Gonzaba Family History

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Gonzaba Family News

The Gonzaba name can be traced back to the year 1400 A.D. where the King of Spain awarded the family for their bravery and loyalty in the Battles of Calatrava 1540.  Alcantara 1560 and through the Order of Santiago from 1500 through 1596 by giving them a land grant in the Basque area, a northern region of Spain.  This land was called Villa de Gonzaba.

Their leader Don Francisco De Gonzaba y pico De la Mirandola the Noble Kinight of the Spanish throne.  Prince of the Roman Sacra of Castiglione and was named Duke of of Solferno by the King of Spain, who transferred him to Italy on the 9th of July 1716.  The Spanish King also named them a first class royal family of Spain, and named Don Francisco De Gonzaba II, the Grand Duke of Spain.  

Another branch  family departed from the Canary Islands to colonize the New World and settled at Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1773.  Don Juan Luis Gonzaba was assigned Cpt. of the Spanish Garrison with Don Jose de Maria Gonzaba as Administrator under the leadership of Governer Don Juan Goras and Cpt. Joaqin Leal Goras.

It was Don Juan Luis Gonzaba that fathered a son Don Juan Enrique Gonzaba the first family to be born in the new world.  Don Juan Enrique was Indian scouting for the Spanish armies when he was killed by Indians.  His son Jose Luis Gonzaba was a patriot of the Texas War of Independence.  He moved with some families from the Mission of San Antonio De Valero to the Mission San Francisco De la Espada where as he later moved to the Mission San Juan Capistrano.  Jose Luis Gonzaba married Dias, fathered Cristobal, Juan Blas and Juana.