St. Denis, Manuela Sánchez Navarro de, 1697-1758.

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis was a Canadian-born French adventurer who established the French post at Natchitoches in 1714 and began contraband trade with the nearby Spanish colonists in Texas. After being detained by Spanish officials in New Spain in 1714-1715 for conducting illicit trade, he was appointed commissary officer of the Ramón expedition, charged with founding six Spanish missions and a presidio in East Texas during the years 1716-1717. St. Denis also married Manuela Sánchez, the granddaughter of Diego Ramón, the commander of San Juan Bautista Presidio, probably in early 1716. His second excursion into New Spain in 1717-1719 proved almost disastrous. St. Denis returned to Natchitoches, was appointed commandant of the post in 1721, and was joined by his wife around that same time. The couple spent their remaining years at the French outpost on the Red River.