Pérez de Bustillo

Narrative by José Antonio Esquibel

Pérez de Bustillo-de la Cruz

At Las Minas de Todos Santos, Nueva Vizcaya, on December 8, 1598, Juan Pérez de Bustillo declared he was a native of Mexico City, age 40 (born circa 1558), and a son of Simón Pérez (Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, R.4, f. 74r, and Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, I: 291). Contrary to what is posted on the Internet, the name of the mother of Juan Pérez de Bustillo remains unknown and there is yet no documentation to inform us as to the names of the parents of Juan’s father, Simón Pérez. Any posting on the Internet with names of women said to be the mother of Juan Pérez de Bustillo, or the names of people said to be the parents of Simón Pérez, are false and misleading with no basis in documentation.

Juan Pérez de Bustillo was described a “pequeño cuerpo, moreno, barbicano y una berruga en el lado hizquierdo,” “small body, swarthy, gray beard, with a wart on the left side [of his face].” In this description of Juan’s swarthy complexion is a hint that he may have been part Indian, either a mestizo (½Spanish, ½ Indian), or castizo  (¾ Spanish, ¼ Indian).

Listed immediately after Juan was his son, Simón de Bustillo, who declared he was a native of Mexico City, age 22 (born circa 1576), and described as “moreno, mal barbado, pecosso de rrostro…de mediano cuerpo,” “swarthy, bad bearded, freckled faced…medium body [medium build].”

Juan Pérez de Bustillo appears to be the same person whose name was recorded in the previous year as Juan Pérez Merino on February 10, 1597, in the Valle de San Bartolomé. Juan Pérez Merino, a soldier, declared he was a “native of Mexico City, a son of Simón Pérez, and is taking his wife, children, and family (AGI, Patronato 22, R.4, f. 414v, and Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, I: 162). Although it is possible that there were two different men named Simón Pérez living in Mexico City in the mid-late 1500s, the given name of Simón was uncommon and the combination of Simón and Pérez was even less so. If Juan Pérez Bustillo and Juan Pérez Merino were one and the same person, then Merino may be a useful genealogical clue.

On December 5, 1597, at Santa Bárbara in the Valle de San Bartolomé, Nueva Vizcaya, Juan Pérez de Bustillo provided a listing of belongings he was taking on the expedition to New Mexico and further declared he was going with his wife, seven daughters, and two sons (Patronato 22, R.4, ff. 460v-461r/411v-412r, and Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate: Colonizer of New Mexico, I: 259).

The names of his wife and daughters were not recorded and only one of his sons was accounted for as a soldier of the army. In addition to Simón Pérez de Bustillo, born circa 1576, Mexico City (Zacatecas in two other accounts, see below), his second son was Diego de Santa Cruz, born circa 1590, Zacatecas. This informs us that this family apparently resided at Mexico City and Zacatecas and may have been at Zacatecas when they enlisted as settlers of New Mexico.

Curiously, Juan Pérez Bustillo mentioned he was taking with him "forge tools and a vise and files for repairing harquebuses and mining equipment, for making nails and for other things pertaining to blacksmithing," indicating he may very well have been a blacksmith by trade (Patronato 22, R.4, ff. 460v-461r/411v-412r, and Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, I: 259).

The names of 4 of the 7 daughters are known from archival records of the 1620s:

1.     Doña Ana de Bustillo (aka Pérez de Bustillo) born circa 1581, wife of Asencio de Arechuleta (Archuleta). With numerous descendants.

2.     Doña Catalina de Bustillo (aka Pérez de Bustillo), born circa1591, wife of Alonso Varela. With numerous descendants.

3.     Yumar (Guiomar) Pérez de Bustillo, born circa1591, wife of Antonio Baca. With numerous descendants.

4.     Doña Beatriz Pérez de Bustillo, born circa 1593, wife of Hernando de Hinojos. With numerous descendants.

The archival sources for names, ages, and spouses of the four known daughters are Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), Inquisición, t. 356, exp. 136 and AGN Inquisición, t. 372, exps. 16 y 19. See also, Fray Angélico Chávez, Origins of New Mexico Families.

There is only a single record that identified the name of the wife of Juan Pérez de Bustillo as María de la Cruz and that record also identified her as the mother of Simón Pérez de Bustillo, born circa 1576, Zacatecas (AGN, Inquisición, t. 356, exp 133, f. 268v). Her name was recorded as "María de la Cruz," without 'Lucía.' If you have 'Lucía' in her name in your records, as it appears on some Internet sites and databases, delete it. María de la Cruz is truly and literally a founding mother of Spanish New Mexico. She has countless descendants living today.

María de la Cruz was still living in 1626 and thus we conclude she was the mother of the Pérez de Bustillo sisters who were born between 1581 and 1593 and the two Pérez de Bustillo brothers.

We have no information about María's age, no estimated year of birth, no place of birth, no names of parents, and no place or date of marriage with Juan Pérez de Bustillo. However, mtDNA evidence of women who trace their maternal ancestry to María de la Cruz indicates that María’s maternal ancestry is Native American (see Henrietta Martinez Christmas, “The Mysterious Maria de la Cruz,” New Mexico Genealogist, Vol. 59, No. 1, March 2020).

This Indian ancestry of María de la Cruz is also supported by a note by fray Esteban de Perea in which he recorded that Catalina Pérez de Bustillo was "mestiza o castiza," indicating that one or both or her parents were at least part Indian (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exp. 19, Cartas de Fray Esteban Perea, Comisario en Nuevo México  avisando el resultado de los edictos de la fe, f.  5v).

Apparently, one of the unnamed daughters of María de la Cruz and Juan Pérez de Bustillo was married to a man with the surname of Pedraza, presumed to Juan de Pedraza, a soldier of the Oñate expedition, although there are no records for any known children of that man and no records indicating he was married.

Another unnamed daughter was apparently married to a man with the Vásquez surname.  DNA evidence of women living today who are direct descendants of Catalina Vásquez, wife of Diego de Trujillo, shows a genetic link to proven lineages tracing to María de la Cruz (Henrietta Martinez Christmas, “The Mysterious Maria de la Cruz,” New Mexico Genealogist, Vol. 59, No. 1, March 2020).

On June 22, 1632, in the Villa de Santa Fe and before fray Esteban de Perea, doña Isabel de Pedraza, age 25 (born circa 1607), wife of Matías Romero, gave testimony in a case regarding her brother-in-law by marriage, Gaspar Pérez (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exp. 16. f.18v-19r). In her testimony, she stated that two years earlier she was in the company of her prima, María de Archuleta, wife of Captain Juan Márquez. This information indicates that doña Isabel de Pedraza was a member of the Pérez de Bustillo extended family. The names of her parents are not yet known. Doña Isabel de Pedraza and her husband, Captain Matías Romero, established the Romero de Pedraza family of 17th-century New Mexico and are common ancestors for many people living today (see Romero de Pedraza).

María de Archuleta was a daughter of Captain Asencio de Archuleta and Ana Pérez de Bustillo, as mentioned in a declaration of Diego de Trujillo on March 7, 1631, Villa de Santa Fe, before fray Esteban de Perea, in which he said that six months earlier he was in the house of “Ana de Bustillo, viuda del Capitán Asencio de Archuleta” and in the house was a daughter of Ana’s named doña María (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exp. 16. f.7r).

The Pérez de Bustillo-de la Cruz daughters and their spouses, along with their brothers, Simón Pérez de Bustillo and Diego de Santa Cruz, formed the largest extended family group among the early Spanish settlers of New Mexico. The men alone comprised 12% of the forty-eight soldier-settlers remaining in New Mexico in 1617. By that time, the extended clan of Pérez de Bustillo, Archuleta, Varela, Baca, and Hinojos formed a political and economic alliance with the Franciscan friars. Along with their in-laws, such as the Durán y Chaves and the Márquez, this political faction eventually became known as “protectors of the religious” and consistently sided with the friars in political conflicts with the various governors of New Mexico and their allies throughout the first half of the 1600s. 

 
Simón Pérez de Bustillo

Simón Pérez de Bustillo was first accounted for as a soldier of the Oñate expedition in February 1597 in which his name was recorded as Simón Pérez and he declared he was a native of Zacatecas and the son of Juan Pérez (Hammond and Rey, Oñate: Colonizer of New Mexico, I: 163).

He was then accounted for in the January 1598 muster of soldiers in which he was named as Simón de Bustillo, native New Mexico City, age 22 (born circa 1576), and son of Juan (Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, 291). Many years later, in 1626, he again declared that he was a native of Zacatecas (AGI, Inquisición, t. 356, f. 268v).

Simón's father, Juan Pérez de Bustillo was a son of Simón Pérez, and thus the younger Simón was named after his paternal grandfather.

In October 1601, Simón Pérez de Bustillo was one of 23 men, along with his father, who signed a petition addressed to the viceroy of New Spain, seeking permission for Geronimo Márquez to travel to Mexico City and make a report directly to the viceroy on their behalf about the conditions in New Mexico. Signed his name, indicating that he was literate (Hammond and Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, II: 701-702).

In February 1626, Simón Pérez de Bustillo declared he was a native of Zacatecas, age 50 (born circa1576), and a son of Juan Pérez de Bustillo and María de la Cruz (AGN Inquisición, t. 356, exp. 133, f. 268v). This is one rare record that provides the name of María de la Cruz as the wife of Juan Pérez de Bustillo. In this same record, Simón identified "Ana de Bustillo" as his sister. Doña Ana Pérez de Bustillo was the wife of Asencio de Archuleta (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exps. 16 y 19, f. 13r).

There are no known records that specifically gives the name of the wife of Simón Pérez de Bustillo. Fray Angélico Chávez indicated that "from a comparison of family charts his wife was Juana de Zamora, sister of Antonio Baca" (see Chávez, Origins of New Mexico Families, 84), but Chávez did not provide the sources for the chart information.  

In June 1631, a woman named Juliana Pérez de Bustillo, wife of Blas de Miranda, was identified as a cousin of doña Lucia de Archuleta and doña María de Archuleta (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exps. 16 y 19, f.27r). Thus, Juliana was apparently the daughter of Simón Pérez de Bustillo. There are no known descendants of Juliana and Blas.

Fray Esteban de Perea made a note regarding Juliana Pérez de Bustillo, identifying her as "mestiza o menos porque [su] padre tambien tenia su mezcla y la madre es india," "mestiza or less because [her] father has his [racial] mix and the mother is Indian" (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exp. 19, Cartas de Fray Esteban Perea, Comisario en Nuevo México  avisando el resultado de los edictos de la fe, f.  5v).

According to Chávez, Simón Pérez de Bustillo adopted a boy named Nicolás Pérez who as an adult was beheaded in 1643 (ONMF, 88 and AGI, Patronato 244, ff.77v and 78r). There's no information that Nicolás had any descendants in New Mexico.

There was a woman named Catalina Pérez de Bustillo who in June 1631 gave her age as 19 (born circa 1612) and was the widow of Pedro Márquez living at her estancia in the jurisdiction of La Cañada (AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exps. 16 y 19, f. 25r). Although Chávez identified her as a daughter of Simón Pérez de Bustillo, there are no known records that provide the name of her parents. She was clearly a namesake of the elder Catalina Pérez de Bustillo, sister of Simón Pérez de Bustillo. There are no known descendants of Catalina Pérez de Bustillo and Pedro Márquez.

Researchers: Fray Angélico Chávez and José Antonio Esquibel

Sources:

Archivo General e la Nación (AGN) Inquisición, t. 356, exp. 133, Testificación contra Juan de Eulate, 1626.

AGN, Inquisición, t. 372, exps. 16 y 19, Cartas de Fray Estevan de Perea, Comisario en Nuevo México, avisando el resultado de los editictos de la fe, 1632.

Archivo General de las Indias (AGI), Patronato 22, R.4, Traslado de la visita, cala y cata que por comisión del virrey tomó don Juan de Frías Salazar a don Juan de Oñate de la gente, armas, municiones y otras cosas que llevó a la conquista del Nuevo México, 1598.

AGI, Patronato 244, R.7, Levantamiento Nuevo México, 1644.

George P. Hammond, ed., Agapito Rey, trans., Don Juan de Oñate: Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595-1628, Vols. I and II, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1953).

Henrietta Martinez Christmas, “The Mysterious Maria de la Cruz,” New Mexico Genealogist, Vol. 59, No. 1, March 2020.