Jacobo Sedelmayr (1702 – 1779) was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

, known for his explorations of the

Pimería Alta The ''Pimería Alta'' (translated to 'Upper Pima Land'/'Land of the Upper Pima' in English) was an area of the 18th century Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, that encompassed parts of what are today southern Arizona in th ...

Biography

Sedelmayr was born in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in 1702, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1722. He embarked from

El Puerto de Santa María EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

for

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on November 22, 1735, along with more than forty other Jesuits. His ship, the ''Santa Rosa'', ran aground off

San Juan de Ulúa San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's ...

on February 18, 1736, and the group of Jesuits proceeded on land to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

by way of

Pueblo de Los Ángeles El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (English language, English: ''The town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels''), shortened to Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the Spanish civilian ''Municipality, pueblo'' settled in 1781, which ...

. Sedelmayr arrived in the Pimería Alta in 1737. He was initially assigned to

Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama is located in Tubutama, Sonora and was first founded in 1691 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. Father Antonio de los Reyes on 6 July 1772 submitted a report on the condition of the missions in the Upp ...

, and made his solemn vows in the Jesuit order on May 1, 1740, alongside Alexandro Rapicani. After the 1751

Pima Revolt The Pima Revolt, also known as the O'odham Uprising or the Pima Outbreak, was a revolt of Pima native Americans in 1751 against colonial forces in Spanish Arizona and one of the major northern frontier conflicts in early New Spain. Background ...

, Sedelmayr was removed from the Pimería Alta as one of

Luis Oacpicagigua Luis Oacpicagigua ( ood, Brain Splicer) or Luis of Sáric (died 1755) was a Pima Indian (Akimel O'odham) leader in the Spanish province of Sáric, now the far north of the Mexican state of Sonora. Oacpicagigua served as a provincial "Indian governo ...

's peace conditions. He served at

Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi ( ood, Geʼe Wawhia) was founded by Jesuit missionary Fathers Kino and Salvatierra in 1691 as La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi, a district headquarters in what is now Arizona, near Tumacácori. Subseque ...

from 1752 to 1754, at Mission San Francisco de Huásaca until 1756, at Mission San Francisco de Borja de Tecoripa until 1763, and finally at Mission San José de Mátape. Sedelmayr conducted extensive explorations of

O'odham The O'odham peoples, including the Tohono O'odham, the Pima or Akimel O'odham, and the Hia C-ed O'odham, are indigenous Uto-Aztecan peoples of the Sonoran desert in southern and central Arizona and northern Sonora, united by a common herita ...

territory, making eight expeditions between 1737 and 1754. There he encountered the

Maricopa Maricopa can refer to: Places * Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city ** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix ** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona * Maricopa County, Arizona, United States * Marico ...

and

Halchidhoma The Halchidhoma ( Maricopa: Xalychidom Piipaa or Xalychidom Piipaash – 'people who live toward the water') are an Indian tribe now living mostly on the Salt River reservation, but formerly native to the area along the lower Colorado River in C ...

, whom he hoped to bring into

reductions Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such redu ...

. In his 1748 journey up the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

, he reached its junction with

Bill Williams River The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River (Arizona), Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County, Arizona, Mohave County to the north and La Paz C ...

, despite encounters with unfriendly Yuma. He believed there were

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

deposits along the upper Colorado. Sedelmayr also explored the entire length of the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

, and advocated for expanding the Spanish missions all the way to its shores. In 1767, all Jesuits were expelled from Mexico by order of

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_d ...

. Along with many other Jesuits, Sedelmayr was taken to Spain, where he died in

Aldeadávila de la Ribera Aldeadávila de la Ribera is a village and municipality in the north-west of the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ...

in 1779.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedelmayr, Jacobo 1702 births 1779 deaths Jesuit missionaries in New Spain