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Eslab!islzment and Early Progress of San Xavier Missions
be discredited, and the reflection upon the character of its missionaries would hamper future conversions. 47 He sent Fray Mariano a copy of the decree of January ro, and a carta orden of January 15. In reply to the orders of the viceroy of January IO and 15, issued at the recommendation of Altamira, Fray Benito politely and humbly offered his apologies for the failure to report on the execution of the decree of December 23, 1747, for the founding of three missions on the San Xavier. Report of progress to Marci,, z749. He explained that Fray Mariano was not responsible for the apparent negligence in reporting, since he had been obliged to give up his work in April, 1748, because of a serious accident that had confined him to bed for several months. Even now he was barely able to use his right hand. It was not until June, 1748, that the decree of December, 1747, was received, but the lack of supplies and the impossibility of securing them had prevented its execution. The new missionaries had arrived on June 13, and proceeded to San Xavier, but they had been able to accomplish but little without adequate means. It was not until December, 1748, that the train of supplies for the new mission arrived in San Antonio, but the lack of pack animals had delayed its transportation, which was not fur- nished until February, 1749. 48 Founding of Mission San lldefo11so, February, z749. Fray Benito then proceeded to describe conditions at San Xavier. Mission San Francisco Xavier had been established since February, 1748. By March, 1749, there were fifty-nine Mayeyes, seventy Yerbipiames, and eighty Yojuanes, a total of two hundred and thirteen persons living in the mission. San Ildefonso Mission had been started on December 27, 1748, but it was not until February 25, 1749, that it took a permanent form. It was located about one league down the river from San Francisco, to the east, near the mouth of Brushy Creek. In this mission Fray Benito placed together the Orcoquisacs, Bidais, and Deadoses. These Indians, he observes, spoke a similar dialect and intermarried freely. It was for this reason that he placed them together, just as he had placed in San Francisco three other tribes which were related and allied to the Tonkawa. There were at San Ildefonso sixty-five families, with two hundred and 47Fray Ganz:i.bal to Fray Mariano Fernandez de Santa Anna, January 22, 1749, Archivo del Colegio (Dunn Transcripts, 1716-1749). ••Fray Benito Fernandez de Santa Anna to the Viceroy, March Io, 17 49 . San Franci.rco el Grand, Arc/riv,, Vol. 19, pp. 104 • 11 1.
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