Saturday, March 22, 2008

La Joya: Starting point of the conducta

Richard Melzer and Francisco Sisneros

La Historia del Rio Abajo is a monthly column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society.

The authors wish to thank church historian John M. Taylor for his kind assistance in the preparation of this article.

Opinions expressed in this and all columns of La Historia del Rio Abajo are the authors' alone and not necessarily those of the Valencia County Historical Society or any other group or individual.

La Joya was an exciting place to be in the late 18th century. Once a year, in late November, about 500 Spanish colonists gathered on the east bank of the Rio Grande 23 miles south of Belen to prepare for a 40-day journey to Chihuahua, the site of the largest annual trade fair in northern New Spain (now Mexico).

New Mexicans gathered at La Joya with wagons full of local products to sell or exchange at the trade fair. Their cargo included deer hides, furs, salt, piñon, textiles and, the greatest delicacy, buffalo tongues. Supplies filled whatever space remained.

Oxen pulled the many wagons. Some men rode on horses or mules, but most people walked. Herders drove hundreds of sheep to sell at the fair or to butcher and eat along the way.

Priests, soldiers and whole families gathered at the rendezvous point. Soldiers were needed to escort the conducta (caravan), although the odds of Indian raids on such a large, well-armed group were slim.

Families journeyed together because it was often safer for women and children to travel south with the men of their families than to stay at home where they were more vulnerable to Indian attacks.

The colonists who gathered at La Joya shared news of recent Indian attacks, epidemics, floods and other tragedies in various parts of New Mexico. Many mourned those who had died of natural or violent causes in the year since the travelers had last met.

Colonists also shared much happier news. Proud friends and relatives announced engagements, weddings and recent or anticipated births.

As if this hometown news was not enough, travelers collected additional information — as well as gossip and rumors — as they passed through large and small communities en route to La Joya.

While they waited for their fellow travelers to arrive, colonists entertained themselves with traditional songs and dances. We can image the good food they enjoyed, knowing that La Joya would be the last place they would stop for any length of time before reaching their destination in far-off Chihuahua.

But annual rendezvous in La Joya should not be confused with modern tailgate parties. There was much to do to prepare the caravan for the long journey ahead.

Did the travelers carry sufficient guns and ammunition? Had at least a hundred men been chosen to serve as sentries to guard the caravan at night? Had other men been found to care for the caballada (herd of horses)?

Had wagons been identified to travel at the head, the middle and the rear of the caravan on an alternating basis? Did every man, woman and child carry a travel permit, as required by Spanish colonial law?

These details, and many more, had to be carefully arranged before the eager group could leave at last.

The brief gaiety at La Joya was also interrupted by the thought of potential dangers that lay ahead. Shortly after breaking camp at La Joya, the caravan would enter the most treacherous 90-mile stretch of the Camino Real in New Mexico.

Ominously known as the Jornada del Muerto (or Journey of the Dead Man), the section of the Camino Real south of Socorro left the Rio Grande Valley to cross desert terrain largely devoid of water, fuel or grass.

Previous travelers through the Jornada had established parajes, or campsites, but there was no guarantee that these sites could satisfy the needs of hundreds of travelers, especially in the late fall in often winter-like conditions.

As the last wagon disappeared over the horizon, the lively activity at La Joya subsided as suddenly as it had begun. La Joya's normal serenity returned for at least another year.

La Joya's role changed considerably by the early 19th century. By then, colonists no longer traveled in one large annual caravan and there was less need to rendezvous at La Joya or anyplace else before continuing south on the Camino Real.

La Joya's role also changed in 1800 when New Mexico's governor Fernando Chacón ordered the resettlement of three Indian villages that had been abandoned prior to or after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. La Joya, first named Sevilleta by don Juan de Oñate in honor of Sevilla, Spain, was one of the three.

Sevilleta's official name had become "La Joya de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Sevilleta" by 1802. The name was soon shortened to "La Joya de Sevilleta" and then simply "La Joya," meaning the hallow or, as proud residents would prefer, the jewel.

By mid-1800, a fortified plaza had been built and crops had been planted in the surrounding fields. By 1801, priests from Belen and Tomé were baptizing children in La Joya's oratorio, or private chapel. Served by priests from Socorro and Sabinal for much of the 19th century, La Joya eventually became a separate parish with Our Lady of Sorrows Church as the center of Catholic religious life and culture.

As the small farming community continued to expand, an acequia mayor, or main irrigation ditch, was completed and operational by 1814. Five years later, 68 local residents petitioned and received a quarter million-acre land grant from the Spanish governor, Facundo Melgares. (Names of the 68 petitioners are listed in the original land grant document, now preserved in the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe.)

Most of the families that had answered Governor Chacón's call for the resettlement of La Joya had migrated from the Rio Arriba, or northern region of New Mexico, with fewer from the Rio Abajo, or southern region. The Mexican census of 1833 listed 133 families and a total of 524 residents living in "la plasa de la Jolla."

But La Joya suffered major problems in the 19th century. Despite precautions, the village suffered many Apache and Navajo attacks. In one instance, raiding Indians killed Esquipula Tafoya while the boy tended his family's sheep west of La Joya.

Navajo raiders later captured and held Esquipula's uncle captive for 18 months. Another boy was captured, but was soon rescued after a fierce battle with the Indians. Tomás Baca, one of the brave men in the rescue, was so badly wounded that his leg had had to be amputated to save his life.

To help defend their vulnerable community, local men willingly served in the militia. But with no money for guns or ammunition, each foot soldier in the militia was issued a bow and a quiver (filled with 25 arrows) as his meager means of defense.

The residents of La Joya fell victim to white as well as Indian depravations. During the Civil War, as a Confederate army invaded New Mexico from Texas, nearly every able-bodied man in La Joya volunteered to join the Union army to help defend the territory against the dreaded Tejanos.

Mustered into the army on Dec.12, 1861, La Joya's company of 63 men (plus another dozen who had joined a company organized in Socorro) served at Fort Craig during the disastrous Battle of Valverde. They were mustered out of the service just three days after this major Union defeat.

(Lists of these volunteers are also preserved in the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives.)

Fortunately, the volunteers from La Joya suffered only one death during their brief military duty. Pvt. Manuel Sais had been killed in an ambush by raiding Navajos. The raiders had captured Sais's $200 horse, a fact that seemed to upset army officers far more than the loss of the private's human life.

Advancing north from the Valverde battlefield, rebel forces commandeered horses, saddles, sheep, mules, feed, cooking utensils and even roof poles (for fuel) from villages up and down the valley, including from La Joya.

Sadly, Union forces did the same sort of damage in La Joya. The community later filed claims for these damages, but was never fully compensated by the federal government. There is even some question about whether the men who had volunteered for the army were ever compensated for their brief service in the Civil War.

The residents of La Joya fought among themselves as well. In particular, they argued about the fate of their land grant. After many years of legal squabbles and discord, the villagers finally lost their grant to outside interests by 1936.

Local poet Manuel Antonio Esquibel wrote "La Trajeria de la Mercé de La Joya" ("The Tragedy of the La Joya Land Grant") which decried the shenanigans of those he held responsible for this sad loss.

Other residents of La Joya became divided on issues of religion. Thomas Harwood, an active Methodist missionary in the Rio Abajo, had established a Methodist church in Socorro in 1871. Starting with eight adults and two young girls, the church gradually grew to include members of extended families in several surrounding communities.

While a majority of the families in La Joya remained Catholic, some joined the Methodist faith. But there is little evidence of friction between Methodist families and their Catholic neighbors, as had occurred in other towns in New Mexico.

In Peralta, for example, Father Jean B. Ralliere was said to ring his church bells to drown out Sunday sermons delivered by Methodist missionaries preaching in their nearby church.

Further north, Bishop Jean B. Lamy told Catholics in Santa Fe that they would suffer excommunication if they even looked at a Methodist missionary who had arrived to preach in the territorial capital.

In addition to those who joined the Methodist Church, other families in La Joya joined the New Jerusalem or Universal Catholic Church for at least a short period in the early 20th century.

Some families later joined the Pentecostal Church. Locally called the "aleluyas," these people were best known for the loud gospel music they often played outdoors.

Despite Indian raids, Civil War invasions and the loss of its land grant, La Joya remained a proud community, steeped in Hispanic tradition and largely content in its small size and isolation. Children were born and raised there in relative peace and innocence.

Rudy Baca was one such child, having been born to Tomás and Juanita Baca on Dec. 27, 1931. Rudy spent his entire youth in La Joya, playing, working and attending school during the worst years of the Great Depression and the tense days of World War II.

The story of Rudy Baca's childhood in this small village on the Rio Grande is the focus of next month's edition of La Historia del Rio Abajo. It will appear in the News-Bulletin on Saturday, April 5.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version