Irineo Casillas born in 1839 in San Antonio, and is believed to have been half brother to Mariano Casillas, since they both seem to share the same father, Juan Casillas, but different mothers.

Irineo Casillas' parents are listed as Juan Casillas and Manuela Arredondo, while Mariano's are listed as Juan Casillas and Maria Dolores Alderete. Irineo was married to Maximiana Espinoza, daughter of Bartolo Espinoza and Juana Rivas.

It is also believed that they were close relatives of the wife of captain Manuel Leal, Casimira Casillas, as Irineo had a daughter born in 1876, who he named Casimira as well.

It may be that the father of Casimira, Rafael Casillas may have been a brother of Irineo's father Juan. In the baptisms of San Fernando an Yrineo Casillas born to Roman Casillas and Maria Ysabel Cadena was baptized on April 15, 1822. Roman was a brother of Casimira Casillas, the wife of captain Leal.

This older Yrineo later appears in the "1830 Citizens of Texas".

On May 14, 1877, Irineo Casillas headed a group of settlers mostly from Jiménez, consisting of 51 heads of families that petitioned the then mayor of Jiménez, Jesús Faz Pérez, for the right to settle the area known as " Paso de Las Vacas", which eventually became known as Villa Acuña.

The settlement of Las Vacas was officially founded on the 27th of December, 1877. For many years afterwards, it remained a dependency of the municipality of Jiménez.

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