Federico Villalba

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Federico Villalba, out in Brewster County. Now, before you can understand the man, you've got to understand where he came from, and that story starts a long way from the Big Bend. The Villalba family traces their lineage all the way back to Algiers, where several generations were members of the order of Santiago.

That's old blood, with old weight behind it. In 1764, Federico's great-grandfather, Juan Villalba, made the crossing to New Spain, what we call Mexico today. And in 1773, Juan founded Rancho Villalba near what is now Aldama, Chihuahua.

That ranch was still standing, still working, still carrying the family name, when Federico Villalba was born there in 1858. Now, some men inherit a place and stay put. Federico was not that kind of man.

He left his family's ranch and moved to San Carlos, close to the U.S.-Mexico border, and he set up a store, rope, leather goods, sundries, the kind of things a working country cannot do without. That store grew. It grew until it was supplying the military in the area.

Not bad for a young man who'd started with dry goods and ambition. But Federico wasn't finished. In the early 1880s, he pushed his business interests into Texas.

He settled in an area he called Cerro Villalba and opened another store. He was building something, piece by piece, year by year. In 1889, he married Maria Cortez, and the two of them began purchasing land.

Then 1902 arrived, and Federico Villalba made a discovery that changed the map of Brewster County. He located an outcrop of cinnabar, that's the mineral that produces mercury, and he became the first Hispanic in the county to file a mining claim. He didn't sit on it alone, either.

Villalba, Tiburcio de la Rosa, D. Alarcon, and William Study entered into a partnership that covered six parcels of twenty-one acres each, including what became known as the Study Butte Mine. The Associated Mining Community took on that mine's name, Study Butte, and so did Villalba's store, which became the Study Butte Store.

A whole community named, in part, because Federico Villalba went out into that rocky country and looked close at what the land was holding. With a growing family around him, Federico built a larger house along Terlingua Creek and named it Rancho Barras. He amassed large tracts of land, fifteen sections in block G-4, with holdings stretching from Burro Mesa all the way to Terlingua Creek.

That is a considerable piece of the Big Bend, and he earned every acre of it. During his life, Federico Villalba gained a reputation as a businessman, as a rancher, and as an advocate for Mexican Americans of the Big Bend. He was the kind of man a community leans on.

He died of natural causes in 1933, on his ranch, and he is buried in Terlingua Cemetery. From an order of Santiago in Algiers, to a ranch in Chihuahua, to a store on the border, to a mining claim in the Texas desert. Federico Villalba covered a lot of ground in one lifetime.

The marker calls him a Texas pioneer, and looking at everything he built, everything he named, everything he left behind in that hard country along Terlingua Creek, it's hard to argue with that.

What the marker says

Villalba family tradition traces their lineage to Algiers where several generations were members of the order of Santiago. In 1764, Federico's great-grandfather, Juan Villalba, traveled to New Spain (Mexico). He founded Rancho Villalba in 1773 near present-day Aldama, Chihuahua, where Federico Villalba was born in 1858. Federico left his family's ranch and moved to San Carlos near the U.S.-Mexico border. He set up a store, selling rope, leather goods and sundries; it soon became important in San Carlos, and eventually supplied the military in the area. In the early 1880s, Villalba expanded his business interests into Texas. He settled in an area he called Cerro Villalba and opened a store. In 1889, Federico married Maria Cortez and began purchasing land. In 1902, Villalba located an outcrop of cinnabar, a mineral that produces mercury, and became the first Hispanic in the county to file a mining claim. Villalba, Tiburcio de la Rosa, D. Alarcon, and William study entered into a partnership that covered six parcels of twenty-one acres each, including what became known as the study butte mine. The Associated Mining Community took on the mine's name (Study Butte), as did Villalba's store (Study Butte Store). With a growing family, Federico built a larger house on his property along Terlingua Creek and named it Rancho Barras. Villalba amassed large tracts of land, including 15 sections in block G-4, with holdings extending from Burro Mesa to Terlingua Creek. During his life, Federico gained a reputation as a businessman and rancher, and as an advocate for Mexican Americans of the Big Bend. Villalba died of natural causes in 1933 on his ranch and is buried in Terlingua Cemetery. Federico and his legacy embody the spirit of a Texas pioneer. (2014)