LOPE HIERRO de CERECEDA (Translation)
Lope Hierro de Cereceda and his brother Pedro were originally from the mountains of Burgos. At first, at the end of the 16th century, they tried their luck in the Mines of Guanacevi . Pedro remained in that mining center but Lope resettled in the agricultural valley of San Bartolomé where he married Beatriz de Grados, the granddaughter of Simón Cordero, one of the first settlers in the region. Lope became a landowner thanks to his wife, opened a store in San Bartolomé and was also a trustee of the Franciscans.
Lope and Beatriz's two children, Bartolomé and Andrés, were born in San Bartolomé and were joined in marriage with two daughters of Regina de Verá and the Portuguese merchant Domingo Gonzales.
Bartholomew was honored with the title of Infantry Captain in 1662, served as mayor of Parral and as lieutenant governor in 1676.
Andrés was Captain of the Encomenderos of the Province of Santa Barbara during the war against the Salineros in 1666.
The Hierro clan gradually became a local oligarchy originated from the 16th century; López's granddaughter married an immigrant Agustín Erbaute del Camino and his great-granddaughter married another emigrant named Bernardo de Ascue de Armendáriz. Both men would be important people in the region during the 18th century.
The Hierro family controlled a good part of the fertile lands located between Parral and San Bartolomé and an appreciable part of the great inland road of Nueva Vizcaya between the Florido River, San Bartolomé and Parral. Held within the Hierro family were the ranches of La Concepción, Valsequillo, San Lorenzo, Zapata, Los Ortega and El Rosario.
The Hacienda of La Concepcion held in 1686 what was "one of the most opulent, strong estates in the kingdom." The Hierro clan concentrated on their farms more than a thousand servants, without counting mestizos and mulattos. Those who inhabited their estates were much more numerous, therefore, than the inhabitants of the town of San Bartolomé, which was head of the jurisdiction.
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