Who was the father of Manuel de Lizalde, 1697 husband of Maria de Robalcava?

Research note by Wesley Johnston - begun 14 Feb 2025, last updated 6 Mar 2025

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/27355561/person/2049287080/media/1322499d-de5a-49d6-9457-841a7b53eda9

Background

Manuel de Lizalde (also as Juan Manuel) married Maria de Robalcava 19 Feb 1697 in the parish of Cuquío, Jalisco, Mexico. The image of the marriage record is at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18455-52689-9 where it gives shows him as "hijo lexitimo de y de Cathalina de Carbaxal" thus omitting the name of the father. Thus far, this is the only record found showing Manuel's parentage.

Since he was a legitimate son of his parents, he was almost certainly baptized and recorded in a church register. This research note documents the search for his baptism, which will presumably show the name of his father.

FamilySearch Indexes

Thus far no index entry has been found for his baptism in the FamilySearch indexes of Jalisco and Zacatecas.

First Exhaustive Search

Since many of those who settled near Yahualica appeared earliest in the records of the parish of Nochistlán in Zacatecas (although Apozol where he died was in the parish of Cuquío and later in the parish of Yahualica which was closest), I began the initial search in the Nochistlán baptisms.

Since his wife Maria de Robalava was baptized 21 Dec 1677 at Nochistlán (image 365 of 565), I started at the beginning of 1677 ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-G1VV-P?wc=3P98-JWG which is image 351 of 565) and then searched every page forward in time from there for 1677-1679 (image 399) without finding him. My search was to look for the names in the margin of either Juan or Manuel. If the margin name was obscured, I read the entry to find the name of the child.

Manuel hio de la Iglesia

I then started at image 351 and worked backward in time. I found one entry that we cannot discard but which is uncertain. It is the only baptism of a boy named Manuel from this point until the end of 1879. It is at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-G12M-2?wc=3P98-JWG (image 345 of 565) and reads "En Mesquiticacan [now spelled Mesquiticacan) en dies de Septiembre de [1676]" was the baptism of "Manuel de ?nass.on? ?lig.t? hijo de la Iglesia" with Spaniard padrinos Juan Jimenez and Maria de Benavidez.

So, this was a foundling child, left at the church and was apparently Spanish and not indigenous since the padrinos were Spaniards. Spanish "la Iglesia" is Basque "Eliza" so that the surname Elizalde could have come from that origin. He was not the only child in those pages listed as a child "de la Iglesia", and no mother is given although the Manuel of this research note did have a mother (Cathalina de Carbaxal) shown on his marriage record.

All in all, it seems unlikely that this was Manuel de Lizalde's baptism. His marriage records shows him as legitimate and names his mother, neither of which are indicated in this record.

Since this was inconclusive, I continued my search further back in time. I went all the way back to image 145 of 565 which starts with a 10 Dec 1858 baptism. I wanted to be sure that Manuel was not much older than Maria, and this search took me back to men who would be 39 years old in 1897 when Manuel and Maria married. In the years I have searched (1659-1679, images 145-399), I have seen only aobut five children baptized as Manuel so that it was not a commonly used given name.

Conclusion of Nochistlan Search: Manuel de Lizalde (or any variant of that surname) was not baptized at Nochistlan during the years from 1659 to 1679, inclusive.

Second Exhaustive Search

The family lived in the area of Yahualica, sometimes in Yahaulica itself and sometimes in nearby areas such as Apozol. Yahualica did not have a church in the 1600s. The nearest churches were at Nochistlan and Cuquio. I think some family members may have actually lived earlier at Nochistlan, although I have not verified that. But while the family shows up extensively in Cuquio records, it looks like they never lived at Cuquio but were simply included in the extensive boundaries of the parish of Cuquio until the parish at Yahualica was created.

So, my second search for the baptism of Manuel de Lizalde is in the records of Cuquio.