SAN ANTONIO – America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, but for some, the history dates back much further.
Nearly 300 years ago, 16 families traveled thousands of miles from the Canary Islands to present-day San Antonio. When they arrived, they helped establish the first civilian government in Texas.
The descendants of these families said their story is not just part of San Antonio’s legacy, but part of the American story.
“It’s important for us to know who we came from,” said Julia Lopez, president of the Canary Islands Descendants Association. “That’s how we know what tomorrow brings.”
Canary Islanders were sent by the King of Spain to settle the “New World” in 1730. They landed in San Antonio on March 9, 1731.
“You can only imagine the journey,” Lopez said. “They sailed across the Atlantic, they walked across Mexico and up into San Antonio.”
While Spanish missionaries arrived in 1718, descendants of the Canary Islanders said they were the first to establish the city’s government.
“Our families were the first mayors of San Antonio,” Sharon Pelayo Simonick. “Our families were the first council people, our families were the first sheriff.”
The Canary Islanders were also early benefactors of San Fernando Cathedral.
A devotion to Our Lady of Candelaria, the patroness of the Canary Islands, remains inside the cathedral to this day.
“I think our story is so important because we are the story of America,” Lopez said. “We’re the story of immigration, we are the story of people who came to find a better life.”
Anthony Delgado said learning more about his ancestors changed the way he sees American history.
“Learning about our ancestors’ contributions to the American Revolution makes that history more personal,” Delgado said. “I now have an ancestral investment in this thing called America and its revolution and independence.”
For many descendants, the story of the Canary Islanders is a reminder that resilience, sacrifice and the search for a better life have always been part of the American story.
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