MATA TURNS 200, BUT ITS HISTORY PRECEDES THE U.S. AND BROWNSVILLE

NotiGape

During the first solemn session of the Matamoros City Council held Friday at the Casamata Museum, Mayor Alberto Granados read Decree number 12, which granted this border city the title of Villa de Matamoros, issued in 1826 by Governor Luca Fernández.

In the presence of the trustees and council members, the Mayor read the decree, which states: 

The Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, to all inhabitants, be it known: The Constitutional Congress of the Free State of Tamaulipas, wishing to promote population growth and to perpetuate the memory of one of the martyrs of the nation, has decreed the following:

Article One: The settlement of El Refugio is granted the title of “Villa de Matamoros.”

Article Two: That settlement shall remain where it is, and the government shall take the necessary steps to respect the ownership of the land where it is located, ensuring that compensation is paid according to the law if it belongs to a private individual. The Governor of the state shall take note of this and ensure its compliance, having it printed, published, and circulated in Ciudad Victoria on January 28, 1826.

Following the reading of the document issued 200 years ago, the city council continued with its third extraordinary session, in which it authorized the public works budget and appointed the delegates and sub-delegates of the rural communities.

(But although the decree was issued 200 years ago, the history of settlement in what became Brownsville's sister city history goes back much longer, as the following articles indicate. The following narratives on the founding of Matamoros were posted here some 14 years ago. One of our readers reminded us that we had posted it and asked if we still had the original Spanish version. Unfortunately, we did not. We found some that originally appeared in El Bravo and translated it for our Spanish-challenged readers. We thank our reader for reminding us.)

"Mi Matamoros Querido"

Part 1

By Oscar Treviño Jr.

While colonization was under way by 1749 – 277 years ago, 27 years before the founding of the United States in 176, and a full 104 years before Brownsville was incorporated – Matías de los Santos Coy decided to establish a livestock ranch called "San Juan de los Esteros Hermosos." The location of that first effort at settling the area is near what is today the intersection of Calle Quinta y Matamoros. Esteros refers to what we call "resacas" on the Brownsville side.

However, Santos Coy had to give up that effort because of constant attacks by local natives who did not show a propensity to be "civilized."
That's the reason why today Santos Coy is not considered one of the founding settlers of the city.

Two years before, José de Escandón wrote a letter to the Crown saying that this place – Matamoros – was an inadequate place to build a town because of the annual flooding of the Rio Grande and because of the poor drainage of the land that caused outbreaks of yellow fever and pestilence.

Nonetheless, in 1747, 12 families came down from Camargo and Reynosa upriver and they founded a congregation called "San Juan de los Esteros Hermosos", and choosing, coincidentally, the same spot chosen temporarily by Santos Coy.

In 1784 they filed the paperwork to purchase 113 sitios de ganado mayor- something like 17. 5 square kilómeters - claiming that they had lived on the site for more than 10 years. The owner of the land, Don Andrés Vicente o Antonio de Urízar, who didn't know his property named Don Ignacio del Valle as his representative in the transaction. The families named Ignacio Anastacio de Ayala as their representative and the deal was consummated with Diego de Lasaga, the political and military governor of the colonia del Nuevo Santander present as well as Pedro Félix Campuzano, the judge commissioned by the government for the mediation of lands.

Even though the families signed the documents on October 18, 1784 in San Felipe de Linares, Nuevo León, with Juan Jacinto de Lanuza, Andrés Vicente de Urízar's new representative, it wasn't until January 3, 1785, when the transaction was finalized.
In this way, large tracts of the land and big ranches started being identified with the names and geographic characteristics of the livestock raised by the original 12 families .

For example, the ranch owned by Juan José Cisneros who was married to María Antonia Villarreal, was identified by locals as "Cabras Pintas." Don Juan Nepomuceno Cisneros Villarreal, who was married to María Teresa Salinas, owned the ranch called "La Canasta."

Don Miguel Chapa, married to María Teresa Treviño, owned "El Chapeño."
Don Santiago Longoria, married to María Hinojosa, owned "El Longoreño.
Don José Antonio de la Garza Falcón, married to Josefa Villarreal, owned "El Falconeño."
Don Antonio de la Garza, married to María Salomé Sepúlveda, owned the now-famous "El Tahuachal."

Don Luis Antonio García Rodríguez, married to María Rosalía de la Garza, owned the horse ranch "Los Gachupines." Don Ramón Longoria, married to Josefa García, owned "La Barranca" and "El Capote," along with Marcelino Longoria and his wife Francisca de la Serna.

Don José de Hinojosa, married to Antonia Benavides, owned "La Palma."
Juan José Solís, married to María Gertrudis Hinojosa, owned "El Soliseño."
Nicolás de Vela, married to María García, were owners of the ranch "Las Animas" along with José Antonio Cavazos y Gertrudis Cantú.

Some of the original names that were given to these areas still persist.

"Mi Matamoros Querido"

Part 2

The Spanish Crown formed the Internal Provinces Command in 1776 due to the constant attacks by marauding bands of Indians (natives) of the Plains, Comanches, and other tribes who resisted the
efforts of the government to colonize them.

Nuevo Santander formed part of the command and a demarcation line was formed to cordon the colonies from the attacks.

The colonization of Nuevo Santander was based on the establishment of "Ayuntamientos," (a political jurisdiction roughly equal to a county), so that each town could name a mayor, a prosecutor, and two council members (regidores).

The evangelization and conversion of natives was entrusted to Franciscan monks from the College of the Propagation of the Faith based in Guadalupe, Zacatecas. In 1793, the priests Francisco Pueyes and Manuel Julio Silva arrived and at once proposed that the name of the community be changed to "Nuestra Señora de Refugio de los Esteros," partly because the inhabitants called it "El Refugio" or "Villa del Refugio." It wouldn't be until 1826 that it was named Matamoros.

The Huastecos and the Olives who had been transported here from Florida, strongly resisted colonization and fought against both the local inhabitants and the domesticated natives. They were summarily exterminated.

(The name Tamaulipas is derived from Tamaholipa, a Huasteca term in which the "tam" prefix signifies "place where." As yet, there is no scholarly agreement on the meaning of holipa, but "high hills" is a common interpretation. However, a native population of Tamaulipas, now extinct, was referred to as the "Olives" during the early colonial period, which is a likely Spanish transformation on holipa... source: Wikipedia)

The native prisoners were exchanged at a rate of 60 to 80 natives for a horse. After the Crown – whose policy forbade slavery – discovered that this trade was being allowed in Nuevo Santander, it charged José de Escandón y Helguera and tried him to Juicio de Residencia (Trial by Residence?) in 1767. Despite this fact, he still retained the governorship of Nuevo Santander. Escandón died four years later but was vindicated by the honors granted him in Spain upon his death.

The Franciscans, meanwhile, decided to change the center of the town to a higher elevation due to the chronic flooding of the Rio Grande and it was moved two blocks to the south, where it currently exists.
They used the traditional town layout used in their native Spain: the cathedral toward the east, a plaza, the government building housing the cabildo to the west, and prominent businesses and citizens to the north. They christened the new layout as "Congregación de Nuestra Señora Refugio."

They also brought a patron saint, a virgin originally named "Nuestra Señora de Refugio de los Pecadores," (Our Lady of the Refuge of Sinners), but removed the word "sinners" since everyone had converted to Catholicism.

The Plaza de Armas, now known as "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla", was a very important place because that's where "La Picota" was placed. This consisted of a large stake upon which were impaled the heads of natives who resisted the authority of the Crown. There was also a type of wooden platform where public executions would take place.

It was called "plaza de armas" because the authorities would call out the inhabitants in case of an indian attack, raiders, or foreigners. They would hand out weapons to the inhabitants that showed up to defend the town or go after the raiders.