Fernando De Leon
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1798-1853) Eldest son of empresario Martin de Leon. Came with parents from interior of Mexico to Texas, the northermost province, about 1800. Worked with his fathter in founding De Leon Colony and city of Victoria in 1820s. He was a commissioner of the colony and an Indian fighter. Loyal to cause of Texas freedom from Mexico, he was imprisoned by the Mexicans in Texas War for Independence. A cattleman and horseman, he owned the famous "Escondida" Ranch. Recorded - 1972
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
His life reflects the Tejano families who built South Texas and backed its independence, only to be caught between two nations in the process.
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Related people
- · Fernando De Leon
- · Martin de Leon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
Agapito De Leon
Victoria, TX
Agapito De Leon was the fourth son of empresario Don Martín De León, the founder of Victoria and its Mexican colony, and grew up active in the colony's affairs and its cattle and livestock trade. A Texas patriot during the 1836 War for Independence and a noted frontier fighter, he was cut down soon after the war by Mabry 'Mustang' Gray, whose gang preyed systematically on Texans of Mexican descent. He died in 1836 at just twenty-eight.
Abel Seymour Cunningham
Victoria, TX
Abel Seymour Cunningham belonged to the generation of settlers who turned Texas from a Mexican province into an independent republic. He took up arms in the 1836 Texas War for Independence, then served the young Republic of Texas as a ranger guarding its raw frontier and as a congressman helping build its government. The State of Texas honored his service with this marker in 1962.