Las Escobas Ranch

Location and Spanish Land Grants
Las Escobas Ranch is located twenty two miles north of Rio Grande City, Texas in northwestern Starr County or twenty five miles north of Roma, Texas, along farm road 649. The ranch property is part of the original Spanish land grant of the jurisdiction of Cd. Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The ranch encompasses porciones #109, #110, and #111. Jose Salvador Garcia was the original grantee of 6,288.3 acres in porción #109. Santiago de la Garza was the original grantee of 6,195 acres in porción #110. Jose Antonio Guajardo was the original grantee of 6,198.5 acres in porción #111. These porciones were granted by Spain in 1767. The main seat of the ranch is located in porción #109. The entire ranch totols 18,681.8. It is one of the oldest and most historic ranches in Starr County today.
Felipe acquires Property and Livestock
Las Escobas Ranch, Porciónes #109 and #110 was acquired by Jose Felipe Guerra Hinojosa through his wife Josefa Gonzalez Garcia. Prudencio and Antonia , Josefa's parents purchased land from descendants of original grantees. Antonia's grandparents, Leocadia Saens Garza and Jose Maria Garcia were heirs and descendants to original grantee, Juan Angel Saens. Josefa, Antonia's daughter came into the marriage as an heir and descendant of Juan Angel Saens by inheriting porción #109 and #110. Soon after Josefa and Felipe got married, his father in law Prudencio asked Felipe to go take care of Las Escobas and manage ranch operations. Felipe traveled back and forth from Roma, twenty five miles to Las Escobas for a time working and managing the ranch while his family lived in Roma. Felipe lived in Roma, Texas for about twenty years prior to moving his family to the ranch. Felipe was busy managing the ranch, hiring laborers, buying property and cattle. Felipe moved his family of three (Ma. Emeteria, Ma. Emilia, Jose Jesus) to Las Escobas Ranch along with his siblings and relatives about 1861 when his daughter Emeteria got married. While living at Las Escobas they had two more children (Jose Francisco and Diodoro). He started the construction of the headquarters home which took over twenty years before it was complete. The law required that land claims be marked. Felipe had to mark his property land boundaries. There were no fences prior to this time to mark boundaries. Marked boundaries did not serve as a way of keeping livestock in and out of properties. Felipe later used mesquite and brush to lay original fences to contain animals in his property. Two posts were crossed and logs of wood were placed at the base of the posts to hold them in place. No wire was available. Felipe raised horses and goats as the principal forms of livestock in his early ranching days. He had the best selection of horses in the county. According to family stories Felipe had 70 manadas or herds of horses with 30 mares per manada. Each manada was of a different color. However, at the time of the Civil War, the Confederacy purchased every horse on the ranch and paid Felipe with an IOU which he never collected. Felipe placed and advertisement in The Ranchero newspaper in Corpus Christi, Texas to sell horses and cattle. One can conclude that the Confederacy saw the advertisement and helped themselves to the horses. It must have been a devastating loss for Felipe however it motivated him enough to introduce longhorn cattle at the ranch. Felipe stocked longhorn cattle in the absence of horses for his livelihood and the herd numbered in the hundreds. When Felipe invested he appears to be a risk taker and shrewd business man. The longhorns were known to adapt to almost any environment. They were able to survive on little water and food and in extreme hot and cold temperatures. Longhorns used their hugh horns as protection against enemies. The only way he was able to keep with the cattle was through hand-dug wells. There was a need to collect and conserve as much water as possible during infrequent rains. The main house had a flat roof to catch rainwater and channel it into a cintern. The buying of the longhorns was a wise choice due to the droughts and scarcity of water. Cattle pens were built so that cowboys could work the cattle. Beef had become popular and in high demand. Cattle ranchers were becoming rich. The Civil War had a huge impact on the cattle industry. Ranching at the time consisted of open ranges, periodic cattle roundups, cattle branding and management of cattle on horseback. In those days it took some 20-30 families to run the ranch and look after the livestock. Felipe employed vaqueros and cowhands to work the cattle. The vaqueros used ropes or "reatas" to drive cattle into corrals or pens. The cattle were then marked with Felipe's brand. Felipe hired many people skilled people such as shepherds, laborers, horse tamer, cooks, seamstresses, servants, blacksmiths, stone masons, teachers and carpenters. In the census of 1860, Felipe was listed as a "stockraiser" with $3,000 in real estate and $2,000 in personal estate. His herdsman or caporal, who took care of the ranch was Jesus Ramirez. Felipe first appears in Starr County tax rolls in 1866 with 5,950 acres of the Antonio Sanchez porción 69 and five town lots in the city of Roma. He also had 247 head of horses, 350 head of cattle, and 1,500 head of sheep for a taxable value of $10,250. By the 1870s, the census shows houses or jacales with families living at the ranch mostly Felipe's family. Felipe and Josefa had four unmarried children-- Jesus, Emilia, Francisco, Diodoro and Emeteria and her husband with three children. Felipe was listed as "stockraiser" with real estate value at $4,000, and $2,000 in personal estate. Felipe and Josefa's siblings were listed as living at the ranch. Felipe's sister-in-law Felipa and her husband, Jose Maria Tanguma and their two children, Felipe's half-brother, Geronimo and his wife Anastacia and their seven children, Felipe's half-sister Juliana and her husband Epifanio and their child. There were about 14 families and 80 inhabitants and among them were herders, servants, stockraisers and shepherds. By the early 1880's Felipe had established himself as one of the largest ranchers in Starr County. In about three decades, he had bought most of the porciones #69, #103, #109, #110, #111, eight state scripts of 640 acres each, three tracts of the Cuevitas land grant, one of 4,500 acres and the other of 340 acres and 31 acres with a house, and 393 acres for a total of 46,450 acres. Felipe became one of the largest ranchers in Starr County. Family members living at Las Escobas were Felipe and his wifew and their unmarried children-Francisco and Diodoro, also living at the ranch was Jesus and his wife Manuela with five unmarried children; also, Emeteria and her husband Antonio with their seven children; Jesus and Antonia and family; Geronimo Guerra and his wife Anastacia and their nine children; Maria Ramona and her husband Cesario Guerraand their three children; Juliana and her husband Epifanio Guerra and their three children; Juan de Dios and Narcisa his wife and family; also Ezra B. Houston, listed as a boarder and teacher. He appears in the Starr County tax rolls with a net worth of $60,480 including all livestock, land and personal income. He successfully avoided civil war, harsh droughts, hostile indians, theft of property, disease and different forms of government. Felipe was an astute, smart, ambitious and goal driven businessman. In 1886 Felipe Guerra had the most prosperous year with holding valued at $64,855. The two land owners closet to his income were Lino Ramirez valued at $50,562 and J. P. Kelsey valued at $86,090. The Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, Nov.27, 1891 p.7 listed those with property worth more than $10,000. These are the six ranchers whose holdings were more than $50,000: Juan Garcia-$90,624; Manuel Guerra-$50,537; Felipe Guerra Hinojosa-$53,816; J.P. Kelsey-$134,956; Eduardo Villarreal-$50,800; and Jesus Yzaguirre & Bro.-$51,045. Towards the end of Felipe Guerra Hinojosa's life, a writer from the Corpus Christi Caller names him as one of the wealthiest man of Starr County. The areas of assessment on wealth were land, cattle and horses and mules. The 1890 U.S. Census was destroyed by fire and water damage in 1921. There are no census records for Felipe and his family for that year. Felipe died in 1891 and information on the census records indicate that Josefa, Felipe's widow lived with her youngest son, Diodoro and his family until her death. She is buried in the cemetery in Roma, Texas.
Felipe hires teachers to educate the children living at Las Escobas Ranch
Acquiring an education was very important to Felipe and Josefa. They still had two school age children of their own that needed schooling. The ranch families consisted of nieces, nephews, cousins and children of hired employees who lived at the ranch. Felipe opened a school at Las Escobas to educate the children living at the ranch. It was too far to transport them to town. Felipe ordered educational materials from Monterrey and hired two teachers to teach Spanish and English. He hired Jose Atanacio Salinas from Cerralvo to teach Spanish and Ezra B. Houston to teach English. The school at Las Escobas was probably one of the first to have bilingual education in Texas.
Felipe Guerra Hinojosa dies without a will.
Felipe died March 1891 at Las Escobas Ranch. He is buried in a crypt close to the main ranch house. He left a legacy of being one of the first pioneer ranchers who tamed the harsh, brush country of Starr County to make it profitable and successful for himself and future generations to continue in the ranching business. It took grit, determination and an intense desire to succeed, maintain and pass on to future generations. A set of values and traditions were planted and are still evident today. In 1894 Felipes's estate was partitioned into thirteen shares with Josefa and her five children receiving most of the estate and the rest going to other Guerra family members. Upon the death of Felipe, 18,681.8 acres in Las Escobas was inherited by Maria Emilia Guerra de Salinas. The other ranches and properties were inherited by her siblings such as Emeteria Guerra Falcon inherited Las Cuevita, San Roman inherited by Jose de Jesus Guerra, Las Viboras inherited by Jose Francisco Guerra and Charco Largo Ranch inherited by Diodoro Guerra. Felipe made numerous loans during his life through mortgages and deeds of trust. Following a paper trail indicates that he repaid most loans except two. The two loans not repaid were to John P. Kelsey, the wealthiest landowner in Starr County. One loan was for $1500 and it was extended in August, 1889 in Mexican Silver Eagle currency. The other loan was for $2,676 and it was extended in December, 1890 in U.S. currency. Felipe used his holdings as collateral for both loans. Much of the land was fenced, as per the lawsuits, increasing the value of the property. After his death, it is said that his adult children claimed the debt was that of their father, and, therefore they were absolved from paying his debts. The lawsuits mention that the Guerra children repeatedly refused to repay the loans. As a result of the lawsuits, Felipe's property that had been used as collateral was sold at auction at the County Court House to John P. Kelsey. Whoever was guiding the Guerra heirs was not doing a very good job at advising them in this case. The inheritance left by Felipe to his wife and children began with a loss of property.
The Tomb of Jose Felipe Guerra Hinojosa is located behind the headquarters Ranch House. He died in 1891.
In order to write Felipe and Josefa's story, one needs to compile a narrative of their life through paper trails, records such as census, tax rolls, newspaper articles, court deeds, etc. We have a pretty clear picture of Felipe and Josefa's life from stories and numerous documentation that can be found in libraries, courthouses, universities, thesis, dissertations, and books. We can conclude that Felipe and his wife Josefa and their families were ambitious, hardworking, and highly respected family in the community.

Jose Felipe Guerra Hinojosa cattle brand & Signature

Jose Felipe Guerra Hinojosa Baptism

Baptized May 9, 1824 at Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Maria Josefa Gonzalez Baptism

Baptized November 8, 1829 at Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Jose Felipe Guerra Hinojosa & Maria Josefa Gonzalez Marriage Certificate

Married May 12, 1845 at Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Pictures below of tombs of: Jose Jesus Guerra, Diodoro & Matilde Guerra, and Josefa Gonzalez de Guerra