Captain Gaspar de Vera de Perdomo/Maria Delgado Rodriguez
Posted on ancestry.com 30 Jan 2011 by PatErnieAlderete
(Some of this is speculation until further proof is found. There were several men by this name and some researchers say data about them is often confused.)
Gaspar de Vera de Perdomo born about 1560s La Laguna-Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa. Many of the ships departing Spain for the Americas stopped in the Canary Islands to resupply.
Gaspar de Vera was a common name at the time, so there were several men by the same name.
By 1604 Gaspar was a miner in San Juan del Rio-Queretaro, Mexico which was famous for its opals. San Juan del Rio was on the route from Mexico City to the silver, and gold mining areas of Northern Mexico.
The state of Queretaro is the pioneering opal cradle and mining area of central Mexico. In this region the opal deposits are located mainly in the mountain ranges of three municipalities: Colon, Tequisqulapan and Ezequiel Montes.
Maria Delgado Rodriguez born about 1570s-80s Santa Fe-New Mexico or Cuencame-Durango or Parral-Chihuahua, Mexico. Maria Delgado married Gaspar de Vera about 1605 in Mexico. They had about five daughters; Ana Maria Ortiz de Vera, our ancestor Regina de Vera around 1610 in Cuencame-Durango. Plus Francisca, Petrona born in Cuencame, and Juana born 1612 in Remedios-Durango. I have only seen Ana Maria referred to as “Ortiz de Vera,” with the surname Ortiz never applied to our ancestor Regina de Vera, but Ortiz must have applied equally to all five sisters as we understand surnames today.
Our ancestor Regina/Rejina/Rexina (possibly Ortiz de Vera) de Vera Delgado born about 1610s- Cuencame-Durango-Mexico. Her parents Maria Delgado and Gaspar de Vera are verified in the June 2, 1673 Parral will of daughter Regina de Vera Delgado.
Francisca de Vera Delgado, born 1600s Cuencame-Durango, married Nicolas March 18, 1635 Parral, record not found.
Juana de Vera Delgado born Cuencame-Durango 1600s, married Alonso Botello who was born in Malaga, Spain on May 3, 1640 in Parral. Godparents Captain Diego de Alarcon and Captain Gregorio Carbajal implying that this wedding was a major military affair. Parents not mentioned.
Petrona de Vera Delgado, born 1600s Cuencame-Durango, married Juan del Hoio who was born in Castille, December 8, 1642 Parral. Parents not mentioned.
******Richard Says the Diego Below was From a Different Family From Canary Islands ********
Gaspar’s brother Diego Vera de Perdomo was tried for bigamy in 1626 in Mexico City. During his trial his ancestry was entered into evidence: parents Pedro Vera Perdomo and Maria Betancurt Perez, residents of the City of La Laguna on Tenerife Island in the Canary Islands, his paternal grandparents Hernan Martin Baena a native of Jerez de los Caballeros in Estremadura, Spain, and Catalina Garcia a native of La Laguna, Tenerife, maternal grandparents Antonio Perez born on the Canary Island of La Graciosa, and Catalina Aponte of Garachico on Tenerife.
There were suggestions, but no proof that Diego was a converso during his trial by the Holy Inquisition. He was ordered banished from the New World, and required to reunite with his first wife in the Canary Islands.
Gaspar de Vera was a world traveler, starting perhaps in the Canary Islands, probably stopping in Havana, Cuba, landing in Veracruz, Mexico, crossing overland to Mexico City, finding his way north to Queretaro, Durango/Chihuahua, New Mexico and probably Zacatecas and other states now in the United States and Mexico in search of mineral weath, precious stones, gold and silver.
There is a record of a Gaspar Viera in the Azores, in the North Atlantic, a Portuguese archipelago. Perhaps another person with the same name, but we can't rule out definitively that he is our ancestor.