2 10 216 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/aabae97023dd0d087a464de99a4c692f.pdf 7661f6ebed4876be2c5ea861e26f5893 PDF Text Text Annie Bettini (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) Somewhere around here: I don't really know where I was born. I wasn't born in a hospital. I was born in somebody's home. No one ever told me where I was born, and I never '- -a'ske"d. ''At thanime, ybu didn't ask qirestiofis. -'Septemo1sr 1,cl:1~22 fAnnte·s'bfrtn'da)'j. My dad's name was Hickey William. My mother's name was Isabelle, but I can't remember her last name. She was Spanish, and my dad was full-blooded Ute. I have one sister, Arabella, who lives next door to me here. I have another sister, Mary-Anne, who lives in the mobile home right over here. I had a brother, but he died. I guess there was a girl before I was born, but she died. My mother and father separated when I was five, or something like that (I can't remember), and I was raised by my grandmother: Dorkis William. She raised all ofus, all three us. So, we grew up with her. I had a half-brother, who passed away about six years ago, I think. And, I had a sister who passed away before he did. Then, I have two sisters left. I didn't get to know them until I was way up in my thirties, I think. So, I finally got to know them. We've basically lived around here. The Weasel Skin Bridge is named after our family. Our family name was 'Weasel Skin' until they changed it to 'William.' I grew up speaking Ute totally. Then, when I went to school I began to speak English language. I started off school down below here, there was a one-room schoolhouse down by a place called La Posta. I started off school there until I don't know how old I was. They had the boarding school in Ignacio and they transferred us over there; which was very hard on us. I don't remember, it must have been around ... See, in those days we didn't start school until we were six. In those days they didn't require children to go to school at five. We basically started at six. But, we were kind of devastated to be taken away from home. But, in the course of time I got used to it. We graduated from there; they called it the Ute Vocational School. But, you know, school wasn't half as hard as it was in those days. We just learned the basics, and I don't remember all that I learned. I don't remember having trigonometry. We had fractions, but we didn't get into all that other stuff I guess it was just the basics. After I got used to it [boarding school life] I just took it as it was. It did something to me that bothers me today. It made me become insensitive to me grandmother and to my dad. I wanted to get away from this life that we had. We were poor, we were very poor. We didn't own any furniture. We slept on the floor, we ate on the floor. We only had one chair and one little folding bed. When I went to boarding school it showed me all of those things. I guess it kind of made me go away from all of that, and made me forget about my grandmother and my dad. Then, from there I went on th work in Denver. As a young person I Didn't realize that was the wrong thing. To me, now, it was wrong: I became insensitive. That's the way I looked at it. From that point on I went into the Army, and I found out that that wasn't what I really should have done. There was a lot of discrimination there. That kind of shocked me, too. I wrote letters back, and in those letters I wrote my dad things I didn't like about it. He started to work things out and talked to some of his neighbors to help him get me out of there. I came home for a little while, and then I found out I wasn't happy anymore. I needed to work and I needed to support myself My grandmother and my dad couldn't do it. I realized that there were things there that I could have that would make life easy for me. In a way it was good and in a way I regret those days. Ifl had stayed around home, I don't know what I would have done. Basically, go out there taught me a lot, taught me how to take care of myself; how to look after �Page 2 of6 my own needs. Yet, at the same time, I forgot my grandmother and my dad. I'd come home and visit, then I'd go back to my work or wherever. I worked in Nevada for a little while. To this day I have a regret ... It's in the past; I can't go back and re-do anything. But, then, I began to realize that I would have to support myself and do other things for myself So, that was part of growing up I guess. I worked in a laundry. I worked in the school in Ignacio for a while. After I got out of the service I went to Nevada and worked in the boarding school there as a matron (looking after the kids there). Then I came back over here and worked at the boarding school (the boarding school was still there) in the 40s, I think. After that I got married, and then we went off to California. We came back and lived a little ways from here. We built a little house over there, but my husband couldn't find a job. He was not a tribal member; he was Italian. He worked in the mines with his dad for a while, but the wages just weren't very good. So, one of his sisters lived in California, and she said, 'Come here. You can find good work here.' So, we moved over there. Lived over there for quite awhile until he passed away. I came back here after he passed away. I didn't have any ofmy own [children]; I had miscarriages. I adopted a little boy. My sister-in-law had a boy when we were living here. She had a baby boy out of wed-lock. She gave him to me to take care of (she was working and she really didn't have a way to take care of him). Finally, she gave him up to me. 'Here, you can have him.' She even said, 'We'll even go through adoption with you.' At the time it cost too much, and we didn't have the money. We just raised on our own until my husband passed away, and then I adopted him. I raised foster children, too. I raised about twelve. I don't know where they all are. Some of them have passed away. There are few out there that I don't know where they are. The daughter I have is my adopted daughter. She belongs to one of the Ute ladies in Ignacio. She lives not too far from here with her husband and her children. We lived in Buena Park, CA My husband found work there. He became a foreman for a mobile home construction place. Then, he passed away in California. After he passed away, we moved over here. Then my son passed away in 1972; he had cancer of the bone. We had sheep ... sheep and goats. We herded sheep all over the hills here. At that time, there were no restrictions anywhere. We could go anywhere, except we couldn't go over into that fence that is privately owned. Sometimes the goats and sheep would get in there, and we'd have to go over there and chase them out. There was alfalfa there and alfalfa bloats the animals. We just roamed all over. Went fishing. Played. We didn't have any toys that I remember. We played with rocks, and mud, and sticks; whatever we could find to play with. We had pets. We had animals like a goat or a lamb for a pet, kitties and doggies; those were our enjoyment. I only remember my grandmother got me a little doll for Christmas one time. My dad got me a little teddy bear. I don't think the other kids ever got anything for Christmas. We didn't know what Christmas was all about. We didn't know what the holidays were all about. We didn't get to the Sun Dances or the Bear Dances often; once in a great while, maybe. We had to travel over there by horse and buggy or wagon. My dad didn't have a car until a little later on. He bought a Model T Ford. He had to go to work far away, too. Sometimes he had to go to work in Towaoc and sometimes he worked around here on the farms. Sometimes they'd have to clean ditches; now they don't do that anymore. He found odd jobs here and there that didn't pay very well. �Page 3 of6 We would go to Ignacio once a month for commodities. That would last us. We had to use it very sparingly. Then we had our goats and sheep that we could kill: not in the summer time. My grandmother was very hard about that, because the meat spoiled (we didn't have a refrigerator). Not what I have here today: nothing ... nothing. Sometimes we were ragged. They had the C.C. camps [Conservation Corps]. They worked up in the hills. One day this man (I remember his last name, it was Aspen; like the trees) came and he said, 'Come here, girls.' We were kind of afraid to go. My grandmother was there. He said, 'I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to measure your feet.' I said, 'Measure my feet? For what?' So, he measured our feet and he measured my grandmother's feet. The next day or so he came and he brought us tennis shoes, because our shoes were all wore out. From that point on he kept an eye on us. When we needed something, he even would bring groceries at times. He was a very kind man. I remember his kindness very well. I guess he just felt sorry for us or something. I basically grew up around Spanish people and Anglo people. Most of our neighbors are Anglos. They helped out. Sometimes they would take my dad to town if he needed to get groceries. They would pick him up and take him to town. They were very helpful. Dad grew wheat, at times, and they'd come and thrash his wheat for him. Then my dad would take the wheat to, I don't know if it was Cortez, but they had a milling place. He'd take it and have it turned into flour. Then he would come back with sacks of flour; which we stored in a big, upstanding box. So, that kind of kept us with flour through the winter months. Our diet was basically meat, beans, and potatoes (meat when we could get it, depending on when it was not winter time). When we went to Ignacio they'd give us cans of meat, and that helped during the summer. We'd pick berries (chokecherries) and grandma dried it. Sometimes there was a vendor that came from New Mexico with chili, with fruit or something. He was a tall Anglo man. He would stop by, then he would leave (grandma always had a little money from the sale of goats). He always had watermelon and cataloupe ... stuff like that. She would buy one or two, then he would give extra. He did that for about three times. He didn't come every week, but each time he would leave extra. The last time he came he wanted one ofus girls, and Grandmother got so upset at him. She started talking in Spanish (she knew some Spanish). She just chased him: 'I don't give my girls to nobody! Here, take you stuff!' He took it, and she was so upset. He wanted one ofus. I don't remember, I think he was after Arabella. He said, 'If she won't go ... ' Then he grabbed me like this, and Grandmother said, 'No, no, no.' She got a stick and she was going to hit him. I don't remember all that he said (our English wasn't all that well yet). He wanted to take one ofus with him [laughs]. All in all, we didn't complain. We took life as it was and we were happy. I don't know how Grandmother ever felt, because whe was a quiet person. My dad was quiet. He wasn't home much; he was out trying to earn a little biut of money. He had to buy hay for the sheep and goats. We sheered the sheep and got a little money off of that. We sold some young goats for people from Durango, especially the Spanish people. They would buy goats off ofus. Then the wool from the sheep kind of helped out at times, too. Of course we had horses. In the winter time, Dad had to feed them and buy hay. That's why he worked for some of the farmers around here: maybe they'd give him a bale of hay with money besides. Then, he raised a little bit of hay down on this side of the river [Animas River]; there's a piece ofland there that's kind of flat. He raised hay, cut it, and we'd pile it. In those days you had to pile it, and we'd help him as big as you please. We had horses to ride ... we enjoyed that. My dad used to dance the Sun Dance; up to a point. We'd go over there ... I had two of my aunts living with us at the time. My grandmother would go over there (the family took turns �Page 4 of6 going over there). The family had to be there. Once in a while we got to go. I never wanted to stay home. I always wanted to be with Grandma. I didn't really want to stay with my aunts, except one aunt was good to me. The other one was kind of mean to me, so when she stayed home forget it: I didn't want to stay home. But, I could stay with my aunt Margaret. We used to do a lot of things: we used to make candy or whatever. She had a talent, but she passed away rather young. She had a talent of making things out of whatever we had: like mixing together sugar and peanut butter and making it into candy. She just had a talent that was amazing, but she passed away. That I enjoyed: I enjoyed staying with her, because she could just put things together. My other aunt was different; she was kind of grumpy at times. My grandkids are a quarter Ute. Their father is Anglo; he works for the Finance Department in Ignacio, for the Tribe. His name is Brian Ross. They live right over here. The boys love spending the weekend with me, especially the little one. They call me, 'Nanni.' The girl is the oldest (she's eleven), and she's as tall as I am. She comes home from school to me, and the boys go to the Academy. Their mom teaches at the Academy. They're real good kids. I had them for a whole summer, when my daughter was going to school in Boulder. They were good. We'd go to the grocery store and people would just come and say, 'Oh, your grandkids are so well behaved.' Or, we'd go out to a restaurant, and they were just so good. Of course, we've taught them about the Lord, that there's a Creator. We tell them that He expects us to behave; expects us to respect and to love others, and to care about others. I didn't come to know the Lord until I was in my late thirties. But, I have to say that knowing God has been a great help to me. He has sustained me through life: kept me going, kept me strong. I don't have any major health problems, just my feet. All in all, I have to give God credit for just being in our lives. We just feel that the Lord was there for our little, little boy. Their house is in area that has lots of rocks and sagebrush, and there're rattlesnakes over there. One Saturday, the kids were out playing around and dad was working out in the yard. The little boy goes to his father and said, 'Dad. Look. Baby snake.' Guess what it was ... a baby rattler. We feel it was a miracle that that little rattler didn't bite him. His dad flicked it off his hand and, he happened to have a shovel, killed it. We tell them to watch themselves. But, that was just a miracle in itself I was coming from town and I stopped at their house. My daughter came running out, crying. I thought something terrible had happened. She said, 'Cody had a baby rattler in his hand, and I'm just thanking God for not biting him.' So, we believe that God is very present if you connect with him. There has to be a relationship there. I give God for my strength and for just sustaining me, because it's kind of lonely living by yourself You get up by yourself, eat by yourself, go to bed by yourself The kids come, but they have their own home. And, He provides you with other people, other believers that you connect with. That helps. That's a big help in my life. I say to myself, 'I want my grandkids to keep on going to church, to keep on building their relationship with the Lord.' So that they, too, will know that there's someone who will protect them and help them along life's way. I think my belief in God, and knowing that there is a Creator there, has really helped me. It made me overcome the regrets that I had. Sometimes I get to where I feel as though someone is telling me, 'It's in the past. There's nothing you can do about it now.' It's now that counts. It's now, what you do, that counts. I've been involved in translating the Bible into Ute language; mostly it's on videos. I'm becoming a songwriter, too. A Native American tune will be coming to me and I don't have words for it, so pretty soon words will be coming out of the Bible, the Scriptures. We have some that we've recorded on CDs. Some are in Ute and some are in �Page 5 of6 English, because I have to do it in both. That's something good that I'm doing. I feel like the Lord is blessing me. He's blessing my family, too. I just have to give God credit. Truly, we have a Creator. Truly, there's somebody out there that takes care ofus. So, I'm happy about that, because I know one day I'll be going over there. Ifl can just do what the Lord wants me to do here, then He'll accept me. Last year I involved myself quite a bit with the Academy. I went into the classroom and showed the children how to make generic cradle boards. I made it out of cardboard and material, and talked about it (the history of the cradleboard and how women used it; how it was helpful to them). But, this year I haven't gone over there at all. *** Basically, I'm thankful I have a home. I'm thankful that I have a warm place live; thankful that I have enough to eat; thankful that I have my health. I don't have to cimplain about anything. I really don't need the money. I've always had to live on as little as possible. Money comes and I save it ... I don't spend it. I don't have nothing to spend it on. I spend most of my money on my grandchildren. When they need something, I'm here to help them. But, as far as needing anything more: I don't need anything. I have a nice car to drive. What more does a person want? I don't go gambling, because I feel like that's just throwing your money away. The best thing to do is to just spend it on your grandchildren and have a little enjoyment yourself. I don't go to the General Meetings anymore, because all they do is argue and complain. We shouldn't. I think most of the Ute people were poor, and now we're 'prosperous'. Sometimes I hear people say, 'that money is ours.' It isn't ours until it's in my hand, it's in my name, and it's in my bank. As long as it's there, I don't claim it; it's not my money. Ifl have to go chop my wood in the hills, I will. You know, we did it when we were kids. My sister and I even used to hitch up our dad's wagon when we ran out of wood, and go up in the hills to gather wood. We'd bring those big, long logs, and we'd chop them. I'm old but I can still chop wood. I may get tired faster, but I can still do it. There's no use complaining. There are too many things in this world that are happening, that are terrible. We're not even secure in this country anymore. We just have to pray to the Lord that He'll keep His hands upon us. But as far as complaining, what's to comlplain about? *** One thing my dad taught me about money: don't ever borrow money, or anything from anybody, unless you have a way to replace it. And, if you borrow money from anybody, you have to pay it back. I've kept to that. My grandmother always told me, 'Some day you are going to have things. Some day you are going to live the white man's ways. But, I want you to remember this: take care of what you have. Always take care of what you have.' And, I have. Those two things have been a big blessing to me, and I try to teach my grandchildren that: take care of what you have, and respect your family, respect all the people around you; no matter who they are. So, those things I've always held on to, and that was a good lesson. They stick out right in front of you, as big as your face. �Page 6 of6 So, you could say we are pretty close. I've taken Cecilia [her daughter] as my very own. She feels the same way, too. One time I mentioned something about her being adopted. Oh, she got so upset. She said, 'Mom, you are the only mom I've ever known. I don't want you going around telling people I'm adopted.' And I said, 'Well, I'm sorry.' I thank God for her. She came into my life. Otherwise, I feel old; I wouldn't have any little ones hanging around. *** Interviewed by Michael G. Miller (VISTA) on March 15th, 2004 in her home. � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Annie Bettini Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-03-15 Subject The topic of the resource Bettini, Annie; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Annie Bettini written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on March, 15, 2004. 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 Bettini, Annie Extent The size or duration of the resource. 6 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c87cfe96f50f865ce81969db59a99464.pdf 10bab603218f4beca6714a9c2cfd002e PDF Text Text Anna Mae Alires -(Navajo) My name is Anna Mae Alires. I was born in Shiprock, NM. I am 72 years old. I had been in boarding school most of my life. I ended up here at the Ute Vocational School back in 1946 and graduated on my birthday in 1950. After that I worked in Durango cleaning people's houses. Then, I got married and had a daughter, but I got divorced about a year after that. I entered Fort. Lewis College (the old Fort Lewis in Hesperus). I lived in Durango and rode the school bus to the college every day. I just went a couple of years there, and then I got a job at Mercy Hospital for about a month until I applied for a job here at the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]. I was hired as secretary for the Branch of Education. When I was going to school here it was a vocational school where we learned how to cook, how to sew, how to be a homemaker. They boys learned farming: they took care of the garden and the chickens, and milked the cows. In the fall they would bring in the vegetables from the field. The girls would learn how to can. The boys would kill the chickens so that we could learn how to clean and dress them. We learned how to cook in our home economics class. Then, I graduated and I left. In '55 I got my job here at Bureau oflndian Affairs with Branch of Education. I really don't remember when they integrated with the public schools. Instead of going to school here at Ute Vocational, they started going down to the public school. We just stayed open to let them board and room here. We took in students (Indian students) from Crown Point area; that's in NM, and Ute Mountain. But, I enjoyed my work with Branc·h of Education. We dealt with the children and everything, and there were some that were ornery; we'd have to deal with them. I would have to take them home and tum them over to their parents, and their parents would have to return them to the school. Like I say, I enjoyed that work, but then it closed in '81, September 1981. The dorms closed entirely, and so I transferred over to Branch of Forestry up 'til 1990. I retired from there, but while I was working for the BIA, I had a part-time job as a dispatcher for the Southern Ute Police Department. I retired from that job on August .-.ro23rJ~2002. I came up here from St. Michael's in Arizona, and I really wasn't too happy there. It was a boarding school, too. The food wasn't that great. So, when I came to Ute Vocational this gal named Elsie Watts (she was from Ute Mountain) said, 'if you want to, you can room with me,' because here there were two to a room. When I was at St. Michael's it was a big room with a bunch of beds; you didn't have that much privacy. When I came here she said you can room with me, and I went up to the room and there were only two to a room; that was really something. And then she took me over to the dining hall. I was amazed, because the food ... I could not believe they were serving salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, meat, and all that. It was so different from St. Michael's. I really liked this place, because it was homier than that place. I had fun: I was a cheerleader (Elsie and I were). And, you know Stella Santistevan? I was a cheerleader with her sister. I stayed, because I liked this part of the country. So, I got my jobs here and I stayed, and all of my children were raised here. We don't know too much about our traditional way of life. I was orphaned when I was ... When I was born, my mom died. My dad didn't want me to be ratSed on the Navajo Reservation raising- sheep-; he didn't want me to have-a dozen kids raising �Page 2 of 3 sheep. He wanted me to get out and get educated, to get off the reservation. This German lady, she was on her way to take a bunch of children to Good Shepard Mission in Arizona. They didn't have any parents and it was an orphanage. My dad was late in bringing me in and she couldn't wait, so she took the other babies. But, when she came back I was in a room waiting for her. She never gave me up: she kept me, raised me until I got married. I was happy to have her take me, but I was never able to learn my language or to really learn about their traditions until later. When I was young it didn't really interest me, but now it does. I've been reading about the Navajo traditions and the Ute culture. I'm finding a lot on the Internet now. There is a lot on the Internet that you can read. We couldn't speak in our native languages at the Ute Vocational School. If you talked in you native language, you were punished (I was punished). I did learn a few words, and one was, 'shut up.' I would say that to the instructor and I got punished. They'd make you stand in the comer or something. But, all the time that I was going to school, we weren't really severely treated, we weren't treated harsh or anything. At Fort Lewis I wanted to become a secretary. I studied shorthand, typing, grammar and al that. And, then, I had to take other courses: Western Civilization. I don't remember what others, but I just took it long enough to where I'd be able to get a job. I didn't graduate or anything, or get a degree. I've got three children: one girl and two boys, and they were all raised here in Ignacio. I have got 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. They're all being raised here in Ignacio except for my youngest son's children; he moved to Cortez. That's about it, I retired and I'm enjoying my grandchildren. I was telling my children; when I was growing up, working and trying to raise them, I really didn't spend too much time with them. Because, they would be at school and I would be at work, we'd do our chores, and then they'd get ready for bed. Sometimes I took them to the movies. But, it seems like I'm spending a lot of time with my grandchildren, and I'm really enjoying it. All parents go through that, you know? (Especially when you're a single parent.) I've been telling my children what I went through, and I tell my grandchildren about how it was when I was growing up. I always dept a diary, and I started putting it on my computer. I told Tom [Anna Mae's son], 'if any of you guys are interested, make a copy and read it.' It is a diary from when they were growing up. I would write the funny little things they'd say. Now I'm retired, living in the Senior Center's apartments. I had a half-sister, I didn't know here, and I knew I had brothers. When I was here in Ignacio, at the Ute Vocational School, I found out I had a brother, and my cousin got him to write letters to me. He couldn't speak English, so he had somebody that would write for him. And then, all of a sudden, I didn't know what was going on. He was working in Portland, on the railroad. Two years later, after I got married, I asked my cousin what happened to my brother. She told me he had died in a railroad car fire. I said I didn't even know: nobody notified me. Then I found out that I had a half-sister, and I didn't meet her until after she had children and after I had children. There was a girl at the school here that was related to her husband, and she came and told me that my sister is back in Shiprock. She went to school at Riverside Boarding School. I don't remember how many years it was, but I loaded my kids up, went to Shiprock, and found her. Her kids were-as- s-mall as- my kids-. &he-doesn't know much about our father, �Page 3 of3 because he died when I was six years old and she was three. So,she doesn't know anything about my father. My foster mother didn't know much about my father, either. My son and I did go down to see my cousin a couple of years ago to find out more about my family. But, she didn't seem to know, either. She did tell us my clan name. The Navajos have clans. She told me what clan I came from. But, I don't know any of my relatives now. One time she got me down there to meet my grandfather. I went down to Newcomb (between Shiprock and Gallup) and met my grandfather. But he was elderly, and he couldn't speak much English and I couldn't speak Navajo. I remember him crying and she was translating for him. I don't know really if he was from my mother's or father's side. I wish I had paid more attention now that I'm older. My maiden name is Todae: on my birth certificate it's spelled T-0-D-E-A; my foster mother spelled it T-0-D-A-E, and that's how I went. I had brothers and sisters, a few of them died from tuberculosis; that was bad on the reservation back then. But, I didn't know them because I was the last one born. They told me they died of tuberculosis when I was a young child. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA worker, on January 161\ 2004. � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Anna Alires Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-16 Subject The topic of the resource Alires, Anna; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Anna Alires written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 16, 2004. 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 Alires, Anna Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ce88ed1ee303d6859ea58d297fb116f6.pdf 5a8b82d7c736f2755e672187391b718a PDF Text Text EVA MARIAN (Wright) WORFORD The girl, 15 and the boy 13, stood beside a tall pile of luggage, trunks, cases and boxes on the railroad platform. Suddenly, the boy ducked behind the pile and hissed at his sister to do the same. A tall man in blue pants and coat examined the luggage and the children closely as he rode by on a chestnut horse. The boy said "Don't you know that's a policeman?" Marian and Ethan had just arrived in Chicago with their mother. Everything was unfamiliar and a little frightening. Like many country people of that era the children were nervous and suspicious of town people. Their mother had left them to watch the luggage while she looked for a means of transporting it from one railway station to another across town. Moving was not a new experience for the Wrights, but they had never moved so far. The family had lived in many different places in Michigan. Now they were going to Colorado. Eva Marian Wright was born August 13, 1902 in Cass County, Southern Michigan. It was hilly, very green, forested country full of clear, flowing streams and "lots of bugs", Marian remembers. Her father, Carlton Eugene Wright and her mother, Myrta (Hogue) Wright moved frequently doing carpenter work and sales in various communities in southern Michigan. The home Marian remembers best is the country mill her father bought. The mill was four stories high. The upper two stories were for grinding flour and the lower two were for grinding feed grist for cattle and chickens. The mill was powered by a turbine fed by flumes running from the three streams in the valley. It was a beautiful place. When the children were not needed to work in the mill they were assigned to fish in the nearby streams to supply meat for the family. Marian and Ethan never became bored with this assignment. Since Mr. Wright was not licensed to grind flour, most of his time was spent grinding grist feed for animals. Most of his business came in the fall, but a few farmers came during the rest of the year. The Wrights acquired two prized animals with the mill. One was a horse which was especially good natured. No one needed to even touch the reins to get him to town. There was, however, one place he would not pull the buggy. He had fallen through a bridge once and he would not cross a bridge unless someone walked across before him. The other prized animal was a tiger striped mother cat and her litters. They were essential in keeping down the rodent population around the grain in the mill. One of the tomcats liked to go fishing with the children. If they were slow to catch a fish to throw to him, the tomcat would wade out into the stream, hook a fish with his claws and enjoy his feast. School was only about 1 and 1/2 miles away, but when the snow stood 3-4 feet deep, it was sometimes difficult to make the trip. Nobody seemed to know anything about skis or snowshoes in that area at that time. At 5 years of age Marian started to pre-school, which in those days was called primer class. Children weren't expected to learn to read in primer class but Marian was. Her father had instilled in her a love for reading from an early age. Coal was expensive in southern Michigan, so the Wrights chopped a lot of wood for the winter. On the land adjacent lo the mill, Mr. Wright raised oats and a little barley and wheat. Occasionally, he raised buckwheat for cakes. When the crops were ripe, Carlton would hire a steam powered thrashing machine and its crew. Marian and Ethan were 180 �"l """' '1 '1 '1 '1 ' ' '1 ') J 1 ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J _) .) ..) ...) ...) ...) J ...) ..J ..J ..J J fascinated by the steam powered machinery and often would follow the thrashing machines from field to field to watch the crews at work. They can remember getting up at 3:00 a.m. one morning to stoke the steam engine for the crew. Always, Carlton had bees for honey and a good garden for produce. The mill and the garden provided for the needs of the family. A little extra cash, however is always useful. Ethan had a part time job which was the envy of other young boys in the areas. One of the neighbor ladies operated a bird farm. She had 200 kinds of unusual American birds, various game birds and exotic foreign kinds. The bird lady could not possibly fill all the orders she received. Ethan received one dollar per day for feeding, watering and cleaning cages. Occasional heavy rainy periods had caused floods which threatened the mill, but none did any real damage until 1917. A hefty flood that year destroyed all the flumes leading to the mill. Carlton said, "That's enough. We're going to Colorado." Colorado had been on their minds for sometime. Marian's mother had a cousin living at Tiffany who had been urging them to move out here. Carlton sold the place, boxed all their possessions and put the family on the train. Carlton himself went by auto by way of Wyoming to visit relatives before coming on to meet the family at Tiffany. The Wrights had never seen real mountains until they reached the plains east of Denver on the train. Marian still remembers that first day she saw them. "I couldn't keep my eyes off them. I loved the mountains from that first day I saw them and I still do." The family changed to the narrow gauge at Alamosa and traveled over Cumbres Pass to Chama and Pagosa Junction to Tiffany. Marian thought she knew quite a bit about farming, but one practice at Tiffany baffled her. Coming from the lush, green countryside of Michigan, she had never seen irrigation before. Mr. Wright bought Jake McJunkin's farm located just west of the present day slaughter house including his crop and animals. A year or two later Carlton acquired some ranch land several miles on west of Ignacio where Marian still lives. If you've visited Marian's house, you know it sits on a considerable hill. Her dad enjoyed telling visitors that their house originally was at no higher elevation than the surrounding area. They acquired an elevated view only because of the gumbo mud the Oxford/Ignacio area is famous for. Everybody who came to the house on a muddy day and cleaned their shoes, contributed to the building up of the hill on which their home is now located . Marian completed her sophomore and junior years here. The end of her junior year was disturbed by a dispute which seems quite ridiculous today, but which reflects the attitudes of that time. Marian and her classmates heard that one of their favorite teachers, Ravenna Groat, was being refused reemployment by the school board. Marian and Virginia Russell and others In their class met with the board to ask whether this was so. The board said yes, they had fired Ravenna Groat for riding a horse in riding britches instead of a riding Skirt. The junior class told the board they would not return to school if the board persisted in this action. The school board members doubted the students could afford to attend school in Durango, but most of them got jobs, saved their money and did manage to enroll in Durango for their senior year. Actually this was a wise thing for them to do as the Ignacio School was not accredited at that time. · ..J J ....) -..,,) 181 �Following graduation Marian attended a two week teacher's institute at Pagosa Springs and then took a stiff exam to receive a country teacher's certificate. This may seem like very little training (which ii was), but Marian says it was a stiff exam and many people had to lake the exam more than once to pass. Marian taught in various schools around the country. She loved the work, though conditions were often less than ideal. Some of the buildings were not insulated and had poor heaters. When Cedar Grove school was closed against Marian's objections, she started a "bootleg school" in her home on the ranch. "Some of the students were walking 7 miles to Cedar Grove. How could they go several more miles to another school? Some families would send one child to stay with me for a week and then they would take that child home and send another one to learn all they could for a week." The school Marian remembers with most affection was the school in Thompson Park just this side of Mancos Hill. "The students there were so intelligent and decent and nice. I really enjoyed the time I taught school over there." In 1928 the Frank Harmon family asked Marian to go with them to Michigan and to help take care of the Harmon children on the trip. Marian was very happy to do this since she had not been able to return to visit relatives of to see her birthplace since she had moved. On the return trip the Harmons stopped in Hamilton, Kansas, to see some of their family. There Marian met a young man named Bowen Worford. He spent quite a little time driving the Harmon kids around to see their relatives in the area and Marian accompanied them. Before she left, Bowen got Marian's address and wrote to her during that summer and fall. Bowen had lived in Montana for a while before returning to Kansas and was eager to return to the mountains. At Christmas time Marian returned to Kansas and she and Bowen were married. The following April they came out to La Plata County. Shortly after Bowen and Marian were married, Mrs. Harmon died. After a while the court asked Marian and Bowen to lake care of the two Harmon girls. The girls stayed with the Warlords until they were grown. Marian remembers with a chuckle the time their dog tried to "herd" Bowen's Ford Coupe. Bowen and Marian took the coupe over to Spring Creek to get a cow they had bought. Their dog, a shepherd and collie mix went along. One of them was driving the coupe and the other was out with the dog herding the cow. When the cow made a sudden turn lo escape, Bowen yelled "get her" to the dog. Somehow 'ale Shep's doggy brain got its wires crossed, apparently thinking Bowen meant the coupe instead of the cow. The dog made a ferocious leap and bit the tire of the moving car. Of course, he got thrown for a loop by the wheel and that was the last time old Shep tried to herd a coupe. Bowen died in 1967, but Marian slays on the ranch. It's in a remote area and there are times it's a little difficult to gel in or out, so many people have urged Marian to move to town. So far she has refused. She loves her animals and the wildlife and the peace and quiet of the land. Beyond that the place is full of memories of Bowen and her parents and of her first years here. For these reasons Marian's ties to the ranch are strong. We wish her many more years of happiness and peace. September, 1974 -- Shelby Smith 182 � 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 Eva Marian (Wright) Worford Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-09 Subject The topic of the resource Worford, Eva Marian (Wright); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Eva Marian (Wright) Worford based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Worford, Eva Marian (Wright) 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/e3bb4533135bb9fe432bb2bab98d39ac.pdf a5ee6245f83d649be4757f3e964f26a8 PDF Text Text LENA (Bowman) WITT Lena Elizabeth Bowman was born June 6, 1894, in Durango at her parents home at 760 Third Avenue, Her mother, Etta Louisa Summers, came to Durango from Ohio in 1889 to teach school. She stayed with her sister Margaret Coffman, whose husband, James Coffman, was the Methodist minister in Durango, In 1890 Etta married Thomas Bowman, a metallurgist at the smelter, Thomas, who was 19 years older than Etta, was a civil War veteran. After the war he obtained his degree in Metallurgy at the University of Wisconsin, then came west to Silverton to work in the smelter which was later moved to Durango, Thomas' first wife died of typhoid fever in Denver in 1889. When he married Etta, he not only worked at the smelter, but also owned a stationery store on Main Street in Durango. Lena, her brother Bill, and her sister Margaret all took their turns working in the store and all of them, as Lena recalls, took turns raiding the candy counter quite often. Lena started school at Longfellow in 1901 and graduated from Durango High school in 1913. Emory Smiley was the superintendent during those years, "When I was a child, we had to make our own pastimes," Lena remembers. "I can recall the long summer evenings when we'd ride our bikes under the arc lights on 3rd Avenue until late at night. One of our favorite pastimes was picnics. We'd walk up Junction Creek or Lightner Creek or ride the streetcar to Brookside Park. The first silent movies in Durango were shown outside at the park. Looking back I realize the pictures were not top quality and the movements of the actors were jerky, but we didn't notice that. We thought it was wonderful. Sometimes we rode the train to Tremble Springs 10 miles north of Durango, where we'd stay in the hotel, take hot baths and enjoy the good food. All the children in town liked the 4th of July because of the fireworks. My dad sold them at the store, so we usually had our choice of the rockets and Roman candles." Lena stayed home one year after high school, but in the summer of 1914 her parents sent her to a teaching institute in Silverton. The purpose of the institutes was to explain teaching careers to young people. Lena stayed with a family named Lamont. Mr. Lamont, she remembers, was a rather aristocratic man of English extraction. Along with the school, entertainments and outings were provided for the participants Lena and her group traveled north of Silverton to visit a mill and mine and to ride the cable car between them. The cable car turned out to be an ore bucket swinging along a cable over an enormous ravine. All Lena knew to do was grit her teeth and hang on, Lena attended teacher training at the college in Greeley, received her degree after two years and returned to teach grades 1-6 at Tremble Springs. Her wages of $65.00 per month were good for that time. The widow Schluter provided a room and marvelous meals for $15.00 a month. Lillian Thompson taught grades 7-10 in the same building. Though Lillian had lost an arm in an accident, she preformed her school duties well and drove her Model T to school every day. In spite of the good wages and pleasant living conditions, Lena says it was a difficult year. Some of the students, especially the older students in Lillian's room, were serious discipline problems. During the next two years Lena taught at Cottonwood School on Florida Mesa where she walked to school from the Gram's farm. Some of her students were Howard and Ray Self, Emily Cicily and the Perino and Gerardi children. She can still remember the school Christmas programs staged at the Florida Mesa Grange Hall. 178 �~ " '1 "l '1 '1 '1 ' ' ' ") ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) _) ..J ....) _) _) ....) J J J While Lena was teaching at Ridges Basin, she met Ray Pierce, who owned a dry farm nearby. They were married and moved to Durango. Ray drove a big team hauling coal and Lena worked in Hunter's Music Store. The marriage did not last long. After they were separated, Lena got a job teaching grades 3-5 at Animas City. At a teaching institute at Mancos the following summer, Lena met the superintendent of schools from Yuma, Colorado. He needed a 4th grade teacher and hired Lena on the spot. Lena was settled in Yuma when her father died December 6, 1923. She resigned her job intending to stay home with her mother for several months. However the superintendent at Bayfield soon learned Lena was not working and convinced her to teach 3rd and 4th grades in Bayfield. While working in Bayfield, Lena met Jack Garrish, a World War I veteran. They were married on Christmas Day in 1925. They stayed in Bayfield until 1926, then moved to Ignacio. Jack built a blacksmith shop behind Mr. Anderson's filling station. When Jack's brother-in-law died, he and Lena moved back to Bayfield to help his sister operate a Silver Fox farm. In 1933 they moved to Durango for three years and then moved to Canon City where Jack worked as a guard at the prison and later worked as overseer at the prison blacksmith shop. Lena had an active, fun life in canon City with many friends. In 1940 Jack was very ill at home for three weeks. Lena took him to Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Denver for treatment. Jack died the first night there. In January of 1941 Lena returned to school at Greeley for three semesters to update her teaching methods. In 1942 she took a job northeast of Wray, Colorado, at the Alvin School. Teachers were expected to stage a ;Literary' onGe a month. This was a program consisting of music, readings and plays. Almost the whole community turned out because there was little entertainment in the lonely sand hill country. At first Lena viewed these programs with apprehension, but later learned to enjoy and take pride in them. One of the most memorable ones featured a Steven Foster minstrel show. In 1943 Lena married Guy Doyle. In subsequent years Lena taught at Laird, Colorado, at Haigler, Nebraska, at a country school near Vernon, Colorado and at Iliff north of Sterling. Guy worked at various jobs during those years. About 1954 Guy and Lena decided it was time to quit working, so they settled at Wray. Guy had asthma pretty bad and in 1958 he died of a coronary attack. Lena moved to Ignacio in the summer of 1959. During the next 10 years, she worked as a substitute teacher in Ignacio and lived on Browning Street in the house next to Tommy King's house. Lena never expected to leave Ignacio again, but she became acquainted with Bill Witt and they were married on July 27, 1969. He was 78 and Lena was 75. Bill owned a nice home in a good neighborhood in northwest Denver. Bill died 14 months after they were married. Lena loved her home in Denver. She left only for occasional trips. One of her favorites was a trip to visit relatives in Washington State. While there Lena got to ride the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, to see the world famous Butchart Gardens and to have tea at the Empress Hotel, one of the old hotels still following the English traditions. In 1978 Lena's sister Margaret Wiseman invited her to return to Ignacio so that they could spend their last years together. Lena moved in November of 78. Margaret became very ill that winter and died in January of 1979. Today Lena enjoys a pleasant association with her nephew, Tom Wiseman and Beverly and also has numerous friends and old acquaintances in Ignacio. We wish her many more years of happiness and peaceful life. J J J ....) J -....) October, 1980 -- Shelby Smith 1 79 � 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 Lena (Bowman) Witt Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-10 Subject The topic of the resource Witt, Lena (Bowman); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Lena (Bowman) Witt based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the October, 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 Witt, Lena (Bowman) 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/811e36683b7e2b91fbdc955e3e6c2fcc.pdf 60eddc04b8c5de3fe9eecb20416d02b4 PDF Text Text LAWRENCE & MARGARET (Bowman) WISEMAN Margaret Summers Bowman was born ln Durango, Colorado, December 8, 1905, the third child of Thomas and Etta Bowman. The Bowmans lived at 760 3rd Avenue. Margaret has wonderful memories of this house, since she lived there until she was married. Just down the street across from Smiley Jr. High was the original Durango School. All twelve grades were in the one building until the high school was built. Margaret's older brother, Bill, was out of school and Lena, her only sister was in 12th grade. } ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) .J .J .J ..J _) .) _) ..) ~ _) J We didn't keep our own horses and buggy. Most everything we needed was close and the area had good public transportation, too. The town had a streetcar, which all the children loved to ride. We could go all the way up to Animas City, almost as far as the present location of the Silver Spur restaurant, for picnics at Animas Park. This was up the hill among the trees and rocks with a good view across the valley. Sometimes, on the 4 th of July and on other occasions we went to Brookside Park located on Main where the Chamber of Commerce Office is now. There were swings and slides and the creek where the children could play. If anyone wanted to go to Silverton or Telluride or Ignacio, they could ride the train which was without question the fastest and most comfortable way to travel. Whenever Dad needed private transportation, he would hire a "hack" from one of the livery stables. This included a d.river and made a good impression on visitors arriving on the train. Our family was greatly involved in church. On Sunday mornings we attended Sunday School and Church. On Sunday evening we went to Christian Endeaver. Then on Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. On Sundays there was no playing, no shows or other entertainment. We read our Sunday School Lesson or did something quiet. Occasionally, Dad took us to the Vienna Restaurant after church and once in a while he would take me for a walk. Otherwise, Sundays were quiet and rather unexciting." Both of Margaret's parents were immigrants into this part of the country. Thomas was born in Wisconsin in 1845. His parents were named Dibley. When both of them died, he was adopted by the Bowman family. Boys cannot stay away from exciting events. This was true of Thomas when the Civil War started. He just had to go and he had to practice a little deception to join the Union Army at the age of 16. Of course, Thomas had been taught never to lie. Before going to the induction center, he wrote the number 17 on a piece of paper and placed the paper in his shoe so that he could swear in good conscience that he was over 17. Thomas survived the Civil War; then entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he stayed until he acquired a Ph.D. degree in science. In the 1870's and 1880's opportunities were wide open in every direction in this developing country. Thomas chose to come to Colorado to work as a metallurgist. First he came to Silverton prospecting one his own and working for the mining companies. Later, he moved down to Animas City and went to work for the smelter. ~ ~ J ...) J 1 75 �In 1887 Thomas noticed a new girl in town. Etta Louise Summers came to Durango from Ohio to escape the damp climate of the East. She stayed with her sister, the wife of the Rev. Mr. James Coffman, who established the first Methodist Church in Durango. Etta taught school in Durango for one year. After Thomas and Ella were married, Thomas continued working at the smelter for a number of years. Before Margaret was born, they decided to open the T.E. Bowman Book and Stationery Store on Main Street right next to Penny's. The family operated the store until Thomas died in 1923. Durango is full of new businesses with new names, but a number of the old ones are still there. Among them are the Strater Hotel, Graden's Department Store, Parson's Drug, Richey's and Taylor-Raymond Jewellers. The New York Bakery was then called Purrung's Bakery and the General Palmer Hotel was the Savoy Hotel. Margaret had known Lawrence Wiseman since 8th grade. They were casual friends at school and in the years following she saw Lawrence now and then on the street. After finishing school Margaret attended business college in Greeley. Once while she was home, Sam Gilcrest called to ask her to go on a blind date. To her surprise the blind date was Lawrence Wiseman. From then on there was no one else. Margaret was offered a job at Pueblo, but Lawrence changed her mind. They were married in 1927. Lawrence was working at Durango Hardware for several years until it went bankrupt during the depression. After that he worked at whatever he could find. Suddenly, a totally unexpected opportunity appeared. Mr. Biggs who owned Biggs Hardware in Ignacio asked Lawrence to run the business for him. Lawrence didn't know how to figure a board foot, but was delighted for the opportunity. He rented a room in Ignacio and rode the train back and forth from Durango on week-ends. In 1932 Margaret and her mother moved lo Ignacio so Lawrence could stop the commuting. At first they rented the house where the Holts now live and later moved across the street. During the depression years Lawrence sold hay and grain which he had taken in as payments on bills. After living all her life in a larger town, Margaret was uncertain how she would like living in Ignacio. However, after a few weeks here, Margaret decided she was very happy with her new home. Today she says she wouldn't want to live any other place. In 1950 Lawrence bought out Mr. Biggs and changed the name of the store. Life in Ignacio was different, of course, in the early years. "We had to go to bed at 10:00 P.M. because the lights went off. I remember once we had a group of friends from Durango for a supper party. We told them they would have to leave before 10:00 because the lights go out. They laughed like they didn't believe it and decided to slay. Sure enough when 10:00 o'clock came, everything went black and our friends had a time of it finding their coats and hats." "Lawrence and I liked to travel. In fact, that was our favorite pastime. We took trips all over this country and a few overseas to Hawaii and Jamaica and Bermuda. Once we went to New York City lo see the musicals. My Fair Lady was going strong when we were there. Our favorite kind of trip was simply to go to the airport and buy the first two tickets available wherever it was. Going like this we never knew where we would find 176 �'1 '1 -i '1 -i '1 '1 1 l l ' ' ' ourselves, but we discovered some of the most interesting places. Arriving without reservations was uncertain, but we always had good luck." Lawrence enjoyed his work and especially enjoyed the people in Ignacio. After he sold the store to Tom, Lawrence continued to work for him part of the time. However, it also gave the Wiseman's more free time to travel or follow other pastimes. Lawrence died suddenly in February of 1976. The people of this area miss him very much for his friendliness and good spirit. And, of course, Margaret misses him, but she is fortunate because all her memories of Lawrence are good ones. ) We wish Margaret and her family many years of happiness and good health. January, 1977 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) ) "> ) ) ) ) ) ) ..J J _J J ..J _) .J ._} -.J .J ..) ._} ._} ._} ..._) ..._) 177 � 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 Lawrence Wiseman and Margaret (Bowman) Wiseman Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-01 Subject The topic of the resource Wiseman, Lawrence; Wiseman, Margaret (Bowman); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Lawrence Wiseman and Margaret (Bowman) Wiseman based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 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 Wiseman, Lawrence; Wiseman, Margaret (Bowman) 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/1a97a0e1b116e1b26aee6d756c2ce611.pdf 9422d22247b8fb1d5c48a3bda82e713d PDF Text Text ROY WILLIAMS Roy Hancock Williams was born in a tepee in the Florida River valley near the present site of the La Plata Airport on August 8, 1889. His parents were Price Williams, a Southern Ute, and Marie Capote from the Northern Ute Tribe, "My parents kept sheep, horses and some cattle and moved around to find good pasture. We always came back to the Florida. The river bottom was a good place to raise potatoes and corn. The whole area had deer and other game. There was no better river than the Florida, It was clear and full of fish and turtles. While I was still young, my parents built a two-room frame house in the river bottom. We had good neighbors, Nicholas and Peter Eaton lived nearby. It was a very god life. No boundaries and no fences. We could go to the high mountains or to the valleys to find pasture or to hunt without anyone to tell us no." "When I was ten years old, my parents sent me to the boarding school at Ignacio, It was pretty bad there at first, I spoke only Ute, After a while I began to learn English from the other children. I liked the holidays when I could ride our horses and be free. In the summers I herded the sheep for my Dad, There was good hunting around the sheep camps, I shot my first doe when I was 16. Some of the bucks we got were so heavy we had to cut them up or carry them on a horse." "I don't go to pow-wows any more, but I liked them when I was young. The tribe used to put on a real show. There were different styles of dancing, more than now. The Bear Dance was always the first dance of the season. In the 192O's the Sun Dance was started here. I think it came from Oklahoma." "I went only to the 5th grade at the boarding school. When I quit, I enrolled at the country school at La Pasta for a while to learn Spanish." "In 1918 I was ready to enlist in the army to go to the war in France, but before I got in, the war ended so I traveled around working at different jobs for a while. In 1920 I got to visit my grandfather, James Capote, in Ft. Duchesne. He told me many things about the LIies, but I have forgotten most of it. My father died in 1921. Soon afterward, we built a house north of Ignacio. I worked at the Indian Agency for many years plowing and running the thrashing machine." Roy married Labrara Radea. They had one daughter, Mary Suazo. Later Roy married Mary Bean. Their children are Mary Santisteven, Vonnestine Herrera, and Eileen Weaver. Roy remembers seeing automobiles around Ignacio as early as 1913, but he never owned his own car until 1939 when he bought a Mercury. He says, "We had a good life after the second World War. I had a good job and also made money raising sheep and cattle. We owned seven different cars and did some traveling around," Mary died in 1961. The only one of Roy's brothers or sisters still living is Belle Cutthair, Recently Roy moved from his home north of Ignacio to one of the apartments at the Senior Center, He is now 79, His vision is fair and his hearing is excellent. He says, "I never thought I'd live this long, but here I am." Shelby Smith -- September, 1975 174 � 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 Roy Williams Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-09 Subject The topic of the resource Williams, Roy; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Roy Williams based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Williams, Roy 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/3c7d93139e662f40913542b3845c7077.pdf 067d4145536a23a5c3c251d4b1898f82 PDF Text Text MAX AND ELLEN (House) WATTS Max Smith Watts was born in a teepee camped in the pine Valley near La Boca, Colorado, in 1894, the son of Andrew and Cecilia Watts. Max says, "My father's band, the capote Band, traveled a lot in those days. Some of them were farmers, but most of them moved around to find better hunting. Teepees were just right for people on the move. There were very few white men around in those days. We hunted for deer and rabbits and herded our sheep and goats. Our games were made to give us skill. We would throw round targets into the air and shoot them before they came down. I made my own fishing pole from a willow, some string and a needle bent into a hook. We all had horses and depended on them for all of our moving around. My grandfather told me of a lime when he was young that there were few horses. He knew of some of our people trading a child for a horse. They were valued so much when they were scarce. The Utes always liked horse racing. Since the road across the river was so long and straight, we had our races over there." "My people were not surprised when the white man brought the train. One of the old men had seen it in a dream. He told his people that one day white men would come in a thing of smoke and fire. I never rode the train until I was nearly grown. I was scared of it. When it came up the valley, it looked like it was coming straight at me. I would run." My parents put me in the BIA Boarding School for a few years; but when I got old enough to herd the goats, they needed me at home. We had some land over on the Piedra River and moved back and forth to it. We played many games - some for fun and some for gambling. One was played with big nails and a pile of dirt. The nails which had numbers painted on them were pushed out of sight into a pile of soft earth. The players look turns poking a stick into the pile to expose a nail. They got points according to the numbers painted on them. The women watching the game would sing and dance around the pile lo try to make the earth fall. Blankets, horses and money were gambled in this game. We also had a game like the white man's horse shoes only we used flat rocks to try to throw near or into holes dug into the ground." By the time he was 16, Max was on his own. He worked with the crews which dug the irrigation ditches. His pay was $1.50 per day. Euterpe Taylor's father John Taylor was his boss. A few years later he went to Buckskin, Arizona, to work in the cornfields. Before the corn was ripe, Max was put on guard to shoot the blackbirds out in the fields. In harvest time he harnessed the horses every morning and helped with the picking. "I always came back lo Ignacio when a job ended. After a few years I got a job working at the Agency. Until I met Ellen House, I had not thought of marrying any one. Why get married with no money in my pocket?" Ellen remembers, "Max started sending me boxes of chocolate. Sometimes there would be money in the boxes. We were married in 1925 at the courthouse in Durango. I was born in 1907. My mother Fannie House died in the flu epidemic in 1918 when I was 11 years old. Daisy Eagle is my half sister and I had a brother, Danny, and a sister named July. Both of them died in accidents on horses. Max and I lived in a house near the agency until 1934 when we moved to the farm near La Boca. We lived on the farm 172 �~ "' 'I 'I 'J 'I J 'J ' J l ) ' ) J ) ) where Rose Watts is now. At that time there was an old house on the farm built of posts. Later we bought the land on the hill where we still live. It's good ground up there with a spring nearby." Afte r Max quit the agency, he worked for the D. & R. G . W. Railroad with the crews that cleared the tracks of snow in winter. Since Max was a cook's helper, his job was not too hard. The others had to use their shovels if the snow plow could not remove the drifts. The crews had lots to do at Red Cliff and at Soldier's Summit in Utah. The crews slept in the cars. It was very cold. "In 1955," Ellen says, "we built a new house on our farm. When we were strong, we raised sheep, horses, grain, hay and all of our vegetables. I still have a big garden. In the 1930's many hoboes came up from the railroad tracks and asked for something to eat. I always gave them something. So many people were traveling around then. I think a farm is the best place to live because even when there are not jobs, farmers have work. We sold potatoes to the BIA School and horses to the Navajos. We never liked cows, but we kept goats and made cheese from their milk. We're still on our farm and don't ever want to live anyplace else." ) ) ) The Watts had seven children in all: Colleen, Ed, Lula, Ellenetta, Crystal, Jerry and Eunice. Only Colleen, Crystal and Lula are still living. September, 1977 - Shelby Smith ) ) } ) ) ) ) J j ._) J ..J ..J J J ..J J J -.) ..J J ...) ...) 173 � 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 Max Watts and Ellen (House) Watts Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-09 Subject The topic of the resource Watts, Max; Watts, Ellen (House) Description An account of the resource Biography of Max Watts and Ellen (House) Watts based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Watts, Max; Watts, Ellen (House) 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/e9f140c320adb20beffd0b7482a93c15.pdf 837cad510235882f5bfd6414983f891d PDF Text Text DAISY WASHINGTON WATTS Though most people are now unaware of the fact, the famous Chimney Rocks which rise between Stollsteimer Creek and the Piedra River were once called Los Pilares de Washington. Also, the valley below the pillars was called Washington Flats. Both were named for a remarkable Indian family whose descendants still live in this area. Daisy Watts was born near Chimney Rock on January18, 1904, the daughter of Joseph and Jane Watts. When Jane died 2 years later, Daisy was raised by her grandmother, Martha, and her grandfather, George Washington. George and Martha were not still living in a tepee, but otherwise they still followed the old ways. George was, as most American school children would say a "real" Indian. He was a hunter, a fisherman and a woods-wise man little changed by Anglo or Spanish culture. People who saw him never forgot George Washington, partly because of the way he dressed. During summer and most of the winter George wore nothing but a beach cloth held in place by a string and was one of the last of his tribe to dress in this fashion. Since he, like most of his ancestors, had worn this scanty costume all of his life, his skin was very dark, weathered and tough. His appearance was one of toughness and ferocity. Louie Valencia remembers, "I saw Washington many times when I was a child and was scared of him, not because of anything he did, he was just a tough looking hombre." Liva Pacheco's grandparents, David and Adelida Sandoval were friends of Washington when they were homesteading in the Piedra Valley. Liva says "My mother Theodora, told me when she was a child, Washington came to visit every once in a while, but night or day he would never knock. The family would walk in from another room and there he would be, squatting by the fire. He would never sit in a chair." Once in the winter, Spanish people asked Washington, "Don't your legs and posterior get cold uncovered?" He replied, "Como tu cara mi nalga." (My hind-end doesn't get cold for the same reason your face doesn't.) Daisy remembers her grandparents and their way of life well. "Grandfather had many horses. Most of the time they ran wild in the hills. When he wanted some, he drove them down to the corral. He also had sheep and goats which he butchered as needed. When I got old enough, I herded sheep in the hills. Grandmother always tanned the goatskins. She had a simple way. She rubbed the inside of the skin with brains, let it dry, rubbed it with brains arid repeated this till the hide was cured. The skins had many uses. One of which was to make leggings for us in winter. Sometimes my sisters and I used the goat skins for a sled in snowy weather. We climbed the hills with the skin and put its hair down on the snow. One sat in front holding the front legs of the skin and the other sat in back holding the back legs, it would go fast. Once my uncle Fritz bought me a doll with a china head. When my grandmother saw how much I liked it, she made me an Indian cradle for it from a board, some buckskin, some willows and some beads, I think we always had plenty to eat. The hills were full of food. Every summer and fall we picked wild strawberries, choke cherries, berries and banana berries until we had all we 170 �') ') --, ~ ~ ~ ~ 'J } i ) ) J ) ' ) ) ) ) could eat and all we could dry for winter. The banana berries were my favorite. After they were dried, we would boil them and they made a sweet syrup without adding sugar. If grandfather sold sheep, he put the money in a jar and buried it until we wanted things from the Dike store. Mr. Dike's store was several miles away on the road to Pagosa. In winter when it was difficult for some of the families to get out, he brought groceries and other things on a sled and sold them to us at the house. When it was time for me to go to school, we moved over to John Taylor's place near Bayfield, I went to the Elementary Day School for one year, then to the Ute Boarding school for 4 years, and to the Indian School at Santa Fe for 4 years. Then I was transferred to school at Albuquerque for two years. When my father died, I came back to Ignacio and lived with my sister Lucille,11 Shortly afterwards, Daisy got a Job doing domestic work for the John Landers family who lived at the B.l,A, complex north of Ignacio, Daisy married Ralph Cloud November 22, 1926, at the Durango Courthouse. They moved out to Spring Creek on Ralph's father's place where they raised hay and wheat and garden produce. They had five children, Matilda, Charles (who died of double pneumonia at the age of 11 ), Joel Dean who died after he fell from a horse, Mary Inez and Roger, After Ralph and Daisy were divorced in 1946. Daisy moved to Durango to work for a year. In 1954 she bought a home in Ignacio and has lived there ever since, Daisy now has 10 grandchildren and lives a very quiet life. We value her as a living link with a past which is very much gone. ) September, 1976 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) .J .J .J _) __) _) _) ....J ....J _) __) _) ..J ....J J _) -...) 171 � 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 Daisy Washington Watts Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-09 Subject The topic of the resource Watts, Daisy Washington; Ignacio, Colorado; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Daisy Washington Watts based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Watts, Daisy Washington 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/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/a6c0aefe2871cc310917de5bb2cef570.pdf c02c19a5d0164a1d3ce7bdd5e79a2795 PDF Text Text EUGENIO AND MARIA (Baca) VALDEZ "I was born in Chama, Colorado, 4 miles east of San Luis in the San Luis Valley on November 15, 1895. My parents, Serafin and Tonita Valdez were farmers, raising wheat, peas and livestock. My father's parents were originally from Los Ranchitos, N. M. near Espanola, but migrated into Colorado before my father was born. I have four brothers and two sisters. That does not count several others who died before they were grown. When I was 7 years old I started to school at Chama. During the school term I stayed with my mother's parents, Trinidad and Juanita Sanchez, whose farm was close to school. Every morning the school janitor fired up the pot-belly stoves in each of the three rooms. At the end of the day each teacher had to sweep the classroom. Mr. David Gaul was my first teacher. All of us were Spanish speakers. They tried to teach us English, but it didn't work too well. Every text book was in English. We would sound out the words and Mr. Gaul would translate. It was slow work and not too interesting. But we enjoyed the baseball games and other activities at noon and during recess. Also we helped pass the time of day with mischievous pranks during the school day." "After seventh grade, I stayed home to help my father with the farm work. I did this until I was 25 years old. If I had any extra time, I worked for wages on other farms. When I was about 16 years old, my father hired Albino Baca and his family lo herd sheep. Little did I know I would some day marry his daughter, Maria Inez, who at that time was only a 7 year old girl. I never saw Maria again until 9 years later, two days before our wedding." "When I was 25 years old, my parents decided it was time for me to get married. They thought over the possibilities and remembered Albino Baca's daughter must be about old enough to marry. The custom of parents arranging their children's marriages was a very old and traditional way, but I had no objections. A little after Christmas my mother and father hitched up their buggy to pay Albino Baca a visit. He lived on a farm near Red Wing, Colorado, a two day journey across the mountains through La Veta Pass. The wedding was arranged. I went to San Luis to buy a wedding dress, shoes and other clothing as a gift to my bride. This also was an old tradition for the groom to present as a gift to the bride. It was also customary for the groom to present the bride with a trunk full of beautiful clothes just before the wedding. On the 16th of January, 1920, my parents, my grandparents, an aunt, and an uncle and I loaded up two buggies and began the trip to Red Wing. About half way over the mountain was an abandoned saw mill where we camped for the night. The next day, when we arrived at Red Wing, the families were introduced and my uncle took his buggy on to the home of a friend several miles to stay the night. I went lo our buggy to bring the trunk to Maria, but found it was missing. My dad headed back to the saw mill, thinking we had left it there. After he left, my uncle returned because he had found the trunk in his buggy. I got on a horse to catch my father. By the time I overtook him and returned lo Red Wing it was midnight. "I was very pleased with my parent's choice. Maria was very pretty and was well trained. Even though she was young, she could cook and sew and everything else a wife needs to do. We were married in church on January 20, 1920. We took her two little brothers who were ages 3 and 7 home to raise. Maria had taken care of them since their mother died." 166 �"At first we lived in a house provided by the farmer I worked for. Two years later I built a two room adobe house on my father's land. Maria and I had seven children. They are Leonardo, Rudolfo, Eugenio, Adela, Liva, Ignacio and Ben. Her little brothers were Isaac and Frutoso. In 1940 we moved to Florence where I worked on the turnip and onion farms. Just as soon as one crop was harvested, we planted another as long as the season lasted. Maria died in 1943. I moved to Center and lived there until 1958. In 1958 I married Rose Green and we moved to her farm east of Ignacio where I raised cattle and goats until I retired. Rose died in 1977. I stayed on the farm until 1978 when I moved to the senior citizen apartments north of Ignacio where I still live." Taken December, 1979 -Shelby Smith ) ) ) .J .J J J _) ..J _J ...J .J .J _) J J ...J J ..J ....) 167 � 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 Eugenio Valdez and Maria (Baca) Valdez Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-12 Subject The topic of the resource Valdez, Eugenio; Valdez, Maria (Baca); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Eugenio Valdez and Maria (Baca) Valdez based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 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 Valdez, Eugenio; Valdez, Maria (Baca) 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