Re: [ranchos] Dispensas Matrimoniales

I have been availing myself of the various marriage dispensations that are archived in the Sagrada Mitra de Guadalajara. The Sagrada Mitra is the central archive for the Archdiocese of Guadalajara (AG). The AG at one point encompassed all the territory as widespread as Texas, California, Durango, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Colima, and of course Jalisco. It is for the pueblos and ranchos of Jalisco and Aguascalientes that the valuable marriage dispensations have been the most useful. I have already seen and analyzed dispensas from 1799, 1800, 1802, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1823, and 1825. I'm working on filling in the gaps to maximize their effectiveness and not let any dispensa slip through the cracks. I already have dispensas from Arandas (aft 1794), Atotonilco el Alto (aft 1794), Ayo el Chico (aft 1794), Jalos, Tepa, San Juan de los Lagos, Lagos de Moreno, Mexticacán, Teocaltiche, Zapotlanejo, Cuquio, Encarnación, Aguascalientes, Nochistlán, etc, etc.

And I highly recommend that many of you also start looking in these films because I have seen many marriage dispensations from Jerez, Zacatecas, Tepetongo, Colotlán, Santa María de los Angeles, Fresnillo, Tlaltenango, Juchipila, Ameca, Magdalena, Tequila, Zapotlán, Moyagua, and other Zacatecas and Jalisco towns. The reason is that in these microfilms you'll see marriage information, dispensations, marriage petitions, denuncias, and a lot of very juicy gossip and some very "interesting" information. I have seen some rather shocking information about various individuals from all over the AG in these records: husbands having relations with their sisters-in-law; promises to marry that were not kept, premarital cohabitation, murders, etc. Not only this but they are always very detailed in regards to the genealogical information they contain.

I first discovered the marriage information (información matrimonial) of Joseph Manuel Hernández Gamiño and María de la Trinidad Hernández Gamiño, in Arandas, Jalisco, on 14 March 1799. Source: Microfilm # 0279587, Marriage Information, 1797-1847, Arandas, Jalisco, México. When this marriage information was filed, it was discovered that the groom and the bride shared four (4) different blood kinship bonds (cuatro parentescos de consanguinidad). All four were of the fourth degree (del cuarto grado), meaning they were third-cousins on four different lines. This information was very important to me at the time because the lineage on the left is that of my direct paternal line, and I had been stuck on a dead end at Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño and Juana-Catarina Magaña. So this dispensa helped me break through this dead-end, and helped me to connect my main line with that of the rest of the Hernández Gamiño. The lineage on the left is one I have on my mother’s side.

Joseph Manuel Hernández Gamiño and María de la Trinidad Hernández Gamiño were married in Arandas, Jalisco, and required a dispensation for their marriage. Their marriage dispensation which is dated 25 March 1799 gives four different blood kinships (parentestcos de consanguinidad). This marriage dispensation is located in the Sagrada Mitra de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Microfilm Marriage Dispensations, 1799, # 0168108.

The pertinent portions of their dispensation state the following: "Joseph Manuel Hernández de calidad Español de estado soltero de veinte y quatro años de edad, originario del Partido de Arandas en el Carrisal, hijo Lexítimo de Juan Ygnacio Hernández, que vive, y de María Catarina Magaña, Difunta, . . . con efecto quiere contraher Matrimonio con María Trinidad Hernández, Española originaria del mismo Puesto de estado Doncello de Diez y siete años de edad, hija Lexítima de Ygnacio Hernández, que vive, y de María Doñana (Anna María Tello de Orozco), Difunta. . . ."

The three witnesses presented were: (1) "Juan Ygnacio Hernández, de calidad español de sesenta y siete años de edad, de estado casado originario de este Partido en el Carrisal"; (2) "Clemente Hernández de calidad Español de veinte y ocho años de edad de estado casado originario del Partido de Arandas en el Carrisal"; (3) "José Manuel Hernández de calidad Español de quarenta y tres años de edad, de estado casado originario del Pocito, Jurisdicción de Jalostotitlán." A todos los tres tres les tocaban las generales de la ley. This means that all three were related to the groom and bride. The witnesses declared that indeed the two requesting to be married were related to each other and presented the following lineage charts:

Hijos . . . . . . . . . . . Clemente Hernández . . . y . . . . . Miguel Hernández . . . . . . . . . . 1er. Grado

Nietos . . . . . . . . . . . Miguel Hernández . . . . y . . . . . . Juan Hernández . . . . . . . . . . . 2do. Grado

Bisnietos . . . . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . y . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . . . . . . . 3er. Grado

Ternietos . . . . . . José Manuel Hernández . . y . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to. Grado

Hijos . . . . . . . . . . . Clemente Hernández . . . y . . . . . . María de Velasco . . . . . . . . . . . 1er. Grado

Nietos . . . . . . . . . . . Miguel Hernández . . . . y . . Juan Manuel Tello de Orozco . . . . . 2do. Grado

Bisnietos . . . . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . y . . . Anna María Tello de Orozco . . . . . . 3er. Grado

Ternietos . . . . . . José Manuel Hernández . . y . . . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to. Grado

Hijos . . . . . . . . . . . Cristóbal Hernández . . . . y . . . . . . Miguel Hernández . . . . . . . . . . 1er. Grado

Nietos . . . . . . . Ma. Guadalupe Hernández . . y . . . . . . . Juan Hernández . . . . . . . . . . 2do. Grado

Bisnietos . . . . . . . . Catarina Magaña . . . . . . y . . . Juan Ygnacio Hernández . . . . . . . 3er. Grado

Ternietos . . . . . José Manuel Hernández . . . y . . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to. Grado

Hijos . . . . . . . . . . Cristóbal Hernández . . . . . y . . . . . . . . María de Velasco . . . . . . . . . . 1er. Grado

Nietos . . . . . . Ma. Guadalupe Hernández . . . y . . . Juan Manuel Tello de Orozco . . . . . 2do. Grado

Bisnietos . . . . . . . Catarina Magaña . . . . . . . y . . . Anna María Tello de Orozco . . . . . . 3er. Grado

Ternietos . . . José Manuel Hernández . . . . . y . . . . . Ma. Trinidad Hernández . . . . . . . . 4to. Grado

Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño y Maciel Juan Ignacio Hernández Gamiño y Vásquez de Lara

So as you can see, I was able to obtain lots of very juicy and pertinent pieces of data about my family. I learned that they were not illiterate hicks, but were quite educated, or at least educated enough to sign their own names, and quite well I might add. You'll also find some very important information about the witnesses, sometimes the witnesses could be your relatives, and they also sign their names, most of the time. But the genealogical information is by far the most important for us, because invariably these dispensations will extend your family tree two, maybe three, maybe four generations. They make reference and mention family connections you didn't even know you had. I have found extra children of a couple I thought I had already researched thoroughly.