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Readers are encouraged to e-mail the Bexar County Rootsweb site with additional important dates. We have tried to verify those on the list in order to be as correct as possible but if someone finds a mistake, please e-mail correction to Jan Cortez.
1518 - Alvarez de Pineda sent to explore and sketch Amichel from Florida to Tampico.
1519 - Hernan Cortez sets out from Cuba to seize wealth from Mexico's Aztec Indians.
1527 - Panifillo de Narvaez sent to explore from Tampico to Florida but shipwrecked; Alvar Nuez Cabeza de Vaca survives and wanders across Texas for 8 years; reaches Mexico in 1536.
1540 - King Carlos V of Spain concerned about the treatment of the Indians of Mexico by Spanish soldiers.
1540 - Francisco Vasquez de Coronado leads expedition thru Arizona, New Mexico and Texas looking for City of Cibolo.
1540 - Hernando de Soto and Louis de Moscoso cross Texas on way to Florida.
1680 - Settlement of Ysleta and Mission of Corpus Christi de Ysleta in west Texas. The reason for the Ysleta settlements was the Great Pueblo Revolt of the same year and the reason the Isleta joined the Spanish retreat. Visit Pueblo Revolt and also Isleta Pueblo, both are offsite links.
1685 - Settlement of Fort St. Louis by Frenchman Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle in Matagorda Bay.
1690 - Settlement of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas in east Texas.
1691 June 13 - Gobernador Domingo Teran of Coahuila and Father Damian Massanet arrive at the camp of the Payaya Indians. Gov. Teran designates the site "San Antonio de Padua". The Indians called their rancheria "Yanaguana".
1699 - Missions San Francisco de Solano, San Bernardo and San Juan Bautista established near Presidio del Rio Grande.
1707 - Diego Ramon expedition comes into Texas to punish Indians in the area of San Antonio.
1709 April 13 - Father Olivares names San Pedro Creek "Agua de San Pedro".
1715 - Early civilian families of San Antonio come from Monterrey, Saltillo and Monclova.
1716 - Father Espinoza establishes the Missions Guadalupe, Concepcion, San Jose and San Francisco in east Texas.
1716 - Diego Ramon establishes 1st military post in San Antonio near San Pedro Springs; Father Olivares establishes Mission San Antonio de Padua (later to be called Valero).
1717 - Father Margil establishes the Missions of Dolores and San Miguel in east Texas.
1718 - In San Antonio, Gov. Alarcon named the combination of the Presidio, Mission Valero and the civilian settlement "San Antonio de los Llanos".
1718 May 1 - Mission San Francisco de Solano merges with Mission San Antonio de Padua; Mission re-named Mission San Antonio de Valero.
1718 May 5 - Entrada of Gobernador Martin de Alarcon comes to San Antonio; finds 10 families already living here (Hernandez, Carvajal, Valdes, Castro and Perez were the names of some of the families); formally names the settlement near San Pedro Springs "Villa de Bejar".
1719 June - St. Denis expels Spanish missionaries from east Texas. This caused some Missions to relocate to central Texas.
1720 February 23 - Mission San Jose founded by Father Antonio Margil de Jesus on east bank of San Antonio River.
1721 - Establishment of Presidio de Nuestra Senora de Pilar de los Adaes near Mission San Miguel; served as the Capital of the Province of Texas.
1722 - Gobernador Marquis de Aguayo moved Presidio de Bejar to west side of San Antonio River.
1722 March 10 - Father Gonzales establishes Mission San Francisco Xavier de Najera below present site of Mission Concepcion; it closed by 1726.
1726 - Population of "Villa de Bejar" was 200; 45 military families and 4 civilian families.
1731 March 5 - Three Missions moved to San Antonio; San Francisco de los Tejas which became San Francisco de la Espada, Concepcion which became La Purisima Concepcion de Acuna, and San Jose de los Nazones which became San Juan Capistrano.
1731 March 9 - Arrival of the 16 Canary Island families to the "Villa de Bejar" by order of King Felipe V of Spain. "Villa de Bejar" re-named "Villa de San Fernando". First settlement was at ford of San Pedro Creek.
1734 May 13 - Cornerstone for San Fernando Church is laid.
1739 - A great epidemic of smallpox and measles ravaged the lives of the inhabitants of the Missions, the Villa and the Presidio in San Antonio.
1740 February 20 - Fr. Benito Fernandez writes "the harvest of converted souls has been abundant, and at present, thanks to the Lord, all the Indians (of the Missions in San Antonio) are content and happy, devoting their lives in all docility to the spiritual welfare of their souls and building their pueblos...".
1744 - Cornerstone for permanent Church of Mission San Antonio de Valero is laid.
1755 - San Fernando Church is completed.
1760-1770 - Prosperity and wealth of the San Antonio Missions is derived from the cultivation of corn, beans, chilies, pimentos and fruits like watermelons, cantaloupes, pumpkins and garden produce as well as from the successful breeding and raising of sheep, goats, cattle and horses.
1763 - Terms from the Treaty of Paris between England, France and Spain, provided for lands east of the Mississippi River to be controlled by England and lands west of the Mississippi River plus the New Orleans portion of Louisiana belong to Spain; basically thus removing France from Louisiana.
1765 - The San Antonio Missions and their respective ranches: Mission Espada = Rancho de las Cabras, Mission San Jose = Rancho Atascoso, Mission Concepcion = Rancho El Paistle, Mission San Juan = Rancho San Lucas and Mission San Antonio de Valero = Rancho Monte Grande.
1767 - During his visitation to the Missions of the Province of Texas, Fray Jose de Solis writes that the "Indians of Mission San Jose de Aguayo are in complete charge of the Mission's ranching operations. At the Mission compound, the Indians take care of the work in the cloth factory, carpenter shop, forge, tailor shop and quarry. They are industrious and diligent and are skilled in all kinds of labor. They act as mule-drivers, masons, cow-boys, and shepherds".
1767 - During his visitation to the Presidios of the Province of Texas, the Marques de Rubi made 14 recommendation in addition to the recommendation that the Presidios at Los Adaes, Orcoquisac and San Saba were to be closed. The Presidio Loreto at La Bahia was to be retained and the Presidio de Bejar at San Antonio, was to be strengthened to over eighty men (with the garrisons from Los Adaes and Orcoquisac being reassigned to Bejar). He also recommended that San Antonio be designated as the Capital of the Province of Texas and that the Governor reside there and command the Presidio.
1767 - Jesuit priests were expelled from New Spain (though there were no Jesuit missions specifically in Texas). Franciscan priests from the Colegio of Queretero were assigned to take over their operations.
1771 - Gov. Ripperda establishes a new military post a few miles east of San Antonio on the road to La Bahia. Its was named Santa Cruz del Cibolo but was commonly called Arroyo del Cibolo.
1772 - Control of the existing Queretero missions in Texas were transferred to the Franciscans from the Colegio de Zacatecas.
1773 - The capital of the Province of Texas officially moved from Los Adaes (1721-1773 near present Robeline, Louisiana) to San Antonio (1773-1821 which was the end of the Spanish colonial period).
1773 - Based on the recommendations of Marques de Rubi and Fr. Solis, arrival of the "Los Adaes" families to the Villa de San Fernando and to the Fuerte de Arroyo del Cibolo after the closing of the east Texas missions of Guadalupe (Nacogdoches), Dolores (Ais) and Pilar (Adaes) and the removal, from east Texas, of the civilian population.
1776 - Only three military posts existed: Presidio de Bejar, Presidio La Bahia and the outpost el Fuerte de Arroyo del Cibolo. Only three civil settlements: Villa de San Fernando (San Antonio), settlement around the Presidio La Bahia (Goliad) and the Villa de Bucareli (near present Antioch in Madison County which was subsequently moved in 1779 to become the Villa de Nacogdoches).
1778 - In the report of Fr. Juan Agustin Morfi's inspection of New Spain's northern frontier, he states "the Villa of San Fernando, which together with the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar, constitutes a town so miserable that it resembles a most wretched village".
1778 - Commander General of the Interior Provinces of New Spain, Teodoro de Croix orders that all wild or unbranded cattle within his jurisdiction would now belong to the Royal Treasury. This new law had a profound affect on the Missions of the San Antonio Valley because for all practical purposes, the Missions had not been aggressively branding their cattle.
1779-1784 - Population of the branded and unbranded cattle were tremendously reduced by the consumption and by the ruthless killing of these cattle by Apache & Comanche Indians, Spanish hunters (Carneadores), Presidio purveyors, soldiers out in the fields with the horse herds, troops from the Presidios, and by rustlers.
1785 - Many of the previously prosperous Mission ranches have now become a wildernesses, deserted by man and beast.
1785 - Gobernador Domingo Cabello sends Pedro Vial and Francisco Xavier Chaves into rancheria de los Comanches with purpose of getting Comanche Chiefs to come to San Antonio to negotiate a much needed peace treaty.
1786 - Previously, Mission income from herds and from the Friar's allowance was enough to clothe the Indians and to pay all Mission operational costs, but now without the herds, there is not enough income for either.
1787 - Mission Indians suffer diseases and much hunger from loss of cattle due to new cattle branding regulations; they dessert the Missions in order to seek in the woods, the sustenance of which they are deprived.
1789 - Fr. Jose Francisco Lopez submits his status report "Razon e Ynforme" ("The Texas Missions in 1785") to Most Rev. Rafael Jose Verger, Bishop of Nuevo Leon.
1792 - Father Jose Francisco Lopez advocates the complete secularization of Mission San Antonio de Valero because the residents at this Mission were neither neophytes nor pagan Indians but well instructed Christians who were mestizos and that there were practically no more pagan Coahuiltecan Indians within a radius of 150 miles of San Antonio but those who are at a greater distance to the east, north, and south cannot be taken out of their lands without violence.
1793 - Mission San Antonio de Valero is secularized.
1793 February 26 - The families from Los Adaes formally receive lands from the secularized Mission San Antonio de Valero.
1794 - Missions San Juan and Concepcion are secularized.
1808 - Campo Santo Cemetery is formally opened.
1811 October 13 - By action of its municipal government, "Villa de San Antonio" formally becomes "Ciudad de San Antonio".
1813 April 1 - Republican Army of the North takes San Antonio and stations itself at the Alamo.
1813 August 20 - Royalist Army re-takes San Antonio and the Compania Volante de Paras de Alamo re-occupies the Alamo.
1824 - Mission San Francisco de la Espada is secularized.
1830 - The two Missions in Goliad- Rosario and Espiritu Santo are secularized.
1836 March 6 - Mexico initially declared its intent for independence from Mexico on September 16, 1811 and won its independence in 1821. In 1824, Mexico drew up its Constitution which; made Texas a separate department (State), guaranteed state's rights, permitted slavery, called for a President to be elected every four years, called for a Senate with two members from each state, called for a member in Congress from each Mexican state for each 80,000 population , every man 18 years of age could vote, all men whether Indian, Negro, Mexican, Mestizo or Mulattos were equal. The Texians died at the Alamo defending the liberal Mexican Constitution of 1824. The Texians were Mexican citizens and fought under Mexico's flag of 1824. Santa Anna overthrew the Mexico's Constitution of 1824 and established a military dictatorship. All of Mexico surrendered to Santa Anna except for some Tejanos and Texians who were surrounded in a crumbling mission known as the Alamo. When the Tejanos and the Texians finally defeated Santa Anna, they declared their independence from Mexico. Mexico did not recognize this declaration and this led ultimately to the War of 1848 with the U.S.. Santa Anna and his troops returned to Mexico in 1836 but the Mexican people were not prepared to fight Santa Anna for their own independence. (author unknown)
1836 April 21 - Texians defeat Santa Anna at San Jacinto.
1858 - Catholic cemetery San Fernando #1 is opened.
1922 - Catholic cemetery San Fernando #2 is opened.