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Vol. 6, Number 1 |
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Vol. 6, Number 1 |
Welcome to the first issue for the year 2003. In this issue we will take a look at the mystical villa of Guerrero Viejo or Revilla as it was known during the Spanish Colonial period. On a recent trip to that historic city that was inundated by the flood waters of the Rio Grande river when the Falcon Reservoir was built in 1953, I came across something unusual at the town square. You will find out what it was when you read the story. I also took some photos of some of the gravestones at the old cemetery of Guerrero Viejo because of the interesting sonnets inscribed on them. I took a photo of Pedro Flores’s gravestone and sonnet and while researching another story, (Cruillas, Tamaulipas) I found out what an important figure Flores was in the establishment of American ranching in South Texas. While on a research trip to the Municipal Archives in Monterrey, Nuevo León this past summer I came across the oldest recorded livestock brands in the state of Nuevo León. Most of the Tejanos/as of South Texas descend from these early ranchers, men like Vicente Guerra, Pedro de Salinas, Joseph Martínez, Diego de Ynojosa, and Melchor de Treviño to name a few. With permission of the Municipal Archives of Monterrey we will be publishing some of these brands in this issue and upcoming issues. Ben Figueroa of Kingsville writes an interesting article on the history of the printing press in the New World and consequently early Mexican newspapers in the Coastal Bend area from pre-Republic of Texas days to the twentieth century. I follow up that story with the first printing press in Texas. A story that ran in the March and April 2000 editions of El Mesteño Magazine. I have always wondered about the story about when Capt. Richard King brought the whole village of Cruillas, Tamaulipas north to South Texas to help him run the King Ranch and how these vaqueros and their families became the famous Kiñenos, King’s faithful workers that helped him mold his famous ranch. Well, Cruillas is still a city in Tamaulipas so that led me to search on the origin of Cruillas and where I think those workers came from. I also reminiscence about my youthful days hunting for field meadowlarks with my cousins, something that is illegal today but very much a sport while growing up in South Texas. With so many old sillar houses laying hidden in the brush of South Texas and some ranch owners wanting to spruce them up, we’ve printed this lime mortar formula that Mary Canales Jary was kind enough to share with our readers. Hopefully it will be used so these old specimens of the old ranching architecture of South Texas can be preserved for future generations. The family of Lazaro Vela, in particular Gregorio Vela is written about in this issue. Thanks to Niceforo Peña for showing me the original ranch site of Gregorio’s Santa Teresa ranch. I believe you will find some useful and interesting information about this pioneering ranch family of South Texas and northeastern México. Leticia Martínez Talanquer was kind enough to share with us part of her Master’s research work from TAMUK, “Historical Perspective of the use of English as a Second Language in Rural Areas of present Starr, Jim Hogg, Brooks, Duval, and Jim Wells counties in South Texas”. You will find it interesting to know that Spanish is still the primary language in rural south Texas. Letty hopes to have her work into a book sometime next year. We will keep you posted. I want to thank Fantina Sáenz Cantu for sharing a valuable journal of proverbs that her mother, Luisa Garcia de Sáenz kept in the 1920s. Some of them are one of a kind. In closing we remember our dear friend, Kenji “El Gato” Katsube, conjunto musician from Japan who passed away this past May. He loved the culture and people of south Texas so much. I thank all of our subscribers for their continuous and patient support. Hasta la próxima, Homero S. Vera |
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Vol. 6, Number 1 |
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