The following will was transcribed and translated into English by Google's Gemini AI. I made a few minor corrections. Please follow this link to read the Spanish transcription along with the translation.
Antonio Baca was the son of Manuel Baca and Maria de Salazar, who returned to New Mexico during the reconquest of New Mexico in 1692/1693. He was married to Maria Getrudis Aragon.
I believe the Lieutenant Alcalde Mayor Manuel Baca mentioned in this record is Antonio's nephew through his sister Josefa Baca.
Image # 420
In the name of God Almighty Our Lord.
1755. Let all who see this document of my testament and last and best will know how I, Antonio Baca, resident of this Kingdom of New Mexico, legitimate son of Manuel Baca and Maria de Salazar, deceased, being sick in bed with an illness that God our Lord has been pleased to give me, and in my full judgment, will, and understanding, believing as I believe in the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons and one true God, and in everything that our Holy Mother Roman Catholic Apostolic Church confesses and believes, placing as intercessor the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, our intercessor, the blessed patron Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Saint John, and the saint of my name, so that they may pray to God for my soul, fearing death which is a natural thing, and desiring to place my soul on the path of salvation, I ordain my testament in the following form and manner —
Image #421
Firstly, I commend my soul to God who created it and redeemed it with His most precious blood, and my body to the earth from which it was formed.
Item, I declare that I am married and veiled according to the order of our Holy Mother Church to Maria Laragon (sic), and during our marriage we had and procreated eight legitimate children:
- Ana Maria Baca, now deceased, who was married to Andres Montoya
- Maria Francisca, married to Manuel Armijo
- Juana Baca, with Francisco Montoya
- Gregoria Baca, married to Don Mateo Ruibal
- Ines Baca, married to Antonio Montoya
- Rosa Baca, married to Antonio Ortega
- Pablo Baca, married to Lorenza Juana de Ribera
- Maria Marta, deceased. At present, six remain alive.
Item, I declare that I possess a plot of land for planting bread wheat in Santa Cruz de los Palacios, which I acquired through a royal sale from Captain Andres Montoya, which I have already left distributed among my legitimate children. And the house of my dwelling, which consists of five rooms with its doors and windows, which said lands and house I leave to my children so that they may enjoy them with the blessing of God and my own.
Image # 422
Item, a hoe, a spit for roasting meat, and a copper kettle —
Item, a comal [griddle], an adze, a gouge chisel —
Item, a charcoal-burning axe, a table, and a bench —
Item, a basket of branding irons —
Item, I declare two hundred and fifty head of cattle —
Item, ten breeding cows, seven calves, and two branded yearlings —
Item, a bull-ox and a young bull —
Item, I declare among my goods twenty-three head of cattle for
my funeral expenses and the care of my body —
Item, it is my will that if God should be pleased
to take me from this present life, my body
be shrouded in the habit of my father Saint
Francis and buried in the church of this
Villa of Santa Fe, at the foot of the altar of Saint Antho-
ny, and if it be a proper hour, let a
mass be said with my body present, with funeral vigils,
and as for the remaining masses, I leave it to the discretion of my executors —
Item, I command to the forced and customary
pious bequests one peso to each one, with which they shall be separated
from my estate, and I name as my executors —
Image # 423
[as executors] testamentaries Don Mateo Ruibal
and Pablo Baca, for the complete satisfaction that
I have. And I revoke and annul any other
testaments, memorandums, or codicils that before
this one I may have made, and let only this one be valid. And for its signature
and validation, I requested and begged the Lieutenant
Alcalde Mayor, Manuel Baca, of this jurisdiction,
to interpose his authority and judicial decree.
And I, the said Lieutenant Alcalde Mayor, who am present
at its granting, do certify that I know
the grantor, who herein is in his full judgment;
and I interpose and have interposed my authority and judicial
decree as far as I can and must, and he signed it
with me and the witnesses written below of my assistance,
with whom I act as receiving judge, there being
no public or royal notary in this kingdom—
and on this paper for lack of that with the royal seal. The
instrumental witnesses were Andres Montoya and Manuel
el Gallego, both residents of this jurisdiction, where
it is done and granted on the sixth day of the month of May
of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five.
Image # 424
†
I certify that likewise, upon taking up the pen to
sign, he was unable to do so, and he requested and begged Mateo de Ruibal
to sign for me at the request of the grantor. Mateo de
Ruibal Witness: Mateo de Ruibal
Manuel Baca
Witness: Alexandro Tenorio
Witness: Manuel Gallego
Source: Ancestry.com. New Mexico, U.S., Land Records of New Spain, 1692-1916 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series 2, 1621-1821. New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Item # 101. Will for Antonio Baca, 6 May 1755, image # 419-424. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60892/images/44758_N2546857_0133-00420?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=173479&treeid=212381541&personid=412809534652
