San Román, José

José San Román (1822–ca.1895) was a merchant, banker, and broker in the contraband cotton trade of the Civil War. San Román, born in Spain, moved to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, in 1846 and established a dry-goods firm. San Román was quite successful in this venture, and by 1850 the business extended across the Rio Grande to the newly incorporated town of Brownsville, Texas. Furthermore, his business expanded into commercial credit, trustee holdings, real estate, and cotton brokerage. He moved to Texas in 1860.

As a broker, San Román facilitated the smuggling of cotton through the Union Blockade during the Civil War. In the early 1860s he began selling cotton to foreign countries as well as to New York, and in this way became one of the wealthiest men in South Texas. After the war San Román took on an apprentice, Simón Celaya, with whom he opened a large mercantile firm in Brownsville and began a partnership. San Román assisted with the building of, and the new charter for, the Rio Grande Railroad, from Point Isabel to Brownsville. In addition, he and Celaya were involved in the Tamaulipas Zona Libre bill of 1870, which concerned the transportation of goods from Texas to Mexico.

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