Video: Don Pedro Antonio Baca, Ep. 1, "L&D in Small Town NM"

 

I began a new series on my "Socorro Genealogist" YouTube channel called, "Life and Death in Small Town New Mexico." 

This video is the first of a series of vignettes on people who lived in and surrounding Socorro, New Mexico. My first vignette is about Don Pedro Antonio Baca. I read from his obituary published in the November 12, 1887 “Socorro Bullion” newspaper. He was the husband of my 4th great grandmother Maria Guadalupe Torres, although he was not my direct ancestor. Maria Guadalupe’s first husband Francisco Antonio Garcia was my direct ancestor. This obituary gives a great insight into the history of the Socorro Land Grant, its founders, and late 19th century small town New Mexico history.

LINK

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

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!

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.

My Grandmothers and Charlemagne

In the past few years, genealogists have discovered a link between the Montes Vigil family of New Mexico and Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor. If this link is accurate, it allows many New Mexicans to trace their ancestry back 40+ generations. In my case, I can trace both of my grandmother through that line. I have not found a link for either of my grandfathers.

I used a website called "Beyond Origins of New Mexicans Families" to connect my ancestry to Charlemagne. This website is very reliable, and I trust its conclusions. Click on the link below to read the genealogy that leading researchers have developed. 

Montes Vigil Royal Lineage

I have created two charts that show the relationship between Charlemagne and my paternal grandmother Maria Teresa Torres and my maternal grandmother Maria Paublita Zimmerly. (You may need a Google account to access these charts.)

Relationship between Charlemagne and my paternal grandmother Maria Teresa Torres

Relationshiip between Charlemagne and my maternal grandmother Maria Paublita Zimmerly

Brent A. Cruz has done extensive research connecting the Montes Vigil line to Charlemagne and other notable ancestors and relatives. Click on this link to view his presentation to the GSHA on YouTube.