San José de Gracia is a town in the Mexican state of

Michoacán de Ocampo Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha language, Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the P ...

, located in the extreme northeast of the state. It is the municipal seat of the municipality of

Marcos Castellanos Marcos Castellanos is a municipio (municipality) in the Mexican state of Michoacán near the southern shore of Lake Chapala Lake Chapala ( es, Lago de Chapala, ) is Mexico's largest freshwater lake. It lies in the municipalities of Ocotl� ...

. The area of San José de Gracia is approximately 231 square kilometers. It is located at the intersection of the 20th parallel and the 103rd meridian. It is sometimes referred to as Ornelas Michoacan. It is a producer of dairy products, including cheeses, cream, and milk.

History

In approximately 1886, inhabitants of the cattle ranch of Llano de la Cruz began to plan the founding of a formal town under the leadership of

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Esteban Zepeda. On March 19, 1888,

José Maria Cázares y Martínez José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, the Bishop of Zamora, provided official authorization and the town was given the name San José for the day that it was founded. In 1909, the town became part of the municipality of

Sahuayo Sahuayo ( Nahuatl: ''Tzacuātlayotl'') is a city in the state of Michoacán, in western México, near the southern shore of Lake Chapala. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. Sahuayo is an important c ...

and came to form part of Jiquilpan under a policy of tenancy. It was officially named Ornelas, though this designation never caught on. On June 11, 1927, approximately 500 men took up arms in San José de Gracia as part of the

Cristero War The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...

, a response to the federal army previously setting fire to the town. On January 30, 1967, the town was made the municipal seat of the Municipality of Marcos Catellanos. In 1972, Mexican author

Luis González y González Luis González y González (11 October 1925 – 13 December 2003) was a Mexican historian from San José de Gracia, Michoacán, San José de Gracia, Michoacán. He was an expert on the Mexican revolution and Mexican presidentialism. He publi ...

published a

microhistory Microhistory is a genre of history that focuses on small units of research, such as an event, community, individual or a settlement. In its ambition, however, microhistory can be distinguished from a simple case study insofar as microhistory aspires ...

of the town. The book was translated to English in 1974 as ''San José de Gracia: Mexican Village in Transition''. In 1981, the

Congress of Michoacán The Congress of Michoacán is the state legislature of Michoacán, a state of Mexico. The Congress is unicameral. See also *List of Mexican state congresses The congresses of the federal entities of Mexico are the depositary bodies of the le ...

issued a decree that restored the name San José de Gracia as the town's official title.

References

* Gonzales y Gonzales, Luis. San José de Gracia: Mexican Village in Transition. Translated by John Upton. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974. * https://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exgonsan.html * http://www.sanjosemich.com/ (en construccion) Populated places in Michoacán Parishes of Mexico {{Michoacán-geo-stub