Category Archive: Churches

I received the following email from George P. Cervantes and I requested him to let me share it with you since the information and links contained in it are excellent. The previous post George is referring to is Convento de San Francisco 1590 to 1914, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Subject: Location of San Francisco, Monterrey

Hi Moises-

First, thanks for your We Are Cousins blog – a lot of interesting information! I have a number of ancestors on my mom’s side from Tamaulipas/Nuevo Leon. I haven’t seen you mention any of them yet, but we have some ancestors’ last names in common (de la Garza, Guerra, Treviño).

Anyway, I’m just getting you some info on your 12/12/12 post about the location of San Francisco in Monterrey. Maybe you have your answer already, but I found some information on this not-very active blog:

http://clioregio.blogspot.com/2009/10/el-extinto-convento-de-san-andres-de.html

That information seems to place it near the present corner of Calle Ignacio Zaragosa and Calle Melchor Ocampo (which used to be called San Francisco).

This location seems to be verified by this US Naval Intelligence map (click on “Monterey”); it was published in 1919, but it looks like the information was gathered before San Francisco was destroyed. “San Francesco Ch.” is labelled “3″:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/mexico_handbook_1919.html

It also seems to be in this 1905 map in Spanish, where no name is listed, just a cross at the corner of S. Francisco & Zaragosa:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302991@N05/3561352522/sizes/o/in/pool-471099@N24/

You can see the top of San Francisco to the left in this 1846 print, looking from the area near the Cathedral (the view is looking to the west-northwest, I think):

http://www.djibnet.com/photo/1846/plaza-zaragoza-monterrey-g-w-endicott-1846-3642634670.html#

and here’s a 1909 photo, from a distance – it’s in the middle right of the

photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/italintheheart/3582796621/in/pool-monterrey_antiguo

So…it looks to me like San Francisco was located in the middle of what’s now Calle Ignacio Zaragosa, just south of present-day Calle Melchor Ocampo; probably facing more or less north (facing up Zaragosa). And, sadly, the building appears to be all gone – to say nothing of all the people buried there. According to the first article I mentioned, some of the artifacts are in the Museo del Obispado.

I hope this is helpful. Thanks again for your work on the blog!

-George P. Cervantes

Once again thanks George for the excellent information, I hope that you all found it helpful and informative as I did.

Here is a Picture/Drawing of the Convent of San Francisco

The Following is an overlay of a 1905 map and a 2006 map of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. 

X marks the location where the church was in 1905 and the current location today of where it would stand if it would have had not been demolished.