Gaspar Flores de Abrego

José Gaspar Flores de Abrego (1781–1836) was a Tejano who served three terms as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. He was also a land commissioner and associate of Austin's early colonists.

José Gaspar María Flores de Abrego
76th, 91st, and 96th Mayor of San Antonio
In office
1811–1812
In office
1824–1825
In office
1829–1830
Personal details
BornJanuary 5, 1781
San Antonio de Béjar, Texas
DiedSeptember 6, 1836
Villa de San Fernando, San Antonio, Texas
NationalitySpanish
Spouse(s)Petra Zambrano
Professionland commissioner and mayor of San Antonio

Early life and family

José Gaspar María Flores de Abrego was born in San Antonio de Béjar as the son of Vicente Flores and Maria Antonia de las Fuentes Fernandes, descendants of Texas' first settlers, from the Canary Islands.

He was the great-grandson of the first alguacil mayor of San Antonio, Vicente Álvarez Travieso (1731–1779). In 1827, he was acting land commissioner for the Austin colony, issuing 35 land titles.[1] He was elected as mayor of San Antonio in 1811,[2] 1819, 1824, 1829, and 1834.[1]

Involvement in the Texas Revolution

Gaspar Flores was a member of a group opposing the dictatorial actions of the President of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and is known to have attended their first meeting in Bexar as well as the first revolutionary convention ever held in the city on November 15, 1834 (held by the anti-centrist opposition). He became one of the 35 men who signed the anti-Centrist document which was presented at the convention.

In 1835, Santa Anna dissolved Congress and enforced his political power in all the state governments of Mexico, including Coahuila and Texas. The crisis came to Bexar with the arrival of troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea. Flores, who at that time acted as Treasury administrator, refused to obey the colonel's demands and relinquish the Treasury's official documents.

Subsequently, Santa Anna sent General Martin Perfecto de Cos with additional troops to control Texas. However, on December 1835 a group of Texan volunteers managed to drive them out of Bexar and Texas during the siege of Bexar. Flores went to the aid of those who had decided to stay in Bexar after the battle, supplying them food, cattle and other goods. When the Mexican soldiers met with the citizens of the city in January 1836, Flores worked in the committee that included James Bonham, James Bowie and Juan Seguin in order to draft possible resolutions to the conflict.

In February 1836, elections in Texas took place. Each city selected four delegates for the March 1 convention; Gaspar Flores was one of the delegates chosen in Bexar, though José Antonio Navarro, José Francisco Ruiz and Erasmo Seguin all opposed him in the political race.

Two weeks later, Texas received information that Santa Anna had crossed the Rio Grande with thousands of troops intent on capturing Bexar. However, almost immediately after the town had heard the news young men joined the local militia or acted as messengers. After the fall of the Alamo, Flores and Seguin collected both their own families and migrated to eastern Texas.

Flores died on September 6, 1836, after the battle of San Jacinto, having managed to go a few miles east of San Felipe. He probably died of a fever that struck the area.

He married twice. His second wife, Petra Zambrano, his son Nicholas, and his two sons-in-law were bequeathed his possessions on February 11, 1837.[1]

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References
  1. Camilla Campbell (November 26, 2008). "Handbook of Texas Online: FLORES DE ABREGO, JOSÉ GASPAR MARÍA". Handbook of Texas Online. Consulted in May 22–26, 2010.
  2. La Odisea de los canarios en Texas y Luisiana (The Odyssey of the canarians in Texas and Louisiana), by José Manuel Balbuena Castellano. Chapter IV. Organización de los isleños: Los Ediles de San Antonio (Of the Islanders organization: The city fathers of San Antonio), page 46. Anroart Ediciones, SL. 2007., p. 46. Anroart Ediciones, SL. 2007.
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