Rancho del Muerto-12 Feb 2006 Posting Revisited

I was reviewing a 12 Feb 2006 posting regarding Santos Luna's question of the whereabouts of Rancho del Muerto. I did not read it then and apologize for this late response. I ran across what I believe is probably the same rancho referred to as simply "el Muerto" in the margin of a Tepechitlan baptismal manuscript dated 11 Aug 1776. That year Josepha Dominga Luna Miramontes was baptized. The parents were Antonio Miramontes and Victoria de Luna.

I can't answer the question of where this rancho is located but the reason I researched this name may be of interest to Santos since he is a Luna and may be related to Victoria. Years ago I ran across the Miramontes name in Monterey County historical accounts in a city library in Salinas, California. This Miramontes family came to Monterey, California in the late 1700's in a vessel named the "Concepcion" that sailed from San Blas, Nayarit. The passenger list named Josef Vicente Moxica and wife Victoria de Luna with Miramontes children named Jose Maximo, Jose Candelario, Maria Josefa, Maria Eustaquia and Polonia. Jose Candelario Miramontes figured in San Francisco city's early history and eventually was granted land in what is now Half Moon Bay. His father Antonio Miramontes does not appear in the passenger list but is listed as Victoria's husband in their descendant's family history geneology . A relative of this family contacted me some time back and told me she was a widow when she arrived and had remarried.

This information spurred me to see if this family tied into my own. I have not found a direct connection however I did find that Antonio Miramontes and Victoria de Luna had given birth to Josepha in "el Muerto" and as mentioned previously she was baptized in Tepechitlan. Candelario was baptized 22 Feb 1785 in Santa Maria de Mecatabasco, Villa del Refugio, Zacatecas, Josef Maximo was baptized 17 Feb 1780 and Joseph Gregorio was also baptized in 20 March 1779 in Santa Maria de Mecatabasco, Villa del Refugio.