Juan de Miralles

Juan de Miralles and Trayllon (Petrel, Alicante, July 23, 1713 - Morristown, New Jersey, April 30, 1780) was a Spanish merchant established in Havana in 1740, a diplomat in the United States and a messenger Continental Congress.

His parents were D. Juan de Miralles, captain of Infantry, and Dª Gracia Trayllon (or Trailhon), a native of Arbus (Arabus in Lower Navarre Lower French).

In 1728, at the age of fifteen, Juan de Miralles moved with his family to France, where he remained until 1732, the year he returned to Spain. In 1740 it landed in Havana, with a capital of 8,500 pesos. Four years later he married Maria Josefa Eligio de la Puente and González-Cabello, daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Cuba.

He was a personal friend of Washingtong, to the point of affecting his death. Acaecida for moving to visit it from Havana to New Jersey in 1780 with 67 years of age. Such was the importance of the services he effected for the later independence of the 13 colonies. His funeral was the first ceremony to a foreigner who received the solemn treatment of a military funeral of the United States, although he was not yet internationally recognized as a country independent.

wiki