Name Juan Bassecourt | Died 1820 | |
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Juan Procopio de Bassecourt Thieulaine y Bryas López de Ochoa, (22 April 1740 - 12 April 1820) was Count of Santa Clara, Baron of Maials, Governor of Louisiana, both before the Spanish Cession, Adams-Onís Treaty, Captain General of the Caribbean Island of Cuba, (6 December 1796 - 13 May 1799) and Captain General of Catalonia (14 May 1802 - 1808). While he was Captain General in Cuba he was responsible for the construction or improvement of numerous fortifications in Havana, including the Santa Clara Battery.
Contents
Birth
Juan Procopio Bassecourt y Bryas was born the son of Procopio Francisco de Bassecourt y Thieulaine, Procope François de Bassecourt, a Field Marshal of the Royal Spanish Army, Marquis de Bassecourt, Sieur of Crocq and Beaumont-Lahameide in Flanders, Count of Santa Clara, Spanish title of 1748 awarded by King Fernando VI of Spain, and Baron of Maials, Governor of Lerida, now Lleida, (Grigny, 7 September 1729, where his father had been promoted to Marquis de Grigny by King Carlos II of Spain in 1690, the family serving Imperial Spain since at least the middle of the 16th century - Barcelona, Spain, 13 March 1795), and of Ignés de Bryas, described in some papers and documents as Inés María de Bryas y López de Ochoa.
He was the nephew of Maria Catalina de Bassecourt married to Palermo-born Spanish military man Juan Gonzalez-Valor, Marquis of Gonzalez since 1736, title awarded in 1736 by Carlos VII of Naples and Sicily, (1716 - King of Naples and Sicily 1736 - King of Spain 1759 - 1788) known later as King Carlos III of Spain since 1759.
Personal life
He married in Barcelona Maria Teresa de Sentmenat y Copons, a niece of the Marquis of Sentmenat and Marquis of Castelldosrius, (title of 6 April 1696 by King Carlos II of Spain), descending from a family from Mallorca Island and from Barcelona, known since the 12th century, granddaughter of the greatly cultured Spanish Ambassador in France since 1698 with Louis XIV of France, and Viceroy of Peru, namely Manuel de Sentmenat-Oms de Santa Pau y de Lanuza, a.k.a. Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau, (Barcelona, 1651 - Lima, Peru - 24 April 1710).