Need help with a woman with A LOT of surnames and parent names

Question

Asención Benavides is my direct ancestor with six children.  I can't figure out if one woman was the mother of all his children or if he had 2, 3, or more wives.  I have researched this to death and I have listed everything I have found on her profile.  She used María de la Sención Butierrez, María de la Asención Lobato, María Asención Carillo y Telles, María Gutierrez, and María Lovato.  The records list her father as José Angel Lobato and José Gutierrez.  Her mother is listed as María Gregoria Butierrez, María de los Angeles Cariyo, Juana Sabedra, and Francisca Archiveque.

I really need a new set of eyes (or 10) to take a look at this.  Thanks!!

Comments

Hi! I've taken a look at the profile and my intuition is that someone mixed up the records of 2 or more women of similar names, or maybe she was widowed and then remarried, and then died and HER widower remarried and so on...

Spanish is my first language, I'm fairly sure that Butierres is a mispelling or mistyiping of Gutierrez/Gutierres (that is a common last name and the use of s/z in the 1800 was not fixed). Same with Asensión/Sension, "Asension" is a name referring to JesusChrist accension to heaven after the Resurrection. Sension is not a Spanish first name or a nickname.

I wouldn't trust fully Familysearch register data without seing the original acts (I've found errors in my own ancestors data) though they're are very useful to follow leads. I'll try to look at them as soon as I have more time!

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Thanks for taking a look.  I don't trust anything on FamilySearch that isn't on microfilm.  I've been looking into Maria Gregoria Gutierrez and found that her birth name was Archibeque.  Her baptism lists her as the natural daughter of Francisca Archibeque with no father listed.  She used Ortega as an adult (possibly her father's name?).  She did use Gutierrez on two records, which is her padrinos' surname.  Gregoria died young (about 45 when Maria de la Asencion was only 10) so all of Maria de la Asencion's children were born after her death.

One tie between the Maria de la Asencion records and the Maria Gutierrez records is Francisca Archibeque, who is Gregoria's mother.  Since her name appears on Maria Gutierrez' 2nd child's baptism, this has kept me from drawing a line between Maria de la Asencion and Maria Gutierrez.  José Angel's mother is Antonia Gregoria Telles (Jiron?).  Since José Angel and Gregoria had to have a dispensation to marry because they were related to the 4th degree, possibly this is where the Carillo y Telles name comes from.  I'm just back from a 6 month break from this family so I'm now back to digging.  Thanks again.

Answer 1

Hi Marcie,

When I get stuck trying to filter through various wives and last names I put together a timeline analysis. The first time this was suggested to me I thought I already had a good system and didn't need to put everything in one place. Then I used this method with some brick walls and it worked (Italian last names in my case). When I get to the point where I feel stuck, I move on to something else for a while and come back to it. I've also had good luck connecting with the local genealogical society where the family lived and asking them where they think the best resources are for my problem. Often they know exactly where to go or who to contact.

Good Luck! Shanna

Comments

Thank you!