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Tricentennial Celebration Events:
Our
gift for Alburquerque's 300th Birthday:
AQUÍ SE COMIENZA: A
Genealogical History of the
Founding Families
of the Villa de San Felipe de Alburquerque
The New Mexico Genealogical Society is
creating a genealogical history of the founding families of
the Villa de San Felipe de Alburquerque. This research, when
published, will help commemorate Albuquerque's 300th birthday.
This project, headed by
Gloria M. Valencia, is part of that celebration.
José Antonio Esquibel, Robert Martinez and Francisco Sisneros are Project Editors.
 February 18, 2006: Newspaper article: Family Helps Write History.
Family Helps Write History.
The Albuquerque Journal of Feb 18th carried the story of one ot those founders, Tomas Garcia de Noriega, with a picture of his descendant, our Project Director, Gloria Valencia, and her family. Albuquerque Journal reporter Debra Dominguez-Lund writes:
"Gloria Valencia is quite attached to Albuquerque history. So much so that she and a team of volunteers are helping the New Mexico Genealogical Society write "Aqui Se Comienza: A Genealogical History of the Founding Families of the Villa de San Felipe, which is to be published later this year."
"Gloria's own genealogy shows that she is a descendant of Tomas Garcia, who came to the area as a 21-year-old squadron soldier offering protection to the new settlers. He and his wife, Juana Hurtado, started their family in Alburquerque; in fact, their first child, Francisca Garcia, was the first child to be baptised at Old Town's San Felipe de Neri Church, then San Francisco Xavier Church. Included in Gloria's ancestry is doña Bernardina de Salas y Trujillo, a noted matriarch in Alburquerque's history and whose large family is featured in many genealogies. Her son, Martin Hurtado, became Alburquerque's first mayor in 1706."
| SOURCES |
| Only one
list of Albuquerque's founding families has surfaced to
date, and has been published in at least two journals:
the New Mexico Genealogist (Vol. XIX, No.
3, September 1980, p. 67), and the New Mexico Historical
Review (Vol. IV #3, July 1929, p. 274/275). Any
additional information regarding documented sources is
welcome.The Genealogist article, by researcher
Gilberto Espinosa, reads as follows:
"Albuquerque:
First called La Villa de San Francisco Xavier de Alburquerque,
was founded as a Royal city by order of Don Francisco
Cuervo y Valdez, Governor of New Mexico, on 7 February
1706.
"Juan de Candelaria,
most probably one of the original settlers, in 1776 when
84 years of age, wrote the first history of New Mexico.
He states that it was settled by twelve families from
Bernalillo with soldiers from that garrison. In his report
to the Viceroy, Valdez reports that there were thirty
families comprising the settlement. The only list we have
is that given by Candelaria. There were more, as it is
not probable that such a settlement would be made with
so few."
The statement was followed
by the list of founders' names shown in the table above.
The footnote on page one
of the article in the New Mexico Historical Review
reads as follows:
"These reminiscences
were therefore recorded in the year 1776. The Spanish
transcript was given by Don Federico Gomez de Orozco of
Mexico City to his friend, Dr. Sylvanus G. Morley, and
the latter kindly sent it to the Review. The translation
is by Don Isidoro Armijo of Santa Fe." |
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New Mexico Genealogical
Society
PO Box 27559
Albuquerque, NM 87125-7559
USA |
NMGS Web Editor: Patricia Black Esterly
Copyright 1998-2008 New Mexico Genealogical Society and NetChannel Inc. |
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