Jacobo Sedelmayr (1702–1779) was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...

in New Spain, 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, Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, that encompassed parts of what are today south ...

Biography

Sedelmayr was born in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

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

El Puerto de Santa María El Puerto de Santa María (), locally known as El Puerto and historically in English as Port Saint Mary, is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. , the c ...

for Mexico 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, now 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' ...

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

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

by way of

Pueblo de Los Ángeles El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, shortened to the Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the Spanish colonial pueblos and villas in North America, Spanish civilian ''pueblo'' settled in 1781, which became the ...

. Sedelmayr arrived in the Pimería Alta in 1737. He was initially assigned to Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama, 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 () or Luis of Sáric (died 1755) was a Pima people, Pima (Akimel O'odham) leader in the Spanish province of Sáric, now the far north of the Mexican state of Sonora. Biography Oacpicagigua commanded a force of hundreds of O'od ...

's peace conditions. He served at

Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi was founded by Jesuit missionary priests Eusebio Kino and Juan María de Salvatierra in 1691. Subsequent missionaries called it San Rafael and San Miguel, resulting in the common historical name of Mission Lo ...

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

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

and Halchidhoma, whom he hoped to bring into

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

. In his 1748 journey up the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, 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, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' ...

, despite encounters with unfriendly Yuma. He believed there were mercury 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 ...

, 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 Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

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

Aldeadávila de la Ribera Aldeadávila de la Ribera is a village and municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional l ...

in 1779.

References

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