The Flores de Abrego Family and Floresville

By 1833 the Flores home, a chapel and a graveyard stood here. Floresville's townsite was laid out in the early 1870s, a post office opened in 1872, and in November 1873 voters made it the county seat. Andrew G. Pickett, who irrigated his ranch, began growing peanuts about then, and by about 1915 peanuts were the area's cash crop, earning Floresville the nickname "Peanut Capital of Texas." The town incorporated in 1890, and its Peanut Festival, begun in 1938, draws 10,000 to 15,000 visitors.

What the plaque says

The Flores de Abrego Family and Floresville The Flores de Abrego family came to the New World from northern Spain before the time of the American Revolution. During the 18th century, members of this family brought their cattle northward and established ranches along the San Antonio River. The head of this family was Francisco Antonio Flores de Abrego II (d. 1757), who married Rosa Hermenegilda Hernandez. Their son, Jose Joaquin Flores de Abrego (1742-c. 1800), grew up on the San Bartolo Ranch in present Karnes County. Jose Joaquin's grandsons Manuel, Salvador, Nepomuceno, and Jose Maria later fought on the side of the Texians during the revolution for independence from Mexico. In 1854 Josefa Agustina Flores de Abrego, daughter of Jose Maria Flores de Abrego, married Samuel William Barker, who became Wilson County's first sheriff in 1860. In 1867 Josefa's donation of 200 acres of land was accepted by the County Commissioners Court as the site for the new county seat. As she requested, the new town was named Floresville in honor of her ancestor, Francisco Antonio Flores de Abrego II. As prominent ranchers, with cattle brands registered in Floresville, the Flores de Abrego family played an important role in the colonization of this area. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct — 22 mi
  The southernmost San Antonio mission and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States, still carrying river water over Sixmile Creek to the fields after nearly three centuries.
• Mission San Juan — 23 mi
  The mission near the river bend where the San Antonio got its name in 1691, with an unfinished church foundation and farm fields still watered by an eighteenth-century acequia.
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — 25 mi
  Four working parish churches on the Mission Trail south of downtown, with the visitor center at Mission San Jose, the Queen of the Missions, and the descendants who still worship there.
• Mission Concepción — 27 mi
  A stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.

More markers nearby

• Wilson County — steps away
• James Charles Wilson — steps away
• Captain Will Wright — steps away
• Texas Ranger and Sheriff Capt. Will L. Wright — 0.9 mi