By
Ginny Sphar
Once a year, between 1844 and 1848, Father Bachiller Don Trinidad García Rojas, a parish priest from San Ignacio, heavily escorted, rode circuit down the Santa Cruz Valley. In the massive church at Tumacácori, beset now at ground level by an army of thirsty mesquite, he celebrated baptisms and marriages for the impoverished Indian remnant. The record of these services, which he entered in the books at San Ignacio, gave lie to the Aguilar-Gándara claim that the mission was despoblado (abandoned).[1]
[1] San Ignacio, Libro de bautismos, Parish archives, Magdalena, Son. Most of those who hung on at Tumacácori until the end are named in these entries. García Rojas had taken over San Ignacio and the northern Pimería on June 20, 1844.
