Entrepreneurs in the South

Jean l’Archevêque was with another Frenchman when he was ransomed by the Spanish in 1688. Jacques Grollet had been born in the Huguenot port of La Rochelle. Little is known about his family. Stanley Hordes said his particular neighborhood was one where conversos settled in the 1500s. Grollet described himself as an "experienced sailor," and indeed sailed on a fishing voyage with the Saint Jacques in 1682. Two years later he was with La Salle when his flotilla embarked from La Rochelle.

There’s no reason to believe Grollet and Archevêque were close before La Salle was murdered. Grollet had deserted earlier to live with the Tejas and Cenis tribes, but rejoined the survivors after La Salle died. Later he and Archevêque abandoned the group to live with the Hasinai.

When they heard Spaniards were in the area, the two sent a message asking to be rescued. They then spent years in jail together in México and Spain. When the men finally were released to Nuevo México, the one stayed in Santa Fé while the other moved to the Río Abajo.

Grollet married Elena Gallegos in 1699. Her brother’s daughter married Felipe Silva in 1722. He was the man who first was reported selling wool in 1734 to the commander of the presidio at Jano in Sonora in the post for 6 March 2016.

Elena’s cousin, Josefa Baca, never married, but had several sons. In 1745, Manuel Sáenz de Garvisu financed a partido contract with Capitán José Baca. This son of Josefa Baca received 417 young sheep, and committed to deliver 160 lambs and 150 fleeces each year for three years.

Sáenz was from Navarre and serving in the presidio under Gaspar de Mendoza. He probably met the Bacas through his wife’s uncle. Diego Lucero was married to Margarita Baca, who was the first cousin of Josepha and Elena. A year after his contract with José, Sáenz had enough money to buy property in Santa Fé from Maria Gómez de Robledo.

As the market for fleeces developed, the use of partido spread, and with it economic stratification. The business relationship had originated in Spain in the 1300s when it had been used as a way to pay shepherds. John Baxter said, it was in México that it became "a way of lending capital at interest."

The older usage survived in the north. When Lugarda de Quintana died in Santa Cruz in 1750, she had just inherited 110 sheep from her father who died the year before. She had some sons still at home, but her husband was "absent and I do not know where." All the children without parents whose baptisms she sponsored were girls. She had animals, little available labor, and mentioned no grazing land.

She said she first traded some sheep for some cattle. She apparently loaned them out on unspecified terms. She only stipulated what she was owed. Some may have been studs sent out in return for payment in kind. Miguel Trujillo owed her two rams while Miguel Martín and Eusebio Durán each owed her one. Juan Esteban owed a three-year-old bull.

Except for the last, these men were relatives or men of substance. Trujillo’s sister was married to Lugarda’s husband brother, Hilario Archuleta, and he himself was wed to María Antonia Archuleta. If Durán were Eusebio Durán y Chaves, he was born in the Río Abajo and would marry Vibiana Martín Serrano in 1752 in Alameda.

Antonio Martín died in 1749, and his estate still owed her a lamb. An indio who worked for him, Gerónimo, owed 10 animals. Antonio’s and Miguels’s relationships to the Martíns weren’t clear to Angélico Chávez. That means no records survived or they were captives or meztisos given the Martín name or they were descended from one of the wayward branches.

Several of the other people who owed her livestock were indios like Gerónimo, or lived in a pueblo. She said the cacique owed her a yearling sheep and a goat. An Indian woman named Magdalena, who may have been the Apache baptized by Antonio Bernal in 1732, owed a goat. So did Juan, who was ransomed by Marcos Martín.

This sharing a few animals, either as studs or with poorer individuals, was very different than the economy in Santa Fé where Cristóbal Baca, a brother of Josefa, left more than 900 ewes when he died in 1739. When Ignacio de Roybal died in 1756 he left fewer animals - 350 sheep and goats - but they were "loaned at interest on partido for 30% of the wool, lambs and kids produced annually."

Even larger numbers of animals were available for loan down river. In 1760, Capitán Juan Vigil gave Ignacio Jaramillo 605 pregnant ewes. He was expected to make yearly payments of 130 wethers and fleeces. While Vigil’s return was greater than his investment, he agreed to share the costs of losses to native raids. Jaramillo’s incentive for managing the animals was he enjoyed the sales of 80% of their fleeces for four years and owned the flock outright after five years.

The drought years accelerated economic trends in the second and third generations after the Reconquest. At the top were families and military men who shared an entrepreneurial attitude with the rising merchant classes in La Rochelle, Bristol and London. Beneath them were men like Jaramillo who could use other men’s capital to create their own wealth. And beneath them were men like Francisco Sáez who didn’t pay his share because he had used some animals to pay existing debts and gambled away the others, or like the former captives who owed Quintana one or two animals.

Origins of Men Involved in Wool Trade, Río Abajo

Cristóbal Baca, son of Antonio, son of Cristóbal
	Manuel Baca
		Josepha Baca
			José Baca contract with Manuel Sáenz de Garvisu (Navarre)
			Antonio Baca
		María Magdalena Baca marry Jose Vásquez de Lara (México)
			María Vásquez Baca marry Diego de Padilla
		Cristóbal Baca
	Catalina Baca marry Antonio Gallegos
		Elena Gallegos marry Jacques Grollet (La Rochelle)
		Antonio Gallegos
			Juana Gallegos marry Felipe de Silva
			Felipe's sister Gertrudis marry Gerónimo Jaramillo
	Ignacio Baca
		Margarita Baca marry Diego Lucero

Notes: Most of the details on the growth of the wool industry came from Baxter; most about the families came from Chávez. Sáez was discussed in the post for 6 March 2016. Jaramillo probably was related to Gerónimo, who married a sister of Felipe Silva, or to Francisco Silva who married an aunt of Garvisu’s wife. Vigil may have been the son of Manuel Montes Vigil, a soldier in the presidio who died before Garvisu arrived.

Antonio Baca, another son of Josefa Baca, married Mónica de Chaves. Two of their sons later married daughters of Sáenz. Diego Padilla, also mentioned in the post for 6 March 2016, was Josefa’s nephew-in-law by her sister María Magdalena. Grollet’s captivity was mentioned in the post for 14 May 2105.

The two translations that exist for Quintana’s will differ in their understanding of her livestock. Lomelí translated the phrase "declaro tener ciento y diez cabezas de ganado menor que de unas reses que traje de herencia de mi padre" as "110 head of goats and cattle from my father’s inheritance." Christmas made it "110 head of sheep, for which I traded some cattle." "Ganado menor" was a generic term for small livestock that included both sheep and goats.

Baxter, John O. Las Carneradas, 1987.

_____. "The Ignacio De Roybal House," The Historic Santa Fe Foundation, Bulletin, January 1980; on his estate.

Chávez, Angélico. Chávez: A Distinctive American Clan of New Mexico, 1989.

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

Grollet, Jacques. Testimony, published on "La Salle: Building a French Empire in the New World," University of North Texas website.

Hendricks, Rick. "Wills from El Paso del Norte, 1754-1817," Nuestra Raíces 6:161-167:1994.

Hordes, Stanley M. To the End of the Earth, 2005.

Maldonado, Gilbert. Maldonado Journey to the Kingdom of New Mexico, 2014; on descendants of Catalina Baca.

Migrations.fr website. Département de La Rochelle, "Le St Jacques of La Rochelle Bound la Pêche à la Morique, 14 Mars 1682."

New Mexico Genealogical Society. New Mexico Baptisms, Santa Cruz de la Cañada Church, Volume I, 1710 to 1794, transcribed by Virginia Langham Olmstead and compiled by Margaret Leonard Windham and Evelyn Luján Baca, 1994.

Quintana, Gertrudis Lugarda de. Will, 12 May 1749; original in Ralph Emerson Twitchell, Spanish Archives of New Mexico, volume 1, 1914; English and Spanish versions in Francisco A. Lomelí and Clark A. Colahan, Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico, 2006; English translation available at Henrietta M. Christmas, "(Getrudis) Lugarda Quintana - Will 1749," 4 August 2014 posting on 1598 New Mexico website.

New Mexico Politics

Governors were a new world innovation within the Spanish governmental hierarchy created to handle frontier settlements too far from Mexico City for direct supervision by the viceroy. According to Charles Cutter, they had military, administrative, fiscal, and judicial responsibilities similar to those of alcaldes in Mexico City and Zacatecas.

Community expectations for governors may have fueled the conflict between Diego de Vargas and the man who followed him in power, Pedro Rodríguez Cubero. He had been appointed governor on 6 June 1692, but did not assume office until 2 July 1697. Legally, de Vargas was the military leader, and maintained his position through conventions of martial law.

The event that may have persuaded Cubero to accept the governorship was a change in leadership in Mexico City. The viceroy who had sponsored de Vargas, Gaspar de la Cerda, resigned on 26 February 1696. His successor, José Sarmeinto Valladares, didn’t take office until 18 December 1696. The Bishop of Michoacán, Juan Ortega y Montañés, served in the interim.

Cubero restored the civil authority of the cabildo in Santa Fé. It responded by charging de Vargas with failing to fulfill his public functions during the famine of 1696 by not supplying enough corn. In Mexico City and Zacatecas cabildos were responsible for procuring and distributing the food supply. In extraordinary circumstances, like the famine in Mexico City in 1697, Cubero’s viceroyal patron became active.

When de Vargas returned as governor in November of 1703, the cabildo charged Cubero with neglecting his duty to protect the people by abandoning the frontier post of Santa Cruz. It said, "there were very large houses and a plaza with a chapel and convento, all behind a door and parapets" when Vargas settled the villa. Now, it said, the settlement was "laid waste and ruined, with the wood and adobes removed and only the foundations remaining."

De Vargas believed the northern outpost must remain compact to be defendable, and populated to serve its defense function for the colony. He also believed peaceful relations with the pueblos depended on keeping them separated from the españoles.

Cubero acquiesced to the desires of the people de Vargas had settled in Santa Cruz. Some wanted more land to sustain themselves, others wanted to return to the more urbanized Santa Fé.

The only land grants in the Santa Cruz area that survive in the archives from the time of de Vargas, were small. The half fanega he gave Tomás de Herrera y Sandoval near Chimayó in 1695 was three-quarters of an acre, enough to plant half a fanega of corn seed. That would support one adult and maybe a small child for a year, with some left for seed.

Cubero approved larger grants, and allowed many to move near pueblos. In 1698, he granted eight fanegas of wheat land to Juan de Archuleta near San Juan. He also granted land to Juan de la Mora Pineda.

The next year he ceded a rancho and lands to Francisco Guerrero de la Mora. In 1700, he granted lands on the Chama river to Diego Trujillo and Catalina Griego, and lands between Santa Clara and San Ildefonso to Mateo Trujillo. He also let José Trujillo have the lands near the Black Mesa that had belonged to Francisco Jiménez and Ambrosia Saenz before the Revolt, and granted land to Luis Martín.

Few records of private land transfers exist for the time de Vargas was in control. Gertrudis de Barreras y Sandoval sold half a fanega of land in 1695 to Mateo Trujillo.

As soon as Cubero arrived, Juan de Archuleta began acquiring land from people in Santa Cruz. In 1697 he received a rancho from Manuel Vallejo González, and the next year a rancho from Tomás Jirón de Texeda that had belonged to Alonzo del Río. His widow, Isabel González, consolidated his holdings in 1698 with land that Pedro de la Cruz had conveyed to Manual Vallejo.

In March of 1703, Diego González and Ambrosio Fresqui filed a denuncia, or statement of criminal activity, notifying Cubero that Felipe de Arratia had fenced off a section of the road to Chimayó. His actions forced carters to use a narrow, muddy road near the Santa Cruz river. They appealed to Cubero’s fiscal responsibilities when they noted "the camino real should remain open because it is royal property."

Cubero asked his lieutenant alcalde mayor, Matías Madrid, to determine the facts. All the witnesses agreed the traditional road limited Arratia’s ability to grow crops. They also agreed the road by the river was hazardous for oxen bringing vigas down from Chimayó. One even suggested it would be a good place for an Apache ambush.

The governor’s responsibilities as judge required him to give precedence to community harmony, equidad, over those of individuals. Madrid persuaded Arratia to reopen the road. Despite bickering in Santa Fé, the rudiments of civil law were functioning in Santa Cruz.

Notes:
Cutter, Charles R. The Legal Culture of Northern New Spain, 1700-1810, 1995.

Fat Knowledge. "How Many People Can the Earth Support?, 30 November 2008 blog posting. He calculates a "bushel of corn can support a person for 52 days at 2,400 kcal/day with 25.4kg/bushel)," or 7 bushels a year. I reduced that number, since nutritional values may be greater today.

Gibson, Charles. The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule, 1964. He calculates the corn yield in a good year would have been 75 to 125 fanegas for one sown, with 11 fanega or 17 bushels an acre. That would mean .75 acres would produce 12.75 bushels.

Rowlett, Ross. "How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measure," 2001, website. He says, "one fanega of land grows one fanega of corn seed." It was standardized to 1.59 acres in 1801, or .75 acres for a half fanega.

Santa Fé Cabildo. Certification, 2 December 1703," included in A Settling of Accounts, edited by John L. Kessell, Rick Hendricks, Meredith D. Dodge, and Larry R. Miller.

Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. Spanish Archives of New Mexico: Compiled and Chronologically Arranged, volume 1, 1914. When entries with the same names appear in different years, it’s hard to determine if they are separate transactions or continuations of the same.

La Cañada - Francisco Gómez Robledo’s Mistress

When Francisco Gómez Robledo was being investigated by the Inquisition, neither his hacienda in La Cañada nor his illegitimate children were mentioned. All that was impounded in 1662 was his house in Santa Fé and his río abajo estancia, San Nicolás de las Barrancas.

He may have acquired the property after he returned from the Inquisition jail in México City in 1665. Luis Pérez Granillo had no doubts about the ownership in 1695. He said "the hacienda belonged to the maestre de campo, Francisco Gómez, follows. Only signs of the foundation the house had can be seen. Only one citizen can live comfortably in it."

His natural son, Antonio, however, was in existence when Francisco was being examined. When the family reached Guadalupe del Paso in 1680, he gave his age as 28. That means he would have been born around 1652, probably to a woman who called herself López del Castillo, according to Angélico Chávez.

The first man with that name in the colony, Matías López del Castillo was in Santa Fé in 1626 where he married Ana de Bustillo. Their daughter, Ana López del Castillo married Juan de Herrera who had the encomiendas of Santa Clara and Jémez. One of their daughters, Ana María, had several children out of wedlock who took the Herrera name.

Ana de Bustillo was the daughter of Asencio de Arechuleta and Ana Pérez de Bustillo. One of her sisters, Gregoria de Archuleta, married Diego de Santa Cruz. He was born in Zacatecas to Juan Pérez de Bustillo and María de la Cruz. In 1662, the Inquisition suggested Gregoria, in fact, was the daughter of his sister Ana. More likely, based on his mother’s name, Chávez thinks he was adopted or illegitimate.

Her other sister, Josefa, married Bartolomé Romero, grandson of the original Bartolomé.

One of Ana’s brothers, Juan de Archuleta, was executed for his role in the murder of Luis de Rosas. His son, also Juan de Archuleta, lived in La Cañada where he married María Luján, and worked for Bernardo López de Mendizábal and his successor, Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo.

After the reconquest, his grandson, Juan de Archuleta, received grants for land in Santa Fé and San Juan as a reward from Diego de Vargas’ successor, Pedro Rodríguez Cubero. He later bought land in the villa of Santa Cruz and married Isabel González, who was probably a descendant of Sebastián González and Isabel Bernal. After her husband died, she expanded his San Juan and Santa Cruz holdings.

His granddaughter, Antonia de Archuleta, married Miguel de Herrera.

Ana’s other brother, Melchor de Archuleta, is the one who had the land next to Juan Griego which Luis Pérez Granillo said had an "agricultural field" but that "only the ruins of his house exist and can be seen. These is almost the same amount of land for one family, and the pastures are in the same condition."

Chávez thinks the other man with the López del Castillo name, Diego, must have been a younger brother of Matías who arrived sometime around 1634. His first wife was María Barragán, the daughter of Juan Gómez Barragán, an Indian interpreter, and María Bernal, daughter of the first Juan Griego. After she died, he married María Griego, the daughter of Juan’s son Juan. Chávez says she was also known as María de la Cruz Alemán.

At the time of the reconquest, Diego was in his 80's with a wife and two daughters. In 1695, Granillo said "the torreón next to the house remains" at his hacienda. "There are only enough lands for one citizen with his family."

Torreóns were small, stone defensive towers. There were two in the settlement, one at each end of the settlement. One was on land of Francisco Javier. If this López del Castillo was the one whose daughter was involved with Francisco, then the other tower was also on land controlled by a military man.

Chávez didn’t hazard which of the daughters of Matías and Diego could have been the mother of Antonio Gómez, only noted that after the reconquest, several illegitimate children of Juana Luján conceived at Guadalupe del Paso were living near San Ildefonso and calling themselves Gómez del Castillo.

She was the daughter of Matías Luján and Francisca Romero. Chávez could only guess he was a son of Juan Luján, who lived in La Cañada. He made no mention of Francisca among the known, acknowledged Romero children. He couldn’t even decided if Juana was involved with Antonio or his cousin Bartolomé, the illegitimate son of Francisco’s brother Bartolomé.

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

Granillo, Luis. Report for 12 March 1695 describing the settlement of La Cañada, included in Blood on the Boulders: The Journals of Don Diego De Vargas, New Mexico, 1694-97, volume 2, 1998, edited by John L. Kessell, Rick Hendricks, and Meredith D. Dodge.