Ireland at the turn of the 18th century was in great upheaval. Grinding poverty, a feudal landlord system and religious oppression left little hope for future prosperity.

Under this scenario in County Wexford, Ireland, Martin McGuill and Catherine Murphy were married on February 12, 1792. They had five children: Patrick, William, Martin, James, and Mary. Of the five children, William and Martin never married. Their siblings, however, furthered the family tree in due time. Patrick married Catherine Synott in 1832 and had seven children. Mary, born in 1794, married a Murphy and had three children: Moses, Mary, and Dorah. Hames, born in 1801, married Catherine Redmond and had five children: Thomas, James, William, Catherine, and Ellen.

Of Martin and Catherine's children, it was William, born in 1792, who would bring a branch of the McGuill family and their Roman Catholic faith to the New World. As a boy, William grew up during a time when the means of survival for the Irish people dwindled just as their population soared. Young men without means to inherit or money upon which to build their future, went looking for opportunity in America. In fact, three hundred thousand Irish Catholics immigrated to the New World between 1800 and 1830...the Celtic diaspora.

Under these circumstances, it was little wonder that when Irish-born James Power returned to his home in Ballygarrett, County Wexford, with promises of prosperity in colonial Mexico and the area now known as Refugio, word quickly spread. Among the more than 250 families that elected to accompany the Mexican empresario to Texas was William McGuill. However, the crossing for Power's colonists was perilous. It is generally estimated that one-third of all of would-be settlers had perished on the voyage and that adult manpower was reduced by one-half due mostly to disease.

For those who survived the trip, their hopes brightened in July of 1834, when the town council of Refugio was set up by the Mexican Government for the purpose of distributing titles to land within the colony. It was then that William McGuill received a land grant. Little else is known of William except that he fought bravely with General Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto. Afterwards he retired to his land grant at the junction of the Blanco and Sarco Creeks. He died in 1839 while fighting with the Federalists army against Mexico.

Upon his death, William left his property to heirs in Ireland, including his nephew Thomas, the eldest son of his brother James. Thomas McGuill and his brother James left Ireland and came to America in 1853. While James eventually returned to his homeland, Thomas remained and claimed the land deeded to him by his uncle. He later bought out the shares of the other heirs and became sole owner.

In 1853 Thomas brought his wife, Mary Reilly, whom he had married in Kilmuckridge on October 2, 1849, over from Ireland, along with their two children. He settled his family in a log cabin on Dog Branch Creek, a 50-acre site he had purchased from James Fox that was located about nine miles north of the Refugio mission, Nuestra Señora del Refugio. Mass was celebrated in the cabin by priests who were passing between the Refugio mission and the Goliad mission, Presidio La Bahia. Thomas and Mary's third child, Martin, was born at Dog Branch Creek in 1858. Six more children were also born at this site, and of these children, two infants died and were buried at Dog Branch Creek in unmarked graves. The 50 acres were sold back to James Fox.

Thomas acquired his citizenship in 1861 in the Confederate States of America. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he became a tailor for the Confederacy. Times were hard and merchandise was unobtainable mostly because of Federal blockades. After the war on his return to his family and business, conditions improved. Thomas built up his farm and livestock with the help of his family. He made Martin a partner in the store in the early 1870's.

The McGuills moved their store to the west bank of the Blanco. A cotton gin, grist mill, and blacksmith shop were added. Thomas' son, Martin, was made a partner and manager in the company and was married to Maggie Weir. In 1889 their store had the first telephone line from Beeville. Following his father's footsteps, Martin was soon postmaster, banker, cotton ginner, meat and corn grinder, blacksmith, telephone manager, and store keeper for the village of Blanconia. His sprawling home was just yards away from the entrance to St. Catherine's Church.

With grace and grit, determination and wit, Thomas and Mary's other children married and built homes in the area: William married Mary Lambert; Elizabeth married Nicholas Lambert; James married Julia Barrow; Mick never married and died at age 40; Kate married Henry Bissett; Annie married Chris West; Joe married Katie McGrew; and Nellie married Will McGrew. Joe's twin, Molly, died at age 17. Their homes were filled with love, children, and hospitality.

All of Thomas and Mary's descendants contributed greatly to the area. Until 1950, three generations of McGuills were local merchants. By that time, Blanconia, halfway between Refugio and Beeville, had served its purpose. The railroad had come to other towns and had bypassed the little trading center. The area is still known as Blanconia, but all that remains of the McGuill settlement is St. Catherine Church, a mission in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and the McGuill Cemetery, which lies across the creek in the new Diocese of Victoria. The cemetery, a half-acre plot originally donated as a graveyard by Thomas McGuill who was the first buried there in 1897, is surrounded by fencing to protect it from the grazing cattle, deer, and wild hogs. It still remains family-owned and depends on contributions to maintain it for future generations.

By 1992 Thomas McGuill of Bullyscough, County Wexford, Ireland, and Mary Reilly of Ballinlow, County Wexford, Ireland, had over 1000 descendants in America. Many settled elsewhere, and this seemed to say that the sun was setting on genteel Blanconia. Now, the past is prologue. With a rejuvenated devotion to the land and with the abiding faith of their forefathers, the sun is rising again on a dream. Homesteaders are discovering life on the historic creeks of their ancestors. The resurrection of ranchitos and the conception of cyberspace can graze together under the shadow of tiny St. Catherine's new emerald-green roof.

As the Millennium approaches, the ancient Gaelic motto on the family crest, Sine Fine, continues...buoyancy and Blanconia...Without End!