----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 12:49
AM
Subject: [ranchos] Dispensas
Matrimoniales
I have been availing myself of the various marriage dispensations
that are archived in the Sagrada Mitra de Guadalajara. The Sagrada Mitra
is the central archive for the Archdiocese of Guadalajara (AG). The AG
at one point encompassed all the territory as widespread as Texas, California,
Durango, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Colima, and of course
Jalisco. It is for the pueblos and ranchos of Jalisco and Aguascalientes
that the valuable marriage dispensations have been the most useful. I
have already seen and analyzed dispensas from 1799, 1800, 1802, 1805, 1806,
1807, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1823, and 1825. I'm working on
filling in the gaps to maximize their effectiveness and not let any dispensa
slip through the cracks. I already have dispensas from Arandas
(aft 1794), Atotonilco el Alto (aft 1794), Ayo el Chico (aft 1794),
Jalos, Tepa, San Juan de los Lagos, Lagos de Moreno, Mexticacán, Teocaltiche,
Zapotlanejo, Cuquio, Encarnación, Aguascalientes, Nochistlán, etc, etc.
And I highly recommend that many of you also start looking in these
films because I have seen many marriage dispensations from Jerez, Zacatecas,
Tepetongo, Colotlán, Santa María de los Angeles, Fresnillo, Tlaltenango,
Juchipila, Ameca, Magdalena, Tequila, Zapotlán, Moyagua, and other Zacatecas
and Jalisco towns. The reason is that in these microfilms you'll see
marriage information, dispensations, marriage petitions, denuncias, and a lot
of very juicy gossip and some very "interesting" information. I have
seen some rather shocking information about various individuals from all over
the AG in these records: husbands having relations with their sisters-in-law;
promises to marry that were not kept, premarital cohabitation, murders,
etc. Not only this but they are always very detailed in regards to the
genealogical information they contain.
Here's an example of what you can find, and how one in particular helped
me.
I first discovered the marriage information
(información matrimonial) of Joseph Manuel Hernández Gamiño and María de la
Trinidad Hernández Gamiño, in Arandas, Jalisco, on 14 March
1799. Source: Microfilm # 0279587, Marriage
Information, 1797-1847, Arandas, Jalisco, México. When this marriage information was
filed, it was discovered that the groom and the bride shared four (4)
different blood kinship bonds (cuatro parentescos de consanguinidad). All four were of the fourth degree
(del cuarto grado), meaning they were third-cousins on
four different lines. This
information was very important to me at the time because the lineage on the
left is that of my direct paternal line, and I had been stuck on a dead end at
Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño and Juana-Catarina Magaña. So this dispensa helped me break
through this dead-end, and helped me to connect my main line with that of the
rest of the Hernández Gamiño. The
lineage on the left is one I have on my mother’s side.
Joseph Manuel Hernández Gamiño and María de la
Trinidad Hernández Gamiño were married in Arandas, Jalisco, and required a
dispensation for their marriage.
Their marriage dispensation which is dated 25 March
1799 gives four different
blood kinships (parentestcos de consanguinidad). This marriage dispensation is located
in the Sagrada Mitra de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Microfilm Marriage Dispensations, 1799, #
0168108.
The pertinent portions of
their dispensation state the following: "Joseph Manuel Hernández de calidad Español
de estado soltero de veinte y quatro años de edad, originario del Partido de
Arandas en el Carrisal, hijo Lexítimo de Juan Ygnacio Hernández, que vive, y
de María Catarina Magaña, Difunta, . . . con efecto quiere contraher
Matrimonio con María Trinidad Hernández, Española originaria del mismo Puesto
de estado Doncello de Diez y siete años de edad, hija Lexítima de Ygnacio
Hernández, que vive, y de María Doñana (Anna María Tello de Orozco), Difunta.
. . ."
The three witnesses presented were: (1) "Juan Ygnacio Hernández, de calidad español
de sesenta y siete años de edad, de estado casado originario de este Partido
en el Carrisal"; (2) "Clemente Hernández de calidad Español de
veinte y ocho años de edad de estado casado originario del Partido de Arandas
en el Carrisal"; (3) "José Manuel Hernández de calidad Español
de quarenta y tres años de edad, de estado casado originario del Pocito,
Jurisdicción de Jalostotitlán."
A todos los tres tres les tocaban las generales de la ley. This means that all three were related to the groom
and bride. The witnesses declared
that indeed the two requesting to be married were related to each other and
presented the following lineage charts:
The TRONCO is the common
ancestor
Tronco
Cristóbal Hernández Gamiño
& María de Velasco
Hijos . . . . . . . . . . .
Clemente Hernández . . . y . . .
. . Miguel Hernández . . . . . . . . . .
1er. Grado
Nietos . . . . . . . . . . .
Miguel Hernández . . . . y . . .
. . . Juan Hernández . . . . . . . . . . . 2do. Grado
Bisnietos . . . . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . y . . Juan
Ygnacio Hernández . . . . . . . .
3er. Grado
Ternietos . . . . . . José
Manuel Hernández . . y . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . .
. 4to.
Grado
Tronco
Cristóbal Hernández Gamiño
& María de Velasco
Hijos . . . . . . . . . . .
Clemente Hernández . . . y . . .
. . . María de Velasco . . . . . . . . . . . 1er. Grado
Nietos . . . . . . . . . . .
Miguel Hernández . . . . y .
. Juan Manuel Tello de Orozco . .
. . . 2do. Grado
Bisnietos . . . . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . y . . .
Anna María Tello de Orozco . . . . . . 3er. Grado
Ternietos . . . . . . José
Manuel Hernández . . y . . . .
Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to. Grado
Tronco
Cristóbal Hernández Gamiño
& María de Velasco
Hijos . . . . . . . . . . .
Cristóbal Hernández . . . . y . . . . . . Miguel Hernández . . . . . . . . . .
1er. Grado
Nietos . . . . . . . Ma.
Guadalupe Hernández . . y . . . . . . . Juan Hernández . . . . . . . . .
. 2do.
Grado
Bisnietos . . . . . . . .
Catarina Magaña . . . . . . y . .
. Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . . . . . .
3er. Grado
Ternietos . . . . . José
Manuel Hernández . . . y . .
. Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . .
. . . . 4to. Grado
Tronco
Cristóbal Hernández Gamiño
& María de Velasco
Hijos . . . . . . . . . .
Cristóbal Hernández . . . . . y . . . . . . . . María de Velasco . . . . . . .
. . . 1er. Grado
Nietos . . . . . . Ma.
Guadalupe Hernández . . . y . . . Juan Manuel Tello de Orozco . . . . . 2do. Grado
Bisnietos . . . . . . .
Catarina Magaña . . . . . . . y .
. . Anna María Tello de Orozco .
. . . . . 3er.
Grado
Ternietos . . . José Manuel Hernández . . . . . y . .
. . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to.
Grado
Scanned
excerpts from the Dispensa in question
(Source: Sagrada Mitra de Guadalajara in
Guadalajara, Jalisco,
Microfilm
Marriage Dispensations, 1799, # 0168108)
![]()
Signatures of two different ancestors of mine in
March, 1799.
![]()
![]()
Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño y Maciel
Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño y Vásquez de Lara
(b. 1731-d. ?)
(b. 1729 – d. ?)
One
of my main paternal ancestors An ancestor
from my mother’s side
So
as you can see, I was able to obtain lots of very juicy and pertinent pieces
of data about my family. I learned that they were not illiterate hicks,
but were quite educated, or at least educated enough to sign their own names,
and quite well I might add. You'll also find some very important
information about the witnesses, sometimes the witnesses could be your
relatives, and they also sign their names, most of the time. But the
genealogical information is by far the most important for us, because
invariably these dispensations will extend your family tree two, maybe three,
maybe four generations. They make reference and mention family connections you
didn't even know you had. I have found extra children of a couple I
thought I had already researched thoroughly.
But
in short you'll all be very pleasantly surprised when you start looking
through these gold-mines of genealogical data.
Regards,
Steven
F. Hernández.