By Juan Montoya
If you asked almost anyone today who Doña Estefana Goseacochea de Cavazos de Cortina was, or what she did, you'd probably get a blank stare.
Not only have the accomplishments of this great Latina woman gone unnoticed by Texas and local history, but the importance of her family's pioneer efforts in South Texas have been obscured
by time and the myopia of mainstream historians.
Doña Estefana was one of the pioneer Latinas who came to South Texas bringing with them the civilizing agents of education and religion.
She was born in Camargo, Mexico, in 1782 (the Rio Grande wasn't a border then) and died in 1867 on her El Carmen ranch at 85. She was also owner of the Santa Rita Ranch, the first Cameron County seat.
Until the settlers came, the land was inhabited by wandering Native American nomads. Anthropologists have found little evidence of agriculture or livestock being developed there.With the coming of Salvador de la Garza (her grandfather and grantee of the Espiritu Santo Land Grant), all that changed.
P. G. Cavazos, her great-great grandson, from San Pedro, was instrumental in getting the Texas Historical Commission to erect a marker on Doña Estefana's family cemetery off Military Highway where she and her family once operated her ranching empire.
Hers was one of the first ones established in Cameron County.
El Carmen Ranch was named after Doña Estefana’s daughter. Rancho Viejo was established by her grandfather in 1770. El Carmen Avenue, named after her daughter, connected these two ranches. Santa Rita (now Villanueva, and the first seat of Cameron County) was also founded by Doña Estefana.
If you are traveling west on Military Highway, as you get to Villa Nueva there is a small road that turns left toward the irrigation district water pump on the Rio Grande River. There you will find a weathered granite marker and a leaning marker to the Oblate Trail.
That is all that's left of the ranching heritage that started the entire region. Of course, the Santa Rita marker makes no mention of Doña Estefana, merely that it was the "First Anglo settlement in Lower Rio Grande Valley..."
Cavazos said Doña Estefana would always make sure a chapel was built on every new ranch that was founded. Also, she made sure her children received an education, and they, in turn, would set up schools in the ranches for the sons and daughter of her ranch hands.
Thus, this pioneer woman, in fact, initiated the custom and culture of education long before the State of Texas, Cameron County, the City of Brownsville, or even the Brownsville Independent School District, existed.
One of her sons (Jose Maria) went on to become a tax-assessor collector for the eventual Cameron County and another (Sabas) would become a wealthy and successful rancher dominating the local agrarian economy. He also served as a county commissioner and a justice of the peace.
Her deeds and accomplishments are often overshadowed by the activities and controversy surrounding her other son, Juan Cortina.
However, there is no reason why her impact on the economic and social development of the area should take a back seat to his activities.
The Veterans Memorial High School built by the Brownsville Independent School District is literally in the old La Carmen ranch's front yard. The original Carmen Avenue is on the property’s east side.
Her son’s (Sabas) historical cemetery lies in San Pedro, on the northwest side of the school up Military Highway (US 281). His mother's historical cemetery marker is on the school's southeast side. Rancho Viejo, the county's oldest ranch, lies to its north. When the levee was built, most of the old cemetery was destroyed.
The Rio Grande River runs along the south side of where the old Santa Rita Ranch used to be and is a well-known crossing place for residents to either side of the river through the crossing known as Las Piedras. There, literally just a stone's throw away, is Mexico on the other side of the shallow river.
Doña Estefana's descendants include members of virtually every original family in South Texas. The Cavazos, Cortinas, Olivieras, Canales, Trevinos, Zavaletas (Dr. Tony Zavaleta, is her great-great-great grandson), Salinas, Tijerinas, De la Garzas, etc., all trace their distinct roots to this great woman who came to South Texas and built it with her own two hands.