Diego de Tórres

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events. ²⁵²
Diego de Tórres was born in Guadalupe del Paso, and came to New Mexico as an infant with his parents. His parents were natives of New México and were returning with the Diego de Vargas party of 1693.

Diego was numbered among the first settlers of Chama as a village in 1731. He gave his age as thirty-nine in this year, and he was an assistant Alcalde of Santa Clara. His first wife had already died by 1712 when married for a second time. He had two sons in his first marriage to Rosa de Varela, Salvador, who married Catalina Naranjo, and Marcial, who was married twice to María Luján and María Martín, by whom he had several children.

Diego's second wife was María Martín of Santa Cruz, daughter of Alejo Martín, of New México and María de la Rocha, of Sonora. They had at least eight children.
~The Origins of New México Families, pg. 295

• Families. ²⁵²
Diego Torres was married three times and had 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 Tórres, b: 1713 in Santa Fé m. to Isidro Trujillo
Martín Tórres, who was 25 when he enlisted as a soldier in 1751
Juan Domingo de Tórres
Nicolas Torres b. 6 Dec 1731 in San Juan De Los Caballeros, Nuevo Mexico
Manuel Tórres, m. Tomasa Baca, 12 Dec 1758
Bartolomé Tórres, bt. 27 Jun 1734 in Santa Clara, NM
Juan José Tórres, bt. 1 Jun 1738 in San Juan de los Caballeros, Nuevo México
Juana Tórres, bt. 1 Jun 1738 in San Juan de los Caballeros, Nuevo México
José Antonio Tórres

Family 3 : Rafaela Baca, b. 1723 in Belén
Marriage: abt. 1741
Cayetano Tórres
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, pg. 295

• Dates & Events: 1731. ²⁶⁹
Diego de Tórres, petition for revalidation of grant made to his father, Xptóval de Tórres, 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 Tórres is considered the Founder of Belen. The settlement in what is now Valencia County, was made November 15. 1740, under a grant given by Governor Gaspar Domingo de Mendoz.

"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, pgs. 34-35

• He appeared on the census in 1750 in Belén, Valencia, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España. ^22,270
He was living with his second wife Rafaela Baca in Belén.
1750 Spanish Colonial Census - Belen : Diego Tórres : wife: Raphaela Baca; children: Cayetano, Juan Domingo, Martin, Nicolas, Bartholome, Manuel, Catharina Romana, Maria, Josepha de la Luz, Lugarda - de pecho (infant) : family #9
(Next door to my other ancestor Juachín de Luna)

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

Diego married María Martín Serrano y Salazar, daughter of Alejo Martín Serrano and María de la Rocha, on 25 Dec 1712 in Santa Fé, Santa Fé, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España. (María Martín Serrano y Salazar was born about 1690 in Sonora, Nueva España and died before 1763 in Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ^31,34.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Diligencia Matrimonial, 1711. 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 Duran de Armijo (42), Manuel Cervantes (34), Juan Luis Cordero (40), all of Santa Fé. Jose de Qintana, notary in Alburquerque; Capt. Antonio Gutíerres, (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.
DMs, NM Roots, Ltd., pg. 1894

• 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 know that the first wife had died in Santa Crus; Juan de la Mora Pieda (40). Miguel de Quintana, notary in Santa Cruz ...
DMs, NM Roots, Ltd., pg. 1895

Diego next married Maria Rafaela Baca, daughter of Juan Antonio Baca and María Petronila García Jurado, about 1741. (Maria Rafaela Baca was born in 1723 in Belén, Valencia, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁴⁷.)

Diego next 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.⁵⁰⁹ (María de la Rosa Jaramillo was born in Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España.)