​After the fall of the Aztecs, the Spanish government needed to find a way to protect it's newly-acquired claims on the New World and to protect it's people that were beginning to inhabit the New World. Other versions of the presidio were already being used by them in other parts of the world, and Nueva España would require it. The huge expanse of territory along with the unknown nature of the indigenous people was enough to eventually install over 200 presidios during the colonial period. The presidio was essentially a military outpost composed of armed citizens whose responsibility it was to protect a certain location or geography and the people within it.  Over the three centuries, everything from the way presidios were built, to the way they were staffed changed many times.  Initially, many were funded privately by wealthy individuals who really sought to protect their own claims, but later, the Spanish government did begin to subsidize many of them.  Because very little was known of the northern frontier of Nueva España, changes to the presidios continued throughout the colonial period usually as a result of failure to secure their people or protect their claims against the native indigenous peoples.  Presidios were subsequently established virtually everywhere the Spanish Crown had claimed it's territory including Baja California and all the way up to what is now northern California. Recommendations were made at various times to the Crown and, over time, many changes were made including the relocation of some presidios from one location to another, how they were built and how they were staffed. In the end, presidios proved to be a band-aid in many instances as many failed to accomplish what they were set out to do. There was too much territory to cover with the limited amount of resources they had and eventually, these territories gave way to both the local citizens who wanted separation from the Spanish Crown and later the United States.

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Why Presidios are Important to Your Research:

 

While the presidio typically did not contain men in great numbers, there were reporting requirements that had to be met that included muster rolls and military censuses.  Essentially, a muster was a military inspection that took place in order to evaluate the readiness of it's troops.  In some instances, it was not only the soldiers of the militia but also the men of fighting age who reported.  Musters typically included the names of the individuals who presented themselves for inspection and usually accompanied by a list of the things they were "bringing to the fight" such as number of horses, rifles, pistols, shields, lances and other equipment.  In most cases, they were self-supplied items.  Other musters could include detailed physical descriptions of the men for identification purposes.  One of the more interesting aspects of presidios, as they related to migration and therefore to your ancestry research, was that many were often relocated and with that so did some of the men and their families.  In your research, you may find that records for an individual or individuals have "disappeared" from a certain area.  This could be one explanation worth exploring.  Listed below are some of the musters and military census documents I have encountered in my search which have yielded some fascinating information.  ​

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• 1648 Parral Militia Muster

• ​1684 El Paso del Norte Presidio Muster​

• 1779  Parral Military Census

• 1816-Soldados del Presidio del Norte​​​

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CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO FIND THESE