vigil tree
Colorado Legacy
Article excerpts from:
Raices - A Colorado Legacy: Conejos County Vigil Family
by Maria C. Martinez
La Sierra, San Luis, Colorado
November 8th, 2002
Donaciano Vigil and wife María “Juanita” Cortez
with presumably one of four daughters.
The Vigil family, with origins in Siero, Spain, Mexico City and Zacatecas, Mexico, were among the first settlers in Santa Cruz de La Canada in 1695, then called La Villa Nueva de Santa Cruz de Los Espanoles Mejicanos. From Santa Cruz, the Vigil name spread far and wide over all of New Mexico and later southern Colorado.
When the children of José Gabriel Vigil and his wife, María Isabel Lucero, were baptized in Santo Tomás de Abiquiu, the paternal and maternal grandparents are listed. This is the only source of information that has been located on this family to date, so they have not been linked to the larger Vigil picture yet.
Parents of José Gabriel, Antonio Vigil and Maria Manuela Jirón were probably born in the late 1700's, early 1800s. They were apparently living in the Abiquiu/Ojo Caliente area when their grandchildren were born. Their compadres, parents of Maria Isabel, were José Francisco Lucero and María de la Luz Chávez.
There are four children of José Gabriel Vigil and Isabel Lucero listed in Abiquiu baptismal records, born in Ojo Caliente. They are José Alejandro, Manuel Antonio (married María del Carmen Gonzales), María Feliciana and María Doretea. Other children were located in baptismal records in Arroyo Hondo and in marriage records in Our Lady of Guadalupe in Conejos, Colorado, and through family members. They are Maria Tomasa, María Antonia, Donaciano, Juan Climaco and Luisa Vigil.
Standing: Eusebio and Sister Julianita. Seated: Eusebio's wife Ignacita with their children, Abraham and Jose Eusebio Jr.
The Vigil family probably migrated to Conejos County in the early to mid 1860s. The first child to marry in Colorado was dauther, María Dorotea, born in 1853 in Ancones, NM, and married on Feb. 24. 1867, in Our Lady of Guadalupe, Conejos, to Juan de Jesús Valdez. Her sister, María Tomasa Vigil, married Bartolo Lucero in Conejos on July 29. 1867, with the prominent settlement leader Lafayette Head. María Feliciana Vigil followed her sisters to the alter three months later on Oct. 7, 1867, marrying Damián Chacon in the same church.
Sometime before 1870, José Gabriel moved his family to Huerfano County, where they were enumerated in the 1870 U.S. Census as follows: José Gabriel, age 45, María Ysabel, 44, Donaciano, 9, Juan Climaco, 7, and María Lucia. By 1880 they are living in Las Animas County.
The tombstone of Phil's great-grandfather, Donaciano Vigil, indicates that he was born March 8, 1859. The LDS entry refers to place of birth as Olguines, NM, although this has not been verified. Per 1870 census data, Donaciano was raised from age 9, in Huerfano County. He married Juanita Cortez, Nov. 5, 1877, in Trinidad, according to Phil. She was the daughter of Eugenio Cortés and Maria Gurduño. The couple had at least six children, including Jose Eusebio, Leandro, Maria Sara (Diego Valásquez), Isabel, Juanita and Josefina.