NEW MEXICO

U.S.A.

An Introduction

Surnames

Ancestral Counties

County Research Links

Genealogy Information Websites

Contact Information

State Flag

NEW MEXICO

An Introduction

State Seal

     New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It has been inhabited by Native American populations and has been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic Americans at 43%, comprising both recent immigrants and descendants of Spanish colonists.[3]:6 It also has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska and Oklahoma, and the fifth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas.[4] The tribes represented in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American Indian cultural influences. The climate of the state is highly arid and its territory is mostly covered by mountains and desert. At a population density of 15 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth most sparsely inhabited U.S. State.

     The first known inhabitants of New Mexico were members of the Clovis culture of Paleo-Indians.[6]:19 Later inhabitants include Native Americans of the Mogollon and the Anasazi cultures.[7]:52 By the time of European contact in the 1500s, the region was settled by the villages of the Pueblo peoples and groups of Navajo, Apache and Ute.[6]:6,48

     Francisco Vasquez de Coronado assembled an enormous expedition at Compostela in 1540–1542 to explore and find the mystical Seven Golden Cities of Cibola as described by Fray Marcos de Niza.[7]:19–24 Juan de Oñate was appointed the first governor of the new Province of New Mexico in 1598.[7]:36–37 In 1598 he founded the San Juan de los Caballeros colony, the first permanent European settlement in the future state of New Mexico,[8] on the Rio Grande near Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.[7]:37 Oñate extended El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, "Royal Road of the Interior," by 700 miles (1,100 km) from Santa Bárbara, Chihuahua to his remote colony.[9]:49

     The settlement of Santa Fe was established at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains around 1608.[9]:182 The city, along with most of the settled areas of the state, was abandoned by the Spanish for 12 years (1680–1692) as a result of the successful Pueblo Revolt. After the death of the Pueblo leader Popé, Diego de Vargas restored the area to Spanish rule.[7]:68–75 While developing Santa Fe as a trade center, the returning settlers founded Albuquerque in 1706 from existing surrounding communities,[7]:84 naming it for the viceroy of New Spain, Francisco Fernández de La Cueva Enríquez, 10th Duke of Alburquerque.[10]

     As a part of New Spain, the claims for the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence.[7]:109 The Republic of Texas claimed the mostly vacant territory north and east of the Rio Grande when it successfully seceded from Mexico in 1836.[11]

     Following the Mexican-American War, from 1846-1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico ceded its mostly unsettled northern holdings, today known as the American Southwest and California, to the United States of America.[7]:132 In the Compromise of 1850 Texas ceded its claims to the area lying east of the Rio Grande in exchange for ten million dollars.[7]:135 The United States acquired the southwestern boot heel of the state and southern Arizona below the Gila river in the mostly desert Gadsden Purchase of 1853.[7]:136

     Congress admitted New Mexico as the 47th state in the Union on January 6, 1912.[7]:166 During World War II, the first atomic bombs were designed and manufactured at Los Alamos and the first was tested at Trinity site in the desert on the White Sands Proving Grounds between Socorro and Alamogordo.[7]:179–180

     New Mexico has benefited from federal government spending. It is home to three Air Force bases, White Sands Missile Range, and the federal research laboratories Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. The state's population grew rapidly after World War II, going from 531,818 in 1940 to 1,819,046 in 2000.[12][13] Employment growth areas in New Mexico include microelectronics, call centers, and Indian casinos.[14]

 

NEW MEXICO

Surnames

 

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died in this location.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Davis;   Henderson;   Pinnell

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

 

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

 

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

Additional information regarding these surnames may also be found at:

  Surname Locator Resources

NEW MEXICO

Our Ancestral Counties

 

The following named counties are associated with the history of our DIRECT ancestors.   To select a specific ancestral county, click on the following link. Here you will find additional links to our county pages  where you can obtain information about our family gen-sites, images of localities, and surnames of persons, in our database, who have lived in the selected county.

 

 

To find out more about each county named above use the following LINK:

ANCESTRAL LOCATIONS

 

NEW MEXICO

County Research Links

The links below may assist you with your research within the various counties of this state.

Click for detailed New Mexico counties map

Click on the image of this U.S. State to

View  a map of all county locations. Source:50states.com

Genealogical County

Research Links

Source: USGenWeb

BERNAlILLO;   CATRON;   CHAVES;   CIBOLA;   COLFAX;   CURRY;   DE BACA;   DOÑA ANA;   EDDY;   GRANT;   GUADALUPE;   HARDING;   HIDALGO;   LEA;   LINCOLN;   LOS ALAMOS;   LUNA;   MCKINLEY;   MORA;   OTERO;   QUAY;   RIO ARRIBA;   ROOSEVELT;   SAN JUAN;

SAN MIGUEL;   SANDOVAL;   SANTA ANA;   SANTA FE;   SIERRA;   SOCORRO;   TAOS;   TORRANCE;   UNION;   VALENCIA

 

General County

Research Links

Source:  Wikipedia

BERNALILLO · CATRON · CHAVES · CIBOLA · COLFAX · CURRY · DE BACA · DOÑA ANA · EDDY · GRANT · GUADALUPE · HARDING · HIDALGO · LEA · LINCOLN · LOS ALAMOS · LUNA · MCKINLEY · MORA · OTERO · QUAY · RIO ARRIBA · ROOSEVELT · SANDOVAL · SAN JUAN · SAN MIGUEL · SANTA FE · SIERRA · SOCORRO · TAOS · TORRANCE · UNION · VALENCIA

NEW MEXICO

Genealogy Information Websites

The following are links to websites that will provide you with specific

 Genealogical  Information  to assist with your research for this state.

 

 

 

Use the following LINKS to find more information that may pertain to this location.

 

 

Contact Information

Email

Pony Express:

Tom
27 Christopher Dr.
Burton, NB E2V3H4
Canada

Email

Snail mail:

Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA