Veteran Bio

Dr. Alsbury received Bounty Certificate No. 4114 for 640 acres of land for serving in the army from October 1, 1835, to April 29, 1836. On page 23 of the army rolls in the General Land Office he is shown as a member of Captain John York's company in the campaign of 1835. He served at San Jacinto in Captain Henry Karnes' company and San Jacinto Donation Certificate No. 712 for 640 acres of land was issued May 28, 1838. After the capture of Bexar in December, 1835, Dr. Alsbury remained in San Antonio and was married to Mrs. Juana (Navarro) Perez, daughter of Don Juan Navarro and widow of Ramigio Perez. Mrs. Alsbury was in the Alamo when it was captured March 6, 1836, and was among the few whose lives were spared by the Mexicans. Mrs. Alsbury, by an act of the Legislature approved February 1, 1858, was granted a pension of one hundred dollars per year for life.

Dr. Alsbury, by an Act of Congress approved December 29, 1838, by President Lamar, was allowed the pay and rations of a major of infantry for a period of sixty-three days for his services as interpreter for the Post of Bexar in the year 1836.

Dr. Alsbury was among those captured at San Antonio September 11, 1842 by General Adrian Woll in his sudden raid upon the town. He was imprisoned in Mexico in Castle Perote, from which he was not freed until March 23, 1844. He enlisted in the United States army in the Mexican War and was killed near the Rio Grande in 1847.

In the file containing Bounty Certificate No. 4114 issued in the name of Dr. Alsbury there is a deed signed at Brazoria December 4, 1836, in which he transfers his rights to all headright, bounty and Donation Certificates for land he was entitled to receive from the Government of Texas to Robert Peebles for $5,000.00, including "one fourth of a league of land to which I am entitled to receive by virtue of my having married a native Mexican Woman." Witnesses to the deed were Robert Barr, Silas Dinsmore and Joseph Baker. A lawsuit followed regarding the deed and the file contains an affidavit by Joseph Baker made at Austin February 10, 1846, that he was a witness to the original transaction. On July 8, 1838, Bounty Certificate No. 4114 was issued in the name of Mr. Alsbury for 640 acres of land for his having served in the army from October 1, 1835, to April 29, 1836. The certificate was delivered to Robert Peebles.

The following appeared in The Dallas Morning News, Friday, July 27, 1888:

Mrs. Perez, who died in San Antonio last Monday, was one of the few Texans who survived the Battle of the Alamo. At that time she was the wife of Dr. Alsbury, general practitioner among the troops, and lived in the Alamo. She witnessed the killing of Bowie. After the death of Dr. Alsbury she married a third husband, also named Perez (the name of her first husband). She leaves one son by her third husband. There are now living only three witnesses of the butchery. Madame Candelera, A. M. Lazazo, living in South San Antonio, and a mexican woman living in the country near San Antonio.

On August 1, 1888, the following was in The Dallas News:

The Hempstead Advance-Guard, edited by a nephew of Dr. Horace A. Alsbury, says of the recent death of Mrs. Alsbury, who was in the Alamo on the occasion of its capture by Santa Anna, that Ramigio Perez was her first husband and that Dr. Alsbury married her when she was very young and had one son, Aleji Perez, now on the San Antonio constabulary. Mrs. Alsbury was a Miss Navarro, and through the influence of her father, Don Juan Navarro, Santa Anna received her from the fortress under the flag of truce. The San Antonio Express says: Juana Perez was the niece of Governor Veramendi, but his daughter by adoption. When she was within the walls of the Alamo, she was Mrs. Alsbury, wife of Dr. Horace A. Alsbury, who had placed her under the protection of Col. James Bowie when San Antonio was expecting the invasion of Santa Anna.

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