Asencio de Archuleta
(abt. 1572 - before 1626)
Ana Perez de Bustillo
(abt. 1581 - after 1625)
Asencio de Archuleta
and Ana Pérez de Bustillo were the
parents of Juan de Archuleta I. We know this from the well-documented
genealogical work of New Mexico, Origins of New Mexico Families, by Fray
Angélico Chavez, Revised Edition, pages 6 & 7.
Asencio
was born in Eibar, Guipúzcoa, in the Basque region of Spain. He was the son of another Juan de Archuleta, who probably did not
come to New Spain [Mexico]. Asencio was a soldier under the conquistador Juan de Oñate, who was directed to
establish a colony in New Mexico
in 1598.
Juan de Onate was a very rich man, a member of
a prominent New Spain family. His wife was the granddaughter
of Hernán Cortes and a great granddaughter of Montezuma. He applied for the
right to colonize New Mexico in
1595. He proposed to pay for all the
expenses except for the priests. He would reap the profits of mining, trading
and of other activities. His request was granted, and in February 1598 his
group of 130 soldiers and their families left Mexico City
and went north with farm animals and eighty-three wagons. The procession was
four miles long. By the end of April they were at modern El
Paso. They followed the Rio
Grande River north
from there. On June 24 they arrived at the southern-most Indian pueblo. On July
11 he arrived at San Juan Pueblo. Near it they constructed their capital,
San
Gabriel.
Oñate
soon left the colony to search for treasure and trade routes to the Pacific. A
rebellion by the Indians at Ácoma was brutally put down. Settlers were also grumbling with discontent.
In 1601 they sent a letter to the viceroy in New Spain.
Late that year many colonist-soldiers deserted and returned south to Mexico
proper. In 1605 the viceroy recommended that New Mexico
be abandoned. In 1609 Oñate left New Mexico
to defend himself and his colony, but his fortune was soon exhausted.
The
next governor, Don Pedro de Peralta, founded Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San
Francisco de Asís, his new capital, which we know as Santa Fé, in 1610.
Thus,
as one of about 130 soldiers in the Oñate party, Asencio was a genuine
conquistador and one of the first group of colonists to settle New
Mexico. He was described in Oñate’s muster roll as twenty-six
years old. He had a medium build, a
black beard, and a slight wound on the forehead. He was apparently a literate man because he
later served as a notary.
Also
in the 1598 group of soldier-colonists was Juan
Pérez de Bustillo [abt.1558-abt.1626] and his wife María de la Cruz and their children. Among them was a daughter, Ana Pérez de Bustillo, whom Asencio
married about 1600 in San Gabriel. Ana had been born in Mexico
City about 1581.
On January 23, 1599 he was a participant
in a famous battle with the Ácoma Pueblo Indians, whose formidable stronghold
atop a mesa gave them the courage to resist the Spaniards, In the heat of
battle, Asencio fired his harquebus and unintentionally killed his close
friend, Lorenzo Salado de Ribadeneira.
Like
many Spaniards, Asencio was accused of abusing the Indians. The friars were very protective of their
flock and used the Spanish Inquisition to bring miscreants to justice. When
accused of such misdeeds, New Mexicans were summoned to Mexico
City to appear before the Inquisition. Asencio was fined for his actions. It was probably while returning from his
appearance before the Inquisition that he accompanied four friars from
Mexico
City to New Mexico’s
capital of San Gabriel in 1603.
In
1610 Governor Peralta, New Mexico’s
third governor, moved the capital to the newly-constructed [1609] town of
Santa
Fe. Apparently Asencio moved with his family there in
his capacity as an ecclesiastical notary.
In this role he was deeply involved in the historic struggle between
church and state between Governor Pedro de Peralta and Friar Isidro Ordoñez. The struggle between these two men led the
friar to proclaim that anyone in New Mexico
who chose could leave the province and return to Mexico. Such an action could have depleted the
colony’s numbers sufficiently to unable them to withstand Indian attacks. Then the friar ordered some troops enroute to
Taos to return to Santa
Fe to celebrate the Pentecost. Peralta countermanded the order and Ordoñez
excommunicated him. He ordered the
governor to appear penitently at the church barefooted carrying a candle. The governor refused. Ordoñez decided to travel to Mexico
City to report the governor to the Audencia. The governor offered to escort the friar. The friar refused.
In
his rage, the friar removed the governor’s special chair near the altar of the
church. The governor seated himself
among the Indians. Ordoñez proclaimed to the assembled congregation, “I can
punish anyone who is not obedient to the commandments of the church and
mine.”
Peralta
decided to go to Mexico City to
plead his case. Ordoñez followed and
overtook the governor. He then arrested
him and placed him in chains for nine moths until the hearing. For his role in this affair, Ordoñez was
summoned to Rome and
disciplined. Likewise Peralta was not
returned to the governship, but the struggle between these two men set the
stage for another fifty years of struggle between the church and civil
authorities in New Mexico. Asencio and his numerous relatives sided with
Ordoñez in this struggle.
Asencio
died between 1622 and 1626, in his early fifties. His widow Ana died afterward.
Asencio’s
descendants include a large percentage of New Mexico
present-day residents.
Archuleta
County, Colorado, whose county
seat is Pagosa Springs, was named for a descendant on April 14, 1885, named in honor of farmer, rancher
and later State Senator Antonio D. Archuleta.
Submitted by Donald Rivara, June 23, 2009.
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