Historical Records in the 16th Century

In 1555, Alonso de León from Fregenal acted as power of attorney for descendants of conversos. They sought to handle the matter of their ancestors’ sambenitos as part of Genealogy records. Among them was Pedro Pacho, grandson of García González Pacho, alive in 1555. But is this the same Pedro Pacho who settled in New Spain?

The Pedro Pacho based in the viceroyalty died before 1547–1548, the years in which a list of settlers “without Indians” (sin indios, i.e., without encomiendas) who were awaiting grants for their services was compiled. As recorded, Pacho died in Mexico City during the preparation of said register, leaving three orphaned daughters as his heirs. In that list, he appears with the following note:

In the margin, they name Pedro Pacho as deceased. He is described as a resident of this city and a native of Frexenal. This Genealogy records that he passed to New Spain thirteen years ago and has lived there since. He maintained arms and horses and six years ago married Doña Ana Velasco de Temyño. His Majesty ordered that whoever married her be granted a favor in any land. He has three daughters, the eldest five years old, and served in the pacification of Xalisco. Your Most Illustrious Lordship has the record from beginning to end.

The key to dating this information lies in the mention that his eldest daughter, Ángela Temiño de Velasco (b. 1542), was five years old at the time of the registration. This places the creation of the document around 1547.

Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that an error was made regarding the declared age and Ángela was ten years old instead of five (physically, a five-year-old child is quite distinct from a ten-year-old, but let us play with the data): with this hypothetical adjustment—attributable to an error by the mother when dictating her own daughter’s age and the scribe’s inability to tell a five-year-old from a ten-year-old—the manuscript would have been compiled in 1552. Even so, the other Pedro Pacho was still alive in 1555.

With certainty, the Pedro Pacho of New Spain was the son of Diego Pacho and Beatriz Rodríguez. Like other family members, he was of converso origin. Genealogy notes difficulties linking Diego Pacho to García González Pacho, and Pedro Pacho cannot be the same person in 1555.

As in the case of Santiago de Vera, resolving this genealogical enigma will require time and perseverance. Express genealogical reconstructions—motivated primarily by the issue of obtaining citizenships—have led to hasty interpretations. However, as popular wisdom warns (which applies to life in general), historical research is a marathon, not a sprint. Only through rigorous and patient analysis can family branches be outlined with precision.