https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/97f572ecf6038193c4f030706a857654.pdf e69c0614913b9078fd89027464b27140 PDF Text Text MARIA (Abeyta) RIVERA Maria, the fifth of Antonio and Josefa Abeyta's nine children, was born into an orderly and hard-working world. Her people were sheepherders in the country near Tierra Amarilla, N.M. "Most of us in that lime weren't too poor and sure weren't rich. We lived in a post house. Cedar posts were set in rows like a stockade, then plastered inside and out. The roof was posts and sticks covered with earth. It leaked and was a mess whenever there was a heavy rain until we could afford to put tin over it. I haven't been back there for a long time, but we hear the house is still there and still being used." When Maria was about three years old, her parents moved to a dry land farm near Cabresto (up Frances Creek east of present day Navajo Darn). Antonio built another post house and dug a well. He hit a good stream of water at 18 feet. The Abeytas raised dry land crops fairly successfully, but the garden needed watering and the well was the only source. Maria remembers hauling bucket after bucket to the garden. Two of Maria's sisters went to live with their grandmother at La Puente about three miles from Tierra Amarilla. Grandmothe(s house was a large frame house with five bedrooms. Maria recalls, "The fifth bedroom was just for guests and was never touched unless a guest was in the house. She had a large wood-burning cookstove, a fire place and a heating stove. No coal was available, so someone had to chop a lot of wood." Since there was no school at Cabresto, Antonio bought a farm near Rosa. It was much easier to raise profitable crops on the irrigated land and possible to send the children to school. However, Maria seldom got to attend school more than 4-5 months per year. Two of her older sisters had died. Since the other two were living with their grandmother, and Josefa had become ill, Maria became the cook, laundress and food preserver for the family. Maria says, "People talk about how bad kids are today. I don1 believe they are nearly as naughty as they were when I was a child. Once when I was a child a group of boys in our room tried to set the teacher on fire. The teacher was an old man and not too observant. The boys began slipping matches under his coat collar with the match heads protruding in a row. One of the boys behind him struck a match and was about to set the fire when one of the students yelled and grabbed the lighted match. Otherwise the resulting fire would probably have burned all the remaining hair off his nearly bald head. 11 "Every winter our cellar was full of beans, peas, chicos, cheese and piles of pumpkins. Then we had eggs, milk and butter coming all the lime. We always had enough. Everyone who put out the effort to grow a garden had enough in those days. I think the climate is colder now. It's hard to get things to mature." "In warm weather all of us children were outside playing or working all the time, but in cold months there was less to do. That's when Abuelo and Abuela (grandpa and grandma) told us stories around the fireplace. I wish I could remember the stories they 144 �told, but I can't. For public entertainment there were only a few events each year. On the 4th of July there were races and a rodeo but no fireworks. One year someone brought a Ferris Wheel. Nothing else; just a Ferris Wheel. It cost five cents to ride. I ate ice cream and drank lemonade and rode the Ferris Wheel so many times I got sick and had to go lie down at my aunt's house. Then there were the maromas. The latest maromas I remember was in Ignacio in the 1950's. The maromas was a group of people who made music, danced and sang and told jokes and stories. The whole community came when the maromas were in town. ·, ) ) ) ' When Maria was 25 she married Henry Rivera. His family had migrated to Rosa from Cimmaron and Monero, New Mexico. Henry had worked in the mines at Silverton and also worked for the railroad. The Riveras stayed at Rosa untll 1949 when they bought a farm near Allison. Their 10 children are: Cecilia (deceased), Bennie, Mary (deceased), Gilbert, Pete, Fred, Anna Marie, Orlando, Agnes and Richard. In addition to the children Maria has 23 grandchildren. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) In 1956 Maria moved to Ignacio. She has worked at various jobs since then. The children are scattered all over the country, and because of this Maria has got to do something she never thought possible. "I have traveled all over this country. I never thought I'd do that. The way I was raised people stayed at home. We didn't expect to fo anywhere and we couldn't with our livestock and crops and gardens. Now I've been to Los Angeles, Connecticut. Rhode Island and New York to see my children. I'd rather ride a burro than these little planes that come to Durango, but once I get to Denver the big planes are nice. _) August, 1976 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) _J __) _) ) .J ...J ..J -..J J -..J .J J ...J ...J ..J -.) ~ 145 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Maria (Abeyta) Rivera Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-08 Subject The topic of the resource Rivera, Maria (Abeyta); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Maria (Abeyta) Rivera based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the August, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rivera, Maria (Abeyta) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby