 1833. RIP 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Mexico in 1765, Martín De León secured an empresario grant in 1824 and founded the town of Victoria, planting one of the few largely Hispanic colonies of Mexican Texas. A cavalier, frontiersman, and stockman, he became known as the first great cattle baron of Texas before his death in 1833.
Why it matters
De León's colony stands out as the leading Tejano-founded settlement of Mexican Texas and a cradle of the state's ranching tradition.
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Related people
- · Martin de Leon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dona Patricia De La Garza De Leon
Victoria, TX
Around 1800, when Texas was still the northernmost reach of Spanish and then Mexican territory, Patricia de la Garza de León crossed from Tamaulipas to join her husband Don Martín de León in his effort to plant a colony on the frontier. Raising ten children, she made her home a hearth of pioneer culture at the founding of Victoria. When the Texas fight for independence came, she stood with the patriot cause.
Silvestre De Leon
Victoria, TX
Silvestre De León (1802–1842) was a son of empresario Martín De León, founder of the De León Colony and the city of Victoria. Active in the church and serving as alcalde of Victoria, he was a soldier and Indian fighter who was taken prisoner by the Mexican Army during the Texas War for Independence. He also owned and traded vast herds of horses, mules, and cattle.
Felix De Leon
Victoria, TX
Felix de León was born in Texas in 1806, third son of the empresario Don Martín de León, founder of the De León Colony and the city of Victoria. As a boy he was seized and held hostage aboard a pirate ship to pressure his father, and he grew into a skilled frontier fighter who took up the cause in Texas's war for independence. He made his living driving horses, mules, and cattle to the New Orleans market.
Fernando De Leon
Victoria, TX
Fernando De Leon was the eldest son of empresario Martín De León, whose family came north from Mexico to help colonize the Texas frontier in the 1820s and founded the town of Victoria. A colony commissioner, rancher, and frontiersman who owned the noted Escondida Ranch, he cast his lot with Texas independence and was imprisoned by Mexican forces during the revolution.