Searching the archives of New Mexico, we came upon marriage documents for Linda's sixth great grandmother, a woman named Maria De Apodaca. Maria married a Spanish settler in 1703, we assume that she was of Spanish descent as well. But when we tried to find the names of her parents, we hit a wall. And if you look at the marriage document, you'll see something quite interesting. Maria's mother is listed as Juana De Apodaca, her name is highlighted right there. But there's no father. Ahh. And we couldn't find any reference to him anywhere. Maria's background was as total mystery. Ha, isn't that interesting! Could Maria's father be native American? Was that why we couldn't find his name on her marriage records? We found a clue in the 300 year old journal of a Spaniard, named Diego de Vargas. (classical guitar music) Vargas was a key figure in what is know as the Pueblo Revolt A bloody uprising in 1680 by native americans, who were angered over Spanish efforts to suppress their religion. -
Rick Hendricks
Basically, all over the north, they rose up. They were really focusing on killing the Priest, desecrating the churches. They were trying to get rid of most of the trappings of Spanish culture. The revolt cost thousands of lives and left ruins like this all over the territory. To the Pueblos, it was a tremendous victory. For 12 years, the Spanish were banished from New Mexico. Then Diego de Vargas returned. -
Rick Hendricks
When Vargas came in 1692, he and a group of soldiers basically went around to all the Pueblos and they said "Guess what? We're back!". We need you to swear allegiance to the King. Vargas and his soldiers were followed by wave of colonists Soon the territory was completely under Spanish control, once again. But to our surprise, Vargas's journals contained quite a bit of information about some of Linda's ancestors, who were living in New Mexico before the Spanish returned. You see, there were Spaniards who had stayed behind during the Pueblo Revolt. Either by choice or because they had been taken prisoner, and Vargas freed them. And if they had had children with the Indians, he baptized them, to purify them, and he was passionate about it. He himself served as godfather, for many of these 'saved', as it were, children. And he kept meticulous records about the children he found. (classical guitar music) Among the many names in Vargas's journals, one especially caught our eyes, Juana De Apodaca. She is Linda Chavez's seventh great grandmother. Vargas listed Juana as a captive, meaning that she lived among the Pueblo people throughout their revolt. And during this time, gave birth to a daughter named Maria, which led to an inescapable conclusion. Now Linda, this is a list of the captives that Vargas freed, can you read the name there? Juana. Okay, so it's Juana. That's Juana, she's -- So the father was an Indian. That is your great great great great great great great grandfather. Wow (laughs) that is really cool. So all those Chavez's that are (mumbles) trying to marry each other to keep out the Indian blood, the train had already left the station. That ship has sailed, baby! (laughs) That was really (mumbles). (classical guitar music) Looking over Vargas's journals, I was reminded again of how much these colonial societies, even from the earliest times, were determined to police the boundaries of race.
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