Saturday, December 22, 2012

Miguel Deciderio Eslava, A Forgotten Hispanic War of 1812 Veteran in Mobile, Alabama

Miguel Deciderio Eslava was born on May 6, 1797 and died on January 3rd, 1881. He was a partner at "Murrell and Company," the agents for most Confederate Blockade Runners which entered and left Mobile, Ala. during the Civil War.
He married Louise Malvina Delphine De Lanzos (born 1803, died 1870, buried at Church Street Cemetery). She was a native of New Orleans and daughter of Captain Manuel De Lanzos and Gertrudis Guerrero, one of the former Spanish Commanders of Mobile, during the Colonial Period.
Miguel served as Spanish Vice Consul to Mobile, for many years, prior to the Civil War.
Miguel, was the son of Miguel Deciderio Eslava Sr. and Hypolite Francoise Alexandre. He also served in the War of 1812, after Spain lost Mobile, between 1813 and 1815. He served as a private, in Diego McVoy’s Company, Mobile Militia, 14th Mississippi Territorial Regiment.
He lived at 124 South Royal Street and was a shipping and commercial merchant at 31 South Royal Street (upstairs), in 1861. He later lived at what is now 152 Tuthill Lane, in Spring Hill, Mobile, Alabama, known as the Marshall-Eslava House, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, in 1974.
Miguel also was involved in the construction of the “Eslava Building”located at 126 Government Street, which was built in approximately 1850.
Miguel Jr. was described as always sporting a beard. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French and “Mobilian Trade Jargon” which was Native American trade language spoken along the Gulf Coast, which is now extinct. He is buried next to his wife, in Church Street Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama, in the Eslava Tomb.