José María Cervantes y Velasco

Who was José María Cervantes y Velasco?

José María Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco Padilla y Obando, Count of Santiago de Calimaya and Marquess of Salinas, was a Mexican army officer who signed the Act of Independence of the Mexican Empire along Agustín de Iturbide and his uncle, Juan María Cervantes y Padilla.

He was the son of Ignacio Gómez de Cervantes and doña Marina Altamirano de Velasco, countess of Santiago de Calimaya and Marquise of Salinas. He entered the Spanish royal army in 1810 as captain in the Distinguished Patriots of Ferdinand VII battalions created by Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas, rose to colonel in 1813 and joined the Mexican independence movement in 1815.

He married twice in his life; first to doña María Michaus y Oroquieta and the later to doña Ana María Ozta y Cotera, Marquise of Rivascacho, with whom he had a son: don José María Cervantes Ozta, who inherited his title and, after marrying doña Magdalena Ayestarán, fathered don Ignacio Cervantes Ayestarán, the last count of Santiago de Calimaya before Mexico's independence,who married Carmen Cauz and had not descendants; and Guadalupe Cervantes Ayestarán who married Don Francisco Cauz and whose descendants would have inherited the titles.