Spanish Female Ranchers in Historic Texas

By Celia Yeary

 In my first Western Historical, All My Hopes and Dreams, a female secondary character almost upstaged my heroine. I named her Starr Hidalgo. I dressed her in men’s pants that were too tight, a loose shirt, cowboy boots, and a gaucho hat that matched her black hair and eyes. She ran the adjoining ranch for her ailing parents, and she knew as much about cattle and horses as any man. Riding and ranching came natural to her, and any male in her vicinity gravitated toward her.

 The hero in this novel, Ricardo Romero, had a romantic history with this fiery woman, but had chosen a blond Anglo from the east to marry and bring home. Starr was not happy about this and disliked my heroine, Cynthia Harrington. She made her unhappiness known to both Ricado and Cynthia, but her anger had no effect on either of them.

Starr nagged at me, though, and since the release of that book, the character has returned to my mind on occassion. Readers made as many comments about Starr as they did Cynthia—and not always in a positive manner. You see, I had made Starr seem like the “bad girl.”
She wasn't bad--but she was very angry.

Since I believed Starr Hidalgo would be a good heroine in her own story, I researched Texas women ranchers.

The Spaniards first conquered the region in the 1500s and settled permanently in the 1700s.
Many married the Indian women of the Americas and the women became Mexican-Americans.
 But some Spaniards tried to keep the line pure and marry within the Spanish population.

Under Spanish law, women had community property rights. They owned, inherited, administered, bought, and sold property. 
Spain and Mexico made more than sixty land grants to women. In 1798, Rosa Marie Hinojosa de Balli owned one-third of the lower Rio Grande valley.

Imagine owning such an enormous amount of property. In 1770, the widow Marie Ana Cubelo owned 3000 head of cattle, the second largest herd in Bexar (San Antonio). Others held land and cattle as did these two more well known women.

After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, most Mexican-American women maintained loyalties to Mexico. The process of land dispossession affected Tejano landed families in Goliad and Hidalgo counties after 1880. An attorney, Luz Escalera De Leon of Victoria, transacted twenty-five land sales, though most Texas Mexicans were not able to protect their land.   

Some of the women who managed to save their land for her family continued running cattle into the Twentieth Century. Some of these ranches still exist today.

I had hoped to write Starr Hidalgo’s story. She would own her family ranch after the death of both parents, and she’d find herself up against some force that might destroy her ranch. What would be that force? 
Whatever it was, you may be sure a strong man would appear who was capable of stealing Starr’s heart.

~~*~~

And recently, along came the new publishing house owned by Cheryl Pierson and Livia Washburn called Prairie Rose Publications. I read the requirements for one of the anthologies titled COWBOY CRAVINGS, and decided to write Starr's story to submit.

What man would be equal to Starr? Why, Conrad Taylor, of course, the foreman who plays a big secondary part in one of my recent releases Texas Dreamer.

Oh, I wanted a story for Conrad so much, when the idea struck! 

Starr and Conrad, the perfect pair, both handsome, both smart and good, and both wishing for someone to love.

Now, "Starr Bright" is one of four stories in the anthology Cowboy Cravings. 

 

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Cravings-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00L2JF6HU/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=httpliviajwac-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=TLYFQZE74ERLP3TA&creativeASIN=B00L2JF6HU

Blurb:

Craving a cowboy on these hot summer nights? Here are four stories that are sure to turn up the heat! If you love tall, dark, and handsome cowboys with a touch of danger thrown in, and the ladies that show them they've met their match, Cowboy Cravings is a must-have. Fast guns, smooth action, and hot love sizzle in one delicious recipe for these spicy stories. The summer has never been hotter in the Old West than it is when you have to satisfy those COWBOY CRAVINGS!

EXCERPT from Starr Bright:

"Hola, mi amigo." Her voice was deep and throaty, just the sort that would make any red-blooded man grovel.

She pulled off her hat, dismounted, and hung her hat on the saddle horn. As she approached Conrad, she threw back her head and fluffed her long black glossy hair.

He didn't move. Good thing the fence was between them.

"Morning, Starr. What brings you out here so early in the morning?"

Smiling slightly, she said, "You."

Lord have mercy. He tried not to even blink.

"Yeah? What do I have that you want?"

Two could play this game.

She paused and smiled. "Water. I forgot mine."

She never forgot anything.

"Sure."

He leaned down and picked up the canteen, uncapped it, and handed it over the fence.

She tipped it up, leaned her head back, and took a good long slow drink. He couldn't have looked away if someone had leveled a pistol at his head.

~~*~~*~~

The authors and stories in this anthology are:
Cheryl Pierson-Hearts and Diamonds
Celia Yeary-Starr Bright
Kristy McCaffrey-Lily and Mesquite Joe
Kathleen Rice Adams-Making Peace