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Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000
(WEST--TEXAS.) Documents concerning the founding of the Dolores Hacienda, the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande. 30 manuscript pages. Folio, 12 x 8 1/2 inches, backed with early 20th century binder's tape; cover page traced over in 20th century ink, page numbers added later in pencil, dampstained but stable and legible; uncut. Nuevo Santander, August 1750
The founding document of the first Spanish settlement in what is now Texas.
José Vázquez Borrego (1682-1770) was a pioneer rancher who in 1750 established the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande: Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Hacienda, in what is now Zapata County. It soon came under the protection of the Texas colonization program of José de Escandón (1700-1770) as the first governor of Nuevo Santander colony. Vázquez set up a ferry leading into his new settlement, making it the primary gateway across the Rio Grande during this very early period.
Offered here is an early manuscript transcript of the original negotiations and agreements between Vázquez and Escandón regarding the settlement at Dolores. Vázquez describes the challenges faced by his initial settlement of 12 families, including lack of water and conflicts with hostile Indians.
Another shorter version of this dossier is recorded in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico, Provincias Internas, Volume 180, leaves 63-72. This other version, with a slightly different title, is cited in Lawrence Francis Hill, "José de Escandón and the Founding of Nuevo Santander," pages 98-99; and the microfilm of that copy is summarized by the University of Arizona's Documentary Relations of the Southwest with serial number 041-04159 (see https://uair.library.arizona.edu/item/215663). The present copy follows the Archivo General version closely from pages 1 to 12, does not include the two pages of plat maps included in the end of the Archivo General file, but continues for an additional 18 pages beyond what is contained in that file. The Archivo General copy is in a different hand and bears a scribal signature, while the present copy is unsigned.
Provenance: housed in a circa 1930 envelope addressed to the Rev. Jesús Prieto of Laredo (1888-1935) who came to the United States from Spain in 1921 and settled in Laredo by 1923; he was naturalized there in 1927 and apparently became interested in local history. The envelope is docketed "Jose Vasquez Borrego a Escandon," apparently in Rev. Prieto's hand. Recently purchased from a collector in Texas.
