Phrase on marriage document...

Published by 1traviesa -

Does anyone know what the term "Caste" means on a marriage document? The one I have is as follows...

"Jose Roberto Hernandez, Soldado Patrista del Resguardo de este Pueblo, de calidad Casta"

It's where they ususally state their race.

Published by Jorge Elias - Fri, 2011-08-19 19:14 | Permalink

Hola

Creo que es importante situarse en el período de tiempo en que las actas son escritas.

Mientras más antiguas son, logran especificar mejor cual es la "calidad" de la persona,es decir: español, mestizo, indio y todas sus mezclas mulato, lobo, coyote, etc. Y para eso eso son interesantes las diferencias que se especifican y se pueden encontrar en Wikipedia.

Pero conforme se van acercoando los registros al final del período Virreinal, que termina en 1821, es más difícil para los párrocos diferenciar entre las diferentes mezclas raciales distintas al "español" (término que no necesariamente equivalía a blanco, sino que la persona lo parecía o tenía más prestigio) Y por eso a principios del siglo XIX se ve un poco más comúnmente usado el término "casta" para lo que no es "español" sin detallar si la persona es mulata, mestiza, lobo, coyote, etc.

Por último, la palabra tresalbo, deriva de tres=3 y albo=blanco y se usaba para los caballos que tenían tres patas blancas y en el caso de adjetivo racial lo he visto usado para mestizos o mulatos que debían ser bastante claros porque entre sus padres y abuelos había más blancos que indios o negros, pero había alguno de ellos que era indio o mulato.

Saludos,

Jorge Elias
Miami, FL

Published by gonzo - Thu, 2011-08-18 19:26 | Permalink

Lance Gonzalez on "nuestros ranchos" website under "albums" and then "Mestizaje de Mexico (Castas)" is a detailed list of castas.

Published by Armando - Thu, 2011-08-18 21:15 | Permalink

There is no question now. That is definitely an A on both entries, the
margin and body. I have seen other documents where the O looks like an A.
My guess is that they mean mixed race, as opposed to using one of those
normally found in these documents or such as what was is found in the post
by George Fulton, or the NR folder, or Wikipedia. The baptisms and marriages
of the parents and grandparents should provide another lead as to what was
meant.

Armando

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:43 PM, wrote:

> Yes it says calidad Casta..here is the link to my document.
>
> http://i30.photobucket.com/**albums/c302/1traviesa/**
> robertohdzjustagarciamarriageo**nepage.jpg
>
> Thank you all for your imput...
>
> Amalia Hernandez Arias

Published by Armando - Thu, 2011-08-18 16:15 | Permalink

Are you sure it is an A at the end of Cast? It's most likely an abbreviation
for casitzo which is the child of an español(a) and a mestizo(a) .

Armando

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:42 AM, wrote:

> Does anyone know what the term "Caste" means on a marriage document? The
> one I have is as follows...
>
> "Jose Roberto Hernandez, Soldado Patrista del Resguardo de este Pueblo, de
> calidad Casta"
> It's where they ususally state their race.
>

Armando,
I have this old dictionary from Buenos Aires, 1942 second edition left to me
by my ancestors and the meaning for *Casta *is *origen o decendencia*,
and *fig.
Calidad*. So that is all it says. What does it all mean? I am curious.

Esther Jordan Lopez

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:12 PM, Armando wrote:

> Are you sure it is an A at the end of Cast? It's most likely an
> abbreviation
> for casitzo which is the child of an español(a) and a mestizo(a) .
>
> Armando
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:42 AM, wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know what the term "Caste" means on a marriage document? The
> > one I have is as follows...
> >
> > "Jose Roberto Hernandez, Soldado Patrista del Resguardo de este Pueblo,
> de
> > calidad Casta"
> > It's where they ususally state their race.
> >
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)NuestrosRanchos.**com
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> >

Hello Esther,

In the context of the original post it is Calidad. People were categorized
not just by their looks and ancestry, bit also by their social standing and
living conditions. So in the case of Jose Roberto Hernandez I would think
he is being categorized as a castizo and not as a casta. I could be wrong
and it could be he is being categorized as a casta or which it seems just
means mixed race based on what is in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta. I just haven't seen or read that anyone
has been called a casta before.

Armando

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Esther Jordan wrote:

> Armando,
> I have this old dictionary from Buenos Aires, 1942 second edition left to
> me
> by my ancestors and the meaning for *Casta *is *origen o decendencia*,
> and *fig.
> Calidad*. So that is all it says. What does it all mean? I am curious.
>
> Esther Jordan Lopez
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:12 PM, Armando wrote:
>
> > Are you sure it is an A at the end of Cast? It's most likely an
> > abbreviation
> > for casitzo which is the child of an español(a) and a mestizo(a) .
> >
> > Armando
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:42 AM, wrote:
> >
> > > Does anyone know what the term "Caste" means on a marriage document?
> The
> > > one I have is as follows...
> > >
> > > "Jose Roberto Hernandez, Soldado Patrista del Resguardo de este Pueblo,
> > de
> > > calidad Casta"
> > > It's where they ususally state their race.
> > >
> > > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> > >
> > > To post, send email to:
> > > research(at)NuestrosRanchos.**com
> > >
> > > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> > >
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org

Thank you Armando,
I usually ignore such things but I guess I better start listing them for my
ancestors. It may actually help me to see where they came from.
Esther

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Armando wrote:

> Hello Esther,
>
> In the context of the original post it is Calidad. People were categorized
> not just by their looks and ancestry, bit also by their social standing and
> living conditions. So in the case of Jose Roberto Hernandez I would think
> he is being categorized as a castizo and not as a casta. I could be wrong
> and it could be he is being categorized as a casta or which it seems just
> means mixed race based on what is in Wikipedia
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta. I just haven't seen or read that
> anyone
> has been called a casta before.
>
> Armando
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Esther Jordan
> wrote:
>
> > Armando,
> > I have this old dictionary from Buenos Aires, 1942 second edition left to
> > me
> > by my ancestors and the meaning for *Casta *is *origen o decendencia*,
> > and *fig.
> > Calidad*. So that is all it says. What does it all mean? I am curious.
> >
> > Esther Jordan Lopez
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:12 PM, Armando wrote:
> >
> > > Are you sure it is an A at the end of Cast? It's most likely an
> > > abbreviation
> > > for casitzo which is the child of an español(a) and a mestizo(a) .
> > >
> > > Armando
> > >
> > > On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:42 AM, wrote:
> > >
> > > > Does anyone know what the term "Caste" means on a marriage document?
> > The
> > > > one I have is as follows...
> > > >
> > > > "Jose Roberto Hernandez, Soldado Patrista del Resguardo de este
> Pueblo,
> > > de
> > > > calidad Casta"
> > > > It's where they ususally state their race.
> > > >
> > > > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > > > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> > > >
> > > > To post, send email to:
> > > > research(at)NuestrosRanchos.**com
> > > >
> > > > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > > > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> > > >
> > > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> > >
> > > To post, send email to:
> > > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> > >
> > > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> >

Wikipedia has a moderately detailed article on "castas," which is essentially the mixed-race "issue" in Spanish or Portuguese colonial America.

There are apparently many terms for the various racial mixtures, although I've actually seen only few (mestizo, coyote, lobo, and of course Espanol are the most common) in the many documents I've looked at.

One list is as follows (there are others):

1. Español con India, Mestizo
2. Mestizo con Española, Castizo
3. Castiza con Español, Española
4. Español con Negra, Mulato
5. Mulato con Española, Morisca
6. Morisco con Española, Chino
7. Chino con India, Salta atrás
8. Salta atras con Mulata, Lobo
9. Lobo con China, Gíbaro (Jíbaro)
10. Gíbaro con Mulata, Albarazado
11. Albarazado con Negra, Cambujo
12. Cambujo con India, Sambiaga (Zambiaga)
13. Sambiago con Loba, Calpamulato
14. Calpamulto con Cambuja, Tente en el aire
15. Tente en el aire con Mulata, No te entiendo
16. No te entiendo con India, Torna atrás

There are a number of "Casta Paintings" which typically show 16 racial mixtures. The Wikipedia article has an example.

George Fulton
Pleasanton, CA

Published by Angelina Markle - Thu, 2011-08-18 14:00 | Permalink

I've seen "tresalbo" a lot .... does anyone know what it means?

-Angelina-

Casta, en español, puede significar también que es vírgen
Luis Núñez Gornés

Genealogy Research