https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/02aec330cddca7677a20718df7ced206.pdf 7c76b3f613bc852de4b09e0dc159b410 PDF Text Text /") "") "") "") "") PATRICIO & MARIA (Abeyta) MARTINEZ "") ) ' ) i ") } } , ) ) ) ) ) ) .> ) ) ) _) ) _) .J .J J _J _J .J _) ...) ...J ...J J J J J J J "It doesn't seem very long ago that I was a child growing up at Tiffany, Colorado, but many things have changed in those few years. Not only do people own a lot of things they didn't have in those days, their ways are different. My dad occasionally rode the train to Durango, but he never took my mother or any of us children. In fact, I never saw Durango until the day I was married at the age of 20. We didn't feel cheated. That's just the way it was then. Most families didn't travel and didn't expect to travel around. They stayed home and worked and kept busy. I am one of eight children. My parents, Juan and Maria Abeyta, were married at Rosa and lived there until I was about 4 years old. Then we moved to a farm near Tiffany owned by a Mr. Smith or Schmidt {I don't remember which). I can just barely remember loading up the wagons and herding all the animals together for the move. At that time Tiffany had 15-20 homes, a school and a post office in Mr. Davis' store. There was no church and though the train stopped for passengers, there was no depot. Every morning about 11 :00 the train came through headed for Alamosa and every afternoon another train passed through going to Durango. We walked 3 miles to school at Spring Creek. After second grade my parents sent me to live with my aunt in Alamosa because they thought the schools would be better in a larger town. I'm sure their intentions were good, but I was homesick. Every night I covered my head with a blanket and cried. After a month of this my aunt got disgusted and sent me back home." "In the early days Tiffany was a busy farming center, growing all kinds of grains and potatoes and even sugar beets. My dad worked for several farmers as well as for Mr. Morris Levy who operated the store. All of us children worked, too. I can still remember plowing the garden with my brother. While he held the plow, I rode the horse to help keep the rows straight." "The Spanish-speaking settlers at Tiffany formed a club called 'The League to Protect Latins and built a club building which was used for church services on Sunday and for dances and dinners and meetings at other times. It was at church I first saw Patricio Martinez who was to become my husband. He and his sisters and his father had moved to Tiffany from Coyote, N. M. to work in the sugar beet fields. Patricio and I knew one another for two years before we were married. We became interested in one another soon after we met, but our parents were so strict it was not easy to get acquainted. At church we could only glance at one another. At dances we could visit, but only with chaperons right next to us. There was certainly no dating or going out alone. One day Patricio's father and one of his uncles came to ask my fathers' permission for us to get married. He didn't give them an answer right away. In fact, they had to come several times to ask whether he would answer them. He finally said yes. Patricio was working at the smelter in Durango. He bought my trousseau and set a date with the priest for our marriage at Sacred Heart Church in Durango on October 26, 1927. I was 20 and Pat was 27. We drove a Model A Ford to Durango for the wedding and back to Tiffany for the wedding supper at my parent's home followed by an all night dance at the League Building, The wedding dress Patricio bought for me was very fancy and pretty, but also 113 �very daring. II was not a full length dress, but barely reached my knees, for that was the age of the 'flappers'. The next day we rode the train back to Durango to start our new life together," "Marriages arranged by parents must seem very strange lo people today, but ii worked out very well for us. I don't like the way it happens today. Sometimes the parents not only don't have any say about the marriage of their children, they don't even know what's happening until the last minute. Pat and I were married for 42 years. We always loved one another and even though we were always poor, we were happy and satisfied with our lives," "When the smeller closed, Patricio worked for the D. & R.G.W up at Hesperus. Later he worked at the sawmill until he retired. Patricio died in 1970. I continued living at 1425 E, 2nd Ave, in Durango until November of 1978 when I moved to the Senior Center in Ignacio. Patricio and I had 8 children. The oldest is Clorinda, then Irene, Herman, Patricio, Josephine, Chris, Veronica and Jose. I enjoy visiting my children and my sister in Denver. I keep busy sewing and crocheting. Whenever I visit my children, they usually ask me to cook some sopa for them (a traditional Mexican pudding). I am glad to do it, because they enjoy it and because it reminds me of the days when I was a child back in Tiffany March, 1981 - Shelby Smith 114 � 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 Patricio Martinez and Maria (Abeyta) Martinez Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1981-03 Subject The topic of the resource Martinez, Joe; Martinez, Natividad (Gallegos); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Joe Martinez and Natividad (Gallegos) Martinez based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in March, 1981. 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 Martinez, Joe; Martinez, Maria (Abeyta) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby