His parents were Bartolomé Monagas de León, a native of the Canary Islands ensign, and María Ignacia Fernández de León, Bartolomé's cousin.
[citation needed] From a young age Francisco José Monagas had moved to the plains near Maturin where he began to occupy land and create herds of cattle.
He was killed in Maturin in December 1814 when the troops of Spanish General Francisco Tomás Morales occupied the area.
Eduardo Blanco recounted in the chapter Maturin (1814) of his novel Heroic Venezuela that Francisco José had refused to escape Maturin on a horse offered by his son José Tadeo, but rather told his son to save himself as he was more useful to the independence cause.
His son, Francisco José Monagas Burgos played a leading role in the war of independence of Venezuela and attained the rank of colonel.