Fernando de Oñate, 1612 
457 
exercise the said office with the same approbation and satisfaction of all 
as the said Don Fernando his brother had done in his office of corregidor. 
This he knows. 
To the fourth question he declared that he knows and saw that the time 
when Governor Don Juan de Oñate, legitimate brother of the said Don 
Fernando de Oñate, the elder, made the entrance mentioned in the ques¬ 
tion, in the campaign to New Mexico, the said Don Fernando, bearing 
in mind the importance of the said expedition and what would result to 
the service of his Majesty from it, as did in fact result when the said 
entrance and campaign were made by the said Don Juan at his own cost 
and expense, gave to his brother, as this witness saw, private aid from 
his own property. For this reason he fell into needy circumstances, 
through having given with a generous hand for the aforesaid purpose 
the greater part of his property. From this great glory resulted to our 
Lord God through the infinity of souls that have received baptism and 
have come under the rule of his Majesty. This he knows about the 
question. 
To the fifth question this witness declared that although he did not see 
the said Don Fernando de Oñate, the younger, marry Doña Magdalena 
de Mendoza, his cousin, the said marriage being by dispensation, yet this 
witness knows that what the question states in this matter is all true, for 
he knew it to be so by public rumor. The witness knows that since then 
the aforesaid have been living in matrimony; he also knows that Vicente 
de Zaldivar and Doña Magdalena de Mendoza, his wife, parents-in-law 
of the said Don Fernando, the younger, are persons of rank and pure 
lineage, and he has always held them to be such and has seen that they 
have been regarded and held as such, and they have always been occupied 
in the service of his Majesty. In the matter of the rank of the said Don 
Fernando de Oñate, this witness knows that by derivation and descent 
from his parents he is known to be a gentleman, of the most highly 
esteemed in this kingdom, and he has seen that in his own person the said 
Don Fernando, the younger, is moral, of good intellect, honorable in his 
conduct, and very fit for any favor that his Majesty may deign to grant 
him, confirming in his person what was owing to his grandparents and 
parents, and therefore the favor mentioned in the question of a knight¬ 
hood in one of the military orders will suit him very well. This the wit¬ 
ness knows and nothing to the contrary. 
In the City of Mexico, on the sixth day of the month of March, 1612, 
for the purpose of the said official evidence, the said señor licentiate Diego 
Núñez Morquecho oidor of this royal Audiencia, took the oath from the 
master in sacred theology, Fray Diego de Contreras, of the Order of Saint 
Augustine, proprietary professor 94 of the holy scriptures in this royal uni¬ 
versity, censor of the holy office of the Inquisition, and former provincial 
of this province, in the sacred name of Jesus, which he gave in verbo sacer¬ 
dotisa placing his hand on his breast and promising to speak the truth. 
Being questioned by the interrogatory he made the following declaration: 
To the first question he declared that he knows the said Juan de Paz 
de Vallecillo, his Majesty's fiscal of this royal Audiencia, and Don Fer- 
