Armenta

Salvador de Armenta, aka Salvador Manuel

Salvador de Armenta was also known as Salvador Manuel. In this case, “Manuel” was a surname, not a given name. Thus he was known by two surnames.

Salvador Manuel was in New Mexico by August 1696. He was one the soldiers recruited for the new presido (fort) at the Villa de Santa Fe. There is no surviving official list of names of those soldiers, but his names appears in two documents from 1696 as Salvador Manual and he was identified as a soldier in both of those records.

The earliest account of Salvador Manuel is from a prenuptial investigation record dated August 1696, Santa Cruz, in which Salvador was a witness on behalf of Francisco de la Mora, a native of Jacona in the jurisdiction of the Villa de Zamora in Nueva España. Salvador declared he was age 28 (b.ca. 1668) and a native of Tisla in the bishopric of Puebla de los Ángeles (Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, DM 1696, August, no. 25, Santa Cruz; and Fray Angélico Chávez, “New Mexico Roots, Ltd, page 1342).

Fray Angélico Chávez transcribed “Tistla” as “Fistla” when he provided some basic information about Salvador Manual in his first addendum to “Origins of New Mexico Families” and this was republished in the same way in the expanded edition of ONMF (Museum of New Mexico Press, 1982, page 344).

Salvador Manuel was married in the Villa de Santa Fe in late October 1696.

On October 24, 1696, in the Villa de Santa Fe, as part of the prenuptial investigation for the marriage of Salvador Manuel with María Luján, he declared he was a soldier of the presidio and a native of the town of Tistla in the jurisdiction of Puelba de los Ángeles. He further indicated that his parents names were unknown (padres no conocidos).

Salvador’s bride to be, María Luján, was identified as a native of New Mexico of unknown parents.

This information comes from a summary of a prenuptial investigation made by Fray Angélcio Chávez that was first published in 2010 as “New Mexico Roots, Ltd., an Addendum, Part III” in the September 2010 issues of the New Mexico Genealogist 49:3, page 145.

Salvador Manual was accounted among the soldiers of the presidio in the Villa de Santa Fe serving during the period of December 1696 through the end of June 1697 (Kessell, Hendricks, and Dodge, “That Disturbances Cease,” page 129).

He was still in New Mexico in 1705 when a dispute arose from the proposed marriage of Sebastián Luján with Juana Teresa Trujillo (AASF, DM 1705, February 10, no. 6, Santa Fe; and Chávez, “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.,” 1013). In this complicated investigation, there is mention of Sebastián Luján living by day in the house of Salvador Manuel and that Sebastián was partly related to him. Sebastián declared he was a native of El Paso del Río del Norte and the his parents, Diego Luján and Juana de Salazar were natives of New Mexico living at El Real de San Juan in the realm of Nueva Vizcaya.

In all likelihood, María Luján, the wife of Salvador Manuel, was the relative of Sebastián Luján.

There are likely other references to Salvador Manual between 1696 and 1705, but I haven’t come across them, yet. I may have some references burried in my research notebooks.

It was the sons of Salvador Manual and María Luján who gave the name of their father as Salvador de Armenta. And thus, it was the Arementa surname that was passed on to subsequent generations rather than the Manual surname. At this time, we don’t have a documented explantion for the use of the Armenta surname, but I have some ideas based on further resarch.

In September 1718, at the Villa de Santa Fe, Luis de Armenta declared he was age 25 (b.ca. 1693), a soldier of the presidio of Santa Fe, and a son of Salvador de Armenta, deceased, and María Luján, when he sought to marry Brigida León, age 18, native of the Villa de Santa Fe, daughter of Juan de León Brito and María Granillo (AASF, DM September 1718, no. 32, Santa Fe; and Chávez, “New Mexico Roots, 122). Luis de Armenta was most likely not born circa 1693, but was probably the first born child of Salvador Manuel and María Luján after their marriage in late 1696.

It’s not yet clear when Salvador Manual died or why his son took the Armenta surname and also gave that surname for his father. But, there was consistency in this when Antonio de Armenta sought to marry Juana de Beitia (Abeytia) in 1725.

In August 1725, a the Villa Nueva de Santa Cruz, Antonio de Armenta declared he was age 24 (b.ca. 1701), a soldier, and a son of Salvador de Armenta, deceased, and María Maese (AASF, DM, 1725, August 5, no. 10, Santa Cruz; and Chávez, “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.,” 122). Antonio’s propsoect bride, Juana de Abeytia, declared she as age 28 (b.ca. 1697), the widow of José Antonio Fernández, and a daughter of Alférez Diego de Abeytia, deceased, and Catarina Leal.

Luis de Armenta and Antonio de Armenta were long-time residents of the Villa de Santa Fe.

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel