Anza, Juan Bautista de (07 July 1736–19 December 1788), military commander, explorer, and governor, was born in the presidio of Fronteras, Sonora, Mexico, the son of Juan Bautista de Anza, commandant of the post since 1719, and María Rafaela Becerra Nieto; his grandfather was commandant of Janos presidio, Chihuahua. Anza’s father was killed in combat in 1739, but Anza continued in the family tradition, and on 1 December 1752 entered the militia at Fronteras. On 1 July 1755 he was promoted to lieutenant at Fronteras, and, after participating in Indian campaigns in Sonora, he rose in 1760 to the rank of captain and commander of the presidio at Tubac (in present-day Arizona). On 24 June 1761 he married Ana María Pérez Serrano of Arizpe, Sonora, but no children were born of the union....
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Anza, Juan Bautista de (1736-1788), military commander, explorer, and governor
Michael Mathes
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Coronado, Francisco Vázquez de (1510-1554), explorer and governor
Joseph P. Sánchez
Coronado, Francisco Vázquez de (1510–22 September 1554), explorer and governor, was born in Salamanca, Spain, the son of the nobleman Juan Vázquez de Coronado and doña Isabel de Lujan. Coronado was the youngest of six brothers and two sisters, and, under the laws of primogeniture, the entire ...
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Ellis, Henry (1721-1806), explorer, scientist, and governor
Edward J. Cashin
Ellis, Henry (24 August 1721–21 January 1806), explorer, scientist, and governor, was born in Monaghan, Ireland, the son of Francis Ellis, a wealthy landowner, and Joan Maxwell. Young Henry received a good education, but where is not known. He sought his fortune at sea and by his twenty-fifth birthday was an experienced mariner. In 1746 he was offered command of a vessel engaged in a search for a northwest passage. Ellis declined but agreed to act as scientific observer and agent for the sponsors, one of whom was his father....
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Endecott, John (1588-1665), governor and member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Jonathan M. Chu
Endecott, John (1588–15 March 1665), governor and member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was born probably in Devon. There is no reliable information on his parents, and little is known of his early years.
Sometime during 1627 Endecott became acquainted with the Dorchester Company’s abortive attempt to plant a colony on Cape Ann near the present site of Gloucester, Massachusetts. As part of a reorganization effort, the Dorchester Company’s assets were transferred to a new group of investors willing to provide additional capital and, in the case of Endecott, actually settle in the New World. On 6 September 1628 Endecott landed in Naumkeag (now Salem), Massachusetts, and assumed command of the remnants of the previous settlement. The settlers who arrived with Endecott on the ...
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Le Moyne, Jean-Baptiste (baptized 23 February 1680–07 March 1767)
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Le Moyne, Jean-Baptiste (baptized 23 February 1680–07 March 1767), French soldier, explorer, and governor of colonial Louisiana
Carl A. Brasseaux
Le Moyne, Jean-Baptiste (baptized 23 February 1680–07 March 1767), French soldier, explorer, and governor of colonial Louisiana, was born in Montréal, New France, the son of Charles Le Moyne, sieur de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, a provincial nobleman, and Catherine Thierry Primot. Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne inherited the title ...
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Le Moyne, Pierre (baptized 20 July 1661–09 July 1706), French soldier, explorer, and governor of colonial Louisiana
Carl A. Brasseaux
Le Moyne, Pierre (baptized 20 July 1661–09 July 1706), French soldier, explorer, and governor of colonial Louisiana, was born at Ville-Marie de Montréal, New France, the son of Charles Le Moyne, sieur de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, a provincial nobleman, and Catherine Thierry Primot. The early life of Pierre Le Moyne, known as the sieur d’Iberville, is veiled in obscurity. It is known that he was groomed for naval duty by his influential father through service aboard his father’s ship. In 1683 he was entrusted with Governor Le Febvre de La Barre’s dispatches for the French Crown. It was also in that year that Jeanne-Geneviève Picoté de Belestre’s guardians brought a paternity suit against Iberville, claiming that the young Canadian officer was responsible for her pregnancy. The Conseil Souverain, Canada’s court of last resort, concurred with the plaintiffs and ordered Iberville to support the child until its fifteenth birthday....
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Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro (1519-1574), captain general of the armada of the Indies and adelantado of Florida
Amy Turner Bushnell
Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro (15 February 1519–17 September 1574), captain general of the armada of the Indies and adelantado of Florida, was born in northern Spain, in the Asturian seaport of Avilés, the son of Juan Alfonso Sánchez and María Alonso de Arango. A descendant of minor hidalgos, he was connected by blood and marriage to several noble families, but as one of the youngest of twenty children, he could count on little else. Raised by relatives after his father died and his mother remarried, Pedro married a distant cousin, María de Solís, with whom he would have four children; invested his patrimony in a small, rapid sailing vessel; and became an unlicensed privateer....
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Moore, James (1650-1706), politician, soldier, and explorer
Alexander Moore
Moore, James (1650–1706), politician, soldier, and explorer, emigrated from Barbados to Carolina in 1675. Sometime in the 1670s he married Margaret Berringer, stepdaughter of Carolina governor Sir John Yeamans; they had ten children. He acquired land grants in the Goose Creek region of Carolina and settled his family there. In 1684 he imported thirty-seven indentured servants to Carolina, for whom he obtained headright grants, thereby adding to his landholding. In addition to his plantations, Boochawee Hall and Wassamassaw, Moore was an Indian trader and a trader in Indian slaves. In 1690 he explored the Appalachian Mountains in northwestern Carolina in search of gold and silver....
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West, Joseph (fl. 1669–1685), mariner and three-time governor of South Carolina
Converse D. Clowse
West, Joseph (fl. 1669–1685), mariner and three-time governor of South Carolina, was of unknown ancestry. Little is known of his life before 1669. In July of that year the Lords Proprietors of Carolina chose Joseph West to command their fleet about to sail from London with the first settlers from England bound for the southern part of their grant. The proprietors entrusted to West’s care an expedition representing a large capital investment but failed to leave information about why they believed him capable of carrying out the mission. Moreover, no other sources have been uncovered that outline West’s early career. In 1669 he styled himself “merchant of London.” He was married to Joanna (maiden name unknown), who joined him in the New World. The couple left no offspring. He was probably a dissenter but of uncertain denominational affiliation. In his will recorded in 1691, he directed that his estate residue be given to London’s Quaker poor. If a Friend at the end of his life, he was not one in the 1660s, serving in the Royal Navy under James Carteret, a son of one of the proprietors. West’s association with the Carterets likely brought him to the attention of Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper (later the Earl of Shaftesbury), who was the prime mover of the proprietary in the late 1660s and 1670s. The earl became West’s patron and supporter....
