Chaves clarifies:
“The correct spelling of this family name is VACA but already in the seventeenth century BACA had come into common usage, and was the accepted spelling after the Reconquest. Although it is derived from Cabeza de Vaca, a title and name received by a Spanish hero in the year 1212, the full name was never once used by this New Mexico family for over two centuries. Several Vacas came to the New World shortly after its discovery. Among those in Cortes’ time were Diego de Vaca, a native of Mancilla in Leon and Luis Vaca, a native of Toledo. Either of these could have been the father of Juan Vaca, the father of our Cristóbal Baca.
These were among the founding families of New Mexico; the first colonists, the very roots upon which the branches of many New Mexico families were established. These were among the few families that survived the initial Indian raids, the purging of rebels and deserters and mutinies. They were the strong, the brave, the few who lived to establish your ancestral families in the new world of New Mexico as the world moved into the new seventeenth century.”
Ssee my books "Turn the hearts of the Children" volumes I and II, and blog spot New Mexico Baca Families and New Mexico Bustamante families for genealogy and social history of these families.
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It is my understanding that my great, great, great grandfather Luis Maria Cabeza de Vaca lived in the 1800s. I had my name changed in 1979 back to Cabeza de Baca after my divorce. My daughter used the name for 23 years until she married in 2004. And my sister's son Jett has Caveza de Vaca tattooed across his entire back. Most of my family, that resides in San Diego, use the whole name legally but use CdeBaca in common everyday life. So please change your perception that no one has used the full name in the last two centuries. It is statements like yours that cause the feisty Cabeza de Vacas to prove everyone else wrong. It is a very strong trait amongst us. We even have a statement that "once a CdeBaca, always a CdeBaca". And as you can see, we spell it any damn way we feel.
ReplyDeleteWow, that family trait sounds JUST like my mother's family, the Vacas - de Vacas. Feisty. If you have information about the Vacas of San Luis Potosi, could you email me @ eastsideggs@gmail.com? Thnx
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