| Joseph Longoria
Joseph is a mystery. We have no docmented proof of who his parents are. He lived in Lampazos Nuevo Leon and born around 1680. We think he ties in to the Pedro Suarez de Longoria line we are sure he was a Spaniard because his son Juan Rosas is listed as Espanol on some documents. In the book San Juan Bautista Gateway to Spanish Texas there is a Joseph and Antonio Longoria listed as being in Diego Ramon's expedition into Texas around 1700. They are not listed as soldiers but as citizens from Presidio del Rio Grande. Presidio del Rio Grande was also Mission San Juan Bautista and later known as Guerrero it is in the Mexican state of Coahuila. His wife Geronima Aldape came from Sabinas Hidalgo Nuevo Leon. Soldiers of Presidio de San Juan Bautista provided escorts for travelers and supply trains to Texas, joined Indian campaigns, and played a vital role in exploration. In 1731 they escorted the Canary Islanders on the last leg of their journey to San Antonio. They assisted explorations up the Rio Grande by José de Barroterán in 1729 and Blas María de la Garza Falcón in 1735. In 1747 with Miguel de la Garza Falcon they reconnoitered the North Bank of the Rio Grande from their post to its mouth in conjunction with José de Escandón. This I think is how his son Juan Rosas came to the Reynosa settlement and arrived before the other colonizers and came without aid from the crown. In March, 1749, the first settlement, Nuestra Senora de Santa Ana de Camargo, was established across the river from present day Rio Grande City, Texas, by Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon and forty families from Nuevo Leon. The founding of Reynosa quickly followed. The settlers of each received fifty sitios (five leagues) of land on the north side of the Rio Grande. With such encouragement the settlers flocked to Escandón's province of Nuevo Santander. Some of the more venturesome souls actually went beyond the colonizer's plans for settlement, establishing themselves on land of their choice, then asking Escandons approval.
Juan Rosas Longoria
Marriage record states he was from Reynosa. The Cuervo report on the status of the colonies of Nuevo Santader states that Juan Rosas established a ranch around 1750 at a site called "El Paraje de Dolores" six leagues from Reynosa. The Protocolos de Cadereyta 2/1/1759 list's Juan Rosas Longoria last will and testament and has him as a vecino de Cadereyta.
This was our begining in the South Texas region. We are the Longorias that settled Reynosa. Our family established itself along the U.S. Military Highway 281 along the the South Texas border and stretched itself across from Mission, Hidalgo County Texas to the La Feria and Santa Maria area in Cameron County, Texas. |