The Vergara or Vergara-Azcárate family is a Hispanic noble lineage that traces its origins to the medieval kingdoms of Navarre and Castile and established an influential branch in the New Kingdom of Granada (present-day Colombia) in the 17th century. The family is spread across several branches in Spain, Colombia, Chile and the US.
The Vergara family is considered as one of the first families of Spaniards in the Americas that arrived first as conquistadors, then as royal officers of the Spanish crown. The Vergara Family have produced four presidents of Colombia by the same surname; and three more related by blood. Another branch is considered amongst the founding families of Chile.
Originally from basque and navarrese lineages, more specifically from Bergara, a municipality in Basque Country. Vergara is a toponymic named after the Spanish version of the Basque region of Bergara found in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. In Spain, many families adopted this trend of using a toponymic surname to associate themselves with a place or a noble house.
The Vergara-Azcarate's are descendents of Spanish conquistadors, and rural nobility. By the later middle ages, in Navarre, Spain they were a family with armery, meaning they had the right to have coat of arms and be considered a well known house in the Basque country. A branch of the family existed in Castile. Diego López de Medrano y Vergara, Lord of San Gregorio and the son of Catalina de Vergara, was an important nobleman in the kingdom of Castile during the late medieval period. During the Middle Ages they founded different houses in Abalcisqueta, Azcoitia, Azpeitia, Berástegui, Cizúrquil, Elgóibar, Elduayen, Elgóibar, Elgueta. Oñate, San Sebastián, Tolosa y Bergara. In 1391 the mayor of Bergara, Spain, was Juan MartÃÂnez de Azcarate, later in 1515 his descendant, the Baron Martin de Vergara y Azcarate moved to Getafe and changed his last name from Azcarate to Vergara y Azcarate after his hometown, making the family be known as The Vergaras from that point forward, then obtained a royal ejecutoria de hidalguÃÂa (confirmation of noble status).
Martin's grandson was Lieutenant Captain General Francisco de Vergara y Azcarate, born in Móstoles, Spain in 1570. Entered into the service of the spanish crown as a soldier for all his youth and later fought in the well known Tercios españoles in Flanders and Italy, also participated in the 1588 armada campaign in different parts of Europe including Portugal, Burgundy and the Netherlands.
He died in the fortress of San Felipe de la Marmora after having also held the rank of maestre de campo. his eldest son Antonio, benefited from ejecutorias of nobility and was the first to travel to the new world.
The family arrived in the Americas as Spanish royal officers between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and quickly married into aristocratic families descendants of the first conquistadors, founders of the New Kingdom who first arrived with Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada. Family writers trace roots to Antón de Olaya, Juan de Olmos and Cristobal Bernal, three of the first 177 men who arrived and conquered the Muiscas in the early sixteenth century for the spanish empire.
Antonio de Vergara Azcárate would follow the steps of his father, as a young orphan boy traveled all the time with his uncle Alonso Turrillo de Yebra, a royal engineer set to the new world to build fortifications in Cartagena, Turrillo later received a royal contract to establish the first mint in Santafe, capital of the new kingdom of Granada and act as the governor of Antioquia. Antonio arrived in Cartagena de Indias in 1621 and later became a knight of the Order of Santiago , encomendero and royal treasurer with seat and vote in the cabildo with access to accounts of gold and silver coinage. In this capacity he also served as regidor, repeatedly acting as mayor of Santafe when needed in 1638, 1644, 1659 and 1674. Antonio founded one of the most interesting family sagas of the New Kingdom of Granada (Colombia), today known for figures such as José and Francisco de Vergara Azcárate, Simon Bolivarôs close circle general José MarÃÂa Vergara Lozano, Estanislao Vergara and governor Cristóbal Vergara.
The Vergara family became a distinguished, powerful, and aristocratic lineage within the society of the Bogotá savanna. Their prominence in the late colonial period and in the subsequent republics stemmed partly from their alliances with other influential criollo families, including the Arboleda, Caicedo, Vélez, Sanz de SantamarÃÂa, Ricaurte, Lozano, Manrique, and Mosquera families. Together, these lineages formed the core of the New Granada elite at the end of the viceregal era and the beginning of independent Colombia.
In the new kingdom of New Granada, during the 18th and 19th century (1740sâÂÂ1810s) they were considered one of the oldest and more aristocratic families of Colombia they consolidated great influence, being one of the first bureaucratic dynasties and political clans of Colombia.
They also held high administrative positions during the trancission such as Regent Chief Accountant of the Court of Accounts of the Royal Audiencia of the New Kingdom of Granada, and, in one notable case is JoaquÃÂn Mosquera Figueroa, who held the Regency of Spain itself, acting as Regent Council of the Realm, basically head of state of the Spanish Empire in 1812. Across the transition from colony to republic, they continued to occupy a wide range of administrative, fiscal, and governmental posts for and against the crown.
Several members of the extended Vergara-Azcárate family participated in the political and military processes that led to independence from Spain and in the subsequent republican governments such as the United Provinces of New Granada, Gran Colombia and the Republic of Colombia during the nineteenth century.
In addition, members and relatives of the family served alongside Simón BolÃÂvar acting as governors, mayors, secretaries and ambassadors like José MarÃÂa Vergara Lozano the Ambassador of Gran Colombia to the United Kingdom in 1822, who was the grandson of the first marquis of San Jorge of Bogotá, Jorge Miguel Lozano de Peralta, others were cabinet ministers, senators, state legislators, judges of the old colonial and new republican courts, senior judicial officers, military commanders.
Within more than 15 generations have participated in the history of Colombia in its different periods from the colony, to the independence and the republics. They have had several influential members in the country, including four presidents; of which there are seven, who are members or are related to the family by blood or affinity, most of them in the xix century, names like founding fathers of the United provinces of New Granada Luis Ayala Vergara and Felipe de Vergara,or Estanislao Vergara who was designated president of Gran Colombia by Simón BolÃÂvar or JoaquÃÂn and Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera who were presidents for multiple terms and later fought against his relative Ignacio Gutiérrez Vergara in the Colombian Civil war (1860 -1862).In later generations, others distinguished themselves as writers like José MarÃÂa Vergara and Saturnino Vergara, lawyers, architects, businessmen, and lately recognized colombian american actresses in the United States like Sandra Vergara and SofÃÂa Vergara.
Considered one of the founding families of Chile, members served in politics, journalism, and the military, others are part of the high society of Chile and among the colonial elite of the country. The family has been Commemorated in various ways, more specifically the war hero and politician José Francisco Vergara founder of Viña del Mar, and owner of the Vergara Palace located in the same city.
The branch that settled in the capital was founded by the captain Gaspar de Vergara, born in Villaflores, Salamanca, of Basque origin and son of the secretary of Bergara and Maria Hernandez Jiron. He arrived in Chile in 1536, joining Diego de Almagro's expeditions and then, in 1540, with Pedro de Valdivia onto the founding of Santiago, Chile. He never married though he recognized his children, all daughters:
Children
Second migration: In the second half of the 18th century, another member of the broader Vergara family came to Chile: Antonio de Vergara, who married Manuela Garcia.
Another branch settled in Talca, which was of ancient nobility with proofs accepted by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George was founded by royal lieutenant, Juan MartÃÂnez de Vergara, born in Gibraleon, Huelva and died in Chimbarongo, Colchagua in 1662.
A hidalgo, he arrived in South America destined for Chile and the War of Arauco in 1601. He was enlisted in the troops who accompanied Governor Alonso de Ribera, who was considered the organizer of the army in the kingdom of Chile. He was in the company commanded by Captain Gines de Lillo and helped with his arms in the forts of Santa Fe and Talcahuano. In 1628 he was already in the rank of captain. He was the backbone one of the most important Chilean colonial families and given an encomienda for his services to the Spanish Crown.
Son of Juan MartÃÂnez de Vergara, a native of Guipuzcoa and Isabel Alonso Marquez of Gibraleón. She was the daughter of Teresa Alonso Marquez, and of the same region.
In 1634 he married Magdalena de Leiva Sepulveda, daughter of a Sevillian captain, Antonio de Leiva Sepulveda and Mariana de la Cerda Niza y Corral.
Children
Another branch established itself in La Serena, Chile by Francisco de Vergara in the 18th century who married Maria Antonia de Santelices Corbalan.