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Subjects RAM Lin IN ORSTA S-240 Folk -maps
Smbmitted Sys New Vexice Normal University
Dr. Lester Raines
Informants Frank V. Garcia
Original Copy, Not rewritten.
Wordage, 600
Dates July 25, l6
Approved* Ina Siser Cassidy, State Director
Folk...ways
Garcia; Raines 7/206 c1-800
EARLY AFP.: IN VESTA
By frank V. Garcia
I can still see grandmother sitting in her chair at the fireplace,
her wrinkled face *lining in its fitful light, as she told me stories
of her early li2e. I settled myself more comfortably on my warm sheep-
skin bed and the proceeded.
'Quest* was settled by five pioneers in 1350. The most prominent
of the group was Don Benito, Who at that time had thirty Indian servants.
The Indian slaves *eased to enjoy the hard work under their master, per-
forming their daily tasks as faithfully as they could and hoping some
day to be highly rewarded by their master. This valley at that time
was °covered by a dense forest so that the clearing of land was an im-
portant occupation for the Indian slaves."
'After enough lead was cleared the planting of crops was begun.
The plowing was one by means of a sharp pointed piece of iron inserted
in a piece of -wood to which were attached rude handles. The plow was
dram by mewl'
"By the end of 1836 more than fifty settlers, besides their Ind.
iaa servants, had settled in Queete. la each new settler arrived he
was assigned a section of land to clear and till. Farms were started,
roads built, irrigation ditches dug. Even now the community was not
safe from Indian attack. A working man in the fields bed his gun and
powder handy, for no one knew *hen the bad Indians would come. Occas-
ionally a watch was put over the field so that the peones, could work
in peace."
'In 1830 Don Benito called a meeting of all the inhabitants to
discuss plans for building a church. It was agreed that Saturday of
each week all man should work an the new building, which was to have
a double wall. Bach wall was to be eighteen inches in thickness.
Between the walls was a specie a foot wide, to be filled with brush
and ceder posts. Consequently the completed walls would be four feet
thick, They were about fourteen feet high.'
°The heavy beams which you enjoy looking at so moot when you should
be preying are about eighteen indium through and not less than twenty.
five feet long. They were lifted in place with only thick strips of
hide to aid the men in their work,'
'The building was, I think, completed in 1840. It was decided to
dedicate it to the holy name of San Antonio, patron of all farmers. A
messenger was sent to Taos to bring Father Martine' to direct the cere-
mony of the Maas."
'The thirteenth der of June was to be the great day for the amts.
C ft that day all the men mounted their horses and wheeled them into two
lines. The last eight men in each file carried guns in ease of Indian
surprise. Four women carried the image of San Antonio which had been
donated by Dona Maria, Don Benito' wife; all the other women and the
children followed. The 'omen chanted the hymn MisAgrkom de San Antonio
and all the men joined in the chorus. The procession went to the four
corners of the valley so that San Antonio might see the conditions of
the crops."
"During the month of Mary or May, as we call it now all the
men, women and children attended the ceremony of the Rosario dedicated
to Miry, which took place every afternoon at four o'clock.