By Wilton Hudgens
16th Deciembre 2022
When I first searched for parts of my Louisiana heritage, I was clueless to the fact that what I was seeking coincided with the Spanish Colonial era of Mexico. Therein is a large black hole period for many people who share genealogy in the western parts of Louisiana and also eastern Texas. When the Spanish pulled out of this region, they took most of their records with them which were already scattered from Monterrey to Madrid. Many who are descended from Spanish Colonial occupation have had their cultural heritage erased. This didn't improve with the westward movement of the Anglo colonists. Now, descendants struggle to understand their genetic heritage as well as find documentation to support their roots.
I have continuously seen "Indigenous Americas-Mexico" in DNA test results and wondered about what tribes this might be indicative of. After learning and reading of the Aguayo Expedition and the Battalion de San Miguel de Aragon, I arrived at the idea that it could be Tlaxcaltecs; I had also begun to seen references to the tribe denoted in Catholic church records of Mexico. The Aguayo Expedition was the largest movement of its kind in its time. Of the families that traveled northward into Texas, about half were said to be of Tlaxcaltec origins. This is certainly a possibility based on the DNA results that I have seen from cousins on Ancestry.com and 23andme.com.
However, when discussing this with Natchitoches' NSU professor Dr. Hiram "Pete" Gregory , he indicated that the Tlaxcaltecans absorbed people from other tribal affiliations as did the Kadohadacho (Caddo); it's very likely that there were also Coahuiltecans present in the ranks. I'd forgotten that this was a common occurrence once indigenous peoples began to be pushed from their native lands into areas that were occupied by other tribes. War and disease downsized many different groups also which then left them vulnerable and in need of resources.
After Ancestry.com reran their algorithms regarding the DNA samples recently, I finally saw the Indigenous America-Mexico reference present in my results. Since the first day my test results came back, I have been steadily matching to people from (or with heritage relevant to) the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico. These are areas that Tlaxcaltec people were found to have settled throughout; they had been strong allies of the Spanish crown after they'd aided Cortez in the conquest of Tenochtitlán. That still does not mean that my particular DNA contains Tlaxcaltecan though there is a strong possibility.
The Tlaxcaltec people are one of seven tribes that share an origin story of emerging from Chicomoztoc which was a series of seven caves that have been compared to wombs as well as the seven orifices of the human body. The other six tribes that share this origin are: Acolhua, Chalca, Tepaneca, Tlalhuica, Xochimilca and Mexica. They spoke dialects of Nahuatl. This, in part, has also lead me to believe that their influence can be found in western Louisiana; Dr. Gregory was instrumental in the study and preservation of the now mostly dead dialect of Spanish that was still spoken near around Zwolle and Ebarb in Louisiana. Nahuatl words were still found in use among the people who spoke this dialect of Spanish.
Most people of western Louisiana would not currently identify themselves with the Indio or Mestizo peoples of Mexico. Though many of them may exhibit features that they attribute to "Indians," it also as likely that they are descended from the colonizers as well. Thus, it is essential to have some understanding of the melting-pot that was already in existence prior to the movement into what we now know as Louisiana.
During conquest, many different peoples came into Mexico. There were hundreds of indigenous Cubanos in the forces that landed on the shore of Mexico between 1519 and 1520. People from Spain, Sicilia and the Canary Islands came as well. Many Jewish people escaped to the New World in the chaos between the Inquisition and Conquest. The descriptions of the early soldiers that were sent to occupy Los Adaes (the original capital of the Province of Texas) ranged all over the Castas. There were Mulatto, Indio, Coyote, Lobo, Español, etc. One man was even said to have exhibited a stutter.
San Miguel de Linares de Los Adaes (present day Robeline) was the capital of Texas but only one of the many missions established in the Province of Texas. The lack of available church records from Los Adaes presents a serious hindrance to genealogy and historical research. People have been searching in vain for these books for many years. In my own experience, I have been told that the books were destroyed, lost, etc. It is my belief, in cases such as this, that one should never merely accept defeat. Ask for proof when someone makes a statement of that caliber. Ask them how they know. Always attempt to document and retain evidence even if it is merely to record the loss of data.
My current theories are that the church records might be in one of two places: Monterrey or Morelia. I have attempted establishing contact with the diocese in order to find answers. There has been no response to my numerous emails and queries. The method by which I arrived at the a fore-mentioned locations was through Marquette University in Wisconsin (The original link for the lists no longer exists). A now former professor compiled a list of repositories for the mission records. When I reached out to inquire how the information was gathered, the professor declined to communicate with me. At this point, I am considering the possibility that I will have to travel southward into Mexico to search for the books. Until then, it would seem that they are lost as has been stated multiple times.
The blood of the indigenous peoples of Mexico is still present in the veins of so many Louisiana families. Their relatives now range across the US and throughout the modern world and continue to pass on their genetic heritage. With the advancements in technology, data is continuously being added to the pool. Each day that passes, we gain more knowledge of the cultural melting pot that was Spanish Colonial Mexico. Maybe through DNA testing and further record recovery in Mexico, we will be able to fill in the blank parts of our family trees and help keep the memory of our lost ancestors alive.
Sources:
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Nahuatl language." Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nahuatl-language.
Buckley, Eleanor Claire. “The Aguayo Expedition into Texas and Louisiana, 1719-1722.” The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 15, no. 1 (1911): 1–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30243078.
Campbell, Thomas M. "Tlaxcalan Indians." https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/tlaxcalan-indians
Chicomoztoc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicomoztoc#/media/File:ToltecaChichimeca_Chicomostoc.jpg
Delisle, Guillaume. "Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons."1718. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Los_Adaes_State_Historic_Site
Gregory, H. F. "Adaeseño: A Nahuatl Lexicon from Natchitoches and Sabine Parishes, Louisiana." Southern Studies, Volume VII, Number I. Spring 1996. https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/adaes/images/Gregory-1996.pdf
Gregory, Dr. Hiram "Pete." (Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches). Conversation between myself and Dr. Gregory before the 14th Annual Louisiana Studies Conference at NSU Natchitoches.
Grunberg, Bernard. "The Origins of the Conquistadores of Mexico City." 1 May 1994. https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/74/2/259/145870/The-Origins-of-the-Conquistadores-of-Mexico-City
Lienzo de Tlaxcala copy 1773 from original 1584, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lienzo_de_Tlaxcala_Teciquauhtitla.jpg
Saraceni, Jessica E. "Apalachee Surface in Louisiana." 29 Jul 1997. https://archive.archaeology.org/online/news/apalachee.html
Schmal, John P. "Indigenous Tlaxcala: The Allies of the Spaniards." 12 Sep 2019. https://indigenousmexico.org/tlaxcala/indigenous-tlaxcala-the-allies-of-the-spaniards/
TlaxcaltecaTed. "Tlaxcalteca Nation and Affiliated Tribes of Texas." 12 Sep 2010. https://www.slideshare.net/TlaxcaltecaTed/tlaxcalteca-nation-and-affiliated-tribes-of-texas-2
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