98

[ Cros s ]

Year . . . . . . . of . . . . . . . 1781

Number 24.

Proceedings carried out in the matter of Don Simon de

Arocha, militia commander of the presidio of S[a]n Ant[oni]o

de Bexar and the villa of S[a]n Fernando, taking out three

hundred ten head of cattle to the province of Coahuila,

two hundred one being branded, the remaining one hundred

nine being unbranded. He has duly bound himself to abide

by the consequences of the lord commandant general's

decision with respect to the ownership of unbranded cattle,

in view of the petition made by the owners of ranchos on

Cibolo Creek and the S[a]n Antonio River; in virtue whereof

he is indebted for the sum of 218 pesos.

.v// [Blank]

99

1//

Senor Governor and Commandant Inspector:

Don Simon de Arocha, citizen of this villa of S[a]n

Fern[an]do and provisional militia commander thereof by

appointment of the lord governor of this province, appears

before Your Lordship as best provided by law and states

[the following]: Having the intention of taking out a

herd of cattle to sell at the-presidios of the line in

Coahuila, to best achieve my intention it becomes necessary

for me to trouble Your Lordship, beseeching you to grant

me the necessary permit to export said herd and to allow

said herd to be composed of inesteno cattle that summer

beyond the limits of the ranchos on the Sibolo and [beyond

the limits of] La Bahia Mission. And since it is my

intention that the said herd should number three hundred

head, (if it should not be practicable to round up said

number of inesteno cattle) may Your Lordship be so kind as

to also give me permission to make up said number with cattle

bearing my brand, for I have.been one of the livestock

raisers of these ranchos since they were founded and

stocked. It is necessary that I inform Your Lordship of

this because, in addition to the consideration just mentioned,

for four years I purchased the diezmos of the cattle of this

province--from the year [17]73 to [17]76. The number of

100

such cattle, including those I already owned, came to about

700 head. And I should tell Your Lordship that from the

said year of [17]76 to the present year of [17]81, I have

each year branded 150 calves, a few more or less. But

from all these livestock and their offspring, based on thelv

inspection I made // this year I doubt that 500 head

remain in the pasture land--with no removals [having been

made] other than a herd of 90 head, mostly young bulls,

plus the [few head butchered for the] use of my household.

Hence may Your Lordship deign to reflect upon how

many head must be my own of the cattle that wander off.

Furthermore '*I can establish that I have not taken a single

unbranded bovine, either in carneadas or in branding drives,

outside of my own pasture lands, which are limited. For

these reasons I run the risk of wearying Your Lordship's

kind attention. But despite the above just claims, I

bind myself to the payment of the value of said cattle

whenever the lord commandant general should be pleased to

decide what he finds to be just in this matter; I will pledge

the sum with the same type of cattle, with my house, with

four suertes of land and two days water rights thereon,

or [I will leave it] in reals with creditable guarantors.

And so that it shall be on record for all time that

I am legally obligated to fulfill the said pledge, I affix

my signature hereon, in this aforesaid villa, on the

101

nineteenth day of the month of July, in the year seventeen

eighty-one.

Simon de Arocha[Rubric]

[L.S., 1-lv pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

Decree The preceding has been examined. On

behalf of the citizenry of this villa of

San Fernando and the presidio of Bexar,

a petition was presented at this governorship. The petition

concerned the interests and rights that the said citizenry

have in unbranded bovines that are found between the San

Ant[oni]o and the Guadalupe rivers. The same arguments2

were put forward by the missions // of La Concepcion and

El [E]sp[iri]tu S[an]to, for which reason, in the month

of February of the past year of seventeen seventy-nine,

I forwarded the original,proceedings that were carried out

in the case, to the lord commandant general, in order that

he might be pleased to decid.e it and thus to prevent

incidents that arise. Now despite the fact that another,

similar petition was presented on the twentieth of

September of the same year, the point has not been decided

by His Lordship. Therefore, in order to prevent future

102

contingencies of the type that can arise in the rounding

up and exportation of cattle that this party [de Arocha]

asks permission to undertake, let him be informed--by one

of the attendant witnesses with whom I perform judicial acts

in the absence of a notary--[of the following]: Provided^,.

he guarantees in competent form the consequences of his

exporting unbranded cattle, he will be issued the permit

he solicits. He is to give notice of the place at which

he has the cattle gathered and herded, in order that a

person may be dispatched to count it so that the four

reals payable for each head of this type [unbranded]--

corresponding to the duty levied by the lord commandant

general--can be collected and placed in the chest constructed

for safekeeping of said duty. And with regard to his

request to export branded cattle, he is granted permission

to so proceed, the only limitation being that one third

of the beasts be cows, another third young bovines, and the2v

remaining // third bulls. He will state the number of

each type so that his permit can be issued and so that a

record of said numbers exported can be made and entered

in the register that was ordered for this purpose. I

thus dispose and command, and I affix my signature hereon,

I, Don Domingo Cabello: colonel in the royal armies; gover-

nor and commandant of arms of the province of Los Texas

and its missions, conquered lands and frontiers; captain

103

of the cavalry company of the royal presidio of San Ant[oni]o

de Bexar; and inspector general of militia units and presidial

troops of said province by commission conferred by the lord

commandant general of the Interior Provinces of the kingdom

of New Spain. Done at this presidio of San Ant[oni)o

de Bexar on the twenty-third of July in the year seventeen

eighty-one, in the presence of attendant witnesses, with

whom I am acting in the absence of a notary, on this

ordinary paper for none stamped is available; in witness

whereof I attest.

Cabello[Rubric]

Jose Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

[D.S., lv-2v pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

104

3// [Record of] On said day, month, and year,

NotificationI, Jose Placido de Monzon, one of

the attendant witnesses with whom

the lord governor of this province performs judicial acts

[state the following]: In order to carry out what is

commanded in the immediately preceding decree, I proceeded

to the house and residence of Don Simon de Arocha and made

known to his person the said ruling. Apprised thereof, de

Arocha stated that he was ready to provide the corresponding

surety by means of two creditable subjects, both of this

presidio of San Ant[oni]o de Bexar; and that with regard

to giving notice of the place at which the cattle will be

herded together for the purposes prescribed, he will do so

as soon as his roundup is complete, at which time he will

produce the four reals payable for each head of unbranded

bovine livestock, in accordance with the regulation established

and imposed by the lord commandant general of the Interior

Provinces of this kingdom of New Spain. The foregoing is

everything he had to say in the matter under consideration,3v

// and he has affixed his signature hereon, as have I.

And that it may be=on record, I make this [document] a

part of these proceedings.

Jose Plazido de Monzon[Rubric]

105

Simon de Arocha[Rubric]

[A.D.S., 3-3v pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

Decree Since [Militia] Commander Don Simon

de Arocha has informed me that he has

herded together his cattle at one of the

corrals of La Espada Mission in order that it may be

counted and inspected, and since Don Fran[cis]co Flores,

first-ranking alcalde of this villa and person whom I had

appointed to count and inspect the said cattle, has given_

me oral notification that there are in said corral one

hundred nine head unbranded and two hundred one head

branded, the latter bearing the brand of El [E]sp[Iri]tu

S[an]to Mission and that of the of the [sie said Don

Simon de Arocha, let de Arocha be notified that he must

duly present creditable guarantors and that such guarantors

must bind themselves and their property--both owned and to

be owned--to the consequences that accrue from the expor-

tation of the afore-mentioned one hundred nine unbranded

bovines, and [that they must bind themselves] to payment4

of the duty of four reals per head, belonging // to His

Majesty, for the capture of the aforesaid one hundred nine

head of unbranded cattle. Thus, after what is set forth

<_

106

above has been complied with, the permit,to export these

unbranded beasts plus the two hundred one branded ones--

for a total of three hundred ten head--can be issued.

Notification of the foregoing [to de Arocha] is entrusted

to one of the attendant witnesses with whom I perform

judicial acts. I thus dispose and command, and I affix

my signature hereon, I. Don Dom[ing]o Cabello: colonel

in the royal armies; governor and commandant of arms of

the province of Los Texas and its missions, conquered lands,

and frontiers; captain of the cavalry company of the royal

presidio of S[a]n Ant[oni]o de Bexar; and inspector general

of militia units and presidial troops of said province by

commission conferred by the lord commandant general of the

Interior Provinces of the kingdom of New Spain. Done at

this presidio of S[a]n Antonio de Bexar on the fourteenth

day of the month of August in the year seventeen eighty-one,

in the presence of attendant witnesses, with whom I am

acting in the absence of a notary, on this ordinary paper,

for none stamped is available; in witness whereof I attest.

Cabello[Rubric]

Josef Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

[D:S., 3v-4 pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

107

^}v// [Record of]

NotificationImmediately, I, Jose

Plazido de Monzon--one of the

attendant witnesses with whom the

lord governor of this province performs judicial acts, in

fulfillment of what is commanded in the immediately pre-

ceding decree--went to the house and residence of Don

Sim,on de Arocha and made known to his person the said

ruling. Apprised thereof, he stated that he brings for-

ward as guarantors Don Juan de Arocha and Don Thomas

Trabieso; that, with regard to the four-real duty for the

capture of each head,[of unbranded cattle], he is ready to

present a pledge to satisfy the sum payable, for at this

moment he does not have sufficient funds to defray said

duty; and that the place wherein he caught the said hundred

nine.head is [as follows:] from Las Tetillas to the

arroyo of Los Nogales. This is everything he had to say

in the matter under consideration, and he has affixed his

signature hereon, as have I. And that it may be on record,

I made this [document] a part of these proceedings.

Josef Plazido de Monz6n[Rubric]

Simon de Arocha[Rubric]

[D.S., 4v p., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

108

Decree In view of what has been expressed

by Militia Commander Don // Simon de

Arocha--who has been advised that the one

hundred nine head [of unbranded cattle] that he is to

export have been valued at twenty-two reals per head, this

being the price that has been set for de Arocha on account

of his having assumed all the expenses of herding and

rounding up these cattle--let the instrument be drawn up

whereby the guarantors bind themselves and pledge their

property, b̀oth owned and to be owned, to whatever conse -

quences may emanate from the lord commandant general's

decision with regard to the petition that has been made

to him in this matter. De Arocha shall pledge to pay the

sum of fifty-four pesos and four reals, which is the duty

going to His Majesty for the capture of the one hundred

nine mestenas and unbranded bovines; for he does not have

sufficient funds at present to defray the said royal duty,

which must be provided for. I thus dispose and command,

and I affix my signature hereon, I. the aforesaid governor.

Done at this presidio of Bexar on the fourteenth day of

the month of August in the year seventeen eighty-one, in

the presence of attendant witnesses, with whom I am acting5v

in the absence of a notary, on this ordinary paper,

for none stamped is available; in witness whereof I

attest.

109

Cabello[Rubric]

Josef Plaz,ido de Monzon Pedro Dlas del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

Script

[D.S., 4v-5v pp., in E. 7/lg/1781-11/24/1786]

At the royal presidio of S[a]n Ant[oni]o

de Boxar and the villa of S[a]n Fern[an]do

on the fourteenth day of the month of

August in the year seventeen eighty-one, before me, Don

Dom[ing]o Cabello--colonel in the royal armies; governor

and commandant of arms of the province of Los Texas and

its missions, conquered lands, and frontiers; captain of

the cavalry,company of the royal presidio of S[a]n Antonio

de Bexar; and inspector general of militia units and

presidial troops of said province by commission conferred

by the lord commandant general of the Interior Provinces

of this kingdom of New Spain--there appeared Don Juan de

Arocha and Don Thomas Trabieso, both of [whom,are of] this

community and both of whom I certify that I know. They6

stated that by these presents they give sure guaranty,

in common, each one on his,own, and jointly, in favor of

F, Don Simon de Arocha, [resident] of this same community,

110

for the value of 'one hundred nine head of unbranded cattle

which the said Don Simon de Arocha is taking from lands

whose status is in litigation between the residents of „

this community and the mission of El [E]sp[iri]tu S[an]to,

of the presidio of La Bahia. The value of said cattle

amounts to two hundred ninety-nine pesos and six reals,

and [for this sum] the said two guarantors bind themselves

and pledge their property, both owned.and to be ow:,ned, in

case the said cattle should [be adjudged to] belong to the

mission of El [E]sp[iri]tu S[an]to and [in case] the said

Don Simon de Arocha should not render payment in consequence

of what the lord commandant general may decide in this

matter with regard°to the appeal that has been made to

him. In virtue thereof, the said guarantors submit to

the authority and jurisdiction of the judicatory and to

all of His Majesty's magistrates, of whatever district

they might be, and to those of this villa in particular;

whereby said guarantors may thus be constrained to keep

and fulfill their pledge, renouncing, as they do renounce,

their home and community rights and [their rights to invoke]6v

the law Si cumbenerit de uriditione omniumv`^judicum,

together with the general exemptions from testifying. In

testimony thereof they covenanted; and they have affixed

their signatures hereon, as have I, the aforesaid governor,

in the presence of attendant witnesses, with whom I am

111

acting.in the absence of a notary, on this ordinary paper,

for no stamped paper is available; in witness whereof I

attest.

Dom[ing]o Cabello[Rubric]

Thomas Travieso Juan de Arocha[Rubric] [Rubric]

Josef Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

Decree

[D.S., 5v-6v pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

Whereas a guaranty has been made in7 '

due // form for the value of the one

hundred nine head of unbranded cattle that

Militia Commander Don Simon de Arocha is taking to the

province of Coahuila, and since the separate obligation

which de Arocha incurred--namely, to pay the fifty-four

pesos and four reals that belong to His Majesty for the

duty against the afore-mentioned one hundred nine head

of unbranded cattle--has been rendered, let,the said

militia. commander be issued a permit for these cattle and

for the two hundred one branded ones that he is also

exporting to the said province of Coahuila. And let the

112

corresponding entries be made in the appropriate register

and in the book which contains the record of livestock

exported from this province, so that these details will

be on record for all time. I thus dispose and command,

and I affix my signature hereon, I, the aforesaid governor.

Done at this royal presidio of S[a]n Ant[oni]o de Bexar

on the fourteenth day of the month of August in the year

seventeen eighty-one, in the presence of attendant witnesses,

with whom I am acting in the absence of a notary, on this

ordinary paper, for none stamped is available; in witness

whereof I attest.

Cabello[Rubric]

Josef Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

[D.S., 6v-7 pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

113

7v// Judicial Whereas on behalf of Don SimonProceeding

de Arocha fifty-four pesos and four

reals has been paid for the capture

of the one hundred nine head of unbranded cattle that the

said de Arocha has exported to the province of Coahuila,

said sum being the duty imposed by the lord commandant

general of these Interior Provinces, let the said sum be

placed and deposited in the three-key chest designated for

this purpose; and let the corresponding entry be made in

the book that contains the tally and record of funds

produced from this source. I thus dispose and command,

and I affix my signature hereon,, I, the aforesaid governor,

Don Dom[ing]o Cabello. Done at this royal presidio of

S[a]n Ant[oni]o de Bexar on the seventh day of the month

of September in the year seventeen eighty-one, in the}

presence of attendant witnesses, with whom I am acting in

the absence of a notary, on this ordinary paper, for none

stamped is available; in witness whereof I attest.

Cabello[Rubric]

Jose Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

[D.S., 7v p., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]

ll4

8Decree Don Simon de Arocha has paid

fifty-four pesos and four reals for the

capture of one hundred nine head of

unbranded,cattle that he has exported to the province of

Cohahuila, as is evident in the immediately preceding decree.

But-inasmuch as he has not paid sixteen of the twenty

reals at which each of the said beasts has been valued in

consequence of what was set down by the lord commandant

general in a decree issued the 5th of November of 1782 and

published by bando on the 13th of July of 1783--wherefore^

the total sum [owed] is two hundred eighteen pesos--let

these proceedings be included in the inventory of documents

that are to be turned over to the Senor Captain of Cavalry

Don Rafael Martines Pacheco, upon whom the governorship

and the office of commandant of arms of this province of

Los Texas have been conferred. [Let them be turned over

to him] at the same time the other papers pertaining to

said governorship are given to him. He may thus be

pleased to command that the exaction of the afore-stated

sum be effected in order that it may be deposited in the

chest designated for the safekeeping of funds pertaining

to this revenue branch. I thus dispose and command, and

I affix my signature hereon, I, the aforesaid governor.8v

Done at this royal presidio of S[a]n Ant[oni]o de Bexar //

on the twenty-fourth day of the month of November in the

115

year seventeen eighty-six, in the presence of attendant

witnesses., with whom I am acting in the absence of a notary,

on this ordinary paper, for no stamped paper is available;

in witness whereof I attest.

Cabello[Rubric]

Jose Plazido de Monzon Pedro Dias del Castillo[Rubric] [Rubric]

Attendant Witness Attendant Witness

[D.S., 8-8v pp., in E. 7/19/1781-11/24/1786]