Chronicles of Leonor: His Family

The physical problems that led Españoles to seek help from San Juan were ones beyond the ability of conventional medicine to handle.

Blindness was a pervasive problem, sometimes caused by aging, sometimes by accidents, sometimes from birth, and sometimes as a consequence of small pox or syphilis. Not only was Felipe Moraga having problems, but Cristóbal Martín, the husband of Antonia de Moraga, was losing his sight when he was in his late 40s. Cristóbal’s second cousin, Francisco Martín was already blind.

Three of the colonists recruited in Mexico City had lost the sight of one eye: Juana de Ávalos,

Francisco de Porras, and Diego Márquez de Ayala. She was 30 years old in 1693, the men were 40 and 19. The interpreter who accompanied Diego de Vargas to Santa Fé, Augustín de Salazar, also was blind.

The perceived cause of Felipe Moraga’s blindness was witchcraft done by Cristóbal el Caxa at the behest of Morgana’s wife, Catarina Varela.

The nature of the illnesses of the two women cured by Juan is never mentioned. The perceived cause is witchcraft done by Michaela when the two visited the pueblo.

Leonor Domínguez suffered some kind of convulsion in church, followed by physical collapse. She remembered someone had touched her back. She came to think she had been bewitched by contact with Catarina Rosa.

Antonia Luján said Francisca Caza offered her a potion made from powder stored in a shell. After she refused, she began to feel "grave pains." Antonia came to believe she had been bewitched.

Once Spaniards recognized witchcraft as the source for their medical problems, they all followed the solution used by the friars treating Charles II. They looked for a more powerful demon to overcome the work of the previous demon.

Leonor Domínguez was the exception. She was unhappy over rumors her husband was unfaithful. She tried to express her concerns in the available languages of witchcraft and of the new civil order. To the second, she called it a matter of "criminal intimacy," implying it was the kind that could threaten the welfare of the settlement.

She said she didn’t know if the women she accused were sorcerers. She probably came to that conclusion after listening to her in-laws. Everyone mentioned in the surviving records who sought help at San Juan was related to her husband.

Antonia de Moraga was married to her husband’s great-uncle, Cristóbal Martín. Her relationship with Felipe Morgana isn’t mentioned by Angélico Chávez, but the name was only introduced once into the colony.

The immigrant ancestor, Diego Morgana, was married to Juana Bernal, the sister of Isabel Bernal. Isabel was the great-grandmother of her friend, Ana María de la Concepción Bernal.

Antonia Luján was a cousin of Leonor’s husband.

The details in Leonor’s depositions probably came from family gossip. She thought Ana María was at San Juan with María and Augustina. Instead, she was probably the one who told her about it.

The language of witchcraft wasn’t natural to her. Like Augustina Romero, her family roots lay elsewhere. She had to learn about witchcraft from the Bernals and Martín Serranos.

Family Relationships:
Sons of Hernán Martín Serrano who lived in La Cañada before the Revolt

Hernán Martín Serrano II - María Montaño

    Cristóbal Martín - Antonia de Moraga

       María Martín - Manuel Antonio Domínguez

       Simón Martín - Petrona Domínguez

Luis Martín Serrano - Catalina de Salazar

    Pedro Martín Serrano de Salazar - Juana de Argüello

       Miguel Martín - Leonor Domínguez

       Sebastían Martín - María Luján

       Francisco Martín - Casilda Contreras

       Juana Martín - Felipe Arratia

    María Martín - Antonio Luján

       Antonia Luján - Mateo de Ortega

    Domingo Martín Serrano - Josefa de Herrera

       Matías Martín - Josefa Luján Domínguez

    Antonio Martín Serrano - Gertrudis Fresqui

Descendants of Juan Griego and Pascuala Bernal who lived in La Cañada before the Revolt

Juana Bernal - Diego de Morgana

?   Antonia de Morgana - Cristóbal Martín

     Place of Felipe Morgana unknown

Isabel Bernal and Sebastían González

     Juan González Bernal - Apolonia

       At least two sons, two daughters

          Ana María de la Concepción Bernal - Luis López

Descendants of Domingo López de Ocanto and Juana de Mondragón, who lived in Santa Fé before the Revolt; both of Augustina’s husbands were from Mexico.

María López de Ocanto-Salvador Romero

    Augustina Romero - Mateo Márquez 1702/Miguel Tenorio de Alba 1708

Notes: Caxa means lame. Caza means hunt.

Chávez, Angélico. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.

Enbright, Malcolm and Rick Hendricks. The Witches of Abiquiu, 2006; discusses Antonia Luján.

Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. Spanish Archives of New Mexico: Compiled and Chronologically Arranged, volume 2, 1914.

Velázquez de la Cadena, Pedro. List of families going to New Mexico, 4 September 1693, reprinted in To the Royal Crown Restored, 1995, edited by John L Kessell, Rick Hendricks and Meredith Dodge.