During Diego's lifetime New Mexico was divided into the Rio Arriba and the Rio Abajo. The Rio Arriba was the area north of the lava cliffs and steep incline called La Bajada, just south of Santa Fé. The Rio Abajo is the area south that included Alburqueque. The Governor was in charge of the Rio Arriba and the Lieutenant Governor (Lieutenant General) was in charge of the Rio Abajo.
Diego de Trujillo first appears in New México as an Alférez and famer, nineteen or twenty years old, in 1632. He was a soldier-escort in 1641. In 1662, he was fifty years old, a Sargento Mayor, living in the jurisdiction of Sandia as Lieutenant General for the Rio Abajo area, as well as Alcalde Mayor of Zuni. He then declared that he was born in México City. His wife was Catalina Vásquez.
In 1661, Governor Mendizábal confiscated Diego's Zuni alcaldía. Many records can be found that tell of his troubles with this governor. From then on we learn that his home was four leagues from the Sandia Pueblo, and that his two sons-in-laws were Andrés Hurtado and Cristóbal Baca. The name of his estancia was "Paraje de las Huertas." Diego gave his age as forty-eight in 1661. By 1669, he was Maestre de Campo and also Syndic of the Franciscans at Sandia. His wife gave her age as forty-eight at that time, and stated that she had been born in Santa Fé. Diego also served a short term as second Alcalde Mayor of Guadalupe del Paso.
In 1680, he gave his opinions about the cause and problems of the Indian Rebellion, but is not mentioned in the following year. He died at Casas Grandes in 1682. He had one son, Francisco, who married to a daughter of María de Vera.
Diego is considered the progenitor of the Trujillo family of New Mexico.
In 1662, Capitán Diego de Trujillo was identified as an encomendero in a suit that he brought against Governor don Bernardo López de Mendizábal, Trujillo, demanding to be paid 868 pesos by the governor for livestock and Apache servants. In his claim there was mention of his son, Capitán Francisco de Trujillo, and two sons-in-law: Capitán Cristóbal Baca (husband of Ana Moreno de Lara, aka Moreno de Trujillo) and Antonio de Carbajal. This information indicates that Truijillo had a second daughter whose name is not known, but who was the wife of Antonio de Carbajal.
Diego married Catalina Marquez Vásquez, daughter of Diego Márquez and Bernardina Vásquez, about 1633 in Sandia, Bernalillo, Nuevo México, Nueva España. (Catalina Marquez Vásquez was born in 1621 in Santa Fé, Santa Fé, Nuevo México, Nueva España, and was christened in 1621 in Santa Fé, Military Chapel of Our Lady of Light (La Castrense), Santa Fé, Santa Fé, Nuevo México, Nueva España.
The Trujillo surname appears to date from 1191, when King Alfonso VIII granted the city of Trujillo in the Extremadura region of Spain to Juan de Trujillo. However, some ancient records trace the name to a city in neighboring Portugal. Many branches are found today in Carmona, Córdoba, Riogordo, Andújar, Antequera, Alcalá del Río, Andalucía, Santander and Guadalajara, among others.
One of the first Trujillo families in North America appeared in 1632 in what is now New Mexico. That year, Diego de Trujillo from Mexico City married Catalina Márquez Vásquez; for the next 50 years Diego was prominent in military and political affairs until his death in Casas Grandes in 1682. The couple's only son, Francisco, married María de Vera, and their children are the ancestors of many of the Trujillos living today.
Diego de Trujillo (ONMF: 107-08), the progenitor of the Trujillo family of New Mexico, identified himself as a native of Mexico City. Fray Angélico Chávez noted that, in 1632 Diego gave his age as 19 or 20, and in 1662 as 50, indicating that he was born about 1611-12. In addition, Chávez informs us that Trujillo and his wife, Catalina Márquez Vásquez had a son named Francisco de Trujillo and a daughter named Ana Moreno de Lara, wife of Cristóbal Baca (ONMF: 10 & 108).