Sombrerete and other questions RE: readingdocuments

Natalie,

I am not researching the Sombrete area however in response to your questions perhaps I can help a little.

The title of the film you are reviewing tells me it is of baptismal records of the church of San Pantaleon. It is possible the film contains entries from other smaller out lying churches under San Pantaleon. I have found similar instances where the same person is recorded in two locations within the same parish. I can only surmise the smaller church records were systematically transcribed into the main parish records. This would centralize information making the periodic inspection of records conducted by the church simpler, meaning the Bishop did not have to visit every little church on his visitation trips.

The variation in wording within the records is not unusual for records of those times. Many parishes had other persons (aside from the priests) who could write and you'll find they all shared in the actual recording process, however all entries were signed off by the one authorized to do so. This is noticeable by the differences in the hand writing and names at the end from one record to the next. Not only did the quality of writing vary from good to atrocious, but the required wording for each record could vary from scribe to scribe.

The phrase, "Nacio en la Noria", tells me there was a community or a rancho or some locale within the church parish named, La Noria, where the child was born. "Nacio en este Mineral", is a little nebulous as the word "Mineral" could refer to "this mining area" or "an area of mineral deposits". The child was born within the area of parish responsibility, without a specific name but within the mineral area. Hope this makes some sense to you.

The terms "Don" (male) and Dona (female)" came over from Spain where people of position, wealth, etc, were addressed as Don or Dona as a matter of respect. The tradition continued in Mexico and even into the US in the early part of the 20th century. However, you use the Don/Dona only with the persons first name or first and surname, but never with the surname only. Seems it is considered a sign of contempt and disrespect if you do.

Please do not accept my interpretations as the gospel. Circumstances were so variable back in those days we can only make a guess as to the certainty of what happened.

Ray
Sammamish, WA