Ramón Ortiz y Miera

Ramón Ortiz y Miera
Born	28 January 1814 New Mexico
Died	11 March 1896 (aged 82) El Paso del Norte
Nationality	Mexican
Occupation	Priest

Ramón Ortiz y Miera (commonly Padre Ramón Ortíz) (28 January 1814 - 11 March 1896) was an influential and patriotic Mexican priest who helped organize armed resistance during the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848, and who was frustrated by the U.S. authorities in his efforts to repatriate Hispanic residents from New Mexico to the republic of Mexico after the war.

Early career

Ramón Ortíz y Miera was born in Santa Fé, Nuevo México (now New Mexico) on 28 January 1814, the youngest of eleven children of don Antonio Ortiz and doña Teresa Miera. The Ortíz family of Santa Fé was well-connected, descended from early Spanish settlers in Mexico. His father was one of the three leading candidates to be the first (and, as it turned out, the last) representative for New Mexico in the Cortes Generales of Spain. When Ramón Ortíz was baptized his godparents were the governor of New Mexico at the time, Lieutenant Colonel don José Manrique, and his wife. His sister, Ana María, married Lieutenant Colonel José Antonio Viscarra, who was governor of New Mexico from 1822-1823.

At the age of 18 Ramón Ortíz moved to Durango to study theology under Bishop José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría. He was appointed the parish priest of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in El Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juárez) in 1836, where he had a spacious house surrounded by orchards and vineyards. He was known for his hospitality to visitors. In the early days these included Northerners, as recorded by Susan Shelby Magoffin.

Conflict with the United States

In 1841 the Texas Santa Fe Expedition was launched by a group of soldiers and traders from the Republic of Texas, pushing through New Mexico towards Santa Fe. Before reaching Santa Fe the expedition were defeated by Mexican troops, and the survivors were captured and marched to Mexico City. When the Texan prisoners passed through El Paso, maltreated by their captors and exhausted by the rigors of the desert crossing, Padre Ortíz gave them food and drink and helped them recover. However, he was a fierce nationalist and took advantage of the pulpit to communicate his hostility to United States expansionism.

When the Mexican-American war broke out in the spring of 1846, Ortíz helped to organize armed resistance. He was captured at the Battle of El Brazito on 25 December 1846. Colonel Alexander William Doniphan took him along as a hostage on his advance to the city of Chihuahua, while allowing him to perform his priestly duties to the Catholics among the U.S. troops. Ortíz was a witness to the Battle of the Sacramento River and to the defeat of Chihuahua. After administering to the casualties, he was given his freedom. Ortíz had powerful friends, and after the war he temporarily left the church to ran for congress, winning a seat in Mexico City. On 13 May 1848 he voted against ratifying the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which had been concluded on 2 February 1848 between Mexico and the United States. He was in the minority, and the motion to ratify the treaty was passed.

Repatriation commission

Father Ortíz was made commissioner for repatriating Mexican families from New Mexico after the war, leaving for the north in September 1848. He was held up in El Paso del Norte by poor weather, and began to actively recruit migrants while there, finding many people in the border region keen to be helped to move to Chihuahua State. The majority of the people seeking repatriation were from the poorest classes. They either had no land or expected that what they had would be taken from them. They were afraid that the U.S. would treat them as slaves. More immediately, the combination of war and bad weather had left them in desperate economic condition.

In April 1849 Father Ortíz arrived in Santa Fe, where he was welcomed by Governor John M. Washington and Territorial Secretary Donaciano Vigil, who both thought he was unlikely to succeed and even offered to supply transport to Mexicans seeking repatriation. Their mood changed quickly when the people of San Miguel del Vado alone submitted 900 requests for repatriation assistance. Vigil, backed up by the U.S. military, said that Ortíz could not conduct recruitment in person since his presence would disturb the peace. Ortiz then appointed agents to recruit New Mexico families, and they met with considerable success. In response Vigil cracked down further on recruitment. The United States position was that the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had not covered repatriation, and Ortíz's activity was therefore illegal.

Later career

In mid-1849 Ortíz returned from the United States to Chihuahua, where Governor Frías granted him powers to "announce and give possession of the land needed to form new towns." The main towns in Chihuahua built by repatriates from New Mexico were Guadelupe (1849), La Mesilla (1850), Refugio de los Amoles (1852) and San Tómas de Iturbide (1853). However, the promises of good land in the colonies south of the new border, and of help with seed, were not fulfilled. Some of the colonists moved again, often to the United States.

In Texas and California, many Mexican families had been attacked and expelled from the United States. By contrast, the New Mexican military government did not want to see the state depopulated. Since the Mexican government did not provide the promised incentives to repatriates, as Father Ortiz had urged, most residents of New Mexico chose to remain in the United States. Becoming disillusioned with politics, Ortíz returned to parochial duties in El Paso del Norte. He died there of cancer on 11 March 1896, and was buried after a funeral that was attended by thousands of people.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Alcaraz, Ramón; Barreiro, Alejo; Castillo, José María (1850). Apuntes para la historía de la guerra entre México y los Estados-Unidos. J. Wiley. Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Archer, Christon I. (2007). The Birth of Modern Mexico, 1780-1824. Rowman & Littlefield. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hernández, José Angel (2012-04-30). Mexican American Colonization During the Nineteenth Century: A History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-01239-4. Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• MacIel, David; Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda (2000-09-01). The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico. UNM Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-2199-2. Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mora, Anthony P. (2010-12-27). Border Dilemmas: Racial and National Uncertainties in New Mexico, 1848–1912. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4797-2. Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ortiz Hill, Claire (2012). "Padre Ramon Ortiz y Miera (1814-1896)". Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Prince, L. Bradford (2008-08). The Student's History of New Mexico: Facsimile of the Original 1921 Second Edition. Sunstone Press. ISBN 978-0-86534-694-9. Retrieved 2012-07-11. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sisneros, Samuel E (Fall 1999). "El Paseño, Padre Ramón Ortiz". Password. 44 (33). The El Paso County Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-07-10. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Soares, André; Slide, Anthony (2010-04-19). Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-457-7. Retrieved 2012-07-09. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Sisneros, Samuel E. (1999). "El Paseño, Padre Ramón Ortiz: 1814–1896". Password. 44 (3): 107–121. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)