Juan Moya

Juan Moya (1806–1874), was a prominent Tejano landowner and Mexican army´s captain who fought in the Texas Revolution.

Biography
John Moya y Delgado was born about 1806 in the Presidio La Bahia (Goliad), Texas. His father was José Miguel Delgado and his three brothers were Pedro, Nepomuceno and Agustín. His family was descended of first Isleños settlers who, originating from the Canary Islands, settled in San Antonio de Béjar in 1731. Juan Moya was the great-grandson of mayor and judge -on the distribution of public lands-, Simon de Arocha. Since 1795 his family owned land in San Patricio County. On November 26, 1831, The Moya family had a large extension of land in the colony McGloin McMullen, (although this already had a house in this place since 1800). Despite this, the family lived at the ranch in Buena Vista. Later, on November 30, 1834, Juan Moya had an important piece of land in Bee County. The family also bought a large ranch in Bee County (which was known at the time as Rancho Moya), renamed later as the John Quincy Rancho (acquired later by JM O'Brien). Between 1835 and 1836, during the Texas Revolution, Captain Moya joined the Mexican Army to fight for the union of Mexico and Texas, near the Mexican centralist. The Rancho Moya was used as headquarters by General Martin Perfecto de Cos and as a camp by General Vicente Filisola, following the withdrawal from Mexico. Ten years later, around 1846, Juan Moya, his wife and seven children decided to settle in Victoria County. During the land title disputes arising from the Texas Revolution, Moya's family returned to the counties of Goliad, where they were the lands of San Patricio. Moya and two of his sons, Antonio and Marcelo, were accused of having murdered the Swift family, who lived near his house, so they were imprisoned on June 8, 1874 after a group of Texians lynched to family. The Moya family cemetery is near Berclair Goliad County, in the land of Juan Delgado.

After his death
Moya´s Rancho was divided into two parcels. One was received by Lea Pryor and the other half received him the Moya family. However, the family lost much of their land in court battles. Moya's descendants, however, still live in Goliad and in the surrounding counties. In 1974 the family organized Moya Association of Texas, in which acting more or less 2,000 members from seven states. The association's role is to keep the memory of the Canarian settlers who settled in San Antonio, the first Texas colonists and cattle ranchers- due to their contributions to Texas, for which this holds regularly scheduled meetings. The family has managed to retain the Canarian culture of Texas, which made that the September 10, 1982 it received a memorandum by Governor William P. Clements, because of its achievements in maintaining the islands culture as entity status.