Manuel de Mella

• General Notes
  • p. 246-7.  From La Huelva in southern Andalucía.  Parents--Gregorio de Mella and Violante Rodríguez.  Father was a merchant in Málaga.  Married twice: first, Beatriz Rodríguez, daughter of portuguese judaizers, and second, Violante Juárez, illegitimate child of Gaspár and Ana Blanca Juárez.  He came to Mexico after his first wife died, arriving in 1624.  Worked in the mines in Amajaque in Nueva Galicia.  He blamed his good reputation as a reason not to re-convert to Christianity. In Guadalajara, "tenía comodidad para vivir más libremente guargando su caduca ley." p.246.  His house acted as a synagogue.  Visited the mines of Amajaque.