Nicolas de Aguilar
| Nicolas de Aguilar | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1627 Yuriripundaro, Michoacán, Mexico |
| Died | 1666 (?) |
| Spouse(s) | Catalina Marquez Nuñez |
| Profession | official |
Nicolás de Aguilar (born 1627; died 1666?) a Mestizo, was a Spanish official in New Mexico. He defended the rights of the Pueblo Indians, clashed with the Franciscan missionaries, and was tried and found guilty of heresy by the Mexican Inquisition.
Aguilar was born in Yuriripundaro in the Mexican state of Michoacán. His grandfather was one of the Spanish conquistadors of the province. His grandmother and mother were probably Purépecha. When Aguilar was 18 he left home to live near the northern Mexican city of Parral, Chihuahua where he worked as a miner and soldier.
Aguilar quickly demonstrated stubborn courage. Claim jumpers attempted to intimidate the 18-year-old miner by pulling down a support pillar and caving in his mine tunnel. He appealed to local legal authorities, brought charges against four men and won his case. Years later in 1654 he was involved in a shooting incident. Aguilar was charged with kidnapping three women and taking them to a hideout in the mountains. A 16-man posse was organized to rescue the women. Surrounded, Aguilar shot and killed a member of the posse, the father of one of the women he had allegedly abducted. He then escaped by horseback and was seen no more in Parral. Aguilar is next heard of in New Mexico where he served as a soldier, becoming a sergeant, an adjutant, and as an inspector of trade caravans between New Mexico and El Paso. He married Catalina Marquez and the couple had four children, Geronima, Maria, Isabela, and Nicolas. When newly appointed governor Bernardo López de Mendizábal arrived in New Mexico in 1659 he appointed Aguilar Magistrate (Alcalde Mayor), the chief civil official, of the region of Las Salinas. Las Salinas consisted of several Tompiro Indian Pueblos on the eastern border of the New Mexico colony. The ruins of these Pueblos are today preserved in the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. The Salinas Pueblos were exposed to Apache raids, but earned a precarious livelihood by trading salt and agricultural products for buffalo meat and skins.
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