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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. |
