Jose Leon Benavidez

Sometimes I get comments about my blog posts within a day or two of posting them. That's the case of my article "Descendants of Ramon Baca".

 

Ramon Baca was my 2nd great grandfather on my mother's side (my mom being a Baca, too.) I recently discovered an 1885 census record of Ramon's family, and I posted that on my blog. (Click here to read.)

 

I decided to revise the information that I had on Ramon's family, and I linked a descendant chart to my "Descendants of Ramon Baca" post.

 

One of the people that was mentioned in the chart was Jose Leon Benavidez. Jose Leon Benavidez was the father in-law of one of Ramon Baca's grandsons, Hilario Gonzales, Jr.

 

Larry , a distant cousin of mine, responded to my post:

 

“Jose Leon Benavidez is my dad's maternal grandfather. I used to visit him in Lemitar, NM. I remember going over to see him and he had a wagon in the back that I used to play on. He only spoke Spanish so I never spoke to him since I don't speak Spanish. He would just rock on his rocking chair on the porch while my dad would visit with him. He was very old as I remember.

“He had a daughter named Prescilla Benavidez who married Hilario Gonzales who I am named after ... Hilario Gonzales died when my dad was only 1 1/2 years old. My grandmother Prescilla never remarried. Jose Leon Benavidez told his sons that whoever took in Prescilla and took care of her would get his property. My great-uncle Julian Benavidez had just lost his wife so he took in Prescilla and her children. So my dad was raised by his Uncle Julian....

“However, Benavidez is not the family name. I believe Gomocindo Benavidez who is Jose Leon Benavidez's father was taken in by the Benavidez family because they were abandoned by their father whose last name was Rael. I don't know his first name.... So if you try to look up the Benavidez family tree you will have to look for a Rael also.”

 

Based on this information, Larry is my 3rd cousin. BUT WAIT, let me go back to an article I posted on 15 March 2010: "My Maternal Baca Family: Part II".  In that article, I wrote this:

 

"Coincidentally, the younger Hilario Gonzales was my paternal grandfather's 1st cousin through their mutual grandparents Philip Bourguignon and Tomasa Gonzales. That would make Hilario and Prescila's grandchildren my double third cousins."  

 

Therefore, Larry is my DOUBLE 3rd cousin.

 

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! In an email giving me permission to post his comments on this blog, Larry reminded me that he had a photo of my great-grandparents Estevan Zimmerly and Delfina Torres' wedding. He is also descended from Delfina's parents, Jose Epitacio Torres and Maria Guadalupe Padilla! So he's a fairly close cousin to me three times - once on my paternal grandfather's side (Philip Bourguignon), once on my matenal grandfather's side (Ramon Baca), and once on my maternal grandmother's side (Jose Epitacio Torres!) I'm not sure if he is a triple 3rd cousin, or a double 3rd cousin and also a 2nd cousin or 3rd cousin, once removed, but it's an interesting coincidence that he is related to me so many times within five generations of my family.

 

When I finally meet Larry, I wonder if we'll look a lot alike.