Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: Probates and Wills: Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1774

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Probates and Wills: Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1774 - 1896 Book Review

© Kathy Duncan, 2013

Probates and Wills: Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1774 - 1896 by Henrietta M. Christmas and Patricia S. Rau is a little gem. With an every name index, its 102 pages contain about 73 wills abstracted from Book E of Santa Fe County, New Mexico located in the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The few early wills contained in it were probated in a later period from 1877 - 1896 when families needed to deed land in their own names. The bulk of the wills are from the 1877 - 1896 time period. Still, this book will make a fine addition to your New Mexico genealogy collection. If purchasing from Amazon, go to Amazon through the New Mexico Genealogical Society's webpage and use their Amazon Books link at the top of the page. When you do, a percentage of your purchase will go to NMGS. They, in turn, donate the proceeds to the Special Collections Library in Albuquerque, which houses a wonderful collection of New Mexico genealogy. The volunteers at the Special Collections Library are friendly and helpful. I am now making all of my Amazon purchases that way.

If you are searching for earlier New Mexico wills, do not despair. Instead, visit Henrietta M. Christmas's blog. She is steadily adding abstracts of early wills there. They make delightful reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I will always try to respond to your comments. If you are anonymous and cannot be reached by email and if you do not choose to follow responses to your comments, then please check back here for a response.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

About Me:

My favorite memories from childhood include visits to my grandparents in East Texas. At dusk we'd run around my grandparent's yard, catching fireflies and putting them in jelly jars. When darkness descended, we'd return to the porch. It was a special treat to sit in the porch swing. Inevitably, the adults would launch into family stories of Pink Kelley's brush with Sherman's troops, of Great Uncle Hood Brown's tragic death, and of the Kelley family's wagon trip to Texas, among many others. The stars on those nights were magical.

I began my genealogy research in the summer of 1975, less than a month after my high school graduation. When I married in 1983, I started researching my husband's family as well. I was fortunate to start this hobby as a youngster because it gave me an opportunity to correspond with researchers who are long gone; to ask questions of family members -although not enough, never enough; and travel a bit. The result is a lot of information. I've come to the realization that I will probably never be able to afford to publish, so this is my publication.

This blog contains a mixture of information on my husband's family and mine. I've expanded into a second blog called Flimsies and Frippery with the intention of focusing on quilts and dolls, but I have several historical research entries there with more planned, which is why I don't get more quilting done.

Ultimately, genealogy is my passion. This is where I plan to record family stories, research adventures and misadventures, and those serendipitous moments that happen out of the blue. You should be warned that I have a bad habit of going back and adding information and links to individual entries, so it is beneficial to check back often if there is a family of particular interest to you. If you wander in and discover that you are a cousin, please contact me.

Since many younger family members who are new to genealogy are starting to contact me about their ancestors, I've started adding family trees to help them see how everyone is connected. The trees are divided between my family and my husband's. You will find them below under the label's Family Trees - My Husband's Side and Family Trees - My Family's Side.

For better or worse, this blog reflects the research, thinking, and writing of a human.