My Romero family in Nueva España, as far as we now know, begins with Matias Romero (born abt. 1630-40). He is our first known ancestor, in what is now modern day Mexico.
He and his wife, Andrea De La Cruz, had one known son named Francisco Xavier Romero (born abt. 1660). Matias and Andrea were still living in Mexico City, El Barrio Del Carmen, when their son Francisco Xavier left for New Mexico in about 1691.
There are no records I have found that reveal the location of El Barrio del Carmen, although there is a convento with that name that dates back to the 17th century. Maybe they lived in the area surrounding the convent?
I have no way of accurately tracing Matias or Andrea during the year of 1693. And in all actuality I cannot trace them at all at this time.
I also do not know if they migrated from Spain or were born in Mexico.
We do have sort of an idea as to why Matias, or possibly his ancestors, answered the call and made the journey of about 5,254 miles, or 4,565 nautical miles from their ancestral home in Spain, all the way to far off Mexico, or as it was known then Nueva España.
Matias, or possibly his ancestors, likely could have been Conquistadores.
A reason that was known to be the popular cause for this long journey and change of home land was for the glory and loyalty to the Spanish Crown. Those who came to Nueva España, came to fight for new land and to help expand their beloved country.
Another reason for the long journey is the rumored Gold of the Seven Cities of Gold or Cibola. Many Spanish conquistadors who made the journey and sought to discover the wondrous wealth that would surely be found. It never was.
Last, but not least, a more secretive reason for the abandon of Spain came with trials of the Spanish Inquisition.
Many Spanish fled Spain as quickly as they could for Nueva España, running from it. The reason? They were Sephardic Jews also known as Crypto Jews. They were able to live in peace for a time in their new found land, yet they still had to hide their faith.
The inquisition eventually followed them to their new home, causing them to push farther north into Northern New Mexico. There, it seems the inquisition was unable to continue its murderous rampage, to some extent.
They finally found their peace, yet kept their faith hidden and eventually it was lost to their descendants.
One piece of evidence that is evident are the strange customs of some of these people who were descendants of the families who were Crypto Jews, they still, until recently carried out customs taught to them by their ancestors, most not knowing the reason for them.
Customs like tortillas, lighting candles on Friday night, blessings that seemed more favorable to Jewish customs than to Catholic ones, washing on a schedule more rigorous than seemed normal and baptism after birth.
This little tradition proved to be a blessing, yet also in some cases, no blessing at all.
The newborn baby would accompany the chosen Godparents, alone, to the church as soon as possible after birth. In most cases 3 to 7 days after birth. The parents would not attend, likely because the mother needed rest, with it being so soon after the birth.
It was up to these Godparents to state the given name of the baby, the names of the parents, including surnames. Even the names of the four Grandparents.
In most cases the chosen were well familiar with and learned with the knowledge they needed to pass on to the priest. But in some cases they were not and names were not properly given, surnames mistaken for others or left out altogether.
This theory of Sephardism seems to be a very big possibility since the suspected Y-DNA of Matias Romero is JM-267, which is a known Jewish haplogroup and is associated with the Cohanim Ancestry and said to be descended from Aaron himself. Matias’ descendants are matching to a famous Rabbinical Family the Katzenellenbogens of Germany. They are theorized to have originated in Spain before Germany and The Holy Land.
It may never be known why, or when, our Romero family came to re-settle here, in Nueva España, but every day there are new sources coming to light, with the assistance of so many dedicated people who are sharing and working hard for these things to be made available easily to everyone. Maybe one day it will be easily known who in our family arrived first, and what the reasoning was.