The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 121
496 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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General Mexia and Texas
"because of his intrigues and sarcastic tongue" made many enemies and
fled to Mexico City at the end of 1824.12
At approximately this time Father Jos6 Maria Alpuche e Infante from
Tabasco, who became a lifelong friend of Mexia, aided by Jose Ignacio
Esteva from Veracruz, then minister of the treasury, began to found
York Rite Masonic lodges. At first Mexia, as a Scottish Rite Mason, is
said to have opposed the rival order. But after a short time he turned
toward the Yorkists and became a major agent in persuading Scottish
Rite men to join the liberal York Rite lodges. Mexia seems to have kept
up his Masonic connections for the rest of his life; in 183o he was a
member of a Mexico City York Rite lodge named Luz Mexicana, which
included on its roster Agustin Viesca, future governor of Coahuila and
Texas, and Lorenzo de Zavala, future vice-president of the Republic of
Texas.'3
In 1825 Esteva secured a position for Mexia as a customshouse officer
at the Veracruz port of Tuxpan. It was here, sometime during 1826, that
Mexia's daughter Maria Adelaida Matilda was born, and here also, ac-
cording to the previously mentioned biography, that Captain Mexia
began to make his fortune. The opportunities for customshouse officers
to make money were, of course, notorious in Mexico at this time.14
Whether Mexia was guilty of embezzlement at Tuxpan or not, it is
evident that he did make a great deal of money in the next few years.
One of his critics claimed that his wealth came from selling nationalized
church property and from protecting the smuggling activities of Caye-
tano Rubio, a millionaire merchant and speculator from San Luis Po-
tosi. Later, as a general on campaign in the Mexican army, he also had
opportunities for making considerable sums of money. At all events, he
was able to remind Santa Anna in November, 1833, of the 20,000 pesos
he had provided for the army beseiging Guanajuato when government
funds failed to appear.ls Mexia invested some of his money, as will be
seen, in large amounts of Texas land.
12La Lima (Mexico City), June 5, 1839. Iturbide landed near Soto la Marina on July 17,
1824, unaware that he had been condemned to death.
laLillian Estelle Fisher, "Early Masonry in Mexico 1806-1828," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly, XLII (Jan., 1939), 20o3; Francisco Ibar, Regeneracidn politico de la Repdblica
Mexicana . . . (2 vols.; Mexico City, 1830), II, No. 14 (Feb. 13, 1830), 1; Jose Maria Mateos,
Historia de la masoneria en Mdxico (Mexico City, 1884), 16, 22; La Lima (Mexico City),
June 5, 1839.
14La Lima (Mexico City), June 5, 1839; Expediente de J. A. Mexia, Secci6n de Cance-
lados (Archivo de Defensa).
15Moreno, Diario, 67; El Mosquito mexicano (Mexico City), Feb. 5, 1839; J. A. Mexia to121
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979, periodical, 1978/1979; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101206/m1/157/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.