Domingo Tejera de Quesada (1881–1944) was a Spanish publisher. In 1911 to 1913 he managed a Madrid illustrated review Nuevo Mundo, in 1922 to1939 a Seville-based daily La Unión, and during short spells also other minor periodicals. During his career he contributed to numerous other newspapers, and gained recognition as the 1914 to 1917 war correspondent of ABC. Politically he initially sided with the Maurista faction of the Conservatives, but later he adopted a Traditionalist posture and became one of the most vehement Carlist propagandists. His political climax fell on the period of 1933 to 1936, when he served within the Carlist minority in the Cortes.
Family and youth
The Tejeras originated from Northern Spain. One branch settled in the Canary Islands, though distant ancestors of Domingo are unknown. His grandfather Santiago Tejera married Dominica Ossavarry, granddaughter to a painter José Ossavarry; he perished mid-aged during the cholera epidemics in the 1850s. Social standing of the widow was modest and their oldest son, Santiago Tejera Ossavarry (1852-1936), was initially educated in a seminary. Aged 17 he opted for military career and became “músico militár”. He served on the peninsula but eventually returned to his native island and until retirement in 1914 he directed a local military band. Tejera Ossavarry was well known in Las Palmas, first because every Thursday his band entertained the city dwellers, and then because as retiree he worked as an organist by the cathedral. Apart from briefly editing a humoristic bulletin he composed music; some of his zarzuelas are played until today. In advanced years he was reduced to poverty; the ayuntamiento purchased rights to his works and kept paying him extra pension.
Tejera Ossavarry married María Quesada Déniz (died 1920), daughter to a local Canarian family. The family had at least 3 children, all of them boys. The oldest one, Santiago Tejera Quesada, gained some recognition locally as a painter but he died prematurely mid-aged in 1916; the youngest brother perished in 1931. Domingo was raised in atmosphere marked by cultural heritage of the Ossavarries, literary and musical endeavors of his father, publishing business of the Quesada family and early painting achievements of his older brother. It is known that from his childhood he tried his hands in letters, yet his exact early education is not clear. At some point he moved to Madrid and entered Facultad de Derecho at Universidad Central; he was last recorded as a student in 1906, though it is not confirmed that he graduated. At the time he already commenced co-operation with numerous periodicals and entered the editorial board of a popular Madrid review Nuevo Mundo; as its correspondent he already travelled to Cuba.
In 1910 Tejera married a girl from Madrid, Emilia García Nogales, the niece of a writer José Nogales. The marriage barely endured a year. His wife developed grave health problems and in 1911 she died; the couple had no issue. In 1917 Tejera remarried with Teresa Arroyo Mateo; nothing closer is known about her or her family. The couple had many children, born between the late 1910s and the early 1930s. None of them became a public figure. At least 4 of them entered religious orders; Manuel Tejera Arroyo was Rector del Colegio Máximo de la Compañía de Jesús in Seville. Santiago Tejera Arroyo sided with Carlists; he served under colonel Redondo as requeté during the war, was moderately active in the post-war years and declared Don Juan the legitimate heir to the throne in the late 1950s. He was best known, however, as manager of the Seville-based football club Real Betis.
Early career (1907-1918)
In his mid-20s Tejera entered the circle of José Perojo, a conservative politician elected to the parliament from the Canaries; one scholar describes him as “lugarteniente de Perojo”. Perojo was co-owner of Nuevo Mundo, a modern Madrid-based magazine; in 1906 Tejera, known merely for few poems and single contributions to local dailies, started to publish in a weekly add-on Por Esos Mundos, and the same year he entered the editorial board of Nuevo Mundo. Since 1907 he started to publish his own pieces, and in 1909 he again travelled as its correspondent to Cuba. Following death of Perojo the magazine underwent changes in ownership; though related to the previous owner, Tejera declared himself happy also under the new one. In 1911 he was nominated the new editor-in-chief of Nuevo Mundo; initially his appointment was something of a stopgap measure, but it turned out to be more than provisional. Tejera managed the review for some 2 years; in 1913 and in circumstances which remain unclear, he resigned.