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

The 2011 NM History Conference

On May 6th, I attended the 2011 New Mexico History Conference. This conference, which is put on annually by the Historical Society of New Mexico, was held this year in Ruidoso, NM. This was my first conference as an attendee and as a presenter.
I presented a paper that I wrote especially for the conference titled "Luis Maria Baca and the Socorro Land Grant Controversy". In the paper, I discussed the probability that a certain Luis Maria Baca of Lemitar forged Socorro grant papers in order to have the grant validated by the U.S. government. I looked into his possible motivation for why he would have forged the papers. Below is an excerpt from my presentation:

Luis Maria Baca certainly would be in a position to possess Governor Armijo’s documents. After marrying Ramona Armijo, the adopted daughter and heir of the governor, Luis himself took possession of Governor Armijo’s estate. It could be imagined that Luis had been sorting through the papers of the late governor when he came upon this important document. However, why did it take him so long to find it? He had been living in his father-in-law’s home for nearly a decade and a half.

Luis Maria Baca and his three brothers moved to Lemitar in the early 1850s. Although he had the same surname as many of the original settlers of Socorro, it does not appear that he was closely related to any of them. Many of the Socorro families came from the Belen area, while Luis’ family was from Peña Blanca. He possibly did not know any of the families before coming to Socorro area.

Luis Maria Baca and his brothers were the grandsons and heirs to Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca of Peña Blanca. Luis’ grandfather and namesake had once been given a half a million acre Spanish land grant in Northern New Mexico, but had abandoned the property due to Indian attacks. His heirs, who included scores of children and grandchildren, petitioned the United States government for land. The heirs received five 100,000 acre parcels of land that were spread through the territories and states of New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. It does not appear the Baca brothers of Lemitar received any of this land.

I intend to revise this paper for publication. The original presentation was 6 pages long, written for a 20 minute time limit. I want to include more information, as well as add citations. I will let the readers of my blog know when my paper is ready for publication and which journal has published it.

I was not able to go to many of the presentations, as I had arrived at 11 AM on Friday morning, and left 24 hours later. However, I was able to see the other two presenters who spoke about land grants, genealogist Henrietta Martinez Christmas and the state historian Dr. Rick Hendricks, and I also saw a presentation by Andres Armijo, the author of "Becoming a Part of My History". I also attended the awards banquet that night.

As I usually do, I purchased a few books. I bought the part II of "Sunshine and Shadows in New Mexico's Past: The Territorial Period". Nearly a year ago I purchased the Part II, which dealt with the Spanish Colonial and Mexican Periods. Both books were published by the Historical Socity of New Mexican and Rio Grande Books.

I also found two books that I've been looking for for a while. The first "The California Column of New Mexico" by Darlis Miller is about the 2,000 plus soldiers from California that arrived in New Mexico during the Civil War,and the 300 plus who stayed, married, had families and contributed to the culture and history of New Mexico. The second book is "The Territorial History of Socorro, New Mexico" by Bruce Ashcroft. This book is one of the few histories of my hometown.

I hope to attend the next New Mexico History Conference in 2012, which is to be in Santa Fe. That one will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of New Mexico as a state.

The Civil War in New Mexico

I found this link off of the New Mexico Culture Net, a site called "The Civil War in New Mexico". Items included on this site are soldiers and weapons, photos and sketches and essays and letters. There is also an extensive link section and a timeline. It's worth a look.

The New Mexico Culture Net itself is fantastic site. In the future I'll probably post other links from that site.

Link to the New Mexico Culture Net

Link to the Civil War in New Mexico

Elfego Baca Memorial Dedication May 24, 2008

I posted an article on the NMGS Blog about the dedication of the Elfego Baca Memorial in Reserve, New Mexico on May 24, 2008. For more information, check out this link.

Elfego Baca was a famous lawman from the Socorro, NM area. I am not closely related to him.

Bodies Exhumed from Ft. Craig Burial Site

An article published by the Associated Press may be interesting to anyone who has ancestors who served at Ft. Craig. This was an important frontier fort near Socorro, New Mexico during the middle and late 19th Century. A Civil War battle, the Battle of Velverde, was fought near Ft. Craig by soldiers from the fort.

Sixty-seven bodies were exhumed from a secluded cemetery. It appears that grave robbers stole dozens of bodies before archaeologists were able to remove the remaining bodies.

Personally, neither of my ancestors who served at the fort were buried there as they are buried elsewhere.

Follow this link to learn more about this excavation.

Medieval New Mexico Program at UNM

This notice was sent to me by Nancy Brown Martinez from the Center of Southwest Research, University of New Mexico Library.

UNM'S INSTITUTE for Medieval Studies hosts its 23rd Spring Lecture Series, "Medieval New Mexico: A Celebration of Tradition and Cultural Interaction in the Land of Enchantment," Monday, March 31-Thursday, April 3. The series includes six lectures and a concert. All sessions will take place in Woodward Hall room 101 on the main UNM campus. The event, supported by a grant from the New Mexico Humanities Council, is free and open to the public.

For more information, follow this link.

"New" Gurule Website

I just received an e-mail informing me that there is a new Gurule Family Website. Apparently, this one replaces the old Gurule website. I thought I would share it with you.

From the website:

Jacques Grolet, born about 1663, was the son of Yvon Grolet and Marie Odon. He was baptized at the Church of St. Jean in La Rochelle, France. He and two friends, Jean L’Archeveque and Pierre Meusnier, had been members of the ill-fated La Salle Expedition of 1685-1687. Grolet and L’Archeveque spent several years in the Indian nations of Texas, and five years later surrendered to the Spaniards who found them there. Later reunited with Meusnier, the three men spent two years imprisoned in Cadiz, Spain, until their release in 1692. The conditions of their release required they become Spanish citizens and return to New Spain. As was custom in those days with non-Spaniards, his name was changed to Santiago Gurulé. On 10 December 1699, he married Elena Gallegos in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

This website includes a lot of interesting information about the Gurule family, including DNA results of family members. Click on this link to find out more.

Thanks to Angela Lewis for notifying me about this website.

P.S.: I personally am not descended from Santiago Gurule.

Link

Socorro ... Texas

In 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted against the Spaniards of New Mexico. The Spaniards were forced out of New Mexico into the area of El Paso, Texas. Many communities were formed; some named after communities in New Mexico. Socorro del Sur was one of them.

The people who lived in Socorro at the time were mostly Piro Indians. These people followed the Spanish south. A mission was built in Socorro del Sur called Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de las Piros del Socorro [Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Piros of Socorro.] Here is a link to a historical marker at the site, as well as photos of the church. I found the marker on the Historical Marker Database.

I also found this site about the Piro Indians.

The Center for Land Grant Studies

I found this link while looking for something else. It is The Center for Land Grant Studies. From the site:

The Center for Land Grant Studies is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization devoted to research, education and distribution of books and other materials about the Southwest, with an emphasis on land and water rights issues of traditional communities in New Mexico. The Center focuses on Spanish and Mexican Land Grants made to Hispanics and Native Americans, as well as genealogical materials connected with the rural communities of New Mexico.

The site has a catalogue of books, manuscripts, genealogical materials, and other sources on New Mexico land grant studies. There is also a "preliminary" land grant database on the site.

Also on the site are notes from a Malcolm Ebright lecture on the essential elements of New Mexico land grants, and the complete text of The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , among other items of interest.

The Royal Road - El Camino Real

This Christmas, my family told me about the El Camino Real International Heritage Center. Being a history buff, I decided to find out more about it.

According to the museum's website:

El Camino Real International Heritage Center (ECRIHC) is one of New Mexico's newest State monuments, dedicated in November 2005. The Center contains award winning exhibits, interpretive learning center, and artifacts presenting the history and heritage of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro - the Royal Road to the Interior.

Spain and Mexico used the royal road to colonize and bring goods to New Mexico from 1598 until the late 1800s. You can find a short history of the trail here. Longer articles about the El Camino Real can be found on this page, including an article that mentions my great uncle Albert Zimmerly.

Although I haven't visited the museum yet, you can bet that I will in the near future. If you are in or around Socorro any time soon, use these directions to find the musuem.

Ghost Towns of New Mexico

Ghost Towns of New Mexico. Short articles, photos, links and books. Everything you want to know about ghost towns in this state. 'nuf said? It's part of a larger website: GhostTowns.com.