Andres Facundo Gonzales, Will 1816

Know all ye that I Andres Facundo Gonsales, resident of Los Corrales, and a native of the villa of Albuquerque and being gravely ill.

I wish to be buried in the church of the villa of Albuquerque in the humblest spot and my burial is with a mass with my body present.

I leave the mandatory bequests, six pesos of the land.

I declare that I was married and veiled with Maria Dorotea Griego and of said marriage we had twelve (12) children of those three are deceased and nine are living.  Maria Francisca, Maria Teodora, Antonio Jose, Jose Leonicio, Jose Miguel, Maria Manuela, Juana Maria, Maria Rosalia and Maria Francisca.

I declare that when I married Maria Dorotea Griego I did not bring one deed [no land].

I declare the following goods: a house with lands, four rooms and one jacal with seven doors and three windows.  Seven paintings, four are bultos, one crucifix, five saucepans, three axes, one adze, five large hoes, one metal knife, one ?, two China plates, one of metal, two containers, two bottles, one yellow spoon, a candlestick made of metal, a pair of old cards (weaving), an equipped loom, two combs, large sheet and one small wool blanket, one (cut off) equipped, four boxes with iron and keys, two smaller boxes one with iron and key, three benches, one table, one big with box; five cabinets, four footstools, one high bed of wood and one table; one almud (measuring box); a fanega, one branding iron with its registration; three mattresses, five blankets, two blankets (mantas); two serapes, eight cow hides, four chamois, one hide of leather, two buffalo hides for camping, 18 varas of wool cloth (sabanilla), one piece of Brittany cloth; two barber knives, three silk cloths, two blank and one white with flowers; one table knife, three ploughs with old parts, two old carts, four metates, two corrals, and two shovels.  [and it keeps on going with land, animals, debts and more]

He names as his executors Don Salvador Cordova and second his son, Don Antonio Jose Gonsales.  Signed at Corrales on the 25 September 1816. With the witnesses present and he signed his name, Juan Gonzales (rubric)

Reference:  Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Alameda Land Grant.

©Henrietta Martinez Christmas

Piedra Lumbre - depositions

Almost all the land grants have interviews or depositions of people who were neighbors, heirs, and just knew information.  Many of these are very useful for genealogists and you can actually get some excellent information for your own ancestor, putting them in a place and time, their age, occupation, where they had lived and so on.

 

Reference:  Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Reel 20, Frame 832-

Piedra Lumbre Land Grant - English transcripton

All the land grants in the Spanish Archives were translated into English so that Congress would be able to read the contents.  They are usually behind the Spanish language papers.  This was approved in 1854 according the verbiage in this document.  

 

Reference:  Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Reel 20, Frame 832-

Piedra Lumbre Map

Most of the maps for land grants look like this, rectangular.  The alcalde mayor had to draw out a sketch in order to show boundaries, neighbors, land marks, and more.  This one obviously has lined paper and not drawn by the alcalde in 1766.

Reference:  Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Reel 20, Frames 832-.

Piedra Lumbre Grant

Well after a month or more of revisiting this land grant, I was notified that the Catron Papers might be wrong.  In working backwards, which is what we do in genealogy, you almost always need to find a second document that can verify research.

YES the genealogy when they were adjudicating the land grant was given incorrectly.  It appears this way in the actual land grant docs also. So what does all this mean for a genealogist = keep looking at records to double verify your findings.  It was actually granted to the first Pedro Martin Serrano (1712-1768).  The lands had been abandoned and Pedro Martin Serrano asked for them.  They were granted in 1766.  He actually signed the document.  Here is what the petition looked like when he wrote it and his signature.

Reference:  Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Reel 20, Frame 832-