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Military Service Records 279 Notes 1. AGI, Guadalajara, leg. 73. 2. Don Bernardino Antonio de Pardiñas Villar de Franco was Secretary of the Council of the Indies from October 5, 1694, to July 1697. Ernesto Shäfer, El consejo real y supremo de las Indias: su historia, organización y labor administriva hasta la termi­ nación de la Casa de Austria, vol. 1: História y organización del Consejo y de las Casa de Contratación de las Indias (Sevilla: Centro de Estudio de America, Universidad de Sevilla, 1935), 371. (E & S) Document 62 Petition of Baltasar Domínguez de Mendoza to the Crown Asking for the Corregimiento of Tlajomulco and Caxititlan [Madrid, November] 16941 Sir: Captain don Baltasar Domínguez y Mendoza, son of Maestre de Campo don Juan Domínguez y Mendoza, citizen of the provinces of New Mexico, states that his aforesaid father served Your Majesty for more than forty-four years in the conquest of the aforesaid New Mexico and the reduction of other provinces. His aforesaid father, his grandfather, and the supplicant himself and his brother brought in different numbers of families, always at the expense of their own private means, and [underwent] the very many hardships and dangers which can be believed of such costly and dangerous enterprise, as is all on record in authentic papers which have been presented in the secretariat, and in the report of services which has been drawn up from them. When his aforesaid father and he were coming to place themselves at Your Majesty’s feet in order to give you the information which they had him acquire by their experience in those regions, the ship in which they were coming was wrecked and they lost the residue of their fortune. And after they had reached land and came to this capital, his aforesaid father died immediately in its general hospital where, for lack of means, it had been necessary for him to take shelter. By virtue of his own services and those of his father and grandfather, the supplicant petitioned Your Majesty to appoint him the gobierno of New Mexico or the alcaldía mayor of Sonora, but he has not obtained either because of the interdict against granting rights to succession to offices before 280 Part One they become vacant. The corregimiento of the pueblo of Tlajomulco and Caxtitlan in the jurisdiction of Nueva Galicia is vacant because the person upon whom it was conferred has not been able to go to serve the office. Therefore, in remuneration of the services which have been described and out of compassion for his need and family responsibility, since he has been left destitute of resources and without any means of supporting himself or returning to his household as a result of the loss of his father and the resources they had with them, for everything perished in the sea, I beg Your Majesty to be pleased to incline your royal clemency to all the aforesaid by granting him the above-mentioned corregimiento of Tlajomulco and Caxititlan for five years, issuing an order to the president and Audiencia of Guadalajara to give him possession as soon as he arrives, for since no appointment has been made by Your Majesty, there will be no reason to prevent them from doing so. By this means the supplicant will find himself rewarded by the royal hand of Your Majesty, and others will be inspired with great zeal and fervor for the royal service in the hope of the reward, as his father confidently expected an even greater one, if he had not died before placing himself at the feet of Your Majesty, from whom he hopes to receive favor, etc. Baltasar Domíngues y Mendoza (rubric). Cámara Sir: Captain don Baltasar Domínguez de Mendoza relates that his father served for more than forty-four years in the wars of New Mexico, where the supplicant’s grandfather, the supplicant, and a brother of his have also served as soldiers. While coming to these kingdoms they were shipwrecked, losing everything they had with them, and a few days after they reached Madrid his father died in the hospital. Because of the service mentioned he asked to be honored with the governorship of New Mexico or the alcaldía mayor of Sonora, but consent has not been given because of the interdict against granting rights to succeed to offices before they become vacant, which was the case with regard to those...

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