Mestisaje 17th Century New Mexicans with Spanish and Indian Anecestry

This presentation will examine the documentary evidence from archival records that reveals how common it was for Spanish families of seventeenth-century New Mexico to have Indian ancestry, including relatives among Pueblo Indians. This combination of ancestry was an influential contribution to the development of Nuevomejicano culture.
For individuals with deep family roots in New Mexico, before tracing one or more family lineages to Spain, they will very likely encounter ancestors identified as mestizo or castizo, indicating a combination of European and Indian ancestry, or as mulato, indicating a combination of Indian and African ancestry. In some cases, there are ancestors identified specifically as Indians of the Valley of Mexico, Pueblo Indians (Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, Tano, Keres, Piro, Tompiro), or Genízaros, or perhaps as Apache, Navajo, Comanche, Kiowa, or Hopi.
Recent DNA evidence for men and women with deep family roots in New Mexico is shining a bright light on this combination of European and Indian ancestry.