Vicente Micheli

The Land Office's Spanish Collection records the 1797 sale differently from the plaque. It describes a rancho of nearly 9,000 acres on the Neches River, sold by a man called Son of Lefty, named as a Bidai chief and captain of the Ais Nation. Micheli paid in goods, among them a blue cape, a white shirt and eight brass handles, plus a rifle and powder. His deed lacked legal formalities, so in May 1810 he asked Governor Manuel de Salcedo to confirm title. Salcedo said he had not settled or cultivated it, and the title was later invalidated.

What the plaque says

Vicente Micheli Italian-born Vicente Micheli (c.1755-1848) came to North America around 1770 via New Orleans and moved to the Spanish territory of Texas by 1793. He settled first in Nacogdoches and later received a grant of land near this site. His grant was the first patented by the Spanish Crown in what became Angelina County. In an unusual business deal, he acquired more than 24,000 acres from a member of the Bidais Tribe in exchange for several items, including a blue petticoat, a white shirt, eight brass bracelets, a handful of vermillion and a "fathom" of red ribbon. Between 1798 and 1812, Micheli worked as a merchant for Barr & Davenport, a trading firm authorized by the Spanish Crown, doing business with Native Americans. Prior to 1806, he moved to Bexár, present-day San Antonio, while continuing his business dealings in Nacogdoches. Micheli complied with orders in 1806 to move to Santísima Trinidad de Salcedo, a newly-established Spanish settlement on the Trinity River. Six years later, he fled to Louisiana because of the Magee-Gutiérrez Insurrection, a failed rebellion against Spanish rule in Mexico. Receiving a royal pardon, Micheli was one of only two individuals who returned to Texas. In 1815, Micheli purchased additional land in the La Villita district of San Antonio. He continued to work as a businessman, referring to himself as "the merchant of Venice." In his later years, he was an astute speculator, indian trader and merchant with landholdings in at least nine modern-day Texas counties. Dying in San Antonio at the age of ninety-three, Micheli left a profound legacy of pioneer business development prior to the Texas Tevolution of the 1830s. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 27 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Redland School — 2.7 mi
• Central Consolidated School — 5.2 mi
• Angelina & Neches River Railroad — 5.6 mi
• German POWs in the East Texas Timber Industry — 6.6 mi