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Por jrefugioghermosillo |

Hola prim@s,

This is from a correspondence I had with Mary Lou Montagna, which I thought I would share here, since some of you might descend from these people. It’s regarding some discoveries I made through the Santo Oficio (Holy Inquisition) archives of Mexico, about some personalities from early Sierra de Pinos.

The first is a letter, that Gines de Carrion had written to the Santo Oficio, dated 20 Aug 1622.

Carrion starts off by describing himself as the great-grandson of Pedro de Mata, “Alcaide que fue del Castillo de Triana, Alguacil Mayor de la Santa Inquisicion por nombramiento del Sˢ Archobispo de Toledo don Fray Francisco Jimenez, los quales oficios tuvo mas tiempo de quarenta años, hasta que murio…”

Wow. I believe he’s referring to the Castillo de San Jorge, which was the HQ & prison of the Inquisicion in Sevilla. It’s interesting how he’s establishing his pedigree, and his family’s history with the Santo Oficio, even signing his name “Jines de Carion Mata,” as if to emphasize the link. Pedro de Mata was apparently a very scary man: Chief Constable of the Inquisicion and warden of its prison? I shudder to think!

Carrion goes on to declare, “en estas minas de sierra de pinos esta un portugues llamado domingo diez minero en ellas el qual a mas tiempo de seis años que esta amansebado con una muxer cazada ausente de su marido llamada Juana martel en quien tiene tres yjos…”

“In these mines of Sierra de Pinos, there is a Portuguese [man] named Domingo Diez, miner, who, for more than 6 years, has been living with a married woman named Juana Martel, whose husband is absent, and with whom he (Domingo Diez) has had 3 children.”

Scandalous! Not only was the man portugues (an unclean barbarian!), he was an adulterer! I checked the early San Matias archives, and sure enough:

- 14 Sep 1614, baptized was Maria, hija de Andres Perez y de Maria Alzola, fueron sus padrinos Domingo Dias e Isabel Sanchez su muger.
- 6 Oct 1620, baptized was Domingo, hijo de Maria Martel No se le conoce padre; fue su padrino Domingo Dias.
- 29 Jun 1621 En el Real de La Pendencia Frai Antoño Ramires con mi lisensia baptizo a Juª India hija de Veatris India no se le conoce pᵉ criada de Domingo Dias Fue su madrina Juª Martel - Pº Lazaro
- 25 Aug 1621 En el Real de la Pendencia en la asienda de Domingo Dias despose y vele a Jů Miguel con Ana Indios Fueron sus padrinos Domingo Dias y Mª Martel Testigos Melchor Dias y Francº de Cardona - Pº Lazaro
- 14 Nov 1621 case y bele a Jů Peres con Madalena Garcia Mestizos Fueron sus padrinos Miguel Dias y Maria Martel Testigos Francisco de Cardona Diº Delgado - Pº Lazaro

Not like they’re trying to hide it, right? The “Domingo Diez” spoken of is Domingo Diaz de Argandoña, owner of the Pendencia (as late as 1662), who was married to Isabel Sanchez. According to Carrion (who owned the hacienda called La Sauseda), Diaz and Juana Martel had been carrying on for about 6 years (since 1616), so Isabel Sanchez died after Sep 1614, and before 1616. Diaz, when this letter was written, had apparently left Pinos and had retired to las Minas de Comanja.

It’s interesting that Carrion would mention that Domingo Diaz was Portuguese, while giving his own “cristiano viejo” pedigree. I’m wondering if this was during any of the wars between Portugal and Spain? It’s gotta be a personal vendetta, I mean, why else would he rat him out to the Inquisicion? A power struggle between 2 of the region’s earliest hacendados? Too bad there are no follow-up records available online, nor are any indexed; I’d love to know if and how this turned out!

Now we have a clue to the origin of this Gines de Carrion: Sevilla. And we know the origin of the surname, “Mata,” used by his daughter, Doña Ynes de Carrion - which I had thought originated with the family of her mother, Doña Francisca de Temiño, but apparently, not. And speaking of Doña Francisca de Temiño:

There is a letter indexed from the Comisario de San Luis Potosi, dated 1630, and accompanied by the following 3 denunciations from Pinos: “Fray Alonso de Siguenza por solicitante - Francisca Tremiño, porque tuvo amarrado a un hombre porque no queria tener acceso carnal con ella, y por testigo falso - Fray Pedro Lazaro, por quebrantar el sigilo de la confesion y haber obligado a una penitente le revelara lo que habia declarado en el Santo Oficio-30 fojas.”

WHOA!! Did I read that right?? Unfortunately, the document is not available online, so we’re unable to view any details.
- Fray Alonso de Siguensa appears throughout the early San Matias-Pinos archives, acting as a padrino, testigo, or officiating over baptisms.
- The only Francisca Tremiño I know of, living in Sierra de Pinos in 1630 was the wife of Gines de Carrion. If this is the same woman, where was Gines? Had he already died? Or was he a witless cuckold? Whatever the case, this Francisca Tremiño can compete with Glenn Close!
- Padre Pedro Lazaro was the first vicar of San Matias, Pinos, and remained there from 1613 til at least, 1645. What an interesting offense to be accused of: making a penitent confess what she had told the Santo Oficio! I wonder if it was about him?

This early Sierra de Pinos is really starting to look like a mexican colonial Peyton Place! But wait: there’s more!

PROCESO CONTRA FRAY CRISTOBAL DE CABRERA

Fray Cristobal de Cabrera was the guardian del Convento de San Francisco, in Sierra de Pinos. On 21 May 1618, he was accused by Clemencia Farfan, age 25, wife of Juan Gutierrez, of soliciting sex from her during confession.  Among the other accusers was Doña Catalina de Temiño, widow or Francisco de Orozco, of Zacatecas.

Saludos!
Manny Diez Hermosillo

Manny,

this is great information. i descend from Gines de Carrion y Mata. does it give anymore of his ancestry. or how he descends from Pedro de Mata? is it through his paternal or maternal side.

Also is this Juana Martel, the wife of the Portuguese, Miguel de Sierra, that abandoned his wife Juana to live with his previous wife who he had told everyone was dead?

Francisca Temino is also an ancestor of mine. Both of them, there's one married to Gines de Carrion y Mata and one married to Juan Ramírez de la Campaña, they may actually be the same person but i have them born about 15 years apart. although both are listed as relatives of Angela Velasco.

Hi Danny,

I’m sorry, those are the only clues Gines de Carrion gives, in regards to his pedigree, and I don’t know who his nor his wife’s parents are. Nor do I know who Juana Martel aka Maria Martel is, other than the woman identified in this letter. Nor do I know who Miguel de Sierra is, I haven’t seen that name in early Pinos. Was he married to a Juana Martel? That would be cool if he was.

I like how Carrion even points out that Domingo Diaz was padrino for one of his own children, and how you can check the baptism book, to see! It’s right there, 6 Oct 1620! The child’s name was even Domingo! The audacity!

My new favorite expression: “poner una mascara a los ojos de las gentes”: pulling the wool over people’s eyes!

Manny Diez Hermosillo

Thanks for your in-depth research, it is very interesting and disturbing especially when its your relatives. I went searching for Pedro de Mata and only came up with the following which is a very dark history of the Inquisition.

The following was a sentence, I thought was connected to the archived article, but I did not find this at all though Cardona's name was mentioned in the Italian section.

"...to Don Pero Mata requests him to let Cardona continue in occupation of ..."

https://archive.org/details/theinquisition00leauoft

On page 33, First paragraph, 3 sentence is an interesting read. as p118 (bigamy, Solicitation), p184 - solicitation (1561), p244, p250 from 1625-1640.

"Everyone has a good ancestor, if you can go back far enough" This was a quote I read a very long time ago."

Manny,

yeah Juana Martel married the Portuguese, Miguel de Sierra on October 24, 1613 in Aguascalientes. she was the daughter of Hernando Gallegos/Martel and Maria de Frias. Miguel de Sierra married her claiming to be a widower, but eventually left Juana Martel and returned back to Portugal to be with his original wife that wasn't actually dead.

Hola Danny:

La familia Ramírez se ha caracterizado porque los hombres son polígamos y cambian sus nombres al momento de registrar a los hijos. No es caso aislado, me tocó que algunos tíos todavía lo hacían y decían necesitar varias familias para que les ayudaran a trabajar diferentes negocios. Ese Juan Ramírez "de la Campaña" puede ser el nombre real ya que todos los hijos de los Ramírez de Coy se llaman Juan y la hija mayor Juana.

Otra costumbre de los Ramírez de Coy es casarse entre primos hermanos, todavía me tocó conocer esos casos, era para concentrar las propiedades que en éste caso no eran haciendas ganaderas como en otras familias sino redes de comercio y minas de plata, la última se vendió en el año 2003.

Las personas de ésta historia parecen estar relacionadas "con las minas de Comanja" si esas minas eran de plata puede ser otro punto de coincidencia. Ésta poligamia, éste cambio de nombres no fueron casos aislados sino una forma de vida.

Saludos

Marcelina

Hi Manny,

I found a document regarding a Pedro de Mata. I'm not sure if it's the same as the (Alcaide que fue del Castillo de Triana), great grandfather of Gines de Carrion that's married to Francisca de Temino. The Pedro de Mata I came across mentions him as a marinero, capitan and maestre. Even if he's not the same, he clearly must be related. This Pedro de Mata is listed as dying in 1562 in Cartagena and as the son of Gines de Carrion and Leonor de Mata:

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/72018779.pdf

Danny

Hi Danny,

I found Capitan Pedro de Mata’s testamento at PARES/AGIS, dated 1562. As you mentioned, he died while captaining his ship in Cartagena, Columbia, and he was the son of Gines de Carrion and Leonor de Mata, residents of Barrio de Triana in Sevilla. This Gines de Carrion is probably the same who was a ship’s captain who sailed to Indies in the 1520s, and who later owned various ships that made transatlantic trips, in particular, carrying gold from Peru back to Spain. I think it’s possible that Leonor de Mata was the daughter of Alcaide Pedro de Mata, which would explain why her son was named Pedro de Mata. If I’m right, then Gines de Carrion and Leonor de Mata could be the grandparents of Gines de Carrion, who settled in San Luis Potosi and later in Sierra de Pinos; Capitan Pedro de Mata would’ve been his uncle.
If so, then the younger Gines de Carrion would’ve been the black sheep of the family, seeing how they had such a nautical background, yet he chose to live so far away from the ocean!

Great find! Hope you’re well, Danny!
Manny Díez Hermosillo

Manny,

I found a few mentions of Gines de Carrion. There's a mention in 1546 of a Gines de Carrion purchasing a vihuela at an auction who they say is most likely el Mozo who they describe as the nephew of Gines de Carrion el Viejo. Both are described in the few available sources as comitres and capitanes. I found it interesting that Gines de Carrion, el Mozo, was the nephew and not the son. I also found this mention of Gines de Carrion, el Viejo: Ginés de Carrión, cómitre, marido primero de Leonor López, hija de Juan García y de Juana López, que le llevó de dote 45.000 mrs., dada por la abuela, Leonor López, viuda de Alonso López ( A . P . S . , III 1517 [ = 1517 ], al 23 de enero ), y después de Leonor de Mata, que le aportó una dote de 600.000 mrs. ( Triana ). Hizo testamento el 1 de julio de 1531...

All of your work is amazing Manny. I always look forward to seeing your posts. I hope you continue sharing your amazing finds here.

Danny

Danny & Manny
I have found that the Gines Carrion (born in 1561) who married Francisca de Tremiño was the son of another Gines Carrion born in 1520 who married Leonor de Mata (born in 1519).
Leonor was the daughter of Pedro de Mata who lived in Triana besides the Castillo de San Jorge and died in 1562. I don’t know if this is the one who was Alguacil Mayor de la Santa Inquisicion but he is not the great-grandfather of Gines Carrion Mata but just his grandfather and Mata is simply his Mother’s family name.
Saludos
Jorge

Jorge,

Thank you very much. The time lines you give can be reconciled with what I’ve found in San Luis Potosi and Sierra de Pinos. And it’s always possible that Pedro de Mata - maternal grandfather of Gines de Carrion - was the son of Alcaide Pedro de Mata, mentioned by Gines de Carrion in his letter. What are your sources?

Danny,

According to the baptism record, dated 15 Dec 1615 in Pinos, of Diego, hijo de Gines de Carrion y de doña Francisca de Temiño, his padrinos were Rodrigo Heredia and doña Angela de Velasco, “tía del dicho Diego.” On 20 Nov 1616, in Aguascalientes, baptized was Rodrigo, hijo de Juana Medina; his padrinos were “doña Angela de Velasco y su primo, Rodrigo de Heredia.”

From the time line and the locations, doña Angela de Velasco is likely the same who was daughter of Juan Ramirez de la Campaña and doña Francisca Temiño de Velasco, and who was married to Geronimo de Orozco. If so, that she was the “aunt” of Diego Carrion, would imply that she was the sister of the child’s mother, doña Francisca de Temiño, who would therefore be the daughter of Juan Ramirez de la Campaña and the elder doña Francisca Temiño de Velasco. Again, the time lines and locations work. But then, the word “tía” was also used for elderly cousins!

Thanks, and I hope you are all well!
Manny Díez Hermosillo

Manny,
My sources are the available data from different Internet sites and then I try to match the most logical information.
I start with my account in MyHeritage with Record Matches and Smart Matches, doing Search for the person then I go to FamilySearch for eventual civil registrations. Then I go to other genealogical sites like WikiTree, Geneanet or simply by Wikipedia. If the names and time lines are the same I assume that is the information is right.
Sometimes I use an old set of books called “Mexico a través de los siglos”.
Of course I consult also the Recent Posts of “Nuestros Ranchos”. Rick brings a lot of information and corrections.
I’m particularly interested in my ancestors from Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.
Good search for 2021.
Jorge

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