From the Annals of the Matriarchs –  In 1899, Andrea Castañón Villanueva (Madam Candelaria) died at age 113 in San Antonio.  Confirmed facts about her life are sketchy at best but she is best known for her claim to have been a survivor of the Alamo and her charitable works.  She said she had been born in 1785 in Laredo.  Other sources state she was born at Presidio del Río Grande. She moved to San Antonio at the age of 25 and married Candelario Villanueva, who she claimed was her second husband.  From him she gained the name of Madam Candelaria.  She was the mother of four children. But was well-known for having raised twenty-two orphans and administering to the sick and helping the poor. She claimed to have been inside of the Alamo during the 1836 siege and to have nursed Jim Bowie. Her claims likely will never be confirmed or refuted.  In 1891, however, the Texas legislature granted her a pension of $12 per month as an Alamo survivor and for her work with smallpox victims in San Antonio.