Tejano defenders of the Alamo

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bhuff111
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11:45a, 12/16/09
Can anyone suggest reading material on the defenders of the Alamo who were born in the present day boundaries of Texas? From what I have discovered, there were only 7 or 8 listed on the official record of defenders. One in particular that I am interested in is Juan Antonio Badillo, also listed as Antonio Padillo. It seems he owned approx 500 acres of land that borders my parents home place in East Texas, just west of Grapeland. I found an article that says he deeded the land to a family shortly before he left to capture San Antonio with Juan Seguin in December of 1835. The article stated that he had built a 1 room cabin on the property, which may actually still be standing today. That would make it one of the oldest known structures in East Texas (or Texas, I would imagine.) The cabin was added onto throughout the years, but if it is part of the house that I think it is, it is indeed still standing. However, I have hit a dead end on locating any additional information about Badillo. Any suggestions on where to find old land grant information would also be great. Thanks to anyone who can lead me in the right direction.

[This message has been edited by bhuff111 (edited 12/16/2009 11:50a).]
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Goodnight Irene
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12:52p, 12/16/09
AG
try my uncles company, though I'm not sure how far back this goes

http://www.historicmapworks.com

[This message has been edited by Goodnight Irene (edited 12/16/2009 12:53p).]
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p_bubel
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11:56a, 12/17/09
G. Badillo is listed on the 1896 Houston County map linked above but it doesn't offer any other information.
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p_bubel
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1:13p, 12/17/09
Man, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything...

quote:
When Juan Antonio Badillo left East Texas in 1836 and enlisted for six months service with the new Republic of Texas, he left two legacies. One, he was one of only a handful of Tejanos - Mexicans born in Texas - who died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Two, he left a still-standing log cabin that could be among East Texas' oldest structures.

Badillo -- who is listed among some records as Antonio Padillo -- was apparently a surveyor living around Nacogdoches in the 1830s. He also owned a few parcels of land, including 520 acres on Little Elkhart Creek near the present community of Grapeland in Houston County.

When Badillo decided to fight for Texas' independence, he deeded the Houston County property to the Sheridan family, with whom he had become friendly.

On the old Sheridan farm -- now owned by the Musick family -- is a rambling, two-story house with a native rock chimney. The left side of the house, although covered in boards, is a log cabin hand-hewn from native logs a long, long time ago.

No one has yet proven that it was, or wasn't, built in the 1830s. Except for the land's abstract listing Badillo's one-time ownership, there are few clues to the Alamo soldier's past.


He was born in Texas and when he arrived at the Alamo, he was made a non-commissioned sergeant in a cavalry company raised by Juan Sequin, a rancher and Bexar political leader who opposed Santa Anna.

Badillo fought with Sequin in the siege of Bexar in 1835, which placed San Antonio in Republic hands. He accompanied Sequin back to the Alamo in 1836 and died there while Sequin and a fellow soldier were trying to enlist reinforcement troops in towns surrounding San Antonio.


After Badillo's land in Houston County became the property of the Sheridans, the Musicks bought the property from two Sheridan daughters. Today, Billie Musick lives on the property, located deep in a hardwood and pine forest near Grapeland.

The Musick house, an old-fashioned dog-trot farmhouse, has been remodeled several times since its beginning as a one-room log cabin. Not far from the old house is a rock-fenced family cemetery where a tombstone marks the graves of William N. (Bill) Sheridan and his wife, Mary Calhoun Sheridan. Bill was born in 1826 -- ten years before the Alamo's fall -- and died in 1918. Mary was born in 1837 and died in 1900. Other graves date back as far as 1889.


We'll never know if Badillo's story is true or just an interesting family legend, but we do know he died at the Alamo and was one of six to ten defenders with Mexican surnames.

Regardless of his past in East Texas, Badillo left a legacy of noble sacrifice that has contributed to the rich history of Texas.
Texas Escapes
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bhuff111
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3:50p, 12/17/09
Thanks! That's the same article I came across. All this article has done is deprive me of actually working at work the past 2 days! I have searched really hard, and there just doesnt seem to be anything on Badillo (Padillo). The land is in Houston County, TX, off of Pridgen-Sheridan Road, and there are a few hits with photos of a family burial plot of the family that Badillo deeded the land to. I discovered that a man named William Nugent Sheridan acquired the land on Nov. 15,1869, from which the Musick family purchased from his descendants. I know that Ft Bend Co library in Richmond has a lot of literature pertaining to this time period, so I think I'll take a look there as well. Pretty cool to know that a defender of the Alamo roamed around the land that I grew up on! Thanks for any additional help that anyone can provide.
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4:46p, 12/17/09
If you google his name and Texas State Archives, you'll come up with several articles that mention him, including some Tejano-history sites and some land-grant records. I'll check my library tonight for a couple of titles to recommend. That part of Texas has an old and interesting history. My parents live near Slocum. I've seen a rock on the Ioni creek carved in Spanish and dated in the mid-1700s.
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p_bubel
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1:37p, 12/18/09
quote:
I've seen a rock on the Ioni creek carved in Spanish and dated in the mid-1700s.
You've got to get a picture of that.
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(removed:110205)
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1:43p, 12/18/09
I'm going to wait until after deer season (don't want to roam the woods right now) and try to locate it again and take a casting and some photos. I've got to do some legal work for the landowner, so it gives me an excuse to do some field history work on the side.
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bhuff111
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9:13p, 3/6/22
bump
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p_bubel
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7:50a, 3/7/22
That's one hell of bump and thread resuscitation.

Good luck!
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willpowellwatson
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In reply to bhuff111 • 9:58a, 9/15/22
I hope you all forgive me for posting here as I am not an Aggie, but bhuff's post is a link in a chain I've been following for a couple of weeks.

Further, I have no solid answers here but perhaps instead a couple of points of clarity.

First, I grew up near the Badillo land and have been inside the house from Dana Goolsby's article. It very likely is Badillo's homestead.

Second, Gordiano Badillo is the original grantee of the land you mention. It was an entire league, and his original grant is linked below. The grant predates the republic of Texas as it was issued by the Mexican government in 1834. That certainly makes it ancient land.

Third, I do not know if Gordiano Badillo is a relative of or the same person as Jose Antonio Badillo, a confirmed Alamo defender. However, the story from Dana's article is a common one told between folks whose families have been in that neck of the woods for a long time. An old Salmon, Herod, Huff, Edens, or Musick can probably tell you a version. There's likely some truth to it. For example, my family (we are Warners, descended from the Herods) has claimed that Badillo left his land to one of our ancestors via will that he executed while on his way to die at Goliad. That's ultimately not true in several levels, but it goes to show how embedded that story is in the families in that area.

Finally, that house must be saved. It still stands as of probably 2018 when I was last there. And if it is the homesite of an Alamo defender whose grant predates the Republic, it has the significance of a Texas shrine.

Link to Badillo's original league grant below. Note that it is Abstract No. A-3 in the Houston County deed records. shoot me an email at willpowellwatson@gmail.com if you want to discuss more.

Cheers.

https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/1/0/3/0/1030502.pdf
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JABQ04
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10:56a, 9/15/22
AG
Similar article but some cool Pictures

http://www.texasescapes.com/DanaGoolsby/History-On-The-Brink-Of-Extinction.htm
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aalan94
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2:53p, 9/15/22
AG
So I've got a lot of stuff on my blog, mostly about the Texas Revolution of 1811-13, which is the subject of my book, which will be published next year by A&M press.

What is relevant to this discussion is my research on one of the more enduring Alamo mysteries. You see, the lists of Alamo defenders includes one Carlos Espalier, and also a Charles Despallier.

They're the SAME GUY. Of course, historians have differed on this for 200 years, but mostly because they took at face value two different ages and decided he was two guys. My research definitively shows that he was one guy.

This is also a bit tricky because people often want to add Tejanos to the list, and they're afraid that once you count Carlos Espalier as Charles Despallier, then you lose a Tejano. But in fact, once you realize his background, that's not the case. You see, Carlos/Charles has two different version of his name for a very important reason: He was both.

His grandfather was a Tejano named Luis Grande, and his mother, a Tejana. His father, however, was a french Creole, Bernard Martin Despallier, who moved to Texas in 1806 and fought in the 1811-13 revolution.

The Texas History Blog: Carlos Espalier: The Alamo Defender Who Never Was...Sort of

The story also has an interesting ironic and poignant twist, but I'll let you read another article about him on my blog:

The Texas History Blog: Alamo Hero Charles Despallier: Third Generation fighter for Texas Liberty
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KingofHazor
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In reply to JABQ04 • 2:56p, 9/15/22
JABQ04 said:
Similar article but some cool Pictures

http://www.texasescapes.com/DanaGoolsby/History-On-The-Brink-Of-Extinction.htm
Very very interesting stuff. Thanks for posting!

Couldn't they date the logs in the structure via 14C or tree ring dating? In addition, an archaeological survey of the site would likely produce some interesting and relevant data.
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willpowellwatson
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In reply to KingofHazor • 4:52p, 9/15/22
They definitely could. The issue is funding and making it worth the Historical Commission's while. If there was a definitive way to connect an Alamo defender to that property, I think they'd get interested. I'm going to do a title search when I'm back in Houston County to see what happened to Badillo's league during the days of the Republic. That may answer some questions.
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willpowellwatson
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In reply to aalan94 • 4:54p, 9/15/22
That's not uncommon at all. Names were pretty fluid back then. If you or I or anyone else can figure out if Jose Antonio Badillo and Gordiano Badillo are the same person, we'd be on our way to saving that relic of a house.
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bhuff111
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In reply to willpowellwatson • 10:35p, 9/15/22
Dadoo would be eating this up with a spoon!
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willpowellwatson
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In reply to bhuff111 • 7:34a, 9/16/22
Where do you think I heard it from originally? Ha!
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