José Romo de Vivar was a rancher and Spanish miner, considered one of the first settlers of Arizona that, in 1700, drove his cattle to the Huachuca Mountains, convinced he had a future in that territory. Thus, he was one of the people who contributed to that few remaining Spanish that were still in Arizona, after a number of factors that prompted their emigration, along with other people, such as Father Kino.
His Grandfather, Diego Romo de Vivar (1589–1691) was born in Rielves, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
In 1530 Captain Pedro Almíndez Chirino arrived in Tepatitlán that at that time was inhabited by Tecuexes under the command of Chief Mapelo (Mapilli), who received them in peace, accompanying them to the territories of the Zacatecos Indians and accepting Catholic baptism for himself and for his subjects.
In 1550, 117 Spanish families colonized by royal decree the region of Los Altos de Jalisco and Tepatitlán, among them the Romo de Vivar family and for over 250 years these families only married into other Spanish families. Following the (1810-1821) war of independence and especially after the (1910-1919) revolutionary war this was gradually lost but has not yet completely disappeared.
Many of these families have coat of arms and certification as nobility, shortly after the war of independence, a republican decree ordered that all coat of arms be erased from the facades of public and private buildings. All coat of arms that "remember the domain of Spain".
The abandonment of land by settlers was based on the depletion of silver mines that had attracted Spaniards to colonize the area, its new inhabitants were forced to practice agriculture and livestock, unattractive jobs for these people. This was compounded by the continuing hostility of the Pima Indians (riots, killings, scorched earth, poisoned wells, etc.), which made it difficult to stay in the region by settlers. These factors pushed the majority of them to leave the area.
.