Meeting Another Zimmerly Cousin

At the New Mexico Genealogical Society meeting on June 21st, I met up with another one of my Zimmerly cousins. I was expecting to meet a few people who were distantly related to me through the Baca family, since the talk was about the "Baca Families of Pena Blanca." My C. de Baca family was originally from there, and indeed the family that the speaker talked about was descended from Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca. However, there are many descendants of that family, and our relation was very distant.

I was speaking to another woman by the name of Lucille who wanted to know how to go about researching her family. She said that her family was originally from southern New mexico, so I asked her to give me some information about her grandparents. She told me that her grandparents were J. E. Miera and Teresa Zimmerly! I told her, "nice to meet you, cousin!"

At the time, I told her that we were first cousins, once removed, but now that I think about it, I was wrong. Her grandmother Teresa Zimmerly and my great-grandfather Esteban Zimmerly were siblings. That means that her great grandparents and my great great grandparents were the same, which actually makes her my second cousin, once removed. She and my mother were second cousins.

Lucille said that she was born in Socorro, but lived there for only a few years before her parents moved. She may have known my grandmother Paublita Baca, but she wasn't entirely sure.

I wrote out some information about the Zimmerly family for her, and I told her that I would mail her some more information. I printed up some information from this blog, including the short article about Samuel Zimmerly and Maria Paubla Torres, and the post about Samuel Zimmerly Living in Visala, California in 1860. I printed up a copy of her grandfather Jose E. Miera's World War I registration card, and printed an article from the Defensor Chieftain about "The Civil War in New Mexico". From my genealogy database, I printed a Descendant Report on Samuel Zimmerly and an Ahnenfatel of his wife Maria Paubla Torres. I'll also be sending her copies of certain documents such as Samuel & Paubla (Torres) Zimmerly's marriage record, and portions of Samuel Zimmerly's military records.

It's always good to finding relatives. That's why it's always good to attend genealogical society meetings.