Fern Sawyer
Dessie Sawyer and her daughter Fern Sawyer are two women whose accomplishments and lasting benefits are hard to separate. Both came from ranch life in southern New Mexico in the counties of De Baca, Lea, and Lincoln. They could equal men in ranching skills, sought an...
Feliciana Tapia Viarrial
Feliciana Tapia Viarrial was born in 1904 into a family from Pojoaque, or Posuwageh, water drinking place, a Tewa village founded around A.D. 1000. By 1913, the Pojoaque homelands were severely diminished. Most members left for neighboring Pueblos and Colorado. The...
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert had the rare experience of living in two centuries, over a lifetime that spanned nearly the entire 20th century. Particularly as a Hispanic New Mexican woman, her place in time helped position her to achieve and experience many seminal...
Emma Estrada, Parteras of New Mexico
Prior to the arrival of the United States Army in 1846, no known doctors are known to have practiced in New Mexico. After that, a combination of vast distances and sparse, rural population in New Mexico contributed to a continued shortage of trained medical...
Dulcelina Salce Curtis
Dulcelina Salce Curtis was a hard-working visionary who spent her time in wise pursuits—teacher, agriculturalist, farmer, orchardist, and conservationist in flood control and surface water protection. Dulcelina, a lifelong resident of Corrales, gave generously of...
Doña Eufemia, “La Valerosa,” “The Spanish Entrada of 1598”
The colonizing expedition of New Mexico led by Don Juan de Oñate was marked by disagreements and uncertainty among the Viceroy and royal officers about who should lead the expedition. The start of the journey was delayed, and even after the expedition was enroute and...
Doña Ana Robledo
Ana Gomez Robledo was born in San Gabriel in 1604 to Bartolomé Romero and Louisa Robledo. Her mother was the daughter of Pedro Robledo, the oldest Oñate colonist to leave descendents in New Mexico. Pedro Robledo died at 60, the first of the colony to die, as the...
Lea County Cowgirls
Dessie Sawyer and her daughter Fern Sawyer are two women whose accomplishments and lasting benefits are hard to separate. Both came from ranch life in southern New Mexico in the counties of De Baca, Lea, and Lincoln. They could equal men in ranching skills, sought an...