ROSARIO RANCH CEMETERY

Hidalgo Co. Cemeteries of Tx

Submitted by Frances Isbell

With Permission  of Hidalgo Co. Historical Commission (2005)

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LOCATION:  south of US 281 below Mercedes.  On north side of Rancho Toluca Road abougt ¾ mile east of FM 1015.  Cemetery is on west side of white frame house about ¼ mile west of Relampago Cometery. 

 SURVEYED:  Hector Dominguez and Fran Isbell on September 7, 1988.

 HISTORY: Rosario de Guadalupe Ranch was in the Llano Grande Land Grant awarded by Spain to Captain Juan Jose Hinojosa of Reynosa in 1790.  His grandson, Cirildo Hinojosa, son of Vicente and Leonor  Garcia Hinojosa, ranched there in the early 19^th century.  Their descendant Yndalecio Dominguez (1813-1902) began ranching at Rosario in 1859. Four of his grown sons also had homes on the ranch complex.  In 1852, when Hidalgo County was formed, Yndalecio Dominguez was one of the first county commissioners.

     Rosario was a terminus of the Old Salt Road from El Sal del Rey, the royal salt mine 30 miles north. Ox-carts hauling salt were ferried across the Rio Grande at the Rosario customs station. Small tribes of  Indians used to visit Rosario, and in 1859 Tampacuas Indians from Rosario drove off Anglo lawyers trying to establish a ranch at El Sal del Rey.  

     Dominguez raised crops along the river front and pastured cattle on the rear of his ranch (which stretched 15 miles north).   After arrival of the railroad in 1904, ranch families began moving to towns.  Indalecio Dominguez is buried in the oldest marked grave (1902) in the Rosario Cemetery, which is maintained by the Dominguez family of Mercedes.