Arellano

Although Cristóbal de Arellano arrived in New Mexico by 1695 as a soldier of the Presidio de Santa Fe, where he married Graciana Romero in 1698 (ONMF: 133), there is yet no known connection between this couple and the individuals with the Arellano surname that resided in the jurisdiction of Santa Clara and in the area of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba north of San Juan Pueblo during the mid to late 1700s.

Fray Angélico Chávez indicated that Cristóbal de Arellano served as captain and alcalde mayor (chief magistrate) of the jurisdiction of Santa Cruz de la Cañada in 1704 and he was still living in New Mexico as late as 1716 (ONMF: 133), but there are no known records of he and his wife as residents of that area beyond that time (see Esquibel, Early Settlers of Santa Cruz de la Cañada, 1695-1715, which can be downloaded using a link in the BONMF menu).

There are yet no known record that identify that Cristóbal de Arellano and Graciana Romero had any children. 

Was the Arellano surname passed on by one or more children that have not yet been identified or was the surname adopted by an Indian raised in the Arellano-Romero household or did some yet unidentified individual with the Arellano surname arrive in New Mexico after 1700? More research is needed to make any such determination.

Although the people who carried the Arellano surname that resided in Northern New Mexico in the mid to late 1700s cannot be link with documentation to Cristóbal de Arellano and Graciana Romero, it is important to identify them for the purpose of conducting additional research. Those individuals appear in the following section. 

The Arellano People of 18th-century Northern New Mexico

There was a woman named Josefa Arellano who was an Indian and mother of two sons who may have been the same person of that name still living in 1790 who was born circa 1716 and was at that time identified as mestiza.

There were several other individuals with the Arellano surname born in the mid-1700s who were identified as mestizos (part Indian, part Spanish) that established Arellano families in Northern New Mexico who may have been related to each other, and perhaps Josefa Arellano was the matriarch of this clan.

More research is needed to understand how each of the following Arellano people were related, if at all:

• Josefa Arellano, mestiza, born circa 1716, was a 74 year-old widow living in the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros in 1790 with a 36 year-old widowed daughter (name not recorded) and a grandson, age 6 and two granddaughters ages 12 and 4 (not named), as recorded in the 1790 census of that jurisdiction (Virginia Langham Olmstead, New Mexico Spanish and Mexican Colonial Censuses, 1790, 1823, and 1845, New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1975, page 118, citing Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Roll 12, fr. 494, household #277).

She appears to be the same Josefa Arellano, India, whose son, Joaquín Arellano, was married October 8, 1779 (Image 360), Santa Clara, María Rosa Córdova, Española, daughter of Gerónimo Córdova and Gerónima de Medina.

She appears to also be the same Josefa Arellano whose adult son, José Arellano, was buried on February 22, 1781, Santa Clara (Image 478), and another son, José, also buried February 22, 1781, Santa Clara.

There was also Francisco Arellano, born circa 1742, natural son of Josefa Arellano, resident of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba, married December 17, 1775 (Image 55), San Juan, María de la Luz Córdova, born circa 1743,  widow of Pablo Francisco Villalpando, daughter of Antonio Córdova and María Martín (Fray Angélico Chávez, “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.,” 116, DM 1775, November 17, no. 6, San Juan). They were parents of 6 known children. The 1790 census of the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros has the following entry:

#163 Francisco Arellano mestizo, age 50, farmer; his wife, María de la Luz Córdova, mestiza, age 46; 4 sons: 18, 16, 14, and 3; and 2 daughter 7 and 5 (Olmstead, New Mexico Spanish and Mexican Colonial Censuses, 1790, 1823, and 1845, page 113, citing Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Roll 12, fr. 491).

• Julián Arellano, mestizo, born circa 1749, married María de la Luz Tapia, española, born circa 1765, residents of the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros where their 10 known children were born between 1787 and 1812. Children of this couple resided at Embudo and Taos as adults. The 1790 census of the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros has the following entry:

#120 Julián Arellano, mestizo, age 41, farmer; his wife, María de la Luz Tapia, Española, age 25; 2 sons, ages 8 and 4 (Olmstead, New Mexico Spanish and Mexican Colonial Censuses, 1790, 1823, and 1845, page 111, citing Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Roll 12, fr. 489)

• Lorenzo Arellano, mestizo, born circa 1754, married María Guadalupe Galvez (aka Galvin), mestiza, residents of various villages in the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros (Río Arriba, La Joya, Los Ángeles, and Los Luceros) where their 9 known children were born between 1781 and 1801.  The 1790 census of the jurisdiction of San Juan de los Caballeros has the following entry:

#314 Lorenzo Arellano, mestizo, age 36, day laborer; María Guadalupe Galvin, mestiza, age 26; 4 daughters, ages 12, 8, 6, and 1 (Olmstead, New Mexico Spanish and Mexican Colonial Censuses, 1790, 1823, and 1845, page 119, citing Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Roll 12, fr. 495).

o   He may be the same Lorenzo Arellano, pardo (mixed European, Indian and African), vecino of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba was previously married on May 7, 1771 (Image 49), San Juan, with Simona Archuleta, mestiza, also known as Mestas, and then with María Durán.

o   Lorenzo Arellano and Simona Mestas, resident of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba, were parent of a daughter named Josefa baptized at San Juan de los Caballeros March 26, 1776.

o   Lorenzo Arellano and María Durán, residents of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba, were parents of José Manuel, español, baptized at San Juan de los Caballeros on June 6, 1778.

• Ysabel Arellano, resident of Bosque Grande, natural mother of 1 known child baptized at San Juan de los Caballeros in May 1780.

• Rosa Arellano, widow, resident of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad del Río Arriba, natural mother of 3 known children baptized at San Juan between 1787 and 1791.

Summary by José Antonio Esquibel

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel

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Ancestry of Cristóbal de Arellano

In the event that a genealogical connection it eventually is documented that connects any of the above Arellano people to Cristóbal de Arellano, then the following information will be relevant.

The ancestry of Cristóbal de Arellano (ONMF: 133), husband of Graciana Romero, was compiled by the prominent Mexican genealogist Jaime Holcombe. Holcombe located the baptismal record of Cristóbal de Arellano, baptized 3 May 1665, Aguascalientes, Nueva Galicia, son of Nicolás de Arellano and Leonor Fernández Becerra. Unexplainably, when Cristóbal sought to marry Graciana Romero (born circa 1680, daughter of Capitán Francisco Romero and doña Francisca Ramírez de Salazar), he named his mother as Leonor Ruiz de Esparza. In the diligencia record for this couple dated 1 August 1698, Santa Fe, Cristóbal gave his age as twenty-four and his birthplace as Aguascalientes. At the time, he was a soldier of the Santa Fe Presidio.

Jaime Holcombe was able to connect Leonor Fernández Becerra into the genealogical research of another prominent Mexican genealogist, Mariano González Leal, who had published the genealogy of Leonor’s parents in a book entitled Retoños de España en la Nueva Galicia (Universidad de Guanajuato: 1983). The combination of the research of these two genealogists produces a genealogy that extends to the mid-1500s in Nueva Galicia.

Paternal lineage of Leonor Fernández Becerra:

1st generation: Martín Navarro married with Petronila de Moctezuma, their daughter,

2nd generation: María de Gabay married with Pedro Fernández de Vaulus, their son,

3rd generation: Juan Fernández de Vaulus married with Leonor Becerra, their daughter,

4th generation: Leonor Fernández Becerra, married/veiled 12 July 1664, Aguascalientes, Nueva Galicia, with Nicolás de Arellano, their son,

5th generation: Cristóbal de Arellano.

 Maternal lineage of Leonor Fernández Becerra:

1st generation Toribio Hernández de Arellano married with doña Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza, their daughter,

2nd generation: doña Ana Sánchez de Mendoza married 21 January 1585, Santa María de los Lagos, Nueva Galicia (Jalisco, Mexico), with Juan Becerra, their daughter,

3rd generation: doña Leonor Becerra y Sánchez de Mendoza married with don Juan López Elizalde y Aberruza, native of Tolosa, Navarra, their daughter,

4th generation: Leonor Becerra married with Juan Fernández de Vaulus y Gabay, their daughter,

5th generation: Leonor Fernández Becerra married with Nicolás de Arellano, their son,

6th  generation: Cristóbal de Arellano.

Summary by José Antonio Esquibel

Researchers: Jaime Holcombe (1941-1995, Mexico) and Mariano González Leal.

 Source: Chávez, "New Mexico Roots, Ltd.": 116, DM 1698, Aug. 1 (no.2), Santa Fe; Mariano González Leal, Retoños de España en la Nueva Galicia (Universidad de Guanajuato: 1983), Charts 5 & 5b, and Vol. II: 328; Private correspondence from Jaime Holcombe with John B. Colligan.

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There is a marriage record for Nicolás de Arellano and Leonor Hernandes (also known as Fernández Becerra), the parents of Cristóbal de Arellano (ONMF: 133), dated 12 July 1664, Sagrario, Aguascalientes, Nueva España (Mexico).

Researcher: Charles Martínez y Vigil

Source: LDS microfilm #0299823