Manuela Garcia's Will of April 1, 1866 ~ Santa Fe, NM

On this day, Maria Manuela Garcia is very ill in bed and orders that this will be made. She notes she was first married to Jose Segura for two months and a second marriage to husband Juan Diego Romero for 16 years and they had the following six children: Josefa, deceased; Maria Niceta; Maria Dolores; Bruno; Tomas; Maria Felicita, deceased. Further into the document she states her parents as, Bernardo Garcia and Maria Josefa Sandoval, who left her as part of an inheritance, a piece of land.

Maria Manuela signs this along with witnesses: Jose Romero, Cristobal Beltran and Jose Rafael Troncoso. Filed and recorded on April 11, 1866 in the County of Santa Fe.

Just a quick peek at the Santa Fe Marriages Book they are married on January 17, 1848, he is widowed of his second marriage to Refugio Martines and she is a widow of Jose Segura. In the will she makes mention that in the first marriage there were no children.

References: Santa Fe County Probate Book, pg.s 286-288; New Mexico Marriages, Santa Fe, 1728-1857, published by New Mexico Genealogical Society, pg. 231.

Juan Ortiz - Will in Santa Fe, NM 1865

November 13, 1865, Santa Fe Wills – Ortiz

On August 20, 1865, at Placer de Dolores, Juan Ortiz, a resident of this county of Santa Fe, is making his last will and testament. He notes his wife is Maria Paula Ortiz and names her and his son, Antonio Ortiz, as executors of his estate. He names his children as Antonio, Maria de la Luz, Juan, Josefa, Cayetano and Susano, who are four bachelor men (barones) and two girls. He was married to Maria Paula for 22 years. He signed the will and a seal was on that actual paper. Juan goes on in the subsequent documents and names his oldest son, Antonio Jose de la Cruz Garcia y Ortiz and his wife as Maria Paula Ortiz y Martinez. I’m not sure where the Garcia part comes in, but he uses that again when he orders that, his son, Cayetano Garcia y Ortiz turn over half the ranch in Pojoaque, but doesn’t say to whom, just upon his death. By November 13, 1865, Maria Paula Ortiz and her son Antonio J. Ortiz are submitting the final probate papers to the court and yet we find another Ortiz as the Probate Judge, Antonio Ortiz y Salazar. The sum of his estate was $10,000. The witnesses were Jose Serafin Ramirez, Aban Nieto and Guillermo Roybal, all sign their names to the document. [Santa Fe Probate Books, pgs. 249-253]

Maria Paula's mother was a Martin(ez), so that makes total sense. The puzzle is where does the Garcia, as part of the surname, fit into all this?

November 3, 1780 Pojoaque ~ Medina and Romero marry

On this day, Jose Antonio Medina, single, legitimate son of Pasqual Medina and Manuela Bargas, both deceased, with Juana Gertrudis, doncella, legitimate daughter of Juan Baptista Romero, deceased and Lugarda Mestas, all españoles and residents of this jurisdiction; witnesses: Juan Antonio Paez, Antonio Jose de Oliba, Antonio Barela and Jose Manuel Vegil, their padrinos were Ygnacio Madrid and his wife Josefa Alari. [FHL# 16870, pg. 2-3]

May 4, 1783, Pablo with Maria Victoria, Indians of the Pueblo of Nambe, witnesses: Juan Fural Jemonezo and Eusebio with the many people from the Pueblo. [FHL# 16870, pg. 2-3]

So what happened to the marriages from November 1780 to May 3, 1783? This is an area, where the priest might have recorded marriages in San Yldefonso, Nambe, Santa Cruz and possibly Santa Fe. In order to try and fill in the gaps a researcher will need to look at all the churches within a huge circle to see if they can find Pojoaque marriages.

Mateo Romero & Paula Trugillo, May 4, 1780 - Pojoaque

On this day, Mateo Romero, single, son of Joseph Romero and Nicolasa Trugillo with Paula Trugillo, single, daughter of Pedro Trugillo and Josepha Gomes, all españoles and residents of this parish of Pojoaque, witnesses: Juan Domingo Baldes, Andrea Paula Lucero, españoles and residents of San Yldefonso.

FHL Film #16870

Juan Antonio Guido & Margarita Chique May 27, 1780

On this day Juan Antonio Guido son of Juan Guido and Rosa Potiche with Margarita Chique, daughter of Gernomio Chique and Guadalupe Maocha (sp?), Indians of the Pueblo of Pojoaque, witnesses: Santiago Domingo and Juana Belasa, both of the Pueblo of Tesuque. [FHL #16870, pg. 2]

Jose Vicente Valdez - Last Will and Testament

In a document dated July 13, 1865 in the Santa Fe County Wills Books, pgs. 246-248, Jose Vicente Valdez is writing his will. He states he was married and veiled to Maria Guadalupe Ortiz and they did not have any children. His wife brought nothing to the marriage, but she later inherited property and land from Matias Ortiz. He mentions his adopted daughter, Maria de la Paz Valdez. He names as guardian, Maria Rufina Martinez, her mother, to manage the estate she is being given. Jose Vicente names Ramon Sena and Rufina Martinez as his executors, with witnesses as Vicente Romero, Juan Cristobal Romero and he signs his name.

© Henrietta M. Christmas

Maria Franicsca Herrera - Last Will & Testament

In an undated document in the Santa Fe County Will and Probate Books (film), there is a last testament done by Maria Francisca Herrera from this county of Santa Fe. The prior notation is dated October 1863. She goes onto tell us that she was married for 55 years to Pablo Ortega and they had the following children: Blas, Pablo, Petrona, Santiago, Guadalupe, Soledad, Francisca, Jose de Esquipula, deceased, in that order.

Her executors are Miguel Ortega and Maria Guadalupe, her daughter, signed by the witnesses who were Francisco Herrera, Rafael Martin, Ramon Balencia, Florentino Salazar.

San Miguel del Bado in the 18th Century

In the latest New Mexico Historical Review, there is a wonderful article on San Miguel and San Jose del Vado, written by Thomas C. Windes. One item is a good map showing some of the small towns that no longer exist, such as Garanbulo. Mr. Windes also gives a great overview of the history, photos of the church, mapping of the plaza at San Miguel and San Jose; and what the archeological findings. Some tree rings date back to the late 1780's and might have come from Pecos. [Fall 2011 86:4, pgs. 461-489]

He goes on to explain the migration, trade and how the people lived. Their interactions with Indians and population changes. I will be rereading this over several times, just to see how my family fits into this story.

The article itself fits in nicely with what John Kessell wrote in his Kiva, Cross and Crown. Taking the text from here, it seems that there might be some additional data about these two villages that could be useful to genealogists. I hightly recommend reading this article if you have any ancestry that passed or lived in this area.

Pojoaque, NM - Marriages 1779

In an effort to get my office and desk cleaned off, here's a couple more of the marriages that I'd like to share. I'm trying to digitize as much material as I can, which is going to take quite a bit of time.

On 2 November 1779, Married and veiled, Juan Chio, Indian of this Pueblo of Pujuaque, legitimate son of Joseph and Mariana, both deceased, with Juana Romero, single, genizara, legitimate daughter of Juan Luis Romero and Teresa. Witnesses were: Antonio, el Governador, Joseph Manuel, and others from the Pueblo.

On 6 April 1780, I married with dispensation, Cristobal Marcelino Archuleta, español and resident of this jurisdiction, legitimate son of Ylario Archuleta and of Antonia Ontiveros, with Josepha Antonia Gallego, widow of Joseph Torres, and resident of this jurisdiction of Pojoaque, legitimate daughter of Xptobal Gallego and Prudencia Gomes del Castillo. Witnesses: Xptobal Truxillo, Don Matheo Roibal and Diego Duran. [FHL Film #16870]

Irish Ancestry in New Mexico

Many of our Civil War soldiers who came out west, decided they would stay in NM and so they did and they got married and so on. I've been trying to research a Gerard Stack from Hacker's Creek, West Virginia for some time now and we've hit some adobe walls. Recently at the Salt Lake Christmas Tour, I found out that the www.rootsireland.ie have opened up their church records for free. I was very impressed and found that there are some 54 Gerard Stack's. One of them has to be ours.

The second best place to find material on Ireland is at www.familysearch.org. Go to Europe and then Ireland, there are a bunch of free databases and they keep adding to them. I keep checking this one about one a month.

Good luck hunting the Irish.

1940 Census Out on April 2 - Administrator for New Mexico

Well having just come back from a week long trip to Salt Lake, mainly to take some classes and do research. The 1940 census was the biggest buzz everyone was talking about. Many states have huge numbers of people lined up to start indexing. Family Search has asked me to be the New Mexico Administrator to spearhead the indexing. I think this is going to be fun. I hope to do the Trementina indexing and possibly La Liendre. So if anyone who has a hometown in New Mexico would like to participate in this project, pick your town and let me know.

Antonio Cordova marries Rosalia Romero, Pojoaque, NM - 1779

The first Pojoaque marriage entry dated February 9, 1779, Antonio Cordova, español, single, resident of la Cañada, legitimate son of Gregorio Cordova and Barbara Valdez, with Rosalia Romero, single, española and resident of this jurisdiction of Pujuaque, legitimate daughter of Joseph Romero and Nicolasa Truxillo, witnesses were, Bartholome Truxillo, Francisco Gonzales, Juan Ortiz and others from this pueblo [FHL #16870, first entry].

Santa Cruz, NM - Church

One of the earliest churches that my ancestors attended was the one at Santa Cruz de la Cañada, a bit north of Santa Fe. I took the photo in Sept 2006 for a gathering of Quintana's.

Anyone in the area should stop by just to see this beautiful altar screen. Tradition stands that most people were buried in the floor of the churches in colonial New Mexico. When I'm there I like to think that my ancestors were able to attend mass, get baptized, married and be buried all in the same place.

Catalina Bernal Griego

As we are nearing the end of 2011, I decided to see how many ancestors I had that might have been born in 1611, 400 years ago. One such lady is Catalina Bernal Griego who married Juan Duran. Little information is known exactly where she was born, but my best guess would be in Santa Fe. She is one of eight known siblings to Juan Griego (Greece) and Pascuala Bernal. Catalina's parents are my 11th great grandparents.

New Mexico will be celebrating their 100th Birthday of Statehood next year (2012). A good time to see how many of our ancestors would even think of celebrating their 100th birthday.

Blas Roybal Will, Santa Fe, NM

Interesting information can be found on our ancestors if we take the time to drive to our local county office or archive center. During a recent trip to Santa Fe to look at some old Probate and Will books (also filmed), I found a partial will recorded for Blas Roybal in Book C, pg. 3. Pages 4-13 are missing, but with one page we find the following. He's ill, but of sound mind and judgement. He was married to Feliciana Rodriguez for the span of more than forty years and during which time they had these children - Ygnacio, Guadalupe and Benito who he recognizes as his legitimate heirs.

From other records we know he was married December 12, 1823 in Santa Fe. He is the son of Miguel Roybal and Maria Antonia Gonzales; his wife is the daughter of Ysidro Antonio Rodriguez and Maria de la Luz Fernandez (my ancestors). This will was dated July 15, 1862. Blas was born about 1801, making him almost 61 when he made this will prior to his death.

He goes on at the end to mention the clothes, the house should not be divided until Feliciana passes and then half should go to his daughter Guadalupe. The two sons, Ygnacio and Benito each get one pistol. Just from the length of the will (pages missing), it appears that Blas was a wealthy man. Citation for the will would be "Santa Fe County, NM, Probate and Will Book C, pages 3, 14, 15."

Evidence For Marriages in the Military Orders

Found another book loosely translated as Evidence for marriage contracts in the Orders of Calatrava, Alcantara y Montesa, by Maria Angeles Perez Castaneda y Maria Dolores Couto de Leon. The Orden de Calatrava, pg. 36 has a citation for Casteneda and Miera, pg. 96 under Miera they have the following: Victoria Castaneda Gutierrez de la Arena Miera, Selaya 1707; with her parents as Juan Jose de Miera Castaneda and Jacinta Gutierrez de la Arena and so that she can marry with Fernando Manuel Gonzalez de Castaneda. The book doesn't tell us where these records come from, but a good possibility is the National Library in Madrid. Possible leads for Miera, Arce, Castaneda families in Santander.

Roybal & Fariña

In Salt Lake, at the Family History Library, I decided to study a book titled Blasones y Linajes de Galicia, in four volumes, the area of Galicia. Volume II, has the Fariña name and the one that stands out is the one bolded "Los de la Casa de Buzaca" - This is important as Ygnacio Roybal's mother Elena Cruz, is from this Fariña line.

D. Domingo Fariña fue secretario del S. O., t.p.h.a. (tuvo por hijos):
4. D^a Dominga Fariña que se caso D. Antonio Ruoibal.

From that I went to the section in Volume IV called Ruibal. It states there that the family is from Tuy, and they derive from the family of Don Pedro Regalado de Silva Ruibal (o Ruybal). This appears to be a later family than Pedro Roybal Torrado, and they use the Silva Ruibal quite often. All this information needs to be studied further in order to tie them to Pedro Roybal Torrado and Elena de la Cruz.

Welcome to 1598 New Mexico

Juan de Oñate and a number of soldier settlers and some of their families, came to New Mexico in 1598. I descend from eleven of these families. In the interest of finding out more about my ancestors, I have tried to investigate each family genealogically in order to see how they lived, what church they attended and if they were buried, what cemetery they might have been buried at.

I also enjoy history and do quite a bit of historical research that pertains to New Mexico from 1598-1821; at times I work past 1821 to Statehood of 1912. Ive also researched some incredible women in my ancestry, they have left significant legacies in New Mexico and I love to share their stories.

I've been lucky to have soldiers in my life. I give them all, a bunch of credit for serving their country and because of them, I do quite a bit of colonial military research using New Mexico records.

Thanks for visiting 1598 New Mexico.