What was the reality of everyday life in frontier outposts such as the Tucson Presidio when the settlers' bare feet touched the dirt floors of their adobes? Picture the physical environment. Surrounded by mud bricks, a large moat around the Presidio was created by dirt-mud scraped from it to form the adobes. A forest of mesquite trees, so thick one could lose one's way, further decorated the area. It required woodcutters to mark the trees for guidance. Ancients and children picked up the twigs and branches of the mesquite loosed by the winds. A small lake lapped the sands of the desert. It could be so quiet one would hear the river coursing by amid the clucks, crows, and chirps of the fowl. Purple mountains scaled the foothills to the vast, blue firmament: the stars.
A large part of life centered around "the bells." For example, an ecclesiastical circular issued in August of 1803 notified the chaplains of the royal presidios, including Tucson, on the manner of instructing the youth. Both sexes were included. It read: "The chaplains of the above presidios...will instruct the resident families in the merits of obedience to their fathers...with regard to observance of Divine and human laws. Days of instruction will include Sundays and religious holidays...and on Saturdays family heads will send their children, servants, and slaves to learn Christian doctrine and hear its explanation." (Microfilm 811, UAL, parish Archives of Sonora and Sinaloa, reel 11.)
"We are physical and spiritual descendants of the Tucson Presidio."
About the Author
Patricia Roche Herring is a research historian and writer of Mexican history. She was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and was reared by her parents in Chihuahua, Mexico, where her father worked as a chemical engineer/metallurgist. A graduate of Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas, Patricia received a master of arts degree in history from the University of Arizona.
Patricia is best known as a historian for "General Jos Cosme Urrea, His Life and Times, 1797-1849," published by the Arthur H. Clark Company in 1995. Jos Urrea, general, governor of Sonora and Durango, and prominent Mexican political figure, was born in Spanish Tucson. This book has received acclaim, as has Patricia's "long years of research, travel, and dedication." Other published works of Patricia's include articles in the "Journal of Arizona History" and in "Arizona and the West." In 1993, she won the James E. Officer Award at the Arizona Historical Convention.
Patricia's years of research took her to archives in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. In her synthesis of Arizona's Spanish and Mexican history, Patricia realized that writers had focused primarily on the military, the missions, and on the indigenous peoples.Her intent was to write a book that would reveal heretofore unknown, misunderstood, or ignored details of the daily lives and customs of the Spanish and Mexican inhabitants of the Presidio of San Agustn del Tucson and the region. The publication of "Life and Society at the Royal Spanish Presidio de San Agustn del Tucson, 1775-1856," is the fulfillment of Patricia's goal. The realization of this book was made possible with the financial assistance of Los Descendientes del Presidio de Tucson, a civic, cultural, educational, and charitable organization.
