History is history, no matter what happened or whose fault it was. It happened!

Some folks gloss over the reason recorded history is what it is. The belief that "victors write the story". While that is common, it is not always true, not by a long shot. What is true is that the literate person with the means wrote history. The literate person with the means writes history. Not the illiterate person with all of the paper and ink in the world. The literate person with the means wrote it, writes it! The non literate person/persons/peoples were, and are, left on the sidelines unable to read what others wrote. That is a fact today and that was a fact in the past.

New Mexico history is a perfect case in point. The "original" history was written by the Spanish, next by the Americans and lately by anyone with a computer and a weblog. It does not matter if they are  Hispanic, Native American or some other genre of folks. The only thing about this, the good thing, is that current "historians" cannot really lie successfully. The original history that is being written about is very well documented, in several languages, but well documented non the less. If someone takes liberty with the truth, they are soon called on it. There may be interpretations, but that is the extent of the differences allowed in today's world.

Illiterate peoples have never written history, they will never write history. Not then, not now and not in the future. That is a fact of life that everyone must live with. The degree of literacy determines the degree of the historical narrative that a person or group writes. History, like time, rolls on. Someone may document it if they can, but it rolls on non the less. We, in the current time, can yell and scream about the history that has been written, but the only thing we can do is to highlight the error and document the truth.

And, this is a big AND, we do have hindsight now. We can correct the narrative by documenting the truth of what was written about in the past. And/or we can write about the past in a new light as documents are discovered about events in the past which no one had written before.

The bottom line is that you have to be able to write about it to leave a trail. A trail that can be looks at as new information is gathered. "Oral history" is a joke, a big funny joke. If that is what you will hang your hat on, good luck.

One other thing, be careful that what you write you can verify. If not you will be called on it. The documents you use as source material can be contested, but they are there. No more cowboy history! Please.....

Que paso con Maria Viviana Martín? Preguntas y mas preguntas?

Maria Viviana Martín was born on December 1, 1827 in Potrero, New Mexico in what is now Rio Arriba County, the daughter of  Bernardo Martín and Maria Apolonia Gutierrez. Viviana died the 27th of October in 1897 in Mora County, New Mexico, most probably in the area of current day Watrous, New Mexico where she lived with her family. She is listed in the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Federal Census at La Cueva, Mora County, New Mexico. Over time she lived with 3 seperate "Americano" men and had at least 7 children with them.

We need to keep in mind that this was the period when there were no non Hispanic or non Native American women in New Mexico. There were no American or what we would call "Anglo" women in the area then. So, if an American man wanted a woman, his choices were limited to what was available.

The first man she lived with and had children with was James Bonney, an Englishman, whom she ended up with in 1845 when she was 18 years old. James Bonney died about 1846. The second man was Daniel Eberle from Switzerland whom she met and moved in with in about 1848, Daniel died about 1855. The 3rd man was Friedrich (Frank) Metzgar from Prussia, whom she had a relationship with which started in 1856, Metzgar died about about 1885. So Maria Viviana outlived all three of them.

It seems like Maria Viviana never actually went through the process of marrying any of the fathers of her 7 children, anyway no record of any marriage has been found. This is odd on several levels.

1. In that time period 99.99% of New Mexican's were Catholic and usually ended up married by the church. Non of her relationships were relationships with benefit of marriage nor can any record be found of any baptisms of any of her children. Her parents were Catholic, she was baptized. Some of her decendants when they married, did so in the Catholic Church. So far as any of the records show.
2.  She ended up having children with 3 "Americanos", non of whom were from the Unites States. All of the fathers of the 7 children were "Americanos", there is no record of her having children with a local Hispanic or Native American.
3. She is always found in the U.S. Federal Census with her children but none of her "common law" husbands were ever enumerated with her and her family, their children. Did she actually live with them, or just fathered the children?

Living with men and having children with them, while not unheard of, was uncommon in those days in New Mexico. Add to that the fact that non Hispanic men were few in the province then and you have another riddle. Now if a person was looking for non Hispanic men, the area around La Junta (Watrous) was the place to be. This time period included the time just prior to the American occupation and was the height of use on the Santa Fe Trail. Commerce was hot and heavy then, especially at and near La Junta (Watrous).

The population of non New Mexicans was the highest in the area around La Junta de los Rios (Watrous). And her relationships started prior to Fort Union coming to the area. Loma Parda, if it was there, had not reached its heyday. That would happen after the military established Fort Union.

Did Maria Viviana move to the area with her parents, Bernardo Martín and his wife and her mother, Maria Apolonia Gutierrez? Or did she somehow make the move by herself? She probably moved with her parents as they both died in the area, Bernardo in 1869 and Apolonia in 1870. My guess is that she moved with her parents in their quest for work and or land in the pre American period, but when the Santa Fe trail was going full blast.

Anyway, she ended up living the rest of her life in the area adjacent to current day Watrous. And the questions remain, even current  family members have questions. No matter how you look at it, Maria Viviana Martín was a very unusual woman for her time, very unusual.

From Martin to Martinez and from Santa Fe to Raton. Hilario Martin(ez)

Hilario Martinez was born on the 14 of January in 1871 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his parents were Jose Santiago Martín and Maria Ynes de Escuipula Rodriguez. His  baptismal padrinos were Ginovevo Sandoval and Rosalia Martinez. Hilario probably used his mother's maiden name as his middle initial, hence the Hilario R. Martinez in later documents. The shift from using the last name of Martín to Martinez happened a lot in New Mexico in that period of time. Probably 95% of Martinez used to be Martín before the American occupation of New Mexico in 1846. My father was one of the few who stuck with the name and spelled it Martín. Even then, my brother and I were born Martín and my older sister was born Martinez, all to the same parents.

Hilario Martinez 1st married Teresa Sacoman in Las Vegas on June 15, 1902 and was enumerated in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census at Las Vegas Ward 3, San Miguel, New Mexico; Roll: T624_917; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0197; FHL microfilm: 1374930. Living with his wife and inlaws. Hilario R. Martinez and his wifeTeresa had been married 8 years and there were no children listed for the couple. It appears that Teresa passed away as she does not show up in any of the later census.

Hilario's age is consistent as we have followed him via the documents we have identified. It varies a few years on the census records but we are still very comfortable we are talking about the very same man. Census records are not very accurate when documenting age. Hilario had a younger brother by the name of Juan who is listed as living with him in 1920 in Raton. His brother was born in Santa Fe on the 5th of May in 1875, so he was a few years younger than Hilario.

Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Raton Ward 4, Colfax, New Mexico; Roll: T625_1075; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 38; Image: 193. Hilario is living with his brother Juan, and others, one named Martha, another name Zella Barnum and Zellas brother Albert Barnum. Living on Lopez Street in Raton, New Mexico. Lopez Street in Raton is 1 block east of Martinez Street.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Raton, Colfax, New Mexico; Roll: 1393; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0011; Image: 740.0; FHL microfilm: 2341128. Living on Martinez Street in Raton, New Mexico. Hilario (Dario) Martinez is living with his family consisting of his wife, now identified as Felicitas Martinez, and sons Santiago, Adolfo, Luis and a daughter Rosarita. He was employed as a deliveryman working for a "mine".

Hilario's 2nd wife Felicitas was born Felicitad Gonzales on February 21, 1893 in La Tablason, San Miguel County, New Mexico to Nicolas Gonzales and Victoriana Aragon. Her baptismal padrinos were Leandro Aragon y Chavez and Gregoria Cordova.

When Hilario R. Martinez and Felicitas Gonzales Martinez died has not been determined to date.

NOTE: Source material can be elaborated on if someone needs to know.

Snake oil salesmen and folks who need snake oil and how they relate to our Genealogy

Snake oil salesmen and folks who use their product(s) are made for each other. Snake oil salesmen used to be on every corner and now they are all over television and on the internet. And like religion, it seems that if snake oil salesmen are not selling something somewhere we go looking for them.

Genealogy is no different. Folks are looking for heroes and heroines, or some attachment to the king or queen or some illustrious person(s). And there are some of these in our trees, but for the most part not so much or in the distant dim past.

Or trying to erase folks who we prefer to not have as relatives or anywhere close to us in our "tree". It seems like rogues are ok 6-7 generations back, especially if they are famous rogues. Not so famous rogues are not so welcome. Trying to whitewash what these rogue relatives did is another example of dealing with them in our trees, maybe letting them be there, just not mentioning that they are there. There are some relatives who do not want to see who their relatives are rather than have someone there who is unsavory.

There is additional information in an older post, read about it further here. Or click on the page at the link below:

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2013/12/you-can-choose-your-friends-you-cannot.html

Anyway, snake oil salesmen have a keen understanding of human nature and figure out how to get us to buy their products. With genealogy, they do not have to hunt us down, we go looking for the products our selves, always searching for the connection to the hero and always trying to avoid the rogues.

Like I used to hear a long time ago "you soy quien soy, y no me paresco an nadie". I am who I am, and I do not look like anyone. In reality we are who we are, a conglomerate of all of our ancestors, the good, the bad and the ugly.

You Have To Read This By Former New Mexican Territorial Librarian Samuel Ellison

New Mexico Terr. Governor (1869 - 1871) William A Pile

The quote, bold and in red,  below comes from the New Mexico Historical Review, XIII (January, 1938), pages 10 and 11. This individual, Territorial Librarian, Samuel Ellison, is talking about the New Mexican Spanish and Mexican archives and the effort by then Governor William A. Pile to destroy and/or get rid of them. The governor mind you, not some ordinary vandal, the Governor of New Mexico. And we wonder if we New Mexicans have been wronged.

"Under the administration of William A. Pile many of the archives were sold to merchants and grocers for wrapping paper, and only about one fourth recovered... The deed of vandalism was found out the day after it was done, when some citizens met and appointed a committee who waited to see the governor and requested him to have the papers returned. Then he sent out the librarian Bond and had them brought back, a cartload of them, and dumped in the back room. Wendell Debus kept ordinary goods, Indian antiquities and pottery, He bought one lot for about $30.00, and had the money refunded to him, when he returned most of them, but not all. Others bought smaller portions. The governor was partly fool and partly knave... They were place in a room loosely and remained there with the chickens roosting on them and the drippings from the house falling on them till Governor Wallace employed Ellison to gather them up and place them in a room adjoining his parlor."

You can also find the quote at your local library on page xvii of the book "Crusaders of the Rio Grande" authored in 1942 by J. Manuel Espinosa, Asst. professor of history at Loyola University in Chicago and a member of the Royal Spanish Academy of History and published by the Institute of Jesuit History Publications.

This Is New Mexico

Taos blue doors, red chile ristras and varas de San Jose (hollyhocks) are classic New Mexico. The only thing missing are lirios (iris).

So here they are.

Genizaro's

Marc Simmons had a good article on these folks. Read it here:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/trail_dust/trail-dust-class-of-indians-once-called-genizaros-in-new/article_3a2e8e91-a2d1-594c-8429-95d69a22bdac.html

We most likely all have several Genizaros in our family trees.

Don Pino Va y Don Pino Viene

Don Pino va y don Pino viene, don Pino fue y don Pino vino. Qual era? Which was it? Does it matter? What it means literally is don Pino went and don Pino came. But what in reality it really meant is explained below.

What it means is "more of the same", same old, same old. Com se com sa. Nothing changes. Those were the sentiments of many New Mexicans during the Spanish and Mexican periods. There were changes, most of them administrative which had little or no impact on your average New Mexican.

There was no help from the government, Spanish or Mexican, none at all. New Mexico was a distant ignored island in both the Spanish empire and the Mexican nation. New Mexicans lived in virtual and literal isolation from 1598 until they took things into their own hands in the early and mid 1800's. First they allowed French trappers and traders into the province and next trappers and then traders from the United States.

It was the beginning of the end for the old order. The new would come rushing in and change everything in a relatively short time. The mold was cast early, whatever wealth there was in New Mexico now belonged to a few of the New Mexicans who understood the new system and to Americans who had changed the laws which New Mexicans had grown accustomed to operating under. The wealth had, for the most part, changed hands and the average New Mexican was left in poverty. Not that he was not used to it.

The saying comes from the trip that don Pedro Bautista Pino of Santa Fe undertook to Cadiz, Spain  after he was named as the New Mexican representative to the Spanish Cortes. He was selected at a meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico on August 1, 1819. His trip was meant to try and improve things by explaining to members of the Spanish Cortes how crude and neglected things were in New Mexico and how the Spanish crown might help.

Spain, as it was, could do nothing as it had it's own problems and the flag of Spain which had flown over New Mexico since 1598 was soon to be replaced by the flag of the new republic of Mexico.

Things did not change as a result of the change in administration from Spanish to Mexican, things changed because New Mexicans changed their policies as regards of trade. Trading with other nations. The Santa Fe Trail was soon to be a major highway between the United States and Mexico. Don Pedro Bautista Pino actually warned the Spanish Cortes of this as a danger to the province.

Don Pedro's words to the Cortes were " these official instructions will prove to your majesty the imminent danger  of these provinces' falling prey to our neighbors (the United States), thus leaving the other provinces to the same fate."

Don Pedro continued "I trust your majesty may become aware of this fact, because the purchase of Louisiana by the United States has opened the way for the Americans to arm and incite the wild Indians (Navajos, Apaches, Pawnees, Cheyenne etc. Pueblos, Kiowa and Comanches were allies of the Spanish) against us; also the way is open for the Americans to invade the province. Once the territory is lost, it will be impossible to recover."

More on New Mexican Slaves/Servants In The Spanish And Mexican Periods

A lot has been written on this subject, most of the writing has been very biased with authors allowing their personal, political and racial views creep into their writings. Add to this the obvious dislike of New Mexicans and the view one comes away with is distorted. Personal likes and dislikes should be left out of "history" books by "historians". Those personal views are best left to articles in magazines and web logs like this one.

Suffice it to say that the slave/servant institution did exist in the period in question in New Mexico. It seems like everyone living in the area was practicing it, New Mexicans, Indians as well as Americans living here at the time.

Some authors would have us believe that New Mexicans were the only ones doing this. That is not the case at all. Taking captives' was another part of warfare during the period. In new Mexico it seems every group, and I mean every group, was taking captives and using them as slaves/servants. The issue is complex and different than the institution of slavery in the southern states of the United States.

The links below are previous posts on here which alluded to captives/slaves/servants;

 http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2008/08/indians-navajos-in-new-mexican.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-became-of-jose-gutierrez-navajo.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2007/03/jose-andres-martn-andele.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2009/09/cautivos-y-cautivas.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2008/01/comanche-raid-on-la-cienega-new-mexico.html

Now an educated guess on my part. I would venture that if your family has roots in New Mexico, that predates the invasion and annexation of the area by the Americans, you have captives in your background. Hispanic New Mexicans and Pueblo Indians would have Native American captives from one or more of the wild tribes who practiced warfare against New Mexico and its Hispanic or Pueblo Indian populations. The wild tribes of the area, Apache, Comanche, Pawnee, Navajo and Ute would have Hispanic and Pueblo Indian captives in their backgrounds.

The taking of captives in warfare predates the Spanish in the area now called New Mexico. The Spanish were also used to taking captives. To the Spanish, in those days, if you were not Spanish and a Catholic you were fair game in war. In all reality the Spanish needed no further reason for the practice. They thought they were saving your soul, and as such it was permissible.

La Vida Dura de Maria Manuela Antonia Leyba

Maria Manuela Antonia Leyba was born in Santa Fe December 26, 1788 the daughter of the soldier Salvador Leyba and his wife Maria Francisca Lobato. She was baptized three (3) days later on the 29th of December at the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis Church by her padrino Alejandro Martín and madrina Teodora Marquez.


On December 21 1804, five (5)  days before he 16th birthdate, she married the soldier Ysidro Gutierrez at La Castrense, La Capilla de Nuestrs Senora de la Luz, the military chapel on the plaza in Santa Fe, the church having been named in honor of Our Lady of Light. The wedding party included witnesses Diego Padilla and Gregorio Escuerdo who were both associated some how with the church as both were witness' for many couples marrying during that period. As padrinos they had Miguel Tenorio and Gertrudis Tenorio. My guess is that Miguel and Gertrudis Tenorio were husband and wife and that Miguel was a soldier like Ysidro.

Ysidro and Maria Manuela had at least two (2)  children;

Jose Rafael Bartolo Gutierrez born in Santa Fe on August 20, 1806 and baptized 3 days later on August 26, 1806 at La Castrense, La Capilla de Nuestrs Senora de la Luz. The baptismal padrinos were Cresensio Bargas and Dorotea Bargas. Again I am guessing that the padrino and madrina were married and most likely Cresencio was a soldier like Ysidro.

Jose Rafael Bartolo Gutierres died as an infant barely eleven (11) months old on July of 1807 and was buried shortly there after on July 22, 1807.

Next, the by now very pregnant, Maria Manuela suffered another great loss, her husband Ysidro Gutierrez was killed by the Apaches en el Campo, "the field" on March 28, 1808 while on an expedition defending the area from Apache raiders. Maria Manuela did not even have the comfort of Ysidro receiving the sacraments, as his being killed in the field of battle far way from home precluded that. This dying with out being able to receive the sacraments were problems of the time and not unheard of, but very distressing for a Catholic wife at best.

On October 28, 1808, seven (7) months to the day after her husband was killed and again in Santa Fe, Maria Manuela had a second son and named him Rafael, in memory of his deceased brother. This naming children in honor of dead siblings was very common in colonial New Mexico. Rafael Gutierrez was baptized 3 days later on October 31, 1808 at La Castrense, La Capilla de Nuestrs Senora de la Luz by his padrino, a man named Jose Tafoya. Young Rafael did not have a madrina for some reason or another.

All of this happened to Maria Manuela before she reached her 20th birthday. She would celebrate her 20th birthdate as a widow and mother of her second son. It was probably not a date where there was any celebrating.

Life went on for Maria Manuela, she would have 3 additional children, all by unknown father(s). These children, two (2) sons and a daughter, were;

1. Juan Manuel Leyba born in Santa Fe April 19, 1811 and baptized two (2) days later at the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis church by Pablo Baldez and Josefa Padilla.
2. Maria Manuela Leyba born in Santa Fe December31, 1812 and baptized a day later on January 1, 1813 at the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis church by padrino Juan Diego Armijo and madrina Barbara Montoya.
3. On February 18, 1816 Maria Manuela gave birth to her last son, Salvador Josef Leyba who was baptized two (2) days later on the 20th at the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis church by Manuela's sister Josefa Leyba. Josefa adopted Salvador Josef then and there. The adoption was probably prearranged.

Maria Manuela herself died in June of 1818 and was buried shortly afterwards on June 9, 1918. She was not yet 30 years of age. Maria Manuela had a very difficult life by any standards.

Had it not been for family she would not have survived to the ripe old age of 29.

NOTE: We do know that Rafael Gutierrez, the second son of Maria Manuela Antonia Leyba and Ysidro Gutierrez, survived. He was married to Josefa de Herrera, the daughter of Tomas de Herrera and Apolonia Garcia on December, 8 1834 in Santa Fe.