| Summary: | Part of the Institute of Texan Cultures' The Texians and the Texans series. THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES AT SAN ANTONIO THE FRENCH TEXANS THE FRENCH TEXANS . . The French Texans ©1973: The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio Rex H. Ball, Executive Director International Standard Book Number 0-86701-058-4 Second edition, second printing, 1995 This publication was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Houston Endowment, Inc. Printed in the United States of America Cover: Henry du Bellet, vice president of the Franco-Texan Land Company Back cover: The Haldy Family of Castroville THE FRENCH TEXANS T he French, like the Spanish, have been in Texas for several centuries. From the appearance of the Sieur de La Salle in 1685 to the ceding of French Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain in 1762 , the French story is filled with accounts of discovery, exploration, territorial ambition, war, Indian diplomacy, and trade. Spain occupied Texas to keep the French away from the silver mines of northern Mexico, but the determined French found their gold in contraband trade with Indians and Spanish settlers of New Mexico and Texas. When their rivalry on the Texas-Louisiana border ended and Spain abandoned East Texas, French settlers and Indian traders remained. Texas was the escape hatch for many Frenchmen who fled AngloAmerican domination after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. French Creoles (those born in Louisiana), Cajuns (Acadians exiled from Nova Scotia in the mid-1700's), refugees from the 1790 slave uprisings in Santo Domingo, and emigres from the French revolution and the Napoleonic dictatorship were among those entering Texas in the first decade of the 19th century. Sprinkled among the farmers, small businessmen, and professionals were slave traders, pirates, and exiled soldiers . Other Frenchmen came as participants in filibustering expeditions , which tried to wrest control from the tottering Spanish Empire. Some arrivals were permanent settlers, who later fought for Texas independence. France was the first European power to recognize the fragile independence of the new republic. The education, culture, and business ability of Texas' French minority helped tame the frontier and soften the edges of the Castroville in 1908 emerging Southwestern civilization. The churches, schools , and hospitals founded by French missionaries benefited all Texans. Frenchmen, protecting their capital investment in railroads and cattle ranches, helped settle the western half of the state after the Civil War. The early 20th century brought thousands of Louisiana Cajuns across the border to work in industry and rice farming along the Gulf Coast. By this time French Texans were largely assimilated, with only small islands of ethnic identification still visible. Architecturally, the town of Castroville, with its unique stone houses and its festival of St. Louis , is perhaps the most recognizable instance of a surviving French influence in Texas. But the French impact on speech , food, and customs has been more enduring in the Cajun country of the upper Texas .3 coast. These examples are the embodiment of a heritage and tradition which began more than 300 years ago. RENE-ROBERT CAVELIER, SIEUR DE LA SALLE 1685 In 1666 an apparently unimportant event in Rouen, France, had a profound impact on Texas-and much of North American - history. A restless young Jesuit novice, Rene-Robert Cavelier, decided that he was unsuited to folIow in the footsteps of his pious older brother, and he left the colIege in which he had been enrolIed. The 22-year-old adventurer then sailed for Canada, where his brother, Jean, was a missionary. He spent two years farming, then entered the fur trade, where he ventured into unexplored lands . After Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle 4 some success in this field, and even more as a politician, young Cavelier returned to France in 1673 with flattering credentials from Canada's royal governor. He persuaded King Louis XIV to give his sponsor a monopoly on the fur trade of New France. Soon the king had also granted the personable Cavelier a patent to explore new areas and conferred on him the title of Sieur de La SalIe. This action proved a remarkably good investment for the French monarchy. The newly dubbed Sieur de La SalIe energeticalIy explored the length of the Mississippi River and, on reaching its mouth, claimed the entire basin for France. He named this great heartland in honor of the king- Louisiana. Returning to France a hero, La Salle urged the formation of a settlement at the mouth of the river, as a key to holding the vast new territory. On August 1, 1684, he sailed with four ships-theJoli, Belle, Amiable, and St. Franfois - carrying a total of 300 colonists . La Salle's plan was to enter the Gulf of Mexico and approach the entrance of the Mississippi by sea. One ship, the St. Franfois, was lost to Spanish corsairs en route; the other three failed to locate the Mississippi because of bad weather and worse navigation. La Salle landed on the Texas coast-first near Sabine Pass on New Year's Day, 1685. Still seeking the mouth of the Mississippi, he skirted the coast, entered Matagorda Bay, and arrived at the Lavaca River. The ship Amiable missed the safe channel through Pass CabalIo, grounded on the shoals, and was soon destroyed. Joli was sailed back to France by its commander. Belle was wrecked on the shore of Palacios Bay after many trips up and down the Lavaca River, and the remainder of the expedition was stranded in the Texas wilderness. La SalIe and his men now established Fort Saint Louis on Garcitas Creek about five miles inland from the bay. The fort was built of timber from the wrecked Amiable and was armed with eight pieces of artillery. La SalIe used the fort as a base for exploration in the area and as a possible defense against unfriendly Indians. Disease and famine reduced the ranks of the garrison . In January 1687 La Salle, with about 17 men, left the fort for the last time in an attempt to reach Canada. In January 1689 those remaining at the fort were attacked by Indians. A few survivors were rescued by the Alonso de Leon expedition, which reached the ruins of the fort on April 22, 1689. One or two others joined Indian tribes. Near the site of present Navasota, La SalIe was murdered by his own men on March 19, 1687. Magnificent in his personal failures, La Salle, by demonstrating courage against great odds, has always been an appealing historical figure. His explorations gave France claim to the great Mississippi valley and Texas. Louisiana, for a time, was a valuable French possession. The Texas claim was never very serious, but it did furnish the United States, after the Louisiana Purchase, with an excuse for challenging the Spanish title to Texas. THE FRENCH IN EAST TEXAS 1700's Throughout the first six decades of the 18th century, France competed as best it could with Spain for a foothold in Texas. As early as 1700 Louis J uchereau de St. Denis had explored the upper Red River. Fourteen years later he crossed the Texas wilderness from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and startled Spanish officials at Sanjuan Bautista. The Spanish reacted by sending an expedition under Domingo Ram6n to establish missions in East Texas to protect against whatever threat might arise from the French in Louisiana. These missions were abandoned temporarily in 1719 during hostilities between France and Spain but were reclaimed two years later by an expedition under the Marques de Aguayo. Aguayo reestablished the Spanish post at Los Adaes, seven leagues west of the French fort at Natchitoches, and a de facto boundary was soon formed at the Arroyo Hondo halfway between the two. France recognized the boundary but refused to abandon the rich Indian trade and contraband commerce with the Spaniards who lived in East Texas. The border was like a sieve. La Salle's landing The French were not about to give up. In 1719 they sent the La Harpe expedition to open a post near the present Oklahoma-Texas-Arkansas boundary. French traders and soldiers developed excellent relations with the Indians in eastern and northern Texas. By mid-century French-men had crossed the plains to trade in New Mexico, sometimes returning to Louisiana by the Red River route. Despite repeated Spanish decrees and orders to the contrary, French traders visited Spanish missions and forts in East Texas to supply needed goods at reasonable prices. Catholic priests on both sides of the boundary ministered to both French and Spanish parishioners, and intermarriage was frequent. In 1750 a royal decree ordered the arrest of all Frenchmen in New Spain's northern provinces. In Texas a French trader, Joseph Blancpain of Natchitoches, and his companions, Elias George and Antoine Dessars, were apprehended on the lower Trinity River by Spanish troops in 1754 and taken to a Mexico City prison. Even so, other traders continued to enter Spanish dominions to exchange guns, ammunition, powder, knives, mirrors, and brandy for horses, cattle, and animal hides. Spain's opposition to international trade was increased after her own defeat by Indians on the Red River in 1759. Spanish officials claimed that French guns and French officers played the decisive role. The end of Franco-Spanish rivalry in Texas came when that part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi was transferred to Spain in 1762. LOUIS JUCHEREAU DE ST. DENIS 1714 In 1714 Spanish officialdom was shaken to its foundations when a young French-Canadian, Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, appeared at the lonely outpost of San Juan Bautista. He had crossed the Texas wilderness from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and now the Spaniards wondered what the French were up to. St. Denis professed to be interested in trade, but his reluctant hosts were not convinced of his sincerity. However, the granddaughter of the presidio commander found him persuasive indeed. She married him. Louis de St. Denis had come to Louisiana in 1699 as a lieutenant in the French army, elements of which had accompanied Governor d'Iber- 5 ET DEI L 01 CAS 'I/U,""" ,/I ", /,,,</. I . . ""~:~:I., ·j" I""I"' /· I • • ;:.1" . ",, 1 /. Texas and Louisiana in the early 18th century ville's colonizing expedition. In 1700 St. Denis explored the Red River as far as Natchitoches and contacted tribes of the Caddo confederacy. In 1711 the celebrated Mexican prelate Father Francisco Hidalgo had invited the French governor of Louisiana to send missionaries among the East Texas Indian tribes. In response to that invitation St. Denis arrived three years later, well supplied with trade goods. Unable to find Hidalgo, the young adventurer journeyed across Texas to San Juan Bautista. The trip was a personal success for St. Denis, but perhaps he pressed his luck when he returned the following year. This time he Was arrested on smuggling charges and imprisoned in Mexico City. He was released to guide the Spanish entrada of 1717, which occupied East Texas. He returned shortly to Natchitoches, where, in 1720, he 6 assumed command of the French outpost of St. Jean Baptiste. The Spaniards left East Texas briefly after the Franco-Spanish War of 1719 but reestablished themselves under Marques de Aguayo's expedition in 1721. St. Denis was powerless to prevent this reoccupation, but he proved himself a capable diplomat when he brought about a truce and established a boundary between French Louisiana and Spanish Texas. But the most important thing about this Frenchman was his influence over the great Caddo Indian confederacy. To these people, he was "Kadolahoapi" - Big Leg. He encouraged French traders to develop close commercial relations with both the tribes and the Spanish forts and missions. Spanish officials were powerless to halt the influx of cheaper French goods . The legacy of Louis J uchereau n l ' de St. Denis continued after his death in 1744; both his son and son-in-law became commanders of the French outpost at Natchitoches serving France, and later Spain, in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. FRANQOIS SIMARS DE BELLISLE 1719 Simars de Bellisle spent his first two years in Texas as an Indian captive. He later wrote a colorful account of his adventures and subsequent ransom by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis. The young officer had left France in 1719 to serve in Louisiana, but his ship landed by mistake in Galveston Bay. He and four companions attempted to reach the Mississippi River by land but were enslaved by coastal Indians before they got out of Texas. Simars de Bellisle alone survived. He was barely kept alive, forced to go naked, and used as a slave for 15 months. After his rescue he was taken to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and later to New Orleans. In 1721 he accompanied Benard de La Harpe's expedition to the Texas coast. Later de Bellisle settled in New Orleans, where, in 1753, he became a member of the Superior Council of Louisiana. He returned to France in 1762 and died there the next year. BENARD DE LA HARPE Because of his background as a minor French political and military figure, Benard de La Harpe was able to obtain from the Company of the Indies a concession of land on the Red River in Louisiana. He arrived on his land in August 1718 and soon established an Indian trading post farther west in what is now Bowie County, Texas. The following year he sent an employee named du Rivage up the Red River- accompanied by four French soldiers and eight Indian guides - with a quantity of trade goods to form an alliance with the Indian tribes and to gain information on the Spanish settlements to the west. De La Harpe succeeded with the Wichita Indianstrading them guns and supplies, training them in warfare, and winning their confidence. The Frenchman even gave one fortified village in present Montague County a French flag, which the inhabitants proudly flew from a pole in the center of the plaza. In 1720 Benard de La Harpe briefly returned to France, where he was appointed commandant of Matagorda Bay with orders to occupy the area. However, hostile Indians prevented the success of this mission the following year. It was the final French effort to establish a colony on the Texas coast. PIERRE -MARIE FRANCOIS DE PAGES 1767 Nineteen-year-old Fran<;ois de Pages took leave from the French navy in 1767 to journey around the world in search of adventure . He wanted to "explore the Indian seas for the French navy, to search for a Northwest Passage in the Russian polar regions, and to study the little-known tribes of the world." In his travels he crossed Texas via Nacogdoches, San Antonio, and Laredo. Somewhere between the Brazos and Colorado rivers, he and his companions approached a deep stream which the Spanish had named Quita Calzones, or, in modern translation, "Take Off Your Knee Breeches Creek." Unfortunately this colorful name has disappeared from usage . While crossing on rafts, the party discovered that Indians were trying to steal their horses. However, this event seems not to have affected de Pages's view of the Indian as a "Noble Savage." He even- Bellisle's rescue tually completed his world tour- by way of the Philippines, India, Arabia, and the Mediterranean Sea - and was reinstated in the French navy. He also was awarded the Croix de Louis. In 1733-1734 de Pages visited the South Pole region and, two years later, the Arctic zone. He fought with the French navy in the American Revolution . His life of adventure ended in Haiti, where he retired as a plantation owner and was massacred in a 1793 slave uprising. De Pages's experiences were first published in French in 1773, and were translated in 1791 as Travels round the World in the Years 1767-1771 . This translation is generally accepted as the first account in English describing Texas. 7 TRAVELS R 0 U N D THE W 0 R L D, I.B 0. THE T:E A R. $ MONSIEUR DE PAGES, CAPTAIN IN THB FR.ENCH NAVY, CHEVA1.IER. OF TH& ]lOYAL AND MILITAR.Y OltDER. OF ST. LOUI!, AND COIlIlESPONDING MEMBER OF TH5 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PAR.lS. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 'OLUME THE SECOND. LON DON: »lUfTID POI. J "'VJ.I.AY, N- 32, rLllT s1'l.laT. Jf.DCC.l<CI. ATHANASE DE MEZIERES 1770 Athanase de Mezieres was a soldierexplorer- diplomat who abandoned his French ties to serve a Spanish king. He was born of a noble family in Paris in 1715. His life of adventure began early-in 1733 he came to Louisiana. He was a soldier, Indian trader, and plantation owner at Natchitoches from 1743 to 1753. In 1746 he married the daughter of Louis de St. Denis, but she died in childbirth two years later. A second wife and two children died in an epidemic in 1777. When the Spanish took over Louisiana west of the Mississippi, de Mezieres worked for them as commandant at Natchitoches. As lieutenant governor from 1769 to 1779, he was instrumental in winning the North Texas Indian tribes' support for Spain. He had a plan for building in their midst a presidio to be commanded by Louis de St. Denis, son of the old explorer. And he hoped to raise 300 8 . French chasseurs in Louisiana to fight the Apaches. Between 1770 and 1779 he made six expeditions through Texas, reaching as far west as San Antonio. He made some reports of momentous importance on these trips, and his fluency in French and Spanish was invaluable. In 1778 de Mezieres was appointed acting governor of Spanish Texas and, in 1779, governor. He died in San Antonio on November 2, 1779, before taking office and was buried in San Fernando cemetery. TEODORO DE CROIX 1778 Teodoro de Croix, a Frenchman in the service of Spain, performed the most significant mission of his career in 1777-1778, when he toured the northern provinces of New Spain to shore up defenses against hostile Apaches. Teodoro de Croix He tightened the line of forts, raised fresh troops, made alliances with friendly tribes, and reformed corrupt and inefficient governmental administration. But his policies also resulted in the Spanish evacuation of East Texas, since the French no longer posed a threat. De Croix was born in his ancestral castle near Lille, France, in 1730. He entered the Spanish army at 17 and rose slowly to the rank of captain. In 1765 he came to Mexico with his uncle, the Marquis Carlos Francisco de Croix, who had been named viceroy. Teodoro was appointed inspector of troops and also served as customs collector at Acapulco. He was noted for his integrity and his administrative ability. He returned to Spain in 1771 as a brigadier of the Royal Guard but was back in Mexico in 1776, this time as commandant of the newly created Provincias Internas, an administrative division stretching from Texas to California. He visited San Antonio in 1778 to plan war against the Apaches. By 1781 de Croix had largely accomplished his reforms. A tenuous peace had been established with the Apaches. And with the alliance of Spain and France in behalf of American independence from England, de Croix's role in Texas and the northern provinces was ended. Beginning in 1783, he served as viceroy of Peru. He died in Madrid, Spain, in 1792. PEDRO VIAL 1786 Pedro Vial, a native of Lyons, France, was an explorer in the service of Spain. In 1786 he was given a two-fold mission by Governor Domingo Cabello: to find a direct route from San Antonio to Santa Fe, and to test the attitude of the Comanche and Wichita Indians ,_ - - - - - I ~- . eli/III/Alii". • ••• ••• TRIP OF /786 - TRIPOFI788-89 --- TRIP OF 1792-93 <. C. Vial's travels to Spanish rule. Vial and a companion left San Antonio on October 4 and arrived in Santa Fe on May 26, 1787, after many hardships. The governor of New Mexico then commissioned him the following year to explore a route down the Red and Sabine rivers to Natchitoches and to return to Santa Fe by way of San Antonio. Once again he was instructed to gather information about the Indian tribes and to improve relations with them. This time Vial was back in Santa Fe by August 1789. In 1792 he blazed a trail from Santa Fe to St. Louis, returning the following year. Except for the years 1797-1799 , when he lived near St. Louis~ Vial operated from Santa Fe until his death there in 1814. LoUIS-MICHEL AURY 1816 Louis-Michel Aury had a brief reign as kingpin of the Galveston Island pirates, before he was replaced by the Laffite brothers. Aury, born in Paris in 1788, served on French privateers until he acquired enough capital to become master of his own vessels. In 1816 he went to Galveston, where he was made resident commissioner by Jose Manuel de Herrera, a New Orleans- based rebel who proclaimed the island a post of the non-existent Mexican Republic. Contraband shipping and slave smuggling into New Orleans were the rule in Aury's far-from-peaceful settlement of shacks on the sand. In April 1817 he accompanied Francisco Xavier Mina's invasion of Mexico, an unsuccessful effort to liberate that country from Spain. When Aury returned to Galveston three months later, he had been displaced by the Laffites. In July he sailed off to join the famous privateer Gregor Macgregor on Amelia Island on the Atlantic coast of northern Florida. Aury died four years later on Providence Island in the South Caribbean Sea. Jean Laifite, by E. H. Suydam JEAN LAFFITE 1818 Jean Laffite's pirate "republic" on Galveston Island contained more than 1 ,000 persons at the peak of its notoriety in 1818. Two years later, confronted with the determination of the American government to end his illegal operations, Laffite sailed away to Isla Mujeres off the coast of Yucatlin , where he continued his nefarious activities until 1826. Jean Laffite, born in Bayonne, France, was the son of a French father and a Spanish mother. Like Aury, he became a privateer at a relatively young age. Until 1814, when authorities forced him away, his base of operations was Barataria Island off the Louisiana coast. The following year he and his brother, Pierre, fought under General Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. While in the Crescent City Laffite offered his services as a secret agent to the Spanish Crown. He became familiar with Galveston Island while he was on an assignment to rid the faltering Spanish government of some Mexican privateers headquartered there. He tactfully won the allegiance of the renegades, and since Spain was gradually losing her Mexican dominion anyway, set up his own pirate "republic." 9 Scene at Champ d'Asile Laffite lived in high style. His home, Maison Rouge, was an impressive red-painted structure with cannons mounted in the second-floor windows. Spain was powerless to dislodge him from his island retreat, and the United States had no jurisdiction there. Unauthorized piracy by his lieutenants on American ships ultimately brought his downfall. In May 1820 Laffite and a handpicked crew sailed away on his favorite vessel, The Pride. In 1826, mortally ill, he came to the Mexican mainland to die. CHAMP D' ASILE 1818 A French-led expedition established the short-lived Champ d'Asile colony on the lower Trinity River near present- day Liberty in 1818. Their dream was to rescue Napoleon from prison on St. Helena and make him emperor of Mexico. The venture was launched in Philadelphia with about 150 persons under the command of General 10 Antoine Rigaud. In December 1817 they sailed on the schooner Huntress , reaching Galveston in early January 1818. There they were met by General Charles Lallemand with supplies and enough recruits to bring the total company to about 400 persons. The expedition was now a motley mingling of French exiles, Poles, Spaniards, Mexicans, Americans, and a few "reformed" pirates. Proceeding to the lower Trinity, they established a military-type encampment. Their devotion to military exercises and maneuvers gave them little time to cultivate the necessary food supplies. As a result, General Lallemand went to New Orleans to raise money for supplies. Meanwhile, the Spanish threatened to attack Champ d'Asile. The rest of the colony, not wishing to fight on empty stomachs, moved again to Galveston. While they were waiting for the general's return, their temporary camp on the island was devastated by a hur-ricane. Jean Laffite pondered briefly on turning the survivors over to the Spanish for a reward, but realized that such an act would draw unwanted attention to his domain. He gave the little band a ship - one he had captured from Spain - and they gratefully sailed away. Some colonists could not wait to escape Laffite's island; they walked overland to New Orleans. THE WILLIAM ALLEY FAMILY 1822 William Alley Sr. was a Frenchman in Stephen F. Austin's original group of Texas colonists. He and his five sons made a substantial contribution to the success of the venture. Alley was born in France about 1770 and may have lived for a time in Pennsylvania before emigrating to Missouri soon after 1800. At St. Genevieve he and his wife became friends with the Moses Austin family. In 1821 a son, Rawson, settled in Austin's Texas colony. The follow- ing year other members of the family came and settled on the Atascosito Road crossing of the Colorado River near present Alleyton, Texas. A son, John C., was killed by Karankawa Indians at the mouth of Skull Creek during the winter of 1822- 1823. The father was also a victim of the Karankawas the following year. Tragedy continued to stalk the family. In 1826 a second son, Thomas, was on a campaign against the Waco and Tonkawa Indians when his horse fell and threw him in the Colorado River, injuring him so badly he drowned. Rawson was sindico procurador (prosecuting attorney) for the government of Austin's Colony. He died sometime prior to October 7, 1833, when William B. Travis handled the probation of his will. In 1845 William A. Alley Jr. was one of nine Colorado County citizens who nominated James Pinckney Henderson as first governor of Texas. William Jr. died at Alleyton in 1869. Abraham Alley survived them all; he died sometime after 1870. Descendants of this pioneer family still live at Alleyton. JEAN-LOUIS BERLANDIER 1828 Jean-Louis Berlandier was a botanist whose monumental work, beginning in 1828, laid the foundation on which the future study of Texas plant life was based. Born in France near the Swiss border in 1805, Berlandier was edu- JEAH lOUIS BERlANOIER's TU,YILS Berlandier's route cated in Geneva. His botany teacher, Auguste-Pyrame de Candolle, sent Berlandier to Mexico in December 1826 to collect plants. Late the following year, the talented young student joined General Manuel de Mier y Teran's expedition to Texas. While a member of the expedition, he made botanical collections near Laredo in February 1828 and around San Antonio, Gonzales, and San Felipe in the spring. The specimens were packed and sent to Geneva for classification and further study. Illness caused Berlandier to return to Matamoros, but he was back in San Antonio later that year to accompany the Jose Francisco Ruiz expedition to the San Saba River in November and December. He returned a third time in 1829 with Antonio Elonsa to suppress a mutiny at Presidio la Bahia, then continued on to visit New Orlearrs before settling permanently in Matamoros that November. Although he married and became a physician, hi'S botanical trips in Mexico and Texas continued. During the Mexican War h~ was in charge of hospitals in the Matamoros area. Berlandier drowned near the city in 1851. MICHEL AND PETER MENARD 1829 Closely connected with events of the Texas Revolution and the founding of Galveston were the French-Canadian Menard brothers. Michel Menard was born in 1805 near Montreal and, at the age of 16, entered the fur trade with the American Northwest Fur Company in Detroit. Three years later he was trading in Illinois and Missouri with his uncle, Pierre Menard. By 1826 he was in Shreveport, Louisiana, and in 1829 was trading with the Indians and Mexicans around N acogdoches, Texas. After a brief stay in Illinois in the early 1830's, Michel Menard came to Texas permanently. He was credited with helping keep the Indians quiet during the Texas Revolution. More important, he was a delegate from Liberty County to the 1836 Michel Menard Convention and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He also helped write the Republic of Texas' constitution. In November 1836 he was one of the Texas commissioners who tried unsuccessfully to raise a $5,000,000 loan in the U.S. That same year Menard bought a league of land on Galveston Island for $50,000, and two years later he organized the Galveston City Company with nine partners. He represented Galveston County in the Texas House of Representatives in 1840- 1841. In addition to his other business activities, he was also a cotton broker. Menard was a devout Roman Catholic. The first mass in Galveston was recited in one of his buildings by Father John Timon in 1838. Menard later supported the work of Bishop John M . Odin in reestablishing the Catholic Church in Texas. Michel Menard died in 1856. Today a Texas county is named in his honor. Peter Menard, brother of Michel, came to Texas in 1833. Menard's Chapel, a ghost town in Polk County; marks the location of his early gristmill. He was elected to the Committee of Public Safety for Liberty County in the days preceding the Texas Revolution and was a delegate to the Consultation at San Felipe in 1835. That winter he served as a member of the General Council and subsequently negotiated with the Cherokee Indians 11 Peter Menard during the revolution. From December 1835 until November 1836, he was captain of the first Regiment of Artillery. After the war he spent the rest of his life in Galveston, where he served as the island city's first postmaster. Peter Menard died in 1861. DR. NICHOLAS LABADIE 18.30 Dr. Nicholas Labadie was a French Canadian who provided medical services to members of the Texian army as it retreated from Gonzales to final victory at San Jacinto . He wrote an account of that campaign which appeared in the 1859 Texas Almanac. He recalled Sam Houston trying to restore Dr. Nicholas Labadie 12 . order among his troops in the aftermath of their triumph: "Gentlemen, I applaud your bravery, but damn your manners!" Like many others, Labadie suffered heavy personal loss as a result of the revolution. He contributed many more useful years, however, as a pioneer builder of Galveston. Born in Ontario in 1802, Labadie originally sought a career in the Catholic clergy. He came to Missouri in 1823 to study for the priesthood but in 1828 began instead the study of medicine in St. Louis. He entered Texas in 1830, carrying a letter of recommendation to Stephen F. Austin. When the Texas Revolution began, Labadie was practicing medicine at Anahuac. In March 1836 he was assigned to the First Regiment of Texas Volunteers. As a Galveston resident after the war, he continued the practice of medicine and operated the first drugstore in the community. He also established a line of sailing vessels between Galveston and Pensacola and later built a major wharf on the Gal-veston waterfront. During. the Civil War he was medical officer for Texas troops stationed on the island. Until his death in 1867 Labadie remained a staunch supporter of the Catholic Church. MOSES ROSE 18.36 Moses Rose, whose real name was Louis Rose, won a permanent - if dubious - niche in Texas tradition as the sole Alamo defender who chose escape in preference to certain death, when given a choice by Colonel William B. Travis. Rose was an old Napoleonic war veteran, who, upon viewing a hopeless situation, chose to run away and fight another day. Hours before the final Mexican assault began, he escaped over the wall and made his way along deserted streets to the open countryside. It was Rose who was responsible for the legend about Travis drawing a line and inviting his men to cross over if they wished to die with him in the cause of liberty. Rose was born in France about 1785. He served in Napoleon's army III Russia and Italy, then came to Texas in 1826. He worked in the sawmills and as a teamster around N acogdoches until he accompanied his friend Jim Bowie to San Antonio late in 1835. After escaping from the Alamo on March 3, 1836, Rose returned to Nacogdoches, where he operated a butcher shop for the next half dozen years. He died near Logansport, Louisiana, in 1850. JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 18.37 In 1837 John James Audubon, the famous French naturalist-painter, accompanied by his son, John W, visited Galveston Island and nearby islands in a somewhat disappointing search for new species of birds, animals, and plants. He also traveled to Houston, then the capital of the Republic of Texas, and recorded some lively observations of the bustling village. Audubon met President Sam Houston and members of his cabinet and was immensely impressed with the striking dress and dominating personality of the soldier-statesman. The ornithological results of the trip can be found in the fourth volume of his Birds of America, which gave the first comprehensive description of many Texas birds in their native habitat. JohnJ. Audubon was the Haitiborn (1785) illegitimate son of a French naval officer. During his school years in France, the youth discovered a talent for drawing birds. At age 18 he was sent to the United States to oversee some of the family property holdings. Soon after this he married. He was involved in several unsuccessful business ventures, declared bankruptcy, and in 1820 decided to concentrate on his drawing of birds. He painted portraits and taught drawing to earn a living, while his wife worked as a governess. By 1826 Audubon had completed enough drawings to impress a publisher in London, and he quickly became widely recognized as a brilliant naturalist and painter, a career he pursued, traveling extensively in Europe and America to gather material, until Peter Menard during the revolution. From December 1835 until November 1836, he was captain of the first Regiment of Artillery. After the war he spent the rest of his life in Galveston, where he served as the island city's first postmaster. Peter Menard died in 1861. DR. NICHOLAS LABADIE 1830 Dr. Nicholas Labadie was a French Canadian who provided medical services to members of the Texian army as it retreated from Gonzales to final victory at San Jacinto . He wrote an account of that campaign which appeared in the 1859 Texas Almanac. He recalled Sam Houston trying to restore Dr. Nicholas Labadie 12 . order among his troops in the aftermath of their triumph: "Gentlemen, I applaud your bravery, but damn your manners!" Like many others, Labadie suffered heavy personal loss as a result of the revolution. He contributed many more useful years, however, as a pioneer builder of Galveston. Born in Ontario in 1802, Labadie originally sought a career in the Catholic clergy. He came to Missouri in 1823 to study for the priesthood but in 1828 began instead the study of medicine in St. Louis. He entered Texas in 1830, carrying a letter of recommendation to Stephen F. Austin. When the Texas Revolution began, Labadie was practicing medicine at Anahuac. In March 1836 he was assigned to the First Regiment of Texas Volunteers. As a Galveston resident after the war, he continued the practice of medicine and operated the first drugstore in the community. He also established a line of sailing vessels between Galveston and Pensacola and later built a major wharf on the Gal-veston waterfront. During. the Civil War he was medical officer for Texas troops stationed on the island. Until his death in 1867 Labadie remained a staunch supporter of the Catholic Church. MOSES ROSE 1836 Moses Rose, whose real name was Louis Rose, won a permanent - if dubious - niche in Texas tradition as the sole Alamo defender who chose escape in preference to certain death, when given a choice by Colonel William B. Travis. Rose was an old Napoleonic war veteran, who, upon viewing a hopeless situation, chose to run away and fight another day. Hours before the final Mexican assault began, he escaped over the wall and made his way along deserted streets to the open countryside. It was Rose who was responsible for the legend about Travis drawing a line and inviting his men to cross over if they wished to die with him in the cause of liberty. Rose was born in France about 1785. He served in Napoleon's army In Russia and Italy, then came to Texas in 1826. He worked in the sawmills and as a teamster around Nacogdoches until he accompanied his friend Jim Bowie to San Antonio late in 1835. After escaping from the Alamo on March 3, 1836, Rose returned to Nacogdoches, where he operated a butcher shop for the next half dozen years. He died near Logansport, Louisiana, in 1850. JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 1837 In 1837 John James Audubon, the famous French naturalist-painter, accompanied by his son, John W, visited Galveston Island and nearby islands in a somewhat disappointing search for new species of birds, animals, and plants. He also traveled to Houston, then the capital of the Republic of Texas, and recorded some lively observations of the bustling village. Audubon met President Sam Houston and members of his cabinet and was immensely impressed with the striking dress and dominating personality of the soldier-statesman. The ornithological results of the trip can be found in the fourth volume of his Birds oj America, which gave the first comprehensive description of many Texas birds in their native habitat. JohnJ. Audubon was the Haitiborn (1785) illegitimate son of a French naval officer. During his school years in France, the youth discovered a talent for drawing birds. At age 18 he was sent to the United States to oversee some of the family property holdings. Soon after this he married. He was involved in several unsuccessful business ventures, declared bankruptcy, and in 1820 decided to concentrate on his drawing of birds. He painted portraits and taught drawing to earn a living, while his wife worked as a governess. By 1826 Audubon had completed enough drawings to impress a publisher in London, and he quickly became widely recognized as a brilliant naturalist and painter, a career he pursued, traveling extensively in Europe and America to gather material, until his death in 1851. His son, John Woodhouse Audubon, followed in his father's occupational footsteps. In 1845 John W came again to Texas in search of new species of animal life to include in The Quadrupeds of North America. He was befriended on this trip by the noted Texas Ranger Jack Hays. Four years later John W made his third trip to Texas while en route to the California goldfields. THEODORE LEGER 1838 In 1838 Theodore Leger wrote the first English-language medical text published in Texas. The imposing title was Essay on the Particular Irifluence of Pr~judice John J. Audubon in Medicine on the Treatment of the Disease Most Common in Texas, Intermittent Fever; Preceded by a Few General Observations on Medical Theories. Leger's qualifications for writing such a book were impressive, too. He had served on the faculty of a Paris medical school. On coming to the New World, he served for a time at the Medical College of Mexico, then established a practice in New Orleans. He came to Texas in December 1836 and opened an office in Brazoria. He was one of the doctors who attended Stephen F. Austin in his last illness. In 1838 Leger published a short-lived newspaper, The People, m which he espoused the policies of Mirabeau Lamar. PAUL BREMOND 1839 Paul Bremond, New York-born son of a French father, left his mark on the Texas landscape as an energetic railroad builder. He arrived in Texas in 1839, a refugee from a series of business reverses. At 12 he had left school to begin an apprenticeship as a hatter. Six years later he and a partner invested their savings in a store of their own, but an overly generous credit policy brought about their ruin. Bremond started anew - this time on his ownin Philadelphia. He prospered until the Panic of 1836 cost him all of his modest fortune. He loaded a vessel with mercantile goods and sailed for Galveston, where he opened a small store not far from the old customs house. Within a year's time he opened a new and larger store, in which he conducted an auction and commission business. In 1842 he moved his business to Houston, continuing as a merchant until railroading became his major pursuit. In 1852 Bremond addressed a public meeting at Chappel Hill, in which he advocated building a railroad to connect Houston and North Texas. In 1856 he led in getting the name of the Galveston and Red River Railroad changed to the Houston and Texas Central. He served for two years as president of the reorganized line. After the Civil War Bremond formed the Houston East and West Railway con- Paul Bremond 13 '". # , .:' .~ . Main:r,Iaza ~nAn"'tcnj 0 . Texa~') Guilbeau's store on Main Plaza near San Fernando Church, San Antonio. (Camels were introduced in 1856 for use by the army, then were sold in 1866 for commercial use as ~ack animals. Perhaps Guilbeau himself used them in his extensive business.) necting Houston and Shreveport. This. project was uncompleted when he died in 1885. The railroad town of Bremond in East Central Texas is named for him. A brother, John, became a noted Austin banker whose unique legacy is the famous Bremond Blocka collection of architecturally distinctive old houses not far from the state capitol. The six homes, built by the same family at different times after 1850, are on the National Register of Historic Buildings. FREDERIC GAILLARDET French journalist Frederic Gaillardet visited Texas in 1839. Accompanied by Alphonse de Saligny, the French diplomatic representative in Texas, he called upon General Sam Houston and President Mirabeau Lamar. Then the two Frenchmen visited the principal Texas towns and villages. Subsequently, Gaillardet wrote a lively account of his travels, replete with interesting character sketches of the people he had met. He thought the flowercarpeted Texas prairies were magnificent - "the most delightful sight the 14 eye can behold." His French eye observed only one serious deficiency: a shortage of women. His enthusiastic articles, published in both Paris and New York newspapers, suggested that European overpopulation might be alleviated by encouraging emigration to the new republic. These writings were influential in securing French recognition of Texas. FRANQOIS GUILBEAU A French-born wine merchant of San Antonio, Texas, is credited with saving the vineyards of France from extinction in the years 1875-1878. A root disease called phylloxera was killing the grapevines. Fran~ois Guilbeau and Matthew Knox, a San Antonio nurseryman, began shipping sturdy mustang grape plants to France, where the disease-resistant stock was then grafted to the endangered vines. Guilbeau was born in Brittany in 1813. After serving in the French army in Algiers, he came to San Antonio and-with a partner-opened a bakery and wine shop on Main Plaza in 1839. He was mayor pro tern of San Antonio in 1841 and the following year was made French vice consul, a post he held until 1859. Beginning in 1844, he assisted Henri Castro in the settlement of his colony west of San Antonio. By the mid-1840's Guilbeau had a far-flung business empire, with oxtrains running to the Texas Gulf Coast and to Monterrey and Chihuahua in Mexico. He also had a magnificent French-style mansion on South Main Street, with furnishings imported from France and hauled by oxcart from the port at Old Indianola. Robert E. Lee was a visitor in his home. Guilbeau performed additional public service as an alderman in 1854-1855 and again in 1870. In 1876 he became first president of the French Mutual Benevolent Society. When he died in 1879 he was one of the wealthiest men in Texas. ALPHONSE DE SALIGNY "Count" Alphonse de Saligny's diplomatic career as charge d'affaires to the infant Texas republic was interrupted in 1839 by a comic-opera quarrel with an Austin innkeeper named Alphonse de Saligny Bullock. The innkeeper's pigs had invaded the "Count's" quarters and were shot by a servant. Bullock gave the servant a thrashing, for which Saligny demanded satisfaction from the government. Texas ignored the matter; and the diplomat went to New Orleans . He succeeded in convincing the French minister of finance that Texas should not receive a $5,000,000 loan . He failed , however, to secure a break in diplomatic relations between the two countries. Saligny was followed in his post by Viscount Jules de Cramayel, and French-Texan affairs were smoothed over. Alphonse de Saligny had been a secretary at the French embassy in Washington when his government sent him to Texas to compile a report on the situation there. On his recommendation France extended the muchdesired diplomatic recognition to Texas, and Saligny was named charge. In 1840 he built the French Legation in the new capital, Austin. Today this restored building is one of the state's historic showplaces. After the Pig War episode Saligny came again to Texas in 1844, attempting to prevent its annexation to the United States. The French not only feared that annexation would lead to Anglo-American domination of the North American continent but would endanger a potentially lucrative trade relationship with an independent Texas nation. When Texas joined the Union in 1846, Saligr.; y returned to France. He served his country as minister to Holland in 1850-1851 and as minister ad interim in Mexico 1860 to 1863. He was instrumental in precipitating French intervention into Mexican affairs which resulted in the ill-fated reign of Emperor Maximilian and his wife, Carlotta. Saligny died in France in 1888. '/ 1 • THE FRANCO -TEXIAN TREATY 1840 On September 25, 1839, France became the first European country to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the new Republic of Texas. Since the dark days of 1836, Texas had sought foreign recognition, financial aid, and new settlers to strengthen herself against possible renewed Mexican invasion. J . Pinckney Henderson's mission to London and Paris was aided by a brief confrontation between France and Mexico. The French navy clamped a blockade along the Mexican coast from Yucatan to the Rio Grande in 1838 in order to enforce certain private claims by French citizens against the Mexican government. One of the claimants was a French baker whose pastry shop in Mexico City had been ransacked by celebrating Mexican soldiers . The entire episode was quickly dubbed the "Pastry War." Smuggling through South Texas ports became a highly profitable venture. Texans were fearful that the contraband trade would endanger their chances for French recognition, and so they sent a militia force to halt the illegal traffic. Near Corpus Christi the troops chased an outlaw band from a cliff overlooking the bay. In their haste I ~ < :. \ . '\,r . i "The French Legation, )) by E .M. Schiwetz 15 . 1'',.-.- ;/ •••••• • • • :./ ,.~ . t ~ .1. \ _ Jli.· . ' (.J),,~ .t .:. ,J>.~( . I;' . \.'\ .' ) _ J. {j;u,k . nl f.,( ••• {U,.,1I The Franco- Texian Treaty the smugglers left behind about a hundred barrels of flour, and to this day the place is known as Flour Bluff. The . claims against Mexico finally were adjusted after British intervention. When Admiral Charles Baudin, the French commander, visited Houston and Galveston in May 1839, he received a hero's welcome from the Texans. The French mission in the United States sent Alphonse de Saligny. to make a report on the independence of Texas. Saligny's report was a favorable one. A treaty was formally proclaimed in February 1840. It established trade on a "most favored nation" basisTexan duties on French wines were reduced by two-fifths, on silks by onehalf, and Texas cotton was to enter France on the same basis as American cotton - 20 francs per 100 kilograms. The Franco-Texian treaty of 1839 lapsed in 1846, when Texas was annexed to the United States. THE FRANCO-TEXIENNE BILL 1841 Fear of marauding Plains Indians made Texans seriously consider a proposal to establish a series of Frenchmanned outposts on the western fron- 16 tier in 1841 . President Sam Houston believed Texas too weak to protect its borders and listened willingly when a pair of Frenchmen offered to build 20 forts to be manned by 8,000 French families . In return, the French would get a 3,000,000-acre grant in West Texas, mining privileges thereonwith payment of a 15 percent royalty - trading concessions at Santa Fe and Chihuahua, and the introduction of duty free goods. A bill to implement this proposed 20-year agreement was introduced into the Texas Congress onJanuary 12, 1842. It soon passed the House of Representatives but died in the Senate after it became a political issue between pro- and anti-Houston forces. Opponents saw the idea as a threat to the sovereignty of the republic. The bill was introduced again in 1842, but, by this time, Houston's enthusiasm had waned, and the bill died . Diplomat Alphonse de Saligny was indignant over the matter and used the Pig War as an excuse to go sulking off to New Orleans. JOHN M. ODIN, FIRST BISHOP OF GALVESTON John M . Odin was the first of many French priests who pioneered the restoration of the Catholic Church in independent Texas. Odin was born in Hauteville, France, near Lyons, in 1800. He was educated in several private schools before entering the seminary at St. Irene in 1819. In 1822 he volunteered for a Louisiana mission and was sent to the Vincentian Seminary at The Barrens near St. Louis, Missouri. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1823 but continued on duty at the seminary as a faculty member. For five years he was a parish priest at Cape Girardeau. During this time he made a trip to Europe to raise funds for missionary work among the Indians and to encourage other priests to come to America. In 1841 he was named Vice Prefect Apostolic for Texas and began the task of revitalizing the Roman Catholic Church in Texas after years of disorganization. From San Antonio Odin petitioned the Tex-as Congress to grant the Church all buildings and lands in San Antonio which had belonged to it under the Spanish government. In Austin he made quite a favorable impression on the congressmen, served for a time as chaplain of the senate, and had his petition enacted into law. In 1842 he was made Vicar Apostolic of Texas, and three years later he went to Europe to recruit more priests . He returned with 15 new missionaries and a half million Belgian bricks which had been donated with the freight pre-paid to Texas. Bishop John M. Odin Expansion of church activity was so rapid that, in 1847, the Diocese of Galveston was created. This district covered all of Texas, and Odin was appointed to administer it. The German traveler and journalist Ferdinand Roemer said of the bishop that he "lives in the style of the old gospel preachers, inasmuch as he travels continually about the country, visiting the Catholics. Fearlessly and tirelessly he traverses the lonesome prairies on horseback, and through his restless energy and unassuming, charming personality has earned for himself the universal respect of those not ·of his faith." Odin also brought scores of teaching nuns and brothers to Texas as part of an aggressive parochial education program. In 1861 he was promoted to Archbishop of New Orleans. He attended the Vatican Council in Rome in 1869 but became ill there and returned to his native town in France, where he died in 1870. FRENCH CATHOLICS AND TEXAS Under Spanish and Mexican rule, Texas had been - by law - a Roman Catholic province. After the war for independence from Mexico, Texans rejected the idea of an official religion. There was a strong tide against Catholicism because of its association with a government that Texans had grown to hate. Certainly a cleric of Spanish or Mexican ancestry worked under a heavy handicap. It was French interest and French money that ultimately restored a badly demoralized Catholic Church in Texas. Continued direction from the Mexican Diocese of Monterrey was impossible , so Texas was placed under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which sent Father John Timon as Prefect Apostolic . Timon and his Vice Prefect, John M. Odin, began their efforts in 1841, and soon scores of priests and nuns were drawn to this mission field from French orders. Father Odin became Bishop of Galveston in 1847 and was succeeded in that capacity by another Frenchman, Father Claude Dubuis, in 1861 . Both men visited their homeland in search of volunteers to minister to the widely scattered Texas Catholics. Fi- Old St. Mary's College in San Antonio nanciarsupport came from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith at Lyons, France. . During the 1840's and '50's, several religious orders established convents, churches, orphanages, hospitals, and schools across Texas. The Vincentians built houses in San Antonio and Galveston in the 1840's. They were followed by the Ursuline Sisters from New Orleans, who founded girls' schools in Galveston (1847) and San Antonio (1851). The Oblates arrived in 1849 and built schools in the Rio Grande Valley during the 1850's. The Society of Mary Brothers came from France in 1851 to open a boys' school in San Antonio. St. Mary's University is the direct successor of that small school. Then the Incarnate Word and the Divine Providence Sisters came from France after the Civil War. The Incarnate Word group, from Lyons, founded hospitals in Galveston and San Antonio. Incarnate Word College in San Antonio also resulted from their efforts. The Divine Providence Sisters, from Lorraine, established schools in Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Castroville, as well as Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio. These orders brought the benefits of education, medical care, and reli-gious instruction to a new frontier. The manpower and money supplied by France to these causes represented a very substantial contribution to the settlement and civilization of Texas. HENRI CASTRO 1842 Henri Castro was one of the most successful empresarios in the Texas republic. Born in France of PortugueseJewish ancestry in 1786, he accompanied Napoleon I on a visit to Spain as a Guard of Honor. In 1814 Castro fought in defense of Paris against invading European allies. Four years later he was named an officer in the Legion of Honor. In 1827 he arrived in the U.S., became an American citizen, and acted as consul for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Providence, Rhode Island. Returning to France in 1838, he became a partner in the banking house of Lafitte and Company, where he attempted to negotiate a $5,000,000 loan for the young Republic of Texas. While in Texas in 1842, Castro entered into a contract with the Texan government to settle a colony of 600 French families on two grants: the first west of San Antonio, and the second bordering the Rio Grande on land disputed by Texas and Mexico. He was remarkably successful in his colonization scheme, although opposed by French diplomats in Texas and by the French government. By 1847 he had contracted for, and settled, 485 fami- Henri Castro 17 lies and 457 single men on his grant along the Medina River. There he established Castroville in 1844, as well as the nearby villages of Quihi in 1845, Vandenburg in 1846, and D'Hanis in 1847. In the process, Castro spent his considerable fortune and impoverished his family. While attempting to return to France during the Civil War, Henri Castro died of yellow fever in Monterrey, Mexico. CASTRO'S COLONY Amidst elegant surroundings in Henri Castro's Paris office at 18 Rue de Lafitte, prospective colonists applied for land in the empresario's Texas domain. From that office Castro had written brochures to attract settlers not only in France, but also in the German Rheinland and in the North Countries. His agents looked everywhere for dependable and industrious workers. The contract with the Texan government called for the introduction of 600 families or single men over 17 within three years. Each family was to receive 640 acres, while single men got half that. Land titles would be issued only after the colonists built a cabin and fenced and cultivated 15 acres. According to the contract, Castro was to get ten sections ofland for each 100 families brought to Texas, and the same number of half sections for each 100 single men. Each 100 families was to have one section of land for a church. Castro had to introduce one third of the entire number within one year or forfeit the contract with the Texan government. No criminals or people of bad character were to be introduced, and the colonists were prohibited from selling liquor, gunpowder, and firearms to the Indians. Castro was also allowed to bring 400 additional families upon one year's notice to the government. In the contracts between Castro and the colonists, the empresario was to provide transportation and passage to Texas in return for one-half of each family's grant. Each family was to provide the necessary clothing, farm tools, and means of passage ($32 for the voyage), and to make a $10 deposit of 18 The Old St. Louis Churches good faith. One year's subsistence was necessary for each family. The first ship, the Ebro, sailed from Le Havre with 114 French colonists in the fall of 1842 and arrived at Galveston inJanuary 1843. They proceeded via oxcart to Port Lavaca and San'Antonio, where they were given provisional land by Secretary of State " AnsonJones. Through 1847 a total of 2,134 colonists settled in the Castro . grant. Until Castroville was. founded in September 1844, many of these people lived in San Antonio. They received help in taking possession of their land when Captain Jack Hays and five Texas Rangers accompanied them to layout their town . To each family Henri Castro gave a town lot and a farm of 640 acres on the Medina River. He also provided material for building a house and enough rations on which to live until a crop could be put in and harvested. As soon as the town was established, Castro appointed an immigrant agent in Galveston to help his colonists proceed to Castroville. He then hurried to France to defend himself - successfully - against charges of fraud before the Royal Court of Colmar. By late 1845 Castro was bankrupt and transferred the entire colonization project to a group of Belgian capitalists. He then returned to Texas with his family - but as the agent of the new company. His colonists eventually were given their land titles by the Texas government, but Castro failed to regain his fortune. "Castroville is a French town with a German fla vor growing out of Texas soil." - Julia Nott Waugh CASTROVILLE 1844 Named for its founder, Henri Castro, Castroville is a French-Alsatian village 25 miles west of San Antonio. Founded in September 1844, the community faced drought and epidemics during its first years of existence and suffered Indian raids until the 1880's. The 558 headrights issued the first year went mainly to immigrants from the province of Alsace in France. Despite adverse conditions these colonists clung to their wilderness homes. They built small stone houses with steeply pitched roofs and laid the cornerstone for the St. Louis Catholic Church soon after their arrival. Castroville soon had a brewery, gristmill, cotton gin, and shingle mill, as well as stores and a large, comfortable inn for weary travelers on the busy road from San Antonio to Del Rio and points west . In 1848 the town became the seat of newly created Medina County. The inveterate traveler Frederick Olmsted was charmed with Castroville in its idyllic setting. In 1857 he wrote: "The cottages are scattered prettily, and there are two churches - the whole aspect being as far from Texas as possible. It might sit for the portrait of one of the poorer villages of the upper Rhone valley." When the railroad bypassed Castroville in the 1880's, the town became a quiet farming community, where people clung to their Alsa- tian dialect and traditions . The distinctive stone houses have been carefully maintained and often enlarged. The St. Louis Church has been twice rebuilt, the last time in 1870. The annual St. Louis Day festival is attended by tens of thousands of visitors who help preserve the ethnic and CiViC pride of Castroville's people. THEODORE GENTILZ One of Texas' most noted artists, Theodore Gentilz, came with Henri Castro's colonists in 1844. Born in Paris in 1819, he received an artist's education in his native city, then entered Castro's employ as a surveyor. By 1846 Gentilz was representing the empresario in San Antonio, and the following year he laid out the town of D'Hanis. In 1849 he went to Paris to marry Marie Fargeix, after which they returned to live in San Antonio. Although he was listed as a merchant in the 1850 census, Gentilz's life was soon devoted to art and teaching. He spent more than three decades on the faculty of St. Mary's College. His wife taught voice and piano in the family home on North Flores Street. Gentilz's paintings have become a famous and highly cherished part of the Texas cultural heritage . His realistic portrayals of Mexican and Texan life in the mid-19th century reflect great technical skill. His scenes of San Antonio - most of them small and very colorful- preserve the folk customs and the physical appearance of a frontier town a century ago. He died in his adopted city in 1906. FATHER CLAUDE-MARIE DUBUIS 1847 Father Claude-Marie Dubuis was the first priest in Castroville, where he was assisted by Father Emmanuel Domenech. Father Claude was captured twice by Comanches but escaped both times . Upon hearing that he was a chief in his church, the Indians treated him with respect. Dubuis felt that the Comanche warriors were "prodigies of valor and daring." This intrepid missionary was born in 1817 in the town ofCoutouvre, France, and was trained at the seminary in Lyons . He was ordained in 1844 and came to America two years later. After a period of orientation at The Barrens near St. Louis, Dubuis was assigned to a parish which included Castroville, New Braunfels, . Bishop Claude Dubuis and Fredericksburg. His residence was Castroville, his home there a picket hut. His furniture, he said, consisted of scorpions and a cowhide to sleep on. Church attendance began to improve, a circumstance which Dubuis attributed to an 18-month-long drought and a series of misfortunes that had befallen people who worked on Sunday. Sometime after 1850 Dubuis was sent to France on recruiting duty. When he got ready to bring his volunteers back to Texas, he lacked enough money to pay their passage. He went to the ship's captain and offered his services as a doctor. The ship had been at sea only a short time when passengers began complaining of constipation. Discovering that there were no laxatives aboard, Dubuis stirred a mixture of molasses and seawater which he fed the victims. Soon they were either cured or too sick to care whether they were constipated or not. A woman who was about to give birth presented a more difficult situation, but he saved his reputation with quick thinking. Dubuis, pretending to be overworked, told the husband impa-tiently to go and find an old woman to assist at the delivery. When the ship landed the captain gave Dubuis a splendid letter of recommendation. In 1854 the missionary-priest was ordered to San Antonio, where he was instrumental in the construction of St. Mary's Church. When John M. Odin became Bishop of New Orleans, Dubuis was appointed to succeed him as Bishop of Galveston. He held this office until 1881. During that time he worked tirelessly, establishing churches, schools, and convents. He traveled constantly throughout the length and breadth of his vast diocese even to the Indian frontiers where no man dared go alone . His parishioners vowed that if his horse ever died they would erect a statue of the animal, but he wouldn't oblige. Years later Father Emmanuel Domenech wrote that "Bishop Dubuis was hard on good God himself, and didn't hesitate to force Him to work miracles." Dubuis returned to France in 1882 and died there in 1895 . FATHER EMMANUEL DOMENECH Pioneer Catholic missionary Father Emmanuel Domenech is best remembered for his wry observations of Texas and its inhabitants. Born in Lyons, France, in 1826, he came to America in 1846 with 14 other priests whom Bishop Odin had recruited. After a year's study at The Barrens in Missouri, Domenech reached Texas in 1847. The village of Houston he described as being infested with red ants and Methodists. He compared the coastal prairies to "the wild and melancholy grandeur of the desert. In these endless solitudes there reigns
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