The Ballesteros Family of Seville
- Apr 23
- 7 min read
Thanks to Damien Aragon’s research on the lineage of Francisco Valdés Altamirano, we know he was the descendant of several of the founding families of Mexico City. In the April 2026 edition of the New Mexico Genealogist, Damien and I confirmed the Valdés lineage and traced it back further to the noble house of Valdés from San Cucao, Llanera, Asturias. I was fortunate to have the chance to visit the ancestral home of this prominent Asturian family on a trip to Spain in 2024.
The first member of this branch of the Valdés family to immigrate to the Americas was my 13x-great-grandfather Melchor de Valdés, which is covered in our article. But what do we know about the lineage of Melchor’s wife Francisca Pérez de Arellano? Francisca was born in the colación (parish district) of San Pedro, next to Santa Catalina, in Seville around 1540, the daughter of Alonso de Ballesteros and Catalina Pérez de Arellano. Francisca’s father Alonso made a trip to New Spain before she was born, in 1538. The Casa de Contratación registered him as a passenger on the ship of Pedro de Agurto in the armada departing for the colonies that year. His parents’ names were recorded as Alonso de Ballesteros and Catalina Márquez, vecinos of Seville. His parents were originally from Espinosa de los Monteros in Burgos, of a noble family. Pedro Navarro and Hernán Sánchez vouched for Alonso’s suitability for travel to the colonies, swearing he was not a member of any of the prohibited classes (e.g. Moors, Jews, new converts, etc.). We don’t know what the purpose of his trip was and I have not found any records for him in Mexico during this time period. Perhaps it was during this trip that he first met his future son-in-law and business partner Melchor de Valdés.
Alonso Ballesteros and his wife Catalina Pérez de Arellano resided in the colación of Magdalena in Seville where they raised at least two daughters, Francisca and Catalina. Catalina, the mother, died young and was buried in the church of the colación of San Pedro. After her death, Alonso’s mother Catalina Márquez helped raise her two granddaughters. Alonso then married Guiomar de Baeza, a vecina of Seville. Sometime around 1553 the family made plans to relocate to Mexico City, as shown by the following documents:
A real cédula dated 11 March 1553 granting a license for Catalina de Arellano to go to the Indies with six slaves and for Francisca Pérez to go with eight slaves.
A real cédula dated 5 March 1555 granting a license for Alonso de Ballesteros to go to the Indies with eight slaves and for Guiomar de Baeza to go with eight slaves. Both cédulas were signed by Princess Juana de Austria, who exercised the office of regent of Spain in the absence of her father King Carlos I and her brother Prince Felipe.
Registration at the Casa de Contratación in 1554 for Pedro de Baeza (aka Díaz de Baeza), vecino of Seville, son of Gonzalo de Baeza and Leonor Díaz, to go to New Spain as the aide of Alonso Ballesteros. Presumably, Gonzalo was one of Guiomar’s relatives. Gaspar de Herrera, vecino of Seville, son of Andrés de Ronda and Leonor de Herrera also registered as an aide to Alonso Ballesteros.
In Mexico City, Alonso and his family lived in a house next door to his son-in-law Melchor de Valdés, which was on the Calle Celada. Alonso was a merchant with a range of business interests which included moneylending and the transport of merchandise between the principal economic centers of Seville, Mexico City and Zacatecas. In 1559, Melchor and Alonso entered into a five-year business arrangement with Gonzalo Ruiz de Ulloa, vecino of Seville. On 12 March 1566, they gave a power of attorney to Andrés Gutiérrez del Bustillo to go to Seville to demand an accounting of business receipts on their behalf.
Several other records show Alonso had other children in Mexico City. On 26 December 1562, Alonso agreed to pay a dowry of 1,000 gold pesos for the marriage of his “natural” daughter (born out of wedlock) Ana de Ballesteros to Martín de la Vega, resident and merchant of Mexico City, native of Cisneros, Tierra de Campos, Spain, the son of Rodrigo de la Vega and Luisa Pérez. Hernando de Ballesteros was a witness to this contract, but it is not clear how or if he was related to Alonso. Alonso and Guiomar also had at least four more children in Mexico City: Isabel, Alonso, Augustina, and Nicolás. Their daughter Isabel married doctor Damián Sedeño, a professor at the University of Mexico and son of Mateo Arévalo Sedeño, a fiscal and later an oidor of the audiencia real who arrived in Mexico City in 1550 as the first professor of canon law at the University of Mexico. Other records also show Alonso had a nephew named Juan Ballesteros, native of Seville, who was living in Mexico City and was engaged in business transactions with his uncle, but it is not clear who Juan’s father was.
In 1566, a vecino of Mexico City named Alonso Ballesteros testified in the trial of Alonso de Ávila Alvarado for rebellion against the king. He stated that he was more than 50 years old, but there is no other identifying information to determine if he is the same Alonso Ballesteros as the one from Seville. Another witness named Álvaro Robledo was lodging in his home at the time.
Alonso passed away sometime before 5 July 1571 when his widow Guiomar paid a debt he owed to Pedro de la Fuente. In 1587, witnesses interviewed for the Valdés family’s application to become familiars of the Inquisition indicated that they had heard that Alonso had drowned in a river in Zacatecas.
Here is a summary of the Ballesteros genealogy:
Generation I
Alonso de Ballesteros
(b. about 1490, Espinosa de los Monteros, Burgos, Spain)
(m. unknown)
(d. unknown)
Catalina Márquez
(b. about 1495, Espinosa de los Monteros, Burgos, Spain)
(d. unknown)
Generation II
A. Alonso de Ballesteros
(b. about 1515, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(m1. about 1538, Seville)
(m2. about 1550, Seville)
(d. before 5 July 1571, Zacatecas, Nueva Galicia)
(1) Catalina Pérez de Arellano
(b. about 1520, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(d. before1550, Seville)
(2) Unknown (not married)
(3) Guiomar Baeza
(b. unknown, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(d. unknown)
B. Unknown Ballesteros
Generation III
A(1)1. Catalina de Arellano
(b. about 1539, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(m. about 1557, Mexico City)
(d. unknown)
Pedro de Requena
(b. about 1521, unknown) *From statement during 1566 Alonso de Ávila trial (age 45)
(d. unknown)
A(1)2. Francisca Pérez de Arellano
(b. about 1540, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(m. about 1558, Mexico City)
(d. unknown)
Melchor de Valdés
(b. about 1510, Navalcarnero, Madrid, Spain)
(d. 9 December 1577, Mexico City)
A(2)1. Ana de Ballesteros
(b. about 1548, Mexico City)
(m. about 1563, Mexico City)
(d. unknown)
Martín de la Vega
(b. unknown, Cisneros, Tierra de Campos, Spain)
(d. unknown)
A(3)1. Isabel de Ballesteros
(b. about 1555, Mexico City or Seville?)
(m. about 1570, Mexico City)
(d. unknown)
Damián Sedeño
(b. about 1550, unknown)
(d. 1584, Mexico City)
A(3)2. Alonso de Ballesteros
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: Juan de Cuenca and Miguel Rodríguez de Acevedo
A(3)3. Augustina de Ballesteros
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: Doctor Sedeño and his wife
A(3)4. Nicolás de Ballesteros
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: Miguel Rodríguez de Acevedo and “la Romera?”
B. Juan de Ballesteros
(b. unknown, Seville, Andalucía, Spain)
(d. unknown)
Generation IV
(showing only children of Catalina de Arellano, Ana de Ballesteros and Isabel de Ballesteros)
A(1)1a. Francisca de Requena
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: Fiscal Licenciado Maldonado, the Secretary Antonio de Turcios, the Doctor Arévalo Sedeño and Alonso de Ballesteros
A(1)1b. Pedro de Requena
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: the dean and archdean and maestre-escuela (of the Cathedral of Mexico)
A(2)1a. Pedro de la Vega
(d. unknown)
Padrino: The treasurer Juan Luis de Rivera
A(2)1b. María de la Vega
(d. unknown)
Padrino: Juan Rodríguez de Figueroa
A(3)1a. Guiomar Sedeño
(d. unknown)
Padrinos: Valdés and his eldest daughter
A(3)1b. María Sedeño
(d. unknown)
Padrino: Doctor Sancho Sánchez de Muñón, maestre-escuela of the Cathedral of Mexico
A(3)1c. Magdalena Sedeño
(d. unknown)
Padrino: Pedro García, treasurer of the Cathedral of Mexico
Sources:
Armando Pavón Romero, “Universitarios y Oidores: Un Tipo de Catedrático de Leyes y Cánones en Siglo XVI,” Anuario Mexicano de Historia del Derecho, Número 4, 1992, 161-171.
Cristóbal Bermúdez Plata, Catálogo de Pasajeros a Indias, vol. III (Sevilla: Archivo General de Indias, 1946), 135.
“Información de limpieza de linaje de Alonso de Valdez, de doña Luisa de Cervantes, de Gaspar de Valdez y doña Luisa Lara Cervantes.” Archivo General de la Nación, Inquisición, Tomo 197, Expediente 3, Repositorio Documental Digital (https://repositorio.agn.gob.mx/ : accessed 18 August 2025), path: Árbol Jerárquico de Instrumentos de Descripción > Textuales > Inquisición > Volumen 197 > Galería de imágenes digitalizadas > Image 129/1144 (beginning of file of 330 folios). Information cited begins on Image 173/1144 (fol. 87r).
Archivo General de Indias
“Alonso de Ballesteros”
Contratación, 5536, L.5, F. 82R(3)
“Real cédula dando licencia a Francisca Pérez, vecina de Sevilla, para pasar a Indias 8 esclavos negros”
Indiferente, 424, L. 22, F. 483V(2)
“Real cédula concediendo licencia a Guiomar de Baeza para pasar a Indias 8 esclavos”
Indiferente, 425, L. 23, F. 137V(3)
“Proceso general Audiencia de México: rebelión Nueva España”
Patronato, 203, R. 6
Testimony of Alonso de Ballesteros begins on Image 744/2814.
Catálogo de Protocolos del Archivo General de Notarías de la ciudad de México, Fondo Siglo XVI
Traspaso. Francisco Sánchez, 28 June 1571.
Poder especial. Melchor de Valdés y Alonso de Ballesteros a Andrés Gutiérrez de Bustillo, 12 March 1566.
Obligación de pago. Alonso de Ballesteros a Martín de la Vega, 26 December 1562.
Promesa de dote. Damián Sedeño a Juan Carlos de Bonilla, 6 January 1572.
Obligación de pago. Antonio González a Alonso Ballesteros para la compañía que emprendió con su sobrino, Juan Ballesteros, 11 September 1564.
Obligación de pago. Alonso de Ballesteros a Alonso de San Pedro, Testigos Juan Ballesteros y Pedro Díaz de Baeza, 17 December 1564.
Declaración. Guiomar de Baeza, viuda de Alonso Ballesteros, 5 July 1571.
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