ALTERNATE NAMES: Bernabé de las Casas López, Beatriz Navarro Rodríguez
ABOUT BERNABÉ DE LAS CASAS and BEATRIZ NAVARRO:
Between 1402 and 1496, Spain waged a war of conquest against the indigenous Guanche population of the Canary Islands. Some historians believe that this campaign and the Reconquista against the Moors in Spain set the template for what came later with the discovery of the Americas. Many young men from the Canary Islands, some the descendants of these early conquerors, made their way to Nueva España seeking fame and fortune.
Among them was Canary Islander Bernabé de las Casas, newly arrived in Nueva España on or before 1595. He was the scion of a wealthy colonial family from Orotava, Tenerife. On military Muster Rolls of 1598 he is described as “Bernabé de las Casas, native of the Isle of Tenerife, son of Miguel de las Casas, tall, black-bearded, twenty-five years of age, with a complete set of arms.” His mother was Marta Dominga López, the descendant of a prominent family. It is believed that he was an uncle or cousin to fellow Canarian Francisco Báez de Benavides and was likely a distant relative of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, the famous “Protector of the Indians” and Bishop of Chiapas.
Young de las Casas began his military career by signing on with the Oñate Expedition to explore and form a settlement in New Mexico. He distinguished himself early, winning commendations from Governor Juan Oñate, one of which was for scaling the treacherous heights of the Acoma, a 367-foot sandstone bluff in New Mexico, and surviving a fierce fight with the Acoma Pueblo Indians.
In 1599, the Oñate expedition ran into trouble due to scarce resources, so Captain de las Casas was sent to Mexico for reinforcements. When he returned with supplies and new recruits in 1600, there was trouble with a certain well-connected Don Alonso de Sosa Albornoz (a grandson of Andrés Tapia) who was asking permission to return to Mexico with his wife Doña Beatriz Navarro and their five children. After receiving said permission, Don Alonso died suddenly while on a mission. It was suspected that he was secretly executed for desertion, leaving Doña Beatriz a young widow.
In 1601, Captain Bernabé de las Casas and Doña Beatriz were married and soon after, he made his own plans to return to Mexico. Upon arrival, Captain de las Casas stood trial but received only a light fine and was not among those from the Oñate Expedition accused of and tried for war crimes.
His wife Doña Beatriz Navarro Rodríguez was the daughter of Captain Juan Navarro Sánchez, a wealthy Saltillo landowner and María Rodrigues de Sosa making her the granddaughter of Baltazar Juan Castaño de Sosa and María Inés Rodríguez. Some sources claim María Inés Rodríguez is the daughter of Governor Diego de Montemayor, the founder of Monterrey. If so, then Beatriz is Montemayor’s great-granddaughter.
For a while, Don Bernabé managed his wife’s Saltillo family estate but in 1608, he and Doña Beatriz and their children entered into the Kingdom of Nuevo León and into the history of Monterrey.
Don Bernabé was a successful ranch and mine owner, respected businessman, civic leader, and an active protector of the young city of Monterrey, and its surrounds against the hostile Indians. Eventually he built an immense estate. In 1624 he became Alcalde of Monterrey, the Mayor in 1627 serving through 1630.
In addition to the children and stepchildren that Doña Beatriz had with Don Alonso Sosa Albornoz, the couple also raised five de las Casas children named Maria, Marcos, Juliana, Beatriz, and Bernabe Jr. Through their inheritances from Don Bernabé, the villages of Mina, Hidalgo, El Carmen, and Abasolo were founded.
Having achieved his share of fame and fortune, Bernabé de las Casas died in 1637. In 1626, Don Bernabé had made a declaration of dowry to his daughter which read “my daughter and the daughter of Doña Beatriz Navarro, my wife who is gone.” So it appears that Doña Beatriz had preceded him in death. He was buried in the Cathedral grounds of the City of Monterrey.
This Descendant Report extracted by Crispín Rendón from his personal database in September 2022 consists of 9 generations and 42,001 descendants and spouses.
BOOKS:
With All Arms by Carl Laurence Duaine, revised and edited by his son Laurence A. Duaine.
New Mexico's First Colonists compiled and arranged by David H. Snow.
Origen de los Fundadores de Texas, Nuevo Mexico, Coahuila, y Nuevo Leon by Guillermo Garmendia Leal.
Intro by TGSA
DNA association & Descendant Report by Crispín Rendón
Crispin D Rendon
3430 Bahia Place
Riverside, CA 92507
Tel: 951-275-7442
Send e-mail to: crispin.rendon@gmail.com
This web site produced 14 Sep 2022 by Personal Ancestral File, a product of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.