A little over a year since the Council for the Indigenous and Tejano Community was founded, it has received one of the highest honors from the Texas Historical Commission: an Undertold Historical Marker.
The council was formed to address the multitude of undertold Indigenous and Tejano stories in Hays County and is a project under the nonprofit umbrella of Indigenous Cultures Institute. The story it uncovered about vaqueros, ranch hands and stock raisers in the area was recognized by the THC with one of only fifteen markers across the state of Texas. The marker, inscribed with the narrative, will be installed by the county in the city of Kyle.
“I am so proud of the Council for persevering with this story of Tejanos whose legendary contributions are deserving of a place in the history of Hays County and proud of the Texas Historical Commission for recognizing the importance of diversity in history,” said Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra, who helped to create CITC last year.
In addition to Judge Becerra, CITC’s founding members include Chair Gina Alba-Rogers, Irma Gaitan, Maria Rocha, Bobbie Garza-Hernandez, Frank Arredondo and Anita Collins.
The story was discovered in 2020 when a direct descendant of the Veracruz family, who lives just yards from the Veracruz Burial Ground in Kyle, approached Alba-Rogers to help tell their story.
“I grew up hearing the stories about my ancestors, but couldn’t find any written records,” said the descendant. “When my grade-school teacher, after acknowledging the burial ground’s existence, told me not to expect to ever see anything written about them, I almost gave up hope.” But given CITC’s mission to preserve the history of Indigenous and Tejano people, Alba-Rogers agreed to meet with the family.
Alba-Rogers found herself in Kyle in an unprotected, unfenced cemetery where vaqueros from surrounding ranches were buried.
“When I visited the cemetery with broken and fallen flagstones, I was tak en aback by the beautiful irises among them,” Alba-Rogers recalled. “Only one complete headstone remained for Pedro Veracruz, who died in 1895.”
Through oral histories, a family journal, land deeds, marriage records, a will handwritten in Spanish and a State of Texas registered cattle brand, family members were able to provide verifiable facts and oral histories to help paint a picture of the people who were buried, including ranch hands of Indigenous, Mexican and African American descent. The more Alba-Rogers researched and verified the details passed down through the generations, the more and more longforgotten stories emerged.
Until now, the diverse stories about vaqueros, ranch hands, skilled riders, stock raisers and Mexican female landowners had not been fully documented nor recognized in the history of Hays County.
“The families described in the narrative represent only a fraction of the stories about vaqueros in our county,” CITC member Maria Rocha said. “We are here to empower the storytelling of the Indigenous and Tejano people from all corners of Hays County.”
To share stories of your own, email council@citc. us or visit CITC’s website at citc.us.