Our Catholic Heritage, Volume II

Permanent Occttpation of Texas, I7I5-I7I6 47 not given, Jacinto Charles, Joseph del Toro, Joseph de la Fuente, Alejan- dro Morales, and Lucas Castro. Eight married women are listed; that is, seven and one betrothed: Maria Longoria, Antonia de la Cerda, Antonia Vidales, Ana Maria Jimenez de Valdez, Maria Antonia Jimenez, Juana de San Miguel, Josepha Sanchez, 23 and Ana Guerra, betrothed. Three Frenchmen are noted by Ramon: Captain Don Luis de St. Denis, Cabo Comboyador, Juan Medar (Medar Jalot), and Pedro Largen. The others listed are two mule drivers: Joseph Garcia and Joseph de Montemayor; ten helpers to drive the stock and conduct the freight: Antonio Gonzalez, Sebastian Garcia, Valentin Mendoza, Blas Jimenez, Joseph Saenz, Juan Rodriguez, Juan Perez, Diego Miguel Perez, Cayentano Perez, and Fran- cisco de la Cruz; one negro named Juan de la Concepcion; two Indian guides; three Indian goat drivers; one boy six years old and a little girl four years old. ·when these are added, it will be found there were exactly seventy-five 24 persons. Although somewhat tedious for the reader, it is important and necessary to follow rather closely the progress made by the expedition almost day by day, as reported both by Ramon and Father Espinosa, in order to get those little details that are essential to make the past live, to get a more realistic picture of the hardships endured by the pioneers of these expedi- tions, and to determine as nearly as possible the route followed by this truly epoch-making entrada. It furnished the trail with some variations for later contacts and communications with East Texas, where the mis- sions were established, when interest of the Spanish officials in Mexico was stimulated and aroused, and when the activities of the French in Louisiana demanded attention. A detailed account reveals with surprising simplicity and incredible vividness the passing emotions, the moods, the whims that moved these men, and the unbounded faith and heroism that prompted the missionaries in their colossal enterprise. With sixty-four oxen, four hundred and ninety horses and mules, and more than a thousand goats and sheep, in addition to the huge luggage, 23Could this be Maria Josepha, or Manuela Sanchez, whom St. Denis is said to have married at the Presidio of San Juan Bautista? 2-tHeretofore, everybody has maintained that there were only sixty-five memhers in the expedition, but a careful count of those listed by Ramon will show there were seventy-five without counting the families of Joseph Maldonado and Pedro Botello. If we take into consideration that two priests and a lay brother joined Ramon before he reached East Texas, the actual number should be between sev- enty-eight and eighty persons. Derrotero para las l\lisiones de los Presidios lnternos, San Francisco el Grande Archive, VIII, jo-71.

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