Ethnicity, Caste, and Rulership in Mixquiahuala, México

Continuity among the Nobility

Because of the gap in the parish records, it is difficult to assess the precise level of continuity between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth century nobility of the three towns. However, there are numerous indications of a high degree of genealogical continuity, more similar to the situations documented at Teotihuacan (Münch 1976) and Atlacomulco (Bos 1998), and less similar to those recounted by Lockhart (1992). I will explore two cases of probable continuity between the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and the state of affairs recorded in the 1718 padrón: The Xuarez Sanchez de Granada family of Mixquiahuala, and the Ximenez family of Tepeitic.

Xuarez Sanchez de Granada

One of the preeminent families in the barrio of San Nicolas Mixquiahuala in 1718 were the Xuarez. The first listed, and oldest, was don Andres Xuarez Sanchez de Granada. He died in 1729 at age 80. Don Andres’ son don Antonio Ygnasio Xuares Granada (1688-1729) is described in parish records as an indio cacique. Don Antonio does not appear to have left any heirs to local authority, given that he was buried three weeks before his father and when his wife doña Maria de los Reyes died in July, 1767 it was recorded that she left behind "1 hijo y 1 hija de maior edad, el hombre anda fuera del lugar no se sabe del."

Don Antonio’s younger and slightly longer-lived brother Andres Xuarez Sanchez de Granada (1693-1735) was never titled don and is not recorded as a holder of any cabildo office. Although he married in January 1718, and had his first child in March, he had moved from Mixquiahuala before the padrón was compiled that July–perhaps to his wife’s home town, although that is uncertain. By 1724 he had moved back. Their younger sister was doña Theresa Xuarez (b.1684), also called de los Reyes after her mother, married to don Joseph Guerrero and resident in his home of Tepeitic in 1718.

Don Pablo Xuarez lived in San Nicolas in 1718 with his wife, Maria Felisiana, both of unknown parentage and age. Five of their children were baptized between 1696 and 1711, and four of those lived to be married themselves. Only one, don Pedro Xuarez (b.7/9/1696), was called don. He married Juana Nicolasa Contreras, an orphan from Chilcuautla. His three sisters married into two prominent families. Juana Xuarez (1705-1737) married the widower Matheo Godines, who is described as both a mestizo and castizo and once given the don. Her younger sister Maria (1711-1737) married Matheo’s son Manuel Godines. They may have lived in the same household after their marriages, as their burials, along with those of Juana’s seven year old son Antonio and Maria’s 15 day old Nicolas, were recorded sequentially over a four day span in the 1737 matlazahuatl epidemic (on which see below). The middle sister, Ana, married Luis Belasques, who despite his lack of a don was described as a cacique of Atitalaquia.

Don Hergnogenis or Geronimo Xuarez also lived in San Nicolas in 1718 with his wife, Pascuala Maria, a migrant from Tlacotlapilco, Chilcuautla, whom he married in 1693. In their marriage record, he is described as a huerfano. His name and title may indicate that he was raised in the house of one of the previous generation of noble Xuarez, or it may mean that he was actually a known illegitimate child.

Because of the gaps in baptismal records, it is difficult to connect these individuals from 1718 to earlier generations, but several nobles named Xuarez appear over the decades. Don Miguel Xuarez served as fiscal in 1634-35 and gobernador in 1636-37. Don Marcos Xuarez was gobernador in 1640. Don Nicolas Xuarez, the son of don Miguel, married Catalina Xuarez on September 1, 1642, and served as alcalde in 1648. He may be the same don Nicolas Xuarez Sanchez de Granada who served as alcalde in 1666 and was recorded as gobernador pasado in 1693. In 1691, don Nicolas served as a marriage witness and his age was recorded as 70, more or less–two years after the same priest described him as age 60. In the former case, he would have been old enough to marry in 1642. Although the latter don Nicolas was married to doña Juana Baptista, she is not referred to prior to 1675, while Catalina Xuarez was buried in 1657. Maria, the daughter of don Diego Xuarez and his wife Justina Xuarez, was baptized on July 13, 1636, but it is unclear how her parents were related to earlier or later members of the family.

Don Nicolas appears to be the first individual to combine the name Xuarez with Sanchez de Granada. As far as extant records indicate, he was also the last individual of that name to serve on Mixquiahuala’s cabildo. Don Juan de Granada was alcalde in 1712, but he is elsewhere named don Juan de los Reyes, not Xuarez. He was either of a different family or the son of don Andres Xuarez and doña Cecilia de los Reyes. In Tecpatepec, there was a separate de la Cruz y Granada family, which may or may not be connected.

While the Xuarez name first rises to prominence in the 1630s, Sanchez de Granada appears fifty years earlier. The most prominent native in the sixteenth century records of Mixquiahuala is don Bartholome Sanchez de Granada, who appears in both the parish registers and outside sources as cacique, gobernador, and principal. Prior to 1617 he is the only man referred to as gobernador, with specific references in 1580, 1591, and 1603. It is likely that he served in that office for the entire period in question. The last specific reference to don Bartholome occurs in 1603; after that date and in to the 1620s, some individuals in the baptismal records are still referred to as "macehuales de don Bartholome," but it is possible that this either referred to a traditional geographical unit (the barrio of San Nicolas?) or another individual.

As of 1581, don Bartholome was married to doña Ynes de Santa Catherina. The baptisms of three daughters are recorded: Beatris (7/16/1581), Beatris (9/18/1582), and doña Paula (3/25/1585). The use of the title in doña Paula’s baptismal entry is exceptional. Two additional daughters, doña Maria Sanchez de Granada and Monica Sanchez, are known from later sources. They may have been born before the start of the baptismal series. Doña Ynes last appears as a godmother in 1600 and probably died within the next year. On August 18, 1603, don Bartholome remarried doña Christina de Santa Lucia. Although born in Mixquiahuala, she had previously been married to the late Pedro Sanchez, who although he was not given the don is described as an indio principal of Atitalaquia. She may have been beyond child-bearing years, as no children of theirs are recorded.

Don Bartholome’s daughter Monica Sanchez married Luis Tochi in 1613. In 1624, doña Maria Sanchez de Granada’s illegitimate, mestizo son Diego Sanchez married Pascuala del Espiritu Santo, daughter of Pedro Hernandez and Ysabel Hernandez. These known lines of descent do not appear to have maintained don Bartholome’s nobility. If the later Xuarez lines were descended from him, it is not yet clear how, but their use of the name Sanchez de Granada on numerous occasions, even if they normally went by Xuarez, indicates that they did claim descent from his family.

Ximenez

Given Tepeitic’s remoteness from the cabecera, it is not surprising that the baptismal and marital entries from the community appear incomplete. Nevertheless, there are enough entries to indicate noble continuity there, as well. In the 1718 census, ten out of the fifteen males, and twelve out of eighteen females, in the Barrio de los Reyes are titled don and doña. Five men and four women bear the name Ximenez. The first Ximenez recorded from Tepeitic are don Francisco Ximenez and doña Ana Maria, whose son don Joseph Ximenez married doña Juana de la Cruz in 1641. She was the daughter of don Pablo Ximenez and doña Maria Magdalena of Mixquiahuala. There are few if any other references to don Francisco; macehuales of a don Francisco Ximenez had a child baptized in Mixquiahuala in 1596, and there is no reason they could not have been from Tepeitic, but there is also no evidence that they were. In the same year, other parents are called macehuales of Pablo Ximenez. While don Francisco does not appear again in the baptismal records, quite a few parents are described as Pablo Ximenez’ through 1604, after which his name likewise disappears. Note that this Pablo is never referred to as don. A generation later, don Pablo Ximenez occupied a series of Mixquiahuala cabildo offices: gobernador (1635, 1641), regidor (1643), fiscal (1633, 1636-1638), while another Pablo Ximenez was sacristan (1638, 1640, 1642). The Mixquiahuala Ximenez family appears to be distinct from that of Tepeitic, despite this early marriage between them.

Another don Joseph Ximenez was father of two of the later Tepeitic Ximenez, but is unlikely to be the same man who married doña Juana, both because his wife was named doña Maria Magdalena and because his last child, Manuel, was not born until 1680 (Figure  2). His earlier children, don Juan Ximenez and don Manuel Ximenez, were both living in the Barrio de los Reyes in 1718. Like the first don Joseph, they both married women from outside Tepeitic: Maria Magdalena of Tezontepec and doña Bernarda de los Reyes of Tecpatepec. Such marriages went in both directions: doña Rosa Ximenez, who lived with her husband Joseph de Aguilar in the barrio of Nestlalpa, Tecpatepec, in 1718, was probably from the Tepeitic family. Her first daughter, Manuela de Aguilar, was born in Tepeitic and baptized January 13, 1706. By the time her son Miguel de Aguilar was baptized on May 1, 1707, his parents lived in Tecpatepec. Her daughter went on to marry don Bernabe Falcon of Tezcatepec, while her son remained in Tecpatepec to marry Chatarina Godines. When Miguel and Chatarina’s daughter was born in 1741, he was referred to as a cacique, although he still lacked the don.

Don Antonio Joseph Ximenez lived in Tepeitic in 1718 with his wife, doña Thereza de la Corona, who was born in Tecpatepec. She was probably the daughter of don Miguel de la Corona and doña Juana Garcia; her older sister, doña Maria de la Corona, married a nobleman from Actopan and settled in Tecpatepec. Among Antonio and Thereza’s children was don Francisco Ximenez, who married Nicolasa de Charri of Mixquiahuala in 1725. She was recorded in the 1718 padrón as a soltera de razón, and her parents, Nicolas de Charri and Juana Cantu Enrriquez, bore the same surnames as two of Mixquiahuala’s parish priests, Diego de Charri and Martin Enrriquez Cantu. They probably belonged to the regional Spanish/mestizo aristocracy. Nicolasa de Charri died five years after her marriage, and don Francisco remarried Maria Getrudis de los Reyes, an orphan from Chilcuautla.

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