Burial Record for Paola Torres de Zimmerly

Today I discovered the burial record for my 2nd great-grandmother Maria Pabla Torres de Zimmerly. The sacramental record shows her name as Paola.

According to an article about the Zimmerly family, she died on 23 July 1917. The burial record I found confirms a death date around that time, as she was buried the next day.

I found the record on FamilySearch. Below is screen shot of the image.

Source: "Microfilm # 16997, Church Records 1821-1956, Catholic Church. San Miguel (Socorro, New Mexico)," Family Search, FamilySearch.org (www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 August 2017), digital image, "burial record: Paola Torres de Zimmerly, 24 July 1917," image # 612.

Additional source: Author Anonymous, "Zimmerly Family in Socorro for 100 Years," El Defensor Chieftain (Socorro, New Mexico) (17 November 1966): page 1-E.

Burial Records for the San Miguel Church of Socorro, New Mexico, beginning in 1913, can be found starting on image #587. Below is a link to that first image of that burial book:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQY-T9V7?i=586&cat=414524

A Few Coincidences: The Torres Family

Recently, I’ve been researching a particular Torres family in Socorro. Specifically, the descendants of Agustin Torres and Felipa Baca. Independently of these research needs, I purchased a book titled “Santa BarbaraCemetery: Albuquerque, New Mexico”.  At least I thought it was independent of those needs.

Today I was in the Albuquerque Genealogy Library where I came across the authors of the above-mentioned book. I told Cheril that I had purchased the book, and she went to the shelves and brought out a copy. We began going through it, when I remembered that there was a particular family that I found at the cemetery when I visited it last years.

Getudres Zimmerly, the sister of my great-grandfather Estevan Zimmerly (not to confused with Estevan’s daughter of the same name) was married to Herminio Torres, her first cousin. This couple is buried in the cemetery, although not together. However, Getrudes is buried next to her adult son Ernest Torres. We found the entries for this family in the book, and was I able to give Cheril and her co-author Nancy some more information about this family. I mentioned that I did not know if Ernest had been married or not, and Cheril suggested that I look up his death certificate and obituary on the genealogy library’s LAN system. Well, I found his death certificates and four separate obituaries. I now know his wife’s name was Suzanne, he had a daughter named Edna Lois Torres and that his three sisters were married to M.A. Pino, John F. Ulivari (Ulibarri) and J.R. DeArmond. Although I don’t know which sister goes with which husband, I at least have a few leads for the family.

Below are links to my Evernote captures of the four obituaries and death certificate:

·         Ernesto Torres obituaries

·         Ernest Torres’ death certificate

Here is also a short genealogy of the family:

·      The Family of Herminio Torres and Getrudes Zimmerly

Obituary Gertrudes (Zimmerly) Torres, wife of Herminio Torres

I found the obituary for Gertrudes (Zimmerly) Torres, the wife of Herminio Torres,  in the 7 September 1920 issue of the Albuquerque Morning Journal. The newspaper erroneously lists her as Gertrudes Torres Zimmerly, which would indicate that her maiden name would have been Torres, rather than Zimmerly. Gertrudes was the daughter of Samuel Zimmerly and Maria Pabla Torres, and a sister of my great-grandfather Estevan Zimmerly.

ZIMMERLY - Mrs. Gertrudes Torres Zimmerly, 48 years old, died yesterday at her home 313 West Hazeldine avenue. She is survived by a son, two daughters and her husband. Funeral arrangements will be made today. The body was taken to Crollott's funeral parlors.

Link to the obituary.

Official Election Results - from 1912 - Socorro County, New Mexico

In honor of Election Day, I decided to post these official voting returns for Socorro County - from 1912. This election happened a few days after New Mexico became a state. A number of these men were descendants of Socorro founders, or married to said descendants.

Official Election Returns on County Officers

Socorro County - County Commissioners. First District: J. S. Baca 1888; Emil Kiehne 1591; Second District: Leandro Baca 1747; Leopoldo Contreras 1723; Third District: Benito Belarde 1803; Harvey Richards 1697.

Probate Judge: Misaias Baca 1945; John Greenwald 1548.

County Clerk: Edward Fortune 1816; E.H. Sweet 1655.

Sheriff: Emil James 1720; Henry Dreyfus 1674; John Martin 102; Jose L. Baca 1.

Assessor: A.B. Baca 1813; George E. Cook 1680.

Treasurer: Max H. Montoya 1893; Jose E. Torres 1570.

Superintendent of Schools: Benjamin Sanchez 1845; C.B. Sedillo 1637.

Surveyor - George King 1952; Rolla Russell 1553.

Source: "Official Election Returns on County Officers," announcement, Santa Fe New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 22 January 1912, election results for Socorro County offices; online archives (http://0-access.newspaperarchive.com.albuq.cabq.gov/us/new-mexico/santa-fe/santa-fe-new-mexican : accessed 8 November 2016); Newspaper Archive website.

Brothers Candelario Garcia and Juan Jose Baca

The 10 March 1900 issue of "The Chieftain" (Socorro, New Mexico), had the following notice:

Probate Clerk H. G. Baca has appointed Juan Jose Baca and Candelario Garcia administrators of the estate of their mother, Guadaloupe (sic) T. de Baca, recently deceased.

This short article demonstrates the merging of two Socorro Land Grant families with another early Socorro family.

Maria Guadalupe Torres was the daughter of Santiago Torres and Maria Barbara Ortiz were residents of Belen. Santiago was recorded in the 1818 enumeration of Belen residents who contributed to the military campaign against the Navajos. This Torres family moved to Socorro between 2 October 1820 and 3 February 1824 when two of their children were baptized - one of Belen; the other in Socorro. Therefore, they are not original Socorro Land Grantees, but rather an early Socorro family.

Maria Guadalupe Torres first married Francisco Antonio Garcia on 23 February 1825 in Socorro. Francisco Antonio Garcia was the son of Francisco Xavier Garcia Jurado, one of Socorro Land Grant founders (Francisco Antonio's mother Maria Josefa Sanchez may have died before his father came to Socorro.) Francisco Antonio Garcia and Maria Guadalupe Torres were the parents of the aforementioned Candelario Garcia. They were also the parents of Juana Maria Garcia, my 3rd great-grandmother.

After Francisco Xavier Garcia Jurado's death, Maria Guadalupe Torres married Pedro Antonio Baca. He was the son of Socorro founders Juan Dionisio Baca and Maria Rita Pino. Pedro Antonio Baca was the father of Juan Jose Baca.

Both the Garcia and Baca families were very important defenders of the Socorro Land Grant, as this historical piece and obituary attest. (Click on the links to read the articles.) Finding this notice which confirms the blended Garcia, Torres and Baca families is a good find.

Sources:
The Chieftain. (Socorro, N.M.) 1890-1901, March 10, 1900, Image 1.

Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070454/1900-03-10/ed-1/seq-1/

 

Robert J. C. Baca, "Early Settlers of the Socorro Land Grant: An 1818 List: Part I," New Mexico Genealogist, vol. 50 (September 2011): p. 117.

Robert J. C. Baca, "Maria Guadalupe Torres: One Woman's Life in Nineteenth Century Socorro", New Mexico Genealogist, 48 (June 2009), 78-85.

 

Obituary: Julianita Torres, 1909

I found a short obituary for Julianita Torres in 23 January 1909 edition of the Socorro Chieftain. Below is my transcription:

Death of Julianita Torres

Miss Julianita Torres, daughter of Canuto Torres, deceased, and Isabelita Padilla de Torres, died at her home in this city at the age of twenty years and twelve days. The deceased was sick only three days, a severe cold developing into pneumonia. Funeral services were conducted from the family residence and the church of San Miguel at half past nine o'clock Monday morning in the presence of a large attendance of sorrowing relatives and friends. Interment took place in the Catholic cemetery.

Her grave is recorded in Find A Grave. Click on this link to view the memorial.

Source: Death of Julianita Torres, Socorro Chieftain [microfilm], Socorro, New Mexico, 23 January 1909. Obituary for Julianita Torres, daughter of Canuto Torres & Isabelita Padilla y Torres.

Clementa Baca Abeyta - Free mini PDF book

As I'm preparing to begin publishing books, I've been practicing on formatting them in my genealogy database. As such, I've created a free mini PDF book that you may download for free. It is copyrighted, so please do not copy it for financial gain.

The subject of the book is a woman by the name of Clementa Baca Abeyta. She was married to Desiderio Abeyta in 1848 Socorro and had at least 4 children. They family lived in Socorro and La Parida in the middle of the 19th century.

Clementa Baca happened to be my 2nd great-grandfather Jose Crespin Torres' first cousin. Although I have not yet identified their grandfather Santiago Torres as a founder of Socorro, he was an early settler of the town.

Enjoy the book and feel free to comment and send me information that may help me with my research.

Free "Clementa Baca Abeyta" PDF book (click here!)

Belen family of Socorro founders in 1818 List

On 21 September 1818, residents of the village of Belen were recorded on a list when they made contributions to the same Navajo war campaign that Socorro residents contributed to. The Belen list is four pages long. At some point I may analyze this list as I did with the Socorro list, but for now I want to mention just a few names on the list as they pertain to early Socorro families:

Luis Chaves may be Luis Maria Chaves, the husband of Maria Isabel Padilla. Some of Luis' children, all of whom were born in either the Plaza of Los Garcias or Belen proper,would later live in the Socorro area. Sixty-year old Luis, without his wife, was living in Sabino in 1833.

Santiago Torres' wife Maria Barbara Ortiz gave birth to many, if not all, of their children in Belen. The earliest record that shows Santiago Torres in Socorro is one from 26 December 1822 when he and his daughter Maria Guadalupe were padrinos (godparents) of Juan Estevan Torres, the son of Santiago's Indian servant Josefa Torres. The family of Santiago and Barbara (Ortiz) Torres are listed in the 1833 census of La Parida, a community near Socorro. Many of their descendants lived (and still live) in the Socorro area.

(Don) Paulin Baca (Paulino Baca) was the son of Juan Francisco Baca and Francisca de Jesus Sandoval. As such, he was the brother of Dionosio Antonio Baca, a founder of Socorro. Paulin and his wife Maria Lugarda Tafoya remained in Belen. However, some of his descendants found their way down to Socorro.

(Don) Juan Jose Baca was the son of Juan Felipe Baca and Maria Isabel Baca. He was the brother of Juan Dionosio Baca, a founder of Socorro, and the cousin of the similarly named Dionosio Antonio Baca. Juan Jose Baca and his wife Margarita Chaves also remained in Belen. Some of his descendants later lived in Socorro.

(Doña) Juana Maria Baca, was the wife (maybe widow?) of Jose (Francisco) Pino. She was another child of Juan Francisco Baca and Francisca de Jesus Sandoval. It appears that she and descendants remained in the Belen area.

 

Partial list of names on the 1818 Belen list.

For more information about these families, click on the links below:

Descendants of Luis Maria Chaves

Descendants of Santiago Torres

Descendants of Paulin Baca

Descendants of Juan Jose Baca

Descendants of Juana Maria Baca

Some notes on the descendants of Dionosio Antonio Baca and Ana Maria Sanchez

Dionosio Antonio Baca and Ana Maria Sanchez were original settlers of Socorro. In the 1818 enumeration of Socorro, Doña Ana Maria Sanches is listed individually as contributing goods to the Navajo war campaign. She is noted as being the wife (esposa) of lieutenant Don Dionosio Baca. Today I have been researching their descendants and members of their household.

* One of their sons, Jose Antonio Baca and his wife Maria Manuela Barreras, had a daughter by the name of Ana Maria Eufemia Baca. She was born April 20, 1820 in Belen, New Mexico. On April 23rd, she was baptized, and adopted by Diego Armijo and Maria Josefa Barreras. Why she was adopted is unknown. However, it does seem that Maria Josefa Barreras was somehow related to Maria Manuela Barreras, possibly she was her sister. I thought maybe this was because the Armijo couple were barren. This is apparently not the case. On April 21, 1819, Diego Armijo and Maria Josefa Barreras had a daughter by the name of Maria Rosalia Armijo. That daughter was baptized on April 23rd of that year. I find it interesting that both girls were baptized on the same date and almost born on the same date, one year apart. I don't know if this means anything, but the coincidence is outstanding. 

I looked for more information regarding Ana Maria Eufemia Baca/Armijo. I couldn't find marriage records or baptismal records for any children. It would be interesting to see if this girl had any descendants. 

Sources:

Lila Armijo Pfeufer et. al., extractors and compilers, New Mexico Baptisms Church of Our Lady of Belen: 1810-1851 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), pp. 83 and 94.

* On March 30, 1834, Maria Anastasia Baca married Antonio Torres in Socorro, New Mexico. On both their marriage record and a March 3rd prenuptial record of the couple, it is noted that Maria Anastasia Baca was the "criada" of deceased Dionosio Baca. This apparently means that she was Dionosio Baca's servant. A January 22, 1842 baptismal record for Maria Anastasia's daughter Maria Antonia de Jesus Torres indicates that Maria Anastasia Baca was the daughter of the criada servant of Dionocio Baca, Maria del Rasario (no surname.) Therefore, it appears that both Maria Anastasia Baca and her mother were servants of Dionosio Antonio Baca. 

Sources:

Joe Sanchez III, extractor and Antonia Duran Silva editor, San Miguel del Socorro, New Mexico Marriage Records: 1821-1853 (Whittier, CA: independently published, 1999), p. 20.

Fray Angelico Chavez, New Mexico Roots, Ltd.: A Demographic Perspective from genealogical, historical and geographic data found in the Diligencias Matrimoniales or Pre-Nuptial Investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. (Santa Fe, New Mexico: typescript, 1982), Volume 10, p. 1912. 

Lila Armijo Pfeufer, Margaret Leonard Windham, and and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church: 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), p. 152.