José Antonio Navarro (February 27, 1795 – January 13, 1871) was a Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 statesman

Statesman

A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

, revolutionary

Revolutionary

A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...

, politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, and merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

. The son of Ángel Navarro

Ángel Navarro

Ángel Navarro was a leading early Spanish settler and patriarch of San Antonio, Texas. Navarro family played a prominent role in the Mexican and Texas revolutions. He was born in Corsica in 1758 and settled in Texas in 1769....

 and Josefa María Ruiz y Pena, he was born into a distinguished noble family at San Antonio de Béxar

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 in New Spain

New Spain

New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

. (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). His uncle was José Francisco Ruiz

Jose Francisco Ruiz

José Francisco "Francis" Ruiz was a Texas revolutionary-Early life and family:Ruiz was born in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas to Juan Manuel Ruiz and María Manuela de la Peña. Appointed the first schoolmaster of San Antonio in 1803, he designated a house acquired by his father on Military Plaza as...

 and his brother-in-law was Juan Martín de Veramendi

Juan Martín de Veramendi

Juan Martin de Veramendi was the governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas from 1832 until 1833.Veramendi was born on December 17, 1778 in San Fernando de Béxar, known as Bexar, to Fernando Veramendi and Maria Josefa Granados...

. Navarro County, Texas, is named in his honor.

Texas patriot

Navarro was proficient in the laws of Mexico and Spain, although basically a self-educated man. A native Texan, he had a vision of the future of Texas like that of Stephen F. Austin

Stephen F. Austin

Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...

, and a lasting friendship developed between the two. Working together, they would become the founding fathers of Texas.

An early proponent of Texas independence, he took part in the 1812-1813 Magee, Gutiérrez and Toledo

Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition

The Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition was an 1812–13 joint Mexican-American filibustering expedition against Spanish Texas during the early years of the Mexican War of Independence.-Background:...

 resistance movements and later served as a leader in the Texas Revolution

Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...

.
Working with the empresarios of the period, he helped Stephen F. Austin obtain his contracts and would himself become a land commissioner for Dewitt's Colony and, soon after, the Béxar District. In 1825 Navarro would marry Margarita de la Garza and they would raise seven children. During the 1830s Navarro represented Texas both in the legislature of the state of Coahuila and Texas

Coahuila y Tejas

Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...

 and in the federal Congress in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. Always a champion of democratic ideas, Navarro, collaborating with Austin, worked to pass legislation that would best benefit the people of Texas.

Navarro had been at the Convention for Texas Independence, when he received the somber news from Juan Seguin

Juan Seguín

Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was a 19th-century Texas Senator, Mayor, Judge, and Justice of the Peace and a prominent participant in the Texas Revolution.-Early life and family:...

, of the Alamo's fall. With James Bowie (his nephew by marriage) now deceased, José Antonio would secure the release of the surviving Navarros, two women and a child, who were being held by the Mexicans at the Músquiz house. They would be removed to the Navarro family home. The surviving noncombatants thereby avoided the forthcoming humiliation from Santa Anna. He would be one of the original signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence

Texas Declaration of Independence

The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the...

 in 1836

In 1841, Navarro reluctantly participated in the failed Santa Fe Expedition of President Mirabeau B. Lamar

Mirabeau B. Lamar

Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was a Texas politician, diplomat and soldier who was a leading Texas political figure during the Texas Republic era. He was the second President of the Republic of Texas, after David G. Burnet and Sam Houston.-Early years:Lamar grew up at Fairfield, his father's...

, where he tried to persuade the residents of New Mexico to secede and join with Texas. He was put on trial, sentenced to death and imprisoned there for years. He was given the choice of freedom, but refused to renounce Texas and there remained a prisoner. He finally escaped with the help of sympathetic Mexican Army officials, sailing back to Texas.
José Antonio Navarro became a member of the Republic of Texas

Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...

 Congress from Bexar County, Texas

Bexar County, Texas

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,117 people per square mile . There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 418 per square mile...

. Attempting to keep a balance of power in Congress, he worked closely with Senator Juan Seguin

Juan Seguín

Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was a 19th-century Texas Senator, Mayor, Judge, and Justice of the Peace and a prominent participant in the Texas Revolution.-Early life and family:...

 to promote legislation that would also be favorable to the Tejano citizenry of Texas, who were quickly becoming the political minority . Education was one such priority, lobbying to bring academic institutions into the San Antonio area. In 1845 Navarro was instrumental in drafting the first state Constitution of Texas, ensuring future political rights for all peoples. He would support annexation of Texas to the United States. Elected to the Texas Senate

Texas Senate

The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...

, he served three terms, before retiring from politics in 1849.

American Civil War

Jose Antonio Navarro did not support secession but in fact supported the American Union, even though all four of his sons served in the military forces of the Confederacy. He was a strong advocate of states' rights, and defended the rights of all Texans to make their own decisions. "Neither Jose Antonio Navarro nor any other Navarros are listed as ... delegates to the 1861 Texas Secession Convention." Navarro clearly expresses his sentiments in one of his last known written political statements published in 1859 "I vote for Sam Houston - down with the demagogues who wish to destroy the American Union - down with the extreemists (sic) who wish to make every thing subserve (sic) their own ambitions, views, and personal hatreds. This is my faith: this is and shall ever be my wish."

Later Life

In his retirement Navarro wrote several historical and political essays about Texas and San Antonio's role in the Mexican Independence

Mexican War of Independence

The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...

 movement for the San Antonio Ledger. Ranching would occupy much of his time in later years. He would reside on the 6000 acres (24.3 km²) San Geronimo creek ranch, located near Seguin, Texas

Seguin, Texas

Seguin is a city in Guadalupe County, Texas, in the United States. It is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,011; the July 1, 2009 Census estimate, however, showed the population had increased to 26,842...

.
Navarro later sold his ranch and moved to San Antonio, where he died in 1871. All Texans mourned his passing. The editor of a local newspaper said it best, "To none of her greatest statesman nor to her many eminent patriots is Texas more indebted for her existence than to Jose Antonio Navarro."

Legacy

The Texas legislature named Navarro County to honor his service to Texas in 1846. The county seat of Navarro County was named Corsicana, in honor of his family's Mediterranean-Corsican heritage. A Texas historical marker identifies his Geronimo Creek ranch and the local school and district are named Navarro, in his honor.

Further reading

• David McDonald, Jose Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (Texas State Historical Association, 2011)
• "Defending Mexican Valor in Texas: Jose Antonio Navarro's Historical Writings, 1853-1857," by Jose Antonio Navarro, David R. McDonald, Timothy M. Matovina Pric, State House Press, October 1995, ISBN 978-1-880510-31-5.
• "In Storms of Fortune: The Public Life of José Antonio Navarro" written by Anastacio Bueno M.A. Thesis, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1978.
• "Jose Antonio Navarro, co-creator of Texas," Baylor University Press, 1969, 127 pages, ASIN: B0006CAIBS.
• "Remember the Alamo" The American Experience, PBS.(2004)http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_navarro.html

External links

• Biography of José Antonio Navarro, written by an Old Texan, published 1876 and hosted by the Portal to Texas History
• Read Jose Antonio Navarro's entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• PBS American Experience, People & Events: José Antonio Navarro (1795–1871) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_navarro.html