Hola prim@s,

Pedro Benito’s youngest son was Alonso Benito, who was married to Isabel Lopez. Here is their marriage record, dated 22 Aug 1584, in Mexico City. It names his parents as Pedro Benito and Magdalena Gonzalez, residents of Zacatecas and both deceased, and hers as Gaspar Lopez and Ynes Vasquez, residents of Mexico City, also deceased. According to Pedro Benito’s testamento, Alonso was one of his natural children, so he and Magdalena Gonzalez were not married. And we don’t know if she was the mother of his other children. But at least we have another piece of the puzzle!
Alonso Benito and Isabel baptized their daughter, Maria, on 6 Jun 1585 in Mexico City. As an adult, she used the name Maria Vasquez Benito, and she married Juan de Arteaga, a native of Arrigorriaga, Vizcaya, Pais Vasco. Here’s her carta de dote, dated Jan 1605.
Alonso Benito and Isabel Lopez had another daughter, named Leonor Benito Lopez, but I don’t know what became of her.
Alonso Benito died before 8 Aug 1597, in the Villa de Jerez. On that date, Isabel Lopez was already a widow, when she gave power of attorney to his brother, Pedro Benito.

Saludos!
Manny Díez Hermosillo

This saga continues, and there’s even an added twist.

Antonio de San Martin died before 16 Jan 1599, when his children and heirs gave power of attorney to their mother, Mari Gonzalez, so that she could sell all his assets and properties in las Minas de los Zacatecas. This included a hacienda with its dwellings and foundries and livestock, as well as mines and mine shares. Though I haven’t seen the testamento of Antonio de San Martin, I suppose he named his children as his universal heirs, and that each was to receive an equal share, which is probably why they decided to hold an estate sale, so they could divvy up the receipts. The children named on this document are: Isabel Parraga (already married to Geronimo de Cabrera), Beatriz de San Martin 30, Antonia de San Martin 15, Mariana de San Martin 12, Agueda de San Martin 8, and brothers Alonso, Manuel and Antonio de San Martin, all minors (under the age of 25). After marrying, all of their daughters would adopt either the surname “Parraga” or “Sosa.” I don’t know the origins of these surnames.

On 12 Nov 1600, before the public scribe of San Luis Potosi, Pedro Benito declared that, some 14 years before, in the city of Zacatecas, as one of four heirs of Pedro Benito, his now-deceased father, he sold his quarter share of his father’s inheritance to his brother-in-law, Antonio de San Martin, for the amount of 1,000 pesos, for which he presented him with a bill of sale. Since then, Antonio de San Martin had died, and the bill of sale had been lost. And now, Mari Gonzalez, the widow of Antonio de San Martin, as guardian and curator of their minor children and heirs, was requesting a copy. So Pedro Benito asked the scribe to notarize a new bill of sale in the amount of 1,000 pesos.
Something that caught my attention in this document, is when he said that he was “one of four” heirs of his father, Pedro Benito. But according to his father’s probate papers, there were only three heirs: Pedro Benito, Mari Gonzalez and Alonso Benito. I thought this was curious.

And then I came upon the following document: on 13 May 1596, appearing before Juan de Savala, Teniente de Justicia Mayor, was Leonor Gonzalez, the wife of Juan Gutierrez. She said that, as it was public knowledge, several days previous, her husband had left on the expedition to New Mexico, and as such, he won’t be back for some time. Therefore, she asked the Teniente to grant her permission to grant power of attorney to whomever she saw fit, so that they could sell some mines that she owned in the Mines of Fresnillo, so that she could sustain herself and her children. Once she received permission, Leonor Gonzalez granted power to Luis Hernandez de Celada, resident of la Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de los Zacatecas, so that he, in her name, could sell “mines and shares of mines that she owns in las Minas de Fresnillo, that belonged to her father, PEDRO BENITO, from whom she inherited them.”
There’s the missing fourth heir: Leonor Gonzalez! It’s odd that she’s not mentioned in Pedro Benito’s probate papers, but only a portion of his testamento was included.
Most interesting is her husband, Juan Gutierrez: he was obviously a member of the Juan de Oñate expedition. I checked some documents from that jornada, but only soldiers are listed, and of those, the only Gutierrez’s were Juan Gutierrez Bocanegra and his son, Antonio Gutierrez Bocanegra. Unless he married twice, I don’t think this is the same Juan Gutierrez.
But on that same list - which was dated Dec 1597 - there was also a soldier named Pedro de San Martin, son of Antonio de San Martin, born in Zacatecas, age 25 (b. 1572). Though I can’t say with complete certainty that his father was the same Antonio de San Martin married to Mari Gonzalez, the time line and location are right, and it would make sense that they’d have a son named “Pedro,” it being the name of Mari Gonzalez’s father.

Either way, this document now links this family to another historical event, making it three: the De Soto Expedition, the founding of San Luis Potosi, and the colonization of New Mexico.

Rick - yup, serendipity does come into play a lot in this work. When first reading the third document above, I was surprised as heck to see Pedro Benito’s name, since I had no reason to think that Leonor Gonzalez was his daughter - I was only intrigued by finding someone linked to the Oñate expedition. And that led me to finding another probable child for Antonio de San Martin. By the way, I didn’t realize that we were debating re: the Estrada thread. I was only posting documents that I had found, and hadn’t yet formed an opinion, one way or another. But I did find some new info, a while back, that’s changed all that. I tell you what: I’ve got some down time, I’ll throw something together and post in the coming days.

Thanks, and saludos!
Manny Díez Hermosillo

PS - Correction: in my original post, I said that Maria Vasquez Benito cc Juan de Arteaga was the daughter of Pedro Benito and Isabel Ynostrosa, and that is incorrect: she was daughter of his brother, Alonso Benito and Isabel Lopez.