Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families
A website maintained by José Antonio Esquibel
Home Page ½ Current Projects ½ El Camino Real
"Between Dream and Reality" ½ "The People of El Camino Real"
Outline of
"The People of the Camino Real"
by José Antonio Esquibel
In The Royal Road: El Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe, University of New Mexico Press, 1998
Here is the story of the different waves of Spanish colonization, including a listing of family names found in the lineages of people with Hispano roots in New Mexico. This is the first clear accounting of when particular families arrived in New Mexico via El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro during the Spanish colonial era (1598-1821). You can read an
A brief story of the man for whom the Fra Cristóbal Mountains in south central New Mexico were named. It is not generally remembered that Fray Cristóbal de Salazar, a prominent Franciscan friar of Oñate's colony was also the cousin of don Juan de Oñate.
So little is mentioned of the women of Oñate's colony, perhaps because there deed were not recorded as well as those of there husbands. Pasquala Bernal, wife of Juan Griego, left a lasting legacy in contributing her family name to the site that became the town of Bernalillo.
The Domínguez de Mendoza family had accomplished so much for themselves in the brief four decades between their arrival in New Mexico and the Pueblo Indian Revolt of August 1680. This is a brief story of how this family's prosperity was severely affected by the revolt. Although this family did not return to New Mexico with Governor Vargas in 1692-93, the former estancia of Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza became a settlement that has carried his name for over three hundred years.
This is a brief story of two individuals, one a native of New Mexico and the other a native of France, who survived dangerous, life threatening events and were destined to be united in New Mexico. Gurulé was one of less than a handful of survivors of the ill-fated and tragic expedition of La Salle to found a French outpost at the mouth of the Mississippi River. From loyal follower to deserter, then captive of the Spanish and a prisoner in Cadiz, Spain, Gurulé eventually managed to make his way back to the New World and found himself as a member of a colonizing expedition to New Mexico.
New Mexico's best known colonial poet, Miguel de Quintana, was a native of Mexico City born in 1677. He was one of the first settlers of Santa Cruz where he and his wife raised a large family. His spiritual poetry has been preserved among the record of the Inquisition in Mexico. An sample of his work is transcribed and translated appears in the book.
Here is the story of New Mexico's "First Lady", doña Eufemia, wife of Lieutenant Adelantado don Francisco de Sosa Peñalosa. Fragments of information from various sources were pieced together to present her story, one of the few for any woman of Oñate's expedition and colony.
Home Page ½ Current Projects ½ El Camino Real
"Between Dream and Reality" ½ "The People of El Camino Real"