Tlte Begi1111ing of Formal Colo11i::atio11 3 2 3 Spanish colony at New Madrid. 82 Bernardo Guizarnat, a resident of Louisiana, sought permission in June to settle in Nacogdoches, but was promptly informed by Salcedo that no foreigner could be permitted to settle in that area. Salcedo took occasion to remind Cordero of this regulation and to recommend its strict observance. He suggested that prospective immigrants be informed of this prohibition to save them unnecessary hardships and disappointments.u In July, Louis Dannequien and Jose Nicolas Landres, of Lafourche de los Chetimas, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, declared that they were ready to sell all their property in Louisiana, provided they would be granted permission to settle in Texas." Whether or not Mordicai and the rest were refused is not known, but other petitioners, men of substantial means, were rejected. 85 One of them, Francisco Marceau Desgraviers, sought in October sufficient land on which to settle his household of I 5 persons, as well as to graze 300 cattle and an equal number of horses. At the same time his friend, Juan Francisco Warnet, Baron de Lambercy, requested a similar grant for the same number of immigrants. 86 But when they were refused per- mission to settle at Orcoquisac, apparently the only place in Texas they wanted to remove to, they abandoned their plans. Armed with a passport from the governor of Florida, Juan Eugenio Marchand, another prominent citizen, came to Nacogdoches on November 22 to seek a home in Texas. An experienced seaman, he had heard of the opening of a port, and had decided to come to the new settlement. He explained that he had left New Orleans for Balize on September 5; that in eleven days he had made his way to the mouth of the Sabine, but because the water was too shallow to enter the stream, he had con- tinued as far as Galveston Bay in search of the Trinity. Having arrived in the bay on September 18, he had spent ten days looking in vain for the mouth of the river. Thereupon, he had returned to Attakapas to unload the tools and provisions which he said he had brought for his 12Carlos de Grand Pre, Passport to Herman Wellet, October 7, 1805. BJrar Arcliives. 13 Salcedo to Cordero, July 14, 1806. Bexar Arcl,ives. "Petition of Louis Dannequien and Jose Nicolas Landres, July 16, 1806. Bera, Arc/1ives. 15 The loss of the archives of the Provincias / ,rter,ras makes it impossible to ascer- tain the ultimate disposition of their cases. 86 Petitions of Desgraviers and \Varnet, October 22, 1806. Berar Arcliiv,s.
Powered by FlippingBook