12 14 1668 Juan Páez Hurtado was born on December 14, 1668 in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Spain. He was the son of Domingo Hurtado Vizcaino and Ana Josefa Rubio y Vasquez. In 1716, after the viceroy of Mexico had received complaints concerning the conduct of Governor Martinez, he…
By Rick Hendricks Francisco Antonio Marín del Valle became governor of the province of New Mexico in 1754 and remained in office until 1760. Before departing México City to take up the governorship, Marín del Valle executed a series of documents, one of which was an obligation to repay…
Governor Francisco Martínez de Baeza, 1634-1637 By Rick Hendricks Not much is known about the early life of Francisco Martínez de Baeza, although it seems probable that he was from the city of Seville. He departed Mexico City on 4 July 1634 and arrived in New Mexico in late…
Governor Juan de Eulate, 1618-1625: Another Look By Rick Hendricks In the opinion of most historians, Governor Juan de Eulate is best described in a quote from France V. Scholes, whom John L. Kessell considered the historian who knew Eulate best: was "a petulant, tactless, irreverent soldier whose…
Governor Mateo Antonio de Mendoza Díaz de Arce, 1760 By Rick Hendricks Mateo Antonio de Mendoza Díaz de Arce was baptized on 28 September 1696 in Burgos. His parents were Francisco Mendoza y Martínez de Fuidio and Teresa Díaz de Arce y Maeda. The casa solar of the Díaz…
9 11 1640 Governor Domingo Jironza Pétriz de Cruzate, 1683-1686, 1689-1691 By Rick Hendricks Some of the precise details of the early life of Domingo Jironza Pétriz de Cruzate are murky. He appears to have been baptized in Hecho in the Spanish province of Huesca in the Kingdom of…
By Rick Hendricks, Ph.D. New Mexico State Historian At present, little is known of the origins of Antonio de Otermín, although some information exists about the family. The House of Otermín was based in the Consejo of Gaintza, municipality of Araitz in the Basque province of Navarre. The community…
By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint A major player in the re-conquest of New Mexico in the 1690s under Diego de Vargas was Antonio de Valverde Cosío. He became interim governor of the province in 1715 and was named to the post in his own right in 1718….
Governor Fernando de Villanueva by Rick Hendricks, Ph.D Fernando de Villanueva y Armendaris was born in San Sebastián in the Spanish Basque province of Guipúzcoa to Fernando de Villanueva y Armendaris and Clara de Irigoyen. Nothing is known of his childhood, but he was probably still a teenager when…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint The decades of the 1660s and 1670s were ones of looming catastrophe for the Spanish province of New Mexico. There had been repeated disputes between Franciscan clergy and royal governors over use of Indian labor and conflicting attitudes toward native religious practice….
