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Position:Home>Genealogy> What do you know about Bartolome de las Casas?


Question:I need more info on him besides just googling him. Do you know if he had any family, like brothers and sisters or children?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I need more info on him besides just googling him. Do you know if he had any family, like brothers and sisters or children?

There isn't much published about his personal life, but I can put you in touch with the expert on him. Start with this site.
http://www.lascasas.org/

I'm sure Professor Rivera-Pagan would be more than happy to share what he knows about Las Casas the man...

Here's the little I can find on his family:

Born at Seville, probably in 1474; d. at Madrid, 1566. His family was from France and settled at Seville. He called himself Casaus during his youth, and changed the name to Casas later on.

Francisco Casaus, or Casas, the father of Bartolomé, had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage and brought back an Indian boy whom he left to his son as a servant. Bartolomé studied law at Salamanca, took his degree of Licentiate, and enjoyed a fair reputation as a lawyer. He possessed the confidence of the Spanish Governors of the Antilles after the departure of Columbus, and the first of these, Ovando, took him to the Island of Hispa?ola in 1502. Both Ovando and his successor, Velasquez, relied, in more ways than one, on the advice of Las Casas, who did not, however, remain much longer a layman, for in 1510 we find him a secular priest.

Only one person I can see dares to put this name down on RootsWebs "worldconnect tree", as being married to one Pasquala RIta Guajardo SALINAS and one child listed - Jose Ignacio de las CASAS, but I wouldn't advise believing half the rubbish put up on Rootsweb, especially upwards of 18,000+ name "trees" like this : http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin... , which is about as reliable as Wikipedia, which I assume you've already searched. I did, because the answer to what I knew about Bartoleme de la Casas before googling him was "zilch".