History / Tejano heritage
Rancho del Atascoso: the county's deep roots in Spanish mission ranching
Long before Anglo settlement, this land was ranched by mission-connected communities. Mexican and Tejano land grants shaped who owned the county in its early years.
Rancho del Atascoso was an outlying ranch of San José y San Miguel de Aguayo Mission in San Antonio. By the mid-1700s it was running between present-day Pleasanton and Poteet. A Franciscan visitor wrote about it in 1768. At that time it held 1,500 cattle, 5,000 sheep and goats, and ten droves of mares. Pastia Indian residents ran it. There were no Anglo overseers.
The missions were secularized in 1794. After that, land in the area went to Tejano individuals through Mexican government grants. The most important was a grant of four leagues on the Atascosa River to José Antonio Navarro. The Mexican government first deeded it in 1825. Texas recognized the grant in 1853. The Texas State Historical Association says this grant was the start of wide settlement in the county. In the early 1830s, other former ranch land was also granted to people including Juan N. Seguín, José María Salinas, and others.
The name 'Atascosa' is a Spanish word meaning 'boggy.' It was in use as early as 1788. Spanish-speaking people lived here for generations before the county was formally set up in 1856.
Source to confirm: TSHA Handbook — Rancho del Atascoso