Don Erasmo Seguin
From the study of the glamorous deeds of laudable characters of the past there emanates a spirit of exaltation that lifts the mind above the disappointments and the confusing mists of today; there is revealed a conception of the eternal achievement of The Great Architect of the Universe which He wrought out of the strife and turmoil of centuries and there comes to the student a purification of his soul, higher, purer and more unselfish aspirations because of which he should be the better enabled to discharge the purposes for his creation—which are to honor his God, serve his Country and benefit his Fellowmen.
As Texans we are at this time chiefly interested in the entrancing, marvelous story of The Lone Star State, worthy as it is of the pen of a Macaulay, a Prescott, or a Ridpath; but the songs of the bravery of its men, the glory of its women, and the high idealism, the hardihood and audacity of its people in the face of privations, overwhelming numbers, arms and munitions of war, defeat, and massacre are yet to be sung in their full beauty, melody and grandeur!
The City of Seguin and Guadalupe County are definitely and securely linked in many ways and through the sacrifices of their gallant dead with the traditions, the glories and the unselfish devotion of the heroic pioneers of Texas, they being a composite of different races with multiform characteristics, and yet the full story of their intricate connection with one of the most enthralling characters of Texas history has not yet been told!
Guadalupe County (so named after the Guadalupe River which flows through it from its northwest to its southeast corners, it having been discovered and so named in 1689 by Count de Leon while marching from Monclavia, Mexico to exterminate the French settlement on Matagorda Bay—a colorful account of this occurence being set forth in his "Memories de Nueva Espana") has in the name of its County Seat preserved to future generations the identity of one of the most noteworthy personages of the period in which he lived, one who by the force of his character, the greatness of his vision and the generosity of his nature proved himself to be one of the grandest figures of Texas history!
Largely by reason of the fact that an oil portrait of Juan N. Seguin was presented to the City of Seguin a number of years ago by his devoted son, he sharing his fathers political views and being for many years a citizen and resident of the Republic of Mexico, the erroneous impression was created, and has been quite generally accepted, that when the name of the town was changed from "Walnut Springs" to that of "Seguin" that it was done to revere the memory of Juan M. Seguin; but such was not the case.
