The House of Luzárraga is a Spanish house of nobility whose origins date back to Basque-Navarrian nobility, and source its name to the progenitor of its most famous member, Admiral Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga y Echezuria, who would later become the governor of Guayaquil.
The Luzárraga family, originating from the Basque regions of Spain, first appears in the history of Spanish nobility when they obtained the Sello Mayor de Hidalguía in the lordships of Vizcaya and Bilbao on November 23, 1650, as a reward for their military services to Spain, although the promotion of the family would only come in 1839, by the financial support given to the crown by Queen Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies during her exile in Paris, and when the monarchy returned to the Spanish throne, her daughter, Isabel II, confirmed it by Royal Decree on January 20, 1873.
The House of Luzarraga was created by royal decree of Isabel II on January 20, 1873, and put into effect on June 30, 1876, with the Guayaquilian Francisco Gabriel de Luzárraga y Rico, son of General Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga and Francisca Rico y Rocafuerte, niece of Vicente Rocafuerte, who was president of Ecuador between 1835 and 1839. The Luzárraga family also briefly became rulers in Ecuador following the October 9 Revolution.
Origins While it is not known who the original household that adopted the house's surname was, a possible etymological origin can be found referenced in Basque author book Historia General de Vizcaya. Iturriza mentions a friar, who among others in a shift of movement among churches, came to a parish in a place in the Basque region that he calls Luzarraga, although it lacks the accent possessed by the noble family.
French-Basque Luzárragas
While the House of Luzárraga originally lived in the regions of Pais Vasco and Navarre, the modern French branch consists of the descendants of Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga y Echezuria and Francisca Rico y Rocafuerte, who like many aristocratic families of Ecuador, undertook repeated trips to France and two of their children ended up settling in Paris, acquiring large properties, where they resided while they were educated. Manuel was the son of Miguel Antonio de Luzárraga and Maria de Echezuria. His parents married in October 1795 at the Santa Maria de la Asuncion church in Mundaca, Vizcaya."España, matrimonios, 1565-1950", database, FamilySearch (13 February 2020), Miguel Antonio de Luzarraga, 1795.
Francisco Gabriel I, Count of Luzárraga
In Paris, Francisco Gabriel de Luzárraga y Rico met María Antonia Barrón y Añorga, daughter of Eustaquio Barrón Cantillón and Cándida Añorga Ferreira. Antonia came from a family of Mexican nobility, descendant of Gaditanos living in Tepic, the capital of the Mexican state of Nayarit.
The House of Luzárraga supplied the textile factory of Jauja, one of Eustaquio Barrón's businesses in Peru. With this background, it is possible that Francisco and Antonia met through the commercial activities of his parents.[says who?]
The couple settled in France and had five children, Manuel Antonio, the future heir of the House of Luzárraga, María Cándida, Eustaquio Luzarraga, María Dolores Adela, and Gabriela Del Pilar.
Luzárraga was known for his short temper, with it being recorded that he had slapped an officer in the face after he had disrespected his commanding officer.
Manuel Antonio II, Count of Luzárraga
Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga y Barrón, in 1892, would become the head of the House of Luzárraga and a founding member of the Journal de la Société des Américanistes presided by M. Henry Vignaud and Prince Roland Napoléon Bonaparte. He died in Paris, alone in his room at the Hotel Mont-Fleuri 21, avenue de la Grande-Armée.
María de los Dolores Adela, Countess of Ligniville
María de los Dolores Adela de Luzárraga y Barrón became Countess of by her marriage in Paris to Count Gérard François Joseph de Ligniville, son of the Count Antoine Louis of Ligniville and Countess Blanche Armande of Poulletier and Auffay.
Adela Luzárraga y Rico
Adela was a survivor of the fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris in 1897. She was born in Guayaquil and was baptized at Saint-Pierre de Chaillot in 1873. After she married, she returned with her husband Juan Luis Thomassa to France and like her brother Francisco Gabriel, Adela entered the Parisian nobility. She died at the age of 98.
Adela and her family partly owned production of the Wheal Vor Mine in the 1850s and was guaranteed a return following the closure of the mine.
Her brother, Juan José (1830-1904), married Angelina Wright.Archives de Paris; Paris, France; Etat Civil 1792-1902
Ana María, Marquess of Cossart and Espies
Born in France, Ana Maria was the daughter of Manuel de Thomassa and Adela de Luzárraga y Rico, and mother of Viscount Christian Cossart of Espies, who died on November 16, 1917, in WWI.
She married Marquis Christian Cossart d'Espies on November 11, 1880, who was a descendant of Viscount , governor of Sainte-Menehould.
The Bank of Luzárraga Origins
Head of the house, Manuel Antonio Luzárraga, first arrived in Ecuador from Europe in 1814 as part of an assistance job to a schooner captain. Soon after arrival, the Luzárraga family began business dealings with locals in the country. The first bank founded in Ecuador was the "Banco Particular", founded by Manuel Antonio de Luzarraga, established in Guayaquil around 1862. It was given the authority to issue banknotes with backing in precious metals, as well as loan credit to governments.
The importance and status of the Luzárraga family in Ecuador are verified by outside sources. In his writing, Voyages dans les Ameriques, French captain Gabriel-Pierre Lafond recalls Manuel Luzárraga being among the men he encountered when he landed in Guayaquil in 1828. He referred to him as one of the authority figures in the city.
Role in Ecuadorian Economy & Banking Before the family began operating their own financial establishments, Manuel had already been long involved with the production of currency, as well as debt collection, in the country. In July 1822, Luzárraga's representatives requested that a debt by General Francisco de Paula Santander, who would later become the president of Colombia, be repaid in the form of "a colonel's sword, steel scabbard, a pair of epaulettes and braid for a dolman." On August 8, 1842, Manuel was one of the men, along with other governmental officials, who were responsible for the removal and burning of currency that were the subject of errors in production. The group burned 1,903 banknotes, equating to thousands of pesos. In 1842, he was also responsible in settling on the formatting, numbering, and labelling for banknotes in production.
Upon the death of his relative in 1847, Luzarraga was designated as the executor of President Rocafuerte's will.
At the beginning of 1859, the House of Luzárraga had already amassed large fortunes, thanks in part due to the lucrative cocoa industry in the equatorial regions of South America at the time. Colombian writer Rufino Cuervo, in a letter dated November 6th, 1840, stated that he believed Manuel Antonio de Luzarraga to be "the richest man in Ecuador, and perhaps, in [all of Colombia]...."
The Ecuadorian independence hero Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga obtained authorization from the government to establish a bank in Guayaquil. A bank was created under the name of Banco de Circulación y Descuento de Manuel Antonio de Luzarraga (later to be renamed Banco de Provisora).
In November 1860, the Banco del Ecuador began operations in Guayaquil under authorization of General José Antonio Gómez Valverde. Initially, it operated with banknotes ceded by the Bank of Manuel Antonio de Luzarraga, but later it put its own banknotes into circulations with denominations of 2 and 4 reales, and 1, 5, 10, 20, 100, 500, and 1,000 pesos. The bank was given permission to issue up to 500,000 Pesos, and was allowed to maintain reserves of up to 50,000 pesos in silver coinage. Later, in 1861, the National Convention granted the bank a further right to mint 200,000 pesos worth of coinage. While it is unclear how long the bills were in circulation, there was a dispute in the 1860s about the banknotes that General Guillermo Franco authorized, but the Jefe Superior rejected as legal tender.
On banknotes printed in London in 1863 by the Bank of Luzarraga, portraits of Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga and his wife Francisca Rico Rocafuerte are present.
From 1864 to 1869, Lizardo García worked at the Bank of Luzarraga in the accounting and administration departments. He would later become the President of Ecuador.
In an 1891 deed of transaction of the sons of Manuel Luzárraga, it is mentioned that a single strip of their hacienda (named Guaquilla), located in Babahoyo, contained over 1,600 cocoa trees. For scale, the hacienda would have produced over 3,000 pounds of chocolate every year, which, adjusted for inflation, would have been worth over $20,000 at the time. The strip was sold to the government in order to build a road named "La Via Flores". They were compensated by the government by payment of 1,920 sucres, which was equivalent to 1,419 ounces of silver, or in modern currency, equivalent to over $34,500. +Gallery of Luzárragan Banknotes1 Peso note5 Peso note (variant 1)5 Peso note (variant 2)10 Peso note
Succession
At the present time, the title no longer corresponds to the old family of Luzárraga, due to marriages and deaths in the various branches of the family. Since the death of Manuel Antonio Count of Luzárraga in Paris, who had no living heirs, the title passed down to the descendants of his relative Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga Wright, starting with his[Unclear who] nephew Tobías de Luzárraga y Coronel.
Title Holders
General Manuel Antonio Luzárraga y Echezuria - Founder of the Basque-Navarrian Lineage Francisco Gabriel de Luzárraga y Rico, Count of Luzárraga, from 1873-1892 Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga y Barron II, Count of Luzárraga, from 1892-1952 Tobías de Luzárraga y Coronel (abdicated for his son, Laurentio Luzárraga y Valencia to marry Josefina Valencia) Laurentino Lusciniano, last representative of the House of Luzárraga
The title has been vacant from 1952 onwards.
Legacy
Former Banco de Previsora building
Declared cultural heritage, this building was a site that held the interview between the generals Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín that occurred on July 26, 1822 (also known as the Guayaquil Conference), when the house was a family home, owned by the Manuel Antonio. For that reason, two plaques are embedded in its facade that commemorate the site.
Church of Santa María
In 1852, Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga returned to Bilbao to visit his parents, taking with him large amounts of cocoa as a reconciliation gift. He extended his visit to Mundaca and gave the parish church of Santa Maria, where he had been baptized, a bronze bell that is still preserved in the church with the engraving:
Spanish: "Fue dorado este Altar y erigido su nuevo presbiterio a expensas de Don Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga."
English (translation): "This altar was and its new presbytery erected at the expense of Don Manuel Antonio de Luzárraga."
Sagrados Corazones Bilingual Educational Unit
The House of Luzárraga developed in the field of commerce, banking and industry in Guayaquil. In 1828, Manuel built from his own money the first school for girls in Ecuador that years later, in the time of Gabriel Garcia Moreno, was given to the French mothers of the Order of the Sacred Hearts. The Public Clock of Guayaquil at Torre Morsica