Introduction

During the period of don Juan de Oñate’s tenure (1598-1608), New Mexico did not have a legally sanctioned Spanish settlement with the confirmed status of villa. Writing in April 1609, fray Francisco de Velasco recommended to the royal officials that the status of “villa” be conferred upon the Villa de San Gabriel, indicating that this settlement was not recognized as a formal municipality (George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, p. 1096, citing AGI, México, 128, Memorial of Fray Francisco de Velasco, April 9, 1609). This is further supported by the orders given to newly appointed Governor don Pedro de Peralta by Viceroy don Luis de Velasco in March 1609 in which the new governor was instructed to establish a formal villa in New Mexico to put in place a structure of civil law and order (Archivo General de las Indias, México, N.63, exp. 4, f.2r).

Of the several hundred soldiers that came to New Mexico between 1598–1601, only about fifty Spanish soldiers, many with families, remained by 1608. It appears that prior to 1610 a small number of these soldier-settlers may have lived at a military camp located at the site that became the Villa Santa Fe.  This is suggested by information contained in the certification of services of Captain Juan Martínez de Montoya (1608) as well as in a statement by fray Alonso de Benavides (1630-34) and by statements of two men who indicated they were born in the Villa de Santa Fe between 1604 and 1607. Juan Griego declared he was a native of Santa Fe born circa 1604-1605, and Hernán Martín Serrano, the younger, indicated he was a native of the Villa de Santa Fe born circa 1606-1607. The fathers of both of these men were soldiers apparently stationed at a military camp at what would become the future site of the Villa de Santa Fe when their sons were born.

There is no doubt that the Villa de Santa Fe was officially established under the leadership of Governor don Pedro de Peralta in 1610.  Unfortunately, there is no single surviving archival list of the first Spanish settlers of the Villa de Santa Fe. To date, only nine couples and one Franciscan priest have been confirmed by primary documentation as founders of the Villa de Santa Fe, in addition to Governor Peralta.

The following list is compiled from information extracted from several sources.  Those with an asterisk (*) are among the common ancestors of people with deep family roots in New Mexico.

List of Founders of the Villa de Santa Fe 

1.     *Maese de Campo (Field Commander) Pedro Durán de Chaves, born circa 1566, Llerena (Nueva Galicia or Spain?), and his wife, doña Isabel de Bohórquez, born circa 1586, Mexico City.1

 2.  *Sargento Mayor Francisco Gómez, born circa 1586, Lisbon, Portugal, who married doña Ana Robledo, native of San Gabriel del Yunque, New Mexico.2

 3.   *Juan Griego, born circa 1566, native of Negroponte or Candia, Greece, and his wife Pascuala Bernal, parents of Santa Fe native Juan Griego, born circa 1604-1605.3

4.  *Juan López Holguín, born 1559, Funete Ovejuna, Andalucía, Spain, and his wife Catalina de Villanueva, born circa 1576.4

 5.  *Capitán Francisco Madrid, born circa 1593, who first married a daughter of Capitán Alonso Barba Martín and then María de la Vega Márquez.5

6.  *Capitán Gerónimo Márquez, b.ca. 1556, a native of Sanlúcar de Barrameda near Cádiz in Andalucía, came to New Mexico in 1598 with his wife, whose name is not known but may have been a woman with the surname of 'de la Vega'. They came with their children.6

7.   *Capitán Hernán Martín Serrano, born circa 1558, Zacatecas, Nueva Galicia; the mother of his son and namesake was doña Inés, a Tano Indian who was acculturated into Spanish society and was a long-time resident of Santa Fe.7

8.  Juan Pérez de Bustillo, born circa 1576, Mexico City, Nueva España, and María de la Cruz.8

 9.  Capitán Juan Rodríguez Bellido, born circa 1556, Gibraleón, Andalucía, Spain, who married Catalina, a Tewa Indian.9

 10.  *Capitán Alonso Varela, born circa 1566, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, and his wife Catalina Pérez de Bustillo, very likely a native of Mexico City.10

 11.   Padre fray Cristóbal de Quirós, Franciscan priest.11

 12.  Don Pedro de Peralta, Governor of New Mexico.12

 13. Possible founder: Blas de Valencia. In 1661, *Francisco de Valencia, declared he was a native of the Villa de Santa Fe and gave his as 54 and as 54 in 1665, indicating he was born circa 1607-1611. In all likelihood, Francisco was a son of Blas de Valencia, one of the soldiers who came to New Mexico with Oñate in 1598.13  

Notes:

 1.   Maese de Campo de la Provincia (Field Commander of the Province) Pedro Durán de Chávez, age 60 in 1626, “primero fundador” of the Villa de Santa Fe, with his wife, doña Isabel de Bohórquez, age 40 in 1626 (Archivo General de la Nacion, Inquisición, t. 356, f. 268r).

 2.  Sargento Mayor Francisco Gómez, age 40 in 1626, “primero fundador” and vecino of the Villa de Santa Fe, with his wife was doña Ana Robledo (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 269v).

 3.  Juan Griego, the elder, and his wife Pascuala Bernal, the parents of Santa Fe native Juan Griego, b.ca. 1604-1605 (AGN, Inq., t. 586, f. 49, and AGN, Inq. t. 583, exp. 3, f. 297).

4.  Juan López Olguin, age 64 in 1626, vecino y primero fundador, and his wife doña Catalina de Villanueva, close to age 50 in 1626, “besinos fundadores” of the Villa de Santa Fe (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 270r; AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 303r).

5.  Capitán Francisco Madrid, age 32 [sic] in 1626, “vecino antiguo” of the Villa de Santa Fe. His first wife was a daughter of Alonso Martín Barba and they were married by February 1615 (AGN, Inq., t. 316, f. 172v). His second wife was María de la Vega Márquez, age 35 in 1631 (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 268). It is unclear if Francisco and his first wife were married by the time Santa Fe was founded.

6.  Capitán Gerónimo Márquez, age 70, was identified as "de los primeros fundadoers" of the Villa de Santa Fe in 1626 (AGN, t. 356, exp. 133, f. 303r).

7. Capitán Hernán Martín Serrano, the elder, over age 70 in 1626, “antiguo poblador y veso” of Santa Fe (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 267). The mother of his son and namesake was doña Inés, a Tano Indian woman who was acculturated into Spanish society and was a long-time resident of Santa Fe (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 311).

8.  Juan Pérez de Bustillo, born circa 1558, Mexico City, Nueva España, and María de la Cruz, and their children, which included two sons and seven daughters. In 1626, Simón identified his parents as "unos de los primoeros pobladores" of the Villa de Santa Fe (AGN, Inq., t. 356, exp. 133, f. 268v).

9.  Capitán Juan Rodríguez Bellido, age 70 in 1626, “primero fundador,” and vecino of the Villa de Santa Fe, also referred to as one of the “antiguos pobladores” of the Villa de Santa Fe (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 268v). His wife may have been a woman named Isabel (no surname), who was very likely an acculturated Indian and referred to in 1607 as “ysavel muger de fulano rodrigues—Isabel, the wife of so-and-so Rodríguez” (AGI, Inq., t. 467, f. 350v). 

10.  Capitán Alonso Varela, age 60 in 1626, “primero fundador” of the Villa de Santa Fe and his wife was Catalina Pérez de Bustillo (AGN, Inq., t. 356, f. 269 and AGN, Inq. t. 372, exp. 16, f. 6).

11.   Fray Cristóbal de Quirós, definidor (AGI, Patronato, 244, R.7, exp. 14, f. 14v).

12. Don Pedro de Peralta, Governor of New Mexico (AGI, México, 27, N.63, exp. 4)

13. Blas de Valencia. Francisco de Valencia, declared he was a native of the Villa de Santa Fe and gave his as 54 in 1661 and again as 54 in 1665, indicating he was born circa 1607-1611 (AGN, Tierras, t. 3268, pt. 1, leg. 2, no. 21, f. 331; AGN, Inq., t. 593, ff. 63, 80-82). Although there are no known records that identify the names of his parents, it is logical to assume that in all likelihood Francisco was a son of Blas de Valencia, one of the soldiers who came to New Mexico with Oñate in 1598. Blas de Valencia was a resident of the Villa de San Gabriel in 1604 and as late as 1613 he formed part of the soldier-escort of Governor don Bernardino de Ceballos from Mexico City to the Villa de Santa Fe (AGN, Provincias Internas, Vol. 34:1, Diferentes autos de molestías hechas a los vecinos de la Nueva México por los religiosos; and Chávez, Origins of New Mexico Families, 109). 

History Articles on the Founding Families of the Villa de Santa Fe

José Antonio Esquibel

In 2004, I was invited by Ana Pacheco to write a regular column titled ‘Parientes’ in the magazine she edited and published that was titled La Herencia del Norte: Our Past, Our Present, our Future. This popular publication was distributed in Santa Fe and across several communities of northern New Mexico. As discussions began to occur for preparation of 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Santa Fe in 2010, Ana and I discussed a series of articles on the founders of the Villa de Santa Fe.

From the fall of 2007 through the winter of 2009, I wrote ten articles in the series, eight of them focused on eight of the nine founding families. It was only after the series was completed that I came across a record that identified Juan Pérez de Bustillo as a founder of the Villa de Santa Fe, thus he and his wife, María de la Cruz, are included in the above list, but there was no article written about their history.

For those who are interested, below are links to PDF copies of the ten articles in the Founders of the Villa de Santa Fe series. Enjoy!

In his book Origins of New Mexico Families, Fray Angélico Chávez identified Pedro Gómez Durán and Pedro Durán y Chaves as one and the same person.  I relied on this conclusion for the information that appears in this next article ("Founders of the Villa de Santa Fe #9") regarding the Durán y Chaves family. Several years after the publication of this article, I came across an archival document with information about the death of Pedro Gómez Durán around 1607 in New Mexico. It then became clear that Pedro Durán y Chaves, a first settler of the Villa de Santa Fe in 1610, was a different person, perhaps even a relative.

In 1600, Pedro Gómez Durán (b.ca. 1550, Villa de Valverde), son of Hernán Sánchez Rico, enlisted as a soldier-settler of New Mexico, declaring he was a native of the Villa de Valverde, more than fifty years of age, and a son of Hernán Sánchez Rico (AGI, Patronato, 22, R.4, f. 503r). Although it seemed reasonable for Fray Angélico Chávez to assume that Pedro Gómez Durán, also referred to as Pedro Gómez Rico, was the same individual as Pedro Durán y Chaves (b.ca. 1566, Llerena), information from an important primary source dated March 1617 verifies that that Pedro Gómez Durán died in New Mexico around 1607 and his wife, Catalina Cabezas, died in Mexico City around 1613 (AGN, Inquicisión, t. 484).

Either sometime before or after the death of Pedro Gomez Duran, Pedro Duran y Chaves came to New Mexico where he was living in 1610 and where he married doña Isabel de Bohorquez. Fray Angélico Chávez combined the surnames of the two men to create the name of Pedro Gómez Durán y Chaves.

Basically, this means that the Durán y Chaves lineage now ends with Pedro Duran y Chaves, b.ca. 1566, Llerena, and doña Isabel de Bohorquez. The parents of Pedro Durán y Chaves are unknown and it could very well be that he was a native of Llerena in Nueva Galicia rather than the town of the same name in Spain.