269
Establis./mzent of San Fernando de Bejar, r723-r73r
The general impression has been that the petition for the location of families in Texas was directed from the beginning to the establishment of a civil settlement on the site of the present city of San Antonio. The documents show, however, that the final placement of the Canary Islanders on the San Antonio River was accidental; that the original plan was to found a series of such colonial groups, beginning at Espiritu Santo Bay; and that the factor that first determined the king to adopt this measure in 1723 was the apparent necessity of occupying this coast permanently as a protection and a prevention against repeated French encroachments. It was La Salle's settlement in its vicinity that precipitated the actual occupation of the province; it was the suspected plans of the French for the reoccupation of this area in 1719 and 1720 that occasioned the emphatic instructions to Aguayo to establish a fort at the Bay of Espi- ritu Santo, and it was the belief that this measure was not sufficient that finally prompted the king to adopt the suggestions made by Aguayo upon his return from Texas. This outlook was far more exten·sive than the establishment of a single civil settlement on the San Antonio. It will be seen, in the course of this chapter, that Aguayo's plan called first for the location of families on Espiritu Santo Bay, the establishment of similar settlements in the vicinity of the presidios already founded with a view of obviating the necessity of maintaining these military estab- lishments, and the founding of a halfway station between San Antonio de Bexar and the Presidio of los Adaes. Immediately upon the return of Aguayo from his expedition, Viceroy Valero urged the king, on July 9, 1722, to send two hundred families, either from Galicia or the Canary Islands, to be settled in Texas in order to make the reoccupation just effected by the Marquis more perma- nent and lasting. In letters to the viceroy and the king, Aguayo had suggested this measure as essential to safeguard the new province and to save unnecessary expense to the king in maintaining so many pre- sidios and soldiers. He said that civil settlements should be founded on San Bernardo Bay, Los Adaes, the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar, and at some point between the two places last mentioned, because the distance between the existing posts was about one hundr~d and se\'enty- two leagues. The establishment of a halfway station would be of ines- timable value to both. He explained that La Anguila or San Jose <le Buenavista were two sites that could be chosen for that purpose. ln addi- tion to the two hundred families from Spain, he thought that a similar number of Tlaxcaltecan Indians should be settled in the mission already
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