Spanish-American War Resources

In her article "New Mexicans in the Spanish - American War: Part Two", (New Mexico Genealogist: December 2008) Mary Penner discusses a number of resources that researchers can use to write family histories about their ancestors who fought in the the Spanish-American War. The article goes into great detail; only a few will be mentioned here.

* Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) - these records may be found at the National Archives. Use this link to order these records. Digitized Carded Records of 1,235 men who served in the Rough Riders may be found at the website at this link.

* Records of the Rough Riders Association may be found at the Las Vegas Museum. A finding aid for the Rough Riders Memorial Collection may be found at this link.

* Photos of soldiers may be found at the University of New Mexico's digital collection and the Library of Congress.

* WorldCat in an online card catalogue of collections around the world. Click on this link for more information.

Of course, you may use these resources to research other types of information. For instance, the National Archives has military records for all American wars as well as other documents of interest to genealogists.

For more about Mary Penner, check out her website at http://www.marypenner.com/.


Read other great articles in the New Mexico Genealogist. You can get a subscription to this journal by becoming a member of the New Mexico Genealogical Society. Yet another good reason to become a member.

Explanation: Blog Post about Senator Salazar

To the NMGS Blog readers:

Since I have received correspondences about my post "Obama Pick Claims New Mexico Ties", I wanted to make a few things clear. I was not meaning to be disrespectful in any way towards United States Senator Ken Salazar's claim that he can trace his lineage back to 1598 New Mexico. The point of the post was to inform my readers about Senator Salazar's claim. However, being a responsible genealogist, I wished to point out that his claim has not been verified, at least to my knowledge. In order to clarify what I meant, I wish to make a few more arguments

1.) When Senator Salazar made the claim at a press conference, he did not have the time or resources to support his claim. The purpose of the press conference was to announce his appointment and to give a little bit of biographical information about himself. It wasn't a genealogical presentation and wasn't meant to be.

2.) There may be research out there that shows that Senator Salazar can trace his lineage back to 1598 New Mexico. He, or someone else, may have published an article or book showing proof of this lineage. The fact is, I personally don't know of any such research. Therefore, I wasn't going to say that his claim is supported by facts. It may be, it may not be, the fact is, I don't know so I won't say that it is true.

3.) I noted that saying that his roots going back to 1598 Santa Fe is not true. Santa Fe was not founded until 1610. Settlers were living in Santa Fe prior to 1610, but Santa Fe was not the first settlement in New Mexico. There were settlers in New Mexico in 1598, but not in Santa Fe.

4.) I noted that Fray Angelico Chavez's book "Origins of New Mexico Families" claims that the first Salazar that came to New Mexico shows up in records in 1625. I understand that there is other research out there, and there may be others who found Salazars who were in New Mexico in 1598. I used this reference to Chavez's book because the book is well known by New Mexican researchers.

5.) I also mentioned that Senator Salazar could be refering to another line in his genealogy, other than the one following his Salazar surname. There were plenty of other Spaniards who were in New Mexico in 1598 that he could have, and probably is, descended from.

6.) I wish to quote a paragraph from my previous blog post:

It would be interesting to find out more about Senator Salazar's family. Of course, until proof is offered, his claim is unverified. However, it is not unlikely that he does have New Mexico roots going back a number of centuries.

I was not saying that I did not believe that Salazar had roots going back to 1598. I was simply saying that I personally did not have proof. That's it; that's all.

Robert Baca
President, New Mexico Genealogical Society


P.S.: "Joe" wanted me to share this picture of Senator Ken Salazar that was taken at an Obama rally. I believe that Joe took it himself. Since the election is already over, I hope no one thinks that I'm trying to support a certain political view, party or candidate. This is simply a photo that I'm sharing with you that one of our readers shared with us. And it's a good visual for this post.


United States Senator Ken Salazar

Obama Pick Claims New Mexico Family Ties

President-Elect Barack Obama's nominee for Interior Secretary claims a New Mexican genealogy going back to the late 16th Century. Colorado's United States Senator Ken Salazar announced during his presentation earlier this month, that his family has been in what is now the Western United States for more than four centuries. He claims that he can trace his lineage back to late 1500s Santa Fe. Of course, Santa Fe has only been around since the early 1600s, but we get the picture.

If he is claiming his lineage through his Salazar surname, his family may have not arrived in New Mexico until 1625 or later. In his book "Origins of New Mexico Families", Fray Angelico Chavez notes that a Francisco de Salazar appears in records as a soldier-escort at that time. Of course, Senator Salazar may have been refering to another line in his genealogy.

Another source, Congresspedia, claims that Salazar can trace his lineage back to 12th Century Spain.

Senator Ken Salazar has an older brother who is also in the United States Congress, Representative John T. Salazar. The elder Salazar brother had been vetted for Agricultural Secretary, but was not appointed to the post.

It would be interesting to find out more about Senator Salazar's family. Of course, until proof is offered, his claim is unverified. However, it is not unlikely that he does have New Mexico roots going back a number of centuries.

Click on this link to read the story about Senator Salazar's appointment.

Chavez's "Origin of New Mexico Families" and other books of New Mexico history and genealogy can be found on the New Mexico Genealogical Society link to Amazon.com. Using this link allows for a portion of your payment for books and other items to go to the New Mexico Genealogical Society, which we use to help out the Albuquerque Special Collections Library. Please use this link whenever your are on Amazon.com.

By the way, books published by the New Mexico Genealogical Society may be found on our website at this link.

NMGS 2009 Membership

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's that time of the year to renew your membership, or start a membership, with the New Mexico Genealogical Society! A $25 membership gets you the following:

* Four issues of the New Mexico Genealogist, the quarterly journal for New Mexico genealogy. This includes our special "Aqui Se Comienza" March 2009 issue, in which genealogists expand our knowledge of the founding families of Alburquerque, as detailed in the popular NMGS book of the same name.

* FREE shipping on orders from NMGS Press .

* Confer with others who understand your interest (obsession?) in genealogy.

* And so much more....

If you are already a member, check your December 2008 issue of the New Mexico Genealogist for an Application for Membership. You should receive the issue soon.

If you are not already a member, click on this link, and print up a copy of the application. The first issue of the year is sent out in March 2009.

Thank you, and have a safe holiday!

Robert J. C. Baca
President, New Mexico Genealogical Society