Revisiting Gabriel

 

Carlton Watkins. Valparaiso, 1852.

While I await news from the Parroquia La Matriz in Chile, I'm revisiting the documents mentioning Gabriel Vasquez in Mexico. The informacion matrimonial from 1863 has detail that I overlooked previously, so it is worth blogging about this again. There are two versions of this document from December 1863, one from Altar, Sonora, and another version submitted to the church in Hermosillo, along with the marriage record from 11 February 1864.

FamilySearch. Marriage record, 11 Feb 1864.

The informacion matrimonial submitted to Hermosillo has a different look than the handwritten one I reviewed back in 2012, and has typewritten text with blanks to complete the information provided by the parties to be married. As with the other record, this one was completed by Bartolome Suastegui, the parish priest of Altar, Sonora, on 18 December 1863. The handwriting is faint, but there are some interesting details that I didn't see in the original document.

Sonora Church Records, Hermosillo. 1863.

This document lists Gabriel as a 25 year old merchant, who has been in Altar for the past five years. His bride-to-be, Maria Jesus Suastegui, is listed as 17. The document also clearly lists the witnesses, or testigos, for Gabriel and Maria Jesus. The first testigo is Jose Ortiz y Loroña, a 25 year old laborer from nearby Oquitoa, who said he had known Gabriel for five years.

The second testigo is Oriol Sotelo, a 30 year old shoemaker. He also said that he knew Gabriel for five years, putting his arrival in Altar from at least 1858, when he would have been 20 years old. Oriol also testified on behalf of Maria Jesus, and stated that he had known her since she was born, indicating that he was a friend of the Suastegui family. There was no fourth testigo on the document.

The handwritten informacion matrimonial was completed the day before, on 17 December 1863 in Altar.

As far as I can tell, Gabriel does not appear in any other records in Sonora earlier than 1863.