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