Juan Bautista de Anza I

Who was Juan Bautista de Anza I?

Born on June 29, 1693 in the Basque village of Hernani, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain, Juan Bautista de Anza was the eldest son and second child of Antonio de Anza, the town pharmacist, and Lucia de Sassoeta. At the age of nineteen, in 1712, he migrated to New Spain, going first to Culiacán, Sinaloa where his mother had relatives already established. Anza did not stay there long, however, and was soon involved in silver mining in Álamos, Sonora. From there he became involved in the discovery and exploitation of two important silver mining camps, or boomtowns, between 1716 and 1720 at Aguaje southeast of present-day Hermosillo, Sonora and Tetuachi south of Arizpe. He bought other mining properties at Basochuca, Sonora, north of Arizpe and, at least, by early 1721 he was a lieutenant in the Sonora militia. Shortly after that, on August 2, 1721, he joined the regular cavalry as an alférez, or second lieutenant, at the Janos Presidio under Captain Antonio Bezerra Nieto. As a soldier he was described as being "of sound body, white [and] bearded with faded auburn hair." Soon after beginning his military career at Janos he married the Captain’s daughter and quickly rose to the rank of first lieutenant.