Juan Curbelo (Tejano settler)


Juan Curbelo was a Spanish politician who served as the sixth and eighth mayor of San Antonio, Texas in 1737 and 1739. His family arrived in San Antonio from the Canary Islands in 1731 with other Canarian families to populate the region.

Biography

Juan Curbelo was born in 1680 in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain and was son of Domingo Curbelo y María Martín Enríquez. He arrived in San Fernando de Béxar, Texas in 1731. In 1737 and 1739, he served one-year terms as mayor of the community. He married Gracia Perdomo y Umpienres. Juan Curbelo and his wife had five children: José, Juan Francisco, Mariana, Juana and María Curbelo. He died in 1760 in La Villa de San Fernando de Béxar.
His son José was mayor of San Antonio three times: 1746, 1751 and 1757. His daughter Maria Ana married alguacil Vicente Álvarez Travieso and his granddaughter Maria Jesusita Curbelo married the future mayor of San Antonio, John William Smith. His descendant, Craig Curbello, was elected Mayor of Deer Park, Texas in 1998.