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Life in the Missions

and Presidios

Life in the Missions

and Presidios

142

✯

Chapter 7

Why It Matters Now

The Spanish missions established

permanent Texas settlements that

eventually grew into major cities.

TERMS & NAMES OBJECTIVES MAIN IDEA

hacienda, oppressive,

subject, El Patronato Real,

compound, commissary

1. Analyze why Spanish colonists

came to Texas.

2. Examine important issues related to

the establishment of Catholic missions

in Texas.

3. Identify important issues affecting

Spanish colonists in Texas.

To secure its hold on Texas, Spain

sent colonists to the northern fron-

tier of its colonial empire. Many

settled in missions and presidios,

where they experienced a whole

new way of life.

hacienda a large estate or ranch

in Spanish territory

oppressive unjust or cruel due

to an abuse of power

Born in 1905 near Sherman, Texas, O’Neil Ford became

a gifted architect, recognized throughout the United

States. O’Neil Ford believed the San Antonio missions

were irreplaceable snapshots of life in colonial Texas.

The Missions are the most important and most

beautiful examples of Spanish Colonial architecture

in the United States and though once they were loved

and admired and understood by a few thousand persons,

now it is probably safe to say that millions of persons

from all over the world have come to San Antonio to

wonder at them, to study their history and their great significance.

Now we know that they are the jewels of our river valley and the

greatest documentation of our Eighteenth Century beginning.

O’Neil Ford

The Spanish Texans

In the late 1700s about 3,500 colonists were living in what is now

Texas. This population was concentrated in three main areas: the missions

in San Antonio (about 2,000), La Bahía (about 1,000), and Nacogdoches

(about 500). About 700 more colonists lived in the Spanish province of

Nuevo Santander, which included part of what is today South Texas.

Many of the Spanish colonists came to Texas to escape cruel condi-

tions on the

haciendas in New Spain. Others were driven to the area by

droughts and other natural disasters or by an

oppressive tax system. A

few colonists hoped to become wealthy by trading with the French—an

activity that was illegal in New Spain. Still others hoped to get better

jobs on northern ranches.

O’Neil Ford

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Life in Spanish Texas

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143

Four Types of Frontier Settlements

Given the size of Spanish Texas and Nuevo Santander, the colonial

population was small—with good reason. Conditions in the northern

provinces of New Spain were difficult. Settlers lived in fear of attack by

hostile natives. They also faced deadly diseases such as cholera and

smallpox. In addition, many hacienda owners would not allow their

laborers to leave. The owners sometimes used force to keep their work-

ers from escaping.

Despite the obstacles, a number of brave colonists did build new lives

in Texas. Because of the dangers of life on the frontier, the colonists

tended to stick together as much as possible. Spanish colonists in Texas

established four kinds of frontier settlements: missions, presidios, pueb-

los, and ranchos. All of these settlements—especially the missions and

presidios—strengthened Spain’s claim on Texas.

Missions

The mission was Spain’s main tool for colonizing Texas. One purpose

of the mission was to convert Native Texans to the Catholic faith. The

Spaniards in the mission also taught the native peoples to be good citi-

zens and loyal

subjects of the Spanish crown. Spaniards hoped they

would become skilled laborers who could be productive for Spain. If all

these goals were met, Spain promised to give control of the missions to

local government. Spain also promised to give the native peoples land

for farming.

Under the terms of a special agreement known as El Patronato Real

(ray•AHL), a group of Franciscan priests was given the task of running

the Texas missions. Under this agreement the Catholic Church provided

priests for the missions, and the Spanish government provided the fund-

ing. The government also owned the mission lands, even though the

church owned the buildings, gardens, livestock, and cemetery that were

on the lands. In this way Spain secured its northern frontier and the

church carried its message to people in a new area.

Spanish missions in Texas were expected to support themselves.

That is, they had to provide everything the mission residents needed to

survive. Spain hoped that the missions would soon start

making money for the crown. This would make them a

productive part of New Spain rather than a constant

financial drain.

Inside the Missions

Most Texas missions consisted of a square compound

enclosed by four walls. Towers often were built on the

corners of the walls to serve as lookout points. Inside the

compound, most missions had offices for the priests and

workshops for spinning or weaving cotton and woolen

cloth. Most also had shops for carpentry, ironworking,

subject one who is under the

authority of a king or queen

compound a fenced or walled-

in area containing several

residences or other buildings

In workshops, mission residents

made iron tools and hinges and

built wooden furniture and doors.

●

What else did they have to make

by hand?

▲

In 1783 a census was taken of the

missions, presidios, and towns within

Spanish Texas.

●

What was the total

population of Spanish Texas? Why do you

think there were more men than women?

▲

POPULATION OF SPANISH

TEXAS, 1783

MEN WOMEN BOYS GIRLS

Spanish 488 373 376 340

Native 290 241 70 76

Texan

(in towns)

Mixed 43 38 32 12

Spanish/

Native

Mixed 114 125 119 46

Spanish/

African

African 17 19

American

(enslaved)

Total 952 796 597 474

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144

✯

Chapter 7

Spain built missions not only

in Texas but throughout the

northern frontier. Franciscan

priests founded 21 missions

in California, lending their

names to places such as San

Francisco, San Diego, and

San Jose. In Arizona, Jesuit

Padre Kino established Mis-

sion San Xavier del Bac, south

of present-day Tucson.

●

Why

do you think Spain was so

interested in establishing

these missions along its

northern frontier?

REGION

Mission San José is one of the

five missions that make up the

San Antonio Missions National

Historical Park.

●

Why was this

mission so large, with so much land

within its walls?

▲

TEXAS VOICES

and tailoring. The lands surrounding the mission were used for grazing

livestock and for planting crops. Father Gaspar José de Solís described

Mission San José as it looked when he visited it.

This mission is so pretty and in such a flourishing condition, both materially

and spiritually, that I cannot find words or figures with which to express its

beauty. It forms a perfect square, is built of stone, and on each of the four sides,

660 feet in length, there is an entrance. On diagonal corners there are two

towers, each of which protects two sides of the building. The living-quarters for

the Indians, which form a part of the outer wall, are from fifteen to eighteen

feet in length and twelve in width. The mission is provided with a small

kitchen twelve feet in length, a fireplace, embrasures for the cannons, a vaulted

silo made of stone, and a workshop in which are woven blankets, gunny sacks

and some excellent cotton goods....Here the Indians have their carpenter

shop, forge and tailor shop, their lime and brick kilns and a well runs into a

canal, which contains a great quantity of fish and irrigates many fertile fields.

In these fields, that cover more than a league and are fenced in, there are abun-

dant crops of corn, beans, lentils, melons, peaches, potatoes and sugar-cane.

Father Gaspar José de Solís, diary

The mission chapel was important for both the mission residents and

the surrounding community. Colonists had their children baptized there,

and marriage and funeral services were held in the chapel. Although

formal Sunday services were not common, they also were held in the

mission chapel.

153&159 11/18/02 9:20 AM Page 144

Page 3 of 6

he Spanish missions were

expected to support them-

selves by growing their own

crops and raising livestock.

One of the first crops grown in

the missions was cotton. In

fact, the Spanish missionaries

are credited with introducing

cotton to Texas. By 1745 the

missionaries were

producing thou-

sands of pounds

of cotton each

year. After har-

vesting the cotton,

mission workers

wove it into cloth.

INTRODUCING

COTTON TO TEXAS

Daily Life in the Missions

The daily routine in the missions began with morning prayers

followed by 30 minutes to an hour of instruction in the Catholic faith.

The mission residents also recited the rosary, a series of Catholic prayers

counted on a string of beads. After breakfast the natives worked all day

in the fields or workshops. Most of the time women worked in the

kitchen or operated spinning wheels while children attended school.

After the evening meal, everyone in the mission gathered for more reli-

gious instruction and prayers before going to sleep.

Daily life in the missions was not like anything the Native Texans

had experienced. Most had routine jobs to perform every day, and the

mission priests introduced them to new ways of life and ideas.

The priests supervised all activities in the mission. They would often

physically punish uncooperative natives. For the most part, Native Texans

did not care for mission life. In fact, few were ever converted to the

Catholic faith. Those who came into the mission often stayed for only a

few months. Many ran away only to be captured again by presidio soldiers

and punished by the priests. Some returned on their own to escape

hunger and the cold winters. Those Native Texans who did adopt the

Spanish way of life usually remained at the mission. Most married and

raised families on small plots of land near the mission.

Hard Times in the Missions

Spanish missions in Texas were not as successful as Spain had hoped.

Although they had a strong start, the native population within the

While living in the missions, Spanish

friars taught the Native Texans many

skills and tried to convert them to the

Catholic faith.

●

How did missions

contribute to Spain’s goals for Texas?

▲

Life in Spanish Texas

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145

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146

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Chapter 7

Some Native Texans fully adapted to

life in the missions. Many others ran

away from the missions or went

back and forth between their native

way of life and the missions.

●

What

are some of the reasons Native Texans

might have found it difficult to adapt

to mission life?

▲

missions began to shrink. Many of the native women in the missions

died giving birth, perhaps because of the hard work of their daily lives.

And while the mission provided food and shelter for many natives, it

also exposed them to deadly European diseases. Native Texans also had

a hard time adjusting to their new diet. They were used to eating a vari-

ety of roots, fish, fruits, nuts, and wild game. In the mission they were

served only red meat and starches, such as corn.

By the late 1770s the Spanish crown had begun to view the missions

as a drain on Spanish finances. The missions had not grown enough to

give money back to Spain. Also, maintaining presidios to protect the

missions became too expensive. Still, by the end of the 1700s, Spaniards

had managed to build 26 missions in Texas.

Presidios

Presidios were essential to the colonization of Texas. Their purpose

was to provide military support for missions, and later settlements, until

these communities could support themselves. The main purpose of a

presidio was to protect the colonists from attacks by Native Texans.

Presidio soldiers were also expected to bring back any natives who ran

away from the mission. In addition, they protected groups bringing

supplies from the Rio Grande. Soldiers also guarded herds of cattle and

horses to keep them from being stolen by native raiders.

Presidios were built from local materials, such as logs, adobe, or stone.

Most presidio compounds were rectangular with four tall walls and

lookout points on each corner. Within the presidio were barracks for the

soldiers, separate sleeping quarters for officers, a chapel, and storage rooms.

The only entrance was a huge main gate.

Native Texans’ reactions to

mission life varied. Some never

gave it a chance. Others went

back and forth between their

native way of life and the

Spanish way. There were also

some who embraced mission

life with open arms. Native

peoples who stayed in the mis-

sions were called gente de

razón, meaning that they were

people who had reached the

“age of reasoning” and were

able to understand the differ-

ence between right and wrong.

These converts were elevated to

a social status above other

natives, closer to that of the

Spaniards.

●

How do you think

the Spaniards viewed native

peoples outside of the mis-

sions? How do you think Native

Texans viewed Spaniards?

“Reasonable”

Natives

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Terms & Names

Identify:

• hacienda

• oppressive

• subject

• El Patronato Real

• compound

• commissary

Organizing Information

Using a chart like the one

below, create a list of

advantages and disadvan-

tages related to life for a

colonist in a Spanish

mission or presidio in Texas.

Do you think the advantages

of living in a colonial

outpost in Texas outweighed

the disadvantages, or vice

versa? Support your answer

with logical reasons.

Critical Thinking

1. Not all colonists came to

Texas to be missionaries.

Generally speaking, what

was the main goal of

many of the colonists who

came to Texas and Nuevo

Santander in the 1700s?

2. Spain hoped to profit

from its missions one day.

How do you think a

mission might make

money for the crown?

3. How do you think living

conditions in the

presidios affected the

soldiers’ work? Explain.

A Real-Life Story

Review A Real-Life Story on

page 142. O’Neil Ford felt

that the Spanish missions’

design and architecture

were very important to the

study of Texas history. What

do you think historians can

learn from the architecture

of the missions?

ACTIVITY

History

Research and create a layout of a Spanish mission or presidio in Texas. What do you think these

layouts reveal about the people who lived in the missions?

Go to www.celebratingtexas.com

to research the Activity topic.

LIFE AS A COLONIST

Advantages Disadvantages

Life in Spanish Texas

✯

147

commissary a store where

military personnel can buy

equipment and food

Presidio Life

Most presidio soldiers enlisted for ten years.

Military life could be unpleasant, dull, and harsh.

Soldiers faced years of hard work and constant danger

from hostile native groups. The soldiers often did not

get along with the priests they were ordered to protect.

Many conflicts arose over how to deal with the Native

Texans in and around the settlement. These disagree-

ments sometimes led to long-term distrust and resent-

ment between the mission residents and the soldiers

who were supposed to protect them.

Presidio soldiers were not paid a great deal. They

had to use much of their pay to buy their own

uniforms, weapons, and other equipment at the

commissary. Since local commanders ran the com-

missary, prices were very high. Outside the presidio

compound, local merchants, craftspeople, farmers,

and livestock owners saw the soldiers as customers

for their goods. Many soldiers had to take extra jobs in the community

to be able to buy food, clothing, and supplies for themselves and their

families.

Some soldiers brought their wives and families with them to the

outpost. Others married women from the local community. After soldiers

completed their tour of duty, they often made their homes nearby. Some

soldiers obtained land grants near the presidios and built homesteads.

Many soldiers obtained land and

made new lives for themselves in

Spanish Texas.

●

What do you think

was the best part of life as a presidio

soldier? the worst?

▲

153&159 11/18/02 9:21 AM Page 147

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