I have hit the proverbial brick wall on researching the surname Aguayo from the present back to the late 1700s in Aguascalientes. So I decided to try to locate the first Aguayos who came to the New World during the Conquest and work forward from them to see if their was a connection with my research working back. In September 2007, my wife and I visited Cantabria, Spain where legend has the Aguayo surname beginning. Allegedly there were three Goth brothers who participated in the reconquest of Spain during the 12th and 13th centuries. The family gave their name to the region of Aguayo and to three villages -- Santa Olallya de Aguayo, Santa Maria de Aguayo, and San Miguel de Aguayo. We visited all three villages, asked questions about the history of the region, and about the surname. The present villagers knew little about the surname, but we met Manuel Garcia Alonso, who has a home in San Miguel de Aguayo and is a professor at a university in Santander. Alonso has written Aguayo y los Aguayos, an ethnographic and historical study of the region. According to Alonso and other sources, the Aguayos were gone from the region by the 15th century. They continued fighting in the reconquest around Cordoba, Saenz, and Ejica. For their service to the various kings, they received titles and a coat of arms. This coat of arms is still visible on a Casa Fuerte in San Miguel de Aguayo where they apparently retained some ties to the area.
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