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The Jewish-converso Ancestry of Doña Beatriz de Estrada,
Wife of Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
José Antonio Esquibel
Copyright ã 1997 by José Antonio Esquibel
Continued from:
2. Uncovering the Jewish-Converso Lineage of the Gutiérrez de la Caballería Family
3. Gonzalo Gutiérrez and Catalina Gutiérrez: Third-Great-Grandparents of Doña Beatriz de Estrada
4. Men Gutiérrez and Catalina Gutiérrez: Second-Great-Grandparents of Doña Beatriz de Estrada
7. Footnotes
Special thanks to Dr. Stanley M. Hordes, scholar on the history of crypto-Jews in the New World, for guiding me in the direction of the transcriptions of the trials of the Inquisition of Ciudad Real.
1. Stanley M. Hordes, "The Sephardic Legacy in New Mexico: A History of Crypto-Jews," in Journal of the West, October 1996; Emma Moya, "New Mexico’s Sephardim: Uncovering Jewish Roots," in La Herencia del Norte: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future, Vol. XII, Winter 1996: 9-13 (this article can be accessed on the Internet at www.herencia.com); R. Bruce Harley, Ph.D., "Did Spanish Jews Migrate to Aguas Mansas?," in Genealogical Journal: Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research, Vol. I, 1994: 5-7; Tómas Atencio and Stanley Hordes; A Prospectus: New Mexico Sephardic Legacy, Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1987; Tómas Atencio, "Crypto-Jewish Remnants in Manito Society and Culture," unpublished paper presented at the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 15-16, 1996; José Antonio Esquibel, "The Jewish-Converso ancestry of Don Juan de Oñate," unpublished paper presented at the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 15-16, 1996; José Antonio Esquibel, "New Light on the Jewish-converso Ancestry of Don Juan de Oñate: A Research Note," in Colonial Latin American Historical Review, 7:2 (Spring 1998): 175-190. Richard L. Luna, Terecita (a play about an Hispano woman living as a crypto-Jew in the early territorial period of New Mexico’s history), El Napeste Publishing Company (551 Rosemont Dr., Colorado Springs, CO, 80911), 1995; "Expulsion and Memory: Descendants of Hidden Jews" (a documentary film shot on location in New Mexico and elsewhere around the world) as described in David Steinberg’s article "Secrets and Lies: Art, Cultural Activities Throw Light on hidden Jewish Heritage of Many Hispanics," Albuquerque Journal, Sunday, March 2, 1997, Section D; Cary Herz, "The Sephardic Legacy of the Southwest: Crypto Jewish Burial Sites," photographic exhibition May 11-19, 1996, New Mexico State Fairgrounds, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Frances Hernández, "The Secret Legacy of Christopher Columbus in the Southwest," in Password, Vol. 35: 57-70, 1991, El Paso County Historical Society, El Paso Texas; Tomás Atencio, Stanley M. Hordes, Rowena A. Rivera, Eti Mares and Alvin Cort, "Sephardim in New Mexico: Columbus’ Hidden Legacy" [video recording], papers presented at a seminar at the University of New Mexico (available at Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico).
2. Curiously, people with Hispano roots in New Mexico are more likely to first encounter Native American, African, and Basque roots before encountering any possible Jewish-Converso roots, yet very little historical and genealogical attention has been given to these groups. If any reader has evidence for a proven line of descent from a known Jewish-Converso family into colonial New Mexico (1598-1821), please write to the address of this publication. Address your letter to José Antonio Esquibel, and it will be forwarded.
3. Another example is the maternal ancestry of don Juan de Oñate which has been traced to three Jewish-converso families of the city of Burgos in Spain, the Martínez de Lerma, the Maluenda, and the Ha-Levi. José Antonio Esquibel, "New Light on the Jewish-converso Ancestry of Don Juan de Oñate: A Research Note," in Colonial Latin American Historical Review, 7:2 (Spring 1998): 175-190; and Donald T. Garate, "Juan de Oñate's Prueba de Caballero, 1625: A look at His Ancestral Heritage," in Colonial Latin American Historical Review, 7:2 (Spring 1998): 129-174.
4. Guillermo Porras Muñoz, El gobierno de la Ciudad de México en el siglo XVI, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1982: 268-271; Francisco A. de Icaza, Diccionario autobiographico de conquistadores y pobladores de Nueva España, Madrid, 1923, Tomo I: 219-220; Salvador de Madriaga, Hernán Cortés: Conquerer of Mexico, New York, 1991: 462.
5. Robert Himmerich y Valencia, The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521-1555, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1991: 68-71.
6. Porras Muñoz, El gobierno: 466-468.
7. Porras Muñoz, El gobierno: 413-14.
8. Porras Muñoz, El gobierno: 235. For individuals who are descendants of Captain don Alonso de Sosa Albornoz (b.ca. 1550), it is important to correct the erroneous lineage which has previously linked the Sosa Albornoz family with the Sosa Cabrera-Estrada family. Captain don Alonso de Sosa Albornoz had sold his estate to participate in the expedition to New Mexico organized under the leadership of don Juan de Oñate. Sosa Albornoz came to New Mexico in 1598 with his second wife and four children from his first marriage and a young child from his second. In the passing years, he became discontent with New Mexico and requested permission from Oñate to return to his former estate. Soon after, Sosa Albornoz was murdered in early 1601, apparently by Oñate’s order; a crime for which Oñate and several of his captains were later convicted. The widow of Sosa Albornoz, doña Beatriz Navarro y Rodríguez Castaño de Sosa, married Canary Island native Alférez Bernabé de las Casas, one of the soldiers who survived the attack at Acoma Pueblo in early 1599. De las Casas, his wife and stepchildren, were among the group of soldiers and colonists who deserted from the New Mexico colony in October 1601. This couple settled in the region of Monterrey in Nuevo León.
The eldest son of don Alonso de Sosa Albornoz, Andrés de Tapia y Sosa, settled in Mexico City. In 1635, Tapia y Sosa presented information on his merits and services from his experience with the Oñate expedition and the early colony at San Gabriel. In his testimony he gave his lineage as follows:
See: José Antonio Esquibel, "The Paternal Ancestry of Don Alonso de Estrada, Tesorero y Gobernador de Nueva España, and the Revised Genealogy of the Sosa Albornoz Family," in Genealogical Journal: Society for Hispanic Historical Ancestral Research, Vol. IV, 1998: 1-22; and "Relaciones de los meritos y servicios de Andrés de Sosa y Tapia, 1635/1651’ and ‘Realciones de meritos de Antonio de Tapia y Sosa, 30 Enero 1667, Mexico City’ in J. Ignacio Rubio Mañe, "El Conquistador Andrés de Tapia y su familia," Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, tomo v, num. 3, 1964: 564, 588-89.
9. "Catálogo de pobladores de Nueva España: registro de informes de la Real Audiencia ultimo tercero del siglo XVI - principios del siglo XVII," arreglo, introducción e indices por Edmundo O’Gorman, in Boletín del Archivo de la Nación, México, Tomo XIII, 1942: 123-124.
10. Ernie Jaskolski, "The Francisco Vasquez Coronado Connection to New Mexico Descendants," New Mexico Genealogist, Vol. 34, No. 3, September 1995: 88-90; Ernie Jaskolski, "Francisco Vasquez Coronado Descendants, Post Script," New Mexico Genealogist, Vol. 34, No. 4, December 1995: 137; and Donald L. Lucero, The Adobe Kingdom: New Mexico 1598-1958 as Experienced by the Families Lucero de Godoy y Baca, El Escritorio Press, Pueblo, Co., 1995.
11. Porras Muñoz, El gobierno: 268-271.
12. Noberto de Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada," in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1011-1026.
13. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, introducción y notas por Juaquín Ramírez Cabañas, Ed. Pedro Robredo, México, D.F., 1939, Tomo III, capitulo CXCIV: 125.
14. According to testimony of several people, particularly those residents of Ciudad Real who were in their seventies, and by descendants of the Estrada family, don Alonso de Estrada, Tesorero de Nueva España, was the son of Juan Hernández Hidalgo by his first wife, whose name was not remembered. Don Alonso’s paternal grandparents were Diego Hernández Hidalgo, (resident of Ciudad Real around the first half of the 1400s) and María González de Estrada (sister of the Diego Sánchez de Estrada, Pastor of the Church of Santiago, Ciudad Real). Many of the witnesses were also familiar with the Estrada family becasue the two oldest sons of don Alonso de Estrada and doña Marina Flores Gutiérrez de la Caballería had remained in Ciudad Real. The eldest, don Luis Alfonso de Estrada, inherited his father’s property at Ciudad Real and acquired the title of Señor de Picón. The second son, don Juan Alfonso de Estrada, was a religious of the order of Predicadores, a man of letters who died in Ciudad Real. Not a single witness mentioned anything about don Alonso de Estrada being an illegitimate son of Rey don Fernando II. One witness produced an extensive genealogy of the Hernández Hidalgo-Estrada family. See: Noberto de Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada," in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1011-1026; and Esquibel, "The Paternal Ancestry of Don Alonso de Estrada, Tesorero y Gobernador de Nueva España, and the Revised Genealogy of the Sosa Albornoz Family," in Genealogical Journal: Society for Hispanic Historical Ancestral Research, Vol. IV, 1998: 1-22.
15. Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada," in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1017 n. 6.
16. Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada", in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1017. In spite of having a known Jewish-converso lineage, don Jorge de Alvarado y Villafaña was inducted into the Orden de Santiago in 1587. Leopoldo Martínez Cosio, Los caballeros de los ordenas militares en México: catálogo, biográfico y genealógico, Editorial Santiago, México, 1946: 40.
17. María del Pilar Menchero Márquez, "Judios y Conversos de Almagro a Fines de la Edad Media: La población judeo-converso a través de los procesos inquisitoriales," in Historia de Almagro, Ponencia de las III, IV, V y VI Semanas de Historia, Universidad Popular de Almagro, 1993: 141.
18. Ibid.: 141.
19. Haim Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, The Academy of Science and Humanities, Jerusalem, 1985, Vol. IV: 467.
20. Menchero Márquez, "Judios y Conversos de Almagro a Fines de la Edad Media," in Historia de Almagro: 131-138.
21. Ibid.: 139.
22. Ibid.: 139.
23. Ibid.: 139.
24. Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, Vol. IV: 467.
25. Men Gutiérrez and his wife were defended by a man named Juan Gómez who provided this information in his written defense to the Inquisition court: "e siendo tan rico como era el dicho Men Gutierrez e teniendo tantos criados que le trayan de comer" and "e ser persona de onrra, todos los días andavan de contino vestidos de buenas ropas finas y limpias." Menchero Márquez, "Judios y Conversos de Almagro a Fines de la Edad Media," in Historia de Almagro: 141.
26. Ibid.: 146.
27. Ibid.: 147.
28. Ibid.: 148.
29. Ibid.: 153.
30. Ibid.: 150-151.
31. Ibid.: 158.
32. Ibid.: 159.
33. Ibid.: 156.
34. Ibid.: 156.
35. Ibid.: 141, 156.
36. Ibid.: 141.
37. Ibid.: 159.
38. Ibid.: 158.
39. Beinhart, Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, Vol IV: 475.
40. Ibid.: 62; Menchero Márquez, "Judios y Conversos de Almagro a Fines de la Edad Media," in Historia de Almagro: 153, 159.
41. Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada," in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1017 n. 6.
42. Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, Vol. IV: 440.
43. Pedro Franco, the elder and his wife Constanza de Bonilla, were burnt in effigy, 1484. Also, these seven Franco siblings: García Franco, burnt in effigy; Luis Franco; Fernando Franco, Lope Franco and Teresa Gonález Franco each reconciled with the Church; Pedro Franco, burnt at the stake; and María Franco. See: Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, Vol. I: 344, 355-356.
44. Castro y Tosi, "Verdadero Paternidad de Alonso de Estrada," in Revista de Indias, 8(1948), Nos. 33-34: 1017-1018 n. 6.
45. Ibid.
46. Beinhart, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1484-1485, Vol. I. Many of the Jewish-Converso families tried by the Spanish Inquisition of Ciudad Real had patronymic surnames such as Díaz, Gómez, González, Gutiérrez, and López. These surnames were also used by a great many Christian families and had been used on the Iberian Peninsula since before the Arab invasion of 711 AD. After the invasion, these patronymic surnames were most commonly found among the people of the Christian states of Galicia, Asturias, and the Basque Provinces. As the Spanish forces reconquered more and more territory from the Arabs, the Jewish population often remained, and increased in time with migration from one part of the Iberian peninsula to the other. In time, some of the Jewish citizens of the "Spanish" realms adopted these patronymic surnames. Many Jewish families changed their original surnames to more "acceptable" Christian surnames.
