AGUASCALIENTES: Juan Garcia de Santa Ana, Juan Lopez de Lizaldi, Pedro Fernandez de Vaulus, Martin Navarro & others.

Hola prim@s,

This is the denuncia contra Juan Garcia de Santa Ana, vecino de Aguascalientes, por sospechoso de Judio. It’s dated 15 Nov 1604. The official in charge was Simon de Vargas Machuca, Teniente de Alguacil Mayor de la Villa de Aguascalientes.

Juan Garcia de Santa Ana was born in Sevilla, son of Juan Garcia de la Oliba and Luisa de los Angeles, and married to Francisca de Castro, daughter of Pedro de Castro & Juana Jimenez. He had been living in Aguascalientes some 8 years (1596) and previously, 4 years in Teocaltiche (1592-1596), where he had been punished for blasphemy, by Padre Cristobal Macias. According to this denuncia, in addition to the accusations, which I won’t get into, Garcia was related to known “New Christians” (a merchant named “Baeza,” is mentioned), and his grandmother was burned at the stake.

This is just a denuncia, and doesn’t include the trial nor outcome, but in case you are curious, Juan Garcia de Santa Ana remitted his testamento on 11 Aug 1607, so he survived this ordeal. What’s notable in this denuncia, are the witnesses: statements are given by Juan Lopez de Lizaldi (img190) Juan Navarro (img191), Pero Fernandes de Valdus el Moso (img193) and Martin Navarro el Biejo (img196). Unfortunately, their ages nor signatures are given. Other witnesses present or mentioned were: Francisco Banegas, Geronimo Lopez, Gaspar de Vargas, Martin Navarro el Moso (grandson of el Viejo), Lope Ruis de Esparça, Pero Ruis de Esparça, Xpoval Loçano. Pedro Gonzalez y su muger Maria de Frias.

Wow. Right? Unfortunately, there is no other genealogical information about any of these people, other than that given, but at least we can place them in Aguascalientes by 1604, and some of them in Teocaltiche, previous to that. Here are some things that I did pick out:

Pedro Fernandez de Valdus (Vaulus) was married to Maria de Gabai, and had known Garcia for some 10 years, placing Fernandez in the Teocaltiche area since 1594. I have more on him, which I will post in another thread. What caught my attention, was that he is called “el Moso,” implying that there was a “Viejo,” who was still alive and also lived in the area, or else there would be no need to identify him as “the younger,” right? How much do you wanna bet that the Elder was the same Pedro Hernandez who arrived with Viceroy Gaston de Peralta in 1566, whose mother was Juana de Siordia? That would give us the source of the Siordia surname, used by Fernandez de Vaulus’ descendants in Los Altos, and the timeline would hold: el Moso would’ve been born in Mexico in the 1570s, which is why he never holds any public office, like alcalde ordinario, alguacil mayor or juez, which were all reserved for peninsulares during that era. I’ll write more about him in another thread.

Lope Ruiz de Esparza was his brother-in-law, married to Ana de Gabai; why can’t I help but think, that the witness called Martin Navarro el Biejo, is their suegro, and husband of Petronila de Moctezuma? He gives his testimony, “estante en la Estancia de Chapultepeque, jurisdiccion de Aguascalientes” - could this have been their estancia? Named for the bosque in DF???!! How cool would that be!!! If he is Martin de Gabai, then Martin Navarro el Moso, who is listed as his grandson, is probably son of Cristobal Navarro. I wonder if and how witness Juan Navarro is related to them? He had known Garcia for about 20 years, so he’s early Teocaltiche. Or am I completely off-track? Anybody?

I’ve been accumulating a lot of information on early settlers in Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, and in Villa de Lagos, which I’ll be posting here, as soon as I compile my notes. Happy 2019, primas y primos mios! And have a great year, connecting us to our ancestors, and learning and sharing their names and their stories!
Manny Diez Hermosillo