Reference: Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I,
Twitchell 1206, Reel 6, Frame 658-661.
©Patricia
Sanchez Rau
ARCHIVE
1206
Public
Survey Office
Date: August 19, 1723
Will of Juan Ruiz
Cordero, retired Adjutant of Santa Fe, executed before Francisco Bueno
Borhorquez y Corcuera, Alcalde.
I, Juan Ruis Cordero,
resident of the villa of Santa Fe, do hereby say that being in ill health with
an infirmity which God our Lord, has seen fit to send me, but in full
possession of sound judgment and natural reason, I faithfully and truly believe
in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, but only one true God.
believe in all the
teachings as believed and confessed by our Holy Mother, Apostolic, Roman,
catholic, Church, and in order to be able to execute this, my last will and
testament, I wish to received and invoke the aid of the Holy Virgin, Mother of
God, who is the mediator of the sinner, whom I request to be my intercessor,
and to lead my soul on the way to salvation.
First: I commend my soul to God our Lord, who
created and redeemed it with his precious and Holy Blood.
Item: I bequeath my body to the earth from whose
soil it was formed.
Item: I bequeath to the accustomed forcible
bequests (mandas forzosas), sum of
six pesos in alms.
Item: I hereby state that thirty-one years ago, I
was married to Maria Carrillo Terasas, in accord with the rites of Holy Mother
Catholic Church. During which married
life, we have reared the following children:
Juan Zerena Cordero, Maria Antonia Cordero, Manuela de Grazia Cordero,
Maria Daria Cordero, and Francisco Xaviel Cordero.
Item: It is my will that
what is due me be divided among my daughters and my wife. To my son, I leave my saddle, harquebus,
saddle pads, bridle, spurs, shield, cloak, coat, trousers, stockings, and my
papers of my military service.
Item: It is my desire to name as my administrator,
the Señor Lt. General don Juan Paez,
to collect all that is due me, and to pay all that I owe, as shown by the
memorandum which I leave in the possession of the said Señor General don Juan Paez; and I order that he divide
among my wife and daughters, the balance left over after my debts had been
paid, which after my death, the said Señor Lieutenant General shall
ascertain. To my aforesaid son, I have
already designated what he is entitled to.
The obligations due me are
as follows:
Item: I declare that
Francisco Joseph de Casaos, the male servant, owes me per promissory note,
which he gave me and signed with his own name, and two receipts for
merchandi9se, which I turned over to him at the City of Mexico to be delivered
to my wife, said receipts being in the handwriting of Captain don Juan Garcia de la Rivas, which said
merchandise is worth, in this kingdom,
about nine hundred pesos, for which sum the said Francisco Joseph de Casaos,
bound himself to account to me at the kingdom as shown by the said obligations
signed by himself.
Item: I declare that there is due me, unpaid from my
employment, as will be shown by my books, a sum, which according to my
understanding accounts to two hundred pesos.
Item: I declare a gift which the garrison soldiers
gave me and which is in the possession of the Señor Governor and Captain
General don Juan Domingo de
Bustamente.
Item: I declare that I am indebted to don Juan Indartne Viscayno, who resides
in the city of Mexico, on a promissory note of mine which he has in his
possession, for the sum of seven hundred pesos.
Item: I declare that I am indebted to a “Cachupin”
(Spaniard) by the name of don Blas,
and is known by don Joseph de Aganza
for fifty pesos.
Item: I declare that I am indebted to don Joseph de Bilches for eighteen pesos
and to his nephew for twenty pesos.
Item: I owe Diego Padilla, a resident of Rio Abajo,
a garment of scarlet cloth or its value.
Item: I owe Maria
Montoya, widow of Miguel de San Juan another garment of scarlet cloth or its
value; when the same is paid, she is to pay for a pair of stockings.
Item: I owe the Señor General, don Juan Paez, four pesos.
Item: I owe Francisco Lorenzo de Casaos, Senior,
eight pesos.
Item: I owe Pedro Lopez twenty reales.
Item: I owe the widow of the adjutant, Joseph
Dominguez, two pesos.
To execute and pay this,
my will, I name as my administrator, the aforesaid, General don Juan Paez, to collect and pay, as
well as the rest herein provided, which belongs to my wife and children.
For the true enforcement
of validity of this, my last will and testament, I requested the Alcalde mayor
of this villa, don Francisco Bueno de
Bohorquez, to acknowledge the same in his official capacity.
I, the said Alcalde
Mayor, upon examination of the last will and testament of the retired Adjutant,
Juan Ruiz Cordero, who executed the same with me in the presence of witness,
who were Juan de Medina, Pedro Lopez and Joseph de Armijo, residents of the
aforesaid villa, say that I am acknowledging and did acknowledge and sign, in
my official capacity as authorized by law, in order to make it legal and
binding in the presence of the aforesaid witnesses, assisting me in the absence
of public or royal notary, there being none in this kingdom.
Executed on this the 19th
day of the month of August, of the year, one thousand seven hundred and twenty
three. Written on this common paper, because sealed paper cannot be obtained in
this part of the country. To which I
certify.
Juan Ruiz
Cordero (Rubric)
Witness:
Juan Manuel Chirinos (Rubric)
Witness: Juan Joseph Moreno (Rubric)
Executed
before me: Francisco Bueno de Borhorquez
y Corcuera (Rubric)
Juez
Receptor
Reference: Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I,
Twitchell 1206, Reel 6, Frame 658-661.
©Patricia
Sanchez Rau
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