DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Juan Francisco Farías Residence in Webb County. Now settle in, because this story's got roots that go deep — deep into the soil of Laredo, deep into the bones of a family that helped build a city and then defended it. It starts, as the best stories do, with a wedding.
Soldier and alcalde Jose Andres Farias and his wife Guadalupe Sanchez were married at San Agustin Church in 1803. They had seven children together, and the oldest of those seven — a boy named Juan Francisco Manuel de la Trinidad Farias — came into the world in January of 1807. With a name that long, you might say the family had high expectations from the very start.
And Juan Francisco lived up to every syllable. He followed the family tradition of civic duty, serving as both alderman and mayor of Laredo. He was also named secretary to the Republic of the Rio Grande — that short-lived republic formed right there in Laredo in January of 1840.
The man was woven into the fabric of his city. On June 15, 1832, Juan Francisco married Maria de los Inocentes Benavides — a widow born in Parras, Coahuila in December of 1810. Together, Juan Francisco and Inocentes had eleven children.
Eleven. Between the seven from his parents' household and the eleven from his own, this family was not short on people to fill a house. And what a house it would become.
Family oral tradition holds that their home on this very site dates from July of 1840 — the same year Juan Francisco was serving as secretary to the Republic of the Rio Grande, which gives you some sense of how busy this man was keeping himself. The earliest written record we have is an 1864 deed, when the property — stone building, water well and all — was sold by Juan Francisco Farias to his daughter, Encarnacion Farias de Herrera. Who actually built the residence?
That, the record does not say. The builder remains unknown. But what they built is something else entirely.
The house follows a modified rectangular plan, constructed of locally fabricated brick clad with stucco. The walls are two feet wide — two feet — of brick and stone. Four fireplaces.
Rooms that open directly to the exterior, facing either the street or the patio. A projecting cornice decorated with distinctive rectangular, tooled stone projections, with that same careful craftsmanship carried through on the lintels. And at the south entrance porch, truncated Corinthian wooden columns holding the whole elegant front together.
The site once included stables, a cart house, a water well, and a cistern. This was not a modest dwelling. This was a statement.
Now here is where the story turns serious. During the Civil War, those thick walls and those wide rooms weren't just keeping the family warm by four fireplaces. Many strategic planning meetings were held in this house.
Colonel Santos Benavides and select members of the Benavides Regiment, along with then-mayor Juan Francisco Farias himself, gathered here to plan for the defense of Laredo against the Union Army. The same man who helped form a republic, who served his city as alderman and mayor, was now sitting in his own home helping map out how to protect that city in its most dangerous hour. Five generations of the Farias family lived in this house continuously — continuously — all the way until 1974.
More than a century of births and deaths, of meals and meetings, of children becoming parents becoming grandparents, all under that stuccoed brick roof with its two-foot walls and its Corinthian columns. Some houses hold history. This one helped make it.
What the marker says
Soldier and Laredo alcalde Jose Andres Farias and his wife Guadalupe Sanchez married at San Agustin Church in 1803 and had seven children; the oldest, Juan Francisco Manuel de la Trinidad Farias, was born in January 1807. He followed the family tradition of civic duty, serving as alderman and mayor of Laredo. Juan Francisco was also named secretary to the Republic of the Rio Grande, formed in Laredo in January 1840. Juan Francisco married Maria de los Inocentes Benavides on June 15, 1832. His bride was a widow born in Parras, Coahuila in December 1810. Juan Francisco and Inocentes had eleven children. Family oral tradition states that their home on this site dates from July 1840. The earliest historical reference is an 1864 deed when the property, along with a stone building and water well, was sold by Juan Francisco Farias to his daughter, Encarnacion Farias de Herrera. The builder of the Farias residence is unknown. The modified rectangular plan house is built of locally fabricated brick clad with stucco. Rooms directly access the exterior, facing the street or patio area. The house has two-foot wide walls of brick and stone along with four fireplaces. A projecting cornice features distinctive rectangular, tooled stone projections, with similar craftsmanship seen on the lintels. Truncated Corinthian wooden columns support the south entrance porch. The site historically included stables and a cart house, water well and cistern. During the Civil War many strategic planning meetings were held in the house. Colonel Santos Benavides and select members of the Benavides Regiment along with then-mayor Juan Francisco Farias planned for the defense of Laredo against the Union Army. Five generations of the Farias family lived here continuously until 1974. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2009