San Patricio Rancho

The firm's survivor outlasted its founders. The Handbook of Texas says Peter Samuel Davenport, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1764, formed the House of Barr and Davenport with William Barr, Luther Smith and Edward Murphy in 1798, and made the Old Stone Fort his headquarters in Nacogdoches. The firm reportedly secured a monopoly on trade with Texas Indians from the Spanish government. After 1810 he was the sole surviving partner and ran the business alone. In 1812 he supplied arms and ammunition to the Gutierrez-Magee expedition, and in 1813 he fled to Louisiana.

What the plaque says

San Patricio Rancho William Barr and Samuel Davenport arrived in Nacogdoches by 1797 and settled on nine leagues of land called Presidio Viejo where the old Presidio Dolores was located. The traders renamed the grant San Patricio after the Irish patron Saint Patrick. Before the turn of the 19th century, the Spanish government had granted them a commission to supply the Native Americans with trade items in exchange for peltries, furs and livestock. By 1803, Barr and Davenport had a monopoly to trade with the Indians and provide food and clothing to the soldiers stationed in Nacogdoches. With the monopoly intact, they developed a series of land grants along El Camino Real on major East Texas rivers. Each location had a crossing with sufficient pasture land to provide forage for cattle and horses or land to raise corn and other crops. Each site also served as a way station for rest, protection and food for travelers. Each location was part of the overall trade network which was linked to their headquarters at Nacogdoches and extended to Natchitoches, Louisiana and the eastern markets. At times, Barr and Davenport also supplied goods as far westward as San Antonio. Various groups of Caddo Indians lived freely within the boundaries of each land grant. While the employees of Barr and Davenport often lived and conducted their trade within the distant scattered Indian villages, they used this series of land grants as centers to restock supplies. Travelers that followed El Camino Real from Nacogdoches to San Antonio or vice versa had to pass through San Patricio to cross the Angelina River. San Patricio Rancho is a true example of the rich Spanish and French history of the area. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 16 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de los Hainais — steps away
• Louis Juchereau de St. Denis — steps away
• Angelina River — 4.6 mi
• Site of Linwood — 4.6 mi