Juan Fresco, a Flemish miner, came to New Mexico in December 1625 in the company of two other miners. The name of his wife is not known, but he did have at least one son, Juan Fresqui, born circa 1625, who became a soldier-citizen holdingthe rank of alférez (ensign).
In testimony given on October, 29 1661 by Juan Luján, el viejo, he declared that the father of Juan Fresqui (ONMF: 30) was "flamenco" (Flemish) and that Fresqui’s mother was "blanca" (white). This testimony refuted the accusation made by Governor don Diego López Mendizábal that Fresqui was a son of "una mulata esclava." In the same month, Francisco de Anaya Almazán testified that Juan Fresco (referring to Juan Fresqui) was "español, bien soldado."
On October, 10, 1661, Alférez Juan Fresqui gave his age as thirty-six (b.ca. 1625) and identified himself as a vecino (taxpaying citizen) of the Río Abajo jurisdiction (AGN, Real Audiencia, Concurso de Peñalosa, t. 1, leg. 1, no. 2, f. 62r-62v). He also received an appointment as alcalde mayor (cheif magistrate) of the jurisdiction of Isleta sometime before his death by 1667 (Chávez, Origins of New Mexico Families, 30).
Although there is no documentary evidence that Alférez Juan Fresqui married or had any children, at least six individuals of New Mexico carried the Fresqui surname in the latter part of the seventeenth century: 1) Magdalena Fresqui, wife of Salvador López Holguín; 2) Juana Fresqui, wife of José de Leyva Nevares; 2) Francisco Fresqui, husband of María Ortiz; 3) Melchora Fresqui, born circa 1675, Río Abajo, wife of Pedro de Rojas; 4) María Fresqui, wife of Gregorio Ramírez; 5) Manuela Fresqui, wife of Pedro de Ávila; and 6) Ambrosio Fresqui, who passed the Fresqui surname on to subsequent generations.
This last individual, Ambrosio Fresqui, was a describe as a Pueblo Indian of either the Tewa or Tano nation and most likely received his surname because of an association with the Fresqui family (AGN, Inquisición, t. 735, f. 305v, Testimony of Felipe Moraga, June 2, 1703). He resided among the Spanish population that fled to El Paso del Norte in 1680.
Ambrosio Fresqui returned as a settler of northern New Mexico in the 1690s. He left descendants in Northern New Mexico where the family surname eventually developed into Fresquez.
Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel
Source: AGN, México, Real Audiencia, Concursos de Peñalosa, Vol. I. f. 62/209. Microfilm copy of rolls #1-3 (Vols. I-III) of the "Concursos de Peñalosa" located at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives.