Manuel Gayoso de Lemos

Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Governor of Spanish Louisiana
8th Spanish colonial governor of Louisiana
In office 1797–1799
Preceded by	Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet
Succeeded by	Sebastián Calvo de la Puerta y O'Farrill
Personal details
Born	Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos Amorín y Magallanes May 30, 1747 Oporto, Portugal
Died	July 18, 1799 New Orleans Louisiana (New Spain)
Profession	Governor-general of Spanish Louisiana

Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos Amorín y Magallanes (1747 – 1799) was the Spanish governor of Louisiana (New Spain) from 1797 until his death in 1799.

Born in Oporto, Portugal, on May 30, 1747, to Spanish consul Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Sarmiento and Theresa Angélica de Amorín y Magallanes, he received his education in London, where his parents were living.

At age 23 Manuel Gayoso de Lemos joined the military, the Spanish Lisbon Regiment as a cadet (1771) and was commissioned ensign (sub-lieutenant) the following year. The Lisbon Regiment had been reassigned from Havana to New Orleans since the Spanish reentry under Field Marshal Alejandro O'Reilly in 1769. Throughout his life Gayoso de Lemos retained his military rank and he was a brigadier at the time of his death. He married three times. His first marriage was to Theresa Margarita Hopman y Pereira of Lisbon, with whom he had two children. In 1792 he married Elizabeth Watts of Philadelphia and Louisiana; she died three months later. He then married Elizabeth's sister, Margaret Cyrilla Watts, with whom he had one son.

On November 3, 1787, Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos assumed military and civil command of the fort and the newly organized District of Natchez (West Florida), having been appointed district governor by Governor-general Esteban Rodríguez Miró, governor of Louisiana and West Florida. On his arrival, Gayoso de Lemos established an informal cabildo (council) of landed planters which was formalized in 1792. Most of the council were of non-Spanish origin having come down from the Ohio River Valley settlements (especially Kentucky). Gayoso de Lemos continued to encourage American settlement on Spanish soil, especially by Catholics, notably the Irish and the Scots, and by those who brought significant property. He moved the administrative part of the town of Natchez from the waterfront up onto the bluff. One of the most troubling aspects during his civil administration was confusion in the land titles, with a number of inconsistent land grants. Unfortunately, Rodríguez Miró's successor, Governor-general Carondelet was not amenable to rectifying the problem.