"Calidad Coyote" in Mexican marriage record 1809

Question

Can someone help me figure out what this refers to in a marriage record from Jalisco, 1809....

"Jose Augustin Villagrana de calidad coyote, e entado soltero..."  

"Coyote" is also written in the margin of the record where they normally record the ethnic origin (mulatto, mestizo, espanol, etc).  I'm a little baffled as to what it's supposed to mean.  

Here's a link to the actual record, but this is the only part I'm struggling with. It's clearly written I am just not sure what it's supposed to mean. Jose Augustin Villagrana marriage

Comments

Wikipedia has a good discussion of the “Casta” designations, of which coyote is only one of several. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta

---

Thank you, I was hoping to find something like that!

Answer 1

The typical use for coyote was when one parent is mestizo (mix of Spanish and indio) and the other indio. It basically means more indio than not.

'entado soltero' is estado soltero, meaning single.

calidad means quality. no idea why it is there. Could it be a place or people as in '...belongs to/of Calidad heritage'?

Comments

Thank you!  I was able to translate it roughly to "qualities of coyote" but had no idea what that referred to.  Now it makes sense!

---

@Ron I’ve always wondered why “calidad” is there. However, it’s always there. My guess is that it’s used in place of “category” and could be at older use of the word.

---

coyote is also written "coiote"

---

"Calidad" usually refers in that context to the social status of the person, but not necesarily (or at least not only) to race or money.

Answer 2

Maria Leocadia Toscano, Espanola Doncella

Espanola can be "white" or "Spanish"

Doncella is "Lady"