The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog

28 December 2007

Free Genealogy: Genealogy Trails

I discovered the Genealogy Trails website while Googling a distant cousin. This site includes cemetary transcriptions, census records, obituaries and other information. Although it is not the only site of this type, (see USGenWeb, for instance) it does have some unique data.

Here is a link to the site.

By the way, what I found on the site weretranscriptions of Benito and Emilia Zimmerly's tombstones. Benito was my grandmother Paublita's 1st cousin.

26 December 2007

Baca Food Store

Many of my family have owned businesses throughout the years. One of the stores that my mother's parents owned was the Baca Food Store*. My grandparents Santiago and Paublita (Zimmerly) Baca also owned a clothier store and my grandmother owned a fabric store after my grandfather's death.


Below are photos of the Baca Food Store Float from a 1940s parade. The two youngsters pictured are my mother Frances Baca and my uncle Jimmy Baca.




My great uncle Albert Zimmerly supplied me with these photos.


* I've also heard that the grocery store went by another name - La Bajada Grocery. See this obituary for more information.

The Royal Road - El Camino Real

This Christmas, my family told me about the El Camino Real International Heritage Center. Being a history buff, I decided to find out more about it.

According to the museum's website:


El Camino Real International Heritage Center (ECRIHC) is one of New Mexico's newest State monuments, dedicated in November 2005. The Center contains award winning exhibits, interpretive learning center, and artifacts presenting the history and heritage of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro - the Royal Road to the Interior.

Spain and Mexico used the royal road to colonize and bring goods to New Mexico from 1598 until the late 1800s. You can find a short history of the trail here. Longer articles about the El Camino Real can be found on this page, including an article that mentions my great uncle Albert Zimmerly.

Although I haven't visited the museum yet, you can bet that I will in the near future. If you are in or around Socorro any time soon, use these directions to find the musuem.

25 December 2007

Happy Birthday, Grandfather Santiago!


I was visiting my aunt yesterday when she reminded me that my grandfather Santiago Baca would have been 100 years old this Christmas Eve. He was born to Rafael and Josefa (Padilla) Baca on 24 December 1907 in Luis Lopez, New Mexico. He died in 1961 in Socorro, New Mexico.