I just finished reading an academic history of Laredo from its founding in the 1750s until after the annexation to the US and Texas after the War with Mexico.

Couple of interesting things: it confirmed what Aalan mentioned a bit back about depopulation of the state's hispanics before the revolt of 1835-6. Partly this was due to the bloodshed of the Independence period and less because of the continuous Indian problems. But the depopulation was significant.

Comanches and Apaches were not beloved and killed a lot of people at every opportunity.

A second interesting fact: a lot of people in Laredo did not get their noses out of joint too much when the norteamericanos took over because the security situation improved so radically after the US army set up shop in the vicinity.

Finally, it confirmed what I had read elsewhere about the huge number of goats and sheep that were spread out in south Texas.

The significance of that is still apparent: in the early days you read of huge waves of grass all over the place and some oak mottes. Now we have wall to wall brush down there. The goats and sheep do that to grass and the topsoil disappears. Now we have no antelope or buffalo down here and the massive numbers of deer.

We also have lots of pigs, which are not native, to go with the non native cattle and horses.

I thought this was about Laredo Heat...

What was this reading? Is it available?

I grew up there, and moved just before high school. I remember passing by a old WW2 hangar and someone telling me Bush Sr trained there. I'm not sure if that was true or not but still...

Very interesting. Particularly on the depoulation. I've developed that theory independently based on my research, but found a lot more people adopting it as well. Always interested in facts that address that.

I don't doubt that George H.W. Bush did some training down in Laredo, but he probably wasn't stationed there. He was a Naval Aviator and was commissioned in Corpus Christi. Probably did some flights into that base, but didn't spend a bunch of time there, as it was specifically an army base designed to train aerial gunners for bomber crews.

Gilberto Hinojosa (now of Incarnate Word in SA) authored it and I think it was based on his dissertation; he spent a lot of time reading census materials and spent some time in the records of old Laredo and Revilla.

If you are not used to reading academic histories, be advised that it does not read like a free flowing general history. He spent a lot of time digging for interpretation on scanty archival materials. Official Records of War of the Rebellion, Laredo Archives, etc. This is not a witty, fast flowing book full of humorous anecdotal materials. South Texas sheepgrazers and cattlemen of the late Spanish and early Mexican periods did not keep a lot of diaries or write a lot of letters.

The title is A Border Town in Transition: Laredo, 1755-1870. My copy is from A&M Press and was published in 1983. I checked Alibris Books and they have paperback copies for under $20

By the way, I highly recommend Alibris for used history books. They are a clearing house for good used book stores all over the country and prices are good. I've heard they are good for other stuff too but the only thing I ever bought from them besides history books was Jeff Sharaa's book on the Mexican war. And I got it real cheap.

You usually get the books within a week of ordering it online.

And I also remember the old Air Base in Laredo. The end of the airstrip seemed like it was about ten feet off US 59 and it provided some entertainment on takeoffs.

Boystown in Nuevo Laredo was never the same after they shut that base down. Perhaps Professor Hinojosa will cover that in a follow up volume.

quote:

---

A second interesting fact: a lot of people in Laredo did not get their noses out of joint too much when the norteamericanos took over because the security situation improved so radically after the US army set up shop in the vicinity.

---

You know Laredo and Brownsville both have some real interesting history and lots of intertwined history with Mexico. Many of the families in those cities married back and forth between Mexico and the US, long before there were overt racial barriers or bad social mores. The towns in South Texas where there was so much racial bias and discrimination were the cities/towns that were much younger than those two, like McAllen, Edinburg, Weslaco, Robstown, Alice, Etc. The separation or segregation in Laredo and Brownsville was more like true or typical Mexican class distinction, and it still is.

I have always found Brownsville and Laredo really interesting places due to all the mixing of the cultures, and there was a ton of mixing in the early days.

Jerry Thompson of Laredo A&M International has written extensively on the valley history and explodes a lot of the pre suppositions most of us would have. I never lived in the valley and a lot of its history has been a surprise as I have read it over the last twenty years.

An A&M College Station history prof told me the men who ferried individuals across the river in the old days were called Pateros. I thought that was pretty good and had never heard it before.

quote:

---

An A&M College Station history prof told me the men who ferried individuals across the river in the old days were called Pateros

---

Absolutely, many are still called that on the Mexican side, or should I say the slang for it is used. "Cuidan sus patito's" They take care of their little ducks.

There is lots of "truth is stranger that fiction" history in the Valley for whatever reason.

You live in CC right?

You know Huisache, there is lots of history tie ins between some of the prominent families of Laredo and Brownsville. Like the Longoria's, Yturria's and a couple of others. The "cultured" and "elite" Mexican/Spanish/Anglo families of South Texas seem to have been in either Laredo/Nuevo Laredo or Brownsville/Matamoros and there were some marrieges between the two families.

Even the families, namely the Guerra's, Montalvo's, Tijerina's and such of the northwestern Valley (Linn/San Manuel, San Isidro, Mission, etc.)all sent their daughters to that, and I forget the name, all girls private school in Laredo and many of the boys went to some other place I can't remember or some even were sent to St. Joe in Brownsville.

For Valley history. (Both upper and lower).

Speaking of Valley History, I just drove Austin-Harlingen -Corpus-Austin the last few days to see the steam locomotive Union Pacific sent down for Harlingen's 100th Anniversary. It was the first steam engine down there since 1952 or 53, and the first passenger train down there since 1966.

The coming of the railroad in 1903-07 really opened up the area to new growth and development. Almost every town south of Refugio on Hwy 77 to Brownsville owes its existence to the railroad and have celebrated their centennials over the last 5 years or so.

Huisache, Aalan, RGV, you guys may know the answer to this- Was Laredo ever its own quasi independent city state? I ask because I have heard the masthead for the Laredo paper has 6 flags, but it skips the French flag and has some variety of native Laredan flag if you will.

Sort of. There was a federalist revolt that called itself the Republic of the Rio Grande. It didn't go anywhere or last long.

There is a nice little museum right next to La Posada that commemorates it.


a lot of those little towns along the railroad are named after family members. Robstown is named after Robert Kleberg of the King Ranch family, Kingsville after the family etc.

But others are named after real estate speculators, such as Bishop and Driscoll.

Mifflin Kenedy was the big railroad promoter down here and the town of Kenedy is named after him because he resurrected the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad that ran to Corpus. Sarita is named after one of his granddaughters, Miflin after him, Armstrong after his neighbors, Norias after a division of the King Ranch. Skidmore was named after one of his partners who owned a ranch there.

And NOrias was as far north as the raiders made it in the early 1900s. They got shot up pretty good by the ranchhands and others.

Railroads were late arriving on the Rio Grande. Kenedy and King started out as riverboat operators on the Rio and were not keen on having competition interfering with their monopoly.

And in answer to RGV, I live in CC now.

B.F Yoakum and Uriah Lott were very important in building the San Antonio and Aransas Pass, the St. Louis Brownsville and Mexico and the Texas Mexican.

Lott does have small town south of Waco named for him. It was on the SA&AP line from Dime Box to Waco.

Yoakum named the hub of the SA&AP from himself, and I also believe the town of Kenedey on the SA&AP was named for Mifflin Kenedy as well.

The St.L B&M, despite being started much later that the SA&AP, got the jump by 20 years or so on the traffic from the Valley, and eventually let the Missouri Pacific become the primary railroad in the valley. Sadly, the SA&AP never really amounted to more than collection of branch lines under ownership of the Southern Pacific.

Huisache-

Good stuff. Charles Stillman and son James also owned the river rights to the Rio. King/Kenedy/Stillman were known as the Triumvirate of south Texas. They were also instrumental in placing Porfirio Diaz in power..

Of other note...Judge Brackenridge ruled time and time again in favor of those three and forced folks off their land...also interesting is Brackenridge fought for the confederacy but as it turns out....was a Union spy all along.

Tell me more about Brackenridge. Was he related to the fellow who gave UT all the money and Brackenridge Park to San Antonio?


Where can I go to read more about him?

Huisache-

Same dude. There were actually 3 brothers...2 of them served the confederacy and George (who I was referring to and wasn't a judge, I stand corrected) was pushed out of Texas in 1863 due to Union sympathies. He was a war profiteer prior to leaving and ran cotton thru Matamoros.

There is an excellent book (weighty too) on the subject. "Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War" by John Mason Hart. He is an expert in the Mexican Revolution...lays out Stillman/Kenedy/King and Brackenridge's involvement in Mexico/Texas/U.S.

It is a fascinatiing story...especially the names that get dropped. William Jennings Bryan owned land...Colonel House (from Houston and special advisor to Woodward Wilson advocated intervention in 1912...as well as UT law grad William F Buckley Sr....(and I always thought William F Buckley Jr was British when I was kid...come to find out...he was born in Austin.)

The goats would help keep the brush down. Now days, you can rent goat herds to remove brush on your land. Sheep can be hard on grass. Fire suppression and overgrazing by cattle are largely to blame for the encroachment of grass down there. I was told by a professor once, that someone down there has rhinos, and that they have consumed every huisache bush on the property.

I conclude, therefore, that we import more African herbivores such as Cape Buffalo, Rhino, and Hippos to work on the brush, and stomp the illegals as they cross the river. Perhaps some Nile crocodiles in the Rio.

I've read Hart's book on Mexican anarchism and need to read the others. I had a great grandfater who whizzed away his fortune made in ranching investing in silver mines which got nationalized during one of the anti foreign capital frenzies.

As for Buckley, I heard him speak in SA in the '60s and a bunch of his cousins and a few aunts from SA were in attendance.

As for Kenedy and King, they picked up some land on the river in tax sales but the bulk of their land was purchased during times of drought and bad cattle markets. They had access to capital and the largely absentee grant holders did not. The main banker for them was Yturria and his family did real well too. There are still Yturria ranches all over the place. There was also a bank in SA that loaned to them and John Armstrong. I presume but do not know that was Brackenridge's.

A prof at A&M who is from down there did a real interesting book on the land transfers in the Strip and I think A&M press published it. He basically came to the conclusion that large scale land transfers from hispanic to anglo occcurred not right after the Mexican War but rather afterwards during the rainless periods, etc.

Thanks for the leads. I have been falling in love with border history for the last twenty years.

Huisace,you are right about the land transfers- they got land from folks who were land rich but cash poor or who were not well versed in paying American property taxes or what happened when you owed back taxes on your property.

My grandmother used to watch the McLaughlin Group on PBS religiously every Friday. She used to rail about WFB whenever he was on,about how his family was from McAllen (which I gather from other comments on the thread is not quite right) and that his whole life was an elaborate front to cover up his relatively humble roots (compared to the east coast power brokers he ran with).

Buckley's granddad was the sheriff in Duval County who was ousted by the first of the Parr dynasty. The bit about McAllen may be right because the family moved around a bit.

WFB's dad graduated from UT and got a law degree there as well. He made his money largely in the oil business, starting off in Mexico and, when he was thrown out of there for backing Huerta, in Venezuela.

He moved the family to Connecticutt and saw to it that his kids got very elite educations.

WFB went into the army at age 17 if memory serves and taught hygeine to Mexican American recruits in San Antonio during WW II. He spoke Spanish beautifully as well as several other languages.

quote:

---

There is an excellent book (weighty too) on the subject. "Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War" by John Mason Hart. He is an expert in the Mexican Revolution...lays out Stillman/Kenedy/King and Brackenridge's involvement in Mexico/Texas/U.S.

---

I have read part of that book, could not finish it and the owner would not let me borrow it.

Huisache:
You are a treasure trove of information and enlightenment. I do thoroughly enjoy your posts.

Have you ever read some of the stuff that has been written by the Mexicans that ended up leaving the land? I know there is a small book on stories of how the land was "usurped" from many. It is pretty fascinating. When I lived in Mexico City, Pansy Yturria was one of my mothers best friends. That is an interesting and very decent family.

Just opened my new Southwest Historical Quarterly and there is a review of a book that will be real interesting to many of us. Published by the General Land Office, it is the New Guide to Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in South Texas. Its predecessor was invaluable and this one is about twice as long and has a lot of new material according to the review.

Updated by the lead translator at the Land Office, it includes four appendices which deal with particular cases and a 150 page history to go with the details re the individual grants.

Of particular interest to those who have handled litigation regarding these grants will be the sections on surveys (ever seen one that uses "the mesquite tree with bulge on the right" as a landmark?). I also hope he discusses problems of tracing ownership in families with traditions of undocumented inter family exchanges.

Billyeoman, believe House was from Austin. His home was a block from old Austin High. Our teams played in House Park. Still there I think.

Man I love reading threads like this! I grew up in south Texas and love reading about its history, especially when I read see my favorite towns listed here. Skidmore, grew up there, Kingsville, went to collge and Kenedy, where I got my first post college job!

Skidmore was named after a guy who got shot and left for dead by the Texas State Police during Reconstruction. He built up a ranch of over 50,000 acres in San Pat and Bee Counties barb wired with his own brand of wire.

He was on his way to CC when he witnessed the Nuecestown Raid. He hid his wife in the brush and watched from a bluff.

He sold off the ranch and his interest in the SAAP railroad, moved to SA, and ended up in the silver mining industry in Mexico. He died at age 75 of pneumonia in Oaxaca. A few years before his death he and his miners holed up in a mine for a few days shooting it out with some bandits.

Like everybody else around there, he liked to go skinny dipping at Corrigan's hole.

quote:

---

Just opened my new Southwest Historical Quarterly and there is a review of a book that will be real interesting to many of us. Published by the General Land Office, it is the New Guide to Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in South Texas. Its predecessor was invaluable and this one is about twice as long and has a lot of new material according to the review.

---

I was just going to post something along these lines.
I've recently taken the exam to become licensed as a land surveyor in Texas. Part of that education is quite obviously a history of the land and its transfer throughout the years.
The GLO has some invaluable information as do many of the small museums throughout South Texas.
I've been lucky enough to get my hands on some of this stuff, due both in part to my trade but also because my eldest aunt has been on a genealogy kick for about the past 10 years or so and has collected an incredible amount of information. Our family was one of the original granted lands from the crown of Spain in the 1790's. In particular the Espiritu Santo grant. We also were granted land from the Mexican government as the Buena Vista grant.

Huisache,
as a surveyor in South Texas, I'm all too familiar with the calls you allude to in your earlier post (mesquite trees, etc.) Not to mention metes written not only in the Spanish language but with Spanish units of measure (varas, sitios, etc.)
I can't recall which museum in Brownsville I picked it up at, but if you can get your hands on thesis written in 1951 by Ruby Woolridge....."Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in Present Day Cameron County". There's an incredible wealth of information in there.

Great thread.


Now the thing that I call livin' is just bein' satisfied with knowin' I got no one left to blame

BTW, Dr. Hart used to have some of his Masters degree discussions at Kim Son (I believe) in downtown Houston a couple of years back. He was wide open in terms of who attended.

Reason I bring this up is because this could be a great happy hour for some....open discussion with an expert on the Mexican Revolution...the valley...etc. and you wouldn't have to pay for the course.