NUESTRO PADRE SAN FRANCISCO DE LOS TEJAS MISSION. Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas Mission, originally established in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas Mission, was near the west bank of the Neches River in what is now Houston County. It was given the longer name when it was reestablished in 1716 by the expedition of Domingo Ramón and moved across the Neches River to Bowles Creek, in what is now Cherokee County. Fray Francisco Hidalgo and Fray Isidro Félix de Espinosa^qqv were placed in charge. In 1719, because of the French invasion from Louisiana, the mission was again abandoned. It was reestablished in 1721 by the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, who moved it to a new location and renamed it San Francisco de los Neches.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (7 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1936–58; rpt., New York: Arno, 1976). Charles W. Hackett, "The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and His Recovery of Texas from the French, 1719–1723," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 49 (October 1945).