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As a long time researcher of Los Altos genealogy, I can honestly say that in reality the majority of the population of Los Altos is really of old Spanish extraction, with the lingering possibility that they were crypto-Jews, hiding the secret all the while. I simply have never seen any evidence of Judios in alteno records. Now there were lots of indios, mestizos, mulatos (libres y esclavos), coyotes, lobos, and the usual assortment of castas.
Of the various example of actual Jewish lineage is that of the Ha-Levi family of Burgos, whose lineage later became part of the Cadena, later Zaldivar and On~ate lineages of Zacatecas, Nochistlan. Another is that of Mariana de Vera y Medina, wife of Conquistador
Gaspar de la Mota y Mena, and later poblador of Nueva Galicia around Guadalajara, Jalisco. Don~a Mariana was the daughter of Don Juan de Vera, a known Judio converso who later became a Catholic. Don Juan de Vera, was, if I remember correctly, a member of the Audiencia. Based on the evidence, it seems that his family was quite wealthy, being as he was a Jewish converso, and member of the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia in Guadalajara. You had to be from a very influential family, have tons of money, or be very crafty, to become a member of most government offices. The daughter of don Gaspar de la Mota y Mena and don~a Mariana de Vera y Medina, Anna, used the surname "de la Mota y Vera." She would then marry don Diego Padilla Davila. Only his descendants used the compound surname "de la Mota y Padilla," the surname which persisted the longest. Most of them just kept the surname Padilla. So many Padilla's from Los Altos have Jewish blood running through their veins.
Aside from these quite obvious examples from the 1600's, I have not seen other examples of Jewish lineage, much less French. The exquisitely detailed research conducted by don Mariano Gonzalez Leal, throughout Los Altos, detailed in his book Reton~os de Espan~a en la Nueva Galicia, has shown us that the whole French thing, and that there was a lost batallion of French soldiers in Los Altos, during the French invasion in the 1860's, is nothing but a myth. How could such a late arrival, cause the diffusion of French blood or surnames to become pervasive in a little over 100 years? The "French" army was little more than German and Austrian conscripts in service of Maximilian von Habsburg, Emperador Maximiliano of Mexico. These troops never saw active service anywhere near Los Altos, in Jalisco. Practically every battle of the French Intervention took place right around Mexico City, in places like Puebla, Hidalgo, Queretaro, etc.
Genealogical evidence going back to the foundations of Guadalajara and Valladolid (now Morelia, Michoacan) in the mid 1500's, clearly shows that because of the extreme close proximity to the Inquisitorial Offices in these cities, as well as Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Mexico City, among others put Jewish conversos at risk of being exposed. The settlers of Los Altos, at this time, were Espan~oles rancios and many, many Basques. You see the disctinctive Basque surnames all over the place, Jauregui, Esparza, Orozco, Mendizabal, Ibarra, Aguirre, etc, all over the place. There are even Italian surnames, like Lomelin (Lomellini), Lavezares (Lavezzari), Verdin (Verdini), y Sigala. The first three are from Genoa, and the latter is from Naples. But no Jews, and less French. Just pure Espan~oles (whatever that was), mixed with some indios, mestizos, and mulatos.
So be skeptical of books that make over-generalizations such as this. I would take what this Hernandez (so what if he has my last name) has to say with a grain of salt. Now I'm curious to see what it has to say.
Regards,
Steven H.
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