San Jose de la Mulada Ranch

Duane's take

The official marker for San Jose de la Mulada Ranch in Starr County, here's how I tell it. Some stories reach so far back you almost lose the thread before you even get started. This one begins not in Texas, not in America, but with a royal grant from the king of Spain, the year 1767, when a man named Pedro Lugo was given title to Porcion 74, a stretch of land that would one day become one of the oldest ranches in the state of Texas.

Now, the Perez family had already been putting down roots in this part of the world for a good while by then. According to census records out of Camargo, Mexico, Pedro Jose Perez married Manuela de la Garza on January 8, 1769. And that family had been part of something historic even before that, back on March 5, 1749, the Perez family assisted in establishing and settling La Villa de Santa Ana alongside Colonel Jose de Escandon in Camargo.

These were founding people. Builders. So when December 26, 1787 rolled around, the day after Christmas, mind you, Pedro Jose Perez purchased Porcion 74 from Pedro Lugo.

Six thousand, seven hundred and forty acres. The Perez family gave that ranch a name: San Jose de la Mulada. La Mulada.

And that name was going to carry a long, long way. By September 26, 1870, a census counted thirty-one inhabitants living out there on the ranch. The operation was serious enough that they kept ledgers, real ledgers, documenting employees' duties, their salaries, and other items.

This wasn't a homestead. This was an enterprise with records to prove it. In 1968, Josefa Hinojosa Perez and Toraldo C.

Perez purchased acreage at La Mulada from Perez family heirs, keeping the land tied to the family name. But the ranch's recognition didn't stop there. La Mulada Ranch was included in the Los Tejanos Exhibition at the Lyndon B.

Johnson Library and Museum, on display from October 12, 1997, through September 8, 1998. The exhibit was titled "Los Tejanos: Sus Huellas en la Tierra", Their Footprints in the Land, and it investigated the contributions made by Texans of Mexican ancestry to the state's history. La Mulada was in that company as one of the oldest ranches in Texas.

But the exhibit didn't just tell the story of the land. It told the story of a man. Casimiro Perez-Alvarez, great-great-grandson of Pedro Jose Perez himself, and an inheritor of La Mulada Ranch.

His life was on exhibit at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg. Apart from ranching the property, Casimiro was a well-known figure in Starr County, a deputy U.S. Marshal who rode on horseback from Brownsville all the way to Laredo between 1902 and 1913, and again in 1921.

The exhibit held pictures, a saddle, a rifle, a revolver, documents from the Perez family, and correspondence related to the ranch's cattle and trading. Pictures and a saddle and a rifle, sure, but behind every one of those items, more than two and a half centuries of one family holding on to the same piece of earth that a Spanish king once signed over to a man named Lugo, and that a man named Perez made his own. Some footprints don't wash away.

What the marker says

Porcion 74, located in Starr County, was originally granted to Pedro Lugo in 1767 by the king of Spain. On December 26, 1787, Pedro Jose Perez purchased Porcion 74, which consisted of 6,740 acres, from Pedro Lugo. According to Camargo, Mexico, census records, Pedro Jose Perez married Manuela de la Garza on January 8, 1769. The Perez family assisted in establishing and settling La Villa de Santa Ana with Col. Jose de Escandon in Camargo on March 5, 1749. The Perez family named the ranch “San Jose de la Mulada.” A La Mulada census on September 26, 1870, indicated there were 31 inhabitants at the ranch. Ledgers kept on the ranch documented the employees’ duties and salaries, as well as other items. In 1968, Josefa Hinojosa Perez and Toraldo C. Perez purchased acreage at La Mulada from Perez family heirs. La Mulada Ranch was included in Los Tejanos Exhibition at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum as one of the oldest ranches in Texas. On display from October 12, 1997, through September 8, 1998, the exhibit, titled “Los Tejanos: Sus Huellas en la Tierra,” investigated the contributions made by Texans of Mexican ancestry to the state’s history. The life of Casimiro Perez-Alvarez, great-great-grandson of Pedro Jose Perez and an inheritor of La Mulada Ranch, was also on exhibit at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg. Apart from ranching on the property, Casimiro was a well-known figure in Starr County who was a deputy U.S. Marshal from Brownsville to Laredo on horseback between 1902 and 1913, and again in 1921. The exhibit included pictures, a saddle, rifle, revolver, and documents from the Perez family, as well as correspondence related to the ranch’s cattle and trading. (2014)