Founding of El Paso and Estabtislmient of J11issions
251
Juan Cabal and Fray Francisco Perez, who brought alms which they had collected among the settlers of New Mexico ... T·he conversion of these Indians was then continued by the Reverend Father Fray Garcia de San Francisco, aided by the Reverend Father Fray Francisco de Salazar and the said Governor Don Bernardo Lopez· de Mendizabal who, to encourage the enterprise, permitted the said Reverend Father to take ten families of Christian Indians from the Pueblo of Senecu ... It is a proved fact that the one who succeeded [ the former] Alcalde J11a,yor in this jurisdiction, although he served only for a short time, was the iJtfaestre de Campo Diego Trujillo, a resident of New Mexico. In order to make the settlement, the said .Father Fray Garcia de San Francisco was aided by General Don Fernando de Villanueva in securing six Christian Indian boys and girls from the Maestre de Campo_ Francisco Gomez Robledo." 15 Since Mendizabal was governor from about 1656 to 1660 and the Alcalde 1Jt/a,yor was a civil administrative officer, it seems to point to the early establishment of Spanish settlers in the El Paso region. This official could not have been appointed to administer the congregated Indians, because the custom was for the Indians to choose their own officials, who were then given a patent by the governor. How early this settlement took place cannot be determined, but there is no question that Spaniards were living at Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de El Paso before 1680 as shown by the marriage, baptismal, and burial records. The first marriage of Spaniards recorded took place on November 29, 1678, and thirty-one names of Spaniards have been listed from the baptismal and burial records of the mission prior to 1680. Miss Hughes in her excellent study has aptly summarized the progress made before 1680. "Meager as are the . . . details, concerning the beginnings of missions and of Spanish settlement in the El Paso district," she says, "they are sufficient to show that the occupation of El Paso did not take place in 1680, as is sometimes supposed. The evidence adduced proves that there were at least three missions established and a nucleus of Spanish settlers in the region before the refugees from New Mexico withdrew there in 1680." 16 The Pueblo revolt. But the real bt:ginnings of Spanish settlement in the El Paso region in any considerable numbers was the result of an unforeseen event which almost put an end to the Spanish occupation of 15Petition of the citizens In Autos sobr, los Socorros, A.G. M., Pr01lincias /nt1r111U, Vol. 37, pp. 296-297. The Italics are not In the original. 16Hughes, op. cit., 312-313.
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