This profile of José Marcial Torres, an ancestor of many Lincoln County families, was taken from the Journal “Herenica” October 1996 issue. I thought it was particularly interesting, ed.

The Ancestry of Jose Marcial Torres (Toledo)

By Margaret L Buxton

Many years ago I searched for the ancestry of one Jose Marcial Torres/Toledo. Before his background was established, I had gathered material on several families in the community of San Fernando de las Silvas which appears before Tome in the 1790 Census and may indicate they were close to one another. This "San Fernando de las Silvas is not to be confused with the settlement of Nuestra Senora de la Luz of San Fernando and San Bias which is a larger tract far to the west on the Rio Puerco northwest of Atrisco and northwest of Alameda. It was inhabited in 1766 by a very different group of people. See Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Twitchell, Vol. I, No. III.

In the 1790 Census there were 15 families living in San Fernando de las Silvas. My search centered on the households of Toledo, Torres, and Tafoya. The Torres name went further to Plaza de las Vacas, Belen. More details were found than could be placed in this text, but they are included on the accompanying charts.

The following marriage gave much needed information:

Tome Marriages, 29 July 1796:

Jose Marcial Torres (17), natural son of Encarnacion Torres, and Gertrudes Benavides (18), daughter of Miguel Benavides and Catarina Toledo.

Padrinos: Bartholo Pino and wife Antonia Josefa Torres. Information from: Torbio Garcia, 65; Diego Antonio Sanchez, 64; Jose Garcia, 63.

The inner text of the record states that the couple had a natural son born in 1794. This child was Juan Miguel who was baptized in Tome on 17 December 1794 and was referred to as "Benavides.” That year Jose Marcial would have been 15 and Gertrudes 16. She is a granddaughter of Gregorio Benavides.

Marcial Torres and "his mother, Encarnacion Torres" are padrinos for the marriage of Juan Pedro Aragon in Tome on 27 June 1795. Marcial Torres is called Aragon in Albuquerque marriages of 17 August 1796 and 10 May 1798.

Another important record which pointed to a father for Jose Marcial Torres:

Albuquerque Baptisms, 25 June 1802, born 12 June:

Maria Eulalia Faustina, daughter of (torn*) Toledo and Juana Andrea Lucero. (*This would be Jose Francisco Toledo.) Padrinos: His brother, Manuel Torres, and his wife, Maria Gertrudes Benavides, of the Plaza of San Fernando.

Being called "brother" of Jose Francisco Toledo (and not being a brother-in-law) led to a search for the Toledo family. The only Toledo listed in the 1750 Census was Fray Juan Jose Toledo who took the census in Galisteo.

Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Twitchell, Vol. I, No. 342:

Fray Juan Jose Toledo was among officials witnessing the partition of the estate of Luis Garcia in 1747. In Archive No. 18, Fray Juan Jose Toledo was the priest in Abiquiu when it was resettled in 1754; and in Archive No. 358, the same priest signed the will of the soldier, Juan Gallegos, in Tome in 1760.

Further early Toledo records follow:

Isleta Baptisms, 10 October 1748:

Angel Francisco, son of Bernardo Chaves and Dona Francisca Quintana. Padrinos: Don Joseph Toledo and Dona Maria Chaves

Albuquerque Baptisms, 17 February 1751: Joseph Vicente, son of unknown parents. Padrinos: Jose Toledo and Juana Chaves

Isleta Baptisms, 19 February 1755:

Antonio Espanol, son of Antonio Chaves and Barbara Padilla. Performed by Fray Juan Jose Toledo.

Padrinos: Miguel Chaves and Juana Chaves. Recorded by the appointed pastor, Fray Juan Joseph de Oronagora (?)

Santa Fe Baptisms, 11 January 1767:

Jose Balthazar, son of Jose Toledo and Luisa Tenorlo. Padrinos: Don Miguel Tenorio and Dona Victoria Tenorio.

The following record posed further questions:

Tome Baptisms, 15 January 1822 (p.11l):

Maria Concepcion Rosario, daughter of Antonio Marquez and Maria Petra Chaves.

Abuelos Paternos: Juan Marquez and Delores Toledo Abuelos Maternos: Jose Toledo and Juana Chaves

Padrinos: Jose Maria Alarid and Maria Rosario Marquez of San Fernando.

Each time Fray Juan Jose Toledo or Jose Toledo appear with Maria Juana Chaves, one might think she was the mother of the priest, but if the above record is correct, this Jose Toledo and Juana Chaves were a couple. The entry appears to be quite flawed for the following reason:

Tome Marriages, 19 November 1820:

Antonio Marquez, son of Juan Marquez and Rita Moya (deceased) married Delores Toledo, daughter of Jose Toledo and Juana Andrea Jollanco* (deceased), residents of San Fernando. Padrinos: Joaquin Perea and Maria Antonia Gonzales.

This bride and groom of 19 November 1820 had two children born in Albuquerque on 15 April 1840 and 6 December 1846.

(*Juana Andrea Jollanca is also called Lucero and was a daughter of Jose Antonio Lucero and Rosalia Chavez of Atrisco. She was married in 1788 at Isleta.)

1790 Census

Plaza of San Fernando de las Silvas

Page 18, Frame 331:

No. 320 Geronimo Gutierrez, Espanol, 25, Farmer Mar. to Maria Josefa Toledo, Mestiza, 22 One daughter, 1.

No. 321 Juan Francisco Tafoya, Espanol, 28, Carpenter Mar. to Maria Juliana de Luna, Mestiza, 20

One son, 4; two daughters, 8 & 7. His mother-in-law Indian; her son, Mestizo, 28, Sheepherder

Page 19:

No. 322 Micaela Garcia, Mestiza, 50, Widow

Two sons, 16 & 12; one daughter, 14.

No. 323 Jose Toledo, Mestizo, 23, Farmer

Mar. to Juana Andrea Luzero, Mestiza, 15 One daughter, 1.

1802 Confraternity List of the Rio Abao
(In 1750 Census Book by Olmsted)
Plaza de San Fernando

No. 6. Juan Francisco Tafoya, wife, Maria Juliana de Luna

No. 9. Jose Antonio Serna, wife, Manuela Toledo

No. 10. Jose Toledo, wife, Juana Andrea Lucero

No. 11. Pablo Toledo, wife, Maria Josefa Padilla

It would appear that the record showing Jose Toledo and Juana Chaves as grandparents is extremely confused. Either the priest had poor recollection or the padrinos were totally uninformed. This leaves us with the firm existence only of Juan Jose Toledo and his wife, Michaela Garcia, who had a daughter Bernarda baptized at Isleta on 25 September 1765 and who lived in San Fernando during the 1790 Census.

The following charts will show the known details of the family of Toledo, the couple in San Fernando. A second graph will show a dynasty of illegitimate children connected to Michaela Garcia (wife of Juan Jose Toledo) and Encarnacion Torres (mother of Jose Marcial Torres).

Turning to Encarnacion Torres, she had a son, Jose Marcial Torres, by Juan Jose Toledo, husband of Micaela Garcia, as shown on Chart II.

In another encounter, Encarnacion Torres had a son by Juan Francisco Tafoya, husband of Maria Juliana Delores de Luna. This child was Jose Torres/Tafoya who married Michaela Toledo, daughter of Jose Francisco Toledo and Juana Andrea Lucero. The son of Jose Torres/Tafoya was Jose Antonio Torres who was baptized on 9 October 1821 at Tome, and all the grandparents were listed. One set was Juan Francisco Tafoya and Encarnacion Torres.

There may be a third alliance for Encarnacion Torres if she is the woman of the same name in the following record:

Tome Marriages, 23 December 1802:

Jose Antonio Baca (18), Mestizo, natural son of Quiteria Torres of Plaza de las Bacas, marries Maria Dominga Padilla (19), Genizaro, daughter of Thomas Padilla, deceased, and Soledad Vigil of the Plaza de los Genizaros de Belen. Padrinos: Manuel Padilla and his mother, Maria Encarnacion Torres of Plaza de las Vacas.

Testigos: Joachin Ulibarri (60), Paulino Baca (44) of Plaza de las Vacas, Juan Andres Jojola, Genizaro, of same. Testigos: Miguel Gabaldon of First Plaza los Chaves, Jose Ramon Montoya of Plaza de las Vacas, Augustin Gonzales, Sacristan and Genizaro, of same.

Juana Dominga, daughter of Jose Marcial Torres and Gertrudis Benavides, was born in Plaza de las Bacas and baptized in Tome on 15 December 1800.

A Manuel Padilla of this time and place had married Lorenza Salas; and their son, Jose Padilla, married Maria Apolonia Herrera, daughter of Francisco Herrera and Francisca Ortega, in Tome on 31 October 1850. Lorenza Salas was a widow on 27 September 1816 when she wed Juan Gonzales in Tome.

Being padrinos in 1802 for Quiteria Torres indicates a blood tie between Quiteria and Encarnacion Torres and her son. Looking at records of Quiteria Torres, we see she had another natural son, Juan Jose Torres, who married on 10 December 1810 (at Tome) Maria Antonia Tafoya, daughter of Juan Francisco Tafoya and Maria Luisa (Juliana Delores) de Luna, residents of San Fernando.

In Albuquerque on 26 January 1778, Quiteria Torres had a natural daughter, Maria Guadalupe. The madrina was Catharina Romana Torres, wife of Gregorio Varela and daughter of Diego Torres. Catharina is found in the 1790 Census of Plaza de las Bacas. No other records have been found for Quiteria Torres.

1790 Census of New Mexico by Olmsted

Second Plaza de las Bacas, Belen

Pages 40, 41, 42 - Frames 346, 347, 348
(for relevant names)

No. 748 Juan Francisco Padilla, Mestizo, 30, & family

No. 754 Juan Domingo Padilla, Espanol, 51, & family

No. 756 Juan Pio Torres, Coyote, 33, & family

No. 760 Jose Antonio Padilla, Espanol, 39, & family

No. 762 Gregorio Varela, Espanol, 55, Carpenter,

Mar. to Maria Torres, Espanol, 33,* & family

(*Catharjna Romana Torres, daughter of Diego Torres, 1750 Census)

No. 767 Jose Torres, Espanol, 33, & Manuela de Luna & family

No. 775 Juan Domingo Torres, Espanol, 64, & family

(Son of Diego Torres, 1750 Census)

No. 776 Bartolorne Pino, Espanol, 33, Rancher

Mar. to Antonio Josefa Torres,* Espanol, 16. (*Isleta Mar. 3 Oct 1790: Bartolo Pino, about 30, natural son of Barbara Sanchez, deceased, widower of Manuela Chaves & Antonia Josefa Torres, 16, daughter of Juan Domingo Torres & Rita Garcia of Belen. Padrinos: Francisco Chaves & wife Josefa Romero Testigos: Esteban Padilla, 79; Toribio Garcia, 59; and Pedro Padilla, 58.

Encarnacion Torres and Quiteria Torres do not appear on the 1802 Confraternity List of Belen. Encarnacion Torres and Quiteria Torres are not to be found in the 1790 Census under those names. To summarize what we know:

1. In Tome Marriages, 2 July 1796, Jose Marcial Torres is called natural son of Encarnacion Torres when he marries Gertrudis Benavides and called a brother" of Jose Francisco Toledo. Their madrina is a daughter of Diego Torres of Plaza de las Bacas.

2. When Jose Antonio Tafoya is baptized in Tome on 9 October 1821, his parents are Jose Torres and Micaela Toledo. His grandparents are Encarnacion Torres and Juan Francisco Tafoya (the latter being husband of Maria Juliana Delores de Luna in 1790).

3. Manuel Padilla and "his mother," Encarnacion Torres of Plaza de las Bacas, (Belen) are padrinos for Jose Antonio Baca, Mestizo, 18, the natural son of Quiteria Torres, Tome marriages 13 December 1802. Padrinos are blood relatives. When Quiteria's other natural son married on 10 December 1810 in Tome a Maria Antonio Tafoya, Quiteria was deceased. The madrina of Quiteria's natural daughter, bap. in Albuquerque in 1778, Cathalina Romano Torres is a daughter of Diego Torres in the 1750 Census.

Two of the men who fathered the two natural sons of Encarnacion Torres were from San Fernando de las Silvas. In 1802 Encarnacion is from Plaza de las Bacas in Belen. When her son, Jose Marcial Torres, has a daughter, Juana Dominga, baptized in Tome on 15 December 1800, Jose Marcial is of San Fernando, and the child was born in Plaza de las Bacas.

The oldest Torres in Belen 1750 Census is Diego Torres. His children were listed as: Cayetano, Juan Domingo, Martin, Nicolas, Bartholome, Manuel, Catharina Romana, Maria, Josefa de la Luz, and infant, Lugarda. Next door: Christoval Torres with children Alexo and Ana Maria.

(1750 Census Book by Olmsted, p. 95)

Encarnacion Torres is never a madrina in Tome marriages. It is a fact that legal family members may be padrinos for natural children of their father (or mother), but this custom is never reversed.

We have established a blood tie between Quiteria Torres and Encarnacion Torres. They each had a natural child, the first in 1778, the latter in 1779. Were they servants of the Torres family or illegitimate Torres offspring?

Referring back to one entry in 1790 Plaza de las Bacas, Belen (1790 Census Book by Olmsted, p. 41, Frame 347, No. 756) which might possibly be relevant, although it lacks the proper phrasing and form of most entries:

"Juan Pio Torres, Coyote, 33, day laborer; married to Augustina Lucero, Mestiza, 29; 1 sister, Mestiza, 36, single; 3 sons: 11, 3, 1."

The entry does not specify that the sons following the sister are her sons. The children would be out of order if they belonged to the head of the house; they should follow the wife of the head. We also wonder whose sister, Torres or Lucero? Another trouble spot is if the sister belongs to the head of house, unless they had only one parent in common, they should share the same racial mixture.

The ages of the sister and the sons present no real problem. If she were the sister, Encarnacion Torres would be born about 1754. Jose Marcial Torres would be born in his own birth year, 1779. Jose Torres/Tafoya would be born in 1787, and Manuel Padilla ca. 1789. The latter could have been about 27 when his widowed wife remarried with Juan Gonzales at Tome on 27 September 1816.

It is to be remembered that there were no public schools and only the very well to do were able to preserve and keep records. Ages are sometimes two years younger than reality, and birthday celebrations were not an hispanic custom. The above entry may be utterly meaningless in this search.

Strangely, no record of an Encarnacion Torres is found in marriages or baptisms of Isleta. (Albuquerque baptisms begin in 1706, Isleta in 1730, Tome church in 1793, and Belen church not until 1810. Belen records were taken in Tome beginning in 1793.) Isleta baptisms are missing from 1777 to 1829 and then continue until 1842. This would eliminate a baptism for Jose Marcial Torres and probably for Jose Torres/Tafoya and Manuel Padilla, her sons and the sons of Quiteria.

In Isleta records were some entries with oddly familiar names that may or may not relate:

Isleta Marriages, 20 December 1771:

Francisco Tafoya, Coyote, and Maria de la Encarnacion (N.S.), Collota, both of Pajarito.

Padrinos: Bizente Primo and Maria de la Luz (N.S.)

Isleta Marriages, 27 December 1772:

Juan Angel* and Maria Quiteria (N.S.), both Indians of the Pueblo.

Testigos: Nicolas (N.S.) and Maria Juana (N.S.)

Isleta Baptisms, 28 December 1772:

Maria Angela Angel, daughter of Francisco (N.S.) and Maria de la Encarnacion (N.S.), Indian Criados of Pajarito.

Padrinos: Juan Angel and Maria Quiteria (N.S.)

Isleta Marriages, 1 July 1781:

Juan Angel*, widowed of Quiteria, Angelina (N.S.), and Rosa Lucero, widow of Ascencio Jojola.

Testigos: Francisco Pachura and Cristova]. Trujillo.

(*probably "Juan Angel is all a first name.)

Isleta Baptisms, 7 April 1756:

Maria de la Encarnacion, legitimate daughter of Antonio (N.S.) and Maria Rosa (N.S.).

Padrino: Antonio Guadalupe Norbisu (Garviso?)

New Mexico Roots Ltd., Chaves, Vol. 10, p. 1861:

Belen D.M. No. 46, 30 January 1772, Francisco Tafoya (30) Coyote, of Pajarito, widowed of Maria Antonia Ribera, and Maria Encarnacion Baca (17) Coyota. No parents for either.) Testigos: Juan Francisco Baca, Notary; Antonia Cruz Padilia (35) of San Andrea; Lucas Baca (45), Isleta.

As much as this researcher would like to find the origins of these interesting women. Encamacion and Quitena Torres, results of my investigation are vague and uncertain. If they are the Indians of Pajarito and Criados, how could they have evolved into the Plaza de los Bacas and have close ties to that Torres family? Could they have been sold from owners in Pajarito to the Torres family of Belen? It is always difficult to find baptisms of Mestizos as they are the result of a union of a Spaniard and an Indian woman. At best you may find a record of a mother, a Criado or serbiente, and her natural child. Sometimes the baby is baptized with the last name of the father if they are in the same social class, but rarely does her owners name become involved if he was the father. Little is known of Encarnacion and Quitena Torres. They left many descendants, but their origins remain a mystery.