Juan Bautista Elguézabal

Juan Bautista Elguezabal
30th Governor of the Spanish Colony of Texas
In office 1800–1805
Preceded by	José Irigoyen
Succeeded by	Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante
Personal details
Born	1741 Unknown
Died	1805 San Antonio, Texas
Children	Juan José Elguezabal
Profession	Political

Juan Bautista Elguézabal (1741–1805) was the temporary ruler of the Spanish province of Texas in 1797, and the Governor of Texas from 1800 to 1805. He also temporarily ruled the province of Louisiana in 1803.

Juan Bautista Elguézabal was born in 1741, though the place of his birth is unknown. In 1795, he was appointed assistant inspector of a Presidio in the Mexican state of Coahuila. A year later in 1796, he was appointed assistant to the Governor of Texas, Manuel Muñoz, who had fallen ill and was waiting for approval of his retirement from the king of Spain. Elguézabal became acting governor in August 1797. At this time, he made a detailed inspection into La Bahía ("The Bay"), a region generally corresponding to the Texas coast on the Gulf of Mexico.

In July 27, 1799, Elguézabal assumed the position of Governor of Texas in the absence of originally appointed governor José Irigoyen, who had failed to accept the position. In 1803, Elguézabal was also appointed acting governor of Louisiana, after this territory was sold to the United States. Many citizens of Louisiana sent Elguézabal petitions requesting permission to settle in Texas, partially causing an influx of immigration to the province. Runaway slaves also contributed to this population increase, as Spain declared that any slave who crossed the Sabine River into Texas would automatically be freed. Most of these escaped slaves joined American Indian tribes, but some settled in the East Texas forests. However, it is not to be assumed that slavery was completely banned from the province; for example, certain French and Spanish slaveholders who moved to Texas were permitted to retain their slaves.

Elguézabal developed a more liberal policy than the province had held up to that time, improving the living conditions of its inhabitants (previously, the province had a high poverty rate that affected most of its population). He granted the Alabama-Coushatta and Choctaw Native American tribes permission to settle east of the Trinity River, under the autonomy that those tribes had acquired during the tenure of Manuel Muñoz, .

...
Wikipedia