The current day Hacienda Antigua was built in 1790 by Don Pablo Yrisarri.
Don Pablo Irizarri was born in the Basque country of Spain in the mid 1750s. Like his father, General Santiago Irizarri,
he became a soldier in the Spanish army. He was sent to Vera Cruz,Mexico by King Charles III of Spain in the late 1770s. He
was commissioned by the King to “recover 1600 burro loads of gold, silver, and valuable church vessels” reportedly
buried in the ruins at the Mission Gran Quivira, southeast of Albuquerque. The gold had been taken from the Spanish missions
and hidden by the Friars, prior to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. Whether Don Pablo found the treasure remains a mystery.
Given political tensions at this time, between the Spanish and Mexican governments, Don Pablo changed the spelling of his
name to Yrisarri, to conceal his identity and avoid arrest and deportation by the Mexican government.
As a personal envoy from the King of Spain, Don Pablo was given a land grant of thousands of acres, eventually to become
known as the Elena Gallegos grant. Don Pablo also acquired other properties throughout the State. Records show Don Pablo’s
hand set to official records in Atrisco Land Grant matters in 1782, and later the Sedillo Grant. This and other land grants
like it were given to the Don’s as compensation for their “forbearance and endurance in performing the King’s
assigned tasks in the face of personal hardships and adversities”. Don Pablo and his son, Don Mariano, built the Yrisarri
House, which is the present day Hacienda Antigua, and established a ranch upon this property.
