After nearly a dozen years of looking for clues, I’ve finally broken down a wall that had perplexed me. My 5g grandparents, Eugenio Rufino Galván and María Dolores Fernández, lived in Sierra de Pinos, Zacatecas, during the last quarter of the 18th century. They also lived part of the time in Real de Catorce, Slp. They first appear in the Pinos parish records on 16 Mar 1776, when their children, Juan Joseph and Maria Josefa, were confirmed. Maria Dolores Fernandez died and was buried 26 Feb 1793 in Pinos; according to her burial record, she was originally from Silao, Gto. Eugenio Galván married a second time, to Maria Micaela Cordoba, on 10 Jun 1793, in Real de Catorce. According to his IM, he was about 53 years old (b. 1740) and he was also from Silao.
I started dredging the archives of Silao looking for any clues. Though I found some Galvan’s and plenty of Fernandez’s, I could still find no sign of Eugenio Rufino, which is a really unique name. So I put this couple on the backburner. Every once in a while, I’d take them out and rummage around: there was another couple living in Pinos named Felipe de Santiago Galvan and Juana Francisca Xaviera Delgado. They were married 14 Aug 1738 in Guanajuato: he was from Silao and was the son of Bartolome Galvan and Josefa de Chagoya. They were old enough to be Eugenio’s parents, but I could find no contact between Eugenio and this family. There was also a Pablo de Jesus Galvan, who married Maria Asencion Lopez on 5 Feb 1758 in Pinos. He was also from Silao, and he was son of Bartolome Galvan and Juana Maria Sanchez. Again, there was no sign of any contact between Eugenio and this family.
Earlier this summer, I really started dredging the parish archives of Silao, looking through the baptisms, marriages and IMs. I found other persons surnamed Galvan, some who were the children of Bartolome Galvan cc Josefa de Chagoya, others who were children of Bartolome Galvan cc Juana Maria Sanchez aka Rivera. I was later able to determine that this Bartolome Galvan was the same person, and that he had married twice - first to Josefa Chagoya, around 1715, and then to Juana Maria Sanchez, around 1725.