Gómez & Rosales Family of El Paso, Texas

Note taken from familysearch.org by Zulema Trejo & José Marcos Medina at https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/35503030

"I have gleaned fragments of their story. I believe Isabel was baptized 1613 in Albacete, Spain in the church of San Juan Bautista. (When referencing online where the Spanish colonist of Parra Chihuahua mainly came from in Spain I found reference to Andalusia which fits with Isabel’s origins.) I don’t know why Isabel came to be in the Valley of Allende, Chihuahua but she shows up here in the church records having married Simon Cordero and have three or more children with him beginning in 1636, again verified with baptismal church records. Isabel would been 23 at the baptism of her first child. Simon Cordero was named as one of the original settlers of this area. Simon is also references as ‘tutor’ to Pedro Ronquillo de Amaya for a position of Encomendero de San Bartolomé for the Conchos Indian people. This title and practice of ‘encomendar’ is explained in the below critique. “Another type of forced labour was the encomienda system by which certain Spaniards had the obligation of christianizing a native group and in return the indigenous people had to give tribute.” Simon dies and Isabel and Pedro marry in 1650. They have three children, Pedro, Andrea and Angela. Her second child, Pedro Ronquillo de Amaya Benitez is our ancestor. Isabel was 37 at this point. Pedro dies either from a fall or in the fall of 1654 and leaves much debt. (Here is a part of the story that is a mystery. Why if Pedro inherits Simon’s wealth of land and animals, which was substancial, does he die in debt?) After his death two men come forward and claim the whole lot. Isabel enters into a civil suit to get back her property, property she brought from Simon into the marriage with Pedro."