Francisco Romero de Pedraza, born circa 1633-1635 in Santa Fe.

The second son of Matias Romero and dona Isabel de Pedraza was Francisco Romero de Pedraza, born circa 1633-1635 in Santa Fe.

My 3^rd Generation information is from the article

The Romero Family of Seventeen Century New Mexico Part 2

 by Jose Antonio Esquibel

The article in it’s entirety is in:

Herencia

The Quarterly Journal of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico

Volume 11 Issue 3 July 2003

In October 1660 his brother-in-law, Captain Juan Lucero de Godoy was planning to travel out of New Mexico and named Francisco in his place to serve as regidor (town councilman) of Santa Fe and as escudero of his encomiendas. Francisco formally accepted the appointment as escudero on October 21, 1660, in Santa Fe. At about age twenty- five or twenty-six, these appointments gave Francisco Romero de Pedraza the early experience of serving on the Santa Fe cabildo and committed him to providing the military service required of encomenderos in the absence of Lucero de Godoy for which Francisco would receive a share in the encomienda tributary. Francisco was apparently effective in demonstrating his leadership abilities and was appointed teniente alcalde of Santo Domingo, a post which he held in 1664.

Francisco Romero de Pedraza was referred to as "an Uncle of Lucia Gomez Robledo, daughter of Andres Gomez Robledo. Actually, Andres G6mez Robledo was Francisco's first cousin. This is an example of the Spanish custom of referring to the children of one's first cousin as niece or nephew. Francisco Romero de Pedraza sought and obtained the hand of Francisca Ramirez de Salazar in marriage. Her parents are still not known from surviving historical and genealogical records. The next accounts of Francisco Romero de Pedraza and his family begin Pueblo Indian uprising of August 1680, at which time he, his pregnant wife, and four children escaped and settled at El Paso del Norte. Prior to the uprising, this family resided in the Rio Abajo region from where they fled south to EI Paso del Norte with other families under the leadership of Captain Alonso Garcia.

             On August 14, 1680, four days following the attack of Pueblo Indians, the survivors of the Spanish settlements of the Rio Abajo region were camped at Isleta Pueblo where a general account of the recent traumatic events were recorded. The group then proceeded southward to the Pueblo of Socorro where they found the Pueblo Indians to be peaceful and apparently not privy to plans to attack the Spanish citizens as organized by the northern Pueblo people. Under the guidance of Captain Alonso Garcia, the various military leaders gave their opinion on the course of action to follow. Unsure of the fate of the citizens of the northern Spanish settlements, and being fearful of further attacks, the council of military leaders, including Francisco Romero
de Pedraza, agreed unanimously to seek a place of safety by traveling further south in retreat.
              On September 15, 1680, Francisco Romero de Pedraza was referred to as holding the military rank of captain when he presented himself in a weakened physical state for a muster roll of soldiers, declaring he was ill with chills and a fever, but resolved to perform his duties "in the royal service of both Majesties."

He gave his age as forty-seven (b.ca. 1633) and declared he possessed neither horse nor saddle, and his only weapons were his own sword, dagger, carbine
and a leather jacket. He signed the record, indicating he was a literate person. Nine days later on September 24th, he was identified as a settler and soldier receiving a salary in goods equivalent to two hundred and fifty pesos, and was also given a ploughshare, an axe, and four iron hoes, as was provided to all the settlers. In this account, his age was given as forty seven (b.ca, 1634) and a brief physical description of Romero de Pedraza recorded described him as being "slender, with a turned-up nose, a little deaf.

On September 29, 1680, Alferez Francisco Romero de Pedraza with his wife, four children and three servants, were accounted for in a muster roll of surviving families. All he was able to claim as a soldier was a broken harquebus, a sword and a jacket, most likely the same leather jacket he claimed fourteen days earlier." To date, the names of his four children mentioned in this record have yet to be clearly identified. One of these children could very well have been Baltasar Romero de Salazar, born circa 1672-1674, Santa Fe.

In October 1680, Francisca Ramirez de Salasar gave birth to Graciana Romero, who was baptized at Guadalupe del Paso on October 22, 1680, with Francisco Xavier as her padrino. Francisco Xavier, an encomendero of New Mexico, was a native of Sevilla, born circa 1630, who had come to New Mexico in 1658. Xavier married Graciana Griego, for whom Graciana Romero was apparently named. The family of Francisco Romero de Pedraza and Francisca Ramirez de Salazar continued to grow. Their next child born in the EI Paso area was Domingo Romero de Pedraza (b.ca. 1686 - d. 1720).

The New Mexico colony struggled to subsist in the El Paso del Rio del Norte region. Early attempts to regain New Mexico failed and New Mexican families resolved themselves to remain in the EI Paso del Norte area where they established several small communities along the Rio Grande. Some families chose to leave and settle in areas further south. Francisco Romero de Pedraza and his family remained and endured the challenges and difficulties. Francisco also continued the family tradition of serving on the Santa Fe cabildo (town council). In October 1684 he held the post of notary of the cabildo at Guadalupe del Paso del Norte and he was still serving on the cabi/do in the 1690s, being alcalde of Santa Fe in 1694. The other member of the Romero family serving on the cabildo during this period was regidor Jose Telles Jiron, Francisco's brother-in-law. Also well-represented on the cabildo was another prominent encomendero family, the Anaya Almazan.

 With the arrival in 1691 of don Diego de Vargas as governor of New Mexico, a renewed hope for returning to Santa Fe was rekindled when in 1692 Vargas secured a diplomatic agreement with the Pueblo Indians, whose leaders accepted terms of peace. When Vargas ordered an accounting in late December 1692 of the New Mexico families willing to return to the north members of the Romero clan were among six of the first ten family households numerated, including Captain Francisco Romero de Pedraza, his wife dona Francisca Ramirez de Salazar and their two children, Graciana, whose age was given as twelve, and Domingo, whose age was given as 6 (b.ca, 1686). Also in this household was a thirteen year old girl named Maria, regarded as a dependent, and a servant, Juan, with his wife and two children.

Vargas recognized the need for additional families in order to assure retaining New Mexico as a kingdom of Spanish crown. Initially, Vargas sought to bring back the previous residents of New Mexico that resettled in the realms of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Galicia. The conditions at EI Paso del Norte were consider so deplorable that even the consequences of disobeying a royal directive did not budge the former families of New Mexico from the safety and comfort they found further south. These families had no interested in returning to New Mexico. The only recourse Vargas could follow was to recruit non-native New Mexicans willing to be settlers. Vargas managed to entice some people from the towns of Zacatecas, Sombrerete, Fresnillo, and Durango with the prospects of receiving the privileges of pobladores, frontier settlers. To this end he recruited a small band of fifty volunteer settlers consisting of a combination of families and young single men and women. This group traveled with Vargas to EI Paso del Norte, arriving in mid-September 1693 and continued on to the abandoned Pueblo of Socorro because Vargas did not want this group mixing with the New Mexican families, whom
were regarded as being of a better social class. Among these settlers was a man named Francisco Xavier Romero, a native of the barrio de Nuestro Senora del Carmen in Mexico City, who married Maria de la Cruz, a native of New Mexico, on November 1, 1693, "en el Paraje de Socorro. They were the progenitors of their own distinct Romero family that lived in the area of Santa Cruz de la Canada.

At EI Paso del Norte, Vargas organized the New Mexican families willing to go to Santa Fe for the long expedition northward. The group left El Paso on October 4, 1693, and proceeded slowing on the old camino real, which was rutted by the run off of rain from lack of use over the course of thirteen years. The journey to Santa Fe was challenging, particularly due to the extreme cold and several snow storms. The combined group of New Mexican families and the recently recruited settlers consisted of approximately seventy families with about eight hundred people.
They arrived at Santa Fe in mid-December 1693, including Francisco Romero de Pedraza and his family.          .

The Tewa and Tano Indians occupying Santa Fe refused to surrender the town, representing a reversal in attitude from the previous year's agreement of peace that Vargas achieved. With his soldiers and the families camped outside the walled villa, Vargas attempted diplomacy. His efforts were futile. Concerned that the severe weather and diminishing supplies threatened to cause the death of more citizens the members of the Santa Fe cabildo called an open town council meeting on December 17, 1693, to ask for the opinion and the vote of citizens about the recourse to take. Captain Francisco Romero de Pedraza came forward to state his opinion:

 ... having heard the proceedings of the very illustrious cabildo, stated that it is his opinion ~ that the very illustrious cabildo, justicia, and regimiento should immediately be given possession of the casa reales where the apostate Indians have built their fortress and pueblo. Since they are natives of Galisteo, the lord governor should require them to leave, with the means most appropriate to the royal services, and if they do not agree, make them do so by force of arms. This is his opinion, and he signed it.

By December 24th as many as twenty-children died from illness and the "harshness of the weather." The stalemate in diplomacy came to an end when Vargas and his soldiers stormed the fortified villa on December 29th and regained the town through battle. The name of Francisco Romero de Pedraza does not appear in the signed documents of the Santa Fe cabildo in December 1693, but he did sign his name as a cabildo member in a document of January 1694. Romero de Pedraza and his family remained as residents of Santa Fe and were accounted for as leading citizens in May 1697, being recorded as the third household in the distribution list of livestock and other supplies. By this time, Francisco and his wife had another son named Antonio, who appears to have been born between January 1693 and May 1697. Francisco Romero de Pedraza held the post of alguacil mayor (chief constable) in 1702 and served as a member of the Santa Fe cabildo in 1701 and 1703.

Matias Romero (1597-1646)

The son of Bartolome Romero, Matias Romero (1597-1646) married  with Dona Isabel de Pedraza.

The following information on my next generation of Romero's is information from a article written by  José Antonio Esquibel, which was published in  “Herencia” The Quarterly Journal of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico Vol 11 Issue 3 July 2003,  he states that Inquisition documents are the main source of recorded family memory for documenting the genealogy of 17th century New Mexico families.

Although Matias Romero came under scrutiny by the Inquisition for trading Indians, it appears that none of his immediate descendents came under any charges. These descendents enter the records as witnesses in Inquisition cases concerning their relatives, neighbors, and the governors. It is hoped that this study not only contributes to an understanding of the genealogy and history of the Romero family but also to an understanding of the family identity, family preservation, and the transmission of values in 17th century New Mexico.

Today the records of the Inquisition are the most valuable documents relating the 17th century New Mexico family memory and history. Fray Angelico Chavez read through numerous volumes of Photostat copies of Inquisition records to compile the first genealogical account of the Romero family of 17th century New Mexico which has since provided the pivotal juncture for additional research. In the past decade research in Spain turned up church records related to the family of Bartolome Romero the progenitor of the Romero family in New Mexico.

Matias Romero and dona Isabel de Pedraza were the progenitors of as many as forty- eight descendents born before the end of the 17th century. The Pueblo Indian uprising of August 1680 claimed the lives of 8 to10 members of this branch of the Romero family. From this current study are that the greater majority of individuals with the surname of Romero returning to New Mexico in December 1693 were grandchildren of Matias Romero and Dona Isabel de Pedraza. In contrast there is no documentation to confirm that any descendents of the brothers of Matias Romero -- Bartolomeo Romero and Agustín Romero -- returned to New Mexico in 1693 or soon after. The names of 12 grandchildren of Matias Romero are still unknown. Indications as such, it is very probable that several of the Romero individuals accounted for in the records of late 17th century New Mexico were descendents of Matias Romero and Dona Isabel de Pedraza. The exceptions are the few Romero people returning to New Mexico who were members of the family of Alonzo Romero a mestizo who lived and worked in the household family of Felipe Romero son of (Matias Romero).

 The genealogical information provided by Diego Perez Romero during his Inquisition trial in 1663 is most valuable for confirming the children of Matias Romero and Dona Isabel de Pedraza whose offspring at times used the extended surname of Romero de Pedraza. Initially fray Angelico Chavez logically associated Bartolome Romero de Pedraza and Francisco Romero de Pedraza as children of Matias and dona Isabel, and eventually was able to provide confirmation through verifiable documentation from pre-nuptial-investigation records.

In March 1631 fray Esteban de Perea, Comisario del Santo Oficio de la Inquisition, sought testimony from Matias Romero in a case against his brother in law, Gaspar Perez, but Romero only stated he knew nothing about the matter in question. He gave his age as 27 indicating he was born circa 1604, and declared he was a vecino of Santa Fe. It is apparent he was literate since he was able to sign his name. By 1631 Romero already held prominent military and social positions, serving as aguacil mayor (chief constable or High Sheriff) of Santa Fe and alfarez real (royal standard bearer).

Matias Romero also served as a rigidor (town Councilman) and alcalde ordinario of the Villa de Santa Fe before his death in 1646. Romero and his wife dona Isabel de Pedraza were the parents of four sons and two daughters, as identified by Diego Perez Romero in his statement about his family background in 1663. Perez Romero named his cousins in the following order; Pedro Romero, Francisco Romero, Bartolome Romero, Felipe Romero, Louisa Romero and Catalina Lopez Robledo aka Romero. The eldest of these children appears to have been Pedro Romero who was married with Petronila de Vera, a daughter of Diego de Vera and Maria de Abendano who also went by the name Petronila de Salas. There is still no additional historical information concerning Pedro Romero. He was apparently deceased by August 1680 when Petronila de Salas and her children were killed at Pojoaque by Pueblo Indians. It was estimated that eight to ten children of this family, including grown sons and daughters, were the victims of the assault.

MY ROMERO FAMILY LINE

Bartolome Romero (1528-1631)
Bartolome Romero
Son of Bartolome

Birth  04-06-1563 

Almaguer, Spain 

Death  1632 New Mexico

  Matias (1597-1698)
Son  of Bartolome

Francisco Romero de Pedraza (1635 - )

Son of Matias

Domingo Romero de Pedraza (1685 - 1720)

Son of Francisco

Jose Romero (1713 - 1784)

Son of Domingo

Juana Gertrudis Romero (1741-   )

Daughter of Jose Romero 

Jose Manuel Ricardo (Marquez) Romero (1772 - 1847)

Son of Gertrudis Romero

Jose Rafael Romero (1796 - 1861)

Son of Jose Manuel Ricardo (Marquez)

Pablo Eufemio (Eugenio) Romero (1829 - )

Son of Jose Rafael

Juan de Mata Romero (1854 - )

Son of Pablo Eufemio (Eugenio)

Juan Ramon Romero (1889 - 1962)

Son of Juan de Mata

Juan Jose Romero (1916 - 1986)

Son of Juan Ramon

Victor Eduardo Romero (1942-) aka- Eddie V.

My 1st generation ancestor to New Mexico, Bartolome Romero was a member of the Don Juan de Onate Expedition. My search for my ancestors started with information from my birth certificate and working back in time but I am now going to relate it from the past to the present.

The initial trek into New Mexico was led by Don Juan de Onate and the following is an excerpt from the full account that can be seen at this site. Onate Expedition

"...The governor, Don Juan de Onate, passed in review in full armor.That is to say, he had helmet, beaver, coat of mail, sword and harquebus; his horse was armed in buckskin, bullhide or calfskin. He appeared before Francisco de Esquivel, commissary, and reviewed and inspected the following soldiers and settlers to New Mexico, February 1597, January 1598 and reinforcements August 1600...."

In advance of the main party, Onate sent out a scouting party in search of provisions and supplies led by Captain Pablo de Aquilar. Details of this event are presented in a web site article at NMSU, "Cuartocentennial of the Colonization of New Mexico". To read the full accounting go to this site: The Aquilar Expedition

The List of Men who were part of the Onate Expedition, which included my 1st generation ancestor to New Mexico, Bartolome Romero, can be seen at this link: The Genealogy of Mexico, click and scroll down.

Bartolome Romero, native of the town of Corral de Almaquer in Castile, Spain, of good stature, swarthy, black beard, 35 years of age, Son of Bartolome Romero, with complete armor for himself and horse. Bartolome shows up in Onate annals initially with the title of, ALFEREZ but was quickly promoted to CAPTAIN after thier arrival in New Mexico.

Bartolome married Lucia Lopez Robledo, daughter of Pedro Robledo and Catalina Lopez, about 1596. (Lucia Lopes Robledo was born about 1573 in Espana, Iberia and died about 1625.) His children were Bartolome, Matias who married Isabel de Pedraza (my 12th generation Grandparents), Augustin, Ana, and Maria.

This post has come from my collection of extensive research to document my Romero Family line. Most comes from the hard work of many respected published Genealogist-Historians who have been so kind with assistance and sharing of their efforts.

Origin of the surname ROMERO

ROMERO

Definition: A pilgrim, one who visits a shrine. This nickname was originally applied to travelers from the western (Roman) empire who had to pass through the eastern (Byzantine) empire on their way to the holy land. According to the Instituto Genealógico e Histórico Latino-Americano, the Romero surname originated principally in the Spanish areas of Galicia, Aragón, Valencia, Catalonia, Andalusia and Castile. Romarin is a French version of this surname, while Romer is the German variation.

My DNA Test Results

Y-DNA Results

R1b1a2a1a1b4 (L21+ celtic origins)

mtDNA Results

Haplogroup - A

HVR1 differences from CRS

16111T 16223T 16290T 16319A 16335G

MY Maternal Grandparents

My Mothers Grandfather Seberiano Santana

( 1853 - 1931 )

My Mothers Father Francisco Santana

(1880 - 1924 )

I have recently made a connection through Ancestry.com that has allowed me to share photos of Maternal Grandparents I have never seen. This has also helped me to build more onto my family tree.

Memorial Mothers Day Wish

My MOTHER

Annie Romero

1913-1989

Founding of Santa Fe

The Founding and Founders of the Villa de Santa Fe

José Antonio Esquibel

The celebration of 400 years of history of the City of Santa Fe is a remarkable milestone and one which is deeply personal for those of us with ancestral roots in New Mexico . Many of our New Mexican ancestors lived in the Villa de Santa Fe at one time or another, some for many decades, and these individuals shaped its distinct and rich history. Unfortunately, much of that history no longer survives in the form of documents, and thus very little has come to light to help us understand what life was like for the early residents of the Villa de Santa Fe . Careful reading of archival documents is the primary means by which fragments of information are being pieced together to tell the story of early Santa Fe and its residents.

The founding date of Santa Fe remains a challenge to determine due to the fact that documents of that era are long lost.

Continued at: OLTHLRC

American Life Histories

American Life Histories

Federal Writers' Project

1936-1940

These life histories were compiled and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places named in the narrative texts.

THE ROMERO CLAN of NEW MEXICO

The Romero Clan

A detailed history of the first three generations of the Romero family of seventeenth century New Mexico can be found in its entirety in issues of Herencia (Quarterly Journal of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico). The Article researched and written by Jose Antonio Esquibel, is titled “The Romero Family of Seventeenth Century New Mexico.” Several excerpts of Part I are offered here:

The Romero clan of seventeenth century New Mexico was skillfully successful in acquiring land, office, riches, and associated privileges, which were sought by many people who came to the Americas. As the family grew, each generation was quick to take advantage of their privileged status and the available opportunities to expand their social and political influence and their economic prosperity. This is illustrated through strategic matrimonial alliances of the Romero children, and in the numerous military and civil appointments of the Romero men, such as alcalde mayor, alcalde ordinario, regidor, procurador, protector de indios, teniente, capitán, and sargento mayor. By 1660 the Romero clan held interest in almost a third of New Mexico’s encomiendas.

Clearly, a number of New Mexican citizens took unkindly to the forceful authority of the Franciscans in New Mexico. Men such as Gaspar Pérez (an in-law of the Romero), Luis López (a neighbor of the Romero), Juan Domínguez de Mendoza (an ally of the Romero), Deigo Pérez Romero, and Christóbal de Anaya Almazán (an in-law of the Domínguez de Mendoza), were deemed by Franciscan friars to hold heretical beliefs. In several of these cases public conflicts between these men and the friars were well-known and attested to by witnesses. Tipping the balance of power in favor of the Franciscans was a very potent tool to counter perceived disloyalties, namely the Office of the Inquisition. For example, Gaspar Pérez was of the opinion that the governor held absolute authority over the Franciscans, and he found himself denounced to the Inquisition by the friars.

The use of the Inquisition in New Mexico can be viewed as a strategic process of tipping the scale of political and economic control. This was certainly the case when governors of New Mexico denounced or supported the denunciation of their political enemies to the Inquisition and vice versa. As discussed below in regard to the suit against Diego Pérez Romero, his grants of encomienda were redistributed to other citizens and he was exiled from New Mexico, losing all privileges of social and military office and titles. He went from being an alcalde oridianrio of the Villa de Santa Fe, an encomedero, and a sargento mayor of New Mexico to a mayordomo of a hacienda, and was even shunned by his wife who refused to join him in exile.

The testimony of Diego Pérez Romero [before the tribunal of the Inquisition in Mexico City] offers valuable genealogical information on the first three generations of the Romero family in New Mexico. Of particular note are the clear genealogical links that can now be made between members of the Romero family that previously could not be confirmed, although logic dictated possible connections. This is particularly true for the Romero de Pedraza family and the Romero de Salazar family. Fray Angélico Chávez supposed that Bartolomé Romero de Pedraza and Francisco Romero de Pedraza were sons of Matías Romero and doña Isabel de Pedraza. As it turns out, the other children were Pedro Romero, Felipe Romero, Catalina Romero, and Luisa Romero, the wife of Juan Lucero de Godoy. This information now allows descendents of Felipe, Catalina, and Luisa to make the genealogical connection to the founders of the Romero family in New Mexico that has eluded researchers for many years.

Researcher: José Antonio Esquibel

Source: José Antonio Esquibel, “The Romero Family of Seventeenth Century New Mexico,” Part 1, in Herencia, Issue 1, January 2003, 1-30.

HISPANIC SURNAME DATABASE

The Great New Mexico Pedigree Database Project

click link: HGRC

New Mexico Land Grants

See this Link

TYPES OF LAND GRANTS

KINSHIPS

KINSHIPS ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin)

In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares a common ancestor (or ancestors). In modern usage, the term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term to describe the relationship (e.g. one's parents, siblings and descendants). The term blood relative can be used synonymously, and underlines the existence of a genetic link. A system of "degrees" and "removals" is used to describe the relationship between the two cousins and the ancestor they have in common.

KINSHIPS

Surprising finds while conducting Genealogy research

This is an interesting tidbit I discovered quite by accident that relates to my Maternal Great Grandfather Martin Chaves. I thought I would share it before I go on to the findings of my concentrated research of my Romero Paternal side.

Narrator: Ambrosio Chavez, Carrizozo, New Mexico, Aged 72 years.

Link to : American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 (Full Story at Link.)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

AUG 29 1938 PIONEER STORY
I was born in 1866, in Valencia County, at Manzano, New Mexico. In 1879 my mother and father moved from Manzano to Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico. I was thirteen years old then and I remember that we moved in two wagons drawn by oxen. We had no trouble with the Indians on the trip. Once when we camped for the night a dog came around the camp and was trying to get into things and I took my father's gun and shot the dog. I tho'ught I was a very big boy to shoot my father's gun.
My father farmed at Lincoln and drove freight wagons from Lincoln and Fort Stanton to Las Vegas and return. He used oxen to haul with. It took over twenty days to make the round trip and if the weather was bad it took longer. The wagons came and went by way of White Oaks and Nogal.

Once when my father was hauling freight we started from Lincoln going across the Patos Mountains and by way of White Oaks, on our way to Las Vegas. My father was riding horseback and I was driving one of the freight wagons drawn by oxen. A man named Stevens was going to Las Vegas for freight too and left Lincoln about the same time that we did. He was driving mules to his freight wagons and traveled faster than we did. On account of the Indians the freight wagons camped together at night when they could. Mr. Stevens told my father that he would wait for us at a lake that was just across the Patos Mountains on the flats, and about eight or nine miles from White Oaks. We had planned to camp there the first night. Late in the afternoon my father rode on ahead of our wagons to the lake. When he got there he found that the Indians had killed Stevens and robbed and burned his wagons and run off all his mules. Father hurried back to us and told us not to go to the lake and told us what had happened to Mr. Stevens. We had to make a dry camp that night and keep a sharp lookout far the Indians but none of them came around our camp. I remember how scared I was when we passed the lake the next day and saw the remains of the burned wagon and Mr. Stevens grave. In all of our freighting my father never had any trouble with the Indians.

We were living in Lincoln when Billy the Kid was there but I did not know him very well. When he killed Ollinger and Bell and made his escape I was working on the Henry Farmer ranch near Lincoln. I can remember something that happened once when I was on a visit to my cousin, Martin Chavez in Picacho.

Billy the Kid knew Martin well and often stayed with him at his house. Some Texas people were traveling thro'ugh the country in covered wagons and were camped near Picacho. They had a fast horse that they wanted to race against a mare that my cousin Martin had. The Texas people bet three fat beeves that their horse could out run Martin's mare. They had the race between the two horses and Martin's mare won the race so far ahead of the horse that the Texas people had that they got awful mad about it and would not pay the bet. Soon after the race was run Billy the Kid came by and stopped at Martins place. Martin told him about the race and that the Texas people would not pay their bet. Billy asked Martin if he wanted tho'se beeves, and of course Martin said that he did. Billy said that he would collect the bet for him then. The women at Martin's ranch just begged Billy not to go to collect the bet as they were afraid that there would be trouble over it and that Billy might get killed, but Billy just laughed at them. He wore two guns and had on two belts of cartridges. He went out to the camp of the Texans and rode into the herd of cattle that they had with them and shot and killed three of their best beeves and told Martin to send after his beef. The Texans were so scared when they found out that he was Billy the Kid that they broke camp and left right away.

I lived at Lincoln until 1905 and then I moved to Capiten and worked for the Titsworth Company for twenty-five years. I was married to Cecelia Serna about 1888. We never had any children of our own but we adopted and raised three children, all of whom live here in Carrizozo. My wife and I live here with our children and have for the past five years.
I have lived in Lincoln County for fifty-nine years.

Narrator: Ambrosio Chavez, Carrizozo, New Mexico, Aged 72 years.

Many Hispanic Americans likely descended from Jews

Many Hispanic Americans likely descended from Jews who were forced to convert or hide their religion more than 500 years ago in Spain and Portugal

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/134758/#ixzz1EhWVJZDb

Meaning of a Name

DOLORES

Dolores (or Delores) is a given name, cognate with the English word "dolorous" (meaning sorrowful).

see Wikipedia: Dolores (or Delores) is a given name