Healing Ancestral Trauma

 

For centuries people have been captivated by genealogy, tracing their ancestors through historical records for various reasons. In recent years, DNA tests have taken genealogy to a whole new level. This is a DNA chart of me, my sister Nita and my brother Gilbert. Siblings have different DNA, despite sharing the same parents. We each inherit a unique, random combination of 50% from each parent. Phillip isn't on this chart because he didn't take his DNA test with Ancestry.com.

About 16 years ago, my brother Phillip was the first in my family to take a DNA test. He was interested in finding out if we had Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Unfortunately, at the time the $99 DNA test he took only supplied information on our father’s side of the family. A year later I had a DNA test done by Ancestry.com. By that time the average DNA test provided both paternal and maternal DNA information. In the beginning my interest was in healing generational trauma because I saw a pattern repeating in my life which involved extremely unfair real estate deals that I couldn't logically explain. It became obvious that healing generational trauma would require disrupting established power structures within the family which would require me, the youngest female in a very traditional Hispanic family, to break inherited cycles of dysfunction. Through self-awareness and emotional processing, I could clear the trauma in my lineage. I realized that I went along with the status quo to keep peace in the family and it never worked in my favor. 

Previously, since my DNA is mostly Spanish, I was  taking on the responsibility of the misplaced Jews who lost their homes and all their belongs during the Spanish Inquisition and the misplaced Native Americans due to the Spanish Colonizers in the Americas. But then I realized I am 43% Spanish, 20% Native American, 10% Sephardic Jew and a 27% mixture of a whole bunch of other stuff. In other words, my ancestors experienced both victory and defeat. So, logically, how could I be responsible for the Spanish Inquisition? LOL

I then discovered the study of epigenetics and found that we can carry our ancestors' trauma through epigenetic inheritance. Stress impacts gene expression, turning genes "on" or "off" like a dimmer switch without changing the DNA sequence itself. This affects our descendants' stress responses, mental health and behaviors. That would explain why children born into the same family experience different levels of stress-related behaviors. Past traumatic experiences can leave biological marks, influencing the hormonal systems and brain function in future generations, leading to heightened anxiety or depression. While these marks exist, healing is possible through therapy, and acknowledging family history to prevent passing on these chains. So here I am, trying to heal my family.

Our family's DNA did have an impact that aligned with Phillip's interest in discovering his Sephardic Jewish ancestry, but maybe not the way he thought it did. He passed away September 4, 2025 and in our last personal conversation, he said he wanted to get an updated DNA test. I wish he could have for so many reasons. He seemed to be trying to come to terms with a few things in his last days. Phillip was the only immediate family member who had read my blog regularly over the years and I miss his commentary immensely. There were times when he and I had long phone conversations about spirituality and quantum physics, in the same conversation. He always had a way of taking the conversation to the next level. In the last few years of his life, he didn't get to spend time with the Fajardos. There were unspoken moments when I knew we didn't see eye to eye on religion & politics so we just left well enough alone. 

It seemed almost poetic that my research had taken me back to the 13th century Spain when the Fajardo Army of southern Spain, described as a prominent, elite lineage, had consolidated their forces with the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella to take over all of Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. The Fajardo Army not only supported the Inquisition’s Limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) statutes, they were among the primary enforcers of these discriminatory Spanish laws that required proof of Christian ancestry "pure blood." These laws were used to exclude Jews, Muslims, or non-Christians from public office and universities. Yet, on the flip side, the surname Fajardo is considered to be of Sephardic Jewish origin due to its historical connection to converso (forced convert) families who fled. Our lineage first went to the Canary Islands and then to New Mexico right after the Spanish Inquisition. It reminds me of the extremes in current day United States, especially Phillip's immediate family of "Born Again Christians" vs the rest of the Fajardo family. It's a perfect example of how all families throughout the ages have their differences. Some of the Fajardos during the Spanish Inquisition were on the side of the Catholic Monarchs and some were Sephardic Jews. We truly do carry our ancestors' trauma through epigenetic inheritance. 

Phillip was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2025. He was having seizures and suffered a severe brain bleed that his hospice nurse confirmed would ultimately take his life. Earlier today I opened facebook and this post appeared to remind me that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had it removed exactly 16 years ago today. At that time, 16 years ago, the neurologist said he only had 2 years which tell me that Phillip was misdiagnosed. 

But there I was in August, just a couple of weeks before he passed away, having our last private conversation. His wife was glaring at us across the room. It wasn't until then that I realized just what an oppressive relationship he had been in for all of these years. It had proven to be useless to bring up any topic his wife didn't approve of. My ongoing research into the "Common Hispanic Mutation" (CCM1 - Cerebral Cavernous Malformation)  and the fact that it is often misdiagnosed as a brain tumor was right at the top of the list of topics that weren't allowed to be discussed. Phillip's wife was treating him with a hand full of non prescribed drugs and he had signed Advance Directives saying he didn't want any more medical care. So there I sat with all my years of research about the genetic mutation that's highly prevalent in our New Mexican blood line on both our father and mother's side of the family. Yet his family ignored the fact that our genetic legacy came from a small group of early Spanish settlers, linked directly to the historical ideology of Limpieza de Sangre (purity of blood) that is scientifically known to cause brain bleeds.

During our conversation Phillip said to me "You and I were cut from the same cloth." I smiled and said proudly "Yes, we were." I felt that in the depths of my heart, yet in the back of my mind I was thinking "Yes, with the same genetic disease, caused by our ancestor's fixation on having pure Spanish blood. And sadly, the same mindset of the right-wing Christian nationalists government who want to keep 'America' white." 

I couldn't save my brother. I strongly believe he is in a better place. When I think of him, I see his healthy, brilliant face in a beautiful field of of mushrooms. 

Phillip Fajardo

The good news is that others have found my blog helpful and informative. I had a doctor from Dallas and one from El Paso who found my blog about 6 years ago. They were both impressed with my research and asked if I would be interested in taking part in their CCM1 studies. At the time, I was in my mid-sixties and I don't drive long distances, so I refrained, but my research was helpful in tracing some of my relatives with the CCM1 gene to the Santa Rosa, NM area. I have also been contacted by many distant cousins who have found my blog because they are on the same journey of self discovery through ancestry. When you do a Google search of Puerto de Luna, New Mexico, my blog is the first thing that comes up because it is literally a ghost town now. 

I discovered much more information than I bargained for when I signed up to become a member of Ancestry.com, thinking I would keep the membership for 3 months. Here it is 15 years later and I have been on a quest that has taken me on an amazing journey through my family's colorful past. Tracing the Fajardo surname back to Spain as far back as the 1200's has been a mind blowing, educational experience.

I started writing about my research for my children and grandchildren because after my parents passed away, I felt like I should have asked more questions. The next generation may be interested in it some day, but meanwhile I am connecting with cool cousins. At the bottom of this post you can click on "See More Posts" and it will take you to older posts.

The journey actually began when I was 16 years old, my junior year in high school, when my parents sent me to live with my Grandma Rosita Padilla in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico as a punishment for skipping school. I was having anxiety attacks at school. That all disappeared when I went to Santa Rosa High. I felt seen and heard. I loved my art teacher, Mr Lopez. I felt a deep connection to my ancestors who had been in New Mexico for over 400 years. In the quiet times, alone on the farm, in my grandma's adobe house, that my mother had helped to build and in the chile fields next to the acequia. Or on the weekends when my cousin Percy Padilla and I worked at the small store/gas station in Puerto de Luna  called "Mercado Coronado." The store was next door to what used to be the Grzelachowski General Store, which is is known for having the likes of Billy the Kid as a regular customer in the late 1800's. I felt that I was surrounded by the spirits of my ancestors and there was an underlying feeling that I had been there in the previous century. It all felt oddly familiar. I felt like I was finally home.

I didn't have time to do a deep dive into my past until years later, after my parents had passed away and my children were grown. Building my family tree has been a nightly activity. The historical discovery of my parents homeland of New Mexico and the journey of my ancestors from Spain has been truly fascinating.

I've learned that a well-researched family tree typically reaches back to the 17th or 18th century with good parish records. I've traced my mother's paternal Padilla lineage back to Anton Martin de Padilla who was born in Sevilla, Spain in 1536. I've traced my father's Fajardo lineage back to my 9th Great-Grandfather Jose Miguel Fajardo born in the Canary Islands in 1591. But I can't help but think his family was just traveling through when he was born because his son, my 8th Great-Grandfather Alonso Fajardo was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1656. 

Fajardo Coat of Arms

I haven't found a connection but there was an Alonso Fajardo de Entenza, Governor-General of the Philippines (1618–1624), who was a Spanish nobleman born in Murcia, Spain and he was the son of Admiral Don Luis Fajardo. He was a Knight of the Order of Alcántara. The Fajardos had been sent out to conquer the world and it appears that some ended up in in the Philippines just before the first Fajardos came to New Mexico. They had to be related but I don't know exactly how.

The surname Fajardo originated in the northwestern region of Galicia, Spain. With roots traced to a nobleman, Pedro Anes Galego, Lord of Santa Marta de Ortigueira. He was the progenitor of the Fajardo surname. Fajardo is a Galician/Latin term for a beech wood or tree. Then the Fajardo family emigrated to Murcia in 1296 and became high-ranking officials of the Crown of Castile. 

You can't imagine the mixture of emotions I had when I discovered that the Fajardo family was the most powerful and prestigious noble lineage in the Kingdom of Murcia, Spain beginning in the 13th century. 

The prestigious Spanish noble title held by the Fajardos was Marqués de los Vélez. It was a title that held major influence in the region for centuries and was first granted to Pedro Fajardo y Chacon in 1507. He was a prominent military leader and politician. I just read a blog written in 2022 about  Pedro Fajardo y Chacon's iconic Castillo de Vélez-Blanco, also know as the Castillo de los Fajardo located in the town of Vélez-Blanco, Andalusia, Spain. It is said to be a remarkable example of a Spanish Renaissance Castle and it has been declared a historical-artistic monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasury since 1931.

Castillo de Vélez-Blanco,
also know as the
Castillo de los Fajardo

Read more about the castle here.

The importance of the Fajardo family in the history of the Crown of Castile didn't go unnoticed by great authors of Spanish literature. In the 16th-century, because the Fajardo family of the Kingdom of Murcia, held such immense power, they became natural subjects for Spain’s greatest writers. There were satirical plays written for them. Research into Spanish literature highlights connections between the poet Acevedo and members of the Fajardo family

With all of that being said, I have known from the start of my ancestry research that the Fajardo and Padilla lineages are only 2 of many of my lineages. Those are just the names I was assigned in our patriarchal naming system. I actually have more Chavez, Padilla and Baca DNA because they are on both sides of my family tree.

In closing, for years I had come across stories of my Spanish ancestors expelling Jews from Spain and conquering the Americas. Ancestral trauma healing involves identifying and releasing emotional, physical and spiritual wounds that have been passed down through the generations. These wounds manifest as unexplained fears and toxic patterns. Healing requires forgiveness. Forgive yourself above all and forgive others. Ancestral research empowers future generations. I've always felt there has to be a reckoning of accumulated damage done by our ancestors. Being a deep thinking, peace loving healer, I wondered if I had been chosen in my lineage to even up the score. Not as a punishment, but to heal the lineage for my family and future generations. Therefore, I have experienced genetic health issues and botched real estate deals to bring it all to my attention. This blog is just one layer of my personal healing process. Thank you for being a part of my journey.

He Built It With His Hands - My Tio Guillermo Padilla

Most of the time I write posts about ancestors, who I never had the pleasure of meeting because they lived long ago. Today I am writing about my Tio Guillermo Padilla. AKA Maquela, Maquel, Mac or Max McGee. He had so many nicknames because he was a character. I think Maquel liked flying under the radar, living in Puerto de Luna, however, he wasn't hard to miss. 

The other day I wrote a poem about Maquel, inspired by a conversation I had with my cousin, Tony Dodge while having lunch with him and his wife Sharon in San Antonio. He described how Maquel built his rock walls and as he told me, I could just see Maquel creating his magic. He would place a rock on top of the wall he was building and sit back, light a cigarette and look at the placement of the rock. Then he would ever so slightly move to rock and take another puff off of his cigarette. I as an artist truly understand that form of meditation.

Guillermo Padilla
AKA Maquela, Maquel, Mac or Max McGee

Guillermo Padilla was born June 8, 1913 in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico. He died March 10, 1985. He was an eccentric man with many talents. He was a musician, an artist and a rock mason. I didn't like him as a child because I didn't understand him. He was quiet and he snored and talked in his sleep. Now I understand. Now I think he probably would have been described as being neurodivergent because of his social preferences and the fact that he was very talented in certain creative areas. I recognize this because I too am neurodivergent. I am thinking there could be a genetic element. I am glad that in my lifetime society has finally concluded that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning and behaving and differences are not viewed as deficiencies. 

This is a painting I did of the adobe house in Puerto de Luna
where Guillermo lived most of his life.

Maquel was my mom's older brother. He never married. He lived 12 miles from Santa Rosa in Puerto de Luna most of his life, except when he was in the army. He was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas for basic training, then he went to Egypt and Italy, where he was honorably discharged due to medical issues. From what I understand, he came back from WWII with what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder. I have a feeling many returned from WWII with PTSD.

The other day after I wrote the poem about Mac, I posted it on Facebook and I was surprised at the response I got from cousins who had memories of him when they were young. My cousin, Patrick Padilla said that my post brought back fond memories. One summer Patrick's father, Floyd Padilla, forced him to help Tio Maquel build a rock wall around their yard. He said he'd never forget riding with Maquel to Puerto de Luna in his old flatbed truck to gather the rock for the job. Patrick said he was amazed at how Mac knew just where to hit the large sandstones near the river with his pickaxe to break off chunks of rock for the wall. Patrick also said he had always wished he could have learned more about masonry from Maquel but it was hard work and he was too young to care. I didn't know until then that Maquel actually quarried his one stones! He quarried sandstone, smooth river granite stones and even petrified wood. He was an amazing mason.Watching him piece together a wall was a beautiful thing. I remembered that we had a pile of petrified wood on the side of our house that my dad was sort of proud of. He would move the pile to mow the grass and carefully place it back in the middle of the side yard. To anyone else, it was just a pile of rocks.

This is my grandson Dylan standing in front of my
parents house in Amarillo, TX in 2010.
This is the only photo I could find of the
rock flower bed Maquel built in front of the porch.

This is one of Maquel's walls at the entrance of Park Lake
in Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Guillermo Padilla on the left playing accordion

Guillermo Padilla playing accordion in Puerto de Luna

My dad Felipe Fajardo and Guillermo Padilla

And the beauty of it all was that he wasn't just a rock mason. He was also an artist and a musician. I started painting horses in the early 1990's and it wasn't until my brother Phillip saw one of them and told me it looked like one of Uncle Mac's that I remembered his horsed that drew and mine look just like his.

My daughter Adriane wearing one of my
"Two Ladies on Horses" T-Shirt at an art show in 1993.

"Two Ladies on Horses" T-Shirt painted by Christina Fajardo 1993 

I've been told that the wait staff put a black ribbon around the booth where Mac used to sit and drink coffee at his favorite restaurant in Santa Rosa. I don't know that for a fact because I was living in Austin with 2 children in 1985. It's good to know that your DNA lives on Uncle Mac. My son's nick name was Big Mac for a little while and he wore it proudly and used to make Instagram posts of Mac that were pretty funny.

Mercado de Coronado - Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

Painting of My Grandma's House
by Christina Fajardo

In 2017 I wrote a blog reflecting back 45 years to 1972, when I was 16 years old. I was born and raised in Amarillo and had lived on Magnolia Street in the Hamlet neighborhood my whole life, up to that point.  I am sure when my parents moved there from Garfield Street, it felt like heaven. It was a new middle income neighborhood when I was born. North Amarillo was booming because of the airbase. We were in walking distance to the largest park in Amarillo. Thompson Park was my paradise. It had a Zoo, swimming pool and an amusement park called Wonderland. Life as I knew it, was pretty freaking good on Magnolia Street. We had a 4 bedroom house and my dad had a workshop in the backyard and we always had a beautiful yard due to the fact that one of my dad's favorite pass times was watering the grass, feeding birds and stray cats.

This is the house I grew up in at
1804 Magnolia, Amarillo, Texas

Both of my brothers and my sister had gone to the local north side high school, Palo Duro High. However the dynamics of the high school had changed considerably by the time I arrived there for my junior year. My best friend Regina's parents transferred her to Alamo private Catholic school. My parents decided to take me to Puerto de Luna, New Mexico to live with my 90 year old grandma on her farm. I realized later, this was simply to make a point, to show me how tough things really could be since I was seemly unhappy living in my perfect teenage bedroom with blacklight posters, walk-in closet and blue princess phone. 

Playing guitar in my bedroom

I had a cute boyfriend who lived down the street. We were either on the phone or hanging out at the swimming pool or Wonderland at Thompson Park.

Jay Spann and Christina Fajardo

Next thing I knew, I was, living with my grandma Rosita in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico. It made for a very interesting living situation since she was blind and she only spoke Spanish. My saving grace was that my Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Rita Padilla and their 8 kids lived next door. 

Me with my cousins who lived next door
 to my Grandmas Rosita, in Puerto de Luna, NM
From left to right: Percy Padilla, Christina Fajardo,
Mark Padilla, Rita Padilla and Michael Padilla

Distributive Education Class
Santa Rosa High
Bottom Row - Christina Fajardo
Middle Row - Connie Campos
Back Row - Percy Padilla

I wasn't really aware that my parents had taken me to Puerto de Luna to convence me of how good my life in Texas really was. Needless to say, they were extremely surprised when they returned a couple of weeks later to take me home and found that I had settled into my new dusty New Mexico farm life very well. I didn't mind sleeping on a roll away bed in my grandma's bedroom. I found it comforting to hear her pray the rosary at night in the dark with an owl hooting in the tree outside my window. The 12 mile school bus ride to Santa Rosa High wasn't so bad because the radio station seemed to play Jose Feliciano's "Ain't No Sunshine" every morning at the same time. I loved being the new girl in school and the teachers thought I was brilliant. Especially my art teacher, Mr. Lopez, who bought me canvas and oil paints while everyone else was painting on paper. I loved that the school cafeteria served rice, pinto beans, potatoes and tortillas for lunch. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was really at home. I found a group of friends who have remained lifelong friends, unlike the majority of the kids I had gone to school with for the previous 10 years. And the icing on the cake is that I have since learned that most of them are my cousins.

I didn't miss spending my weekends going out with the party animals of Amarillo. In fact, there was a small co-op grocery store/gas station in Puerto de Luna called "Mercado de Coronado." My first cousin Percy Padilla and I worked there on the weekends. It was located in an old, light green adobe building next to what used to be the Grzelachowski General Store, established 100 years earlier, around 1872. 

Photo of the "Mercado de Coronado" It has been closed for many years

Grzelachowski General Store, Puerto de Luna, NM

There were a couple of young men who were VISTA volunteers who helped organize "Mercado de Coronado." The other day I received an email from Sam, one of the VISTA volunteers. He said he had stumbled across my blog a couple of years ago while looking for news of Puerto de Luna. It was so cool to hear from him. I have such fond memories of that little store. The front room had a cash register, shelves of essentials like canned goods, bread, crackers and the not so essential candy and a refrigerator full of generic sodas. Then there was a pool table in the other room. The regulars would come by with money in hand to put their quarter on the pool table to take their turn at pool and another quarter for a soda. We also sold gasoline as you can see by the rusty old Conoco gas sign still standing out in front of the building in the photo.

The church where my parents were baptized and married was in walking distance and across the road was our family cemetery where my little brother, Larry was buried.

Nuestra Senora del Refugio Catholic Church

At the time, I had not a clue what historic events had taken place in that very location a century before. My paternal grandmother Josefita Labadie Fajardo's family lived in Puerto de Luna as well. My first cousin (3 generations back) Beatriz Labadie was married to Juan Patron. They had been living in Lincoln but the Lincoln County War had broken out so they moved to Puerto de Luna to live on the Labadie ranch. Upon their arrival, Juan raised money to have the church, Nuestra Senora del Refugio (Our Lady of Refuge) built in 1982. Unfortunately, the first mass held in the church was for Juan Patron's funeral. He was murdered at a salon in Puerto de Luna.

He is buried under the nave of the church. He could have very well become the governor of New Mexico but instead he was needlessly assassinated before the age of 30.

The following year one of my all time favorite movies, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" was released. I never thought twice about why I felt so emotionally attached to the movie and the sound track. 

Movie poster for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

There were very few remnants left of what a bustling little community Puerto de Luna was 100 years before. It was the county seat, so there was a court house, post office and a beautiful Catholic church. 

Court House in Puerto de Luna, NM

My cousin Juan Patron, a young, up and coming politician had raised the money to build the church. He was murdered in a Puerto de Luna saloon on April 15, 1884, just as the church was being finished. His funeral was the first mass to be held in the new church and he is buried in the nave. He was the son-in-law of my Great-Great Uncle Lorenzo Labadie, who was one of the most impressive characters in my family history during the 1800's. He had been a Lieutenant Colonel, a sheriff and when he got older he had orchards and vineyards. He had a license to sell wine and was the he was a very accurate census taker. While doing my ancestry research, I always know that if the census was filled out by Lorenzo Labadie, it is complete and accurate. 

Now, reflecting back, I wish I would have asked a lot more questions of the local farmers who came in to buy gas at "Mercado de Coronado." I wish I had know a little more history of this dusty little ghost town when I lived there. Bobby Gerhardt (my  second cousin) was one of my favorites who often came into the store. He was a tall, blue eyed rancher with the a golden farmer's tan. He always wore a grin and joked with everyone he met. He spent evenings at my grandma's smoking cigarettes and drinking a cold one with my Uncle Jose Padilla out in the screened in porch by the light of the moon. 

This is when a healthy dose of time travel would come in handy. William Bonney AKA "Billy the Kid" spent a lot of time in Puerto de Luna at the Grzelachowski General Store in the late 1800's. I was beyond surprised when I found his name on census 1880 census when I was researching John Gerhardt. Interestingly enough, John Gerhardt was my Great Aunt Doloritas Padilla Gerhardt's father-in-law and he was also my Great Uncle Hilario Valdez's father-in-law. This is where one of the branches of my family tree gets a little tangled. My mom's Aunt Doloritas Padilla, on her dad's side was married to John Gerhardt's son, Henry Gerhardt. AND my mom's Uncle Hilario Valdez, on her mom's side was married to John Gerhardt's daughter, Katie Gerhardt. John was the only practicing doctor in the vicinity. I remembered stories of my Great Uncle Hilario being the Gerhardt Ranch foreman for many years prior to marrying Katie. Later Hilario and Katie had a ranch in Los Ojitos and Grandma Rosita Valdez Padilla and my Grandpa Ascencion Padilla had an adjoining ranch. I'd heard the old folks speak of all of these characters my whole life but didn't pay much attention to the Spanglish (half English and half Spanish) conversations and private jokes that they had shared for years. 

Oddly, when I started doing ancestry research I adopted a cat named Katie and then another named Rosita. It was purely serendipitous. It felt like it was a little private cosmic joke on me from the Universe that they came with the names of my grandma Rosita and her sister-in-law, Katie. Often, as I drank tea engrossed in my late night research, I imagined the sister-in-laws, Kate and Rosita, cooking posole together as they tended to fire in the wood burning stove and the children playing on the dusty wooden floors of their adobe houses while their husbands, Hilario and Ascencion worked the sheep ranches.

So my time in Puerto de Luna was short lived. My parents made me go back to Amarillo for my senior year. When I returned to Amarillo, I went to school half day and worked half day, saving my money to get back to New Mexico the summer after I graduated. I rented a little adobe house in Santa Rosa that summer with Yolanda Smith. I had big plans to attend Highlands University in the fall. My parents had other plans. They snatched me up and took me to Austin where I would remain most of my adult life. 

My house in Santa Rosa
My cousin Barbara Quintana Baca's children,
Timothy and Kris Baca
In front of my macrame and
mural on the living room wall
in my tiny house on the hill, in Santa Rosa

Moving back to New Mexico has always been in the back of my mind...but for now my heart and soul live there and I just go back to visit every couple of years.

One of my favorite photos of Puerto de Luna

Spanish Influenza of 1918 - Coronavirus 2020

I haven't written in my blog since August, 2019. No reason in particular. Now that I have been sitting in quarantine with my thoughts for 6 weeks, due to the world wide pandemic, COVID-19, I've decided it's time to write about how deeply I feel about our situation.

When the quarantine began, I approached it with fear and grief. Fear because I am over 60 with a heart condition and grief because I couldn't get my grandmother, Josefita Labadie Fajardo off of my mind. She died 102 years ago due to the Spanish Influenza of 1918 when an estimated 1/3 of the world’s population was infected  – resulting in at least 50 million deaths worldwide. I never imagined with the incredible advances we have made in medicine that we would be facing a pandemic in 2020.

My grandparents - Josefita Labadie Fajardo and Doroteo Chavez Fajardo

My father, Felipe Montoya Fajardo, was only three years old when his mother died. This I know, he spent his whole life with a huge hole in his broken heart, looking for his mother's grave. He never found it. After my dad had passed away, I read  that so many people had died in the winter of 1918 that the victims had to be buried in unmarked group graves. It was too risky to have funerals.

My Father, Felipe Montoya Fajardo when he was a baby

My Father,  Felipe Montoya Fajardo when he was a boy

The Spanish Influenza had showed up on the west coast of the United States in the Spring of 1918. Then the curve had flatted, however when WWI ended, on November 11, 1918, people came out of quarantine to celebrate and the second and worst wave of the flu hit in the winter of 1918. That is when my grandmas died. It didn't stop there, it hit again in 1919. 

Have you ever wondered why it was called the Spanish Influenza? It was a misnomer. It didn’t start in Spain. During WWI Spain was neutral so censorship wasn't impose the press. France, England and the United States newspapers weren’t allowed to report on anything that could harm the war effort, including news that a crippling virus was sweeping through and killing the troops. Since Spanish journalists were some of the only ones reporting on a widespread flu outbreak in the spring of 1918, the pandemic became known as the “Spanish flu.”

Notice the cat had a mask on as well

As fate would have it, just a few weeks prior to the COVID-19 quarantine, I was chatting on Facebook with my friend/prima, Jasmine Baca, who lives in Santa Rosa, NM. A friend of hers, Kimberly Harris, chimed in on the conversation and we ended up chatting for a long time. It felt like another one of those God sends that I happen onto once in a while. 

Kimberly said "I think I have read your blog about your ancestry. You are descended from the Labadie family, right?" I said "Yes!" She said "I'm fascinated by that family. I live on a piece of their property, between the hemp farms in Puerto de Luna."  I replied "Oh Wow! Yes, my paternal grandmother was Josefita Labadie. I didn't know there were hemp farms in Puerto de Luna! I am totally fascinated by that lineage of my family tree as well. I never knew anything about them until I started doing research because my grandmother Josefita died of the Spanish Influenza in 1918 when my father was only 3 yrs old. I discovered so much of my ancestry from the census taken in Puerto de Luna in 1900 by Lorenzo Labadie. He was the census taker that year, at the age of 75, but he had such an amazing life in his younger years. He was a Lieutenant Colonel. His daughter, Beatriz was married to Juan Patron, another very interesting person. There is a book written about him called "Juan Patron: A Fallen Star in the Days of Billy the Kid." 

Beatriz Labadie Patron and Juan Patron

Then Kimberly wrote "That was the best book! Sadly the Labadie homestead was bought up. They have built a huge four story CBD processing facility. They have basically destroyed the beauty of the ranch. However, Lorenzo’s original Adobe is still there. Plans to tear it down were abandoned. Now they know they historical significance of it. The people who owned this land and who sub-divided it, were obsessed with Lorenzo Labadie as well. The wife did a ton of research on him and passed it on to me. It is all stuff you have found, Im sure. Richard Delgado said my place is where Juan Patron and Beatrice lived. I found Roman’s grave and Beatrice’s next to him at the cemetery on Reilly Road."

Beatriz Labadie's Grave

Kimberly continued "Lorenzo's grave is in in the El Calvario Cemetery in Puerto de Luna. I am trying to find the truth about my house. It was a ruin that someone enlarged in the early 2000’s. It makes sense it was Beatrice and Juan's house. Most of the old families of Puerto de Luna have a presence here. I’ve often wondered where all the Labadie family scattered to." She went on to say "The location of Lorenzo’s Adobe is the second drive way coming from Santa Rosa on the west side of the highway before Blue Jay Rd which is where Richard and Julie Delgado live. There are county dumpsters at the gate." I wrote back "Oh my goodness, this is very touching! I have lived in Texas most of my life so I haven't had the opportunity to do much physical research. It is really very cool that you live there. Why do you live there? I would love to see photos!" She answered that she worked in the movie industry and was working on a movie in New Mexico. She decided she just had to live there. She found the ranch on 'Craig's list' and bought it.

Present day Labadie Ranch
Now the Kimberly Harris Ranch

Kimberly Harris

Kimberly posted this iris photo on
Easter Sunday, April 12,2020

Not knowing what it would mean to me.

It was the 15 year anniversary of my mom's passing.

Mom and Dad always had iris plants in their yard.

Mom and her iris plants - Amarillo, TX

My mother used to mention the Labadie family on occasion when she talked about her uncles who were politicians in New Mexico. I wish I had paid closer attention to the stories she told. After my grandmother Josefita died, my grandfather, Doroteo remarried and started another family so my grandmother's memory was all but erased, except from the heart of her only son Felipe. When he was in the service he had a tattoo on his upper left arm with a heart that read "In Memory of Mother"

So I started doing my own research about 10 years ago. My Great-Great-Great Uncle, Lorenzo Labadie was the census taker in Puerto de Luna and surrounding areas in the late 1800's to the early 1900's. I discovered some of the most important information from these documents. I always felt like I had hit a jackpot of information if I found a census taken by Lorenzo because all of his census documentation was very accurate and legible. He not only knew everyone in each household, he was related to all of the ones that I was researching. I felt like I grew to know him, late at night as I drank tea while I combed through his well recorded documents.

Lorenzo Labadie's House as it looks today
Nobody lives there.

The census in Puerto de Luna in 1900 was a huge find for me. I found that my Grandmother Josefita Labadie and her sisters were living with her mother Dorotea and her stepfather, Antonio Montoya in Puerto de Luna. Up to that time I thought my grandma Josefita was a Montoya but it listed all the children as step-children to the head of the household, Antonio Montoya and they all had the last name Labadie. This was a HUGE find.

A Portion of the 1900 Puerto de Luna Census

Lorenzo Labadie lead a very active life. He was born August 10, 1825 in the Rio Grande Valley, south of Albuquerque. In 1851 he was the sheriff of Valencia County, On February 16, 1852, he married Maria de los Reyes Refugio Rayitos Giddings-Gutierrez. (A very colorful personality herself) In 1854 there is documentation of him being a sheriff of Santa Fe. He then became an Indian agent for several tribes. In 1855 he was an Indian agent for Utes. In 1856 he was an Indian agent in Abiquiú. In1862 he was an Indian agent at Anton Chico. In 1863 he was an Indian agent in Bosque Redondo, just out side of Fort Sumner. The present day address is 3647 Billy the Kid Rd, Fort Sumner, NM. There was a lot going on there at that time and I am still doing research. In 1865 he was an Indian agent for the Jicarilla Indians near Agua Negra present day Santa Rosa. In 1867 he was sent to Texas to get Indians to release white captives, another cool story I need to research. Then my favorite part of Lorenzo's life.... In 1871 He got a merchant's license and opened a wine shop in Puerto de Luna. It's not hard for me to imagine the grape vines and orchards along the Pecos in Puerto de Luna.And then at last in 1880 he was the census taker. Billy the Kid was on the census, confirming the stories I had heard that Billy the Kid had taught my great Uncle Hilario Valdez how to read and write in English when he was 7 yrs old. Lot of history here also. Then on May 8, 1884 he became the Post Master of Santa Rosa until Dec. 14, 1898. April 20, 1885 he signed a petition to get Rifles for Puerto de Luna. On February 2, 1893 won case against Celso Baca for cheating on Election for seat on the 30th. Legislation Assembly of N.M. as representation for Guadalupe Co. Lorenzo died on August 10, 1904, in Puerto De Luna, New Mexico and was buried there in the El Calvario Cemetery.

My thoughts now, six weeks into quarantine. I am so grateful to have a safe home and groceries. I thought I loved HEB before but I love them even more now because they have provided curbside pickup for groceries. I have been impressed with most of my family and friends and our effort to flatten the curve by staying home. I think with greater awareness of how viruses and pandemics work, along with better healthcare, we have a better chance than they did in 1918, even if we are working against a president who urges us to not trust the press and has followers who believe the pandemic is a hoax. I feel badly for those areas with dense populations like NYC who rely on public transportation. I am grateful to all my musician friends for the streaming concerts on Facebook and ZOOM conversations with friends. I am grateful for everyone who has checked in on me by phone, text or Facebook. I am grateful for the essential workforce who has continued to work such as healthcare workers and those who work at the grocery stores and pharmacies. I pray that this pandemic takes a downward turn by May 15 so my son can reopen his restaurant. For now I am home, watching lots of movies, eating lots of home cooked meals and feeling grateful that in this moment I feel healthy and I have a cat. And to all that read this please stay safe, stay home as much as possible and be grateful in every moment.