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Linda:

Miguel Caldera's mother is simply called Maria in the documents where she appears. I believe this includes Miguel's will where he leaves a donation to a church for masses to be prayed for her soul. She was a Guachichil indian woman who must have died soon after bearing Miguel and Maria as they appear to have been raised by Franciscans in the newly established mission in Zacatecas. Miguel must have been one of the first mestizos born in what came to be known as Zacatecas.

Miguel had only one illegitimate daughter Isabel who had two sons. All the Calderas that were wealthy and powerful in the Jerez area appear to be descendants of Miguel's sister Maria Cid. Her son Pedro Cid Caldera was the main heir to Miguel Caldera. He was definitely considered an espanol. He was, like his uncle, a captain in the Spanish army. The caste system was not strictly based on race. I have seem many a Tlaxacaltec family 100% indigenous described as espanoles in records. They were literate Christians who were judges, officials, etc. so they were for all intent and purpose of the caste with full rights, i.e. espanoles. Such was Pedro Cid and his descendants who all married into the old Jerez families such as the Carrillo de Avila, Carlos de Godoy, Llanos y Valdes, etc.

Susana Leniski has a lot of information on the descendants of Maria Cid. Also, Phillip Wayne Powell has published a number of books on Miguel Caldera.

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Linda Everett wrote:
Composed Surnames in Mexico

Arturo, has Miguel Caldera's mother ever been named? I've never seen anything except his fathers name. Is it known where Miguel Caldera was born? I have 3 Caldera grandmothers in my direct lines. Any idea why the Caldera's, including my lines all claimed Espanol when they were Mestizo's from very early on. When I was in El Durazno, district of Jerez it seemed half the town was Caldera, green eyes, blue eyes, freckled and also very dark skinned with brown eyes.
Linda in Everett

Thank you Arturo, I do have Susan's file and will check it again.
Linda

arturoramos wrote:

Linda:

Miguel Caldera's mother is simply called Maria in the documents where she appears. I believe this includes Miguel's will where he leaves a donation to a church for masses to be prayed for her soul. She was a Guachichil indian woman who must have died soon after bearing Miguel and Maria as they appear to have been raised by Franciscans in the newly established mission in Zacatecas. Miguel must have been one of the first mestizos born in what came to be known as Zacatecas.

Miguel had only one illegitimate daughter Isabel who had two sons. All the Calderas that were wealthy and powerful in the Jerez area appear to be descendants of Miguel's sister Maria Cid. Her son Pedro Cid Caldera was the main heir to Miguel Caldera. He was definitely considered an espanol. He was, like his uncle, a captain in the Spanish army. The caste system was not strictly based on race. I have seem many a Tlaxacaltec family 100% indigenous described as espanoles in records. They were literate Christians who were judges, officials, etc. so they were for all intent and purpose of the caste with full rights, i.e. espanoles. Such was Pedro Cid and his descendants who all married into the old Jerez families such as the Carrillo de Avila, Carlos de Godoy, Llanos y Valdes, etc.

Susana Leniski has a lot of information on the descendants of Maria Cid. Also, Phillip Wayne Powell has published a number of books on Miguel Caldera.

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too bad there isn't a lot of verifiable personal info. on miguel caldera. only a few details are known about him. because of that powell made some speculations based on the verafiable info. he had. some of the speculations he made are quite likely to be possible true, while the other speculations, in my opinion, are a bit sketchy, so i doubt them to be true.

Hi Katy

I have Powell's Soldiers, Indians and Silver. I am interested (fascinated or obsessed is perhaps a better word) in early colonial history of Mexico, so I was wondering which speculations about Miguel Caldera you think are the more iffy ones...

Regards
Denise
ps just want to also say i really appreciate you work with the dispensas!

i personally own powell's Mexico's Miguel Caldera: The Taming of Ameríca's First Frontier book. in that book, he claims that miguel was in the year 1548, but yet doesn't state where he got that number from. in fact, powell then mentions miguel's enlistment contract in 1582 that states that he's probably between the ages 26-30 which would place his birth year sometime between 1552-1556. powell also speculates that miguel was actively involved in the enslavement of chichimecs(guachichils, zacatecos etc.). The problem with this assumption is that the chichimec tribe leaders would have been pratically impossible for him, since they wouldn't have been willing to trust him even for a little bit. also powell assumes that miguel caldera was raised in the monestary. i personally think that he was raised by either ones of his uncles, or by his paternal grandparents(i wonder if they decided to come with rest of their children sometime after pedro arrived in colonial mexico). lastly, i suspect the agueda de la pena mentioned in his will to be isabel's mother since she's the only female mentioned by name in his will that is not related to him by blood. he probably had a liason with her which resulted in isabel being born, and they couldn't marry because either she was already married to someone else at the time, or her parents refused to let her marry him, and made her eventually marry someone else. ths mostly likely happened sometime before 1580.

lastly, powell's claim of miguel being fond of his father is unsubstantiated. The only family members that miguel seems to show fondness towards are his (half) sister maria cid(who i suspect may be only of the guachichil ethnicity like her mother, but that's another story), his nephew pedro, cristobal caldera(not sure if he's miguel's uncle, or pedro's first cousin), and his brother-in-law hernan gonzales.

Hi Katy

Thanks for the info! I can now compare that with what there is on Caldera in the book I have. And its a good reminder to not take anything at face value.

Anyway, didnt realize there was a whole book on Miguel Caldera, I'll have to see if I can get it through interlibrary loan...It covers the period of time I am interested in.

Regards
Denise

Denise:

It is great to see your interest in early colonial Mexican history. It is a great passion of mine that drives my continued research in fits and starts.

This is the biography of Miguel Caldera that I have:

Phillip Wayne Powell, Capitán mestizo : Miguel Caldera y la frontera norteña ; la pacificación de los chichimecas (1548 - 1597)

Hi Arturo
Thanks for the reference. I checked out amazon uk and there is an inexpensive used one there, but the seller does not ship to denmark. I'll have to keep checking around. If I can find a seller in the States, i can get it sent to my parents and they can mail it to me. Zacatecas in the latter half of the 1500's is just what I want to be reading about right now...

Regards
Denise

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