My Top Texan — Adina De Zavala
Dr. Mylynka Kilgore Cardona is a map curator at the Texas General Land Office.
Though there are countless men and women who could be considered a “Top Texan,” my pick embraces all the qualities that I think embodies that title. For her dedication as a teacher, a historian, a folklorist, and a pioneer in saving the history and culture of The Lone Star State my nomination for Top Texan is Adina De Zavala.
Adina Emilia De Zavala (1861–1955) was a Mexican-American educator who saw value in the preservation and memorialization of the people, places, dates, and structures that helped to define Texas. The granddaughter of Lorenzo De Zavala (1788–1836), the first Vice President of the provisional government of the Republic of Texas, she received her education at the Sam Houston Normal School (now Sam Houston State University), 1879–1881, then continued her studies at a music school in Missouri. De Zavala came back to Texas and worked as a high school teacher, first in Terrell and then in San Antonio. It was in San Antonio that De Zavala began her life-long quest to save Texas history.
In 1889, De Zavala organized a women’s group she called the De Zavala Daughters whose goal was to preserve Texas history and its historical sites. In 1893 the organization became a chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) as the De Zavala Chapter in San Antonio. The well-publicized story of the “Second Battle of the Alamo,” the long struggle between the DRT factions of De Zavala and Clara Driscoll, made the two women famous. They ultimately succeeded in saving the Alamo, though it was at the cost of their friendship.
In conjunction with the founding of the De Zavala Daughters, Adina De Zavala organized the Texas Historical and Landmarks Association with the purpose of “recording the unique history and legends of San Antonio and vicinity and of preserving and marking historic places in the city.” The organization took as its chief project the rehabilitation of the Catholic Missions around San Antonio. The group also was instrumental in the placing of markers at the graves of important figures of Texas history, including that of Ben Milam. De Zavala was also instrumental in the conservancy of the Spanish Governor’s Palace, or Comandancia, one of San Antonio’s earliest city preservation projects.
A prolific writer, De Zavala published several pieces on the Alamo and its history, including The Story of the Siege and Fall of the Alamo: A Résumé (1911), Legend of the First Christmas at the Alamo (The Margil Vine) (1916), and History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and Around San Antonio (1917). Early in her teaching career De Zavala published a short play called “The Six National Flags that Have Floated Over Texas,” (1900) to expose her students to the diverse heritage of Texas.
De Zavala was a charter member and officer of the Texas Historical Association and a member of the Texas Historical Board, a position she was appointed to by Governor Pat Morris Neff in 1923. The Texas State Historical Association made her an Honorary Fellow in 1945 in recognition of her life-long dedication to saving Texas’s history. Adina De Zavala died March 1, 1955, and her flag-draped casket was carried past the Alamo as a gesture of recognition for her tireless efforts not only to save the Alamo but to save Texas history. She is buried in her family’s plot at St. Mary’s Cemetery in San Antonio.
For all her tireless efforts to save Texas history and culture, for initiating the preservation of the past so future generations could enjoy it, and for promoting the teaching of Texas history, I think Adina De Zavala deserves your vote for Top Texan in 2017.
The 2017 Top Texan contest is live! Build your bracket here: www.savetexashistory.org/toptexan
