Creel-Terrazas family

Last updated
Creel-Terrazas
Current region Chihuahua
Place of origin Chihuahua, Mexico
Founded19th century
Founder Luis Terrazas
The Quinta Carolina in Chihuahua, looking north. Quinta Carolina Panorama.jpg
The Quinta Carolina in Chihuahua, looking north.

The Creel-Terrazas family is a powerful and wealthy Mexican political family from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Contents

History

Quinta Carolina: the Main House. Quinta Carolina Main House.jpg
Quinta Carolina: the Main House.

During the rule of President Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution, this family was part of the científico faction. The científicos were conservative civilian technocrats and advisors of President Díaz. The family was poised to succeed Díaz in power, but it was largely discredited because of the economic decline at the time before the outbreak of the Revolution.

By the early 20th century, the family controlled 50 haciendas and ranches throughout the state with a total extension in excess of 8 million acres (28,000 km2), although some sources estimate their holdings at 15 million acres. [1] They owned more than 1 million head of cattle, 225,000 sheep, 250,000 horses and 50,000 mules. [2] [3] Encinillas, north of the state capital of Chihuahua, was the largest hacienda occupying an area of 1,300,000 acres (5,300 km2). It employed some 2,000 peons.

The wealth of the family is evident by simply examining the various properties in the city of Chihuahua that were owned by the clan at the outbreak of the revolution in 1910: the Casa Creel on Aldama, the Residencia Terrazas at the corner of Colón and Juárez and, formerly, the gem of the collection, the Quinta Carolina in Colonia Nombre de Dios in the north of the city. This last was the summer estate of Don Luis Terrazas and his family. Though now in a semi-ruined state, the governments of the city and state of Chihuahua are beginning an extensive rehabilitation and restoration of the property. The estate was completely outside the city at the time, and where there are now houses, once only ranchland, cultivated farmland and gardens surrounded the estate house, chapel and outbuildings.

Media

A book by Mark Wasserman discusses the family's "efforts to maintain its power after the Revolution, including its use of economic resources and intermarriage to forge partnerships with the new, revolutionary elite." 1

After the Revolution, the Creel-Terrazas family extended to include other families that immigrated from Chile, Argentina, and Poland.

Family

Tomb of Don Luis Terrazas and his wife, Carolina Cuilty de Terrazas, in Chihuahua. Tumba de Terrazas.jpg
Tomb of Don Luis Terrazas and his wife, Carolina Cuilty de Terrazas, in Chihuahua.

Some noteworthy members of the family are:

Members of the Creel-Terrazas extended family have served for a total of 67 terms in Chihuahua's state legislature, and 23 terms in the Congress of Mexico.

Another view of Terrazas tomb in the churchyard of the Santuario de Guadalupe, Chihuahua. Tumba de Terrazas2.jpg
Another view of Terrazas tomb in the churchyard of the Santuario de Guadalupe, Chihuahua.

See also

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References

  1. Wasserman, Mark (February 1987). "Strategies for Survival of the Porfirian Elite in Revolutionary Mexico: Chihuahua during the 1920s". Hispanic American Historical Review. 67 (1): 87–107. doi:10.1215/00182168-67.1.87 . Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  2. "MEXICO'S BIGGEST CATTLE RANCH". Los Angeles Herald. 32 (143). February 1905. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  3. "Horticultural Notes". American Fruit Grower. 27: 39. 1907. Retrieved 5 December 2024.