Bartolome Cisneros

On September 22, 1661, Captain Diego de Trujillo, mentions in a statement the two mestizo brothers who lived in the province of Zuni—Bartolome de Cisneros and his brother Vicente, both captains in the Spanish guard. A mestizo is someone who has at least one Native American parent, in this case, likely their mother. Bartolome is our first definitive ancestor in New Mexico. Vicente is quoted in a deposition in an Inquisition case in 1665, but after this appearance, Vicente is not heard of again in the historical record of New Mexico.

In 1670 or 1672, it is recorded that Captain Bartolome, with a small detachment of soldiers, was supposed to be in the Zuni village of Hawikuh guarding the Franciscan friars, but was away when Apaches attacked and killed Fray Avila y Ayala. The Apaches may have known that Captain de Cisneros would be absent from the village. Bartolome and Vicente have carved their initials on Inscription Rock in the El Morro (“the bluff”) National Monument in 1660, in different areas on the rock. For some three hundred years, hundreds of Spanish soldiers and priests, traveling between Santa Fe and Zuni, and the Hopi villages farther north, passed El Morro and stopped for the water. It was first mentioned by Diego Perez de Luxan, chronicler of the Espejo expedition in 1583. Many Spaniards carved names and inscriptions about themselves on the rocks, as did the Native Americans before them. Bartolome’s inscription, in 1661, which is now barely legible, includes the words “Por aqui paso”, and is near the inscription of Don Diego de Vargas (the leader of the Reconquest in 1692). Vincente’s inscription reads, “Bysente de Syneroso”. There are extensive carvings in the rocks, including Indian petroglyphs, other Spanish inscriptions including Don Juan de Onate. Don Juan de Onate, the previously mentioned founder of San Juan de Los Caballeros. After 1849, Anglo settlers carved their initials, including the famous photographer, Thomas O’Sullivan.

Bartolome Cisneros and Ana Gutierrez de Salazar had married in Santa Fe, New Mexico about 1660. Little is known about Ana’s origins, though she most likely was related to Bartolome de Salazar, who had been the alcalde mayor of the Zuni and Moqui jurisdiction when he died prior to 1662.

Bartolome lived in the Salinas National Monument area in the 1650s (an hour and a half south/southeast of Albuquerque), and later, after marrying Ana, lived in the Zuni-Moqui jurisdiction in 1662. Bartolome and Ana had eight children—Josefa, Antonio, Alonzo, Francisco, Catalina, Ana Maria, Geronima and Magdalena. Bartolome was the Alcalde Mayor in Zuni Pueblo.

The time or circumstance of Bartolome’s death are not known at this time. From a daughter’s marriage record of 1681 at the Real de San Lorenzo de la Toma in the Paso del Norte district, we know only that Bartolome had died by that year.