Álamos History Timeline: 1700 – 1799

An A stands for Alamada over a gate on Calle comercio, in alamos, sonora, mexico.  photo by anders tomlinson

An “A” for Almada over a gate on Calle Comercio.

1700
Camino Real extended out of Culíacan through foothills, northward
through El Fuerte and Álamos

1709
Quinterra mine opens up in La Aduana. There is also a reference to
Almada but I do not understand the connection.

1732
March 14 – Álamos is no longer part of Nueva Viscaya and is now part of
the Sinaloa and Sonora province.

1735
Don Pedro Gabriel de Aragon becomes Parish Priest – reconstructed old
church, La Purisma Concepcion

1736
Inventory of sacred vessels and religious objects in church is done by
visiting Bishop Martin de Elizacochea Dorre Echeverria.

1736
July 1736 – Juan Bautista de Anza was born, more likely at Cuquiarachi,
Sonora, Mexico, to Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and Maria Rosa
Bezerra Nieto of Fronteras, Sonora, Mexico. He was their youngest son
and grandson of Antonio de Anza, a pharmacist, and Lucia de Sassoeta
of Hernani, Guipuzcoa, Spain. He was also the grandson of Captain
Antonio Bezerra Nieto and Gregoria Gómez de Silva of Janos, Chihuahua,
Mexico. His father, Juan Bautista de Anza, senior, was killed by
Apaches on May 9, 1740, when he was not quite three years of age.

1737
War between Spaniards and Yaquis and Mayos

1737
Fiesta of Nuestra Senora de Balvanere in La Aduana.
This celebration begins with Indians seeing a maiden on top of a tall
cactus. The Indians rolled rocks to the foot of the cactus but the
maiden had disappeared. They then noticed a silver outcropping where
one of the rocks had been. The Indians believed this young beautiful
maiden had shown them that there was silver here. A church was built
on this site and cactus grew out of a wall ten to twelve feet above
the ground.

The Bishop of Nueva Vizcaya, in 1737, changed the celebration date from
September 8th to November 21 so pilgrims from Álamos could use the
arroyos to go to La Aduana and avoid the summer floods.

1740
Calixto Muni, Yaqu leaders burned Camoa, Baroyeca. Took Spanish women
and children as captives. 6,000 strong Indians advanced on Álamos.
Miners hold them off.

1741
Spanish reinforcements arrive, 3,000 Yaquis and Mayos die on the
Hill of Bones

1741 – 1744
Drought

1747-1750
Devastating three year drought.  People and indians reduced to eating
roots and roasted maguey plants.

( It is possible these two references to drought could be actually
describing the same event. History has a way of slipping one way and another.
)

1748 – 1749
King Charles III of Spain responded to the disaster by sending
Inspector General of the Interior Don Jose Rodriques Gallardo reports
that Álamos has no jail, Municipal buildings or squares. Orders given
to layout streets, align houses and build a jail. A new Alamos street-
grid was designed with houses that had adjoining walls to keep
squatters out of Centro Álamos.

( There is some confusion about these dates. Did Gallardo arrive in response
to the plague in Álamos or before? )

1750
Jesuit Juan Jacobo Baegert wrote “in poplar trees I’ve seen women
dressed in Golden Velvet”

1750
6,000 die in Álamos from a series of plagues.
Another account states a plague of smallpox and measles which
caused the death of 8,000 Indians and Mestizos

1760
Bishop of Durango, Tamaron y Romeral, visits Álamos and observes that
Álamos maybe more important than Culíacan in Nueva Viscaya.
He wrote, ” It is a parish with a clergyman and vicar… there are
usually five or six priests in residence as aids to the rector. In
this real there are many good silver mines, and their principle
workings are two leagues distant, in a place called la aduana… it
has 800 families and 3400 people.”

1761
Antonio Almada y Reyes is born in Leon Spain.

1765
Don Pedro de Aragon requested in writing, from Álamos, that a presido
be built near the Yaqui to hinder the Apaches, Seris and Lower Pimas
who were resisting the northward bound Spaniards.

1767
End of jesuit era after sustaining missions for a span of 150 years

1767
July- Jesuits, guarded by 50 soldiers, pass through Álamos on their way
to the port of Guaymas.

1769
La Alameda, today’s business district, laid out. Old houses were torn
down to make room for a poplar tree lined promenade.

1769
Royal Treasury is established in Álamos. Inspector Don Jose de Galvez
remained in Álamos and managed the public finances, sooth
relationships with disgruntled Indians, and remodeled missions. He
would later become the Marquis of Sonora.

1770
A flood wiped out much of the newly constructed Alameda

1774
January 8, 1774 – Juan Bautista de Anza leaves Tubac Presidio, south of
present-day Tucson, Arizona. His expedition had 3 padres, 20 soldiers,
11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle, and 140 horses.

1775
January – de Anza, in Mexico City, begins to organize his expedition
to colonize San Francisco.

1775
March – de Anza begins recruiting colonizers in Culíacan, Province of
Sinaloa, Mexico.

1775
April 5 – de Anza is recorded as being in Culíacan

1775
March, April, May – de Anza continued recruiting in the villages of
Sinaloa and El Fuerte in the Province of Sinaloa, and Álamos, in
Sonora. 30 citizens from Álamos, more than any other community, had
joined the expedition, now more than 250 soldiers and colonizers.

( Here is a comment from Joan Powell )

“From my research, I see that Anza was in Alamos for some period in
May 1775, but it appears that the only Alamos citizens joining the
1775 expedition are Vicente Feliz, his wife and 6 children. A couple
of other sources mention 1 or two other members who may be from
Alamos, but I haven’t found any Calif. mission records or Alamos
baptismal records to support those claims. Alamos was important as the
place Anza got funds, supplies, and had to report his accounting of
costs and expenses to.

The Rivera Expedition in 1781 had a much larger Alamos contingent. I
haven’t added them up, but 30 seems like about the right number.

Also, FYI, apparently he referred to himself as “Anza”, not “de Anza” (
when the Anza Nat’l park guy was here in Alamos a couple of years ago
he told us this bit of info. )”

1775
May 1 – de Anza is in El Fuerte.

1775
May 13 – de Anza, Espinosa and six presidial soldiers meet up with
Moraga between Álamos and Horcasitas.

1775
June 22 – de Anza in San Miguel de Horcasitas

1775
July 22 – September 13 – diary notes indicate de Anza was in San Miguel
de Horcasitas, Terrenate, Cocóspera, Mission San Ignacio… During
this period of time the Apaches were restless.

1775
September 29 – de Anza’s expedition leaves Horcasitas, just north of
Alamos. From Pedro Font’s diary notes.

1775
October 16 – de Anza arrives in Tubac from Horcasitas in mid-and
continues preparations there

1775
October 23 – de Anza’s expedition left Tubac on with some 300 people
and 1000 head of livestock. There were no wagons or carts. All
supplies were loaded on pack mules every morning and unloaded every
night. The expedition was headed to the SF Bay Area following reports
of a great river flowing into the bay.The goal was to establish a
presido, mission and San Franciso settlement.

1776
March – de Anza arrived in Monterey, California.

1776
March 28 – Mexican Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, Lt. Jose Moraga, and
Franciscan priest Pedro Font arrived at the tip of San Francisco. De
Anza planted a cross at what is now Fort Point. They camped at
Mountain Lake and searched inland for a more hospitable area and found
a site they called Laguna de los Dolores or the Friday of Sorrows
since the day was Friday before Palm Sunday.

1780
Álamos is at its peak in terms of population and wealth. The mid 1700s
was an era of mansions being built and furnished with the world’s
finest items. Philippine galleons brought rich silver and the best of
the Orient. The silver mines were exporting silver bars and the
wealthy business community was importing the best Europe had to offer.
During this period Father Baegert wrote, ” even during times of
fasting, and when they come to us in confession… such finery among
the women as I scarcely ever saw in Mexico… For with astonishment
and pity I have seen many a woman dressed in velvet cloth of gold.”

1780
Pope Pius V1- looking for info. (I believe it relates to the new Bishop)
Also, in 1780 Pope Pius VI verbally and quietly approved of the
Jesuits’ existence.

1781
King Carlos 111 orders a new Bishopric for Sonora, Sinaloa and the
Californias. This order separated these provinces from the Nueva
Viscaya provinces.

1781
February – Ramoñ Laso de la Vega comes to Álamos to recruit settlers
for Los Angeles. He will leave with 11 settler and 17 soldier
families. Several of the soldiers were married in Álamos. Ramoñ Laso
de la Vega is under the command of Fernando de Rivera y Moncado who
is leading a group of 42 soldiers.

1781
Fernando de Rivera followed the de Anza trail north through Sonora to
Arizona and then west towards Los Angeles. He had kept 30 some men
to stay with the livestock and the rest of the men went with him. He
is killed on this day, along with his men, before reaching the San
Gabriel Mission.

1781
September 4 – Ramoñ Laso de la Vega arrives in Los Angeles. His party
had gone from Álamos to Quaymas and then sailed to Loreto, Baja
California. From there they marched up the Peninsula. The official
record states that 11 families of settlers from Sinaloa and Sonora
along with four soldiers and their families founded Los angeles.
Other accounts record 46 people from Álamos settling Los Angeles.

1783
Franciscan Antonio de los Reyes is the new Bishop and intends
to live in Arispe

1783
Antonio Almada y Reyes arrives in Álamos, His uncle, Don Antonio de
los Reyes is the Bishop of Sonora.

1786
Official records indicate Don Juan Ross was paid $11,250 pesos as
the first contractor on the cathedral that stands today.

history medallion in high school walkway, alamos sonora mexico, photo by anders tomlinson.

A cathedral begins construction, today it still the town’s centerpiece.

1787
What is now La Casa de los Tesoros restaurant and hotel was built
by Fr. Juan Nicolas Queiros. He lived here for 60 years.

1791
Jose Maria is born to Antonio Almada y Reyes.

1794
Frey de los Reyes starts to build a new church and the first
public school in Sonora.

1794
Cemetery opens

1799
Royal Treasury is established in Álamos. It is the largest
producer of silver bars in all of Spain

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♦ Other Álamos, Sonora Mexico timelines:

1500 – 1599 timeline

1600 – 1699 timeline

1800 – 1849 timeline

1850 – 1899 timeline

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This is a work in progress.
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