Born in Zapotlan el Grande 1747 to parents Juan Jose Dias and Gertrudis Reyes

In relation to genealogy we are trying to fill out the details of why he assumed his mother's last name, thus creating generations of Reyes descendants rather than Dias descendants.

We are also interested in learning his parents second surname....assuming Dias was his father's surname, what was his mother's line? Ditto with Reyes' mother's other surname.

In some of the records he is listed as Mexican, in others as Mestizo, and in the 1790 Census he is listed as Mulatto. Any information on his parents, grandparents heritage might be helpful in clarifying this (although we recognize he could easily be all three -- born in Mexico of Native and Nego parents would make him Mexican, Mestizo and Mulatto.

We have Reyes genealogy going forward forward and it will be posted here in response to any specific queries. But it becomes a large family very quickly and our plan is to post a link to the genealogy page being developed on the La Senora website as soon as the formats and our new website are live this summer. His grandson, Ysidro Reyes was the co-grantee, with Francisco Marquez, of the 1839 Mexican Land Grant Rancho Boca de Santa Monica (on a part of which La Senora Research Institute is located.)

This next part is not genealogical....and I'll also place it over in general/non genealogical research, but it's posted here just in case someone helping with genealogy stumbles across the 1768-1772 info on Reyes. Here's what we know:

Juan Francisco Reyes left Zapotlan el Grande in 1768-9 to work in the ship yards of San Blas where the Spanish Exploration Party was preparing to depart. Apparently he left with them (unidentified by name and seen only as one of the 'four mexicans' who accompanied the party). Researchers at UCLA believe that he may not have been Catholic (hence not named as a soldier when he left Mexico) but since was improbable to be with Serra and not become Catholic, and he's found represented in later incarnations as a Soldado del Cuera, and his location (Carmel) is demonstrated when he turns up working at the Mission with Padre Serra (who signed Reyes Marriage Investigation,) they feel it's obvious he must have gone with the exploration parties. There was no other means transportation to Alta California at that time.