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Tracing My Family History in Southern New Mexico

by Salena Valdez on 2022-07-12T15:13:00-06:00 | 0 Comments

I have family who lived in New Mexico before they migrated to Los Angeles, CA. When I relocated to New Mexico, I became curious about my New Mexican family. In 2018, during my graduate studies, I was required to explore a historical event related to an ancestor. I chose to research my great-great-grandfather, Cleofas Morales. He was a miner for the Empire Zinc Mining Company c. 1920 – 1930 in the area around Bayard, New Mexico. After doing some genealogical research, I tracked down his birth and death dates, April 9, 1879 – June 28, 1930. As a result, I became interested in the location of his burial site. I consulted online resources and local historians, which helped narrow my search to the Hanover Cemetery. Initially, I visited the cemetery and took a stroll around to see if I saw any headstones with his name. Unfortunately, the Mexican side of the cemetery had fallen into disarray. Luckily, a local historian was able to provide a cemetery record for the Empire Zinc Mining Company. I used that record and the Hanover Cemetery map to locate my great-great-grandfather's burial site. According to family history, the whole community attended his funeral and pitched in to provide the cement slab, headstone, and a copper awning over the site. Upon closer examination, I saw 'Cleofas Morales' etched into the headstone and confirmed the location of his burial. 

In completing my assignment, I also had to find a historical event related to my ancestor. That led me to the strike against the Empire Zinc Mining Company by the Mexican-American miners who worked for the company. The strike began in 1951, but the issues faced by the Mexican-American miners were also common during Cleofas' time with the company. The Mexican-American miners that worked for Empire Zinc were getting paid less than the Anglo miners and were assigned more dangerous jobs. There was even inequality in the housing provided by the company. As a result, the Mexican-American miners decided to strike against wage disparity and unsafe working conditions. After a court injunction prevented the miners from picketing against the company, the families of the miners continued the strike for equality. After two years of picketing, the Empire Zinc Mine granted better pay and housing to the Mexican-American miners. 

Some resources here in the Archives and Special Collections talk extensively about the incident, including the book, On Strike and On Film: Mexican American Families and Blacklisted Filmmakers in Cold War America by Ellen R. Baker (HD5325 .M72 1951 E473 2007) and the related movie, Salt of the Earth (PN1997 .S142 1987). The archives also houses the papers of Lorenzo Torrez (Ms0384), who participated in the strike against Empire Zinc for improved wages.                                                                                               

 

The Empire Zinc Company Cemetery Record, 1929-1930, courtesy of the author.                                                                                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         

Hanover, NM Cemetery Map, Grant Cemetery Maps. (n.d.). https://nmahgp.genealogyvillage.com/grant/images/grantcemmaps.htm 

 

Funeral procession for Cleofas Morales, c.1930, courtesy of the author.  

Burial site of Cleofas Morales, Hanover, NM, c.2018, courtesy of the author. 

 


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