An aerial view of modern day South San Isidro courtesy of Google Earth. Click on the image to make it larger. The areas to the west and south of the village are those that were irrigated and planted as "milpas". Milpas were family plots or large gardens where folks grew their vegatables.El Gusano, now South San Isidro, on July 26, 1870 consisted of 13 families made up of 67 individuals, here is a snapshot of the community as provided by the 1870 territorial census compiled by Demetrio Perez. All of the Benavidez and Encinias listed in El Gusano, as well as some of the others, are relations of mine and were relatives of my maternal grandfather Roman Benavidez.
Only 3 of the residents could read and only 1 could write. Juan Andres Benavidez listed in the 1870 territorial census as 27 years old was actually 30, having been born the 6th of November of 1840, could read and write. Juan Andres was my maternal great grandfather. Pablo Encinias age 37 and his son Tiburcio age 14 are listed as being able to read, but not write.
Every male was listed as a farm laborer and the women for the most part were listed as housekeepers except for 1 washerwoman and 3 seamstresses. The men were probably tending farm fields along the Pecos River. El Gusano is on the river and a few acres can be irrigated. So the men were tending their own fields.
The washerwoman was Susana Garcia, age 25. The seamstresses were Manuela Garcia age 20 and her sister Teodora age 16 were sewing as was Catarina Garcia, age 15. Susana, Manuela and Teodora were all sisters and living with Marcelina Encinias, my maternal great great grandmother, and the other Garcia siblings. There were 3 males and 6 females in the family living with Marcelina. Marcelina was the widow of Camilo Garcia who died a couple of years previous.
Here are the heads of households.
1, Juan Cristoval Benavidez, my maternal great great grandfather.
2, Gregorio Benavidez was Juan Cristoval's brother.
3, Ponciano Benavidez was Juan Cristoval's brother also.
4, Cresencio Garcia.
5, Marcelina Encinias, my maternal great great grandmother and sister in law of Crecencio.
6, Pablo Encinias, Marcelinas brother and son of Tomas Encinias..
7, Tomas Encinias at age 97 living with his third wife and the father of Marcelina was my maternal great great great grandfather.
8, Tomasa Segura, married Jose Marcos Garcia and into the family.
9, Juan Garcia.
10, Simona Cordova listed as being 46 was in reality 44 as she was born on the 28th of October in 1826 in Pecos, New Mexico. She was the widow of Juan Ortiz. Listed as living with her was her grandson, Asencio Benavidez, a relative of mine and her son Trinidad Ortiz who would later marry into the family.
11, Domingo Archiveque married to Socorro Encinias, Marcelina's sister .
12, Antonio Encinias, son of Tomas Encinias and his third wife and half brother to Marcelina.
13, Jose Andres Mejia.
So just 1 of the families living there there seems to have no connection. But that is just a guess on my part.
6 comments:
i am translating the journal of lt. christian kribben, an officer of the german-american volunteers that marched with general (he got his commission the morning before) stephen watts kearney. kribben says that the evening of august 16, 1846, his artillery battalion camped at "gusana" after passing thru san miguel, but that the inhabitants had fled with all their possessions. capt. philip st. george cooke rejoined the army of the west there that night, telling them that armijo and salazar were waiting at apache cañon with 4500 men, two days march ahead.
[i am an amateur historian with a particular interest in occupation-era new mexico. this is the first time i have seen gusano identified as the campsite for any unit on august 16. it sounds like the 2000+ men were spread out all along the pecos, with the 225-man artillery battalion in gusano.]
I'm an Encinias. I believe my side if the Encinias' go back to Puerto de Luna and Santa Rosa. My great grandfather was Donaciano Encinias and his plot of land was New Mexico Land Patent # 0004010. This land was southeast if PDL. What I'm trying to find out is was this an original Spanish land grant.
@ Con Safos the Mad Bomber - Check out the site below, all of the Land Grants are listed there
http://nmahgp.genealogyvillage.com/new_mexico_land_grant_names.html
Hope that helps
My maternal grandfather was Max Benavidez and my maternal grandmother was Nestora (Mi Tova) Benavidez. My mother Rosalia Benavidez Lucero.
I grew up and raised my family in El Gusano, however I never listened very carefully to my mother when she spoke about our family.
Can you please provide genealogy information prior to my grandfather and grandmother.
My name is Ramon Lucero Jr who after my mother was Mayordomo of Our Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe mission in El Guasano for over 20 years.
@ Ramon Lucero Jr. Let me see what I can do. Give me a bit of time to figure it out. I will post it here. Leave an email if you can .
Thank you New Mexican. Thank you for taking the time to prepare and load all the information on Las Ruedas, El Gusano and other areas of Northern New Mexico culture and history. My email address is ramon.lucero@soudermiller.com
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