AZ. She is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and served as an interpretive. Park Ranger for the
Presenter Itinerary
9:00 a.m. Welcome remarks by S. Pauline Anaya, Psy.D., president of the Anza Society, descendent of the 1598 NM Onate settlement– and a special thanks to Ernestina Cordova, president of the Taos Historical Society. 9:15 a.m. Professor Bob Romero is a 9th generation New Mexican, born in Taos. He is semi-retired but continues as an adjunct instructor at UNM-Taos teaching courses in the history of Taos, history of New Mexico and political science. Bob received an MA degree from Adams State University in Alamosa, CO and taught at Mesa State College in CO and NM Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM. In 1992 he coauthored A Brief History of Taos, was a contributing author in 2013 to Taos: A Topical History, and in 2015 published the History of Taos. His presentation will focus on Anza, the 55th Governor of Nuevo Mejico. During his tenure from 1778 to 1787 Anza implemented reforms in bureaucratic, judicial and religious institutions, and he curbed the social, political and economic power of the Franciscans, and this changed the course of colonial NM. Governor Anza also saved the colony from near extermination that it faced from the unceasing raids of the Hispano villages and Indian Pueblos by the nomadic Indians. New Mexicans of that time were not supportive of Anza’s reform efforts or the militarizing of NM, and perhaps this is the reason that Anza’s accomplishments were played down and he was not given his due in NM History. The presentation explores how in hind sight, Anza’s accomplishments were very historically significant. 9:45 a.m. Dr. Ron Quinn is a 5th generation Californian with a PhD in Biology from Princeton University. Ron was also a Senior Fulbright research scientist in Spain for a year in 1991-92. Now retired, he was formerly Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences and Regenerative Studies, Cal Poly, Pomona. He is secretary of the Anza Society and will be co-presenting with Laura Bolyard, MLA. Laura is a Landscape Architect with the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program in Tucson AZ. She is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and served as an interpretive Park Ranger for the NPS for 6 years. Their presentation will focus on the Tucson Anza Trailside Display. Anza’s expedition followed the Santa Cruz River northward and passed through Tucson in October, 1775 on their way to California. The Trailside Display is being constructed between the river, and the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, and will incorporate features specifically designed for the students at the school. The project is being conducted in partnership with a number of organizations, including Pima County, the National Park Service, the Anza Trail Foundation, and the Anza Society. 10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Morning Break 10:30 a.m. Dr. Robert Torrez received his undergraduate degree from NM Highlands U in Las Vegas and his graduate degree at the University of New Mexico. He is a former NM State Historian (13 years), and served as president of the Historical Society of NM (4 years). He has contributed significantly to the preservation of NM historical documents and cultural properties. Author of six books including UFOs Over Galisteo and Other Stories of NM’s History, he and Robert Trapp coauthored Rio Arriba, A NM County (2011 winner of New Mexico Book Awards). His most recent book was Voices From the Past: The Comanche Raid of 1776 and Other Tales of NM History. His presentation title: “A Constant State of War: A Prelude to Juan Bautista de Anza’s 1779 Comanche Campaign.” During the decades preceding Juan
Bautista de Anza’s appointment as governor, dozens of Comanche, Apache and Navajo raids killed hundreds of New Mexicans. This presentation will review the information culled from New Mexico’s Spanish-era archives that demonstrates the almost constant state of war that plagued New Mexico’s communities and made the success of Anza’s Comanche campaign vital to New Mexico’s survival as a Spanish province. 11:00 a.m. Dr. John Kessell received his PhD from the University of New Mexico. Early in his career he was a historian for the National Park Service in Arizona. Subsequently he was chair of the history department at UNM and thesis advisor for Carlos Herrera (who turned his thesis research on Anza into a book). John served as assistant editor of the NM Historical Review and is now retired as Professor Emeritus of History. He has published many books, including Remote Beyond Compare, based on letters of Diego de Vargas (Kessell was editor and Rick Hendricks assistant editor – Governor Vargas led the reconquest of New Mexico in 1692 and described the region in one of his letters back to Spain as remote beyond compare). This presentation will focus on Tomas Velez Cachupin, a two-term governor (the 47th and 52nd ). He was able in each term of office to establish a fragile peace with the Comanche and has to be considered along with Anza as one of the best governors of New Mexico. Most intriguing though is the question, what would possibly motivate this governor to leave New Mexico, return to Spain, and then come back for a 2nd time to a land “remote beyond compare?” 11:30 a.m. John Anderson was El Paso County Sheriff from 1995 to 2003. He has lived in the Pikes Peak Region since 1956, and grew up on a ranch in the “shadow of the mountain.” He is a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar and graduated from Regis University (MBA). He worked after his stint in law enforcement for Lockheed Martin and is now retired. He recently (2015) published Ute Indian Prayer Trees of the Pikes Peak Region. His co-presenter is Dr. James Jefferson, Southern Ute Elder at Ignacio, Colorado. Dr. Jefferson holds a PhD in linguistics and co-authored The Southern Ute, A Tribal History (1972). John described in his book meeting Dr. Jefferson in June 2013, and subsequently traveled to Ignacio at the invitation of Dr. Jefferson, where the upcoming (2nd annual) Ute Prayer Tree Retreat to be held in August, 2014 was being planned. Their presentation will focus on Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs) including Ute Indian Prayer/Trailmarker Trees. 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch at the Sagebrush Inn 1:30 p.m. Gilbert Suazo Sr.’s name translated is “Standing Wolf.” He is governor of Taos Pueblo (TauTah); it has been occupied for perhaps 1,000 years. Archeologists estimate the age between 1000 and 1450 A.D. and it is one of the oldest continuously lived in communities in the entire United States. In 1992 the pueblo was added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2010, the population was about 150 persons in the pueblo, with over 1900 Taos Puebloans living in the area. Gilbert is the governor and keeps very busy - maintaining their cultural heritage and simultaneously dealing with the challenges from outside the pueblo. In 2008 he testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee concerning water rights, and thirty eight years earlier testified to the same committee for legislation to return to Taos Pueblo the Blue Lake Wilderness Area (President Nixon endorsed a bill signing the land back over to the Pueblo in 1970, with exclusive use of 1,640 acres). His presentation will focus on their Sacred Blue Lake (Ba whyea). 2:00 p.m. Southern Ute tribal elder Alden Naranjo retired in 2017 from a long time position as NAGPRA coordinator (Native American Graves protection and Repatriation Act). At his retirement ceremony in Ignacio, CO, he said he enjoyed working with the tribes, federal and other government agencies, and
intends to continue his efforts to pass on the knowledge, language and traditions of his people. This will be the 2nd time Alden has made a presentation to the Anza Society. At our 20th annual conference in Pueblo, CO in 2015 he focused on the battle between Anza’s forces and the Comanche war chief Cuerno Verde (Green Horn). From Anza’s journal, we know that Anza left Santa Fe with an army of 600 (about 2/3 were Pueblo Indians) and along the way he was joined by another 200 Ute and Jicarilla Apaches. Alden spoke then about the expedition as passed down in their traditions. His presentation in Taos will focus on some of the challenges and rewarding experiences he has faced as an elder of the Southern Ute Nation. 2:30 p.m – 2:45 p.m. Afternoon Break 2:45 p.m. Charles (Corky) Hawk earned his undergraduate degree in economics at Yale University and his Law Degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He practiced employment relations law until his retirement and has more recently served as a board member and chair of the Taos County Historical Society and is a member of the Taos Archaeological Society, as well as the Santa Fe Trail Association. He has studied, mapped and written about historic trails for over 20 years. Certainly trail locations are important; for example Anza learned near Pike’s Peak that Cuerno Verde had attacked Taos while Anza marched north, and the war chief planned a victory celebration at Manitou Springs. Anza quickly deduced that if he went to Taos on “the trail” that he would run into the Comanche and that is exactly what happened. But exactly where was that trail? Corky’s presentation will concentrate on trails closer to Taos. His talk is entitled: “With Anza’s army on the Spanish Road and the Camino Real, in September, 1779.” 3:15 p.m. Dr. Joseph Myers grew up in Monte Vista, CO, graduated from Adams State University and received his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Washington, Seattle. He shares Corky’s enthusiasm for trails, having worked five summers during college building trails in the High Sierra Wilderness Area near Fresno, CA. Retired from 3M Corporation, he has enjoyed researching Anza for nearly two decades. His main focus recently has been trying to locate the battle site between Anza’s army and the Comanche in their battle south of Pueblo, CO. The presentation will describe the Taos Trail location (per Jacob Fowler in 1822) and explain why he believes that the battle site locations proposed to date have been flawed. A careful analysis of Anza’s time line, superimposed on the exact Taos Trail location, sheds new light on where to look next for musket balls from the “final battle.” 3:45 p.m. Naomi Torres, Superintendent of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail will provide a brief update on recent happenings on the trail, and Jim Toevs, vice president of the Anza Society, will conclude with remarks about the upcoming meeting in Alamos, Mexico next spring (March 7-10. 2019).
Banquet Speakers 5 PM, Friday May 18 at Old Martina’s Hall Dr. Rick Hendricks, New Mexico State Historian, received his B.A. in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hills) and his PhD in Ibero American Studies at the University of New Mexico. He also attended the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain. A former editor of the Vargas Project (six books focusing on the journals of Diego de Vargas, including examples such as: By Force of Arms, covering 1691-93 and Remote Beyond Compare, covering letters from 1675-1706), he has also been a historical consultant for Sandia, Santa Ana and Picuris Pueblos in New Mexico and Ysleta del Sur in Texas. After the Vargas Project, he worked in the Archives and Special Collections Department at New Mexico State University Library and taught courses in colonial Latin America and Mexican history. He has written or collaborated on many books and articles on the Spanish colonial period in the American Southwest and Mexico. His most recent book, New Mexico in 1801: The Priests Report was published in June 2008. For a decade he edited the Southern New Mexico Historical Review (a publication of the Dona Ana Historical Society). His presentation will center around the historic San Francisco de Asis Church built 1813-15 and in particular, the Mystery Painting. 7 PM, Saturday May 19 Sagebrush Inn – Chamisa II Room Colonel David Cabeza de Baca holds Master’s degrees from the University of Denver, New Mexico State University and the US Army Command and General Staff College. Retired from the US Army, he has been working on a memorial for retired veterans of wars dating to the Colonial period and Civil Wars, and this includes some veterans that served under Anza. His ancestor Luis Maria Baca was patriarch of the Cabeza de Baca family as well as part of the 1779 Anza campaign. David somehow found time for his 40 year passion – researching Spanish History and Genealogy while pursing dual careers in the US Army and as a multinational IT Consultant for energy giants such as Shell Oil and Texaco. He has dedicated the last decade to honoring New Mexico families and veterans with initiatives such as the recently dedicated Sandoval County Veterans Pictorial Memorial honoring 5,900 local veterans and displaying 1,700 of their military photos. He is currently working on a project to honor Mew Mexico’s and our Nation’s Spanish and Pueblo Colonial Era Veterans. His presentation will cover his current activities on the memorials, his genealogy research, and some family history. There were a couple of very slight errors in the initial brochure - his family name at one time was Vaca but now is Baca, and their land holdings were not five 1,000 acre grants, but rather five 100,000 acre grants. Imagine surveying all this: A vara is about 33 inches. 50 varas made up a cordel (the legal measurement, typically a well twisted and waxed sisal cord or rope just over 137 feet long). 100 cordels made a league (2.6 miles). The initial grant of 500,000 acres could have been a square about 28 miles on a side.
