María Maldonado was one of only two Spanish women mentioned in the documentary record as having participated in the Expedition. Witnesses to the events mentioned her specifically as being a godsend because of her abilities to nurse the sick and wounded. Also, she married fellow expeditionary Juan Gómez de Paradinas, but whether that occurred before or during the Expedition is not known. It is quite possible that she is the same woman who received a license to travel to New Spain in May 1536, especially because Juan Vitoria, another expeditionary, received his license on the same day and only four persons before María received hers. If María is that woman, then she was the daughter of Francisco de Maldonada [sic?] and Isabela Ortíz. She was still living in Mexico City in the 1560s.
1530-1540:
?AGI, Justicia, 1187, N.2 [January 27, 1535, María, citizen of Toledo, concerning the goods of Diego Maldonado];
?AGN, Instituciones Coloniales, GD61, Inquicisión, vol.36, exp.6, 1538 [process against María de Soto for polygamy; fol. 200v, witness: Mexico City, 8 August, María) says she has known Soto for 13 or 14 years; when she was in Toledo in the collación of San Llorte? (didn't know how to write)]
?AGI, Pasajeros, L.2, E.2640 [May 9, 1536, daughter of Francisco de Maldonada [sic?] and Isabela Ortíz, to Mexico]
1540-1550:
APSM, “Bautismos de Españoles, 1536-1746” [fol.133r: 8 Feb. 1544 padrinos for Pedro de Carmona and his wife, Juan de Paladines and his wife María Maldonado]; APSM, “Bautismos de Españoles, 1536-1746” [fol.143v: 27 Dec. 1544, Juan de Paladinas and his wife, padrinos];
AGI, Patronato, 63, R.5 [méritos y servicios; June 6, 1560; to Cíbola; ministered to sick and wounded; sewed and mended]