José Ignacio de Merlos

José Ignacio de Merlos (1734-1814) was a Spanish politician and army officer, who served as Lieutenant Colonel of the Reales Ejércitos and Captain of Grenadiers in the Regimiento de Infantería de Buenos Aires. He fought against the Portuguese in the Banda Oriental and participated heroically in the defense and reconquest of Buenos Aires during the English invasions.

Biography
He was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Miguel Antonio de Merlos y Martínez, knight of the Order of Santiago, and María Teresa del Saz y Guerrero, born in La Rioja (Spain), daughter of Juan del Saz y Guerrero and Juana Urbana García Clavo de la Banda, belonging to a noble family from Seville.

In 1767 came to Buenos Aires the order of Spain to expel the Jesuits from their territories. The Governor of Buenos Aires Don Francisco de Paula Bucarelli commissioned the Captain of Milicias Jose Ignacio de Merlos to carry to Charcas and Lima the documents destined to the Royal Audience and their respective Viceroyalty. His trip lasted about forty days, crossing a distance of a thousand leagues that separate Buenos Aires from those capitals. He arrived in Chuquisaca with the dispatches of Bucarelli on November 17 of the same year.

José Ignacio Merlos had the rank of infantry Captain when he took part in the struggles against the Portuguese in the Banda Oriental. He was appointed Colonel (Coronel graduado) by order of the Real Despacho (Royal Office) on October 5, 1802. Merlos was over 70 years of age when the first English invasion occurred. He had an active participation in the defense and reconquest of the city, serving as Colonel of the Regimiento Fijo de Infantería de Buenos Aires.

On November 29, 1809 José Ignacio Merlos participated in a meeting convened by Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros to discuss the opening of the port of Buenos Aires to foreign trade..

Family
On February 11, 1771 José Ignacio de Merlos was married in the Buenos Aires Cathedral to María Rafaela de Basavilbaso y Urtubia, daughter of Domingo de Basavilbaso Lapresa and María Ignacia de Urtubia Toledo, belonging to one of the most powerful families of Buenos Aires. He and his wife were parents of seven children born between 1771 and 1784 (María Micaela Dionisia Josefa de Merlos y Basavilbaso, November 14, 1771, Miguel Antonio José Bernardo del Rosario de Merlos Basavilbaso, born in 1772 in Montevideo, Josefa Ramona de las Mercedes de Merlos Basavilbaso (1774), Benita Josefa Martina Enrica de Merlos Basavilbaso (1777), Ana María Josefa del Rosario de Merlo Basavilbaso (1778), Ramón Antonio José Merlos y Basavilbaso (1781) and Joaquina Evarista de Merlos Basavilbaso, born October 27, 1784 in Buenos Aires).

The founder of this branch of the Merlo family in Buenos Aires was Miguel Antonio de Merlos Ximénez, born in Murcia, who served as Alférez and Capitán de Milicias in the Fort of Buenos Aires, and as Notary in the Real Asiento de Inglaterra in 1716.