The Delgados of Almeria
View of Almeria from the Castillo San
Telmo, the Castillo
San Telmo, the Path up to the Castillo
Luis Delgado Mata was Alcaide of the
Castillo San Telmo in the mid-17th Century. He succeeded his father Luis in the job.
This is the text of a talk that I gave to the members of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center in Albuquerque in May
2010. It is followed by the results of earlier research.
Some day I may be able to add to it.
This talk is about the
family of Antonio de Molina Delgado, the father of Manuel Francisco Delgado,
the founder of the Delgado family of New Mexico.
From documents at the New
Mexico State Archives, we know that Antonio was married to Juana Xaviera de
Chavarria Butron. He was a resident and merchant in Pachuca in the Mexican
state of Hidalgo. He died in about March 1766. Letters written to Juana Xaviera
show that he predeceased her. The marriage Diligencia
for Manuel Francisco indicates that both of his parents had died by 1778. His
military papers indicate that he was of noble birth. Antonio Delgado, however,
used no aristocratic title.
From church documents in
Pachuca and nearby Real del Monte, we learn that Antonio married Juana Xaviera
on August 31, 1722. They record baptisms and marriages in her direct line for
at least two generations back. In the Parish of the Asuncion in Pachuca,
Antonio and Juana Xaveria baptized:
Maria Xaviera on August
14, 1723;
Juana Josepha on March 6,
1725. This baptismal record is particularly interesting because Antonio’s name
is clearly given as Antonio de Molina Delgado.
Manuel Antonio on January
22, 1727;
Luysa Gonsaga on June 23,
1729;
Francisco Lorenso on August
14, 1732;
Maria Ysabel on July 18,
1733;
Antonia Eustaquía on
February 25, 1736;
Manuel Francisco was baptized
on December 30, 1738.
Manuel Francisco’s
military papers indicate that he was the sixth child of his parents. Since the
baptismal records clearly indicate that he was the 8th child, and third son, if
we're operating with a full deck now, it seems that two siblings must have died
at a young age. I do not presently know what became of any of Manuel Francisco’s
siblings. Manuel Francisco joined the military in 1761 and was eventually sent
to the El Paso area, where he married Maria Josefa Garcia de Noriega and their
first children were born. Then he was sent to Santa Fe, and the rest is history.
Almeria
The
story of Manuel Francisco’s paternal ancestors would stop there, but that my
grandmother Margaret Mary Delgado y Garcia de Noriega de Ortiz (1900-1993) used
to tell me over and over that Antonio Delgado left Almeria, Spain in 1714 to
live in Mexico. She said that his family was aristocratic. I never asked her
how she knew this. I have never been able to find any other source for this
information. No member of my family remembers that she used to say that. The
only trace I know are the words “left Spain in 1714” that she wrote on a
Delgado genealogical chart.
I
think that her Aunt, Manuela Delgado y Garcia de la Mora (1860-1951), alias Sister
Gertrude, or her friend and cousin Fabiola Cabeza de Baca y Delgado y Delgado
de Gilbert (1898-1991), or both, may have told her this. Sister Gertrude’s
father, Felipe S. Delgado (1829-1895) was the great grandson of Antonio
Delgado. Fabiola was a Delgado through both her mother and her father. Her
mother had the unusual name Indalecia. San Indalecio is the patron saint of Almeria.
Fabiola’s papers at UNM do not say that Antonio came from Almeria, but they do
contain photocopied information about the Delgados of Almeria.
I decided that the only
thing to do was to go to Almeria and see what I could see. I have been going
there regularly since 2002 and have now done a lot of research there. I was
able to go three times this year.
The main problem is that
all the church documents were destroyed during the civil war. However, the
civil documents were not. For one thing, the notary books, with wills, property
transfers and other legal documents, are still in the Provincial Archives and,
as luck would have it, the Delgados were notaries (escribanos). Moreover, Almeria was in crisis in the 17th
century. The city suffered devastating earthquakes, drought and attacks by
Moors. Population figures for the time I’m studying give a population of only
400-700. That’s not very many people, and Delgados were among them. Almeria had
been a Moslem city, but they were deported in the 16th century. The
Jews had been deported in the 15th century. The historian Fr. Tapia
Garrido says that at the time of their expulsion, only 4 families from the city
left on the boat and 15 families from the province.
Archivists and historians
in Almeria immediately assured me that my grandmother was right. Although the
Delgado family of Almeria has since died out in Almeria (as you will see, there
were a lot of priests, girls and small families), there was a Delgado family in
Almeria in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. They were noble and the family
members had the same first names that Antonio and Juana Xaviera gave their
children. Furthermore, there was a de Molina family there at the same time that
married into the Delgado family.
During my very first trip
to Almeria, the Archivist at the Municipal Archives found an early 19th
century prueba de nobleza that had
been established by Joseph Diego Delgado (along with his brothers Manuel in Murcia,
Vicente in Cartagena, and Bernardo in Barcelona). It includes church records,
which he used to prove that he was the descendent of Isabel de la Cruz Perez
Baron (1618-) and Luis Delgado Mata (1625-), Alcaide of the Fortress of San
Pedro Telmo. As luck would have it, this was probably our Antonio Delgado’s
family. However, I have been able to trace all their descendants and he was not
a direct descendant of Luis and Isabel.
On my second visit in
February 2002, I found the will that Antonio Delgado Mata, son of Luis and
Isabel, made shortly before his death in 1705. It lists the six children, three
girls and three boys. His will lists the following children: Escolastica,
Isabel, Pedro, Antonio, Luis, Josef Francisco, Luisa. Evidence indicates that
this was the order of birth. In one document Ana de Herrera refers to Pedro as
her oldest son and I have the baptismal record for Josef Francisco. So we might
estimate that Antonio Junior was born in the 1690s. However, his will shows
that he married and died in Almeria.
With the clues from this
file I have gone on to study over 200 notary books. From the Seccion de Nobleza
of the National Archives in Toledo, Spain, I have received a proof of nobility
for Antonia Fernandez Delgado (born in 1695) with a lot of interesting
information. I have found two proofs of nobility and one prueba de limpieza de sangre for the family. These documents
contain much information and even contain partidas,
copies of now lost church records. Particularly helpful is a multi-volume
history of Almeria written by Father Tapia Garrido and published during the
1990s.
One thing that I keep
turning over in my mind is what a historian who wrote about the Delgados of
Almeria said to me. He said you know when you study these families you find
that they do the same thing century after century. The fact is that the
Delgados of Almeria were very much like the Delgados of New Mexico and Almeria
in the 17th century was very much like Old Santa Fe. For one thing
my grandmother was Santa Fe County Clerk, Escribano de Condado, without knowing
that she came from a family of escribanos.
Other similarities will become apparent as I tell the story.
First Generation in Almeria, Juan
Delgado and Ana Lopez
The Delgados of Almeria
are thought to have originally come from the mountains of Santander and to have
settled in the province of Palencia. It is thought that the Delgados of Almeria
came from a branch of the family from Villajimena because they had the same
coat of arms. The motto of the family is Ave
Maria Plena Gracia.
Juan
Delgado and his wife Ana Lopez, The first Almeria
Delgados, are said to have arrived in Almeria 1568 as part of the King’s
campaign to repopulate the land after the deportation of the Moslems. Juan is
recorded as being from Teba, Malaga. Both of them are on record as being
natives of Velez, Malaga, where Miguel de Cervantes lived in the late 16th
century. In 1572 they received the house of Luis Dalil and three “advantages.”
Vélez-Málaga
The city of Vélez-Málaga was founded
in the tenth century, at the height of the Muslim domination. The town grew up
around the fortress-alcazaba and immediately spread towards what become the
ancient Muslim “medina” or city centre. It was one of the most important
medinas in the Nazarite kingdom between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.
It was not a very large city, but it was well-fortified. Vélez-Málaga’s history
changed when in April 1487 Fernando the Catholic left Córdoba for the purpose
of taking its capital. Along the way noblemen and residents of the villages
through which he passed joined him and he arrived in the vicinity of
Vélez-Málaga with an army of 50,000 infantry and some 12,000 cavalry. The
fortress surrendered to the Christian troops. The last Muslim castle commandant
of the city, Abul Cacim Venegas (a name in Delgado genealogy) surrendered. The
city received the Catholic Monarchs on May 3rd. The new political authorities
tried to make Vélez-Málaga into a different city from what it had been under
Muslim rule, and for this purpose planned an architectural renewal program that
included a new arrangement of public spaces and the construction of secular and
religious buildings.
Teba
Teba must have been inhabited since
ancient times, as shown by some stone and bronze utensils found in caves. But
it was in the Roman era that Teba reached certain renown, especially as the
scene of the civil battles between Julius Caesar and Pompeyus partisans. The
Romans built the first defensive bastion. The Muslims reinforced and extended
the castle. At the end of the 14th century, the troops of Alfonso XI of
Castilla conquered the village and during the following two centuries it was
the head of an important territory. One of the most outstanding episodes of
Teba´s history was the death of Black Douglas before his castle´s walls. He was
a commanding officer of the Scottish army, who, on his way to the crusades and
carrying the heart of the king of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, allied with the
Christian army who at that moment were attacking the castle.
Second Generation
Juan Delgado and Maria Martinez
Juan Delgado married
Maria Martinez.
Francisco Delgado Mata
(baptized March 10, 1622) in the Church of San Pedro
An interesting person who
was probably their son was Diego Delgado,
in 1632, maestro mayor Ingeniero de las obras. He was an architect who was
commissioned by the King to repair the port of Almeria, which was in very bad
condition, so that French ships could come there.
Luis Delgado Mata (d. 1663) and Isabel
Garcia (d. 1660)
Luis
was buried October 16, 1663. He had been Alcaide of the Castillo San Telmo, a
fortress near Almeria belonging to the King for the protection of the
coastline. He is most probably the ancestor we are looking for. The executors
of his will were his sons Juan and Luis and his grandson Cristoval Fernandez. His
will was made out June 7, 1663. His heirs were his sons Juan and Luis and his
grandchildren Cristoval Fernandez Delgado and Juana Fernandez Delgado, who married
Indalecio Zendina.
Isabel Garcia
was the daughter of Miguel Angel, a native of Valencia, and Juana Roman (died
October 25, 1629), a native of Sevilla. Her heir was her daughter Isavel
Garzia, wife of Luis Delgado. Isabel was buried in the parish of San Pedro on
November 4, 1660. She did not receive the last rights because she died
suddenly. The executors of her estate were her sons Luis and Juan.
Luis and Isabel’s
children were at least Juan, Luis,
Francisco, Francisca.
Juan,
escribano (d. 1691), married Isabel de
Arqueros (d. bef. 1692). He prepared his will before the escribano Cristobal
Fernando Delgado in 1691. His children were: Joseph Luis, priest (clerigo de menores) and named organist at the
Cathedral in 1671), the executor of a lot of wills; Maria, who married Indalecio Roa (d. 1703). (I have their wills) Juan, a parish priest (d. bef. 1691),
his father was his heir; Francisco
Antonio Delgado Mata (sick in bed in 1692, names his brother Joseph Luis,
organist at the Cathedral and sister Maria his sole heirs).
Francisco,
was a military man who, while Alcaide del Castillo de Santiago de Rodalquilar, was
killed by infieles Moors, who cut him
up into pieces (hecho pedazos por ellos)
with a knife. It doesn’t look as if he was married or had children.
Luis
was born in 1625.
Francisca Delgado (d. 1673) and Diego
Fernandez Robladillo
Right now, we have to
stop and talk about the Fernandez
(Hernandez) Delgados. The progenitors of the important Fernandez Delgado
line. At this point I think that this is the line of the New Mexico Delgados.
Cristobal Fernandez Delgado (1637-1721)
and Maria Ruiz de Molina (d. 1667)
Christoval Fernandez
Delgado was baptized August 17, 1637 in San Pedro Church. His
father was Diego Fernandez and his mother was Francisca Delgado Mata, who died
in 1673. He was the Notario Mayor of the Audiencia Ecclesiastica of the Diocese
of Almeria and Escribano. He appears in the Life
of San Indalecio, a history of Almeria written in the 17th
century. One document describes him as having black hair and somewhat dark skin.
Maria Ruiz de Molina
was his first wife and he said she was his cousin.
Their children were:
1. Diego, escribano, married Barbara
Benegas. Their children were Antonio
(a priest); Bernarda born about 1692,
donzella; Antonia, born about 1699; Maria, religiosa profesa en el convento
de la Santissima Trinidad, Alcala; Isabel,
married Joseph de Arcona in Fiñana.
2. Doctor Manuel Antonio Fernandez Delgado, a priest, died January 1
or 2, 1710. He was the bishop at the Cathedral of Palencia.
3. Doctor Luis Andres, a priest. His will of 1699 describes him as a
native of Almeria, clerigo, presbitero, capellan del coros de la Iglesia
Catedral and then a priest at San Martin in Madrid. He names Ana Gonzales, his
father’s second wife as his sole heir.
Cristobal Fernandez Delgado (b. 1637)
and
his second wife, Ana Gonzales,
He married Ana Gonzalez
on April 22, 1668. The witnesses were Luis Delgado and Juan Delgado Mata. She
had been baptized on March 14, 1650 at San Pedro.
Their children were:
1. Pedro Antonio Fernandez Delgado, a priest, clerigo de menores, who died
1745-1752.
2. Juan Francisco Fernandez Delgado y Gonzales, b. 1678. He is
described as having chestnut colored hair and rather dark skin.
3. Sebastian Calixto, procurador,
died 1749, wife Juana de Haros from Granada, witness Pedro Delgado y Herrera
and Juan Francisco Delgado Menchon.
4. Maria, donzella, sole
heir of her brother Pedro in 1740.
5. Francisca de Paula, married Joseph de Gongora.
6. Antonia, married Pedro Matthias Vidal. Children were Joseph, Ana, Manuela, Maria, Francisca
Paula, Juan Diego, a priest in the Parish of San Pedro and I have his will
made out in 1755. He wanted to be buried in the parish Church of Señor San
Pedro in the chapel called that of Varron and whose patron is (de que es patrono)
Don Antonio Delgado y Herrera, resident of this city. I think this refers back
to where Fr. Agustin de la Cruz Perez Varron (died 1709) asked Juan Diego
Gonzales Delgado and the heirs of Antonio Delgado Mata to have a memorial built
for him in the Church of San Pedro. He also mentions Don Antonio Delgado y Venegas,
priest.
The
Case of Francisco Delgado
In his will Cristobal
talks about his son Francisco who went to Cadiz determined to go to New Spain.
The family gave him a lot of money and possessions in 1697. He stayed in Cadiz
for awhile and set up housekeeping.
Made his will in 1698.
Because I am leaving for the city of Oaxaca (?) and its province, country of
New Spain, in the Kingdom of Mexico. He leaves his goods to his siblings:
Pedro, Callixto, Maria, Paula, Antonia. There are documents about his leaving
for Mexico to do negocios.
November 3, 1700,
Emancipation. Twenty-two years old absolutely insisted upon being emancipated
from his father Cristobal Fernandez Delgado.
He did not go to Mexico,
but came back and married in Almeria. To marry, he had to provide documents
showing what he had been doing when he was away from Almeria. According to
them, he lived for a while with his brother in Madrid, then lived in Cadiz.
Luis Delgado Mata (b. 1625 ) and Isabel de la Cruz Perez Barron
(1618- )
Luis Delgado Mata was
born in 1625 to Luis Delgado and Isabel Garcia.
Isabel de la Cruz Perez
Baron (1618-) was born in 1618 to Diego de la Cruz y Aleman (died bef. 1688 and
Ana Perez Varron (d. bef. 1688). She was baptized in San Pedro.
They married February 25,
1649 in the Church of San Pedro.
After serving his Majesty
in various jornadas and campaigns in
which he displayed valor, obtained the posts of Alcaide of the Castillos de San
Pedro Telmo and Santiago de Rodalquilar and Guarda Mayor of the Aduana of
Almeria.
He was the full brother
of Francisco Delgado Mata who while serving as Alcaide of the Castillo of
Rodalquilar in defense of the law and his King lost his life in a battle with
the Moors, having died at their hands hecho
pedazos a cuchilladas.
They had the following
children.
Antonio
(b. September 5, 1650) baptized in the Church of San Pedro. His godfather was
Juan Delgado Matta, escribano (see below). He married Ana de Herrera on
September 24, 1784, Ds. Sagrario, Pila Mayor de la Santa Iglesia Catedral de
Almeria. Partida.
Juan,
baptized in San Pedro in 1656. He married Geronima de Jaen, one son Gabriel,
who had no children. Empadronado in 1731.
Juan
Luis
(born December 19, 1658, baptized January 14, 1659). He was a notary (escribano
publico).
Maria
(d. 1724), old maid (donzella). I have her will. The children of her brother Antonio
are her heirs. She leaves to them the ownership of the chapel, which she
inherited from Agustin Perez Barron. She is buried in the chapel of San Carlos
Borromeo in the Church of San Pedro.
Margarita Gregoria (1670-1736), born July 16th,
married Bernardo (Bernabé) Gonzalez, three children: Isabel, Juan Diego, Joseph
(I have her will).
Luis,
their last son, died in 1736. He married Luisa Gomez in, one daughter Luisa
Antonia (I have his will). He must be the one who was in the royal prison in
1704. There is a document that gives the reasons for his arrest.
Francisca,
named as sister in Maria’s will.
In 1714, Ana de Herrera
gave the house that she inherited from her parents to her eldest son Pedro who
became and soldier. Josef Francisco became a notary and there is quite a bit of
information on him.
Antonio Delgado Mata (1650-1705) and
Ana de Herrera (b. 1663-aft. 1714, bef. 1734)
Antonio
was baptized on September 5, 1650. In the Cathedral of Almeria, on September
24, 1684, Antonio married Ana de Herrera born in Caniles (Granada The witnesses
to their marriage were Juan Delgado Mata, Luis Delgado.) Ana de Herrera was
born in Caniles, Abadia de la ciudad de Baeza. (p. Blas de Errera, m. Juana
Basquez). Del Libro 4 fol 86 de los libros de Bautismo de la parroquia Sta.
María de Caniles, (Granada) Ana hija de Blas y Juana fue bautizada el 5 de Mayo
de 1663 por D. Domingo Román y siendo sus padrinos Ana Martínez y Carlos Tomé.do
and José Delgado. She was the daughter of Blas de Herrera and Doña Juana
Barquez. I obtained her baptismal record from the parish priest.
So far I have found
several documents from the mid 18th century that name Antonio Delgado
y Herrera and call him a resident of Almeria. In two of the cases, the document
was made with his brother Pedro before a notary, who uses the legal formula
that they are speaking as one person and only Pedro signs. In the third case,
the document from 1745 is made in the name of Joseph, Pedro, Antonio, Luisa and
Escolastica, siblings and residents of Almeria speaking as one person (juntos y
de mano comun a voz de uno y cada uno de por si y por el todo) but is only
signed by Pedro, Luisa, and Joseph. A document about Antonio Delgado y Herrera,
a document from the 1750s describing him as a patron of the church and vecino
of Almeria. His will gives him as married and living near the convent of the
Poor Clares, Clarissas. He and his wife did not have children.
Indalecia de Cruz y
Aleman, a donzella and the sister of Isabel, aunt of Antonio Delgado Mata
shared a house next to the Church of San Domingo (the present day Virgen de la
Mar). It was next to the house of Agustin Barron.
Escolastica
(born circa 1685)
Isabel
(born circa 1687). I have a 1708 reference to an Isabel Delgado del Aguilar and
her son Gabriel.
Pedro
(born circa 1689, d. after 1749), soldier. On December 4, 1714 Ana de Herrera,
widow of Antonio Delgado Mata, heir of Blas de Herrera and Ana Vasquez, gave
her son Pedro the house she inherited with Bartholome de Herrera from her
mother. He is mentioned in documents in the mid 1700s.
Antonio
(born circa 1691)
Luis,
soldier (born circa 1693)
Josef Francisco (born May 18, 1701, baptized
May 31), married Maria Menchon (b. 1712) in 1734. Francisco Miguel was their
son. He married Rosa Larralde, who in turn fathered Josef Diego Delgado husband
of Rosa Rodriguez.
Luisa
(born circa 1793)
Isabel de la Cruz Perez Barron’s Line
The proofs of nobility
and purity of blood provide interesting information about Isabel de la Cruz
Perez Baron’s line. Isabel de la Cruz Perez Barron was baptized in Almeria in
the Church of San Pedro. She was born in 1618 to Diego de la Cruz y Aleman
(died bef. 1688) and Ana Perez Varron (d. bef. 1688), who was the daughter of
Agustin Perez Barron, familiar del Sto Officio, and Isabel Juan Bendicho,
resident of Almeria. He was familiar del Santo Oficio. Her paternal
grandparents were Bartholome Perez and Isabel Berguél, natives and residents of
Canales in the Kingdom of Valencia. In the late 18th century, the
family’s coat of arms adorned the Chapel which Antonio Delgado at that time
owned in the Parish of San Pedro.
The proof says that the fathers
and grandfathers had been old Christians, pure of any bad race of Moors, Jews
or new converts, who had not been in trouble with the Inquisition or any court
who had held honorable professions of gentlemen and hijos dalo, notarios de
sangre y de solar.
The
children of Diego de la Cruz y Aleman (died bef. 1688) and Ana Perez Varron (d.
bef. 1688) were:
1. Indalecia de Cruz y
Aleman, a donzella and the sister of Isabel, aunt of Antonio Delgado Mata.
2. Juan de la Cruz (P278,
p. 32). According to his will of 1688 his parents were Diego de la Cruz and Ana
Perez Varron deceased, his wife Ana Sanchez. It names his children (Roque,
Juan, Antonia, Ana Francisca, Blas de la Cruz)
Juan
de Aleman (P278, p. 24), brother of Agustin de la Cruz y Barron. 1690 will
(P278, 127) Diego de la Cruz y Aleman and Ana Perez Varron. He says his
grandmother is Ana Rodriguez de Castilla, the daughter of Francisco Rodriguez
de Castilla. His only heir is his daughter Barbara Josepha de Aleman. His wife
was Antonia de Ledesma.
Lizdo.
Agustin de la Cruz y Barron, described in his will (P280, p. 307) of 1695 as
priest and chaplain at the Cathedral. He mentions his uncle Joseph Perez
Barron, whose will was taken by Andres? Fernandez Delgado, escribano, his
sister Indalecia de Cruz and his niece Maria Delgado. He talks about "las
casas de mi morada" as being located in his parish and next to that of his
nephew Antonio Delgado. He calls Ana Perez Varron his mother and Diego Barron,
late priest of the parish of San Pedro, his brother. According to P273, Agustin
de la Cruz Perez Varron made his will in the presence of the scribe Cristobal
Fernandez Delgado on April 1, 1709. He died in July. His heirs were Juan Diego
Gonzales Delgado and the heirs of Antonio Delgado Mata. He asked to have a
memorial built for him in the Church of San Pedro (P273).
Diego Barron, late priest
of the parish of San Pedro, his brother.
Conclusion
All the evidence
indicates that Antonio Delgado was indeed from Almeria, but I have yet to find
the “smoking gun.”
The Issue of Judaism
I
personally think that
the New Mexico Delgados of Spain were old Christians and that seems to
be
indicated by the New Mexico DNA results. According to my DNA results, I
am 0% Sephardic and 0% Ashkenazi. I think it is conceivable that the
Perez Barron family was originally Jewish. They were from Valencia and
I have
read that the Jews in Valencia converted en masse rather than be
expelled from
Spain. I think it is possible that Antonio’s wife Juana Xaviera
de Chavarria
Butron had some Jewish blood because her family was in Pachuca for
several
generations during the 17th century and there were a lot of Jewish
merchants there at the time. I think it is likely that Manuel Francisco’s wife Maria
Josefa Garcia de Noriega was Jewish. The Garcia de Noriegas have tested as
Semitic. The research based on proofs of purity of blood that I published in Herencia seems to indicate that the
Garcia de Noriegas were not an old Christian family and my grandmother was
very, very inbred. She was a Garcia de Noriega through her mother and her
father and both her mother and her father were Garcia de Noriegas through both their
mothers and their fathers.
Viejos cristianos,
limpios de toda mala raza de Moros, Judios, ni nuevamente convertidos a la
Santa Fe Catolica, ni penitentiados, ni castigados por Inquisicion, ni por otra
algun tribunal por haber caido en infamia, an obtenido empleos oficios de
caballeros hijos-dalgo, notaries de sangre y de solar conozida. Personas
antiguas noticiosas y de la mayor reputacion en quiens no concurrann las
calidades prohibidas Actos positives acreditan la distinction decente familia.
OLDER RESEARCH
The origins of Antonio de Molina
Delgado (d. 1766), the father of
Manuel Francisco
Delgado (1738-1815), the founder of the
Delgado family of New Mexico are beginning to be less obscure.
Antonio's 20th century descendent Margaret Delgado de Ortiz (1900-1993) always said that he came to Mexico
from Almeria, Spain in 1714. She said that his family was
aristocratic. I have never been able to find any other source for
this information. I never asked her how she knew this and now
speculate that her Aunt Sister Gertrude (aka Manuela Delgado y Garcia de la Mora, 1860-1951) or
her friend and cousin Fabiola Cabeza de Baca y Delgado de
Gilbert (1898-1991) may have told her
this. Sister Gertrude's father was the grandson of Antonio Delgado.
Fabiola was a Delgado through her mother and her father. Her mother
had the unusual name Indalecia. San Indalecio is the patron saint of
Almeria. Fabiola's genealogical papers do not say that Antonio came
from Almeria, but they do contain photocopies of information about
the Delgados of Almeria.
I decided that the only thing to do was to go to
Almeria and find out. I have been going there every year since 2002
and have done a lot of research there. I believe that Antonio Delgado
was indeed from Almeria, but I have yet to find the "smoking
gun".
Archivists and historians in Almeria assure me
that my grandmother was right. However, since I have not yet found
absolute proof, what I write here is mainly a matter of educated
guesses. The main problem is that all the church documents were
destroyed during the civil war. However, the civil documents were
not. For one thing, the notarial books are still in the Provincial
Archives and, as luck would have it, many notaries (escribanos) were
Delgados.
Although the Delgado family has since died out in
Almeria (as you will see, there were a lot of clergy--I've counted 28 priests in the 17-18 centuries alone!-- girls and small
families), there was a Delgado family in Almeria in the 16th, 17th,
and 18th centuries. They were noble and the members of the family had
the same first names that Antonio and Juana Xaviera gave their
children. The Delgados of Almeria are thought to have originally come
from the mountains of Santander and settled in the province of
Palencia. It is thought that the Delgados of Almeria came from a
branch of the family from Villajimena because they had the same coat
of arms. They are said to have arrived in 1568 to populate Andalucia
after the expulsion of the Moors.
Moreover, Almeria was in crisis in the 17th
century. Population figures for the time give population of only
about 400. That's not very many people and Delgados were among them.
Luis Delgado Mata, who was probably Antonio's grandfather, was Alcaide of
the Castillo San Telmo, a fortress near Almeria belonging to the King
for the protection of the coastline.
During my very first trip to Almeria, the
Archivist at the Municipal Archives found a file for me that had been
established by a Joseph Diego
Delgado (along with his brothers Manuel in
Murcia, Vicente in Cartagena, and Bernardo in Barcelona) in the 19th
century to prove his nobility. The file was established well before
the civil war. So it includes church records, which he used to prove
that he was the descendent of Isabel de la
Cruz Perez Baron (1618-) and
Luis Delgado Mata (1625-), Alcaide of the Castle of San Pedro Telmo, and. As luck
would have it, this was probably our Antonio Delgado's line. With the
clues from this file I have gone on to study scores of notary books,
from which I have gleaned the following information.
Antonio Delgado Mata (1650-1705) and
Ana de Herrera (b. 1664-aft. 1714, bef. 1734)
Antonio was baptized on September 5, 1650. In the
Cathedral of Almeria, on September 24, 1684, Antonio married Ana de Herrera born in Caniles
(Granada) in 1664. She was the daughter of Blas de Herrera and Doña
Juana Barquez. I
obtained her baptismal record from the parish priest. The witnesses
to their marriage were Juan Delgado Mata,
Luis Delgado, and José Delgado.
He inherited a home next to the Church of San
Domingo (the present day Virgen de la Mar) in the Parish of San
Pedro.
In February 2002 I found Antonio's will made
shortly before his death in 1705. It lists the six children, three
girls and three boys. Evidence indicates that this was the order of
birth. In one document Ana de
Herrera refers to Pedro as her oldest son and I
have the baptismal record for Josef
Francisco.
Escolastica
Isabel. I have a
1708 reference to an Isabel Delgado del Aguilar and her son
Gabriel.
Pedro (d. after
1749), soldier. According to P272, on December 4, 1714 Ana de
Herrera, widow of Antonio Delgado Mata, heir of Blas de Herrera and
Ana Vasquez, gave her son Pedro the house she inherited with
Bartholome de Herrera from her mother. He is mentioned in documents
in the mid 1700s.
Antonio
Luis, soldier
Josef Francisco (born May 18, 1701, baptized May 31), married Maria Menchon
(b. 1712) in 1734. Francisco Miguel was their son. He married Rosa
Larralde, who in turn fathered Josef Diego Delgado husband of Rosa
Rodriguez.
Luisa
(Compare the names with the children of Antonio
and Juana Xaviera born in Pachuca: Maria Xaviera, Juana Josepha,
Manuel Antonio, Luysa Gonsaga, Francisco Lorenso, Maria Ysabel,
Antonia Eustaquía, and Manuel Francisco. The name Manuel
appears to have come from Juana Xaviera's maternal grandparents'
family).
Luis Delgado Mata
died in 1705. He was imprisoned in the royal jail in 1704.
In 1714, Ana de Herrera gave the house that she
inherited from her parents to her eldest son Pedro who became a soldier.
Josef Francisco
became a notary and there is quite a bit of information on him.
Almost all of the Delgados of Almeria were
priests, notaries, or soldiers, usually in the Compania del Regimento
de la Caballeria de la Costa de Granada. I have only found one
document about Antonio Delgado y Herrera, a document from the 1750s
describing him as a patron and vecino of Almeria.
The 1714 will of Francisco Salinas (very end of
P286) seems to say that his wife Manuela Rodriguez de Coca y Barron,
daughter of Juan Rodriguez de Coca and Cathalina Perez Barron sold
the house that they inherited from her mother to Antonio Delgado.
Their daughter Josepha Salinas y Coca was the wife of Lorenzo de la
Plaza.
Luis Delgado Mata (1625-) and Isabel de
la Cruz Perez Baron (1618-)
Luis Delgado Mata
was born in 1625 to Juan
Delgado and Maria Martinez. He was baptized
in the Sant.??
They married February 25, 1649 in the Church of
San Pedro. He was the Alcaide of the Castillo de San Pedro Telmo and
Guarda Mayor of the Aduana of Almeria
Isabel de la Cruz Perez Baron was born in 1618 to Diego de la
Cruz y Aleman and Ana Perez Varron. She
was baptized in
the Church of San Pedro. Her siblings were:
1. Indalecia de Cruz y
Aleman, a donzella and the sister
of Isabel, aunt of Antonio Delgado Mata (P283, pp. 224-26)
2. Juan de la Cruz (P278, p. 32). According to his will of 1688 his parents
were Diego de la
Cruz and Ana Perez Varron
deceased, his wife Ana Sanchez. It names his children.
Juan de Aleman (P278, p. 24), brother of Agustin de la Cruz y Barron. 1690 will (P278, 127) Diego de la Cruz y Aleman
and Ana Perez
Varron. He says his grandmother is
Ana Rodriguez de Castilla, the daughter of Francisco Rodriguez de
Castilla. His only heir is his daughter Barbara Josepha de Aleman.
His wife was Antonia de Ledesma.
Lizdo. Agustin de la Cruz y
Barron, described in his will
(P280, p. 307) of 1695 as priest and chaplain at the Cathedral. He
mentions his uncle Joseph Perez Barron, whose will was taken by
Andres? Fernandez Delgado, escribano, his sister Indalecia de Cruz
and his niece Maria Delgado. He talks about "las casas de mi morado"
as being located in his parish and next to that of his nephew Antonio
Delgado. He calls Ana Perez Varron
his mother and
Diego Barron, late priest of the parish of San Pedro, his
brother.
Diego Barron, priest of the parish of San Pedro, died before
1695.
According to P273, Agustin de la Cruz Perez Varron made his will in the presence of the scribe Cristobal
Fernandez Delgado on April 1, 1709. He died in July. His heirs were
Juan Diego Gonzales Delgado and the heirs of Antonio Delgado Mata. He
asked to have an memorial built for him in the Church of San Pedro.
Manuela Rodriguez Coca (married Francisco
Salinas), daughter of Juan Rodriguez de Coca and Cathalina Perez
Varron. They had the children Josepha Salinas y Coca, who married
Lorenzo de la Plaza (an escribano), Francisco, Antonio. Joseph Perez
Varron. An October 3,1705 document in which Agustin de Varron,
chaplain at the Cathedral sells a house? to Joseph Luis Delgado Mata
mentions Manuela de Coca, daughter of juan de Coca and Catarina Perez
Varron. It says that Antonio Delgado Mata is the nephew of the
"otorgante". It mentions Ana de Herrera as the widow. P 259, 1693,
pp. 380, 468-69 sells to Antonio Delgado Mata
Children of Luis Delgado Mata and
Isabel de la Cruz Perez Baron
Antonio (b.
September 5, 1650) baptized in the Church of San Pedro. His godfather
was Juan Delgado Matta, escribano (see below). He
married Ana de Herrera on September 24, 1784, Ds. Sagrario, Pila Mayor de la
Santa Iglesia Catedral de Almeria.
Juan Luis (born
December 19, 1658, baptized January 14, 1659). He was a notary
(escribano publico). He married Geronima de
Jaen, one son Gabriel, who had no
children.
Luis married
Luisa Gomez in
1736, one daughter Luisa (I have his will).
Margarita (d. 1736),
married Bernardo (Bernabé)
Gonzalez, three children: Isabel, Juan Diego, Joseph (I
have her will).
Juan, escribano (d.
1691), married Ana Lopez and Isabel de Arqueros
(d. bef. 1692), children: Joseph Luis Delgado Mata y Arqueros, priest (clerigo de menores) and named organist at the
Cathedral in 1671), the executor of a lot of wills; Maria, married Indalecio Roa (d. 1703). I have
their wills; Juan, a parish priest (d. bef. 1691), his father was his heir;
Francisco Antonio Delgado
Mata (sick in bed in 1692, names his
brother Joseph, organist at the Cathedral and sister Maria his sole
heirs).
P260 has a reference to houses of Captain Don
Gaspar Fernandez de Martos heirs of Juan Delgado Mata, escribano que
fue...
Joseph Luis Delgado Mata mentions a Maria, the daughter of his brother.
I have this note: P205, Will of Juan Delgado Mata
(son of Luis Delgado Mata, Alcaide) whose wife was Isabel de
Arqueros. Maria de Roa my wife and his mother and aunt of Maria de
Delgado my daughter. Maria Delgado Mata, Francsico Delgado
Mata.
Juan Delgado
and Maria Martinez
Juan Delgado married
Maria Martinez on (I have found clues that her name might have been
Martinez Mata,I have a reference for Antonia Martinez Mata 1694). He
was born She was his elder, born
I have discovered the following children for
them:
Francisco (baptized
October 3)
??Francisco
Delgado Mata,
procurador
(baptized March 10, 1622) in the Church of San Pedro
Francisca Delgado
Mata
Luis Delgado Mata
(b. 1625)
Prehistory
1582, Juan Delgado, por mandato de su
Majestad.
1568, the family came to Almeria
Christobal Fernandez Delgado (b.
1637)
His father was Diego
Delgado, in 1632, maestro mayor Ingeniero
de las obras
Maria Ruiz de Molina, his first wife
Her mother was Francisca Molina, who died in 1673
(P277), September 6, 1683.
1. Diego,
escribano
2. Doctor Manuel,
priest, died January 1, 1710. He was the bishop at the Cathedral of
Palencia
3. Andres, priest.
P282, p. 201 is his will, 1699. It describes him as a native of
Almeria, clerigo, presbitero, capellan del coros de la Iglesia
Catedral and then a priest at San Martin in Madrid. His parents
Christobal Fernandez Delgado, escribano de Almeria and Maria Ruiz de
Molina, his first wife.
Ana Gonzales, second wife
1. Pedro Antonio Fernandez
Delgado was a priest, clerigo de menores,
in 1714, 1720s. Will 1740, died 1745-1752
2. Maria Fernandez Delgado, donzella, sole heir of her brother Pedro in 1740
3. Francisca de Paula, married Joseph de Gongora
4. Juan Francisco Fernandez Delgado y Gonzales,
b. 1678. His will P281, p. 207, describes
him as a native and resident of Almeria, gives his parents. It says
that he is heir through his father to Diego Fernandez and Francisca
Delgado.
5. Antonia Fernandez Delgado y
Gonzales, married Pedro Matthias Vidal.
Children were Joseph, Ana, Manuela, Maria, Francisca Paula, Juan
Diego. Juan Diego was a priest in the Parish of San Pedro and I have
his will made out in 1755. He wanted to be buried in the parish
Church of Señor San Pedro in the chapel called that of Varron
and whose patron is (de que es patrono) Don Antonio Delgado y
Herrera, resident of this city. I think this refers back to where Fr.
Agustin de la Cruz Perez
Varron (died 1709) asked Juan Diego
Gonzales Delgado and the heirs of Antonio Delgado Mata to have an
memorial built for him in the Church of San Pedro. This will is the
only document I have found that mentions Antonio Delgado y Herrera
after his mention in his father's will in 1705. He also mentions Don
Antonio Delgado y Vanegas, priest.
P1069, p. 24, Oct.
19, 1712. Diego Fernandez
Delgado says that his mother was
Maria Ruiz de Molina, the first wife of Christobal
Fernandez Delgado, his father, resident
and escribano publico, had left him, along with his brothers
Manuel and
Andres Fernandez Delgado, who were priests and already deceased, all her goods as
her sole heirs. Andres Fernandez
Delgado's will names Ana Gonzales, second mother of
the three above and second wife of their father as his sole heir.
Manuel Fernandez Delgado, died January 1, 1710. He was the bishop at the Cathedral of
Palencia. His sole heir was Diego, his brother by his mother
Maria Ruiz de Molina.
According to P273 of 1717, the children of
Diego Fernandez Delgado were Bernarda, 25, Antonia, 18, and Antonio, a minor. According P1065, he married Barbara Benegas.
Their children were Bernarda, Antonia and Antonio, who became a
priest.
In P238 is the 1684 will of Francisco Gonzales.
Children Ana and Bernardo
Others: Sebastian Calixto Fernandez
Delgado, procurador, died 1749, wife Juana
de Haros from Granada, witness Pedro Delgado y Herrera and Juan
Francisco Delgado Menchon.
Pascual Fernandez Delgado
Francisca Garcia Zendina, daughter of Juana
Fernandez Delgado and Indalecio Zendina, married Sebastian Perceval,
will 1720 names children.