BAZAN RANCH CEMETERY, Hidalgo Co. Cemeteries of TX

BAZAN RANCH CEMETERY

Submitted by cshaffer@houston.rr.com (typed from records provided
by surveyors)

Surveyed by Goldsby Goza and Fran Isbel on January 19 and 26, 1980.
COPYRIGHT HIDALGO COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

LOCATION: From US 281, 18 miles north of Edinburg, go east on FM 1017 for 13.75 miles towards Puerto Rico in northwest Hidalgo County. Bazan Cemetery is 100 feet south of where road makes a right-angle curve due north.

SURVEYED: Wilma C. Kosar and Kathryn B. Kosar, December 1975.

PERSPECTIVE: Cemetery measures 30 x 30 feet, surrounded by hurricane fencing. Gate is on south in southwest corner. Census was made north to south, beginning on east side. There is a single grave in Row A, and five graves in Row B. There are three large trees and wild olive and ceniso bushes inside the fence.

HISTORY: Bazan Cemetery is located on San Ramon Land Grant of four leagues (22,602.47 acres) awarded by Spain to Julian Farias on October 20, 1804 and confirmed by Texas Legislature in 1852. Mexican ranch families settled the area.

The Bazan family lived on the old Santa Guadalupe-Torero Ranch. Jesus Bazan (1848-1915) was a nephew of Hilario Villarreal who built the stone house on Santa Guadalupe Ranch prior to 1891. In 1897, Jesus Bazan sold to Jesus Maria Vela 885 acres, which his wife Epimenia Trevino Bazan had inherited from her father, Santos Trevino, out of the Trevino League, which adjoined Santa Anita on the west, of her grandparents Leocadio and Estafana Diaz Trevino.

In 1920, William M. Dougherty and Sam Lane (rancher at nearby Guadalupe El Torrero-Sam Lane Ranch) began to promote town sites in the area, until Lane's death in 1924. In the early 20th century, the Bazans had farm land in the
area, but have since moved to town.

Bazan Cemetery is ten feet south of the old unpaved county road still visible beside the new paved road. Land was donated by Epimenia Trevino (Mrs. Jesus) Bazan (1850-1938) in 1915. Cemetery is very close to roadside because in 1915,
during the "bandit era" in Hidalgo County, Jesus Bazan Villarreal (1848-1915) and his son-in-law Antonio Longoria (1866-1915) were shot by Texas Rangers. (Longoria had been postmaster at San Ramon Ranch 1901-1906, 1908.) According to local tradition, the Rangers would not permit the family to remove the bodies, so the two men were buried where they lay, without caskets. Other Bazan family members are buried in the nearby Santa Guadalupe Torrero Cemetery.

Sources: Handbook of Texas (Puerto Rico).

Interview with Crisoforo Longoria, June 1991.

National Archives, Record of Appointment of Postmasters 1832-1971, Roll 124
(Texas).

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ROW A

A01. JESUS BAZAN
1887 1968

A02. CONCEPCION GUERRA
1882 1955

Row B

B01. ANTONIO L. LONGORIA
Nació Nov. 12, 1866 Murió Sep. 24, 1915
Su esposa e hijos consagran este recuerdo a su memoria
B02. JOSEFA BAZAN GUERRA
Nin~a

B03. ELIA BAZAN
4-25-1920
Un recuerdo de sus padres

B04. JESUS BAZAN VILLARREAL
Nació Mar 19, 1848 Murió Sept 29, 1915
Le amamos en su vida y le amamos en su muerte. Se fue pero no se
olvida. Sus hijos e hijas le dedican este recuerdo a su memoria.

End of Bazan Ranch Cemetery.