There are a lot of people with the villarreal surname in Southern Texas and North-Eastern Mexico. Some older relatives tell me that villarreal, my mother's maiden name, comes from a line of sepharadite jews, but I have no direct link to substanciate this. For over 250 years my family has been living in the mexican state of nuevo leon, which borders with texas. There is a city in Southern Spain has the Villarreal name. There is even a Soccer team in Spain with that name. For information beyond the early 1900's you might have to check church records,for the Civil Registry was established in 1872 by President Juárez. No Bernardinos in my family tree, though