​Hola primos y primas,

I have this person in my lines (various times), and I’ve been racking my brains on him for the last couple of years. I think I’ve finally accumulated enough information to formulate a theory (albeit a very loose theory), which I’d like to air-out here, for review and discussion.

These are the 3 documents I will be referencing and dissecting:

I. IM: Juan Antonio Gaitan and Maria Manuela Muñoz, 15 Jun 1748, San Matias, Pinos
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-BPDG-3?mode=g&i=572&wc=3PS…
II. Dispensa: Nicolas de Castañeda and Maria Gomez, 9 Jun 1712, San Matias, Pinos
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-XW39-LV?mode=g&i=489&wc=3J…
III. Dispensa: Nicolas Alonso and Petra Delgadillo, 02 Apr 1723, Teocaltiche, Jal.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-6YLN-2?mode=g&i=5&wc=3J44-…

I. IM: JUAN ANTONIO GAITAN & MARIA MANUELA MUÑOZ 15 Jun 1748, San Matias, Pinos

These are my g5's, Juan Antonio Gaitan-Delgado and Maria Manuela Muñoz-Gomez. Upon first reading this IM, I was blown away, because I learned that the pretensos were 4th-cousins, and the ecclesiastical authority (bless their eternal souls!) thought it was important enough to mention​.​ They even give a tree, going back an unbelievable 4 generations:

Gonzalo Gomez de Ruelas-1-Juan Gomez de Ruelas
Maria Gomez de Ruelas-2-Blas Gomez de Ruelas
Miguel Gaitan-3-Nicolas Gomez de Sotomayor
Francisco Xavier Gaytan-4-Maria Dolores Gomez
Juan Antonio Gaitan-5-Maria Manuela Muñoz

Testigo #1 is grandfather of the bride, Nicolas Gomez de Sotomayor, age 66 (ca. 1682, Zacatecas, Zac), owner if Santa Rita, and Testigo # 2 is father of the groom, Francisco Xavier Gaitan (b. 1691, Irapuato, Gto), silver miner. I'm not convinced their genealogy is accurate, due to the number of years and generations involved, and the ages of the testigos (their info is likely 2nd-hand).

GONZALO GOMEZ

I’ve been unable to find anything on Gonzalo Gomez de Ruelas, but I have located his daughter, Maria de las Ruelas aka Maria Blanca. She married Joseph Gaitan-Castañeda, of SLP, some time between Oct 1649 and 01 Sep 1653, when they first appear together as padrinos, in Villa de Reyes, SLP. They would baptize 5 children in Sagrario SLP, between 1654-1665, and then move to Charcas, SLP, around 1670. They both died and were buried in Sagrario SLP. I still haven’t located their marriage records, so I don’t know where she’s from. They are the parents of Miguel Gaitan cc Antonia Arias de Bedoya, who arrived in Sierra de Pinos 1706-1708.

JUAN GOMEZ NIETO

I managed to track ​Juan Gomez de Ruelas back to Santa Fe, Gto; he was married to Teresa Guerrero aka Maria Teresa Martin/ez, and they baptized a number of children in different parts of Guanajuato, from 1654-1670. He died by 1683. On the baptism record for their first child, Juan Gomez is listed as "Juan Gomez Nieto." They might also be Juan Nieto and Maria Paredes aka Maria Mendoza, who baptized 2 sons in Nstra Sra de Gto, but I still haven't seen "Paredes" nor "Mendoza" anywhere else, so they're tentative. There was also a Juan Gomez Nieto and Teresa Pacheco whose daughter, Maria Gomez, married Juan Lopes de Cardenas 4 Aug 1669 in Sta Catalina Martir, DF. Also tentative (their timeline does allow all 3 dates).

GOMEZ DE RUELAS Y SOTOMAYOR

Juan Gomez and Teresa Guerrero are the progenitors of the "Gomez de Ruelas" and "Gomez de Sotomayor" surnames in Sierra de Pinos. Descendants also used "Gomez de Ruelas y Sotomayor," and various combinations of the 3 component surnames. Of their 7 confirmed children, most would migrate to Pinos, the first arriving in 1689; one branch settled on Guadalupe de los Pozos, another on Santa Rita, and another on Bocas, near Ojuelos. One daughter, Matiana Gomez de Ruelas (b. 12 Mar 1670, Nstra Sra de Gto), was married to Nicolas de Carrion. Note: "Gomez de Sotomayor" is also a dynastic surname originating in Spain, and appearing in other parts of Nueva Galicia. I don't know if there is a link.

II. DISPENSA: NICOLAS ALONSO & PETRA DELGADILLO 02 Apr 1723, Teocaltiche, Jal.

This one caught me eye, because the names “Gonzalo Gomez” and “Maria Blanca Gomez” appear, which can't be a coincidence - there must be a link between these 2 FGs. This dispensa has been referenced in other NR threads, and Don Jaime Holcombe cites it in his “Varias Cartas” (p 76).

A tree is given (I’ll include spouses' names):

Gonzalo Gomez-1-Maria de Islas y Moctezuma
(Augustina de Ruelas) (Andres Martinez de Sotomayor)
Antonio Gomez Garcia-2-Margarita de Sotomayor
(Francisca Flores de la Torres) (Joseph de Leon)
Maria Blanca Gomez-3-Rosa Manuela de Leon
(Pedro Alonso de los Hinojos) (Pedro Delgadillo)
Nicolas Alonso-4-Petra Delgadillo

Most read this as, Gonzalo Gomez and Maria de Islas are siblings, hence, Gonzalo Gomez is a son of Benito de la Isla-Lavezaris, who would be the tronco. I don’t agree with this interpretation.

We’ve all read enough of these old declarations, to know that the word “hermano” was regularly used for “cuñado.” Also, a spouse's name was used, if the relevant ancestor's name is forgotten. So one must always look into the possibility that the relationship is through the spouses, rather than through those named. In this case, it is already verified that Augustina de las Ruelas and Andres Martinez de Sotomayor are siblings, legitimate children of Andres Martin Camacho and Maria de Ruelas, who are the tronco of this tree, not Benito de la Isla. There is no mention of the pretensos descending "de dos lineas iguales," so the parentesco is likely only through the Martinez de Sotomayor. Added to that is fact that nowhere amongst the known descendants of Benito de la Isla, does the name "Gomez" appear, and nowhere amongst the known descendants of Gonzalo Gomez, does the name "Isla" appear (as far as I know). It's possible, but it's just not probable. That is my opinion. Gonzalo Gomez is not the brother of Maria de Islas nor the son of Benito de la Isla.

This opens the possibility that this Gonzalo Gomez is our man, and that he and his wife, Augustina de las Ruelas, are the progenitors of the [Gomez] + [Ruelas y Sotomayor] surname. From her timeline, Maria Blanca de Ruelas, cc Joseph Gaitan, could very well have been their daughter (their first child was baptized in 1654). But that doesn't explain why his brother, Juan Gomez, also uses the Ruelas y Sotomayor surname - unless, the genealogy given in the 1748 IM was incorrect: a generation lost, a mistaken relationship, a wrong name, surnames added (remember, it was written 100 years after the fact, by witnesses who had no contact with the earlier generations). Juan Gomez's first son was baptized in 1654, so he was a contemporary of Maria Blanca, and could be her brother. What if he was? Here's a revised tree:

(Tronco: Gonzalo Gomez cc Augustina de Ruelas)
Maria Blanca de Ruelas-1-Juan Gomez de Ruelas
Miguel Gaitan-2-Blas Gomez de Ruelas
Francisco Xavier Gaytan-3-Nicolas Gomez de Sotomayor
Juan Antonio Gaitan-4-Maria Dolores Gomez
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -5-Maria Manuela Muñoz

This works better, as far as the timeline. The pretensos would be at 4/5 and might've required a dispensa. Let's work with this model.

III. DISPENSA: NICOLAS DE CASTAÑEDA & MARIA GOMEZ 9 Jun 1712, San Matias, Pinos

Nicolas de Castañeda was son of Antonio Castañeda and Tomasa Carrion; Maria Gomez was daughter of Mathias Gomez de Sotomayor and Ysabel Ruiz de Villaseñor, and granddaughter of Juan Gomez Nieto.

They shared consanguinity in 2 lines, but we're only interested in the Nieto/Sotomayor link here.

The dispensa says they were at 4o grado, because the bride is great-granddaughter of Blas Nieto, who was brother of Jacinta de Sotomayor, who was great-grandmother of the groom. The genealogy isn’t explained, but it would look like this:

Jacinta de Sotomayor-1-Blas Nieto
(Pedro de Castañeda) ( Unknown)
Nicolas de Castañeda-2-Juan Gomez Nieto
(Ana de Vargas) (Maria Teresa Martinez Guerrero)
Antonio de Castañeda-3-Matias Gomez de Sotomayor
(Tomasa de Carrion) (Ysabel Ruiz de Villaseñor)
Nicolas de Castañeda-4-Maria Gomez Ruiz

This one has stumped many. The Castañeda line is well-documented, but no one has managed to establish the genealogy of Jacinta de Sotomayor. And Blas Nieto just drops off the map. We do see "Nieto" appear as one of Juan Gomez's surnames, who also had a son named, "Blas." So Blas Nieto is his ancestor. I just don't know if he's in the right place.

Again, ​we might be looking at this genealogy wrong, and this might be another case of "hermano=cuñado”: Jacinta de Sotomayor and Blas Nieto can easily be in-laws​, rather than siblings, and the relationship is through his wife, who a sister of Jacinta de Sotomayor.

But, we've already decided that Juan Gomez Nieto was the son of Gonzalo Gomez and Augustina de Ruelas: is Blas Nieto aka Gonzalo Gomez? Not necessarily, he might be in the wrong place, as I mentioned, he might be Gonzalo's father (I've really grown a distrust for testigos, haven't I! bear with me). Let's redo the genealogy in this dispensa, using the Gonzalo Gomez model, and using his spouse's name:

Jacinta de Sotomayor-1-Agustina de las Ruelas
Nicolas de Castañeda-2-Juan Gomez Nieto
Antonio de Castañeda-3-Matias Gomez de Sotomayor
Nicolas de Castañeda-4-Maria Gomez Ruiz

This would establish Jacinta de Sotomayor as a daughter of Andres Martin and Maria de Ruelas.

This is conjecture. Take it. Throw it into your processors and please share what comes out.

Gracias y Saludos!
Manny Diez Hermosillo