7 10 81 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/a9e7970740dd8b03dbec081255ce8cda.pdf 4fc42a2afaf116a1ccfa50d844dd03ef PDF Text Text MARY (Conroy) PATRICK & MARTHA (Conroy) POTTER Two small round faces stared big-eyed out of the train window at the bustling Union Depot of Denver. Streams of people were departing and boarding the train. Porters were pushing carts of luggage across the platform and hawkers were selling peanuts, apples, sandwiches, coffee and lemonade up and down the aisles of the coaches. The Conroys decided to stretch their legs. Mike helped his wife Lydia down the steps, then lifted down his 4 year old twin daughters Mary and Martha and his 5 year old son, Charles. Though ii was fall, Mary and Martha clearly remember a band nearby was loudly playing "In the Good Old Summer Time." The Conroys were enroute from one way of life to another. Nine years before, Mike, the son of a Manhattan, Kansas farmer caught the fever for the land run into the Cherokee Outlet. He was there on that hot day in 1893 with 180,000 others waiting breathlessly for the shot fired by the cavalry men along the border which signaled noon and the opening of the land run. Mike had a wagon and two white horses. His competitors, stretching along the border of this vast land both to the right and to the left to the horizons and beyond were mostly people like him hungry for land of their own. Most had horses and wagons, but some had sleek race horses, a few were astride highwheeled bicycles and a few with very determined looks on their faces were afoot. Mike was one of the lucky ones. He managed to slay fairly near the front of the raging sea of horses and to find a good piece of land. Others were not so lucky. Horses stumbled, wagon wheels shattered, gullies opened unexpectedly in front of racing throngs and swallowed animals, wagons and people. Men who staked opposite ends of a claim shot at each other to decide who owned the land. This northwest Oklahoma territory was a trying land to farm. When the rains came Mike was amazed at the crops it would produce, but it was heartbreaking during the dry years to see the wheat sprout and wilt and turn brown under the relentless sun. Mike sold his land in 1902 and decided to go to the mountains. After a brief rest the family reboarded the train. When they arrived in Pueblo, they visited an aunt for several days. The girls had never spent much time in a town of the size of Pueblo. On afternoon the girls were out playing hide-and-seek with their cousins and the neighbor children. Mary hid a little too well. Unfortunately when she ran across the corner of the block to hide, no one found her. By the lime she decided to return to the yard she had lost her sense of direction. Finally a man passing by look her to the right address. The remainder of the trip to Durango took much longer than expected. When the Conroys changed to the narrow gauge train at Alamosa, the sky was grey and threatening over the mountains. Snow was falling so hard at Antonito that the train was delayed several days. Most of the passengers including the Conroys lived on the train until the passes were cleared. Mike bought a dairy farm on Florida road east of Animas City. Though Animas City had only two stores, Mary and Martha liked to go there. Quickly they learned that Mike Kennedy, who owned the general store, was a pushover. The two little girls would mosey over to the candy counter and stare longingly at the display until Mike would ease over with a big smile and give then each a sample. "I suppose we were spoiled 132 �.., ~ 'I "1 'I "1 brats," admit Mary and Martha. "We always were babied and made over because we were twins." When the girls were 5 and Charles was 6, they all three started in the first grade at Animas City School. Good weather and bad their father put all three on the ) ) -) ) -) ) ) ') ) ) ) ) same horse for the ride down the valley to town. Animas City was the end of the line for the Durango Trolley. Whenever the family needed a better selection of goods they rode the trolley into Durango. Since Animas City had no high school, the girls went into Durango after grade 8. Both were members of the girls basketball team and both loved to dance. "Our parents were fairly lenient. They usually let us to go to dances and parties whenever and wherever we wanted to go." Being a twin was handy now and then, too. Once when Mary faced a stiff German exam, she let Martha who was a year ahead of her in German, sit in for her. Neither the students nor the teacher caught on. Both Martha and Mary decided to become teachers. College training was not required in those days, but it was necessary to pass a stiff exam. Martha taught in the Waterfall School in the Animas Valley and then moved south of Ignacio to teach the Harvey School. While there she boarded with the Fred Harvey Family. "Sometimes we still visit Mrs. Harvey in Durango. She's about 92 now." Finally, Martha taught at the Hood School 4 miles NE of Elmore's Store uniil she was married. ) ) ) ) ) Mary's first school was the Fairview School near Oxford. Then she went to Holder School on Spring Creek, Mason School on Florida Mesa and finally she taught at Morrison South, north of Ignacio. As it is today school teaching was a satisfying, but very demanding job. Mary and Martha frequently opened their schools for dances and box suppers. "Most of our dance music was accompanied by piano and violin. Guitars were not too common at dances then." } ) _) ) _) _) _) J _) ..) ..J ..) ...) J J J ....) J ...J .J Both Martha and Mary admit to a string of beaus during those years, but when asked for names and more details, they replied, "Let's leave that out. 11 One episode they will tell (minus the boy's name). Martha had a date to go for a buggy ride with a certain young man. The afternoon of the ride Martha became very ill and asked Mary to go in her place. "He will never know the difference," Mary recalls. Beyond this, they each admit to one feller, their husbands. Martha met Marvin Potter at a Grange Meeting at the Morrison School. They were married in Durango on December 14, 1919. "We drove out to Ignacio in a horse and buggy on what must have been the coldest day of the year. It took 6 hours and was nearing evening when we arrived." The Potters have 4 children. Donald lives in Montrose. Jean Mcclanahan lives in Ignacio. Stanley is in New Jersey, and Irvin is in Dallas . When Mary was 22, she met Leslie Patrick at a dance. She and Leslie were married in Durango on June 4, 1922. After the wedding ceremony, they rode the train to Ignacio and as soon as they arrived at the farm , Leslie put on his boots and went right out to irrigate. "That's the way life was then, 'l Mary says. "We had to work like the dickens. We milked cows, separated the milk and sold the cream. We never could make a living just from the farm. Leslie always had to have another job as ditch rider, or carpenter or something else to earn enough." The Patricks have 2 children. Lee Patrick lives in Gallup, New Mexico and Eleanor Stansberry lives in Basalt, Colorado . 133 �During the long winter months of the 1920's the Potters and the Patricks came to town regularly to play basketball at Burns Hall. The ladies enjoyed it as much as the men. "Getting there was the hardest part. Sometimes the road would be a string of mud holes. Everyone but the driver would have to get out and push." In the spring and summer it was baseball. Marvin, Leslie, Louie Morris, Fred Robinson and others the ladies have forgotten, were on the team. "In 1926 both our families went on a wild goose chase," the ladies recall. "We packed up and headed for California. In Los Angeles one of the men got a job on the docks; the other drove a team." After a few months the Potters moved on to Fresno where they had relatives, but it was suffocatingly hot in the summer. Finally, after visiting relatives in Oregon for a short while, both families decided to return to Ignacio. "None of us ever seemed to feel at home out there. When we crossed the Colorado line west of Dove Creek, Leslie stopped the car, jumped out, threw his hat in the air and let out a wild yell of joy. That's just how glad we were to get back to Colorado." Martha and Mary started life together 76 years ago. Now that Marvin and Leslie are gone, it seems right that they are together again sharing life and memories. When asked what they think about being twins, they both reply, "It's great having a double. I'm sure we've always been closer because of it." Shelby Smith - May 1974. 134 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mary (Conroy) Patrick and Martha (Conroy) Potter Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-05 Subject The topic of the resource Patrick, Mary (Conroy); Potter, Martha (Conroy); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Mary (Conroy) Patrick and Martha (Conroy) Potter based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the May, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Patrick, Mary (Conroy); Potter, Martha (Conroy) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ada775bd6d7c834e1f9aa748c6b1b0bc.pdf 0adef8fe0adfa5a012a00f994728602a PDF Text Text ~ ., ' ' ''1 ' ', l '1 ) ") , ") ) ) ) ) ) ) \ EPIMENIO & ADELA (Mascarenas) QUINTANA Jose and Natividad Quintana were loading a covered wagon with all the necessities and valuables they could carry. The remainder they sold or gave away to their friends in Abiquiu, New Mexico, for they were about to start a long trip to the North. It was the year 1900 when Jose and his wife heard about the opportunities developing in the San Juan Valley near the Colorado line. They talked it over and decided to go there. Settling near Rosa, they bought some land and opened a general store and blacksmith shop. At first they were in partnership with Jose's brother-in-law. Later each man owned his own store. By 1910 when Epimenio and his twin sister were born, (the youngest of 11 children) the family was well established at Rosa. Epimenio says "My twin sister died when I was 5 months old and then my mother died when I was one year and three months old. One of our neighbors, Candelaria Valdez, took me to raise as her own. I kept in touch with my father and my brothers and sisters, but Mrs. Valdez was a mother to me. I started to school at Rosa and finished 8th grade at Arboles. When I was old enough, my Dad let me work in the store and taught me some of the blacksmith trade." "In 1929 when I was 19, I got my own sheep. Most of the time I grazed them on Federal Land leased from the Dept. of the Interior on Middle Mesa. The lease cost about $0.13 per head. Most winters the snow was not deep enough and did not last long enough to be a problem, but in 1931 I lost one third of my flock in the deep snow. Prices all went down in the 30's. We got 12 cents per pound for wool and 8 cents a pound for lambs." ) ) ) _) _) .) _) J ...) _) ...) ..J ...) ..J ..J In 1941 when Epimenio was thrashing grain for Manley Hott, he got acquainted with Adela Mascarenas. Adela's father, Celestino Mascarenas had been born in Clayton, New Mexico, later migrating with his parents to Rosa, where he met and married Magdalena Quintana in 1922. They were homesteading on their first farm when Adela was born. "I was born in our cellar on the homestead. That was the first dwelling my parents built on their farm. We lived on that place until I was 4 years old. Then we moved to Silverton where Dad worked in thE~ Treasure Tunnel Mine. I have good memories of those years. It was wonderful to live in Silverton as a child. If you were a dare-devil, which I suppose I was, there were many adventures waiting. I don't know how we survived the railroad pump cars. A bunch of us would sneak down to the rail yards, crawl up on one of the hand operated repair cars and pump it out of town into the mountains. When we were high enough, we coasted back to town. The car wou'ld squeal around the curves nearly turning over and nearly throwing us off. Once into the flat part of town, it gradually slowed down and stopped in the rail yard. Though we did this many times, no one ever stopped us or warned us not to do it again. While in Silverton, I met my future husband for the first time. Epimenio was herding sheep in the high mountains near Pyramid Peak. Since it was only about 28 miles to Silverton over the passes, he decided to come to La Fiesta de los Boregerros. He stayed with relatives near our home and pastured his burro nearby. I decided to ride the burros. I grabbed J J ...) ..) ..J .,,) 135 �their tails and swung my feet up into the hollow of their hind legs just above the knees and rode them all over the place. You tell me why they didn't kick." "I didn't see Epimenio again until we moved back to Rosa. Through the years as I was growing up, I saw him occasionally at dances, but had no friendship with him until I was 18. While we were both working at the Holt's farm, Epimenio began to talk to me. Al first I was not interested in him, but he was nice and I began to think that since we were both interested in cattle and sheep and liked farm life, perhaps we could be happy together. We were married in October, 1941. Epimenio was drafted in 1942. He was sent to Camp Roberts, then to Hawaii and on to the Solomon Islands. The native people were very friendly to Americans, but the Japanese planes and snipers were not so friendly. Epimenio's unit guarded the airfields on Espiritu Santu Island. After 17 months he was sent back to Hawaii and San Francicso for hospitalization. When Epimenio got home, he and his family spent one summer in Aztec before moving back to Rosa where he did farm work until 1960. The Quintanas have 10 children: Nattie, Esther, Baltazar, Epimenio Jr (deceased), Elaine, Bernard, Freddie, Larry, Selina and Jeanette. In 1960 life was rudely interrupted in the San Juan Valley. All the people in Rosa and in the valley above Navajo Dam had to move out to make way for the rising, waters of Navajo Lake. The government gave Epimenio $1,900.00 for the 12 acres he had inherited from his mother. It wasn't enough, but people had to take what they could get. "We moved up on Stollsteimer Creek for one summer until we found this place to buy west of Ignacio. We've been here ever since and are very happy with this place." May, 1978 -- Shelby Smith 136 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Epimenio Quintana and Adela (Mascarenas) Quintana Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-05 Subject The topic of the resource Quintana, Epimenio; Quintana, Adela (Mascarenas); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Epimenio Quintana and Adela (Mascarenas) Quintana based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the May, 1978 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Quintana, Epimenio; Quintana, Adela (Mascarenas) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0db9665e2a48b45e50b85ead13bd66ca.pdf 18cd0e0065773a004a12838b15590a0a PDF Text Text 'l ~ 'l J '> JOSE AND CAMILA (Casias) QUINTANA J J It was mid-morning when three riders descended from Middle Mesa and rode over the rolling country toward the railroad section house at Vallejos (later called Allison). In the 1890's the section house was the nearest thing to a town in this lonely stretch of Southwest Colorado between the Pine and the Piedra Rivers. The few non-Indian immigrants who were camped in the area came to the section house occasionally for news and to obtain water from the large storage tank. The three riders were members of a group of young men who came into the San Juan country to round up and sell the many wild longhorn cattle which roamed the hills and valleys. Every so often a group of wranglers from California showed up to buy the cattle and drive them west. On this day the riders had no reason to expect anything unusual at the section house. They had been here several times before, but today the place was unusually quiet. There were no horses in the corral and the door of the house was blowing open and shut in the wind. No one answered when the cowboys knocked or called. Then the men saw frightened eyes peering out of a nearby window. Inside were the section manager's three children ages 2, 4, and 6. They were nearly starved. The oldest one said their parents left after an argument and each had taken off in opposite directions. An intense discussion followed among the three cowboys as to what to do with the children. After much head-scratching each of the men took one of the little ones home to raise with their families. Neither parent ever showed up again. Jose says all three children grew up within 60 miles of Allison. '' ' ) ) ) ' ' ) .) } ) -) ) ) ) _) ) ..) _) .J .J J J .J .J J .J J .J J ...J J J 0 J A fourth member of the round-up crew (not present on the day the children were found) was Pedro Quintana. Pedro was born at Abiquiu, New Mexico. After working with the round-up for a while, Pedro got some land at Rosa, New Mexico, and started farming. He married Juanetta Lucero. The Quintanas had 14 children. Jose was number 12. He attended school at Rosa for two years and then had to stay home to herd sheep on the free range up on Caracas Mesa. It was a carefree life of riding horses, swimming in the river and roaming with the herds. "The sheep my dad owned," Jose recalls, "were on shares with a man named Ed Sargent from Chama. One other man, myself, and our dogs took care of 1,200 sheep . In 1922 when I was 16, my Dad decided to take his share of the animals and turn the rest back to Mr. Sargent. We drove his flock from La Fraqua 18 miles to Jewel Canyon and turned them over. By that year my dad was getting too old to work so hard, so he said to me 'As of today Jose, you are a free man. I raised you; now you take care of me.' That's what I did. I soon got a job on the railroad at Arboles under a foreman named Andres, Martinez. One whole summer I worked clearing and cleaning the tracks of mud and debris that washed down the many arroyos. We worked our way over to Ignacio. That's where I met Camila. She had come from Chama to Ignacio for her sister's wedding. We got acquainted at the dance. Another summer we worked to raise and reset the tracks unto a gravel bed for better stability. It was hard, heavy work. From 1924-28 I worked at the mines and on the railroad at Silverton ." In 1928 Joe began farming and raising cattle which he has done the rest of his life . When Joe and Camila decided to get married in 1936, he bought an 80-acre irrigated 137 �ranch near Rosa for $1,200.00. The wedding took place in Ignacio. Pedro Casias, Cristino Casias, and Andy Duran played their guitars and violins at the dance. Camila's parents were Jose Casias and Manuelita (Martinez) Casias. Manuelita died when Camila was five. Camila went to live with her brother Pedro and attended school in Ignacio. One of the pleasures of her young life was to sing in the choir at the Catholic Church. "We sang songs in Latin, in Spanish and in English and I really enjoyed the music. We have three children, Charles, Lorene and Mary Esther. In 1944 Joe bought the farm over by Arboles where we still live. For a long time we farmed the Rosa place and this place until the government took our place at Rosa to clear the ground for Navajo Lake. Joe made a bid on the old section house at Allison and got it and the bunk house for less than $300.00. He moved it over to our place and put a new roof on and worked it over inside and out. We've been here ever since." Neither Jose nor Camila are a,; strong as they used to be, but they still keep cattle, pigs, sheep and goats and raise all the hay they can. Recently, they donated some land for the construction of a new Catholic church al Arboles. They will be very proud when the "San Pedro and Santa Rosa Church' is completed. Shelby Smith 138 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Jose Quintana and Camila (Casias) Quintana Biography Subject The topic of the resource Quintana, Jose; Quintana, Camila (Casias); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Jose Quintana and Camila (Casias) Quintana based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Quintana, Jose; Quintana, Camila (Casias) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/85a6aeb51fd1f19ce567e4bb28dc7f91.pdf 3994ca571b3e9da48988cb2e4579275c PDF Text Text -. 'l t t , , J , i 'l l ' ) ) ) ) ) °) ) ) } ) ) ) J ) J ) _) J HARRY RICHARDS While Peter Snow Richards (better known as Pieah Richards) and his wife Emma were living on a ranch north of Buckskin Charlie's place, north of Ignacio, a son was born to them. It was October 17, 1886. Little Harry was a strong, healthy boy. At that time most of the Utes could still hunt with bows and arrows and as Harry grew up he was taught to make his own weapons and to hunt the old way. In those days there were very few Mexicans and Anglos in the area. A few agency people and one or two store owners and their families were here. Otherwise tribal members had the land to themselves. As a child and a young man Harry led a life most American children would envy today. He fished and hunted. He learned the crafts and traditions of his people, participating in the dances and feasts. He helped his father and grandfather and played boyhood games all the while untroubled by the shadow of school. All good things seem to have a way of ending. In 1899 when Harry was 13 his grandfather put an end to the free and easy life. One half mile north of the agency was a mission school taught by the blacksmith's daughter. Harry was sent to class. The best thing he remembers about school that year was the two week Christmas vacation. He had no idea what plans his grandfather had for him for the following school year. "One day a man I'd never seen before showed up at our place. My grandfather told me I was going with him to the Ft. Lewis School to learn English. I didn't know anything about it until they told me to get into the wagon. There wasn't any chance to run away o-r anything." Harry went to school two years at Ft. Lewis. He learned English, got acquainted with the latest farming techniques and a few other subjects. "That was enough school for me," Harry states. At the age of 18, Harry decided it was time to earn some money of his own. His first job was with the agency. It was hard work, often with a pick and shovel, but a person couldn't be choosy. Jobs weren't too plentiful. To the best of his memory, Harry earned $1.25 per day. That doesn't sound like much but $.25 would buy a lot of groceries in 1905. By then Harry was living on Spring Creek and rode a horse to work every day. It was a fairly long ride and tiresome, especially when there was farm work to do at home afterward. _) ..J _) .J J .J .J J When asked how he met his wife, Harry smiled and said, "It was different then. If you wanted to marry a girl, you would go ask her father. He might say 'no' or he might say 'yes'. If he said 'yes' he would call his daughter out and you would take her home with you and you were married." Sometimes the girl's mother or grandmother would object to the match. When this happened, the grandmother might put the couple to the smoke test. This consisted of putting the couple in a tepee, building a smoky fire inside the tepee and sealing up the tent flaps. As the tepee filled with smoke, eyes watered and breathing became difficult. If the boy broke out for fresh air before the time allotted by the grandmother, she ran him off and he couldn't come back. If he endured the smoke ...) J J J J 13 9 �until the grandmother was satisfied, she would open the tepee and the couple was free to marry. Harry married Mary Tobias. Unfortunately, Mary died about 3 years later and there were no children, Afterwards Harry moved to Taos and married a tribal member there. A daughter was born. Harry likes the Taos people very much and still goes occasionally to visit his daughter and her children. After about three years in Taos, he moved back to the Pine River Valley. Personal travel was very slow when Harry was young. A trip to the Uinta Reservation in Utah required 15 days with a horse and buggy. For this reason, when trips were made, people stayed a while. Time for another one probably wouldn't come for some while. Harry's brother Bob was appointed Tribal judge and held that post for several years. Whenever Bob was needed to hear a case, the tribal police would have to ride a horse out to Spring Creek to bring him in, After a while this became so inconvenient that the tribe suggested that Bob and Harry take an assignment of land nearer to town. The new assigned land is about 2 miles east of town and Harry has lived there ever since. About 13 years ago, Bob and Harry were given an unusual opportunity. They were offered the ctiance to adopt a baby boy. Most men in their 60's would not be interested in giving their lives to the care of a child. Many would not feel competent, but Bob and Harry did. They raised little Ross from an infant, loved him and gave him good care. The County Wettare Department questioned the suitability of this arrangement several times, but could find no fault with the care Bob and Harry were giving the baby. Bob died in 1972. Harry and Ross still live on the farm. When Harry is not gardening, he is involved in craft work for which he and all his people should be proud. Harry makes bows, arrows, spears, drums, and feathered ornaments for use on ceremonial occasions. His work is very beautiful and valuable. Not many people skilled in these crafts remain. Harry is looking forward to his 89th birthday this fall. That's getting pretty old, but Harry doesn1 act it. He still works his garden and gets around very well. We wish him many more peaceful, happy and productive years. Shelby Smith. July 1974 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Harry Richards Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-07 Subject The topic of the resource Richards, Harry; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Harry Richards based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the July, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richards, Harry Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/b45f091bb89b59d5310d14a443779455.pdf 064d2a701f87b4ece953be09e365548b PDF Text Text MARY LA VIDA (Wayt) RITTER Mary La Vida Wayt, daughter of Louis and Margaret Wayt was born October 29, 1891, in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) four miles from Maysville, Arkansas. Folks in the area referred to it as "Lapland", meaning the region where Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri have a common border. Vida has only slight memories of those early years. Her family left Indian Territory and moved to Texas for a while and then back to Indian Territory. One thing she does remember is crossing the Red River. Crossing the prairie rivers was an experience to be remembered, especially if they were the big ones. There were few, if any, bridges anywhere in the Indian Territory and none across the big rivers. The Red River in many places is a mile wide. The amount of water depends on the season of the year. Ferries were not possible since even in flood season the water is deep only in a few channels. Most of the year the river consists mainly of sand bars, treacherous mud bogs, quicksand and log-strewn shallows. Getting across was mainly a matter of slogging through the mud flats, avoiding the quicksand and hoping the wagon would float. Vida remembers a frightful crossing. Her family made it across all right, but not everyone was so lucky. ) ) ) ) ) _). When the Wayts moved back to Oklahoma, they settled on a farm just across the border from Chetopa, Kansas. Most of their neighbors in the area were Cherokee Indians. It may seem unusual to gather nuts to go fishing , but that's what they and their neighbors did. Buckeyes, small nuts growing profusely in the area, have a chemical which stuns fish. The men would pound the nuts into a meal, scatter the meal on a pool in the "crick" and almost immediately the fish in the pool would float belly-up to the surface. Vida was very frightened when the men jumped into the water whooping and hollering, but her mother explained what was happening, "Then," she recalls, "we had a real fish fry." ) _) _) .J _) ....J .J ..J ..J .._J ....J .J J J J J .._J J .._J There is a section of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa known to weathermen as a 'cyclone alley. This region has some of the most frequent violent weather on the continent. Nearly everyone today, as well as then, has a cellar for refuge during tornado weather. Vida recalls the old dugout cellar her father built and recalls she was more frightened of the snakes and spiders and creepy things she imagined in the cellar than of the tornados. However, her father knew what he was doing. One day when the family scurried to the cellar, a tornado twisted their house on its foundation, requiring her father to prop up one wall with logs and poles. The Wayts raised corn, black-eye peas and sugar cane. At an early age Vida was taught to milk and was assigned the job of washing the pails and the separator. When Vida was 12, her father sold the farm and moved to Pueblo to work in the steel mill. Shortly after arriving in Colorado, Vida saw a sight she could hardly believe. She said, "Oh, mother look at that wagon going without any horses." The year was 1904 and that was Vida's first encounter with a motorized vehicle. After a year Louis moved his family to a farm near La Jara in the San Luis Valley where they stayed for 3 years. "We raised potatoes and field peas and did all right, but it was too cold and windy there to suit us." Vida was sixteen when the Wayts moved to the Pine River Valley and settled in 141 �this region for good. The family took the train to Ignacio and rode in the mail wagon lo Bayfield. "We always traveled light. Dad sold everything but our personal belongings whenever we moved. It was too difficult and expensive to move furniture and implements. Everywhere we went we had to start all over again. Louis got a job as a logger in the woods north of Bayfield for a year and then moved to a ranch 3-4 miles north of Ignacio. When the town of Ignacio was organized, Louis was hired on the survey team which named the streets and laid them out. Later Louis constructed the building which is now the north section of the SUARK lodge and Mrs. Wayt operated it as a hotel. Vida attended the Morrison School. She remembers well the day at school when she looked out of the window to see a tall young man riding a horse along the road. Vida had no idea this young man would one day become her husband. At the age of 18, Vida started dating Paul Ritter. "Paul and I liked to dance. All of the young people in the area would pile into a wagon or onto a sled if it was winter and go to Spring Creek or Bayfield or wherever there was a dance. On Sunday, there were horse races up Goddard Avenue in Ignacio and ball games and, finally, someone started a movie theater (silent pictures of course)." Vida and Paul were married in Durango in the home of Paul's parents on April 10, 1911. "After the wedding, we drove back lo the ranch in our buggy. Since the spring and summer work was just getting started, we put off our honeymoon until the fall." After the crops were in that fall, Paul and Vida went to Denver. Paul had worked as a cartoonist for the Denver Post and had many friends there. The train ride to Denver was an experience in itself. Senator West obtained ticket passes for Paul. The train steamed to Telluride, where they stayed overnight and then on to Denver the next day thru Montrose, Gunnison, Salida, Canon City, Pueblo, and Colorado Springs. Vida enjoyed the big city. Every evening the Ritters were guests of Paul's friends for a nice dinner and a movie or concert or stage play. Paul never let Vida forget that she went to sleep during the stage production of BEN HUR. Vida explains, "We had been out late every evening that week and I was tired." The Ritters lived on the ranch for 33 years. They raised hay and grains and animals of all kinds. Paul and Vida never had any children, but for a number of years they kept three brothers, Ray and Ralph and Robert Dickey. Ray now lives in Alaska, Robert lives west of Ignacio. Ralph was killed in a construction accident in California after WWII. The Ritters once owned a spirited trotting horse named Queenie. Vida dearly loved to hitch her up and drive her to town. One reason she needed to go to Ignacio regularly was to ship cream on the train to Durango. She recalls one day that the time of day got away from her. As she left the house she noticed she had 12 minutes to cover the three miles lo the depot. Clipping down Goddard Avenue, Vida could hear the train approaching. She whipped across the tracks just ahead of the train and got an angry whistle from the engineer. Paul acquired one of the first automobiles in Ignacio. For a long time he wouldn't allow Vida to drive, but she wouldn't stand for that forever. Vida practiced driving the car when Paul was away. One day when they left the house for town, Vida jumped under the wheel and said, "I'm driving today." Paul was leery an_d said, "Just to the gate," but Vida kept going. Vida states "Paul had his hand on the door handle, ready to jump out the 142 �'} -. '\ ' ' '·, ' 1 l } ) ) whole way, but I made it just fine." In addition to his farming, Paul operated a business in Ignacio for many years. The Ritters inherited an interest in a cabin at Electra Lake and enjoyed many fun weekends there with friends. Paul died in 1963. V ida has been alone for 12 years, but not really alone. She has many friends and receives a lot of attention from them. There are several reasons for this. First and probably the most important is that Vida takes an interest in other people. Endless recitation of life's aches and pains are not the subject of her conversation. Vida keeps herself active, entertaining friends and going out whenever possible. Undoubtedly, she will continue to face life with the same courage, sense of humor and good spirit that she always has shown. We wish her many years of good memories, friendship and happiness. ' March, 1975 - Shelby Smith .) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) _} _) _J _J _) .J ,.J J J J J J J J ..J ...) 143 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mary La Vida (Wayt) Ritter Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-03 Subject The topic of the resource Ritter, Mary La Vida (Wayt); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Mary La Vida (Wayt) Ritter based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the March, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ritter, Mary La Vida (Wayt) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/97f572ecf6038193c4f030706a857654.pdf e69c0614913b9078fd89027464b27140 PDF Text Text MARIA (Abeyta) RIVERA Maria, the fifth of Antonio and Josefa Abeyta's nine children, was born into an orderly and hard-working world. Her people were sheepherders in the country near Tierra Amarilla, N.M. "Most of us in that lime weren't too poor and sure weren't rich. We lived in a post house. Cedar posts were set in rows like a stockade, then plastered inside and out. The roof was posts and sticks covered with earth. It leaked and was a mess whenever there was a heavy rain until we could afford to put tin over it. I haven't been back there for a long time, but we hear the house is still there and still being used." When Maria was about three years old, her parents moved to a dry land farm near Cabresto (up Frances Creek east of present day Navajo Darn). Antonio built another post house and dug a well. He hit a good stream of water at 18 feet. The Abeytas raised dry land crops fairly successfully, but the garden needed watering and the well was the only source. Maria remembers hauling bucket after bucket to the garden. Two of Maria's sisters went to live with their grandmother at La Puente about three miles from Tierra Amarilla. Grandmothe(s house was a large frame house with five bedrooms. Maria recalls, "The fifth bedroom was just for guests and was never touched unless a guest was in the house. She had a large wood-burning cookstove, a fire place and a heating stove. No coal was available, so someone had to chop a lot of wood." Since there was no school at Cabresto, Antonio bought a farm near Rosa. It was much easier to raise profitable crops on the irrigated land and possible to send the children to school. However, Maria seldom got to attend school more than 4-5 months per year. Two of her older sisters had died. Since the other two were living with their grandmother, and Josefa had become ill, Maria became the cook, laundress and food preserver for the family. Maria says, "People talk about how bad kids are today. I don1 believe they are nearly as naughty as they were when I was a child. Once when I was a child a group of boys in our room tried to set the teacher on fire. The teacher was an old man and not too observant. The boys began slipping matches under his coat collar with the match heads protruding in a row. One of the boys behind him struck a match and was about to set the fire when one of the students yelled and grabbed the lighted match. Otherwise the resulting fire would probably have burned all the remaining hair off his nearly bald head. 11 "Every winter our cellar was full of beans, peas, chicos, cheese and piles of pumpkins. Then we had eggs, milk and butter coming all the lime. We always had enough. Everyone who put out the effort to grow a garden had enough in those days. I think the climate is colder now. It's hard to get things to mature." "In warm weather all of us children were outside playing or working all the time, but in cold months there was less to do. That's when Abuelo and Abuela (grandpa and grandma) told us stories around the fireplace. I wish I could remember the stories they 144 �told, but I can't. For public entertainment there were only a few events each year. On the 4th of July there were races and a rodeo but no fireworks. One year someone brought a Ferris Wheel. Nothing else; just a Ferris Wheel. It cost five cents to ride. I ate ice cream and drank lemonade and rode the Ferris Wheel so many times I got sick and had to go lie down at my aunt's house. Then there were the maromas. The latest maromas I remember was in Ignacio in the 1950's. The maromas was a group of people who made music, danced and sang and told jokes and stories. The whole community came when the maromas were in town. ·, ) ) ) ' When Maria was 25 she married Henry Rivera. His family had migrated to Rosa from Cimmaron and Monero, New Mexico. Henry had worked in the mines at Silverton and also worked for the railroad. The Riveras stayed at Rosa untll 1949 when they bought a farm near Allison. Their 10 children are: Cecilia (deceased), Bennie, Mary (deceased), Gilbert, Pete, Fred, Anna Marie, Orlando, Agnes and Richard. In addition to the children Maria has 23 grandchildren. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) In 1956 Maria moved to Ignacio. She has worked at various jobs since then. The children are scattered all over the country, and because of this Maria has got to do something she never thought possible. "I have traveled all over this country. I never thought I'd do that. The way I was raised people stayed at home. We didn't expect to fo anywhere and we couldn't with our livestock and crops and gardens. Now I've been to Los Angeles, Connecticut. Rhode Island and New York to see my children. I'd rather ride a burro than these little planes that come to Durango, but once I get to Denver the big planes are nice. _) August, 1976 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) _J __) _) ) .J ...J ..J -..J J -..J .J J ...J ...J ..J -.) ~ 145 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Maria (Abeyta) Rivera Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-08 Subject The topic of the resource Rivera, Maria (Abeyta); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Maria (Abeyta) Rivera based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the August, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rivera, Maria (Abeyta) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/f6df02712b2679c5c0e84da06a8d41a2.pdf 799fc300341c77c3992523e4e5d605af PDF Text Text PAULINE (De Herrera) RODRIQUEZ When Pauline Ruth De Herrera was born at Antonito, Colorado, on Sept. 15, 1907, Spanish people had been living in the Rio Grande and San Luis Valleys for a very long time. The dates in the graveyards, if nothing else, will testify to that. The old Conejos communities of Antonito, Las Mesitas, Mannasa and Espioza still maintain a Spanish flavor. The Las Mesitas Church with its two steeples is a striking landmark. Beside it is the church yard where generations of Paulina's ancestors are buried. Paulina's parents Alfred and Adala De Herrera, owned a home and small acreage near Antonito, but in the summer the whole family headed for the mountains. Alfred was a cowboy. "In May many farmers turned their cattle over to him to take into the high summer range near Cumbres. Dad would drive the cattle along, sometimes as many as 500, and Mother and all of us children followed in the buggy. We had a cabin overlooking a big meadow. It was such a carefree life. We picked strawberries by the gallons. They were small, but, oh, so sweet. Other days mother sent us for gooseberries. Once in the gooseberry patch my brother Chris and I got a terrible fright. We were picking when suddenly we came to a place under some overhanging branches where the grass and flowers were flattened like a nest. Some of the stems were still springing up. It was so plain we had just roused some animal (our imagination told us it was a bear.) We screamed and threw our buckets into the air and ran. Occasionally, we took off a little time for fishing. Our favorite place was La Laguna Azul, a beautiful mountain lake with gold water lilies along one side. We caught a lot of fish there. Always we wanted to see a deer, but we never saw one. I guess those mountains were hunted out in those days. About once a month we went down to Antonito to stock up on groceries. We would leave on Saturday and come back on Monday. Dad had two beautiful mares just for our buggy trips. We had such a relaxed and carefree life until the fall when the cattle were branded and moved down to the farms." Pauline remembers one time that was definitely not carefree. In the spring of 1911 there was a terrible flood all across Southern Colorado. Alfred was already in the mountains with the cattle. When Adala and the children awoke that morning the fields around them were a lake. "There was water in every direction. My grandmother Lujan was there with us and we decided it might be higher at her place in Las Mesitas, so mother went out and hitched up the mares. We went through deep water, but the real trouble came when we got to Las Mesitas Ditch (which was as large as the Allison Ditch). The bridge was washed away and the men on the other side said, 'don't come across. The mares will drown and so will you!' My mother was very brave. She said it was better to try than be trapped on the low side. The mares went clear under. Mother jumped from the buggy and lifted the heads of the mares out of the water. Finally, one of the men jumped in to help and the mares began to swim. When we got to the other shore, we were all soaked to the bone and crying. There was water around Grandmother Lujan's house, too; but it didn't get any deeper. In a couple of days it went down. All our chickens were gone and everybody's crops were ruined." 14 6 �'l 'l ....., '1 'l ' 1 l 1 J 7 ) ) ) ) } ) ) Idyllic and pleasant as a Rocky Mountain summer can be, winter is another thing, especially in the Sun Luis Valley. Then the valley becomes a cold and windy place with vast, drafty blizzards howling down its length. Every evening before bed Pauline and Chris had to peel enough potatoes for the next day and place them in water to keep them white. "Every morning the house was cold. Dad got up first to light the coal oil lamp and to build a fire in the kitchen. Then I had to get up to slice and start frying those potatoes. Then mother got up and made biscuits, white gravy, fried eggs and always oatmeal with lots of fresh milk and butter." Pauline and all the children needed a good breakfast, since they walked three miles to school at Espinoza. Sometimes it was an ordeal. "When the weather got real bad, my father wrapped our feet in gunny sacks and tied them to our ankles with wire. At school our teacher would unwrap the sacks, hang them to dry by the fire, and then help us put them back on when it was time to leave. That was all we could do because, of course, none of us had overshoes." Pauline feels that one mistake many parents made at that time was to keep their children out of school too much. "Some of the boys in the 5th and 6th grades were great big things, old enough to be in high school today and when they would get restless and bad, I can remember the teachers sending them to the river to bring their own willows to be whipped." ) ) ) ) ) ) .J ) _) _) _) J ..J J J ._J J .J J J J J ._I .J Alfred DeHerrera liked politics. In Paulina's words, "He was always 'taken' by politics." About 1924 Alfred decided to run for sheriff of Conejos County. If there was any big money around to buy the politicians into office, Alfred didn't get any of it. He had to use his own. When he lost the election, the family was nearly broke. To help recover the losses Alfred moved the family to Millikin which was about half.way between Denver and Ft. Collins where he could get farm work. "We didn't stay there very long. It was strange country to us. Dad worked long enough to buy a car and then we headed back for the valley. We stopped to visit someone in Salida. While we were there, Dad found a job in a creosote plant, so we stayed and bought a home there. I was about 16 or 17 by then." Soon afterward Pauline met Vic Rodriquez. "Vic was one of 12. His mother was dead. My mama tried to help those kids. She sewed and mended their clothes and asked them in for cookies and did many other things which only a mama can do." Vic was working on the tram line to Shirley when he turned sweet on Pauline. "He began signing his checks and just handing them to me. Mama said I better not spend any of that because if Vic and I broke up, there could be trouble over the money. So I put it all in the bank." Vic and Pauline were married in 1928. Pauline handed Vic $900.00, every penny of what he had given to her. With the $900.00 Vic set up a saw mill at Trujillo southwest of Pagosa. Whatever lumber wasn't sold locally was trucked to Juanita and shipped on the train to other markets. Later Vic moved his mill to Blanco Basin and finally to Red Creek north of Bayfield . When the government started building Vallecito Dam in 1937, Pauline got a new job. She started doing laundry for all the crews working on the dam. "I had a gasoline powered Maytag that ran from 7:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. every day. There were 14 7 �clotheslines stretched from tree to tree. I guess we were the first mountain laundramat. I made about $10.00 per day. Sometimes my neighbor Mrs. Millsap would help and I gave her half of what I made." Pauline has good memories of Red Creek since most of the kids were raised there. "They were good kids. We never had trouble with any of them. I guess being raised in the mountains, they would have to be good kids. We always had plenty to do, both work and fun. Every Saturday there was a dance. Someone brought a guitar and someone a violin and did we dance! But no drinking. It seems like ii snowed more then, but it didn't seem so hard on people then. We always had fun in the winter. If we needed food, we'd hitch up a team to the sled and go lo town. All those years seem so carefree. We never had any worries. I didn't think I ever had any worries until Vic died. We had just bought this house and lived here two months when he died." Pauline has seven children. All of them are married. Irene lives in Bayfield; Ernest in Bellingham, Washington; Melvin in Ignacio; Jeanie in Farmington; Helen in Los Angeles; Delia Rae in Bloomfield; and Mary Ann in Colorado Springs. Pauline has 30 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. A lot of years have passed, but Pauline well remembers the "Star" automobile Vic bought to bring her to Trujillo. She remembers the frightful, narrow road over Wolf Creek Pass and how much she really didn't want to leave Salida. "I always missed Salida. I liked it there and didn't want to leave. And I have always missed the Italians. They were good neighbors, nice people. All of the years we've spent on this side of the divide I've been happy, but I never felt really at home. I always had in the back of my mind a wish to go back over there, but the last few years I feel different. Ignacio is a nice town with a lot of nice people. I think I belong here now." June, 1975-Shelby Smith 148 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Pauline (De Herrera) Rodriquez Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-06 Subject The topic of the resource Rodriquez, Pauline (De Herrera) Description An account of the resource Biography of Pauline (De Herrera) Rodriquez based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the June, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rodriquez, Pauline (De Herrera) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6e0c4f410bbd8194782e808e1c2d213f.pdf 27227af8ba5982b2f57f98a2ebee5d9c PDF Text Text 'l 'J 'j ' 'l J } J i J l ) , ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ) ) ) ) ) _) .) _J ...J ..) .) .J J ...) J ...) ROSITA ROMERO Rosita's daughter, Louise Pesata, believes her mother is in her mid-nineties, but on one knows exactly, for the Taos people did not count the years or the days when she was born. They told their children, "you were born in the snow time or when the leaves were green." Any exact records of her birth were destroyed when the Guadalupe Church burned many years ago, but none of th is counting of years and of dates is of any concern to Rosita. What she does know is that she was born in a dwelling on the second level of the north pueblo at Taos. The same dwelling has been her home for about 90 years and is still her home whenever she wishes to go there. Rosita is the only child of Venturo Romero (he died of a stroke when she was a young child) and of Manuelita Lujan Romero, who lived until 1927. When Rosita was 6 years old, she and many other children in the pueblo were sent to the Indian School at Santa Fe. They were loaded into wagons and driven to Taos Junction to meet the train which came from Alamosa on its way to Santa Fe. This particular train and route was known as the "Chili Line." All students were issued uniforms, the principal feature of which was a large, wide-brimmed, black straw hat. She spent three years at the school. Her memory of those years is primarily of "looking at the books," and "playing on the swings" and of how long the year seemed with no vacations for holidays or feast days. After third grade Rosita attended a one room school near Taos for a while and that was enough school for her. When Rosita was a young woman, the town of Taos began to change from a small, but historic town into a sophisticated center for well known artists and authors. The attraction for the Taos Valley to the artists and their wealthy followers is evident to anyone who visits there today. Its climate and beauty and blend of cultures is still a stimulating environment. The influx of wealthy people was a fortunate circumstance for Rosita, since it provided her with plentiful work as a domestic servant. It was necessary for her to work, since she supported her daughter Louisa entirely by herself. In the course of her work, Rosita was employed by artists such as Blanche C. Grant, Victor Higgins, Eleanor Kissel and John Baldin. She also worked for Dr. Thomas Martin who was clinic doctor in the 1920's, and for John Collier, one of the Indian Commissioners. During all the years of work which only ended when she retired in 1973, Rosita walked the 3 miles from the Pueblo to her place of work and home again through snow and rain and summer heat. At home Rosita's life was little different from the lives of her ancestors hundreds of years ago. The pueblo allows no plumbing, electricity or other changes. Rosita carried all her water from the river, gathered all her wood for fires in the canyons and hauled it on her back to the village and up the ladder to her dwelling. In her spare time she gathered food for the winter, various greens and wild spinaches, mushrooms, plums and chokecherries to be dried. Her principal craft was the making of shoes and moccasins. She learned to scrape and dry and tan the deer skins. One of the most common tanning agents was boiled animal brains, which were rubbed and worked into the drying leather. Rosita chose moccasin making because it could be stopped and J ..) J J -..) J 14 9 �resumed easily at spare moments before or after working in town. Other crafts such as pottery making cannot be interrupted so often. Most of the people at the pueblo are initiated members of one of the clans known as the "knife people", the "wooden earring people", the "water people", etc. Rosita is one of the "water people". Each clan has its own initiation procedures, its secrets, its ceremonies, its projects and its own sacred religious traditions, much of which is probably hundreds of years old. Initiated members receive the security and encouragement of an extended family. Both men and women can be members of the clans, and all attend some meetings in the kivas. However, the clans are definitely male dominated and many meetings are limited to the men. Taos people believe the preseivation of their culture is strongly dependent upon the maintenance of the clans. Therefore, they diligently encourage all their children to be initiated into one of the clans where they can learn the songs, legends and ancient religion of the pueblo. One of the efforts of the clans is to give the young members instruction and practice in the various dances and songs as the feast days approach. The principal feasts occur at Christmas with the deer dance, at New Years with the turtle dance, at January 6th with the Buffalo dance. The corn dances are performed in May, June and July and St. Jerome's feast is on September 30th. Today more than half of the Taos People live outside the pueblos, a trend which is a little worrisome lo the tribe. The pueblo itself was frozen to any further additions or changes about 15 years ago. Maintenance of the ancient structures is a never-ending task. All snow must be immediately removed from the roofs to prevent seepage and rotting of roof timbers. Each family is responsible for its own roof. All exterior walls are mud-stuccoed every summer. Though Rosita is alert and surprisingly agile for a person in her 90's, a scary fall on one of the ladders in 1979 convinced her granddaughter, Josephine Lefthand, that it was time for Rosita to leave the pueblo. Until that time Rosita was still climbing the ladders with her water and fuel. Presently, Rosita lives comfortably with Tom and Josephine in Ignacio. From time to time she returns to Taos lo visit her daughter and to attend the feasts. At home she still bakes bread and tortillas for her grandchildren. She only recently stopped dancing at the pow-wows. When the grandchildren try to tease her into joining the dances again, she tells them, "I've done my part. Now you do yours." P.S. Rosita is adjusting very nicely lo using thermostats, the electric range, etc. in her granddaughter's home. Shelby Smith - November, 1980 (Special thanks lo Josephine Lefthand for translating the inteiview) 150 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosita Romero Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-11 Subject The topic of the resource Romero, Rosita; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Rosita Romero based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1980 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Romero, Rosita Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby; Lefthand, Josephine https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/31d04563d1957a7d824995c9fbffc64e.pdf 285bf5fb5a81c5de2149479d4f11532e PDF Text Text 'l ~ 'l ' J BESSIE FLORINE "Ma" (Glynn) SEIBEL 1 Bessie Florine Glynn was born in Osceola, Iowa, on August 31, 1894, the daughter of John and Antoinette Glynn. When Bessie was two years old, her family moved to Milwaukee where they lived most of the time until she was married. John, who was a steam shovel engineer, spent most of his time away from home working construction jobs or strip mining in Illinois and Indiana. As a member of a union John would work one job until it was finished, then he was bumped to the bottom of the list to wait his tum for another project. "It was like Santa Claus every time he came home" Bessie said. J '1 ,l l 7 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) } } ) ) _) ) ..J __J ..J _) J J J .J ..J J ..J J .J J .J Milwaukee (1896-1920) was in many ways a delightful place to live. It was a big town but not a metropolis. Bessie remembers riding the streetcars, which went everywhere and the jitney buses (early versions of the taxi), vehicles of every description which would transport a passenger from any point in the city to any other point for five cents. When Bessie was old enough for school, her mother got a job as a fitter in a department store. Bessie became interested in active sports. She enjoyed ice skating and was a member of the girl's basketball team. "We were a good team as a rule, but we didn't do so well when we played South Side High. They were all great big Polish girls, so big you couldn't get under, over, or around them," Bessie recalls. The third sport Bessie enjoyed, and the one for which she showed the most promise was sassing the teacher. "I was never able to hold dignitaries in high regard unless they deserved it and most of my teachers did not deserve it," stated Ma. Milwaukee was and is the beer capitol of the world. In that time there was a saloon on every corner. "Ma" says she used to have nightmares about being caught by a drunk, but they never succeeded. Bessie had known Milton Seibel for a long time. He and she had attended the same schools for years. As the two youngsters grew up and entered high school, Bessie and Milton developed new eyes for one another. Bessie recalls being in the same assembly (we call it study hall today) as Milton. During those endless silent hours Milton occasionally wrote notes, folded them into paper airplanes, and when the teacher wasn't looking, he sailed them to Bessie. The system worked well until one afternoon the guidance system on one of the notes failed and it made a fatal flight onto the teacher's desk. Milton, of course, was kicked out of assembly, but that was only the beginning of his interest in Bessie. In subsequent years they dated frequently going to dances, shows and dining out. Sometimes they would hear Fritz Kreisler in a violin concert, or Madam Melba or Shuman Heinck. Afterwards they would choose a fine restaurant where they ordered all the fine Chinese food they could eat for twenty-five cents . "We didn't mooch in the back seat of a car," confides Ma, "because we didn't have a car, but we spent a lot of time sitting on the landing of the staircase in our apartment. The first time Milton asked me to marry him, I said 'no'. I remember it clearly. We were reading the Saturday Evening Post." BessiE: said no that time because America had just declared war on Germany and Milton had volunteered to go. "I didn't want to have a baby and be left alone to raise it in case he didn't come back." Bessie and all her sorority friends in Delta Sigma rolled bandages and knitted socks for the war effort. Bessie was knitting at home, at work, on the streetcars, everywhere she went. Milton was gone 22 months. He and Bessie were married as soon as he returned. The Seibels might have spent the remainder of their lives in Milwaukee had it not been for an aunt in Pagosa Springs who wrote glowing accounts of the opportunities of 151 �homesteading and ranching in southwest Colorado. Their parents and her sorority friends were appalled at the prospect of moving to the wilderness, but the Seibels were both working in Milwaukee and getting nowhere, so they were excited at the prospect of an entirely new life. They rode the train to Pagosa Springs in the summer of 1919 and bought 160 acres of cut-over dry land 10 miles northwest of Pagosa at O'Neill Park. The Seibels started a dairy farm, raised alfalfa and some wheat. Ma helped Milton in the field when necessary and did fancy work for cash. When Bessie's mother came to visit, life was still pretty rustic on the farm. There were no indoor toilets and all water had to be hauled from a soft water spring on their place. Mrs. Glynn couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in such circumstances, but Bessie felt then and still says, "It was all an adventure. The country was beautiful." Their farm was located about halfway between the ranches on the upper Piedra and Pagosa. Most evenings some traveler would stop for dinner and would bed down for the night. "Ma" enjoyed the company, but she did tell one rancher he couldn't come back without his wife. "I was tired of hunting stories. I wanted some woman talk." The first motorized vehicle the Seibels owned was a motorcycle with a side car. There were two kinds of rides on the cycle. Rough and dusty and rough and muddy. On one trip to the upper Piedra, the cycle bogged down to the hubs. Milton and Bessie had to stay the night with an old bachelor who lived nearby. Bessie had always enjoyed working in the field with the horses, but when Milton began buying mechanized equipment, she retired to the house. Besides the boys were growing and beginning to do their share of the work. Willard was first. Then Glenn, Ed and Don were born. The country schoolhouse for the area was nearby. Most years the schoolteacher would stay with the Seibels. Some of the school marms were first year teachers and were only 18 years old. "Ma" says the teachers were very interesting people and provided companionship and good conversation on the long winter evenings. In 1935 Milton and Bessie went into debt $5,000.00 to buy an irrigated farm near Arboles. It made Bessie very uneasy to owe a sum which at that time seemed so enormous. They raised hay, grains, pigs, sheep and cattle. Bessie had a large garden with two or three hundred tomato plants some years. There was lots of work and no vacations until 1952 when they stopped for a few weeks to take a trip to California and Montana and then back to Milwaukee to see old friends. After an extended illness, Milton died at home in 1961. "Ma" is a fine lady with a generous heart. Time has not dulled her words. She still has the same sassy tongue she took to school in 1910. "I have a tremendous memory forridiculous things," Ma states. If you don't believe her, just ask her for a song. Regarding work, she says, "I've graduated, but the word 'go' I like." Shelby Smith, February, 1974 152 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bessie Florine "Ma" (Glynn) Seibel Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-02 Subject The topic of the resource Seibel, Bessie Florine "Ma" (Glynn); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Bessie Florine "Ma" (Glynn) Seibel based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Seibel, Bessie Florine "Ma" (Glynn) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/cfbd84a625653ede51e5f41c0194e0f6.pdf 0badfd3b3ae315566b7f7aac8e9c15af PDF Text Text MARTHA LOUISE (Miller) SEMLER Martha Louise Miller was born near Kennan, Wisconsin, April 14, 1904. Her parents were Gustave Alvin Miller and Wilhimina Krate Miller, both of whom immigrated from Germany when they were teenagers. Gustave's family was fairly wea1thy. Therefore when he got to New York, he attended school to learn English. Wilhimina couldn't afford school when she arrived at Baltimore. "However," Martha recalls, "my mother spoke good English with no accent, while my dad, for all his schooling, always had a heavy German brogue." "Both my parents were naturalized citizens within a year. They met at the Amana Colony near Des Moines, Iowa, where they got jobs. Two years later they got married. Dad worked in a brewery, then took up farming first in Iowa then in northern Wisconsin where I was born, the youngest of 10. These are my brothers and sisters in order. The oldest was Minnie, then Emma, Ann, Marie (who died at age 2), Margaret, Augusta, Elvina, Ed, Paul, and Martha." "Dad farmed in the summer and was a logger in winter. I remember he saved the tamarack bark to sell to the tannery. No one ever irrigates anything in Wisconsin. Most of the time there's too much water. Our river bottom land was like a sponge much of the year. It was a trick to raise hay there. Only at certain times could we work and only with oxen. They never bog down. After the hay was cut we raked it by hand with wooden rakes with pegs for teeth. I can still remember my dad carving new pegs for the rakes." ) ) J ) _) _) .-.J J ...) J .....J ...) ....J _) ._J J "I never saw anybody ride a horse till we moved to Colorado. My brother even hitched an ox to our buggy to deliver cream - to town." "Wisconsin," Martha says, "is wonderful for wild fruit and nuts, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, etc., and hickory, hazelnuts, butternuts, chestnuts. We gathered two sacks full of them and put them in the attic of the woodshed to dry and cure. Every fall our neighbors cut and shipped box car loads of greenery to the cities for Christmas wreaths. My mother taught me to card and spin wool thread when I was 10. I wish I had a spinning wheel now. It was fun." "I might still be in Wisconsin if our doctor hadn't told Dad mother's health would be better at a higher altitude. Dad headed west, intending to go as far as Oregon where Emma lived. But in Denver, Dad met Mr. Hoffman who was looking for someone to manage the H&H Ranch south of Oxford. Dad agreed to take the job for 2 months to see if he liked it. After a month he sent for us. All that were left at home were Mother, my 2 brothers and me. I didn't like it at first. I was accustomed to a nice home with a lawn. I missed my friends. I attended the old, white school at Oxford. (It's been moved to Amy McCaw's place.) I met Horace and Ralph Buchanan, the Boyce girls, Jim and Jack Turner, John Gibert, the Hayden kids and many others. My first teacher was Myrtle Mcchesney from Allison. Later she married Anthony Morris. Soon we moved near the Pine River Switch to prove out some homestead land and stayed there until I was married at 15." ....J ....J ....) ._J 153 �Martha and Gustave Semler, whom she married in 1919, farmed near Oxford for a year then moved to Sable Canyon on Spring Creek. There Martha plowed with 3 horses, helped run the binder and shock and stack 45 acres of grain. Later they worked another place on Spring Creek which had regular irrigation. "We went to Ignacio about every two weeks for business or supplies. From Ignacio it took three and half to four hours lo ride to Durango if you had a horse with a good running walk." "I remember our mail carrier, Melvin Walker, drove a wagon with a cover over it and a stove inside. He arrived at our box at 4:00 p.m. and then had to go all the way back to Ignacio. Arthur Capell used a car when he took over that route." Martha had five children: Paul lives west of Ignacio; Herbert died at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital at the age of 22; Betty lives at Olathe; Bill lives north of Ignacio; and Michael lives at Sheridan, Wyoming. One summer when Paul was a baby, Gustave took a herd of Arthur Jones's sheep to pasture up near the Needle Mountains. In mid-summer Martha took little Paul on horseback to the camp. It snowed, rained and hailed every day. In late summer she helped move the herd back to Spring Creek. "I could pack a burro and move camp like a man, then." The Semlers lived in Durango, Dulce, and Ft. Lewis before moving to the Chromister Place one mile north of Oxford. This was depression time and life was very hard. For 9 months Martha milked 30 cows morning and evening. "My hands swelled to twice their size. It was too much work, but in a depression, you do what you have to do. I also broke horses to ride or to plow, for $25 per head. We lost the farm north of Oxford. From then on I raised and supported my children alone. We moved lo Ignacio. Paul was only 13, but we tried to farm the James place (where Candelaria subdivision is located). Next we lived on the Johannsen Place at Tiffany and ran the cream station for Shaefers. In the spring I dropped corn (planted) all day long for $.50. The older children and I worked at whatever we could to survive. When Paul went to the war, he sent us an allotment which made life easier." Today, Martha has 15 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren lo enjoy. She has a house full of mementoes and memories of her parents and of a life of pioneering in the north woods and the western mountains. Martha still has spunk and energy and a wealth of skills which she will share with others if they want to learn. She tells great stories, many of which we don't have room to tell here. Shelby Smith -- January, 1978 154 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Martha Louise (Miller) Semler Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-01 Subject The topic of the resource Semler, Martha Louise (Miller); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Martha Louise (Miller) Semler based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1978 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Semler, Martha Louise (Miller) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby