In the Footsteps of Giovanni the Hermit
Padre Martínez talks about his family history
When Padre Martínez peered out into the patio in the morning, the sun was already beginning to brighten the eastern sky. As he went out, he couldn’t help but notice the Hermit was hastily throwing his black cloak over what seemed to be a nail-studded leather vest. But the studs on the vest weren’t pointing out.
“Surely,” thought Padre Martínez, “the nails aren’t pointing in.” The image of the Hermit wearing such a painful article of clothing caused him to wince. Just then the Hermit turned around.
“So,” said Giovanni, giving himself a final tuck, “How did you sleep?”
“I slept like a rock,” Padre Martínez replied.
“It must be,” said Giovanni, “because one always sleeps best in his own home.”
“Ah, but that wasn’t always the case,” Padre Martínez continued. “My parents were from a village further on down the road. They were from Abiquiú, but my father needed to move the family to Taos in 1804. The times were different then, and he needed to get us an education. So we came to Taos.”
Giovanni was intrigued by the story that Padre Martínez had started to tell him, so he shifted closer to the cleric and listened attentively.
“My ancestors,” Padre Martínez began, “were listed among the first settlers in New Mexico. They came with the Oñate Expedition of 1598. Of course in those days their surname was the hyphenated MartínSerrano. But in the due course of time the name was shortened to Martín and then the suffix –ez was added to it.
“My father, Don Severino, had grown up in the patio of Santa Rosa de la Capilla. He was baptized on the 13th of January of 1761. He was one of three children born to José Martín and Micaela Valdés. He also had a half sister named Gertrudis, who was a fámula.”
“What does ‘fámula’ mean?” asked Giovanni.
“That means,” continued the priest, “that my grandfather had had a child with a local Indian woman. And so Gertrudis was raised in his household as a housekeeper. As my father came of age, he met and he married my mother.
“Following the custom of the times, on his wedding day, my father wore his hair in two braids falling down over his shoulders. My mother wore her hair up in a braid that was coiled on top of her head. The only make-up that added a little color to her face was a blush made from the romería bush.
“Since she was more poor than my father was, all that she brought to him as part of her dowry were 20 varas of land which my father then traded for a bull. He himself brought to the marriage union 175 varas of land, 13 cows and a saddle-horse.
“That is how married life began for them. They had six of us children. I am the eldest of the brothers. My other siblings include María Estefana, Juana María, José María, José Santiago and Juan Pascual Bailón. My mother saw the need to raise us in a good society in a clean house.
“That is when my father bought a house just to the west of the Río Pueblo from Antonio Archuleta and he enlarged it. He added many rooms to it, conforming to two patios in the center.
“In the year of 1810 there was a struggle taking place between Mexico and Spain and about eight years thereafter, Governor
Alberto Maynez gave my father a large tract of land in the valley of San Cristóbal. That same year he was jailed here in town because of a dispute he had had over a mule with some members of the Sánchez family. ¡Ah Dios! The mayor of that time was Juan de Dios Peña. He wanted to make an example of my father and he had him put in stocks. Then he invited local Indians to dance in the plaza at 3 o’clock in the afternoon so the crowd would see my father’s disgrace. Fr. Benito Pereyro, who used to help out in Ranchos, would bring him chocolate in his jail cell and massage his swollen ankles.
“But in 1821 my father became Mayor of Taos and then, then he had his revenge. He became a very wealthy man. When he made out his will in 1825 he owned 1,152 sheep, 60 goats, 62 horses, 28 mules, 9 burros, 41 oxen and 6 pigs. He also owned five large tracts of land along the río as well as a mill and 29 rooms in various houses. His estate was worth 7,507 pesos. He had 800 pesos in cash and he was owed another 840 pesos by his debtors. He was buried under the nave of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I miss him.”
Giovanni could see he was overcome.