Catalina López

  Noted events in her life were:

• Dates & Events. ²⁷⁴
Catalina López was among the party of New Mexico's first settlers who came with the Oñate party into New Mexico in 1598. She is among the earliest of my ancestors to have immigrated into what is now the present day U.S.

Her family were among the Loyalists who stayed in New Mexico.

• Background Information. ²⁵²
Pedro Robledo was a sixty- six year old Alférez (lieutenant) when he joined Oñate's party in 1598. He was a native of Maqueda (near Madrid and Toledo), the son of Alejo Robledo. He is described as of good stature and completely gray. In the muster-roll of 1597, he stated that he had been born at the place of El Carmen of "El Carneros," who had lived in Toledo. With him were his wife, daughters and five sons, four who were already soldiers.

Pedro died shortly after the Oñate party entered into New México. He is the first of New México's Spanish colonists to die in New México. He was buried on 21 May 1598 on the trail east of Rio del Norte and a great bluff that still carries his name, Robledo.

Pedro's family continued north with the colony to be among the founders of San Gabriel de los Caballeros. His widow, Catalina López, had journed with him from Toledo to New Spain over 22 years ealier (about 1597). The varied birthplaces of his sons show just how much the Robledo family wandered all over New Spain before they reached New México. These sons were Diego, Alonso, Pedro and Francisco. Two of their known daughters were already married when they arrived in New México. They were Luisa, wife of Bartolomé Romero and Francisca, wife of Juan de Tapiz.

~ Origins of New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Spanish Colonial Period, p. 93

Catalina married Pedro Robledo, son of Alejo Robledo and Unknown.²⁵² (Pedro Robledo was born in 1538 in Carmena, Maqueda, España ²⁵² and died on 21 May 1598 in Paraje de Robledo, Nuevo Méjico, Nueva España ²⁵².)