https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/36fd309450e71441576d8ee1a9b87512.pdf 2333adb530fa82980f5e8646a3af94d4 PDF Text Text ROSELIA (Munoz) BACA Though Spanish-American people had lived in the Rio Grande valley for years, few except prospectors and fugitives from justice had ventured into the San Juan basin to stay until about 1875 when a wagon train of Spanish-American settlers from Culebra moved across the passes to homestead in this area. About the same time families from EL Rito near Espanola moved in to the San Juan valley near present day Blanco. One of these was the family of Presentation and Mercedes Munoz. Their first child was a daughter whom they named Roselia. Mr. Munoz farmed a well-irrigated farm in the river valley. Except for sugar and coffee and patent medicines, the family produced almost all their food and other needs on the farm. Since no refrigeration was available, it was difficult to keep meat in the summertime. They made jerky with some of the meat. The rest they ate or shared with the neighbors. For fun Roselia and her younger brothers and sisters loved to swim in a large hole in their irrigation ditch. Any toys they had they made themselves. Roselia remembers making her own dolls and doll clothing. "Usually," she says, "there was not much time for fun, since all work was hand work on the farm, all of us, even the children had work to do everyday. " Life became more difficult when Roselia was 13. Her mother died that year. Immediately Roselia became "mother" to her 6 younger brothers and sisters. Roselia has since had 12 children of her own and has a major hand in caring for some of her grandchildren. ) ) J J _) J _) J J _) j ...) J J J J J -.J -.J J J Now 80 years old,Roselia says, "I feel like I have always been a mother. "Occasionally Mr. Munzo allowed the children to attend dances in the area. At one of them 17 year old Roselia met a stranger named Simon Baca who had recently moved from Colorado to work on construction of the new citizens ditch. Roselia was 17 Simon was 31. When asked why she chose to marry someone this much older. Roselia says, "Simon was a very nice guy and 1 wanted someone nice to take care of me. "Marriage soon meant more people to take care of. She and her husband moved into her father's house. When the first of her 12 children was born she was still keeping house for her father and caring for her brothers and sisters. Each week she used 251 bs. of flour to make light bread for the family. During the warm months she supervised the drying and canning of the winter supply of garden produce, fed her family and her father's family plus any hired hand on the farm. For five years Simon drove a horse and buggy on the mail route between Largo and Aztec. When her younger brothers and sisters were old enough to take care of them selves, the Bacas moved to a farm on the Mesa, south of Ignacio. Simon worked for the tribe as well as caring for sheep and goats. In the evenings he enjoyed calling for square dances and was very talented on the violin. Most years the children had to stay out of school till at least Thanksgiving to help put up hay and to harvest the potatoes and beans. For fun the boys liked to go rabbit hunting. During good years all the children gathered pinon nuts. The family kept what they wanted and sold the remainder for cash. 5 �One summer day, Simon and Roselia were away from home. One of the children must have been playing with matches for the farmhouse burned to the ground. Manuel who was the oldest one at home-was barely able to get the younger ones out of the house. In five minutes the whole place was a roaring inferno. Roselia was sad not only because they lost all their clothing and household goods, but also because she had lost family mementos from previous generations. The family had to start all over again to acquire the possessions of a life time. Seven of Roselia's boys were in the service during WW II and the Korean War. She recalls being very worried, fearing what news might come in the mail, but all of them came back. Simon died at the age of 87 in 1969. All of Ros.elias' 12 children are still living. They are scattered every where across the west from Denver to Seattle. Roselia who is still healthy and very active spends a Great amount of time traveling and visiting kids and readily admits how much she enjoys it. "I'm on vacation all the time," she states, "I have to keep track of my children and grandchildren." by Shelby Smith 6 � 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 Roselia (Munoz) Baca Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-12 Description An account of the resource Biography of Roselia (Munoz) Baca based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 1973 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. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Baca, Roselia (Munoz) 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