Up to 1923, Annie consistently gave birth to her children two years apart (one year apart in the case of the second John and Henry). But then there was a three year gap between Henry and Joe. I was told that Delfido loved to play baseball and the two may be related.  According to Clyne in Coal People, baseball was a favorite pastime among the miners in the coal towns.  From a story handed down from Annie, Delfido took off to play baseball for a while, probably accounting for the gap in the spacing of her children. 

Annie wrote in her journal, "father is away too July 8, 1923" which may have been her way of complaining about his absences.  Traveling baseball teams toured the country during the 1920's and 30's and Del, perhaps being a good player, was hired on by a team -- or else just attached himself to them and took off with the team for periods of time because he enjoyed the game so much.  Evidently Annie took him back when he returned.

Delfido had been injured twice in coal mine cave-ins in Huerfano County, and once had a piece of coal embeded in his head as a result.  Because of this and a high number of deaths in the mines, he knew that his chances for getting killed in the mines were very good (his own father was killed in a mine accident). So some time between 1926 and 1929, Delfido decided to look for work elsewhere.  He first took the family to Weld County Colorado, where he tried farming at Fort Lupton (about 22 miles north of Denver) then on to Fort Morgan and then to Weldona (both are on the Platt River, northeast of Boulder in Morgan County).  All towns are on the railroad line, which may account (at least partially) on why he went there, since it's probable he visited them at one time or another during his stint as a military guard (or ball player).

Delfido finally settled in the city of Montrose in Montrose County (west of Denver and south of Grand Junction) by January of 1929.  There, the family lived at 100 West North 9th Street in the Colonies, located on the the poor side of town. It was said they lived rent-free as Delfido had connections with the beet boss.  The Colonies were to have been to be a part of the beet industry housing, but I couldn't find any connection as the beet production was in Delta, a small town outside of Montrose.

The Colonies were an apartment complex consisting of two parallel buildings made of adobe.  It is unknown what the original intent of the building was for, but it is doubtful it was for apartments.   Unlike a normal configuration of parallel apartments, the front building contained the living room and kitchen for each apartment and in the back building were the two bedrooms for each apartment!  And to get from the kitchen to the bedroom, one had to go through the living room, exit the front door, go out around the back to the second building and enter the one door to the two bedrooms to your apartment!  Talk about a lack of privacy!  Everyone knew your business, including when you went to bed. (No doubt there were no bathrooms, and had privies in the back.)  They have long been torn down.

Delfido's son Henry was in trouble all the time, always shooting off his mouth.  It was raining once and Henry was standing by the window looking out. His father asked him where the rain was coming from and Henry said, "Up there."  Delfido told him he was a smart alec and gave him a whipping.

Delfido would work for the coal mines in the winter and on a farm in the summer.  But probably since he didn't like working in the coal mines, in January of 1936 Delfido was working for the WPA (a federal project to provide work to the unemployed during the depression), helping to build the court house and post office. That was when he fell on a wooden sidewalk in town and injured his head and leg.  His head injury healed ok, but his leg swelled up. The family didn't have the money to take him to a real doctor (let alone a hospital) so a quack doctor was called and treated his leg.  The so-called doctor poured acid on the injury, burning his whole leg.  It didn't heal, and  gangrene developed. Delfido lingered for eight months, laid up in bed.

Henry tells the story that during this time his dad would send him downtown to get some strawberry ice cream in the hot summer. He ran all the way back home but it would melt before he got home.  Then Delfido gave him a whipping (or tried) because the ice cream had melted. I say "tried" because when Delfido was laid up and the boys needed discipline, Annie would tell them to stand by the bed so Del could whip them with a willow switch. Every time Delfido swung the switch, Henry would jump back. Annie asked Henry why he jumped and Henry told her "I'm not stupid."

But it wasn't the gangrene that killed Defido. For according to thedeath certificate "Del Crews" died of heart disease in Montrose on September 27, 1936, probably brought on by being bedridden and inactive for so long.

Delfido's daughter, Elsie, only 4 years old at the time, remembers what happened the day he died. According to Henry, his father's body had been removed from the home.  Little Elsie remembers  being sent to the bedroom to retrieve some clothes for his wake.  When she went into the room, the door latched behind her and after getting the clothes, she couldn't get out. (Remember this was the Colonies and any adults in the front building could not have heard her trying to get out.)  She vividly remembers to this day her father opening the door for her so she could get out.

The information for Del's death certificate was provided by his wife, Annie. She gave his birth date as 1892, the date, I'm sure, he told her he was born. A Dr. Schumerhorn had been attending him for two weeks when he died. A short obituary appeared in the Montrose Daily Press

DELL CRUZ PASSES AWAY

Del Cruz, 44, who had been ill for
the past eight months, died Sunday.
He is survived by a wife and several
children. Funeral services at the
Montrose Funeral Home, Tuesday at
10 a.m.

Delfido was buried in the "Potter's Field" section for the poor (burial paid for by the county) in Cedar Cemetery in Montrose two days later on September 29.  Years later, when Annie died, the family had a stone with both their names set over her grave.  But if you visit his grave, remember he's not there.   He's in the back with several of his grandchildren. 

Who was Uncle Frank?

The question was asked of me, "Who was Uncle Frank" as some believed him to be a cousin of Delfido and some believed him to be a brother. And how was he related to the Pinedas?

The answer: Uncle Frank was a cousin of Delfido, but Delfido may have considered him to be a brother as they were raised in the same household for a time. And Uncle Frank was later a Pineda step-child.

When his parents died, Delfido ended up living with his father's brother, Preciliano. The fact that there is a family question of Uncle Frank being a brother of Delfido backs this up. Frank was Francisco, the son of Preciliano (born Oct 4, 1903), making him Delfido's cousin. Frank was much younger than Delfido - about 13 years younger - and Delfido probably thought of Frank as a kid brother.  In the 1910 census, Frank and his younger brother and sister are included in the Preciliano Cruz household. 

Preciliano Cruz died in 1917. Then on 14 May 1919 Juan de La Cruz Pineda and Preciliano's widow Agustina were married, making Frank and his brother and sister stepchildren to Juan Pineda household and were listed as such in the 1920 census. Prior to Preciliano's death, the Preciliano Cruz family and the Juan Pineda family were close as Juan was padrino for two of Preciliano and Agustina's children.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juan Bautista Cruz was born to Sebastian Cruz and Maria Antonia Maes in the Territory of New Mexico, around 1867, according to the 1870census.  However, the actual location of his birth was in what is now Colorado, before Colorado became a state.  In the 1860 census the family was living in the Culebra district of the New Mexico territory which is in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, the Culebra being a tributary of the Rio Grande.  The San Luis Valley is just west of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. Juan's older sister, Juana Maria, was born in 1864 and her baptismal records are in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Conejos (San Luis Valley), but records for Juan Bautista are not recorded there.   By 1870, the family was living in Huerfano County.  Juan could have been born in the San Luis Valley, or in Huerfano County (about an hour or so away by car), or somewhere inbetween, and baptized by any traveling priest from any parish.  No baptismal record has been located.

In the 1880 census Juan, his older brothers (Preciliano and Nicolas) and sister (Juana Maria), and parents were enumerated in the same Huerfano County household as Francisco H. Cruz and Bonifacia, Sebastian's brother and sister-in-law, as well as their children -- Juan's cousins: Cecilio and his wife and son Juan D, Rosanna, Dolores, Maria, Rosana and Rafaela.

Juan was listed as age 10, when he was probably 13.  Maybe he was small for his age and no one kept accurate track of his age, or neighbors may have given their estimate. This time his birthplace was listed as Colorado. The two columns, Cannot Read/Cannot Write are checked for Juan. How accurate this information is will never be known. But even at age 13, he could have been in school but there was no indication that any of the children in the Cruz household had attended school within the past year. Juan's father was a laborer in the 1880 census, and his uncle Francisco was tending sheep so it's doubtful the family could afford to send any child in the family to school as they needed them to work at home.

Although there is no 1890 census, Colorado, fortunately, took its own census in 1885 where Juan's age was given as 16.  Juan was more likely closer to 18, another indication that he was small in stature.  In this census, Juan was simply listed as at homeand no occupation given.  His father, Sebastian, was a farmer and more than likely Juan worked on his father's farm. Although they no longer lived in his Uncle Francisco's household (who was now four doors down), they lived next door to his Uncle Mariano and his wife with their five children on one side, and his brother Preciliano and his wife Maria on the other (and her parents next door).  By now Juan would not have been in school, even if he had attended earlier, but the whole family of Sebastian's (as well as his Uncle Francisco close by) was listed as Cannot Read.   However, his Uncle Mariano's family seemed to have told the census taker they could.

There is no record of Juan's life outside of the census. However, I would like to quote a passage out of the book One Man's Family, The Life of Hiram Vasquez where part of Hiram's life as a young man is described in the same place and relatively same time in which Juan lived. The date of this description was 1864, and although 21 years earlier than the 1885 census, times and things didn't change much in those days, so life was probably much the same for Juan:

Owning his own mule gave Hiram a further advantage--personal transportation to fandangos, feast days and celebrations at the tiny settlements springing up throughout the area. On the Huerfano were Badito and Saint Mary's two and a half miles up river from the Butte. On the Cucharas were Oso [near Sand Arroya], Hermanes Plaza, Tequisquite, La Plaza de Los Leones [Walsenburg], and Cuchara Plaza, about six miles further down stream. Several Spanish families were settling on Bear Creek as well as on the Santa Clara and the Apishipa. Hiram's varied duties included keeping Francisco's Ranche well supplied with all the plentiful wild meats--elk, deer, bear, pigeons, turkey, grouse, snow-shoe, and cotton-tail rabbits; and periodically he and Felix went to the plains for buffalo. These far flung activities made him acquainted with each new settlement and its inhabitants, especially the dark-eyed senoritas. So far he was content to enjoy the occasional festive gatherings, although he was sure his choice would be a vivacious black-eyed beauty named Sincain Sandoval, whose family lived on Bear Creek.

The young lady who caught Juan Bautista's eyes was a very young Juana Avila Cordova:

On October 10, 1888, Juan Bautista Cruz (age 19) and Juana Cordova (age 14) were married by Father Gabr Ussel, in the presence of Nicolas Cruz and Deluvena Arellano. Nicolas was the brother of Juan and Deluvena was the wife of Nicolas.

Juan and Juana had three sons, one of whom died at birth. They were:

• Elfido Cruz, born Jan 7, 1890 and baptized on January 19, 1890
• Ricardo Cruz, born August 6, 1894 and baptized on the same day. This leads me to believe that he died the same day or was stillborn. To further support this, no other record is found of him.
• Benigno Cruz, born June 6, 1895, and baptized on July 21, 1895 (nothing further was found after the 1910 census about Benigno).

At the birth of Delfido, Juan and Juana were living in North Veta, according to the baptismal records. When Ricardo was born they were living in Walsenburg. When Benigno was born, they were living in Arenoso, all in Huerfano County. West out of Walsenburg past the Veterans' Home and Hospital is a sandy creek where Arenoso was at one time.  In Spanish, Arenosomeans sandy creek.  It was near North Veta Cemetery, which also used to be called the Arenoso Cemetery.

Juan B. Cruz applied for homestead property in Township 28S, Huerfano County in 1893 (#072335). However, after I obtained the application, it was clear that it was not the father of Elfido Cruz as this Juan B. Cruz testifies that his family consisted of himself, his wife, and one adopted child. Since Elfido was clearly not an adopted child of Juan, this was not Juan. (In addition, Juan stated he was 40 years old in 1893 when our Juan would have been only 26.) However, the claim application lets us know a little about what must have certainly been how an average Mexican rural family lived like in the area at that time. On the Homestead Proof --Testimony of Witness it is asked, " What improvements are on the land and what is their value?" The answer was:

2 Log Dwellinghouses 2 Rooms 2 Doors 2 Windows, 1 corrall, 3 Water Tanks, 1 water well, 1 Hen house, 1 Stable, 1 Pig House 40 acres fenced with barb wire 2 wires high Value is about $550.00.

Although Juan Bautista never obtained homestead land from the U.S. government, his brothers Preciliano and Nicolas did. On October 4, 1900, both were granted land in Range 66-West, Township 29-S, Section/Block 18 (#075469 and #075468). (See http://www.glorecords.blm.gov)

From what I have learned, Juan probably became a widower sometime after the birth of his third son Benigno and, as was stated earlier, could not take care of his two small children and work also, so he sent them to family to raise.

Juan worked in the coal mines to support his family. The coal industry was starting to boom when Juan and Juana got married and no doubt it had afforded him a chance to get married and raise a family:

Miners earned an average of $3.00 per ten hour shift.... During this period, cowboys in the surrounding ranch country still received $30.00 per month and their board and room.

In the coal mines, accidents and deaths in the mines were common:

Underground mines of this period had a high accident rate. Viewed in terms of risks, the wages do not seem so high. Mines here had pushed down around three-thousand-feet from the openings, where heat, moisture, toxic gasses and an atmosphere filled with coal dust all contributed to the potential for instant destruction or for a lingering death from respiratory troubles. Sedimentary formations such as those that enclose coal seams are subject to sudden rock falls.Murray, pgs. 91 and 101.

On October 6, 1896, J.B. Cruz was killed in the Walsen mine by "Fall of rock," according to the Huerfano County Mining Fatalities list.

This record coincides with the family story that Delfido was an orphan.  It cannot be positively confirmed that this was Juan Bautista Cruz, but at the time, there were only two other men living in the area who could have been J.B. Cruz -- Jose Benito and Juan Benito -- and both of them were listed in later censuses.   Juan Bautista was not.  He was approximately 29 at his death and left behind two orphaned sons.  Nothing has been learned of where he was buried.  However, there's a likelihood that he was buried in North Veta Cemetery (formerly Arenoso) since he possibly lived near there at the time of his death.  In Huerfano County, it is customary for the family to mark and care for the grave site.  Since the family was poor, they would have marked the grave with a wooden cross and in time, it has disintegrated like most markers in Huerfano County cemeteries.

The following information was obtained from the web site:http://www.rootsweb.com/~cohuerfa/miners.htm

Mine: WALSEN, a.k.a. Robinson

Location: Highway 160 south of Walsenburg  (actually the mine is just west of Walsenberg)

Owner: Fred Walsen

Operator: Colorado Fuel and Iron

Operation: 1876 -1931 The axe fell in April 1931 when the company announced the closure of the mine. The reason, flooding. It was said that for every ton of coal removed, 12 tons of water were pumped.

Production: 6,000,000 + tons

Notes: Colorado Fuel and Iron officially closed Walsen camp November 9, 1965. Eleven families still lived there and were forced to leave their homes, some after decades of occupancy. They were the Gus Augusts, Tom Sneddens, Albert Nogas, Claude Neals, Mrs. Victoria Alberici, Mike Conders, Glenn Davises, Joe Kovachs, Dorothy Langosh, Alex Maldonados and the Fred Biondis. All but the Augusts moved into Walsenburg. Today, nothing is left of the once lively camp but slag piles and the old powerhouse, which is itself becoming just a memory.

I visited the area in 2001.  At one time there was a teeming mining community.  Today, all buildings are gone except for the powerhouse.  And except for the slag piles, there is no evidence that there was once a coal mine where Juan Bautista lost his life.  The new power grid was built next to the old powerhouse which now serves the Walsenburg community.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sebastian Cruz was born to Jose Luciano Cruz and Barbara Vigil around 1827 in New Mexico, along the Rio Chama, a tributary of the Rio Grande (Rio Arriba County). Although I have not found a baptismal record for Sebastian, his marriage license states he was a native of Chama (not definitive, but probably a small on the Rio Chama), and gives Luciano and Barbara as his parents. In the1845 Mexican census, Sebastian's father, Luciano, was living in Abiquiu, NM (north of Rio Chama) with 3 sons, ages 23, 18 and 06. In the1860 census one brother was older and one was younger than Sebastian which would make him the middle son in 1845. Thus his birth year is established to be around 1827. The 1860 census lists his age as 30, which would give credence to that birth date, understanding that census ages rarely are accurate.

A search of the 1850 New Mexico census of Rio Arriba (and Taos) areas fails to find any of the Cruz family. At one point the family moved from the Abiquiu/Rio Chama (west of the Rio Grande) area in New Mexico area to DesMontes, New Mexico which is east of the Rio Grande and north of Taos. Perhaps this is when they moved. It is definite that they had moved by 1854.

At the approximate age of 27, Sebastian Cruz married Maria Antonia Maes, (about 28), on October 30, 1854. The records are at Nuestra De Los Dolores Catholic Church, Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico. Arroyo Hondo is just north of Taos. The Cruz family is given as residents of DesMontes, which is just east of Arroyo Hondo.

Marriage License of Sebastian Cruz and Maria Antonia Maes Oct 30, 1854