This is the story of Federico Villalba who, as a young man, moved with his family from old San Gerónimo, Chihuahua in the 1880s to begin ranching near the village of San Carlos, near Lajitas, Texas. He prospered and eventually crossed over the Rio Grande to settle and ranch at Burro Mesa. There, Villalba married, built his herd of cattle and angora goats, discovered cinnebar and opened a store at Cerro Villalba (later Study Butte) and a leather goods store in Santa Elena.

Federico Villalba's life was filled with excitement, challenge, and victory; nevertheless, tragedy also played a hand. The Big Bend country was a dangerous place in those days, especially for those of Mexican descent. Men carried guns and were not reluctant to use them.

In a lively and engaging style, Juan Manuel Casas gives us this narrative history of his great-grandfather, Federico Villalba and his family. This is a significant contribution to the literature of the Big Bend and the first to represent the Mexican point of view during its early years of settlement.

Reviews ...

"A very, very good book. My hat is off to Juan Manuel."
      – Victor Villaseñor, Author of Rain of Gold

"If ever there has been family history recounted through a tale of genuine adventure, this is it. While sometimes heart-rending, often romantic, and ever ringing of truth, FEDERICO VILLALBA'S TEXAS is a major contribution to the history of the Big Bend of Texas as well as to that of La Frontera de Chihuahua."
      – Glenn Willeford, Author, Historian

"It is important to realize that Casas's book is not history, nor is it intended to be. Casas is a great-grandson of Federico Villalba and his Federico Villalba's Texas is a collection of family tales, originally compiled to satisfy Casas's mother's desire to see something about her grandfather's experiences as a Big Bend pioneer in print. Casas ... told me that, where possible, he had checked the stories against courthouse records and other archives and published sources, but he has also invented dialogue and offered conjecture where sources could not be found. The result is what folklorist Mody Boatright called a family saga, "a cluster of lore, transmitted and modified by oral transmission, which is believed to be true." This does not mean that it is any less valuable than footnoted history based entirely on documents, nor perhaps any less true. It is just different, and it cannot be judged by the standards of historians. Casas is a lively writer and entwines the story of the Villalba family with references to other Big Bend characters and topics - Sheriff Everett Townsend, sotol smuggling, Robert Cartledge, the Terlingua school, Candelario and Pablo Baiza, Howard Perry and the Chisos Mining Company. What is important is that he tells these tales from a different point of view than that of most of the Anglo-Americans who have recorded them. It is enlightening to know, for instance, that most of the Mexicans in the Big Bend regarded Everett Townsend as a thoroughly fair and honest man, and that Howard Perry, in a play on his last name, was known to them as el perro - the dog.

"Reading Casas's book is like listening to old men telling stories by the stove on a winter day, and, like listening to old men, it is well worth doing."
      – Lonn Taylor, Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa, Texas

"Federico Villalba (d. 1933) and his son Jacobo (d. 1924) both lie in Terlingua cemetery. Their graves are likely to receive more attention now that a biography of Federico Villalba has just been published. The book is not just the story of a Mexican immigrant who prospered in Big Bend between 1882 and 1933; it is also a picture of troubled times along a volatile border; and, most important, it is the first history of the area written from a Mexican point of view. 

"The first part of the book contains many short segments which taken together give a snapshot picture of aspects of life in South Brewster County at that time as well as advancing the story: punching cattle, bootlegging, fiesta, holding the family together. Occasionally a wider lens is used to describe the increasingly violent mood which enveloped the area as the Mexican Revolution started and as anti-Mexican sentiment grew. 

"...the picture [Casas] paints of racial prejudice in South Brewster County (according to local folks...) is overstated... This local reaction to opinion or nuance on the sensitive issue of race relations serves to draw attention to Casas’ history of Federico Villalba, a unique success story in troubled times and a companion to books by Anglo writers such as Kenneth Ragsdale and Glenn Justice."
      – Jim Glendinning, Alpine Avalanche, Alpine, Texas

"Federico Villalba’s Texas is an outstanding and well-told family history. It is an excellent read, one that Big Bend enthusiasts will greatly enjoy and want to have on their bookshelves. Casas has done a fine job of presenting the Mexican perspective in the frontier times of the Texas Big Bend.... It is a story that simply needed to be told and begs discussion."
      – Glenn Justice, www.rimrockpress.com

About the Author...

Juan Manuel Casas was born in El Paso, Texas. He is a graduate of California Southern Law School and Trinity College & University. Juan is currently working on a historical novel that chronicles the Villalba family’s life in Italy and migration to Sicily and then Spain. He and his wife, Arlene currently reside in Murrieta, California