Jose Antonio Esquibel's Blog, page 2
May 3, 2014
Conference Presentation: "The Formative Era of Nuevomejicano Culture, 1693-1700"
I'll be presenting at the upcoming conference of the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America that will be held in Westminster, CO (Denver area) on June 6-8. My presentation is currently scheduled for Sunday, June 8th, 1:30-3:30, and my topic is "The Formative Era of Nuevomejicano Culture, 1693-1700." Learn more about the conference at http://www.gsha.net/Events.html.
Here is the description the presentation:
There is a persistent and common misconception that the Hispano cultural traditions of New Mexico originated with the founding of New Mexico as a Spanish realm in 1598. The common perception is that these traditions, transplanted directly from Spain, were adapted and maintained by descendants of the original Spanish colonists over the next four hundred years.
Hand in hand with this misconception is the misinformed conclusion that New Mexico’s Hispano culture, once established, continued to exist and develop in isolation to the rest of the Spanish realms. But culture does not exist without people. If we are to gain an understanding of the formation and evolution of New Mexican cultural traditions, we must study patterns of migration into the region.
The most active period of migration of Spanish citizens to New Mexico occurred between 1693 and 1695, during a time of great effort to achieve reconciliation between Spanish citizens and Pueblo Indians. Consequently, the formative era of New Mexico's imperial-era society really took place after the restoration of the region to the Spanish crown and during the period of December 1693 through 1720.
This presentation will touch on numerous families that settled New Mexico and established the foundation of Nuevomejicano culture and traditions.
Here is the description the presentation:
There is a persistent and common misconception that the Hispano cultural traditions of New Mexico originated with the founding of New Mexico as a Spanish realm in 1598. The common perception is that these traditions, transplanted directly from Spain, were adapted and maintained by descendants of the original Spanish colonists over the next four hundred years.
Hand in hand with this misconception is the misinformed conclusion that New Mexico’s Hispano culture, once established, continued to exist and develop in isolation to the rest of the Spanish realms. But culture does not exist without people. If we are to gain an understanding of the formation and evolution of New Mexican cultural traditions, we must study patterns of migration into the region.
The most active period of migration of Spanish citizens to New Mexico occurred between 1693 and 1695, during a time of great effort to achieve reconciliation between Spanish citizens and Pueblo Indians. Consequently, the formative era of New Mexico's imperial-era society really took place after the restoration of the region to the Spanish crown and during the period of December 1693 through 1720.
This presentation will touch on numerous families that settled New Mexico and established the foundation of Nuevomejicano culture and traditions.
April 23, 2014
Beyond Origns of New Mexico Familes Still Online
In 1998 I started the “Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families” Web site as a way to add to, expand on, and make corrections where needed to the genealogical information that was compiled by Fray Angélico Chávez in his book, “Origins of New Mexico Families” (1954). The BONMF site was discontinued in January 2007, but the pages of the site are still available online: http://web.archive.org/web/2009080919....
The idea for the BONMF Web site was generated from conversations between me and John B. “Jack” Colligan. In the early 1990s, we were aware that with the growing interest in Hispanic genealogy of New Mexico people were often covering the same ground of common family lines and there was little coordination and no venue to regularly inform people about new genealogical findings other than the quarterly Hispanic genealogy journals.
Using the Internet seemed like a way to keep information available on a regular basis for people to consult and a place to post new findings. It also allowed for people to contribute their findings, if they were so inclined to share.
Although most of the entries on the BONMF Web site were based on fragments of new genealogical information I was uncovering, other people generously contributed items and the BONMF Web site grew into a large amount of new material that was accessible online.
Here is a list of many of family names found in the BONMF material: Abeyta, Afán de Rivera, Alderete, Anaya Almazán, Albizu, Ángel, Apodaca, Aragón, Arellano, Armijo, Baca, Benavides, Borrego, Brito, Bustamante, Bustos, Casados, Castellano, Chaves, Crespín, Delgado, Domínguez, Durán, Espinosa, Esquibel, Estrada, Fernández de la Pedrera, Fresqui, Gallegos, González, Guadalajara, Gurulé, Hernández, Hurtado, Jojola, Jorge de Vera, Leyva, López de Gracia, López Castillo, López Gallardo, López Holguín, Lucero de Godoy, Luera, Luján, Luna, Madrid, Manzanares, Márquez, Martín Serrano, Mestas, Miera, Mondragón, Montes Vigil, Montoya, Mora, Moraga, Moreno de Trujillo, Ortiz, Padilla, Paredes, Peña, Perea, Pérez Granillo, Pino, Rael, Ramírez, Robledo, Romero, Roybal, Ruiz, Sáenz de Garvizu, Sáez, Salas, Sánchez, Silva, Trebol Navarro, Tenorio de Alba, Torres, Trujillo, Valdes, Vallejos, Valverde, Varela, Vásquez Borrego, Vásquez de Lara, Velarde, and Vera.
The idea for the BONMF Web site was generated from conversations between me and John B. “Jack” Colligan. In the early 1990s, we were aware that with the growing interest in Hispanic genealogy of New Mexico people were often covering the same ground of common family lines and there was little coordination and no venue to regularly inform people about new genealogical findings other than the quarterly Hispanic genealogy journals.
Using the Internet seemed like a way to keep information available on a regular basis for people to consult and a place to post new findings. It also allowed for people to contribute their findings, if they were so inclined to share.
Although most of the entries on the BONMF Web site were based on fragments of new genealogical information I was uncovering, other people generously contributed items and the BONMF Web site grew into a large amount of new material that was accessible online.
Here is a list of many of family names found in the BONMF material: Abeyta, Afán de Rivera, Alderete, Anaya Almazán, Albizu, Ángel, Apodaca, Aragón, Arellano, Armijo, Baca, Benavides, Borrego, Brito, Bustamante, Bustos, Casados, Castellano, Chaves, Crespín, Delgado, Domínguez, Durán, Espinosa, Esquibel, Estrada, Fernández de la Pedrera, Fresqui, Gallegos, González, Guadalajara, Gurulé, Hernández, Hurtado, Jojola, Jorge de Vera, Leyva, López de Gracia, López Castillo, López Gallardo, López Holguín, Lucero de Godoy, Luera, Luján, Luna, Madrid, Manzanares, Márquez, Martín Serrano, Mestas, Miera, Mondragón, Montes Vigil, Montoya, Mora, Moraga, Moreno de Trujillo, Ortiz, Padilla, Paredes, Peña, Perea, Pérez Granillo, Pino, Rael, Ramírez, Robledo, Romero, Roybal, Ruiz, Sáenz de Garvizu, Sáez, Salas, Sánchez, Silva, Trebol Navarro, Tenorio de Alba, Torres, Trujillo, Valdes, Vallejos, Valverde, Varela, Vásquez Borrego, Vásquez de Lara, Velarde, and Vera.
February 9, 2014
Andrés Armijo's New Book, Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo
This past December, I had the pleasure of reading and writing a review for an exciting new book by Andrés Armijo titled "Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo" (Los Ranchos: LPD Press, 2014, 190 pages and 153 photos; nmsantos.com).
For anyone interested in learning how to utilize various family records and media sources from the late 1800s and the 1900s for documenting family history, I highly recommend this book.
For anyone interested in better understanding the development and expression of Nuevomejicano culture in the century and a half following New Mexico’s inclusion as part of the United States (1846-2000), this book offers many insights through the various generations of the family of Andrés Armijo.
Read what others have to say about the book at http://highnoonarmijo.blogspot.com.
Book signings are scheduled for:
Saturday, May 10, 2014, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Salon Ortega, 2-4pm, 1701 4th St. SW, Albuquerque, NM
Saturday, June 7, 2014 Treasure House Books, 1-3pm, 2012 S Plaza, Albuquerque, NM
Here is my review that appears as the Introduction in the book—
Place is not only defined by geography and landscape. A sense of place emerges and is sustained from the experiences of people and their relationship with each another as family and community in contact with landscape.
The connection of landscape and family is particularly compelling and personal for Nuevomejicanos whose family roots reach back in time many centuries. This is evident in the narrative of Andrés Armijo’s "Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo" and in his motivation to research and write the book.
Armijo skillfully combines family history, sense of place, and cultural expressions with historical documents, personal stories, written words and audio recordings of relatives, photographs, and historical context to illustrate a vibrant pattern of cultural development and expression of the people of New Mexico’s Hispano Río Abajo.
Covering a period of time from the mid-1800s through the twentieth century, each chapter illustrates that people are vessels of culture, transmitting the expression of customs and traditions from one generation to the next. This period offers different forms of historical documentation that were not available prior to 1850, which Armijo highlights with sources from his own extended family.
"Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo" is an exceptional guide for those who want to better understand Nuevomejicano culture and how to document their own family history. Andrés Armijo offers valuable examples and instructions for documenting and recording family history, emphasizing the use of written, photographic, audio, and video sources from the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century.
Armijo provides insights into the value of these forms of documented family history, which contain any combination of expressions of language, religion, folklore, local history, and the threads of long-standing customs and traditions.
The noted humanist geographer, Yi-Fu Tuan, who once lived and taught in New Mexico, wrote that “A town or neighborhood comes alive through the artistry of a scholar who is able to combine detailed narrative with discerning vignettes of description, further enriched by old photographs and sketches” (Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, 1977). In this regard, Andrés Armijo succeeds in the scholarly artistry of "Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History of the Río Abajo."
For anyone interested in learning how to utilize various family records and media sources from the late 1800s and the 1900s for documenting family history, I highly recommend this book.
For anyone interested in better understanding the development and expression of Nuevomejicano culture in the century and a half following New Mexico’s inclusion as part of the United States (1846-2000), this book offers many insights through the various generations of the family of Andrés Armijo.
Read what others have to say about the book at http://highnoonarmijo.blogspot.com.
Book signings are scheduled for:
Saturday, May 10, 2014, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Salon Ortega, 2-4pm, 1701 4th St. SW, Albuquerque, NM
Saturday, June 7, 2014 Treasure House Books, 1-3pm, 2012 S Plaza, Albuquerque, NM
Here is my review that appears as the Introduction in the book—
Place is not only defined by geography and landscape. A sense of place emerges and is sustained from the experiences of people and their relationship with each another as family and community in contact with landscape.
The connection of landscape and family is particularly compelling and personal for Nuevomejicanos whose family roots reach back in time many centuries. This is evident in the narrative of Andrés Armijo’s "Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo" and in his motivation to research and write the book.
Armijo skillfully combines family history, sense of place, and cultural expressions with historical documents, personal stories, written words and audio recordings of relatives, photographs, and historical context to illustrate a vibrant pattern of cultural development and expression of the people of New Mexico’s Hispano Río Abajo.
Covering a period of time from the mid-1800s through the twentieth century, each chapter illustrates that people are vessels of culture, transmitting the expression of customs and traditions from one generation to the next. This period offers different forms of historical documentation that were not available prior to 1850, which Armijo highlights with sources from his own extended family.
"Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History in the Río Abajo" is an exceptional guide for those who want to better understand Nuevomejicano culture and how to document their own family history. Andrés Armijo offers valuable examples and instructions for documenting and recording family history, emphasizing the use of written, photographic, audio, and video sources from the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century.
Armijo provides insights into the value of these forms of documented family history, which contain any combination of expressions of language, religion, folklore, local history, and the threads of long-standing customs and traditions.
The noted humanist geographer, Yi-Fu Tuan, who once lived and taught in New Mexico, wrote that “A town or neighborhood comes alive through the artistry of a scholar who is able to combine detailed narrative with discerning vignettes of description, further enriched by old photographs and sketches” (Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, 1977). In this regard, Andrés Armijo succeeds in the scholarly artistry of "Por Constancia/So that it may be Validated: Family History of the Río Abajo."
February 8, 2014
Jirón de Tejeda, Leyva y Mendoza, and Afán de Ribera Genealogy
Robert D. Martínez and I teamed up for an exciting article on the genealogy of the Jirón de Tejeda-Leyva y Mendoza-Afán de Ribera families. Part 1 of this research appears in the Summer 2013 issue of “El Farolito” (Vol. 16, No 2), consisting of 27 pages of research with digital images of the original records, transcriptions and translations of key records, and genealogy charts.
The Summer 2013 issue of “El Farolito” was just published at the end of January 2014 and can be ordered along with the other three issues of 2013 by downloading a subscription form at: http://www.hispaniclegacy.org/el_faro....
In addition to records related to Tomás Jirón de Tejeda (b. 1663, Mexico City) and doña Josefa González de Aragón Coronel y Salinas (native of Querétaro) and to Tomas’ brother, Diego Jirón de Tejeda (1666, Mexico City), based on research I conducted in the late 1990s, Robert D. Martínez uncovered records that extend the genealogy of María de Leyva y Mendoza, the mother of the Jirón del Castillo sisters by Mexico City native Francisco Afán de Ribera.
Take a look at your genealogy charts and database. If you are descended of the following couples, you will be interested in the genealogy of María de Leyva y Mendoza, which Robert extended back to the early 1600s in Mexico City:
• Maria Jirón del Castillo, also known as María Ribera, who married April 5, 1728, Sam Ildefonso, NM, Felipe Nero Sisneros.
• Antonia Jirón also known as Antonia Ribera, who married Francisco II Montes Vigil.
• Josefa del Castillo,who married José Manuel Apodaca.
• Nicolasa del Castillo, who married Antonio Romero (the parents María Romero, among others, who married and Juan Antonio Baca; and the grandparents of Luis Cabeza de Baca, progenitor of the C’de Baca family of New Mexico)
Robert located records on the parents and grandparents on both sides of the family of María de Leyva y Mendoza, who was also known as María de Piña Díaz de Brito.
Part 2 of this research will appear in the Winter 2013 issue of “El Farolito,” slated for publication in April 2014 and will feature historical and genealogical information regarding Francisco Afán de Ribera.
The Summer 2013 issue of “El Farolito” was just published at the end of January 2014 and can be ordered along with the other three issues of 2013 by downloading a subscription form at: http://www.hispaniclegacy.org/el_faro....
In addition to records related to Tomás Jirón de Tejeda (b. 1663, Mexico City) and doña Josefa González de Aragón Coronel y Salinas (native of Querétaro) and to Tomas’ brother, Diego Jirón de Tejeda (1666, Mexico City), based on research I conducted in the late 1990s, Robert D. Martínez uncovered records that extend the genealogy of María de Leyva y Mendoza, the mother of the Jirón del Castillo sisters by Mexico City native Francisco Afán de Ribera.
Take a look at your genealogy charts and database. If you are descended of the following couples, you will be interested in the genealogy of María de Leyva y Mendoza, which Robert extended back to the early 1600s in Mexico City:
• Maria Jirón del Castillo, also known as María Ribera, who married April 5, 1728, Sam Ildefonso, NM, Felipe Nero Sisneros.
• Antonia Jirón also known as Antonia Ribera, who married Francisco II Montes Vigil.
• Josefa del Castillo,who married José Manuel Apodaca.
• Nicolasa del Castillo, who married Antonio Romero (the parents María Romero, among others, who married and Juan Antonio Baca; and the grandparents of Luis Cabeza de Baca, progenitor of the C’de Baca family of New Mexico)
Robert located records on the parents and grandparents on both sides of the family of María de Leyva y Mendoza, who was also known as María de Piña Díaz de Brito.
Part 2 of this research will appear in the Winter 2013 issue of “El Farolito,” slated for publication in April 2014 and will feature historical and genealogical information regarding Francisco Afán de Ribera.
December 15, 2013
Excerpt from Part 3 of “The Genealogy of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda
The research for Part 3 of The Genealogy of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda” took a considerable amount of time and effort to research and write. Marietta Vigil Gonzales and Albert J. Gallegos travelled long distances and made contact with various people to acquire documentation and source citations. They shared their research findings with me, as well as research findings of Mary D. Taylor, who was hired by Gerald J. Mandell to conduct research at the Durango Archives. Mandell managed to acquire copies of some very important documents regarding land acquisition and land disputes that occurred in the late 1500s in the Valle de La Poana.
I spent a year organizing the material, following up on leads, and conducting additional research into primary and secondary sources regarding the Burruel de Luna and Quiroga families. In the process I read several books related to the early history of Zacatecas, the Villa de Nombre de Dios, and Durango to gain a firm understanding of the history of the region and the people who explored and settled the various mining towns of the northern frontier, which includes ancestors of the Gallegos family of New Mexico.
Part 3 features the history and genealogy of the family of Pascuala de Rueda in the region of Zacatecas, Las Minas de San Martín and the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios from around 1550 into the early 1600s. The members of her family were among the earliest Spanish settlers of Spain most northern frontier in the Americas. Their tenacity and perseverance in the face of hostile bands of Chichimec Indians made a valuable contribution to the expansion of the frontier that resulted in the exploration and formation of the region that became known as Nueva Vizcaya.
Go to www.hgrc-nm.org to join the organization in order to receive the upcoming issue of Herencia that will feature Part 3 of the Gallegos family history and genealogy and to order back issues from 2012 (Part 1) and 2013 (Part 2).
Here is an excerpt from Part 3 of “The Genealogy of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda,” by José Antonio Esquibel, Marietta V. Gonzales and Albert J. Gallegos, which is forthcoming in “Herencia,” Vol. 22, Issue 1, January 2014—
"Although there is yet no documentation to confirm the names of the parents of Pascuala de Rueda, there is sufficient evidence to link her to the Borruel de Luna family of the Valle de la Poana in the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios, Nueva Vizcaya. The evidence uncovered to date is stronger for making a link to Juan Borruel de Luna and his wife, doña Ana de Gamarda, as the parents of Pascuala de Rueda.
Juan Borruel de Luna was already residing in the Valle de la Poana, Nueva Vizcaya, by August 15, 1572, when he received a grant of two caballerías of land, and another two caballerías were granted to him on August 25, 1572.124 Presumably, he and doña Ana de Gamarda were already married by that time. Her father, the blacksmith, miner, and cattle ranching frontiersman Pedro de Quiroga, received a grant of a very large tract of land on which he established one of the most remote haciendas of Spain’s northern frontier in the 1550s in the Valle de la Poana. In fact, Juan Borruel de Luna probably received land in that valley as part of doña Ana’s dowry and upon her father’s death she inherited his large estate.
The origins of Pedro de Quiroga are seemingly lost to the passing of time and memory. Despite an exhaustive search of both published and archival sources, there is no hint of his place of birth or any indication of when he arrived in the Americas. The earliest account of Quiroga is from April 1550 when he was already a vecino of the silver mining frontier boomtown of Zacatecas in Nueva Galicia.
Almost immediately following the great silver strike at Zacatecas men explored the region in search of additional deposits of silver ore. Exciting new discoveries led to the establishment of additional mining communities. Silver was first discovered around 1555-1556 at the site of San Martín, located northwest of Zacatecas. These mines were christened San Martín because several of the men who made the discovery were named Martín, including Martín Pérez de Uranzu, Martín de Rentería, Martín de Urrutia, Martín de Oñes, and Martín de Zárraga.
It was not until 1558 that the mining community of San Martín became a formal settlement with thirty vecinos and one friar established under the leadership of Francisco de Ibarra. Pedro de Quiroga was remembered as a first settler and miner of the Minas de San Martín, arriving in 1556.
From the Reales y Minas de San Martín, Pedro Quiroga ventured in 1556 with a small company of men into the river valley located to the west of San Martín that came to be known as the Valle de la Poana. Despite the constant threat of Indian attacks, Quiroga sought to settle the valley. He managed to acquire a grant of land in this valley where he established a hacienda and began raising livestock and farming.
Francisco de Ibarra, the future governor of the realm of Nueva Vizcaya, received permission to explore the region north of Nueva Galicia and locate suitable sites for future settlements. The impetus for this exploration was the desire of fray Gerónimo de Mendoza to convert the Chichimec tribes, in particular those who were more peaceful.
In 1561, Ibarra recruited men from various mining towns of the region of Zacatecas, one of whom was thirty-five year old Miguel Gallegos who was then living in Las Minas de Chalchihuites. Gallegos recounted the following in 1570 —
‘It was nine years ago, more or less, that this witness was residing at Las Minas de Chalchuihuites that he joined the said Francisco de Ybarra along with other soldiers at the Minas de San Martín from where they left for the estancia of Pedro de Quiroga because fray Gerónimo de Mendoza of the Order of San Francisco, desired to enter the interior land to see the land and with the intention to convert the natives. This witness and others went to the estancia of the said Pedro de Quiroga, where the said friar was [staying], and from there the said Francisco de Ybarra and the other soldiers entered the interior land and went to the present site where the Villa del Nombre de Dios was founded and settled.’
Pedro de Quiroga was one of the people responsible for the establishment of the Villa del Nombre de Dios, and his favorable support of this endeavor is apparent in that he gave land from his holdings to found the villa. This was a strategic move to create a buffer between his land in the Valle de la Poana and the hostile bands of Chichimec Indians by pushing the frontier border further north.
Land and cattle barons like Pedro de Quiroga and Juan Borruel de Luna transformed the wilderness of the northern frontier into a cattle ranching frontier while still maintaining an interest in mining. They, like other large-scale ranchers, received grants of extensive tracts of land for grazing cattle, sheep and goats. The names of the owners of livestock operations often found their way into the geography of the region, such as ‘el potrero de Juan Borruel y otras que van hacia el Paso de Quiroga,’ ‘the pasture grounds of Juan Borruel and others that go up to Quiroga Pass.’”
I spent a year organizing the material, following up on leads, and conducting additional research into primary and secondary sources regarding the Burruel de Luna and Quiroga families. In the process I read several books related to the early history of Zacatecas, the Villa de Nombre de Dios, and Durango to gain a firm understanding of the history of the region and the people who explored and settled the various mining towns of the northern frontier, which includes ancestors of the Gallegos family of New Mexico.
Part 3 features the history and genealogy of the family of Pascuala de Rueda in the region of Zacatecas, Las Minas de San Martín and the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios from around 1550 into the early 1600s. The members of her family were among the earliest Spanish settlers of Spain most northern frontier in the Americas. Their tenacity and perseverance in the face of hostile bands of Chichimec Indians made a valuable contribution to the expansion of the frontier that resulted in the exploration and formation of the region that became known as Nueva Vizcaya.
Go to www.hgrc-nm.org to join the organization in order to receive the upcoming issue of Herencia that will feature Part 3 of the Gallegos family history and genealogy and to order back issues from 2012 (Part 1) and 2013 (Part 2).
Here is an excerpt from Part 3 of “The Genealogy of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda,” by José Antonio Esquibel, Marietta V. Gonzales and Albert J. Gallegos, which is forthcoming in “Herencia,” Vol. 22, Issue 1, January 2014—
"Although there is yet no documentation to confirm the names of the parents of Pascuala de Rueda, there is sufficient evidence to link her to the Borruel de Luna family of the Valle de la Poana in the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios, Nueva Vizcaya. The evidence uncovered to date is stronger for making a link to Juan Borruel de Luna and his wife, doña Ana de Gamarda, as the parents of Pascuala de Rueda.
Juan Borruel de Luna was already residing in the Valle de la Poana, Nueva Vizcaya, by August 15, 1572, when he received a grant of two caballerías of land, and another two caballerías were granted to him on August 25, 1572.124 Presumably, he and doña Ana de Gamarda were already married by that time. Her father, the blacksmith, miner, and cattle ranching frontiersman Pedro de Quiroga, received a grant of a very large tract of land on which he established one of the most remote haciendas of Spain’s northern frontier in the 1550s in the Valle de la Poana. In fact, Juan Borruel de Luna probably received land in that valley as part of doña Ana’s dowry and upon her father’s death she inherited his large estate.
The origins of Pedro de Quiroga are seemingly lost to the passing of time and memory. Despite an exhaustive search of both published and archival sources, there is no hint of his place of birth or any indication of when he arrived in the Americas. The earliest account of Quiroga is from April 1550 when he was already a vecino of the silver mining frontier boomtown of Zacatecas in Nueva Galicia.
Almost immediately following the great silver strike at Zacatecas men explored the region in search of additional deposits of silver ore. Exciting new discoveries led to the establishment of additional mining communities. Silver was first discovered around 1555-1556 at the site of San Martín, located northwest of Zacatecas. These mines were christened San Martín because several of the men who made the discovery were named Martín, including Martín Pérez de Uranzu, Martín de Rentería, Martín de Urrutia, Martín de Oñes, and Martín de Zárraga.
It was not until 1558 that the mining community of San Martín became a formal settlement with thirty vecinos and one friar established under the leadership of Francisco de Ibarra. Pedro de Quiroga was remembered as a first settler and miner of the Minas de San Martín, arriving in 1556.
From the Reales y Minas de San Martín, Pedro Quiroga ventured in 1556 with a small company of men into the river valley located to the west of San Martín that came to be known as the Valle de la Poana. Despite the constant threat of Indian attacks, Quiroga sought to settle the valley. He managed to acquire a grant of land in this valley where he established a hacienda and began raising livestock and farming.
Francisco de Ibarra, the future governor of the realm of Nueva Vizcaya, received permission to explore the region north of Nueva Galicia and locate suitable sites for future settlements. The impetus for this exploration was the desire of fray Gerónimo de Mendoza to convert the Chichimec tribes, in particular those who were more peaceful.
In 1561, Ibarra recruited men from various mining towns of the region of Zacatecas, one of whom was thirty-five year old Miguel Gallegos who was then living in Las Minas de Chalchihuites. Gallegos recounted the following in 1570 —
‘It was nine years ago, more or less, that this witness was residing at Las Minas de Chalchuihuites that he joined the said Francisco de Ybarra along with other soldiers at the Minas de San Martín from where they left for the estancia of Pedro de Quiroga because fray Gerónimo de Mendoza of the Order of San Francisco, desired to enter the interior land to see the land and with the intention to convert the natives. This witness and others went to the estancia of the said Pedro de Quiroga, where the said friar was [staying], and from there the said Francisco de Ybarra and the other soldiers entered the interior land and went to the present site where the Villa del Nombre de Dios was founded and settled.’
Pedro de Quiroga was one of the people responsible for the establishment of the Villa del Nombre de Dios, and his favorable support of this endeavor is apparent in that he gave land from his holdings to found the villa. This was a strategic move to create a buffer between his land in the Valle de la Poana and the hostile bands of Chichimec Indians by pushing the frontier border further north.
Land and cattle barons like Pedro de Quiroga and Juan Borruel de Luna transformed the wilderness of the northern frontier into a cattle ranching frontier while still maintaining an interest in mining. They, like other large-scale ranchers, received grants of extensive tracts of land for grazing cattle, sheep and goats. The names of the owners of livestock operations often found their way into the geography of the region, such as ‘el potrero de Juan Borruel y otras que van hacia el Paso de Quiroga,’ ‘the pasture grounds of Juan Borruel and others that go up to Quiroga Pass.’”
December 7, 2013
Publisher and Author Ana Pacheco, La Herencia del Norte,and Celebrating New Mexico's History, Culture and Heritage
Some of you may be familiar with the wonderful quarterly magazine La Herencia del Norte that was published by Ana Pacheco between 1994 and 2009. It was a publication of articles dedicated to preserving Nuevomejicano culture and tradition with contributions by anyone willing to write a brief article and share stories from their own experience, stories from the lives of their family members and relatives, or from archival sources.
Ana Pacheco has just launched a new Web site building on the excellent tradition of La Herencia del Norte as a forum for “Celebrating New Mexico’s History, Culture and Heritage:” http://www.anapachecosantafe.com/
Join me in spreading the word about Ana’s new digital format. In addition to obtaining digital copies of any of the previously published magazine issue, you can watch this site expand with new articles. Click on the link for Family Histories and read the first two inaugural digital articles, one by Henrietta Martinez Christmas titled “The Highly Regarded Blacksmith” and the other written by me titled “Origins of New Mexico Families: An Indispensible Source for Nuevomejicano Genealogy Research.”
You can also be a contributor. Consider writing a short article about the people in your family pictures and submitting it to Ana Pacheco for publication online. See the submission guidelines on the Family Histories page.
Bookmark her page and tell family and friends about it. Visit the page every so often to read new postings and learn about books regarding Nuevomexicano history, culture and traditions. Browse through the tables of contents of the digital copies of the previously published issues of La Herencia del Norte and even download the comprehensive index of all issues.
Ana Pacheco has just launched a new Web site building on the excellent tradition of La Herencia del Norte as a forum for “Celebrating New Mexico’s History, Culture and Heritage:” http://www.anapachecosantafe.com/
Join me in spreading the word about Ana’s new digital format. In addition to obtaining digital copies of any of the previously published magazine issue, you can watch this site expand with new articles. Click on the link for Family Histories and read the first two inaugural digital articles, one by Henrietta Martinez Christmas titled “The Highly Regarded Blacksmith” and the other written by me titled “Origins of New Mexico Families: An Indispensible Source for Nuevomejicano Genealogy Research.”
You can also be a contributor. Consider writing a short article about the people in your family pictures and submitting it to Ana Pacheco for publication online. See the submission guidelines on the Family Histories page.
Bookmark her page and tell family and friends about it. Visit the page every so often to read new postings and learn about books regarding Nuevomexicano history, culture and traditions. Browse through the tables of contents of the digital copies of the previously published issues of La Herencia del Norte and even download the comprehensive index of all issues.
September 3, 2013
Review of 'Juan Dominguez de Mendoza' Book
A review of "Juan Dominguez de Mendoza: Soldier and Frontiersman of the Spanish Southwest, 1627-1693" (UNM Press, 2012) appeared in the April 2013 issue of Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Volume 116, Number 4, pp. 412-413. Read the review at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&...
Also, if you don't have the book in hard copy or as an e-book, you can read a sample with a good portion of the Introduction and several documents in translation at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=es0Z...
Volume 116, Number 4, pp. 412-413. Read the review at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&...
Also, if you don't have the book in hard copy or as an e-book, you can read a sample with a good portion of the Introduction and several documents in translation at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=es0Z...
August 20, 2013
Epilogue to “Vargas’ 1693 Recruits”
I am very pleased to make available to the current New Mexico genealogy audience the important study of my friend and colleague, the late John B. ‘Jack’ Colligan. This study, titled “Vargas’ 1693 Recruits for the Resettlement of New Mexico,” appears in four issues of “El Farolito,” the journal of the Olibama López Tushar Hispanic Legacy Research Center (http://hispaniclegacy.org), Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2012, and Spring 2013. This work was originally published in the “Genealogical Journal: Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research,” Vol. II, 1995, pages 169-215.
The re-publication of Jack’s work would not be possible without the permission granted by board members of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research (SHHAR) to republish Jack’s work. Learn more about SHHAR at http://shhar.net/ and view their regular e-newsletter, Somos Primos, at http://somosprimos.com. To receive a free subscription to Somos Primos with no membership required, send an e-mail request to Mimi Lozano at mimilozano@somosprimos.com.
Jack was an Armijo through the side of his mother’s family and traced his Hispano genealogy to many of New Mexico’s common ancestors. Jack not only had a passion for researching New Mexico history and family genealogies, he believed in making the research available to other people.
Jack came up with an idea to publish a companion volume to Fray Angélico Chávez’s Origins of New Mexico Families with new genealogical information on New Mexico families of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to not only share new information but to also prevent duplication of research efforts and to build off new research findings to continue to advance the documented lineages and history of New Mexico families. Instead of a book, the Internet was utilized with the establishment of the “Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families” Web site in May 1998.
Of particular interest to Jack was the identification of people who came to New Mexico as settlers between 1693 and 1695. He was one of the few people who owned a hard copy set of the eleven volumes of “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.: A Demographic Perspective from Genealogical, Historical and Geographic Data Found in the Diligencias Matrimoniales or Pre-Nuptial Investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe,” (unpublished, 1982), consisting of a summary prenuptial investigation documents for numerous New Mexico couples seeking license to marry in the Catholic Church. Having immediate access to this source was extremely important in Jack’s research in the 1990s. Jack’s ability to read Spanish and the old Spanish script served as a valuable skill for digging into microfilm copies of records of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico and other archival sources.
Jack’s study of the families and individuals recruited by don Diego de Vargas, Governor of New Mexico, in 1693 is actually part of trilogy that complements two other published studies, The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico: An Account of the Families Recruited at Mexico City in 1693 (Albuquerque: Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, 1999) by José Antonio Esquibel and John B. Colligan and The Juan Páez Hurtado Expedition of 1695: Fraud in Recruiting Colonists for New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press) by John B. Colligan, concerning the families recruited in the jurisdiction of Zacatecas in early 1695.
Jack and I originally intended to publish a comprehensive study of the 1694 and 1695 settlers under the title of “The Spanish Resettlement of New Mexico, 1694 and 1695: An Account of Families that came from Nueva España, Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya.” If this work had progressed as a whole, it would have also included the study of the 1693 Vargas recruits. As it turned out, the material was published separately.
In addition to the use of the prenuptial investigation summaries compiled in “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.,” Jack acquired copies of the two versions of the list of settlers that he referred to as the “1697 cattle distribution census” and shared photocopies with me. This list served as a critical source in our combined research efforts to identify the settlers recruited from the various regions south of New Mexico. Jack and I studied this list carefully, reviewing it multiple times, making an analysis of the census, comparing the names in the census to those in Origins of New Mexico Families and to the names found in the surviving lists of groups of settlers recruited between 1693 and 1695 and names from the Spanish Archives of New Mexico. This valuable census list was eventually published in Volume IV of the Vargas Project, John L. Kessell, Rick Hendricks, and Meredith Dodge, eds., Blood on the Boulder’s Blood on the Boulders: The Journals of Don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico,1694-97,” Book 2 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), 1138-1158.
Jack was the first person I know about to make use of the dossier of documents pertaining to the investigation into misconduct by Governor don Diego de Vargas in 1698 to begin sorting out the identity of the new settlers and to determine when they arrived in New Mexico.
The largest group was comprised of families with roots in New Mexico prior to August 1680, such as the Anaya Almazán, Apodaca, Archultea, Baca, Candelaria, Durán y Chaves, Fresquez, Gallegos, González, Griego, Herrera, Holguín, Hurtado, Leyba, Lucero de Godoy, López, López del Castillo, Luján, Luna, Madrid, Maese, Manzanares, Márquez, Martín Serrano, Mestas, Mondragón, Montaño, Montoya, Nieto, Pacheco, Perea, Romero, Sánchez, Sedillo, Serna, Sisneros, Tapia, Torres, Trujillo, Valencia, Varela Jaramillo, Varela de Losada.
Among this group were some soldiers that married into the New Mexico families during the years of exile in the jurisdiction of El Paso del Río del Norte, such as Antonio Córdova, Alonso Rael de Aguilar, Juan Páez Hurtado, and Ignacio de Roybal y Torrado, as well as the African military drummer, Sebastián Rodríguez.
The second largest group of settlers, almost all consisting of family groups and people designated as “españoles,” was recruited in Mexico City between March and September 1694. Of the 236 individuals that started out from Mexico City in mid-September 1693, 217 arrived at the Villa de Santa Fe in the early morning hours of June 23, 1694. Family names brought to New Mexico by this group included Ansures, Aragón, Atencio (Atienza), Bustos (Bustillos), Cárdenas, Casados, Castellanos, Cortés, García Jurado, Góngora, Jaramillo Negrete, Jirón de tejeda, Márquez de Ayala, Mascareñas, Molina, Moya, Ortiz, Quintana, Sandoval Martínez, Sena, Silva, Valdes, and Vega y Coca.
Captain Juan Páez Hurtado recruited the third largest group of settlers during the early months of 1695 in the jurisdiction of Zacatecas in Nueva Galicia. Identification of each of the people and families of this group proved challenging because of the fraud involved in their recruitment.
A detailed study of this group has accounted for approximately 150 individuals. There were twenty-five families with thirty-nine heads of households and ninety children. In addition, there were twenty-one single people, sixteen men and five women, ranging in age from sixteen to thirty-one. Twenty-two of the twenty-five households are listed in the 1697 census of pobladores as receiving livestock. This is based on Jack’s study published as The Juan Páez Hurtado Expedition of 1695: Fraud in Recruiting Colonists for New Mexico. Families featured among these settlers included the Arellano, Armijo, Lobato, Montes Vigil, Olivas, Ribera, Rodarte, and Tenorio de Alba.
The smaller group of settlers recruited by Vargas in 1693 is the least studied of the four main groups of people that resettled northern New Mexico in the 1690s. There is no known archival list of all of those recruited as part of this group. Jack was the first to produce an account of this little known group based on a considerable amount of investigation into primary sources. Unfortunately, his study, published in the 1995, remained obscure and inaccessible for many years. The re-publication in El Farolito of “Vargas’ 1693 Recruits for the Resettlement of New Mexico” allows for a few updates to Jack’s study and some additional historical information.
From March through June 1693, Governor don Diego de Vargas visited several towns in Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya in his attempt to collect the native New Mexico families that left the deplorable conditions of the jurisdiction of El Paso del Norte. He managed to entice only one former New Mexico family to return with him.
As Vargas travelled northward from Durango, he also solicited new volunteer settlers willing to go to New Mexico. Writing to the viceroy in June 1693, Vargas mentioned having recruited one hundred soldiers and fifty settlers, mainly from the towns of Zacatecas, Sombrerete and Durango (Kessell, Hendricks, and Dodge, eds., "To the Royal Crown Restored," 355). As he proceeded northward, he enlisted at least five more people, for a total of fifty-five new settlers by September 1693. Jack Colligan christened this least known group of settlers as the “Vargas’ Recruits.”
Arriving at El Paso del Río del Norte by mid-September, Vargas ordered the new settlers to continue northward under the command of Captain Roque de Madrid with instructions to establish new settlers with soldier escorts and several friars at the abandoned Pueblo of Socorro (Kessell, Hendricks, and Dodge, eds., "To the Royal Crown Restored," 373 and 381). There they would wait until Vargas and the old New Mexico families joined them. This small group of settlers re-blazed the tracks of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and spent at least two months at the Pueblo of Socorro, Spain's most remote frontier territory outpost at that time in October 1693.
The settlers staying at Socorro consisted of at least fourteen families and eleven single people recruited by Vargas in addition to the friars and soldiers from El Paso del Río del Norte. Fifty-five people who were part of this group can be accounted for from various sources, and a total of forty-six of them were identified by caste status. There were nine adult españoles, six mulatos, four negros, four moriscos, two mestizos, two coyotes, and one Tarascan Indian. Of the children, sixteen were of mixed African ancestry, two of morisco background, and two Tarascan Indians.
Widowed women headed nine families with children, comprising probably thirty-two people, or fifty-nine percent of this group of settlers. There were only three married couples, two with children, totaling eight people. The rest of the expedition consisted of at least fourteen single men, most of who served as muleteers, and one single woman, a Tarascan Indian who served as a cook for the muleteers.
It was at the Paraje de Socorro that proceedings for the prenuptial investigation Xavier Romero and María de la Cruz were initiated on October 30, 1693, and the marriage took place on November 1st. Soon after, the older New Mexico families from El Paso del Río del Norte joined the new settlers at Socorro in the company of Governor Vargas. The entire group of men, women, children, soldiers, and Indian allies, proceeded northward with supply wagons and livestock to eventually arrive before the former Villa de Santa Fe in mid-December.
Although accorded the rights of pobladores, most of the individuals and families recruited by Governor Vargas in 1693 did not do as well socially in New Mexico as did the older New Mexico families and those recruited in Mexico City. Few attained important civil and military positions. Exceptional families of the Vargas recruits that achieved social prominence in New Mexico include the Abeyta, Benavides, Fernández Valerio, Ortega, Palomino Rendón, Romero, Sáez, Velásquez, and another Velasco/Velásquez family.
Read more about these families and others in the pages of "El Farolito," Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2012, and Spring 2013.
The re-publication of Jack’s work would not be possible without the permission granted by board members of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research (SHHAR) to republish Jack’s work. Learn more about SHHAR at http://shhar.net/ and view their regular e-newsletter, Somos Primos, at http://somosprimos.com. To receive a free subscription to Somos Primos with no membership required, send an e-mail request to Mimi Lozano at mimilozano@somosprimos.com.
Jack was an Armijo through the side of his mother’s family and traced his Hispano genealogy to many of New Mexico’s common ancestors. Jack not only had a passion for researching New Mexico history and family genealogies, he believed in making the research available to other people.
Jack came up with an idea to publish a companion volume to Fray Angélico Chávez’s Origins of New Mexico Families with new genealogical information on New Mexico families of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to not only share new information but to also prevent duplication of research efforts and to build off new research findings to continue to advance the documented lineages and history of New Mexico families. Instead of a book, the Internet was utilized with the establishment of the “Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families” Web site in May 1998.
Of particular interest to Jack was the identification of people who came to New Mexico as settlers between 1693 and 1695. He was one of the few people who owned a hard copy set of the eleven volumes of “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.: A Demographic Perspective from Genealogical, Historical and Geographic Data Found in the Diligencias Matrimoniales or Pre-Nuptial Investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe,” (unpublished, 1982), consisting of a summary prenuptial investigation documents for numerous New Mexico couples seeking license to marry in the Catholic Church. Having immediate access to this source was extremely important in Jack’s research in the 1990s. Jack’s ability to read Spanish and the old Spanish script served as a valuable skill for digging into microfilm copies of records of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico and other archival sources.
Jack’s study of the families and individuals recruited by don Diego de Vargas, Governor of New Mexico, in 1693 is actually part of trilogy that complements two other published studies, The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico: An Account of the Families Recruited at Mexico City in 1693 (Albuquerque: Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, 1999) by José Antonio Esquibel and John B. Colligan and The Juan Páez Hurtado Expedition of 1695: Fraud in Recruiting Colonists for New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press) by John B. Colligan, concerning the families recruited in the jurisdiction of Zacatecas in early 1695.
Jack and I originally intended to publish a comprehensive study of the 1694 and 1695 settlers under the title of “The Spanish Resettlement of New Mexico, 1694 and 1695: An Account of Families that came from Nueva España, Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya.” If this work had progressed as a whole, it would have also included the study of the 1693 Vargas recruits. As it turned out, the material was published separately.
In addition to the use of the prenuptial investigation summaries compiled in “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.,” Jack acquired copies of the two versions of the list of settlers that he referred to as the “1697 cattle distribution census” and shared photocopies with me. This list served as a critical source in our combined research efforts to identify the settlers recruited from the various regions south of New Mexico. Jack and I studied this list carefully, reviewing it multiple times, making an analysis of the census, comparing the names in the census to those in Origins of New Mexico Families and to the names found in the surviving lists of groups of settlers recruited between 1693 and 1695 and names from the Spanish Archives of New Mexico. This valuable census list was eventually published in Volume IV of the Vargas Project, John L. Kessell, Rick Hendricks, and Meredith Dodge, eds., Blood on the Boulder’s Blood on the Boulders: The Journals of Don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico,1694-97,” Book 2 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), 1138-1158.
Jack was the first person I know about to make use of the dossier of documents pertaining to the investigation into misconduct by Governor don Diego de Vargas in 1698 to begin sorting out the identity of the new settlers and to determine when they arrived in New Mexico.
The largest group was comprised of families with roots in New Mexico prior to August 1680, such as the Anaya Almazán, Apodaca, Archultea, Baca, Candelaria, Durán y Chaves, Fresquez, Gallegos, González, Griego, Herrera, Holguín, Hurtado, Leyba, Lucero de Godoy, López, López del Castillo, Luján, Luna, Madrid, Maese, Manzanares, Márquez, Martín Serrano, Mestas, Mondragón, Montaño, Montoya, Nieto, Pacheco, Perea, Romero, Sánchez, Sedillo, Serna, Sisneros, Tapia, Torres, Trujillo, Valencia, Varela Jaramillo, Varela de Losada.
Among this group were some soldiers that married into the New Mexico families during the years of exile in the jurisdiction of El Paso del Río del Norte, such as Antonio Córdova, Alonso Rael de Aguilar, Juan Páez Hurtado, and Ignacio de Roybal y Torrado, as well as the African military drummer, Sebastián Rodríguez.
The second largest group of settlers, almost all consisting of family groups and people designated as “españoles,” was recruited in Mexico City between March and September 1694. Of the 236 individuals that started out from Mexico City in mid-September 1693, 217 arrived at the Villa de Santa Fe in the early morning hours of June 23, 1694. Family names brought to New Mexico by this group included Ansures, Aragón, Atencio (Atienza), Bustos (Bustillos), Cárdenas, Casados, Castellanos, Cortés, García Jurado, Góngora, Jaramillo Negrete, Jirón de tejeda, Márquez de Ayala, Mascareñas, Molina, Moya, Ortiz, Quintana, Sandoval Martínez, Sena, Silva, Valdes, and Vega y Coca.
Captain Juan Páez Hurtado recruited the third largest group of settlers during the early months of 1695 in the jurisdiction of Zacatecas in Nueva Galicia. Identification of each of the people and families of this group proved challenging because of the fraud involved in their recruitment.
A detailed study of this group has accounted for approximately 150 individuals. There were twenty-five families with thirty-nine heads of households and ninety children. In addition, there were twenty-one single people, sixteen men and five women, ranging in age from sixteen to thirty-one. Twenty-two of the twenty-five households are listed in the 1697 census of pobladores as receiving livestock. This is based on Jack’s study published as The Juan Páez Hurtado Expedition of 1695: Fraud in Recruiting Colonists for New Mexico. Families featured among these settlers included the Arellano, Armijo, Lobato, Montes Vigil, Olivas, Ribera, Rodarte, and Tenorio de Alba.
The smaller group of settlers recruited by Vargas in 1693 is the least studied of the four main groups of people that resettled northern New Mexico in the 1690s. There is no known archival list of all of those recruited as part of this group. Jack was the first to produce an account of this little known group based on a considerable amount of investigation into primary sources. Unfortunately, his study, published in the 1995, remained obscure and inaccessible for many years. The re-publication in El Farolito of “Vargas’ 1693 Recruits for the Resettlement of New Mexico” allows for a few updates to Jack’s study and some additional historical information.
From March through June 1693, Governor don Diego de Vargas visited several towns in Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya in his attempt to collect the native New Mexico families that left the deplorable conditions of the jurisdiction of El Paso del Norte. He managed to entice only one former New Mexico family to return with him.
As Vargas travelled northward from Durango, he also solicited new volunteer settlers willing to go to New Mexico. Writing to the viceroy in June 1693, Vargas mentioned having recruited one hundred soldiers and fifty settlers, mainly from the towns of Zacatecas, Sombrerete and Durango (Kessell, Hendricks, and Dodge, eds., "To the Royal Crown Restored," 355). As he proceeded northward, he enlisted at least five more people, for a total of fifty-five new settlers by September 1693. Jack Colligan christened this least known group of settlers as the “Vargas’ Recruits.”
Arriving at El Paso del Río del Norte by mid-September, Vargas ordered the new settlers to continue northward under the command of Captain Roque de Madrid with instructions to establish new settlers with soldier escorts and several friars at the abandoned Pueblo of Socorro (Kessell, Hendricks, and Dodge, eds., "To the Royal Crown Restored," 373 and 381). There they would wait until Vargas and the old New Mexico families joined them. This small group of settlers re-blazed the tracks of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and spent at least two months at the Pueblo of Socorro, Spain's most remote frontier territory outpost at that time in October 1693.
The settlers staying at Socorro consisted of at least fourteen families and eleven single people recruited by Vargas in addition to the friars and soldiers from El Paso del Río del Norte. Fifty-five people who were part of this group can be accounted for from various sources, and a total of forty-six of them were identified by caste status. There were nine adult españoles, six mulatos, four negros, four moriscos, two mestizos, two coyotes, and one Tarascan Indian. Of the children, sixteen were of mixed African ancestry, two of morisco background, and two Tarascan Indians.
Widowed women headed nine families with children, comprising probably thirty-two people, or fifty-nine percent of this group of settlers. There were only three married couples, two with children, totaling eight people. The rest of the expedition consisted of at least fourteen single men, most of who served as muleteers, and one single woman, a Tarascan Indian who served as a cook for the muleteers.
It was at the Paraje de Socorro that proceedings for the prenuptial investigation Xavier Romero and María de la Cruz were initiated on October 30, 1693, and the marriage took place on November 1st. Soon after, the older New Mexico families from El Paso del Río del Norte joined the new settlers at Socorro in the company of Governor Vargas. The entire group of men, women, children, soldiers, and Indian allies, proceeded northward with supply wagons and livestock to eventually arrive before the former Villa de Santa Fe in mid-December.
Although accorded the rights of pobladores, most of the individuals and families recruited by Governor Vargas in 1693 did not do as well socially in New Mexico as did the older New Mexico families and those recruited in Mexico City. Few attained important civil and military positions. Exceptional families of the Vargas recruits that achieved social prominence in New Mexico include the Abeyta, Benavides, Fernández Valerio, Ortega, Palomino Rendón, Romero, Sáez, Velásquez, and another Velasco/Velásquez family.
Read more about these families and others in the pages of "El Farolito," Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2012, and Spring 2013.
July 13, 2013
Gallegos Family History and Genealogy Part 2, 2013
Part 2 of the study of the history and genealogy of the early generations of the Gallegos family in Nueva Vizcaya is set for publication in the July 2013 issue of “Herencia,” the journal of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico.
Part 2 begins with an introduction by Marietta Vigil Gonzales and Albert J. Gallegos and is followed by three sections; one section is a overview of the Gallegos genealogy research and the important contribution of Gerald J. Mandell to the initial research conducted by Fray Angélico Chávez.
The next section focuses on the history of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas based on research by Reynaldo Garza Limón, Mary D. Taylor, Gerald Mandel and myself. Mary D. Taylor receives recognition for her contribution to the Gallegos family genealogy research. She was a critical agent regarding the Durango archives project that eventually lead to the acquisition of the microfilm copies of that important archive that is now accessible at New Mexico State University consisting of an estimated 1.2 million pages on over 600 rolls of microfilm.
The third section concerns genealogy and history of the Borruel de Luna brothers and the question of the parentage of Pascuala de Rueda. At this point, there is yet no primary documentation that identifies the names of her parents; however, it appears she was either a daughter of Juan Borruel de Luna or of Diego Borruel.
Here is a brief excerpt of the forthcoming article—
Luis Gallegos de Terrazas
“In 1586 and again in 1596, Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and his siblings were identified as minors, meaning they were under the age of twenty-five, the age of majority according to Spanish law and custom. For a variety of reasons, the land in the Villa de Durango inherited by the Gallegos de Terrazas children was sold, as described in Part 1 of this study, eventually becoming part of the lands on which the Jesuits established their main headquarters in Nueva Vizcaya. This land was located just southwest of the main plaza and west of the casas reales (government building), which was immediately to the south of the plaza.55 This plot of land may have been part of the land that Miguel Gallegos received as a grant in 1572 when settlers were given plots of land to encourage them to remain in Durango.The property remained in possession of the Jesuits, eventually becoming the site of a Jesuit seminary.
It is presumed that Luis Gallegos de Terrazas received some amount of money from the sale of the lands in Durango when he came to the legal age of majority by 1602. He eventually moved to Nombre de Dios where he was accounted for as a vecino (tax-paying citizen) of that town in an official document drawn up in the Valle de la Puana on April 14, 1602, in which Luis Gallegos de Terrazas granted power of attorney to Simón de Vargas Machuca, tentiente de alguacil mayor of Las Minas de Cuencamé, and to Juan del Torro Vivero. The association of Luis with the Valle de la Puana is a significant detail that links him to the area in which two of the Borruel de Luna brothers owned haciendas.
Luis Gallegos de Terrazas is recorded between the years of 1606 and 1616 as a vecino of the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios in documents of the escribano público Domingo Rodríguez. The population of the Villa de Nombre de Dios remained small in the early years of the 1600s. About sixty-seven men can be accounted for as vecinos of the villa and its jurisdiction between 1606 and 1616, many with families. The jurisdiction of the Villa de Nombre de Dios also included the Valle de la Puana, where Luis Gallegos de Terrazas may have received a tract of land as part of the dowry in his marriage with Pascuala de Rueda, which would account for his association with that valley over the years.
The Valle de la Puana was originally part of the large property granted sometime in the late 1550s to the Spanish miner and frontiersman Pedro de Quiroga. At that time, Quiroga’s land was the most northern property holding of any Spanish citizen of the frontier, being further north than Zacatecas. With the establishment of the Villa de Nombre de Dios in 1563 on part of Quiroga’s property, the Valle de la Puana came under the jurisdiction of the new villa. By the early 1570s, land holdings in the Valle de la Puana were granted to additional settlers who established haciendas and cattle ranching activities. Among the earliest of these land holders were Diego Borruel and his brother, Juan Borruel de Luna, a son-in-law of Pedro de Quiroga.
At some time, Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda were also vecinos of Santiago Papasquiro in Nueva Vizcaya where their son, Juan Borruel, was born, as indicated in Juan’s record of burial dated April 6, 1666, San José del Parral. Since there is no surviving record of baptism for Juan, and no account has yet been extracted to help calculate an estimated year of birth, it is uncertain when Luis and Pascuala lived in that community.”
Part 2 begins with an introduction by Marietta Vigil Gonzales and Albert J. Gallegos and is followed by three sections; one section is a overview of the Gallegos genealogy research and the important contribution of Gerald J. Mandell to the initial research conducted by Fray Angélico Chávez.
The next section focuses on the history of Luis Gallegos de Terrazas based on research by Reynaldo Garza Limón, Mary D. Taylor, Gerald Mandel and myself. Mary D. Taylor receives recognition for her contribution to the Gallegos family genealogy research. She was a critical agent regarding the Durango archives project that eventually lead to the acquisition of the microfilm copies of that important archive that is now accessible at New Mexico State University consisting of an estimated 1.2 million pages on over 600 rolls of microfilm.
The third section concerns genealogy and history of the Borruel de Luna brothers and the question of the parentage of Pascuala de Rueda. At this point, there is yet no primary documentation that identifies the names of her parents; however, it appears she was either a daughter of Juan Borruel de Luna or of Diego Borruel.
Here is a brief excerpt of the forthcoming article—
Luis Gallegos de Terrazas
“In 1586 and again in 1596, Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and his siblings were identified as minors, meaning they were under the age of twenty-five, the age of majority according to Spanish law and custom. For a variety of reasons, the land in the Villa de Durango inherited by the Gallegos de Terrazas children was sold, as described in Part 1 of this study, eventually becoming part of the lands on which the Jesuits established their main headquarters in Nueva Vizcaya. This land was located just southwest of the main plaza and west of the casas reales (government building), which was immediately to the south of the plaza.55 This plot of land may have been part of the land that Miguel Gallegos received as a grant in 1572 when settlers were given plots of land to encourage them to remain in Durango.The property remained in possession of the Jesuits, eventually becoming the site of a Jesuit seminary.
It is presumed that Luis Gallegos de Terrazas received some amount of money from the sale of the lands in Durango when he came to the legal age of majority by 1602. He eventually moved to Nombre de Dios where he was accounted for as a vecino (tax-paying citizen) of that town in an official document drawn up in the Valle de la Puana on April 14, 1602, in which Luis Gallegos de Terrazas granted power of attorney to Simón de Vargas Machuca, tentiente de alguacil mayor of Las Minas de Cuencamé, and to Juan del Torro Vivero. The association of Luis with the Valle de la Puana is a significant detail that links him to the area in which two of the Borruel de Luna brothers owned haciendas.
Luis Gallegos de Terrazas is recorded between the years of 1606 and 1616 as a vecino of the jurisdiction of Nombre de Dios in documents of the escribano público Domingo Rodríguez. The population of the Villa de Nombre de Dios remained small in the early years of the 1600s. About sixty-seven men can be accounted for as vecinos of the villa and its jurisdiction between 1606 and 1616, many with families. The jurisdiction of the Villa de Nombre de Dios also included the Valle de la Puana, where Luis Gallegos de Terrazas may have received a tract of land as part of the dowry in his marriage with Pascuala de Rueda, which would account for his association with that valley over the years.
The Valle de la Puana was originally part of the large property granted sometime in the late 1550s to the Spanish miner and frontiersman Pedro de Quiroga. At that time, Quiroga’s land was the most northern property holding of any Spanish citizen of the frontier, being further north than Zacatecas. With the establishment of the Villa de Nombre de Dios in 1563 on part of Quiroga’s property, the Valle de la Puana came under the jurisdiction of the new villa. By the early 1570s, land holdings in the Valle de la Puana were granted to additional settlers who established haciendas and cattle ranching activities. Among the earliest of these land holders were Diego Borruel and his brother, Juan Borruel de Luna, a son-in-law of Pedro de Quiroga.
At some time, Luis Gallegos de Terrazas and Pascuala de Rueda were also vecinos of Santiago Papasquiro in Nueva Vizcaya where their son, Juan Borruel, was born, as indicated in Juan’s record of burial dated April 6, 1666, San José del Parral. Since there is no surviving record of baptism for Juan, and no account has yet been extracted to help calculate an estimated year of birth, it is uncertain when Luis and Pascuala lived in that community.”
May 16, 2013
Moreno de Trujillo Genealogy
Well, the Winter 2012 issue of “El Farolito” containing the article on the Moreno de Trujillo-Ruiz de Aguilar genealogy research and co-authored by Robert D. Martínez and myself was mailed out a couple of days. As people receive, read, and digest the new genealogical material, it won’t be long before the names of newly uncovered ancestors begin to appear in various databases on the Internet.
With the excerpt below, Rob and I would like to be the first to introduce the names of these common ancestors of many people with deep Hispano roots in New Mexico, roots that now trace back to the mid-late 1400s in the towns of Villagarcía, Guadalcanal, and Villanueva de Fresno, each in the province of Estremadura, Spain.
If you are descended of Gertrudis Moreno de Trujillo, wife of Miguel de Quintana, or her sister, Estefanía de Trujillo, wife of José de Atienza Sevillano (Atencio), then you will have a particular interest in this new genealogical material. If not, you can still learn about the sources that are available for tracing your Hispano roots back into Spain. Of particular interest is the use of various surnames within the same and successive generations, which makes for an intriguing study.
If you’re interested in more details, including source citations and digital images of primary records, as well as transcriptions and translations of key records, you can order the Winter 2012 issue of “El Farolito” by visiting the following Web page and clicking on the ‘Past Issues” link and downloading and order form. On the form indicate Winter 2012, Vol. 15, No 4. The cost is 9.00 per copy. The Web page is: http://hispaniclegacy.org/el_farolito...
Special thanks is extended to Rick Hendricks, New Mexico State Historian, for proofreading a draft of the article.
____________________________________
Excerpt from “Ancestry of the Moreno de Trujillo and Ruiz de Aguilar Families, Early 1400s to 1700” by José Antonio Esquibel and Robert D. Martínez:
"The maternal roots of Francisco Muñoz de Trujillo Villavicencio reach deep into Mexico City, Puebla de los Ángeles, and Estremadura, Spain. His mother, Ana Galván Tapino, was the daughter of Juan Galván Tapino and Ynes Muñoz. Juan was from Villanueva del Fresno in Estremadura, Spain, and sailed for Nueva España in 1537. His parents were Martín Galván and Ana López Tapino. Sometime after arriving, Juan married Ynes Muñoz, a native of Mexico City and the daughter of Francisco Muñoz, who was from Villagarcía in Estremadura, Spain, and Mayor García, who was from Guadalcanal in Estremadura, Spain.
Interestingly, it was revealed in official documents pertaining to the proof of lineage of Maestro fray Francisco Muñoz, a brother of Ana de Galván, that his grandfather, also named Francisco Muñoz, was a first cousin of the famous cardinal don Juan Martínez Silíceo, who was appointed by Carlos I to be the tutor of Prince Felipe II of Spain and was then appointed Archbishop of Toledo.
That this branch of the family has such strong roots in Estremadura may hold a clue to the paternal origins of Juan de Trujillo, husband of Ana Galván, given that his surname may derive from the renowned city in that region of Spain. Two other clues for continued research into the Trujillo lineage is the use of the extended surnames of Trujillo Villvicencio and Nuñez de Trujillo.
The Moreno de Lara surname is a combination of two surnames that reach deep into the maternal lines of the Trujillo family. Doña Mariana de Salas y Orozco was a daughter of Juan de Orozco and Ana Moreno de Lara. From various baptismal records it is estimated that Ana Moreno de Lara was probably born sometime around 1560, although there are no records yet located to confirm her precise year of birth.
While the origins of Juan de Orozco remain elusive, the fact that a man named Alonso Moreno de Lara was a witness at the marriage of two daughters of Ana Moreno de Lara in 1601 offers a potential lead for investigating the origins of the Moreno de Lara branch of the family.
Intriguing hints about family origins are also evident in the more famous family names found in the Moreno de Trujillo-Ruiz de Aguilar genealogy. Several surnames belong to prominent families of early medieval Spain: Lara, Orozco, Ayala, and Manrique. Perhaps in time, a genealogical connection to one or more branches of these well-known families will be confirmed.
The genealogical details presented in this article provide a context for conducting additional research to uncover historical as well as other genealogical information. The authors are pursuing additional lines of research in archival and church records of Mexico and Spain to further understand the history and genealogy of the Moreno de Trujillo and Ruiz de Aguilar families, common ancestors for many people with ancestral roots in New Mexico."
With the excerpt below, Rob and I would like to be the first to introduce the names of these common ancestors of many people with deep Hispano roots in New Mexico, roots that now trace back to the mid-late 1400s in the towns of Villagarcía, Guadalcanal, and Villanueva de Fresno, each in the province of Estremadura, Spain.
If you are descended of Gertrudis Moreno de Trujillo, wife of Miguel de Quintana, or her sister, Estefanía de Trujillo, wife of José de Atienza Sevillano (Atencio), then you will have a particular interest in this new genealogical material. If not, you can still learn about the sources that are available for tracing your Hispano roots back into Spain. Of particular interest is the use of various surnames within the same and successive generations, which makes for an intriguing study.
If you’re interested in more details, including source citations and digital images of primary records, as well as transcriptions and translations of key records, you can order the Winter 2012 issue of “El Farolito” by visiting the following Web page and clicking on the ‘Past Issues” link and downloading and order form. On the form indicate Winter 2012, Vol. 15, No 4. The cost is 9.00 per copy. The Web page is: http://hispaniclegacy.org/el_farolito...
Special thanks is extended to Rick Hendricks, New Mexico State Historian, for proofreading a draft of the article.
____________________________________
Excerpt from “Ancestry of the Moreno de Trujillo and Ruiz de Aguilar Families, Early 1400s to 1700” by José Antonio Esquibel and Robert D. Martínez:
"The maternal roots of Francisco Muñoz de Trujillo Villavicencio reach deep into Mexico City, Puebla de los Ángeles, and Estremadura, Spain. His mother, Ana Galván Tapino, was the daughter of Juan Galván Tapino and Ynes Muñoz. Juan was from Villanueva del Fresno in Estremadura, Spain, and sailed for Nueva España in 1537. His parents were Martín Galván and Ana López Tapino. Sometime after arriving, Juan married Ynes Muñoz, a native of Mexico City and the daughter of Francisco Muñoz, who was from Villagarcía in Estremadura, Spain, and Mayor García, who was from Guadalcanal in Estremadura, Spain.
Interestingly, it was revealed in official documents pertaining to the proof of lineage of Maestro fray Francisco Muñoz, a brother of Ana de Galván, that his grandfather, also named Francisco Muñoz, was a first cousin of the famous cardinal don Juan Martínez Silíceo, who was appointed by Carlos I to be the tutor of Prince Felipe II of Spain and was then appointed Archbishop of Toledo.
That this branch of the family has such strong roots in Estremadura may hold a clue to the paternal origins of Juan de Trujillo, husband of Ana Galván, given that his surname may derive from the renowned city in that region of Spain. Two other clues for continued research into the Trujillo lineage is the use of the extended surnames of Trujillo Villvicencio and Nuñez de Trujillo.
The Moreno de Lara surname is a combination of two surnames that reach deep into the maternal lines of the Trujillo family. Doña Mariana de Salas y Orozco was a daughter of Juan de Orozco and Ana Moreno de Lara. From various baptismal records it is estimated that Ana Moreno de Lara was probably born sometime around 1560, although there are no records yet located to confirm her precise year of birth.
While the origins of Juan de Orozco remain elusive, the fact that a man named Alonso Moreno de Lara was a witness at the marriage of two daughters of Ana Moreno de Lara in 1601 offers a potential lead for investigating the origins of the Moreno de Lara branch of the family.
Intriguing hints about family origins are also evident in the more famous family names found in the Moreno de Trujillo-Ruiz de Aguilar genealogy. Several surnames belong to prominent families of early medieval Spain: Lara, Orozco, Ayala, and Manrique. Perhaps in time, a genealogical connection to one or more branches of these well-known families will be confirmed.
The genealogical details presented in this article provide a context for conducting additional research to uncover historical as well as other genealogical information. The authors are pursuing additional lines of research in archival and church records of Mexico and Spain to further understand the history and genealogy of the Moreno de Trujillo and Ruiz de Aguilar families, common ancestors for many people with ancestral roots in New Mexico."
