REVOLUTIONS, LAND GRANTS AND HOME
Bernard Pyron
In the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition of 1812–13 Hispanics and Americans joined together in an effort to overthrow Spanish rule in Texas. But this revolt was not successful like the later Texas Revolution of 1835-36. Samuel Kemper with 800 men on March 29, 1813, defeated a Spanish Royalist army of 1,200 in the battle of Rosillo and the Spanish surrendered San Antonio. But on August 18, 1813 in the battle of the Medina, the royalists defeated the revolutionaries. The Spanish Royalist General Arredondo then entered San Antonio and dealt harshly with the population. In San Antonio royalists shot 327 people, including women and children, thought to have been involved in fighting Spanish rule. Some of the Bexar area Hispanics who were on the side of the revolutionaries in 1812-13 were also on the side of the Texians in the 1835-36 war, such as José Francisco Ruiz. The son in law of Ruiz, Blas Herrera, was a scout under SeguinforSamHoustonand the Texas army in the Revolution. Seguin's cavalry was made up entirely of Texas Hispanics, mostly from the San Antonio area, and they fought under Houston at San Jacinto..
Franscisco Rolen was one of those Bexar county Hispanics who were on the side of the rebels in the 1812-13 uprising against Spain. And because Ygnacio Perez was a Spanish Loyalist in 1812-13 and was a Mexican Loyalist in 1835-36, the Republic of Texas took away his Spanish land grants south of the Medina in Bexar county. Fransisco Rolen was given part of the Perez land south of the Medina. The land were I was born and raised near the south end of the Franscisco Rolen tract, had once been part of a Spanish land grant to Ygnacio Perez. Texas allowed Perez to keep his land grant from Spain north of the Medina which was about four thousand acres in itself.
There is an extensive study of the area of South Bexar county where San Antonio planned to dam the Medina to create a "giant mosquito bog," which was called the Applewhite Reservoir. This study included a discussion of the Spanish Land Grants in the area of South Bexar county. The study is called "Chipped Stone and Adobe: A Cultural Resources Assessment of the Proposed Applewhite Reservoir, Bexar County,Texas" by A. Joachim McGraw and Kay Hinde, 1987.
The study is online at: http://car.utsa.edu/CARResearch/Publications/ASRFiles/101-200/ASR%20No.%20163%20ABC_redacted.pdf
On page 95 of the study by McGraw and Hinde (1987), they say of the rebels who survived the fighting around San Antonio in the Gutierrez-Magee uprising against Spanish rule of 1812-13 that "On a list of Insurgents signed by Jlose Ygnacio Perez (son of Ignacio) appeared the name of Ruiz." This is Francisco Ruiz who had escaped the killing of those suspected of opposing Spanish rule by living in a Comanche Rancheria.
The text on page 95 by McGraw and Hinde continues and says "The name of Franscisco Sosa, alias Rolen, also appears on the list." McGraw and Hinde do not say how they knew that Franscisco Sosa was Francisco Rolen, but this was probably the Franscisco Rolen or his father listed on page 103 of their book as receiving one league and one labor of land in South Bexar county on September 1, 1837.
McGraw and Hinde on page 104 say that "In the 1830s Ygnacio Perez, Mexican Loyalist, owned or controlled 17,712 acres in the study area on which he ran horses, 342 head of cattle and 250 head of sheep."
Also on page 104 they say that "Blas Herrera lived on the land of Ruiz, his father in law." Blas Herrera was the scout who Seguin sent to the Rio Grande to watch for Mexican troop movements to San Antonio, and it was he who alerted the men in the Alamo that Santa Anna was coming with three thousand troops.
In 1837 the Republic of Texas authorities took away all of the Spanish Land Grant land that had belonged to Ygnacio Perez but allowed him to keep what later became known as the Walsh Ranch. This was because Perez had been a Spanish Loyalist in 1812-1813 and a Mexican Loyalist in 1835-36 at the time of the Texas Revolution.
The land south of the Medina that once belonged to Ygnacio Perez included what was known as the Franscisco Rolen land, and to the west of it the strip which included the John Christopher land, and west of that the Samuel McCulloch land and likely more land south of the Medina. The John Christopher strip of land was a Republic of Texas grant to him for his services in the Texas Army, he and his company were at San jacinto. Probably the land which later became A.M. Pyron's northern and southern tracts, surveys 273 and 274, on the map above, once belonged to Ygnacio Perez - probably up to about 1837.
The Ignacio Perez Spanish Land grant north of the Medina became the Walsh Ranch.. The web site http://bexargenealogy.com/islanders/perez.html says that the daughter of Ignacio Perez, Maria Josefa Perez, married Jacob Linn from Germany in about 1833 and their daughter Concepcion Linn married Frank T. Walsh .. The sign that stood at the gate to the Walsh Ranch until Toyota took in down says the ranch existed since 1794.
William Pyron Kinney, known as Billy, my first cousin, hunted with one of the Walsh Ranch men, Cecil. Walsh . On receiving a copy of my article "Coyote Hunters of the Quesenberry," his daughter, Patricia Kinney Anderson, wrote me that "Daddy had dogs also, and when I married Webb we had dogs for ten years. I cooked
mush, corn meal and grease, for them in a big black pot behind the
house. We hunted with Luther James, Mr. Bruce from Lytle and Cecil
Walsh (whose family owned land where Toyota is now.)" "Daddy" is Billy Kinney,
Cecil Walsh was a first cousin of Edward Patrick Walsh . His
widow, Mary Louise Walsh , now 96, told me on the phone in November of
2006 that Cecil Walsh came to visit them once as a boy and wanted to
live on the Walsh ranch and did live there. She said that Cecil had a
pack of coyote hounds and ran them on the ranch . Once, she told,
Cecil's dogs got on the trail of what she called a "wild cat" near the
Medina and they wouldn't have anything to do with that cat. It might
have been a panther.
The web site http://corridornews.blogspot.com/.../texas-has-higher...
says "Just ask Elizabeth Small, whose grandfather was Edward Patrick Walsh . The Walsh Ranch along the Medina River had been in the family since the Spanish granted the land to them in 1794. Then in the late
1980s, the City decided it wanted a large piece of Walsh property to build a giant mosquito bog, the Applewhite Reservoir. Edward Walsh encountered then-mayor Henry Cisneros in an elevator in a local
hospital and was told, "We're gonna get your ranch ."
In the formula Range War western novel, an insider villain who plays
the role of a respected banker, rancher or business man steals lands
belonging to others. The insider-respected villain is in secret the
head of a Yahoo Outlaw gang he uses as enforcers. Henry Cisneros in
the San Antonio and South Bexar County Range War Western of 1990-91
stole a large part of the Walsh ranch . The city bureaucracy, and the
Bexar county courts and sheriff must have played the role of the Yahoo
Outlaw Enforcers.
Bernard Pyron
In the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition of 1812–13 Hispanics and Americans joined together in an effort to overthrow Spanish rule in Texas. But this revolt was not successful like the later Texas Revolution of 1835-36. Samuel Kemper with 800 men on March 29, 1813, defeated a Spanish Royalist army of 1,200 in the battle of Rosillo and the Spanish surrendered San Antonio. But on August 18, 1813 in the battle of the Medina, the royalists defeated the revolutionaries. The Spanish Royalist General Arredondo then entered San Antonio and dealt harshly with the population. In San Antonio royalists shot 327 people, including women and children, thought to have been involved in fighting Spanish rule. Some of the Bexar area Hispanics who were on the side of the revolutionaries in 1812-13 were also on the side of the Texians in the 1835-36 war, such as José Francisco Ruiz. The son in law of Ruiz, Blas Herrera, was a scout under SeguinforSamHoustonand the Texas army in the Revolution. Seguin's cavalry was made up entirely of Texas Hispanics, mostly from the San Antonio area, and they fought under Houston at San Jacinto..
Franscisco Rolen was one of those Bexar county Hispanics who were on the side of the rebels in the 1812-13 uprising against Spain. And because Ygnacio Perez was a Spanish Loyalist in 1812-13 and was a Mexican Loyalist in 1835-36, the Republic of Texas took away his Spanish land grants south of the Medina in Bexar county. Fransisco Rolen was given part of the Perez land south of the Medina. The land were I was born and raised near the south end of the Franscisco Rolen tract, had once been part of a Spanish land grant to Ygnacio Perez. Texas allowed Perez to keep his land grant from Spain north of the Medina which was about four thousand acres in itself.
There is an extensive study of the area of South Bexar county where San Antonio planned to dam the Medina to create a "giant mosquito bog," which was called the Applewhite Reservoir. This study included a discussion of the Spanish Land Grants in the area of South Bexar county. The study is called "Chipped Stone and Adobe: A Cultural Resources Assessment of the Proposed Applewhite Reservoir, Bexar County,Texas" by A. Joachim McGraw and Kay Hinde, 1987.
The study is online at: http://car.utsa.edu/CARResearch/Publications/ASRFiles/101-200/ASR%20No.%20163%20ABC_redacted.pdf
On page 95 of the study by McGraw and Hinde (1987), they say of the rebels who survived the fighting around San Antonio in the Gutierrez-Magee uprising against Spanish rule of 1812-13 that "On a list of Insurgents signed by Jlose Ygnacio Perez (son of Ignacio) appeared the name of Ruiz." This is Francisco Ruiz who had escaped the killing of those suspected of opposing Spanish rule by living in a Comanche Rancheria.
The text on page 95 by McGraw and Hinde continues and says "The name of Franscisco Sosa, alias Rolen, also appears on the list." McGraw and Hinde do not say how they knew that Franscisco Sosa was Francisco Rolen, but this was probably the Franscisco Rolen or his father listed on page 103 of their book as receiving one league and one labor of land in South Bexar county on September 1, 1837.
McGraw and Hinde on page 104 say that "In the 1830s Ygnacio Perez, Mexican Loyalist, owned or controlled 17,712 acres in the study area on which he ran horses, 342 head of cattle and 250 head of sheep."
Also on page 104 they say that "Blas Herrera lived on the land of Ruiz, his father in law." Blas Herrera was the scout who Seguin sent to the Rio Grande to watch for Mexican troop movements to San Antonio, and it was he who alerted the men in the Alamo that Santa Anna was coming with three thousand troops.
In 1837 the Republic of Texas authorities took away all of the Spanish Land Grant land that had belonged to Ygnacio Perez but allowed him to keep what later became known as the Walsh Ranch. This was because Perez had been a Spanish Loyalist in 1812-1813 and a Mexican Loyalist in 1835-36 at the time of the Texas Revolution.
The land south of the Medina that once belonged to Ygnacio Perez included what was known as the Franscisco Rolen land, and to the west of it the strip which included the John Christopher land, and west of that the Samuel McCulloch land and likely more land south of the Medina. The John Christopher strip of land was a Republic of Texas grant to him for his services in the Texas Army, he and his company were at San jacinto. Probably the land which later became A.M. Pyron's northern and southern tracts, surveys 273 and 274, on the map above, once belonged to Ygnacio Perez - probably up to about 1837.
The Ignacio Perez Spanish Land grant north of the Medina became the Walsh Ranch.. The web site http://bexargenealogy.com/islanders/perez.html says that the daughter of Ignacio Perez, Maria Josefa Perez, married Jacob Linn from Germany in about 1833 and their daughter Concepcion Linn married Frank T. Walsh .. The sign that stood at the gate to the Walsh Ranch until Toyota took in down says the ranch existed since 1794.
William Pyron Kinney, known as Billy, my first cousin, hunted with one of the Walsh Ranch men, Cecil. Walsh . On receiving a copy of my article "Coyote Hunters of the Quesenberry," his daughter, Patricia Kinney Anderson, wrote me that "Daddy had dogs also, and when I married Webb we had dogs for ten years. I cooked
mush, corn meal and grease, for them in a big black pot behind the
house. We hunted with Luther James, Mr. Bruce from Lytle and Cecil
Walsh (whose family owned land where Toyota is now.)" "Daddy" is Billy Kinney,
Cecil Walsh was a first cousin of Edward Patrick Walsh . His
widow, Mary Louise Walsh , now 96, told me on the phone in November of
2006 that Cecil Walsh came to visit them once as a boy and wanted to
live on the Walsh ranch and did live there. She said that Cecil had a
pack of coyote hounds and ran them on the ranch . Once, she told,
Cecil's dogs got on the trail of what she called a "wild cat" near the
Medina and they wouldn't have anything to do with that cat. It might
have been a panther.
The web site http://corridornews.blogspot.com/.../texas-has-higher...
says "Just ask Elizabeth Small, whose grandfather was Edward Patrick Walsh . The Walsh Ranch along the Medina River had been in the family since the Spanish granted the land to them in 1794. Then in the late
1980s, the City decided it wanted a large piece of Walsh property to build a giant mosquito bog, the Applewhite Reservoir. Edward Walsh encountered then-mayor Henry Cisneros in an elevator in a local
hospital and was told, "We're gonna get your ranch ."
In the formula Range War western novel, an insider villain who plays
the role of a respected banker, rancher or business man steals lands
belonging to others. The insider-respected villain is in secret the
head of a Yahoo Outlaw gang he uses as enforcers. Henry Cisneros in
the San Antonio and South Bexar County Range War Western of 1990-91
stole a large part of the Walsh ranch . The city bureaucracy, and the
Bexar county courts and sheriff must have played the role of the Yahoo
Outlaw Enforcers.
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