Cháves, García, and Flores Families

Arriving in San Antonio in 1784, Francisco Xavier Cháves brought with him a striking set of experiences that would place him near the center of events on the developing Spanish frontier for the rest of his life. Captured by Comanche Indians as a boy near his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cháves lived with the Comanche and Taovaya tribes until he was about twenty-two, when he escaped and presented himself to officials in San Antonio.

Cháves then began a forty-year military career, serving frequently as an interpreter in discussions and negotiations between Spanish officials and local Indian tribes in Coahuila and Texas. Married twice, Cháves had eleven children with his first wife and five with his second. He died in San Antonio about 1832.

José Ygnacio Cháves (commonly referred to as Ygnacio), one of the children of Cháves and his first wife Juana Padrón, was born in San Antonio in 1791. Like his father, he served in the military and was active in business and San Antonio politics. Married to María Leonarda Montes de Oca (circa 1791-1881), the couple had fourteen children. Cháves died of cholera in 1849.

The third generation of the Cháves family represented in the papers includes Tomasa Cháves (died 1919), a daughter of Ygnacio Cháves, who married Mariano R. García. The couple had twelve children, including Antonio A. García, whose foster son, Adolph Anthony Garza, inherited the family papers.

Another family represented in the papers is that of Francisca Flores de O'Farrell, a great-niece of María Leonarda Montes (other familial relationships probably exist, due to several marriages between the Flores, Montes, Cháves, Zambrano, and Indo families) and a descendent of the Flores de Abrego y Valdes family, early residents of Saltillo who came to San Antonio in the mid-eighteenth century. Married to Federico O'Farrell in 1895, Francisca Flores generally resumed the use of her maiden name after she was abandoned by her husband in 1903.

Additional genealogical information about the Cháves, García, and Flores families is available as a PDF document, accessible through the DRT Library's online catalog at http://69.63.217.28/elibsql08_D92004_Documents/00043gen.pdf .

References

"Abstract of Title to lands in Bexar County, Texas, Owned by Simon Fest, Sr. on both side of South Flores Street, City of San Antonio." Theo. Roziene, 1896. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

"Abstract of Title to Lot 7, Block 3, New City Block 6531, situated within the corporate limits of the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas." Texas Title Guaranty Company, 1924. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Chabot, Frederick C. With the Makers of San Antonio . San Antonio, Texas: Artes Graficas, 1937.

Cháves, García, and Flores Families Papers, 1792-1931, Col 7358, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Chávez House vertical file. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Adolph A. Garza, Jr. biographical file. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Institute of Texan Cultures. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836 . 3 vol. San Antonio, Texas: University of Texas Institute of Texas Cultures at San Antonio, 1984.

John, Elizabeth A. H. "Inside the Comanchería, 1795: The Diary of Pedro Vial and Francisco Xavier Chaves," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 98 (July 1994), 27-56.

John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds: The Confrontation of Indians, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 1540-1795 . College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1975.

Leal, John Ogden, trans. Camposanto: An Ancient Burial Ground of San Antonio, Texas, 1808-1860 . San Antonio, 1975.

Leal, John Ogden, trans. San Fernando Church Baptismals, 1812-1825 . San Antonio, 1976.

Leal, John Ogden, trans. San Fernando Church Baptismals, 1826-1858, partt 1. 1977.

Leal, John Ogden, trans. San Fernando Church Marriages, 1798 to 1856 . San Antonio, 1976.

Additional family data taken from records published in Los Bexareños Genealogical Register, the quarterly journal of the Los Bexareños Genealogical Society as well as Bexar County marriage and census records.

From the guide to the Cháves, García, and Flores Families Papers Col 7358., 1792-1931, (Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas)