Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
by his personal aversions to the views of the Marquis of Aguayo. If the order of the king for the establishment of a number of civil settlements in Texas had been carried out and four hundred Canary Island families had been introduced, there would have been about two thousand full- blooded Spaniards established in the province. The significance of the placement of this group of industrious and skillful Spanish farmers in Texas cannot be overestimated. Let us return to the action taken by the Council. The Consejo took the recommendations of the viceroy under consideration, together with a letter from the Governor of Havana of July 14, 1730. In this communication, the governor informed the king that on June 1, two more ships had arrived from the Canary Islands with fifteen additional families destined for the colonization of Texas, but that agreeable to the instructions received from the viceroy, they had been detained in Havana to await new orders. In the meantime, he had decided to permit them to settle in the Hacienda of Sacalaondo, sub- ject to the final approval of the king. In view of the sound and convinc- ing reasons of the viceroy, all the antecedents of the question, and the letter to the Governor of Havana, the Council came to the conclusion that it would be useless to send any more colonists. 25 It is to be regretted that the plan to establish civil settlements in Texas should have been abandoned just as it was being put into execution. Canary Islanders in Cttatitlan. It is necessary at this point to direct the attention of the reader to the Canary Islanders still resting and waiting at Cuatitlan. The long and tiresome trip in the old-fashioned ships and the unhealthy climate of Veracruz caused the death of three members of the party before they reached Mexico City. Two of them died shortly after their arrival in port, while making preparations to proceed inland to their temporary homes. These were Juan Rodriguez Granadillo, who was survived by a widow and five children, and Lucas Delgado, who left a widow and four children to go on to Texas. While on the road, Juan Cabrera died in the little town of Apa. His widow and three children continued the march with the rest. Upon their arrival in Cuatitlan, they were all placed in three dwelling houses which had been previously rented in accord with the instructions given to the Alcalde Mayor by the viceroy. He had urged him as early as August 1, %5En vista de lo que informa el Virrey de Nueva Espana . . . sobre que no se envien familias a la Provincia de los Tejas, representa a V. M. lo que se le ofrece. A. G. /., Auaiencia de Mexico, 67-3-23 (Dunn Transcripts, 1730-1736).
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