One in a collection by Allen Bachoroski,
Local Historical Writer,
Tales Along the
Highway of Legends
Note: This
is one in a series of historical stories about local families
in the Trinidad region.
Click here to find out more
about how these stories were collected.
Della
was born on May 17, 1900 to Antonio Wilson and Lucas Dominguez.
Her mother was born in Taos, New Mexico on January 21,
1858 and died July 14, 1945. She came from Irish (Julian
Donahue), French (Turcet), Spanish and Indian stock. Little
is known of the ancestry of Lucas Dominguez who was born
on May 11, 1828 and died May 11, 1923.
In Taos, about 1887, Lucas' life was threatened. In the
dead of night he gathered his wife and two small children,
Frances and Ruben, hitched a horse to a wagon and took
what belongings they could pack in to the wagon and made
their way to Engleville, Colorado. Here they made their
home opening a small store, dance hall, and pool room.
Five more children were born to them. Arthur (Arsenio)
married Isabel Dominguez, Joe (Aurelio) married Celia,
Sam (Salomon) married Viola Vallejos, Ermenio married
Lucy Vigil and Della married Apolinar Vera a Spaniard
Frances had also married a Spaniard, Cayetano Garcia,
and lived at the bottom of Frijole Hill on a sheep ranch.
Their first home was a two room log cabin with dirt floors.
They later build a new home near by which was considered
quite modern for a ranch. Instead of kerosene lamps, carbide
lights were installed on the walls. These consisted of
small pebbles or coals when activated with water. This
produced a gas which created the light. Their children
were Toby, Willie, Alex, Eddie, Wilfred, Lily, Sammie
and Frankie.
On March 27, 1927 tragedy struck the family. Ruben, the
unmarried brother, who lived on a ranch in the vicinity
was shot. It seems there was bad blood between him and
a wealthy ranch owner, Carlos Sandoval. There was a long
standing dispute over water rights, which culminated with
the shooting. After being shot, Ruben attempted to crawl
to the road for help, but got caught by the barbed wire
fence. Here he died and was found by a passer-by. This
accident in San Miguel, devastated the family, especially
since Sandoval never went to prison. Frances' anger would
surface each time she would see him, and would call him
killer.
Arthur and Isabel had three children late in life, Ruben,
Aurelio and Josie. Aurelio had one child, Eliosa. Della
and Aplinar's married on June 17, 1918 and produced seven
children: Benito (Ben), Theodora (Josie), Antonia (Antoinette),
Ermenia (Minnie), Frances who died at birth, Rufina (Ruby)
and Vincent. They made their home in Morley, later moving
to Trinidad, in 1935. Ben married Cleo Putaturo and worked
in the coal mine at Valdez. They had two children: Ben
and Cleo Adele. He entered the Marine Corp during World
War 2 and was stationed in Japan for Shore Patrol. Upon
his return home he became a state patrolman near Alamosa.
He married Evelyn Ashton and had another daughter, Verna
Lynn. On September 12, 1967 he died of a massive coronary
while driving his car. He and his family had made their
home in Saguache, Colorado. Josie attended Trinidad State
Junior College. Antoninette married Joe P. Montoya from
Sarcillo. They moved to California where they had five
children: Jim, John, Joe, Julie and Jerry. Della's three
youngest children found their spouses in California. Otis
Bay became Minnie's husband and had three children: Patricia,
Deborah and Steven. Ruby and Don Breistig also had three
children: Lorna, Susan and Gary. Ruby later married Don
Skiles. Wedding bells also rang for Vincent and Joyce
Allen, producing five children: Paula, Pamela, David,
D'Ann and Russell. After Joyce's death, Vincent married
Jackie Nunnelee and had one more son, Matthew.
Della returned to Trinidad where she died at the San Raphael
Hospital after a bout with cancer and heart problems on
September 14, 1972. She is buried at the Trinidad Catholic
Cemetery with her brothers and sister. Her children live
in California, while Josie and Antoinette have second
homes in Carcillo and Valdez, Colorado. Minnies's home
is in Lake Havasu, Arizona, Ruby's home is in Garden Grove
and Vincent is in Lakewood, California.
(Note:
if you have Photos of this family or know of anyone that
does, please have them get in touch with us so that we
might share some photos of the family here)