Herrera, Adolph Casias, 1913-1999

Adolph Casias Herrera was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 1913 January 17, the son of Adolph L. (1885-1914) and Josefa R. Casias (1888-1934) Herrera. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he worked for the San Antonio Fire Department for thirty-six years and was a real estate broker. Herrera was also a member of the Lions Club and the Senior Citizens Council of Bexar County and a founding member of the Granaderos de Galvez, an organization dedicated to researching and honoring Spain’s role in the American Revolution.

Herrera’s family roots extend to the earliest settlement of San Antonio, and among his ancestors are several historically important Tejanos. Herrera was a descendant of Canary Islander Juan Curbelo. Often called the “Paul Revere of the Texas Revolution,” his great-grandfather Blas Maria Herrera (1802-1878) was a son-in-law of José Francisco Ruiz (1783–1840), a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Blas Herrera’s ranch, located approximately twenty miles south of San Antonio along the Medina River, contains two of the last remaining jacales in Bexar County. These structures date from as early as the 1830s and represent early settlement and building techniques by Tejano settlers. Portones, or outer gates, from Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo) found on the property are on loan to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas. In 2010, the National Park Service added the Herrera Ranch to the National Register of Historic Places. To honor Herrera’s ancestry, donation of artifacts to various cultural institutions, and lifelong devotion to documenting Texas, San Antonio, and family history, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas awarded him an honorary membership in the organization.

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