The town of La Villa Nueva de Santa Cruz de la Cañada de los Mexicanos Españoles del Rey Nuestro Señor Don Carlos Segundo was established in April of 1695 by Governor and Captain General of New Mexico, Don Diego de Vargas. The first recorded baptism from Santa Cruz in the archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe does not state that Santa Cruz was a parish or that there was a church there. The record simply states that the baptism of a child given the name of Maria Lucia took place En esta Villa de Santa Cruz on September 15, 1710. The record further states that the child was "de nación Apache" and that her godmother was Sebastiana de la Serna. The priest who signed the record was Fray José Antonio de Torres. The baptismal record is located in a fragment of the baptismal register from Santa Cruz catalogued as a Loose Document from the Mission Period numbered 1710 number 7.