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