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Orer Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
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had left instructions for the establishment of a villa as requested, and expressed the hope that this would meet with the viceroy's approval. 45 It seems that Tomas Sanchez had established a ranch a few years before opposite Dolores. In 1754, while Escandon was at Revilla, Sanchez proposed to him the establishment of a new villa north of the Rio Grande and above Dolores. Escandon, who for years had contemplated the occu- pation of the Nueces River, suggested to the petitioner that he try to find a suitable location on this stream instead, offering to grant him the necessary land at the site chosen. But since Escandon had to leave Revilla, Sanchez was asked to report to Captain Borrego of Dolores the result of his exploration. In compliance with the request, Sanchez made a careful exploration of the country along the Nueces and reported that he found no site fit for a settlement. He asked Borrego, therefore, to allow him to establish the new villa ten leagues north of Dolores, on the same side of the river and near Paso de Jacinto. Borrego communicated to Escandon the futility of insisting at this time on a colony at the Nueces, and the Count of Sierra Gorda then consented to the establish- ment of a villa by Sanchez at the place indicated to be named Laredo. He appointed Sanchez captain of the new settlement and granted him fifteen sitios de ganado mayor to be used in common by him and the settlers. Thus on May 15, 1755, Tomas Sanchez, with three or four families, formally founded the Villa de Laredo by virtue of the grant made to him by Escand6n. 46 By 1757, the modest villa had grown from three or four families with a scant score of settlers to eleven families with eighty-five persons. They owned seven hundred and twelve horses, one hundred and twenty- five mules, over nine thousand sheep, and one hundred and eleven head of cattle. There was no mission nor much hope of one being established in the near future, not for lack of Indians but for the want of a mis- sionary. Contrary to the usual practice no religious or secular padre had been provided and the settlers had been dependent ever since the foundation upon the overworked Father Fray Miguel de Santa Maria of Revilla, who lived twenty-two leagues away and on the opposite bank of the river. This good friar, who had to take care of Dolores also, madP- ~pa de las fundaciones ... in Estado General ( Publicaciones del Arcl,ivo General, XIV, 36-37). "Descripcion de las poblaciones de la Colonia en el orden en que las he inspec- cionado October 13, 17 57. In Estado General (Publicaciones del Archivo, XV, 123 •12;); Declaracion de don Tomas Sanchez, July 22, 1757, in Ibid., XIV, 444- 448; Villa de Laredo, Autos, Ibid., XIV, 443-450.
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