PART FOUR
The Romeros of the 19th Century
of San Antonio, Mora, New Mexico
Bartolome Romero & Luisa Robledo
Maria Romero y
Robledo & Gaspar Perez
Diego Romero &
Sebastiana Mondragon
Salvador Romero
& Maria de Ocanto
Diego Romero &
Josefa de Medina
Felipe Romero
& Casilda Mestas
Juan Miguel Romero
& Maria Manuela Garcia de Noriega
Felipe de Jesus
Romero & Juana Catalina Sanchez
Felipe de Jesus Romero was born in La Joya, a remote and sparsely populated section of the Spanish Empire. He was born a subject of the King of Spain but in 1821, he became a citizen of the Republic of México when Santa Fe de Nuevo México became a northern province along with Alta California and Texas of the newly independent country. Then in 1846, he would become an American citizen after the defeat of Mexico to the United States in the Mexican American War. His nationality had changed three times, from Spanish, to Mexican, to American without his ever leaving his home of New Mexico. The 1800 enumeration records for colonial Spanish Nuevo México indicated that only 18,826 Spaniards resided in the entire province along with 9,732 Pueblo Indians.
Felipe de
Jesus Romero was the youngest son of
Miguel Romero and Maria Manuela Garcia de Noriega. He was born 31 May 1801 at La
Joya. He probably was named Felipe after
his paternal grandfather. Felipe Romero was christened 4 June 1801 at San Juan
de Los Caballeros with Hermenildgo Sisneros and his 2nd wife Maria Rita Lucero
both of La Joya as sponsors or Godparents.
The community of La Joya, also called La Jolla and now
Velarde, was located on the Rio Grande River about 25 miles northeast of Santa
Fe. It is near the communities of San
Juan de los Caballeros, Canoa, Los Lucero, and Embudo, lying in a protected
valley. The parish church for Joya and its surrounding neighbors was San Juan
de los Caballeros which was established in the early 17th century. However by 1813 the villa’s Church of Our
Lady of Guadalupe was built in the old plaza of the town.
From its earliest days, La Joya was known as an
excellent fruit raising community, growing Mexican Apples, apricots, and
plums, and also for its fine
chilies. Wool from sheep raised in the
area also produced many of the finest woven blankets made in Santa Fe de Nuevo
México rivaling Chimayo.
Felipe
de Jesus Romero grew up in a tight knit
Hispanic community where most of his neighbors were also cousins and distant
kinfolk. He was taught farming and
livestock raising skills and other social skills for which a landed Spanish
Gentleman ought to possess. He probably also had some military training as
young boys were expected to have.
The
1816 tax census of Spaniards living at La Joya
revealed that the most prominent family there was that of Felipe’s
father, don Juan Miguel Romero, who was enumerated first, due to his rank and
station in the community. This census
showed that Juan Miguel Romero was, for the time period, an elderly man who
said he was born in 1756 but was actually born in 1751.
He was married to Maria Manuela Garcia de Noriega who was born in
1760. Living within this household was
"Felipe de Jesus" Romero who was listed as age seventeen when actually
he was only 15. The family also had 8
female Indian “servants” enumerated with the family.
Felipe de Jesus’ father died when he
was 17 years old and most likely he stayed with his mother for much of his
young adulthood, helping with the responsibilities of taking care of his
mother's estate. When he was a young
man of 20, in 1821, Mexican revolutionaries overthrew 300 years of Spanish
domination and claimed all of Spain's former frontier outposts of Alta
California, Tejas, and Nuevo México as part of a Republic.
From the time of his birth in 1801 until 1822, there
had been seven Spanish governors of Nuevo México. The last was Facundo Melgares
who remained a staunch monarchist, despite the strong likelihood of Mexican
independence. On 26 December 1821, Governor Melgares received official word
that he should swear allegiance to the new Mexican Republic. After
independence, Governor Melgares welcomed the first U.S. trade delegation to
Santa Fe. On 6 January 1822, a local celebration of independence was made. On 5
July 1822, Melgares was dismissed from his post and replaced by Nuevo Mexicano Francisco
Xavier Chávez who only served five months. During New Mexico’s time as a
province of Mexico, there were 18 governors until the American occupation in
1846.
What the young Felipe de Jesus Romero and his
neighbors thought about their new status can only be conjectured. At first
little changed as “Santa Fe de Nuevo México” was under the jurisdiction of
Chihuahua. The transference of power
from Madrid, Spain to Ciudad de México affected Nuevo México little except for
the administration being moved from Chihuahua back to Santa Fe and taxes were
collected by Mexican officials there.
Also trade routes were opened with Mexican
Independence. During the Spanish era, trade with other than Spain and her
colonies in America was forbidden and most trade came north along the Camino de
Real from Ciudad de México, Zacatecas, Parrel, and Chihuahua. Thus families
such as the Romeros had little outside contact with foreigners until in 1821
when Nuevo México became free of Spanish rule.
Nuevo Mexicanos received permission to open up their province to
foreigners and soon began trading with “Yankees" from the United States.
The result of this trade led to the establishment of
the famed Santa Fe Trail which wound from Independence, Missouri following the
Arkansas River across Kansas and Oklahoma to Santa Fe, Nuevo México. The Santa Fe Trail to reach the Plaza of
Governors at Santa Fe, as it entered Nuevo México, crossed south through Valle
lo de Mora, and around the southern end of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
As goods and merchandized came
across the plains in caravans from the United States, the Santa Fe Trail opened
the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to settlement beginning in
the mid-1830's. The Romeros, who had
lands on the western side of the mountains at Joya, in Rio Arriba County, may have seen new opportunities across the
Truchas Peaks as old lands began to wear out after over a century of grazing
and farming. However hostile plains
Indians deterred many from leaving the relative safety of settlements along the
Rio Grande.
Little is known of Felipe de
Jesus Romero life as a young man but he had a son out of wedlock named Diego
Antonio Romero born 10 September 1831at La Joya. This record can be found on the
baptismal records of San Juan de Los
Caballeros which revealed that Diego Antonio Romero was the “natural son of
Felipe Romero of Joya”. Natural was a term used for children born out of
wedlock. Interestingly the child’s
mother was not named in the record for some unknown reason. She could have been considered “low caste” or
even an Indian servant, nevertheless Felipe de Jesus acknowledge the child as
his son. His mother Maria Manuela
Garcia de Noriega probably insisted as
she was a devoted Catholic.
Seven months later a marriage
record kept in the registry of the Church of San Juan de los Caballeros showed
that 31 year old Felipe de Jesus Romero settled down and married. He married 16
year old Juana Catalina Sanches. She was
baptized 20 February 1816 and born at Plaza de San Antonio, Rio Arriba.
“25 Apr 1832 - Felipe de Jesus Romero, single, son of Miguel
Romero, deceased, and Maria Manuela Garcia of la Joya, married Juana Catarina Sanchez, single, daughter of Jose
Manuel Sanchez and Maria Theodora Zisneros, deceased of plaza of San Antonio of
Rio Arriba. Witnesses Luis Rubidu & his wife, Maria de Guadalupe Garcia,
& Diego Zisnero, all of the parish of San Antonio”
Felipe de Jesus and Juana Catalina were 3rd
Cousins, once removed but no one seemed aware or objected as no investigation
was done for consanguinity. The
descended from the children of Juana Lopez de Aragon and Padre Fray Francisco
Munoz’ illegitimate children, Pedro Sanchez de Inigo who married Maria Lujan
and Maria Francisca Sanchez de Inigo who married Juan Garcia de Noriega. Joseph
Miguel Sanchez who married Rosa Maria de Roybal and Don Juan Estevan de Garcia
de Noriega who married Luisa Gomez Lujan del Costilla were first cousins. Their
children Jose Manuel Sanchez who married Teodora Sisneros and Jose Salvador
Garcia de Noriega who married Maria dela Encarnacion Martin Serrano were second
Cousins. Juana Catarina Sanchez was a third cousin to Felipe de Jesus’s mother Maria
Manuela Garcia de Noriega. That made him and Juana Catalina 3rd
cousins once removed.
Felipe
de Jesus and Juana Catarina Sanchez soon began their family while living in La
Joya however she may have returned home for the birth of her daughter Maria Juana Alcaria Romero born 10 February 1834
at Plaza de San Antonio, Rio Arriba, New Mexico. Before moving to Valle lo de
Mora all their other children were born at La Joya in Rio Arriba. Antonio de
Jesus Romero was born 2 February 1836, Maria
dela Cruz Romero was born 29 April 1839, Maria Ygnacia Romero was born 26 March
1842, and Jose Teodoro Romero was born 1843. It was shortly after the birth
of this last child that Felipe Romero moved his family from La Joya, 55 miles
east to San Antonio in Valle lo de Mora.
Valle lo de Mora
To promote settlement, beginning in
the late 1700s, the Spanish crown granted large tracts of land to individuals,
groups, or towns in what became Nuevo México. In 1795 Spanish settlers who had
been living within or close to the Taos Pueblo for protection from raiding
Indians, had moved to the location of the present town of Taos. In the following year, Governor Fernando
Chacón approved a grant there, and 63 families were placed in possession of the
“Don Fernando de Taos grant” by Alcalde António José Ortíz. The new villa was
named Fernando de Taos to distinguish from the Taos Pueblo.
After the Mexicans threw out the Spanish rulers in
1821, the Mexican government issued more land grants. Many were “community”
grants that included small private parcels for homesites as well as large areas
held in common and used for grazing livestock or gathering firewood and
building materials.
Settlers had been stymied from moving east of the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains due to the hostile plains Indians of the area called
Valle lo de Mora. The valley is traversed by the Mora River which headwaters were
in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The river flows downstream primarily where it
becomes a tributary of the Canadian River. It was called Rio Mora or Rio lo de Mora on
early maps. All the Spanish settlements in
the valley were founded along the course of the Rio Mora
Valle lo de Mora was divided into two main regions
called the Valles de Santa Gertrudis and San Antonio both were some 30 mile
distance from older settlements at Taos and Truchas and were subject to raids
by hostile Indian tribes which had kept this region from being settled by the
early Spanish colonist for nearly a century. One of the main entrances to the
valley just to the east between communities of San Antonio and Santa Gertrudis
de Mora was called the Comanche Canyon.
Between 1821 and 1823 Rio Mora
River region was visited by American fur trappers and mountain men who had
received permission from Mexican officials in Santa Fe to trap beaver and other
fur-bearing animals. The beaver which
was found in great numbers among the shrubbery-lined streams of the Rio Mora
were of great commercial value in the early 19th century. Herds of buffalo also roamed over the plains
of Mora and they were also an important
commercial item as buffalo robes had become very popular in the United States
during this period. The activities of
these trappers in Santa Fe de Nuevo México marked an important phase in the
development of the trade routes with the United States and the knowledge gained
by these Mountain men were later used in making the Santa Fe Trail easier for
travel by wagon train.
On 28 September 1835 Governor Albino Pérez gave over 800,000 acres
to 25 families in Valle lo de Mora where three communities became the plazas of
Santa Gertrudis de Mora, San Antonio and Chacon. Later when Felipe Romero settled in Valle lo
de Mora he acquired land at a community named Agua Negra which was between San
Antonio and Chacon.
The next month, on 20 October 1835, a Mexican official named Manuel Antonio
Sanchez of San Jose de las Trampas issued an edict placing "Lo Valle de
Mora" under his jurisdiction for purpose of distributing land there to 76 Nuevo
Mexicano citizens. The area was divided into two regions with
the lower valley called "Valle de Santa Gertrudis" and the upper
valley named "Valle de San Antonio".
The northern entrance to the region near present day Chacon was called
"Canyon of the Comanches". It
was from here that Indian warriors
attacked outlying Nuevo Mexicano settlements.
In the villa de San Antonio, which is modern
Cleveland, Manuel Sanches was given 100 varas (200 feet of land), Juan Ignacio
Sanches was given 100 varas (200 feet of land), Jose Vigil was given 100 varas
(200 feet of land) and Juan Jose Vigil was given 280 varas (560 feet of land). Manuel
Sanches was probably the father-in-law of Felipe Romero and certainly would
have influenced his decision to move to the rich farm country which was surrounded
by a lush timberland forest.
Texas
Independence 1836
During the month that Felipe Romero's son, Antonio de
Jesus Romero was born, February 1836, American Anglos in the neighboring
Mexican province of Texas were marching to the Presidio of San Antonio. They
wanted to take a stand at the Alamo Mission for Texan Independence from Mexico. General Santa Anna de Lopez, President of Mexico, brought a huge army up
from Ciudad de México but was defeated by Sam Houston and his rag tag army.
After General Santa Anna de Lopez defeat, the
Anglo-Texans claimed Texas to be an independent Republic and boldly asserted their rights to all the
former Mexican territory north and east of the Rio Grande. This huge tract of
land included the Mora Valley, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, the Espanola
Valley, Taos, the San Luis Valley in Colorado as well as parts of Wyoming
primarily where Rawlins is located today. The Texan's claims were naturally
disputed by the Mexican Officials in Ciudad de México and in Santa Fe which began
to encourage Hispanic settlement in the eastern portion of Nuevo México This decree probably helped Felipe Romero with
his decision to move from Joya across the mountains .
The Revolt of
1837
In August 1837, disaffected residents of the northern Nuevo
México assassinated the extremely disliked Governor Albino Pérez and took over
the state. “It did not help that he had
an autocratic manner and was not a native of the province.” When Pérez dissolved the municipal council of Santa
Cruz de la Cañada in December 1836, and then in July 1837 arrested the alcalde
of Santa Cruz, Juan José Esquibel, a mob quickly freed Esquibel, who formed a
new council opposed to the central government
at Santa Fe. Felipe de Jesus was
36 years old and most likely would have joined his compatriots from the area.
The Indian rebels proclaimed one of their leaders, a Pueblo Indian named José González of Taos, as governor of Nuevo México. Many people in the southern Rio Abajo opposed the new government . Manuel Armijo marched to Santa Fe and declared himself governor, a position that the Mexican government also gave him when the news of the rebellion reached them. Governor Armijo gathered troops, and in January 1838, retook control of the government and had González executed.
The Texan
Invasions of 1841 & 1843
Two attempted invasions of Nuevo México by Anglo
Texans prompted the settlement of Valle lo de Mora in the early 1840’s which
was to become Felipe de Jesus’ home in 1844. Determined Texan leaders decided
to assert a claim to Nuevo México up to the eastern side of the Rio Grande and
planned an invasion in 1841 under the pretense of establishing commercial
relations with Santa Fe. In an attempt to assert Texan ownership of Nuevo
México and to capture the trade along
the Santa Fe Trail, Texas governor Mirabeau Lamar launched an ill-fated
expedition in June 1841.
Although officially a trading expedition, the 50
merchants and businessmen were accompanied by a military escort of some 320 men
which promised the merchants protection of their 21 ox-drawn wagons carrying
merchandise estimated to be worth about $200,000. The journey to New Mexico
during the summer was blighted by poor preparation and organization, sporadic
Indian attacks, and a lack of supplies and fresh water. After losing their
Mexican guide, the group struggled to find its way, with no one knowing how far
away Santa Fe actually was.
The expedition finally arrived in New Mexico in
mid-September 1841. Several of their Texas scouts were captured, including
Capt. William G. Lewis. Having expected to be welcomed on their arrival, the
expedition was surprised to be met by a detachment from the Mexican Army of
about 1500 men sent out by the governor of New Mexico, Manuel Armijo.
One of Governor Armijo's relatives, Manuel Chavez, who spoke English, parleyed
with Capt. William G. Lewis, stating
that Armijo would give the Texans safe conduct and an escort to the
Texas border. After the Texans' arduous journey, they were in no state to fight
a force that outnumbered them so heavily, so they surrendered. The 172 men,
"weak, starved, and scurvy-ridden," surrendered and they were given
some supplies.
However, the following morning, when Governor Armijo
arrived with his army, which "fell heavily on Taos Indians who were
impressed into service to ward off the Texas invaders." The governor had
the Texans bound and treated harshly, and demanded the Texans be killed,
putting the matter up to a vote of his officers. That night, the prisoners
listened to the council debating the idea. By one vote, the council decided to
spare the Texans. However they were forced to march the 2,000 miles from Santa
Fe to Mexico City. Over the winter of 1841–42, they were held as prisoners at
the Perote Prison in the state of Veracruz, until United States diplomatic
efforts secured the surviving Texans their released on 13 June 1842. The ship's manifest, arrived in New
Orleans on 5 September 1843, carrying 47
"Volunteers of the Texan Army Santa Fe Prisoners."
In 1843 Captain William Lewis was widely considered a traitor by the
people of Texas, but the options facing the Texans were stark, and standing and
fighting would almost certainly have led to their annihilation. Furthermore,
there is no information on whether Lewis or Chaves knew Governor Armijo's real
intentions. For the rest of his life, Chaves vehemently insisted that he had
personally acted in good faith in dealing with the Texans.
On 16 August 1842, Charles A. Warfield, a merchant,
was authorized by the Texas Secretary of War to invade New Mexico in
retaliation of treatment of the Texan prisoners. Warfield claimed the right to
rob Mexican citizens he encountered on the Santa Fe Trail.
However American traders who plied the Santa Fe Trail
were concerned that Warfield's "Banditii" and "men of desperate
character" would interrupt trade on the trail and requested a military
escort for their wagon trains headed toward New Mexico. Colonel Stephen W.
Kearney of the U.S. army granted the request, although he was ordered not to
cross into Mexican territory on the south side of the Arkansas River. The north
side of the Arkansas River was territory belonging to the U.S. and Plains Indians.
One of Warfield's officers, John McDaniel, with a gang
of about 13 men murdered a Mexican trader, named Antonio Jose Chavez, and five
of his employees along the Santa Fe trail. McDaniel and his men were captured and
McDaniel was hanged while the others received prison sentences.
Colonel Charles A. Warfield while in New Mexico went
on to attack the small village of Gertrudis
de Mora, killing five Spanish men and driving off a number of horses. The Nuevo
Mexicanos of the Valle lo de Mora region were incensed by this ruthless attack
and pursued the Texans. They not only managed to stampede and take back their
own horses, but they also took those of
the Texans, forcing Warfield and his band of outlaws to retreat on foot all the
way back to Texas.
While Warfield was attempting to organize an invasion
of New Mexico, another Texan, Jacob ("old Jake") Snively, an officer
in the Army of Texas, was also attempting to raise a military force to attack
New Mexican traders. He petitioned the Texas government for permission to
organize "an expedition for the purpose of intercepting and capturing the
property of Mexican traders who might pass through territory claimed by Texas
on the Santa Fe Trail."
On 16 February 1843, the Texas Department of War
approved his petition and authorized him to raise a force of not more than 300
men. The proceeds from his raids on Mexican traders were to be divided equally
between Snively and his men and the Republic of Texas. On April 24, 1843,
Snively and 150 men (called the "Battalion of Invincibles") marched
north from present day Grayson County, Texas, where Warfield and several of his
group joined Snively from being chased out of New Mexico.
On June 20, the Snively group attacked a Mexican
military unit, killing 17 and taking 82 prisoners with no losses of their own.
Soon, however, Snively's command broke down as a result of dissention. The
Mexican prisoners were released and a group of 76 called the "home
boys" left Snively and marched back to Arkansas. On June 30, Snively and his remaining force
were discovered by Capt. Philip St. George Cooke and a U.S. army force of 185
men. Cooke informed Snively he was on U.S. territory, forced him to surrender,
and escorted about 50 disenchanted men of Snively's command back to Missouri.
Cook confiscated most of Snively's weapons. With about 70 men left, Snively and
Warfield contemplated attacking a Mexican trade caravan, but decided they had
not the capability to do so and returned to Texas, disbanding on August 6.
The failure of the 1843 raids ended Texas's attempts,
as an independent country, to capture territory in New Mexico. As a consequence
to these invasions, General Santa Anna de Lopez, President of Mexico closed all
the northern ports of Mexico including Nuevo México and California to foreign
commerce meaning mostly American trade. Texas
then joined the United States as a state in 1845, an event which precipitated
the Mexican-American War
The Move to Valle de lo de Mora
The
Santa Fe Trail from 1821 onward, went through the Valle de lo de Mora and became
the primary route into Santa Fe from Missouri and Kansas. “Numerous wagon
trains, loaded with goods from the East, made the difficult journey to Santa
Fe” through Mora. Within a few years of
establishing the Mora Land Grant in 1835, Spanish rural farm villages sprang up
wherever good land and water could be found in the foothill valleys. Within a
few years, almost every river and tributary was dotted with small Spanish settlements.
Threats of Indian attacks had delayed the permanent
settlement of villa of Gertrudis de Mora
until 1840, even though settlers had made their homes in the area since the mid
1830's. Gertrudis de Mora was the main
fortification against raiding Indians.
To protect themselves against Indian depredations, in the 1840's the
people built their homes close together and constructed a fort. The town was
described as “about 250 or 300 yards square, with lines of adobe houses joined
together except in two places, which was occupied by cedar pickets eight feet
high, one two-story L[-shaped] adobe building at the north west angle and a
wood block two story building was at the southeast angle. The two story
building was pierced with loopholes for small arms and one embrasure for a
future cannon.
However
the settlement of the Valle de lo de Mora along Rio Mora’s tributaries did not really begin in
earnest until after the 1843 Texas invasions and when the Santa Fe Trail which
traversed the region kept the Comanche Indians at bay with its continual flow
of wagons and carts. Politicians in Ciudad de México also wanted Hispanic
settlers in the region for political reasons.
A document found in the Archives of
Nuevo México at Santa Fe recorded a transference of land by Felipe de Jesus
Romero dated 8 June 1843. The document is in Spanish and has not been
completely translated but the gist of it is a conveyance of Felipe's interest
in his mother's estate to Pedro Lucero in La Joya. This documents shows that his mother died
before this date and reveals the approximate time when he began his
preparations to leave for Valle de lo de Mora.
The journey to Lo de Mora was an
arduous one, up canyons and over the Sangre de Cristo range approximately
following Route 75 of today from Truchas.
What takes just a few hours today must have taken Felipe de Jesus Romero
and his family weeks by ox cart and wagon.
Because of the ever present danger of
attack by hostiles it is fairly certain that he traveled in a caravan of
several families.
The Romero family settled about
two and half miles northeast of the settlement of Gertrudis de Mora at what was
called Plaza de San Antonio but now is the
present site of Cleveland in Mora County.
The remains of a mercantile store at Cleveland has the date “established
1863” and surely must have been frequented by the family during the 19th
Century.
The 1845 Mexican Census of El Valle de San Antonio
The 1845 Census of San Antonio showed
that Felipe Romero was established at San Antonio in Valle de lo de Mora by
that year. A comparison between the 1845
Nuevo México Census and the 1850 federal census of New Mexico Territory suggests
that the Romero family moved to the Valle de San Antonio between the birth
of their son Jose Teodoro Romero born in
1843 and their son David de Jesus in 1847. Since they were located here in the
1845 census, it seems logical that the family made their move from la Joya in
1844. Maria Ignacia Romero was said to
have been born in Rio Arriba County, Nuevo México according to the 1850 census
and David de Jesus Romero born in Taos
County, New Mexico. La Joya was located in Rio Arriba County while
San Antonio was in 1850 still considered part of Taos County until 1860.
The 1845 census listed “Felipe Romero” as aged 40
(1805) and head of Household. His wife Maria Juana Catarina Sanchez was simply
named “Maria” aged 24 (1821) wife.
Children in the household were daughter “Juana” (Maria Juana Alcaria) Romero aged
11 (1834), son Antonio de Jesus Romero age 9 (1836), daughter “Maria dela Lus” (
Maria de la Cruz) Romero age 6 (1839), daughter Maria Ignacia Romero age 4 (1841) and
a son “Teodoro” (Jose Teodoro) Romero age 2 (1843).
There are several mistakes regarding this 1845 census.
Felipe Romero was 44 years old in 1845 and Juana Sanchez would have been closer
to 30 than 24 or she would have only been 11 years old when married in
1832. Felipe Romero’s “natural”
son, Diego Antonio Romero, was not
included at all in the household although he would have been about 14 years
old.
The Mexican American War 1846-1848
The most significant event in the life
of Felipe Romero occurred as a middle aged man when he was 45 years old and Santa
Fe de Nuevo México became a territory of the United States.
The idea that the
United States should control all the lands of North America was called
"Manifest Destiny" meaning that Divine Providence had given the Anglo
white man the entire North American Continent from ocean to ocean. Additionally in the early 1840's, wealthy
United States Southerners desperately wanted to expand their waning influence
in the U.S. Congress by carving up Mexican northern territories into future slave
states.
During the years of Texas independence,
Anglo-Texans had repeatedly asked the United States to admit Texas into the
Union. However the Republic of Mexico never recognized Texas' independence and
had made plans to recapture the area. When Congress began to accept the idea of
admitting Texas as a state, diplomatic relations were broken off between the
two countries in March of 1845 and President James K. Polk sent an army under
the command of General Zachary Taylor to protect Anglo interests in Texas.
Texas was then admitted into the Union in December of 1845 and war commenced between
the two nations in 1846 while Felipe
Romero’s family lived in the Valle de Lo
de Mora east of the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains and 30 miles south of the Santa Fe Trail.
One of the first objectives of the United States was
the occupation of Santa Fe de Nuevo México to control access to the Santa Fe
Trail. Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny, along with an army of 300 regulars,
700 volunteers and a 900 man cavalry troop made up the Army of the West, invaded
Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1846 by way of the Santa Fe Trail passing through
Mora Valley near the village of Ocate north west of the pueblo of San
Antonio. General Kearny crossed here in
April 1846 and camped. During Kearny’s crossing of the Rio Mora, his advance
guard came in contact with several Nuevo Mexicanos from Gertrudis de Mora who
were said to be spies, and he sent them back to Mora with a message requesting
a meeting with the alcalde. The army passing through Mora must have been an
impressive and troublesome sight for Felipe de Jesus Romero and other settlers
who saw the Americans as invaders.
On 18 August 1846, American forces led by General Kearny
captured the capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico The Army of the West took possession of Santa
Fe where Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid was left in charge of the Mexican government
when his predecessor Manuel Armijo fled Santa Fe to escape the approaching U.S.
troops. Juan
Bautista Vigil y Alarid surrendered the capital on 19 August 1846 and accepted the defeat of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico
The last Mexican governor pledged the
loyalty of himself and his fellow citizens to the United States.
In his speech after General Kearney raised the
American flag over Santa Fe, Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid said : “The address
which you have just delivered, in which you announce that you have taken
possession of this great country in the name of the United States of America,
gives us some idea of the wonderful future that awaits us. It is not for us to
determine. the boundaries of nations ... it is for us to obey and respect the
established authorities, no matter what may be our private opinions ... No one in
this world can successfully resist the power of Him who is stronger. Do not
find it strange if there has been no manifestation of joy and enthusiasm in
seeing this country occupied by your military forces ... Today we belong to a
great and powerful nation ... In the name, then, of the entire department, I
swear obedience to the northern republic and I tender my respect to its laws
and authority.” Three days later Kearny announced, "his intention to hold
the department, with its original boundaries ... as a part of the United
States, under the name of the Territory of New Mexico "! ·
On the twenty-fourth of August, General Kearny wrote
that he had organized the civil government, appointed officials, prepared and
published laws for the territory, and "made the necessary Military
arrangements for maintaining the perfect order, peace & quiet, now so
happily existing.” A series of laws
known as the Kearny Code was established on 22 September 1846 to govern the
province.
General Stephen Watts Kearny and the Army of the West had
accomplished the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México during the summer of
1846, without fighting one major or minor engagement. General Kearny’s keen
diplomacy did allow for the bloodless occupation of Santa Fe in August 1846,
but that single event did not mean that Nuevo Mexicanos were willing to accept
conquest without a fight.
In September 1846 General Kearny appointed Charles
Bent as governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México Territory, ending 250 years of
Spanish rule. Charles Bent who served as the first civilian United States
governor of the New México Territory, had been working as a fur trader in the
region since 1828, with his younger brother, William, and later partner Ceran
St. Vrain. Though his office was in Santa Fe, Governor Bent maintained his
residence and a trading post in Fernando de Taos. A small occupation force,
under the command of Governor Charles Bent and General Sterling Price, was left
in Santa Fe while the bulk of General Kearny's Army of the West moved on to the
Pacific where it joined naval units in the occupation of Alta California.
Regardless of what Juan Baptista Vigil y Alarid said in his speech, the
American military occupation of New México was bitterly resented by the Spanish
inhabitants. Many were angry because
their homeland had been surrendered without a fight. Also the obnoxious
behavior of some of the American troops towards the Spanish was infuriating. Governor
Bent had promised the Nuevo Mexicanos that they would be treated respectfully,
but U.S. soldiers took their food and provisions and abused their women. The
governor petitioned U.S. forces to take control of their soldiers, but to no
avail. Thus some Nuevo Mexicanos were
determined to exterminate all Anglo-Americans, as well as those collaborators
who had accepted any type of office under the American Government. Almost immediately a plot was developed to
overthrow the newly established sovereignty of the United States.
The Murder of Governor Charles Bent
After General Kearny and Colonel Alexander W.
Doniphan's expeditions left the territory, Colonel Sterling Price assumed
command of the remaining American troops in New Mexico Both he and Governor Bent were aware of native
unrest and pockets of resistance and in addition were concerned regarding the Indian
raids that continued against American troops and civilians, supply trains, and the
mail routes. In his reports to his superiors during 1846 and 1847, Colonel
Price repeatedly underscored smoldering unrest just beneath the surface in New Mexico
The clearest evidence of open Nuevo Mexicano
resistance to the American takeover is found in Price’s correspondence and in
communications between Nuevo Mexicano rebels and Ciudad de México officials.
In October 1846, Tomás Ortiz and Diego de Archuleta
outlined plans for a general uprising to murder Colonel Price and Governor Bent
on December 19. They represented a
sector of the “rico elite”, combined with mestizos from Fernando de Taos,
including Manuel Cortez and Pablo Montoya, and people from Taos Pueblo. In an effort to garner more support, they
pushed the date back to December 24. In the meantime, the group organized its
own shadow government with Tomás Ortiz as governor and Diego de Archuleta as
military commander.
The December plot
was quashed before it began when an informant warned the Americans. Colonel Price
and Governor Bent “acted quickly”. American troops went through the town
rounding up revolutionary leaders. Some, including Tomas Ortiz, Pablo Montoya,
Manuel Cortez, and Tomasito, a Pueblo Indian chief, managed to escape and to
renew their attempts to foment rebellion but most of the instigators were
arrested. Governor Bent declared the affair resolved in early January.
Governor Bent, much to the dismay of many officials,
decided to leave the comparative safety of the capital for his home in Fernando
de Taos. The governor apparently underestimated the signs of increased
hostility among the native population, perhaps believing that his
twenty-two-year association with the territory would protect him from harm.
Governor Bent left for Fernando de Taos on 14 January
1847 and “led his party over the snow covered countryside into Taos” which was “ripe for revolt”. Unfortunately for
Bent and his companions, Pablo Montoya “the self-styled Santa Anna of the north”
was in town. Once aware of the governor's presence, Montoya, Manuel Cortez, and
other revolutionaries quickly enlisted anti-American townspeople to their
cause.
Throughout the day of January 18, Indians from the Taos
pueblo, three miles away, swelled the ranks of Pablo Montoya. During the night,
groups of enraged natives rumbled through the streets of Fernando de Taos and
occasional bursts of gunfire were heard. Friends of the governor periodically
stopped at his home and pleaded with him to leave with his family. Governor Bent
refused, and by the next morning on January 19, he was dead. The rebel
insurrectionists had murdered Governor Bent and six other government officials in Taos. Taos Pueblo headman
Tomasito killed Charles Bent in his own home in the presence of his wife and
children, his lifeless body was pierced with arrows and was shot. His scalp was
even paraded through the town.
The murders of Governor Bent and the other six officials
were the first bloody acts of the Taos revolt. The news of the insurrection by the
Taos insurgents was rushed through the territory carried with “the word to
rebel against the Americans.”
Governor Jose Donaciano Vigil
Donaciano Vigil the first cousin of Agapita Vigil’s
father, was born in Santa Fe on 6 September 1802. He received an unusually good
education for a frontiersman--his father, Juan Cristóbal Vigil, reportedly
educated his sons at home. As one merchant later recalled, Donaciano and his
brother Juan were widely known as "among the best educated men in public
life in the department.
Following the example of his father whose early years
were spent as a career soldier in Santa Fe, Donaciano Vigil entered the
military in 1823 as a private, fighting in an arduous campaign against the
Navajos that year. The military life must have suited him, for he made it a
career. Vigil's physique seemed to have preordained him for military life. In
his early twenties he was said to stand six feet, five inches tall, to weigh
220 pounds, and to possess enormous strength.
Promoted to sergeant in 1832, Vigil came to head the
San Miguel del Bado Company, headquartered at Santa Fe. He fought in numerous
campaigns against Indians, joined with government forces in the futile attempt
to contain the tragic rebellion against Governor Perez in 1837, and
participated in the successful routing of an invading force from Texas in 1841.
The latter won him promotion to lieutenant and then to captain.
Although it involved some 320 Texas soldiers, the
expedition was intended to be a trading mission, with the soldiers serving as
escorts. The New Mexico response to their arrival, including the seizure of
200,000 USD in trade goods, increased tensions in preparation for the Mexican
American War about 5 years later.
But Vigil was an unusual soldier in frontier Nuevo
México His intelligence and training
opened doors for him that would have been closed to an ordinary soldier. He
held such posts as army supply clerk, secretary to the rebel Governor Gonzales
in 1837, and secretary to Governor Manuel Armijo in the early 1840s. On two
occasions, 1838‑40
and 1843‑45,
Vigil served as a regular member of the Department Assembly, occasionally
holding the post of secretary for that body.
In 1846 he served as an "alternate" member
of the Assembly. In addition to holding public offices, the soldier Vigil also
published a newspaper, La Verdad, which made its first appearance on February
8, 1844 under the auspices of the maligned Governor Martinez and continued to
appear for over a year. To augment his modest and undependable soldier's
salary, Vigil was shrewd enough to get into the lucrative Santa Fe mercantile
trade. In that business, he apparently came to know many Americans.
In the summer of 1846, although he knew that
resistance might be futile, Vigil joined in preparations for defense against
the invading American army. Like other Nuevo México soldiers, Vigil appears to
have been surprised by Governor Manuel Armijo's last‑minute decision not to
oppose the entrance of American forces into Santa Fe.
With the American conquest of New Mexico, Vigil came
into his own as a politician and landowner. After Stephen Watts Kearny secured
Santa Fe, Vigil resigned his commission in the Mexican army and on September
22, 1846, received an appointment to the key office of the secretary of the
first civilian government established by the United States in Nuevo México Kearny had sought to fill a high post in the
new government with a Nuevo Mexicano, and Vigil probably received the
appointment because of his knowledge of English and his friendship with
influential Americans.
At the same time that he cooperated with the American
occupying forces, the pragmatic Vigil maintained his loyalty to Mexico On September 26, four days after his
appointment as territorial secretary was announced, Vigil signed his name to a
lengthy letter to the president of Mexico Vigil and other prominentNuevo Mexicanos s who
signed this letter blamed Governor Manuel Armijo for their failure to fight the
Americans. With proper leadership, they explained, "we would have made some
kind of resistance." Armijo, whose leadership Vigil had praised when he
addressed the Assembly on June 22, now became the scapegoat.
The bloody rebellion against the American occupying
forces that exploded in Taos in January 1847 not only took the life of Governor
Charles Bent, another Kearny appointee, but it also catapulted Vigil into
prominence. As the second‑ranking
civilian office holder in the territory, Vigil assumed the position of acting
governor after Bent's death. Pragmatically, Vigil urged his fellow citizens not
to resist. The fate of Nuevo México had not yet been decided, Vigil explained,
because Mexico and the United States had not signed a treaty of peace. But
whether Nuevo México became part of the United States or was returned to
Mexico, Vigil asked his countrymen, would it not be "a gross absurdity to
foment rancorous feelings toward people with whom we are either to compose one
family, or to continue our commercial relations?"
After American forces crushed the rebellion, Vigil
offered his resignation as acting governor in order to pave the way for a new
federal appointee, but the military command in New Mexico refused to accept his
resignation. Vigil continued to serve as acting governor until December 1847,
when he was appointed governor. With a de facto military government operating
as "the power behind his every action," as one historian has put it,
Vigil worked to strengthen civil government in New Mexico and to make New Mexico
a territory of the United States.
He held the
governorship until October 11, 1848, when Lt. Col. John M. Washington replaced
him. Vigil was then reappointed Territorial Secretary, holding that office
until March 1851 when the government was reorganized under the new
constitution. He continued to hold public office, serving repeatedly in the
territorial legislature until the end of the Civil War. In his late sixties, in
1871‑72,
Vigil served a term as school commissioner of San Miguel County.
As a respected former governor and friend of
influential Americans, Vigil used his knowledge of Mexican law and practice to
make himself indispensable in matters involving land. Manipulating lawyers,
documents, and finances with the moral abandon and skill of a Thomas Benton
Catron or a Stephen Elkins, Vigil acquired a claim to two large ranches on the
Pecos River in 1854. The next year he moved his family from its home near the
Church of Guadalupe in Santa Fe (a home that still stands today at 518 Alto Street)
to the Pecos.
The Vigil ranch, located in the midst of land that
once belonged to Pecos Pueblo, would be Vigil's last home. A robust man in his
old age, whose feats of strength had become the stuff of legends, he rode some
twenty‑five
miles on horseback from Pecos to Santa Fe just a few months before his death in
August 1877, at age 74.
After his death, Vigil was eulogized as a man who
loved liberty, who stood for governmental and social reforms, and who
forcefully advocated the improvement of public education and clerical reform.
He may have been, as historian Howard R. Lamar has put it, "one of the
most unusual men to ever live in New Mexico ”
The New Mexico
Revolt
The day after Governor Bent’s assassination, General
Jesús Tafoya issued a formal declaration of war against the United States on
behalf of the Rio Arriba region. That same day Colonel Sterling Price also
found evidence of a planned insurrection in Rio Abajo. In response, Price moved
to head off the Taos rebels with 353 men and four howitzer cannons.
The two sides met at La Cañada, where five hundred Nuevo
Mexicanos stood against Colonel Price’s troops. Despite their superior numbers,
the Nuevo Mexicanos lost the day and General
Jesus Tafoya was counted among the dead.
By 23 January 1847, a
Nuevo Mexicano “rebel army of 1000 was in the field, attacking and
robbing U.S. army grazing camps, supply wagon trains, as well as any
Anglo-American settlement they could locate.”
In February, nearly seven-hundred Nuevo Mexicanos
again challenged Colonel Price at Embudo Pass. This time, they were able to
force the Americans to retreat to Taos where Price confronted another rebellion
at the Taos Pueblo. After a heated battle, Price’s forces emerged victorious.
The best estimates indicate that about two-hundred Nuevo Mexicanos lost their
lives in confrontations with Colonel Price during the first two months of 1847.
Pablo Montoya was executed following the Battle of
Taos, and eight other rebels were convicted of treason and hanged as well. They
were tried in the court system established by the Kearny Code, which meant that
the jury was dominated by Anglo newcomers. Following the executions, President James
K Polk formally reprimanded Colonel Price for his actions. Because the United
States and Mexico were still at war, the Taos insurgents should have been
treated as prisoners of war, not tried for treason. Despite Kearny’s
pronouncement of U.S. citizenship for Nuevo Mexicanos, they could not legally
be considered such until the territory was officially incorporated into the
nation by the U.S. Congress after the Treaty of 1848.
The Gertrudis
de Mora Revolt
Manuel Cortez
relayed the news of the assassination of Governor Bent over the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains to his native village of Gertrudis de Mora with the message to
harass and kill any American inhabitants they crossed paths with. Meanwhile a
group of Americans and one Frenchman leaving Las Vegas, New Mexico for
Independence, Missouri was unaware of the revolt. This party of traders and
trappers stopped at Gertrudis de Mora “a village of some two hundred homes
about thirty miles north of Las Vegas” before they were to join the Santa Fe
Trail.
A few days before they prepared to leave the territory
a man from the party of traders and trappers wrote to his brother that: “It
seems that a general mistake has been made by all that were acquainted with the
“gente” of this Territory in regard to their willingness to be subject to the
rule of the United States. It is satisfactorily ascertained that not one in ten
is a gusto, and as I can judge, and I am well acquainted with the eastern side
of the mountains, not one in one hundred is content.”
Manuel Cortez, who had reached the village before the
traders, stirred up many of the people with his news of the Taos revolt and those
who “wanted to rid their lands of the Americans were prepared to act.” One hundred and fifty insurgents from Lo Valle
de Mora, probably including Félipe de Jesus Romero were in the town of Santa
Gertrudis de Mora when the America party from Las Vegas appeared at Gertrudis
de Mora. Actually, it is not known whether Felipe Romero participated in the
insurrection but the likely hood is probable that he or most of his relations
were involved in the rebellion since man power was in such short supply..
When the traders and trappers appeared in the plaza of
Santa Gertrudis de Mora “an angry mob surrounded them and ordered them to
surrender their weapons. The Americans were greatly outnumbered and informed
that they would not be hurt but after
they up their arms, they were shot to death”. Instigated by Manuel Cortez and the Taos Revolt, his
followers “had taken the first American lives in the eastern half of the
territory.”
News of the murders at Gertrudis de Mora spread
through the countryside and back to Las Vegas where Captain Israel R. Hendley
and the Missouri Volunteers were stationed. He was immediately informed of the
uprising in Mora and by January 23 the captain had further reports that every
town in the eastern part of the territory, except Las Vegas and Tecolote, had
revolted. He sent a dispatch to Colonel Price in Santa Fe summarizing the
occurrences in Las Vegas and Mora but the Colonel was fighting insurgents in Rio
Arriba and did not receive the message. .
Captain Hendley started for Mora with some eighty men
on January 24 with the Neuvo Mexicanos at Gertrudis de Mora were enforced by
more men from outlying areas. While the Americans were formulating their plans,
four Nuevo Mexicanos dashed from the mountains toward the village. Immediately Captain
Hendley ordered a pursuit to apprehend the Nuevo Mexicanos before they reached
the safety of Mora. As the Americans rode to cut them off, revolutionaries
emerged from the village to rescue their compatriots.
The Nuevo Mexicanos formed a skirmish line in the
cornfields about one hundred yards from the walls of the village. Captain Hendley
countered by ordering his remaining troops to mount and charge the Nuevo Mexicano
line. At the edge of the cornfield was a ditch "eight or ten feet wide and
three or four feet deep," filled with snow. The oncoming horsemen were
unaware of the dangerous pitfall. When the volunteers reached the ditch the
insurgents opened fire. Horses stumbled
and fell; several volunteers were thrown but only one man failed to recapture
his mount.
The charge was
broken but the soldiers continued their attack as the Nuevo Mexicanos fired two
or three volleys, then hastily retreated back to the village, leaving fifteen
of their party to be captured.
About sixty insurgents ran to the large L-shaped
building with a wall ten feet high. Fourteen soldiers in close pursuit
dismounted "within twenty steps of the wall" and took aim. When the Nuevo
Mexicanos peered over the wall the volunteers fired, killing two and wounding
one. Although Manuel Cortez and his men attempted to return shot for shot, the
only loopholes to shoot from were in the upper story of the large fort. Unable
to shoot from safe positions, the insurgents were at a disadvantage.
The Nuevo Mexicanos fought the Americans house to
house in the plaza of Mora and behind the little Church of Santa Gertrudis de
Mora. Firing independently, the soldiers forced the Nuevo Mexicanos from the
housetops on the west side of the village. Those remaining flew the white flag and
surrendered.
Elsewhere the soldiers who had reached the outer walls
of the buildings were trying to burn them or break through. Captain Hendley and his party rushed the
connecting houses, capturing or killing any revolutionary who could not get
into the fort. Then, returning to the walls of one of the fort's compartments,
the soldiers using a makeshift battering ram, broke through one of the doors.
When they entered the room, they were met by gunfire which, along with the
dense smoke from surrounding fires, forced them to retreat.
Captain Hendley ordered his men to follow him back into
the smoke filled room. There the Nuevo
Mexicanos were pouring a deadly fire from the door at the end of the room and
as Captain Hendley entered he was shot and in minutes, he was dead.
After almost three hours of fighting, Manuel Cortez
and his men were still entrenched in the fort. The fierce battle against the
American soldiers “was overwhelming and the Americans were eventually forced
retreat to one end of a small, fortified house in the plaza. However they were
overpowered by the Nuevo Mexicanos who massacred the American soldiers as foreign invaders. The Americans fearing
that the insurgents might be reinforced, called off the attack and retreated to
Las Vegas.
When Santa Fe was apprised of the revolt at Mora,
Captain Jesse I. Morin, assumed Captain Hendley's command and was ordered to
renew the attack at Mora with a force of some two hundred men, with one piece
of artillery. On February 1 the expedition entered the Mora
Valley prepared to exact retribution.
Once aware of the approaching Americans, the
insurgents, instead of preparing for battle, hastily exited from the village
and struck out for the safety of the mountains where their wives and children
were in hiding. From the surrounding mountains, Manuel Cortez and his
supporters instigated a guerrilla war and raided Captain Morin’s army rather
than attempt to face them in a head-on conflict.
When Captain Morin's troops rode through the village
of Gertrudis de Mora they killed and captured stragglers. After a few weeks of
guerrilla fighting, Captain Morin ordered the execution of captured rebels and
laid waste to the town of Mora. His forces also burned wheat fields in
surrounding areas to prevent Cortez’s men from subsisting off of the land.
An eye witness related
regarding the insurrectionist, "As they lived all scattered in
their fields, they joined together as soon as they were appraised that they
would be attacked by the American soldiers, and fortified themselves with
whatever kind of logs they could find ready, at the foot of the mountain on the
road going from Mora to Cebolla, there they were attacked by the soldiers, who
killed one of their own men, Manuel Gallegos and wounded another named Juan
Guillen. After this attack the soldiers turned to the houses and destroyed them
by fire before leaving the Valley."
"Not until artillery was brought up (by the
United States Army) and Mora practically destroyed did the insurgents
yield." It should be noted that
Juana Catarina Sanchez was in her last stages of pregnancy during this time as
she gave birth to David de Jesus Romero in March 1847. Her children with her
were Juana 12 years old, Antonio 10
years old Cruzita 6 years old, Ignacia Romero 5 years old and a son “Teodoro” if alive would have been
3. She may have hidden in the woods with her children while the fighting would
have gone on and after the revolt was over it would have difficult to feed her
children from the soldiers laying waste to the county side.
After the annihilation of the town of Gertrudis de
Mora, continuing through the valley, the volunteers burned ranches and grain
fields, destroying everything that could be used for food and shelter. By
razing the village and destroying crops, the volunteers did deprive other
guerrillas of housing and foodstuffs. They questioned captured insurgents about
the deaths of the traders. Continuous threats finally induced the Nuevo
Mexicanos to tell where the bodies of the Americans were. After collecting
their prisoners and recovering the bodies, Morin and his men began the return
to Santa Fe. American lives taken at Mora had been avenged.
The Liberty, Missouri, Weekly Tribune of 27 March
1847, commented on the revolt at Mora writing that Captain Morin and his men
had left the Nuevo Mexicanos "nothing whatever to subsist on-a just
retribution for their assassination of innocent people." But the
volunteers also destroyed foodstuffs that were vitally needed by their own
army. As another American newspaper more appropriately observed: "He
[Morin] made the inhabitants feel the horrors of war, but unfortunately, we
must come in for a share of it, by the destruction of wheat and corn."
Years later, Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George
Cooke, a member of the Army of the West, reported on the battle writing thus:
“At the handsome village of Mora, eighteen miles west of the present [as of
1878] Fort Union, eight Americans were murdered. January 22d, Capt. Hendley,
Second Missouri Volunteers, marched there from Vegas the 24th, with eighty men;
he found it occupied by above one hundred and fifty men; he engaged with a
number, attempting to enter the town, who were supported by a sally; he then
assaulted the town; he penetrated from house to house, some of which were
destroyed and into one end of their fort, where he was killed and several were
wounded. Lieut. McKarney then – apprehending the return of from three hundred
to five hundred men, who had left there that day for Pueblo – withdrew, and
marched back to Las Vegas, with fifteen prisoners; he reported fifteen to
twenty of the enemy slain.”
The Nuevo Mexicanos of Valle de lo de Mora “facing
defeat and whose town was razed with their women and children hiding in the
hills, scattered but only after
capturing a herd of two hundred horses from the U.S. Army.” An expedition to
recover the animals was led by Major Edmondson and in a deep canyon on the
Canadian River near Texas, an engagement ensued in which many of the Nuevo
Mexicanos from Mora were killed and most of the U.S. army horses were
recovered.
Although the routing of the Mora insurgents officially
ended the outbreaks, the American military operation in the valley was not
completely successful. The Americans failed to capture the insurgent leader,
Manuel Cortez. He did not give up the fight after Captain Morin left, however,
and he began to recruit native allies, including Apache people. Escaping to the
mountains, in the months to come, Cortez continued to harass the invaders of
his homeland, at times allying his followers with the Apache or Cheyenne
Indians. Their raids on U.S. camps which
inspired retaliation against Nuevo Mexicano
villages which frequently resulted in the deaths of civilians. Such
actions further solidified anti-American sentiment in the region and sharpened
Cortez’s resolve.
By August 1847 U.S. military officials far from New México
declared that the conflict was over, but Colonel Price knew better. He learned
that Cortez had received a commission from the Mexican government to continue
the struggle and that a large army was taking shape in Chihuahua for the
purpose of moving against Santa Fe. Although war preparations in both Chihuahua
and Durango continued for the next few months, such efforts came to naught when
U.S. and Mexican officials signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February
of 1848.
Although the efforts of Cortez, Montoya, Tomasito, and
Tafoya failed to reverse the U.S. conquest of New Mexico, their continued
struggle provides clear evidence of Nuevo Mexicano resistance. Even after the ratification of
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Nuevo Mexicanos, Pueblo peoples, Apaches, and
Comanches persisted in their struggle to maintain their cultures and identities
as residents of a U.S. territory.
The impact of the Mora revolt is that historical and
genealogical records for Mora are difficult to obtain as that Mora was
destroyed by Americans in 1847 and most of the archives were lost. The
residents of Valle de lo de Mora faced starvation after the revolt but managed
to replant and rebuild.
The New Mexico Territory of the United States
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago
was signed by Mexico in February 1848 conceding the territories of New Mexico, Alta
California and Texas to the United States.
The United States then agreed to honor the property rights of the
original Spanish natives of the territory but it mostly did not live up to its
promises.
The region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México remained under
military control until formally annexed by the United States on 4 July 1848. Colonel
Sterling Price was chief military officer in the territory until 11 October
1848 later replaced by Lt. Col. John M. Washington who served until 23 October
1849 when Col. John Munroe was in command until the territory was organized in
1850.
After
the assassination of Governor Charles Bent, Colonel Price appointed Donaciano Vigil as acting governor. He was the first
cousin to Juan Cristobal Montes Vigil, Agapito’s father. Which made Donaciano Vigil
the 1st cousin twice removed to Antonio de Jesus Romero’s wife
Gregoria Vigil.
Donaciano Vigil helped smooth the transition to
American governance. He called on people
to be calm after the assassination of Charles Bent . On January 22, 1847 he said,
"... whether this country has to belong to the government of the United
States or return to its native Mexico, is it not a gross absurdity to foment
rancorous feelings toward people with whom we are either to compose one family
or to continue our commercial relations? Unquestionably it is ..." “The
term of my administration is purely transitory. Neither my qualifications nor
the ad interim character, according to the organic law in which I take the
reins of government, encourage me to continue in so difficult and thorny a
post, the duties of which are intended for individuals of greater enterprise
and talents; but I protest to you, in the utmost fervor of my heart that I will
devote myself exclusively to endeavoring to secure you all the prosperity so
much desired by your fellow-citizen and friend.
As Acting Governor, Vigil called for the establishment
of a public school system open to the poor as well as the rich. Later in 1847,
he called for the first Territorial legislature to be convened and he was
appointed Governor in December 1847. In 1848, he endorsed the legislature's
request for a territorial convention to determine the formal status of New México
as either a state or a territory of the United States. When Colonel John M.
Washington arrived in Santa Fe at the head of four dragoon companies in October
1848, he took charge as both civil and military governor. Vigil reverted to his
former position as Territorial Secretary, a post he held until March 1851 when
the new constitution took effect and the government of New México was
reorganized.
With the defeat of the Nuevo Mexicanos, the Hispanic
ability to keep the Indians at bay was diminished. This led to increased
Comanche and Kiowa attacks upon wagon trains and travelers, as well as attacks on Nuevo Mexicano settlements. The Comanches and Kiowas were ferocious
horsemen who were deadly with their lances and arrows. These two tribes were the scourge of the
region and burned out lying farms, kidnapped children for hostages and ransom
and generally held up the settling of the northern valleys of Nuevo México by
Anglo and Spaniards alike. Certainly
Félipe Romero's family lived in constant dread of Indian reprisals during this
period especially since they lived close to the Canyon of the Comanches.
After the U.S. occupation of
New Mexico, the Santa Fé Trail was expanded to reach California and after gold
was discovered in California in 1848, the original Spanish settlers of Mora
County witnessed thousands of American wagons loaded with merchandise and
personal effects, crossing the valleys on their way to the California Gold
fields.
1850 U.S. Census of Taos County, New Mexico Northern Division
Only 2214 Spanish Families of approximately 12,000
people were enumerated in Northern Division of New México for the 1850 federal
census. The northern division included much of was once known as Rio Arriba.
The villages of San Antonio and Gertrudis de Mora were still part of Taos
County at the time and were included in
Northern Division tallies. It was during the 1850's that Félipe Romero began to
prosper from his farming and grazing of livestock.
On 16 November 1850 the family of Felipe Romero was
included in household 675. Felipe Romero’s
age was given as 50 (1800) and born Rio
Arriba County, New Mexico He was a farmer
worth $200 of real estate. The census stated he could read and write but
certainly only Spanish. Juana Catalina Sanches age was given as 35 (1815) also born
Rio Arriba County Nuevo México She could
not read nor write. Maria Juana Alcaria was listed as “Juan Alcario Romero age 16 (1834) born Rio Arriba County, New
México as a “Laborer.” Antonio de Jesus Romero’s age was given as 14 (1836) born Rio Arriba County,
Nuevo México Maria de la Cruz was
listed as “Maria dela Luz Romero” age 9
(1841) born in Rio Arriba County New Mexico, Maria Ignacia Romero age 7 (1843) born Rio Arriba County, New
Mexico, David de Jesus Romero age 3
(1847) born Taos County, New Mexico, and Jose Esquepula Romero age 1 (1849) born in Taos County, New Mexico
A comparison of the 1845 and
1850 censuses for Félipe Romero and his wife Juana Catalina Sanches show some
interesting discrepancies. For an
example the 1845 census list their oldest child as a daughter born in 1834
named Juana. However five years later, by 1850, their oldest child is listed as
a son born in 1834 named Juan. Actually their first child was a daughter Maria
Juana Alcaria Romero born in 1834. The
daughter Ignacia actually was 9 years old born in 1841 not 1843.
In 1845 Félipe is listed as being born in 1805 but in
1850 he is listed as being born in 1800 closer to his real age as his true
birth date is 1801. Juana Catalina Sanchez in 1845 is listed by her baptismal
name of Maria and born in 1821. That would have made her 11 at the time of her
marriage in 1832. The 1850 census makes her age more reasonable being born in
1815. She was actually born in 1816.
The 1850 census suggests that the Romero family moved
to the Valle de San Antonio between the birth of their daughter Ignacia in 1843 and their son
David in 1847. And since they were located here in the 1845 census it seems
logical that the family made their move from Joya in 1844. He and his wife
probably lost a male child named Teodoro who was listed in the 1845 census but
not enumerated on the 1850 census.
Maria Ignacia Romero age 7 (1843) born Rio Arriba County, New
México should have been listed as 9
years old, David de Jesus Romero age 3
(1847) born Taos County, New Mexico
The 1850 census also reveals
that Félipe de Jesus was an educated man and that he could read and write while
his wife could not. This was typical of Spanish culture of the time. Curiously while Félipe De Jesus Romero was a
fairly wealthy man the 1850 census does
not reflect that fact. It states that
his land was only worth $200. He
probably owned 200 acres of land since land value was about a dollar an acre in
1850.
New México Territory in the 1850’s
During the 1850’s New México Territory was governed by
Anglo Americans from the eastern United States who had little experience with
the region nor spoke Spanish still the dominant language of most citizens. The Federal Territorial officers and the
United States Army officers in the Territory had been appointed mostly by
President James Buchanan who were in open sympathy with the South.
Four
Anglo Southerners governed New México from 1851 until 1861. The first official
governor of the Territory was James
Calhoun who governed from 1851 until 1852. One of his first acts as Governor
was to propose laws restricting the movement of "free Negroes" into
New Mexico He “garnered the support of
wealthy Mexicans who feared for their own racial status in the United
States. He was followed by William Carr
Lane, who served from 1852 until 1853
to be replaced by David Meriwether from 1853 until 1857.
From 1857 to 1861 Abraham Rencher served as Governor
of New México Territory and arrived in
Santa Fe on November 11. While in office Rencher clashed with the military and
was critical of their campaign against the Indians. Rencher was successful in
passing legislation requiring all children to attend school. He also lowered
the territory's debt significantly. He was a slaveholder and he
signed legislation “defining and protecting the status of slaves as property”.
However, at the beginning of the Civil War Rencher remained loyal to the Union
and raised regiments to defend the territory. He left office in August 1861 to
return to the South.
It is doubtful that Felipe de Jesus and his relatives
and neighbors of Valle de lo de Mora had
any dealings with the new governments beyond paying taxes and observing the
federal installation being built to the north at Ocate.
Fort Union
After the War With Mexico the
United States Army was very concerned by the unrest of the native Nuevo
Mexicanos and by the Indian depredations of the wagon trains over the Santa Fé
Trail. They decided to remove the small
army garrisons from all the various towns throughout the territory and consolidate
them in one large post named Fort Union to
guard the Santa Fé Trail.
Valle de Lo de Mora was chosen
as the site of one of the forts because
the Indian and Nuevo Mexicano threats were more intensified there. to quell the Indian attacks and curb
uprisings by local Hispanic populations against the newly established American
presence in the region. For this reason and in order to protect the western
portion of the Santa Fé Trail, Fort Union was established on the Rio Mora
River. Fort Union during the lifetimes
of Félipe de Jesus Romero became the largest and most famous military post in
the West.
The
fort was established about twenty-five miles southeast of the rebuilt town of
Mora and on the west side of the Turkey Mountains. Fort Union looked very
little like a western fortification. Most of the buildings were made of adobe
and even the arsenal was built a mile distant from the fort. But the presence of the fort for all intent
and purposes eliminated the Indian threat to the Romeros and they could
concentrate on farming and stock raising.
In
addition to keeping the peace in northern New Mexico, the fort became an
ever-ready market for hay, grain, fruit, vegetables, and livestock produced by
the localNuevo Mexicanos population.
Some of these local people also found employment on the post. Over time, more
outsiders, Anglo-Americans, and European immigrants purchased land from
Spanish-American residents or squatted on the Mora Grant land near the fort.
The 1860 Census of Mora County
In 1860, Mora County was established with Santa
Gertrudis de Mora or simply Mora as the county
seat. Before this time, most of the county had been part of Taos County and San
Miguel County.
The 1860 U.S. Census of Mora
County supports the view that Félipe Romero began to prosper during the 1850's
and became a man of wealth and stature in the community of San Antonio. His property value went from $200 in 1850 to
$1000 in 1860. His “natural” son Jose Diego Antonio Romero and his eldest son Antonio
de Jesus by Juana Catalina were now both married men living near their father
Félipe de Jesus Romero, who was a well to do land owner. His son Antonio de Jesus Romero had married
into the wealthy family of Jose Agapito Vigil.
Felipe’s daughter Maria Juana was married to Jose Agapito Lujan
enumerated as household 3632 with four children the oldest born in 1852. Another daughter Maria de la Luz (aka Cruz) was
married to Candelario Bustos who had a
son born in 1859. They were enumerated at household 3578.
Felipe de J Romero,
age 59 (1801) born in Rio Arriba County Santa Fe de Nuevo México was
residing in the precinct of San Antonio when he was enumerated on 9 August 1860. His nearest Post Office was
given as Fernando de Taos. His household was the 3,459 visited by the census
taker. He was listed as a farmer with $1000 worth of real estate and $1200 in personal estate which would
included his home and livestock. While the 1860 census did not describe
relationships to the head of the household, it can be fairly determined who
they were.
His wife would have been “Juana Catalina Sanches” age 46
(1814) born in Rio Arriba County Nuevo México Their daughter Maria Ignacia Romero age 16
(1844) Rio Arriba County Santa Fe de Nuevo México was still living at home as
was the son David de Jesus Romero age 13 (1847) born in Mora County, New Mexico
A boy named “Esquepula Romero age 9 (1851) Mora County, Nuevo México was actually
Jose Esquipulo Romero who was born in 1849 according to the 1850 census in the “Northern
Division Taos Territory” He died 20 April
1920 at Cleveland, Mora County, New Mexico with him stating he was born in
1854. Children born in the 1850s
were daughters Maria Manuela Romero age 7 (1853) Mora County, New Mexico and Longina Romero age 2 (1858) Mora County.
Felipe Romero’s “natural son” was enumerated next to
Felipe Romero at household 3460. Jose Antonio Romero age 28 (1832) born in Rio Arriba County Santa
Fe de Nuevo México and his wife was Dolores
Trujillo age 21 (1839). There is a Diego
Romero in Cebolla, Mora County who was born in 1831 and married to Ana Roybal
who may have been Diego Antonio. It’s not clear.
Felipe’s son Antonio de Jesus Romero by Juana Sanchez was
some 60 households away at household 3399. Antonio Romero age 21 (1839) born in Rio Arriba County Santa
Fe de Nuevo México Farmer with $600 in
Real Estate and $700 in personal estate. His wife was Maria Gregoria Vigil age 15 (1845) born in
Taos County Santa Fe de Nuevo México with a daughter Maria Juana Romero age 6 months born in Mora County New Mexico Within his household was an 8 year old Indian servant named Jose
Francisco Romero born in Nabajo [Navajo]
County Santa Fe de Nuevo México
The Civil War
1861-1865
The first half of the 1860's was the great American conflict
known as the Civil War which stretched all the way to New Mexico Henry
Connelly was appointed by President Lincoln as Governor of the New México Territory
and served from 4 September 1861 until 6
July 1866. During his term, the territory broke into two, and then three parts
due to the Civil War. He had married a
Mexican woman in 1838 and after the death of his first wife, Connelly married
Delores Perea who was the widow of Don Mariano Chaves, one of the governors while
the province was under the rule of Mexico
The Confederates felt confident of their ability to
take the New México over to the South. Governor Connelly was the main force
behind the repeal of the New México Slave Act in 1861.
Fort Craig
In 1853, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment began
constructing a new fort named Fort Craig near Socorro, by the Rio Grande. The new fort was garrisoned in 1854 with
troops and with the outbreak of the Civil War it played a key role in the
Confederate States attempt to conquer New México and Arizona.
In 1861 several regiments of New Mexico Volunteers
were established at Fort Craig to handle the new threat posed by the “Confederate
Army of New Mexico” which included what's now southern New Mexico, and Arizona.
The Confederates had Mesilla as its capital of Confederate Territory of Arizona
. By July 1861, Fort Craig had become the
largest fort in the Southwest, with over 2,000 soldiers as all five regiments
of New México Volunteers were sent south from Fort Union in Mora County to
reinforce Fort Craig and to wait for the Confederates who were advancing up the
Rio Grande from El Paso.
In February 1862, Confederate Brigadier General Sibley
led a poorly equipped brigade of about 2,500 men towards Fort Craig, but he did
not have the heavy artillery necessary for a siege against the heavily
fortified and defended fort. On 21 February 1862, the Union troops led by
Colonel Edward Canby and Brigadier General Sibley met at the Battle of
Valverde, a crossing of the Rio Grande, just north of the fort. Both sides took
heavy casualties. At the end of the day, the Confederates held the field of
battle, but the Union still held Fort Craig.
The Confederates advanced north along the Rio Grande
towards Santa Fe and captured the town. During
the Battle of Valverde, Governor Connally was at Fort Craig, and then moved the
territorial capital from Santa Fe to Las Vegas, New México prior to the
Confederate occupation.
Fort Union was in a very precarious position at the
beginning of the Civil War due to Texas' succession. The post soon became
devoid of resources from the Union Army and yet they were charged with keeping
the lines of communication and travel east from California open in order that
the U.S. Army could receive reinforcements and supplies from the West. Thus Fort Union was a vital link in the
defense of the territory and had it fallen before a Confederate invasion it
would have been a Southern victory over the largest and most important post,
supply depot, and departmental headquarters on the Santa Fe Trail.
The Confederates in an effort to take Fort Union they
met federal troops at Glorieta Pass, mountain
pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Las Vegas. A battle between Confederate forces from
Texas and Union troops from Fort Union and Fort Garland occurred at Glorietta
Pass, which prevented Fort Union from falling and kept New México from joining
the Confederate States of America.
There was a skirmish on March 26 between advanced
elements from each army, with the main battle occurring on March 28. Although
the Confederates were able to push Union forces back through the pass, they had
to retreat when their supply train was destroyed and most of their horses and
mules killed or driven off. Eventually, the invading force was forced to
withdraw entirely from the territory, with the Union retaking full control by
June. The Confederacy never attempted another invasion of the region, and Glorieta
Pass represented the climax of the ambitious New México campaign, remaining an
important event in New Mexico's Civil War history.
However as the Anglo-American war
raged on in the east, Felipe de Jesus Romero and Catalina Sanches continued to
farm and raise sheep, cattle, and horses, keep house and prosper. Deed Records for Mora County
began in March of 1861 but it isn't until after the Civil War on 26 September 1866 that Felipe de Jesus Romero
filed a property record in the court house. Book One of Mora County Warranty
Deeds cannot be located but an index showed that on page 356 of Book 1 Felipe
de Jesus Romero granted to James Thomas a warranty deed. The contents of this
deed is unknown but this was probably the first dealing of Felipe Romero with
an Anglo American.
The Post Civil War Governors of New México Territory 1866-1885
After
the Civil War, governors appointed to New México Territory were primarily Generals
who had supported the Union cause during the Civil War. They primarily
supported the non-Hispanic economic interests of new arrivals from Texas and
the eastern United States. It is
doubtful that the Romeros of Mora County had any dealings with the actions of
governors who spoke little or any Spanish during their terms in office in Santa
Fe. Except for the Colfax County War that occurred north of
Mora County, the families were quite isolated from the Anglo new arrivals.
Union General Robert Mitchell
was honorably mustered out of the army on January 15, 1866. On the same day,
the United States Senate confirmed his nomination as the Governor of the New México
Territory. He took the oath of office on June 6, 1866. He never appeared to
take his duties as governor seriously. He was often absent from the territorial
capital Santa Fe, without explanation, forcing the legislators to forward bills
it had passed to Washington, D.C., for approval of the United States Congress.
He resigned as governor in 1869.
General William Anderson Pile was appointed the 8th Territorial Governor of New
México, who he served as from 1869 to 1871 and like his predecessor was
uninterested in being in Santa Fe.
President Ulysses Grant nominated a politician named Marsh
Giddings as Governor of New México Territory. Giddings took up his duties at
the end of August 1871, although he was not confirmed by the United States
Senate until later that December. Giddings was appalled by the violence and
lawlessness in the territory. His first day in office he was confronted by a
riot in Mesilla.
The Anglo Lincoln County Wars started during his
tenure, but he didn’t have the resources to suppress the lawlessness in
southern New México either. When he
requested troops to put down lawlessness he was told that troops could be used
in civil affairs only by a request from a U.S. Marshall or by orders from the
president. In January 1874 the best he
could do was to offer a reward of $500 for the arrest of those cowboys who had
shot up a Hispanic dance in Lincoln murdering four men, the seminal event starting
the Lincoln Wars famous for the figure of Billy the Kid. Giddings died in office, and Territorial
Secretary William G. Ritch acted as governor for about two months until the
inauguration of Samuel Beach Axtell.
In 1873 William G Ritch was appointed by President Grant as Secretary
of the New México Territory. He ultimately served thirteen years as Secretary
of the Territory and served several weeks as acting governor in 1875 following
the death of Marsh Giddings. While acting as governor, he encountered some
controversy over his initial refusal to pay off the bounty hunter who shot down
Billy the Kid, a decision that was eventually reversed. As Secretary, he
contributed to the design of what would later become the Seal of New Mexico and
was an advocate for establishing a non-sectarian education system in the
territory. He was also the first president of the New México Historical
Society.
President Ulysses Grant tapped Samuel Beach Axtell to
be the Governor of the Utah Territory in 1874. Axtell left office in June 1875
amid criticism from anti-Mormon elements in the Territory. Grant subsequently
appointed him Governor of the New México Territory, and he was inaugurated on
July 30, 1875. Axtell's administration is best remembered for an inept response
to two outbreaks of frontier violence: the Colfax County War and Lincoln County
War.
Colfax County was originally part of Taos County, one
of the original nine counties created by the New México Territory in 1852. In
1859, the eastern part of Taos County, including all of the territory of Colfax
County, was split off to form Mora County. Colfax County was established on
January 25, 1869, from the northern part of Mora County. The original county
seat was the gold mining town of Elizabethtown. By 1872, when the gold rush in
Elizabethtown had died down, the county seat was moved to Cimarron. Cimarron
was on the stage coach route along the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail
and was the headquarters of the Maxwell Land Grant.
The Maxwell Land Grant, also known as the
Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant, was a 1,714,765-acre Mexican land grant in Colfax
County, New Mexico, and part of adjoining Las Animas County, Colorado. This
1841 land grant was one of the largest contiguous private landholdings in the
history of the United States.
In Colfax County, a long-running land dispute between
the Maxwell Land Grant Company and local settlers boiled over in late 1875
following the murder of a small-holder spokesman. Up to 200 people died in
subsequent violence pitting settler vigilantes against pro-Company gangs. Accusations
of corruption and misconduct led Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz to
initiate an investigation into Axtell's activities as governor. Governor
Axtell's administration was described as having more "corruption, fraud,
mismanagement, plots and murder" than any other governor in the history of
the United States.
Union General Lewis Wallace was appointed governor of New
México Territory and arrived in Santa Fe on September 29, 1878. His
administration was a time of lawless violence and political corruption. Wallace
was involved in efforts to resolve New Mexico's Lincoln County War, a
contentious and violent disagreement among the county's residents which
involved Billy the Kid. In 1880, while
living at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, Wallace also completed the
manuscript for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Wallace resigned from his duties
as territorial governor on March 9, 1881, and was waiting for a new political
appointment as an ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
General Lionel Sheldon assumed the office of the
territorial governor on May 15, 1881 and he was met with a great deal of
resistance from older citizens and officials. Despite this, Sheldon was
successful in starting the construction of The Penitentiary of New Mexico Governor Sheldon gave much attention to
organizing and strengthening the militia as protection not only against
lawlessness but against the aggressive native tribes in the region. The
remainder of Sheldon's term covered a period of speculation and growing
business. Sheldon resigned in 1885 and it was around this time that Felipe de
Jesus Romero most likely died.
The 1870 Census
of Mora County
The county of Mora in 1870 was
primary the home of Hispanics living a small communities. The largest town was
Ocate with a population of 1,200, with La Junta second with 1,107 people
although it was the Post Office address for all of Mora County. The county seat
of Mora only had a population of 1,083. The family of Felipe Romero was located in San
Antonio, today renamed Cleveland and the Vigils along with Felipe’s son Antonio
de Jesus were enumerated 3 and half miles north in the community of Agua Negra,
now Holman.
Felipe Romero was serving as a Justice of the Peace
when on 2 Jun 1870 he officiated the marriage
between Damacio Trujillo and Maria Viviana Gallegos . Witnesses were Doris
Belasques and Jose Antonio Romero.
Felipe de Jesus Romero was enumerated in the 1870 U.S.
census of Mora County on 6 August as in San Antonio Precinct 2 at dwelling number
31. The village of San Antonio contained
470 residents with the Post Office address of La Junta. He gave his age as 69
years and his occupation as a farmer He was a “Male Citizen Over 21” . The census stated he could not read nor write
but certainly that meant English not Spanish.
In his household was is wife Juana Sanches aged 56 who was “keeping house”, his son David Romero aged 21, farming, his son
Esquipulo Romero age 16 farming, his
daughter Manuelita Romero aged 15, and his daughter misnamed as “ Lorenzo” Romero aged 12. Lorenzo was listed as female so this
was evidently Longina. Esquipulo should
have been closer to 21 years old while David was closer to 23.
Further away in San Antonio in household 106, Antonio
Romero was enumerated on 8 August 1870 as a 35 year old day laborer with his
wife Delores Trujillo, aged 25 and with an 8 year old son.
Although San Antonio and Agua Negra were only a few
miles apart, San Antonio was in Precinct 2 while Agua Negra was listed as
Precinct 9 and a village of 415
residents. The last household enumerated in Precinct 9 was that of Agapito
Vigil’s listed in household 90. His son in law and daughter, Antonio de Jesus
and Maria Gregoria Vigil were listed as household 21.
The wealthiest men in San Antonio were not Hispanics.
One was an Irish miller worth $4200. Others were two merchant Irish brothers
who operated a “Grocer & Dry Goods worth $3025. The only other non-Hispanics in San Antonio
was a single laborer, a carpenter married
to a Hispanic woman and two Germans who also were merchants.
On 10 April 1871 recorded in Mora County Deed Book 4
on page 2, Felipe de Jesus Romero is shown granting an allotment to Manuel
Martin. The 1870 census listed Manuel Martin at household 15 in San Antonio as
a farmer aged 45. His wife was Candelaria Trujillo aged 33.
Farmers living in Mora County continued to survive by
farming and raising sheep. Farms grew multiple crops, including wheat, Indian
corn, American corn, oats, peas, beans, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, and various
fruits such as apples, cherries, peaches, plums, and pears.
The 1875 Voter’s Registration List of Precinct 2 of
San Antonio recorded Felipe Romero as a registered
voter #104 along with his son Esquipula
Romero who was #105. As that his son David wasn’t registered, he may have
already moved to Colorado. He was
perhaps already married to Teodora Martinez Medina the daughter of Candelaria
Medina a widow of Edwardo Martinez in the 1870 census. Teodora was listed as 14
years old named “Medina” however in the 1860 census of San Antonio, Mora County
she is listed as the 4 year old daughter of Edwardo Martinez and Candelaria Medina,
The 1880 Census
of Mora County
Felipe Romero’s family was enumerated on 11 June 1880 as
Dwelling Number 53 in San Antonio. The
village had 650 residents. He was the 70th family, however, which
indicated that several village families were occupying the same households. The 1880 census is the first federal census
where a relationship to the head of the household was given. Felipe Romero was
still listed as the head of the household even though he gave his age as 80. No
occupation was provided for him, just the statement “at home” which the same for his wife “Juanita Romero” whose age was given as 65 years. This census
only listed his wife as not being able to read or write probably because this
time a Hispanic was the enumerator and not an Anglo. Included in the household was their widowed
daughter “Manuela Romero” who was listed as keeping house and aged 24 along
with Felipe’s grandson “Juan Martin” age 5 years. Her husband Tomas Martin died in 1876 at Plaza
de San Antonio, Mora, New Mexico The
1870 census showed that Tomas Martin was the 19 year old son of Antonio Martin and Rosa Sanchez.
Enumerated next to Felipe Romero at household 54 was
his son David Romero aged 33 and listed as a ‘laborer”. His wife “Teodora Romero” was aged 25 and was a “Housekeeper”.
Her maiden name was probably Martinez de Medina. Their
children were Marina Romero aged 3 and
daughter Onofre Romero aged 2 both born in New Mexico
Felipe Romero’s youngest son “Estepula” Romero was
enumerated as household 125. His age was given as 27 years old and his
occupation was farmer. His wife was enumerated as “Librada Romero
age 22 with a 1 year old daughter named Cresencia. At the next household
at 126 was Felipe Romero’s daughter Longina and her husband Climaso Lujan. He was a 26 year old farmer and 23
year old Longina was listed as a “Housekeeper,”
Antonio de Jesus Romero was enumerated in at household
87 in “Aqua Negra Abajo” near his Vigil in-laws. His age was given as 44 and his wife “Gregorita
Romero” age was 34. Children listed in
his household were Ricardo Romero age 17, Adelaida Romero age 13, Virginia Romero age 12, Librada Romero age 8 and Francisco Romero age 3 months. In his household was included a
21 year old Indian Servant named Miguel
Romero. The 1880 U.S. Census shows that
two of Antonio Romero and Gregoria Vigil’s children may have died in childhood
as that Francisca Romero and Teo Antonio Romero are both absent from the list
of children in the household. Francisco Romero was listed as a 3 month old baby
but his baptismal records have not been located yet.
Felipe Romero’s daughter Ignacia Romero was living
with her husband Miguel Lucero in “La Seboya” [Cebolla] with their five
children. Her 41 year old husband was listed as “freighter” which is a term for being a teamster. She was
39 and keeping house. Her married sister
Maria dela Cruz “Cruzita” Romero was also living in “La Seboya” with her 41
year old husband Candelario Bustos who was a farmer. They had six children in their household
including a 21 year old son.
During the remaining years of Felipe Romero’s life, he
and Juana Sanchez left San Antonio and moved in with his son Antonio de Jesus
Romero in Agua Negra, due to their being elderly. He began to sell off his
property as a deed dated 28 March 1882
in Mora County records in Deed Book A on page 319 showed. The record describes
a transaction between "Felipe de Jesus Romero" to his son in law "Agapito
Lujan," the husband of his daughter
Maria Juana Alcaria. Agapito Lujan would have been
62 years old at the time and Felipe Romero was 81. The deed mentions both “Felipe
de Jesus Romero y su Esposa Juana Catalina Sanchez de Romero" both of San
Antonio. This record proves that he and
his wife were still living in San Antonio. He and his wife were married for
over fifty years.
Two year later another deed, dated 11 July 1884 in Book B on page 407, mentioned
a land transaction between "Felipe Romero and Maria Juana Sanchez of Mora
County" and his son "David Romero of Colorado". This deed was
dated 17 July 1876 but not recorded until 1884. David Romero must have moved to Colorado, most
likely the San Luis Valley between 1870 and 1880 when he was enumerated in both
years in New Mexico Often times deeds were written and given to family
members and only recorded after the fact to insure a legal transference of
property or after a family member had died or moved away.
This land record stated that Felipe Romero had sold
340 varas (680 feet) of land "con casa" with house to David
Romero. The land bordered by Maria
Trujillo on the north, hills towards the south, and on the east by the house of
Francisco Martin. “Francisco Martinez”
was listed in the 1880 Census as enumerated next to David Romero at household
55. Martinez was 74 years old and his wife Francesca was 65. Maria Trujillo may have been the wife of
Felipe de Jesus’ son Diego Antonio Romero who was said to have died in 1877 at
San Antonio.
1885
Territorial Census of New Mexico
The 1885 Territory Census of New Mexico, taken on 22
June, showed that Felipe de Jesus and Juana Catalina were alive and living within
the household of their son Antonio de Jesus Romero in Precinct 1 most likely in
Agua Negra Abajo having given up their home in San Antonio. At household 253 Felipe de Jesus listed his age as 85 and that
of his wife “Catherina” as 76 years when she should have been either 69 or 70.
The enumerator was very careless in his recording information
on Antonio Romero‘s family. Antonio Romero’s age was given as 48,
which would have been reasonable and he was listed as a farmer. However his
wife was listed as “Maria Ignacia” and age
28 when she was 39. Their 23 year old son Ricardo Romero was listed as a 17
years old daughter. He would marry the following year in 1886. M Adelaide
Romero listed as 14 when she should have been 19 and M Librada Romero was
listed as 11 instead of 14. M Francisco
Romero was listed as a 5 year old son who was the only correct age. .
Gregoria’s parents Agapito and Altagracia are listed in household 252.
Included in the household of Antonio de Jesus Romero and
listed as their son was 20 year old Jose
Miguel Romero and his wife 17 year old “Catherina”. Miguel Romero is certainly the Indian boy J Miguel
Romero who was included in the 1870 household born in 1861 and listed as 21
years old in 1880 as a servant. He could
have been adopted but most likely the relationship is due to a careless census
taker. If born circa 1860 he would have
been a 25 year old man.
Felipe de Jesus Romero may have died a few years after
1885 and probably before 1887. Again in
Book F of Mora County Deeds on page 319, an after the fact deed was filed in Mora
County Courthouse concerning property once owned by Felipe de Jesus Romero and
his wife. On 20 March 1887 a deed was
recorded that was signed by both Felipe de Jesus Romero and Juana Sanchez on 20
March1877, ten years earlier. The deed
was between Felipe de Jesus Romero and his wife Juana C. Sanchez of Mora to
Maria Alvina Sanchez of Mora. The
deed states that for $50 the Romeros
sold to Alvina Sanchez land in Precinct 2 (San Antonio) with a house on
it.
The land was located east of “Diego Romero” and west
of “Candelaria Trujillo” in San Antonio. Who this Alvina Sanchez was is a mystery. There is a Maria Alvina Sanchez
in San Antonio but she was born in 1872 and does not seem to be any relation to
Juana Sanchez and besides too young to be part of a deed in 1877 although it
wasn’t recorded until 1887. Candelaria
Trujillo was the wife of Jose who lived in Agua Negra Abajo in 1880, four
households from Antonio Romero and Gregorita Vigil. Just one last deed dated 7
June 1887 only mentioned Felipe de Jesus’ his wife. A deed found in Book E on
page 488 mentions “Juana Catalina Romero y Medina of San Antonio” which
probably infers that her husband was dead by that time.
The only thing that is known for
sure from these land records are that Felipe de Jesus Romero and his wife were
getting rid of their properties in the late 1870's and they were both still
alive as of 1885 and she in 1887.
Felipe
Romero was buried in the San Isidro Cemetery which is today in Holman.
Certainly his wife was buried in the same cemetery.
The Children of
Felipe de Jesus Romero and Juana Catrina Sanchez
Diego Antonio Romero was born 1831 Joya, Rio Arriba, Nuevo México died after 20 March 1877
in San Antonio He was a child born to
Felipe de Jesus Romero out of wedlock. His wife was Maria Dolores Trujillo
Maria Juana Alcaria Romero was born 10 February 1834 at Plaza de San Antonio, Rio Arriba, Nuevo México and died in January 1894 at El Tulguillo in Mora County. She was married circa 1850 to Jose Agapito Lujan. He was the son of Manuel de Jesus Lujan and Antonia Josefa Trujillo
Antonio de Jesus Romero was born 2 February 1836 at Joya, Rio Arriba, Nuevo
México and died 1928 at Holman, New Mexico
He married Maria Gregoria Vigil in 1859 the
daughter of Agapito Vigil and Maria Alta Gracia Valdez
Maria dela Cruz Romero was born 29 April 1839 at Joya, Rio Arriba, Nuevo
México and died 30 July 1913. She is sometimes called Maria dela Luz. She married
Jose Candelario de Jesus Bustos.
Maria
Ygnacia Romero was born 26 March 1842 at Joya, Rio Arriba, Nuevo México and
died 4 February 1928 New Mexico She married Miguel Antonio Lucero son of Juan
Manuel Lucero and Maria Antonia Sanchez
Jose Teodoro
Romero was born 1843 at Joya, Rio Arriba, Nuevo México died before 1850 at
San Antonio, Valle lo de Mora New Mexico
David de Jesus Romero was born March 1847 at San Antonio, Mora, Nuevo México and died 1920 in
Cleveland, Mora, New Mexico He married Maria
Teodora Martin daughter of Edwardo Martinez and Maria Candelaria Medina
Jose Esquepulo Romero was born 1849 in San Antonio, Taos County [Mora] ,
New Mexico He died 20 April 1920 at Cleveland, Mora County, New Mexico
He married Librada “ Libradita” Lujan.
Maria Manuela Romero was born 1853 in San Antonio,
Mora, New México confirmed 3 August 1855. She died before 1860 at San
Antonio.
Maria Soledad Romero Baptized 29 Nov 1856 at Santa Gertrudis, Mora, New Mexico She died before 1860 at San Antonio, Mora, New
Mexico
Maria
Longina Romero baptized 4 April 1858 Santa Gertrudis, Mora, New Mexico She died 17 May 1939 at Cleveland, Mora, New Mexico
and married 1873 Jose Climaco Lujan son of Antonio Jose Lujan and Maria
Esquipala Cordova
The Sanchez Family
Maria Juana Catalina Sanchez, the wife
of Felipe De Jesus Romero, was a descendant of the “natural” son of Ana Juana
Lopez de Aragón and Fray Francisco Muñoz y Sanchez de Inigo. Ana Juana Lopez de Aragón was born 1642 and
had at least three children out of wedlock with the Franciscan Monk. They were Pedro Sanchez de Inigo, Jacinto
Sanchez de Inigo, Francisca Sanchez de Inigo wife of Captain Juan Garcia de
Noriega
The genealogy of the Sánchez de Iñigo family
of seventeenth-century Nuevo México has been a puzzle for researchers
interested in uncovering the paternal origins of this distinctNuevo Mexicanos family. Fray Angélico Chávez identified the
progenitor of the Sánchez de Iñigo family as Juana López, the mother of Jacinto
Sánchez de Iñigo and Pedro Sánchez de Iñigo, and presumably the mother of doña
Francisca Sánchez de Iñigo.
A pre-nuptial investigation record for Pedro Sanchez referred
to his mother, Juana López, and did not offer any clues as to the identity of
his father. Similar records for Jacinto Sánchez de Iñigo and doña Francisca
Sánchez de Iñigo do not identify the names of any parents for these
individuals.
The origin of the Sánchez de Iñigo surname used by
these individuals has stumped New México genealogical researchers particularly
because there have not been any records extracted for a seventeenth-century
settler of a Nuevo Mexicano with this
surname. As such, It has been thought that the Sánchez de Iñigo children were
perhaps the children of one or more men living in Nuevo México during the
latter half of the 1600s.
Recent research into seventeenth-century Inquisition
records pertaining to Nuevo México has led to uncovering records for a man who
was accused of "living scandalously" with a woman named Juana López
de Aragón in 1663, and the surname this man's mother was Sánchez de Iñigo. Sánchez
de Iñigo is a distinct and uncommon Spanish surname. 'Sánchez' is a patronym
and 'Iñigo' is an ancient Basque given name popularized by the royal family of
Navarra in the Middle Ages.
As such, the pattern of given names within the Sánchez
de Iñigo family coupled with the distinctive surname of this family and the
accusation of 'scandalously living' against Fray ~ Francisco Muñoz offer an
argument for considering Muñoz as the father of the Sánchez de Iñigo siblings.
Fray Francisco Muñoz y Sanchez de Inigo was born 1629
in the Pueblo de los Ángeles, Nueva España and died after 1680 in Taos. He was
the son of Jacinto Muñoz y Ortiz and Magdelena Sanchez de Inigo.
Fray Francisco Muñoz
was Guardian of the Pueblo of Picuris in 1660, Guardian of the Pueblo of
San Ildefonso in 1663 and in August of 1680 he was the Guardian of the Pueblo
of Zia at the time of the Indian Revolt of 1680. He and four soldiers
"escaped by dint of hard riding" with hostile Indians on their trail.
They encountered a small group of soldiers under the command of lieutenant
general Alonzo Garcia who escorted them to safety.
On August 14th while encamped at the Pueblo of Isleta,
Frey Francisco Munoz was one of the friars that agreed with the opinion of
Garcia to continue moving southward to seek shelter, and safety. Munoz was
consulted again at St. Cristobal (Sept. 14th) and at La Salineta (Oct. 2nd) by
Oct. 15 1680, the refuges were at El Paso del Rio del Norte where Munoz and
three others wrote a letter addressed to the Viceroy of New Spain. This was the
last account of Fray Francisco Munoz. Basically Munoz was in Nuevo México from
at least 1660 through the fall of 1680, representing a lengthy career in Nuevo
México spanning at least 20 years.
Ana Juana Lopez de Aragon was the daughter of Capitán
Francisco López de Aragón and Ana Baca. Ana Juana Lopez de Aragón Pedro Sanchez was
still much alive in 1724 at the age of 82.
She is sometimes confused with a sister also named Juana who was the
wife of Sebastián de Herrera Corrales.
In 1680 Sebastián
de Herrera accompanied his mother-in law Ana Baca to Taos along with his wife
Juanna Lopez de Aragon and a unnamed son. On August 10th, Sebastian was away
from the house when the Indians attack began in Taos. All the family was killed
except for Sebastian. Major Sebastian Herrara Corrales and Don Francisco Duran
y Chavez escaped from Taos and reported the deaths of all the Spaniards in that
jurisdiction - "something more than seventy persons".
Pedro Sanchez de
Inigo
Pedro de Inigo’s
older brother Jacinto Sanchez de Inigo, along with
their sister Francisca Sanchez escaped the 1680 Indian massacre as minors along
with their mother. They returned to resettle Nuevo México in 1693 at Santa Fe
and Santa Cruz.
Pedro’s older
brother Jacinto Sanchez de Inigo was also a “native of New Mexico,” who was
twenty-two years old in 1685, when he tried to run away from the exile colony
at El Paso del Norte with Juan Dominguez de Mendoza. He was first married to
Isabel Telles Jiron. After her death in Santa Fe, he married Maria Rodarte de
Castro Xabalera in 1696. Here his parents were given as unknown.
The bride was a native of Sombrerete, the daughter of
Miguel de Castro Xabalera and Juana Guerrero, or de Herrera. He gave his age as
thirty-five in 1697, saying that he was a native of Nuevo México In 1703 he received a grant of land on the Rio
del Norte, on the east side opposite Cochiti Pueblo. In 1713 he was Alcalde
Mayor of Santa Cruz, but not considered competent by the Governor; here he was
mentioned together with Pedro Sanchez.
In 1715 Jacinto asked for a permit to visit outside Nuevo
México with his son Francisco. On his
return he settled down in the Rio Abajo district. In 1728 Jacinto led and
unauthorized expedition into the Moqui country, but by 1734 both he and his
wife were dead; she was sixty at the time of her death on May 13, and he was
“more than fifty” when he died on December 14 of the same year, 1734.
Pedro Sanchez de Inigo was born in 1673 and on 7 January
1692, he married Leonor Baca at El Real de San Lorenzo at El Paso de Norte the
daughter of Ignacio Baca and Juana de
Anaya Almazan. He could also be a “Pedro Lopez de Yniguez” who was soldiering
at Guadalupe del Paso prior to the Reconquest.
Pedro first settled in the Rio Arriba area, and in
1696 his wife Leonor was killed by the Indians of San Ildefonso with her
mother, a brother and her two children. He then remarried in 1698.
27 Jan 1698: DM (no. 23), Santa Fe. Pedro Sanchez
(25), soldier of Santa Fe, widowed of Leonor Baca killed at S. Ildefonso in the
Indian Revolt of 1696, the son of Juana Lopez, and Maria Lujan (18), d. of
Matias Lujan and Francisca Romero, natives of Nuevo México Witnesses: Antonio Sisneros (30), Alcalde
Mayor of Galisteo; Diego Duran (30), Salvador de Santisteban (20), soldier,
Pair married (no date given).
By the turn of the century Pedro was remarried to Maria
Lujan at Bernalillo, moving shortly afterwards back to the Rio Arriba country. Maria
Lujan was the daughter of Matias Lujan and Francisca Romero. Her father came back to his pre-Revolt lands
at Santa Cruz. He had been born and reared at the place called "San
Cristobal". In 1693-1695 Matias Lujan gave his age as fifty. His known children were
Miguel Lujan, Maria Lujan wife of
Pedro Sanchez, Antonia Lujan wife of Jose
Trujillo, and Juana Lujan .
At Santa Cruz, in 1710, Pedro Sanchez gave his age as
thirty-six, stating that he was a resident there and married. In 1713 he was
mentioned as a brother-in-law of Diego Martin, son of Domingo Martin. He was
dead by 1720 when a daughter was married.
4 Apr 1720: DM,
(no. 2), Santa Cruz. Diego Gonzales (25), n. of New Mexico, s. of Andres
Gonzales, n. of City of Zacatecas, and Francisca de Gamboa, and Olaya Sanchez
(13), d. of Pedro Sanchez, deceased and Maria Lujan, natives of Nuevo México -
Witnesses: Cristobal Tafoya (40), n. of Guanajuato, Cristobal Rodarte (30), n.
of Sombrerete.
Pedro Sanchez el Mozo was the son of Leonor Baca and
not Maria Lujan as he his not listed as one of Maria’s 11 children.
María Lujan was born about 1679 to Matías Luján
(abt.1655-bef.1707) and Francisca Romero (abt.1655-abt.1716).[1] Her family
survived the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 and by 1684 they were living in Guadalupe
del Paso and had a household of seven with no provisions at all. In 1692 they
returned to Nuevo México and lived in the Santa Cruz de la Cañada area. When
she recorded her last will and testament on 13 Dec 1734, María Lujan declared that during the course of their
marriage they had a total of eleven children and were named in this order:
Antonia, Manuela, Antonio, María, Olaya, Joseph [José], Juana, Lugarda, Figenia
[Efigenia], Francisca Xaviela [Francisca Xaviera], and Xptoval [Cristóbal]. Of
these children, only Lugarda was deceased at the time when the will was
recorded. María gave the following possessions to her children: A crucifix from
Michoacán to Cristóbal. A painting of San Pedro to Francisca Xaviela. A small
painting of San Isidro to Juana. A copper jar for drinking water and an iron
roaster to Figenia. A "colchon escoplo y asuela," the iron brand, and
a door from the bedroom to Joseph. The window and "una fresada
Blanca" to Francisca Xaviela.
Pedro Sanchez el Mozo
Pedro
Sanchez was born circa 1696 and married
Micaela Quintana daughter of Miguel Quintana and Gertrudis Moreno Trujillo.
4 Dec 1718: DM (no. 26), Santa Cruz. Pedro Sanchez
(21), n. of New Mexico, son of Pedro Sanchez, n. of New Mexico, and Leonor
Baca, deceased, and Micaela Quintana, n. of New Mexico, d. of Miguel de
Quintana and Gertrudis Trujillo, natives of Mexico City. Witnesses: Francisco
Monte Vigil, notary; Antonio Bernal (30), n. of New Mexico, married; Jacinto
Jaramillo (23), n. of Mexico City, married in New Mexico; Tomas de Cordova
(27), n. of New Mexico, married; Domingo Vigil (26), n. of Zacatecas, married
in Nuevo México Pair married, Jan. 20,
1720, with witnesses Manuel Vigil and Maria Sanchez.”
The Quintana
Family
Miguel
Quintana was born 1671 in Ciudad de México, the son of Jose de Quintana and
Nicolasa de Valdez y Cervantes. He came
to Nuevo México as part of the reconquest in 1693 and settled at Santa Cruz
where he was known as a poet.. His wife Gertrudis
Trujillo was born 1678 the daughter of
Nicolas Trujillo of Mexico City, born in Mexico City, the son of Jose Trujillo.
Miguel Quintana was described in 1693 as twenty-two years old; with a round
face, small forehead, large eyes, and a hole (dimple) in the chin. His wife was
Gertrudis (Moreno) Trujillo, fifteen, the daughter of Nicolas, and also a
native of Mexico City; she had an aquiline face, large eyes, and a small nose.
A brother of his, Jose de Quintana, came as a soldier and from his marriage
given further on, we learn that their parents in Ciudad de México were Jose de
Quintana and Nicolasa Valdes de Cervantes.
Miguel de Quintana lived in Santa Cruz all his life.
He died there on 9 April 1748, at the
age of seventy. He had gained local fame as a poet and composer of coloquios,
which got him into no small trouble with some injudicious friars at a time who
accused him of being mentally perturbed. Here he stated that he had a large
family.
His brother Juan Quintana married Francisca Xaviera
Sanchez, 6 September 1734, with Pedro Sanchez and wife Micaela Quintana as
witnesses, apparently Quintana brother and sister marrying Sanchez sister and
brother. Juan was killed by Comanches in 1773, leaving a son, Jose Julian, and
other children with his widow.
José Miguel Sánchez de Inigo
José Miguel Sánchez, the son of Pedro Sánchez de Iñigo, el mozo and Micaela Quintana was
baptized 22 May 1738 Rio Arriba,
Provincia de Nuevo México Nueva España. He married Maria Rosa Roybal and died 1816 at the age of
77. Rosa Roybal was the daughter of Bernardo de Roybal
y Torrado and María Margarita Martín Serrano. Bernardo de Roybal’s mother
was Francisca Gómez Robledo the daughter of Andre Gómez Robledo and thus a
descendant of Bartolome Romero and Luisa Robledo. María Margarita Martín
Serrano’s father was Capitán Sebastián Martín Serrano
Jose Manuel Sanches
Jose Manuel Sanches of Plaza de San Antonio was baptized
21 May 1762 in San Juan de los
Caballeros, Rio Arriba, Provincia de Nuevo México, Reino de Nueva España the
son of Jose Miguel Sanchez and Maria Rosa Roybal . Jose Manuel Sanchez died 25
February 1812 at the age of 49 in San Antonio de Embudo, Rio Arriba, Provincia
de Nuevo Mexico He married by 1790 Maria
Teodora Yrinea Cisneros the daughter of Antonio Sisneros and Juana Viviana
Salazar. She was baptized 8 March 1776 at Santa Cruz dela Canada. She died circa 1832 at San Antonio de Embudo,
Rio Arriba, Provincia de Nuevo México
They were the parents of these children; Juan de Jesús
Sánchez who married María Encarnación Romero daughter of Juan Miguel Romero and
María Manuela García de Noriega; Juan Nepomuceno Sánchez who married María
Josefa Romero daughter of José Rafael Romero and María Encarnación González;
José Pablo de los Dolores Sánchez, and Juana Catarina Sanchez who married
Felipe de Jesus Romero the brother of María Encarnación Romero
Teodora's last name is spelled Cisneros in that record
of her son Hipolito Sanchez. For another child was born 3 October 1799, named
Maria Rita Sanchez, Teodora’s name is spelled Zisneros of Rio Arriba. “In San
Juan Pueblo on 4 June 1801, Father Ramon Antonio Gonzalez baptized
three-day-old Maria Manuela, the legitimate daughter of Jose Manuel Sanchez and
Teodora Cisneros, citizens of the plaza of San Antonio.” Her godparents were her
grandparents Miguel Sanchez and Rosa Roybal, citizens of EI Bosque. Another son was born 13 August 1802 and named
Bartolome Sanchez was a son of Jose Manuel Sanchez and Teodora “Zisernoz.” Also
in the baptismal records of San Juan de los Caballeros for Antonio de Jesus
Romero his maternal grandmother” last
name is spelled as Teodora Zisernoz.
Jose Ignacio Valdez y Garcia and Maria Manuela Sanchez
y Cisneros
Manuel Sanchez and Teodora Cisneros’ daughter Maria Manuela
Sanchez y Cisneros had a Prenuptial Investigation which gave her descent and
her intendant’s from both Sebastian Martin Serrano and Ignacio Roybal . They were 3rd cousins via Sebastian
Martin Serrano and Ignacia Roybal.
16
Apr 1821: Jose Ignacio Valdez y Garcia and Maria Manuela Sanchez y Cisneros,
San Juan de los Caballeros and La Joya, 16 April-1 November 1821. Jose Ignacio
Valdez y Garcia, 33 Espanol, single, was the legitimate son of Manuel Valdez
and Maria Josefa Garcia, citizens and residents of the puesto [place]of La
Joya. Maria Manuela Sanchez y Cisneros, espanola, was the legitimate daughter
of Jose Manuel Sanchez and Teodora Cisneros, citizens of the puesto of San Jose
del Bosque. The couple was related in two ways in the fourth degree of
consanguinity on a transverse line.
Sebastian Martin [Serrano].
Manuel Martin [Serrano] & Margarita Martin [Serrano]
wife of Bernardo de Roybal were siblings
Luisa Martin [Serrano] & Rosa Roybal wife of José
Miguel Sánchez were 1st cousins.
Josefa Garcia de Noriega wife of Manuel Lorenzo Valdez
& Jose Manuel Sanchez were 2nd Cousins
Jose Ignacio Valdez & Maria Manuela Sanchez were 3rd
Cousins.
Ignacio Roybal.
Bernardo Roybal & Elena Roybal were siblings.
Rosa Roybal wife of José Miguel Sánchez
& Maria Martin Serrano were 1st
cousins.
Jose Manuel Sanchez & Josefa Garcia de Noriega were 2nd
cousins.
Maria Manuela Sanchez & Jose Ignacio Valdez were 3rd
cousins
24
Aug 1843: Juan Manuel Lucero and Maria Altagracia Sanchez, San Juan de los
Caballeros, 24 August-9 November 1843,. Juan Manuel Lucero, 32, widowed by his
first wife, Maria Antonia Sanchez, was a native and citizen of the San Juan
jurisdiction. Maria Altagracia Sanchez, 15, single, a native and citizen of the
San Juan jurisdiction, was the legitimate daughter of the late Juan de Jesus
Sanchez and Encarnacion Romero. The couple was related in the second degree of
affinity on a transverse line on the basis copula licita.
Jose Manuel Sanchez.
Pablo Sanchez & Juan de Jesus Sanchez were siblings .
Maria Antonia Sanchez 1st wife of Juan
Manuel Lucero & Maria Altagracia Sanchez
2nd wife were 1st cousins.
Certificates
1. In San Juan Pueblo on 8 November 1812, Father Ramon Antonio Gonzalez
baptized three-day-old Juan Manuel, the legitimate son of Ascencio Lucero and
Dolores Ortega. His godfather was Jose Manuel Sanchez. 2 In San Juan on 24 July
1827, Father Juan Felipe Ortiz baptized Maria Altagracia, daughter of Manuel de
Jesus Sanchez and Maria Encarnacion Romero. Her paternal grandparents were Jose
Manuel Sanchez and Teodora Cisneros.
The Sisneros Family
The family’s unusual surname is
often spelled Cisneros and Zisneros, as well as Sisneros and seems to be a
derivative of the original Roman (Latin) 'cisne' meaning a swan, 'Cisneros'
being originally a place where swans nested, or perhaps where they were
deliberately bred for both food and feathers.
Bartolomé de Cisneros
The
first mention of a Cisneros in Nuevo México was twenty-four years old Diego de
Cisneros who was when mentioned in
passing in the year 1632. He may have been a soldier or part of teamsters with
caravans from Mexico City. Next were Bartolomé
de Cisneros and his brother Vicente who were living in the Zuni-Moqui
jurisdiction in 1662 of Rio Arriba District. They might or they might not have been the
sons of Diego. Anyway, their place of origin is not known.
Vicente appears again in the Salinas area of Rio Abajo
in 1668 but is not heard of again. Bartolomé was supposed to be in Hawikuh, 12
miles south of the Zuni Pueblo. In 1628 the Spanish established Mission La
Purísima Concepción de Hawikuh at this pueblo. The Spanish attempted to
suppress the Zuni religion, and introduced the encomienda forced-labor system.
In 1632, the Hawikuh Zuni rebelled, burned the church, and killed the priest. Bartolomé
was guarding the friars at Hawikuh but was absent when the Indians killed Fray
Pedro de Avila y Ayala in 1670. In 1672,
Apache raiders burned the church and in 1680 it was burned again during the
Great Pueblo Revolt, when all the Nuevo México pueblos rose against the
Spanish. After this revolt, the Zuni permanently abandoned Hawikuh.
Bartolomé de Cisneros’ wife was Ana Gutiérrez the
daughter of Francisco Gutiérrez. He was tried at Guadalupe del Paso in 1683 for
the needless killing of a Janos Indian during an expedition under Captain
Ramirez of Casas Grandes. A son of theirs, Alonso Cisneros married Maria Madrid
at Guadalupe del Paso in 1690; a daughter, Catalina, married Diego del Rio at
Socorro del Paso in 1699, which indicates that he did not return to Nuevo
México with the Reconquest.
Antonio de Cisneros
Antonio
de Cisneros [Sisneros] was born circa 1660 in Nuevo México perhaps at the Pueblo
de Zuni and was the only person of this name who appears with the refugees at Guadalupe
del Paso from the 1680 revolt. In 1681 he passed muster as a
twenty-one-year-old bachelor. However since there were no Cisneros refugees listed
in 1680, it seems probable as though the
Cisneros were all residing at Guadalupe
del Paso before the revolt. Antonio was perhaps another son of Bartolomé or
else he could have been the son of Vicente Cisneros of the Salinas country.
Antonio de Cisneros following the Reconquest married Josefa Lujan,
1 January 1695 probably at Santa Fe and they had three children: Hermenegildo,
Felipe Neri, and Juana, who married Juan de Santisteban.
Josefa Lujan was the daughter of Miguel Lujan and
Elena Ruiz Caceres. Josefa appears to have been at least a half-sister to Maria
Lujan (Ruiz Caceres), wife of her brother-in-law Sebastian Martin Serrano.
Miguel Lujan is mentioned briefly as a recruit in
1681, and is very likely the same man, a brother or brother-in-law of Juan Ruiz
Caceres, who was left by Vargas to guard the tower-chapel in the Governors’
Palace in December, 1693 He barely escaped from it with his family when the
Indians decided to keep the city. At this time he had a young son who is called
both Agustin and Cristobal in the same incident.”
Antonio Cisneros was Alcalde Mayor of Zuni in 1706,
when he was mortally wounded in August
by Apaches. He was given the last Sacraments by the Padre and buried
there on 9 August 1706. Antonio died at age of 45 in Pueblo de Zuni, Nuevo Mexico
The Ruiz Caceres family
The Ruiz Caceres family descend from Juan Ruis Caceres son of
Pedro Ruiz and a native of the Isle of La Palma (Canaries), who came to Nuevo
México in 1600. He was thirty years old, long faced and well-bearded. He was
not only a countryman of Juan Lujan, but evidently very closely related, so
that later these two names often became confused.
In 1631 Juan Ruiz Caceres was a captain and also High Sheriff, and
very active in political affairs.’ It seems as though his wife was an Isabel
Baca, who as a widow of fifty was cooking for the Padre at Tajique in 1662. Her
son-in-law was Antonio de Avalos,’ and Avalos’ wife was a Juana Ruiz Caceres.
Moreover, Juan was closely allied with the Bacas in politics. Decades later he
was referred to also as the grandfather of Roque de Madrid, hence another
daughter of his had married Francisco de Madrid, father of Roque. A second Juan
Ruiz Caceres, most likely his son, is mentioned in the soldier escort of 1652.
Juan Ruiz de Caceres, twenty-four and single, passed muster in
1681 as a native of Nuevo México He was
described as tall, thin, and dark, with a black beard and wavy hair. Here he
accompanied Domingo Lujan in one instance, and Miguel Lujan in another. During
the Governor Otermin campaign of that year he acted as an interpreter for the
Indians of Tesuque.’
In 1692 Governor Vargas made him a sergeant and sent him as a
courier to Parral. Later he also continued as official interpreter for the
Tanos and Tewas. In both of the Vargas entradas, 1692 and 1693, he was
associated with his brother, or brother-in-law, Miguel Lujan.
After the Reconquest he and Miguel Lujan were appointed to inspect
the homes at Santa Cruz,’ and in 1698 he owned the property that had formerly
belonged to Alonso del Rio. But nothing is known about his immediate
antecedents.
Josefa Lujan
Josefa Lujan was the widow of Agustin Griego who was most probably
dead by 1693, but his widow, Josefa Lujan, did return at the time of the
Reconquest with her children. One of them was Miguel Angel Griego. In the
meantime she had married Antonio Cisneros in 1695.
In 1712, Nicolés Griego, his
brother Pedro and his sisters Josefa and Maria, all Griegos, brought a suit
against Josefa Lujan, widow of Antonio Cisneros, regarding some Griego land and
property on which she lived with her own children by Antonio de Cisneros. “As may be gathered from their respective
weddings, they were illegitimates of the Griego family reared in the Cisneros
household.” These same four Griego siblings appear as “Cisneros” some time
afterwards. Nicolés as “Cisneros” married Casilda Mestas on 29 May 1714. She
was the aunt of Casilda Mestas the grandmother of Felipe de Jesus Romero. “Pedro
Cisneros”, married Juana Mestas, on 7 July
1714 and Maria Cisneros was the wife of Matias Pacheco.
Felipe Neri Cisneros
"Neri
Sisneros" was born 1702 circa at Zuni Pueblo Nuevo México and died 7 January 1763 about 60
years old.. He married in 1728 María Jirón del Castillo y Ribera born circa 1713. She was the illegitimate daughter of
Francisco Afán de Ribera and María de Leyba.
Felipe Neri Cisneros, his name also seen as Phelipe Sisneros or
Zisneros, or Nereo Sisneros, was born about 1702 in Santa Fe, Nuevo México His parents were (Captain) Antonio de
Cisneros (about 1670-1706) and Josefa Luján (born about 1676).
Felipe’s father Antonio received a land grant for his heroism in
Indian battles, specifically for killing a famous Indian chief in 1696, but
gave a portion of his land to Sebastian Martin Serrano, his
brother-in-law. When Felipe was about 5,
his father was killed by Apaches, and Martin Serrano acquired the rest of the
Cisneros property from Felipe’s mother.
In 1727 Felipe and his two siblings filed suit against Sebastian
Martin Serrano to recover properties they claimed were rightfully theirs
through inheritance, but which they claimed Sebastian had coerced their mother
into giving him after their father’s death.
They won their suit and were given a portion of land north of San Juan
Pueblo. Felipe lived on part of this
land.
On April 5, 1728, Felipe married Maria Jiron del Castillo Rivera
(AKA Maria del Castillo), born 1710 in San Ildefonso Pueblo. Maria’s unmarried parents were Francisco Afán
de Rivera (born 1673), a merchant who had come to Nuevo México with the 1693
Vargas re-settlement group, and Maria de Leyva Piña Diaz de Brito y Mendoza,
who was married to another man.
The 1750 Nuevo México census for San Juan Pueblo listed Felipe
living with his wife, his mother, and 8 children (Maria, Antonio, Policarpio,
Maria de la Concepcion, Manuela, Teodora, Angela, and Hermenegildo), and 5
servants. Records show Felipe was
involved in land transactions in the 1750s (sold Santa Fe house and land in
1751), and he and his wife served as godparents. Felipe died in 1763, about 60 years old, and
was buried in Soledad Canyon on land known as “Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del
Rio del Norte Arriba,” Nuevo México (near today’s Los Luceros, where the family
was living). His wife Maria died
December 23, 1770, also about 60.
Felipe
and Maria had the following children:
Antonio Cisneros,
born about 1730, married 1st Ana Maria de Luna, 2nd Maria Bibiana de Salazar,
3rd Maria Antonia Trujillo
Policarpio Cisneros,
born 1733, married Maria Catalina Atienza de Alcala
Maria Cisneros,
born about 1735
Maria de la Concepcion Cisneros, born about 1736, married Juan Ignacio Martin
Maria Manuela Cisneros,
born 1739, married Antonio Gomez, and Pedro Antonio Martin
Teodora Cisneros,
born 1742, married Jose Antonio Ruiz
Agustino Cisneros,
born 1744, married Lugarda Garcia
Angela Cisneros,
born 1746, married Gregorio Lucero de Godoy, and Juan Antonio Mestas
Alonso Hermenegildo Cisneros, 1749-1809, married 1st Maria Manuela Salazar and 2nd Maria Rita
Juliana Lucero
Bernarda Gertrudis Cisneros, born 1752
Juana Maria Cisneros,
born 1755
Francisco Afán de Ribera and María de Leyba
Francisco was born in 1673 to Juan de Rivera and Josepha del
Castillo. He was in all likelihood the Francisco de Betanzos who came with his
widowed adopted father and a younger
brother in 1693. Chávez in his Origins of New Mexican Families thought
it likely that Francisco came to Nuevo México in the party of Andrés de
Betanzos. However, the evidence is circumstantial. It is also possible that he
was not Francisco de Betanzos the colonist and instead came to Nuevo México about
1704 under his own name as a merchant. There is not enough information to
confirm either scenario.
It is possible that sometime before he turned 16, he went to live
with Andrés de Betanzos. When Andrés moved to Nuevo México in 1694, he went
with his two sons, Diego de Betanzos, Andrés' legitimate son, and Francisco de
Betanzos, his "adopted" son. Francisco continued using the Betanzos
name until about 1704 when he started signing his name Francisco de Ribera or
Francisco Afán de Ribera . He appears to be the Francisco de Ribera who was
Alcalde of Santa Cruz in 1705.
María de Leyva y Mendoza was baptized on 14 January 1671 in Cathedral
Ciudád de México, Nueva España, the daughter of Gabriel de Piña, sometimes
called Gabriel de Leiva, and Tomasa Serrano. As an adult, she used her paternal
grandmother's surname and was known as María de Leiva y Mendoza. The surnames used on María's paternal side of
the family is a bit unusual. The paternal surname was Moreno but her
grandfather used his mother's surname, de Piña, instead. María's father never
used the surname Moreno but switched between de Piña and his mother's surname,
de Leyba. María used her paternal grandmother's full surname, de Leyba y
Mendoza.
In 1687, she married Diego de los Reyes Jirón de Tejeda and they
had four children: María Josefa, born about 1688 in Mexico City, Gertrudis
Ambrosia, born in 1689 in Mexico City, José, born about 1691 in Ciudad de
México and Vicente, born about 1696 in Santa Cruz Nuevo México Diego and Maria probably had an unhappy
marriage and since divorce was impossible within the Catholic Church, after
they separated Maria began living with Francisco Afán de Ribera.
In 1693 the Jiróns were recruited to move to Nuevo México and by
1694 they were living in Santa Fe. In 1695, the government established the
villa of Santa Cruz de la Cañada for the Ciudad de México colonists where the
Jiróns were among the first settlers.
“Francisco was not a good farmer. Like almost everyone in Santa
Cruz at the time, he struggled to earn enough to survive. Unlike almost everyone, he was single with no
family to support and either sold his property or never received any, so that
he had to rent farmland.
In 1705, Diego de los Reyes Jirón de Tejeda purchased some land
from Tomás Herrera y Sandoval with the stipulation that the lands would still
be used for tenant renting. One of the
tenants was Francisco Afán de Ribera, whose name was found close to Diego's in
many government lists since they left Ciudad de México, meaning they were most
likely friends.
In 1706, Herrera's daughter Teresa sued Diego Jirón for
non-payment in an attempt to get the land back. By this time, Diego Jiron had left Nuevo
México for a long period of time so his wife, María de Leyva y Mendoza, was
trying to get the tenants off the land so she could farm it. There is no record of the end results of the
lawsuit but it is almost certain that this is when Francisco began his affair
with María. Moreover, “Maria de Leyba y
Mendoza” had appeared in a land-suit with Francisco de Ribera in 1706.
Diego was back to Santa Cruz by 1707 and in the census taken that
year, María was not living with him.
Francisco had four people living in his household but their names were
not listed so we don't know whether María was living with him or not. Francisco
and María never married but they had at least two daughters together and most
likely had four daughters and a son. They were Antonia Jirón del Castillo,
Josefa del Castillo, Maria Jirón del Castillo, Nicolasa del Castillo, and Francisco
Xavier del Castillo.
Francisco began his career as a merchant and businessman about
1707, around the time he began his affair with María, and was very successful
and quite wealthy. In 1715, Francisco
had a judicial decree issued against him for concubinage. The name of the
female involved was not listed but certainly it was María. No church or civil
penalties have been recorded but certainly Francisco Afán de Ribera and Maria
may have been told to stop living together. He was still a merchant by
profession when living in Santa Cruz in 1718.
When Francisco wrote his will in 4 September
1721, he left his estate to only his unmarried illegitimate children. "Francisco
Afán de Ribera left a large amount of personal goods, which identify him as a
merchant and a person of means.” His daughter Antonia was already married in
1720. Heirs mentioned in his will were
Nicolasa del Castillo, Francisco Xavier del Castillo, Josefa del Castillo, and
María Jirón del Castillo. This may have
been the birth order of his children.
He left an estate at Santa Cruz which was to be divided among the
following “heirs”. His son Francisco Xavier del Castillo, was mentioned as being “not heard from in
twelve years” which would have been when he was 9 years old. Daughters Josefa
and Maria were said to have “been living with the Ignacio Torrado y Roybal
family for the past three years [1718] .
In 1724 Francisco Ribera was on trial for assault and battery when
his stores of goods were embargoed. Francisco
got into an argument that escalated into a physical confrontation, with two men
being injured, one seriously. He was arrested and stood trial but the final
verdict is not mentioned in the record. It was here that he was mentioned as an
original settler of Santa Cruz, and though not married, had a large family to
support.’ He may have been found guilty and exiled from Nuevo Mexico because
soon after, he moved to Nueva Vizcaya where he died in 1725.
"In the next section of his will Afán de Ribera asked that
when he died he desired to be buried in the parish church of the Villa Nueva de
Santa Cruz, and the customary requests for the burial were to be paid from his
goods. The first items he declared as his belongings were rawhides and elk skin
hides worth the amount of 2,430 pesos (approximately $73,000 in modern monetary
terms) as accounted for in his book of accounts.
He next declared the seventeen mules he owned and described them,
and he owned eleven saddle rigs for the mules, including blankets and lassos.
He next declared some saddles, and harquebus [fire arm], clothing made from
English cloth (paño de Ynglaterra), a silver plate, spoon and fine China, and a
locket of silver. He also owned an iron brand for branding his mules, a cart
for two teams of oxen. He next mentioned he owned a rancho that he bought from Joaquín
de Atienza, as attested to by the royal bill of sale. The next possession he
accounted for was his mirror with a gold frame.
"Afán de Ribera proudly stated that the only person that he
owed anything, both in Nuevo México and outside New Mexico, was don Ignacio de
Roybal, as would be shown in his personal book of accounts.
"His bed and white clothing and the decorations of his house
were to be given to his daughters and son. He then ordered that 100 pesos be
separated from his estate for two poor and needy young women (unnamed) and
asked for fifty Masses to be said for the souls in purgatory and the rest to
pay for his funeral expenses.
"Afán de Ribera then named his heirs as Nicolasa del
Castillo, Josefa del Castillo, María del Castillo, and Francisco Xavier del
Castillo among whom he wished to divide his estate in equal parts, except for
the rancho and the oxcart. He named don Ignacio de Roybal the executor of his
estate, and declared he had no other testament or codicil. The witnesses to the
will were Santa Cruz de la Cañada residents fray Manuel de Sopeña and Miguel de
Quintana. Afán de Ribera signed his name.
"Following the copy of the will is a statement of
authenticity of the contents that had been copied to be sent to Chihuahua
confirming that it was an exact transcription of the last will and testament of
Francisco Afán de Ribera and is dated 11 Aug 1725. Witnesses in Santa Fe
testifying to this fact were Miguel José de la Vega y Coca, José Manuel
Jiltomé, and Miguel José Laso de la Vega y Vique. Officials in Chihuahua
confirmed receipt of the will on 18 September 1725.
"In his will, Francisco Afán de Ribera identified himself as
a native of Mexico City and a vecino of the Villanueva de Santa Cruz, New
Mexico, and a legitimate son of "Juan de Rivera Y de Josepha de el
Castillo." This couple married in the Sagrario chapel of the Catedral de
México on 21 February 1672. Their marriage record was located among the book of
castas of the cathedral and reads:
"Juan de Ribera con Josepha del Castillo velaronsse los
Contenidos enesta ss<an>ta'' 21 de febrero' de 1672 En sinco dias del mes
de Junio de mil y seiscientos y setenta y dos años con licencia del cura
semanero de depose por palabra de presente que hisieron verdadero matrimonio a
Juan de Ribera, morisco, con Josepha del Castillo, española, siendo testigos
Alonso Saldaña y Francisco de Sandobal Fray Diego de villegas
"According to this record, Juan de Ribera was a morisco, an
individual who was three-quarters Caucasian and one-quarter African, as clearly
defined in the casta system of his time period. Josefa del Castillo was
identified as española. Because of Juan de Ribera's mixed ancestry, the
marriage of this couple was recorded in the book of castas of the cathedral.
The witnesses to the union were Alonso Saldaña and Francisco de Sandoval. The
presiding priest was fray Diego de Villegas.
"Francisco Afán de Ribera named as his heirs his three
daughters and one son: Nicolasa del Castillo, Josefa del Castillo, María del
Castillo, and Francisco Xavier del Castillo. Immediately it is clear that the
children of Afán de Ribera adopted the surname of their paternal grandmother.
He declared that all his belongings were to be equally divided among each of
his heirs. No mention is made of the mother or mothers of these children. He
asked to be buried in the church of Santa Cruz and named Capitán don Ygnacio de
Roybal as the executor of his estate.
When Francisco Ribera’s estate was probated, a “Maria de Leyba y
Mendoza, aka “Maria de Pina Dias de Brito) was mentioned as the mother of the
Castillo children. And again, in 1737,
“Maria de Pina” was mentioned as the mother of Francisco Xavier del Castillo.
At no time is Francisco de Ribera referred to as either a husband or father.
In a prenuptial investigation in 1811 for José Antonio Vigil and
Juana Martín, there was an impediment which was shown with a chart. The parent
at the top was listed as Francisco Jirón, with two daughters named Antonia
Jirón and María Jirón. These two women were probably actually the daughters of
Francisco Afán de Rivera. After almost 100 years, the priest confused Francisco
Afán de Ribera with Diego Jirón de Tejeda, the husband of the two women's
mother, María de los Reyes (de Piña) de Leyva y Mendoza.
Children of Francisco and Maria
Maria Antonia Jirón del Castillo formerly Rivera Jirón del Castillo aka Rivera, Jirón was born
circa 1705 in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Nuevo México, Nueva España. She married Francisco Montes Vigil II circa 1720 in Santa
Cruz de la Cañada, Nuevo Mexico
Nicolasa del Castillo
was born circa 1707. Her parents never married, making her a
"natural" child. However, her father acknowledged her and left her an
equal part of his estate with her siblings. In 1726 she married Antonio Romero
de Pedraza and they had four known
children: Juana, María, Miguel, and Domingo. Antonio died in 1736 and a year
later, she married Miguel Ortíz. They
had one child together, Manuel, in 1746. They were still living in Santa Fe in
1750 along with three of her children with Antonio. Nicolasa del Castillo died
in 1783.
Francisco Xavier del Castillo born circa 1709. In 1737 Maria de Pina was listed as his
mother.
Josefa del Castillo
was born circa 1711 at Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Nuevo México, Nueva España. She
was twenty years old when married José
Manuel Apodaca at Jacona on June 21, 1733, and died four years later in Santa
Fe.
María Jirón del Castillo aka de Ribera, Jirón was born circa 1713. In 1728 she married Felipe Neri Cisneros on
5 April 5 1728, at San Ildefonso, Nuevo México and they had 10 known children.
Felipe Neri Sisneros, was son of Antonio Sisneros and Josefa Lujan.
Antonio Nerio Sisneros
Antonio Nerio Sisneros was baptized 21 September 1730 at San Juan de los
Caballeros, Provincia de Nuevo México and died shortly before 25 Sep 1789. Information
found in his will show that he was quite a wealthy man. He was married three
times. He married his first wife Ana
María de Luna on 8 Nov 1760 in Santa Clara Pueblo, Nuevo Mexico He married his 2nd wife Juana
Viviana Salazar circa about 1772 in Río
Arriba, Nuevo México, Nueva España and his 3rd wife María Antonia
Trujillo he married on 7 Feb 1782 in
Nambe Pueblo, Nuevo México, Nueva España.
Juana Viviana Salazar was the daughter of Nicolás Salazar and
Barbara Antonia Martín Serrano. Her parents were married, on 25 April 1751 in Santa Cruz de la Canada, Nuevo México
Nicolás
Salazar was baptized 17 September 1721 in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Provincia de
Nuevo México the son of Antonio de Salazar and María (De Torres) de Torres. He
died about 1789 at about age 67 Río Arriba, Provincia de Nuevo He married
Barbara Antonia Martín Serrano 21 April 1751 in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, the
daughter of Gerónimo Martín Serrano and María González
Will of Antonio Sisneros
I,
Antonio Sisneros, a resident of this place of La Soledad, in the town of San
Antonio, being in, execute this will and testament as follows:
Declare that I was married to Ana Maria de Luna and we
reared one daughter who died.
Declare that I married a second time to Juana Viviana
Salazar and we reared six children Maria Manuela, Maria Victoria, Maria
Teodora, Juan Agustin, deceased, Maria Barbara, deceased, and Juan Manuel,
deceased.
Declare that I was married a third time to Maria Ana
Trujillo, and we had two children, Bartolome Antonio and Felipe Neri, these
last ones as well as the former I declare as my legitimate heirs.
I declare that my first wife did not bring any dowry
to the matrimony, nor did the second wife. My third wife brought a red skirt,
already used, an old silk cape, an old box, which she still has and also a
blanket.
I declare as my possessions, 23 mares of different
ages, a stallion, five newly born colts, two little mules, six mules, four
horses, a burro, a one-year old burrito, twenty-three cows of different ages,
eight calves, six bulls, twenty-two oxen, three fattened, nine one-year old
calves, forty-three steers on shares, these and with the rest make eighty-six
as per written deed. I also have 460 ewes, twelve hogs and twenty-five goats.
Twenty-five buckskins, four pelts, four buffalo skins,
three pack saddles, three carts, harness, five spades, three axes, six large
hoes with short points, nine scythes, 27 serapes, a loom and two combs, three
pair of smooth with two old, two sets of lathes, four barrels, two he-goats and
two large ones, a branding iron, three benches, two tables, one large and the
other small, four stools, three corrals, three corn racks, a bedstead, a box,
two rifles, a gun, three revolvers, grain leather, two saddles with their
knapsacks, wooden stirrups, various cushions, two pairs of spurs, one of them
with silver buckles, three bridles, four hats with ribbon bands, used capes,
ten pairs of trousers, one pair chamois skin, a sash, a pair of garters, a pair
of woolen stockings, a silver cigar cane, a small amount of wool, eight flasks
- two them I loaned to Toribio and three bottles.
I declare to have a house of ten rooms, another of six
rooms, and my dwelling house of ten rooms and one room outside; an orchard of
200 trees, small and large; two ranches, 124 varas and the other of 400 varas.
I have purchased in the meadow below here from Antonio Mestas, 450 varas of
land.
I declare to have loaned 162 pesos in cash and I have
in the bottom of my trunk 300 pesos in silver.
I declare to have given to my three daughters by my
second marriage, 119 trees which must be divided in equal parts, among the
three sisters. Moreover, to my daughter Maria Manuela, I have given a skirt,
another serge skirt, a sash, a silk stockings, a silk handkerchief, a box from
Michoacan, four mares, a colt, four cows, a calf, a yoke of oxen, a mule, a
horse, twenty-five jugs, a saw, a house of three rooms and 80 varas of land,
this I have delivered to her at the said time and I pledged myself to give the
other two the equivalent in money, corresponding to them. As guardian for the
estate, and in good conscience, I realize I have given them more than their
share.
I declare to have given my children, of my third
marriage, to each one in particular, my weapons, saddles, except my gun and all
my wearing apparel, and a young colt to each of them, the orchard with its 61
trees on the north side.
I declare to leave to my wife a six-room house. I
leave her all the house furnishings, also some trees adjoining the house, on
the north side consisting of 19 trees, which she planted herself. Also, 60
varas of land on the north side; bounded on the north by lands of Juan Ignacio
Martin to half the land and from there down, with lands of Maria Antonia
Martin; south with my lands. Also six cows, two yokes of oxen, a mare, a cart,
25 sheep and ten goats.
I declare that I owe no one anything.
I name as my administrators first my brother,
Policarpio Sisneros and second Meregildo Sisneros.
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