Looking for someone special in San Miguel County, New Mexico? North or South Isidro , San Jose, San Juan, San Miguel del Bado, Rowe, etc.?

I may have it... I May not, but I do have a lot of names in my files (15,000 plus) and the majority are from the San Miguel County in the period 1800 - 1950 or so. If you are looking for someone in particular just ask, I will see what I have.

Names include, but are not limited to, Archuleta, Benavidez, Ortiz, Tapia, Gutierrez, Ortega, Garcia. Am willing to help if you have the patience to wait a bit. Genealogy is a hobby for the most part, not doing it full time. We have been doing it for over 10 years so our boxes of information are many.

So give me a name by posting a response to the weblog and give me something to go on. Jose and Maria are very, very common names. Seems like every ones first name was either Jose or Maria, so a first name other than that.

The weblog has averaged between 50 and about 90 visitors a day in the last year, with most of them being from the United States. The few forigners visiting bump into it by searching and the rest by word of mouth. I have not advertised the URL as the material here is of limited interest to most.

Nuestra Familia and New Mexico History

The history of New Mexico since the settling of the area by don Juan de Onate in 1598 and the history of our New Mexican families are one and the same. And you have to remember that the New Mexico of today is a lot smaller than before the American occupation. The names of our ancestors show up every where, EVERY WHERE. The good, the bad and the ugly. Hard to sidestep any aspect of it. Our ancestors have been here involved in all aspect of life as they lived and died.

Our ancestors were there when all of the good deeds were accomplished. They were also there as the dirty deeds went down. That happens in history, and especially the history of New Mexican Hispanos whose ancestors were here when the American invasion took place and the Americans took over the reins of government..

Politics and Hispanos and New Mexican Hispanos, Some Thoughts

The biggest, and probably the only things we "Hispanos/Hispanics" living in the good ole U.S.A. have in common with each other is a tie, however small that tie is, to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) and the fact that we are citizens of the United States. We may share other things in common.... Maybe Catholicism, maybe the use of the Spanish language, maybe some aspects of a cultural tie. But the only real ties is that tenuous tie to Spain and our current citizenship.

 

Click on the highlighted words for a Wikipedia defination.

Some major politicians and both major political parties do not seem to get this. They appear to think of us as one big group. And we are not. No where close to being one big group. They seem to be looking for an "Hispanic" that will appeal to all of us. That will probably not happen. I recall Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor reminding New Mexicans she was not a Mexican, new or other wise, she identified herself as a Nuyorican. I can see where she was coming from. I can see that very clearly.

New Mexico Hispanics whose ancestors were here when the American occupation happened are, for the most part, mestizos with a unique history and culture.  415 years removed form the time our ancestors came to New Mexico from what was then New Spain (Mexico).  Almost 500 years removed from Spain. That is a long time when you stop to think about it.

We share a lot more with Mexicans from Mexico than we do with a Spanish Spaniard of today. Some would prefer otherwise, pero es asi como es. We have little in common with Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Ecuadoreans, Peruvians etc., etc.