Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria
San Gabriel, Milam County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established by Franciscan missionaries in 1749 with the hope of civilizing and christianizing the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other tribes of Indians. The martyrdom of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the circumstances connected therewith caused the departure of the Indians and the friars and the removal of this mission to the San Marcos River in 1755. Reestablished in 1762 on the Sabinal River for the conversion of the Lipan Apaches with the same name of Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1749 Franciscan missionaries planted this mission on the San Gabriel River, part of a short-lived cluster of Spanish missions meant to draw the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa and other peoples into colonial life. Violence—including the killing of Padre José Ganzábal—unraveled the effort, and by 1755 the friars and their would-be converts had scattered, the mission relocating to the San Marcos River. It rose again in 1762 far to the west on the Sabinal, this time aimed at the Lipan Apaches, keeping the name Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.
Why it matters
It marks Spain's fragile northeastern frontier in Texas, where the mission system's grand ambitions repeatedly collided with the autonomy of the Native nations it sought to absorb.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Padre José Ganzábal
Related events
- · Spanish mission system on the San Gabriel River
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Mission San Francisco Xavier de Los Dolores
Rockdale, TX
Founded in 1749 among a group of San Gabriel River missions, San Francisco Xavier de los Dolores was one Franciscan attempt to gather the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa and neighboring peoples. The martyrdom of Padre José Ganzábal and the turmoil around it drove off both Indians and friars, and the mission was pulled back to the San Marcos River in 1755. In 1762 it was reborn on the San Saba River under a new name, Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá, to work among the Lipan Apaches.
Apache Pass River Crossing
Rockdale, TX
This ford across the San Xavier (San Gabriel) River has carried travelers for centuries, in a valley people have inhabited for some ten thousand years. In the 1700s it was home to Native peoples including the Apaches, and despite their objections Spanish missionaries chose the area for three missions and a presidio, used between 1746 and 1757. Settlers followed the fertile ground and reliable water; a 1913 bridge finally rerouted traffic, and in 2004 the crossing joined the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.
Site of the Mission San Ildefonso
San Gabriel, TX
Franciscan missionaries founded Mission San Ildefonso here in 1749, one of a cluster of Spanish missions meant to draw the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other peoples into Catholic and colonial life. The killing of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the turmoil surrounding it prompted the friars and the Native people to depart, and the mission moved to the San Marcos River in 1755. It was later reestablished on the Nueces River in 1762 to reach the Lipan Apaches under a new name.
Lewis Family Cemetery
Buckholts, TX
This burial ground reaches back to the 1830s colonies of Sterling C. Robertson, when Thomas Curry—whose late wife Satsa Vann was a Cherokee leader's daughter—brought his family to a league of land along Little River. His descendants married into the Lewis family, prominent in building the communities of Corinth, Buckholts and Cameron; Squire William Michael Lewis, a justice of the peace and Confederate cavalryman, was buried beneath a ranch oak in 1867, founding the cemetery. A typhoid epidemic a decade later added more graves to a plot whose burials mostly predate 1900.