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Por Richard R. Esparza |

I am looking for information on Leandro Esparza, in 1860 he worked as mayordomo on the Hacienda El Carro, which is now the town of Villa Gonzalez Ortega, Zacatecas. He is the father of Francisco Esparza, Francisco's mother was Maria Benita Esparza. I cannot find a record of their marriage. Benita seems to be from Aguascalientes. A relative in Zacatecas has Leandro's bible and it is in the native language of Nahautl! This relative also has a ledger from the Hacienda El Carro which has a page on the wages paid to Leandro in the year 1860. If any of this sounds familiar please let me known. Thank you.

I did a quick look in the IGI for the names you mentioned, with rather limited results.

I did not find a marriage record. I tried Leandro Esparza with both Maria Esparza (this would find "Maria Benita") and Benita Esparza without success.

Is Maria Benita's surname Esparza? I did not find any children for Leandro Esparza and Maria Benita Esparza, although there is one child of a Leandro Esparza and Maria Michaela Esparza in 1827, in Aguascalientes. I found none in Zacatecas.

In searching the new Family Search website I find that Leandro Esparza and Michaela Esparza had several children in Aguascalientes in the 1820s and 1830s. None in Zacatecas.

I looked at one of Leandro and Michaela's children's baptismal records from 1822, which names the grandparents Jose Mara Esparza and Ysidra Torres (paternal) and Domingo Esparza and Maria Pasqual (no last name) (maternal).

If Leandro was the majordomo in the 1860s, this suggests to me that he was older at that point. Thus marrying and having children in the 1820/30s is possible. However, without more definitive information this is just speculation.

George Fulton
Pleasanton, CA

George, thank you. I spent quite a bit of time going through old posts on this website and I had planned to contact you. You seem to be very familiar with Esparzas in this area. Yes, both Benita and Leandro have the surname of Esparza. I have found them listed as the grandparents for all of the children of Francisco Esparza Esparza and Cenobia Ruiz de la Pena. They had 10 children and were married, so the records list the grandparents. He was not married to the mother of my grandfather, Gustavo Esparza. Her name was Maria Nestora Alonzo. I have found the civil birth record for Gustavo and it is very terse with little information. This is complicated by the fact that Francisco was not Catholic, at least that is the tradition of the family in Zacatecas. I have spent hours on the IGI and also with the Catholic church records at Noria de Angeles at El Carro and in Aguascalientes where I am now sure that Benita came from. Thank you for your help. I will report any success that I have.

Richard R. Esparza
Escondido, CA

Richard, welcome to the group. I believe we share some links and areas. At one point my ancestor Andres de Camino
and his wife Juliana de Oviedo from Pinos, Zac to Noria de Angeles just down the road around the first quarter
of the XIX century. it was part at one pointthe parish of San Matias (Pinos). Parroquia de Los Angeles (Noria de Angeles)
kept being anexed from one place to another so boundaries changed.

My mother is from Aguascalientes and am a Ruiz de Esparza about 12 times descending from 7 children of Lope Ruiz de Esparza.
The one that seems the most common with people as to descent is Lorenza Ruiz de Esparza.

I also wanted to share my Camino family married the Ruiz de la Pena in the early 1800s they came (well this line in and out of
Pinos and Aguascalientes) came from Cantabria, Spain at the end of the XVIII century. I have that marriage document stating
"originario de los Reynos de Castilla....usual spiel).

I noticed you posted your lines online and as usual try to search to help a new member out but no luck. Not sure what to say
other then it might take some more digging. Do you have any more info on your Alonso and Ruiz de la Pena lines. I noticed
that most Alonso in Aguascalientes end up being Alonso de los Hinojos one of my many lines. Because my mother is from
Aguascalientes its natural to have the usual lines, Ruiz de Esparza, Romo de Vivar, Tiscareno, Macias Valadez, Torres,
etc, etc as well as the other lines from Los Altos de Jalisco.

Hope to hear from you,

Daniel Méndez Camino
mendezdelcamino@live.com
mendezdetorres@live.com

Hello Daniel,

Yes, it does sound like we have some links. My family goes back to Ruiz de Esparza in Aguascalientes. I haven't made the link to Lope Ruiz de Esparza yet, but I believe that I am not far from this. I know that my great grandmother, Maria Nestora Alonzo's parents were Diaminiana Lopez and Antonio Alonzo from Ojo Caliente. She had a brother named Aurelio. Also she married Hermenejildo Mendez. They immigrated to San Antonio, TX (not the parents.) Also, because I am not related to Ruiz de la Pena, I have not researched that line at all. One of my cousins in Mexico gave me a large folder of information on Ruiz de la Pena, but it is all in Spanish and I have not had any of it translated. Thank you for your note.

Richard R. Esparza

Genealogy Research