My maternal Baca Family, part IV

This photo is of the Socorro County High School Freshman Class of 1928. Although I do not know which names go with whom, the following students are listed as Freshmen in 1925: Ramona Baca, Jennie Baca, Adrian Baca, Santiago Baca, Beltran Baca, David Chavez, William Crabtree, Mary Greenwald, Leonor Gallegos, Deluvino Gutierrez, Elizabeth Abernathy, Juan Jaramillo, Martha Medly, Juan Montoya, Alice Miera, Terresita Maez, Vera Owsley, Dale Reed, Elizabeth Torres, John Torres and Irene Vigil. I found this photo in the 1924-1925 Socorro County High School Yearbook.

I've known for a while that my maternal grandfather Santiago Baca had been a teacher at one time. The family story is that he and my grandmother Paublita Zimmerly met at a teacher school, became teachers, and later married. They did not continue teaching for very long. However, my grandfather always had a strong interest in education and was a school board member and school board president when my mother and her siblings were growing up.

In doing research for this series of articles, I found that in 1930, while Santiago was living in his father Rafael Baca's home in Luis Lopez, New Mexico, he was listed as a public school teacher. (Click on this link - look at dwelling 8, family 8, line 45.) He was only 21 years old. Assuming that Santiago graduated from high school in 1928, he would have only been out of school 2 years when he began teaching. The text that goes with the photo above, includes Santiago's hobby and favorite expression. His hobby was "Golden silence", while his favorite expression was "ditto", which may mean the expression above his, in which case it would be "I'll show you how", or it could just simply mean "ditto".

Santiago's cousin Jennie Baca was listed in her father Serito Baca's home. At 21 years old, she too had become a teacher (Click on this link - she is listed in dwelling 9, family 9, line 53. Her father is listed at the bottom of the previous page - line 50.) Jennie appears to be the same person named in the class of 1928 photo above. The yearbook states that her hobby is "modest" and that her favorite expression is "I think so too".

It's interesting that these two teachers would value silence and modesty. Sounds like good traits for their students, if not necessarily for themselves.

Santiago's 20 year old cousin Lupe (or Guadalupe) Baca, is listed in her father Max Baca's household in 1930 (Click on this link - she is listed in dwelling 1, family 1, line 4.) She, too, is listed as a public school teacher. I did not find her in the 1925 yearbook - probably because she was too young to have been in high school that year. Due to her age, she probably graduated in 1929 - which means that she became a teacher just one year after graduating high school!

It would be interesting to find out why these three became teachers. Forty-four year old Candelario Valenzuela is found in the same village as the three cousins (dwelling 6, family 6, line 36.) Was this teacher an inspiration to the three cousins?

All three cousins were neighbors in Luis Lopez, New Mexico, a village a few miles south of Socorro. All I know about Santiago's cousins is what I've stated here. It will be interesting to find more. I hope soon to find marriage records for Jennie and Lupe. If any of my readers know more about these family, please contacting me at abqbobcat@nmia.com.

Sources:

* Multiple households, 1930 U. S. census, population schedule, Socorro County, New Mexico, Village of Luis Lopez, district # 21, enumeration district 27-16, page 1A, retrieved 11 March 2010.; digital image, Footnote.com (www.footnote.com).

* Zerito Baca household, 1930 U. S. census, population schedule, Socorro, New Mexico, Village of Luis Lopez, district # 21, enumeration district 27-16, page 1B, dwelling 9, family 9, retrieved 11 March 2010.; digital image, Footnote.com (www.footnote.com).

* "El Miramontes", 1924-1925 Socorro County High School yearbook, published 1925.