Early Texas Colony
Sarah’s Dream
Like many Europeans, Sarah Ann Horn believed a better life awaited in the New World. Born and raised in industrial England, she married John Horn, a lowly mercantile worker with whom she had two children. During the 1830’s, a number of British circulars and newspapers advertised for colonists to settle in a burgeoning region of Mexico - Texas. Induced by the offer of 177 acres, John, Sarah, and their two infant sons set sail for New York, arriving on August 27, 1833. Ten weeks later, the Horns and fifty-five fellow colonists sailed from New York to Texas on the two-masted ship Amos Wright. The colonists were a mixed lot of Americans, British and Germans. They couldn’t have imagined the hardships they were about to face.
Dr. Beales’ Colony
Since 1823, English physician Dr. John Charles Beales was the company doctor for a British-backed mining company in Mexico. He later established a private practice in Mexico City. On August 3, 1830, he married María Dolores Soto y Saldaña, the widow of Richard Exeter, an English merchant and land speculator. Exeter left his wife two enormous land grants in northwest Texas, southeast Colorado, and eastern New Mexico. Beales took over the management of those grants. From there, he and various partners acquired several colonial grants totaling more than 50 million acres. Most of them were sold and transferred over to New York based land companies. Beales, and his partner James Grant, helped form the Rio Grande and Texas Land Company after acquiring two tracts in the Texas region between the Rio Grande and Nueces Rivers. Based on the terms of his grant, Beales and 800 families were to settle there.
The Empresario Game
All of the Texas land grants were the result of the Mexican Federal Colonization Law of 1824. Enacted by the Mexican State of Coahuila and Texas, the purpose was to bring in settlers that would stimulate the economy in the areas they settled and act as a buffer against marauding Comanches. For a modest fee, a settler could obtain free land, provided he lived on it and improved it. Empresarios, such as Stephen F. Austin, could receive five leagues (22,140 acres) of grazing land and five labors (885 acres) of farmland for each 100 families brought to their grants within six years. The challenge was to find the colonists, find a suitable site (preferably near fresh water) for the colonists to settle on, and find the funds for purchasing supplies and the means to transport them.
The Colonists Arrive
On December 12,1833, Beales and his fellow colonists set up camp at Copano on the Texas coast. From there, they would travel to Goliad followed by San Antonio and ending at Las Moras Creek, in present day Maverick County, near the Rio Grande River. The trip would be made by oxcart; an extremely slow means of travel made slower by incessant rain that turned dirt roads into quagmires. Beale’s grant was reached the following year on February 28. Unfortunately, the grant was mostly a desert region until they reached Los Moras Creek. No sooner had they reached the creek when a thunderstorm struck and blew away the tents they had erected for shelter. It was the beginning of a series of misfortunes that would plague the new colony. Nevertheless, on March 30,1824, the colonists, having laid out the streets and placing a cornerstone for a church, took an oath to Mexico and its constitution. The town was christened Dolores, in honor of Beales' wife.
Rattlesnake
Blues for Delores
As the days passed, it became evident that Beales was totally unfamiliar with the region his grant included. To begin with, the dry terrain and climate offered little to sustain a colony. The area was infested with rattlesnakes. The high temperatures meant little rain for crops unless irrigation was utilized. Until crops were harvested and supplies transported in, the colonists subsisted on the shelled corn they had brought with them. Boiled into a palatable mush, it was served with corn bread and corn coffee. The occasional deer and wild turkey from hunting were welcome additions. All other food items had to be purchased 70 miles west across the Rio Grande at San Patricio. Another deficiency was the lack of wood to build homes. Most of the wood was mesquite, suitable for campfires but totally unsuitable for building homes. Cedar was available forty miles away, but couldn’t be hauled back in large loads. If things weren’t bad enough, there were the Comanches. Unlike the other colonies, Delores was too remote from the protective umbrella offered by East Texas settlers and their muskets. As fate would have it, Delores was established on an invasion route used by Comanches to invade and pillage northern Mexico.
The Need for a Buck
The most vexing problem was money. Drafts issued by Beals' land company could not be cashed because of the lack of specie in Texas. Shortly after their arrival, Beales had to journey to Matamoros and New York to seek more funds, leaving the colony in the hands incompetent subordinates, who tried to regiment the colonists but only increased their ire. The potential sale of the colony’s produce wasn’t possible because the soil was too poor to grow crops. Even worse, the Rio Grande was too shallow for steamboats to transport Delores’ produce to markets downriver.
The Problem with the Germans
Matters came to a head when the German colonists threatened to leave Delores. In order to entice the Germans to go to Texas, Beals offered to pay for their transport if they would agree to work for the colony five days a week, which included building defensive structures to hold off any Comanche attacks, This left them with only two days a week to work on their new homes. The German’s leader, Ludecus, argued with colony officials over the lack of pay and the Germans’ working hours which the officials always tried to increase. Added to the heated arguments were warnings of Comanche attacks from Mexican troops that accompanied the colonists.
The Fall of Delores
By October 1834, most of the colonists had packed their ox carts and left Delores. Beales brought in more colonists. Saw and grist mills were established while fields for planting crops were plowed and seeded. Hopes for success were dashed in February 1836 with the news of Santa Anna’s invasion of Texas. Fearing his relentless advance against Anglo settlers, the colonists departed in several groups. Some went across the Rio Grande to San Patricio, only to be called rebels by the Mexican authorities, who confiscated their possessions. Others traveled back to Copano on the Texas coast or joined up with Sam Houston’s army.
Beales never made the fortune he hoped to make from his land grants. He returned to the medical profession, setting up a practice in New York City. He died on July 25, 1878. His wife Delores died earlier in 1873.
Sarah’s Nightmare
One wagon train, which included the hapless Sarah Horn, was captured and massacred by the Comanches. Horn’s husband was killed and her two sons were adopted by the Comanches. Sarah became a slave, preparing buffalo hides and sewing garments under the watchful eyes of abusive Comanche women. She later wrote about the hardships faced by Comanche woman, “At the camp, she has to do it all; to provide the fuel, to fetch the water, to dress the buffalo skins, to dig the grave, and bury the dead. Her lordly master will seldom so much as turn himself, to get a drink of water, or to get his moccasins, or indeed anything he might please to want. In all of the above, he speaks, and is instantly obeyed.” After a year and six months, she was purchased by New Mexican traders. In August 1838, Sarah joined a trading caravan out of Taos that was heading for Missouri. She never saw her sons again and later died in Independence, Missouri from the effects of her captivity.
Check It Out
Check out the book “Comanche Bondage” by Carl Coke Rister (University of Nebraska Press). I doubt there has ever been a colony more poorly placed and at such a bad time than Delores.
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