Pedro del Barrio Junco y Espriella

Biography

Junco y Espriella was born on July 15, 1682, in Carranzo, Llanes (Asturias, Spain). He was the son of Felipe de Barrio Junco y Espriella and Ana Maria Noriega Rubín de Celis. He had a brother, Nicolás de Junco y Espriela, Knight of Calatrava.

He was a knight of the Order of Santiago. He joined the Spanish Army in his youth, attaining the position of colonel. In 1716, he traveled to modern Mexico as a knight of the Viceroy, Baltasar de Zúñiga. After this, he returned to Spain, and, in 1724, he returned to Mexico as Governor of Marquezado Valley.

In 1740, the Spanish Crown appointed him the governor the Mexican state of Nuevo León. He finished this term in 1746. Two years later, on June 3, 1748, he was appointed the interim governor of Texas. He unsuccessfully opposed the location chosen by the friars for Mission San Xavier del Bac. However, In June 1749, Junco y Espriella spoke with Juan Galván, an explorer who led the Mission San Xavier del Bac, to devise a plan to organize an expedition in the valley of San Javier (San Gabriel). He personally investigated the valley to decide how to conduct the expedition. On August 28, after returning from his expedition, Barrio decided to elect Lieutenant Galván to lead a new group of soldiers to San Javier. His government was arbitrary and, at some point, he imprisoned the first ruler of San Antonio, but this imprisonment lasted a short time. In 1750, a French soldier, the son of deceased explorer and soldier Louis Juchereau, asked Junco y Espriella for a license for direct trade with the Caddo people. Junco y Espriella refused this license, so the soldier carried French troops to the towns and took many goods to try to convince the indigenous people that the Spanish were not their friends since they had tried to stop the French from giving them the goods.

He was dismissed from the office of governor in late 1750 because he chose to ignore a royal decree banning French trade in New Mexico and the existence of gambling. The charges against him were investigated.

He was appointed governor of Nuevo León for the second time, between 1752 and 1757, and he developed many campaigns against Amerindian peoples. Later, he served as provincial mayor of the Santa Hermandad (Brotherhood) of New Spain. On March 27, 1765, he was named the captain of the Presidio of El Paso del Norte, Mexico, which seems to have been his last appointment. His place and date of death are not known.

Personal life

Pedro de Barrio Junco y Espriella was married to Maria Antonia Rodriguez, and they had two children.