Rosa Maria Hinojosa de Balli: "Texas' First Cattle Quee

As the eighteenth century rolled slowly toward its halfway point in the tiny village of Camargo -- just south of the Rio Grande -- a little girl was born to the Alcade, Captain Juan Jose Hinojosa, and his wife, Dona Maria Antonia Ynes Benavides. The parents were descended from some of the earliest colonists of the of the region which recently (1746) had been incorporated as the province of Nuevo Santandar, in New Spain. Juan and Maria named their daughter, 'Rosa Maria.' Already the herds of the family cattle had begun to graze above the northern banks of the River when little Rosa Maria moved to old Reynosa with her parents, sometime during the 1750s. The future cattlewoman spent her girlhood there, and married a Captain Balli upon reaching young womanhood.

While mothering three sons, Rosa Maria Hinojosa de Balli worked actively with her husband and father in expanding the family's ranch holdings. During the mid-1770s and into the late 1780s, the trio proceeded to acquire title to the Llano Grande and La Feria land grants, located in present-day Cameron County, Texas. Rosa Maria lost her husband in about 1790. Though bearing the burden of raising her boys alone and also encumbered by a heavy amount of debt, she inherited in total the estate of Capt. Balli as his widow, according to Spanish custom.

This enterprising woman then endeavored to set her accounts aright. Settling her debts, she then began to procure several extensive, ranching grants in the names of her sons and of her brother, Vincente Hinojosa. Before long, the Balli and Hinojosa families held approximately one-third of contemporary South Texas. Rosa Maria established her ranch quarters -- which included a chapel -- within the La Feria grant. The present town of that name in Cameron County, in fact, takes its title from this holding of Dona Rosa Maria. Throughout her relatively short lifespan -- extending only about forty years -- she "exercised unquestioned authority over [her family's] little kingdom, keeping meticulous records of what was due each son and herself." *

Texas' first cattle queen cast her attentions beyond ranching concerns, however. She was devout, and she appears as godmother of many local children who were baptized at Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church in Reynosa Vieja. Perhaps she took the most pride in "my son, Nicolas, the priest," who was the Father for whom Padre Island was named:

"Padre Island, off the South Texas coast, is named for Padre Jose Nicolas Balli (177?-1829), whose family migrated from Spain in 1569 and became large landowners in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In 1800 Balli applied to King Charles IV of Spain for 11 1/2 leagues of land on the island, and in 1804 started its first settlement, Rancho Santa Cruz. Padre Balli served as collector of finances for all the churches in the Rio Grande Valley and founded the first mission in present Cameron County. Padre Balli's ministry was a great influence on the lives of early South Texas settlers."

(text of the State Historical Marker at Port Isabel)

The years following the death of Dona Rosa Maria Hinojosa de Balli were challenging ones for her family. Her eldest son, Captain Juan Balli II -- then Alcalde of old Reynosa -- was thrown into prison by colonial authorities, where he died. Father Nicolas was forced to mix his priestly duties with the settlement of debts which were thus incurred. The cast family holdings were lost. But the padre was successful in these secular endeavors, and the children of his brother, Chico, were not denied her inheritance. Today, many descendents on both sides of the Rio Grande count this early cattlewoman as an ancestor. Her memory is preserved through family honor and traditions, and through both oral tradition and written documents in Texas and in Mexico.

For more details of her life and influence, see:

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/fhi50.html

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/qcr2.html

http://www.cameroncountyhistoricalcommission.org/ValleyHistory.htm

Holly

* Drawn from an entry submitted by Minnie Gilbert of Harlingen to, 'Worthy Mothers of Texas: 1776 - 1976,' Stillhouse Hollow Press, 1976
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves