Video: Life and Death in Small Town New Mexico (Socorro County Historical Society)

 

On July 19, 2025, I made a presentation for the Socorro County Historical Society titled "Life and Death in Small Town New Mexico". I recorded a video of the presentation and posted it on my "Socorro Genealogist" YouTube station.

In my talk, I profiled four Socorro County 19th Century residents. Eutimio Montoya was a staunch defender of the Socorro Land Grant, taking the U.S. Government to court to fight for the grantees' rights. His father Estanislao Montoya was a brigadier general in the New Mexico militia during the Civil War, a businessowner, and a politician. Samuel Zimmerly was a California Column Civil War soldier and prominent miller in Park City. Samuel's wife Maria Pabla Torres was a descendant of an old New Mexico Spanish family, who ran her husband's business after his death and whose children started six prominent families in Socorro County.

I had a great audience that asked good questions and provided stories of their own during the presentation. I shared binders and folders of genealogy with members of the audience, and a few audience members shared their family history with me, too.

I very much appreciate the reception I received from the Socorro County Historical Society and their members. For more information about the society, click on this link.

To view the video, click on this link

Gonzales and Montoya Marriage Reveals Complex Relationship

On September 27, 1845, Jose Sebastian Gonzales married Maria Victoriana Montoya in the San Miguel Mission, Socorro, New Mexico. He was the legitimate son of (Jose) Manuel Gonzales and Margarita Montoya; she was the legitimate daughter of (Jose) Bauptista Montoya and Mariana (or Maria Antonia) Garcia. The screen shots of two separate pages in the San Miguel Mission marriage book shown below is the record of their marriage. 1. 

Recently, I found that the ThruLines (tm) program in Ancestry.com misidentified Maria Victoriana's parantage. It suggested that she was the daughter of Juan Montoya, my ancestor. However, she is actually the daughter of his brother Juan Bautista Montoya.

My ancestor Juan Montoya was married to Maria Manuela Garcia Jurado (among others.) He was the son of Antonio Montoya and Maria Guadalupe Salazar; she was the daughter of Francisco Xavier Garcia and Maria Josefa Sanchez. 2. 

On the other hand, Victoriana's parents are siblings of Juan Montoya and Maria Manuela Garcia Jurado. Juan Bautista Montoya was the son of Antonio Montoya and Maria Guadalupe Salazar. Mariana (or Maria Antonia) Garcia was the daughter of Francisco Xavier Garcia Jurado and Maria Josefa Sanchez. 3. In other words, two Montoya brothers with similar names married two Garcia Jurado sisters with similar names. 

As further proof, below are two separate census records from Socorro for the different families. Please note that Victoriana is listed in the Bautista Montoya family:

C(asado)* Juan MONTOYA ................... 39

                Maria Manuela GARCIA ........ 35

                Felipe ...................................... 11

                Pedro ........................................  7

                Juan de Jesus ............................ 4

* "Casado" means "married". 4. 

Bautista MONTOYA  ......................... 34

Mariana GARCIA ................................. 28

Victoriana ............................................... 13

Eugenia ....................................................  8

Casimira ...................................................  6

Maria Micaela ........................................  3 5.

Sources: 

1. "Microfilm # 16996," database of digital images, San Miguel Mission, Socorro, New Mexico, Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 19 March 2022), marriage record: Jose Sebastian Gonzales and Maria Victoriana Montoya, 27 September 1845, images 92 & 93.

2. This relationship is shown through their children's baptisms. For example: Juan Nepomuceno Montoya, born 14 March 1822. Source: Lila Armijo Pfeufer, Margaret Leonard Windham, and and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church: 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), p. 4.

3. This relationship is shown through ther chidlren's baptism. For example, the baptism of Victoriana Garcia herself. Source: Lila Armijo Pfeufer, Margaret Leonard Windham, and and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church: 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), p. 4.

4.  Teresa Ramirez Alief Jose Gonzales and Patrica Black Esterly, New Mexico Censuses of 1833 and 1845: Socorro and Surrounding Communities of the Rio Abajo (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1994), p. 4.

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

 

Zuni Pueblo Ancestor: Josefa de Hinojos, wife of Diego Montoya

Certain words and phrases in this article have links to articles and a video on the Internet. Click on the underlined words to review these site.

Josefa de Hinojos is a common ancestor of many New Mexicans. She was the wife of Diego Montoya, and had at least seven children. My research shows that I descend from her at least 22 times, with all four of my grandparents being descendants. 

In the prenuptial investigation of her descendants, Josefa de Hinojos is alleged to be a coyota of the Zuni people. A "coyota" was a woman of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry. She is also noted to be the sister of and Indian named Ventura.1.

DNA tests analyzed by the New Mexico Genealogical Society DNA Project Team has identified five Josefa de Hinojos's matrilineal descendants as being in the mtDNA Haplogroup C1b11, a Native American haplogroup. Researcher Miguel A. Torrez wrote that DNA research technology is not able to identify which specific tribe their ancestor is from. 2. 

New Mexican Hispanics will find that they most undoubtably have Native American Ancestry. When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they paired off with and had children with Native American women. Their descendants of mixed race came to New Mexico and mingled with various Pueblo tribes here. Captured native children, known as genizaros - sold to and raised by Spanish families - were freed and blended in with the growing mestizo population of New Mexico.

My ancestry includes all of these people. The paper trail frequently lists my forebears as  "mestizo", "indio" and "genizaro". My DNA results show from 18% (FamilyTreeDNA) to 23% (Ancestry.com) indigenous American blood. When I began understanding the true nature of my ancestry decades ago, I began celebrating the diversity of my family. This fact is not unique to me. The only uniqueness of my ancestry is that only my sisters and I have the specific combination of our pedigree. However, all Nuevo Mexicanos can tell this mestizo story.

In his presentation "Nuevomejicano Ancestors with Spanish & Indian Antecedants", Jose Antonio Esquibel profiles Josefa de Hinojos. I linked the video at the 8 minute, 46 second mark when he begins talking about Josefa. However, I suggest you rewind the video to the beginning. Earlier in the video, Esquibel explains how our mestizo ancestors helped negotiate with their Indian cousins to end the 17th Century Pueblo Revolt and allow the Spaniards to occupy New Mexico once again. There were definite close familial bonds between the Spanish and Pueblo residents of the Kingdom. 

Endnotes:

1. Fray Angelico Chavez, New Mexico Roots, Ltd.: A Demographic Perspective from genealogical, historical and geographic data found in the Diligencias Matrimoniales or Pre-Nuptial Investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. (Santa Fe, New Mexico: typescript, 1982), volume 2, p. 316. Prenuptial Investigation of Jose Vicente Duran y Chaves and Maria Concepcion Aragon.

2. Daria Celeste Landress, Henrietta Martinez Christmas, and Miguel A. Torrez, "Josefa de Hinojos: Colonial-period matriarch of New Mexico and Haplogroup C1b11," New Mexico Genealogist, 60 (March 2021): pp. 30-42.

Ancestor Birthday Blog - Andrea Montoya - November 30, 1883

 

Ignacio and Andrea (Montoya) Torres. Photo courtesy Edward Lujan.

Welcome to my mini-blog within a blog – The Ancestor Birthday Blog. On this blog, I will be posting short vignettes on my ancestors on their birthdays. Today is the genealogy of my great-grandmother Andreita (Montoya) Torres.

My great-grandmother Juana Andrea Montoya was born on November 30, 1883 in the Socorro, New Mexico area. Her parents were Jose Casmiro Montoya and Manuela Abeyta. Andreita (as most people called her) was the granddaughter of Juan Tomas Montoya and Ana Maria Estefana Perea and Jose Albino Abeyta and Maria Miguela Sanchez. Among her ancestors was Jose Tomas Candelaria, the maternal grandfather of her grandfather Albino Abeyta. Jose Tomas Candelaria was listed as a genizaro in the 1790 Spanish census of Alburquerque. A genizaro was an Indian usually kidnapped as a child who was raised in a Spanish household as a servant, and sometimes as family. Jose Tomas would have received his freedom before he married his wife Ana Maria Gallegos. According to family lore, my great-grandmother claimed to be part Apache, which is a possibility since her 2^nd great-grandfather was Native American.

Andreita Montoya married two men. Her first husband was Miguel Marquez. She married him on August 18, 1900 in Socorro. He was the son of Jose Apoloniar Antonio Marquez and Juana Maria Bartola Lucero. Andreita and Miguel had one child: Manuelita Marquez. Her first husband would have died before she married her second husband.

Andreita’s second husband was my great-grandfather Ignacio Torres. Andreita and Ignacio married on August 25, 1906 in Socorro. They had four children who lived past their childhood: Jose Manuel (born 1907), Maria Teresa (1912), Margaret (1917) and Anastacio Torres (1920). Another child, Adelarda Torres (1909) shows up in the 1910 census of the family. It is unknown who this child is; she does not show up in any other records.

Andrea's children: Manuelita Marquez (sitting), Jose Manuel Torres (standing on the right), Maria Teresa Torres (standing on the left) and Margaret Torres (baby on Manuelita's lap.)

Andreita’s second husband Ignacio was the son of Jose Crespin Torres and Maria Andrea Trujillo. Ignacio was born on October 25, 1875 in Socorro. He died on March 15, 1950.

Andreita passed away on July 9, 1974. Although I was 5 years old going on 6 when she died, I for some reason do not remember her at all.

Andrea Montoya and Ignacio Torres (sitting.) Children, clockwise from the right: Jose Manuel, Anastacio, Margaret and Maria Teresa. Photo courtesy Maurine Pool.

If anyone wishes to post stories about Andreita, feel free to post comments on this blog.

Source information available upon request.