Padre Balli-The Man Behind the Name

By Steve Hathcock

Padre Balli Welcomes Visitors to His Island

Jose Nicolas Balli, was born in Reynosa, Mexico, around 1770.

His parents, José María and Rosa María Hinojosa de Ballí, both Spaniards, owned over a million acres of land in Reynosa, Camargo, and Matamoros and in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

His two younger brothers, Juan José and José María Ballí, chose a military life and became commissioned officers of the Militia of Provincial and Frontier Cavalry. Nicolas on the other hand, entered the...