Una traducción de esta publicación al español está disponible aquí.
[Last Updated: 2 November 2019]
In an ideal world every genealogist would like to have parents name their children distinctly enough so as to avoid confusion when looking them up in the records. In the real world, for a myriad of reasons, parents oftentimes give their children very closely sounding names. This is the case of Juan and Juan Diego GOMEZ de CASTRO, two brothers who lived in Nuevo Leon, Mexico around the first half of the 18th century.
Juan and Juan Diego GOMEZ de CASTRO are the sons of Juan GOMEZ de CASTRO and Juana PEREZ VIDAL de FIGUEROA [1]. In one generation there are two children named Juan, and their father is also named Juan. It is clear here that there is plenty of room for confusion. Fortunately, there are rare moments in the records when two similarly named individuals make declarations side-by-side, and this sets the record straight if there was ever doubt as to their identities. Juan and Juan Diego GOMEZ de CASTRO appear as witnesses in the marriage dispensation [2] of Joseph de la GARZA and Isabel SALINAS which took place in Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on 25 July 1712.
Both declarations include the ages and signatures of Juan Diego and Juan GOMEZ de CASTRO. Juan Diego was born about 1672, and Juan was born about 1666 or before. The signatures express not only their penmanship, but their literacy. They also communicate how they felt about the compound surname GOMEZ de CASTRO. Juan Diego signs simply as a GOMEZ while Juan signs as a GOMEZ de CASTRO. The declaration of Juan Diego is unique because it’s one of the few sources which confirm the origin of this family in Queretaro, Mexico.
These declarations are found in a commonly overlooked source for biographical information: the witness declarations associated with marriage dispensations. For the region of northeastern Mexico and South Texas these marriage dispensations are easily accessed through the indispensable Index to the marriage investigations of the Diocese of Guadalajara pertaining to the former provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Nuevo Santander and Texas [3]. Unfortunately, this index while extensive leaves out the names of the marriage dispensations’ witnesses.
Do you descend from the GOMEZ de CASTRO family of northeastern Mexico and South Texas? Please consider joining this Facebook group: Gomez de Castro (Genealogy and Genetics) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GomezdeCastro/.
Do you have a comment, correction or suggestion on this post? Please contact me. I’d love to hear your feedback.
Joseph de la Garza and Isabel Salinas – Church Marriage Dispensation. “México, Jalisco, registros parroquiales, 1590-1979,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-6RS4-G8 : 28 June 2014), Guadalajara > Diócesis de Guadalajara > Matrimonios 1712-1718 > image 65 of 205; parroquias Católicas, Jalisco (Catholic Church parishes, Jalisco).
Una traducción de esta publicación al español está disponible aquí.
[Last Updated: 20 September 2019]
As you start becoming familiar with a new research location, invariably you must also become familiar with that location’s naming history: How did its name come about? Did it change at some point? How does this affect my research?
I have been working on San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León church birth and marriage records for the better part of this month. There is a couple who has become part of my current case study: Cristobal RODRIGUEZ and Josefa Francisca PEÑA. They are firmly rooted in San Pedro, and have a child named Francisco christened 25 Jul 1762 [13]. I can’t find a marriage record for Francisco, so in order to find if he married I need to look at apparent christening records for his children. At this point I must admit a little cheating: AncestryDNA’s Thrulines suggested Francisco RODRIGUEZ who married 1) Isabel Maria GONGORA, and 2) Antonia LOZANO, was the child of Cristobal RODRIGUEZ and Josefa Francisca PEÑA. As anyone who’s used Thrulines knows: one must proceed with caution; so I looked deeper into this prospective match.
In my search for evidence I examine closely the christening records for the children of Francisco RODRIGUEZ with 1) Isabel Maria GONGORA and 2) Antonia LOZANO. Francisco and Isabel Maria had at least one child in 1784. Francisco and Antonia had least nine children in the period of 1792 to 1813. Given that Francisco was born in 1762, this would make him about 22 years old at the time of his first known child in 1784. Being of such age at this event would fit very well the typical life events’ timeline of a man in this region.
Children of Francisco RODRIGUEZ and Isabel Maria GONGORA
I must take a step back to note that these all are christenings which took place in the Cathedral of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Records for this period usually include the location of residence of the child’s parents at the time of the christening. San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, commonly noted in these records as “Valle de San Pedro”, doesn’t become a village in its own right until 1882, so any christening records associated with its inhabitants can only be derived from a study of the Monterrey christening records and the reference to the parents’ location of residence.
A review of the christening records for the children of Francisco RODRIGUEZ with 1) Isabel Maria GONGORA and 2) Antonia LOZANO reveals they resided for the most part in San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo León. Knowing the current name of this location it is easy to infer that “Estancia de San Nicolas”, and “Estancia de los Garzas” both refer to the same place. What about “Estancia de Pedro de la Garza”? The historian Eugenio del HOYO sheds light [12] on this name:
“Diego Díaz de Berlanga… El 5 de febrero de 1597 recibió en merced cuatro caballerías de tierra al norte de la ciudad, donde fundó su estancia de labor… Su viuda, Mariana Díaz vendió posteriormente sus tierras a Pedro de la Garza, llamándose por ello, desde entonces, Estancia de Pedro de la Garza, hoy San Nicolás de los Garza. “
Let’s revisit the objective of this exercise: to find any evidence that Francisco RODRIGUEZ married to 1) Isabel Maria GONGORA and 2) Antonia LOZANO is indeed the child of Cristobal RODRIGUEZ and Josefa Francisca PEÑA. I had hoped to accomplish this by finding a clear pattern of San Pedro references in the christening records of Francisco’s children. Unfortunately, only one such reference is located: the 1802 christening record [5] of Concepcion which refers to her parents’ residence as “Valle de San Pedro”. However, knowing that San Nicolás de los Garza, the location most associated with this family, was also known as “Estancia de Pedro de la Garza”; is it possible the priest recording this christening record confused this name with “Valle de San Pedro”? One could also argue San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León also has “Garza” as part of its name, but such addition to its name didn’t occur until the town was elevated to village status in 1882. In other words, if there was any confusion at the time of recording this location in Concepcion’s christening record it was purely based on the “Pedro” and “San Pedro” part of both locations.
Valle de San Pedro
➡️
San Pedro Garza García
Estancia de Pedro de la Garza
➡️
San Nicolás de los Garza
Perhaps future evidence might appear to establish that Francisco RODRIGUEZ married to Antonia LOZANO is indeed the child of Cristobal RODRIGUEZ and Josefa Francisca PEÑA. Unfortunately, a review of his children’s christening records does not settle the matter.
Trinidad Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS29-RG6 : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1768-1792 > image 320 of 581; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Gertrudis Remigia Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2L-BR : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1792-1800 > image 41 of 344; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Antonio Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2G-3P : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1792-1800 > image 69 of 344; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Teresa Trinidad Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2G-4H : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1792-1800 > image 156 of 344; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Catarina Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2G-HH : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1792-1800 > image 244 of 344; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Concepcion Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2V-5T : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1800-1809 > image 80 of 439; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Pedro Jose Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2K-HD : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1800-1809 > image 278 of 439; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Antonia Severina Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS2K-C5 : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1800-1809 > image 365 of 439; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Carmen Cruz Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS29-5R1 : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1809-1817 > image 25 of 500; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Josefa Apolonia Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS29-5TY : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1809-1817 > image 118 of 500; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Juana Maria de los Dolores Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS29-RW6 : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1809-1817 > image 241 of 500; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
Hoyo, Eugenio . Historia Del Nuevo Reino De León 1577-1723. , 2014. Online. Page 245.
Francisco Rodriguez – Church Birth Registration. “México, Nuevo León, registros parroquiales, 1667-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSK5-3MY : 21 May 2014), Monterrey > Catedral > Bautismos 1731-1768 > image 607 of 728; Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Nuevo León (Catholic Church parishes, Nuevo León).
