Click on the photo to make it larger. This group represents the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) gang stationed at Rowe, New Mexico in the late teens or early part of the 1920's. At least the time is a best guess by me.
Top row 1) Unknown, 2) Magdelano Ortiz, 3) Miguel Salmeron. Bottom row 1) Roman Benavidez, 2) Dick Valdez, 3) Unknown, 4) Jauquin Segura, 5) Esequil Archuleta, 6) Unknown, 7) Pablo Salmeron.
Roman Benavides (bottom, far left) was my maternal grandfather and he was the oldest of the gang here. All others were younger than him. All of these folks were the ones with the best jobs to be had there at the time. The Railroad came to Rowe in the 1880's and these gangs were common into the early 1960's.
Rowe was founded to provide labor for the railroad. Most of these folks or their fathers or grandfathers came from Las Ruedas. Las Ruedas was the community at the Pecos river and part of the Los Trigos Land Grant. Roman Benavidez married Ignacia Archuleta whose father, Juan de Jesus Archuleta, lived in Las Ruedas. Roman came from "El Gusano", now South San Isidro, further on down the Pecos River and part of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant.
The railroad provided the best jobs in the entire area. It allowed subsistance farmers along the river to transition to wage labor in the early part of the American period.
1 comment:
Very impressed with all of your research.
My name is Johnny Salmeron and I've been watching your blog for about 6 months or so.
Pablo Salmeron is my paternal great grandfather, my grandfather was Desiderio Salmeron.
I often wonder, what is the possibility that I may be a decendant of Fray Gerónimo de Zárate Salmerón.
The church of San Jose de los Jemez was founded by Fray Geronimo Zarate Salmeron in the winter of 1621-22 and he was the first to mention the "Navajo". It seems strangely coinsidential that the Salmeron name which is very rare in itself (even in this day and age) would show up in two places only 95 miles apart.
If not a direct decendant, it just seems there has to be a link.
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