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The New Mexico Genealogical Society, founded in 1960, is composed entirely of volunteers. 2010 will be our 50th year of providing research materials and networking opportunities for family historians.

The Mail Box Feedback from our readers comes in many forms, including e-mail, "land" mail, and phone. We enjoy hearing from you! From the New Mexico Genealogist, September 1999, p. 142.
After reading "The Ancient Cultural History of La Matanza" by Marcella Trujillo Melendez [NMG 38:2, June 1999, pp. 45-46], NMGS member Cynthia May brought us a 1958 copy of Historic Cookery, edited by Fabiola C. Gilbert, Home Demonstration Agent-at-Large. Circular 281. Published by the Agricultural Extension Service, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, State College, New Mexico. This recipe appears on pages 12-13:
Morcilla (Blood Pudding)
When an animal is being butchered, the New Mexican cook goes out with a pail in hand to catch the blood as the neck of the animal is cut. She immediately works out the clots before the blood gets cold.
1 qt. hog's blood	1 c. raisins	1 t. oregano
4 T. fat	1 clove chopped garlic	1 t. dried mint
a small chopped onion	½ c. piñon nuts, shelled	2 t. salt
Other recipes that may have been used during the matanza are Pipian de Lengua (Tongue Fricassee) and Panza de Cabrito Rella (Stuffed Kid's Stomach).
Note from Joseph R. Sandoval, after a successful family reunion in Raton, NM: "All of my brothers and sisters made it safe to Raton and our first dinner together we had sockeye salmon that my brother Steve and I brought down from Alaska. We had a matanza the next evening, featuring a 211 pound pig! We cooked it for 14 hours and enjoyed an excellent sauce recipe that a co-worker of mine provided (it was a secret recipe from the hills of South Carolina!). "We had a dinner the following evening and I recounted several stories of the Spanish colonists and the Reconquest while my family enjoyed dinner. We then presented my parents with a nicely framed family shield, with the Sandoval, Belarde, Rodarte, and Valdez shields on it. One of the most emotional moments came when I located the resting place of my G-G-Grandfather, Agustin Sandoval and his wife, Martha Libradita Lopez, next to him. Mr. Fritz of Errington Memorial Funeral Home assisted me with this location. I also found other excellent family history located in the old books of the Errington Memorial Library." Jose is working toward a Primeras Familias certificate and a published family history. He is currently stationed in Anchorage, AK (where, he reports, the silver salmon are thick in Bird creek!). He can be reached at joseramon@arctic.net.
Would like to thank your Society for such a great journal. I guess someone else likes my journal too, as each one I receive has been opened and looks like someone has read it. I don't mind as maybe they will join the Society later. My special thanks to Mr. Howard W. Henry for the information he has provided me on my grandfather Earl C. Puterbaugh. . . . I belong to several genealogy societies in areas where my family has been and your journal is the only one that someone else takes the time to read. . . . your journal is a class act." Jean Fuller, Melbourne, FL