Juan de la Cruz [aka Juan Catalan] (abt. 1566 - after 1631) Beatriz de los Angeles (abt. 1582 - ) Juan de la Cruz  and his Indian wife, Beatriz de los Angeles, were the parents of our ancestor, Juana de la Cruz, who married Juan Griego II.  We know this from pages 23-24 of Origins of New Mexico Families, Revised Edition,  by Fray Angélico Chávez. Juan was also known as Juan Catalán because he was from Cataluña [Catalonia], the Spanish province where the city of Barcelona is located.  He was the son of Antonio de la Cruz and had a bright reddish beard and a wounded right arm at the time of the January 1598 muster list of Juan de Oñate, who was organizing a group of colonists and soldiers to settle the new Kingdom of New Mexico.  Juan probably arrived in New Spain [Mexico] about 1585.  He would have served in the Spanish army about thirteen years before setting off to settle New Mexico with Oñate.  His wounded right arm was probably a result of an Indian campaign in New Spain. A woman colonist in Oñate’s 1598 party, María de la Cruz [abt. 1560-?], married to Juan Pérez de Bustillo, may have been Juan’s sister. The Pérez de Bustillo family became quite prominent in early New Mexico. Beatriz appears to have been an Aztec Indian, a native of the Valley of Mexico.  She apparently came to New Mexico in 1600 as a servant of Cristóbal de Brito.  She figured in several instances concerning witchcraft. Juan was in the 1613 wagon train escort between Mexico City and Santa Fe.  In 1631 he held the rank of alferez [ensign]. This couple was not of the highest social rank in the new colony. Marriage with an Indian automatically dropped Juan into a lower social category. On page 250 of Volume I of The Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Luis Granillo is in La Cañada in 1694 searching for a site for the second city in New Mexico.  He describes the pre-Revolt farms of  Nicolás de la Cruz and Pedro de la Cruz at the site he has chosen for the new Villa de Santa Cruz de la Cañada.   CHILDREN OF JUAN DE LA CRUZ AND BEATRIZ DE LOS ANGELES   [1]        Pedro de la Cruz  was born about 1608 in New Mexico and served as a soldier there.  He lived at La Cañada before the founding of the Villa of Santa Cruz. In 1632 he gave his age as twenty-four.  In 1660 he stated he was fifty years old; his wife was Bernardina Morán.  He died before 1680.  His name does not appear on any of the Revolt lists. [2]        Juana de la Cruz [abt. 1610-?], our ancestor, was married to Juan Griego II. Their biographies are elsewhere in this work.    Submitted by Donald Rivara, June 23, 2009. Copyright © Genealogy Trails All Rights Reserved with Full Rights Reserved for Original Contributor