A Summary of a Report to Congress Regarding the Cabeza de Baca Family

 I decided to summarize a report to the House of the Representatives, 1st Session of the 36th Congress, regarding the petition by the Heirs of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca. I read the entire report, but it found it a little daunting, so I used A.I. to help me summarize it. 

Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca was my fourth great-grandfather. His son Jose Mateo Mauricio (or simply Mateo) was my third great-grandfather. Mateo's son Martin was my 2nd great-grandfather. All three are mentioned in the summary.

Luis Maria was granted a large tract of land in 1821 in the area around present-day Las Vegas, New Mexico. Due to complications including revolutions, wars, regime change, and raids by Native American tribes, Luis Maria lost the land. Other families took possession of the land by 1835 and were issued title for the land. When the heirs of the deceased Luis Maria petitioned the government, they ended up getting up receiving 5 tracts, or "floats", of land in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Click on the following link by to an article about the Baca Floats in the American Surveyor website.

My summary is in the link below:

The Heirs of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca

Heirs of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca

A wealth of information, including the names of descendants of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca and the residents of Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1860, can be found in in U.S. House of Representatives Documents in Google Book.

It's fascinating. It includes testimony given by a number of New Mexicans.

My second great-grandfather Martin Baca is mentioned in the lawsuit as one of the sons of Mateo Baca, son of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca

From the document:

"To the Hon William Pelham surveyor general of the Territory of New Mexico under the act of Congress approved July 22 AD 1854 Your petitioners the surviving heirs at law of one Luis Cabeza de Baca deceased would respectfully state that on the 16th day of January 1821 the provincial deputation of the State of Durango granted to the ancestor of your petitioners Luis Cabeza de Baca a tract of land called the Las Vegas Grandes and which said grant was afterwards ratified by the provincial deputation of New Mexico and which said grant has for its boundaries the following landmarks to wit On the north the Chapellote river on the south the boundary of San Miguel del Bado on the east the Aguage de la Llegua and the boundary of Antonio Ortiz and on the west the summit of the Pecos mountains all of which will more fully appear by reference to the said grant now on file in the office of the surveyor general No 137 and the grant to Antonio Ortiz No 727 and the grant to San Miguel del Bado No 125 to all of which reference is hereby made Your petitioners further state that said lands marks and boundaries are well known and easily discovered but inasmuch as no survey of said lands has as yet ever been made the quantity of land included within said boundaries is unknown to your petitioners Your petitioners further state that it will appear by reference to said grant that it was made to the said Luis Cabeza de Baca and his male children and invested him and his male children with an absolute title to said lands."

Check out the link below:

Town of Las Vegas vs. Tomas Baca, et.al. 

Do We Descend from All of Our Ancestors? Apparently, Not!

One of my favorite YouTubers is Jarret Ross, the GeneaVlogger. In his series "Professional Genealogist Reacts," he reviews videos on genealogy, often focusing on DNA-related topics.

In a recent episode, he discusses Marcus Gallo's video "You Don't Descend from All of Your Ancestors." The key point is that we are not genetically related to most of our ancestors, especially those many generations back. Although we inherit a limited number of unique genes, we have an exponentially vast number of ancestors. For example, if you go back 15 generations, you have 32,768 ancestors, but only 1,112 DNA segments to distribute among them. This means that only about 3% of those ancestors contribute to your DNA at that generation. As Gallo explains, with each generation, the number of DNA segments increases arithmetically, while the number of ancestors increases exponentially.

(Side note: My rule of thumb is that with every 10 generations, the number of ancestors multiplies by over 1,000. For instance, the 10th generation has over 1,000 ancestors, the 20th generation has over a million, the 30th generation has over a billion, and by the 40th generation, you have over a trillion ancestors! To put this in perspective, my potential ancestor Charlemagne, born in A.D. 748, is about 40 generations back. He would be one of about a trillion ancestors in that generation. Of course, there weren't actually a trillion people living back then, so pedigree collapse definitely played a role.)

In the video, Jarret Ross not only highlights Gallo's insights but also adds his own analysis. Both vloggers explore essential concepts like Y-DNA, mt-DNA, and pedigree collapse. Jarret also recommends several websites and tools for conducting in-depth DNA research.

It's an excellent video. You should check it out!

Robert B. Baca Inducted into the 4th Degree in the K of C, 1940.

My grandfather Robert B. Baca received his 4th degree in the Knights of Columbus on June 9, 1940, in Albuquerque. My grandfather was one of the founders of the Socorro chapter of the K of C and was also a Grand Knight of the local chapter. The Socorro chapter of the K of C is named after him. 

Below is my transcription of the Albuquerque Journal story about his induction. 

K. of C. to Confer Fourth Degree

20 Candidates Here For Rites Today

A class of 20 candidates from Albuquerque and Santa Fe will be initiated into the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus at rites here Sunday.

The day's program will begin at 7 o'clock Sunday morning, when the class will meet in front of the Immaculate Conception Church rectory and will march to the church for Holy Communion. Initiation rites will be held at 1 o'clock at the K. or C. Hall. A banquet at 6:30 o'clock at El Fidel Hotel will complete the day's program.

Bishop Sidney M. Metzgar, auxiliary bishop of the Santa Fe archdiocese, will be among those to receive the degree, according to reports from Santa Fe, and the class has been named in his honor. He is scheduled to be the main speaker at the banquet in the evening. He is a member of the San Antonio, Tex., council. He is expected to return from San Antonio in time for the rites. 

Capt. E. G. Freeman, master will be charge of the ritualistic team and will be assisted by officers of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 

Other candidates for the degree are William A. Arias, Leo Robert Burwinkle, Robert B. Baca, Dr. Michael V. Berardinelli, John Francis Duffy, T. Fidel, the Rev. Francis Gleason, Louis A. Grandjean, Francis J. Gormley, Dr. V. A. Knott, Filberto E. Lucero, Rafael Lopez, John Henry Phelan, Leo F. Sanchez, Delfin Salazar, Sergio A. Viscoli, and Mony Persenti. 

Source: "Albuquerque Journal," database, Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com), K. of C. to Confer Fourth Degree, 9 June 1940, p. 6.

The Spanish Dialect Unique to New Mexico and Colorado

News correspondent Jeremy Jojola, who originally is from New Mexico, created this homage to New Mexican and Spanish language. He says that it's Northern New Mexico, but truthfully my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts spoke this dialect down in South in Socorro, NM. This language is so familiar to me, even I don't understand it completely. I wish I had recorded my parents and grandmothers when they were alive. 

One of the kids uses the term "queque" for "cake". This is funny, because my aunt uses the term "queque de jamón" when referring to a chocolate cake that she, my mom, and grandmother made for Christmas. The jamón probably referred to the lard that was put in the cake, as that term usually means "ham." It was very delicious, and had the consistency of something like banana-nut bread, which my mom also made.

Enjoy this video!

Cavernous Malformation and the Baca Family

There is a high incidence of Cavernous Malformation among Hispanic families in New Mexico, specifically among descendants of Cristobal Baca II and his son Manuel Baca. Manuel Baca was a progenitor of Baca families who returned to New Mexico in 1693 after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

This genetic mutation can cause brain hemorrhaging among many other symptoms. Obviously, this can be a life altering and life threatening condition.

CCM1, the Common Hispanic Mutation , does not skip generations, and children of those who are affected have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the disease. 

Estimates are that there are 5 million descendants of the Baca family, and that anyone who has 7 generations of New Mexican (Hispanic) ancestry are probably descendants of the Baca family. Among the ancestors identified as probable carriers of the illness are two children of Manuel Baca,  (Maria) Josefa Baca and Cristobal Baca III. Cristobal Baca III has the most  descendants identified as affected by the disease. In addition, half of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca 23 children inherited the disease. He was the grandson of Cristobal Baca III.

Both Josefa Baca and Cristobal Baca III are my ancestors multiple times and Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca is my 4th great-grandfather, along my paternal Baca surname line. 

I'm not by any definition an expert on this topic, but I felt I should share this information. If you are interested in finding out more about this illness, I suggest visiting the site Alliance for the Cure: Cavernous Malformation.

Sources for this post are in its textual links.

Video Link - "Santiago Torres: Early Settler of Socorro, New Mexico".

I posted a new video on The Socorro Genenealogist YouTube channel, Santiago Torres: Early Settler of Socorro, New Mexico.

Santiago Torres and his family arrived in Socorro around 1820. His descendants make up one of the two Torres families of the community. This video profiles one of his descendants in particular, Jose Crespin Torres. 

Torres Family Photos

This weekend, I attended the funeral for my dad's cousin Joe Torres who passed away on July 1st. His nephew Leon shared with me a couple of photographs from the wedding of Val Torres, Joe's brother. Val was married in 1960.

The married couple in the center were Val, born Ignacio Torres after his grandfather, and his bride Elizabeth Ann McCoy. Right behind Val is his brother Joe Torres, the tall man with the sheepish grin and front "Superman" curl. The older woman to the right of Elizabeth is Andrea (Montoya) Torres, Val and Joe's paternal grandmother, and my great-grandmother. Next to her is Joe and Val's father and mother Jose M. Torres, Sr. and Tomasita (Rivera) Torres - Jose has his right hand on his wife's shoulder, and his left hand on the bride's mother Rachel McCoy. On the very far left, holding the baby girl, is Joe's wife, Lori. I'm not sure who the other people in the photo are. It does not appear that my grandparents attended this wedding, nor did my parents, uncles or aunts. 
 

Here is a photo of the married couple again, with her maid of honor S. L.

Speaking of Joe Torres, here are some photos from Joe's memorial yesterday. There were two photo displays with his pictures, a folded flag, and a letter from the president commemorating his passing. I'm not showing all of the photos because they included living relatives such as his young great-grandchildren. The funeral occurred on Friday. His son, one of his daughters, and I all gave eulogies. Joe wasn't just my cousin, but he and his son were my employers. Joe helped me out when I needed a part-time job when I was going back to college. He was a great guy.

Temporary Separation - Philip Bourguignon and Maria Tomasa Gonzales

 In a previous post that I made years ago, I mentioned that I had a copy of a 1872 record that provided for a legal separation between my 2nd great-grandparents Philip Bourguignon and Maria Tomasa Gonzales. In the document, Philip Bourguignon was given full custody of their children. I found this document to be interesting, because the Bourguignons would have at least two children a decade later - one of them being my great-grandmother Carolina Bourguinon. So it was obvious that they did not divorce.

The document is in Spanish, and my ability to read Spanish is limited. I had asked for someone to translate it for me, and the late Francisco Sisneros had offered to do it for me. Unfortunately, at some point before I could get it translated, I lost my copy.

Well, I found it again on Ancestry! As such, I'm asking if someone would make a translation of the full document for me. Here is the link! If you do not have a subscirption to Ancestry, I can send you images instead. The document can be found on pages 143 to 146 of the book. 

Update 6/16/2022: Andres Armijo and I met over the phone yesterday and he helped me translate the document. It's very much boilerplate legal language, but it was still interesting to see the process that Philip Bourguignon used to gain custody of his children during his temporary separation from Maria Tomasa Gonzales. There is also a hint of a possible future separation or divoce proceeding in district court, which I need to search for to see if it actually occured.

When I publish an article about the family, I won't quote or publish a word-for-word translation of the documents. I took notes during my conversation with Andres, but we agreed that we didn't need to translate the entire series of documents. It's all standard wording, so I don't think that we needed that. Instead, I'll summarize the documents. There is some interesting genealogy that I can do with this by looking into the family trees of the various people mentioned in the documents - such as guarantors, justices of the peace and the probate judge.

The Socorro Genealogist YouTube Channel

Last year I launched my new YouTube Channel "The Socorro Genealogist". The purpose of this video blog is to teach genealogical research methods and give tips, as well as present some of my family tree research.

My most recent video is titled "New Mexican Genetic Genealogy, Part I: How I found my parents in my own DNA". In that video, I use a new feature from Ancestry.com that splits a person's DNA so that they can see how they inherited their genes seperately from each of their parents. I compare my DNA with that of my relatives in order to identify which side belongs to which parent. The feature is not able to identify which parent you inherit specific genes from; it just divides the genes into two parts, representing both parents.

I will be exploring DNA again in future videos as well looking at other types of genealogical research.

Please visit my video blog series at this link. When you are there, please subscribe and "like" my videos. I will be posting more video blogs in the weeks and months to come.