Diego de Torres

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information: ²⁵²
Diego de Torres, son of the late Cristóbal de Torres, was numbered among the first settlers of Chama as a village in 1731. He gave his age as thirty-nine in this year as assistant Alcalde of Santa Clara. He was already widowed of Rosa de Varela when he married again in 1712. Two elder sons of his seem to be the issue of his first marriage: Salvador, married to Catalina Naranjo, and his brother Marcial, who was married twice, to María Lujan and María Martin, by whom he had several children. Diego's second wife was a María Martin of Santa Cruz, daughter of Alejo Martín and María de la Rocha, the latter a native of Sonora. They had at least eight children: Francisca Xaviera, wife of Isidro Trujillo; Martín, who was twenty-five when he enlisted as a soldier in 1751; Manuel, who married Tomasa Baca, December 12, 1758;
Juan, who married Rita Romero, January 14, 1766; Nicolás, baptized on December 6, 1731, by Vicar Roybal of Santa Fe, and who married Francisca Padilla in 1763; Bartolome, born June 27, 1735; and twins, Juan José and Juana, June 1, 1738.

Diego was married a third time, to Rafaela Baca of the Rio Abajo, who bore him six children and, after his death prior to 1758, became the wife of Baltasar Baca. In her will, in 1804, Rafaela stated that one child died single, two died married, and that her three surviving Torres heirs were: Lugarda, Barbara, and Catalina. Some of these children are found in records as follows: Juana Catalina Romana, born August 22, 1744, who married Gregorio Varela, May 6, 1759; María Josefa de la Luz, born March 20, 1747; Lugarda Clementa, November 30, 1749; Tomás, November 2, 1755; and Antonio Germán, June 11, 1758,25 who married Margarita Durán y Chaves, August 1, 1782.

~The Origins of New México Families, p. 295 (Kindle Locations 13233-13269)

• Families: ^239,525
Diego Torres was married three times and had at least 18 total legitimate children.

Family 1: Maria Rosa Varela Jaramillo b: 1692
Marriage: 8 Jul 1711, Alburquerque, Nuevo México
Marcial Tórres
Salvador de Tórres

Family 2 : María Martín Serrano y Salazar
Marriage: 25 Dec 1712, Santa Fé, Nuevo México
Francisca Xaviera Torres, b: 1713 in Santa Fé m. to Isidro Trujillo
José Antonio Torres [SANM I, TW 333, Reel 2, fr. 746]
Martín Torres, who was 25 when he enlisted as a soldier in 1751
Cayetano Tórres
Juan Domingo de Torres
Nicolas Torres b. 6 Dec 1731 in San Juan De Los Caballeros, Nuevo Mexico
Manuel Torres, m. Tomasa Baca, 12 Dec 1758
Bartolomé Torres, bt. 27 Jun 1734 in Santa Clara, NM
Juan José Torres, bt. 1 Jun 1738 in San Juan de los Caballeros, Nuevo México
Juana Torres, bt. 1 Jun 1738 in San Juan de los Caballeros, Nuevo México
(Possible Son: Tadeo Torres)

Family 3 : Rafaela Baca, b. 1723 in Belén
Marriage: abt. 1741
Bárbara Tórres
Juana Catalina Romana Tórres, b. 22 Aug 1744, m. Gregorio Varela, 6 May 1759
María Josefa de la Luz Tórres, b. 20 Mar 1747
Lugarda Clementa Tórres, b. 30 Nov 1749
Tomás Tórres, b. 2 Nov 1755
Antonio Germán Tórres, b. 11 Jun 1758 in Los Padillas, Reyno de Nuevo México

~The Origins of New México Families, p. 295

• Belén Land Grant: ²⁶⁹
Grantees of the Belén Tract vs. Sale Of Land By Pedro Iturrieta to Fernando Chaves. 1767.

Before Don Pedro Fermin de Mendinueta, Governor.
Francisco Trebol Navarro; Manuel Garvisu; Manuel Zanez; Manuel Garvisu Zanez.

The petition for the Belen Grant asked for a tract of land which in 1740 was uncultivated and unappropriated. It is described and "bounded on the east by the Sandia Mountains; on the west by the Rio Puerco; on the north on both sides of the river the boundary is the land of Nicolás de Chaves and those of the adjoining settlers of Our Lady of the Concepcion tract of Tomé, and on the south the place called Felipe Romero, in a direct line until it intersects the boundary above mentioned, from the east to the west." The first settlers were: Diego Torres de Salazar; Pedro Bigil; Miguel Salazar; Juana Teresa Romero; Ligarda Romero; Juan Antonio Salazar; Miguel Salazar; Pablo Salazar; Nicolás Salazar; Manuel Antonio Trugillo; María Torres; Salvador Torres; Jose Antonio Torres; Tadeo Torres; Cayetano Cristóbal Torres ; Diego Torres; Bárbara Romero; Gabriel Romero; María Vigil; José Trujillo; Francisco Martín; Nicolás Martiniano; Ygnacio Barrera; Juan Domingo Torres; José Romero; José Tenorio; Juan José de Sandoval; Francisco Trujillo; Francisco Hiron; Cristóval Naranjo; José Antonio Naranjo; Bartholomé Torres; Pedro Romero. The grant was made by don Gaspar Domingo Mendoza, and possession was given by don Nicolás de Chaves, alcalde mayor of Alburquerque.

The house of Felipe Romero was a ruin, this hacienda having been destroyed in the revolution of 1680.

~Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Vol. I, p. 43-44

• Dates & Events: 1731. ²⁶⁹
Diego de Torres, petition for revalidation of grant made to his father, Xptóval de Torres, on the Chama River. 1731

This document will be found with the Francisca Antonia de Gijosa grant papers, Surveyor General Report No. 109.

Assistant Alcalde of Santa Clara 1731

• Information: 1740. ^23,482
Diego de Torres is considered the Founder of Belén. The settlement in what is now Valencia County, was made November 15, 1740, under a grant given by Governor Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza.

"Captain Diego de Torres and Antonio de Salazar, his brother-in-law, early in the year 1740, addressed a petition to the Governor and Captain General of New México , Don Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza, in their own behalf and in behalf of some thirty-two families, all from the Alburquerque area, asking for a grant of land on which to establish a colony."

Before the Belén land grant, Belén was originally a military garison that was established in 1750 for the procetion of the missions and the scattered haciendas along the lower valley.

~Río Abajo, pp. 34-35

• Dates & Events: 1746. ²⁶⁹
Antonio Casados and Luis Quintana, genízaros, proceedings against Fulano Barrera, Diego de Torres and Antonio Salazar over lands at Pueblo de Belén. 1746

• He appeared on the Spanish census in 1750 in Belén, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España. ²⁷⁰
Household #9
Diego Torres : wife: Raphaela Baca; children: Cayetano, Juan Domingo, Martin, Nicolas, Bartholome, Manuel, Catharina Romana, Maria, Josepha de la Luz, Lugarda - de pecho (infant)

(Next door to Juachín de Luna - Household #8)

Diego married María de la Rosa Jaramillo, daughter of Cristóbal Varela Jaramillo and Casila Cedillo López de García, on 8 Jul 1711 in Alburquerque, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁵².^,509 (María de la Rosa Jaramillo was born in Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Diligencia Matrimonial: ²⁴⁸
1711, April 24, Alburquerque, Diego de Torres (22), soldier, son of Alferez Cristobal Torres and Angela Leyva of Santa Fé, and Rosa Varela Jaramillo, widow of Francisco Lucero, daughter of Alrerez Cristóbal Jaramillo and Casilda Sedillo, deceased, natives of New Mexico. Witnesses: Cristóbal Gongora, notary in Santa Fé, Antonio Durán de Armijo (42), Manuel Cervantes (34), Juan Luis Cordero (40), all of Santa Fé. José de Qintana, notary in Alburquerque; Capt. Antonio Gutierres, (23) and Ramón García Jurado (30), Alburquerque soldier, who enshrouded the corpse of Francisco Lucero when killed in Zuñi province. Pair married, July 8, 1711, with witnesses, Juan Varela and wife Isabel Sedillo.

~ Roots Ltd., Diligencias Matrimoniales p. 1894

Diego next married María Martín Serrano y Salazar, daughter of Alejo Martín Serrano and María de la Rocha, after 25 Dec 1712 in Santa Fé, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁴⁸.^,252 (María Martín Serrano y Salazar was born about 1690 in Sonora, Nueva España and died before 1763 in Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ³⁴.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Diligencia Matrimonial: ²⁴⁸
1712, Dec. 25, Santa Fé, Santa Cruz. Diego de Torres (27), native of New Mexico and Santa Fe Presidio, soldier, widowed of María Jaramillo who died in childbirth at Santa Cruz de la Cañada, and then of Rosa de Varela, and María Martín, native of the Sonora province, daughter of Alejo Martín, native of New Mexico, and María de la Rocha, native of Sonora, both now residing in New Mexico. Witnesses: Cristóbal Arellano (45) who knew the first wife who had died in Santa Crus; Juan de la Mora Pieda (40). Miguel de Quintana, notary in Santa Cruz ...

~ Roots Ltd., Diligencias Matrimoniales p. 1895

Diego next married Maria Rafaela Baca, daughter of Juan Antonio Baca and Petronila García Jurado, about 1741.²⁵² (Maria Rafaela Baca was born in 1723 in Belén, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁴⁷.)