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.’”
No comments have been added yet.
