The Eslava family originated in Alabama, with Miguel Deciderio Eslava (born 1740, San Sebastian, Spain, died September 17th, 1823), son of Tomas De Eslava and Maria Giron. He served in the Office of The Royal Treasurer at Mexico City, and in 1782 was transfered to Natchez, Mississippi, then a Spanish possession, where he purchased a home and land. He was retransfered to Mobile, in 1784, where he served as Royal Treasurer and Custom's Collector. Miguel served in the Spanish Colonial Militia and by 1802, had reached the rank, of Captain. He was described while living as a "tall soldierly man, without a beard and with auburn hair". He was fluent in Spanish, French, English and the Native American Mobilian Trade Jargon. These 4 languages we know he spoke because we have written record's attesting to the fact but although born in the Basque Country of Spain, there is no record of him being able to speak Basque or any mention of him ever using the language, so perhap's he did or perhap's he didn't, one thing is for certain, he seem's to have had a "gift" for learning various languages, so the possibility is very strong that in the least he was a "passive bilingual" or a semi-speaker of Basque, as both his parent's were of Basque origin.
He eventually became a large landowner, in Alabama and married Hypolite Francoise Alexandre (born 1767, died January 30th, 1849), daughter of Jean Baptiste Alexandre Jr. (born 1734, son of Jean Baptiste Alexandre Sr. and Francoise Hypolite Baudin, 1716-1744) and Catalina Angelica Loisel (daughter of Pierre Paul Loisel and Marie De Nial).
Eslava Street, Eslava Lane, Eslava Creek, Eslava Creek Parkway, in Mobile, are all named after this family, as are Eslava Drive, in Foley, Alabama and Eslava Circle, in Lillian, Alabama. The Eslava surname originated in the Village of Eslava, Navarra, Spain and is Basque, in origin. Miguel and Hypolite are both buried in Church Street Cemetery, in the famous Eslava Tomb, in downtown Mobile, Alabama.
The Spanish Colonial Period, in Alabama left many imprint's, on Mobile and Baldwin Counties, including a handfull, of legend's, one of which deals specifically, with Miguel Eslava. I will soon write about "The Legend of Miguel Eslava's Tomb", in a subsequent post, so come visit the Blog soon. //// There are many descendant's of Miguel and Hypolite in Mobile and Baldwin Counties both with the name Eslava and those who "daughtered out" the name, as well as other location's along the Gulf Coast and the United States. There are also collateral descendant's of Miguel Eslava via his family, in both Spain and Cuba (and among Cuban Exiles).
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