Antonio Torres
Antonio Torres
Date of Birth: 1842
Date of Death: 1902
Interment Source:
Ward, Charles A. and Brooks Noel.
Cemetery Data of Nueces County, Texas.
Corpus Christi: Coastal Bend Genealogical Society, 1990
Q.E.P.D.
La
Senora
Gerarda
Farias
Nacio Oct.
8 de 1851
Murio Dic
18 de 1911
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
Unfortunately little is found in documents regarding Antonio Torres who died in 1902 and for whom no obituary could be found because of limited issues of the local paper still extant from that time. It appears that the Antonio Torres buried in Old Bayview is the same who is found in the 1870 census of Cameron County (p. 130). At that time he is living in Brownsville with Antonio Balli. In this census he indicates that he was born about 1839 in Mexico and his wife Josepha, 25 years old, is also a native of Mexico. They have a boy and a girl who are both born in Texas-"Pancha" (4 years old) and Donato (2 years old). In the 1880 census they are living on Tancahua Street in Corpus Christi (federal census ofNueces County, page 21B). Antonio lists himself as a painter and now reports that he was born about 1842 or 43 (depending on month of birth) in Mexico. This date better agrees with the birth year on his tombstone (1842). Josepha is still with him, and they now have six children: Francisca ("Pancha" would be nickname), Donato, Carlos, Esequio, Petra, and Paula who is reported as born in January of 1880. It appears that Antonio's wife Josepha died or the couple separated sometime between 1880 and 1895 when Antonio married Mrs. Gerarda Farias (Nueces County Marriage Records, volume F page 353). They married on 8 December 1895. Antonio and Gerarda are found together in the 1900 census record (Nueces County, page 167B/ E. D. 133 sheet 12B). In this census Antonio claims to be born in June of 1844 in Mexico and that he came to Texas in 1866. He is still a painter by trade. With him is his new wife, but no children of either Antonio or Gerarda. Antonio and Gerarda are not found listed in early city directories, but this may be because they did not have a phone. Records of the Bay View Association do not report his burial (although there are entries for 1902). However, they do report the death and burial of his wife Sarah Gerarda Torres in 1911. There is no record at present of what became of Josepha Torres, Antonio's first wife and the mother of his children.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell