Between 1912 and 1914, Adolph and Fanny Bandelier transcribed several documents at the archives in Sevilla and Mexico City. Fanny translated the transcriptions from Spanish into English. The transcriptions related to Spanish colonial Nueva Viscaya and Nuevo Mexico. Years later, the historian Charles Hackett compiled the Bandelier transcriptions and translations, provided annotations, arranged for further translations, and published them in a set of books.1 One of the published transcriptions was of a report dated May 2, 1693 by Gabriel del Castillo, the Governor and Captain General of Nueva Viscaya.2 The Bandelier transcription and translation of the Castillo report are set forth, in part, below:
| Bandelier transcription | Bandelier Translation |
| “Acabo de tener noticia de que el dia treze de este mes mataron los Yndios enemigos tres hombres españoles en el paraje de los organos junto a sombrerete Y el mesmo dia sacaron de San Juan del Mezquital que esta mas de quarenta leguas de sombrerete la caballada que allaron Y al mismo tiempo dieron en Melilla Pastoria de Doña Ana Maria Niño de Cordova, donde mataron y rrobaron …” (emphasis in bold added). 3 | “I have just had news that on the thirteenth day of this month the hostile Indians killed three Spaniards at Los Orgaños, near Sombrerete, and that on the same day they took from San Juan del Mezquital, which is more than forty leagues from Sombrerete, the horses that were there. At the same time they fell upon Melilla, the sheep ranch of Doña Ana Maria Niño de Cordova, where they killed and robbed ….” |
Nothing in this particular Bandelier transcription pertained to Doña Ana, New Mexico. Yet, Robert Julyan in his book The Place Names of New Mexico used a misquote of this transcription to prop up the myth that Doña Ana, New Mexico was named after Doña Ana María de Cordoba. The person who created the misquote, whether Julyan or someone else, deleted the references to Sombrerete, replaced San Juan del Mezquital with Las Cruces, and replaced Melilla with Mesilla. Julyan wrote: “… a more likely eponymn [sic] was one Doña Ana María de Córdoba, whose ranch was located here. Adolph Bandelier, searching archives in Mexico City, found mention of this Doña Ana in a report dated 1693 by an army officer, Don Gabriel del Castillo, writing from Parral in Chihuahua to Mexico City: ‘I have just received report of Indian raids in the region of Los Organos, where three Spaniards were killed, the raiders then going to a place called Las Cruces, and stealing stock also at Mesilla, then raiding the ranch of Doña Ana María, Niña de Córdoba.4
But it is clear, based on the Bandelier transcription, that the events described in the Castillo report related to locations near Sombrerete in the Zacatecas region of Mexico. Sombrerete is a town located about about 90 miles northwest of the City of Zacatecas. The Paraje of Órganos was likely located near the Sierra de Órganos, a mountain range located about fourteen miles northwest of Sombrerete. San Juan del Mezquital is a town located about 48 miles northeast of Sombrerete.5 Regarding “Melilla Pastoria,” the places known as Melilla, the Hacienda de Melilla and Rancho de Melilla were located northeast of the town of Nieves and west of the Rio de Aguanaval. San Agustín de Melilla was located northeast of the town of Nieves, in the same general location as these other Melilla places (perhaps, similar names for the same place).6
As for the woman herself, Doña Ana Maria Niño de Córdoba was the wife of Bartolomé de Estrada y Ramirez. Estrada twice served as the Governor and Captain General of Nueva Viscaya.7 This Doña Ana’s full name was Ana Maria Niño de Castro y Córdova.8 When Estrada died in 1685, she became the executor and heir of his estate and guardian of their children. One of the assets she inherited was described as “una hacienda pastoria de obejas que cita en la jurisdiccion de las Nieves reino de la Galicia nombrada Melilla” — a sheep raising hacienda named Melilla in the jurisdiction of Nieves, territory [of Nuevo] Galicia.9 This was the “Melilla Pastoria” mentioned in the Castillo report. This was not in southern Nuevo Mexico.
The lesson here is Doña Ana, New Mexico was not named after Doña Ana Maria Niño de Córdoba. The mountain and village called Doña Ana in New Mexico were named after another Doña Ana.10
(Cite as Sonja Sonnenburg de Chávez, “It’s Time To Dispel A Myth About Doña Ana, New Mexico,” The Doña Ana Sphere, at https://donaanasphere.com)
- Adolph Bandelier, et al., Historical documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, Vol. I (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1923); Adolph Bandelier, et al., Historical documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, Vol. II (Bandelier Vol. II) (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1926); Adolph Bandelier, et al., Historical documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and approaches thereto, to 1773, Vol. III (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937). Links to these books are available at the Linealist: https://linealist.wordpress.com/digital-books/. ↩︎
- Bandelier Vol. II at 301-313. For background on Gabriel del Castillo, see Testamento inventarios y demás diligencias hechas por fin y muerte de Gabriel de Castilo gobernador y capitán general que fue del reino, Oct. 22, 1698, Fondo Colonial Archivo Historico Municipal de Parral (“Parral Archives”), Justicia, Testamentarias, AHMP.FC.D55.026.233. ↩︎
- For both Bandelier transcription and translation of this paragraph, see Bandelier Vol. II at 306-307. “Yndios enemigos” (enemy Indians) in this region were also known for killing other indigenous persons during this era. See e.g., Death Record for Cristobal, “indio” servant at Melilla killed by “indios enemigos.” Libro de Bautismos y Defunciones, 1692-1701, Parroquia de Nieves, Zacatecas, Mexico, 71-72. ↩︎
- Robert Julyan, The Place Names of New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), p. 112. ↩︎
- See Google Earth for the locations of the Sierra de Órganos, and the towns of Sombrerete and San Juan del Mezquital in Zacatecas. ↩︎
- For mention of Melilla and Hacienda de Melilla, see Alfonso Luis Velasco, Geografía y estadística del estado de Zacatecas (Mexico: Oficina Tipográfica de la Secretaría de Fomento, 1894) (“Velasco”) at 20, 28, 31, 71, 253, 255, 256. See also, Libro de Bautismos y Defunciones, 1692-1701, Parroquia de Nieves, Zacatecas, for baptismal records of children of Melilla, Hacienda de Melilla, and Rancho de Melilla. For the location of Agustin de Melilla, see Mapa del Distrito de Nieves, Zacatecas, COYB.ZAC.M47.V1.041, Mapoteca Manuel Orozco y Berra. For a summary of colonial land ownership and rights in the area, see “Un Viaje hacia antiplano Nieves y Sombrerete,” Glosa histórica de Zacatecas, at https://glosa-historica.culturazac.gob.mx/historia.php?epoca=2&id=103 ↩︎
- Testimonio del testamento, inventario y demás diligencias que se hicieron por fin y muerte de Bartolomé de Estrada Ramirez, gobernadora que fue del reino, May 19, 1685, Parral Archives, Justicia, Testamentarias, AHMP.FC.D55.022.191. ↩︎
- Id. But in the baptism records of two of her children, Bartolomé Miguel and Joseph Antonio, she was simply called Doña Ana María de Córdoba. Libro de Bautismos 1634-1648, Parroquia de San Jose, Parral, FHL 162529, images 676, 691. ↩︎
- Testimonio del testamento re Bartolomé de Estrada Ramirez, Parral Archives, AHMP.FC.D55.022.191. In his will, Estrada also listed as his property several “negro” and “mulato” slaves. The land at Melilla stayed in the family for at least another generation, passing from mother to son Felipe Estrada. See “Un Viaje hacia antiplano Nieves y Sombrerete,” Glosa histórica de Zacatecas, at https://glosa-historica.culturazac.gob.mx/historia.php?epoca=2&id=103 ↩︎
- The place called Doña Ana, New Mexico was likely named before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. ↩︎
