"If San Fernando (San Antonio) had not been created, would there have been a Texas?"
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San Antonio, City for a King:
An Account of the Colonial History
of San Antonio and Texas by Rudy Felix Casanova Trafford Publishing
book review by Barbara Bamberger Scott
The state of Texas is known for its varied history. It is a state that has saluted six different national flags at various times, and existed as its own sovereign state between the war with Mexico and joining the Union, before seceding with the confederate states during the Civil War. In this new book, Rudy Felix Casanova shares a critical yet oft-forgotten chapter in Texas history: The founding of the settlement of San Fernando (now San Antonio) by sixteen families from Iberia's Canary Islands at the request of their King. Without which, none of the other seminal events in Texas history could have occurred.
As a descendant of one of the original settling families (a fact not understood until late in life), and proud of his Canarian heritage, he is a member and three times president of the Canary Islands Descendants Association of San Antonio. He writes passionately and knowledgeably about his city's Iberian roots and their cultural influence on the city San Antonio, and the state of Texas itself. The author provides a step-by-step accounting of the founding of the San Fernando settlement, beginning with the initial desire of King Felipe V to have an outpost in his "New Spain" for strategic and political reasons. Though short, Casanova's book includes a list of the sixteen original founding families, a nice touch and a bow to his potential readership. And while the book isn't fully annotated, there is a brief "Resource Fountains" section providing source material for the author's research.
San Antonio, City for a King reads as a love letter to a hometown. It provides an insider's view of an overlooked chapter in Texas history, which should be thoroughly enjoyed by enthusiasts of San Antonio, Texas, and American history.