Hi all,

Here are some links about an interesting document.  It is a Carta confirmatoria de hidalguía issued in Mexico circa 1600 to a woman named Magdalena Martínez Orejón and her brother Francisco Martínez Orejón. Magdalena’s husband was the famous explorer Sebastián Vizcaino.  In 1602 Vizcaino led an expedition ordered by the Viceroy, the Count of Monterrey, up the coast of California.  He sailed as far north as Mendocino and along the way gave names to a number of important places (San Diego Bay, Point Conception, Point Lobos, the Carmel River and Monterey Bay, just to name a few).  Vizcaino later led an embassy to Japan where he met Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Here is a digitized copy of the document:

http://dl.wdl.org/517/service/517.pdf

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Fernando_Martinez_Oreja.jpg/426px-Fernando_Martinez_Oreja.jpg

Here is some more info:

http://www.wdl.org/en/curator-video/12/

See -

http://www.wdl.org/en/item/517/

for a complete digital copy of the document.

Did Sebastián Vizcaino have a coat of arms? (I found the above while looking for an on-line reference.)

Regards,

Iain Boyd