The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog

14 March 2012

Hello sis, um... I mean "mom"

Recently, I've been researching the families of the Socorro Land Grant for an article I'm writing for the New Mexico Genealogist. As many genealogist have found out, small communities are often made up of small group of families. As such, brothers of one family often will marry the daughters of another family. Such is the case of the Tafoya family in Socorro in the early 1800s. However, one marriage made me take a second look at this family.

Anselmo Tafoya and Maria Rafaela Baca were among the early settlers of the Socorro Land Grant. They had at least 8 children; four boys and four girls. Two of their children were born in Belen before the Tafoyas came to Socorro in 1818, and the other six were born in Socorro.

Two of their sons were Felis and Vicente Tafoya. Felis married Dolores Apodaca, while Vicente married Serafina Apodaca. Both married their brides on 2 March 1851 at the San Miguel Mission in Socorro. Dolores and Serafina were both the daughters of Francisco Apodaca and Tomasa Barela.

On 1 June 1851, Felis and Vicente's youngest sister Maria Martina also got married. Her husband was none other than Francisco Apodaca, who was a widowed from Tomasa Barela! This made the young Maria Martina the mother-in-law of her brothers!

I haven't had a chance to research to see if Maria Martina had any children. If so, those children would be not only the nieces and nephews of Felis and Vicente, but also their sisters and brothers-in-law!

Sources:

Sanchez III, Joe, extractor. Edited by Antoinette Duran Silva, San Miguel del Socorro New Mexico Marriage Records 1821-1853 (Whittier, CA: Independently Published, 1999;), pp. 69, 70 and 71.

Alief, Teresa Ramirez, Jose Gonzales, and Patricia Black Esterly, transcribers, New Mexico Censuses of 1833 and 1845: Socorro and SurroundingCommunites of the Rio Abajo (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1994;), p. 5.

Extracted by Lila Armijo Pfeufer. Compiled by Margaret Leonard Windham and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms: Church of Our Lady of Belen 1810-1851 (New Mexico Genealogical Society. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1998;), pp. 33, 55, & 79.

Armijo Pfeufer, Lila, et al, extractors & compilers, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogy Society, 1998;), pp.24, 34, 50 & 65.

Robert J. C. Baca, "A List of Socorro Land Grant Families?" in The Baca/Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog, http://nmgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/list-of-socorro-grant-families.html, accessed 14 March 2012.

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