92 



NltESTHA SENORA DE LA PURISTMA CONCEPCION 



[b. a. e. 



nor " of it was Texa, or Turnio, who had 

 a following of more than 300 people (Re- 

 port of Rdbago y Tenin, Feb. 7 and 8, 

 MS. iu Archivo General; also Arricivita, 

 Cronioa, ii, 385, 386, 1792). The mis- 

 sion was attached to those of the Rio 

 Grande. Before 1767 it was abandoned 

 through the desertion of Turnio and his 

 people ( Arricivita, ibid., 391). For fur- 

 ther details, see San Lorenzo, (h. e. b. ) 

 Candelaria. — Baiienift, No. Mex. States, I, 650, 

 ls,s6. Nuestra Seiiora de la Candelaria. — Rdbago y 

 Ten'ui, Report of tlie founding, Feb. 7, 8, 1762, 

 MS. in Archivo General. 



Nuestra Senora de la Lnz. A Franciscan 

 mission established by the Zacatecan 

 friars, among the Arkokisa, on the left 

 bank of lower Trinity r., Tex. A mis- 

 sion for the Arkokisa was proposed as 

 early as 1747 by Capt. Grobio y Basterra, 

 who reported that this tribe, living in five 

 rancherias or pueblos and numbering 300 

 families, had expressed a desire to settle 

 in a mission between the Sabine and the 

 Trinity, "their fatherland." Some years 

 afterward the jilan was carried out, the 

 mission being placed at a site known as 

 Orcoquisac, some distance below modern 

 Liberty. Near it stood tlie presidio of 

 San Agustin de Ahuraada. Within a few 

 years both were moved a short distance 

 upstream to a place called Los Horcon- 

 sitos. The mission, from the first unsuc- 

 cessful, was abandoned about 1770, and in 

 1772 the suppression of the presidio was 

 ordered. ( ii. e. ij. ) 



Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concep- 

 cidn. A Franciscan mission, founded July 

 7, 1716, at the principal Hasinai village, 

 that of the Hainai, on the e. side of Ange- 

 lina r., Tex., and nearly w. of modern Na- 

 cogdoches. It was founded by, and re- 

 mained for several years in charge of, the 

 president of the (^uerctaran missions 

 among the Hasinai, Fray Ysidro Felis de 

 Espinosa, later author of the famous work 

 on Franciscan missions, the Clirunica Apos- 

 lolini y Serophini (1746). The Hainai 

 settlement at the time the mission was 

 founded consisted, it is said, of "an in- 

 finite number of ranches, with their 

 patches of maize, melons, watermelons, 

 l)eans, tobacco, "and sunflowers (Ramon, 

 Dernjtero, 1716, IMS. in Mem. de Nueva 

 Espana, xxvii, 158). This village was 

 for the missionaries a strategic point in 

 the Hasinai country, for at the Hainai 

 village was the chief temple of the con- 

 federacy, presided over by the high priest, 

 the great A'?Hm (Jesus Mar fa, Relacion, 

 1691, MS.), consequently Goncepcion was 

 made the head mission. Before its re- 

 moval to San Antonio the mission was 

 sometimes called Nuestra Senora de la 

 Purisima Concepcinn de los Aynais. 

 The first church and dwellings were built 

 by tlie Indians of wood and grass, after 

 the manner of the Hasinai grass lodges, 



but soon the soldiers and the mission- 

 aries, with their own hands, constructed 

 more commodious ones (Ramon, op. cit., 

 159; Espinosa, Diario, 1716, MS.; and 

 Chronica, 418, 419, 1746). 



The Hasinai Indians were friendly, but 

 they refused to settle permanently in 

 pueblos, and, through the strong influ- 

 ence of their priesthood, were slow toac- 

 cept baptism. However, within a y^ar 

 Espinosa succeeded in baptizing, on his 

 deathbed, the Hainai chief, which, be- 

 cause of this person's exalted position in 

 the confederacy, presumably made other 

 conversions easier (P^spinosa, Chronica, 

 440). But success was slight. Supplies 

 for this and tne neighboring missions 

 failed to come, some of the soldier guard 

 deserted, and tinaUy,in 1719, the mis-sion- 

 aries and soldiers, unaide<l by liome au- 

 thorities and fearful of a French attack 

 from Natchitoches incident to the rup- 

 ture between France and Spain, retired 

 with the church ornaments to San An- 

 tonio, much to the regret of the Indians 

 ( Espinosa, Chronica, 451-453; see also 

 docs, in French, Hist. Coll. La., iii, 67- 

 72, 1851). 



In 1721 the Marques de San Miguel de 

 Aguayo was sent, with Es])inosa and 

 Father Margil, to reestablish the missions 

 and to erect presidibs for their defense. 

 Espinosa was again put in charge of Con- 

 cepcion, which reoccupied the old church 

 after some repairs were made. On Aug. 

 8, 1721, the mission was formally re- 

 established, and to Cheocas, chief of the 

 Hainai and head civil chief of the Hasi- 

 nai, Aguayo gave "the best suit that he 

 had — lalue, heavily embroidered with 

 gold, with waistcoat of gold and silver 

 lace." Cheocas collected the Hainai 

 people, and Aguayo, after exhorting them 

 to come and settle a pueblo, gave pres- 

 ents of clothing and trinkets to 400 per- 

 sons, including perhaps the 80 Kadoha- 

 dacho visitors who chanced to be there 

 CPena, Diario, 1721, MS. in Mem. de 

 Nueva Espana, xxviii, 42). Near by 

 Aguayo established an ill-made presidio 

 called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de 

 los Texas ( Pena, ibid. ; and Rivera, Di- 

 ario, leg. 2140, 1736; also Rivera, Pro- 

 yecto, 1728, MS.). 



Success was no greater now than for- 

 merly, and in 1731 Mission Concepcion, 

 together with San Joseph de los Nasones 

 and San Francisco de los Texas (or 

 Neches), was reestablished on San Anto- 

 nio r. It was first planned to place them 

 on the San Marcos, and there is some in- 

 dication that they maj' have been tem- 

 porarily located there (MS. in the city 

 clerk's office, San Antonio, dated Aug. 

 12, 1771 ). Concepcion was placed on the 

 bank of San Antonio r., about 2 m. below 

 San Antonio de Valero, which is now at 



