Does anybody know who his parents were?
According to militia records there was a Francisco Maria Jose de Castro born circa 1725 at or near Villa de Sinaloa who was in the militia and was listed as married to Maria Zeferina Limon. However, he was the wrong age to have been married to Zeferina, who was born circa1710, and the wrong age to have fathered Jose Joaquin, Joaquin Ysidro, and the rest of the children in the 1730's. However, he was the right age to have enlisted at the Presidio of Loreto, Escuadra del Sur, in or before 1751 and been promoted to sergeant by 1754.
THAT Francisco's parents apparently were Ignacio de Castro and his wife Regalada (no maiden name given).
It is very possible that there was another Castro couple in Sinaloa who had a son named Francisco Maria Jose around 1706. Castro is a very ancient Latin name and is very common in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, so there were many Castros in New Spain. It would be good to find out who our ancestor's parents were. (Maybe there were a Francisco Maria Jose Senior and a F.M.J de Castro Junior?)
As I understand, most of the church records (baptisms, marriages, burials) at Sinaloa were destroyed in a flood in 1770, so it's hard to track these things down, and the records we find may not be accurate.
On a related note, I found that there were a number of Francisco Maria Castros and Francisco Maria Jose Castros born in Spain in 1706 alone! As I said, Castro is a common family name, and apparently Francisco Maria was a very popular boy's name at the time.
Can anyone help?
