Colonists Missing from the 1682 Muster at El Paso del Norte

As mentioned in the previous blog post on the 1682 Muster List of El Paso del Norte, the poor living conditions led many of the New Mexico colonists to leave the area in search of food and other means to sustain themselves and their families. Some did so with license from the governor, but others simply left, leading the governor to declare them fugitives. Others had passed away, either in El Paso or in other localities. The table below presents the list of 72 missing colonists (those absent with license, fugitives, or deceased) in alphabetical order by last name (some with alternate spellings as applicable). Some of those who had initially passed muster appeared to be missing by the time this second list was created on 17 October 1682.

Two notable colonists and their families had been exiled permanently by Otermín for the sake of “good governance”: Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza and Pedro Durán y Chávez. The previous year, when Otermín had ordered a muster of men for the attempted reconquest of New Mexico, both had declined to participate. Otermín conducted a formal inquiry into their insubordination which found that the two men and their families were some of the most well-off among the refugees, having brought much of their livestock with them from New Mexico when they had fled in 1680. Their families had also developed thriving businesses trading wool and livestock with El Parral and Casas Grandes. Considering them to be a bad influence, Otermín had decided the best course of action was to throw them out of the colony.

Some of the fugitives on the list, including Bernabé Márquez, Fernando Durán y Chávez, José de Padilla Villaseñor, Cristóbal de Velasco, Lázaro de Mizquía (or Mosquera) and Esteban López had gone to Mexico City to present petitions before the audiencia real, carrying dispatches by order of the town council. The precise substance of the dispatches is not clear, but Otermín gathered testimony from several witnesses claiming that Juan Lucero de Godoy and other members of the town council had accused the governor and Father Ayeta of defrauding the royal treasury by keeping for themselves some of the supplies that had been sent for the sustenance of the refugees. They were hoping to appeal directly to the viceroy to remedy this injustice. It is unclear if the viceroy ever received the dispatches or responded to them. The viceroy had already appointed a new governor, Domingo Jironza Petríz de Cruzate, to replace Otermín.

Note: The list comes from documents transcribed by Barbara De Marco and Jerry R. Craddock at the Cibola Project. I translated the entries into English and created the table below.

First name	Last name	Title	Status
José de	Apodaca		Fugitive
Antonio de	Ávalos	Captain	Deceased
Luis de	Ayala		Fugitive (with his family)
José	Baca		Fugitive
Juan	Barba		Fugitive
Joaquín de	Bonilla		Absent with license from the governor
Antonio de	Carvajal (Carabajal, Carbajal)		Fugitive (with his family)
Fernando de	Chávez (Durán y Chávez)		Fugitive against the governor
Juan de	Chávez	Settler	Deceased
Pedro de	Chávez (Durán y Chávez)		Exiled with license from the governor (along with his family)
Son-in-law 1 of Pedro de	Chávez (Durán y Chávez)		Fugitive (did not want a salary)
Son-in-law 2 of Pedro de	Chávez (Durán y Chávez)		Fugitive (did not want a salary)
Gregorio	Cobos de la Parra		Absent with expired license from the governor.
Pedro de	Cuellar		Fugitive
José	Domínguez de Lereda y Mendoza		Fugitive
Antonio	Domínguez de Mendoza		Fugitive (with his wife)
Tomé	Domínguez de Mendoza		Exiled with license from the governor (along with his family)
Felipe	Fagoaga		Died in Casas Grandes
Pedro de	Fagoaga		Fugitive (with his family)
Juan de	Fuentes		Died in Casas Grandes
José	Gallegos		Fugitive (with his family)
Felipe	García		Fugitive (not a soldier)
Francisco	González		Fugitive
Juan Esteban de	Gracia		Fugitive (with his family)
Lorenzo	Gutiérrez		Fugitive
Diego de	Hinojos		Fugitive with all of his salary (soldier)
Juan de	Illescas		Absent with license from the governor
Diego de	Labra		Fugitive (settler)
Domingo	López	Sergeant Major	Died on the trip to New Mexico (was a soldier in the presidio)
Esteban	López		Fugitive without license with his family, received salary as a settler
José	López Noble		Enlisted as a soldier in El Parral and was given 150 pesos but remained a fugitive in El Parral
Bernardo	López Peñuelas		Absent with expired license from the governor
Nicolás	Lucero		Absent with expired license from the governor
Gaspar	Luis		Fugitive (not a soldier)
Juan	Luis		Fugitive
José de	Madrid		Was a fugitive and was imprisoned for this crime and for being a thief, but he fled after breaking out of prison
Juan de las	Marinas		Fugitive
Bernabé	Márquez		Fugitive against the governor
Diego	Márquez		Fugitive (was a soldier in the presidio)
Pedro	Márquez	Captain	Fugitive (with license) ?
Pedro	Márquez de Nambé		Absent with expired license from the governor
Lázaro de	Mizquía (Mosquera)		Fugitive
Simón de	Molina		Absent with expired license from the governor (soldier at the presidio)
Juan de	Mondragón	Captain	Died in El Paso
Sebastián	Montaño	Settler	Deceased
Bartolomé de	Montoya		Deceased
Alonso de	Moraga	Settler	Deceased
Pablo de	Ortega		Fugitive with expired license
Francisco	Pacheco		Absent with expired license from the governor.
José de	Padilla (Villaseñor)	Council-member	Fugitive against the governor
Gonzalo de	Paredes		Fugitive (with his family)
Juan de la	Parra		Fugitive
Alonso	Ramírez		Died in Casas Grandes
Gabriel	Ramos		Enlisted as a soldier in El Parral, received his salary and fled
Francisco	Rascón		Fugitive (with his wife)
Juan	Romero		Absent with expired license from the governor
Agustín	Saes		Absent with expired license from the governor (son of Ambrosio Saes)
Ambrosio	Saes	Sergeant Major	Absent with expired license from the governor
Antonio	Saes		Fugitive
José	Sánchez Alejandro		Fugitive (soldier at the presidio)
Diego de	Trujillo	Field Master	Died in Casas Grandes
Gregorio de	Valdez		Absent with license from the governor (with his family)
Manuel de	Valencia		Deceased (was a soldier in the presidio)
Alonso	Varela		Died in Casas Grandes
Alonso	Varela		Absent with expired license from the governor
Cristóbal	Varela		Fugitive with all of his salary (soldier)
Eugenio	Varela		Fugitive
Pedro	Varela de Losada		Fugitive (with his family)
Pedro	Varela Jaramillo		Deceased, was soldier in presidio and his son Cristóbal Varela took his place
Cristóbal de	Velasco		Fugitive
Francisco	Xavier		Sick soldier absent with license in search of health care
Salvador	Zamorano		Absent with license from the governor (soldier at the presidio)