María Elena Gallegos

  Noted events in her life were:

• Web Reference: Will of Elena Gallegos from the Grolet - Gurulé Family website.
Elena Gallegos, born about 1680, was the daughter of Antonio Gallegos and Catarina Baca of Bernalillo, New Mexico. Her parents had escaped New Mexico at the time of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and Elena and her two brothers returned to New Mexico around 1693 at the time of the De Vargas Reconquest. At the age of 19, she married Santiago Gurulé. After Santiago's death in 1711, she conducted her own business affairs. She was a stock raiser, and was the first woman to record her own brand in 1712. About 1716, she acquired the Jesus Maria Grant, sold to her by Diego Montoya's son. Much of what is now North Albuquerque is built on the 35,084 acre Elena Gallegos land grant. At the foothills of the Sandia Mountains is a sign to mark the entrance to the Elena Gallegos Park.

• Background Information. ²⁵²
Antonio Gallegos, husband of Rosa Montoya, was the son of the first Antonio and Catalina Baca. He was twenty-two in 1699 and living in Bernalillo. His sister Elena married Santiago Grolé in 1699.

~ Origins of New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Spanish Colonial Period, p. 179

María married Jacques Grollet, son of Yvon Grollet and Marie Odon, on 10 Dec 1699 in Bernalillo, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁴⁸.^,1467 (Jacques Grollet was born about 1664 in La Rochelle, Aunis, France and died in 1711 in Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ¹⁴⁶⁷.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Diligencia Matrimonial: ²⁴⁸
9 Nov 1699, San Felipe, Bernalillo. Santiago Grole, native of la Rochela in the French Realms, baptized in the Church of St. Jean, son of Yvon Grole and María Odon, both deceased, and doña Elena Gallegos (19), native of Bernalillo, daughter of Antonio Gallegos and doña Catarina Baca. Groom left France in company of the General Marshall de la Salle in search of continental region bordering on New France; was captive of infidel Indians for five years; then went to Spain by order of the Viceroy Conde de Galve; back in New Mexico City, he then came to New Mexico as a settler.

Witnesses: Pedro de Chaves, notary; Pedro Meuier (26), native of Parish in France who knew groom for fifteen years; Juan de Archibec (27), native of Ballona in France who also knew groom for fifteen years; Baltasar Romero, Pedro López, Felipe Guitiérrez (40), mestizo.

~ Roots Ltd., Diligencias Matrimoniales, p. 780

  Marriage Notes:

The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico, An Account of the Families Recruited at Mexico City in 1693, p. 54 ⁴²⁷