During the last few months, I’ve been listening to Borderlandia’s podcast series. Alex La Pierre interviewed the late Dr. Jack S. Williams. Jack was an expert in Spanish Colonial history. He had some wonderful stories. As someone who tries to understand the times our family lived in, this information has been illuminating.

Dr. Williams off-handedly mentioned author Kieran McCarty. I happened to have one of his books in my backpack as my 4th great-grandfather Narbona was mentioned in it. But apparently, there was another book, “Desert Documentary,” that my library didn’t have. I did a quick Interlibrary loan, and voilà, it was in my hot little hands.

Guess what? I found family history in this book as well.

Today’s blog post does something unique. It is going to highlight a female family member. As much as men like to think they create society, there is no population without the women. 8-12 babies aren’t going to birth themselves. In the middle of a desert. But, I digress.

So picture it. Northern Sonora. The VERY Simple Version:

Spanish settlers and peaceful Natives were having issues with Apache aggressions. The Tubac Presidio was supposed to be guarding the San Xavier del Bac mission, but the distance and limited number of soldiers made that difficult. After letters were written and inspections were done, Irish-born-but-Spanish-officer Hugo Oconor declared that Tucson needed its own presidio. August 20, 1775 became the official anniversary of Tucson.

Work on the new presidio began. The work was very slow going. That needed to change.

Enter Brigadier Pedro Allande y Saabedra. He was a career military man. He was born in, and devoted to, Spain. He came to the Spanish-Americas in service of his King. He was married to Maria Josepha Tapia. He was part of the Mexican Dragoons (mounted infantry). Pedro was sent to the northern most outpost in the Sonoran territory in 1768. He was made captain of the Tucson presidio on February 19, 1777.

Being a very regimented man, he was appalled at the lack of discipline at the presidio. He worked to get the outpost in order. His methods were rough. Pedro was reprimanded for his “cruel and improper punishment to maintain discipline, and for employing solider and Indian scouts in this private business affairs.”

Ever the disciplined military officer, his troops were some of the most well-trained in the region. Just because they were in the middle of nowhere didn’t mean they were to be a shoddy group. They were known for their shooting abilities. “The commandants harshness got results;” which is why he and his forces were able to stave off an Apache attack of 600 on May 1, 1782. He fought valiantly to keep it safe, getting a severe leg wound that would cause him nerve pain long after. The fighting continued throughout the years.

Pedro and Josefa had many children together. Most notably, at the time, his “only son” Pedro Maria Allande, who also served in the military. I don’t know the date Josefa died. One book insinuated she had passed before his arrival to Tucson. In a letter below, he referred to 7 of his daughters as “orphan girls.” I am guessing that these young ladies came from his first marriage.

According to the University of Arizona records, Pedro remarried a young woman from an established Spanish-Sonoran family. And that family would be ours.

Pedro married Maria Ygnacia Escalante. She was sister to my 4th Great-Grandfather, Captain Leonardo Escalante. She had been born in 1767 and baptized in Arizpe, Sonora. As a teen-wife, she was at least a generation younger than Pedro, but eligible marriages within acceptable castes were hard to find.

One of the reasons I’m highlighting this couple is because I was able to find a few things out about them beyond the most basic of information, which is rare for something 250 years ago. Ygnacia and Pedro established a life together in this region of New Spain.

There is an entire chapter dedicated to Allande’s tenure in Tucson in McCarty’s book. After almost 10 years at this outpost, Allande was ready to retire. His injuries in the many battles he fought against the Apaches were still affecting his physical health. He wrote the King of Spain, desperate for a reassignment. Pedro included his resume of work to illustrate his commitment to his job. Beyond his years on the frontier, he fought the Moors, served in the war against Portugal, and reinforced the Tucson Presidio with no monetary burden to the royal treasury.

Finally, Pedro was pitied and released from duty by Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola, the new commandant general of the northern provinces. The Allande family was sent to Mexico City in 1788 via Horcasitas until he could be reassigned by the King. Ygnacia was very pregnant at the time so their trip necessitated a stop along the way. Pedro’s own words to the Viceroy:

Pedro had a hard time with civilian life. While the family had servants, he didn’t have the military underlings to find him shelter for the group. He wrote that he and Ygnacia had two toddler-aged daughters together already. She was 21 by this time. This was literal family history he wrote! For me!

Doing some cross-referencing in Ancestry, I found their daughter. She was baptized in Culiacán where Ygnacia was recovering. Maria was the baby mentioned in the book!

I have known that Ygnacia was married to Pedro for a while now. My research guru Dan King asked me to look into information on a Bishop relation, Father José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría y Escalante. He was the nephew of our Leonardo and Ygnacia. In his paperwork to become a priest, the familial ties needed to be documented. And aren’t we fortunate that they were?! Showing that Ygnacia was married to Allande was a feather in the young man’s cap. The testimonial below documented that these two Escalante’s were siblings to Jose’s mother, Geronima.

The Allande’s have more children but only one I could find. They had a son in September 1792 while they were living in Mexico City. His name was: Josef Ygnacio Macedonio de la Concepcion Juan Nepomuceno Allande. I’m sharing this because it seems they had put quite a bit of thought into the name, so let’s take the time to appreciate it.

I lost track of the Allande’s after this point. And then I found Ygnacia’s death paperwork. With Pedro’s deep devotion to the mother land, the family went back to Spain. I have to admit that I never thought of any of my relatives born in the colonies would go back to their country of origin.

Ygnacia died in 1842, some 5,800 of miles away from her birthplace and birth family. I am hopeful that her life with Pedro was good. He was much older than she was. How long was she widowed without him? Think of all that she saw. From the sparsely populated desert Northwest of Colonial Spain with its wars with Native Americans, to Granada with all of its grand architecture and Mediterranean culture. Was she looked down upon as a “country girl,” kind of backwards? Or was she able to fit in back in Spain?

Maria Ygnacia Escalante was found. From an anonymous mention in a history book, to a wife, mother, and world traveler with a name of her own. We see you, Tia Ygnacia. We see you.

References:

I know I should do official footnotes, but I don’t want to. Haha!

Tucson, the Life and Times of an American City. C.L. Sonnichen. 1982.

Desert Documentary: The Spanish Years, 1767-1821. Keiran McCarty, 1976.

Borderlandia Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFZUxAsw7utPwsWzHs2nZ5cCx2Q2ArVGe

Photo of the Landmark from the Historical Marker Data Base.

Special Thanks:

In September I was able to visit Arizpe, Sonora. It was the most amazing experience that my little genealogical heart could have. I was able to be in the place where Escalantes lived. I went to the cathedral that Ygnacia was baptized in 256 years ago. Thanks to my fellow Borderlandia travelers who gave me some extra time in the Arizpe cemetery.

Thanks to Alex La Pierre and the late Dr. Williams for helping me find Ygnacia’s story.