Maria del Carmen Calvillo

Biography

In March 1731, three missions, including the Mission Espada, were relocated from eastern Texas to the upper San Antonio River valley. The land was more plentiful for grazing and would provided better for the growing number of livestock. The ranch that the missions established provided food and provisions for the mission and it’s populations. In the case of the Espada ranchlands, including Las Cabras Ranch, the mission held on longer and did not allow for full secularization or the leasing of mission lands by local residents, fearing they would take up too much of the pastureland along the river. By 1787 Mission Espada began to use their lands less, giving more to the residents and Native Americans, and finally allowing for full secularization of the property in 1794.

Extending twenty miles along the west bank of the San Antonio river, the Rancho de las Cabras on the Mission Espada grew by leaps and bounds, creating a very popular area to settle down and raise strong herds. Prior to 1740 the numbers of cattle were small overall, but by 1745 over 1,000 cattle, along with sheep, goats, horses and oxen had come to the area, and grew steadily for over twenty years. By 1772 las Cabras experienced a great population decrease, but the herds hung on in great number, several reaching well into the thousands.

April of 1794 brought about a decree from the Spanish government stating all missions older than ten years would become secularized. The decree included Mission Espada, opening up the land at Las Cabras to the forty-five Native Americans that had been converted and were living and working on the ranch. They now were to become full tax paying Spanish subjects.

In addition to the Native Americans on the mission land, the ever-prominent Calvillo family began leasing large portions of Ranch de las Cabras from Mission Espada in 1772. Ignacio Calvillo and Manuel Barrera became the main owners by 1780, with Calvillo holding the majority of the land, including the headquarters of the ranch. Renaming the area Paso de las Mujeres, Calvillo became a prominent cattleman and would drive the cattle as far as Louisiana. Calvillo continued to file petitions for full ownership of the ranch up until his death by Lipan Apaches in 1814. What is unique about the Calvillo family is that the tradition of ranching and ownership on the las Cabras ranch did not cease with Ignacio’s death.

Ignacio’s daughter Maria del Carmen Calvillo was born in 1765 at the Villa of San Fernando de Bexar, and later moved with the family to las Cabras. Around 1781, Maria was married to Juan Gavino de la Trinidad Delgado. By 1783 their son Juan was born, and in 1784, a second son, Jose Anacleto came into the world. Maria had been surrounded by the politics of the ranching community from an early age, and earned the right to Power of Attorney in 1806 to collect debts, and her working sense of the ranching lifestyle provided useful following her father’s death in 1814 when she took over the family’s land holdings at las Cabras. At the same time in 1814, Maria chose to leave and separate from her husband Juan when he began to become too much of a political rebel.

One of Maria’s first and successful attempts to receive a title to ranch land came with the Mission San Juan in 1823. By 1828, her petition for the original land her family had procured at las Cabras was secured. In 1829, Maria chose to petition again for the rest of the las Cabras land, but the Barrerra family managed to hang on to 4 leagues of the ranch. Maria held the rest, including the compound. Maria saw no end to her ability to petition and gain land in the following years, particularly in 1832 and 1833. She was smart, and found no reason that she could not be a successful ranch head.

Maria’s work on the ranches, along with many other women, was greatly needed in the region to maintain growth and prosperity while the men continued to battle with the Native Americans, and eventually the Spanish and Mexicans. Maria was not afraid to ask for what she needed; whether it was from the Spanish or Mexican government, or even the Native Americans in the region.

By 1844 Maria chose to begin the sale of some of her lands, and in 1845 willed the land at las Cabras to her remaining children, a boy and a girl she had chosen to adopt later on in life. In 1856 after a long and successful career as a mother, businesswoman and rancher, Maria died, leaving behind a strong community in the las Cabras region.

Meschke, Amy Catherine. The San Antonio Mission Ranches and the Rancho de las Cabras. Austin College Honors Thesis No. 318, Sherman, Texas, 1998.

Chabot, Frederick Charles. With the Makers of San Antonio: Genealogies of the Early Latin, Anglo-American, and German Families with Occasional Biographies, Each Group being Prefaced with a Brief Historical Sketch and Illustrations. San Antonio, Artes Graficas, 1937.

De la Teja, Jesus F. San Antonio de Bexar: A Community on New Spain’s Northern Frontier. University of New Mexico, 1995.

Faulk, Odie B. The Last Years of Spanish Texas, 1778-1821. The Haugue, Netherlands. Mouton and Co., Publishers, 1964.

Fox, Daniel E. Traces of Texas History: Archaeological Evidence of the 450 Years. San Antonio, Corona Publishing Company, 1964.

Garrett, Julia Kathryn. Green Flag Over Texas: A Short Story of the Last Years of Spain In Texas. Austin, Pemberton Press, 1939.

Jackson, Jack. Los Mestenos: Spanish Ranching in Texas, 1721-1821. College Station,Texas A&M University Press, 1986.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/saan/visit/History2.htm, National Park Service informational.

http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/20-11/20-11-17.pdf, Article, National Park Service from the Cultural Resource Management, Rancho de las Cabras as a Nation Park Site.

http://crm.cr.nps.gov/issue.cfm?volume=20&number=11, Cultural Resource Management article links.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/daybyday/08-28-005.html, Texas Day by Day (This day in history) Maria petitions.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/fcabz.html, Informational of Maria Calvillo.

http://www.jstor.org/view/00182168/di008579/00p0079v/0, Odie B. Faulk article, Ranching in Spanish Texas. JSTOR.