Ocharte, Pedro, ca. 1532-1592

Pedro Ocharte (Pedro Ochart, Petri Ocharte) was born in Rouen, France circa 1532. In 1548, he moved to New Spain as a merchant. By the beginning of 1588, he was already living in Mexico City. Ocharte established a good relationship with Juan Pablos and his family. The friendship was so positive that after Pablos’ death, the widow asked Ocharte to witness a power of attorney dating 1561. He married Maria de Figueroa, Pablos’ daughter, circa 1561-1562. In 1563, he signed with Jerónima Gutierrez a contract to lease the Pablos press. In 1570, he married Maria de Sansoric in a later marriage.

In 1571, he published the primers and summaries of Our Lady of the Rosary with a quartet that the Inquisition considered heretical. As a result, the Holy Office imprisoned Ocharte for one year (July 1571 to May 1572). Although Ocharte was already in prison, he was denounced again in March 1573. However, he was acquitted. Between 1576 and 1578, Ocharte and Antonio Ricardo printed Graduale dominicale and Fray Juan de Córdoba’s Vocabulario en lengua zapoteca (1578). He died in 1592.

Sources

Medina, José Toribio, Guillermo Feliú Cruz, and José Zamudio Zamora. Historia de la imprenta en los antiguos dominios españoles de América y Oceanía, v. 1. Santiago de Chile: Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina, 1958. pp. 109-113.