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By Bill Figueroa |

From the moment I started researching the history of Aguascalientes, I realized that most of the large haciendas owned by our ancestors were land grants (mercedes de tierras) awarded by the Spanish crown to the early settlers and those who participated in que conquest of Mexico. Land grants were intended to promote agriculture, cattle breeding and mining in the area.

What I would like to know is where documentation on the early land grants is archived. Is it at the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City, at the Archivo Histórico de Nueva Galicia in Guadalajara, or at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville? I would like to know if Lope Ruiz de Esparza's "Estancia de Morcenique" was a land grant or if he actually purchased it from someone else. Lope was one of the early settlers of Aguascalientes. Other haciendas and ranches of interest are "San Bartholome" (aka San Bartolo) owned by Luis Tiscareño de Molina, Estancia de "El Agostadero" owned by Pedro Fernández de Vaulus, Labor de Chapultepeque" owned by Miguel López de Elizalde, "San Lorenzo" owned y Juan Bautista Ponce, "San Gerónimo" owned by Gerónimo de Orosco, "La Ciénega de Xiconaque" owned by Christóbal Lozano, Labor de "Los Gallos" owned by Pedro Macías Valadez, "Estancia de San Jacinto del Rincón" owned by Vicente Zaldívar y Mendoza, "El Picacho" owned by Salvador Ruiz de Esparza, etc. etc.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Bill Figueroa

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mendezdetorres

17 years 8 months ago

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My 3rd great father Mariano Camino was given a land grant for a very large hacienda in Huanusco, Zacatecas: The name of the Hacienda was

Hacienda de Nuestra Senora de La Luz ("La Luz")

It was given to him in the year 1899

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arturoramos

17 years 10 months ago

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Bill:

This is a very good question. In answering this question it is very important to understand Mexican colonial history and particularly the history of the political divisions within Mexico during Spanish colonial times.

As you probably know all of Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Jalisco and Nayarit were part of the Viceroyalty of Nueva Galicia. The viceroyalty had its own audencia (court) and government based in Guadalajara. Other than the indigenous towns in the region of Colotlan and Bolanos which were directly ruled by the Viceroy of New Spain in Mexico City, the government in Guadalajara handled all land matters for Nueva Galicia.

I know that for the region around Jerez, Tlaltenango and the surrounding areas in Zacatecas, most of the land grants are found in Guadalajara in the Archivo Historico del Estado de Jalisco in their "Tierras y Aguas" collection. There are subsquent transactions (sales, mortgages, etc.) found in Zacatecas in the state archive in Guadalupe (as this was the closest financial center and likely place for recordation of notarial documents such as these).

I know this is somewhat vague but I am largely speaking from heresay, as I have never seen any of these documents, except in extracts nor have I been able to visit either of these archives.

Hi Arturo!
Glad you are back!
What a great question that Bill has asked. I do not know the answer, perhaps my friend Martha in Aguascalientes can answer some of the questions. There has to be a book somewhere that can answer at least some of the questions, don't you think? I will let you know if I get an answer next week or rather this week.
Arturo, do you know what the "AGN Vinculos" refers to? Does this have anything to do with property? Land? What are vinculos? I looked it up....an entail..an estate entailed. Bill; have you tried the University of Texas Library, they have a lot of documents. maybe the Nettie Benson, Latin American collection.
Bye, Mickey

-----Original Message-----
From: arturo.ramos2@gmail.com
To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 9:43 PM
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Land Grants in Nueva Galicia

Bill:

This is a very good question. In answering this question it is very important
to understand Mexican colonial history and particularly the history of the
political divisions within Mexico during Spanish colonial times.

As you probably know all of Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Jalisco and Nayarit were
part of the Viceroyalty of Nueva Galicia. The viceroyalty had its own audencia
(court) and government based in Guadalajara. Other than the indigenous towns in
the region of Colotlan and Bolanos which were directly ruled by the Viceroy of
New Spain in Mexico City, the government in Guadalajara handled all land matters
for Nueva Galicia.

I know that for the region around Jerez, Tlaltenango and the surrounding areas
in Zacatecas, most of the land grants are found in Guadalajara in the Archivo
Historico del Estado de Jalisco in their "Tierras y Aguas" collection. There
are subsquent transactions (sales, mortgages, etc.) found in Zacatecas in the
state archive in Guadalupe (as this was the closest financial center and likely
place for recordation of notarial documents such as these).

I know this is somewhat vague but I am largely speaking from heresay, as I have
never seen any of these documents, except in extracts nor have I been able to
visit either of these archives.

Hi Mickey,

I think you're right. There has to be a book that lists some of the early
land grants. Searching through the first books of baptisms (1616-1670) and
marriages (1601-1662) from Aguascalientes, I discovered that by the early
1600s these haciendas were already in full swing. Some of the land grants
were handed by the Spanish Crown 75 years earlier, right after the conquest.
No, I have not checked the UT library in Austin. My son Gabriel graduated
from UT Austin and works at Dell Computers, so maybe one of these days will
go visit him. It's a four hour drive. I always wanted to see the Nettie
Benson, Latin American collection. Regarding your question about VINCULOS,
the word in English is LINKS.

Rgds, Bill

Tierras y Aguas refers to land grants and land disputes. I know for certain that all of the early land grants from the Tlaltenango and Jerez area are in the Fondo de Tierras y Aguas of the Archivo Historico del Estado de Jalisco, which seems to be what these films refer to. The problem is that there are so many films, I wouldn't know where to start. I imagine it may be worth ordering the film with the index and then you might be able to get an idea of what other films you might have to look through.

If the Archivo General de la Nacion has land grant documents from Nueva Galicia they would likely be the same microfilms of the Jalisco archives that are available through the family history library. I don't know if such films are indexed in ARGENA. I believe that ARGENA only indexes the archive's own documents. I know that when I search for the grants that I know exist in the Jalisco archives in ARGENA, they do not show up.

Thanks, Arturo. I will request the film "Indice general ordinal y alfabético 1584-1823" FHL INTL Film #269867 tomorrow and will report to Nuestros Ranchos what I find out (probably in 3-4 weeks).

Bill Figueroa

Now we're talking. Thanks Bill for saying what I hope others in the
group will start saying, "Report to Nuestros Ranchos." Yes this group is
like a Familia. We need to have this attitude that what goes around will
come around. Bill's attitude is great in that he might not gain anything
from "reporting" back to the group what he finds. . .that is unless it
comes back to bless him from someone else's input. We need to at times
just do a random act of genealogical kindness for one another. Imagine
if each of the 150+ members each took it upon themselves to share or
teach something just once a year. Wow we'd have the perspectives of many
different people on a lot of different subjects related to our history.
You can't believe how getting the input from various ones might trigger
ideas and thoughts on how to advance our own specific research.

So now that I'm about ready to get off the Soap Box let me say that if
you haven't posted a message to the group that you should get involved.
go online or open a book or learn something specific about our area of
genealogical research: Jalisco, Zacatecas, and/or Aguascalientes and
teach us something. No one will look down on you if it is really really
basic or simple. . .you know why because it will probably be something
that someone in the group needs.

Thanks Bill for your participation, interest and willingness to teach
us. How can I overlook all the great teaching that Arturo and others in
the group have shared with us as well.

Let's make 2007 the year that even those that have just started their
genealogical search learn something new and share it with the group.

joseph

===================

Joseph Puentes
http://H2Opodcast.com (Environment Podcast)
http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com (Latin American History)

Bill Figueroa wrote:
> Thanks, Arturo. I will request the film "Indice general ordinal y alfabético 1584-1823" FHL INTL Film #269867 tomorrow and will report to Nuestros Ranchos what I find out (probably in 3-4 weeks).
>
> Bill Figueroa

Bill et al:

I am at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and I have just gone through the index film for the Tierras y Aguas Collection. (FHL Film 0269867). It is definitely what you were looking for. It has original land grants as well as subsequent recorded transfers of those grants. Unfortunately only one of the actual films (other than the index) is here (the rest are in the vaults) so I cannot get my hands on the films with my ancestors' land grants.

The index film is not very long so I am going to try to scan it so that we can perhaps extract out the names and locations of the grants. I think it would be an invaluable index to have available.

Arturo et al,

Thanks for the update. I ordered the same film in January and have been waiting for a very loooooong time. Hopefully it will be here next week (Dallas, Texas). I guess I was right in thinking there weren't many copies around and they were having to make one from the master. It would be great if you could scan the index so we can see what's in it. Approximately how many entries are there? Maybe we can digitize it later. Anyway, I'll let you know when the film arrives so we can exchange notes...

Bill

Bill:

I too have been waiting a very long time for a film that I ordered. I think they are having problems with the new inventory and ordering system that they put in place over the new year.

The film is there on the shelf and available. It normally does not take them more than a couple of weeks to make a copy of the film when it is available in the library so I don't know what the hold up would be other than a mix up in the ordering system.

Anyhow, I have a scanner reserved for an hour and I will scan as many pages of the index as possible. There are thousands of entries since it also includes transfers of land.

I took a look at some of the other films in the collection and it appears that upon independence, the Mexican Imperial government began to copy over the land grant and transfer books of the viceroyalty based on municipality so when you see films with dates like 1584-1820 that is what it is... Unfortunately the description does not state what municipality it is. The original viceroyalty books are purely chronological so they span only a few years.

Just to give you an idea... select grants and trasfers from Book No. 10 (1700-1718)... I was looking for Tlaltenango grants thus the focus on that town:

69. Tlaltenango Juan de Miramontes
76. Tlaltenango Juan de Talamantes
81. Tlaltenango Andres Martin y Antonio Gutierrez del Palacio
89. Tlaltenango
90. Tlaltenango
105. Colotlan Naturales
114. Totatiche Pedro Diaz de Santa Cruz
115. Tlaltenango - Milpillas Diego Banuelos
119. Tlaltenango Vicente de Covarrubias
126. Tlatenango Pedro Avila Caldera
170. Jerez Maria Ortiz de San Pedro
187. Jerez Nicolas Carrillo

This sounds like a really useful film! I felt a rush of excitement
when I read the bits of the index below, because, who knows? maybe MY
ancestors may be found on it!!!! Marge:)
On Mar 10, 2007, at 3:41 PM, arturoramos wrote:

>
> Bill:
>
> I too have been waiting a very long time for a film that I ordered. I
> think they are having problems with the new inventory and ordering
> system that they put in place over the new year.
>
> The film is there on the shelf and available. It normally does not
> take them more than a couple of weeks to make a copy of the film when
> it is available in the library so I don't know what the hold up would
> be other than a mix up in the ordering system.
>
> Anyhow, I have a scanner reserved for an hour and I will scan as many
> pages of the index as possible. There are thousands of entries since
> it also includes transfers of land.
>
> I took a look at some of the other films in the collection and it
> appears that upon independence, the Mexican Imperial government began
> to copy over the land grant and transfer books of the viceroyalty
> based on municipality so when you see films with dates like 1584-1820
> that is what it is... Unfortunately the description does not state
> what municipality it is. The original viceroyalty books are purely
> chronological so they span only a few years.
>
> Just to give you an idea... select grants and trasfers from Book No.
> 10 (1700-1718)... I was looking for Tlaltenango grants thus the focus
> on that town:
>
> 69. Tlaltenango Juan de Miramontes
> 76. Tlaltenango Juan de Talamantes
> 81. Tlaltenango Andres Martin y Antonio Gutierrez del Palacio
> 89. Tlaltenango
> 90. Tlaltenango
> 105. Colotlan Naturales
> 114. Totatiche Pedro Diaz de Santa Cruz
> 115. Tlaltenango - Milpillas Diego Banuelos
> 119. Tlaltenango Vicente de Covarrubias
> 126. Tlatenango Pedro Avila Caldera
> 170. Jerez Maria Ortiz de San Pedro
> 187. Jerez Nicolas Carrillo

Bill:

I too have been waiting a very long time for a film that I ordered. I think they are having problems with the new inventory and ordering system that they put in place over the new year.

The film is there on the shelf and available. It normally does not take them more than a couple of weeks to make a copy of the film when it is available in the library so I don't know what the hold up would be other than a mix up in the ordering system.

Anyhow, I have a scanner reserved for an hour and I will scan as many pages of the index as possible. There are thousands of entries since it also includes transfers of land.

I took a look at some of the other films in the collection and it appears that upon independence, the Mexican Imperial government began to copy over the land grant and transfer books of the viceroyalty based on municipality so when you see films with dates like 1584-1820 that is what it is... Unfortunately the description does not state what municipality it is. The original viceroyalty books are purely chronological so they span only a few years.

Just to give you an idea... select grants and trasfers from Book No. 10 (1700-1718)... I was looking for Tlaltenango grants thus the focus on that town:

69. Tlaltenango Juan de Miramontes
76. Tlaltenango Juan de Talamantes
81. Tlaltenango Andres Martin y Antonio Gutierrez del Palacio
89. Tlaltenango
90. Tlaltenango
105. Colotlan Naturales
114. Totatiche Pedro Diaz de Santa Cruz
115. Tlaltenango - Milpillas Diego Banuelos
119. Tlaltenango Vicente de Covarrubias
126. Tlatenango Pedro Avila Caldera
170. Jerez Maria Ortiz de San Pedro
187. Jerez Nicolas Carrillo

I have uploaded the first five pages of the scan of the film. I got about 150 pages scanned though the film is very light and the scans are not always legible.

http://www.nuestrosranchos.org/node/15827

Below is the index of Libro Numero 2 which is from the early 1600s I believe:

Nombres de Agraciados
que aparecen en el Fondo de Tierras y Aguas
del Archivo Publico del Estado de Jalisco

Libro Número 2

Diego Guerra Valadez
Diego Márquez
Pedro y Sebastian Flores de la Torre
Juan Tello de Orozco
Esteban Anda de Altamirano (Aguascalientes)
Ventura y Francisco de Arce y Castillo (Aguascalientes)
Francisco Gómez
Sebastián Macias y Aguilar? (Estancia de Papalote)
Ventura de Navarrete Angulo (Santa María de los Lagos)
Lorenzo Álvarez (Santa María de los Lagos)
Antonio Acosta (Santa María de los Lagos – Estancia del Sauz)
Fulgencio González de Rubalcaba (Santa María de los Lagos – San Bartolomé)
Capitán Jacinto Velásquez (Santa María de los Lagos – San Bartolomé)
Ysidro de Pedroza (Santa María de los Lagos)
Nicolás de Esquivel (Santa María de los Lagos)
Pedro Flores de la Torre (Juchipila)
Diego Bernal (Real de San Sebastián)
Pedro de Placencia
Domingo de Rojas
Fulgencio González de Rubalcaba (Santa María de los Lagos)
Francisco de Márquez y Cordón
Marcial de Alcalá (Lagos – Jalostotitán)
José de la Peña Durán (Aguascalientes)
Maria de Estrada (Aguascalientes)
Alonso Andrade Rueda (Teocaltiche)
José García de la Vera (Juchipila – Nochistlán)
Jacinto y Gregorio Ramírez (Teocaltiche)
Antonio Ygnacio y Nicolás Nava (Purificación – Tomatlán)
Agustín López
Ygnacio Gallardo
Francisco Martín

arturoramos wrote:
> Bill:
>
> This is a very good question. In answering this question it is very important to understand Mexican colonial history and particularly the history of the political divisions within Mexico during Spanish colonial times.
>
> As you probably know all of Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Jalisco and Nayarit were part of the Viceroyalty of Nueva Galicia. The viceroyalty had its own audencia (court) and government based in Guadalajara. Other than the indigenous towns in the region of Colotlan and Bolanos which were directly ruled by the Viceroy of New Spain in Mexico City, the government in Guadalajara handled all land matters for Nueva Galicia.
>
> I know that for the region around Jerez, Tlaltenango and the surrounding areas in Zacatecas, most of the land grants are found in Guadalajara in the Archivo Historico del Estado de Jalisco in their "Tierras y Aguas" collection.

So are these the Tierras and Aguas films that the LDS has available that
I was asking about awhile back? Or are these records about something else?:

Title Tierras y aguas, 1584-1866

Notes Microfilme de manuscritos en el Archivo de Instrumentos
Públicos y en el Archivo de Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco,
Guadalajara.Incluye índices.Land and water rights records from
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Subjects México, Jalisco, Guadalajara - Land and property

Format Manuscript (On Film)
Language Spanish
Publication Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmados por la Sociedad
Genealógica de Utah, 1959-1960
Physical 294 carretes de microfilme ; 35 mm.

For a printable version of this record click here then click your
browser's Print button.

© 2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

==========================

Title Tierras y propiedades, 1691-1898
Authors Iglesia Católica. Diócesis de Guadalajara (México) (Main Author)

Notes Microfilme de manuscritos en el Archivo de la Sagrada Mitra en
Guadalajara.Documents maintained by the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico regarding land and property.

Subjects México, Jalisco - Land and property
México, Jalisco, Guadalajara - Land and property

Format Manuscript (On Film)
Language Spanish
Publication Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmadas por la Sociedad
Genealógica de Utah, 1958
Physical 20 carretes de microfilme ; 35 mm.

For a printable version of this record click here then click your
browser's Print button.

© 2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
=========================================

joseph

===================

Joseph Puentes
http://H2Opodcast.com (Environment Podcast)
http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com (Latin American History)

Joseph,

That's a good question. I doubt that any of these microfilms include land
grants. It seems like the documents listed under "Tierras y Propiedades,
1691-1898" are deeds of land owned by the Catholic Church. "Tierras y
Aguas, 1584-1866" seems to indicate land and water rights for the public
lands and bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, canals, etc. Maybe other
members of the group have checked these records before...?

Bill

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title Tierras y aguas, 1584-1866

Notes Microfilme de manuscritos en el Archivo de Instrumentos
Públicos y en el Archivo de Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco,
Guadalajara. Incluye índices. Land and water rights records from
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Subjects México, Jalisco, Guadalajara - Land and property

Format Manuscript (On Film)
Language Spanish
Publication Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmados por la Sociedad
Genealógica de Utah, 1959-1960
Physical 294 carretes de microfilme ; 35 mm.

For a printable version of this record click here then click your
browser's Print button.

© 2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

==========================

Title Tierras y propiedades, 1691-1898
Authors Iglesia Católica. Diócesis de Guadalajara (México) (Main Author)

Notes Microfilme de manuscritos en el Archivo de la Sagrada Mitra en
Guadalajara.Documents maintained by the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico regarding land and property.

Subjects México, Jalisco - Land and property
México, Jalisco, Guadalajara - Land and property

Format Manuscript (On Film)
Language Spanish
Publication Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmadas por la Sociedad
Genealógica de Utah, 1958
Physical 20 carretes de microfilme ; 35 mm.

For a printable version of this record click here then click your
browser's Print button.

© 2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
=========================================

Thanks for your prompt answer and very useful information. I suppose that the official documents pertaining to land grants in Nueva Galicia are at the "Archivo Historico del Estado de Jalisco" in their "Tierras y Aguas" section. I will contact my relatives in Guadalajara to see if they can help. Incidentally, I have spent many hours checking subsequent transactions at the Archivo Histórico de Aguascalientes, but the "Protocolos Notariales" start around 1650 and I could not find any land grants. Hopefully the Dallas Public Library will have some books that can shed some light on this subject. The DPL is one of the top genealogy libraries in the nation. Thanks again.

Bill

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