Los Argüellos – Connecting Migrations and Memories
My interest about my family history began as a young child during our annual visits to my grandfather Jose Tiburcio Argüello and Antonia (Tonita) Cordova Argüello’s farm in Llano de San Juan Nepomuceno, now known as Llano, New Mexico. During our visits to my grand-parents farm my grandfather always reminded me of how our ancestors were the ones who settled all the villages in the surrounding area many years ago.
In 1946 after my father Clarence Argüello completed his military service in the United States Army during World War II and after returning to Llano New Mexico from the European Campaign he married my mother Clora Muniz. Like many families during this time frame they were seeking a better opportunity and they made the decision to reluctantly leave their beloved New Mexico and moved from Llano, New Mexico to Green River, Wyoming. The many memories of all the families who left New Mexico and moved to different parts of the United States have left a trail of stories, not just stories about New Mexico but also stories about the obstacles they faced in their new locations. The families were faced with prejudices, language barriers and the new cultures which they now had to adjust to and ensure that they did not lose their New Mexico identity and culture. I was fortunate to have listened and noted the stories of my parents’ memories of their move from New Mexico to Wyoming, but that is another story to be told at some other time.
In 1990 I began collecting all my notes and drove to New Mexico to reminisce of the times of my years of our annual visits to New Mexico. I made a point to go to the Trampas, New Mexico church and read the historical marker about the 12 families who in 1751 establishing the village of Las Trampas. I told my wife that I believe that I am related to the Juan de Arguello who is mentioned on the historical marker. I was ecstatic when through my genealogical research I found out that he was my 9th generation great-grandfather. My research was always with assistance from my two Primo’s, (Cousins) George Martinez from Denver, Colorado and Alberto Vidaurre from Taos, New Mexico who were also conducting research on New Mexico families.
During my research I also began my quest into researching about all the 12 families of the original settlement of the Santo Thomas Apostol del Rio de Las Trampas Land Grant. The original families were from Juan de Argüello, his son Juan Jose de Argüello, Luis Francisco Leyba, his brother Eusebio Leyba, Melchor Rodriguez, his son Pedro Felipe Rodriguez, Jose de Aragon, Salvador Baca, Antonio Dominguez, Juan Garcia, Ygnacio Vargas and Vincente Lucero.
I plan to share more on the original families of Las Trampas.
12 thoughts on “Los Argüellos – Connecting Migrations and Memories”
I really enjoyed reading this article!!!! I tell my cousin, Estevan Rael, that New Mexico is God’s country!
Beautifully written so interesting
Awesome write up and looking forward to your series on Las Trampas history and its people.
Gracious thanks to you for this awesome work, Jerol.
Being a descendant of Luis Francisco Leyba fills my heart with appreciation for the groundwork and difficult times these men and their families endured.
My mothers grandfather ursulo leyba from penasco nm was the son of Jose concepsion leyba how are you related
Uncle, thank you for sharing and I love learning the history of our families. Youth… it is a great thing but also can allow you to lose so much precious information. I only wish to be like my grandma, and learn more of the stories in those days. I love you! Can’t wait to learn more! 😘
My 6th great grandparents are Juan de Arguello and Juana Gregoria Brito.
Please visit my webpage about the original 12 families of Las Trampas.
http://www.lucerito.net/trampas.htm
Send me any information you are willing to share.
I will be updating the information on this webpage in the near future. My current phone number is 559-661-0510
You may also want to read A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOS TRAMPERO’S by Jerol Arguello.
It is Jerol Argüello that wrote this post and the Brief hisotry of Los Tramperos. =)
This is really awesome. It is my life long goal to bridge the family histories and ancestors. I am currently trying to see if there is a connection between the Argüello’s from New Mexico, California, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Equator and Argentina.
There are many inner connecting names in the past I have seen constantly.
I am a descendent of an Arguello that landed in Nicaragua in 1730. He was sent to rule over Granada. The family later disbursed into the city of Leon and from their generations later the family spread to El Salvador, Costa Rica. All were very prominent people in the history of each nation.
I have traced my Argüello family line back to the 1300s in the North of Spain. I had read a document written in 1909 stating that it is a possibility that the Arguello family origins stem from an affair King Alonso the Wise had with a woman. He granted his son land in what later became the Arguello region… as the document says his name was Sir Alonso son of King Alonso and from the land of Arbuello.
I am interested in comparing Y-DNA to see if it matches the males of each of these countries.
There are interesting last names/ unions I have seen in the history of Mexico and of my ancestor from Nicaragua…. Related to the Argüello – Carvajal union.
Anyways, my dream is to form a union of arguello researchers… The Argüello Family Preservation Society, if you will. =)
I would love to chat with you.
Really enjoyed this article, I too am an Arguello from Northern New Mexico. I am working on a project for a Land Grant course at New Mexico Highlands University I would appreciate being able to get in touch.
My 6th great grandparents are Juan Arguello and Juana Gregoria Brito. I am new to Ancestry and still learning about my ancestors. I enjoyed reading your article and everyone’s comments. Looking forward to more. Thank you for the information.