Juan Gonzalez Bernal
(abt. 1627 - abt. 1679)
Apolonia Varela
(abt. 1628 - )
Juan González Bernal and his wife, Apolonia Varela, were the parents of
our ancestor, Isabel González [abt.
1657-16 Oct. 1729]. We know this from
the well-documented book, Origins of
New Mexico Families, Revised Edition, by Angélico
Chávez, page 40. He was a mestizo.
Juan was the son of the Portugal-born soldier, Sebastián González [abt. 1592-after
1642], and his half-Indian wife, Isabel
Bernal [1603-abt. 1648], a daughter of the Indian Catalina Bernal and Greece-born Juan Griego. Sebastián arrived
in New Mexico in the 1620’s. The Griegos were part of the original 1598
colonization of New Mexico.
Juan’s
mother, Apolonia Varela, was the
daughter of Pedro Varela de Losada
[abt. 1608-after 1660] and Ana Ortiz [Holguin] [abt. 1613-?]. Her paternal
grandfather was Pedro Varela the elder, a 1598 original colonist of New
Mexico. Her maternal grandparents were Juan López Holguín, a 1600 immigrant to
New Mexico, and Catalina de Villanueva, a Tepeyac
Aztec. Thus both of Isabel Gonzalez’ parents were mestizos;
this would put her on the third tier of the New World
hierarchy of castes, below the peninsulares
[Iberian-peninsula-born] and the criollos
[creoles, New World-born Europeans].
On
page 40 of Origins of New Mexico Families, Revised Edition, by Fray
Angélico Chávez:
Juan González Bernal and his wife, Apolonia, are mentioned in
1663 as belonging to the “Griegos.” A daughter of theirs was involved in an
affair with a Pedro de Arteaga. As late as
1703, two daughters of Juan González
Bernal, Melchora and Antonia González Bas, were claiming
Santa Fe property that had once belonged to Isabel
Bernal [their grandmother].
The
Gonzalez Bernals were not as prominent as some of our other New
Mexico ancestors.
Much of this was due to their lower social status. They were probably average people in their
era.
CHILDREN OF JUAN GONZÁLEZ AND APOLONIA VARELA
[1] Isabel
González, our ancestor, was born about 1657 in New
Mexico. She
married our ancestor, Juan de Archuleta
III about 1672. She died 16 October 1729. They survived the
Pueblo Revolt and re-entered New Mexico
in 1693 after an exile in Gudalupe del Paso [El Paso]
for thirteen years. See their biographies elsewhere in this work.
[2] Juan
González Bas was born about 1643 in New Mexico. He married Nicolasa Josefa Zaldívar Jorge about 1664. He died in 1678.
[3] Sebastián
González Bas was born about 1665 in New Mexico. He married Lucía Ortiz about 1695. He
died 11 June 1726 in
Santa
Fe. On p. 74 of
The Spanish Archives of New Mexico Vol. II, by Ralph Twitchell is a mention of
Captain Sebastián Gonzalez in a lawsuit dated 1685. For him to have been a
captain in 1685 suggests he was born earlier than 1665.
[4] Antonia
González Bas was born in New Mexico
about 1659. She married Diego Martín Serrano.
[5] Melchora
de los Reyes González Bas was born about 1660 in New
Mexico. She
was the second wife of our ancestor Luis
Martin Serrano II [1631-1725]. They
were married in 1676 in Santa Cruz,
Santa Fe County, CA.
They survived the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and spent thirteen years in Gudalupe
del Paso before returning to New Mexico
in 1693.
[6] Antonio
González Bernal On p.98 of Vol. I of The
Spanish Archives of New Mexico, it states that Antonio González Bas sued Diego Arias de Quiros in Santa Fe on
August 4, 1704, over lands. This is no
doubt the same Antonio.
Submitted by Donald Rivara, June 23, 2009.
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