Pajarito

Pajarito

A violent dispute over land between the Pueblo of Isleta and the nearby estancia of “Paxarito” was discussed during the 1663 trial of Governor López Mendizábal of New Mexico before the Inquisition in Mexico City (Primera Audiencia de don Bernardo López de Mendizábal, 1663).

Juan Candelaria thought that Pajarito was resettled by Juan Fernandez in 1711 (Armijo 1929:279-280). It was listed in the 1802 census (Olmsted 1981:143). Although this area has also been known by other names, in the 1894 hearings on the Atrisco Land Grant before the United States Court of Private Land Claims, the northern boundary of Pajarito was given as the southern boundary of the Atrisco grant (Sánchez 1998:81-82). In 1659 for example, a reference was made to a short-lived Spanish cattle ranch near Isleta Pueblo called Pajarito, on the southern end of the Valle de Atrisco.