1726 is the year that Cristobal Cano and Ana Maria
Garcia were married in Cadareyta, Nuevo Leon, Mexico at the San Juan Bautista church. The
Cano families can be found in Cadereyta as early as 1637, two years after the founding of
the town. During this time period the U.S. was not even a country, but consisted of
colonies. Spanish settlers in northern Mexico such as Cristobal, his descendants and
others were part of a unique group who populated and cultivated the new lands. The
families of Cristobal were part of the original settlers of Nuevo Santander. By 1757 some
of the family, including Antonio Margil Cano, had moved to Reynosa. Ten years later at the
age of 21 Antonio would receive a Spanish Land Grant of one league which is approximately
4,180 acres. This land is identified as porcion 44 in the Texas General Land Office
records. His brother, Pedro Miguel, would receive porcion 45.
The lands being settled were still inhabited by native Americans. Those in the area of
Reynosa are identified in the Nuevo Santander report and census document of 1757. They
include the Naza tribe who came from the town of Pilon of el Nuevo Reino de Leon, the
Nariz tribe, the Comecrudos described as the "heathens" of the colony and the
Tejones.
Cristobal and Anna Maria are linked to Antonio Margil by his last will and testament. The
Cadereyta records do have the couple listed but with Cristobal as the spelling and record
Antonio Garcia Cano as one of his sons. Also, in the section for Reynosa in the book
"Fundadores de Tamaulipas 1748 - 1770" list's the family.
Antonio was a land surveyor and was responsible for
surveying one of the largest grants issued which was the San Juan de Carricitos Tract
Grant. The map is dated December 3, 1790. The book 'Royal Land Grants North of the Rio
Grande, 1777 - 1821' by Florence Johnson Scott records Antonio Margarito Cano as one of
the citizens of Reynosa who voted to move the town to another location in 1801. Reynosa
when first founded had to be moved several times due to flooding of the Rio Grande River.
The two grants were validated by the State of Texas in 1852 with the Texas Validation Acts of Spanish and Mexican Grants. It was Francisco Guerra Chapa who applied for the confirmation of the grant. The Relinquishment Act of 1852 relinquished all the right and interest to some grantees, porciones 44 and 45 were among the grants. A survey completed in the mid 1800's put the porcione 44 through Military Telegraph Road, 18 ½ miles northwest of Hildago County on the north bank of the Rio Grande. According to a county map of 1852 the grant is situated just west of the Habana Ranch, known today as Havana, Texas.
Some of the next generation of this family moves to Burgos, Tamaulipas, Mexico sometime before 1804 and possibly as late as 1815. This estimate is based from several marriage records dated 1804 in which the family takes part. The town of Burgos was not that old, it was settled in 1749. Many family events take place in Burgos at the Nuestra Senora de Loreto parish.
The next generations of the Cano's make their way back north of the Rio Grande river, not far from the lands their ancestors once owned. They made their home in South Texas. The family list from this point forward includes the following surnames: Villareal, Longoria, Gonzales and Garcia. But there are Trevino, Salazar, Ortiz and Solis as well in this lineage.
