Let me tell you a little about what was going on in my personal history in the 1700's and beyond. The majority of my ancestors are from the western side of what is now known as the United States of America. In 1776 it was not yet part of the USA. It was New Spain.
So picture this. 28 years before the Declaration of Independence my paternal 4th great-grandmother, Maria Micaela Padilla, was born in the high mountain valley of El Rito in Rio Arriba County, New Spain. It is now present day New Mexico. The exact location is 14 miles south of Abiquiú, 18 miles northwest of Espanola, 15 miles northwest of Ojo Caliente and 56 miles northwest of Santa Fe, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east.
With those very detailed directions being given, the present day locals will tell you, tongue in cheek, the very small community of El Rito is about 300 years northwest of Santa Fe because much of the current day population lives off of the grid.
Maria Micaela was born into the prominent founding Padilla family of New Mexico in 1748. It was common for men to migrate from the east and marry into the large wealthy Hispanic families in the west. In 1765 a handsome 27 yr old doctor, Dominique Labadie, who had been born in Veloc, Gascony, in the southwest of France. migrated from St Louis to New Mexico. He and Maria Micaela were married on November of 1766.Ten years before the Declaration of Independence. The marriage took place at La Parroquia Church in Santa Fe, NM which was built between 1714 –1717. The very popular present day Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi was built on the site of La Parroquia church between 1869 and 1886 . Maria Micaela and Dominique Labadie had 15 children and they were all baptized in that church.
Fast forward to January of 1795, the French were lobbying for the return of Louisiana to France. Spain was fearful of the encroachment of the United States and France. Since Dominique was French and married to Maria Micaela Padilla, who was Spanish, their property was inventoried and the couple and their 15 children were confined to their residence for a period of time.
Because the information that's been written in our history books and taught in our schools is extremely slanted, I have had to dig deep for my personal history. In 1776 King Charles III of Spain gave my maternal 5th Great Uncle, Captain Antonio Montoya, 50,000 acre Piedra Lumbre Land Grant in New Mexico. Did you read anything about that in your history books? Probably not. The 21,000 acres that comprise Georgia O'Keefe's Ghost Ranch is part of the Piedra Lumbre Land Grant and is now owned by a Presbyterian Church. I won't go into how it went from being a family land grant to being owned by a church.
I would rather tell you a little more about the Labadie family. Lorenzo Labadie was the grandson of Micaela and Dominique Labadie and my 3rd Great-Uncle. He is one of my ancestors that I have grown to know and love through my research. Lorenzo was described as a handsome, honorable man who wore many hats.
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| Lorenzo Labadie |
In 1851 he was the Sheriff in Valencia County where he served 3 terms. Like his friend Kit Carson, he was a sympathetic and a loyal friend of many Native Americans. In 1855 he was appointed as a U.S. Indian Agent for 15 years and gained respect and confidence seldom obtained by the Native Americans as an Agent. Under his watchful eye, the Native Americans worked side-by-side with soldiers, damming the Pecos River to irrigate crops, planting trees, and building a slaughter house. this is very close to my heart because I watched my uncles work that land as a child, growing chile and raising cattle. Under Lorenzo's watchful eye in the late 1800's they had 94 gardens spread over a 100 acre area and grew melons, pumpkins, chile and green beans.
Lorenzo was removed as an Indian agent because he protested against the Native Americans being furnished unwholesome food by the government. I picture him in my minds eye as a honorable man, much like my father, someone who could never fully retire. In 1871 Lorenzo took out merchants license and opened a wine shop. There were vineyards and orchards in Puerto de Luna. I can only imagine how beautiful and lively it was when my parents were born there in the early 1900's.
Here are photos of the Labadie Ranch in Puerto de Luna, NM as it looks today. Lorenzo's daughter, Beatrice Labadie and her husband, Juan Patron lived in this house. It is no longer owned by the Labadie family.
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
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| Labadie Ranch House In Puerto de Luna, NM |
Lorenzo Labadie was the census taker of Puerto de Luna and the surrounding areas during 1880, 1890 and 1900. Because of his excellent record keeping abilities, it made it very easy for me to become very familiar with Puerto de Luna when it was an active, thriving community. I have never seen any other census taken with such precision. There's so much family history in these documents, including records of Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney) living and working on my great-great uncle's ranches.
During the day he kept land and cattle rustlers at bay and in the evenings when the work day was done, he taught my Great Uncle Hilario Valdez to speak and read English at the age of 7. That tells me he probably wasn't the bad guy that the history books make him out to be. Instead he was loyal to the Hispanic families who had taken him in and treated him like family. There is a book written about Lorenzo Labadie's son-in-law called "Juan Patron: A Fallen Star in the Days of Billy the Kid."
Juan had moved his family back to Puerto de Luna from Lincoln County during the Lincoln County Wars only to be shot down in cold blood in Puerto de Luna. The killer was Mitchel E. Maney, a cowboy from a wealthy Texas ranching family.
Juan had raised the money to build the Nuestra Señora del Refugio Church in Puerto de Luna. Sadly, the first mass held in the church was was his funeral. His was buried in the church. I hope to some day write a book based on the information that Lorenzo collected in the pages of his census.
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| The Nuestra Señora del Refugio Church Puerto de Luna, NM |
So there you have it. A very condensed version of what was going on with just a couple of branches of my family tree in the west when the original 13 eastern colonies became the United States. It wasn't until January 6, 1912, 3 years before my father was born that New Mexico actually became the 47th state. In 1776 it was New Spain.
I had a few ancestors who were in 13 colonies. I just discovered in the past couple of years that my family tree has a couple of branches who are direct descendants of the United States founding fathers. My children are 2nd cousins 8 times removed from President Thomas Jefferson on their dad's side. William Randolph I and his wife, Mary Isham are my children's 9th great-grandparents in the in the Ethridge lineage. I had an Aunt Marcelina Padilla Page who was also married into that lineage so there are some Page/Nelson/Dodge families that cross back and forth from my mom's side of the family to my ex-husband's family. This is very typical for those of us in New Mexico but my ex-husband was born in Houston, TX. I'll save that story for another blog. The funny thing is, my mother moved me far, far away from New Mexico so I wouldn't marry a distant cousin and I married a distant cousin anyway. hahaha!
This Independence Day, I am just going to visualize independence from this modern day madness we call our government. I'm praying for many, many needed miracles. Women's healthcare is at the top of my list.
Wonderful post!
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