An official Census of Camargo was conducted on May 31, 1750. Among the citizens listed in that census was Juan Diego Longoria, and he was indicated to be a widower. Children living in his household at that time were Antonio (30), Anna Maria (20), Juana Rosa (20), Joseph Vicente (18), Juana Anastacia (18), Pedro (17), and Petra (16). The Census indicated that he had "todas armas" (all arms) and that his assets included 700 head of goats and sheep, 60 mules for breeding, 8 tame horses, and 4 cows with calves.

Two other children of Juan Diego were shown in the 1750 census; they were married and had their own separate households in Camargo. They were Matias, married to Margarita de Hinojosa and having 2 children, and Agueda, married to Salvador Vela and having 8 children.

Twins were apparently very common in Juan Diego’s family as he had two sets of twins and his daughter Agueda had one set of twins among her 8 children.

Juan Diego’s name does not show up in the 1757 Census of Camargo, so it is presumed he died before then. If that is indeed the case, then Juan Diego Longoria did not live long enough to witness the official granting of lands by the King of Spain to his sons in 1767.

Three of Juan Diego’s sons were among those who received original land grants (known as Porciones) from the King of Spain, and a fourth child, daughter Agueda, was married to another Original Grantee:

Three sons of Matias Longoria Chapa, Original Grantee of Porcion 93, moved to the vicinity of what is now Matamoros, Tamaulipas sometime in the late 1700’s. I am still researching this history; suffice it to say that Maria Lydia Garza Longoria, the wife of Mauro Alcala Quintana, was descended from one of those Longoria brothers.

The Longorias of the Santa Rita Ranch in Brooks County were descended from Pedro Longoria Chapa, the Original Grantee of Porcion 94. Pedro was about 16 years old when he and his family came from Cerralvo and settled the frontier outpost of Camargo in 1749. In 1755, he married Maria Josefa Villarreal and had five children with her -- Jose Rafael, Santiago, Josefa, Maria Leocadia and Pedro Jose. In 1767, Pedro received Porcion 94 as a land grant from the King of Spain. Pedro apparently died just before or soon after his last son, Pedro Jose Longoria Villarreal, was born in 1772.

Pedro Jose Longoria Villarreal was baptized on November 30, 1772, in Camargo. He married Maria Nicolasa Flores in Reynosa on July 6, 1798. From this union were born 10 children -- Zenobio, Eugenio, Nepomuceno, Juan Jose, Juan Santiago, Jose Tomas, Pedro, Martin, Barbara and Catarina. In their later years, Pedro and Maria Nicolasa Longoria lived at el Rancho Tepejuage, on the south side of the Rio Grande just a few miles downstream from Camargo.

Juan Santiago Longoria Flores, born about 1815 in Camargo, grew up in Camargo or perhaps El Rancho Tepejuage.  He married Yrinea Villarreal in Camargo on November 27, 1833. They had 10 children -- seven girls (Maria Sostenes, Guadalupe, Maria Antonia, Barbara, Maria Leonor, Teofila and Yrinea) and three boys (Eugenio, Ponciano and Jose Maria).  Juan Santiago Longoria was probably our first ancestor to actually move across the Rio Grande and establish a permanent home there on Porcion 94.  Originally called "Los Mesquititos", the settlement became the future village of La Grulla.