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San Miguel del Vado (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsammiˈɣeldelˈβaðo] ; also spelled Bado) is an unincorporated community in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States.
The community is located about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of Interstate Highway 25 and Ribera, a census designated place. The namesake of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant, San Miguel was an important community of Hispanics, especially genizaros, in the 19th century. The Santa Fe Trail passed through San Miguel. The community is located on the west bank of the Pecos River along New Mexico Highway 3. San Miguel del Vado was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The name of the community means "Saint Michael of the Ford".
San Miguel del Vado is about 35 kilometres (22 mi) downstream from the Pecos Pueblo, the easternmost settlement of the Pueblo Indians in the 16th century when Spanish explorers first visited the area. Spanish settlements in New Mexico, dating from as early as 1598, were located near the Rio Grande. [1] Spanish expansion was hindered by constant warfare with the surrounding Comanche, Apache, Navajo, and Ute Indians. In the 1780s the Spanish made peace with the Comanche, who thereafter aided them against the Apache, reducing, but not eliminating, the threat to the Spanish settlements and making it possible for the Spanish to expand eastward toward the Great Plains. [2]
In 1794, 52 families led by Lorenzo Marquez petitioned the Spanish government of New Mexico for permission to settle in what would become the San Miguel del Vado area. Thirteen of the petitioners were described as "Indians," probably from the Pecos Pueblo which was declining in population and influence. Most of the remainder were genizaros (Hispanized and Christian Indians of Comanche and other origins) and mestizos. The petitioners possessed 25 firearms and promised that every man would become armed and they would construct a fortified plaza to defend themselves. [3] The San Miguel del Vado Land Grant consisted of 315,000 acres (127,000 ha). [4]
In 1803, the Spanish government divided the irrigated agricultural land of the grant into allotments for each of the 58 families then living in San Miguel del Vado. Pastures and watering places were held in common. Additional allotments of land was made to 45 men and two women at San Jose del Vado 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) upstream from San Miguel. In 1805, a Roman Catholic church was constructed. In 1812, about 230 families lived in San Miguel and San Jose del Vado and in other nearby settlements along the Pecos River. [5] San Miguel was the political and military center of the Spanish settlements east of the Rocky Mountains in the Pecos River valley. [6]
A census in 1827 counted 2,893 people living in San Miguel and other communities in the Pecos River valley. Occupations of the men enumerated in the census were 401 farmers, 217 day laborers, 93 craftsmen, 2 merchants, and 1 school teacher. The village itself probably had a population of 400 to 500 people. Crops produced on the irrigated lands near the Pecos River included "corn, beans, wheat, chiles, tobacco, peaches, and apricots." Sheep and goats were the most important livestock, grazed mostly on common lands of the land grant. [7] Much of the livelihood of the people of San Miguel derived from trade, often illicit, with the Comanches and other Plains Indians. [8]
Spanish authorities did not fully trust the loyalty of the residents of San Miguel. In 1805 several men in San Miguel were arrested for defying regulations for trade with the Plains Indians. However, in 1808, concern about the encroachments of Americans on the Great Plains and fear of renewed war with the Comanche led the Spanish to organize a force of genízaros to patrol the plains and gain intelligence about both the Plains Indians and the Americans. The comancheros (traders) and ciboleros (bison hunters) of 19th century fame were mostly men from the settlements in the Pecos River Valley. [9]
San Miguel del Vado was most prominent during the era of the Santa Fe Trail (1821–1880). The town was located along the trail near a ford across the Pecos River. William Becknell led the first trading expedition from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1821, stopping in San Miguel before continuing on to Santa Fe. Thereafter, traffic on the Santa Fe Trail between the U.S. and Mexico was extensive. Residents of San Miguel sold food and supplies to American traders, worked with the Americans as guides and wagoners, and extracted bribes and levied tariffs on American products, mostly textiles. An American, William Rowland, married a local woman and opened a store in San Miguel in 1838. In 1841, several Texans captured during the Texan Santa Fe Expedition were held prisoner temporarily in San Miguel. On August 16, 1846, during the Mexican–American War, U.S. General Stephen W. Kearney and his soldiers occupied San Miguel and thereafter the village was under United States control. [10]
San Miguel del Vado declined in importance after 1860 when the government of San Miguel County was moved to Las Vegas. In 1881, the railroad bypassed the village in favor of a route through Ribera. In 1897, the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States reduced the size of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant from 315,000 acres (127,000 ha) to 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) thereby depriving the residents of San Miguel and other communities of common ownership of the "pasture, timber and other resources" within the grant area. [11]
Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan de los Caballeros from 1598 until 1610, and from 1610 onward the capital was La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.
Pecos National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in San Miguel County, New Mexico. The park, operated by the National Park Service, encompasses thousands of acres of landscape infused with historical elements from prehistoric archaeological ruins to 19th-century ranches, to a battlefield of the American Civil War. Its largest single feature is Pecos Pueblo also known as Cicuye Pueblo, a Native American community abandoned in historic times. First a state monument in 1935, it was made Pecos National Monument in 1965, and greatly enlarged and renamed in 1990. Two sites within the park, the pueblo and the Glorieta Pass Battlefield, are National Historic Landmarks.
Genízaros was the name for detribalized Native Americans (Indians) from the 17th to 19th century in the Spanish colony of New Mexico and neighboring regions of the American southwest. Genízaros were usually women and children who had been captured in war by the Spanish or purchased from Indian tribes who had held them captive as slaves. To circumvent Spanish laws forbidding slavery, the purchaser of a genízaro had the obligation to introduce them to Christianity and Spanish customs. Genízaros worked as indentured servants, shepherds, and laborers. They occupied the lowest rung of status-conscious Spanish society in New Mexico but slowly assimilated and intermarried into Spanish and later Mexican (1821-1846) and American society. The descendants of genízaros are also called genízaros and the word has become a term of pride for the descendants of the original Indian captives and slaves. In 1793, genízaros were estimated to have comprised up to one-third of the 29,041 people living under Spanish rule in New Mexico.
Las Trampas or just Trampas, is an unincorporated hamlet in Taos County, New Mexico. Founded in 1751 to settle the Las Trampas Land Grant, its center retains the original early Spanish colonial defensive layout as well as the 18th-century San José de Gracia Church, one of the finest surviving examples of Spanish colonial church architecture in the United States. The village center was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1967. The population in 2023 was 43.
Villanueva is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Known as La Cuesta until 1890, it is located along the Pecos River and New Mexico State Road 3. Villanueva has the ZIP code 87583. The 87583 ZIP Code Tabulation Area had a population of 234 in the 2010 United States census, compared to 267 in 2000. A total of 211 residents of Villanueva in 2010 identified themselves as Hispanic.
Abiquiú is a census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, about 53 miles (85 km) north of Santa Fe. As of 2010, the population was 231. Abiquiú's one school, an elementary school, is part of the Española Public Schools.
Land grants in New Mexico and Colorado were awarded to individuals and communities by the Spanish and Mexican governments to encourage settlement and expansion of the Territorio de Nuevo Mexico, which included southern Colorado. Land grants by the Spanish and Mexicans between 1692 and 1846 numbered 291 in New Mexico, four partly in New Mexico and partly in Colorado, and three in Colorado. The land area of grants totaled tens of thousands of square miles. "The two major types of land grants were private grants made to individuals, and communal grants made to groups of people for the purpose of establishing settlements. Communal land grants were also made to Pueblos for the lands they inhabited." The majority of the land area within grants was designated as common land for residents. Common land was mostly used for grazing cattle and sheep and harvesting timber. Smaller acreages within the grants were devoted to irrigation agriculture and home sites. The principal objectives of the land grants were to encourage the foundation of new communities and to expand the settled area on the frontiers of New Mexico for defense from Indian raids.
Tomás Vélez Cachupín was a colonial judge, and the Spanish colonial governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México province, located in the northern Viceroyalty of New Spain, from 1749 to 1754 and 1762 to 1767. During his rule, Cachupín achieved the peace between Spaniards and the Amerindian peoples of New Mexico, especially the Comanches. He also protected the right to the possession of lands by the people of New Mexico, including the Amerindians, fining and imprisoning those who occupied the lands of others under the idea that these lands were property of their inhabitants.
José Guadalupe Gallegos was a native New Mexican military leader, county sheriff, rancher and politician. In 1854 he served as brigadier general in the volunteer Mounted Militia of New Mexico (Territory) formed for the purpose of protecting communities against Native American attacks. Prior to the Battle of Glorieta Pass, he was a Union field and staff Colonel in the Civil War, serving as commander of the 3rd New Mexico Volunteer Infantry and as commander of the Hatch's Ranch military post. He represented San Miguel County in four of the six Assemblies of the Territorial Legislature between 1855-1861 and served as House Speaker and as Council President. José was one of the founding members of the Historical Society of New Mexico and was a founding associate in the incorporation of the Montezuma Copper Mining Company of Santa Fé, New Mexico the New Mexican Railway Company and the New Mexico Wool Manufacturing Company.
Donaciano Vigil (1802-1877) was an American politician who served as the second governor of the New Mexico Territory. Born a subject of the Spanish Crown in Santa Fe to Nuevomexicanos parents, he served in the militias during Mexican rule in New Mexico. After the United States annexed New Mexico following the Mexican–American War, Vigil helped smooth the transition to American governance.
Bartolomé Baca was Governor of the territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México from August 1823 until September 1825. His very large landholdings were later the subject of disputes that eventually went to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The San Miguel del Vado Land Grant is one of the Spanish land grants in New Mexico. On November 24, 1794, 53 men submitted a petition for land and were granted temporary possession on November 24, 1794, pending satisfaction of prescribed criteria. A second grant was obtained by 58 men and their respective families on March 12, 1803. Two days later, the procedure was repeated at San José del Vado, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of San Miguel del Vado, distributing farm land to an additional 47 heads of household, including two women.
Gervasio Cruzat y Góngora was Governor of New Mexico between 1731 and 1736 at a time when it was a province of New Spain, as well as governor of Presidio of Pensacola, in Florida, between 1740 and 1742. He assisted the bishop of Durango, taking evidence for him in his contest with the Franciscans.
El Cerrito is a village in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. The village is located in the upper Pecos River valley and was founded in 1824 by settlers from Villanueva, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) upstream. The majority of the population is Hispanic.
Fernando Chacón was a Spanish soldier who served as a governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, modern day New Mexico, between 1794 and 1804. He was a Knight of the Order of Santiago.
San Jose is a census-designated place in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 137 as of the 2010 census. San Jose has a post office, with ZIP code 87565. Exit 319 of Interstate 25 serves the community.
Anton Chico, or Anton Chico Abajo or Anton Chico de Abajo, is a census-designated place in Guadalupe County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 188 as of the 2010 census, of which 167 were Hispanic in origin. Anton Chico has a post office with ZIP code 87711. New Mexico State Road 386 passes through the community. Anton Chico is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Los Trigos Land Grant was established in the very early 19th century. The grant is situated on the Pecos River in San Miguel County, New Mexico, about 29 miles south west of Santa Fe and 38 miles west of Las Vegas via I-25.
Slavery in New Mexico existed among the Native American (Indian) tribes prior to the arrival of the first Europeans. In 1542, the Spanish king banned the enslavement of the Indians of the Americas in Spanish colonies, but the ban was mostly ineffective. The enslavement of Indians was common during the Spanish exploration and colonization of New Mexico from 1540 to 1821. Slaves of the Spanish included a few of the Pueblos living in the Spanish colony, but most slaves were captured from other Indian tribes in the region. Women were more valued than men as slaves. Slaves were not only valued for their labour, but were also a prestige item among the more prominent and prosperous of the Spanish colonists. Enslavement of an individual was not always permanent. Slaves, especially women, often gained kinship relationships with their owners. The offspring and descendants of enslaved persons were called genizaros and made up one-third of New Mexico's population in the early 19th centuries. In the Spanish caste system genizaros had low status, but were important for frontier defense and cultural contacts with Indian tribes. Forced labor and debt peonage were also features of slavery in New Mexico. Some Indians captured and enslaved in New Mexico were sent south to work in Mexican mines or even to distant places like Cuba to work on sugar plantations.
Llano del Medio is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Guadalupe County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 118 as of the 2010 census, of which 111 people were Hispanic in origin. New Mexico State Road 119 passes through the community.
Media related to San Miguel del Vado, New Mexico at Wikimedia Commons