TRINIDAD SAN MIGUEL, 79, EXPIRES SUNDAY

(Mon. April 11, 1938 Daily Guide)

Pioneer cattleman, politician had large part in development of Eagle Pass.

Father Time closed his books Sunday at 2 pm for one of Eagle Pass’ best-known and beloved pioneers, Trinidad San Miguel, who passed into eternity at the age of 79 years at his home here. Death was the result of declining health and the infirmity of age.

Funeral services will be held from the residence, 332 Ford Street this afternoon at 6 o’clock. Requiem Mass will be held in the Catholic Church, followed by burial in the local Catholic cemetery.

Active pallbearers at the funeral this afternoon will be: F.G. Aldridge, H. P. Mathis, Diego Pena, E. H. Schmidt, Herman Lehmann, and Julian LaCrosse.

Honorary pallbearers will be: J. B. White, Sieg Rohleder, Grover Jackson of Crystal City, Griff H. Jones, W. O. Fitch, S. Marquez, T. R. McAlpin, Luke Dowe of Del Rio, Manuel G. Sifuentes, Jose Angel Garza, former Judge Joseph Jones of Del Rio, and former John Stadler of Bracketville. The funeral arrangements are in charge of Claude Yeager, local mortician.

To Staunch friends of many state and nationally-known Democratic office holders he was “Trinity” San Miguel. He was for many years the counselor of voters in this county and Bracketville, where he had many friends. Among those he helped elect for many terms was Vice-President John N. Garner, also Congressman Milton West, and others. Telegrams of sorrow have been received by family from them.

No history of Eagle Pass would be complete without some mention of Trinidad San Miguel. He saw the town grow from a row of adobe huts on the Rio Grande into a modern city, and he had a part in its development. The father of Trinidad San Miguel was one of the original seventy families brought here from Mexico and San Antonio at the time of the founding of Fort Duncan and the opening of the freighting service to San Antonio. The elder San Miguel was a hard worker and a good manager, and he engaged himself as a freighter with an ox team plying between Eagle Pass and San Antonio. When “Trinny” was born, August 5, 1859, Fort Duncan was ten years old, but there was not yet a church building in the little settlement. It was necessary to take babies across the river to Piedras Negras to have them baptized, as the Indians were active in the country, making frequent raids, and it was dangerous for the minister or priest to come for the holding of services. A committee of early pioneers went to the post commander and asked about securing ground on the military reservation for a place of worship, where it would be protected. The commander said it was not necessary to erect a house, as one of the post houses could be used as a chapel. Trinny was the first child to be baptized in that chapel (1)

In his youth, Trinny helped his mother conduct a dairy, assisting in the milking of forty cows. At about that time the parents of Hon. Joseph Jones moved to this city. The elder Jones was a tinner by trade but since there was little to do in that line, Mrs. Jones arranged with Mrs. San Miguel for ten of the cows which Judge Jones as a lad and his brother Johnny milked. Trinny still had about thirty cows left to milk himself, so he made a trade with the boys to help him after they got through, and for this service he gave them a bucket of milk which they sold at the pens, to secure money for themselves. In this way, Mr. San Miguel and Judge Joseph Jones, who was district judge in this section for many years and is still in the law business at Del Rio (1938) became staunch friends.

Among the early acquaintances of Trinny was the notorious King Fisher, outlaw who lost his life with Ben Thompson in the old Jack Harris theater at San Antonio, March 11, 1884. King Fisher and his men visited Eagle Pass frequently from a camp maintained out several miles. On one occasion, King Fisher’s men stole a horse which Mrs. San Miguel had purchased from parties on the other side of the river and when Trinny took the matter up with that well-known character, he told his men to turn the animal back to the boy and they promptly did it.

Trinny saw many thrilling events in those days. He witnessed the slaying of a team of oxen on Main Street by two of King Fisher’s men, who had made a wager concerning their marksmanship. King Fisher paid for the oxen and then collected from the guilty henchmen.

Mr. San Miguel finished his education at St. Mary’s School in San Antonio, and upon his return to Maverick County he engaged in the cattle business. The cattle trade was a success until the drouth (sic) of 1894. Finding it impossible to sustain his herds here, he leased the pasturage in the Indian Territory and shipped trainloads of Longhorns there. Unfortunately, many died enroute and the others were lost in the drouth (sic) that struck the territory the following year.

So Trinny turned to politics. At the age of 21, he was elected hide and animal inspector in Maverick County, an important position in those days when men often placed a brand on the other fellow’s calf.

During the administration of President Benjamin Harrison, Trinny served as the Mounted Customs Inspector for four years. Then for two years he was Deputy U.S. Marshal. He was elected Treasurer of Maverick County, serving in that position for six years, then as school trustee, and for sixteen years he was County Tax Assessor. He fulfilled each one of these places with honor and efficiency, his friends declare.

Entering the dry goods and wholesale business, Mr. San Miguel prospered, and bought property in Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras which insured him steady income in his later years.

He was fond of recalling early day incidents. The last Indian raid, he related, was in the Quemado Valley in the year 1877, when many horses and cattle were driven away and several people killed and scalped by the redskins. At Dead Man’s Hill, 14 miles out on the Uvalde Road, three freighters bound from Guerrero, Coahuila to San Antonio for supplies were overtaken by the war party and all of the Mexicans were slain in the battle.

Friend and counselor of many of his fellow Latin-American citizen, a loyal patriot, and a man whose word was his bond, Trinidad San Miguel’s death is regretted by the high and humble alike. His going deprives the community of one of its most able historians and industrious pioneers, a loss that can never be replaced in the hearts of those who knew him well and loved him for his fine, manly character.

Survivors include two sons, Trinidad San Miguel Junior and Refugio San Miguel, three daughters, Mrs. Elvira San Miguel de Baron, Mrs. Rosa San Miguel de Garza, and Miss Victoria San Miguel, all of this city; and many grandchildren. His wife preceded him in death last year (1937), the sorrow of which, no doubt led to his own fatal decline in health.

(Eagle Pass Daily Guide, Monday April 11 1938)

(1) “Among the ten babies that Mexican Father Eulalio de la Merced Trujillo y Mata baptized on September 22, 1859 was Trinidad San Miguel. There is a tradition in his family that he was the first to be baptized in the chapel at Fort Duncan. The son of Refugio San Miguel and Rita Alderete, he was born August 5 1859.”

(Church of Our Lady of Refuge First Built Here, 1949 Eagle Pass News

Guide article, Rev. E.H. Blown, OMI)