Hello! My name is Dana and I’m looking forward to learning more, and helping others to learn more about their ancestors. Back in the 1980s I learned how to create a genealogy chart when I took a Cultural Anthropology course in college. That started me on my genealogy research journey. The first step was adding extended family. There was no Internet, or simple way to gather the information, so I started the old- fashioned way by writing for copies of vital records, like birth, death and marriage and contacting family members. I especially focused on the older generations who I knew may not be with us for long. They shared treasured stories and photos.
Over the years I expanded my family tree, but I wanted to know more than just the names and dates. My goal was, and is, to understand the historical context of the locations and gain insight into the culture and migration of my ancestors from Spain, to Mexico, Arizona and Southern California where I was born. Internet opened the realm of possibilities. When I retired about ten years ago I was able to devote more time to reading and research. In 2019 I began using Family Search which enabled me to, not only expand my tree, but identify research resources through the sources attached to records. I found the Nuestros Ranchos site through a note posted on one of my family members records.
To summarize my ancestors as they relate to Nuestros Ranchos – four of my paternal generations originated in Aguascalientes and eight generations were born and/or married in Jalisco, Mexico with the most recent being my grandmother Ana Maria Gomez who was born in Guadalajara in 1897. Her father was born in Ciudad Guzmán, Zapotlán el Grande. Five prior generations originated in Ojuelos and the earliest generation in Jalisco was in Guadalajara. Martin Perez de Gardea was born in Guadalajara in 1569 and his wife Mariana González de Rubalcava was born in Teocaltiche in 1587. Mariana’s father Alonso González de Rubalcava is my 11th great grandfather. Subsequent generations of his family founded San Antonio de los Adobes, now known as Union de San Antonio, on one of the most important estates they owned.
In 1526 Alonso was born in Heras about 10 km from his family’s ancestral home in Liérganes and 14 km from Santander, Cantabria, Spain. He emigrated to The Indies/New Spain when he was an adolescent in about 1540 and originally settled in Pátzcuaro in Michoacán. Alonso fathered a son by an indigenous woman in 1545. By 1560 he was married to a Creole woman, had been knighted and owned land grant in Santiago Copándaro, south of Lake Cuitzeo. He was a rancher and builder. He moved to Guadalajara when he was offered a special commission as master builder to erect Guadalajara's second Cathedral. Construction began in 1565.
Alonso was married to a Creole woman during this time, but about 10 years later returned to Pátzcuaro where he married Beatriz Baeza López y Perez Santaella in 1570. Her father Capitán Juan Baltazar De Baeza and maternal grandfather Capitán Francisco de Padilla Santaella were conquistadors during the Cortez Expeditions. Santaella was killed in the 1519 Battle of Tabasco. Alonso's maternal grandfather was Capitán Ruy de González Suárez who was also a conquistador with the Cortez Expeditions.
My lineage from Alonso González de Rubalcava is through his daughter Mariana González de Rubalcava who was born in Teocaltiche, Jalisco in 1587, as previously mentioned. Both Alonso and his wife are buried there. The generations that followed settled in Aguascalientes, Jalisco. My information about Alonso González de Rubalcava is from Retoños de España en la Nueva Galicia. Alonso de Rubalcava by Mariano González-Leal.
I've also identified another branch in my lineage that begins with Miguel Ruiz de Esparza born in 1647 in Aguascalientes, Jalisco and goes back to the middle 1300s in what was then part of the Basque region in Pamplona, Spain. I’ve discovered that there was exchange about the Esparza family here back in 2016, but have yet to learn the final results. Perhaps, some of the information I’ve mentioned is helpful to another member of this group. My purpose in joining Nuestros Ranchos is to find documents that verify some of the data that has been entered on Family Search, but not necessarily supported by sources. Vital information like birth dates and locations have been changed and records merged resulting in conflicts that don’t make sense. Through the process I hope to sort out what is accurate through documented sources. My next step is to review more of what has been posted and uploaded here and share what I have that may be of interest.
Here’s a link to my folder: https://nuestrosranchos.org/lambchop48
I created this map to illustrate the locations I've mentioned in my introduction
