The Mission de San Miguel de Cuellar de Los Adais was founded by Padre Margil de Jesus and Padre Francois Hidalgo on September 29, 1717. September 29 was also the Feast Day of St. Michael the Arch Angel and the Mission was named for him.
The site of this Mission is one-half mile northwest of Robeline, Louisiana, on a hill which overlooks a small valley, and across the valley one-half mile north of another hill was the Presidio de Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Los Adais.
Fra Jose de Solice visited the Adais area in 1767 and kept a Diary of his visitation in which he noted that the Mission Records showed: 256 Baptisms, 64 Marriages and 116 Burials.
In this Diary were listed the names of families he visited in the Adais area: Bano, Cachon, Flores, Bustamenta, Garcia, Solice, Martinez, Sanchez, Rodriguez, Sanchon, Mora, Benetis, Cartinez, Carlos, Vega and La Lima, y Barbo, Cazorla, Fuente, Gallerado and Gonzalez. Cardova, Duro, Mancheca, Solice, Mercado, Guerra, and Bautimino.
KITCHEN PRIESTS’ HOME STORE HOUSE MISSION
Explanation of map of: La Mission San Miguel de Cuellar de Los Adais and Mission established September 29, 1717; Del Presidio de Neustra Senora del Pilar de Los Adais, presidio established November 1721.
PLAN. This presidio shown on this map of 1722 was the Capitol of the Providence of Texas and is located at 32 degrees and 15 minutes latitude and 285 degrees and 52 minutes longitude. The scale, Toise, one Toise equals six feet. The present day location is one mile north of Robeline, Louisiana, just one quarter mile west of Highway Six from that point.
Camino del Bayuco, road to Bayuco. (Bayuco, a house of Entertainment—A Night Club of that period.) Camino de los Ais, road to the Ais tribe of Indians at San Augustine, Texas. This was the dry weather trail and passed through Marthaville, Belmont, Zwolle and Ebarb, Louisiana. Camino de la Laguna, road to swampy lake area, Spanish Lake. Camino del Bano, road to Rancho Bano, allotted to the Mission, also a part of El Camino Real. Arroyo de Chacon, small river of Chacon, named after Chacon who had settled on the Creek—Winn Break today. (Chacon is also a Spanish dance which had its own music set to special tempo.)
By the middle of October, 1720, the Aguayo expedition was well on its way to the Los Adais area, with three thousand nine hundred fifty horses and six hundred mules, loaded with powder, shot, food, clothing and six cannons, five hundred eighty-four men AND two hundred thousand piastres to build presidios on the frontier.