Pueblo
Cruzate |
Grants to New Mexico Pueblos by Governor Domingo Jironza Petriz
de Cruzate (1683-1686 and 1689-1691). The grants are not in the
usual form of land grants, but rather purport to be the testimony
of a Zia Native American named Bartolomé Ojeda, who was
captured in 1689 after the Pueblo Revolt. Ojeda is asked as to
each Pueblo whether he thought that pueblo would revolt again
and he answers "no, that [Picuris] would not fail to render
obedience [to the Spaniards]." Accordingly, Governor Cruzate
makes a grant of four square leagues of land (about 17,700 acres)
to each pueblo. Under Hispanic law and custom, the pueblos were
considered to be entitled to four square leagues even without
a grant. The Cruzate grants submitted to Surveyor General William
Pelham were all confirmed by Congress, though they were later
determined to be spurious. Since the pueblos were entitled to
four square leagues of land in any case, the spurious character
of the Cruzate grants is of little consequence from a legal standpoint.
Historically, however, questions over the genesis of these
documents and whether they may have been based on legitimate
documents, have not been fully answered. See Sandra Matthews-Lamb,
'Designing and Mischievous Individuals': The Cruzate Grants and
the Office of the Surveyor General, New Mexico Historical Review
71 (October 1996): 341-359 (available on website). |
