DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, there are names in Texas history that show up at the big moments — and then there's Jose Antonio Navarro, who seems to show up at all of them. Navarro was born in San Antonio in 1795.
By the time history came calling, he'd already served in several offices under the Mexican government. But somewhere along the way, he cast his lot with a different idea — Texas independence — and became an active participant in that movement. Active enough, in fact, to put his name on the Texas Declaration of Independence.
That's not a small thing. That is, as they say, a permanent kind of commitment. Out here in this part of the state, Navarro was also building something quieter — a life on the land.
He owned numerous holdings in the region, and in 1834 he purchased land along Geronimo Creek, about a mile and two tenths to the east of where you're standin'. He put that land to work for farming and ranching. And then came 1841.
The Mexican militia took Navarro captive. Whatever that meant for the man himself, his family still needed shelter, still needed safety — and it was this ranch house that gave it to them. It served as a haven through the years of his captivity, right up until 1845, when Navarro finally returned.
He held onto the ranch until 1853. From independence fighter to prisoner to rancher coming home — that's a life that left marks on this land long before any marker was ever planted here.
What the marker says
Born in San Antonio, Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871) held several offices in the Mexican government before becoming an active participant in the movement for Texas independence. Owner of numerous land holdings in this part of the state, Navarro purchased land along Geronimo Creek (approx. 1.2 mi. E) for farming and ranching activities in 1834. The ranch house served as a haven for his family during his captivity by the Mexican militia in 1841 until his return to the ranch in 1845. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Navarro owned the ranch until 1853. ?(1986, 1998)