Greetings, does anybody here know who were the parents of Captain Tomás Ortiz de Ayala? He was "Justicia mayor de los valles de Tlazazalca y Guaniqueo" and founder of the Ortiz de Ayala family one of the most important families in mexican history. 

I've been researching the Ortiz de Ayala lineage for a long time and this is one of the few questions that I still have left. I haven't found any mentions of Tomas's parents anywhere, but I have some clues as to who his parents might have been: 

1. One of his children, Agustín, used "López de Ayala" as his last name instead of Ortiz or Ayala as most of his siblings did. 

2. He had a son named Juan Pedro who perhaps was his second born male son, this one had a son named Pedro and his grandson had the same name too, these didn't use the "Ortiz" surname only the "Ayala" so they would be referred to in documents as "Pedro de Ayala/Allala".

Another clue is the two names of the just mentioned "Juan Pedro", I had read here about a family that resided in the XVI century in Zacatecas and Colima which were the "Ortiz de San Pedro" and "López de Ayala" (which if we combine the easiest to write parts of each's last name it would give us Ortiz de Ayala), I thought particularly about Pedro Ortiz de San Pedro son of Juan Ortiz de San Pedro and Catalina López de Ayala (who perhaps was a daughter of Pedro López de Ayala and Teresa de Recalde), if we assume that Tomás was a child of Pedro Ortiz (due to Tomás probably being born around the c. 1570s-1580s since he had his first recorded daughter in 1595),  it would make sense that he would name his first born son like himself "Tomás" and the second one like his grandfather "Juan" and his father "Pedro" giving us Juan Pedro, unfortunately for what I read, only a daughter of Pedro Ortiz de San Pedro's marriage with a woman named "Maria Esquivel" is known, Cecilia Ortiz, but I find these two to be very likely candidates for his parentage, but still, who knows. If anyone has any useful information feel free to share, thanks!

Here are the links to the mentions of the Ortiz de San Pedro and López de Ayala in this forum:

https://www.nuestrosranchos.org/es/node/24476

https://www.nuestrosranchos.org/node/24368

Here's the mention of the parents of Catalina López de Ayala's possible sister:

https://nuestrosranchos.org/node/23654

While doing text searches on FamilySearch, I discovered an interesting collection of documents concerning the relationship between Sebastián Pérez, Lázaro Ramos, and Juana Sánchez:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-XW95-88 (images 140–178)

The documents span the years 1709–1711 and center on the marriage of Lázaro Ramos and Juana Sánchez and the couple's relationship with Sebastián Pérez. Lázaro claimed to be the maternal half-brother of Sebastián Pérez—who was Juana's uncle by marriage as well as the father of her two children, Mateo and Magdalena.

I have read both the transcriptions and the original documents, but AI transcriptions are sloppy and the early 18th-century handwritten Spanish is challenging for me. I am struggling to fully understand the testimony.

The evidence presented in these testimonies is mostly hearsay and seems to be ambiguous.

Has anyone else studied this particular group of records? More specifically, does the testimony ultimately support the conclusion that Sebastián Pérez and Lázaro Ramos were in fact maternal half-brothers? My own reading leaves me thinking they probably were not, or am I missing something?

For those unfamiliar with the individuals involved, here are the principal figures mentioned in the proceedings. Nearly all were current or former residents of the Hacienda de San José de la Mololoa.

• Sebastián Pérez (Español), born about 1652; husband of Josefa de Castañeda alias Sánchez; son of Sebastián Pérez and Leonor de Robalcava.
• Josefa de Castañeda alias Sánchez (Española); wife of Sebastián Pérez; sister of the late Teresa Sánchez.
• Juana Sánchez (Española); daughter of the late Teresa Sánchez; niece of Josefa de Castañeda alias Sánchez; later wife of Lázaro Ramos; raised in the household of Sebastián Pérez and Josefa Sánchez "as if their daughter."
• Mateo Pérez and Magdalena Pérez; children of Juana Sánchez and Sebastián Pérez, resulting from what the documents describe as a five-year relationship.
• Lázaro Ramos, alias Lázaro Piedra (Español), born about 1654; later husband of Juana Sánchez; claims to be the maternal half-brother of Sebastián Pérez.
• Leonor de Robalcava; mother of Sebastián Pérez, Diego Pérez, Juan Pérez, and Inés Pérez by her first marriage; also alleged in the testimony to be the mother of Lázaro Ramos.
• Diego Pérez, born about 1670; brother of Sebastián Pérez; son of Sebastián Pérez and Leonor de Robalcava.
• Cristóbal Ortiz; son-in-law of Diego Pérez.
• Juan Pérez; brother of Sebastián Pérez; son of Sebastián Pérez and Leonor de Robalcava.
• Inés Pérez (Española); wife of Basilio de Valdés (Español); sister of Sebastián Pérez and daughter of Sebastián Pérez and Leonor de Robalcava.
• Juan Pérez de Ornelas; second husband of Leonor de Robalcava.
• "Don Diego" (deceased); identified in one testimony as the father of Lázaro Ramos.
• Diego Gómez; foster guardian of Lázaro Ramos from childhood; husband of Isabel Varrón; both residents of the Pueblo de Mitique and witnesses in the proceedings.
• Inés Gallardo; entrusted by court order with the custody and care of Juana Sánchez.
• María Magdalena de Aguirre (deceased); previous wife of Lázaro Ramos.
• Francisco de Aldana; Spanish resident of the parish of the Hacienda de San José, married to a niece of Sebastián Pérez.
• Nicolás Preciado; raised in the household of Leonor de Robalcava and acquainted with Sebastián Pérez from childhood.

For context, I am not descended from either Sebastián Pérez or Lázaro Ramos. Our line descends from the elder Sebastián Pérez and Leonor de Robalcava through their other children. My interest is simply in understanding the truth behind these allegations after spending so much time reading through all the documents two and a half times.

Thank you,

Travis

Greetings, I've been looking for info and relationship with the Villaseñor of "Leonor Chávez Corona/Corona de Villaseñor" wife of Diego Ruiz de Cortés and mother of Andrés Ruiz de Chávez (founder of the Ruiz de Chávez lineage), Juan Ortiz Cortés (ancestor of Miguel Hidalgo and Morelos) and many others. Her grandchildren and later descendants regularly used the last name "Villaseñor" and "Corona" without having any other possible descent from those families other than through her. The use of Corona and Villaseñor together was first seen with the marriage of Juan de Villaseñor Cervantes (first male son of Juan de Villaseñor Orozco) and Catalina Corona. They had children in the decade of 1560s/1570s meaning that in order for Leonor to be a descendant of this marriage she'd have to be at best a granddaughter of these two (since she began to have children by c. 1600) but I have no knowledge of any children of theirs marrying someone with the last name "Chávez". If someone knows anything that could be useful for this research feel free to share. Regards. 

Hello All,

It's been a while since I last posted in this forum. For those who don't know me, I run a website called valladoliddispensas.com, which is similar to guadalajaradispensas.com. Its purpose is to index all of the matrimonial dispensation records (and other types of genealogical information) from the "Antiguo Obispado de Michoacán/Casa de Morelos" microfilm archive, which is available through familysearch.org. The "Antiguo Obispado de Michoacán" covered the modern-day states of Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, and Colima, as well as parts of Jalisco and Guerrero.

I wanted to share a few quick updates on the features I've added to the site:

First, I've updated all of the indexes so that you can now click on an entry's page-number link and be taken directly to that page in the corresponding FamilySearch microfilm. This should (hopefully) speed up your research.

Second, I've added a feature that organizes all of the index entries by town. If you'd like to see every entry for, say, Tamazula, Jalisco, you can open the town link for Tamazula and find all of the entries for that town, listed in chronological order. You can access this feature here: https://www.valladoliddispensas.com/p/indices-por-pueblo-del-antiguo-ob…

Finally, I've updated the site's theme to better match the content we're presenting and, hopefully, make it easier to navigate.

I hope you find these updates useful. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out through our "Contact Us!" link on the main page.

======================================================================================

Hola a todos:

Ha pasado un buen tiempo desde mi última publicación en este foro. Para quienes no me conocen, administro un sitio web llamado valladoliddispensas.com, que es parecido al de guadalajaradispensas.com. Su propósito es indexar toda la información de dispensas matrimoniales (y otros tipos de información genealógica) del archivo de microfilmes del "Antiguo Obispado de Michoacán/Casa de Morelos", disponible a través de familysearch.org. El "Antiguo Obispado de Michoacán" abarcaba los estados actuales de Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato y Colima, así como partes de Jalisco y Guerrero.

Quería compartir algunas novedades sobre las funciones que he agregado al sitio:

Primero, actualicé todos los índices para que ahora puedan hacer clic en el enlace del número de página de una entrada y este los lleva directamente a esa página en el microfilme correspondiente de FamilySearch. Espero que les ayude a agilizar sus investigaciones.

Segundo, agregué una función que organiza todas las entradas de los índices por pueblo. Si quieren ver todas las entradas de, por ejemplo, Tamazula, Jalisco, pueden abrir el enlace del pueblo de Tamazula y encontrarán todas las entradas de ese lugar, en orden cronológico. Pueden acceder a esta función aquí: https://www.valladoliddispensas.com/p/indices-por-pueblo-del-antiguo-ob…

Por último, actualicé el tema (diseño) del sitio para que refleje mejor el contenido que presentamos y, con suerte, sea más fácil de navegar.

Espero que estas novedades les resulten útiles. Si tienen alguna pregunta, no duden en escribirme a través de nuestro enlace "Contact Us!" en la página principal.

Daniel Serna Valencia

We discovered my dad has some Basque DNA through a DNA test.  I was able to research his family line to Martin Navarro de Gabay who was from Pamplona, Navarre, Spain, which I believe is Basque country. I know he married Petronilla de Moctezuma, but not much else.  Why did he travel to New Spain? What did he do in Mexico once he settled there. Where did he settle? How did he hook up with Petronilla?  I know we may never know the answers to all these questions, but if anyone has any information about him, I would be most interested.  Thank you.

Victoria Hernandez Lopez

Looking for information about María Crestina Macías Valadés (Española), usually spelled Masias Balades, AKA Ximénes AKA Péres.

She was probably born in Aguascalientes about, or before, 1733 (guess based upon her children's dates of birth). She married José Santiago Rodríguez sometime before 1748.

She was mostly referred to as "Crestina Macias" but her surname was given in various records as "Masias Balades," "Peres" and "Ximénes." 

I cannot find a baptism record for her, so I've been looking through the Macías Valadés family to find marriages with anyone with the surnames Jiménez or Pérez without much luck. 

Any suggestions or info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Travis

Looking for information about José Santiago Rodríguez and his parents, Juan Rodríguez and María Josepha de la Cruz. 

José Santiago Rodríguez (Español) born about 1731 (a guess based upon his children's births). According to his burial record (7 Dec 1769), he was born in Zacatecas and is the son of Juan Rodríguez and María Josepha de la Cruz. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6SJ9-JKC

i can only find him in records from the 1750s onwards. He is recorded as living in San Nicolas, Calvillo, Aguascalientes (recorded in Tabasco, Zacatecas at first) and then living in Barranca, Calvillo. 

Was he born in San Nicolas Hacienda, Calvillo, which was considered Zacatecas at the time? 

I cannot find much on Calvillo prior to the 1740s. 

One clue: some later descendants used the surname Rodríguez de Frías, but neither Santiago, nor his sons, used that surname. They are recorded as simply "Rodríguez."

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you

Travis

Dropbox Access

After an absence of several years, I am slowly trying to return to genealogy.  (Emphasis on slowly.)  In the meantime I would like to share some research by giving you access to my Dropbox account.  Some of these files will be familiar (the Jaime Holcombe letters that Ophelia Marquez and I compiled in the 1990s;  the San Luis Potosi testament reports; my research of Juan Montanez, Maria de las Ruelas, Galvan de Rojas and others; the Christmas letters to my relatives where I "gifted" ancestors; etc.). There are also a few Family Group Sheets prepared pre-internet. It's a hodgepodge of data that may help someone.  Just click on the link below.

I ask one favor of you.  When you find an error (or two), please let me know.  Thanks,

Mary Lou Montagna

 https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3ca9n3uuvrfvre3o5nh77/AFyduE5sdqyl-fruqx…

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GGZ1-9F8H?view=index&c…

Film number #004239424 

a Baptism for My possible Serna of Aguascalientes ancestor .. in the Iglesia San Pablo, Mitla, Oaxaca

Entry  begining on 2nd line 

2nd veinte y Sinco dia de Dec. de mil Setecientos y Setenta 

3rd y dos  Bautize y puse los santo Oleos y Chris-

4th  ma a Manuela hija Lexitima de Fran Co Serna 

Next Page  ( unknown  )  y Maria  F ??? ( unknown )  P. P. Juan Lopes y Josepha de ( ?????? )  

Any help is appreciated. 

Greetings, 

I began my genealogy journey several years back researching my maternal grandfather's line.  My grandfather's mother (my great-grandmother) is originally from Ciudad Guzman (dob 1874) and had the maiden name of "Aguallo." A dear uncle of mine (now departed) would tell me stories about her maiden name and how it was linked to a small town (Nochistlan).  

During the COVID shutdown I followed the "aguallo" line back to the mid 1750's in Ciudad Guzman (Zapotlan Grande).  I found records (baptisms, marriage and death) on Family Search belonging to the "aguallo" line.  The oldest direct relative I found in Ciudad Guzman was Jose Vizente Ferrer de Aguayo (married in 1779), originally from Nochistlan, per his IM (a kind soul/wikitree moderator found the unindexed IM).  Unfortunately, I hit a wall at the time and could not find any additional documents for Jose Vizente Ferrer (ie a baptism record).  His marriage registry and IM identify one Antonio Mergil/Margil de Aguayo as his father (and Maria Tereza Yanez as his mother) but that's where the confusion remains (wikitree lists my Antonio Margil with another as an "unmerged match").  From Jose Vizente Ferrer's IM, specifically a testigo (Clemente de Aguayo, likely a uncle/cousin), I was able to indirectly zero-in on the Nochistlan family cluster but, again, no direct connection.  Frustrated at the time, I set this line aside until very recently.  

I used AI to review several Family Search derived docs to confirm my findings and possibly shed some light on my "wall."  The AI helped in nominal ways but often it seemed to hallucinate.  It did, however, make one interesting suggestion: it noted that given an age/time gap (the existing Antonio Margil de Aguayo on wikitree appears to have been born in 1710 and married in 1733), it was possible that the this represented a "generational collapse," meaning that the existing Antonio Margil de Aguayo may possibly have been an older relative with the same name married to a woman with a similar name (both Maria, possibly from the same "Yanez" family).  The AI further suggested that Antonio Margil, and father of Vizente, was likely an unidentified (on wikitree) brother of Clemente (both sons of Joseph de Aguayo and Manuela de Aguilar), all from Nochistlan, vice the listed brother of Joseph de Aguayo.  In other words, a son of Joseph sharing the same name as his uncle.  I then began searching the unindexed IMs on Family Search from Nochistlan circa 1750-55 (assuming that Jose Vizente Ferrer was born circa 1755).  While searching, I came across a 1751 Nochistlan IM for one Antonio de Aguayo (son of Joseph de Aguayo and Manuela de Aguilar) married to Maria "Camacho Hermocillo" (not Yanez).  Although unlikely to be my Antonio Margil, the IM does seem to identify a previously unidentified son of Joseph (brother of Clemente).  Needless to say, I'm back at my "wall," which is why I'm here, in the off chance someone has done some work on this line that can help me move past my wall.  Any help would be appreciated.

JL

p.s. I believe the "kind soul" from wikitree is a member of this distinguished group.