Huzzah! I managed to track down the original document that this phrase was translated from in the early twentieth century. It is from a document in the Archivo General de Indias, Patronato 22, ramo 13: http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/121736. The specific document in question runs from images 391-402, and the specific passage in question is on image 397.

The language is a little tricky here because it is late sixteenth-century Spanish, which was before they really used punctuation. I don't study this region at all, so I can't give you any context for what is going on there in New Mexico in 1599, and also subjunctive passages, like the one given, always give me a bit of trouble.

Basically this section of the letter is a long passage that goes on and on and on, in which the writer is asking for the viceroy to send additional support in the form of people, married couples, nobles, of which there are many, presumably in Central Mexico, and a little be farther on, for weapons. He is framing the request by hammering how optimistic about the future he is, what a great opportunity it is, and how abundant and prosperous the land will be. He talks about how the support will be worth it for the government because they will be able to tax the mines, the imports from the Pacific, the tributes, and the salt mines that he mentioned a bit earlier. But they need more support. In the middle of that request, the original says: …Suplico a VSa de liçençia a mi Hija Mariquita por la qual enbio y a los q de mis deudos quisieren dar tan honrrosso fin a su vida… He asks that his daughter be given license, for whom [or which] I sent, and also to his relatives that want to give such an honorable aim/purpose to their life.

A few things of note. The original Spanish does not give an article before the word license, so he may be asking for a general permission, but a specific license may be implied. The article in the for whom/which I sent in Spanish might be referring to either the license or to the daughter. These are small things that don’t change the meaning too much. The translation though turned the Spanish word “fin” from a noun into an infinitive verb, which changed the meaning of the phrase a bit more than in my gloss. Fin as a noun is more like ends, aim, or purpose.

I’m not sure if this happens in other fields of history, but in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a lot of scholars published collections of “unedited” colonial archival documents. A lot of these are now in the public domain. Sometimes those transcriptions and translations have errors in them, whether they are typos, or mistranslations, or odd interpretations. Stuff like that. It happens. No big deal. Then, scholars cite those documents in their books and articles. The error then can be passed along for decades or centuries because no one bothers to double check anything. Sometimes, it’s even worse because scholars will cite a book with some very specific detail. Then you’re like…ok, I’ll check that book for the detail and cite that. Then you get that book, and that book, rather than having the detail in question, actually cites some other book from 50 years earlier. And then that book passes you to another book or some unedited collection that doesn’t provide any citations of where the document came from. That means that people are citing a passage that may or may not even exist, and there is no way for you to check to see if it is accurate or if it contains some sort of error or something. That is why it is better to work with the original document if possible. And if possible, one should not just lift someone else’s citation without checking it because they might be doing some sloppy citation work themselves.

Edit: fixed the link.

He’s asking the Count of Monterey for permission to have his relatives join him in New Mexico. The phrase you’re asking about concludes a paragraph where he asks the Count to send over more settlers.

“In view, then, Illustrious Sir, of things of such honor, profit, and value, and of the great prudence, magnanimity, and nobility of your Lordship, who in all matters is bound to prosper me and overcome the ill fortune of my disgrace, I humbly beg and supplicate, since it is of such importance to the service of God and of his Majesty, that the greatest aid possible be sent to me, both for settling and pacifying, your Lordship giving your favor, mind, zeal, and life for the conservation, progress, and increase of this land, through the preaching of the holy gospel and the founding of this republic, giving liberty and favor to all, opening wide the door to them, and, if it should be necessary, even ordering them to come to serve their king in so honorable and profitable a matter, in a land so abundant and of such great beginnings of riches. I call them beginnings, for although we have seen much, we have not yet made a beginning in comparison with what there is to see and enjoy. And if the number should exceed five hundred men, they all would be needed, especially married men, who are the solid rock on which new republics are permanently founded; and noble people, of whom there is such a surplus there. Particularly do I beg your Lordship to give a license to my daughter Mariquita, for whom I am sending, and to those of my relatives who may wish so honorably to end their lives.”

The use of the word “license” in this context/translation is more like “permission” than a specific permit paper or card for doing something.

Source: Taken from this translation.