"History and Families of the Socorro Land Grant, Part I" Book Available November 3rd!

 If you follow me on Facebook, you may have learned that I'm publishing my book "History and Families of the Socorro Land Grant, Part I: The Baca Family and Their Descendants". It will be available on November 3rd on Amazon.com.

Below is an image of the proof copy of the book.

Last week I did a final edit of the book and submitted the final draft to Amazon. 

The book details the genealogies of 34 descendants of the Baca family who were among the founders of the Socorro Land Grant in 1815. These are not just people with the Baca surname, but also the Abeyta, Chaves, Gallegos, Garcia Jurado, Padilla, Sanchez, Tafoya, and Trujillo families, among others. The genealogies begin Cristobal Baca and Ana Ortiz, who arrived in New Mexico with their family in 1600, and continues another 8 generations. The descendant narratives extend into the 1800s, and in a few cases into the early 1900s. Additionally, I've included one other Baca family, the descendants of early Socorro settler Juan Dionisio Baca. He was not actually descended from the Baca family, but rather from Petronila Garcia Jurado and an unknown father. Juan Dionisio Baca was the ancestor of famed lawman Elfego Baca, New Mexico Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez, and many other Socorro residents.

Other sections of the book explore a brief history of the Socorro Land Grant, five-generation pedigree charts for each of my four grandparents, and a series of vignettes. These stories highlight the connections between the Torres and Baca families, the role of the Cabeza de Baca lineage in the Socorro Land Grant, the Montoya family as defenders of the grant, and the legacy of María Guadalupe Torres, a matriarch whose descendants include many prominent members of the García and Baca families of Socorro.

Lastly, within the descendant narrative, you will find transcriptions of census records, obituaries, and even short family histories. It's not just names and dates - I flesh out many of these families' stories.

The book is over 550 pages, with extensive citations, and a name index of over 3,000 people. I have been researching my family for over 25 years, which includes many founders of the land grant. You will find this book to be the most extensive Socorro Hispanic family history, and I'm just beginning! There are another 31 founders who I will profile in subsequent volumes. 

When it is released, it'll look a little different from my proof copy: it'll have a green cover! The cost is $50, which is a bargain for a genealogy like this. If you are interested in New Mexico genealogy and history, you'll find this book to be just what you are looking for!

Baptismal Record for Maria Andrea Trujillo

Today I found the baptismal record for my 2nd great-grandmother, Maria Andrea Trujillo*. She is my last ancestor to have been born in Mexico. Her family emigrated to Mexico from Socorro in the 1850s after the United States incorporated New Mexico as a territory after the Mexican American War. They didn't stay in Mexico for very long, however they were they were there long enough for Maria Andrea to have been born there. 

She is listed as Maria Albina, however I'm pretty certain that this is her record. Other records indicate that she was born on December 8, 1855, which is close to December 8, 1854. 

I used an AI program on Evernote to do a transcription of the document. I then personally reviewed the image to find mistakes in the transcription and made edits. 

Click on the link below to find the image, transcription, translation, and source material.

Baptism of Maria Andrea (Albina) Trujillo Marquez

* I found a clue that directed me to the baptism in a Ancestry.com tree of my second cousin, once removed Maurine Pool. She is the woman who gave me information decades ago about my relatives Crespin Torres and Andreita Torres. She has done a lot of research into this Torres/Trujillo family that we share.