Erasmo and Juan Seguin

Biography

Juan José María Erasmo Seguín was born on May 26, 1782, in San Antonio. He married María Josefa Becerra and they had three children, including Juan Nepomuceno Seguín. Erasmo Seguín served as San Antonio’s postmaster from 1807 to 1837, despite two interruptions, once relating to the Casas Revolt. Although he had helped to lead the resistance against the Casas Revolt in 1811, he was accused of collaborating with the anti-royalist revolutionaries and was removed from the office of postmaster.

Erasmo Seguín also served as alcalde of San Antonio shortly before Texas gained its independence and as quartermaster for the San Antonio garrison beginning in 1825. He also was the Texas representative to the congress that wrote the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824. During Texas’s struggle for independence from Mexico, Seguín was forcibly removed from his ranch, but was compensated after the war for the supplies that his ranch had provided to the Texas army. After Texas gained its independence, he took on a position as a magistrate in San Antonio. Seguín spent the remainder of his life working on his ranch, where he died in 1857.

In 1806 Erasmo Seguín’s eldest son Juan was born in San Antonio. He married María Gertrudis Flores de Abrego, with whom he had ten children. He had helped to run his father’s post office and was elected to be an alderman in 1828. In 1833, like his father, he also served as alcalde and he took on the role of acting political chief of the Department of Bexar in 1834.

In 1835 Juan Seguín began his military career and was granted a commission of captain from Stephen F. Austin. He was involved with scouting and supply operations for the Texan army and was at the Alamo when Santa Anna's army arrived. He survived the attack on the Alamo because he had been sent out as a courier. He organized the only Tejano unit to fight in the battle of San Jacinto and accepted the surrender of Mexican held San Antonio in 1836. Consequently, he served as the military commander of San Antonio until he resigned his commission in 1837.

After Texas gained its independence from Mexico, Seguín served in the Texas Senate during the second through fourth congresses; he was the only Mexican-Texan in the Senate. While he served in the Senate, Seguín attempted to have the new laws printed in Spanish and was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He left the Senate in 1840 and was elected to be San Antonio’s mayor. Despite heightened tensions between the Anglos and the Mexican Texans, Seguín was reelected mayor in 1841, but resigned in the following year because he feared for his safety and fled with his family to Mexico. He spent six years in Mexico before attempting to return to Texas, although while living in Mexico he had served in the Mexican army during the Mexican War.

During the 1850s Seguín served as a constable for Bexar county and during the late 1860s, he briefly served as a Wilson county judge. During this time he helped to form the Bexar County Democratic party. He retired to Nuevo Laredo, where he died in 1890. His remains were returned to Seguin, Texas in 1974 in time for the Bicentennial celebration on July 4, 1976.

Last Updated: 8/18/2007
Comments:  lcummins@austincollege.edu