PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

Ancel Nunn’s 1975 painting of Angelina is the most widely known image of the county’s namesake. In this work, her profi le depicts her as a noble, young Indian maiden. This image was shaped by and has continued to infl uence the popular vision of Angelina. Image courtesy of Lufkin Printing

By Emily Hyatt and Jonathan Gerland

12 The Pine Bough PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

Angelina. It’s a name taken for granted by many of the area’s residents and cited with pride by the local chamber of commerce and other area boosters. Out of 254 counties in the state of , only one, Angelina, is named a er a woman.  e question, one we get frequently at  e History Center, is who was Angelina?

Although popular history identifi es tribe, has been immortalized in a roadside Angelina as a young Hasinai Indian woman marker and the popular consciousness. who knew the Spanish language and was has its very own Pocahontas or able to make peace between her people and Sacagawea. the Spanish explorers, translating for the two Who was this Angelina, really? A sweet groups and helping to bring Christianity young Indian princess or someone else to the local Indians — all while impressing entirely? A real person or a myth? As with the Spanish missionaries and soldiers with all historical mysteries, the only recourse for her serenity and righteousness — evidence historians is to search the historical record. of these facts are not as concrete as local Th e Hasinai Indians that occupied Deep mythology would suggest.1 In reality, the only East Texas and gave the whole state its name facts that can be stated with confi dence are were a highly organized and advanced society that a Native American woman who spoke with their own complex religion, political Spanish encountered Spanish and French and religious leaders, villages, agricultural explorers in the 1710’s and 1720’s in East advancements, and diplomatic ties to other Texas while living among the Hasinai people. Native American peoples as far away as It is also probable that Angelina County was northern Mexico, but they left no written named after the river that forms its northern records. Th us an examination of Angelina border (the county wasn’t formed until 1846) cannot start with who her people said she was, and it was the river that was named after the but has to turn to the only written records woman (the river is labeled “Angelina” on of the time, those of the European explorers some maps by the 1760’s).2 who used the rivers and forests of East Texas Th e somewhat mythical views of Angelina as a place to expand their empires and spread have infl uenced her place in the historical Christianity. Angelina, or a woman that can record and have so permeated the popular be assumed to be Angelina, is only mentioned consciousness that even “offi cial” histories in the accounts from fi ve expeditions into East have accepted the unsubstantiated details Texas: two French and three Spanish. In only of her identity. An offi cial Texas historical one instance, the last, is she called Angelina. marker located on the Angelina River where Th ese expeditions, some very organized and it crosses highway 21 calls attention to the purposeful and some almost accidental, were river’s importance in history, places it among recorded for posterity by those who traveled other rivers traversed and named by the at the behest of their European leaders. Th e Spanish explorers, and also highlights the offi cial records are as much a refl ection of their river’s namesake, Angelina. Th e paragraph diarists as they are the events recorded. It is honoring Angelina states: “Here in 1690, these sources that provide our only answers to Spanish explorers and missionaries found a the question, “who was Angelina?” young girl eager to learn Christianity. For In an eff ort to separate myth from her sweet disposition she was called Angelina. history and answer that frequent query, we Her name was soon used for the river where have examined the records available to us she lived. Th ough French and Spanish were here at Th e History Center. Limited by our enemies, Angelina befriended all, and for years reliance on English translations of 17th and acted as interpreter.” And thus the story of a 18th century Spanish and French works, we young Indian maiden who peacefully forged acknowledge that there is still much room a relationship between warring European for research into the person of Angelina and factions and her own people, accepting her time period, but we believe the records Christianity and spreading it among her own of these fi ve expeditions are a good starting 13 December 2012 PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

On an autumn day on the Angelina River it’s easy for modern travelers to imagine 18th century East Texas. Many remote parts of the river are probably remarkably unchanged from the days when Spanish and French explorers relied on a Native American woman to interpret their greetings and plans to the Tejas chiefs. She was so helpful they named the river near several of the villages and missions after her, giving an identity to the area. Angelina’s contributions were recorded on the official Texas Historical Marker located near where Highway 21, the former Camino Real, crosses the river. Much of the information circulating in popular history (and on historical markers) about Angelina is not substantiated in the extant sources, but the fact that she is mentioned by French and Spanish chroniclers and that her name is remembered today means that she did have substantial influence in her time period. November 2012 photos by Jonathan Gerland.

place. Getting to the bottom of the mystery journeys), so incorrect, in fact, that modern of Angelina is a way to honor this real-life historians doubt if he was even on this historical figure and remind modern East expedition with St. Denis. Texans of the many forces and nationalities André Pénicaut was a carpenter born in that shaped the area we call home. 1680. In 1721, after 22 years in the New World, he returned to France with failing FRENCH SOURCES: eyesight and wrote a memoir of his time The two French sources that mention a in the French colonies. If his account is to Hasinai woman believed to be Angelina are be believed, he was part of many French the Annals of André Pénicaut and the memoir expeditions in the new world. Records of Francois Simars de Bellisle. These two indicate he was a carpenter aboard the Le sources provide the French perspective on East Marin in 1699 and settled in Mobile. His Texas in the early 18th century and also give us account of the one trip is suspect because a glimpse into that country’s interactions with it relates events that happened on another the native peoples, including Angelina. journey. After his establishment in Mobile, Chronologically, Frenchman André Pénicaut claims to have accompanied Le Sueur Pénicaut’s account of meeting a Hasinai and Iberville on simultaneous expeditions, woman named Angelique in 1712 or 14 which was not possible. Additionally, when (depending on which account is used) while Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, French soldier, on a journey with St. Denis through the lands explorer, trader, and eventual commander of the Tejas in East Texas comes first. His at Natchitoches, journeyed through Spanish account is important in that is the earliest Texas to San Juan Bautista in 1714 Pénicaut mention of a Hasinai Indian woman named claims to have accompanied him on this after an angelic being that spoke Spanish and journey, the purpose of which was to begin served as an intermediary between Europeans trading with the Spaniards and their colonies. and Indians, but it is not a very reliable It is on this trip that Pénicaut mentions a account. Many other parts of his memoir are Native American woman that many scholars factually incorrect (including the dates of his believe to be Angelina.3 14 The Pine Bough PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

According to Pénicaut, after 22 days speaking to men of both cultures. He does of travel, St. Denis’s party arrived at the not speak of her age or her place in native Hasinai village and were greeted with a peace society.7 ceremony. St. Denis offered gifts and asked Perhaps the most interesting account of that they serve as guides on the rest of the French adventures in Texas is that of François journey through Texas. Language was not Simars de Bellisle, a young French military a barrier, even though Pénicaut insists the officer who lived with her more than two Hasinai had never met a Frenchman, because months during the winter of 1720-1721. a native woman served as interpreter. Pnicaut His story requires some background before says “In their village we found a woman getting to Angelina – and what story it is.8 He named Angelique, who had been baptized by had left La Rochelle, France in August 1719 Spanish priests on a mission to their village. bound for the French colony of . She spoke Spanish, and as M. de St. Denis His ship’s captain soon lost his way at sea but too spoke that language fairly well, he made a group of pirates corrected the mistake and use of her to tell the Assinais chiefs to let us helped them through the Straits of Florida. have some guides for hire.”4 And with this, Once in the , the captain Angelina County’s namesake receives her first again became lost and overshot Mobile Bay mention in recorded history. and the Mississippi River. He sailed along the André Pénicaut’s narrative presents several Texas coast probably as far south as present problems and only deepens the mystery Corpus Christi before turning back north, surrounding the woman Angelina. He is an frequently dragging bottom. Near the mouth unreliable chronicler. Critics have argued that of the ship ran aground. Once his account is “so misleading and inaccurate the ship was freed from the sand bar, Bellisle as to destroy its usefulness.”5 His claim that and four others asked to be placed ashore. the Tejas had never met a Frenchman are They decided to walk eastward toward the especially egregious; the French explorer Mississippi River and light a fire each night to René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle stay in contact with the ship. The small party had traveled through East Texas twice from set out with five days of biscuits, rifles, swords, 1685-1687, even receiving five horses from ammunition, and one hatchet, not realizing the Tejas and placing a French boy to live that the Mississippi was hundreds of miles to among them to learn their language. After the east. After just the first night, the ship La Salle’s death, several survivors of his ill- abandoned them. fated colony remained in the area among the The small party walked east, turned back, various Hasinai tribes and two of these were tried to follow a river north, and then turned now with St. Denis, still bearing tattoos on west. Eventually fatigue and starvation took their faces from their time among the Tejas their toll, and Bellisle’s companions began and Karankawa.6 However, most critics agree to die one by one over the course of several that Pénicaut’s descriptions of the people weeks. and places he claims to have encountered Utterly alone, Bellisle returned to the bay are accurate and give historians a valuable and survived the winter of 1719-1720 living image of the flora, fauna, and people. While on oysters and “boiled grass.” During the early his claim to be an eyewitness to meeting summer, he came across Indians who were Angelina at this particular time is suspect collecting sea bird eggs. Happy to see other and his chronology frequently conflicts with human beings, Bellisle ran to them, only to more reliable sources, modern day researchers be captured with his measly belongings. They trying to find Angelina can still gain valuable stripped him of everything, but they gave him insight from his account. If he did not meet eggs and fish to satisfy his hunger. Angelique, someone on St. Denis’s expedition Bellisle lived with his captors, who were met her and related the story of her translation of the Attakapan tribe known as abilities to him. She made an impression. or Orcoquisac, throughout the summer. From this account, we learn that she was The Indians spent their time killing deer or an Indian woman, her name suggests an buffalo, the women gathering “wild potatoes.” association with angels, she spoke Spanish, she As winter approached the Indians’ treatment had been around Spanish missionaries long of Bellisle worsened and he became the slave enough to learn the language and be baptized of the whole tribe, witnessing cannibalism as a Catholic, and she was comfortable among other horrors. 15 December 2012 PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

In addition to a river and a county, Angelina’s name also lives on in the National Forest.

Despising his situation, Bellisle eventually food for a long journey, and offered two of obtained some paper from one of the pockets her children to accompany Bellisle as guides of his confiscated coat and wrote a letter using to Natchitoches. Bellisle accepted the offer a stick and charcoal and water. He addressed and agreed to leave the two children with the it to the first European who might read it, French to wait until Angelica herself came for explaining his plight and begging for mercy. them later. After about a week’s journey, the The Indians agreed to deliver it, but the letter three riders safely arrived in Natchitoches, only circulated among the coastal tribes. where Bellisle felt as if he had returned from In time, however, the letter came into the the dead.10 hands of the Hasinai Indians. The Hasinai Bellisle’s account of his life in Texas reads soon delivered the letter to St. Denis in like the script of an adventure story, and since Natchitoches, who sent two Hasinai warriors some scholars question the veracity of the to rescue Bellisle. English translations or even of some of the Hasinai warriors freed Bellisle from French manuscripts, historians must read each his captors and took him to their village, section critically. Adding to the confusion which was several days away. Bellisle arrived surrounding Bellisle’s story, there are several in the Hasinai village in late November or other versions of his tale, written by different early December 1720. According to his individuals in different eras. These are not account, “an Indian woman called Angelica” yet translated into English.11 His account approached him, shook his hands, and spoke of Angelica gives a different perspective on to him in Spanish, explaining her great sorrow Angelina from some of the others, but also upon learning of his “bad situation” and contains some similarities. In his account “sad state.” She invited him to stay with her, she spoke Spanish because she had lived with because the men of the village were leaving the Spaniards, but she was no young maiden, to go to war for a few days. Bellisle could having enough respect among her people to rest and recover from his ordeal, and then welcome and care for an official guest and also be escorted to Natchitoches when the men having children old enough to guide him to returned. Bellisle “accepted with pleasure.”9 Natchitoches. During his stay with Angelica, Bellisle learned that she “had lived with the Spaniards SPANISH SOURCES: since her childhood. That is why we While both French accounts offer wild, understood each other so well.” He recorded rollicking tails of misadventure in colonial that “she served me all the best she had, Texas, the Spanish records offer more and she had as much love for me as if I had measured details. Three Spanish expeditions been her child. I found this treatment so contain information connected to Angelina. sweet when compared to what I had received The differences in the sources reflect the previously that in less than eight days I was differences in their writers and their world cured from all my ills.” His health restored, views. The French sources are memoirs Bellisle again became despondent when the written after the fact and read like adventure men had not returned after several weeks. tales, while the Spanish sources are diaries When Angelica asked the reason for his written during the expeditions. These diaries gloom, he replied that he longed to return are official records and are primarily strictly to his own country. The next morning, factual accounts meant to inform government Angelica assembled three horses, enough and church officials about the actions of the

16 The Pine Bough PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine. expedition leaders and their Indian allies. input of the Tejas leaders, where to establish The son of the commander of the presidio their missions. According to Espinosa, at San Juan Bautista, Domingo Ramón set “having recourse to a learned Indian woman out for East Texas in 1716 with seventy-five of this tribe, reared in Coahuila, we gave them people, including priests, French citizens, to understand, as best we could, the object and civilians. The expedition included Louis of our coming.” 15 He does not mention Juchereau de St. Denis, the Frenchman who Angelina by name, but most believe this commanded the outpost at Natchitoches and could be a reference to her, since one of the had made his way to San Juan Bautista in subsequent Spanish expeditions that visits the order to open trading partnerships with the same area, does mention a female translator Spanish. He had earlier been arrested and named Angelina. taken to Mexico City, but was later released Ramón and Espinosa’s expedition led to accompany Ramón on his expedition to the establishment of six missions and as a guide.12 St. Denis had married into a presidio in the lands of the Tejas. In the Ramón family while in Mexico, so his addition to converting the native peoples to association with this expedition was predicated Christianity, the missions served to solidify by family ties in addition to his previous the Spanish claim to East Texas in the face of experiences in Texas. increasing French incursions.16 Now no one Ramón’s expedition was organized could argue that the Spaniards did not care as a direct response to continued French about East Texas and its Tejas peoples. This is incursions into Texas, an area Spain claimed also the first Spanish mention that an Indian despite its lack of presence in the area since woman raised in Spanish held areas helped in the 1690’s. St. Denis wanted to trade with the this effort. Spanish and with the Indians in East Texas. Following the Ramón and Espinosa The Spanish didn’t want any French presence expeditions to the Tejas in Eastern Texas, in their areas and certainly didn’t want the their missions and presidios needed supplies. French to become overly friendly with the Spanish officials in Mexico appointed Martín Native Americans in East Texas, particularly de Alarcón commander of Presidio San the Tejas, who served as a buffer between Francisco de Coahuila and Governor of the French and Spanish settlements. According Province of Texas and tasked him to resupply to one assessment of this expedition, it “laid the Texas missions. Alarcon was a knight of the foundation for Spanish domination in the the Order of Santiago and from 1691 to 1716 region that was to become modern-day East was appointed to various posts in New Spain, Texas during a critical period of Spanish and serving in the military and working toward French competition for control of the area.”13 the pacification of various tribes in northern Ramon kept a diary on the journey to East Mexico. His experience as a commander and Texas, but he does not mention Angelina. leader of expeditions, along with his new title, Her assistance to this group of Spaniards is made him the logical choice to continue the recorded in another account. work of Ramon’s expedition.17 Ramón’s religious counterpart on the Alarcón’s expedition chaplain, Fray expedition was Isidro Felix de Espinosa, Francisco Céliz, a priest from the mission El President of the new missions to be founded Dulcisimo Nombre de Jesus de Peyotes in in East Texas under the direction of the Coahuila served as diarist for the expedition.18 College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro. This His is a detailed account of each day. was not his first, nor would it be his last According to Céliz, Alarcón‘s expedition was missionary journey to East Texas, and from largely a success. On his way to East Texas, his first trip to the area of what is now San he founded the mission of San Antonio de Antonio, he had been searching for Tejas Valero and the Presidio of San Antonio de Indians to convert.14 Espinosa kept a diary Béxar. Continuing north east, he resupplied of his journey with Ramon and it is in his the missions, made contact with Ramón and account that Angelina is briefly mentioned. his soldiers, and maintained good relations The expedition left northern Mexico in April with the Tejas. On October 19, 1718, Céliz’s 1716 and by July had made contact with and diary records that at the mission La Purisima been accepted by the Tejas in deep East Texas. Concepcion, Alarcon served as godfather They set about the task of deciding, with the to three Indians who were baptized into

17 December 2012 PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

Christianity. Between Purísima Concepción is the only recorded instance of her being and La Concepción de Agreda, at least 62 named “Angelina.” This expedition, led by the Tejas had converted to Christianity through Second Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo baptism. Alarcón demonstrated his largess to reestablished the Spanish claim on Texas the Tejas on this day when, according to Céliz, after the French had attempted to reassert “… the governor proceeded to distribute their influence from 1719-1920, causing the clothing to all the family of those baptized, Spanish to effectively abandon East Texas. In among whom is found the sagacious Indian the course of reestablishing missions, building woman interpreter, who at the persuasion of presidios, and shoring up alliances with Tejas the said governor came to live with her entire chiefs, he encountered Angelina and her name family near the village.”19 became one that would influence geographic Once again, a diarist mentions a female and political nomenclature in East Texas. Indian interpreter in a Hasinai village. Most The Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo historians link this woman with Angelina due came from a prominent Spanish family to the similarities in the descriptions across with a long history of serving Spain in its the French and Spanish accounts. The only military. He became the second Marqués information given is that she was a woman, de San Miguel de Aguayo upon the death of she interpreted for the Tejas and Spanish his father-in-law and continued his service officials, she had a family, and she lived away to the crown after moving to his hacienda in from the mission until Alarcon convinced her Coahuila in 1712. He was named Governor to move. and Captain General of Coahuila and Texas The last recorded mention of the Hasinai in 1719 and in 1720 the Viceroy of New woman thought to be Angelina is from the Spain commissioned him to reoccupy Texas, 1721 Aguayo expedition to East Texas and particularly the missions and presidios of East Texas, which had been abandoned following This graphic rendering by France’s incursion in 1719. The Marqués Gabriel Jacques de Saint- proposed to finance the expedition himself Aubin, from page 148, and in 1721 set out to ensure that Spain’s part 2, of Par M. Bossu’s claim to Texas was never challenged again.20 NOUVEAUX VOYAGES AUX 21 INDES OCCIDENTALES In this, he succeeded. (Paris, 1768) reflects a Once again, Angelina is mentioned in confused understanding an official diary of a Spanish expedition, of the adventure tales of and although she is named, readers are Simars de Bellisle, who again left with more questions than answers was enslaved by Attakapa about her identity. Juan Antonio de la Peña, Indians along the Texas Chaplain-Major of the expedition and a coast before being Franciscan bother, recorded the events of the rescued by the Hasinai of journey. The expedition left Monclova in East Texas and nursed November 1720 and de la Pena relates the back to health by encounter with Angelina on July 25, 1721. Angelina in 1720-1721. The expedition was beset with delays from The rendering seems to combine different versions the beginning, and its bad luck continued of Bellisle’s story as well throughout its journey to East Texas. The as different episodes from huge party was delayed at the his time in Texas, not all due to flooding, and it took 16 days for the translated into English. It group to cross that one river. The Cacique is unknown if the woman (chief) of the “Aynay” met the Marques’s depicted is an Attakapa party at their camp on the eastern side of the “wife” or someone else Trinity, near San Juan Creek. He brought whose portrayed image eight chiefs and four women (“maidens,” was influenced by the according to de la Peña), including Angelina, person Angelina. “who had grown up at [Presidio] del and [Monclova] de Coahuila.” She spoke both “Castilian” and the language of the Tejas and was able to help the two leaders

18 The Pine Bough PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

In Jim Knox’s 1986 sculpture, Angelina speaks with a Tejas warrior and a Spanish Friar. She holds eagle feathers in her right hand, symbolizing her authority and her dress is adorned with six shells – the top row symbolizing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the second row symbolizing the three great forces, positive, negative, and neutral. All together, the larger than life size bronze sculpture represents the idea of Angelina bridging the gap between two cultures, European (specifically Spanish) and Indian (specifically Tejas). This sculpture is probably one of the most accurate depictions of what Angelina may have looked like, as Spanish and French sources from her time period indicated that Hasinai women wore tanned deerskins adorned with shells and bells, anything that would make a noise. However, she probably would have worn her hair tied back and would have been tattooed, at least with one line down the center of her face. In winter, she would have worn clothing that covered her whole body, but it is possible that in warmer seasons she would have gone without upper body clothing and would have been tattooed on her breasts and shoulders, as well as her face. December 2012 photo by Jonathan Gerland . communicate. According to de la Peña, the state that she learned it at a mission in Cacique had heard the Spaniards were on their Coahuila. This is supported by Juan Agustín way and had become anxious at their delay at Morfi in his , which was the Trinity and would have gone all the way the first historical account of Texas, written to San Antonio, he missed the Spaniards so between 1779 and 1783. He based his history much. Aguayo gave him assurances that the on an extensive tour of Spanish missions in Spanish soldiers and missionaries were there to the late 1770’s and on official documents. stay and that the Spanish king valued the Tejas It is possible he used Espinosa and de la as loyal allies against their common enemies, Peña as his sources, but his information presumably the French.22 By May 1722, could also have come from witness accounts when Aguayo returned to Coahuila, he had unknown to modern historians.24 In all started or reestablished four presidios and ten five accounts, Angelina speaks Spanish and missions in Texas.23 willingly interprets for the European visitors So who was Angelina? The five sources and serves as intermediary between the Tejas that mention her, either by name or by chieftains and the expedition leaders. In all description do not offer enough information five accounts she also, most likely, is a grown to make a definite answer. She is given a name woman, since she seems confident in the in three sources, but it is a different name presence of men from the European and Tejas each time (Angelique, Angelica, Angelina), groups, is called “learned” and “sagacious” and although it is very similar, meaning angelic according to Bellisle, had children old enough or little angel or some variation of an angelic to guide him to Natchitoches. Adulthood being in both languages. All five sources started much earlier in the 18th century than agree that she spoke Spanish, but do not our modern society allows, but none of these agree where she learned it. Celiz, from five depictions support the idea that she was a Alarcon’s expedition, does not mention the sweet, innocent, young maiden. source or her knowledge, Bellisle mentions she With these five sources available to lived with the Spanish, but doesn’t mention researchers at The History Center, we hope where, and Pénicaut, the most unreliable to be closer to drawing some conclusions chronicler, points to the Spanish priests who regarding Angelina’s identity. We can say, visited the area in the 1690’s. Ramón’s diarist, based on our research, that Angelina was Espinosa, and Aguayo’s De La Peña specifically probably a Native American woman who

19 December 2012 PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

spent a significant part of her childhood in names. Angelina is unique in that her name, Coahuila, where she learned Spanish and which is Spanish, reminds us of the three great became familiar with European customs. She cultures that influence the early history of our ended up in East Texas among the Hasinais, region. A native woman who interacted with where she had a family and interacted with the Spanish and French, her influence was at least five groups of Europeans as they honored, first with the name of the river that navigated through the Tejas world and culture. ran through her people’s land and secondly in Since the Aguayo expedition effectively ended the county that bears her name.25 Angelina’s French incursions into East Texas, the Spanish people were on the far northeastern edge of names for people and places in the area were the New Spain, but were right in the middle the ones that fell into official use, and thus of Spain’s and France’s new world struggle. we know her as Angelina, not Angelica or Her skills, wherever they were obtained, Angelique. would have helped her leaders and their With the Americanization of East Texas Old World counterparts negotiate through that followed American settlers and led this pivotal period of transition within the to Texas’ independence from Mexico and old empires. It is through Angelina and her eventual addition to the United States, much identity that modern East Texans are driven to of the Spanish history of the area has faded learn about this time period. Once again she from memory and the French influence is serves as a bridge between disparate cultures. almost unknown. All that remains are the

In Lance Hunter’s 2000 mural “Laying the Tracks,” which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Angelina and Railroad, an Angelina-like figure shines a light ahead of Angelina County Lumber Company’s engine 110. The mural is located on the back of the Lufkin Independent School District administration building on Cotton Square. December 2012 photo by Jonathan Gerland

20 The Pine Bough PDF version of an aricle in the December 2012 issue of The Pine Bough Magazine.

ENDNOTES

1 For popular takes on Angelina, see Ted Poston Trout, “The Savor of Angelina County,” The 12 Donald E. Chipman, “RAMON, DOMINGO,” Handbook of Texas Online, Lufkin Daily News, August 16, 1936 and “Angelina County Named for Lovely Indian Maiden” (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra24), accessed October 23, 2012. The Lufkin Daily News, October 30, 1955, which borrows from Trout’s article. Although these articles refer to some primary sources, their depiction of Angelina is influenced by popular 13 Debbie S. Cunningham, “The Domingo Ramón Diary of the 1716 Expedition into the legends. Province of the Tejas Indians: An Annotated Translation,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 60, no. 1 (July 2006):.39. 2 Fray Juan Agustín Morfi, History of Texas, 1673-1779 (Albuquerque: The Quivira Society, 1935), Part 1, pp. 63, 74-75; William C. Foster, Spanish Expeditions Into Texas, 1689-1768 14 Donald E. Chipman, “ESPINOSA, ISIDRO FEXLIX DE,” Handbook of Texas Online, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 120. (http://www.tshaonline.org/handboo/online/articles/fex04), accessed October 23, 2012.

3 John G. Johnson, “PENICAUT, ANDRE JOSEPH,” Handbook of Texas Online 15 Rev. Gabriel Tous, “Ramón Expedition: Espinosa’s Diary of 1716,” Preliminary Studies of the (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpe23), accessed October 23, 2012. Texas Catholic Historical Society 1, no. 4 (April 1930): 22.

4 Richebourg Gaillard McWilliams, Fleur de Lys and Calumet: Being the Penicaut Narrative of 16 Cunningham, “The Ramon Diary,” 42. French Adventure in Louisiana (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953), 150-151. 17 Donald E. Chipman, “ALARCON, MARTIN DE,” Handbook of Texas Online 5 Joseph G. Tregle, Jr., “Review of Fleur de Lys and Calumet: Being the Penicaut Narrative of (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/on;ine/articles/fal02), accessed October 23, 2012. French Adventure in Louisiana by Richebourg Gaillard McWilliams,” The Journal of Southern History 19, no. 3 (1953): 376. 18 Fray Francisco Céliz, Diary of The Alarcón Expedition into Texas, 1718-1719, trans. Fritz Leo Hoffmann (Los Angeles: The Quivira Society, 1935), 1-2. 6 The standard account of La Salle’s ill-fated Texas adventures, which describes the events sur- rounding La Salle’s death and the fates of the survivors, is Robert S. Weddle, Wilderness Man- 19 Céliz, Diary of the Alarcon Expedition, 77. hunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973). For the survivors who accompanied St. Denis and were recognized by the Tejas, see Robert S. Weddle, The French 20 Lewis W. Newton, “AGUAYO, MARQUES DE SAN MIGUEL DE,” Handbook of Texas Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea 1682-1762 (College Station: Texas A&M University Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fag02), accessed December 11, Press, 1991), 193-194. Two other accounts, which further prove French-Hasinai contact 2012. before St. Denis are Henri Joutel’s Relation (found in William C. Foster, editor, and Johanna S. Warren, translator, The La Salle Expedition to Texas: The Journal of Henri Joutel, 1684-1687 21 Spain’s claim on Texas was never challenged once Aguayo successfully reoccupied the missions (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1998) and Pierre and Jean-Baptist Talon’s “Voyage and presidios in East Texas and San Antonio. Even when the military and missionary pres- to the Mississippi through the Gulf of Mexico” in R. T. Huntington, “The Interrogation of the ence faded in the 19th century, no other nation made a serious play for Texas. It wasn’t until Talon Brothers, 1698,” The Iowa Review, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Spring-Summer 1985), 99-139. See Mexico’s independence from Spain that Americans began their incursion into Texas, and by the also Robert S. Weddle, “La Salle’s Survivors,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly (April 1972), time officials such as General Manuel De Mier y Terán raised the alarm, the tide had turned and 413-433. Texas’ fate was tied the United States and its citizens.

7 Readers have assumed, from this account, that she was converted and educated by Father 22 Richard G. Santos, Aguayo Expedition into Texas 1721: An Annotated Translation of the Five Massanet in his missionary journeys in the 1690’s, but it is not stated exactly when she received Versions of the Diary Kept by Br. Juan Antonio De La Peña (Austin: Jenkins Publishing Company, this education or who taught her. Massanet himself does not mention her either in his letter 1981), 53-54. to Don Carlos de Siguenza concerning the discovery of the bay of Espiritu Santo (see Damian Manzanet and Lilia M. Casis “Carta de Don Damian Manzanet á Don Carlos de Siguenza 23 Newton, “Aguayo,” Handbook of Texas Online. Sobre el Descubrimiento de la Bahía de Espírit Santo,” The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association Vol. 2, No.4 (1899), 253-312) which described his 1690 expedition or in his diary 24 Fray Juan Augustín Morfi, History of Texas 1673-1779, trans. Carlos Eduardo Castañeda of the 1691 expedition, found in Mattie Austin Hatcher “The Expedition of Don Domingo (Albuquerque: The Quivira Society, 1935), 74-75. Castaneda states in footnote 75 (page 74) Teran De Los Rios Into Texas,” Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society, 2, no. that Morfi writes in his Memorias that Angelina was “baptized and reared in the mission of 1 (1932), 48-67. Lino Gomez Canedo’s Primeras Exploraciones y Poblamient de Texas (1686- San Juan Bautista.” This mission was founded in 1699. See also “MORFI, JUAN AGUSTIN,” 1964) contains Massanet’s Diary of his 1691 expedition in Spanish. Diane H. Corbin’s entry Handbook of Texas Online (www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmo45), accessed “Angelina” in Frances Abernethy’s Legendary Ladies of Texas (Denton: University of North Texas November 29, 2012. Press, 1994), 15-18, uses more primary sources than most popular depictions of Angelina and is more trustworthy, but still attributes quotes to Father Massanet that we have not found in a 25 Unfortunately for historians and modern Texans, the Texas House and Senate journals from primary source. April 1846 do not explain why Angelina County was named for Angelina (or the river) and not another notable hero of independence as many other were. The petition to divide Nacogdoches 8 Bellisle’s account is most accessible in Henri Folmer, “De Bellisle on the Texas Coast,” County was first presented in the Senate in March 1846 and passed in April. The Senate passed Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (October 1940), 204-231. See also Robert S. the bill on April 10, 1846. It is worth noting that several counties in East Texas honor the Na- Weddle, The French Thorn (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1991), 208-227 and tive American heritage of the area, including Nacogdoches, Angelina, and Cherokee counties. Robert S. Weddle and Patricia R. Lemee, “Exploring the Texas Coast, Bellisle, Beranger, and La Harpe,” in Francois Lagarde, ed., The French in Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003), 20-34.

9 Folmer, “De Bellisle on the Texas Coast,” 223.

10 Ibid, 223-225.

11 Henri Folmer, “De Bellisle on the Texas Coast,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (October 1940), 204-231 contains an annotated translation of Pierre Margery’s publica- tion of Bellisle’s Relacion in his Découvertes et Etablissements des Français dans l’Ouest et dans le Sud de l’Amérique Septentrionale, published in 1879. While Folmer’s work is invaluable to monolingual scholars of 18th century Texas, its annotations are sometimes more confusing than they are helpful, as they offer information from other accounts of Bellisle’s journey, particularly from Le Page du Pratz and Bossu. Some of these other accounts give more details than are of- fered in Margery’s document; without English translations of these documents, it is difficult for us to assess their veracity or where exactly in Bellisle’s narrative they belong. 21 December 2012