Statement of Captain Simón Pérez de Bustillo to the Inquisition, 1626

Simón Pérez de Bustillo was summoned to testify before the Inquisition to corroborate Friar Ortega’s statement denouncing Governor Eulate. Ortega mentioned that Pérez had been one of those present when Eulate had avowed that the state of married people was more perfect than that of the religious (clergy) during the trip to Santa Fe from Mexico. Initially, Pérez did not know why he was being summoned and revealed a different incident regarding trade with Acoma Pueblo (a rather strange admission as it doesn’t appear this would have violated any Church laws).

The more interesting revelation from this testimony is that Simón Pérez de Bustillo stated that he and his parents were natives of Zacatecas, not Mexico City. At least one source of the error of their provenance appears to be Fray Angélico Chávez's Origins of New Mexico Families, which states he was a native of Mexico City. Chávez cites George P. Hammond's publication Don Juan de Oñate and the Founding of New Mexico, 1927. However, the passage in Hammond’s work simply states that he was a native of Mexico, not Mexico City. Likewise, his father Juan Pérez de Bustillo stated he was a native of Mexico, not Mexico City. Whether this was written incorrectly or if Mexico was being used as a shorthand for Mexico City is unclear, but there is additional evidence that they were from Zacatecas.

I went back and checked a copy of the muster roll of the Ulloa inspection (the first inspection conducted of the Oñate colonists), located at the Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 22, R.4 (Image 784 (Verso 64, aka verso 367, 415)). Simón Pérez was on the muster list as a native of Zacatecas. The passage states:

"In the valley of San Bartolomé, mines and province of Santa Bárbara, February 10, 1597, Don Juan de Oñate... appeared before Francisco de Esquivel... and stated that there were in this district some captains, officials, and soldiers of the expedition, who for various reasons could not go to the mines of Casco... for the general review and muster of the armed forces taking part in the enterprise. Therefore, he asked the commissary to review them and to add their names to those who had been enrolled at Casco, which he did. Their names follow:"

"Simón Pérez, native of Zacatecas, son of Juan Pérez, completely armed, including a horse."

This suggests that the entire Pérez de Bustillo family was from Zacatecas. I wish I had known this sooner, as I think at one point I spent several hours scouring Mexico City church records searching for any trace of the Pérez de Bustillos!

A paleographic transcription of Pérez’s testimony in Spanish is available in the Cibola Project’s “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626.”

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Statement of Captain Simón Pérez de Bustillo to Friar Alonso de Benavides

1 February 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe, on the first day of the month of February of the year 1626, in the afternoon, before Father Fray Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces of New Mexico, there appeared, having been summoned, and swore in due form to tell the truth, a man who said his name was Captain Simón Pérez de Bustillo, a native of the City of Zacatecas, son of Juan Pérez de Bustillo and María de la Cruz of the same city, and one of the first settlers of this town, who stated he was fifty years old.

To relieve his conscience, before being questioned, he says and declares that Don Juan de Eulate, who had just finished serving as governor of these provinces, had on several occasions entrusted him with the task of bartering with the Indians of the pinnacle of Acoma, against whom the Spaniards in these provinces had declared war, as they were declared enemies of the Christians and some of them apostates from the faith, having previously been baptized. However, he states that such dealings occurred after peace had been made with them and with the Spaniards, and that he does not know of Don Juan de Eulate or any individual having bartered with them during the said war.

Being asked whether he knows or presumes the reason for which he was summoned, other than the aforementioned, he said he did not know. He was then told that in this Holy Office there is information that the said declarant, in a certain conversation, heard someone say that the state of the religious was not as perfect as that of the married. He said that he does not know of nor has he heard such a thing. He was then told a second time, for the reverence of God, to refresh his memory, because, as stated, there is information that he was present and saw and heard it.

He responded that, given how long ago it was—seven years since he traveled the road to Mexico—it might have happened and he does not remember, and also he is somewhat hard of hearing, and that even if it were said in his presence, he might not have understood it. Had he known such a thing, he would have reported and declared it.

He does admit to having heard from some people, whom he cannot recall, that it was said that Don Juan de Eulate had stated that the married state was more perfect than that of the religious. Likewise, his sister Ana de Bustillos had told him that Don Juan de Eulate had said that a cross, whose arms had fallen off, no longer deserved veneration. That is all he knows, and nothing else.

When his statement was read to him, he said it was well written, and he clarified that, regarding the cross, what Don Juan de Eulate had said was that if it had arms, it would have the shape of a cross and deserved veneration, but as it was, it was nothing more than a stick. He swore secrecy, said he did not speak out of hatred, and signed his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}    Simón Pérez de Bustillo {rubric}         Witnessed by

Commissary                                                                                                     Friar Pedro de Orte-

                  ga {rubric} Notary

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Sources:

Viridiana Rivera Álvarez and Jerry R. Craddock, “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626” UC Berkeley Research Center for Romance Studies, Cibola Project, 2019. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xq1g5b3 

Archivo General de la Nación 

Inquisición, Volumen 356, Expediente 107, fol. 268v, (Image 83396)

Available at: https://repositorio.agn.gob.mx/