The Conquest of Mexico - Genealogy

In an earlier post, I mentioned that there were "many" Spaniards with Hernan Cortes during the conquest of Mexico. Some additional research has shown me that historians consider the actual number to have been about 2,000 soldiers. Of those, roughly one-fourth to one-third died in battle.

Of those who survived, almost all remained in Mexico, and are the progenitors of nearly the entire population living there now. Here's how it breaks down:

The population at the start of the conquest is estimated to have been about 20 million Indians. Some eighty years later, by the year 1600 that population had dwindled to about one million due to war, disease, starvation, and forced labor.

Today there are 125 million Mexican citizens but during the three centuries between 1600 and 1900, very few people emigrated to Mexico and the country's population grew to only about 15 million.

This means that the roughly 1,500 Spaniards who survived the initial conquest of Mexico were the ancestors of those 15 million and they, in turn, formed the basis for today's 125 million Mexicans. --Not to mention those who migrated north to America or in the opposite direction to Central and South America.

So if you are of Spanish/Mexican descent, and if you have a fairly common Hispanic last name such as Avila, Gonzalez, Vasquez, Moreno, Rodriquez, Garcia, Alvarado, Lopez, or Villalobos (plus 2,000 others), you might want to take a look at the web pages located at  The Conquistadores of Mexico.

You may be surprised to find that someone with your surname fought alongside Cortes. It's worth a visit.

Villalobos and The Conquest of Mexico

In researching the name Villalobos, I came across "The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo."

If you are not familiar with the name, he was one of the soldiers who accompanied Hernan Cortes during the  1519 defeat of the Aztecs of Mexico.

Bernal wrote his memoirs several years later, after reading accounts of what had happened that were written by individuals who hadn't even been there. His account is simple, straighforward and, as far as is known, quite honest.

The reason I mention him and his book is that one of the names he lists is "Villalobos."

And I thought you might be interested to see if your last name is among those who were involved in the conquest by Spain of Mexico nearly 500 years ago.  Here are the surnames, as listed in Bernal Diaz' book:

Aguilar - Alamilla - Alaminos - Alanis - Alerza - Almodovar - Alobancho - Alonso - Alpedrino - Alvarado - Amaya - Angula - Aragon - Arevalo - Arguello - Ario - Artiaga - Astorgos - Avila - Balnor - Barco - Barrientos - Bejel - Berritez - Bonal - Burguenno


Caceres - Camillas - Cardenas - Cardona - Carmonas - Caro - Carrero - Carvajal - Castaneda - Catalan - Cermenno - Cervantes - Chico - Cieza - Corral - Cortes - Cuellar – Cuenca

De Coria - De la Loa - De las Casas - De las Varillas - De Mola - De Palo - Del Puerto - Del Rio - Diaz - Dominguez – Duran

Escalante - Escalona - Escobar - Escudero - Espinosa - Estrada - Farsan - Figuero - Flamenco - Flores - Florin - Gallego - Galvez - Gamboa - Garona - Garcia - Genna - Gorrez - Grado - Granado - Gutierres – Guzman

Hernandez - Herrera - Hurones - Ircio - Jaen - La Serna - Lares - Larios - Lencero - Leon - Lerma - Lopez – Lugo

Madrid - Madrigal - Magallanes - Magarino - Maite - Maldonado - Manquillo - Marin - Martin - Martinez - Median - Medrano - Mendes - Mercado - Mesa - Misa - Monjaraz - Monroy - Montannes - Montejo - Morales - Moreno - Morillas - Morla – Moron

Najara - Navarro - Naxara - Nortes - Nuñez - Ochoa - Oinzones - Ojeda - Olea - Oli - Olmedo - Olmedo - Ordas - Orozco - Orteguilla - Ortiz – Osorio

Pacheco - Palencia - Palma - Pardo - Paredes - Pennalosa - Pennates - Perez - Pinedo - Pizarro - Platero - Plazuela - Polanco - Poron - Porras - Portillo – Quintero - Rabaso - Ramirez - Rapapelo - Ribadeo - Rodriguez - Rojas - Romero – Ruano

Sabrite - San Juan - Sanchez - Sandaña - Sandoval - Santa Clara - Santiago - Santisteban - Saragoza - Saucedo - Sedenno - Siciliano - Solis - Sopuerta – Suarez

Talavera - Terrazas - Tirado - Tostado - Trebejo - Truxillos (Trujillos) - Tuvilla - Umbria

Valdovinos - Valencia - Valenciano - Valladolid - Vandadas - Vargas - Varguillas - Vasquez - Velasquez - Villafuerte - Villalobos - Villanuevas - Villareal – Villasinda

Xaramillo (Jaramillo) - Ximena (Jimena) - Ximenes (Jimenez) - Yannez - Zamisdio

...Quite a list, yet it is incomplete because Diaz couild not recall the names of everyone who took part.
 
We tend to think that the Astecs of Mexico were defeated by "a handful of men" (five or six), but actually there were many. Not "many" compared to the number of Indians against whom they fought, but "many" in the sense of more than a mere handful.
 
Iis your last name among those listed above?

...And here is today's link  Gigliola Cinquetti

Extended Family

I have been thinking about my extended family, but with a special twist on the word "extended."

Normally, in today's society in America, your extended family includes your in-laws, your step-father, step-mothers, step-brothers and step-sisters, etc. But I am thinking more about "extended" in the sense of "stretched out" or "far away" (either in distance or in time).

I have a sister, for instance, whom I have not seen in several years and who lives hundreds of miles away from me. And I have nephews and nieces who live fairly close by -- within driving distance, in fact -- but whom rarely I see.

Yet they are related to me, I watched them grow up, and I've seen them have children of their own.

So why do we remain so far apart (both in time and/or in distance)?

No idea.

My Villa-Lovos family includes:

I. Paz Villalobos (my grandfather, ____-____) m. Modesta Esparza Duenes (____-1951)
   A. Antonio Esparza Villa-Lovos (my father, 1904-2003) m. Stella Valdez (1914-____)
        1. Charles Gastelum Villa-Lovos (myself, 1942-____) m. Sylvia Casaus (1952-____)
            (a) Christopher Michael Villa-Lovos (my son, 1972-____) m. Jessica Lamas (1973-____)
                (i) Charles Anthony Villa-Lovos (my grandson, 1995-____)
                (ii) Julia Villa-Lovos (my granddaughter, (2000-____)

        2. Anthony Peter Villa-Lovos (my brother, 1943-____) m. Sandra Santana (1944-____)
            (a) Anthony Charles Villa-Lovos (my nephew, 1961-____) m. Marie _________ (19__-____)
                (i) Tiana Villa-Lovos (my grand-niece, 1997-____)
            (b) Tracy Villa-Lovos (my nephew, 1963-____)  m. Sherri Doctor (19__-____)
                (i) Kevin Villa-Lovos (my grand-nephew, ____-____)
                (ii) Ashley Villa-Lovos (my grand-niece, ____-____)
            (c) JulieAnn Villa-Lovos (my niece, 1964-____) m. James Angel (19__-____)
                (i) Noah Angel (19__-____)
                (ii) Ethan Angel (10__-____)

        3. Teresa Villa-Lovos (my sister, 1943-____) m. Lawrence Mora
            (a) Jeanette Mora (196_-____)
            (b) Christina Mora (196_-____)
            (c) Laura Mora (196_-____)
            (d) Larry Mora (197_-____)

        3. Anita Grace Villa-Lovos (my sister, 1946-____) m. Jesus Diaz
            (a) Jesse Diaz (19__-____)
            (b) David Diaz (19__-____)

All those members of my family, most of them still living and not all that far away. I guess it's up to me to see them more often, perhaps set up an annual family picnic or something similar.

The Villalobos Family Crest

Heraldry, crest, shield, coat-of-arms, blazons -- all refer more or less to the means by which European families with the same last name could identify themselves as uniquely "us" rather than anonymously "them."

The Villalobos shield, shown here, displays two wolves, one above the other, facing in the same direction.

Heraldry, most popular in the eleventh through sixteenth centuries in western Europe, was never a precise science. It usually began with a drawing by an artist based on the written or spoken description by a nobleman who wanted a family coat-of-arms.

For instance, a man might want to show two golden lions fighting a white eagle on a background of dark blue. Based on this, the artist would draw his interpretation.

Family crests -- whether from England, Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Germany or Italy -- were used by the nobility and landed gentry of each country.

Over the last two centuries, heraldry has steadily become less significant and less meaningful. Most people of European descent today have no idea if they have a family crest, or what it might look like. ...And most people don't care.

Still, heraldry can be interesting for those of us who have a familial connection -- no matter how distantly removed -- to any of the western European nations. The coat-of-arms or shield by which your last name was once recognized can be a source of pride or, at the very least, a conversation starter.

In case you're thinking the Villalobos crest is just something that was recently made up, here are some of the sources that were researched in order to locate this shield, which dates back to the early 1200s:

• The Encyclopaedia Heraldica, 1828, by William Berry for the College of Arms;, a late 19th century compilation of about 130,000 blazons of European Families by Johan Baptiste Rietstap of the Netherlands;
• A Complete Body of Heraldry by Josseph Edmondson in 1780; and, lastly and most significantly,
• Diccionario de Heraldica by J.A. Schnieper, a resource for Spanish heraldry.

If your last name is Mendoza, Aragon, Vega, Soria, etc., you might consider looking for your own family's shield/coat-of-arms.

It makes for some interesting conversation.

And is today's song from YouTube: Matt Monro - I Will Wait For you

Villalobos Genealogy Sites

What this site is all about.

Yesterday I came across two websites that should be of interest to Villalobos-type people.

One of them is the Villalobos Family Genealogy Forum, in which people whose last name is Villalobos post questions regarding their family roots, whether from Spain, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands or elsewhere.

From what I found at this site, though, most of the questions go unanswered, which is a shame.

It seems there should be a better way (or a better place) for people to indicate that they are looking for other family members. I saw many people posting their informatiion and asking for someone to contact them, but there were very few responses.

There really should be a better way. Maybe someday there will be. Any ideas?

The other site I found is the Villalobos section (Chapter 24) of the Castile and Leon Nobility page (it's a very l-o-n-g page). It is part of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (http://fmg.ac/) website.

The Villalobos section is near the bottom of this lengthy page, but proved to be quite interesting. It was good to discover that, if nothing else, the name Villalobos goes back at least eight hundred years. Maybe More.

The earliest Villalobos listed was don Rodrigo Gil de Villalobos, son of don Gil Manrique Señor de Manzanedo & his wife doña Teresa Fernández. He was born about 1289.

...Well, I look forward to hearing from anyone named Villalobos, or Villa-Lovos, etc., who happens to stumble across this site.

Ruy Lopez de Villalobos

What this site is all about.

I was born on October 25, 1942.

Four hundred years earlier, almost to the day (on November 1, 1542), another Villalobos, a Spanish explorer and navigator named Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (b. 1500? - d. 1544) led a fleet of six galleons with about 400 men from Jalisco, Mexico across the Pacific to a group of islands in the Far East.

Arriving there on December 25, 1542, he named them the Philippine Islands in honor of Prince Philip II of Spain.

If you are not aware of him, Ruy Villalobos is one of the earliest known members of the Villalobos "family," and you can learn more about him on Wikipedia.

Much more well known is the Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, who was born in 1887 and died in 1959.

I myself find his music difficult to enjoy because none of it that I have heard ever quite manages to find a melody. Pretty notes strung together for an entire orchestra (or perhaps for guitar alone, or piano, etc.), but I feel that if you hear one composition by Villa-Lobos, you've pretty much heard them all.

His compositions do, however, make for a pleasant background as you are doing something that does not require strict attention to the music itself.

...That, at least, is my considered reaction after having listened to several recordings of his music.  Feel free to disagree.

Villalobos on the Internet

What this site is all about.

I spent a while looking for other people with the last name of Villalobos or Villa-Lovos, and the following links are just a small portion of the wide variety of people I found.

It was fascinating to find out that Michelle Villalobos is a business skills trainer, while Patricia Villalobos has "a hybrid practice of prints, photos, videos ... that explore how reproducible forms of representation can alter our notions of singularity...." (Wow.)

Then there is Janette L. Villalobos, M.D., a doctor who practices medicine in East Los Angeles. Or John Villalovos, an amateur photographer located in Westford, Massachusetts. Or Maria Cristina Villalobos, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the University of Texas-Pan American.

Kay Villalobos collaborates with other artists to create her own unique works of art in Carmel, California, while Armando Villalobos is ....

Visiting Villalobos, Spain - Part Two

What this site is all about.

My wife, Esther -- She Who Must Not Be Ignored -- and I flew into Madrid, stayed there a few days, then took the bullet train to Sevilla. From there we took an early morning bus to Granada, arriving at about noon.

From Granada, another bus took us to the much smaller town of Alcala la Real, and from there a friendly taxi driver drove us two miles along a one-lane road to Villalobos, Spain. We arrived at about two in the afternoon. I cannot say it was a disappointment, but Villalobos was not what I expected.

There were about six homes in the whole town. One church, one school, one bus stop. Olive fields blanketed the surrounding hillsides, with an occasional house in the distance....

The friendly taxi driver asked if we wanted to meet the mayor of Villalobos.

Indeed we did, so he drove us to a lovely two-story, whitewashed, flower-trellised and vine-covered house. Rather than knocking at the front door, though, our driver led us around to the side entrance and when we walked in through the open door we found...

...a tavern!

Inside, four men sat side by side at the small bar, a glass of wine or beer in each hand. They turned to face us as we entered.

On the walls hung old photographs that I guess were taken shortly after photography was invented.

Behind the bar stood a small, smiling man, the owner. The taxi driver introduced us to Usterio Garcia-Garcia (pronounced Garthia-Garthia) Villalobos. He was, we were informed, El Alcalde-- the mayor -- of Villalobos. We were greeted formally, in the Spanish manner, with the men at the bar eyeing us curiously. Why are you here? their expressions seemed to ask.

Esther informed Senor Villalobos that our last name was Villa-Lovos and that we had come all the way from Los Angeles.

"¿Donde?" he asked, apprently never having heard of that great city.

"California," Esther explained.

"¿Donde?" --He still didn't quite seem to know where we were from.

Finally, I said, "Los Estados Unidos."

"Ah! Mexico!"

With that bit of astounding news, Mayor Gacria-Garcia Villalobos hurried around from behind the bar and hugged first me and then my wife. We were, he declared, long-lost relatives from Mexico. I then had to explain that we were from the los Estados Unidos de America, not Los Estados Unidos de Mexico. I had forgotten that both countries call themselves "the United States of..."

That we came from America rather than Mexico seemed to lower our worth to some of the men, at least a little.  But with introductions out of the way, I bought a round of drinks for the mayor and his friends, which elevated their opinion of us once again. They happily toasted our health and proudly posed for pictures.

The good mayor (third from the left, above) told us that the town was named for the wild wolves that roamed this region centuries ago. The entire area had once been a huge estate known as the Villa de Lobos.

Another round of drinks or two, then it was time for my wife and I to get back to Alcala la Real because there was only one bus returning to Granada, and only one bus leaving from Granada to Sevilla that day.

We said our regretful goodbyes, hugged or shook hands with everyone, and that was that.

The next time I go to Spain, I hope to visit the other town of Villalobos -- the one in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, north of Madrid.

If you ever visit the town of Villalobos in southern Spain, stop in and say hello to the mayor for me.

Visiting Villalobos, Spain - Part One

What this site is all about.

One day many years ago, my father told me about a city, or town, or village (he wasn't sure of its size) somewhere in Spain that I might be interested in.

We opened our world atlas and started looking for a place called Villalobos, but we were unable to find anything. Disappointed, my father said, "Maybe my father was wrong. But he was the one who told me about Villalobos, Spain."

More than three decades later, in the 1990s, I became aware of a new phenomenon called the Internet. I decided to search for the town my father had talked about, and this time I found a tiny dot on the Andalucian landscape: Villalobos, Spain. It did exist! ...

But it was so small I could not get any other information on it: population, history -- not even its precise location. Nothing. So set the idea of visiting Villalobos aside. Maybe someday. I told my father I had found the place his father had told him about, and that it really did exist, but couldn't give him any details.

He was glad to know, at least, that his father had been right.

In 2003, my father passed away. He was ninety-nine years old. Two years later, my wife and I finally had a chance to fly to Spain.

By now the Internet had developed something called Google, and with it I was able to search in greater detail for the place of my origins.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered there were two places in Spain named Villalobos. One was several miles northwest of Madrid; the other lay in Andalucia, somewhere southeast of Cordoba and northwest of Granada.

Although my wife wanted to visit the major cities like Madrid, Toledo, Seville and Granada, my heart was set on seeing at least one of the two towns called Villalobos.

Whereas my father (and his, and his) had come from Aguascalientes, Mexico, I had to see the land of my more ancient ancestors.

In tomorrow's post, I'll explain what happened. I would continue writing now, but I find that no matter how interesting a long post is, it soon becomes ...well, uninteresting.

---BTW, Happy 96th birthday, Mom!

Introduction to Villalobos

Hello, and Welcome to Viva Villalobos!

The primary purpose of this site is to bring together as many individuals as possible who share the last name of Villalobos, or any of its variants such as Villa-Lobos, Villalovos, Villa-Lovos, etc.
If you are a Villalobos-type person, or are married to one, please feel free to add your name, what part of the world you live in, and any other information you wish to include.

As time goes by, I will be adding as many links to other Villalobos sites as I can. Please feel free to recommend yours....

The name Villalobos (which started, as far as I know, in a small village of that name in southern Spain several centuries ago) has by now spread worldwide, so I would like to offer a small challenge to anyone interested: can you provide a verifiable "Villalobos" who lived before the sixteenth century?

Here's the oldest reference to anyone named Villalobos that I have been able to find:

"[Prince] Philip's favorite pastime ... was to order the other boys to hold jousts, with burned candles for lances. Doctor Villalobos, one of the physicians of the royal family, put a stop to that, to the great displeasure of the Prince...." --Chapter 2, page 24, of "Philip II" by William Thomas Walsh (1937), Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., Rockford, Illinois.

Philip II was born May 21, 1527 and died September 13, 1598, so his physician, Dr. Villalobos, was probably at least twenty-five years older than the young prince, which places the good doctor's year of birth at somewhere around the year 1500.

Whether or not you are interested in the history of the name Villalobos, if you are a Villalobos yourself (or, like me, have a variation of the name's spelling), I would love to hear from you.

...And that's it for this blog's first entry.  --Except for today's link: Daniela Mercury