Died unknown Succeeded by Manuel de Sandoval | Profession Politician and Soldier | |
Preceded by Melchor de Mediavilla y Azcona Preceded by Pedro de Rábago y Terán | ||
Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos (Zevallos) was a soldier and politician who served as governor of Province of Texas (Texas) and Coahuila, New Spain (1754–1756). He also served as alcalde ordinario (ordinary mayor) in Mexico City.
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Early life
Ceballos was born between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He settled in Texas in 1723, living there for twelve years.
Governor in Texas
For seven of those years (1724–1731) he served as captain of the Presidio of Our Lady of Loreto in La Bahia del Espiritu Santo. In 1730, he helped restore Querétaro missions in San Antonio. His success in this mission was such that the following year, in 1731, the viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Acuña, appointed him governor of Texas.
He arrived to Los Adaes, Texas' capital, in April 28, 1731, carrying several hundred of heads of livestock and many supplies.
He promoted the establishment of Spanish settlers from the Canary Islands in San Antonio in 1731 and the military campaign against the Apaches between the rivers of San Xavier (San Gabriel) and San Saba in 1732. The expedition consisted of 160 Spaniards and sixty Native Americans. However, the Apaches defeated them. A brief period of peace followed. Later, in 1734, Bustillo resigned as governor, replaced by Manuel de Sandoval, and he returned to Mexico.
Mexico
In Mexico, he won major political offices. He was appointed alcalde ordinaro (ordinary mayor) of Mexico City. In 1751, he was a member of the Audiencia Real, the highest administrative court of New Spain. The Audiencia approved the founding of the San Xavier missions, although this had raised objections in 1746. Three years later, on December 21, 1754 (when he was deputy governor and acting governor of Coahuila), Bustillo and Franciscan Alonso Giraldo de Terreros founded Mission San Lorenzo Apache, near San Fernando de Austria, Coahuila.
Legacy
The San Saba River was named by Bustillo y Ceballos in 1732. He called it Río de San Sabá de las Nueces, because he and his troops had arrived on the feast day of St. Sabbas, a 6th-century monk.