Lopez Holguín

Juan López Holguín (ONMF: 81) is one of a number of common ancestors for people with roots in Spanish colonial New Mexico. When Juan López Holguín enlisted in 1599-1600 as member of the expedition to reinforce the colony in New Mexico established under the leadership of don Juan de Oñate, he described himself as age forty, a native of Fuente Ovejuna and a son of Juan López Villasana. The recent extraction of the baptismal record of Juan López Holguín confirms this information and provides the name of his mother:

Bautizado 9 febrero 1559, iglesia de Nuestra Castillo, Fuente Ovejuna, Spain, Juan, hijo de Juan Lopez de Villa Sana y de Isabel Ruiz. Padrinos: Gregorio Belena y Francisco Cavallero. Madrinas: Elvira [Belena] y Maria Fernandez, esposa de Bartolome Gomez

Researchers: J. Richard Salazar and Robert D. Martínez  for the Sephardic Legacy Project of New Mexico, Dr. Stan Hordes, Director.

Source: Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Castillo, Fuente Ovejuna, Spain, Bautismos, Libro 2, f. 85v, 9 Feb 1559

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In the records relating to the colonists that came to New Mexico in 1600, Juan López Holguín (ONMF: 81), native of Fuenteovejuna and a son of Juan López Villasaña, is also named as Juan López Villasaña. There is a record that names his wife as Catalina de Villanueva and his two daughters as María Ortiz and Anna Ortiz. Together, this family arrived at Oñate's colony in New Mexico on Christmas Eve of 1600. María Ortiz became the wife of Simón de Abendaño (ONMF: 1), a native of Ciudad Rodrigo, Castilla.

Curiously, the Villanueva and Ortiz surnames also appear in the Baca family that also came to New Mexico in 1600. In fact, Juan López Holguín served under the command of Cristóbal Baca(ONMF: 9), husband of Ana Ortiz (a daughter of Francisco Pacheco). Could it have been that Catalina de Villanueva and Ana Ortiz were relatives and that Catalina christened one of her daughter's Ana Ortiz as a namesake a common parent or grandparent of Ana Ortiz and Catalina de Villanueva. Could it be that it was  Ana Ortiz's side of the family that brought the Villanueva surname into the Baca family, given that María de Villanueva was a daughter of Cristóbal Baca and Ana Ortiz. This is only a hypothesis and requires additional research. However, the above information corrects a long-standing assumption that considered Simón de Abendaño to be a son of Juan López Holguín.

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel

Source: George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, eds., Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595-1628 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1953): Vol. I, 537, 554.

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Excerpt from

“Into a New World: The López Holguín-Villanueva Clan of 17th-cetury New Mexico,”

Part I

 by José Antonio Esquibel, New Mexico Genealogist, March 2019, Vol. 58, No. 1, 18-33.

Catalina de Villanueva was a Juan López and doña Ana de Florencia (Catálogo de Protocolos del Archivo General de Notarias de la Ciuded de México, Notaria Vol. 375, ff.55r-55v, Juan Bautista Moreno, Escribano real, Dote, 1592-05-04).

Upon the death of her parents, Catalina was placed in the elite colegio de las doncellas, also known as the Colegio de las Doncellas de Nuestra Señora de Caridad, which was supported by members of the Archicofradía del Santisimo Sacramento y Caridad of the cathedral in Mexico City.

A small number of girls were chosen for admittance to the colegio on an annual basis from a long list of candidates from principal families, usually girls whose fathers or other male relatives were members of the archicofradia and who were descended of a conquistador or from a family of encomenderos or the orphaned daughter of a very wealthy individuals. At the end of the sixteenth century, there were no more than fifteen girls living in seclusion, further attesting to the elite status of the institution.

On April 4, 1592, “Juan López de Villasana, maestaro del arte de las cedas, vecino,” submitted a petition to Francisco de Cebreros, the mayordomo of the “cofradía del Santisimo Sacramento y Caridad,” requesting the dowry of 500 pesos de oro común from the rector y diputados of the cofradía because of his marriage with Catalina de Villanueva, described as a ‘una de las doncella huérfanas” of the colegio de las doncellas de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad (Catálogo de Protocolos del Archivo General de Notarias de la Ciuded de México, Notaria Vol. 375, ff.55r-55v, Juan Bautista Moreno, Escribano real, Dote, 1592-05-04).

In accordance to the regulations of the colegio, López Villasana received the 500 pesos from Cebreros the day after the marriage. He confirmed receipt of the dowry with his signature and agreed that the 500 pesos would be returned to Catalina if the marriage were to dissolve or if López Villasana died and she had no children as heirs, in which case the funds would be returned to the rector and deputies of the cofradía. The witnesses to this transaction were Francisco de Medina, Rodrigo López, and Juan Fernández.

In all likelihood, Juan López Villasana and Catalina de Villanueva were married in the sagrario chapel of the Catedral de Mexico on April 3, 1592. Unfortunately, the marriage records for the period of 1590 to 1628 are not available on microfilm and may be a lost book of marriages. The Archicofradía del Santisimo Sacramento y Caridad, the most prestigious confraternities in Mexico City, was based at the cathedral in their Capilla de la Cena and its members supported the girls of the colegio de las doncellas. The date of April 3rd is based on the regulation of the cofradía and colegio that required the dowry be provided to the husband on the day after the marriage. It is possible that the marriage was documented in the record book of a different church and, thus, additional research may yet find a copy of the marriage record.

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel

Source: José Antonio Esquibel, “Into a New World: The López Holguín-Villanueva Clan of 17th-cetury New Mexico,” Part I, New Mexico Genealogist, March 2019, Vol. 58, No. 1, 18-33.

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María Ortiz, daughter of Juan López Villasana, also known as Juan López Holguín, and Catalina de Villanueva, was baptized April 2, 1594, in the chapel of the Catedral de México on April 2, 1594, with Francisca de Arenal as her godmother.

Transcription:

Maria

 En dos de abril de noventa y quarto años se

vatiso Maria hija de Juo Lopez Villa sana y

de Catalina de Villa Nueva fueron sus Padri

nos Francisca de Arenal vatiso se en esta y-

glesia de la vera cruz Por el canonigo sala

zar con La de los curas

        El Bhr Juan Ajarte   El Can. Salazar 

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel

Source: Santa Vera Cruz Church, Mexico City, Bautismos 1568-1615, LDS microfilm #0035818 f. 221v.