Juan H. Fernandez was born in 1859 in Villa de Llanes, Spain. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1878 and settled in the household of his uncle Jose. In 1880, his uncle left Brownsville, on an invitation to join the dynamic inner circle of Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, which he did in the manner of acquiring a coffee plantation in Huatusco, Veracruz. At that juncture, Juan H. sought to enter his own commercial enterprise, and began the venture of "Villa de Llanes" dry goods and ranch supplies with his elder brother, Jose. Shortly after receiving their inheritance, and after building the structure that is at Adams and 12th (1882), his elder brother died, leaving Juan H. as the sole head of the family holdings of that branch. He was immensely successful, as his uncle predicted. Within a few years, Villa de Llanes was the leading farm and ranch supply outlet in all of South Texas. One main character trait that Juan H. carried over in his business, as a result of his uncle's teachings was, "ALWAYS maintain compassion in your treatment of your customers". Juan H. married very late in his life. One fine day, he was at the doorway of his store and he look out to see a beautiful young (26 years younger) woman, Andrea Ortiz, standing in the doorway of the store diagonally to his on Adams. They married and eventually had at least five children, two of which were Juan H. Jr's. All would perish in extreme early childhood or a bit later of Tuberculosis, as was the scourge of the time. Only one daughter survived to marry, the mother of Skip Van Johnson Hodge.