Los Chavez de Lemitar, Sabinal y Socorro

This picture was taken near Socorro, New Mexico sometime between 1890 and 1915. The man in bottom right corner with the rifle is Catarino Chavez, my Grandpa's grandpa. The boy behind him and to the left might be his son, Anselmo, my Grandpa's dad. The rest are extended family. They were ranchers, miners and farmers. All people of modest means but hard workers. Their families have lived in the Middle Rio Grande valley since at least 1800, when the land still belonged to the Spanish crown. In those days, they all would have been having increased contact with White people, who were coming into that area for the mining boom. Great Grandpa Anselmo died in 1980, and up till then he spoke very little English. One of the most pervasive features of thier lives was contact (hostile and otherwise) with the Apache Indians. The U.S. Government did not succeed in exerting its control over this nomadic tribe until the 1930s. The Mexican and Spanish governments were never able to effectively protect their citizens in New Mexico from Apache and Navajo raids-- or interracial mixing, which was just as prevalent, some argue. There is little doubt that, given the class and social status of this side of my family, as well as other evidence, that there is some Apache heritage in the pool.