New Mexico Office of the State Historian : Bernalillo

Bernalillo

Coronado headquartered his expedition in the Bernalillo area in 1540-1541 (Julyan 1996:36). According to the Gallegos account of the 1581 Sánchez Chamuscado journey into New Mexico, the Tiwa pueblos of Analco, Culiacán, Villarrasa, and La Palma were encountered, in that order, going north along the west side of the Río Grande. The Tiwa pueblos of Zenpoala, Nompe, Malpais, and Caseres were found along the east side of the Río Grande. Caseres seems to have marked the northern end of the Tiwa pueblos. All of these were probably located in the area of modern Bernalillo (Mecham 1926:277-278; Hammond and Rey 1927:46-48).

Julyan writes that the name “Bernalillo” dates back to the seventeenth century though he contradicts himself as to the specific date. Julyan suggests that (Julyan 1996:16-17,36-37). Fray Angelico Chávez also speculates that the name “Bernalillo” may have come from a priest in New Mexico named “Bernal” or from “Bernardo”, the son of Fernando Duran y Chávez, an early settler. In either case it was bestowed before the 1680 Pueblo Indian revolt (Chávez 1948:111).

The Bernalillo that was founded, or refounded, after the revolt, stretched for several miles upstream of its present location and probably on the west side of the Río Grande. Some colonists built a plaza and a church, which was dedicated to San Francisco, in 1695 (Kessell 1989:313). In his 1777 reminiscences, Juan Candelaria noted that a convent was built in Bernalillo sometime after 1698, but it was destroyed by flood in 1735-36 (Armijo 1929:276).

In 1776 Fray Atanasio Domínguez wrote that the mission in Sandia also had charge of the administration of some citizens divided into two small groups one of which, two leagues to the north, was called Bernalillo. It had 27 families with 81 persons (Adams and Chávez 1956:144). Lafora gave this name to a collection of ranchitos scattered along both sides of the Río Grande between the pueblos of Sandia and San Felipe in New Mexico on 18 August 1766 (Alessio Robles 1939:97). On 11 November 1780, Anza placed Bernalillo six leagues south of Santo Domingo (Thomas 1932:197-198).