This website is dedicated to all those researching the Gurulé surname.When Santiago Gurulé married Elena Gallegos in 1699, a new surname came into use in the northern province of New Spain. The ancestry of New Mexico’s Gurulé family is not Spanish as might be expected. An important part of American exploration is documented in numerous church records which identify the surname’s origins.Jacques Grole, born about 1663, was the son of Yvon Grole and Marie Odoin. He was baptized at the Church of St. Jean in La Rochelle, France. He and two friends, Jean L’Archeveque and Pierre Meusnier, had been members of the ill-fated La-Salle Expedition of 1685-1687. Grole and L’Archeveque spent several years in the Indian nations of Texas, and five years later surrendered to the Spaniards who found them there. Later reunited with Meusnier, the three men spent two years imprisoned in Cadiz, Spain, until their release in 1692. The conditions of their release required they become Spanish citizens and return to New Spain. As was custom in those days with non-Spaniards, Jacques' name was changed and he became Santiago Gurulé. On 10 December 1699, he married Elena Gallegos in Bernalillo, New Mexico.Elena Gallegos, born about 1680, was the daughter of Antonio Gallegos and Catalina Baca of Bernalillo, New Mexico. Her parents had escaped New Mexico at the time of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and Elena and her two brothers returned to New Mexico around 1693 at the time of the De Vargas Reconquest. At the age of 19, she married Santiago Gurulé. After Santiago's death in 1711, she conducted her own business affairs. She was a stock raiser, and was the first woman to record her own cattle brand in 1712. About 1716, she acquired the Jesus Maria land grant, which had been sold to her by Diego Montoya’s son. Much of what is now north Albuquerque is built on the 35,084 acre Elena Gallegos land grant. At the foothills of the Sandia Mountains is a sign to mark the entrance to the Elena Gallegos Park.Antonio Gurulé, baptized 2 April 1703 in Bernalillo, New Mexico, was the only child born to Santiago Gurulé and Elena Gallegos. At the age of 18, he married Antonia Quintana, the 16-year old daughter of Jose Quintana and Antonia Lujan Dominguez. Antonio was a farmer, and lived his whole life on the land grant property. The 1750 census of the Villa of Albuquerque, New Mexico, shows Antonio and his wife, six of their children, and two Indian servants (Rosa and Bernardina) and their children. Many of the Indian families who assumed the Gurulé surname were the children of Rosa and Bernardina. Nine children were born to Antonio and Antonia, and all are named in Antonio’s will of 1761.
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