The history of Nuevo Leon's ‘Chapas,' part II

Part 2 of 2 - THE LATER YEARS: How the adventurous Italian Schiapapría family became Nuevo León’s "Chapas"

Italian settler to Nuevo León Juan Bautista Chapa (1631-1695) was a highly cultured individual now considered to be the author, along with Alonso de León and Fernando Sánchez de Zamora, of the Historia de Nuevo León: con noticias sobre Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Texas y Nuevo México - 1690 (The History of Nuevo León (Northern México): With Information on Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Texas and New Mexico – 1690.

This vast literature includes information on the journeys and incidents, along with descriptions of the area now known as Texas and is a valuable piece of history that indicates and supports how vast was the adventure these explorers and historians accomplished.

In it he informs the reader how he and Capt. Alonso de León would deposit, along any lake or river, male and female animals that were left behind so they could wander and eventually reproduce, creating by these acts a large number of wild horses, sheep and other species later found and identified by later explorers and settlers of Texas.

He and his wife, Doña Beatriz Treviño de Olivares, had four sons, Nicolás, Juan Bautista, Gaspar and José María, and two daughters, Doña María and Doña Juana. All of his sons served in the military.

Cuervo de Valdés, then governor of Nuevo León, bestowed on Chapa a great amount of land that connected to well-known municipalities such as General Treviño, Parás and Agualeguas. José María Chapa, his son, was the founder of the municipality of General Treviño, a fact that reveals the prominence and important service Juan Bautista Chapa provided the Spanish Crown throughout his long years in Nuevo León.

In 1688 he served as attorney general for the city of Monterrey, and throughout his years of service to Nuevo León , Coahuila and Texas, he was never considered a foreigner in his adopted land.

YESTERDAY IN THE HERALD: Part 1 of 2 – The Early Years

Brownsville native Dr. Lino García Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Spanish Literature at UTPA. He can be reached at (956) 383-3441, or by email at LGar