Jose Jesús Benavides

José Jesús Benavides, rancher and early prominent citizen of Laredo, son of José Maria Benavidez and Petra Sanchez Gonzalez Hidalgo, was born in Laredo about 1802. His family was originally from Revilla in what is present-day Tamaulipas, Mexico. Benavides was the great-grandson of Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza, founder of Laredo in 1755. His family consisted of well-known civic and state leaders in Laredo and the state, as his brother Basilio Benavides later served in the Texas House of Representatives. José Jesús Benavides married Margarita (or Marguerita) Ramon Garcia of Laredo. Their children included sons Santos Benavides and Refugio Benavides—both became high-ranking Confederate officers during the Civil War.

Benavides received land known as El Pedernal by the Mexican government in April 1835. The land grant was 9,809 acres and was located in what is now Zapata County, Texas, but the tract was not surveyed for his heirs until the 1870s. After the death of his wife in 1834, Benavides married Tomasa Cameros. Their children included Cristobal, who also became a Confederate officer and civic leader in Laredo, and Juliana, who married Laredo merchant John Leyendecker. Described as a “frontiersman of high character…identified with the development of the Rio Grande country,” José Jesús Benavides spent his entire life in and around Laredo and had extensive land holdings and ranching interests. Benavides died in Laredo in the late 1840s. His place of burial is not readily apparent in written records, though other family members, including several children and his first wife, are buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Laredo.

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4. Jose De Jesus BENAVIDES SANCHEZ b. abt 1802, Laredo, Webb Co., TX, m. (1) Margarita RAMON GARCIA, (daughter of Jose Maria RAMON and Micaela GARCIA MARTINEZ) d. bef 1842, m. (2) 24 Nov 1834, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, Maria Tomasa CAMEROS CENTENO, b. abt 1807, Vallecillo, N.L., Mex, (daughter of Juan CAMEROS and Maria Trinidad CENTENO).

• a. Jose del Refugio BENAVIDES RAMON b. 1821, m. 18 Apr 1842, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, Maria Teresa PIZAÑA.
• b. Jose de Santos BENAVIDES RAMON b. abt 1822, Laredo, Webb Co., TX, m. 27 Oct 1842, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, Agustina VILLARREAL FLORES, b. abt 1822, (daughter of Rafael Lino VILLARREAL GUERRA and Josefa FLORES VILLARREAL).
• c. Ricarda BENAVIDES RAMON
• d. Cristobal BENAVIDES CAMEROS b. 3 Apr 1839, Laredo, Webb Co., TX, m. 31 Jan 1867, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, Carlota Lamar BEE MARTINEZ, (daughter of Hamilton P. BEE and Andrea MARTINEZ). Cristobal died 2 Sep 1904, Laredo, Webb Co., TX.
• e. Andrea BENAVIDES CAMEROS m. 1 Jun 1857, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, John Z. LEYENDECKER, (son of John Z. LEYENDECKER and Maria Magdalena ZIRVAS).
• f. Francisca BENAVIDES CAMEROS m. 27 Sep 1862, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, Francisco FARIAS BENAVIDES, (son of Juan Francisco FARIAS SANCHEZ and Maria Inocente BENAVIDES GARCIA-DAVILA).
• g. Juliana BENAVIDES CAMEROS m. 1 Aug 1865, in Laredo, Webb Co., TX, John Z. LEYENDECKER, (son of John Z. LEYENDECKER and Maria Magdalena ZIRVAS).
• h. Jose Eulalio BENAVIDES CAMEROS m. Teodora SANCHEZ.