OR NEVER, EVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.
Ramon Sandoval appears on the 1900 Taos County, New Mexico Territory census as a widower. His wife was Rosa Leyba, and she may have died around 1898. However, on the 1910 census, he is listed as divorced. At first, I assumed (big mistake) that this was an error. This was compounded by my sister-in-law, who was over twenty years older than my husband and who also thought this was an error because she had never heard any of the older family members mention a second wife for Ramon Sandoval or a divorce.
In 2015, I came across a newspaper notice in La Revista de Taos, 8 February 1907, concerning Ramon Sandoval's divorce from Emilia de Casias. I searched for her immediately, but did not find a likely candidate. This week's search in FamilySearch, however, I turned up a likely candidate. She was in a 1900 household with two boys Abel and Frederico Coca. However, she was listed as divorced. That would be ten years before Ramon Sandoval was listed as divorced in 1910. I was starting to wonder how scrambled the records were. I found her with her son Abel Coca in 1880 when Emilia was using the Coca surname and married to Lucas Coca. Then I found a marriage record for Emilia Casias (daughter of Mateo Casias) and Lucas Coca. Things were fitting more neatly. By playing with surnames, I found Emilia using the Sandoval surname in 1910 and in the household of her son Abel Coca. She was starting to seem like a more likely candidate although she was listed as a widow. I have seen divorced women present themselves as widows before on the census, probably because of the social stigma. In 1920, she is again listed as Emilia Casias and living with her grandson Demetro "Casias." In 1930, she is Emilia C. Coca, living with her son Abel Coca. Emilia Casias died in 1939. Her death record states that she was the widow of Lucas Coca and the daughter of Mateo Casias. Widowed, not divorced from Lucas Coca?
This Emilia Casias was a good candidate for the ex-wife of Ramon Sandoval, but was she the right Emilia, and was the Ramon Sandoval, who ran the divorce notice, the same Ramon Sandoval who was Rosa Leyba's widower? My first instinct was to look for a divorce record for Ramon Sandoval, but where to look? I then went to the Taos County, New Mexico wiki in FamilySearch. The wiki can be found under the search tab. I did not find any information about Taos County divorces there, but I did scroll down to the very bottom of the page where I found some interesting links. There were links for Taos County baptisms, marriages, and deaths at the bottom of the page. One set of links for indexes and one for images. Images? In playing around with those links I found that the indexes took me back into the familiar records search on FamilySearch. However, the image links turned out to be images of the original records. Unfortunately, the indexes and the images are not linked to each other. In searching through these same records on FamilySearch, there is no way to know that there is an image for the record let alone the ability to access it from the search results. The images have to be scrolled through, just like a reel of micofilm. Among the links to marriages images, I noticed one that did not have an index: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Taos, Online Parish Records, 1895 - 1956. After a few minutes of digging around, I found a marriage record for Ramon Sandoval in 1903:
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| Top of page 5 of 1902 Parraguia de N.S. de Guadalupe de Taos, Nueve Mexico. Click image to enlarge, and you will see that the date for Ramon Sandoval's second marriage is 1903 |
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| Marriage recorded 21 April 1903, N.S. Guadalupe of Taos |
While this record does not provide Ramon's age or mention that he is widowed of Rosa Leyba, it does state that he is the son of Diego Sandoval. This "Emiliam" is the daughter of Jose Mateo Casias. It appears that I have identified the correct Roman Sandoval and Emilia Casias.
It is interesting to note that there is a married man named Lucas Coca on the 1900 census who is the same age as the Lucas Coca who was Emilia's first husband. He is probably Emilia's first husband, and they are likely to have divorced as well.
Is it possible that Roman Sandoval and Emilia Casias annulled their marriage through the church and did not seek a civil divorce? I do not know yet.
Below is a transcript of the records that I found on Emilia Casias, who never appears on the census with Roman Sandoval. The lesson to remember here is that people led rich full lives between census years.
Maria Emilia Casias, daughter of Mateo Casias and Maria Manuela Tafoya, married Lucas Coca, son of Juan Bautista Coca and Maria Dolores Vigil, on 28 October 1878, in Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church, in Taos, New Mexico.
Fredrico Coco, son of Emilia Casias and Lucas Coca, was christened on 9 October 1881 in Taos, New Mexico.
Emilia Casios, age 77, daughter of Mateo Casios and Manuelita Garcia, widow of Lucas Coca, died 12 March 1939 in New Mexico.
8 June 1880, El Rancho, Taos County, NM:
22-22
Coca, Lucas W M 25 Laborer b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Emilia W F 21 Wife Keeps House b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Abel W M 8/12 Oct Son b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
1900, ED 154 Pct 3 Ranchos, Taos County, New Mexico:
46-47
Coca, Amelia Head W F June 1862 38 D 22 2-2 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM Laborer
----, Abel Son W M Oct 1881 18 S b. NM fb. NM mb. NM Day laborer
----, Federico W M Sept 1883 17 S b. NM fb. NM mb. NM Day Loborer
[Iley N Selph, son-in-law of Ramon Sandoval, is seven households away]
1910, Talpa, Taos County, New Mexico:
92-94
Coca, Abel Head M W 35 W b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Demetrio Son M W 6 S b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Federico Head M W 34 M-1 3 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Serviona Wife F W 22 M-1 3 0-0 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
Sandoval, Emilia Mother F W 45 W 2-2 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
6 January 1920, Talpa Pct No. 19, Taos County, New Mexico:
2-3
Casias, Emilia Head F W 56 D b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Demetro Grson M W 17 S b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
12 April 1930, Ranchos de Taos, Taos County, New Mexico
Talpa Public Road
102 - 109
Coca, Abel Head $300 M W 49 Wd 29 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Manuelita Dau F W 5S b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Emilia C Mother F W 68 Wd 18 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
-110
----, Demetrio Head M W 26 M 22 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Eusivia A. Wife F W 23 M 19 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
102-111
Coca, Frederico Head M W 47 M 24 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
----, Servellona Wife F W 45 M 22 b. NM fb. NM mb. NM
