DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Don Felipe Roque de la Portilla — and friend, this one's worth hearing. Now, picture it: a Spanish-born Army captain and rancher, Felipe Roque de la Portilla, born in 1766, gets word from Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante — the interim Governor of the Province of Texas, no less — asking him to go establish a colony. Not suggesting.
Asking. And when the governor of your province asks, well, you start packing. The spot chosen was where El Camino Real de los Tejas crossed the San Marcos River.
Not a bad piece of country. Portilla didn't just show up alone, either. He brought his wife Maria Ignacia — she was a de la Garza — and their eight children.
Eight. And then he rounded up 52 settlers from the interior of New Spain and said, essentially, let's go build something. The first group departed Villa del Refugio — that's the place that would later become Matamoros, Mexico — on December 8th, 1807.
They traveled through the heart of winter, and on January 6th, 1808, they arrived to found the civilian settlement of San Marcos de Neve. Titles were issued to 13 lots. Homes went up around a central plaza.
They even had a schoolteacher — a man by the name of Don Esteban Garcia. They were building a town, a real town, from the ground up. And then June came.
Flood waters rose and washed it away. Just like that. The homes around that central plaza — gone.
But the floods were only the beginning of their troubles, and this is where the story gets heavy. Military troops departed the colony. No priest ever arrived.
The seed and farm irrigation system they'd been counting on never materialized. And out in those pastures, wolves and raids by Comanches and Tonkawas took a brutal toll on the horses and cattle. Portilla himself wrote that these groups would often, in his words, "camp in the place set aside as the pasture and in the center of town." The colony they'd built was becoming someone else's range.
By 1809, a census counted 73 people and 1,771 animals — the population would peak at 91. But peaking and thriving are two different things. Here's the part that really stings: this was a government-initiated venture.
Portilla didn't have to sink his own money into it. But he did. In exchange, he was granted a town lot and twelve leagues of land along the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers.
Twelve leagues sounds handsome, until you consider what it cost him. He lost his health. He lost his fortune.
And in 1812, he was forced to lead his people back to Villa del Refugio. The dream of San Marcos de Neve was over. The livestock they left behind, though — those cattle and horses scattered and multiplied, creating a large population of wild animals roaming country that had swallowed up all that human effort.
Portilla didn't quit. He went on to serve as an Army officer and as Alcalde in Matamoros. Then in 1829, he helped his future son-in-law, a man named James Power, and Power's associate James Hewetson, establish their own Texas colony near the Gulf Coast.
He received a land grant along the Aransas River, moved his family there, before returning once more to Matamoros in 1836. He lived until 1841. Felipe Roque de la Portilla is remembered as an early settler and civic leader both along the Rio Grande and on the Spanish Texas frontier.
A man who answered a governor's call, gave everything he had to a town that the river took back — and kept serving anyway. That's the kind of stubborn devotion that built this part of the world, one washed-away plaza at a time.
What the marker says
At the request of Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante, interim Governor of the Province of Texas, Spanish-born Army captain and rancher, Felipe Roque de la Portilla (1766-1841), established a colony here were El Camino Real de los Tejas crossed the San Marcos River. Along with his own family that included his wife Maria Ignacia (de la Garza) and their eight children, he brought 52 settlers from the interior of New Spain. The first group departed Villa del Refugio (later Matamoros, Mexico) on Dec. 8, 1807, arriving on Jan. 6, 1808 to found the civilian settlement of San Marcos de Neve. Titles were issued to 13 lots, and homes were built around a central plaza, only to be washed away in June floods. Don Esteban Garcia was the village schoolteacher. Hardships plagued the colony: military troops departed, no priest arrived, seed and farm irrigation system did not materialize; and horses and cattle were lost to wolves and to raids by Comanches and Tonkawas. Portilla wrote that these groups would often "camp in the place set aside as the pasture and in the center of town." An 1809 census listed 73 people and 1,771 animals; the population peaked at 91. Although the venture was government-inititated, Portilla invested his own funds in the colonizing effort, and in exchange was granted a town lot and twelve leagues of land along the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers. He lost his health and fortune and was forced to lead his people back to Villa del Refugio in 1812. Livestock left behind created a large population of wild cattle and horses. Portilla continued to serve as an Army officer and as Alcalde in Matamoros. In 1829, he helped his future son-in-law, James Power, and Power's associate, James Hewetson, establish their Texas colony near the Gulf Coast. Portilla received a land grant along the Aransas River, moving his family there before returning to Matamoros in 1836. He is remembered as an early settler and civic leader both along the Rio Grande and on the Spanish Texas frontier.