That not-so-fuzzy feeling

Historically Speaking



 

 

Last week, I wrote about the coincidence of history. This week will not be a coincidence. You know how I’ve talked about history not being comfortable at times? If you are a dedicated reader to this column, you know that. You know that sometimes history can be uncomfortable, cringy and uneasy. That’s OK, because that means it will get your attention and the objective was met—that it will not be repeated.

This week will be one of those notso fuzzy and cozy history columns. Last week, I conducted a presentation at the Pleasanton Rotary and the topic was The Last Hanging in Atascosa County. This would have been August 1914 in Pleasanton. The executed person was Porfirio Torres, a murderer. The murder took place in Fowlerton, however, a change of venue made Torres an Atascosa County prisoner. A few newspaper outlets ran the story and labeled Torres as a “Notorious Mexican.” Let me say this, it was a different time. Today, a title like this would not be tolerated and would result in serious backlash. As a matter of fact, that is what we are talking about today—the way things were.

So, like I said, things were different. Certain phrases and labels were OK then, whereas they are not today. It does not label a person in history a racist, it just means they were living in another time, under different rules. In the case of Porfirio Torres, he killed his victim, Ike Hill, because he was the “first Gringo that arrived to the ranch” according to court records. Hispanics were weary of white people and vice versa. So much so, that every ethnicity had their own cemetery.

Federal Census Records can also display the diversity in our county and the importance of records thrown to the wayside. I recently viewed a census record from the Las Gallinas area—a Polish and Czech Community. Some of the names are so different from what they really are. One of various factors was the result; someone didn’t care about the exact spelling, the enumerator didn’t know how to spell or the citizen didn’t know how to spell his/her own name.

Census records from Atascosa County also show that the enumerator was aware of the races and ethnicities. Some records show a Black, male husband (head), a Hispanic female wife and the children were labeled as “Mul.” You find the federal census codes and “Mul” means Mulatto—a racial classification of mixed races. Go further back and you will find plenty of marriages between White settlers and Hispanics. The early days of San Antonio boasted plenty of these marriages and this was an accepted practice. Fast forward 100 years, and miscegenation is outlawed in certain regions. Today, my children share a vibrant history and ancestry—an ancestry boasting roots in England, Ireland, Spain, Native America (modern day Mexico) and several other European countries. So, like I said, history is here to learn from and if it makes you uncomfortable, that’s OK. In the end, the objective is to teach our children so that their children live a better life and thus leave a better earth for the generations to come. I hope you enjoyed this week’s column and my view of history. Thank you for reading, until next time.

MARTIN GONZALES is the Atascosa County Commission Chairman. If you have history of Atascosa County you’d like to share, you may contact him at 830-480-2741.

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