Re: [ranchos] Racial Classifications

-----Original Message-----
From: Emilia <auntyemfaustus@...>
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 11:48:28 -0000
Subject: [ranchos] Racial Classifications

I just found an answer as to why, when my husband and I have roots in 
Mexico going back to the early 1700's, he and I look so different.  
In message #277 Steven Francisco Hernandez Lopez says "most people 
will eiher have a lot of Inidan, Mestizo, or Mulato line, or very 
little to one at all---all the surnames and families that I have so 
far posted----were of the Spanish Hidalgo class".

I recall some of these names being in my husband's family, and his 
aunt in Mexico City told me that his family on both sides, had never 
mixed with Indians.  To furter quote Steven: "Intermarriage was very 
uncommon---to do so would be to kill all chances of opportunity for 
your children and descendants for all time".

Plus there was, overall, a social stigma attached to racially mixed relationships and their offspring.

My husband's ancestors 
were always merchants, business owners or government officials."  
Mine were always "farmers" or "laborers".

So now there is a new term for me to wonder about;  The Hidalgo 
Class.  Is this where the term "Don" came from?

Yes, of course.  You got it.  Hit the nail right on the head. The Hidalgo class, which fell below Nobility and Royalty, was the class where many Spanish Mexicans descended from.

Many of my ancestors 
in the Juarez area on my mother's side had the title Dn. or Da., and 
they were always described as Espanol.  I just thought the Dn. and 
Da. described a landowner, a hacienda owner who didn't work, only 
managed his properties. Were they of the Hidalgo Class?

Yes, once more. Since there was essentially no Royal class or Noble class people who left Spain (after all why on Earth would they, they were filthy rich and had lots of land and titles), the Hidalgo class who were descended from the Noble class but not through first-born sons, since the oldest always got everything (promogeniture), the Hidalgo class became the new "Aristocracy" as it were in whatever region they moved to in the Spanish Empire.

I see 
entries in records for children born in their homes that had "padres 
incognitos" but were "expuesto en la casa de Dn--y--Da.X".  I guess 
there was a never-ending supply of servants and workers that way.

Emilie Garcia
Port Orchard, WA

Sincerely,

Steven Francisco Hernandez-Lopez

 
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