Aguayo Expedition and San Jose 111ission, 1719-1722
125
been forced to fall back to the San Antonio River as a result of the French attack. Here there was but one mission, which had recently been founded by Father Olivares from the College of Queretaro. The friars from the College of Zacatecas were in great need of establishing a mission located somewhere between East Texas and Coahuila that would serve them as a base and a halfway station. The College of Queretaro had a mission at La Punta, three at San Juan Bautista, and one at San Antonio, while the College of Zacatecas had none, and its friars were obliged to be the guests of the Queretaran missionaries all the way from Coahuila to East Texas. The members of the Pampopa nation, who were friendly to the Spaniards but greatly feared by other Indians for their prowess, had come to San Antonio and expressed to him their willingness to be congregated. There were other nations who were asking to be placed in missions at this time. The beautiful crop of corn raised at San Antonio de Valero, Father Margi! observed, had inclined many Indians in the vicinity to look with favor upon the idea of living in pueblos under the care of missionaries. Father Margil had been greatly impressed with the advantages offered by the site on the San Antonio River. "According to what we have seen," he declares, "this site on the San Antonio and its vicinity, where we wish to establish the mission, is destined to be the heart, as it were, from which we are to branch out in our work of founding missions, one group in one direction and the other in another as agreed in [the country of the] Tejas. The [friars of the college of] Queretaro are to extend northward to New Mexico and we southward to Tampico." He pointed out to Aguayo that it was not necessary to wait for the ornaments and supplies usually required for the establishment of a new mission, because he already had a statue of Saint Joseph, which had been given to him by Captain Gaspar Larranaga at the time of his death in Zacatecas, with the request that it be used for the founding of a mission under the advo- cation of San Jose. For the celebration of Mass and the administration of the Sacraments he had all that was necessary, having brought these things from the abandoned missions. These could be replaced later when the viceroy approved the establishment and furnished the customary aid in the name of the king. With great tact and a profound knowledge of human nature, he suggested that the new mission could be named San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo, provided it met with the apprO\·al of his Lordship. Through the kindness of friends he had in his possession a quantity of trink_ets, beads, and clothes that could be used to attract the
Powered by FlippingBook