Francisco Vásquez

He was a member of Oñate's party that came to New Mexico in 1598. He was described as a man of great stature with a red beard, 28 years old and the son of Alonso Alfrán. He also was a soilder escort in 1608. Bernadiana Váasquez may be Francisco's dauther or granddaughter.

ONMF p. 112

1. BIRTH: 1570, Cartaya, Andalucia, España [3200] [3201]
2. EVENT: soldier escorts

Member of the: 1608

1. EVENT: loyalist group

Member of the: OCT 1601, San Gabriel del Yunque, New Mexico [3202] [3203]

1. EVENT: member 98 Oñate: 18 AUG 1598 [3204] [3205] [3206]
2. EVENT: having a good starure and a red beard

Appearance: 1598 [3207]

1. DEATH: Y

[3202] His specific activities during the mutiny are not known but he and his

family were in Nuevo Mexico shortly after this time.

[3204] He is noted as # 119 on the Gilberto Espinosa list.

[3198] [S2194] ONMF, p. 112

[3199] [S2194] ONMF, p. 112

[3200] [S2162] New Mexico's First Colonists

   * PAGE: pg. 52

[3201] [S2200] ORIGINS OF NM FAMILIES

   * PAGE: pg 112

[3203] [S2162] New Mexico's First Colonists

   * PAGE: pg. 78

[3205] [S2162] New Mexico's First Colonists

   * PAGE: pg 24

[3206] [S2200] ORIGINS OF NM FAMILIES

   * PAGE: pg 112

[3207] [S2200] ORIGINS OF NM FAMILIES

   * PAGE: pg. 112

Francisco Vásquez Garcia was a member of the 1598 Juan de Oñate y Salazar expedition to New Mexico and apparently served under Oñate through 1608. His descendants through his daughter Bernadina Vásquez in ensuing generations were surnamed Marquez, Trujillo, Duran, Salas, Hurtado, Lara, Baca, Lujan, Velasco, and Carbajal, most of whom in the next three generations remained in New Mexico but others of whom moved to Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Sonora, and even California.

He was originally from Cartaya, Huelva, Andalucía, Spain, the son of Alonso Alfrán Vásquez (c1535-c1573) and Isabel Garcia with siblings Antonio, Alonso, Gabriel and Isabel (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/V%C3%A1squez-960).

A previous researcher has ascribed the date of 18 August 1598 as having significance for Francisco Vásquez; 18 August 1598 is known as the date that the last of the colonists arrived at San Juan de Los Caballeros, the town that served as the initial center of operations for the Oñate expedition – we can surmise therefore that Francisco Vásquez may have brought up the rear of the expedition (the vanguard led by Oñate had arrived at San Juan de Los Caballeros on 11 July 1598 (https://books.google.com/books?id=Wagh66BYxmkC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=...).

As a member of Oñate's party that came to New Mexico in 1598, Vásquez was described as a man of great stature with a red beard, 28 years old and the son of Alonso Alfrán (c.1535-1573). Francisco Vásquez is commonly but not always listed as one of Oñate’s approximately 125 (but variously also enumerated as 200) soldiers (https://bernalillo.nmgenweb.us/mustero.htm ) -- the expeditionary force was of course much larger and included 200 colonists and as many as 600 Native Americans and approximately 13 Franciscans. In the list of colonists taken upon the inspection of the Commissary General Juan de Frias Salazar on 5 December 1597 to 10 January 1598, Francisco Vásquez is listed as the first soldier, with the date of 7 December 1597 associated with his name, immediately after Juan de Oñate: (http://entrada1598.com/mdia/onatenames.pdf ). Soon after the last arrival of the colonists at San Juan de los Caballeros, a church was built from 23 August to 7 September 1598, so we may surmise Francisco Vásquez participated in its construction. The following year, Oñate moved the colonists to San Gabriel de Yunque, on the west bank of the Rio Grande, where another church, San Miguel, was constructed.

We do not know for certain if Francisco Vásquez participated in the 1599 Acoma Massacre. It has been written that Oñate, after his nephew Juan de Zaldívar and ten other Spanish soldiers were killed at Acoma when this Spanish party had pillaged the Pueblo and raped at least one Acoma woman, sent Vincente de Zaldivar with about seventy men to Acoma. They arrived at Acoma on 21 January 1599 and in the ensuing days killed about 800 of the 6,000 residents of Acoma and following a trial at San Juan Pueblo amputated the right foot of another 24 men of Acoma. It is known that the key officers under Vincente were Captains Zubia, Romero, Aguilar, Farfan, Villagra and Marquez, Alferez Juan Cortez, and Juan Velarde as secretary. Be that as it may, there nevertheless is a greater than 56% probability Francisco Vásquez was with Vincente de Zaldivar at Acoma. Francisco Vásquez would have been at San Gabriel de Yunque on 24 December 1600 when the second group of colonists arrived from Mexico.

Apparently, Francisco Vásquez was a soldier member of the the Loyalist Group of October 1601 at San Gabriel de Yunque, Nuevo Mexico. At that time, Oñate had yet to return from his June 1601 search for Quivira when back home a number of Franciscans joined a group of some 400 colonists leaving San Gabriel for Mexico that October, with only about 100 to 200 colonists remaining, Francisco Vásquez among them. Ergo, Francisco Vásquez would not have been with Oñate during the latter’s confrontations with the so-called Rayados and Escanjaques. On 24 November 1601 Oñate finally arrived in San Gabriel and sentenced the departed leaders in absentia to death by beheading. Oñate sent Vincente de Zaldivar in hot pursuit but the fleeing settlers returned to Mexico.

It is not known if Francisco Vásquez traveled with Oñate to the Gulf of California in October 1604. Bernadina Vásquez may be Francisco's daughter. She was born in 1606 in San Gabriel de Yungue-Ouinge, Rio Arriba, Provincia de Nuevo México, Reino de Nueva España. Soon afterwards, Francisco Vásquez probably moved his family to Santa Fe as Oñate Francisco Vásquez was a soldier escort in 1608. At the time of this writing, it is not known if Francisco Vásquez returned with Oñate or remained in New Mexico with his wife and young daughter. Since we know Bernadina stayed in New Mexico and lived in Santa Fe, it is probable Francisco Vásquez moved to Santa Fe in 1610 when San Gabriel began to be abandoned and additionally that he lived in Santa Fe until his passing.

Bernadina would have married Capitan Diego Marquez (1602-1643) in or prior to 1620 when her first son Cristobal Marquez was born in Santa Fe in 1620; she would have been about 14 years old. Through Bernardina, Francisco Vásquez had at least five additional grandchildren: Catalina 1621, Bernabe 1621, Margarita 1623, Pedro 1626 and Maria 1631. Following Diego Marquez’ execution in 1643, Bernadina lived at the estancia of Los Cerillos with her daughter Margarita as of 1660, and per Fray Angelico Chavez “played a role in major happenings of her day.” Bernadina’s granddaughter via Catalina Marques Vasquez, Bernardina de Salas y Trujillo, bears her name.

This Francisco Vásquez does not appear to have been closely related to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján (1510 Salamanca - 22 September 1554 Ciudad de Mexico), the Governor of Nueva Galicia famous for his search of the Siete Ciudades de Cíbola all the way to Kansas. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was from Salamanca, whereas this Francisco Vásquez was as noted from Cartaya, 507 kilometers on foot to the south of Salamanca.

Fray Angelico Chavez wrote that “No Vásquez males appear during the rest of this (seventeenth) century): a Vicente Vásquez acting as a witness in 1642 is not heard of again.” Given we have found only the daughter, Bernadina, it is logical this would be the case. But there appear to be on the order of 21 great-grandchildren (with surnames Marquez, Trujillo and Carbajal) of Francisco Vásquez who lived in the seventeenth century. A source for much of his information is Fray Angelico Chavez, Origins of New Mexico Families: A Geneology of the Spanish Colonia Period. See here: https://books.google.com/books?id=wF6pBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP134#v=onepage&q...