THE FARIAS CHRONICLES, A History and Genealogy of a Portuguese/Spanish Family by George Farias is a true genealogical treasure to anyone that has the last name or has ancestors with the Farias last name. So far on my family tree I have I have two different Farias lines that need more research on my part. One is Antonia Farias whom was the wife of Nicolas Rodriguez and lived around the early 1700’s. They are my  6th great grandparents. The other line that I have discovered is that of my 10th great grandmother Maria de Sosa Farias whom was married to Vicente Zaldivar y Ressa. I did not find anything on my first line but on the second there are a few pages to the ancestry of Maria’s parents Alonso Farias Trevino and Ana de Sosa Navarro whom were married in Monterrey in 1615.
The following is the cover of the book that is found in the Lower Rio Grande Collection at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg Texas. Also bellow the cover is a description  of the book as provided on the Border Lands Book Store.
Book Cover of THE FARIAS CHRONICLES:
Description of book by Border Lands Book Store:
“Illustrated by Jack Jackson. Winner, 1995 Documentation Award by the Webb County Heritage Foundation. A family history in two parts combining history, genealogy and brief memoirs of the author. The first part ” The Ancient Family” describes the origin of the name, and the five root branches originating in Portugal. Included are Portugal’s heroic defenders, Nuno Goncalves de Faria and his son Goncalo Nunes; Pedro de Faria, Governor of Malacca and his relative, the merchant-pirate Antonio de Faria, a swashbuckling adventurer who lived a fascinating life and died in a tragic treasure raid on ancient Chinese royal tombs. This part concludes with notes on other family members who have some claim to fame.
In the second part titled, “The Modern Family” the author’s branch is described dating back to 1777 when his earliest known ancestor, José Antonio FarÃas, appears at Presidio del RÃo Grande de San Juan Bautista, now Guerrero, Coahuila, Mexico. José Antonio’s wife was Catarina RodrÃguez and they are known to have had three sons and a daughter. One son, José Andrés FarÃas, came to Laredo on the Rio Grande about 1798 to command the Spanish colonial garrison there as a member of the Third Flying Cavalry Company of Nuevo Santander. His marriage to Guadalupe Sanchez, a granddaughter of Tomás Sánchez, the founder of Laredo, marked the beginning of the Farias family in this future border city. A Chapter is included on the MartÃnez clan, the author’s maternal line, with descent from Teniente de Capitan Miguel MartÃnez, one of the founders of Revilla (Ciudad Guerrero) Tamaulipas. Other related lines are Benavides, Fernández, Almazán, Marulanda, de las Fuentes, Gutiérrez, Salinas, and de la Peña.
Jose Andres Farias became mayor of Laredo, was commended by Simon Herrera for his military leadership against the insurgents in the Mexican War for Independence, and later commended also by JoaquÃn de Arredondo when he led the Royalist volunteers from Laredo to the Battle of Medina near San Antonio which crushed the army of the First Texas Revolution. Many of José Andres’ descendants served as military officers and public officials. Along with others who were ranchers and merchants, they helped forge the great state of Texas out of a wild, primitive, and sometimes lawless frontier.
Diane Reid Elliott of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville wrote in the April 1997, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, “What a delightful surprise to open a book such as this, expecting to find a detailed genealogy meaningful only to a particular family, and to discover instead tales of castles, pirates, adventures in the South China sea and the Texas frontier, along with names like Vasco Da Gama, Antonio López de Santa Anna, Ricardo Montalban and Federico Peña…. This makes for interesting reading for anyone intrigued by the history of Portugal or the Mexican-American borderlands as well as members of the family.” Limited 1st Ed. signed by the author. 12 Jackson Illus/Maps. Edinburg, Tx, 1995 , 8 pgs CP, 32 B&W, HB, 298 Pgs., ” – Borderlandsbooks.com
Interested in obtaining this book?
As I mentioned before UTPA has a copy in their Lower Rio Grande Special Collections and you can see if it is available here.
Another option that you have to obtain this book, if you have the cash, is borderlandsbooks.com just enter 1147 in the search bar to bring up the book. It is for sale at $125.00 plus $7.00 shipping and handling.
Don’t live near UTPA or have the cash to buy the book? You can always search for it in a library near you with worldcat.org.
