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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



ideas, but he became a follower of Hidalgo and of 

 Morelos, and soon was the scourge of southern 

 Guanajuato and northern Michoacdn. Father 

 Torres is credited with burning Cocupao in 1811 

 (he set an example to the townspeople by firing 

 his father's house) so that the royalists could not 

 make use of it. In drunken play he was lanced to 

 death by Captain Juan Zamora about 1817. Colo- 

 nial Cocupao can claim one other person after a 

 fashion, since the saintly Josef a Antonia de N. S. 

 de la Salud y Gallegos (although born in Tzin- 

 tzuntzan about 1688) spent most of her girlhood 

 in Cocupao, and it was there that she dreamed 

 that she must dedicate herself to Nuestra Senora 

 de la Salud in Pdtzcuaro, to which town she 

 moved, and where she died in 1750 after a very 

 religious life. 



Little more is heard from Cocupao until it was 

 surnamed Quiroga, and a number of its natives 

 became noted liberal warriors and workers in the 

 Wars of Reform and the French Intervention. 

 Among the liberal patriots from Quiroga were Juan 

 and Rafael Arellano, Francisco and Rafael Gaona, 

 Rafael Garnica, Jose Maria Rojas, Francisco and 

 Primo Serrania, Mariano and Miguel Torres, 

 Joaquin Valdes, and Jos^ Jesus VUlanueva. Of 

 this group Jos6 Jesus ViUanueva Barriga (born 

 about 1827, died 1905) was the most famous. He 

 began as a young man by joining the forces of the 

 liberal governor and general, Epitacio Huerta. 

 Vnianueva fought for the Plan de Ayutla; rose to 

 the rank of colonel in the war against the French; 

 and early backed the cause of Porfirio Diaz in the 

 troubled 1870's. By the time of his death he was 

 the patriarch of one of the largest and most in- 

 fluential families in Quiroga; was one of the two 

 or three largest landowners; owned two of the 

 distilleries in the area; and was one of the most 

 influential political figures in the State. His is 

 the most imposing monument in the Quiroga 

 cemetery. Rafael Garnica (presumably a native 

 of Quiroga, although claimed by Coeneo) was one 

 of the leading military figm-es produced in the 

 area. During the period from the 1850's to the 

 1870's he rose to the ranks of colonel and general, 

 and was one of the most trusted lieutenants of 

 General Huerta (native of Coeneo) and General 

 Pueblita (native of PS,tzcuaro) . 



Among the more recent personalities from 

 Quiroga have been: 



Dr. Juan N. Navarro (born 1823, died 1904), claimed by 

 both Quiroga and Morelia; surgeon, politician, poet; 

 consul general of Mexico in New York City from the 

 1860's until his death. 



Macario Torres (born 1853, died 1885) ; poet and politi- 

 cian, and a leading citizen of his adopted city and 

 state — Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato. 



Dr. Nicolds Le6n (born 1859, died 1929); physician; first 

 director of the state museum in Morelia, later affiliated 

 with museums in Mexico City and Oaxaca; leading 

 Mexican anthropologist of his time, great bibliographer, 

 philologist, physical anthropologist, and founder of 

 modern Tarascan studies. The Smithsonian Institution 

 and the Instituto Nacional de Antropologfa e Historia 

 in 1946 erected a bronze plaque to his memory on the 

 house in which he was born on Zaragoza street in 

 Quiroga. 



Dr. Leopoldo Lara Torres (born ca. 1867, died 1940); 

 Roman Catholic priest, and first bishop of Taodmbaro. 



Dr. Joaquin Torres (born 1868, died 1916); physician and 

 biologist, affiliated with the Secci6n de Biologfa General 

 y Medical of the National Museum in Mexico City. 



The brothers Ram6n, Vicente, and Francisco Elizarrards, 

 who ran a printing establishment in Quiroga in the 

 1860's, and whose publications (especially novels) 

 were widely read in Michoacdn. 



In addition to the above individuals, Quiroga 

 has produced a number of lawyers, physicians, 

 and clergymen, most of whom have exercised 

 their professions in Morelia, various towns in 

 Guanajuato, and in Mexico City. It is note- 

 worthy that practically no native of Quiroga born 

 during the past 50 years has acquired more than 

 local fame or importance. It would seem as if the 

 intellectual ambient in Cocupao-Quiroga from the 

 1830's to the 1880's (possibly because of the per- 

 sonalities of certain of the teachers, priests, and 

 patriotic leaders) was much superior to what has 

 obtained more recently. 



In connection with the historical portion of our 

 study of Quiroga we worked out genealogical 

 tables for about a dozen families which had con- 

 tributed most of the leading citizens for the past 

 90 years. A study of these tables showed that 

 (a) the male line of the Torres family had con- 

 tributed more outstanding persons than had any 

 other one family, and (6) by the time of our study 

 these various families were so intermarried that it 

 was difficult to find an individual belonging to 

 one of these families who could not claim some 



