8/28/1767: Hugo Oconór becomes ad interim governor of Texas
On this day in 1767, Hugo Oconór became ad interim governor of Texas.
Born in 1732, Oconór was an Irishman who attained the rank of major of a volunteer regiment in the Spanish army. His vermilion hair inspired frontier Indians to nickname him the “Red Captain.†After service in Cuba and Mexico City, he worked as inspector general of the eastern Provincias Internas in 1765 and investigated the conflict between Texas governor Ãngel de Martos y Navarrete and presidio commander Rafael MartÃnez Pacheco. After the removal of Navarrete, Oconór’s service as governor ad interim won the admiration of soldiers and citizens alike. He reinforced San Antonio against Apache raids and brought order to the frontier. He returned to Mexico in 1770, and throughout the next decade, as he commanded various offices, he focused on repelling the Apaches farther west. Oconór was governor and captain general of Yucatan at the time of his death in 1779.
8/28/1828: MarÃa Calvillo petitions Mexican government for ranch title
On this day in 1828, MarÃa Calvillo formally petitioned the Mexican government for a new title to her father's Rancho de las Cabras ("the Goat Ranch") in what is now Wilson County.
MarÃa was born at the Villa of San Fernando de Béxar in 1765, the eldest of six children born to Ygnacio Francisco Xavier Calvillo and Antonia de Arocha. Her father acquired Rancho de las Cabras, an outpost of San Francisco de la Espada Mission, after the mission and its lands were secularized. MarÃa Calvillo married Juan Gavino de la Trinidad Delgado around 1781. The couple had two sons and adopted three additional children. In 1811 and 1814 Gavino played a major role in the struggle to overthrow the Spanish; as a result of his activities he was declared a rebel against the crown. MarÃa apparently separated from her husband at this time. In 1814 Ygnacio Calvillo was murdered at his ranch during a raid; initially the raid was thought to have been perpetrated by Indians, but subsequent investigation revealed that the attackers included Ygnacio's own grandson. At this time MarÃa gained control and ownership of the property. When she died in 1856 her will passed ownership of the property to two of her adopted children.
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