About twelve years ago, Jo Emma and I did a lot of

research through several sources to determine why Jos

Antonio George Navarro, the eldest son of Jos Antonio
Navarro ( the Texas patriot and one of the signers of the
Texas Declaration of Independence) and Margarita de la
Garza from Mier, Tamaulipas, left Atascosa County and
moved to Zapata County around 1879, or before, and why
one of his daughters, Margarita Isidra Navarro, and her
husband, William D. Langston, also went to Zapata
County, where he was the county judge from 1878 to
1882. A grandson of Jos Antonio George Navarro,
Leonardo Navarro (son of Jos Eugenio Tiburcio Navarro
and Mara Antonia Chves), also ended up in Zapata, and
he married Luz Vela. They had to travel by horseback or
by stagecoach because the completion of the International
and Great Northern Railroad from San Antonio to Laredo
was not completed until 1881. We are not sure if all of
them came together to Zapata County, or if Margarita and
William D. Langston arrived first.
According to Jo Emma's genealogical research notes,
Jos Antonio George Navarro was born in 1820, and he
was married twice. With his first wife, Juana Chves
(parents: Ignacio Chves and Mara Lourdes Montez),
they had three children: Jos Eugenio Tiburcio Navarro
was born in 1840, and he married Mara Antonia Chves;
Mara Antonia Romalda Navarro was born in 1844, and
she married John C. Ross; and Margarita Isidra Navarro
was born in 1846, and she married William D. Langston.

Jos Antonio George Navarro married his first wife, Juana

Chves in San Antonio. In her research, JoEmma found a
translated copy of the last will and testament of Juana
Chves, written from their ranch in Atascosa County,
dated February 23, 1874, and she bequeath her entire
estate, which consisted of a considerable amount of land
in what is now downtown San Antonio, to her husband,
Jos Antonio George Navarro, and her three children:
Jos Eugenio Tiburcio Navarro, Mara Antonia Romalda
Navarro, and Margarita Isidra Navarro. Juana Chves
passed away a few days later, at the "advanced age" of
fifty-five years old, on March 5, 1874, at her rancho on the
Atascosa Creek in Atascosa County.
After Juana passed away, the Zapata County 1880 U.S.
Census indicates that at the age of 60 years old, Jos
Antonio George Navarro is alone and living with his
daughter Margarita Isidra Navarro Langston and her
husband, William D. Langston. On December 2, 1879,
Jos Antonio George Navarro was appointed County
Commissioner of Precinct One in Zapata County, and on
September 20, 1881, he was appointed Zapata County
Judge, and he served in this capacity from 1882 until
1898, a total of 16 years! And, according to JoEmma's
research notes taken from the marriage records in Zapata
County, Jos Antonio George Navarro married, at the age
of 63, Escolstica Gutirrez, age 35, on January 5, 1883.
The Zapata County 1870 U.S. Census indicates that
Escolstica Gutirrez was married to Jess Vela, and they
had one child, all were living in San Ignacio, Texas. Ten
years later, in the Zapata County 1880 U.S. Census,

Escolstica is listed as a widow, living alone, with three

children, ages 11, 7, and 5. And, three years later, Jos
Antonio George Navarro and Escolstica got married.
Jos Antonio Victor Navarro was born on July 28, 1886,
and he was the seventh child of Jos Eugenio Tiburcio
Navarro and Mara Antonia Chves. Jos Antonio Victor
Navarro married Elizabeth Dawson and they had six
children. He served as Zapata County's Sheriff/Tax
Collector in 1926, and as Zapata County Judge from 1928
until 1936, when he unexpectedly resigned on the eve of
the November 3, 1936 General Election, and
consequently, Manuel B. Bravo became the next county
judge, a position he held for twenty years!
On May 28, 2007, I sent a query letter to David McDonald,
the biographer of Jos Antonio Navarro, inquiring if he
knew from his research why Jos Antonio George Navarro
moved from Atascosa County to Zapata County, and also
why did his daughter Margarita Isidra Navarro and
her husband William D. Langston also moved to Zapata
County, and where is Jos Antonio George Navarro and
his wife Escolstica Gutirrez Navarro buried. David
McDonald's response was, "I do not know...The details
you have already discovered about George far exceeds
anything I have done..."
Have a restful and enjoyable evening.
Gilberto

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