Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 43
[578] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 43
placed under arrest and sent to Mexico
City to explain his intentions to the
Viceroy. The result of the conversa-
tion was the decision of the Viceroy to
send an expedition into Texas to estab-
lish missions and settlements. The of-
fer of St. Denis to act as guide for the
expedition was accepted. This interesting
outcome was probably partly due to the
salesmanship of the French trader (com-
bined with the fact that he had married
the cousin of Capt. Domingo Ramon at
San Juan Bautista), and partly due to
the residue of distrust still lingering in
the minds of the Spanish authorities.
An expedition under the command of
Capt. Domingo Ramon was sent out
from San Juan Bautista. It went into
East Texas, establishing the first definite
route of travel in this state. Later it
came to be known as the Camino Real
(King's Highway) and still later was
familiar to Texans as the Old San An-
tonio Road. It extended from San Juan
Bautista (near present Eagle Pass)
through San Antonio to Nacogdoches and
eastward.
Later East Texas Missions.
The expedition of Captain Ramon was
accompanied by Father Francisco Hidal-
go, who, with Father Massanet, had been
untiring in his efforts to have missions
established among the Texas Indians. At
a place a few miles from the old San
Francisco de los Tejas mission, a new
mission called San Francisco de los
Neches was established. This was in
1716. Nuestra Senora de la Guadalupe
was established at the present site of
Nacogdoches and the Mission Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores was placed near
the site of present San Augustine. Two
other missions, La Purisima Concepcion
and San Jose de los Nazones, were locat-
ed in this vicinity, and still another
mission, San Miguel de Linares, was lo-
cated across the Sabine in Louisiana. It
later became Los Adaes and was for half
a century the provincial capital of Tex-
as. It was on the site of the present
town of Robeline, La.
The East Texas missions, unlike those
later constructed near San Antonio, were
built of timbers and hence soon decayed
without leaving a trace. As a result, not
a great deal is known about the exact
location of these early outposts. The first
mission, San Francisco de los Tejas, has
been pretty definitely located near the
present town of Weches and a public
park has been established in that area
and a small museum of native materials
has been erected.
Founding of San Antonio.-The Alamo.
In 1718 the Viceroy, wishing a halfway
post between the little East Texas mis-
sions and the Spanish presidios in north-
ern Mexico, established a mission and
presidio at San Pedro Springs, laying the
foundation for the present city of San
Antonio. The mission, founded in 1718
was called San Antonio de Valero and
the accompanying presidio was called
San Antonio de Bexar. The mission San
Antonio de Valero is usually accepted asthe predecessor of the Alamo; however,
the present structure of the Alamo was
not erected until about 1754, nor was
the original de Valero on the present
site of the Alamo. In fact, the present
Alamo was not a mission building itself,
but a chapel attached to San Antonio de
Valero and possibly to other missions in
the vicinity. The early history is shroud-
ed in obscurity, including the name. The
word, "alamo," means poplar, or cotton-
wood. There is one legend that the
name of the Alamo came from a grove
of cottonwoods near by. Another story
relates that it took its name from a
company of soldiers bearing this name,
who were quartered there.
Other San Antonio Missions.
In 1720 the Mission San Jose de Aguayo
was established and in succession came
the founding of the missions La Purisima
Concepcion de Acuna, San Juan Capis-
trano and San Francisco de I'Espada.
Three of these missions at San Antonio
were really re-establishments of the old-
er East Texas missions which had been
abandoned. They were San Francisco,
Concepcion and San Juan Capistrano, the
latter succeeding San Jose of the Neches,
the name being changed because of the
prior founding at San Antonio of San
Jose de Aguayo. The heavy stone. walls
of several of these early mission build-
ings, particularly the Alamo and to less
extent San Jose and Concepcion, played
an important part in the history of Texas
for more than a century.
First Governor of Texas.
This era of mission building, which had
been brought about because of the activ-
ity of the French on the Riviere Rouge
(Red River) and the journey of Saint
Denis, marks also the beginning of Texas
statehood. It had been officially de-
clared a Spanish dominion and Domingo
Teran de los Rios had been named Gov-
ernor in 1691. However, after an ex-
pedition across Texas by De los Rios, po-
litical authority was relaxed and little
attention was given Texas until the ad-
ministration of Martin de Alarcon, Gov-
ernor of Coahuila-Texas, who founded
the mission of San Antonio de Valero and
the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar in
1718. In 1721-22 the dominion of Spain
was definitely established between the
Rio Grande and the Riviere Rouge by
the expedition of Marquis de Aguayo,
who established new missions and presi-
dios and strengthened old ones. In or-
der to further sLrengthen Spanish au-
thority a scheme of colonizing Texas
with Spaniards was hit upon. One re-
sult of the project was the establishment
of fifteen families from the Canary
Islands at San Antonio. From the
standpoint of immediate results the proj-
ect was not very successful, but the
Canary Island families and their descend-
ants played a large part in subsequent
Texas history.
Later Missions.
Three missions were established about
1746 on the San Xavier River, a stream
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Texas Almanac, 1941-1942, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117164/m1/45/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.