This year is both the 300th anniversary of the sale of the Alameda Grant to Juan Gonzales Bas, generally considered the founder of Corrales and the 100th anniversary of New Mexico statehood. Heritage Day this year will note both these anniversaries on May 19 with exhibits on Juan Gonzales Bas and on a comparison of the 1912 and 2012 census figures. As anyone who attends Heritage Day will see, we’ve come a very long way!

This column commemorates the 1912 anniversary and the long history of Corrales with the accompanying photograph taken in 1912. It was lent to the Corrales Historical Society by Aline Lucero and included in my Corrales: Images of America book.  The arresting and beautifully kind woman pictured is Albinita Montoya Sanchez. 

She is holding one of her granddaughters, Elena Lucero. Her ancestors and those of her husband Jacobo Benigno (often spelled Benino) Sanchez reach back into New Mexican history; enriching the story of Corrales and colonial New Mexico.

But first, I need to qualify what follows. I am not a genealogical expert; far from it.  Along with information from censuses, I’ve had great help from David C’ de Baca (couldn’t have done it without him) and from information given me in several interviews. But even with his help, much of the family histories given below are sparse.  

I welcome additions and corrections from anyone who has the inclination and time to get in touch with me at  Please do so and correct me where I’ve gone wrong or have left out important information.

First, the Montoya’s.  Albinita was the daughter of Tomas Montoya and Juana Gutierrez. Tomas’ father, José Miguel Montoya, was born in Santa Fe in 1763, the oldest son of Luis Montoya and Maria del Loreto Chavez.  He moved to Corrales after 1790 (at least he is not included in the 1790 census of Corrales).  José Miguel is listed in Corrales on an 1818 census with his wife, Catarina Lucero, and their growing family: Salbador, Juan Jose, Diego, Francisco, Manuel, and Rosalia.  Tomas was born the following year.   

He married Juana Gutierrez, probably in the 1830s or early 1840s, and by the time of the 1850 census they are settled in his birthplace with a family of three daughters; Nieves, Anastasia, Albina; and a young son, José Benigno.

Benino’s branch of Sanchez family had been in New Mexico since at least 1790, when Fray Jose Mariano Sanchez de Vergara and his younger brother,  Ignacio, then age 23, were at the Zuni mission.  

The surname Sanchez de Vergara dates to about 1158 in the Spanish Kingdom of Navarra.  By 1801, Fray Mariano was the pastor at Sandia Mission, which included the families living in Corrales, baptizing their children and performing marriages, and was then appointed custodian of all the missions in New Mexico.

Ignacio would marry Juana Viviana Gabriela Aragon of Corrales. Together they would raise nine children to adulthood, including Jacobo Benino’s father Marcos Josef Sanchez Vergara, born in Jemez in 1810. Benino’s grandfather, Ignacio Sanchez Vergara, served as the alcalde mayor of the Jemez jurisdiction 1808-1817 during which he acquired the Rancho de la Santísima Trinidad Grant, about 17,000 acres, and then as Protector General of the Indians in New Mexico 1817-1821, defending Indian rights.  

He continued in that capacity following 1821 Mexican Independence from Spain, but without the title. In 1827 he was appointed alcalde mayor of the San Carlos de la Alameda jurisdiction, which included Corrales. 

Ignacio, Gabriela and at least five of his children settled in Corrales. They were Francisca Sanchez Vergara (married to a Juan Montoya, son of Juan Maria Montoya and Juana Silva); Ignacia Sanchez Vergara; Mariano Sanchez Vergara; Marcos, who married Marcelina Aragon; and Ignacio who married Maria Andrea Gallegos. His son, Mariano, would become alcalde mayor of the San Carlos de la Alameda jurisdiction 1821-1827. His son, Vicente Sanchez Vergara, would become Secretary of State to the Mexican Governor’s in Santa Fe, negotiating treaties with great Indian chiefs such as Mangas Coloradas, Spanish for “Red Sleeves” (the father-in-law of the great Apache chief Cochise), and a Deputy to the Mexican Congress from New Mexico.

On the 1870 census Albinita and Benino are listed with their three-year-old daughter, Marianna, and a 70-year-old aunt, Rosalia, one of Albinita’s father’s sisters.  I wonder if Rosalia was able to help the young Albinita with her first child.  By the time of the 1910 census Albinita is working as a laundress in Albuquerque, so probably Jacobo Benino has died. I haven’t found a record of his death.  Her descendants remember that she also worked as a midwife.  She had returned to Corrales by 1920 when she is living with her daughter, Dulcinea. 

Dulcinea had married Jesus Maria Lucero and had opened their home both to her mother and to her husband’s father. Albinita and Benino’s children listed in the censuses are Mariana, Jacobo, Dulcinea, Amalia, Florencio, and Daniel.

Several of their children remained in Corrales and their descendants live here today.  Their oldest daughter, Mariana, married Augustin Charles Wagner in 1883. Augustin Charles had died by 1910 and Mariana was raising the family alone in Albuquerque.  In that year, their eldest son, Augustin, bought land in Corrales and began the farm that still bears the Wagner name. 

Augustin’s daughter Adela, married Manuel C’ de Baca  Jr. whose parents, Manuel Sr. and Refugia, had established the local school bus service in Corrales, passing it on to their daughter Rosatita (Sallo), who left the business to her daughter, Mary Rose, who presently owns the company.  Adela’s son, David, grew up in Corrales and has returned to live here after years in the military.  And, of course, Adela’s younger brother, Augustin Wagner III (or Gus) still lives and farms here as do many of his family.

Dulcinea Sanchez married Jesus Maria Lucero and raised eight children in Corrales; daughter Soraida died very young and another daughter, Cleotilde, died in her twenties. The rest may have stayed in Corrales. Certainly Dulcinea and Jesus Maria remained here until their deaths, in 1937 and 1940 respectively, since they are both buried in the San Ysidro cemetery.

Jacobo Sanchez married Josefita Flores and had several children, among them Benjamin, Perfilia, Clovis, Sara, Gomez, Fabiola, Jacobo Jr. and Albina. Benjamin lived in Corrales and his daughter, Juanita, still lives here. Jacobo Sanchez Jr. also remained in Corrales —and still lives here—  as does his son, David, who owns the Valley Tree Service.

Amalia Sanchez married Octaviano Lopez, who I know best as the owner of a general merchandise store that was located in what is now El Portal, the first building south of Corrales Elementary School. He and Augustin Wagner (brother-in-law) bought the building in 1910; Lopez later bought him out and operated his store there at least until 1931. A sketch by an unidentified hand shows the building at the time in history when the room on the northwest corner was a dance hall with a cantina next to it on the south and a general store next to that. 

Along the south side was the living room, kitchen and bedroom for the Lopez family. A gasoline pump stood out front and a chicken house stood out back. One of Amalia and Octaviano’s sons, Alvino, was a survivor of the infamous World War II Bataan Death March. The other children included Reymundo, Inez, Octaviana, Edmundo and Gilberto.

This has been a “bare bones” history of these families —what’s missing is the human element in all their stories— life as it was lived in Corrales in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th… stories both tragic and comic, filled with hard work and touched by love and sacrifice.