Full List of Those Killed During the Villasur Expedition, 1720

While tracking down the names of the survivors of the Villasur Expedition (see my  blog post: Was Francisco Montes Vigil a Survivor of the Villasur Expedition?) I was surprised that I could not find any online sources that listed the names of all of the survivors and those who were killed. Most online accounts mention the most famous casualty of the expedition, the French interpreter, my 8x-great-grandfather Jean L’Archevêque (Juan de Archibeque in Spanish) but don’t provide a full list of the soldiers who lost their lives.

Alfred B. Thomas’ After Coronado, Spanish exploration northeast of New Mexico, 1696-1727, documents from the archives of Spain, Mexico and New Mexico contains a translation of Governor Antonio Valverde’s report to the viceroy, the Marqués de Valero, dated 8 October 1720 in which he informed him of the expeditions’ tragic fate. He reported that those killed were “my lieutenant, Don Pedro de Villasur, the Reverend Father Chaplain Fray Juan Mínguez of the Seraphic Order, five retired squad corporals, nineteen soldiers, the Frenchman Juan de Archeveque, Captain Cristóbal de la Serna, four of my servants and eleven Indian allies, with the Captain Major of War José Naranjo. Forty-five in total.” He did not provide the names of the rest and the list he gave totals 44, not 45. He described the survivors as, “A retired officer, a corporal of the squad, eleven soldiers and a settler, all very badly wounded.”

Later, Don Felix Martínez, former governor of New Mexico, provided an account of the expedition to the viceroy in which he provided the full list of those killed. Given Thomas’ error in stating that Francisco Montes Vigil had been a survivor of the expedition, I wanted to verify his list before publishing it on this site. The original manuscript is in the Archivo General de México, Historia, Legajo 394, Documento XX, 1719-1727. I don’t have access to a copy of it, so I’m not able to verify the accuracy of Thomas’ transcription.

However, I cross-referenced the names on Thomas’ list with a list of the soldiers assigned to the Santa Fe presidio in 1719, available on Ancestry.com at the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Civil Records of New Spain (1621-1821), Twitchell No. 302. The Diligencias Matrimoniales (Prenuptial Investigations) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe also contain records for several of the widows of men killed during the expedition who were remarrying. Using these sources, I discovered that Thomas’ list was mostly accurate, but some names were misspelled and one person was recorded with the wrong first name. The list below contains the full names (if given in other sources) of those killed during the Villasur expedition. Including the eleven Indian allies killed, the total number who perished was 46.

Pedro Guillen swore under oath during the prenuptial investigation of Francisco Rendón and Catarina Maese that he had also been a member of the Villasur expedition with José Domínguez. However, I have not found any other sources that mention him as a survivor. He was a soldier at the presidio in 1719, so it’s possible his name was missing from the list of survivors.

List of Those Killed During the Villasur Expedition

(P) indicates the individual appeared on the 1719 Santa Fe presidio list. (DM) indicates the prenuptial investigation verifies the individual’s death during the expedition.

1. Fray Juan Mínguez

2. Pedro de Villasur, Lieutenant General of New Mexico

3. Adjutant General José Domínguez (P). Catarina Maese was widowed of his natural son Juan Antonio Domínguez. When she sought to marry Francisco Rendón, who was also rumored to be a natural son of José Domínguez, this created an impediment to the marriage (DM).

4. Field Master Tomás Olguín

5. Captain Cristóbal de la Serna

6. Captain Miguel Tenorio de Alba (P)

7. Captain Pedro Luján (P)

8. Lieutenant of the Presidio Bernardo Casillas (P)

9. Corporal José Griego (P)

10. Corporal Lorenzo Rodríguez (P)

11. Manuel de Silva (P). His widow Josefa Montoya married José de Santisteban (DM).

12. Pedro Segura

13. Lorenzo Segura

14. Juan de Archibeque. His widow Manuela Roybal married Bernardino de Sena (DM).

15. Diego Velásquez (P)

16. Ignacio de Avilés

17. José Antonio Fernández (P). His widow Juana de Abeytia married Antonio de Armenta (DM). This is the same Antonio de Armenta whose sister-in-law was involved in the murder of María Magdalena Baca.

18. Simón de Córdoba (P)

19. Francisco González de la Cruz (P)

20. Francisco de Tapia (P)

21. Francisco Perea (P)

22. Bernardo Madrid (P)

23. Pedro Nolasco de Agüero

24. Nicolás Jirón (P)

25. Domingo Romero de Pedraza (P). His widow María Vigil married José Tenorio de Alba y Corona (DM).

26. Luis Ortiz (P)

27. Juan Gallegos (P)

28. Ramón de Medina (P)

29. Antonio de Herrera (P)

30. Domingo Trujillo (P)

31. Juan Rico de Rojas (P)

32. Pedro Lugo

33. José López Naranjo

34. Juan de Lira

35. Domingo de Mendizábal (P). His widow Ana María de la Vega (aka Brusuelas) married Manuel Flores (DM).