| About Families of Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Please sign in to see more. I am studying Genealogy with emphasis on the VALLEJO and LUNA families of Central Texas. My Vallejo tree dates back to 1858. I am the son of Santiago Vallejo Sr of Los Cristales, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and Cecilia Torres of Mendoza, Caldwell County, Texas. I am proud to say that I have one of the biggest accumulation of Vallejo names. I try to make my results stem from factual data which comes from documented articles and from books written by well known known Historians.
Most of my cousins are descendants of General Antonio Fernandez Vallejo (1658-1717) who was actually born in Spain but sailed to Mexico to live out his life in Monterrey, Mexico, he is the very FIRST Vallejo in the family tree. He is the Originator of Vallejo surname for almost all families arising out of the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It tickles me to hear others say that their ancestors (already in my Tree) were from Spain when in reality only the man atop the tree, General Antonio Fernandez Vallejo, came from Spain and his descendants were born in the Haciendas of Los Cristales (of Monterrey jurisdiction) and El Cerrito (of Villa de Santiago jurisdiction) and in Monterrey proper. Many were baptized and married in the Villa de Santiago which lies just 30 miles south of Monterrey. Because of the violent Mexican Revolution of 1910 many Vallejo families migrated into Texas and other states in the United States but many remain and still live the very same colonies as their ancestors.
I am a 10th generation descenant of General Antonio Fernandez Vallejo as shown here: 1. Antonio Fernandez Vallejo + Maria Garcia Guerra
2...Juaquin Fernandez Vallejo + Antonia Margarita Garcia
3.....Juaquin Fernandez Vallejo + Antonia Rodriguez de Montemayor 4.......Manuel Fernandez Vallejo + Leonarda San Miguel
5.........Juan Angel Vallejo + Ignacia Saenz
6...........Rafael Vallejo + Carmen Vallejo
7.............Santiago + Lucinda Zambrano (Santiago, brother of Urbano & Juan Angel) 8...............Rafael Vallejo + Virginia Corona
9.................Santiago Vallejo + Cecilia Torres
10...................Santiago Vallejo (me)
About access codes
This website is always "work in progress" as I continuously update it. I extract data from here
and add it to my Homepage on Tripod.com (when I can) however this website is always the most
current. Viewers can see ancestors who are deceased. However living persons data is restricted and
can be viewed with an access code which I may provide ONLY to my relatives and my closest friends
so please do not ask for this unless you fit the criteria as I must respect the privacy of my
living relatives. I don't know all Vallejo's out there so feel free to send me information that
may fill in the blanks to your particular branch.
This website
I created this site in order to list and share some of my ancestral findings with anyone who may
show an interest in the families that have roots in the area of the Villa de Santiago, Nuevo Leon,
Mexico. Most Vallejo roots in Mexico are in Los Cristales, jurrisdiction Monterrey, Nuevo Leon,
Mexico and in El Cerrito, jurisdiction Villa de Santiago.
There is a valley which which extends south from Monterrey, Mexico about 30 miles along current
HWY 85 to the Villa de Santiago and includes villages (or haciendas) such as Los Cristales, El
Cerrito, Rancho de Uro, Los Cavazos, El Huajuquito, El Cercado, El Barreal, Los Rodriguez, San
Javier, San Pedro, San Francisco, Santa Rosalia, La Boca, etc. In the old days this valley was
known as the Valle del Guajuco and was the main habitat for early Vallejo families.
I have visited Monterrey twice as a teenager and in November 2005 when I also visited Los Cavazos
(love those food buffets) and rode through the Villa de Santiago with its Santiago Apostol Parish
at the top of the hill and the beautiful Presa de La Boca nearby. Needless to say that with all
the current instability in the area who knows if I will ever get to revisit this beautiful land of
my ancestors.
Some other surnames which I dabble in are the Almaguer's from El Cercado and Tamez from Allende.
The data posted on this website comes from 8+ years of studying this area, visiting it and from feedback from relatives who still live in "the valley" and in Monterrey. The data is transcribed from thousands of baptism, marriage, death and civil records which I have viewed in dozens of rolls of microfilms offered by the Salt Lake City, Utah History Library. I have also reviewed many obituaries and census records.
Parish sources for these records typically show a "volume" (Parish book number), an "act" (sequential record number in the book) and a "foja" (page number of the register) which tell you where to look for the record in a particular book or microfilm. If you think you may be a part of my tree then send me an email explaining how and supply as much detail as possible. Provide your ancestors as far back as possible. People some times make a mistake by saying who was their grandparents were but what I don't know is if the provider is 15 or 51 and their grandparents may have been born in 1940's or in the 1880's, please be meticulous.
Genealogy research is an adventure with dividends. Through my research I discovered that my great- grandparents actually had 16 children instead of 9 as first thought of by elders and I also discovered that my grandfather had a twin sister and perhaps she died at infancy as well as some of their other siblings no one remembers. I am also continously meeting new friends and relatives which I did not know before. On May 11, 2010, I happened to meet by phone a 2nd cousin of mine from Corpus Christi, Texas, one of the fine port cities of our great state. A few years ago I met by phone for the 1st time some 2nd cousins of mine who now live in Alabama......small world isn't it? If my research can help you find your own Nuevo Leon ancestors then it's icing on the cake for me but with my limited time I will only try to help you to uncover your missing links, you have to do your own tree.
Code of Ethics
A good friend named Al Stephens once told me that Genealogy is the study of dead people. He was
right, this website basically shows people who are deceased so you won't see living people without
permission.....sorry. A good genealogist will try to adhere to this ethic rule.
You can find invalueable records in the listed LDS Mexican Online website shown on the left of
this page as they are images of the Parish records of Mexico. You may find all these websites on
the left very interesting, start with "Discover Your Ancestors" and write down the information and
source data like microfilm numbers, volume (book)numbers and page numbers then proceed to
the "Historical Collections" website to view the microfilm. There is also a website shown on the
left that identifies the names of towns and municipalities of Nuevo Leon as they were called "back
in the day". I added a new link which I found online which shows documented baptisms from the
Villa de Santiago 1797-1841 taken from FHL microfilm 605464, check it out.
NEW !! CIVIL REGISTRATIONS ADDED
For Nuevo Leon and several other states of Mexico the LDS has now added thousands of Civil
Registration records and you can now search through these to find additional data for births and
marriages. Starting in 1861 Mexico began mandating that events like births and marriages be
registered through various cities and states. Be cautious because the registration date usually
differs from the actual event date and I have seen births registered in the 1900's which occurred
in the 1870's. Look for indexes near the front or back of the year you are searching because those
will save you lots of research time.
Civil births records will contain a header which lists when and where a person was registered. Then it usually followed by the actual date of birth.
Civil marriages may contain 2-3 records, one being a "presentacion" (or petition) related to when a couple first requests requests to get married (may contain inaccurate supplied information) for which an investigative research is intiated of the couple's background. It may be followed by a record called a "determina" which could be a conclusion of the investigation's findings. Lastly will be the record called the "matrimonio" which will contain final, corrected data to be documented and the date of the couple's civil marriage date. It is wise to use the "matrimonio" record from which to extract the correct marriage information. Some good examples of this can be found from the link on the left side dealing with Villa de Santiago marriages.
Civil records are almost a "must" to investigate as some contain vital information that is often not contained in Parrochial records.
Civl records vs Parish records
For a long time Mexico used Parish records to document baptisms, marriages and deaths. But in the
mid 1800's it implemented the Civil Registry and people now had to register their life events
using this. Mexico uses the Civil Registry as the main documentation system so couples needed to
marry in civil court (a Juzgado) and if they so desired then they could also marry in Church but
it would not be recognized as the "official" documentation. I now use the Civil records more and
more as the baptisms some times are very contradictory and lots of times never match the Civil
record dates and I prefer to use the most accurate data available.
For new genealogists I suggest that you visit your local Family History Center which sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and learn "Genealogy 101" and discover how to use the various tools being offered....that's how I started. Tips on complete Hispanic geneaology:
1. Find out all you can about your family history from existing relatives asap, don't wait until they are no longer with you.
2. Learn Spanish if you haven't already, most of the existing data seen is in Spanish. 3. Read books written by Historians such as ones from Borderlands Books Store in San Antonio, TX. 4. Learn how to use microfilms from the Salt lake City, Utah Library. 5. Research all microfilms such as baptisms, marriages, marriage "informaciones" and also deaths, there is a wealth of information which can some times be found in some films and not in others. I view films on deaths (defunciones) and I will find the parents and some times grand parents. Know that marriage contracts mostly occur before the actual marriage and that baptisms usually occur after a birth date. You must accept that Genealogy is not a perfect science and that you will find mistakes and typos in the acutal Parish records so be prepared to decipher the data into what should be real.
6. When you find data list your source, if a Parish record list the Volume (book number), the act # and the page no. on the Parish register if seen at the top of the page. The idea is to direct others to that exact place where you found the data so be as concise as possible.
Villa de Santiago MISSING CHURCH MARRIAGE RECORDS 1841-1854
If you need marriage records of the Villa de Santiago Parish for the period 1841-1854 you won't
find them in microfilm and may need to procure them form the following source at a price of
about $10.00 per record, maybe $5 for S&H and a courteous $2-3 tip per order for their
good works (cash-only, no checks, no plastic). Update: A much quicker menthod is to send the
the money via Western Union to Gustavo, when he receives he can email your documents in PDF
format for you to print.
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Families of Nuevo Leon, Mexico
