Well, first of all supposedly the Johnson fellow was a Cherokee Indian hiding from the law, family members say he ran from a reservation and in the process killed some bounty hunter and took his name as his own. According to Oral history from different branches of our family they all tell the same story that Maria Matilde and a son Alejandro Chaves were killed running from the army according to my cousin that lived with my Great Grandmother she said my Great Grandmother who was around 5 years old told her she watched her mother and brother killed, then her Father Juan Jose Chaves took my Great Grandmother to live with her Grandmother Maria Quirina Samora so he could avenge his families death and ride with Geronimo who was his brother in-law. He never returned. Just a little interesting LOL! But I am not sure these are the facts as I said it's all oral history. I am sure there are tidbits of truth mixed in with lots of embellishment..... But both the Johnson's, Samora's and my family all tell the same story and they have not seen each other in decades. My take on the whole thing is that all sides of the family spent so much energy hiding who they were that they lost each other and I am the instrument being used to reunite us all. Before I started researching I had no knowledge of the Johnson's or the Samora's now I am in phone contact with them all and have gained an entirely new family! It's been a blessing and a pleasure to reconnect with them.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Thank you Karen for your insight. We have searched every cemetery west side of the Mississippi... LOL! Ok, maybe not that far but at least from Huerfano to La Junta and to the New Mexico border. My family were Indio's and hiding. So we are having a real good time trying to get the real story. They did a good job of hiding! LOL! Good thing I am like a dog with a bone and I don't give up easily! I plan on going back to Colorado and staying in that area doing research until I find anything I can tax records, land records, court records. Thanks again for the warm welcome and the good suggestions! Nancy

Ahhhh I sense a very interesting story here (grin). Why were they hiding? And you're welcome. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: Latingrl40@aol.com To: km1109@aculink.net ; COHUERFA-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 6:57 AM Subject: Re: [COHUERFA] St Vrain Cem Thank you all for the warm welcome. Thank you Karen for your insight. We have searched every cemetery west side of the Mississippi... LOL! Ok, maybe not that far but at least from Huerfano to La Junta and to the New Mexico border. My family were Indio's and hiding. So we are having a real good time trying to get the real story. They did a good job of hiding! LOL! Good thing I am like a dog with a bone and I don't give up easily! I plan on going back to Colorado and staying in that area doing research until I find anything I can tax records, land records, court records. Thanks again for the warm welcome and the good suggestions! Nancy

Hi Nancy, Welcome to the list. I am the one that took the photos at the cemeteries. No, that metal plate could not have come from the 1880's. I would say it's no older than the 1970' or 80's. It's one of those novelty things, like having your own street sign. It was not attached to anything, just lying there on the ground. There was another one, identical to it laying by the fence, as if someone had tossed it there. I have no way of knowing if it was supposed to be lying next to that rock or not. Now it could be entirely possible that a descendent of hers had those tin plates made and placed them at the site. Again, we have no way of verifying that. I assume that you have asked at both churches, St. Mary's in Walsenburg and Holy Trinity in Trinidad, if they have records of her burial. If not, you need to do that. In trying to determine where a person might be buried, you can narrow it down by examining the burial records of other members of the family. Where were her parents buried? Where are the husbands buried? Where are her children buried? If she was widowed when she died, did she live with one of her children? If so, where? This won't always give you an exact location, but it may give you a narrower avenue to search. Yes, in that time frame, she may have been buried under her maiden name, especially beings she was married twice. So be sure to explore those possibilities with the churches. Do you know where she lived the last years of her life? Chances are her burial would be close to there. Hope this helps and please do let us know if you find out anything. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: <Latingrl40@aol.com> To: <COHUERFA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 8:07 PM Subject: [COHUERFA] St Vrain Cem Hi Everyone, My name is Nancy and I currently live in Connecticut but was born and raised in Colorado. I am new to the list and wanted to say how much I enjoy the Huerfano website.... It's the best! I have a question about one of the graves at the St. Vrain Cem. My Great Great Grandmothers name was Maria Matilde Salazar and we have long been searching for her date of death and place of burial. On the St Vrain Cem. list is a Maria M. Salazar and the picture shows a rock with a cross carved into it and a metal name plate just laying on the ground. I am wondering if anyone knows if this name plate could be as old as the mid 1880's? We know she died between 1882 and 1886 time line is not accurate. She was married twice, once to Bernardo Johnson in 1867 and then to Juan Jose Chaves 1878 both marriages are documented in Holy Trinity Church, Trinidad. Is it possible they used her maiden name at burial? Thanks for all the hard work and the great website! Nancy

Hello all, I now have the disc with the Colorado Marriages 1858-1939 and will be happy to do look ups. e-mail to bcrump@rmi.net. Billie Crump

Hi Nancy: I don't have an answer to your question, but wanted to welcome you to our List. You will find many people here who do have answers and are more than happy to help. Good to have you with us! Louise Adams Tri-County Obituary Coordinator

Hi Everyone, My name is Nancy and I currently live in Connecticut but was born and raised in Colorado. I am new to the list and wanted to say how much I enjoy the Huerfano website.... It's the best! I have a question about one of the graves at the St. Vrain Cem. My Great Great Grandmothers name was Maria Matilde Salazar and we have long been searching for her date of death and place of burial. On the St Vrain Cem. list is a Maria M. Salazar and the picture shows a rock with a cross carved into it and a metal name plate just laying on the ground. I am wondering if anyone knows if this name plate could be as old as the mid 1880's? We know she died between 1882 and 1886 time line is not accurate. She was married twice, once to Bernardo Johnson in 1867 and then to Juan Jose Chaves 1878 both marriages are documented in Holy Trinity Church, Trinidad. Is it possible they used her maiden name at burial? Thanks for all the hard work and the great website! Nancy

Of course, I'm asking your help AFTER I've been there. . . But, I wandered around the cemetery for a while looking for the grave of my ggrandmother's little sister who died in Walsenburg in 1883. We found the older section of the cemetery and spent an hour wandering through the weeds. But, needless to say, we couldn't find hers. So, I figured the list online must have been compiled in the 1930s and the tombstone had since vanished. However, getting home, I pulled up the usgenweb site and looked, again, at the cemetery listings. This note precedes the names. . . "The Masonic Cemetery was carefully copied in October 1979 by members of the Southeastern Colorado Genealogical Society and compiled by Christine Todd." My question. . . FINALLY. . . Is there a "plat" of the cemetery to see where the grave is and if it might still be marked? I'd appreciate any help! It seems that four or five children were born in Walsenburg. Only two lived past a year and by 1890, the family had returned to PA. THANKS! Bob Barndt Midland, TX

Hi everyone, I've been busy! Here are the latest developments on our pages: Huerfano County; The St. Mary's Baptisms have been completed through "O" plus W - Y - Z: http://www.kmitch.com/Huerfano/baps1.html I have added a Head of Household listing for the 1910 census: http://www.kmitch.com/Huerfano/huerf1910.html Pueblo County Dennis has Submitted over 1,000 photos for Imperial Cemetery with an additional listing of 1,512. THANK YOU Dennis!! http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/imperial.html More data has been added on the Doyle family: http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/doyle.html More marriages have been added: http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/marriages.html Enjoy! Karen

Hello Mary: You can contact the Walsenburg Library. They have obituaries on microfilm that they can copy for you. http://www.spld.org/contact.htm If you are successful, please contribute the obituary for inclusion in our Tri-County Obituary Database. Each obituary is tripled in value when submitted. Not only does the obituary honor/memorialize the person, it establishes them as a part of Colorado history, and the obituary is preserved for future generations to view free of charge. Simply type it into an email, include the publication and date the obituary appeared, and send it to me. I'll format it for the database and it will appear in the next update. In addition, The Tri-County Obituary Database includes the following: Lila Trongaard - Walsenburg Independent - April 6, 1950 - Mrs. Trongaard Dies at Noon - Lila Trongaard 52, died at noon today. She had been ill since 12 O'clock last night. She was born in Kansas April 28, 1898, and is survived by her husband, one son, Don of Sioux City, Iowa, and two sisters, Mrs. Alta Cramer of Walsenburg and Mrs. Eunice Mannan of Las Cruces, N.M. Arrangements will be announced later by Burress Memorial Chapel. Hope this information helps. The database can be viewed at: http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/obits/obitindex.html Regards, Louise Adams Tri-County Obituary Coordinator

----- Original Message ----- From: Mary Trongaard To: km1109@aculink.net Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 3:58 PM Subject: Request for 1950 obituary I hope you can help me. I am looking for the obituary for Lila Trongaard, whose death was listed in the Walsenburg Independent on April 6, 1950. I would appreciate any information you can give me. My husband is the son of Don Trongaard who is mentioned in the notice, and we have very little information on Lila, other than she was my husband's grandfather's wife and they lived in Colorado. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated. Mary Trongaard (Mrs. Craig) metron@MHTC.net

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Who is researching the Hiram Campbell Baker family? Karen

HI, IF ANY OF YOU CAN HELP I WAS TOLD THAT THESE FAMILY WERE RELATED, THE NAMES WERE ,,, REYES TRUJILLO------ OR ---- URSULA (BENAVIDEZ ) TRUJILLO,SOME HOW THE AUTOBEES WERE RELATED TO THIS FAMILY THIS WAS TOLD BY MY AUNT THAT PASSED A WAY AND BY MY MOTHER MY AUNT GAVE ME A NEWS CLIPPING OF THE AUTOBEES AND TOLD ME THAT THEY WERE FAMILY FROM COLORADO, THESE FAMILYS LIVED IN WALSENBURG, PUEBLO SALT CREEK, 1887--1900 THEN THEY LIVED IN THE 1910, TOWN ,MILLIKEN, WELD ,COUNTY, 1920 BELVEIW,LARMIER,. THEN GREELEY, THEN DENVER , LOVLAND, COLORADO , IF ANY OF THE AUTOBEES THAT HAS ANY INFROMATION ON THESE FAMILY NAMES IF YOU COULD GET BACK WITH ME AT ,, BEN S RODRIGUEZ 2004 LANCEY DR, MODESTO CA, 95255 BENSROD@AOL.COM

Karen, National Honor Society and other high school clubs require community service--could you enlist their help? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Mitchell" <km1109@aculink.net> To: <COHUERFA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 8:15 AM Subject: [COHUERFA] Need technical advise, Huerfano County > Good morning list family! > It's a beautiful morning in Colorado. > > Okay, I need all of you to put on your thinking caps and help me out here. > I > need suggestions from all of you! > > Since Louise became our Tri-County Obituary Coordinator, it has been her > dream to post a listing of all the obits available at the Walsenburg > library. Dick is ready to step in and help with whatever we need to do to > make this dream a reality. But we need help with ideas. > > There are approximately 20,000 index cards listing the deceased's name, > date > of death, newspaper and date of publication. If we can get all of these > cards into a searchable database, each and every one of you can search it > for your own ancestors. As you know, sometimes names are mis-spelled or > you > want data on offshoot branches of your family and you can't get to the > library to see if there's an obituary. So this is a very important project > for all of our researchers. > > We thought of copying them, laying several on a page, them sending the > copies to Louise for data input. But with that many, it's going to be very > time consuming as well as expenses for postage. Dick volunteered to do the > copying, with his small copier, but when he saw how many cards there are, > we > can't justify the wear and tear on his equipment, hauling it back and > forth, > and expense of cartridges, etc. > > What I need from each of you is ideas and suggestions as to how we can > accomplish this project with the least amount of manpower and expense. > Does > anyone have any ideas or suggestions here??? > > We are hoping that Dick will spearhead this project to keep it moving in > the > right direction and to give us updates on progression, but folks, we need > help! > > My first thoughts are a small hand held scanner and a laptop, but > unfortunately I don't think any of us can run right out and purchase these > items. Louise and I have each pledged $20.00 towards any expenses that > occur > but we need ideas on how to get this project done. PLEASE let me know your > thoughts. How can we get this done? > > Hugs, > Karen > > > > >

Karen, Re; cards from library. Can't they be scanned,saved as a document and attached to an email? Linda

Nice job Karen! I was able to link to all 3. Linda

Hi Jean, No the cards can't leave the library. And reducing them is a good thought. Thank you for the suggestion. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Griesan" <griesantomjean@msn.com> To: "'Karen Mitchell'" <km1109@aculink.net> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 10:17 AM Subject: RE: [COPUEBLO] Need technical advise, Huerfano County Karen, Am I to assume that the cards cannot leave the library? Also, you may be able to fit more cards per page when copying if you reduce the size from the "original" to the copy. I hope that someone that's more "tech savvy" will have a better idea. - Jean

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Griesan" <griesantomjean@msn.com> To: "'Karen Mitchell'" <km1109@aculink.net> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 10:17 AM Subject: RE: [COPUEBLO] Need technical advise, Huerfano County Karen, Am I to assume that the cards cannot leave the library? Also, you may be able to fit more cards per page when copying if you reduce the size from the "original" to the copy. I hope that someone that's more "tech savvy" will have a better idea. - Jean

Good morning list family! It's a beautiful morning in Colorado. Okay, I need all of you to put on your thinking caps and help me out here. I need suggestions from all of you! Since Louise became our Tri-County Obituary Coordinator, it has been her dream to post a listing of all the obits available at the Walsenburg library. Dick is ready to step in and help with whatever we need to do to make this dream a reality. But we need help with ideas. There are approximately 20,000 index cards listing the deceased's name, date of death, newspaper and date of publication. If we can get all of these cards into a searchable database, each and every one of you can search it for your own ancestors. As you know, sometimes names are mis-spelled or you want data on offshoot branches of your family and you can't get to the library to see if there's an obituary. So this is a very important project for all of our researchers. We thought of copying them, laying several on a page, them sending the copies to Louise for data input. But with that many, it's going to be very time consuming as well as expenses for postage. Dick volunteered to do the copying, with his small copier, but when he saw how many cards there are, we can't justify the wear and tear on his equipment, hauling it back and forth, and expense of cartridges, etc. What I need from each of you is ideas and suggestions as to how we can accomplish this project with the least amount of manpower and expense. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions here??? We are hoping that Dick will spearhead this project to keep it moving in the right direction and to give us updates on progression, but folks, we need help! My first thoughts are a small hand held scanner and a laptop, but unfortunately I don't think any of us can run right out and purchase these items. Louise and I have each pledged $20.00 towards any expenses that occur but we need ideas on how to get this project done. PLEASE let me know your thoughts. How can we get this done? Hugs, Karen