Vicente Álvarez Travieso
| Vicente Álvarez Travieso | |
|---|---|
| 43rd Mayor of San Antonio | |
|
In office 1776 – Unknown |
|
| Preceded by | Amador Delgado |
| Succeeded by | Manuel Delgado |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1705 Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
| Died | 1779 San Antonio, Texas |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Curbelo |
| Profession | alguacil mayor and mayor of San Antonio (1776). |
Vicente Álvarez Travieso (1705–1779) was a Spanish judge and politician who served as the first alguacil (Sheriff or Constable) of San Antonio, Texas, from 1731 until his death. He was a leading spokesperson of the Canary Islands settlers of San Antonio and was noted for his support for the Isleño community there. Through his demands to the leaders of New Spain, Travieso was able to improve the lives of the Isleños. He was instrumental in providing medical care for them, thus ensuring their survival. Travieso became mayor of San Antonio in 1776.
Vicente Alvarez Travieso was born in 1705 in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). He was the son of José and Catalina (Cayetano) Álvarez Travieso.
In 1730, the Spanish Crown decided to sponsor ten or eleven families from the Canary Islands to emigrate to Villa de San Fernando, (modern San Antonio, Texas) because of a supposed threat to Spanish interests by the French from Louisiana. The Travieso family was one of the families who decided to travel to the place. After leaving the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on their way to Texas, the Canarian settlers stopped in what is now modern Mexico. While there, Travieso married his girlfriend, Mariana Curbelo, in Cuautitlan, Mexico. They were listed as the seventh family of the Canary Islanders to travel to San Fernando. After arriving in San Antonio de Béxar, on March 1731, the setters established a municipal government and Travieso was named alguacil for life. He used his new position to fight for the rights of the new Canarian settlers, becoming a leading spokesperson.
An example of this was when the Canarians had health issues and he fought for their rights to get medical assistance. On January 24, 1736, some Canarians needed medical care, but permission to travel to Saltillo, Mexico (which was the only place in continental New Spain where they could get medical help) was denied. After this, Alvarez Travieso sent a series of demands to Government of Texas, asking that they allow him to give permission to the Canarians so that they could travel to the city. These permissions were finally accepted in 1770, by the government of Ripperdá (1769–1776). This allowed the Canarians to go to El Saltillo to get the medical care they needed.
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