“most of my ancestors came to Texas in the late 1700’s and the family has been here ever since...
That’s incredible-—we are Famine Irish in the Boston area——newcomers. :-)
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The ancestors who came from Spain first were young men-adventurers and soldiers from the Spanish Pyrenees-they brought our family surname with them-and like pretty much most Basques, they were at odds with the Spanish government-likely to be hanged if they stayed there-so they left, came to the New World, settled some land, found women to marry-most probably Native/Indian women, since they were not Spanish nobility, became ranchers and herders of sheep and goats, breeders of horses like they were in Spain-a large part of my family still ranches in SW Texas and New Mexico-and we still have that Basque rebel attitude...
There are old Irish families in Texas whose ancestors came here by way of Mexico in the late 1700’s-early 1800’s-mixed Latino/Irish ancestry is common both here and in Mexico.