The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931 Page: 89
359 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Historical Note on, Dimmit County, Texas
struction, and on the new farms. The new town of Asherton drew
Mexicans largely from Laredo, from the coal mining towns above
it on the Rio Grande, and from Encinal, Pearsall and Cotulla to
the east. Among those who came from Mexico were refugees from
the revolution in progress there. Few Mexicans came from Eagle
pass or Piedras Negras. From these places they went more often
to the rising town of Crystal City. At the opening of Big Wells,
Mexicans from Cotulla and Asherton were brought in and encour-
aged to settle. Farmers in need of labor, both before and after the
railroads came in, used to secure labor simply by letting it be
known among local Mexicans that they needed labor, or by paying
Mexican agents, who brought it up from Mexico at $1 per head,
or by bringing it up themselves. Some of the laborers returned to
Mexico, but many stayed.
Again citing the marriage records, for the period preceding
1910, of 55 Mexicans married who were baptized in Mexico, 36,
or 65 per cent, had been baptized in Coahuila, and the remaining 19
in other northeastern border States. Twenty-one had been bap-
tized in Texas. For the entire period 1884-1928, approximately 40
per cent were baptized in Coahuila, and practically one-third were
baptized in Nuevo Le6n. Of the small minority of Mexicans from
the central plateau States, none were recorded in Dimmit County
marriage records until 1920. For the period 1910-1928, covering
practically the entire simultaneous existence of the three towns, the
percentage of Mexicans (including Texas-Mexicans) married by
the Catholic Church, who were from Texas, was 22 per cent in
Crystal City, 26 per cent in Carrizo Springs, and 44 per cent in
Asherton. While it is difficult to say to what extent this sample is
representative of the Mexican populations of these towns, some
well-informed local opinion holds that the figures reflect real differ-
ences in origins.
In these ways the American and Mexican populations of Dimmit
County were built up. The upward trend appears from the figures
of the census, which show growth from 1,106 in 1900 to 3,460 in
1910, 5,296 in 1920, and 8,467 in 1930. Significant, too, is the
shift in proportion of Mexican and American populations revealed
in the scholastic census. From 38.8 per cent of all scholastics in
1911, the Mexican children have increased to 51 per cent in 1915,
and to 73 per cent according to the school census of 1929.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931, periodical, 1931; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101091/m1/99/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.