Support Genealogy Center when Purchasing Books at Amazon.com

A message from the Genealogy Center at the Albuquerque/ Bernalillo County Libraries:

"A special thanks to those of you who have been placing your Amazon.com orders using the buttons on the New Mexico Genealogical Society and Albuquerque Genealogical Society web-sites. Thanks to you we have been able to order over $720 of new books for the Genealogy Center this year through Amazon.com. We really appreciate your support! Access your Amazon account using the Amazon Books button on the NMGS web-site or the AGS web-site and the Genealogy Center will receive a gift certificate based on a percentage of your purchases. www.nmgs.org or http://abqgen.swnet.com/spl-lib.html What a practical way to support genealogy research in New Mexico without any additional cost to you."

November 2013 NMGS Program

November 2013 Program

The Community Room
   in the Lower Level of
The Albuquerque Main Library
501 Copper Street
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(on the northwest corner of 5th and Copper)

(Click here to view map.)

November 16, 2013, 2013
10:30 am
 

The New Mexico Genealogical Society

Presents

 Conducting Research Online and In-Person at the UNM Center for Southwest Research

by

Nancy Brown-Martinez
and
Ann Mossman

of the University Libraries, University of New Mexico

The Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections (CSWR) is located in Zimmerman Library on the UNM main campus. It maintains a wealth of library and archival collections documenting the people and communities of New Mexico, and the greater Southwest borderlands region. The CSWR's resources are open to all, so come find out the latest digital, library and archives sources of use for your research.

Access information about CSWR collections via LIBROS (libros.unm.edu) and RockyMountain Online Archive (rmoa.unm.edu). Many digital collections from the CSWR and museums across the state can be found at New Mexico Digital Collections (econtent.unm.edu).

This program is free and open to the public.

Questions? Call (505) 848-1376 or email info@nmgs.org.

October 19, 2013 NMGS Program

October 2013 Program

The Community Room
   in the Lower Level of
The Albuquerque Main Library
501 Copper Street
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(on the northwest corner of 5th and Copper)

(Click here to view map.)

Saturday, October 19, 2013
10:30 am

The New Mexico Genealogical Society

Presents

Paleography and How Spanish Documents Can Unlock Family History

by

Robert Martinez

Assistant State Historian

Paleography is the study of ancient writings and inscriptions, including their dating and cultural context. Learning how to use old Spanish documents can help to fill in important details about the lives of your ancestors.

These records are found in the Spanish Archives of NewMexico, Series I and II, as well as in many additional collections housed at the New Mexico State Archives in Santa Fe and other locations around our State.

Robert will also discuss period customs.

This program is free and open to the public.

Questions? Call (505) 848-1376 or email info@nmgs.org.

Looking for my ancestry through DNA

Recently, I paid for the Family Finder DNA analysis. On August 30th, I received my results.

According to FamilyTreeDNA.com, I am 43.15% European (+/- 13.31%); 19.04% Native American (+/- 0.96%); and 37.81% Middle Eastern (+/- 12.37%.) The European is identified as defined as Finnish/Russian, the Native American (Central American) as Mayan and the Middle Eastern as Jewish.

Now, knowing about my ancestry, the thing that was most confusing was the Russian/Finnish connection. I know that I'm 1/16th Swiss and 1/16th German/French. But Russian/Finnish doesn't fit. Also the fact that I have such a high Middle Eastern percentage seemed a bit much. As far as the latter, a high Middle Eastern percentage might mean that I have "recent" Middle Eastern ancestors (within hundred of years), but might also mean that I have Irish - or more accurately, Celtic ancestors. (Click on this link for more information.) Having Celtic ancestors makes sense. There were many Celts in Spain.

So, in order to find out more information about my DNA, I had an expert Dr. J. Douglas McDonald analyze my raw data. This is what he found:

" the automatic fit is saying you are Finnish, which is very rare in Latin Americans of any sort. So I did a more reliable custom fit (including it) and get 

       Irish 0.3337        Spain 0.2426     Moroccan 0.0925     Georgian 0.1367         Maya 0.1945 or

     English 0.5068        Spain 0.0475     Moroccan 0.1118     Georgian 0.1389         Maya 0.1950 or

     English 0.5447    Sephardic 0.0052     Moroccan 0.1166     Georgian 0.1393         Maya 0.1942 or

     English 0.5461     Moroccan 0.1174     Georgian 0.1378     Armenian 0.0045         Maya 0.1942 or

     English 0.5439      Italian 0.0035     Moroccan 0.1176     Georgian 0.1408         Maya 0.1942 or

     English 0.5465       Jewish 0.0002     Moroccan 0.1179     Georgian 0.1412         Maya 0.1942 or

       Irish 0.3845      Italian 0.1964     Moroccan 0.1053     Georgian 0.1205         Maya 0.1932 or

       Spain 0.4676      Finland 0.1570     Moroccan 0.0616     Georgian 0.1205         Maya 0.1933 or

       Irish 0.2570       French 0.3053     Moroccan 0.1109     Georgian 0.1338         Maya 0.1931

which is much more reasonable. The Caucusus is a bit odd: it could be real or just representing something Italian/Mediterranean/Balkan/Ukrainian. "

 

Having ancestry from the Caucuses seems a little odd to me, too. Could it be the fact that I have a 2nd great grandfather who was Swiss and another who was either German or French? Maybe. Maybe I have a few ancestors coming in through (Russian) Georgia and Armenia who made their home in the German states.

The English and Irish I assume has to do with my Celtic ancestry. The Moroccan could be from Moors who came into Spain. And, of course, I have some Sephardic Jewish blood.

The Mayan just means that I have Native American ancestry from North of Panama. This, of course makes a lot of sense. When Spaniards came to the New World, they didn't bring many women. Therefore, they mated with Native women.

I still have a lot of questions about my ancestry, but much of this makes sense.

Descendants of Petronila Garcia Jurado, Matricarch of the Rio Abajo

Yesterday, September 21, 2013, I gave a presentation for the New Mexico Genealogical Society on one of my ancestors, Petronila Garcia Jurado. She was the only daughter of Ramon Garcia Jurado and Juana Antonia de Espindola y de las Heras. She married Juan Antonio Baca, the son of Manuel Baca and Maria de Salazar.

Her life history is interesting. After her husband died, she became part of a months long battle over her husband's estate. I'm not going to give the details - I'll do that when I finally publish the article - but I will tell you that it is fascinating. As part of my presentation, I handed out a list of Petronila's descendants. That list is in the PDF file below.

 

Although I am pretty confident in my research abilities, I warn the reader to only use this information as clues to your own genealogy. Don't copy it wholesale on to your databases, or use it as "proof" for your genealogy. One reason is that I don't include the sources. The second is that this document does not include exact dates, or places.

Keep an eye out for the article. I hope to publish it by next year. It will be co-authored by Patricia Sanchez Rau, who provided me with a translation of a document that I used for the article.

Robert Baca

Census Records are Free at MyHeritage.com Labor Day Weekend, 2013

Census records are free to view at MyHeritage.com, Labor Day weekend (August 30th through September 2nd!) Click on this LINK to check them out.

Maria Hurtado 1725 Will

Maria Hurtado was my dad's eighth great-grandmother, among many other relationships to both of my parents. Henrietta M. Christmas transcribed and published Maria Hurtado's will on her blog:

1598 New Mexico: Maria Hurtado ~ Will 1725: I declare that I was married according to the Rite of our mother, the Catholic Church for a period of forty-six years, more or less to...

The relationship is this: Maria Hurtado, Juana Montoya, Maria Estela Palamino Rendon, Luis Felipe Rivera, Ana Maria Rivera, Jose Francisco Sena, Concepcion Sena, Maria Rita Luna, Juan B. Cabeza de Baca y Luna, Robert Bourguignon Baca, Robert Carlos Baca.

September 21, 2013 NMGS Program

The Auditorium

On the Lower Level of

The Albuquerque Main Library

501 Copper SW

Albuquerque, New Mexico

(on the northwest corner of 5^th and Copper)

Saturday, September 21, 2013

10:30 AM – Noon

The New Mexico Genealogical Society

Presents

Robert J. C. Baca

“Petronila Garcia Jurado:

Matriarch of the Rio Abajo”

 

Genealogy and history can sometimes be messy; and the most interesting stories are the messiest. Petronila Garcia Jurado was a daughter of a prominent family which came to New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt to re-establish the Spanish kingdom. She married into the old Baca clan, and began raising a family. After her husband’s death, she had to fight her in-laws over her children’s inheritance. Later, she had another child who carried the Baca name - two years after the death of her husband Juan Antonio Baca.

Using a Spanish document recently translated by genealogist Patricia Sanchez Rau and filling in the details with other research, Robert Baca paints the portrait of a complex and daring woman. He follows her family through the Rio Abajo, or the lower river, district of New Mexico. He tells the story of the Baca, Torres and Garcia Jurado families of Belen and Socorro.

Robert J.C. Baca is the president of the New Mexico Genealogical Society. He has been researching his Rio Abajo roots for over a dozen years. He has presented for the New Mexico Genealogical Society, the Historical Society of New Mexico, the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico (presented on his behalf in his absence), and other organizations. He and his wife Nancy reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For more information about our programs, check out the New Mexico Genealogical Society’s website at www.nmgs.org.

This program is free and open to the public.

Silva Family reunion in Socorro ... last month.

Here's a link to an El Defensor Chieftain article about a Silva family reunion in Socorro: http://www.dchieftain.com/2013/08/01/family-reunion-celebrates-couple-married-in-1916.

I didn't attend, am not directly related to this family, and didn't know about it until someone posted the link on the NMGS Facebook page, but I thought I would share it with my readers.

By the way, did you know that I wrote an article about one of my Silva ancestors:

Robert J. C. Baca, "From Sabinal to Socorro: Descendants of Maria Clara Lorenza Silva, Born 1794", New Mexico Genealogist, 48 (March 2009), pages 39-43.

If you are interested in my article, you may order it from the NMGS webpage at www.nmgs.org

August 13, 2013 NMGS Program: Using Census Records

August 2013 Program

The Community Room
in the Lower Level of
The Albuquerque Main Library
501 Copper Street
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(on the northwest corner of 5th and Copper)

(Click here to view map.)

Saturday, August 17, 2013
10:30 AM

Please note that our programs are at a new location this year!

The New Mexico Genealogical Society

Presents

Henrietta Martinez Christmas

Independent New Mexico Historian and Genealogist

Using Census Records to Keep and Eye on Your Ancestors

Census records are an invaluable resource for keeping track of your ancestors. A census is a government record that appears every ten years that can help you find details you might otherwise miss in the normal sacramental records or land records. So let's step back in time every ten years and see what you can find that will add details to your family research.

Plus a Bonus -
Getting Ready for the upcoming HGRC Conference in August!!

A well respected and well-known genealogical and historical researcher, Henrietta M. Christmas has researched for over 35 years on a wide variety of subjects specializing in the rio arriba region of New Mexico. A native New Mexican, she descends from eleven soldiers who came to New Mexico with don Juan de Oñate in 1598.

This program is free and open to the public.

Questions? Call (505) 848-1376 or email info@nmgs.org.