The following three tables were compiled by me from various sources to help genealogists families find their Hispanic and Native American roots:
To view the PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Colorado Indian Captives
Reported by Colorado Indian Agent Lafayette Head A compiled list of the two
reports of Indian captives held in Conejos and
Costilla counties in 1865. The SOURCE column includes
the NARA microfilm citation for the Colorado
Superindendency, 1865-1866, Roll 193. Frames 41-43
refer to Costilla County and Frames 127-128 refer
to Conejos County. Additional Indian Captives NOT Reported by
Colorado Indian Agent Lafayette Head A compiled list of additional
Indian captives found in various church
extractions. Use the SOURCE column to locate
the record type, year, and page number. Indian Captives in Cucharas, Huerfano County,
Colorado
Updated June 30, 2009
Send email to Virginia
Indian Captivity in Southern Colorado
The practice of enslavement has been in existence since the dawn of early man. During the Crusades, battles between kingdoms and religions yielded captives as the spoils of war. In the Americas, slaveholding crossed tribes, cultures, and regions in an effort to secure laborers and maintain a population. Captivity also has a history in the southwestern part of the United States. As stated by James E. Brooks, author of Captives and Cousins, "Native American and Spanish colonial men found that the survival of their communities depended, in part, on their ability to exchange both human and material resources across cultural boundaries." Captivity in southern Colorado takes its roots from culture and norm in the southwest. According to New Mexico State Historian Estevan Rael-Galvez, "the ongoing cycle of raid and resistance continued throughout the mid-nineteenth century as the nuevomejicano people of the Taos and Espanola valleys [of New Mexico Territory] moved back and forth into the San Luis Valley [of Colorado Territory]."
There were several ways in which women and children became captives: as the spoils of war or as punishment, through kidnapping, in exchange for payment or debt, or through abandonment and birth. At trade fairs, captives were ransomed at a rescate. Spanish colonials purchased captives from Indian tribes thereby keeping some captives from being killed. "These women and children, whether captives of Euramerican origin or native Americans ransomed at rescates, proved crucial to borderland political and cultural economies that used human beings in far-reaching social and economic exchange." Captives performed various services for their masters, such as preparing and drying meat, tanning hides, herding sheep, shearing sheep, processing clipped wool, and weaving. When Indian captives were brought into Hispano households, they were assimilated through the act of a Catholic baptism when the captive was given a new name and adopted into a family.
Conejos and Costilla Counties
In 1865 Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans asked all Indian Agents within the territory to "report all instances of the practice of holding Indians captive in slavery." Indian Agent Lafayette Head called upon those who held Indian captives in Costilla and Conejos counties and interviewed the Indians. The communities within Costilla and Conejos counties included "the southern Colorado settlements of Guadalupe, Sivietta, Braso, Los Cerritos, Cenizero, San Antonio, Guadalupita, Mesitas, Canon, San Rafael, Pura y Limpia, and Culebra. The four communities within New Mexico were Costilla, Santa Cruz, San Jose, and Los Pinos.
In his report, Lafayette Head provided detailed information which included the place of residence, the names of the captives, the tribes to which the captives belonged, the captives' ages and gender, the year and from whom the captives were purchased, where the captives were purchased, and whether or not the captives wished to return to their tribes. Some of the names Head listed crossed territory lines within the Taos and San Luis Valleys. Among those listed as owners of Indian captives were six Anglo men: Joseph Bourcy, G. Fulton, Lafayette Head, John Sclott, Tomas Tate Tobin, and J. B. Woodson. Joseph Bourcy later settled in Huerfano County and Tom Tobin was associated with the shooting and killing of the Espinoza Gang. Interestingly, Lafayette Head did not include himself among those having captives; and, his captives used the name Cabesa (cabeza is Spanish for head). In addition, three employees at the Conejos Agency were from the Tabaguache tribe: Candelario Lobato was hired as a blacksmith on August 15, 1865 and earned an annual salary of $900. Chief Ouray was hired as a U. S. interpreter on October 11, 1864 and earned and annual salary of $500. Rafael Jaques was hired as a herder on October 1, 1863 at an annual salary of $180. All three men were born in New Mexico.
Huerfano County
Lafayette Head's detailed yet incomplete report submitted in 1865 provides some information about captives and their owners. At least six known captives were with their owners in Huerfano County. These captives later married and had families of their own. Among los Cuchareños who held captives were Jose Rafael Esquibel, Manuel Gonzales, Jose Benito Maes, Teodoro Maes, Juan Benito Valdez and his son Jose Leonides Valdez, and Antonio Jose Vallejos. In the Lower Cuchara Valley of Huerfano County, several Cuchareños spoke the Ute language, traded with various Indian tribes, and had Indian captives. In fact, several Indian captives in Hispano households and their descendants can be traced through several generations. Miguel Antonio Vallejos, who spoke Ute, hosted "an occasional fiesta grande [large festive gathering] at his hacienda" in Cucharas to honor the Ute chiefs and their warriors. He knew "their customs, their mode of reasoning [and] always looked at [issues] from their point of view."
Jose Rafael Esquibel was one of eight men who drove sheep into the Lower Cuchara Valley and wintered there for the first time in 1862. Jose Rafael and his brothers, Jose Ramon and Juan, were among the second group of settlers of the plazas of San Pedro and San Pablo in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. The brothers were known for raising prize horses. Later the brothers moved to La Plaza de los Leones (Walsenburg). Jose Rafael and his wife, Maria Guadalupe Avelina Borrego, brought at least one known captive with them when they permanently settled in Cucharas. One captive named Jose Antonio was six-years old when he was baptized into the Esquibel household at Culebra in 1865. When Jose Antonio died at age 26, he was listed as a criado to Jose Rafael Esquibel.
Manuel Gonzales and his wife, Maria Rosa Gomez, brought several captives with them when they moved from Rio Colorado, New Mexico to Cucharas before 1870. They "adopted" as many as eight children and one adult - some of whom were Ute and Navajo Indian captives.
- Maria Guadalupe, a Navajo, was baptized Catholic and adopted as an adult in 1864. Her son, Jose Florentino Gonzales, also in the household of Manuel Gonzales, married Maria del Patrocinia Gomez in 1884 at Walsenburg. By 1900, his adoptive mother, Maria Rosa Gomez, was living in Cucharas with Jose Florentino and his wife and daughter, Carmelita.
- Maria Rita, a Navajo, was enumerated in 1870 as a 12-year old in the Gonzales household. She married Perfecto Medina at Walsenburg in 1872. Maria Rita Gonzales died in 1877 after the birth of a daughter named Juana Medina.
- Maria de los Dolores was a 15-day-old Ute when she was baptized and adopted into the Gonzales household in 1860. Due to her young age, she may have been acquired by means of an exchange, barter, or sale, or as the offspring of a captive in the Gonzales household.
Jose Benito Maes brought two Navajo captives with him in 1873 when the family moved from the San Luis Valley to Huerfano County. In 1864, Jose Benito purchased a 24-year-old Indian captive named Antonio from Mexicans trading in Colorado Territory. When Antonio was interviewed by Colorado Territory's Indian Agent, Lafayette Head, Antonio reported that he had a child and did not want to be returned to his tribe. A second captive, Antonia, was 23 years old when she received a Catholic baptism into the Jose Benito's family at San Acacio. She was not enumerated nor interviewed by Indian Agent Head. After the death of his first wife, Jose Benito married Antonia in 1881 at Walsenburg.
Teodoro Maes and his wife, María Josefa Suazo, brought several captives with them when they moved from Conejos to Cucharas about 1882. Teodoro was a seasoned buffalo hunter who had a "reputation of being the most successful buffalo hunter in the country." Every fall, he traveled east from Cucharas beyond Rattle Snake Buttes to hunt buffalo and antelope. He took his captives with him on the hunts to assist with the preparing and drying of the meat and tanning of the hides.
- Maria Rita, a Navajo, was 10 years old when Teodoro purchased her in 1865 from Ute Indians trading in the San Luis Valley. When she was interviewed by Indian Agent Lafayette Head, she stated that she wished to remain with the Maes family rather than return to her tribe. Maria Rita Maes married Jose Antonio Jaquez in 1871 at Walsenburg.
- Juan Bautista, also Navajo, was four years old when Teodoro purchased him in 1862 from Mexican traders in the San Luis Valley. In 1887, Juan Bautista Maes married Maria Trinidad Baca at Walsenburg.
Juan Benito Valdez was one of five pioneers to settle Questa, New Mexico. He served in the New Mexico Territorial House of Representatives representing Taos County in 1855, 1867, and 1868. During the Civil War, he was requested by the United States government to enlist Hispano friends and relatives as recruits. Juan Benito later became an interpreter for the government and was often seen in the company of U. S. soldiers. He included his family and servants in his expeditions; small children were transported in "large baskets slung on each side of a pack mule." Juan Benito Valdez was among several Taos County men and women accused of holding Native Americans as slaves, which was in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Over 170 owners of servants or cautivos (captives) appeared before the New Mexico District Court where a grand jury ruled that indictments would be issued only if the captives swore they were forcibly restrained or ill treated. Some of those accused - who later had ties to southern Colorado - included Pablo Beaubien, son of Charles Beaubien; José "Rafael" Sotero Chacon; Captain José Julian Espinosa; and María Luisa Branch, a mistress of Captain Ceran St. Vrain. Due to this Civil Rights Act, many Indian captives were freed; ten captives owned by Juan Benito Valdez were freed. Because the social and economic exchange of captives had played such a crucial role in Hispano and Indian societies, the cases were dismissed.
Jose Leonides Valdez, son of Juan Benito Valdez, grew up among his father's Indian captives and thus was accustomed to having criados. By 1870, Jose Leonides and his first wife Martiana Mestas, had a Navajo Indian in their household named Maria Dolores. In 1873 Maria Dolores married Jose Ignacio Vidal Martinez at Walsenburg. Maria Dolores died in 1877.
Antonio Jose Vallejos was one of the eight men who drove his sheep into the Lower Cuchara Valley and wintered there for the first time in 1862. He and his wife, Maria Soledad Romero, brought captives with them when they moved to Cucharas about 1870. By 1880 Antonio José - now 75 years old - had several servants in his household. Among them were 18-year old María Dolores, 22-year old Jose Hilario, 13-year old Gertrudis, and two-year old Vicenta. Jose Hilario was a two-year old Navajo when he was baptized into the Vallejos family in 1860. In 1885 Jose Hilario married Rafaela Martinez. Jose Hilario and his wife continued residing in Cucharas and raised seven children.
Some female captives brought into Hispano households as servants bore children of their owners. A captive's illegitimate offspring became the property of the captive's owner, who in some cases was the captive's baptismal godparent. Such children became additional household help. About 1867, María Dolores bore the first of three children fathered by Antonio José Vallejos. After the death of his wife, Antonio José married María Dolores on August 29, 1885 in Walsenburg. In their marriage record, Father Gabriel Ussel listed the names and ages of three children fathered by Antonio José Vallejos and legitimized the children through this marriage - y los legitimió por el acto de este matrimonio. According to the record entry, Antonio José declared - declaró ser sus hijos -that Maria Getrudis, age 15; Vicenta, age eight; and Jose Manuel, age five, were his children by Maria Dolores Vallejos. When Antonio Jose Vallejos died in 1892 at age 85, he left his estate to his surviving wife and his adopted and biological children. At the time, Maria Viviana was his only surviving daughter by his first wife, Maria Soledad Romero. His children by Maria Dolores were Maria Gertrudis, Luis Canuto, Maria Vicenta, Jose Manuel, and Maria Soledad Vallejos.
Although no historical records kept by Indian tribes document the number and locations of captured non-Indians (e.g., Hispano, French, other White, and Black), the following accounts of Jose Salome Jaquez and Sisto Martinez discuss Hispanos as captives of Indians. Jose Salome Jaquez was "raised in captivity of the Ute until his New Mexican family in Abiquiu found the means to ransom him." Jose Salome was one of the original settlers of San Luis de Culebra and in 1862, he was among the eight men who drove sheep into the Lower Cuchara Valley and wintered there for the first time. The Jaquez brothers - Jose Ignacio, Jose Salome, and Jose Euzequio - were sons of Felipe de Jesus Jaquez and Maria del Carmen Lujan. These Jaquez brothers married nieces of captive owners and brothers Antonio Jose Vallejos and Miguel Antonio Vallejos.
Jose Salome's son, Jose Gregorio Jaquez, married the daughter of Ute Indian Francisco Antonio Manazanares. Francisco Antonio Manazanares was captured as a boy by New Mexicans. Later he was baptized Francisco Antonio and took the surname Manzanares as he was adopted as a criado by Jose Antonio Manzanares and his wife Maria Ascencion Martin. By 1860 Francisco Antonio was in Costilla and by 1870 he was in Crestones, Huerfano County.
Sisto Martinez, a Hispano born at Abiquiu, New Mexico in 1834, was seven-years old when he and 20 other children were captured by Indians. In 1842, he was sold to Navajo Indians with whom he remained for 12 years; Sisto was 19 years old. "After his liberation, he became an interpreter for the United States Government and served as a soldier in the Indian Wars." He worked as a guide in the government's Indian removal effort. About 1863, he helped gather the Navaho for the "Long Walk" to Fort Sumner at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. After the Treaty of 1868, Sisto helped return them to their land, which was now vastly reduced in size. Sisto married Josefa Trujillo in 1861. He and his family moved to Huerfano County about 1877 and settled near Talpa, Huerfano County and later along the Santa Clara River. Sisto Martinez died in 1923.
It is important to remember that to co-exist, the survival of the people in the southwestern United States - Native American, Hispano, and French - depended on the ability to exchange human and material goods. It is also important to understand the history and culture of the western frontier and that for many years Hispanos and Native Americans lived in relative harmony before U. S. military intervention. The documented instances of conflict and captivity record an important part of southern Colorado history.
Virginia
Sanchez
copyright 2009