Hola prim@s,
Has anyone else read this? I don’t descend from this branch of the Fernandez de Vaulus/ Siordia family, but I began reading this dispensa, and I was just blown away - it reads like a telenovela! In it, is some information on relationships that I previously didn’t know about, and that I imagine others didn’t know about either, and involving descendants of Doña Juana de Siordia. So I thought I’d write something about it and share it here. Note: the language used in this dispensa is very convoluted and not a little confusing, being that people are being spoken of who can’t be named, to “protect their reputations”; this is my interpretation of what’s written, and I am paraphrasing a lot of it, plus I’m filling-in some of the names, for the sake of clarity. It’s another long one, so you might want to sit back with a cup of coffee or tea (or maybe something stronger). For those of you who descend from Bernarda Salado or her half-brother, Nicolas Ponce, you might want to read the original document.
Saludos!
Manny Díez Hermosillo
27 Apr 1695, Aguascalientes, Exp. 213: Dispensa del impedimento dudoso de 2º grado de afinidad por copula ilicita
Pedro Arias Pardo, castizo, age 49, viudo de Laureana Gonzalez, has contracted marriage with Catalina Salado, española, age 40, hija de Francisco de Aguilar (sic) and Doña Bernarda Salado, both deceased. Note: Catalina Salado was at least 48, and her father’s name was Gaspar de Aguilar.
The first part is your typical IM, with declaration of intent and the statements of the bridal couple and their 3 witnesses. After the marriage banns, a witness came forth, and said that there could be an impediment to the marriage: Bartolome Rodriguez Bajo, aka Bartolome Ponce, age 42, states that he had news that Pedro Arias had had an “illicit friendship” with a woman, who was already deceased, having died a spinster, so he won’t say her name because of her reputation, and who was an aunt of Catalina Salado, being a prima hermana of her mother, Doña Bernarda Salado (from here on out, I will refer to this woman as “la doncella difunta”); and he knows of this illicit friendship, because in his house, he raised a child, whose name was Maria, and that after having her in his care for some time, the aforementioned woman told him that the child was hers, but she did not say who the father was; later, the child Maria told him that Pedro Arias was her father, and she went to live in his house, and he took custody of her and arranged her marriage (she might be Maria Arias Pardo, “hija de padres no conocidos,” who married Martin de la Torre, 20 Apr 1694). Rodriguez also says that he had heard a rumor that Pedro Arias had had an illicit friendship with another relative of Catalina Salado, a first-cousin, who was an hija natural of Nicolas Ponce, named Bernarda de Siordia, mujer soltera.
Bernarda de Siordia, mestiza, de edad de mas de 40 años, is called to appear, and throughout the rest of the record, is referred to as “Bernarda Salado mestiza.” She says that she knows Pedro Arias, since they grew up together, but she never had a “sinful friendship” with him. She was asked if she knew of a child who was raised in the home of Bartolome Ponce, and whether this child was the daughter of “la doncella difunta,” said to be a relative of Catalina Salado. She said that she knew of the child, and she did know “la doncella difunta,” but she was not the mother of said child, and that she knew this, because she assisted in the child’s birth as midwife, and the child was born in her hands. She then says that the real mother should not be named, “por el estado en que se halla” (i.e., she was married). So they go “off the record,” and in secret, Bernarda Salado mestiza tells the judge the woman’s name. She says she never knew who the father was.
The next witness is the woman whom Bernarda Salado mestiza named as the real mother of the girl, and who is referred to as “la mujer casada” throughout the rest of the document. To avoid any scandal caused by ordering her to appear, or by the ecclesiastical judge visiting her in her home, it is decided that the notary public, Antonio Perez Velasco, who is familiar with her, will visit her in her home and take her statement. He goes to her house, and while alone and during their conversation, he brings up the case at hand, and asks her if she had anything to say in regards, and she said “yes.” So he swears her in, and begins to question her. When asked, she said that she knew Pedro Arias since they were children, as they had grown up together, and that she had an “illicit friendship” with him that lasted some 6 years, during which time, they had 2 children: a son, who died, and a daughter, raised by Bernarda Salado, and who later, this witness had in her home, until she went to live with her father, who recognized her and married her off; but no one in her family knew the girl was hers, they all believed her to be the daughter of “la doncella difunta,” because this witness had asked her to claim the child as hers. She is then asked if and how she is related to Catalina Salado, and she replied that Nicolas Ponce was her father, and he was the brother of Doña Bernarda Salado, mother of Catalina Salado, so she and Catalina were 1st-cousins. She gives no other information, other than that her age was about 40.
