Jose Andres Martín (Andele)

This is a picture of Jose Andres Martín. Jose Andres Martín (Andele) was my great grand uncle. He was born November 13, 1855 in a place then called "Monton de Los Alamos". This is near present day Las Vegas, New Mexico. The information comes from the publication titled "Bautismos de Nuestra Sra. de Los Dolores, 1852 - 187". On page 210. This publication is published by the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico. His parents are listed as Juan Martin and Pabla Padilla. His godparents Jesus Gallegos and Dorotea Baca.

He was captured by the Apaches and eventually ended up as a Kiowa Captive.

Reference the book "Andele, the Mexican - Kiowa Captive, a Story of Real Life amongst the Indians" by J.J. Methvin. University of New Mexico Press, page 7. Jose Andres Martin(ez) AKA Andele, was kidnapped by the Apaches and traded to the Kiowas.

Early in 1867, Kiowa chief Many Bears paid a Mescalero Apache one mule, two buffalo robes and a red blanket to purchase Jose Andres Martinez. Abducted near his home in Valles de San Geronimo on October of 1866 he became Many Bears grandson, Andele. He quickly adapted to his new life and grew to manhood amongst the Kiowas, took part in Kiowa raiding parties and three times married Kiowa women.

Confined to a reservation in Oklahoma after 1875, Andele in the 1880's sought to reclaim his former life and returned to his family in Las Vegas, New Mexico. But in 1889, feeling "his interests were all identified with the Kiowa, and that he had learned to love them," he returned to the reservation and taught industrial arts at the agency school. He also aided the Kiowas in defence of their lands. In 1894 he served as interpreter and spokesman for a Kiowa, Comanche, Apache delegation to Washington D.C that argued against allotment of the reservation under the Daws act of 1887.

In the 1890's Andele began serving as a resource to a generation of anthropologists studying the Kiowa and Apache societies. His captive narrative published in 1899 is an invlauable eyewithess discription.

More Information can be found on pages 191 and 356 and 357 in the book Captives and Cousins, Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands by James F. Brooks and published by the University of North Carolina Press.