Ignacianos worked communally to maintain the acequias, the water canals built by the indigenous people for Mission San Ignacio. Here three Arce
sisters Tia Charita (in black dress), Tia Anastasia, and Tia Rita (on left)_ work with Bautista Real (center) and the older children, using special
acequia tools.
Today near this spot the Acequia de Arriba still crosses under the street toward the large octagonal pila, or pool, behind Rene's Restaurant. The
stone-lined watercourse begins at the Ojo de Agua (eye of the water), a spring high in arroyo San Ignacio, and follows the base of Mesa de la Cruz,
providing water to the huertas, or farms above the pila on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and filling the pila on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday. A footpath along the acequia permits a pleasant walk beneath large fan palms, palmas de taco, the native palm of the oasis.
A lower acequia, called La Leona, with its stronger flow, waters the lower huertas. Wherever you explore in San Ignacio you may notice the sound of
water bubbling alongside the road or underfoot and discover a small acequia at work.
Source: Archivo de San Ignacio, Baja California Sur.
corrected to read as it was captioned - Ojo de Agua - I had written it in my haste, as Oja do Agua
John M
[Edited on 8-18-2023 by John M]mtgoat666 - 8-17-2023 at 02:13 PM
. A footpath along the acequia permits a pleasant walk beneath large fan palms, palmas de taco, the native palm of the oasis.
This is a nice walk. I recommend hiking northward from town over the top of the mesa, then returning southward along the canal footpath. Lance S. - 8-17-2023 at 02:13 PM
Wonderful. Great photo. 4x4abc - 8-17-2023 at 03:52 PM
does anyone have the exact location of the Ojo de Agua?
I have 3 different competing locationsBajaBlanca - 8-18-2023 at 04:14 AM
I love that photo!
Many a time have I sunk my feet into the stream that flows thru Juanita (Jane's) property in the heat of summer when we happened to be in San Ignacio.
It is freezing cold and so soothing.
does anyone have the exact location of the Ojo de Agua?
I have 3 different competing locations
I'm just beginning a read of some San Ignacio history, perhaps it will be mentioned. I'll keep your question in mind.
John M4x4abc - 8-18-2023 at 07:15 AM
by the way - Agua is female but we say "El Agua".
One of the many exceptions of the rules in Spanish
So it is Ojo de Agua.
pronunciation of Agua - "awa"
no Palmas de Taco in Baja
native palms in San Ignacio - Washingtonia robusta, aka Mexican fan palm
introduced by the Jesuits - Phoenix dactylifera, aha date plam tree
[Edited on 8-18-2023 by 4x4abc]
Ojo de Agua
John M - 8-18-2023 at 09:49 AM
In my original post I had either a typo or simply made a mistake. The original caption is corrected.
thank you all for so kindly pointing out my goof
yes, Agua is female - but we say "el Agua"
Arce girls in the photograph
John M - 8-18-2023 at 02:07 PM
The original caption reads: "Here three Arce sisters Tia Charita (in black dress), Tia Anastasia, and Tia Rita (on left)_ work with Bautista Real
(center) and the older children, using special acequia tools."
As many are aware the Arce family is widespread throughout this region. As far as San Ignacio is concerned, I tried (with what limited resources I
have) to figure out the ancestry of the three Arce girls listed in the caption. No luck. (Even David K's link to Arce Family genealogy didn't do it.)
The town strongman from about 1840 to the 1870s was Ignacio Buenaventura Arce. Buenaventura Arce and family were established at San Ignacio in 1818
and he assumed a much more important role upon the passing of Padre Felix Caballero, when Buenaventura claimed and was awarded certain buildings
including the mission grounds itself. To connect Buenaventura directly to the three Arce girls in the photo might not be accurate, but possible.
The closest I can come is a paragraph from Harry Crosby's Last of the Californios, page 155: "Buenaventura Arce (1790-c. 1870) and Romualda Murillo
(1797-1892) had at least eight children - four girls and four boys - born between 1815 and 1830, who survived to adulthood, married and had families.
Lucas, their eldest son, born in 1917, had ten surviving children including a boy, Cesario, born about 1852, who was not only Buenaventura's grandson
but also Tacho Arce's grandfather."
Crosby added, "These [Arce] households produced over sixty grandchildren for Buenaventura..."
John M4x4abc - 8-18-2023 at 06:30 PM
does the Arce family originate in missionary times?
Arce in Baja
John M - 8-19-2023 at 06:16 AM
The earliest Arce I've found reference to arrived at what was to become Loreto four months after the October 1697 founding.
Padre Juan Maria de Salvatierra reported in February 1768 that "Six persons arrived: four of them Spaniards - all experienced soldiers - [in addition
to] one mestizo, and a Yaqui Indian." Among the four - "The fourth is named Juan de Arce, an Englishman brought up from boyhood in New Spain, who has
served in the presidios of Sinaloa."
Source: Antigua California pp. 35-36
Whether or not this is the partriarch of that well-known family, I do not know. I've got tons of stuff to do over the next several days and I won't
have the time to look into this further. Other Nomads here may be able to add and/or clarify the family history.
John M4x4abc - 8-19-2023 at 07:07 AM
thanks John!
From my Eliodoro Arce page at VivaBaja.com, the Arce clan:
David K - 8-19-2023 at 07:54 AM
The first Arce in Baja California was Juan de Arce, in 1698. Juan was born in England in/around 1670. He became a Spanish soldier and came to the new
mission of Loreto from Villa de Sinaloa, to which he returned in 1701.
–
The next Arce to cross the gulf to Baja California was José Gabriel de Arce (in 1751) and later, his brother, Sebastián Constantino de Arce (before
1764).
–
Sebastián had a son, baptized in 1764 at Mission San Ignacio: Ignacio María Arce. Ignacio grew up to become a soldier on the peninsula. In 1789, he
was guarding Mission Santo Domingo where he married María Mónica Aguilar. The next year, they had a son and named him Ignacio Buenaventura Arce.
–
Mónica died the day following his birth. The new baby would become close to his step-mother, María de Jesús Romero.
–
The Arce Family moved south and we learn that Buenaventura Arce married Romualda Murillo and were godparents at a baptism in 1816, at Mission Santa
Rosalia de Mulegé. Romualda’s parents lived in Loreto, where her father was a ship builder.
–
By 1818 the Buenaventura Arce Family was living in San Ignacio. Between 1825 and 1839, Buenaventura Arce had acquired many ranchos, including San
Francisco de la Sierra, Santa Marta, and San Carlos.
–
When the last Dominican padre at Mission San Ignacio died (Felix Caballero, mysteriously) on August 3, 1840, it was Don Buenaventura Arce who claimed
all the mission buildings and was the ‘boss’ of the town.
–
More to come!
(History from Harry Crosby and his 1981 book, ‘Last of the Californios’.)
