Historian to be named a Living Legend

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 18, 2019

José Manuel de Molina Bautista, a historian and researcher who wrote a book about New Iberia’s founding by settlers from Malaga, Spain, will be inducted into the Acadian Musem of Erath’s Order of Living Legends during El Festival Español de Nueva Iberia on April 27.

Historian and researcher José Manuel de Molina Bautista will be inducted into the Acadian Museum of Erath’s Order of Living Legends on Saturday, April 27, in Bouligny Plaza.

The native of Malaga, Spain, published a book about the 16 families from Malaga, Andalusia, Spain who founded New Iberia in the spring of 1779, led by Lt. Col. Francisco Bouligy, for whom the plaza is named.

After landing in New Orleans, the group settled initially at current-day Charenton but moved to the present-day site of New Iberia after spring rains flooded the area.

Today, New Iberia remains the only extant town in Louisiana to be founded by Spaniards during the Colonial Era. The Spanish pioneers called their town “Nueva Iberia” in consideration of their homeland, the Iberian Peninsula in Spain.

De Molina was nominated for the Living Legends honor by Ebrar Reaux, president of La Asociación Española de Nueva Iberia, which will be putting on El Festival Español de Nueva Iberia to celebrate the city’s Spanish heritage from April 26-28. 

In his nomination of de Molina, Reaux said, “With so few Spanish families in the area in 1779, the Spanish men began marrying French women who taught the children how to speak French and not Spanish. As a result the Spanish language was quickly lost. Today many descendants of the original families, with names like Segura, Migues, Romero, Gary, Viator, Lopez and Prados, speak fluent French and not Spanish. It was the work of author and historian Jose Manuel de Molina that helped create an awareness among the Cajun Spaniards that they indeed had Spanish roots in addition to their Acadian connections. Jose Manuel has indeed contributed to helping to shape and define our Cajun culture and is certainly very worthy of induction into the Order of the Living Legends of the Acadian Museum.” 

Born August 30, 1964, in Málaga, Spain, de Molina is currently working as an archivist in the Center for Historical Research Julian Sesmero Ruiz in Alhaurín de la Torre. He is a TV presenter on the local channel Torrevision and a theatre scriptwriter with plays such as Alhaurinsomnio, October, 2018. 

He is the author of several books and other published works.