Gurulé

There is a Gurulé family website devoted to the history and genealogy of the Gurulé family of New Mexico. It is quite an attractive website and promises to be not only informative but useful in connecting Gurulé descendants with many their cousins. The site is managed by Angela Lewis, a descendant of the Gurulé family, and was designed by Leon Moya.

The web site can be visited is at: http://www.gurulefamily.org.

The most detailed account of the history of Jacques Grolet, the Frenchman who adopted the Spanish name of Santiago Grolé, is found the book, The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico: An Account of the Families Recruited in Mexico City in 1693 by José Antonio Esquibel and John B. Colligan.

The web site can be visited is at: http://www.gurulefamily.org.

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Antonio Gurulé (ONMF: 193), the son of Santiago Gurulé (Jacques Grolet) and Elena Gallegos, dictated his last will and testament on 18 April 1761, in Albuquerque. The contents of this will have been preserved as part of the Private Land Claims records regarding the Elena Gallegos Land Grant (SANM: 38, frs. 758-60, and 825-27). A descendent of Antonio Gurulé who possessed a copy of the will allowed the U.S. Court to transcribe and translate the will around the 1850s-1860s. The will provides valuable information about the children of Antonio Gurulé that clears up a long-standing point of confusion found in fray Angélico Chávez's section on the Gurulé family in Origins of New Mexico Families.

When Antonio Gurulé dictated his will he was sick in bed, having his full mind and memory. He began by professing his belief in the mystery of the Holy Trinity and all that which was taught and believed by the Roman Catholic Church. He next appointed the executors of his estate, Tadeo García, his son-in-law, and his legitimate wife, Antonia Quintana. He asked that his body be buried in the habit of San Francisco in the "most humble spot in the church of Albuquerque, near the font of Holy Water." He next declared he had been married for forty years (since circa 1721) with Antonia Quintana and together they had nine legitimate children whom he named as: Tomás, Manuela, Luisa, Fabiana, Juan Antonio, Serafín, Elena, Francisca, Manuelita; eight of them in the state of marriage at the time the will was made.

Antonio Gurulé mentioned that he received no dowry from his marriage with Antonia Quintana and that he had inherited what he owned from his parents. He declared as his property a tract of land called Jesús María with farmland, acequia, and a six-room house. He further mentioned that his son Tomás had already inherited lands from him, and he bequeathed to his other children three varas of agricultural land each. In gratitude of the long service given to his mother and himself, Gurulé released two Indian servants of his mother's from all obligations of future service. He named these servants as Rosa and Elena, and bequeathed to them a house and a small tract of land for planting one almud of corn.

Gurulé claimed these items as his personal property: one riding saddle, one pistol, one bridle, spurs, one shield, one sword, one cloak, one saddle cushion, two mares, one horse, and two yoke of oxen with their yokes. He bequeathed the pistol, shield and sword to his son Serafín, and the rest of his personal items to his wife along with a cart and three horses. Antonio Gurulé signed his name to the will as "Ant^o Gurule."

The information contained in this will confirms that Antonio Gurulé had only one wife, Antonia Quintana, with whom he had been married since around 1721. Fray Angélico Chávez indicated that there was a man named Antonio Grolé who was married with Teresa Gallegos by 1730, and wondered if this may have been Antonio's first wife (ONMF: 193). Instead, it may very well be that the Antonio Grolé who was married with Teresa Gallegos was a Genízaro, an acculturated Indian, who lived in the Albuquerque-Isleta area. The 1750 census of Albuquerque has a listing among the enumerated Genízaro population for Antonio Grolé, a widower with three grandchildren named Antonio, Clara and Antonia. In addition, Antonio Gurulé and his wife Antonia Quintana were also enumerated in the 1750 census of Albuquerque with the following children: Juan Antonio, age seventeen; Fabiana, age sixteen, Seraphino, age eleven, Elena, age nine; and Francisca, age seven. Their daughter María Luisa Gurulé was listed with her husband, Tadeo García, and their other daughter Manuela Gurulé was listed with her husband Baltasar Griego.

Researchers: Angela Lewis and José Antonio Esquibel

Source: Spanish Archives of New Mexico (SANM), Roll 38, frames 758-760 & 825-827 (Elena Gallegos Land Grant); Virginia L. Olmsted, Spanish and Mexican Censuses of New Mexico, 1750-1830 (New Mexico Genealogical Society of New Mexico): 75, 96.