The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog

05 February 2012

Diego Antonio Sanchez and the Socorro Land Grant

I've been writing a three part article about the Socorro Land Grant that lists over 60 possible settlers of the grant. In 1818, the governor of New Mexico requested that citizens of the colony donate goods towards a war effort against the Navajos. In September 1818, Socorro residents signed up for this donation drive. Since Socorro was re-settled in either 1815 or 1816, this is the earliest known list of Socorro residents.

The first article was published in the September 2011 issue of the New Mexico Genealogist; the second article will be published in the March 2012 issue. I'm writing the third article which I hope to have published in the June 2012 issue.

Due to space, I only wrote a paragraph about each name on the list. Some of the people I've already written about in other articles, some of them are mentioned on this blog. However, I felt that I should at least profile one of the names in this blog.

I chose Diego Antonio Sanchez, who will be profiled in part three of the article.

According to a prenuptial investigation, it appears that Diego Antonio Sanchez married Maria Antonia Gallegos after December 31, 1805, probably in Belen. Diego Antonio was the son of the elder Diego Antonio Sanchez and Ana Maria Alvarez de Castillo; while Maria Antonia was the daughter of Anselmo Gallegos and Maria de la Cruz Silva. It appears that they had at least nine children between 1810 and 1823, mostly in the Belen area. They would have had to have moved to Socorro by 1818, and they had at least one child there.

Maria Antonia Gallegos died before 1833 when her husband was listed as a widower in the Socorro census of that year.

Below is how the family was enumerated in the 1833 census:

V(iudo) [widower] Diego Sanches  .... 52
                               Jose Sanches .... 23
                               Martina Sanches .... 19
                               Rita Sanches .... 17

In the 1845, Diego Antonio Sanchez is listed again:

V(iudo) Diego Sanches .... 60
Maria Martina .... 30
Maria Rita .... 20
Maria Sabina .... 5
Maria Petra .... 2

More information about the family can be found in documents I created for this post. Click on the links below. - Robert Baca

Diego Antonio Sanchez family

Diego Antonio Sanchez ancestors

P.S.: I'm not related directly to this family. Diego Antonio Sanchez is my fourth great granduncle.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

cool. Got any Brito or Leons in your database? Marie Brito at Facebook NMGS