When he expelled the Jews in 1492 and the Moors in 1502, he exiled much of his educated class including his bankers and progressive farmers. Members of the nobility did not rush to fill the void, although men who entered trade in the far north were less likely to be denounced as conversos or convertos.
In Nuevo México, the men who developed the wool trade had ties either to the Protestants of France or to recent immigrants from the north of Spain. Santiago de Roybal, mentioned in the post for 9 March 2016 as the man most interested in opening trade through Pierre Mallet in 1740, was the son of an immigrant from Caldas de Reyes in Galicia near Compostela who enlisted with Diego de Vargas.
His father, Ignacio Roybal, had married Francisca Gómez Robledo. Her uncle, Francisco Gómez Robledo, was the encomendero and trader tried as a Jewish converso in the 1660s. One of their daughters married Jean l’Archevêque and another married his son, Miguel. As mentioned in the post for 7 July 2015, Jean was descended from Huguenots.
Jean groomed his son to be a trader. It’s likely the young man continued the business after his father died in 1720. When Miguel died, his widow, María, married a Cantabrian-born merchant. José de Reaño de Tagle’s parents were José de Reaño and Teresa de Tagle Bustamante.
When he died in 1743, Reaño’s inventory of trade goods included 90 fanegas of piñon, 300 buckskins, dressed buffalo hides, Navajo baskets, Mexican pack saddles, and bundles of carpet. He left 1,300 wethers and 1,000 pregnant ewes worth 4,300 pesos. His ranch was south of Santa Fé, but he also owned a league of pasture land in the Piedra Lumbre where he built corrals and a wooden shelter.
His employees included a foreman, Antonio de Sandoval, who had claim to some wethers, a mulato slave from México named Pedro, and "7 little Indian herders." Gerónimo Martín owed him fifty pesos "which he agreed to give the year of ‘forty’ 200 lambs with the assurance of herding them at his expense until the year forty-three."
Reaño had been using his livestock as venture capital since at least 1739, when he gave 600 ewes to Francisco Sáez on the understanding he would be given back 114 lambs every year for five years. He probably expected Sáez to graze them on his land at Piedra Lumbre, or perhaps farther south at Ojo Caliente.
The partidario was the son of Augustín Sáez of Parral and Antonia Márquez. His mother’s stepfather was Diego Arias de Quirós, a soldier from Asturias who enlisted with de Vargas. In 1714, while Francisco was still a child, he married María Gómez de Robledo. She was the great-aunt of Reaño’s wife through her mother, Francisca Gómez Robledo.
Another of Francisca’s sisters, Margarita, married Jacinto Peláez. Like Ignacio de Roybal, he came as a soldier with de Vargas. After the native of Asturias was granted land at Jacona, east of San Ildefonso, Ignacio requested the adjoining tract. Margarita’s daughter, María, was raised by Francisca and Ignacio. It was her daughter, María Francisca Fernández de la Pedrerea, who married the member of Mallet’s party who stayed in Santa Fé, Juan Bautista Alarí. Her father had come from Galicia.
Francisca’s third sister, Lucía, married a man from Ciudad de México. Their son, Felipe, married his second cousin, who was the sister of the woman who married Alarí. He died young, and Santiago took over rearing their son, Blas. In 1753, he donated a flour mill located on the river above the city to him.
The web of relationships built on kinship, shared cultural backgrounds, and military experience brought Santiago and his family into contact with the governors. In 1740, Gaspar de Mendoza let Pierre Mallet leave the kingdom. In 1744, Joaquín Codallos lifted the embargo on wool exports and intervened to protect the estate of Santiago’s sister María when Reaño died.
He returned the favors in 1745 when Mendoza’s fourteen-year-old daughter married Codallos. As the only secular clergyman in the kingdom, Santiago was able to shield the politicians from scrutiny by the Franciscans by performing the marriage himself.
| Gómez de Robledo Family | |||||
| Francisco Gómez de Robledo | |||||
| Francisco Gómez de Robledo, tried by Inquisition | |||||
| Antonio Gómez de Robledo - [Juana Luján] | |||||
| Andrés Gómez de Robledo | |||||
| Margarita Gómez de Robledo marry Jacinto Peláez (Asturias) | |||||
| María Peláez marry Juan Fernández de la Pedrera (Galicia) | |||||
| Francisca Fernández de la Pedrera marry Juan Bautista Alarí (Québec) | |||||
| Teresa Fernández de la Pedrera marry son of Lucía Gómez Robledo | |||||
| María Gómez de Robledo marry Diego Arias de Quirós (Asturias) | |||||
| Stepdaugher Antonia Márquez marry Augustín Sáez | |||||
| Francisco Sáez contract with José de Reaño de Tagle | |||||
| Francesca Gómez de Robledo marry Ignacio de Roybal (Galicia) | |||||
| Manuela Roybal marry Jean l’Archevêque (France) | |||||
| María Roybal marry Miguel l’Archevêque | |||||
| Marry José de Reaño de Tagle (Cantabria) | |||||
| Santiago de Roybal | |||||
| Lucía Gómez Robledo marry Miguel de Dios Sandoval Martínez | |||||
| Felipe de Dios Sandoval Martínez marry Teresa Fernández de la Pedrera | |||||
| Blas Felipe de Sandoval Fernández de la Pedrera | |||||
Notes: Most of the details on the growth of the wool industry came from Baxter; most about the families came from Chávez. Francisco Gómez Robledo was discussed in 2014 posts for March 22, March 23 and March 24. A friar, Francisco de la Concepción González, in fact did try to prevent the Mendoza-Codallos wedding, according to Norris.
Baxter, John O. Las Carneradas, 1987.
Chávez, Angélico. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.
Center for Land Grant Studies. "The Piedra Lumbre Grant," available online.
Christmas, Henrietta Martinez. 1598 New Mexico, blog.
Codallos y Rabal, Joachin. Estate proceedings, José Reaño, 17 April 1744, Santa Fé; translated by Christmas, entry for 23 April 2014.
Hendricks, Rick. "Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza," Office of State Historian New Mexico History website.
Norris, Jim. After "The Year Eighty," 2000.
Reaño de Tagle, José de. Will and inventory, 1743, in Twitchell.
_____. Will and inventory, 1743; published by Christmas, entry for 21 April 2014.
Twitchell, Ralph Emerson Twitchell. Spanish Archives of New Mexico, volume 1, 1914; on flour mill.
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