Juan de Vaca

There are a few different theories on who this Juan de Vaca was and where he originated, but there are no primary sources to confirm these speculations. There were four recorded Juan de Vaca's that came to the New World from 1520-1539.

Recently, researchers discovered documents that may shed light on Cristóbal Baca’s ancestry. It must be noted that these are just promising leads, and should not be taken as absolute proof. As mentioned before, Juan de Vaca was the father of Cristóbal Baca. Baptismal records were discovered for three children of a certain Juan Baca and Juana de Zamora. These baptisms took place in the 1560s and 1570s, around the same time that Cristóbal was purported to have been born. Since one of Cristóbal’s daughters was named Juana de Zamora, it is argued that she may have been named after her paternal grandmother and thus this couple are Cristóbal’s parents. It was not unusual for a Spanish child at that time to given the surname, if not the full name, of a grandparent.

It is further argued that a certain Cristóbal Vaca and Mayor Díaz may have been the parents of Juan de Vaca. A baptismal record from 1540 shows this couple as the parents of Baltazar Vaca. This couple could have easily been one generation younger than Juan, and therefore could have also been his parents.

Another Juan de Vaca, from Mayorga, is recorded as settling in Mexico in 1538. His parents were Nuño de Vaca and Beatriz de Quiñones. He was a conquistador with the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 23 2017, 12:00:42 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 23 2017, 12:01:24 UTC

  ---

MyHeritige.com lists birth place as Cazalla de la Sierra, Seville, Andalucia, Spain