Soy de Duval

TOPICS: ¡Con Gusto! Cookbook Lent Recipes POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   JANUARY 23, 2016 Lent comes early this year. Ash Wednesday will be on February 10, less than three weeks from now. Now is the time to pull out your ¡Con Gusto!  cookbook and start looking for recipes. Capirotada, a Lent favorite. Of course, the most traditional Lenten dish in South Texas is capirotada or “ sopa ” as we called in our home. Different cooks use different ingredients, and you can find four recipes in  ¡Con Gusto! . Edna Rios of San Diego uses cinnamon sticks, brown sugar margarine, anise, slices of toast, cheese slices, raisins, apple and pecans. Esmeralda Garcia’s capirotada has sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, buttered toast, seedless raisin and shredded cheese. The book also has recipes from Evelyn Garcia Tobin of Edinburg and Blanca Perez of San Diego. Albondigas, salmon patties. Another popular Lenten dish is albondigas, or salmon patties. Lydia Canales f...

TOPICS: Andrew Valls Benavides Clemente Reyna Duval County Texas E.A. Glover Hayes Dix POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   JANUARY 12, 2016 On Feb. 6, 1893, two men at a Benavides bar got into a disagreement and were about to start swinging when a newly elected constable stepped in to stop the fight. The constable, who was an amputee, with only one arm was pushed back by one of the two men and the lawmen drew his pistol but was shot and killed by a bystander . Nobody served time in jail as the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas reversed the conviction in a lower court, ruling that the lower court failed to instruct the jury that the fatal shots could have been in self defense. Now let us visit the story as closely as possible given the scarcity of available historical records. The Corpus Christi Caller would have been the newspaper of record for this type of incident but most issues from 1891-1898 are missing due to a fire. Clemente Reyna was elected constable for Duval Count...

TOPICS: Duval County James O. Luby Politics Republicans Texas Gov. Edmund Davis POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   JANUARY 3, 2016 In our last blog about James O. Luby he had just returned to Duval County after serving as customs collector in Brownsville, having been appointed to the post by Republican president Chester A. Arthur. Active in the political life of Duval County from its inception, Luby picked up where he had left off.

TOPICS: Christmas Duval County Texas St. Francis de Paula Church in San Diego in late 1876. Photo by Louis de Planque POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   DECEMBER 24, 2015 Christmas in Duval County in the 1880s held many of the same elements of today, although is some respects it was more lively.As Christmas approached stores decorated with holiday displays. Most merchants  closed on Christmas day. Father Peter Bard celebrated Midnight Mass. In San Diego, the day started with with Father Peter Bard celebrating midnight Mass or misa de gallo  at St. Francis de Paula in San Diego. More than half of San Diego’s residents usually attended the liturgical celebration.  Many worshipers had to stand outside the church, which was packed. After Mass, eggnog was served and rockets, Roman candles and fire crackers were lit. Not unlike today, drinking was part of the celebration. Fortunately, usually no problems arose from the use of a...

Luby was Duval County trailblazer TOPICS: County Judge James O. Luby Postmaster Telephone Luby Store in 1876. Louis De Planque photo. POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   DECEMBER 19, 2015 At the age of 30, James O. Luby had already travelled from England to New York, then to Havana, followed by New Orleans, Brownsville and finally San Diego, Texas. He had fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy, been taken prisoner, was released and reenlisted again, taking part in the Battle of Palmeto Ranch, the last battle of the Civil War. He had served in the Mexican Liberal Army, served with the noted Texas Ranger John “Rip” Ford, and directed attacks against Indian and bandit raiders. He had served as postmaster and justice of the peace and was elected county judge. Not bad for a young man in a hurry to make a name for himself in the Texas frontier. Manuel Ancira building served as first Duval County Courthouse. (De Planque photo) On December 4, 1876, the young county judge pre...

TOPICS: Duval County James O. Luby Politics Republicans POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   DECEMBER 13, 2015 The long storied history of Duval County reads like a chapter or two of the Democratic party history book. But it was not always that way. In fact the first county judge, James O. Luby, was known as Mr. Republican of South Texas. Evan Anders in  Boss Rule in South Texas wrote that Luby did not become a Republican until 1884 when President Chester A. Arthur named him Customs Collector for the Port of Brownsville, but events suggest otherwise. But before I go there, let me go to the beginning.

TOPICS: Catarino Garza Duval County Pena Revolutionaires Texas Third Cavalry troopers searching for a suspected revolutionist. Frederic Remington 1892. POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   DECEMBER 6, 2015 In August 1886, one of V. J. Clark’s vaqueros returned from Los Olmos and told of running into a Mexican recruiting officer and 50-60 revolutionaries. The recruiter offered the vaqueros $100 to serve as his guides.