tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8340224869366692452024-03-12T17:21:34.143-07:00Cuentos: Select Published Stories and Poems by Karen S. CórdovaKaren Cordovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00880026516964401571noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834022486936669245.post-32392967056423548252015-04-02T20:53:00.001-07:002015-04-02T21:01:54.920-07:00Dredging Stories from Ditches, Looking for My Father (A Series of Cuentos, Part 1) <br />
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Published in</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">GSHA <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nuestras Raices</i> Journal<o:p></o:p></span></b></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Volume 26, Issue 3 Fall 2014</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Papyrus;">Dredging Stories from Ditches and DNA:<o:p></o:p></span></b></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Papyrus;">Looking for My Father<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Papyrus;">(A Series of Cuentos)<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Copyright July 2013 by Karen
S. Córdova</span></b></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Papyrus;">[</span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">First published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">La Sierra: Voice of Costilla County</i>, 26
July 2013: 2+]</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Papyrus;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who would have thought
way back then and way back there that the old stories would keep her bones from
aching?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">–Rigoberto Gonzáles</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, Crossing Vines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">El Huérfano<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like some of you, I was born in the land of the
orphan. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">llano</i> fed by the orphan
river, but not shaded at all by the lone butte called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">El Huérfano</i> in Southern Colorado. Masochistic prairie speared by
thousands of little snakes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mis abuelos</i>
called them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">culebritos</i>, and you
would, too. Imagine squirming tails hanging from dark clouds, mouths open
mid-sky. Aching to strike. Others standing upright like the devil himself,
exposed and evil bright. This place, where wily silver veins war with
themselves, naked in the sky, was the chosen land of my recent Martínez <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">antepasados</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Before I go further, here’s some of my
genealogy, snaking like Y-DNA from son to father to grandfather and on, the way
many <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nuevo</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Méxicano</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acequias</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are nursed by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">los ritos</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which, in turn,
are fed by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">El Río Grande</i>, flowing
from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">el norte</i> in Colorado’s San Juan
Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I asked cousins to join me to learn about our
grandfather’s DNA. Five of them were intrigued by my request. This is our
group: brothers <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Louis Martínez</b>
(Pueblo, CO) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bob Martínez</b>
(Taylor Ranch, NM); their niece, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Donna
Romero</b> (Westminster, CO); sisters <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Patricia
Martínez Neeman</b> (Westminster, CO) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cathy
Martínez Pavlick</b> (Billings, MT); and me, Karen Córdova (Irvine, CA). I am
grateful for their collaboration. Each of us spent approximately $35.00 for a
test that otherwise would have cost one of us $200.00 or more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Louis’ DNA sample was used for the 67-marker
test. The haplogroup results were R1b1a2 (R-M269). Among other projects, we
joined the New Mexico DNA Project (a must), the Martínez DNA Surname Project,
and the Baca DNA Project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A deep clade test has not yet been done. There
will be an upgrade to a 111-marker test within the year, because I am intrigued
by the current results. “Intrigued” is the wrong word. I am both shocked and
curious, even fascinated. That snake DNA doesn’t lie. But I am not afraid of
what I’ll learn if I pull the DNA tail, shake it upside down, and catch secrets
and clues that fall from its mouth. I want to know the truth about who I am.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Our focus was our grandfather, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Juan Andrés Martínez</b>, a rancher and
businessman from Huérfano County, Colorado. Here is a segment of our male
genealogy paper trail:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Birth<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Death<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Spouse<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Louis Michael Martínez<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">(still
living)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Francisco Esias Martínez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">(still
living)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">María Consuela Romero<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Juan Andrés Martínez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">2/4/1899<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Malachite,
CO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">5/11/1991<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Walsenburg,
CO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">María Martha Archuleta<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">José Cipriano Martínez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">9/28/1859<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Costilla,
NM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="180"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">8/30/1905<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Huerfano,
CO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">María Ysabel Naranjo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">José Rafael Martín<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 135pt;" valign="top" width="225"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">7/5/1820
El Rancho, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taos, NM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="180"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">María Francisca Romero<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">José Francisco Martín<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 135pt;" valign="top" width="225"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">9/25/1794
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">San
Francisco <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">(San
Juan Parish), NM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="180"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">(1)María Ysabel Cortés<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">(2) María Josefa Romero<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">José Joaquin Martín<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 135pt;" valign="top" width="225"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">ca.
1750 (There is debate about who his parents were.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="180"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) windowtext windowtext rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 117.9pt;" valign="top" width="197"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">María Candelaria Chávez<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now, back to my stories. I wish this one wasn’t
true. My great-grandfather, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">José
Cipriano Martínez</b>, was a successful sheep rancher. He owned thousands of
sheep. But financial success didn’t save him from jealous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">culebritos</i>, vying for his life. He died from a bite of a sky snake,
striking the Huerfano prairie, on August 30, 1905. He was buried a month before
his 46<sup>th</sup> birthday. Two young sons, Moises and Rafael, were on the
prairie with him, but their lives were spared—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">el culebrito</i> had been satiated by consuming the life of Cipriano,
his horse, and his dog. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mi abuelo, </i>Juan
Andrés<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> was only six years when he
lost his father. Family members tell variations of this story to this day. My
own mother infused fear of lightning into my being.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="WordSection4">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cipriano’s
wife, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">María Ysabel Naranjo</b>, was
widowed and left to raise ten children, when she was 39 years old. Two other
children had already died. Isabel never remarried. She lived to be 91.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Another
family story—short, but telling—goes something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.3in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Isabelita,
you are still young. You are beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.3in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">You
own a wealth of land. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.3in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Why
have you never remarried?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.3in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">Great-grandma
replied, undoubtedly thinking not only of the twelve children she bore, but
also of the prospects of raising an additional dozen: ¡Ni pendeja</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><v:shape id="_x0000_i1026" style="height: 19.2pt; width: 60pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="0154" src="file:///C:\Users\KARENC~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
</v:imagedata><o:p></o:p></v:shape></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For now, like a hungry—no, greedy—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trucha</i>, this is a big enough bite of my
mother’s father’s father’s line. Each name has many stories, and I am trying to
grab even a few, as this river tumbles my way<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. ¡Cuantos cuentos! </i>And most should be told. But, first, I have to
find them. Maybe under the rocks on acequia walls. Maybe you can help me. Could
we share cleaning the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acequia de cuentos</i>
like our ancestors cleaned their ditches, as a group, followed by sharing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cuentos</i> with chile, fresh from the
harvest? I want to talk about the way to cook new beans from the San Luis
Valley, each one passing the test of an abuelita’s eye before diving into boiling
water. I want to taste <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">calavasitas</i>,
not zucchini or yellow squash, but our own buttery Southern Colorado <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">calavasitas</i> that put other
squash-cousins to shame. However, time is short and I can’t talk about food
now. And excuse me, I can only share a few stories during these few minutes we
have together, today. Here is the important one, and I need to tell you now. I
will spin more during our next visit. I trust that life itself will provide the
wool for me to twist many more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cuentos</i>.
When it does, I will gift you with a skein or two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><v:shape id="_x0000_i1027" style="height: 19.2pt; width: 60pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="0154" src="file:///C:\Users\KARENC~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
</v:imagedata><o:p></o:p></v:shape></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.5pt;">Mi primo</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.5pt;">, Guillermo, is more than
hungry. He should be. Can you believe, a primo who has never tasted blue corn
from the cob or a Rocky Ford cantaloupe, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">manito</i>
(pal) who has never dipped his toes or fingers in an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acequia</i>? I will ask him if he knows that an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acequia</i> is more than a ditch. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acequia</i> is life; we would have died if our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">abuelos</i> had not been magicians of ditches. I know that. You know
that. But Guillermo was an orphan. A lucky orphan, I must add, because a loving
family snatched him (legally) from a Florence Crittenton home for unwed mothers
in New Jersey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 139.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 139.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So why is an Italian boy from New Jersey
in my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">placita</i> of a story? DNA. He is
a close match, a zero-boned match to my Martínez line. Who knew that when I
begged cousins to split the cost of testing a DNA swab (I’d already paid full
price for testing three other swabs) from my cousin Louis Martínez’s inside
cheek that I would find more cousins, one looking for his father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 139.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some might say this is proof of what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mi tía,</i> Della Velarde, tells me when I
ask her why our name changed from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Martín</i>
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Martínez</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.3in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mi hijita, it must be because there were so many of us.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Guillermo looks for his father the way that
Chimayó chile roots sense something in red, ancestral holy dirt, something
urging them to unfurl and dig yet another inch more, and yet another inch more.
In the dark. Feeling their way toward something it don’t rationally know is
water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Isn’t desire for family just like that? We
genealogists crave the familial dead, whom we have never met. Imagine if it
were possible that one of your cherished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">antepasados</i>
could still be alive and, if you looked long enough and smart enough, you could
hold their hands. Then imagine Guillermo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><v:shape id="_x0000_i1028" style="height: 19.2pt; width: 60pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="0154" src="file:///C:\Users\KARENC~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
</v:imagedata><o:p></o:p></v:shape></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">El
Huérfano</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
on the prairie, north of Walsenburg, is the remains of a volcano. The butte is
a surprise, like a sand-covered knee thrust up by a child play-buried on an
otherwise flat beach, thrust exactly where you’d least expect it to be. Like
genealogy research. Especially like learning about genealogical DNA results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.5pt;">As an avid amateur
genealogist, I might as well be Guillermo, even though I know my father and I
were fortunate to have known both grandfathers. My grandfathers’ fathers were
introduced to me, long after they died, by extraction books and a few family
stories. I so loved gaining their acquaintance and trust that I believed
anything signed by a priest on every baptismal record. I worshipped microfiche
films and sang <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alabanzas</i> to The
Master Genealogist and Family Tree Maker. I still revere all of these, light
candles to them at night. However, I now also know this, first hand: paper
records are sometimes used to bury family secrets, but DNA is a living knee
able to thrust upward and dislodge the ground of accepted beliefs. Like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">El Huérfano</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This story is certainly about Primo Guillermo
looking for his father but, like all of our individual stories, he is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cuentito</i> within a family of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cuentos</i>. The larger volcano was this:
our Martínez DNA is a 0-Step match, not only to Guillermo and several other
Martínez males, descending from José Joaquin Martín, but to a few men with a
Baca surname. We are a 1-step, 2-step, and 3-step match to even more Baca men.
According to Ángel de Cervantes, project coordinator of the New Mexico DNA
Project, our Martínez DNA does not correspond to the DNA of Hernán Martín
Serrano. Ángel says we are descendants of one of the illegitimate sons of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Josefa Baca</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am therefore hopelessly aligned with
Guillermo. He is looking for his father. I am looking for the reason why (and
who and when) our paper trail Martínez line is a Baca DNA line. Whatever I
discover, I will continue to honor the Martínez patriarchs, who raised another
man’s child as their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am in the beginning stages of compiling a
spreadsheet of paper-trail genealogy, comparing Baca and Martínez lines that
are a 0-step, 1-step, and 2-step match from ours. Louis’ Family Tree DNA Kit
number is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">287109</b>. “Guillermo” is
Bill Trignano. The Italian parents who adopted him named him “William”. Bill’s
Kit number is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">247985</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If
you suspect you may be part of our close-DNA-cousin group, or a descendant of
José Joaquin Martín, and you want to become more involved, please contact me at
kscordova@aol.com or 949-786-9282 and/or Bill Trignano at bill@trignano.com or
973-214-0367. In the next article in this series, I will identify other men,
who lived in the 17<sup>th</sup> or 18<sup>th</sup> century, whose descendants’
DNA I’d love to see in the New Mexico DNA project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
asked Bill to read this story and either give me permission, or a refusal, to
reveal his quest in a published article. He was wholeheartedly supportive and
asked me to use his real name and contact information. Bill also said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“My
adoptive parents are now </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">deceased, and I will
gain nothing by hiding or keeping secrets. Quite the opposite, I would rather
more people know and maybe someone would have some information about my father.
Time is running short for me. My birth mother died 5 days before 9/11 (2001),
ten years before I found her. My father would be about 77 years old now. I pray
he is still alive.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Note that Bill’s birth
mother’s family has embraced their newly found family member. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If
you want to have your DNA tested, go to <www.familytreedna.com>. Then,
from the Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) website, join the New Mexico DNA Project. FTDNA
regularly features discount offers.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><v:shape id="_x0000_i1029" style="height: 19.2pt; width: 60pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="0154" src="file:///C:\Users\KARENC~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
</v:imagedata><o:p></o:p></v:shape></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">More stories to unfold
in life and in future journals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Editor’s
Note:</b> No Spanish to English translation in this article at the request of
the author, it is a prose poem; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">please refer to a
dictionary: printed or online for translation.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Sources<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">1. Martínez family stories<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2. Ángel de Cervantes, personal conversations, May-July
2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 22.5pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt; text-indent: -22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">3.
Martínez, Maria Clara (extracted by), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San
Miguel de la Costilla: Baptisms 1865 –1880 (and) Marriages 1865 – 1900</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 27.0pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">4. Moises Cornelio Martínez, “Jose Cipriano Martínez (b. 28
Sep 1859, d. 30 Aug 1905)” Martínez/Rivera Ancestry: Huérfano, CO., Union, NM.
16 July 2013 <http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/a/r/Moises-C-Martínez/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0008.html>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas D. Martínez, ext. & comp., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Juan delos Caballeros Baptisms:
1726-1870</i>, baptism database of archives held by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe
and the State Archive of New Mexico, April 29, 1994.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">6. Thomas D. Martínez, ext. & comp., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taos Baptisms: 1701-1860</i>, baptism
database of archives held by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the State Archive
of New Mexico, June 24, 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">7. William Trignano, personal e-mails. May-July 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 22.5pt 299.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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</div>
Karen Cordovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00880026516964401571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834022486936669245.post-7802051813479656522015-02-12T18:25:00.003-08:002015-02-12T18:25:16.654-08:00<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYj3HhW2s7nmKYjOe_IUWVc2ZI4h8NU0VU5wLEvHJhRRT-PKD1q4ELL-UG8OX_A58m47iWeQPMEKPFLjEvKJEgqxsaaqsKRwb133YiMN9PxUkWceTe3pPzvGNa8Bjfw8m0LmN1f19Qczg/s1600/MariaElveraAlbertCordova-HuerfanoWorld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYj3HhW2s7nmKYjOe_IUWVc2ZI4h8NU0VU5wLEvHJhRRT-PKD1q4ELL-UG8OX_A58m47iWeQPMEKPFLjEvKJEgqxsaaqsKRwb133YiMN9PxUkWceTe3pPzvGNa8Bjfw8m0LmN1f19Qczg/s1600/MariaElveraAlbertCordova-HuerfanoWorld.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Obituary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">María Elvera Albert Córdova<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(1906 – 2007)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p>Elvera Albert Cordova died on Sunday, November 25, 2007 at
the age of 101 at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Walsenburg</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Care</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a daughter of explorers and early
settlers who gathered near the Huerfano and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Cucharas</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Rivers</st1:placetype></st1:place>
before this prairie county had a name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Huerfano</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> was her life-long home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p>Maria Elvira Albert, later known as Elvera, was born on
January 24, 1906 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Pryor</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Colorado</st1:state></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her parents were Juan Nepomuceño Albert, a carpenter, and Genoveva
Espinosa, a homemaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her known
brothers and sisters were John David, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Thomas</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Frances</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
Dolores, Theodora, Rose, and Tila . </div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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Elvera always remembered from where she came and proudly
told her children and grandchildren about her <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heritage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, in her latter years, she could not remember all of the stories
she told them when she was younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
said <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">¡Tantos anos! </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, all oral histories can soon be
forgotten if not written down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her own
life intersected the days of both horse-and-buggy and high-tech electronics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a child when she first heard an
airplane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was terrified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over eighty years later, when shown a picture
of her great grandpa, John David Albert, on the internet, she was fascinated by
what she called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Karen’s Little TV.</i> </div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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The Juan Nepomuceño Albert family home had a dirt floor
which was kept from getting dusty by sprinkling water on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They owned a covered wagon in which she
remembered taking rides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Alberts
later moved to a farm in Cucharas where Elvera remembered playing with many cousins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A favorite game was pretending that rocks
were building blocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of her
household chores was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">throwing beans in
the air</i> (threshing).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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The greatest tragedy of Elvera’s life was the death of her
mother, Genoveva, during the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her grandmother and sister also died the
same week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those deaths seared Elvera’s
heart, burning January into her memory as the loneliest month of the year
throughout her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was just a girl
of twelve when<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> La Grippe</i> stole her
mother and left her as the eldest female in the home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was suddenly responsible for maintaining
the household. Though she ached to learn, she was only able to go to school
through third grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, lack of an
extended formal education didn’t stop her innate curiosity and intelligence
from growing, helping her to persevere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Elvera loved to work, and especially liked to cook and garden. </div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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For a time the teenaged Elvera worked as a cook in the nine-room
boarding house on Third Street built by Mrs. Gilligan. It was here that she met
Jacobo <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake</i> Cordova whom she
subsequently married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She became a
miner’s wife, suffering hardship with an iron resolve cushioned by her
faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the mines closed, she had
their mining camp house moved to its present location on <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">East 7<sup>th</sup> Street</st1:address></st1:street>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, her husband and their eldest son, Moses,
dug the basement by hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elvera bore
five children including Moses who now lives in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tustin</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place>
with his wife Rachel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Floyd and his
wife, Marge, live in Parachute, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donald <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Red
</i>lives in the Walsenburg family home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jacob Jr. died when he was two weeks old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Adrian</st1:place></st1:city>
died when he was five months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family
knew poverty, but Elvera squeezed from it all that she could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From this she developed character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did not waste even a few celery leaves
many years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dried leaves could
be used for a future soup when there might be no fresh celery in the house.</div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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Elvera’s garden thrived in neat rows and furrows under her
care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fruit trees provided shade during
the day as well as ingredients for luscious pies for evening dessert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the weather and times were generous and
bright, the household table was blessed by the garden’s bounty and Elvera’s
thoughtful and surprisingly sophisticated cooking skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, her youth and young married life were
spent in the isolated pioneer era when <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:state>
winters lacked modern conveniences and sinfully harsh mining conditions lacked
conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was little food and
even less opportunity, but adversity never stopped her from trying to make the
best of what she had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elvera said she
was taught about the use of medicinal herbs by a visitor from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She went to the mountains and prairies and
picked the herbs herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From these she
made salves and teas to treat a variety of ailments.</div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p></div>
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Though poor and uneducated, Elvera was curious, intelligent,
and determined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her son, Moses, often
told his family, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We were poor, but I
didn’t know we were poor.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moses
absorbed his mother’s example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used
his tenacious work ethic to plant his own <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">garden,</i>
often admonishing his children and grandchildren to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plant seeds</i> if they want something to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His garden is his company, one of the top 500
Hispanic businesses in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moses never went to college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He learned
his lessons from the nuns at St. Mary’s, the U.S. Navy, and especially from his
mother who used her garden and kitchen as laboratory for learning about
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Food for the family was material
for her art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, no restaurant in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Santa Fe</st1:city></st1:place> makes better
chile, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">calavacitas</i>, tortillas or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">empanaditas</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her homemade wine always received an
appreciative nod or smile from those fortunate to have tasted its potent
sweetness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six of her seven
grandchildren have many memories focused around her table. Donald’s
children—June, D.J. and Sandy, who died on November 7, 2007—were the main
recipients because they live in Walsenburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moses’s children—Karen, Mark and Matthew—all lived in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state> as children and could not visit
often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, all were deeply impressed
by their grandmother’s culinary skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eduardo
is still a young boy and wasn’t yet born when his grandma would spend the day
churning butter, baking bread, and making tamales. </div>
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Before her final decade, Elvera was involved with clubs,
church activities, and crafts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had
many friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her niece, Rose Ann Vigil,
was devoted to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rose Ann and her
husband, Dave, are thanked for all they did to help the woman they called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aunt</i>, though Elvera was really Rose
Ann’s first cousin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, they mixed
fun with devotion, experiencing first hand Elvera’s luck playing Bingo and
skill handling a poker hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
families were so close that Rose Ann’s parents, Celestina <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sally</i> and Joe Martinez, are buried next to Elvera and Jake.</div>
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Elvera’s husband, Jake, died on January 11, 1990 when Elvera
was ninety years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did not do
without in her last years, but often said about her difficult past, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Those were not the good old days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the good old days. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, she was self sufficient until her late
nineties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elvera continued to regularly
visit the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">old people</i> in the nursing
home on <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">West 7<sup>th</sup> Street</st1:address></st1:street>,
often bringing packages of home-cooked food as gifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a regular attendee—and winner—at
local Bingo games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She looked forward to
visits from her grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren: Elizabeth Rivard
(Karen); Mark-Thomas and Crystal Cordova (Mark); Emily, Matthew Moses and Jacob
Cordova (Matthew); Dylan and Derrick Tenorio (June); Jesse and Michael Martinez
(<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Sandy</st1:city></st1:place>); and
Deliah and Trinity Cordova (D.J.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes
she was asked, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grandma, why do you think
you’ve lived so long? </i>One immediate answer was, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I never stop moving.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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In 2005 Elvera became part of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Walsenburg</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Care</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place> community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many, not only her own grandchildren, then
began to call her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grandma </i>out of
sincere affection. Grandma often expressed the desire to live to be 100 years
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On January 24, 2006 a party,
including a band and dance, was thrown to honor her centurarian
achievement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the birthday
celebration week, she met her five-month-old great-great grandchild, Jacqueline
Rivard (<st1:city w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:city>), who lives in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Irvine</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandma did her best to retain her sense of
humor and good manners until the last week of her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through extremely frail and ill, she
sometimes thanked the nurses for turning her while in bed so she could be more
comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the day of her death,
she laughed with Stephanie Baca on their ride from the hospital to the nursing
home.</div>
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Grandma cherished her faith until her last days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During a serious illness in 2005 when
hospital staff informed family she was at death’s door and Abuelita herself
said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vamos a la Luz, </i>a great lesson
was learned about hope and never giving up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Elvera lived for 2-1/2 additional years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God wanted her to stay with us a little longer before finally going to
the Light last week.</div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p>Fern Sandoval, Bryan Ortiz and the entire staff of the
nursing home are thanked, not only for the excellent physical care they gave
our mother and grandmother, but also for their extraordinary warmth and
kindness towards her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of Elvera’s
nieces, Stephanie Baca, works for the Walsenburg Care Center provided an almost
daily, loving family presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
family also appreciates Dr. Neece for the care he gave Grandma during her last
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also thank the doctors, especially
Dr. Cluff, nurses and staff at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Spanish
Peaks</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Regional</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Health</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext;">Elvera Albert Cordova had a rich heritage
that also needs to be shared since it concerns the history of Walsenburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her great-grandfather was the mountain man
and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:state>
pioneer, John David Albert. Written family records state that John was a guide
for Kit Carson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John was also the sole
survivor of the Taos Massacre at Turley’s Mill in Arroyo Hondo, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Mexico</st1:place></st1:state> during the
War of 1847.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An act of arson destroyed
the distillery. Tom Tobin did ride nearby and see the fire, but John David was
actually in the mill during the conflagration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>John refused to submissively die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He broke through a wall in the burning building and somehow evaded
blasting bullets, intending not only to live, but to also warn others of the
exploding war. With resolve beyond what most people would think a human being
could muster, he made his way to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Pueblo</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Colorado</st1:state></st1:place> in five harsh winter
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, luck played a part, but
luck would not have joined the high stakes game without John’s indomitable
action and intention. He protected himself from a cold January death by killing
a deer, covering himself with the carcass, and eating the raw flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who saw him with the dead animal’s antlered
head atop his own were terrified and fled, thinking him the devil incarnate
rather than a freezing man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John moved
his family from Arroyo Hondo, <st1:state w:st="on">New Mexico</st1:state> to
southern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His ranch in San Pedro is still owned by
descendants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John David Albert’s first wife, known as Maria Juliana Leon,
was Elvera’s great grandmother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria
Juliana was raised as the daughter of Don Miguel Antonio Leon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plaza de Los Leones was named after him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Juliana, daughter of Maria Ysidora
Vigil, was born with her mother’s last name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ysidora was both Spanish and Picuris Pueblo Indian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria Ysidora later married Miguel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some believe Juliana was adopted by Miguel
Leon and that her biological father was the explorer and mountain man, William
Pope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pope settled in Northern
California after living in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Taos</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:placename w:st="on">Pope</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype>, near the famous <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Napa</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
was named after him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this day, some
descendants of Juliana and John David still call Juliana <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popé.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">padrino</i> was William Workman, a famous
early English settler of <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>. The
family was also close to John Rowland and Tom Tobin. Juliana was English,
Spanish and Native American—a true child of the three cultures that co-existed
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nuevo Mexico</i> during the nineteenth
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandma corrected others who
called her great grandma,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Juliana</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’d insist they call her<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Julianita. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria Juliana clearly must have been a tiny
woman like Elvera.</div>
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<span style="color: windowtext;">John David Albert moved from northern <st1:state w:st="on">New Mexico</st1:state> to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st2:sn w:st="on">San</st2:sn>
<st2:middlename w:st="on">Luis</st2:middlename> <st2:sn w:st="on">Valley</st2:sn></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lived in the Culebra District and was a
judge in the </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1861 Colorado Territorial
Election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: windowtext;">Maria Juliana died and was buried at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">church</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Saints Peter</st1:placename></st1:place>
and Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John David re-married, moved
to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Huerfano</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> and had additional children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Historical accounts disagree about how many
wives and children he had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether he
had two wives or three; twenty-one, twenty-six or another number of children,
he certainly had a full house.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext;">John built the fort at Plaza de los <st1:country-region w:st="on">Leones</st1:country-region> at the intersection of the banks of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Cucharas</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place> and what is now <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Main Street</st1:address></st1:street> in Walsenburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a home there, and was also one of the
first settlers in Cucharas where he had a farm and was the first postmaster.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elvera often talked to her family about her mountain man
great-grandfather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He was a German.</i> Her ancestors, in fact,
were one of the first German families to settle in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> in the oldest part of <st1:city w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:city> called <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germantown</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They came to the new world with Francis
Pastorious seeking religious freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They risked their lives for the hope of living in a democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their hope grew roots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their story is a part of the story of the
beginning of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States of America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Johnnie Albert’s own father died in the
Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, the war memorialized by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Star Spangled Banner</i> by Francis
Scott Key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other ancestors, along with
sons of William Penn, were original settlers of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Reading</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:state></st1:place>.</div>
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Elvera’s maternal line included the family of Teodoro
Espinosa who came from the <st1:placename w:st="on">Mora</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype> in <st1:state w:st="on">New Mexico</st1:state>
to live in the new <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">village</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Cucharas</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That family also descended from several who
walked from Zacatecas in 1598 with Don Juan de Oñate as part of the first
permanent European settlement in what is now the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, 22 years before the
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Further in the past, Elvera’s Spanish New Mexican ancestry can be traced
to the 14<sup>th</sup> century with direct ties to the noble Spanish Serna and
Italian Spinola families.</div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></o:p>And so the arms of Elvera Cordova, a 4’10” woman who weighed
less than 63 pounds at the time of her death, were strong and wide enough to
both mother her own the best she could, and also to reach out beyond their
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With her stories and embodied
character, it is as if she stretched her left hand into the past of her
ancestors and, with her right hand, held tight onto ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her actions and stories are legacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By telling amazing accounts of long-dead people,
she brought them, for a moment, back to life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The stories were examples of how the strong of spirit lived in the wild
west, in the land that once was a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">province</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Spain</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If closely heard, one could use those tales
as tools to emulate and benefit both oneself and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She spoke of grit and courage beyond what
some might think a human being could enact and endure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She spoke of perseverance, pursuit of the
creative, kindness, love and delicious home-made food. Her stories will reach beyond
our own great grandchildren’s future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Funeral mass was held at St. Mary’s Church on November 29
followed by burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery North.</div>
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© 2007 Karen S. Córdova</div>
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Originally published in December
2007 in the Huerfano World Newspaper, Walsenburg, CO.</div>
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Karen Cordovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00880026516964401571noreply@blogger.com0