1 10 81 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/916af43c187df0eaf773b6952c3f636b.pdf 7f3432fb882b67ba845f5c344e8c03c9 PDF Text Text (MARY) ADA (Russell) RABBITT KENT Ada Russell was born in a tepee at Breen, Colorado, in 1893. Her father, John Russell, was a member of the Moache Band of Utes. Her mother, Mary (Ada is not certain of her name), died when Ada was very young. Ada had five brothers and one sister, her identical twin. After their mother died, the family began selling the land at Breen. In the legal transactions the names of the twins were reversed. Ada originally was named Mary, but in the documents was called Ada and Ada was called Mary. Rather than disrupt the legality of the land documents, the family decided to continue calling Mary, Ada, and Ada, Mary. A short time later the original Ada died. So the original Mary, now called Ada, has preserved her sister's name for 84 years. Ada came to the Indian School at Ignacio, which she attended for 2-3 years. On a trip back to Breen, when Ada was about 10, she fell from a horse, striking her head on a rock. Shortly afterward she began to lose her vision. She was sent away to several hospitals during the next 2 years. When she was home, one of the medicine men, a sun-dance chief named Cumada, treated her. She credits him more than the hospitals for bringing a full recovery of her sight. John Russell sold the remainder of his land at Breen and moved to a farm just north of the present cluster homes north of Ignacio. Edna Russell and Sarah Pinnecoose are Ada's half sisters from her dad's 2nd marriage. Ada lived in Dulce for 5 years. She enjoyed the train rides between Lumberton and Breen. In 1911 Ada married Graves Stone Kent. His land was several miles east of Ignacio, where the Kents still live. The Kents raised cattle, chickens and horses. They gathered and dried wild herbs and wild potatoes for winter. The government supplied dried rice and beans. Winters were much worse in those days. Snow would pile halfway up the windows. The winter Isabel was born, Ada says, "You couldn't even see the fencepost." During the early years the mortality rate among all people was high. Many of Ada's relatives died of whooping cough and pneumonia. The Kent children who survived to adulthood are Bonny, Katy Seal, Ida, and Isabel. Four of the others died of the flu in 1918. Some died without names because it was not the custom to give official names to the little ones until they were enrolled in the tribe. Shortly after Ada and Graves were married, they started on a trip to Breen. Before they got far, a man came running up to them carrying a tiny, crying baby which he had found deserted in the woods. Ada could tell the little girl was no more than 1 or 2 days old and starving. She took the baby and began thinking how to feed her. The solution was rather ingenious. They returned home, caught a nanny goat and having no bottle or nipple, washed the teats of the goat and let the baby suckle it. She drank greedily. They took their live milk machine with them in the wagon to Breen and got along just fine. Ada soon figured out the baby was the illegitimate child of one of her grandfather's relatives. She raised little Annie (Ada doesn't tell her last name) until she was old enough to go to boarding school. "I went from the goat to the bottle with my own children," Ada says. "I raised my own, part of my grandchildren and never asked any pay because I love children." 92 �,..., ,..., 'l ~ 'J ,..., "My father and grandparents always taught me never to argue or fight with my husband and not to talk about him behind his back. I did what they said and we were happy. That is why it was so hard to lose him when he died." ) J ) ") ) ) ") Ada remembers how people were never alone with their work in the old days. They helped one another plant, plow and harvest. They traded and shared their food so that no one was without the necessities. Ada conceded that life today, though it is very different, is nice because it is a lot easier. She is very grateful to have lived long enough to see her grandchildren and her greatgrandchildren. J She added, "I've never been in jail and never been drunk in my life." We believe her! Ada has been a responsible, good person all her life, the kind of person who helps build up a community and leaves good memories of themselves. ) By Shelby Smith, Translated by Phoebe Cloud in December, 1977 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) . ) _) J ..J J -.J ,.J ,.J -.J ...) J -.J J J -.J J ...J ..) 93 � 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 Ada Rabbit (Russell) Kent Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-12 Subject The topic of the resource Kent, Ada Rabbitt (Russell); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ada Rabbitt (Russell) Kent based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith on December, 1977. 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 Kent, Ada Rabbitt (Russell) 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; Cloud, Phoebe https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/1e71fd10b9fccce5b752979ece1d6405.pdf db0c131195e3830189486bf23aaba783 PDF Text Text ALBERT & ETHEL MAY (Chambers) ANCELL Albert G. Ancell was born in Collinsworth, County, Texas, south of Shamrock on October 17, 1902. His father, Thomas M. Ancell had been born in Howard County, Missouri in October of 1871, and moved to Dallas, Texas with his parents when he was an infant. After he was old enough to work, Thomas got a job laying ties and rails on the Ft. Worth and Denver Railroad which was building a line from northwest Texas to Denver. While working near Harold, Texas, Thomas found a farm he liked enough to settle down and raise wheat and cattle. "While dad was on the farm near Harold, he married my mother, Lettie. I was the third of four children. Shortly after I was born, we moved to Gaines County Texas on the New Mexico Line near Seminole. It was flat empty ranch country where I grew up. Our nearest neighbors were 8-10 miles away. My first schooling was at a little ranch school. Later I attended 6th and 7th grades at Lovington, New Mexico. During the drought of 1918 I quit school to help my dad drive his 1200 head of cattle to Colorado. He sold the cattle to buy a farm, but later lost it on a mortgage. I started working for wages on the Butler Ranch. In 1926 I headed for California in a Model T Ford. The route I took went through Trinidad, Albuquerque, Silver City and Lordsburg. Then I went to Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma, to San Diego and Santa Barbara. West of Yuma I had to follow the old plank road across the sand desert. The whole trip took 13 days. There weren't any motels so I camped along the way." . ) J ) ) ) _) .J J J .J ,..J J "I soon got a job working for the Bixby Ranch, one of the biggest ranch companies in California. They owned land in several parts of California and Arizona. Their headquarters was in Long Beach. We ran cattle through the area where Disneyland is now located. I stayed with the ranch for about 6 years. My wages were $60-75.00 per month plus room and board." "My brother at Presidio, Texas, asked me to come down there and help him operate a filling station. At that time there was a small boom going on in that part of the country with the building of the railroad from San Antonio to Chihuahua, Mexico, and on to the Pacific. In 1936 I moved to Como, Colorado in South Park where I worked in the hay and cattle business for 11 years. Then I came to Ignacio and bought Glen Rouses's place. I raised grain and hay and did combining and other custom farm work for neighbors. In 1965, I married Ethel May Arnspiger." Ethel May was the seventh of eight children born to Henry Walls Chambers and Susan Louise (Lee) Chambers, Susan's dad was a relative of Robert E. Lee. Henry and Susan were both born in Texas, but after their marriage moved to Globe, Arizona and then on to Colorado in 1902. .J ..J· .J .J J J J ·J ...J "My dad helped build the Cascade Flume north of Durango. In 1904 they moved to Bayfield and took a homestead on Spring Creek where I was born on July 4, 1904. Mother died when I was 5 years old. I attended the Mason School east of town where the Lieses now live, for 8 years, then came to Ignacio for 2 more years. That was all the school offered here. In 1924 Ernest Arnspiger and I were married. Ernest worked in a 3 �butcher shop in Ignacio for a while, then got a job at a coal mine north of Bayfield. Finally, we bought a farm over on the Florida Mesa near Falla where we raised our children. We had one son, Randall, who died in 1957 and one daughter Lorraine, who is now a Registered Nurse in Tucson, Arizona." "My dad's second wife died in 1939, leaving him with 2 young daughters. Since one of the girls was only 10 years old, Ernest and I decided to move over to the farm on Spring Creek to help dad with the work and to help take care of the girls. In 1961 when Ernest became ill, we moved to Bayfield where he died in 1963." "Two years later, I married Albert Ancell. He had a place on the southeast corner of Holt's farm where we still live. Albert has 3 children of his own. Lettie June lives in Littleton, Colorado; and Lyle and Dennis live in Abilene, Texas." The Ancells have both lived a good many years and Albert has lived a good many places of different climate and elevation. In Albert's opinion, Southwest Colorado has the most pleasant climate of all, otherwise he says he wouldn't have stayed here for 30 years. Of all the various periods of time Albert has lived through, he feels that today is the best and the easiest time to be living. Taken in August 1979 August, 1979 -- by Shelby Smith 4 � 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 Albert Ancell and Ethel May (Chambers) Ancell Biography Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-08 Subject The topic of the resource Ancell, Albert; Ancell, Ethel May (Chambers) Description An account of the resource Biography of Albert Ancell and Ethel May (Chambers) Ancell based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the August, 1979 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 Ancell, Albert; Ancell, Ethel May (Chambers) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c651c65abeca68566f0169f4507a1b11.pdf 5d15213b91c77ea6d51c239f515ffa43 PDF Text Text ALCARIO and JENNIE (Marez) VIGIL Jose Alcario Vigil was born at Blanco, N.M. April 24, 1903, one of ten children born to Jose Antonio and Maria Dolorita Vigil. "My father was a farmer," Alcario says, "working on his own place and also working for others. When my mother died in 1911, I went to live with my aunt, Marcelino Vallejos Jacquez. She never sent me to school. There was too much work on the farm. Every day I herded goals and sheep or worked in the garden. The farming equipment we had was not too good, but it worked. We plowed our rows with a wooden plow which was little more than a slick pulled by a burro or a horse. It was all slow work, but the neighbors all helped one another." "Some of my brothers died in the flu epidemic in 1918, but my twin brother survived. He still lives at Telluride." "The nearest real town was Aztec about 30 miles away. It had a train depot, several stores and the court house. On a horse and buggy a trip to Aztec required many hours, so we didn't go very often." "My first job for cash money was haying. I got paid ten cents for a day's work." When Alcario was grown, he got a job with the railroad and also met Rosie Torres. Alcario and Rosie were married in 1923. One child was born to them before Rosie died in 1926. Alcario worked for the next three years on the railroad line to Rico and Telluride. Most of the work was ordinary maintenance and repairs, but also included cleaning up train wrecks and derailments. Snowslides, rocks and mud on the tracks all caused occasional wrecks. While Alcario was working at Mancos, he met Jennie Marez, whose folks had a farm near Mancos on Summit Ridge. Jennie was born in Gallup and was reared by her Aunt Inez Marez. Since she went to school only through sixth grade, Jennie never expected to become a school teacher. For two years Summit Ridge had no money to pay a school teacher. Eighteen students were without school. Jennie's relatives asked her to teach the children. She went to school, looked at the books for reading, spelling and arithmetic and decided to give it a try. Jennie managed surprisingly well. "I used the switch when they needed it and whenever they got on my nerves, I declared a vacation." Alcario and Jennie were married at Mancos. They stayed there a while then moved on to Towaoc and then to Ignacio. The Vigils have 12 children including three sets of twins. Their children are Dolores, Joe, Margarita and Alabama, Dora and Dorothy (twins) Shirley, Betty, Stella and Stephanie (twins) and Pete and Paul (twins). Mrs. Vigil says, "People are always asking me if it's hard taking care of twins. I have to tell them I don't know. When my twins were small, people were always asking for one of 168 �""" 'l 'l 'I '> ) ) ''> ) i ) them. If I would get on the train for Durango, if I went to the store or wherever I went, people would ask to hold one of the babies. I never had but one at a time." Alcario has quite a reputation as a fiddler. He used to play for dances in most of the towns between here and Grand Junction. "I learned to play when I was a child. All my relatives used to play the fiddle and the guitar, so I began trying to play." Several years ago Alcario started carving his own violins. He has made 1O or 12 and still working on others. Regarding large families Jennie says, "We've never been sorry we have all these children. They've all been very good to us." ) SHELBY SMITH ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J _j _) ..J .J ..J ..J J J J ..J J J J ....) ....J 169 � 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 Alcario Vigil and Jennie (Marez) Vigil Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-05 Subject The topic of the resource Vigil, Alcario; Vigil, Jennie (Marez): Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Alcario Vigil and Jennie (Marez) Vigil based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the May, 1977 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 Vigil, Alcario; Vigil, Jennie (Marez) 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/5ed4d6abd9de43ddd2617d75672b8aa0.pdf 4ccd1a4aa131642a4839a0b3b6719ec1 PDF Text Text ALMA BOX "My parents were from Capote Band of the Utes. Henry Box, my father, owned land down near La Boca. He raised wheat and corn and vegetables for the family. My mother, Sally Box, also worked hard on the farm. I had three brothers and one sister. The oldest was Jacob (the father of Eddie), Agnes, Fritz and Mary Box Chavez. Then came my brother Paul, my sister Bessie, who married Jimmy Baker, and my little brother, Henry. Now all my brothers and sisters are dead. We lived in a post house plastered with adobe inside and out. These were easy to build and were warm. Our water was carried from a spring. Mostly we ate deer meat, which my father supplied. He was a good hunter. My mother taught me to dry food, to do beadwork and to sew my clothes. We dried wild spinach, chokecherries and buffaloberries. She taught me to weave baskets from the wild grasses, but I have forgotten how to make them. In those years there was a small store near the train depot in La Boca. Sometimes we went shopping there, sometimes at the stores in Ignacio. I quit riding horses when I was very young. Once a horse threw me off, so I quit." ) ) "Our family always went to the Bear Dance and other pow-wows. My brother liked to sing at the dances. Anymore I don't go. Maybe we just drive around at the Sun Dance to see who all is there." ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) J J _) ..) _) _) ...J ...J J ..) J ...J J J ...J ...J "When I was a child, I was sent to the dorm and the Indian School here in Ignacio, but I only stayed about 3-4 years. After that I stayed home to cook and wash and sew for the family." "I have four children, but only two are still living. Emiel is the oldest, then Rhoades, Sarah and Alice. Rhoades served in the Army in World War II. He lived through the war, but died a short time after coming home. Alice died in 1968. Her children, Terry and Tooley, still live w ith me. Sarah married Clifford Baker. Their seven children are the twins, Ronnie and Iden, Teddy (now deceased), Ann Wesley, Connie and Melvin. Emiel was never married." Alma bought her house in Ignacio about 1955. She still uses her wood and coal stoves for heating and cooking. Once she tried an electric range, but didn't care for it. She has never used natural gas because she doesn't trust it. Alma goes to Durango with her grandchildren for shopping whenever needed. A few times in her life she has visited Dulce and Towaoc. From time to time she goes to Santa Fe to visit Rhoades' grave, but that's about as far as she has ventured from home. Alma is now 77 years old, a quiet, old-fashioned lady. She never learned to drive a car. If the phone rings, she will answer but she never has learned to call out. She spends her time sewing and watching TV and occasionally thinking about her parents. "I really miss them," she says. Alma is still in good health, has good hearing and good vision and still sews most of her own clothes by hand. We wish her many more years of peaceful and quiet life. January, 1981 -- by Shelby Smith 13 � 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 Alma Box Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1981-01 Subject The topic of the resource Box, Alma; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Alma Box based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1981 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 Box, Alma Extent The size or duration of the resource. 1 page 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/69fe79e53079fabacc4018ce3e946988.pdf 25716e7a5fc9dfaff05dab6b2f8ea7d7 PDF Text Text ANDY AND LUCY (Valdez) DURAN Not many youngsters can say "I was the 14th child in my family." Fewer yet can say, "I was the 14th child in my family and I have 6 younger brothers and sisters," but Lucy Duran can make both statements. When asked what it's like to grow up in a house full of people, Lucy says, "My older brothers and sisters took care of me, carried me, dressed me and fed me. Mother was busy all the time. She never stopped. The older kids had to help with the younger ones because mother had only a little time to spend with each child. When Lucy was 4 years old her parents, Cornelio and Ferminia Valdez decided to leave Blanco, New Mexico, and moved to a farm south of Ignacio. "When I look back on those days, I think how poor we were, especially compared with today. We each had one set of clothes and one pair of shoes. When the shoes were worn completely out, father would try to buy us another pair." "Father and the boys were always busy on the farm. They raised grains and hay. We produced our own potatoes and beans and corn and everything else we could grow. Mother dried apricots and peaches and vegetables. In the fall our cellar was full of potatoes, squash and apples. After it was cold enough, the butchering would start. The hams were coaled with curing sugar, wrapped with cheese cloth and stored in the cool house. We hung a leg of beef outside and covered it with a sheet. Whenever-we wanted meat we went out and cut off whatever portion was needed. In the spring 1the leg of beef was moved into the cool house until it was used up." "We seldom ever came lo town except lo go to mass on Sunday. Dad and the boys hitched the team to the big wagon. To keep our dresses clean we threw quilts into the back of the wagon. If the weather was bad, we stayed home and Dad read the Bible to us." Transportation in the old days seems slow lo people today, but it was dangerous at times. Lucy recalls, "Once Dad and Mother and Mary were driving the wagon from La Boca to Ignacio. When the tail of one of the horses got caught in the reins, it became very frightened and bolted. The wagon turned over. Dad and Mary were unhurt, but Molhe~s leg was broken. After Dad got the wagon tipped up again, he lifted Mother inside and brought her to Dr. La Forge." Like most children of her generation, Lucy loved to ride horses. "We always rode bareback lo bring the cows in. We liked to ride fast and to race. At that time I would rather ride horses than anything." Lucy got lo go to school in the country a few years. then the family moved to town. "I was a little afraid to go to school in town because I could speak hardly any English, but I met Jesse Stauffer and Frances Copeland and we became good friends. Within a week or so I could get along with the English pretty well. I began earning my first money washing and ironing clothes for Mrs. Wayt (Vida Ritter's mother. ) I went early before school to wash and hang the clothes. At noon I would take them off the line and sprinkle them. Then in the evening I ironed them. I made $.75 an hour doing that." 44 �., ., ., ~ ., ~ J J ) ' ) ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P.M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P .M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. His mother died when he was still a small child, so his grandparents raised him in Rosa, N.M. Andy quit the 8th grade to go to work on the railroad. He was still working on the railroad when he and Lucy were married. The Duran's have 10 children, Andy Jr., Cornelio, Jack, Orlando, Rudy, Lillian, Eileen, Corinne, Martha and Yolanda. As a railroad employee, Andy and his family had-free tickets to ride the train. Most of their travel was back and forth to Durango for shopping and visits. In 1941 Andy was moved to Rico as Section Boss. After a couple of years there he got an opportunity to work in the mines at Telluride and Ophir and stayed with that for 12 years. That is definitely not easy work, but living there provided a magnificent place for the children to grow up. Probably no place in this country has more spectacular scenery or more opportunity for outdoor fun than the mountains around Telluride. Lucy remembers, "Our house was full of fishing gear, snow shoes and skis. The boys were out camping or hiking or fishing or hunting as much as they could. Even today the boys take their families over there and camp and fish and try to share that beautiful place with their children." ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ). _) Boys, even good boys like Andy's and Lucy's, are rascally at times. "They were in and out of mischief," Lucy recalls. "I especially remember the time they and their friends were daring one another to ride the tram cable across the valley." A tram with big ore buckets carried the ore from the mine down to the mill. Unknown to us the boys had been daring one another to jump up and grab a hold of the cable and hold on until it carried them across the valley to the next hill where they could jump off. I guess some of them had been doing it. Finally, it was Cornelia's time. What he didn't know was how close it was to 12:00 noon. At noon the mine whistle went off and everything, including the tram stopped while the miners had lunch. Cornelio was about halfway across the valley when the whistle blew and the cable stopped. Well, no one can hold on for an hour. Cornelia's arms gave out. He fell and fortunately, only broke a leg." ..) ..J .J J J J J ..J J J J .J ...) "For several years the family lived in company housing at the mine at Altus (Alta). Sometimes we were snowed in for a week, but we always had plenty of coal and plenty of food stocked up. Avalanches would cover the roads and the big rotary plows would have to come dig it all out." As anyone knows who lives around Ignacio, Andy and Lucy have wonderful children. Their method of child rearing is as follows: "We always tried to make our children understand that God should be first in people's lives and then a good education so that they can earn a living and be of use to others. Children should be whipped when they are bad until about age 12. From then on they have minds of their own and if they haven't learned right from wrong by then it's probably too late, anyway." 45 �When the mines closed around Telluride about 1954, the Durans moved back over to Ignacio. Andy did farm work around this area until it was time to retire. But like many other active people have discovered, retirement is not necessarily that much fun. So Andy is working again this summer. When asked if there is something she would like to do that's never been possible, Lucy replies, "I have always dreamed of going to Rome to see the Pope, but that's a long way over there." Even if Lucy never -gets to go, she and Andy can look back on a panorama of life experiences with many good memories. Their lives have spanned great changes in this country. Both still enjoy good health. We wish them many more years of health and happiness and wish their children many more reunions at Telluride. September, 1975 -- Shelby Smith 46 � 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 Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-09 Subject The topic of the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Description An account of the resource Biography of Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) 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/d3ba0469ae5f1519b4b1d0e51245cb4d.pdf c810f46e5c1762b56e5ebf73a71e267d PDF Text Text BELLE (Williams) CUTHAIR Belle Hancock Williams, one of seven children of Price Williams and Maria Capote William, was born in the Florida Valley of La Plata County, Colorado, on January 12, 1906. "My parents owned a frame house in the valley just south of where the narrow gauge railroad crossed the Florida River. (1& 1/2 miles south of where the present U.S. 160 crosses the river.) The valley was not cleared for hay fields then. II was full of sage brush. There were huge clumps, some 5 feet tall and so thick we used it for firewood. My parents could hunt and fish and gather wild food, but my father wanted better things for his family. He decided he would have a better chance for jobs if he could speak English, so after he was married, he went to Fl. Lewis to learn English. When he came home, he brought a Navajo boy named Jake who was in trouble with the Ft. Lewis people. Jake stayed with us a long lime and helped with the work. My father got a job at the lumber mill. He drove a team lo drag logs. He had his own horses and mules and donkeys. He cut wild timothy down by the river and in hollows watered by the springs coming out of the Florida Mesa. Our nearest neighbors were a Mormon family. They loaned my father their mowing machine and then he would share the hay. Every summer and fall my parents sent me out to pick blue berries, chokecherries, buffalo berries and Indian bananas (the fruit of the soap weed). The Indian bananas were my favorite. When the stalk gets dry and the pods hang down their heads in the fall, they are ready lo pick. They are as sweet as apricots. I've been back to the places where we used to pick them, but the deer and elk always get them first. We also picked wild onions and wild spinach. Sometimes my parents bought a bitter plant from the Mexicans for medicine." After a few years, Belle's parents moved over to her grandparent's farm 3 1/2 miles north of La Pasta in the Animas Valley. Belle soon learned all about milking goats and herding sheep. "Most of the milk we made into keso (cheese). It's a simple thing. You boil the milk. Squeeze the juice from the Soap Weed into the milk and boil it some more. Let ii cool. Then put the milk in a cloth and let all the water drip out. The keso we made was something like cottage cheese." Belle was finally sent to the Indian School at Ignacio. She well remembers the big sign there which said, "Don't talk Indian," but even so Belle mostly enjoyed the school. "It was more fun than milking goats and herding sheep!" Belle's mother died when she was fourteen. "I stayed with my grandparents for a while. Then I got a job at La Pasta working for the Candelario Vigil family who owned the store and dance hall there. I cleaned, carried water and helped with the cooking. I lived with that family two years and they treated me very well. In 1922 Superintendent McKeen sent me to school at Towaoc. In the summers I didn't have any place to go, so I got a job working at the Wrightsman Hotel in Mancos. Ellen Watts and I both worked there two summers. We washed dishes, ironed table cloths, 42 �picked berries and cherries and currents and made them into ice cream and pies. Near the end of the second summer Ellen and I heard about the Spanish Fiesta in Durango. Our jobs were about to end at the hotel, so we took the train to Durango to watch the games and the races. When we found the Indian camp, we located Daisy Eagle, Ellen's sister. She took us home with her to Spring Creek." Belle attended the Haskell Institute in Kansas until she was 18. When she came back to Colorado, she worked for the hotel at Mancos again. Ellen Watts got married and it wasn't long till Belle had married Curtis Cuthair. "I met Curtis in Mancos. We had known one another several years. Finally, one summer Curtis came to see and said, "I don't have a family of my own. I'd like to settle down and have a family to be long to." Curtis had been to trade school. He got a job operating the steam heating system at the Agency in Ignacio. In his spare time he farmed his place north of Ignacio where the family home is located . Belle and Curtis had seven children, Richard, Garnet, Christine, Larry, Vera, Laverne, and Darlene. ) ) ) ) ) ) _) J _) J J .,_) .,_) J .J J Curtis probably never dreamed his wife would become a movie star, but that happened last year. Belle was selected to be in the cast of the movie "Winterhawk." She and Thelma Kuebler appeared in mountain scenes in their native dress. Belle enjoyed her part in the movie very much. Whether they knew it or not, when the casting crew chose Belle, they chose someone w ith authentic ties with and memories of the tribal history of this area. Belle says, "My grandmother was a half-sister to Ouray. My grandparents moved around with Ouray and fought the Comanches with him over the salt in the San Luis Valley. They chased the Comanches all the way to Antonito once and killed a lot of them. At one time there were Indian trails all through the mountains. My grandparents traveled there, hunting and fishing during the warm time and in the winter time settled in the valleys. I might know more about the old days, but when I was a child, it was not proper for children to ask many questions. When I wanted to know something, my mother would often say, 'Don't ask questions. Mind your own business. You are too young to know'." Belle's memories of her own time are very strong. "I can remember our home in the sage brush in the Florida Valley. I remember learning the worship dance from Tom Newton's mother and the oldest memory I have as a little child is the time - I must have been about three -when I was wrapped in a blanket and tied on my aunt's back and she was dancing and dancing and dancing. I can't forget things like that." February, 1976 -- Shelby Smith .,_) .,_) J J J J ·....J 43 � 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 Belle (Williams) Cuthair Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cuthair, Belle (Williams); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Belle (Williams) Cuthair based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 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 Cuthair, Belle (Williams) 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/e0263dfdd97ffb760983e83943fb3566.pdf 719da150a3b2fd0cd2e036670e723591 PDF Text Text BEN & CARMEN (Valencia) CORDOVA Joe M, Cordova and his wife Manuelita were living in Silverton in 1914 when their first child was born, Joe was stationed there to work for the D. & R.G.H Railroad. Jose Ben was born March 31, 1914, "That was a bad winter, My dad tells me the snow was 3 feet deep in Silverton, People had to dig a trench to get out of their homes. My folks left Silverton soon afterward and came to Durango. Dad got a job at the smelter. When I got old enough to go down there, I would watch them bring in the railroad cars with the ore. It was already crushed and ready to go into the furnaces. Gold, Silver, lead and other metals were extracted. Three hundred men worked there every shift. Just as kids are crazy about cars today, we were crazy about horses and rodeos. My uncle kept race horses, some of them very expensive ones. Whenever there was a race or a rodeo at the fair grounds, we would go. Once when I was still a small boy, my parents told me to stay home, but that didn't stop me. As soon as they were gone, I headed for the railroad tracks and walked all the way to the fairgrounds. I was barefooted with a pair of bib overalls and a baseball cap. I enjoyed myself and raced home before my parents returned. My Dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home.' Again my dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home,' He then asked, 'Well, who was that barefoot boy with a baseball cap and the bib overalls?' The result was a good spanking for me.'' When I was old enough, my parents enrolled me in Sacred Heart School. Little did they know I would get into a fight with a nun on my second day at school. It happened this way. I sat down behind an Anglo girl. She told me she didn't want a dirty Mexican sitting behind her. Since the backs of the seats were slatted, I kicked her a good one between the slats. When she told on me, the nun came over and shook me. I did not take this peacefully. I fought back and in the process I pulled the nun's habit off her head. After a couple of years at Sacred Heart, my parents enrolled me in Park School which liked better since it bad playgrounds and better facilities. On weekends and in the summer, I spent a lot of time with my Herrera Grandparents at Marvel, If my parents weren't going down there in the wagon, I walked. My grandfather told me I wouldn't have to walk if I could catch some of the wild burros in the hills. The one I caught was very useful. I broke him to pull a cart. In the evenings and on the weekends the burro and I went up the road west of Durango where the coal wagons passed. Coal was spilled all along the way. In an hour or so I could pick up a load of it to sell in Durango, Another way to make some money in the summer was to herd cows for the town folks. Many people in town had a milk cow, but no pasture, For $2.50 per month I would take a person's cow to the hillside south of Smelter Mountain or up on the hill where Ft, Lewis College is now to graze all day. Then before milking time I herded all of them home. I would have a bunch of them. The first few days each summer, it was a chase trying to keep them together on the way out of town and a mess sorting them out to the right barns when we got back to town, but after a few days they calmed down and knew right where to go." As Ben got older he herded sheep for the Bodos, worked on the D. & R.G. Railroad, the Colorado & Southern Railroad(which ran the Galloping Goose) and finally got a job at the Castle Coal Mine. In 1942 Ben came to the San Ignatius Festival in Ignacio and was introduced to a young lady who was a friend of Ben's sisters and his brother Vic. Carmen Valencia met Ben at the dance. Carmen says, "I liked to go on dates and to dance but if a young man showed any extra interest in me, I just turned them off. That night at the dance I wanted 38 �,...., ,...., "I ') "I J to dance with everyone, but this one man kept coming back and back. He was so persistent. That was in July. He kept coming back all summer and during the fall. Finally, we were married in November of 1942. ~") } J J ) ) J ) ') ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) .J ) _) _) _) ·J ,._) J .J ...) Carmen's grandparents came into the San Juan Valley in 1876. Five families left the Huerfano country near Walsenburg in covered wagons. They camped and traveled for three months following the valleys westward. In September the caravan arrived at Turley near the present site of the Navajo Dam. Carmen's mother, Benerita Valdez, was born that fall. She was the first baby born among the pioneer immigrants in this area. When Benerita was grown, she married Manuel Valencia. They farmed in the San Juan Valley in New Mexico until 1927. That year two of their children died within two months. These tragedies prompted them to move to Colorado. Carmen was only five years old at the time, but she remembers how her mother kept count of the number of times the family forded the Pine river on the way. Since there was no road over the ridge to Ignacio, the Valencias simply followed the river. The valley is narrow and winding and steep cliffs rise abruptly first on one side, then on the other. Benerita became curious about how many crossings they would make. She tore the hem loose from one of Manuel's handkerchiefs and tied a knot every time they reached a ford. By the time they reached Ignacio, there were 13 knots in the hem. The family leased Harry Richard's farm near La Boca. Manuel died in 1931. Carmen and her mother moved to town. "When I started to school," Carmen says, "I could speak hardly a word of English. If we spoke Spanish there, we were put in the closet. When I was 16, my brother that was supporting us, decided to get married. I decided to go to work. The pay was not high. Household work 8-12 paid 25 cents. Also, I did baby-sitting and whatever I could find. Mother watched me like a hawk. I loved to dance and mother would take me, but if I danced more then three times with any one boy, we went straight home. I was 21 when I married Ben. We moved to one of the cabins west of Durango near the Castle Coal mine. Ben's shift was from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm. I was very spoiled and not used to being alone. I was afraid of the owls hooting in the woods. Our cabin had no curtains or blinds and to top it off, shortly after we got settled there was a report of a killer on the loose west of Durango. Well, I made newspaper blinds. If there was a killer on the loose, I didn't want to see him. After a year we moved to Ignacio. Ben worked for the county for a while until he was hired by Okla Lunsford. Then Dan Sandoval taught Ben all he knew about slaughtering animals. Ben worked in the slaughter house and the locker plant all his life until he recently retired because of disability." Carmen and Ben built their own house in 1950. They hired Pete Valdez to make the adobe bricks (1500 of them for $100.00). Each brick weighed 22 pounds and had to be turned every 3 days until dry. "It was a lot of work", Carmen recalls, "but we didn't mind it, we were so eager to have our own home." J The Cordovas had three children, Vickie, who now lives in Vail; Carmen (known to most people as Dee Dee) and Charles James who died when he was 6 years old. In 1961 they adopted Anthony. There are three grandchildren who, according to Carmen, "are the light of our lives". They are Daniel Ben Ryder, Deann Carmen Ryder and Dawn Garcia. Both Carmen and Ben are busy in community and church work. We wish them many more years of happiness. -~ J February, 1977 -- By Shelby Smith ...J ...J ...J .J .J J .J 39 � 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 Ben Cordova and Carmen (Valencia) Cordova Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) Description An account of the resource Biography of Ben Cordova and Carmen Cordova based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in February, 1977. 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 Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) 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/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/b74e1b1f4fde1f62a6f80c6260742410.pdf 8290a7f9dbc592b8e9ffeffc88c3e4c5 PDF Text Text BONNIE and ESSIE (Richards) KENT Essie Burch Richards, the daughter of Sarah Burch and Bob Richards, was born at Bayfield August 5, 1916. "We lived in a little adobe house still standing on the place next to Jack Frost's farm. I don't remember my mother. She died when I was very young, so my grandparents largely raised me. My grandfather, Robert Burch had all kinds of animals, turkeys, sheep, cattle and chickens. The apple trees he planted are still there, but the strawberry patch has died out." Essie started school at the Allen Day School, then went to the Bayfield school for grades 4-7. She finished high school at the Indian School in Albuquerque. "The Albuquerque School was mostly a vocational school to learn farming, home economics, etc. One thing I liked was the military training. We wore uniforms and every morning we had drills. Then on Sundays a lot of people from town came out to watch our dress parades." - Essie was one of six students chosen to be sent to Pennsylvania for special nurses training, but about the time she was ready to go her grandfather needed her help at home. So she never got to go. Essie had, of course, ridden horses all her life. So no one thought it was particularly unusual for her uncle to ask her help to break and train his horses. Essie was doing just that when she met her future husband. Bonnie Kent was hired to help break the horses, also. The two of them took an immediate liking for one another and were married in 1937. Bonnie Kent was born near Ignacio in 1918. His parents were Graves Stone Kent and Ada Rabbit Kent. They had a home near the Oxford Tract. When Bonnie was very small, the house was struck by lightning and everything was lost. Graves continued raising sheep and cattle on the open range until he got a land allotment east of Ignacio where Ada still lives. There were a few automobiles around when Bonnie was a child, but most people still used horses and wagons or buggies. "The best I can remember," Bonnie says, "a new buggy cost $300-$400. A real nice one cost about $500. There were buggy repair shops just like there are auto repair shops today. You could buy new parts or the blacksmiths could rebuild the rims and spokes and other parts that wore out." Work on the farms was hard in those days, but Bonnie and Essie both remember that life with good feeling. "In the haying time we loaded the cut hay on slips (sled-like platforms pulled by a team) and hauled it to the barn. If it was a grain field, we hired a man with a binder to cut and bind the grain into shocks. Then someone brought a thrashing machine to the field. We threw the shocks into the machine and it separated the grain from the straw. The men held cloth sacks under the spout to catch the grain. Others stood by to sew the sacks 94 �closed. Life was better on the farm then. It was hard work, but we enjoyed it. Everybody kept busy and helped one another." , } ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) After they were married, Bonnie and Essie stayed with Bonnie's parents for a while. Bonnie worked at irrigating in the summer. He was a line rider over in the Piedra country and then worked on the farm at the Ignacio Indian School. About 1946 the Kents got a farm east of Ignacio where they built the home in which they still live. Bonnie was elected to the Tribal Council for three terms. He also was appointed to the Tribal Activities Board which was responsible for planning and organizing rodeos. The old rodeo grounds were next to the Ute Park where the ball park is now. This involvement with the rodeo got Bonnie interested in raising stock again, not for the meat market, but for rodeo stock. Before long he had quite a few head of bucking horses and some Brahma bulls. "We really enjoyed the rodeo business. We rented the animals to rodeo promoters around the 4-corners area at Farmington, Cortez, Pagosa, Dulce, Durango and Ignacio. Once in a while a dealer would take a few of our animals clear to Texas or Oklahoma for the rodeo finals. Most people think rodeo animals are really mean, but they're not. On their home pasture most of them are as gentle as pets. It's only in the ring they turn into a different animal." The Kents kept their rodeo stock until Richard, their oldest child moved away from Ignacio. They have four children. Richard now lives in. Oregon. Eunice died at the age of 17. Phoebe still lives at Ignacio. Their 4th child, Beulah, was chosen to be Miss Southern Ute, the Four-Corner's Indian Princess and was a runner-up to Miss Indian America at Sheridan, Wyoming. Beulah represented Miss Indian America at many events in this country and once in Europe. ) _) J _) Bonnie and Essie have gone to the Bear Dances and the Sun Dances for many years. "It's still done about the same as always, but in the old days they were a little stricter. No food or drink near the ceremony and no intoxicated people allowed. It was more religious and less social. We liked the old way a little better." .J June, 1976 - Shelby Smith _) ._) .J .J ..._) .._) ._) ._) J J .J ..._) ...J 95 � 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 Bonnie Kent and Essie (Richards) Kent Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-06 Subject The topic of the resource Kent, Bonnie; Kent, Essie (Richards) Description An account of the resource Biography of Bonnie Kent and Essie (Richards) Kent based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the June, 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 Kent, Bonnie; Kent, Essie (Richards) 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/8c12ba868f7dd8d5201d25b6aada0856.pdf 3317a755c903cba58f7146eb47e79fd3 PDF Text Text '"'I '"'I .., .., 'l 'l 'l ' ' ' ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CANDELARIA (Casias) MARQUEZ Candelaria Casias is one of Jose Roque Casias' eleven children. She is the fifth and last child of Jose and his first wife, Camilla. "I cannot remember my mother, Candelaria says, "she died when I was very young. I was raised by my oldest sister, Elena, until my Dad married Manuel ita Martinez." "All of us older children, Elena, Felix, Gregorita, Delfin and myself were born near Conejos, Colorado just north of Antonito, where my dad was a sheep herder. When dad married Manuelita, he moved the family to Ignacio near some of my step-mother's relatives. It took a week by horse and wagon to come the hundred miles. We camped in the tent every night. Dad homesteaded in an area called Las Lagunitas west of Ignacio near the Jacques farm. We continued to camp in the tents until dad finished a one room house built stockade style, which the Spanish people call 'jacal'. After the logs were set in the earth side by side for the walls, they were plastered inside and out with adobe mud. In those years there was enough rain for gardens and crops on the dry lands. Since he brought no livestock with him, dad started his flock from nothing by herding sheep on shares and by herding others for pay." "We attended the Harvey School when we could. Some of my half brothers and sisters attended for several years and learned English well. There were six of them (Crestino, Pedro, Faustine, Camilla, Gregorita and Andrea). I only went to school two winters which was not enough to learn English very well." ) ) ) J ) ) _) _) _) "There were no running streams in that country, but there were springs and we could dig a hole in the sandy bottom of an arroyo and it would soon fill with water. Between carrying water, herding sheep and the many other jobs to be done, we were needed at home. I can remember helping my dad make an 'era' (a threshing floor). We wet down the soil in an area near the house and ran the goats in a circle around and around on the wet earth. Their sharp hooves packed the soil very hard. When it dried, it was almost as hard as pottery. Then we piled shocks of wheat or the dry bushes of Pinto beans on the 'era' and again ran the goats over it. After removing the coarse straw and stems, we winnowed the remaining grain or beans in the wind to remove the fine leaves and chaff." ..J ..J "We did not spin the sheep's wool into yarn, but 1can remember washing and shaping and folding it into layers for stuffing pillows and mattresses." _) "Ignacio was a young town in those days and it had a neighbor, a small village just west of town in the valley below th~ slaughter house. The place was called El Arroyo. There were many stories of rough behavior coming out of El Arroyo. Flavian Martinez1s bar was there and some people remember the night Brownie Shannon shot Flavian's wife in the knee. He did not mean to. He was trying to shoot another man in the leg, but missed and got Flavian's wife instead." ..J ..J ..J ..J ..J ..J "I remember the flood in 1911. When the water first came up, a lot of the men and boys were pulling good boards and other useful materials out of the water. They stacked ..J ..J 109 J J �them up on higher ground. The next day when the men went out they found the water had risen so much higher that all of their salvaged lumber was washed away again." "After I grew up, my step-mother, Manuelita, died and dad moved back to Antonito. I stayed in Ignacio with my sister, Feliz, and soon afterwards met Luis Marquez. Luis was originally from the San Luis Valley, but had been working in the mines at Telluride. I wanted to have our wedding in Antonito. I went there first on the train and Luis followed a few days later. Very few people could attend our wedding and we were not allowed to have a reception because that was the year of the great flu epidemic. Many people were quarantined and others were afraid to go into a crowd." "Luis and I lived in Telluride for several years while he continued working in the mine, then we came back to Ignacio. We never had any children of our own, but we raised one of Luis' nieces, Louisa. Luis died after we were married only 14 years. I earned my living by doing housework for Mrs. Crigler and Mrs. Aspaas and Nell Marker." This next September 12, Mrs. Marquez will be 85 years old. We hope she has many more years of good health to enjoy. May, 1979 - Shelby Smith 110 � 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 Candelaria (Casias) Marquez Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-05 Subject The topic of the resource Marquez, Candelaria (Casias); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Candelaria (Casias) Marquez based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the May, 1979 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 Marquez, Candelaria (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