[1] When still a young child, his family moved to Buenos Aires and enrolled him and his brother at the Jesuit school Colegio Real de San Carlos.

[2] He married Josefa Torres and adopted two children: Carlota Joaquina and José Benjamín (his son studied medicine and became a doctor in 1827[2]).

There he began to get involved in politics and used the business as a meeting place for the conspirators before the May Revolution (1810), with other prominent citizens, all members of the "Patriotic Society" ("Sociedad Patriótica"), (Belgrano, Castelli, Moreno, Paso and French).

He was also a newspaperman and founded the second newspaper published in Buenos Aires, the "Semanario de agricultura, industria y comercio" ("Weekly news on agriculture, industry and commerce").

[2] He played a part in the reconquest of Buenos Aires, during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, where he attained the rank of captain.