Santa Cruz Population

The cannibalized remains of the Santa Cruz settlement suggest people had abandoned it. Those who lived nearby then scavenged materials for buildings. The diligencias matrimoniales performed by the church before a marriage hint at the chronology.

Among the families who returned to their lands in or near La Cañada, there were ten marriages from 1696 to 1699. Among the newer migrants, there were nine in those years. There were four marriages between the groups, with three between widows and widowers.

The records are sparse between 1700 and 1706. Four couples from La Cañada married, but only one pair of colonists from México.

Beginning in 1707, the number of marriages is more normal, but the majority were older families: nine. Only one occurred among the newer colonists.

Not all the new migrants disappeared from the record. There were three first-time marriages between the two groups between 1700 and 1706. The three mixed weddings between 1707 and 1713 included two between widows and widowers.

During prenuptial investigations, church investigators asked for character references from several witnesses. The reports, published by Angélico Chávez, usually gave the person’s place of birth. These suggest more about the changes within the new migrant community.

In the first two years in Santa Cruz, the witnesses recruited by Cristóbal Velasco included nine from Mexico City, one from nearby Toluca, and two from Puebla. There were eight from Spain and one from Villa de Los Lagos. After those years, witnesses only came from Mexico City.

The colonists recruited in Zacatecas by Juan Páez Hurtado were settled in Santa Fé in 1695. By 1697, some may have moved to Santa Cruz to join those who came with Francisco Farfan. In 1696, the prenuptial witnesses came from the mining towns of Zacatecas (1), Salvatierra (1), Celaya (1), Patzcuaro (1) and Guanajuato (1). The next year, there were many more from Zacatecas (3) and Sombrerete (3). The other mining town witnesses were from Zamora (1) and Patzcuaro (1). After that, witnesses only come from Zacatecas and Sombrerete.

If there were no physical record for desertion of the villa, one would consider other explanations for the decline in marriages, and presumably population, around 1700. There may have been no priest in Santa Cruz or procedures for prenuptial investigations may have varied with some personnel change in Santa Fé.

The economy might have been bad and no one could afford the fees associated with marriage. The possibility of fees also suggests diligencias matrimoniales may only have been done by those with some resources, and that the number of those from México dwindled after 1699.

The records probably signify little about people who didn’t have the resources for church condoned marriages. Only two were recorded in Santa Cruz in these years among couples who might have had lower status.

In 1704 two people with unknown parents married: Diego de Gamboa and Ynez Herrera. In 1707, Pedro Atencio married an Indian, Isabel. He was the son of José de Atienza Sevilla, who came from Mexico City. She was the servant of Pedro’s older brother, Francisco.

Isabel was identified in her diligencia as an Aa. Chávez said that tribal name appears in the records, but is unknown by anthropologists. He concluded it might be related to the Wichita. Historians have associated the Wichita with the Jumano, a tribe that lived near Salinas. When it disintegrated, remnants merged into other bands.

Notes:
Chávez, Angélico. Chávez: A Distinctive American Clan of New Mexico, 1989; on Aa.

_____. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982; contains the diligencias matrimoniales.

_____. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.

Kessell, John L., Rick Hendricks, and Meredith Dodge. To the Royal Crown Restored, 1995.