Our Mexicans 
 
 Rev. Robert M. Craig 
 
 HOME WiSSlONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 [SBYTgRf AN CHURCtiU.S.A. 
 
BX 8954 
 
 N6 
 
 
 J-cans 
 
 1 
 
OUR MEXICANS 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. ROBERT M. CRAIG 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 The Board of Home Missions 
 
 OF THE Presbyterian Church 
 
 IN THE U. S. A. 
 
 1904 
 
Copyright, 1904, bt 
 
 The Board of Home Missions 
 
 OF THE Presbyterian Church 
 
 IN THE U. S. A. 
 
 THE trow press, NEW YORK 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 To know the history of our Church in our 
 land is to be interested in Home Missions. 
 
 Our Board of Home Missions is therefore 
 placing before our young people — for general 
 reading or for use in study classes — a series of 
 sketches which trace the planting and progress 
 of gospel truth among our Indians, Mexicans, 
 Mormons, Mountaineers of the South, Alaskans, 
 and the dwellers in Porto Rico and Cuba. A 
 seventh book in this series introduces its read- 
 ers to seven typical home mission heroes. 
 
 This little library of seven volumes, written 
 by those who know the work, is warmly com- 
 mended for accuracy and attractiveness. 
 
AUTHORS PREFACE 
 
 The limits of this text-book have pre- 
 vented any extended reference to the dis- 
 covery, explorations, and conquest of New 
 Mexico. The reader will find a fuller ac- 
 count in the works of Bancroft, Prince, 
 Haines, Storms, and Lummis. From these 
 authors the writer of these pages has drawn 
 freely and gratefully owns his obligations. 
 
 R. M. C. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Discovery and Exploration 1 
 
 II. Conquest and Colonization 12 
 
 III. Our Mexicans 21 
 
 IV. The Penitentes 34 
 
 V. Sister Churches at Work 42 
 
 VI. First Presbyterian Missions in New 
 
 Mexico 48 
 
 VII. Progress of Presbyterianism in New 
 
 Mexico .54 
 
 VIII. Early Missionaries 60 
 
 IX. Our Plaza Schools 69 
 
 X. Our Boarding-Schools 80 
 
 XI. Personal Pictures ........ 89 
 
 XII. Encouragements and Outlook .... 98 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Our Mexican Evangelists .... Frontispiece 
 
 OPPOSITE 
 
 {Rev. John L. Schultz ^ page 
 Rev. D. F. McFarland V . 51 
 Rev. James M. Roberts J 
 
 Rev. John A. Annin 61 
 
 Rev. James A. Menaul 67 
 
 The Allison School— First Pupils 1 
 
 /> . . 81 
 The Allison School — Present Buildings j 
 
 Pierson Hall 86 
 
 Rev. Gabino Rendon 92 
 
OUR MEXICANS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 
 
 " Oh that thou wouldst . . . enlarge viy coast!" 
 —I Chron. iv: 10. 
 
 Soon after Columbus had discovered Amer- 
 ica, France and England came upon the 
 scene as rival powers to dispute with each 
 other and with Spain the right to these new 
 possessions. But for many years the Span- 
 iards met with little opposition in the South- 
 west, except from the natives, in their strug- 
 gle to extend the territory of Spain in the 
 New World and find the stores of precious 
 metal hidden away among tribes yet un- 
 known. 
 
 It was on June 17th, 1527, when Charles V 
 was King of Spain, that an expedition, com- 
 manded by Panfilo de Narvaez with Cabeza 
 de Vaca as treasurer, bearing the title of 
 high sheriff, and accompanied by five Fran- 
 1 
 
2 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 ciscan friars headed by Juan Xuarez, set 
 sail from San Lucar de Barrameda with the 
 avowed object of conquering and colonizing 
 all the country from Rio de la Palsraas, on 
 the east coast of Mexico, one hundred leagues 
 north of Vera Cruz, to the southern extrem- 
 ity of Florida. This included all the States 
 of the Union bordering on the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico, besides a part of northeastern Mexico 
 itself, including New Mexico. 
 
 The object of the expedition may be gath- 
 ered from the petition of the leader of the 
 expedition to the King of Spain. In this 
 the petitioner proposes to traffic with the 
 natives of the coast and to take thither re- 
 ligious men and ecclesiastics to make known 
 and plant the Christian faith. He then mod- 
 estly asks, among other things, that for this 
 service to king and country he be made 
 governor and chief justice during his life, 
 and captain-general, with adequate salary 
 for each position; also that he receive for 
 himself one-tenth of all the royal rents for- 
 ever and that he be made adelantado (high 
 admiral) of these territories for himself, his 
 heirs, and his successors. 
 
 This request was granted and a proclama- 
 tion furnished which was to be made to the 
 conquered, to the ejffect that God, our Lord, 
 who created the heavens and the earth, gave 
 
EXPLORATION 3 
 
 to one person — Saint Peter — the whole world 
 for his kingdom, lordship, and jurisdiction; 
 that one of the popes who succeeded Peter 
 made a gift of these islands and territories 
 to the Emperor and Queen; and that writ- 
 ings were given which were to be seen if 
 desired. The conquered are then called upon 
 to recognize the Church as mistress and su- 
 perior of the universe and the High Pontiff 
 in its name. They were assured if they 
 thus obey they will be received with love, 
 but if not they are warned that they will be 
 enslaved and brought into subjection to the 
 Church and the yoke of their majesties. 
 
 Armed with such authority Narvaez and 
 his companions started with five vessels and 
 six hundred men, and, after encountering 
 violent winds and storms and desertions of 
 men, they landed on the west coast of Florida, 
 near Tampa Bay, in April, 1528. On the 
 following Saturday the Spanish ensign was 
 raised and the country taken for the King 
 of Spain. 
 
 Failures and disappointments led the com- 
 mander to move westward, and so the expe- 
 dition divided, the army marching inland, 
 while the ships went along the shore looking 
 for a harbor. 
 
 On Sunday, May 1st, the parties sepa- 
 rated, never to meet again. Little is known 
 
4 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 of their course or their adventures except 
 that the survivors, three Spaniards and a 
 Negro, wandered for eight years before they 
 reached the Gulf of California. 
 
 From the most reliable sources of infor- 
 mation it is gathered that in 1536 a party 
 of scouts in northern Mexico found Cabeza 
 de Vaca and the Negro, and soon after they 
 reached San Miguel and then Old Mexico. 
 
 Some writers are of the opinion that 
 Cabeza in his wanderings touched certain 
 places in New Mexico, while others contend 
 just as vigorously that he never saw the 
 country. Be that as it may, his story was 
 of the deepest interest, and the Spaniards 
 listening to it fancied themselves in posses- 
 sion of the "Seven cities of Cibola" with all 
 their stores of golden treasures. All Mexico 
 was in a ferment. A general desire for 
 exploration followed, and so in 1539 an ex- 
 pedition was sent out under command of 
 Vasquez de Coronado, who was the first to 
 attempt the conquest of New Mexico and 
 the exploration of this hitherto unknown 
 territory. 
 
 A small party under Marcos de Niza 
 a Franciscan friar, was sent out to find 
 Cibola. He was accompanied by Father 
 Onorato, a brother monk, Estevanico, the 
 Negro, and a number of Indians. 
 
EXPLORATION 5 
 
 They started on March 7th, and after 
 travelling along the coast of the Gulf of 
 California twenty-five leagues they came to 
 a desert. Crossing this they reached a city 
 called Vacupa, from which the Negro was 
 sent forward to explore. The exaggerated 
 reports sent back by the Negro induced Mar- 
 cos to advance. They passed through the 
 Gila Valley, not far from the present city of 
 Tucson, Arizona, and then onward until they 
 came within sight of Cibola (Zuni), but here 
 the Negro was captured and put to death. 
 
 The friar, alarmed, decided to retire; but 
 before doing so he ascended a high hill 
 where he could see Cibola, raised a heap of 
 stones, set up a cross, and under the text, 
 "The heathen are given as an inheritance," 
 took possession, naming the province "El 
 Nuevo Regno de San Francisco" — The New 
 Kingdom of Saint Francis. 
 
 The Indians became enemies, and he re- 
 turned with "more fear than food" to his 
 place of starting. 
 
 When the friar returned to Coronado the 
 latter was so impressed that he sent off 
 Melchior Diaz and Juan de Zaldivar to 
 verify his statements, and with Niza he him- 
 self went to Mexico to tell the story to Vice- 
 roy Mendoza. 
 
 There the friar stated that he had taken 
 
6 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 possession of Cibola, that he had been in the 
 city himself, and had seen the turquoise col- 
 umns, the beautiful slave-girls, and the 
 priceless feather cloaks of those who dwelt 
 in the king's palace. He spoke of the 
 emeralds and precious stones, of the rooms 
 "lighted by jewels," and of the vessels of 
 gold and silver; and soon the minds of the 
 Spaniards were inflamed, and Niza was made 
 provincial of the Franciscans, and the Church 
 and State united in the cause of adventure. 
 
 Soon an army of four hundred Spaniards 
 and eight hundred Indians under Coronado 
 was organized for the conquest of Cibola. 
 The majority of those joining this expedi- 
 tion were men of rank and social influence. 
 They assembled at Compostella, one hundred 
 leagues from Mexico, and two ships were 
 ordered to follow the coast to transport bag- 
 gage and other equipment. At this place of 
 meeting the viceroy addressed the men on 
 the importance of the expedition, and they 
 took an oath on the Gospels to obey their 
 general. The whole number consisted of 
 fifteen hundred men, with about one thou- 
 sand horses, one hundred and fifty European 
 cows, and a large number of sheep — the lat- 
 ter for the support of the troops and the 
 colonization of the country. 
 
 The army started in February, 1540, and 
 
EXPLORATION 7 
 
 at Culican Coronado advanced with a small 
 body of cavaliers and foot soldiers, leaving 
 the main army to follow later. Nothing of 
 importance happened until, in May, they 
 reached the "Red House," probably Casa 
 Grande on the Gila. Here Coronado was 
 disheartened, yet on June 23d he started in 
 a northeasterly direction, and travelled for 
 fifteen days. When nearing Cibola they 
 saw some Indians, who uttered such pierc- 
 ing cries that, it is said, "The Spaniards 
 were so frightened that they saddled their 
 horses wrong end foremost." On July 10th, 
 1540, they reached an inhabited country, 
 and came in sight of Cibola, standing on the 
 ruins of old Zuni. The natives of the region 
 were prepared for defence, and Coronado 
 opened the attack. The Indians defended 
 their town, but were defeated and fled, and 
 in a short time the whole country was sub- 
 jugated. There were seven cities, but the 
 disappointment was so great that Niza was 
 sent back in disgrace to Sonora, and Coro- 
 nado reported: "He said the truth only in 
 the names of the cities and the houses of 
 stone." 
 
 The main army followed on to Cibola by 
 much the same route as Coronado had trav- 
 elled. Before their arrival Coronado had 
 concluded a peace with the natives, and 
 
8 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 heard of another province of seven cities 
 called Tusayan (Moqui), which the general 
 at once sent Captain Tobar with twenty men 
 to explore. Monk Juan de Padilla accom- 
 panied the expedition. The Indians received 
 them with kindness, but refused to allow 
 them to enter, and the friar advised an at- 
 tack. The Indians fled, but soon returned 
 and gave in their submission. After this the 
 army returned to Cibola, and about the same 
 time Coronado sent twelve men under Don 
 Garcia De Cardenas to discover and explore 
 the great river to the east. 
 
 He secured guides and provisions at Tu- 
 sayan, crossed the desert, and discovered the 
 river, now named Colorado, and its Grand 
 Canon. 
 
 Soon after a deputation under Alvarado 
 was sent to Cicuye (Pecos), accompanied by 
 a Turk called Bigotes. They reached Acuco 
 (now Acoma) after five days' journey. The 
 Indians became friendly, and Alvarado 
 pressed on to Tiguez, probably in the valley 
 of Puerco, and was well received. He liked 
 Tiguez, and sent word to Coronado to winter 
 there, while he pressed on to Cicuye, prob- 
 ably Santa Ana. Coronado came on to 
 Tiguez and there saw El Turcp. Afterward 
 Tiguez was taken and all -tlie. inhabitants 
 imprisoned or put to death. 
 
EXPLORATION 9 
 
 In 1541 Coronado marched eastward in 
 search of Quivira^ the land of El Turko. 
 On finding this city he was sorely disap- 
 pointed, the Turk was put to death, and the 
 general returned to Cicuye. Next winter 
 Jemez was visited, and immediately surren- 
 dered. Then other districts — probably San 
 Juan, San Ildefonso, and Santa Clara — 
 were visited. The people fled, and he then 
 marched onward to Baraba, now Taos. The 
 pueblos in Socorro district were visited also 
 by one of the expeditions sent south. 
 
 The winter of 1541 was spent at Tiguez. 
 Here the general was thrown from his horse. 
 This accident disarranged the plans, and it 
 was decided to evacuate the country. The 
 homeward march began in 1542. Two 
 monks. Fray Jean de Padilla and Padre 
 Louis, remained behind in the hope of con- 
 verting the natives. The former went to 
 Quivira, where he was at once murdered. 
 Louis went to Cicuye, but nothing more was 
 ever heard of him. 
 
 For forty years no efforts were made to 
 colonize New Mexico. In 1581 a Franciscan 
 friar named Augustine Rodriguez, fired by 
 religious ardor, asked for authority to enter 
 the country and undertake the conversion of 
 the natives. This was granted, and prepa- 
 rations were at once commenced. The friar 
 
10 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 was accompanied by two brother monks, 
 Juan de Santa Maria and Francisco Lopez, 
 twelve soldiers, and a number of servants. 
 
 They followed the Rio Conchos to its 
 meeting with the Rio Grande, thence up that 
 river to Puera, about eight miles from Albu- 
 querque. There the soldiers left Rodriguez 
 and returned to their starting-point. The 
 priests went on to Galisteo, and were so 
 pleased that they determined to send Juan 
 de Santa Maria to Spain for missionaries, 
 but on his journey south he was killed at 
 San Pablo and his body burned. The two 
 other priests stayed at Puera for some time, 
 but shortly afterward Francisco was killed 
 by an Indian. Rodriguez then went to San- 
 tiago, but soon met the same fate, and his 
 body was thrown into the stream. 
 
 Allien tidings came to Mexico of the death 
 of the friars an interest was roused; Don 
 Antonio de Espejo offered to pay the ex- 
 penses and command the expedition in per- 
 son, and on December 15th, 1582, he set out 
 on his exploration. 
 
 They journeyed northward, meeting Ind- 
 ians and visiting pueblos. They visited 
 Isleta and Puera, where they heard of the 
 death of the friars. After seeing the to^vns 
 previously visited by Coronado and his men, 
 in 1583 they started homeward. 
 
EXPLORATION 11 
 
 During the next fourteen years a number 
 of applications were made for a contract 
 to conquer and colonize New Mexico^ and 
 several attempts were made, but not till 
 1598-99 did Juan de Onate succeed in the 
 undertaking for the King of Spain. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION 
 
 " This land shall he your possession before the Lord" 
 — ^Num. xxxii: 22. 
 
 In 1595 Don Juan de Ofiate offered to 
 furnish two hundred men at his own expense 
 for the conquest and colonization of New 
 Mexico. This was accepted, and he was 
 given five years to complete the work. In 
 1598 the expedition was ready and started 
 northward. 
 
 The force numbered four hundred men, 
 one hundred and thirty accompanied by their 
 families, also ten Franciscan friars, eighty- 
 three wagons, and seven thousand head of 
 cattle, and an escort of Chichuneca troops. 
 
 On April 20th they reached the Rio 
 Grande, where Onate took formal possession 
 of New Mexico for God, the king, and him- 
 self. Religious services were held in a 
 chapel built for the occasion. Many of the 
 soldiers here deserted .and returned to IVIex- 
 ico, but the settlers remained. On May 4th 
 the army crossed the Rio Grande at El Paso, 
 12 
 
COLONIZATION 13 
 
 and proceeded northward until Socorro was 
 reached by Onate and fifty-four men^ where 
 the natives made them welcome. Thence the 
 advance party proceeded northward to Cia, 
 and from San Felipe to Santo Domingo, 
 which was chosen as head-quarters and where 
 a convent named Ascencion was founded. 
 One of the party was sent back to bring up 
 the rest of the wagons, and the colonists 
 joined the advance party in August. The 
 Spaniards met with no opposition in their 
 marches, and on July 7th, 1598, representa- 
 tives of thirty-four villages went to Santo 
 Domingo and swore allegiance to their new 
 masters. Later all went to San Juan, which 
 remained some years the capital and centre 
 of the colony. After making a tour of the 
 provinces, work was begun on La Ciudad 
 de la Santa Fe de San Francisco — the city 
 of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis, the 
 present Santa Fe. 
 
 On August 18th the rear-guard arrived, 
 and on September 7th a mission chapel was 
 consecrated with great ceremony. Two days 
 later an assembly was held, at which native 
 chieftains expressed willingness to have 
 friars at their pueblos and to obey their in- 
 structions, whereupon the monks were sent 
 out to the different pueblos. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred during 
 
14 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 the next year except the conquest of the 
 Acomas, who alone remained enemies. After 
 that for eighty years little is kno-wTi of 
 New Mexican history. The colony pros- 
 pered, villages sprang up in the valley of 
 the Rio Grande, and the priests were zealous 
 in baptizing Indians and founding missions. 
 In 1599 more troops arrived, and eight friars 
 joined the colony. 
 
 San Juan remained the capital until 1640, 
 when it was moved to Santa Fe. 
 
 During these years Romanism spread rap- 
 idly. In 1608 the Franciscan records show 
 eight thousand converted, and in 1621 the 
 records show sixteen thousand five hundred 
 converts, while in 1626 over thirty-four thou- 
 sand Indians had been baptized and forty- 
 three churches erected. 
 
 Soon, however, discontent appeared. The 
 severity of the Spanish laws, civil and ec- 
 clesiastical, the inquisition which had been 
 established, and the tribute which was ex- 
 acted to support the garrison, the missions, 
 and the churches, fanned the fire of rebellion 
 until, in 1645, it broke out, but was soon 
 crushed. Again in 1650 a plot was formed 
 to kill all the soldiers and the priests and 
 drive the rest from the country, but this also 
 was discovered and promptly frustrated. In 
 1675 several friars were killed. Constant 
 
COLONIZATION 15 
 
 troubles arose and paved the way for the 
 storm which was soon to burst upon the 
 colony. 
 
 The 10th of August^ 1680^ was fixed as 
 the day for the uprising. The knotted rope 
 — their call to arms — had been sent from 
 pueblo to pueblo, but the plot was discovered 
 two days previously, and the only hope was 
 in an immediate attack. Accordingly, on 
 August 9th, the settlements were attacked, 
 and about four hundred Spaniards perished. 
 The final stand was made at Santa Fe, where 
 a thousand Spaniards were besieged. After 
 a gallant sortie, in which many of the Ind- 
 ians were killed, on August 20th it was de- 
 cided to abandon the city. On the follow- 
 ing day the first colonists of New Mexico 
 left the city of Santa Fe to face the perils 
 of the long march to the south. After suf- 
 fering severe hardships they reached El 
 Paso, where they determined to winter. A 
 few priests remained behind, but not one 
 escaped martyrdom. They were subjected 
 to shocking cruelties, and, as Prince says, 
 "so utterly did the mild nature of the Pueblo 
 appear to have been changed in half a cen- 
 tury and so terribly did the persecutions 
 which the misdirected zeal of some of the 
 ecclesiastics inaugurated react on others, many 
 of whom were men of great kindness and 
 
16 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 benevolence, and all of whom had shown 
 marked self-sacrifice and zeal, that decrees 
 were issued for the destruction of every 
 vestige of the Christian religion and the 
 Spanish authority." 
 
 Early in 1681 the colonists who had fled 
 were re-enforced, and Governor Otermin at- 
 tempted the reconquest of New Mexico, but 
 failed. Nothing of importance was accom- 
 plished until 1691^ when Don Diego de 
 Vargas undertook the generalship of the 
 Spanish army, and in 1692 began the march 
 for Santa Fe, which surrendered on Septem- 
 ber 13th. The Indians received absolution 
 for their sins, and a thousand children were 
 baptized. 
 
 After a trip through the North, Vargas 
 returned to Santa Fe and recommended to 
 the Viceroy of New Spain that garrisons be 
 established in different towns ; that five hun- 
 dred families and one hundred soldiers be 
 sent at once; and that blacksmiths, carpen- 
 ters, and other mechanics be sent from the 
 jails of Zacatecas, Queretaros, and Rosaro 
 to the colony to act as teachers and to search 
 for mines. 
 
 After visiting nearly every pueblo of 
 importance, baptizing two thousand two 
 hundred and fourteen natives and rescuing 
 seventy-four Spanish women and children. 
 
COLONIZATION IT 
 
 Vargas arrived at El Paso on December 20th, 
 1692, and at once commenced preparations 
 for colonizing the province. On October 11th, 
 1693;, he set out with a new expedition of 
 fifteen hundred persons, including seventeen 
 friars. They met with suspicion and dis- 
 trust; yet after long marches, anxiety, and 
 battles, by November 24th, 1696, all the pue- 
 blos had submitted except Acoma, Santa 
 Clara, Santa Domingo, and Cochiti. 
 
 With the exception of some outbreaks by 
 wandering tribes of Indians the eighteenth 
 century was one of comparative quiet. 
 
 In 1796 the Franciscan fathers took a 
 census of the civilized pueblos, in which were 
 found 14,167 whites and 9,-^53 Indians. In 
 1798 there were 15,031 whites and 9,732 
 Indians, while in 1799 Governor Chacon's 
 report gives 18,826 whites and 9,732 Ind- 
 ians, Santa Fe at that time having a popula- 
 tion of 3,795. 
 
 The nineteenth century was to bring many 
 changes in the conditions and government of 
 New Mexico. In 1803 the United States 
 secured from France the Louisiana Pur- 
 chase, and Spain became somewhat uneasy 
 at the rapid gro^vth of this new republic. 
 Traders were looked upon with suspicion, 
 and questions of boundary were constantly 
 causing trouble. Texas had been settled by 
 
18 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 Spaniards as early as 1690, and now, when 
 the United States claimed territory as far 
 west as the Rio Grande, numerous conflicts 
 arose. 
 
 It was in 1807 that Zebulon M. Pike vis- 
 ited New Mexico by mistake. He had been 
 sent from St. Louis to pacify the Kansas 
 and Osage Indians and to explore the region 
 of the Arkansas and Red rivers. He was 
 instructed not to offend the New Mexicans, 
 and to keep clear of their territory. After 
 finding Pike's Peak the party moved south- 
 ward in search of the Red River, and soon 
 they reached a stream which they supposed 
 to be the river they sought. They built a 
 fort and raised the Stars and Stripes. They 
 were soon visited by a company of horsemen 
 who informed them that they were on New 
 Mexican soil, and that the governor required 
 their presence in Santa Fe to explain the 
 purpose of their errand. After visiting 
 Santa Fe they were taken to Chihuahua, 
 Mexico, where they were detained for some 
 time and then sent back to the United States. 
 
 In 1819 a movement began in Mexico 
 against Spanish control. Spain and New 
 Mexico became a Mexican department in- 
 stead of a Spanish province, and in two 
 years New Mexico became a territory of the 
 Republic of Mexico. 
 
COLONIZATION 19 
 
 In 1837, because of taxation, a revolution 
 broke out, and a new government was or- 
 ganized, which, however, was short-lived, 
 and New Mexico was received again as a 
 Territory of Mexico. 
 
 It will be remembered that while Texas 
 won her independence in 1835, Mexico had 
 not acknowledged it, and so when Texas 
 sought annexation to the United States in 
 184-5 and obtained it, war resulted. 
 
 The feeling in New Mexico was that the 
 Territory would advance more rapidly imder 
 American than under Mexican rule. So 
 when General Kearney, in August, 1846, 
 reached Santa Fe, he took possession without 
 a shot being fired or a drop of blood shed, 
 and on September 22d New Mexico was 
 proclaimed a part of the United States, un- 
 der the name of "The Territory of New 
 Mexico." 
 
 The caravan trade with Santa Fe began 
 early in the nineteenth century. Within 
 twenty-five years the value of goods im- 
 ported amounted to $90,000 per annum, and 
 by 1846 to $1,750,000. 
 
 New Mexico advanced rapidly. Railroads 
 succeeded the wagon-train, new life brought 
 business and prosperity, and the dreaming 
 of centuries became forever a thing of the 
 past. Mines are being developed. Agri- 
 
20 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 culture is being pressed in the Pecos Valley, 
 in the valleys of the Rio Grande and the 
 San Juan, while flocks of sheep and herds 
 of cattle everywhere prove the advancing 
 prosperity. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 " We ivait for light . . . but we walk in dark- 
 ness." — Isa. lix. 9. 
 
 To speak of the Spanish-speaking people 
 living within our gates as "Mexicans," in 
 contradistinction to Americans, is to use a 
 term that is not only misleading, but unjust 
 to this people and hurtful to the best inter- 
 ests of the Southwest. Let us not forget 
 when the term "Mexican" is used with refer- 
 ence to part of our population that, while 
 there is some difference in race and blood 
 between the descendants of the Spanish set- 
 tlers of New ]\Iexico and the later emigrants 
 from Europe, Asia, and Africa, if anybody- 
 is entitled to the name "American" it surely 
 is the people who are descendants of men 
 and women who lived in New Mexico when 
 the ancestors of these later comers were liv- 
 ing in poverty in some European hamlet or 
 Asiatic village. 
 
 Let us not forget that no one, no matter 
 what his color or circumstances, has a right 
 21 
 
22 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 to arrogate to himself the name "American" 
 to the exclusion of this splendid race who 
 have been Americans longer than any Son 
 or Daughter of the Revolution, or than any 
 family that can trace its ancestry back to 
 the Mayflower. Our Mexicans are the two 
 hundred and fifty or three hundred thousand 
 people of Spanish origin, of whom at least 
 two hundred thousand are residents of New 
 Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, and 
 Texas. 
 
 Spanish Origin 
 
 The first attempt to colonize New Mexico 
 was made by Castano de Soso in 1590. 
 With one hundred and seventy persons — 
 men, women, and children — he entered the 
 comitry by way of the Pecos Valley, intend- 
 ing to plant a colony. He went almost as 
 far as the present boundary of Colorado and 
 then moved south down the Rio Grande Val- 
 ley, but disaster overtook this and several 
 other attempts to settle New Mexico. 
 
 In 1598, as has been seen, Oilate made 
 another attempt to colonize the country. 
 Besides a number of Franciscan friars, he 
 had about two hundred men, several with 
 families, and eighty wagons and seven thou- 
 sand cattle. This company travelled up the 
 
OUR MEXICANS 23 
 
 Rio Grande as far as Rio Chama, where they 
 settled and buiit a church. This was the 
 first Spanish settlement in New Mexico^ and 
 was named San Gabriel or San Juan de los 
 Caballeros. 
 
 Soon after this a number of other settle- 
 ments were effected, the principal of which 
 was at Santa Fe in l607 or I6O8. 
 
 In the revolution of I68O these colonies 
 were broken up and the colonists driven 
 from the country. But in 1693 a party from 
 Mexico reached Santa Fe without interrup- 
 tion, and began anew the recolonization of 
 the country. To-day in New Mexico are 
 found the descendants of these Spanish con- 
 querors and colonists. 
 
 As the tourist looks from the car-windows 
 or alights from the train he sees and hears 
 much that surprises and often leads to very 
 incorrect opinions. He forgets that for more 
 than three centuries these people have lived 
 far from the busy world, and although of 
 late years the railroad has come, bringing 
 with it new civilization, yet New Mexico 
 still remains a land of quaint and curious 
 customs. One bent on investigation sees the 
 men and women, of short and dark visage, 
 wearing their sombreros and rehosas, guid- 
 ing their caravans of bridleless donkeys 
 along the street as they call out, "Liana, 
 
24 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 liana" (wood, wood), or "albuquoques" 
 (apricots), and such merchandise. As he 
 hears an unknown tongue in the coimtry 
 that is our very own, and sees what he is 
 inclined to call a "foreign people," he at 
 once thinks of the cowardly Spaniard of 
 whom he has heard, stealing from tree to 
 tree in order, if possible, to pierce the in- 
 vader with his stiletto. 
 
 But the average Mexican, doubtless affect- 
 ed by the climate of the Southwest, has 
 hardly enough of ambition to run about from 
 place to place, and as a race they seem fond 
 of putting off any task as long as possible. 
 It is this peculiarity that has led to the say- 
 ing that the Mexican lives in the land of 
 manana — to-morrow. Though this name may 
 well be applied to many, and though the 
 majority of the people are poor in the ex- 
 treme, yet many of them are quite industri- 
 ous and make a fair living from their little 
 ranches and flocks of sheep and goats, while 
 others engage in business with considerable 
 success. 
 
 In the manner of living and social customs 
 of this people, while there is much to sad- 
 den, there is also much from which we may 
 all learn lessons. 
 
 The people live mostly in houses built of 
 adobes. The adobe may be simply a "sod" 
 
OUR MEXICANS 25 
 
 peeled from the lawn^ but the real adobe is 
 a mixture of mud and straw put into a box 
 two feet long, eight inches wide, and four 
 inches deep, and then turned out in the sun 
 to dry. These "adobe brick" are laid upon 
 each other in a mortar of their own mud, 
 the floors are of native earth, and the roof 
 is covered with poles, called vigas, crossed 
 with branches, which in turn are covered 
 with clay and gravel. 
 
 There may or may not be small openings 
 to let in the light and air. The houses are 
 usually very small, consisting of only one 
 or two rooms, into which a whole family is 
 crowded. There they live, and eat, and 
 sleep — a custom which is not at all favorable 
 to the development of the true moral nature. 
 Notwithstanding their humble homes, the 
 average Mexican is hospitality personified. 
 He is always kind and polite and ready to 
 entertain. I have known whole families to 
 leave their only room, insisting on placing at 
 the disposal of the stranger everything in 
 their little home, and in sharing their brown 
 beans and their quenchless chili, their came 
 and huevos (eggs) with the stranger. They 
 have the scriptural grace of hospitality. 
 
 In the home the children have special 
 reverence for their parents, and the old are 
 carefully looked after. The hombre rules 
 
26 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 supreme, and the wives and daughters serve 
 their lords and masters. 
 
 Many customs remind one of Bible lands 
 in Bible times. The way they prepare their 
 food, plough their lands, thresh their grain 
 and separate it from the chaff; the way the^ 
 mix the straw and chaff with mud and mould 
 the sun-dried bricks; the way they herd 
 their cattle and watch their sheep, and carry 
 burdens on their heads, and glean and gather 
 up their crops — these and a thousand other 
 things remind one forcibly of the land in 
 which our Saviour lived two thousand years 
 ago. 
 
 But while it is true that the ^lexicans re- 
 tain many of their old customs and notions, 
 and are slow to change them, the wonder is 
 that during their fifty years within the 
 bounds of the United States so much has 
 been accomplished. 
 
 The Roman Catholic clergy, French and 
 Italian, for ages have held complete sway 
 over the minds and bodies of this people. 
 As nothing was done for either their educa- 
 tion, their elevation, or their comfort, it is 
 surprising that the work of assimilation ad- 
 vances so steadily. Notwithstanding the de- 
 nunciations of wrathful priests who threaten 
 their people with anathema and excommuni- 
 cation if they send their children to the 
 
OUR MEXICANS 27 
 
 schools or sell property to "those Protes- 
 tants/' the very people thus denounced are 
 pleading for our mission schools. 
 
 We certainly have an open door. Preju- 
 dices are disappearing. New interest is 
 being manifested in education and general 
 progress. The Mexicans are desirous of 
 bettering their condition^ and are willing to 
 give up their old customs, the language and 
 even the religion of their fathers, when they 
 are convinced that a better is offered. 
 
 Educational Conditions 
 
 The Annual Report of the Superintendent 
 of Schools of New Mexico for I9OI shows 
 seventy-three city schools, with an average 
 attendance of 4,902 out of a school popula- 
 tion of 12,321, or a little more than thirty 
 per cent, of the school population. But in 
 the cities our schools — and they are good 
 ones — are largely attended by American 
 children rather than the bright-eyed Mexican 
 boys and girls. 
 
 The same report shows six hundred and 
 twenty-one "schools" in the counties open 
 for an average of four and a third months 
 in the year with an average attendance of 
 23,412 out of a school population of 62,864. 
 In other words, rather more than one-third 
 
28 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 of the entire school population attend school 
 for one-third of a year. 
 
 This is a great improvement in the last 
 ten years, but the question of better school 
 accommodation and better education for the 
 thousands of the native population who at 
 no distant day are to be the voters not only 
 in New Mexico, but in the United States, is 
 a very serious one. It is a just source of 
 pride to have good schools in our towns and 
 cities, expending annually $l6.74< per capita 
 on the 8,150 pupils in attendance; and well- 
 equipped higher institutions, supported by 
 the public fund, spending $159-66 per capita 
 annually on the 907 pupils enrolled. But 
 it is no wonder that the Superintendent of 
 Education should remark, "This is entirely 
 unfair," and then enter a strong appeal for 
 the 27,984 on whose education there is ex- 
 pended only $4.94 per capita. Here centres 
 the need and value of our mission schools, to 
 which reference will be made in a future 
 chapter. 
 
 Religious Conditions 
 
 With the educational disadvantages to 
 which the Mexican people have been sub- 
 jected little can be expected of their relig- 
 ious condition. 
 
OUR MEXICANS 29 
 
 When one reads the story of the introduc- 
 tion of Roman Catholicism into New Mexico 
 he cannot wonder at the present condition 
 of the people whose religion is based on such 
 a foundation. 
 
 The treatment of the Indians, subdued by 
 the troops, baptized wholesale by the priests, 
 and enslaved as well, is abundant reason 
 why the first Franciscan priest, who came 
 with Coronado in 1540, suffered death at 
 their hands, and why Rodriguez and his com- 
 panions, who came in 1582, suffered a simi- 
 lar fate, and for the wholesale slaughter in 
 1680. 
 
 Little can be said for a system which was 
 for three centuries or more the established 
 religion of the Mexicans, which was recog- 
 nized by peculiar privileges, which was with- 
 out competition, which was in fact a military 
 hierarchy in control of the province, and yet 
 which to-day would have its adherents in 
 the darliness and superstition of the Middle 
 Ages but for the enlightening and elevating 
 influences of American civilization and Prot- 
 estant missions. 
 
 Even fifty years ago Romanism demanded 
 successive feast-days and parades, many of 
 which are still observed, until the life of the 
 people was robbed of all progress and enter- 
 prise attendant upon diligent labor. Super- 
 
30 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 stition is yet encouraged. Miracle-working 
 is still claimed and trusted. Images are 
 carried to the bedside of the sick, and the 
 sick and lame are carried to the churches to 
 be cured of their diseases. The sacred host 
 is paraded through the streets with great 
 pomp, while the people kneel as the proces- 
 sion passes. 
 
 The patron saint, "our Lady of Guada- 
 lupe," is one illustration of many that could 
 be given of the priestly impositions prac- 
 tised upon this misled people. Here is the 
 tradition as given by the Rev. T. F. Wallace: 
 
 The virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of 
 the Romish Church in Mexico, made her first 
 appearance to the poor Indian, Juan Diego. 
 She was seen by him in a rainbow over the 
 hill Tonan in Topeyacac in the early morn- 
 ing of December 12th, 1531. On first seeing 
 her, he exclaimed: 
 
 "I am in the paradise of my forefathers." 
 
 The salutation of the virgin was in this 
 wise: 
 
 "My son, Juan Diego, whom I love as 
 I do a little delicate child, how art thou?" 
 
 She then informed him that she wanted 
 him to be bearer of a message from her to 
 the Bishop Zumarraga, saying: 
 
 "Thou wilt say to him that the mother of 
 the true God sends him word that he is to 
 
OUR MEXICANS 81 
 
 build for me a temple in which I can show 
 the long-ago motherly affection I had and 
 still have for the people of your race." 
 
 Juan Diego took the message to the bish- 
 op, and returned to the virgin, telling her 
 that his worship, although he listened to the 
 message, took little notice of it; and the poor 
 Indian besought the virgin that she would 
 choose some other ambassador. He was 
 assured that he alone would suit her. 
 
 According to the account, Juan Diego 
 tried to avoid compliance with the virgin's 
 command, but she appeared again to him. 
 Although he excused himself, alleging sick- 
 ness of an uncle and a nephew, she was not 
 willing to release him, but sent him at once 
 to the hill Tonan to cut and bring her such 
 flowers as he might find there. Juan Diego, 
 returning with the flowers, presented them 
 to the virgin in his ayate, a cloth made of 
 the fibre of the vrtaguey, used as a manto 
 (mantle) by the Indians. Touching the 
 flowers, the virgin ordered Juan Diego to 
 carry them to the bishop as the sign he had 
 asked to satisfy him that the true mother of 
 God had sent Juan Diego to him. 
 
 In a familiar picture Juan is represented 
 in the presence of the bishop and his famil- 
 iars; he has just opened up his ayate, in 
 which he carried the flowers. 
 
32 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 These fall to the floor, and, lol to the 
 amazement of bishop, Indian, and all, the 
 virgin is seen painted upon the ay ate, just 
 in the same form that she is seen in ever}'' 
 Roman Catholic church and house in Mexico, 
 in every kind and size of painting, engrav- 
 ing, or sculjDture. 
 
 The miners carry a small picture of her 
 hung about their necks, and, of whatever 
 else they may divest themselves while work- 
 ing down in the deep silver-mines, this is 
 never laid aside. In nearly every mine they 
 have an image or picture of her placed in a 
 rude shrine^ and before it, ever burning, one 
 or more candles. The mule, donkey, and 
 stage drivers carry the same picture hung 
 about their necks. The women, rich and 
 poor, wear breastpins with her image on 
 them. 
 
 The greatest feast-day in Mexico (Decem- 
 ber 12th) is that celebrated in honor of the 
 appearance of Nuestra Seilora de Guadalupe. 
 
 There is no doubt but more honor is shown 
 and more sincere worship rendered to this 
 patroness of Mexico, and more trust placed 
 in her by the women and the ignorant masses 
 in the republic, than in the only begotten 
 Son of God. No wonder that a missionary 
 who has come in contact with these abomi- 
 nations should say: 
 
OUR MEXICANS 33 
 
 "The Roman Catholic Mexican worships 
 the mother of Christy his grandmother, his 
 father, his grandfather, his heart, his side, 
 his cross — in short, anything, or any person, 
 but Christ himself. They pluck the diadem 
 from the brow of King Jesus in order to 
 give it to the Pope of Rome." 
 
 These were some of the conditions of the 
 New Mexican people when the first Protes- 
 tants entered the territory fifty years ago, 
 and which are still found in many localities 
 among this interesting but misled people 
 to-day. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE PENITENTES 
 
 " Going about to establish their own righteousness* 
 — Rom. x: 3, 
 
 Strange^ yet true, that none of our ency- 
 clopaedias give any account of the Order of 
 Penitentes in the United States. It is stated 
 on good authority that the Pueblo Indians 
 had an ancient custom of holding a peniten- 
 tial fast for four days in each of their 
 pueblos. On that occasion a small number 
 of men and women were selected to bear the 
 sins of all. These were shut up in their 
 sacred council chamber. Before each was 
 placed a "tinaja" of water, of which they 
 must not drink, while every morning a dele- 
 gation came to wash their feet. This con- 
 tinued throughout the four fast-days, and 
 is the only form of penitence, except what is 
 imposed by the Church, known to have ex- 
 isted among them. 
 
 The idea of the whip as a means of grace 
 was long ago kno^'iTi in the history of na- 
 tions. The Egyptians, Spartans, and Ro- 
 34 
 
THE PENITENTES 35 
 
 mans all practised whipping as an atonement 
 for sin. As early as the eleventh century 
 it was advocated and practised by the car- 
 dinals, and in 1220 the first fraternity for 
 regular and public self-whipping was found- 
 ed. A little later we read that rich and poor 
 walked with leathern whips through the city 
 streets whipping themselves until they drew 
 blood from their tortured bodies, and, amid 
 sighs and tears, they sang their penitential 
 hymns and entreated the compassion of the 
 Deity. 
 
 For a century after this flagellation was 
 practised in different European countries. 
 Efforts were sometimes made, it is true, by 
 the Romish Church to stop the practice, but 
 again and again it was revived in Italy, 
 Spain, and France. 
 
 About three hundred years ago the "Order 
 of Los Hermanos Penitentes" was founded 
 in Spain, its object being "religious study 
 and conversation," and, so far as known, the 
 members of this organization were "men of 
 good morals and good sense." In course of 
 time this order came to old Mexico, and 
 afterward, when the Franciscan friars came 
 to New Mexico, they introduced this system 
 of self-torture. 
 
 It is said that the first public penance in 
 New Mexico was celebrated in 1594 by Juan 
 
86 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 de Ofiate and his men. The system degen- 
 erated more and more as the years passed, 
 until the present "monstrosity had devel- 
 oped." When this order came to New Mex- 
 ico they found traces of the Penitentes 
 among the Indians previously referred to, 
 but nothing so gross as the customs intro- 
 duced by the Franciscan friars. 
 
 The number of Penitentes in New Mexico 
 in 1903 is variously estimated from twenty- 
 five to thirty-five hundred. They all claim 
 allegiance to the Romish Church. Their be- 
 lief is founded on the use of the whip, the 
 cactus, and the cross as instruments of tor- 
 ture. 
 
 The only season in which the Penitentes 
 practise their religious rites is Lent. During 
 these weeks the traveller through the caiions 
 or near their meeting-places must not be 
 surprised to witness their processions as they 
 leave the morada (place of meeting), led by 
 their priests and so-called bands of music, 
 the latter making all kinds of noises on their 
 musical instruments. These are followed 
 by a number of men, each carrying on his 
 bare shoulders one end of a huge cross, while 
 the other end, about twenty feet distant, is 
 dragging on the ground. After these come 
 another band, stripped to the waist, each 
 having a huge cactus bound over his bare 
 
THE PENITENTES 37 
 
 shoulders, back, and breast. Then follow 
 other men, also bare to the waist, lashing 
 themselves with whips made from the amole 
 or soap-weed, until their backs are one mass 
 of raw flesh. Singing their weird song they 
 pass on to an elevation about half a mile or 
 more from the starting-point, and there these 
 deluded creatures prostrate themselves be- 
 fore the cross. 
 
 The whips used are about three feet long. 
 These have braided handles, with a lash 
 about four inches across, and braided also 
 for about half its length, and with long, 
 hair-like tails. This is the "Disciplina" of 
 penance. 
 
 My mind goes back to one Good Friday 
 night, when with a Mexican friend I reached 
 a plaza nearly one hundred miles from the 
 railroad station. I had driven two days in 
 order to be present and investigate for my- 
 self the tales told by Lummis in his "Land 
 of Poco Tiempo." As we sat at supper in 
 the home of our host, the children came run- 
 ning in, saying: 
 
 "The Penitentes are coming." 
 
 We at once rushed to the door to see the 
 procession, and if possible to secure an 
 entrance to the meeting of tinieblas (dark- 
 ness) in that little chapel. We joined the 
 procession, but just as we reached the door 
 
38 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 three large officers stepped in front and, 
 beckoning with their hands, ordered us away. 
 My guide pleaded hard, and after some dis- 
 cussion the men retired and talked the matter 
 over with some of their friends. Then they 
 returned, and I was admitted to the room, 
 where for a couple of hours at least, with 
 closed doors, sights were seen and noises 
 heard that no tongue could describe. 
 
 The building is of adobe, with large slid- 
 ing-doors in one end, and with but one small, 
 round hole in one side for light and ventila- 
 tion. The floor is native earth, except at 
 the end where the altar is located. In front 
 of the altar is a large, curtained table, under 
 which the choir have their seats on the floor. 
 In front of this table, on a small stool, sit 
 tv/o men, each holding a stone in his hand. 
 Directly in front of the stool, but on the 
 earthen floor, at some distance from the 
 front of the altar platform, is a stand on 
 which is a wooden triangle, having one 
 lighted candle on the apex, three on the base, 
 and five on either side. In front of this the 
 Penitentes stand facing the lights. These 
 men for days have been torturing themselves 
 in the ways previously described. Now 
 their heads and backs and arms are band- 
 aged. These men we would suppose to be 
 the most religious in the commimity; instead. 
 
THE PENITENTES 39 
 
 they are regarded as the most deluded and 
 of the lower class, doing penance not only 
 for the sins they have committed, but for 
 those which they intend to commit during 
 the coming year. 
 
 All things being ready, at the blast of a 
 trumpet the meeting is in progress. The 
 choristers under the table sing and play one 
 verse. The men in front of the table strike 
 three times on the seats with the stones they 
 hold in their hands, then one of the Peni- 
 tentes steps forward and extinguishes one 
 of the lights. This continues until all the 
 lights but one have disappeared. There is 
 silence for a moment. Then a large, flat 
 surface, probably nine by twelve feet, ap- 
 parently of wood, covered with zinc, which 
 in its turn is covered with leather, is placed 
 on the floor. The doors in the front of the 
 buildings are closed and barred. The her- 
 manas range themselves about the room. 
 The music is again started, and at a given 
 signal the last light is gone. From boxes 
 and barrels, previously ranged round the 
 room, ropes and chains and sticks are drawn, 
 and for about one half-hour the clashing of 
 chains and the ranting of other instruments 
 is maddening. 
 
 The noise, the groans, and the darkness 
 I can never forget. If at any time I want 
 
40 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 an illustration of that "outer darkness" I 
 only think of that awful night in the Peni- 
 tentes' meeting-house. 
 
 What does it all mean? Not "the arrival 
 of the soul in purgatory," as someone has 
 said. As the candles are again lighted, I 
 see one of the Penitentes go forward and 
 take from the wall a cross on which is an 
 image intended to represent our Saviour, 
 who has died during the darkness, and at 
 once the whole mystery is clear. The dark- 
 ness, with all the unearthly sounds, is in- 
 tended to represent the transactions at Cal- 
 vary on that Good Friday night when the 
 "King of Glory" bowed His head and gave 
 up the ghost. 
 
 After this service the image on the cross 
 is borne from the little chapel to the house 
 of a friend where entertainment has been 
 provided, and there the music is kept up 
 until the morning, when all return to the 
 morada, from which they go to their homes 
 in peace. 
 
 Under the flag that waves for liberty, and 
 with the Gospel in our hands that proclaims 
 freedom for the slave of sin, we long for 
 the day when from those lofty mountains, 
 deep canons, and wide-stretching plains 
 the weird song of the poor Penitentes shall 
 no longer be heard, but only songs of praise 
 
THE PENITENTES 41 
 
 to Him who has cleansed us from our sins 
 in His o-vvTi precious blood. 
 
 [For further information regarding this strange 
 form of worship the reader is referred to "The Land 
 of Poco Tiempo," by Charles F. Lummis, and to 
 "The Passionists of the Southwest," by the Rev. 
 A. M. Darley.] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SISTER CHURCHES AT WORK 
 
 " Our aims are one.'^ 
 
 The Baptists 
 
 The first Protestant church to enter New 
 Mexico was the Baptist, whose first minis- 
 ter came in 1849. It was in 1852, however, 
 that the Rev. Samuel Gorman arrived as 
 first missionary to the Pueblo Indians, and 
 in 1854 the Baptists erected in Santa Fe the 
 first Protestant church building in New 
 Mexico. 
 
 The work of these first missionaries seems 
 to have been confined almost entirely to the 
 American people. When the Civil War broke 
 out their mission board withdrew its sup- 
 port and the work was abandoned. Only 
 within the last few years has anything been 
 done by the Baptists among the Spanish- 
 speaking people of New Mexico. 
 
 In 1903 the reports showed five organized 
 churches with a total membership of ninety- 
 two, A good school for Mexican children 
 
SISTER CHURCHES 43 
 
 has been in successful operation at Velarde 
 with an attendance of ninety, and another 
 has lately been opened at Alculoe with an 
 attendance of about sixty. 
 
 The Congregationalists 
 
 The early work of the Congregational 
 Church in New Mexico was of a mixed char- 
 acter, consisting chiefly of academies at 
 Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. 
 These were intended largely for Mexican 
 children, but the Americans rather crowded 
 them out. These schools did an important 
 work for some years, but later were aban- 
 doned. The beginning of their school work 
 distinctively for Mexican children dates back 
 to about 1888. In 1903 there were six 
 schools with twelve teachers and an enrol- 
 ment of three hundred and ninety. The 
 schools are located at Barelas, Ranchos de 
 Atrisco, Cubero, San Mateo, San Rafael, and 
 Seboyeta. 
 
 Little has been done by the Congregation- 
 alists in the way of distinct evangelistic work 
 among the Mexicans. There are two native 
 evangelists and two native churches with a 
 membership of thirty-seven. The only or- 
 dained Congregational minister engaged in 
 Mexican work in New Mexico occupies the 
 
44 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 position of general missionary and superin- 
 tendent of schools. 
 
 The Rev. J. H. Heald emphasizes the 
 fact that their work has not developed be- 
 cause of the lack of a central school, but 
 hopes soon to remedy this lack by the estab- 
 lishment of an industrial school. 
 
 The Methodists 
 
 In 1850 the Rev. E. G. Nicholson, the 
 first ^lethodist missionary to New Mexico, 
 was sent out by the Missionary Society of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. He reached 
 Santa Fe in October, 1850. His work was 
 among the English-speaking people, mostly 
 officers and soldiers of the United States 
 army and a few of the families of officials 
 in the civil service. When the army was re- 
 called from Santa Fe the congregation be- 
 came very small, and Mr. Nicholson returned 
 to Missouri and reported unfavorably. The 
 mission was suspended for about a year. 
 
 When at Santa Fe Mr. Nicholson had 
 made the acquaintance of a Roman Catholic 
 priest who was not in sympathy with the 
 Homish Church. After visiting Rome he 
 returned to London, where he met a highly 
 educated Wesleyan minister, by whom he 
 was convinced that the Church of Rome was 
 
SISTER CHURCHES 45 
 
 no longer the Church for him, and at once 
 sought a place in the Methodist Church. 
 With the approval of the bishops, early in 
 the autumn of 1853 Mr. Nicholson, as super- 
 intendent, with the Rev. Mr. Hanson and 
 the priest, Reniguo Cardinas, were sent as 
 missionaries to New Mexico. On their ar- 
 rival in Santa Fe they held service in Span- 
 ish, and soon a number were baptized. 
 Cardinas became a zealous itinerant in the 
 Spanish work, chiefly in the valley of the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 Mr. Hanson opened a school in Zecalote. 
 At first the school was very hopeful with 
 thirty-five pupils, but soon it was reported 
 to the Church authorities. A few priests 
 were sent to Zecalote, and soon the children 
 were removed and the school was closed. 
 
 Mr. Nicholson visited Albuquerque, Peral- 
 ta, Belen, Corales, and locisro. While at 
 Peralta he left a copy of the Bible with 
 Don Ambrosio Gonzales, which led to his 
 conversion. 
 
 The missionaries soon became discouraged 
 and returned to New York and gave reports 
 not at all encouraging. Cardinas, however, 
 remained on the field and pleaded constantly 
 for a superintendent. In 1855 the Rev. D. 
 D. Love was sent out to examine and report 
 the existing conditions. He found a few 
 
46 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 converts, organized a eliurch at locisro, and 
 administered the Lord's Supper to seven 
 members. In November 18th of the same 
 year Dr. Love visited Peralta, held services, 
 organized a class of fourteen persons, and 
 appointed as leader Ambrosio Gonzales. 
 After some time Dr. Love returned to New 
 York and the work was discontinued. 
 
 Not much was done in this mission for 
 the next ten years. In 1866 Father Dyer 
 took a horseback ride down into New Mex- 
 ico. His soul was stirred when he saw the 
 condition of the people. He wrote a few 
 stirring articles to the church papers. In- 
 terest was roused, and at the General Con- 
 ference in Chicago in 1868 New Mexico 
 was taken up, made a district in the Colorado 
 Conference, and Father Dyer appointed pre- 
 siding elder of the same. 
 
 On the earnest solicitation of the Church 
 authorities the Rev. Thomas H. Harwood, 
 the present Methodist superintendent of 
 Spanish work in New Mexico, and Mrs. 
 Harwood, reached the territory in 1869. 
 They at once opened a school at Cherry 
 Valley, and afterward at Tuptonville. He 
 visited Peralta in 1871 and reorganized the 
 work begun by Gonzales. The little band 
 of fourteen had increased to forty-two. 
 
 Dr. Harwood found no Protestant churches 
 
SISTER CHURCHES 47 
 
 or classes anywhere except at Santa Fe, 
 where the Presbyterians had opened a work 
 and where the Methodists had a small or- 
 ganization, as also at Elizabethtown. 
 
 In addition to their English branch, which 
 has sixteen organized churches, the Spanish 
 branch of the Methodist work reported in 
 1903 thirty-iive church buildings, eleven hun- 
 dred and twenty Sunday-school children, and 
 a church membership of twenty-six hundred 
 and eighty-two. 
 
 Dr. Harwood says: "Thirty years ago I 
 rode on horseback in the mountains between 
 Ocate and Black Lakes about thirty miles; 
 I found only one house, where I spent the 
 night and preached to all its inmates. Last 
 week I travelled over the same road. I 
 passed many houses, and preached at night 
 to about sixty people, one-half of whom are 
 members of the Church. What hath God 
 wrought! To Him be the praise." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN NEW MEXICO 
 
 " I will make darkness light before them." — Isa. 
 xlii: 16. 
 
 The work of the Presbyterian Church 
 among the Mexican or Spanish-speaking 
 people is so closely associated in its com- 
 mencement with our missions to the Amer- 
 icans and Indians that it is difficult to disso- 
 ciate them. 
 
 It was in 1850 that the Rev. W. J. Kephart 
 was sent as the first Presbyterian missionary 
 to New Mexico. There are no records of 
 his work to be found. He subsequently be- 
 came editor of the Santa Fe Gazette in anti- 
 slavery interests. 
 
 Under appointment of the Board of Do- 
 mestic Missions, the Rev. D. F. McFarland, 
 supported by the Ladies' New Mexico and 
 Arizona Missionary Society of New York 
 City, reached Santa Fe on Thursday, No- 
 vember 22d, 1866. On the following Sunday, 
 in the senate chamber, which, through the 
 kindness of Governor Mitchell, was granted 
 48 
 
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 49 
 
 for the service, he preached to an attentive 
 and respectably large audience. In the 
 afternoon of the same day a Sunday-school 
 was organized with three teachers and seven 
 pupils, which, so far as records show, was 
 the first Protestant Sunday-school organized 
 in New IMexico. On the following Sunday 
 services were continued, with increased at- 
 tendance, and at once the Sunday -School 
 Visitor and the Shorter Catechism were in- 
 troduced into the Sunday-school. 
 
 Although, as elsewhere stated. Baptist and 
 Methodist missionaries had been at work in 
 New Mexico for a number of years, yet 
 when Mr. McFarland arrived he found that 
 in 1855 or 1856 the Methodists had prac- 
 tically given up the work, and although the 
 Baptists had expended over twenty thousand 
 dollars in Santa Fe they had not secured a 
 foothold. The rebellion had broken out, the 
 board had withdrawn its support, and their 
 church building was fast becoming a ruin, 
 the roof having fallen in before their last 
 missionary had left the city. 
 
 On January ISth, 1867, the First Presby- 
 terian Church was organized in Santa Fe 
 with twelve members. On the day appointed 
 for the organization the doorkeeper of the 
 senate chamber was absent with the ikey, 
 and could nowhere be foiuid. Being, with 
 
50 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 many others, opposed to the organization, 
 although he alleged that he forgot that there 
 was a meeting, it was generally believed 
 that he remembered to forget. In the emer- 
 gency, Mrs. Mitchell, wife of the governor, 
 who had been importunate in her solicita- 
 tions and indefatigable in her efforts for the 
 settlement of a minister and the organization 
 of a church, kindly and willingly offered the 
 use of one of her spacious parlors, and there 
 the little band met and were organized into 
 the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe. 
 Governor Mitchell, Chief- Justice J. P. 
 Hough, Colonel James L. Collins, M. L. 
 Byers, and S. B. Elkens were elected trus- 
 tees. Mr. W. W. Carothers was elected 
 ruling elder. Two months later, when on a 
 trip East, hoping to interest many in this 
 new church work, he was taken ill and died 
 on the plains of Kansas. 
 
 In the foreign mission records of January, 
 1868, it is stated that the attention of the 
 Board of Foreign Missions had just then 
 been called to the condition of the Navajo 
 Indians through letters written by General 
 Alexander and the Rev. D. F. McFarland, 
 and that the Rev. James M. Roberts and 
 wife had been appointed to this service. 
 
 The removal of the Navajos to their pres- 
 ent reservation in the northwest of New 
 
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 51 
 
 Mexico and the northeast of Arizona led to 
 delay, and it was not until November, 1868, 
 that Mr. and Mrs. Roberts reached Santa 
 Fe under appointment as missionaries to the 
 Navajos. 
 
 On June 2d, 1868, the General Assembly 
 of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 States of America had authorized the Rev. 
 John N. Schultz, chaplain Thirty-eighth 
 Regiment United States Infantry, then sta- 
 tioned at Fort Craig, New Mexico, the Rev. 
 D. F. McFarland, and the Rev. James M. 
 Roberts, and such churches as were to be 
 found in New Mexico, to form a new pres- 
 bytery, to be called the Presbytery of Santa 
 Fe. Accordingly, on the arrival of Mr. 
 Roberts, a meeting was held in Santa Fe on 
 December 14th, 1868. The Rev. D. F. Mc- 
 Farland preached the opening sermon from 
 Joshua xviii:3: "How long are ye slack 
 to go to possess the land which the Lord 
 God of your fathers hath given you." The 
 Rev. John N. Schultz was chosen moderator, 
 the Rev. James M. Roberts temporary clerk, 
 and the Rev. D. F. McFarland stated clerk. 
 These, with William Kennedy, elder of Santa 
 Fe church, constituted the Presbytery of 
 Santa Fe, which was attached to the Synod 
 of Kansas. Before adjournment each min- 
 ister of that presbytery was appointed a 
 
52 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 missionary committee to visit important 
 places in the vicinity of his field of labor. 
 
 At the time of this organization, supersti- 
 tion, licentiousness, intemperance, profanity, 
 Sabbath desecration, and intense worldliness 
 prevailed to a fearful extent. The language, 
 customs, amusements, legislation, morality, 
 and religion were Spanish and Roman Cath- 
 olic, and the wild Indians roamed over the 
 hunting-grounds, making occasional raids 
 upon settlements for cunning theft and sav- 
 age murder. The papal religion was domi- 
 nant in New Mexico, and its popular bishop 
 resided in Santa Fe. There also were located 
 its colleges and seminaries. The only Prot- 
 estants besides this little band of Presby- 
 terians and the Presbyterian missionaries in 
 New Mexico were Chaplain Woart, Episco- 
 palian, at Fort Union; an Episcopal church 
 at Santa Fe which had been organized by 
 him and to which he ministered once a month ; 
 the Rev. Mr. Cox and Professor McCumbers, 
 who had commenced preaching and teaching 
 in Messilla; and some Mexican Protestants 
 scattered along the Rio Grande, the remnants 
 of the former Methodist and Baptist mis- 
 sions. When all this is remembered, well 
 may it now be said, "God has made this 
 handful of corn, which was scattered among 
 the Rocky Mountains, wave like Lebanon." 
 
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 53 
 
 After this meeting of presbytery Mr. 
 Roberts went to the Navajos and labored 
 there until 1872, when he returned to Taos, 
 purposing to engage in mission work there 
 among the Pueblos, but instead, as hereafter 
 seen, began to study the Spanish language, 
 with the view of undertaking mission work 
 among the Mexicans. 
 
 In November, 1870, the Rev. John Menaul 
 arrived in New Mexico under appointment 
 as missionary to one of the Indian tribes in 
 New Mexico or Arizona. The intention was 
 that he should go to Zuni, but at the request 
 of the Navajo agent he was, with the con- 
 sent of the Board, induced to remain among 
 the Navajos. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PROGRESS OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW 
 MEXICO 
 
 *' The entrance of Thy wordc gtveth light*' — Ps. 
 cxix: 30. 
 
 The commencement and progress of our 
 missions among our Mexican people is full 
 of interest to those now engaged in the work, 
 as well as to the many Christian men and 
 women who for years have prayed and given 
 for its success. Just as the conquerors painted 
 in colors all too glowing the pictures of their 
 conquests, so the early missionaries who ac- 
 companied them no doubt greatly exagger- 
 ated the story of their church achievements. 
 On the other hand, the old chapels here and 
 there, although now crumbling into decay, 
 yet bear witness to early success. 
 
 We must not forget that some of the 
 Spanish Bibles which had been brought to 
 New Mexico by the early missionaries re- 
 mained on the field and did their enlighten- 
 ing and converting work even after the ex- 
 peditions had been expelled and the mission- 
 54 
 
PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 55 
 
 aries massacred. The ten years from 1868 
 to 1878, in themselves seemingly of little 
 importance, have proved of great and lasting 
 benefit to many in the Southwest. 
 
 The first mention of mission work among 
 the Mexican people is in a resolution passed 
 by the presbytery, "To apply to the Board 
 of Education for aid for one year, com- 
 mencing November 1, 1868, to the amount 
 of $500, in order that the rates of tuition 
 may be reduced so that the children of i\Iex- 
 ican parents may receive the benefit of the 
 school which many of them are now deprived 
 of on account of present rates." 
 
 About the time that this resolution was 
 passed a Spanish Bible was found on the 
 road some distance from Las Vegas. The 
 finder, knowing nothing of the value of the 
 book, shortly afterward met Seiior Albino 
 Madrid and exchanged with him this Bible 
 for a Spanish spelling-book. Mr. Madrid, 
 being fond of reading, at once began to 
 study this new book, and gained from it 
 some knowledge of the Way of Life. Anx- 
 ious that others should know the Saviour he 
 had found, he began in his simple way to 
 tell to his fellow-men: 
 
 "Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ shall be saved." 
 
 About the same time a young Christian, 
 
56 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 now the Rev. Gabino Rendon, of Santa Fe, 
 who had only lately been converted, was sent 
 by his father on an errand down the Gallinas 
 River. In his journey he had to pass the 
 village where the Madrids lived. Young 
 Rendon took with him a bundle of tracts for 
 distribution, but, failing in courage, he 
 dropped them along the road as he passed 
 the houses. Picked up by the people, some 
 of them fell into the hands of the Madrids. 
 
 Soon after this Albino Madrid came to 
 Las Vegas, and there met some men who 
 knew the Gospel story, and, as they knew 
 the same language, "they spake often one 
 to another." Tracts were compared with the 
 Bible, and often, when they were found to 
 correspond, Mr. Madrid would say: 
 
 "I told you so. I told you the Bible tells 
 the truth." 
 
 These men invited Mr. Madrid to attend 
 service, which he did, and there his belief 
 in the Gospel was confirmed. Shortly after 
 he met his brother and nephew, now the 
 Rev. Manuel Madrid, of Mora, and told them 
 the "old, old story" for the first time. After 
 an introduction to the brethren, an interest- 
 ing conversation, the reception of tracts and 
 a copy of the Shorter Catechism, the ]\Ia- 
 drids returned home, and there these new 
 things were fully discussed. Such was the 
 
PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 57 
 
 commencement of our work along the Gal- 
 linas River. 
 
 About the same time, away across the 
 mountains in the northern part of New Mex- 
 ico and in southern Colorado, two hundred 
 miles from the home of the Madrids, another 
 light was beginning to shine among the 
 Mexican people. There lived Juan de Jesus 
 Gomez, grandfather of the Rev. M. D. J. 
 Sanchez, the present Prebyterian missionary 
 in the San Luis Valley. Mr. Gomez loved 
 to read, and, being an intelligent man, was 
 a great favorite with the priest, who on dif- 
 ferent occasions allowed him to look within 
 the covers of the Bible. This only increased 
 his desire for the Bread of Life, and he 
 longed to have a Bible of his own. This 
 desire was soon granted. He found a 
 Frenchman, an infidel, who had a Bible, 
 vrhich Mr. Gomez at once offered to buy. 
 The Frenchman agreed to sell it for a fat 
 ox, the use of a team of oxen to Santa Fe 
 and return — a distance of about three hun- 
 dred miles — and $10 in cash. The total 
 price asked is estimated at over $75. The 
 price was paid. Mr. Gomez gathered his 
 sons around him in the evenings and read to 
 them "wonderful words of Life." Soon 
 after he began to study the Bible he saw 
 that he was not in the right road^ and for 
 
58 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 several years he discussed religious subjects 
 with the priest, and showed that he was not 
 in accord with the Church of Rome. 
 
 Leaving this Bible to do its leavening 
 work, we return to New Mexico. Taos has 
 its place in the civil history of the territory. 
 It is also closely connected with this early 
 Protestant movement, both in New Mexico 
 and Colorado. It was here that Padre Mar- 
 tinez, born in New Mexico and educated in 
 the city of Mexico, first saw the errors of 
 the Romish communion. He was a man of 
 strong personality, whose name is to-day 
 honored by many. He renounced many of 
 their errors, although he never openly identi- 
 fied himself with the Protestants. He built his 
 own chapel, and gathered together a large 
 following, many of whom belonged to the 
 more influential and intelligent classes. 
 Martinez preached the Gospel himself and 
 opened his church to a Protestant Episcopal 
 clergyman, and stood committed to identify 
 himself with that communion. This act was 
 not consummated because the Episcopalian 
 minister failed to fulfil the necessary condi- 
 tions. Martinez believed in education and 
 maintained a school for boys, he himself 
 teaching the advanced classes. Among those 
 he taught was his own son, Vicente, who had 
 learned from his father to believe the Bible 
 
PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 59 
 
 to be the Word of God. Martinez told his 
 son that he did not preach against saint wor- 
 ship because he was afraid that the people 
 would assassinate him if he should do so. 
 Martinez died in 1867, and after his death 
 his followers scattered. Some continued to 
 live separate from the Roman Catholic com- 
 munion, some returned to Romanism, and a 
 few afterward became the first Protestants 
 of Taos. Among these were Vicente F. 
 Romero, Jose Domingo Mondragon, and 
 Felix Cordova, who later became faithful 
 evangelists under our Home Board. 
 
 An incident in the life of Vicente F. Ro- 
 mero at this time illustrates God's care over 
 His own Word and confirms the Psalmist's 
 words, of which one is so frequently re- 
 minded in the plazas of New Mexico: "As 
 the mountains are roiuid about Jerusalem, so 
 the Lord is round about His people from 
 henceforth, even forever." One day Vicente 
 Romero was at work on his ranch when a 
 band of Navajo Indians assaulted him and 
 took away all his property. They attempted 
 also to take his Bible. For this he pleaded 
 and told them that it was the Word of God.^ 
 As he was expecting every moment to be put 
 to death, he prayed that a missionary might 
 be sent to his people. The Indians left the 
 Bible with him, and soon God sent the mis- 
 sionary. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EARLY MISSIONARIES 
 
 " We preach Christ crucified:'— 1 Cor. i: 23. 
 
 While the seed scattered here and there 
 was taking root and springing up the Rev. 
 John A. Annin reached Las Vegas on Oc- 
 tober 24th, 1869, to commence a work there 
 which has entitled him to the name, "Father 
 of our Mexican work." 
 
 When Mr. Annin reached Las Vegas he 
 went to the Exchange Hotel and at once 
 inquired for professing Christians. He was 
 told at once that they knew of only one in 
 Las Vegas, either among Americans or Mex- 
 icans, viz., Mr. Jose Yfies Perea, who, hav- 
 ing heard of this inquiry, went at once to see 
 Mr. Annin. As they clasped hands, Mr. 
 Perea said: "I have been praying for a mis- 
 sionary, and I have made vows and promises 
 to the Lord in connection with this work. 
 You can depend on me for any and every- 
 thing that I can do to assist this mission 
 work." From that day Mr. Annin and Mr. 
 Perea became fast friends. The first thing 
 
Rev. John A. Aiinin 
 
EARLY MISSIONARIES 61 
 
 Mr. Annin did was to open a school, which 
 became a centre of light for not a few who 
 have since taken a deep interest in the in- 
 tellectual and spiritual needs of their fellow- 
 countrymen, and whose names will appear 
 again and again in connection with this story. 
 
 Mr. Annin prosecuted his work in the 
 midst of great difficulties. His want of the 
 Spanish language and his sufferings in trav- 
 el, arising from long journeys and want of 
 accommodation, all added to the difficulties 
 with which he had to contend. Nothing, 
 however, seemed to discourage him with the 
 prospect of being instrumental in winning 
 souls for the Master. He continued his work 
 without interruption until he saw churches 
 organized composed of men and women who 
 had renounced the errors of Romanism and 
 confessed Jesus Christ as their Saviour and 
 only Head of the Church. 
 
 On April 15th, 1870, the second meeting of 
 the Presbytery of Santa Fe was held, and 
 the Rev. J. A. Annin, of the Presbytery of 
 Southern Minnesota, was received as a mem- 
 ber, thus forming a quorum and enabling 
 the presbytery to proceed to business. Mr. 
 Annin reported that in March, 1870, he had 
 organized a church in Las Vegas with twelve 
 members, principally Mexicans. Mr. Jose 
 Ynes Perea was ordained and installed as 
 
62 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 elder of this new congregation. This report 
 was approved and strong resolutions passed 
 asking for funds for the erection of a church 
 and school at that place. At the same meet- 
 ing of presbytery very strong appeals were 
 made for missionaries and mission schools in 
 important centres in the Territory. 
 
 The third meeting of the presbytery was 
 held in Las Vegas on March 8th, 1871, when 
 the Rev. John Menaul, of Corsica, Africa, 
 was received as a member and his name en- 
 rolled. He and the Rev. James M. Roberts 
 are reported as laboring among the Navajos 
 under the Board of Foreign Missions at Fort 
 Defiance with encouraging results. Up to 
 this date the Rev. J. A. Annin is the only 
 ordained missionary among the Mexicans, 
 and he reports a great want of interest 
 among the members of his church, but the 
 school well sustained and encouraging pros- 
 pects for future success. 
 
 Such was the condition of things when, in 
 October, 1872, there arrived in Taos the 
 Rev. James M. Roberts, on his way to com- 
 mence work among the Indians at the Taos 
 pueblo. The people were much surprised to 
 see this man, with his long, black beard, and 
 afraid when they knew that he was a Protes- 
 tant. Mr. Roberts intended going to the 
 pueblo as a government teacher, but, on 
 
EARLY MISSIONARIES 63 
 
 account of the opposition of the priests, who 
 told the Indians that if they gave their con- 
 sent he would close their chapel and make 
 Protestants of them all, the Indians refused 
 the request. 
 
 As the winter was severe Mr. Roberts re- 
 mained in Taos. Realizing the fact that a 
 school was the best, if not the only, means 
 of gaining an entrance to the people around 
 him, he opened a school for the Mexican 
 people. Mr. Vicente Romero, to whom ref- 
 erence has already been made, with others 
 attended this school. They were all sur- 
 prised at Mr. Roberts' great wisdom; all, 
 however, hated his religion except Mr. Ro- 
 mero, who told his companions that if he 
 had wisdom he believed that his religion was 
 also good because he believed the Bible. 
 Here again we meet the Bible. The seed 
 sown years before by the good old priest, 
 Romero's father, was bearing fruit in the 
 heart of his son. 
 
 The third meeting of the presbytery was 
 held in Santa Fe on January l6th, 1873, in 
 the telegraph ofSce. The Rev. J. M. Rob- 
 erts and the Rev. D. F. McFarland were 
 present in person, and the Rev. J. A. Annin 
 was present "by telegraph." The meeting 
 was of great importance, and dealt only with 
 matters that needed immediate attention. 
 
64 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 The meeting was afterward declared illegal, 
 but it shows the great straits to which these 
 devoted pioneers were pressed. 
 
 In April, 1873, Mr. Roberts began preach- 
 ing the Gospel in Taos. A Sunday-school 
 was organized and services were conducted 
 for the whole year. On November 15th, 1874, 
 the Spanish Presbyterian Church of Taos 
 was organized with ten members, including 
 Mrs. Roberts. The first elders were Mr. 
 Jose Domingo Mondragon, for many years 
 an evangelist in southern Colorado and 
 northern New Mexico, and who, faithful to 
 the end, passed to his reward June 3d, 1903, 
 and Mr. Vincente F. Romero, an evangelist 
 on the Taos field, from whose lips multitudes 
 have heard the message of salvation. 
 
 During this opening work in Taos there 
 came to the valley from Colorado Mr. Pablo 
 Ortega, who heard Mr. Roberts preach. On 
 his return home he carried back with him 
 some tidings of this new story, and when ^Ir. 
 Roberts and Mr. Romero, in 1876, visited the 
 San Luis Valley, they found a goodly num- 
 ber gathered together ready to hear the Gos- 
 pel of our blessed Lord. Mr. Gomez lived 
 at Alamosa, some twenty-five miles distant, 
 and was not visited at this time by the mis- 
 sionary. In 1878 these missionaries again 
 visited this valley, where they found another 
 
EARLY MISSIONARIES 65 
 
 little band ready to welcome the preaching of 
 the word. To this valley the Rev. Alexander 
 Darley had come about the same time^ and 
 in May, 1879:, hi the house of Mr. Gomez, 
 at Alamosa, was organized "La Segunda 
 Eclesia Presbyteriana La Jara," with some 
 eight or nine members. This church is now 
 called La Luz. 
 
 In 1874< the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, Suj^er- 
 intendent of Missions for the Rocky Moun- 
 tain Territories, visited New Mexico by stage 
 from Denver, and made a missionary tour 
 through the entire length of the Territory 
 from north to south, going as far west as 
 Silver City. On November 17th of the same 
 year the fourth meeting of the presbytery 
 was held. This meeting is important, for it 
 was the first meeting of presbytery in which 
 a Mexican was present to represent a church, 
 Mr. Jose Yiles Perea being there from the 
 church at Las Vegas. Mr. Roberts reported 
 the organization of the church in Taos on 
 November 15th, with ten members, and Mr. 
 Vicente Romero was introduced to presby- 
 tery as a representative of that church. At 
 this meeting a motion was adopted asking 
 the Board of Publication to have the Con- 
 fession of Faith translated into the Spanish 
 language for the use of the Spanish-speak- 
 ing people. 
 
G6 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 In December^ 1875, the Rev. George Smith 
 was received as a member of presbytery 
 and appointed to labor at Santa Fe as pas- 
 tor of the American church. Mr. Smith was 
 closely identified with the work among the 
 Mexican people for a number of years and 
 did a great deal to advance its interests. 
 
 On November 1st, 1876, a Spanish church 
 was reported as organized at Ocate, with 
 twenty-five members, and at the same meet- 
 ing of presbytery Mr. Perea was asked to 
 enter on evangelistic work. 
 
 At presbytery meeting, 1877, Messrs. 
 Mondragon, Romero, GallegoG, and Perea 
 were licensed as evangelists, and in August, 
 1878, the Rev. J. M. Shields was ordained 
 and appointed missionary at Jemez. In 
 August, 1879j presbytery met at Las Vegas 
 and was opened by a sermon in Spanish by 
 evangelist Mondragon. Dr. Shields reported 
 organization of church at Jemez on Septem- 
 ber 8th, 1878, and Romaldo Montoya was in- 
 troduced as elder. 
 
 When presbytery met at Jemez in 1880 
 the Rev. Mr. Annin received his letter of 
 dismission from the presbytery, and the Rev. 
 J. C. Eastman was received as his successor. 
 At this meeting Mr. Felix ]Maes was elected 
 lay delegate to the Assembly, and Mr. Jose 
 Yiies Perea was ordained to the Gospel 
 
Rev. James A. Menaul 
 
EARLY MISSIONARIES 67 
 
 ministry. Arrangements were made for 
 transfer of Arizona to the Presbytery of 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 In 1881 presbytery met in Las Vegas, 
 when the Rev. James A. Menaul, afterward 
 for six years synodical missionary for the 
 Synod of New Mexico^ was received as a 
 member of the presbytery. 
 
 A church was organized at Agua Negra, 
 and Messrs. John Whitlock and Jose Cruz 
 were ordained elders. 
 
 In 1881 the Rev. Jose Ynes Perea was sent 
 as delegate to the General Assembly. Dur- 
 ing the same year the Rev. M. Phillips had 
 been appointed missionary to Mora^ and in 
 1882 was received from the Presbytery of 
 Cincinnati. The Rev. M. Matthieson was 
 also received and appointed to work at Socor- 
 ro, with instructions to visit Mesilla and 
 other places and select for himself a loca- 
 tion for work. Soon a church was organized 
 at Socorro. During the next few years 
 Spanish churches were organized at Paja- 
 rito. Las Vegas, Las Cruces, Capulin, Em- 
 budo, Albuquerque, Buena Vista, Mora, 
 Placitas, Jarules, Nacimiento, La Luz, Las 
 Valles, Trementina, Lumberton, Las Tusas, 
 Santa Fe (Spanish), El Quemado, Rincones, 
 Raton, Chimayo, and Las Truches. 
 
 Not very much has been done among the 
 
68 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 Mexican population in Arizona. Work was 
 begun in Tucson and Florence, but was soon 
 given up. In I9OI an evangelist was sent 
 to ^letcalf, where a good church has been 
 organized with a membership of thirty-five. 
 
 The limits of this sketch forbid even the 
 mention of all our missionaries who at dif- 
 ferent times have taken part in carrying on 
 this work among the ^Mexican people. Of 
 those named, the Rev. Messrs. S. W. Curtis, 
 J. J. Gilchrist, J. McGaughey, and E. M. 
 Fenton deserve special remembrance among 
 the early workers, all of whom have rendered 
 service as good soldiers of Jesus Christ and 
 have seen the work prosper in their hands. 
 
 To the true missionary in this needy field 
 the promise has again and again been ful- 
 filled: "He that goeth forth and reapeth, 
 bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
 again with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves 
 with him." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 
 
 " Assemble the . . . little ones . . . that they 
 may hear and . . . learn and fear the Lord your 
 God:'— Dent. xiii:12. 
 
 To tell the story of the work carried on 
 in connection with our mission schools in 
 New ^Mexico is to write of a school system 
 with marvellous results, many of them un- 
 known even to those in closest contact with 
 it. This work is under the direct manage- 
 ment of the Woman's Board of Home Mis- 
 sions. All the property secured is owned by 
 the Presbyterian Church. The buildings are 
 used for chapels and homes for missionaries 
 and teachers as well as for school purposes. 
 The Board has erected sixty-six buildings 
 valued at nearly $100,000. There are twen- 
 ty-nine mission schools, of which twenty- 
 four are in New Mexico, four in Colorado, 
 and one in California. There are fifty-two 
 teachers with nearly two thousand pupils. 
 
 These teachers have been compelled in the 
 prosecution of their work to invade a for- 
 eign-speaking community and to overcome 
 69 
 
70 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 time-honored prejudices. They have had to 
 win the confidence of the people by self- 
 sacrificing generosity and devotion and by 
 kindly ministrations to physical needs in 
 times of trouble and distress. They have 
 held themselves ready at a moment's call to 
 go as nurse, ph5^sician, minister, sister, and 
 friend. One teacher, when the smallpox 
 threatened the plaza, in order to keep the 
 disease from spreading, shut herself up in 
 a little room with the only patient and nursed 
 him through it all. She thus prevented a 
 general outbreak, which would have meant 
 death to scores of people. All this is done 
 even yet in defiance of the authority of wrath- 
 ful priests, who in their churches denounce 
 our teachers and threaten the people with 
 excommunication if they send their children 
 to our schools. The loneliness is often dis- 
 tressing, for, while it is not the policy of 
 the Board to have our teachers live abso- 
 lutely alone, yet it is not always possible to 
 secure them suitable companionship. When 
 these conditions are remembered one won- 
 ders at the advancement made and that so 
 seldom a word of complaint is heard from 
 any in that devoted band of missionaries. 
 
 That all may have an intelligent knowl- 
 edge of the work of the Woman's Board 
 among the Mexican people, and settle for 
 
OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 71 
 
 themselves the question often raised as to 
 the wisdom of expending in it so much 
 money, I wish to invite my readers to a little 
 trip among our schools. 
 
 We cross the Raton Pass from Colorado, 
 and at the foot of the mountain reach Raton, 
 where a school is in successful operation. 
 Here Miss Hills taught for a number of 
 years and rendered lasting services. She 
 was followed by Miss Laughlin, who for 
 three years carried on most successfully the 
 work her predecessor had begun. Miss Etta 
 Moore, after a few months, has been crowded 
 to the door, and is calling loudly and plead- 
 ing touchingly for help to meet the crying 
 needs of over fifty bright-eyed boys and 
 girls waiting for admittance. One's first ex- 
 perience can never be forgotten. At Raton 
 one Sunday afternoon I first addressed a 
 Mexican congregation and observed with 
 that interesting band the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper. As I remembered that only 
 a few years before they had all been in the 
 darkness of heathenism and of the Peni- 
 tentes, and that it was not many years since 
 the son of one of those elders had been mur- 
 dered because his father had become a Prot- 
 estant; as I visited the school and saw the 
 results of the work, I could but exclaim, 
 "What hath God wrought!" 
 
72 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 A reference to the work done here must 
 serve as an example of what we find in all 
 our schools. All the exercises are in Eng- 
 lish. A gospel hymn is sung, a Psalm or 
 other portion of Scripture read, and some 
 time spent in memorizing a Bible story or 
 a part of the Shorter Catechism. This is 
 followed by a regular course of study in 
 common-school branches. 
 
 After a few hours* travel by train we 
 reach Watrous, and a drive of thirty miles 
 brings us to Hall's Peak, where, in October, 
 1878, Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Hall opened 
 a mission school. They have grown old in 
 the work, but still teach those boys and girls 
 and minister in untold ways to the temporal 
 and spiritual welfare of the people about 
 them. They tell with enthusiasm of their 
 early experiences. The people had never 
 seen a plough, and they watched with intense 
 interest as Mr. Hall put in his first crop. 
 They knew nothing of the use of milk, and 
 were greatly surprised when they witnessed 
 the churning process, and afterward brought 
 their milk, asking to have it made into but- 
 ter. To-day the little farms are well tilled 
 and many of the people are comfortably 
 settled. On Sunday the little church is well 
 filled with devout worshippers. As their 
 labors are reviewed one is impressed with the 
 
OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 73 
 
 importance of the teacher's life and manner 
 of living as much as with his work in the 
 school-room. 
 
 As we journey on we pass Buena Vista 
 and Mora, where the Woman's Board for- 
 merly had flourishing schools, but in the 
 days of retrenchment they were closed. One 
 prominent merchant of the latter town, in 
 pleading for a school, gave the following 
 testimony to their worth: "Wherever your 
 schools are we find our best people. I trade 
 with them constantly. I give them credit 
 whenever they wish, and I have never lost a 
 cent by any of your people." The Mora 
 school was reopened in 1903. 
 
 Nine miles beyond is Agua Negra, one of 
 the points that stands out prominently in 
 connection with the early work of our schools 
 in New Mexico. Here Miss Anna McNair 
 and Miss Blackwell have charge, and the 
 people have built for them a teachers' home. 
 
 El Rito, ten miles farther, is soon reached, 
 and as we approach we see the church, 
 school, and teacher's home, like lights on the 
 hillside. Here is one of our best schools, 
 with Miss S. Louisa Conklin in charge. 
 Space does not permit even the mention of 
 the faithful ones who have labored here in 
 the past, but none have done better work 
 than this daughter of Long Island. 
 
74 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 A sixty-mile drive brings us to the Taos 
 Valley, which has played an important part 
 in the history of Protestantism in New 
 Mexico. The journey is one of great beauty. 
 Here we climb the mountain sides, there 
 dash along the river's bank. For miles our 
 eyes feast on rugged rocks, covered with 
 pine forests. The whole journey is pictu- 
 resque in the extreme. Oh, how one wishes 
 to be an artist as with delight he looks upon 
 those broad plains, hemmed with giant mesas 
 and split with wild canons ! But another 
 has said: "That while we might reproduce 
 the features, we could not the expression; 
 while the landmarks might be photographed, 
 not the wondrous light which is to the bare 
 Southwest the soul that glorifies the plain 
 face." Through opening after opening are 
 seen in the distance the lofty peaks of the 
 Rockies where glistens perpetual snow. 
 
 From the summit of the mountain we look 
 down on El Rancho de Taos. The old style 
 of houses, the old picturesque church in which 
 their dead are buried, the old habits and 
 customs, the threshing with the goats, the 
 drying of corn and beef — indeed, their every 
 mode of living, reminds us that we are among 
 a people whose habits and customs are not 
 our own. Soon the new Presbyterian mission 
 house comes in sight, in striking contrast 
 
OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 75 
 
 with the former one, sixteen feet by twelve. 
 There, twenty years ago, thirty pupils were 
 taught by Miss Alice Hyson, who still labors 
 here. She has been with the people in sorrow 
 and in joy. She has been teacher, nurse, 
 doctor, sister, missionary, and friend to the 
 whole community. She long ago gave her- 
 self to them. Now they show that she has 
 reached their inner life and struck a finer 
 chord of living there. Here is one of our 
 best schools, well equipped and splendidly 
 managed. 
 
 Four miles distant is Taos, where we find 
 the "Pyle Memorial School." The chapel 
 answers the double purpose of school-room 
 and church. The teacher occupies a couple 
 of rooms at one end, where she cooks, eats, 
 sleeps, receives and entertains her numerous 
 guests. In all these respects this is a typical 
 Mexican mission school. The Mexican 
 mothers come into these clean, tidy, sweet 
 teachers' homes and go away with new views 
 of life, and try as they have never done to 
 brighten up their own little dwellings and 
 make them more like what home should be. 
 Here Miss Rebecca Roland taught for a 
 number of years and won a place in many 
 hearts and homes. 
 
 Four miles on is "Prada of Taos," where 
 the Misses Craig are found with their two 
 
76 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 school-rooms filled with pupils, and where 
 for fifteen years Miss Elizabeth Craig has 
 lived with and for the people. From this 
 school have come some of our brightest and 
 best boys and girls. 
 
 Journeying onward, we pass New Colonias 
 and Arroyo Seco, where schools have been 
 maintained for a short time, and soon we 
 reach Arroyo Hondo. Here in 1900 a 
 school was opened by Miss Galbraith and 
 Miss Stringfield. The people were exceed- 
 ingly anxious for a school and joyfully as- 
 sisted in erecting a school-house. The pros- 
 pects for the future are good. 
 
 Turning eastward, after a day's drive we 
 reach Embudo, where for seven years Miss 
 Kate Kennedy lived among the people and 
 spent her strength endeavoring to raise them 
 to true manhood and womanhood. From the 
 boys of Embudo have been trained two, now 
 in preparation for the Gospel ministry, and 
 to whom all look forward with the greatest 
 hope as future workers in the vineyard. On 
 the resignation of Miss Kennedy, in 1902, 
 Miss M. Bertha Leadingham succeeded to 
 the work. Building on a good foundation, 
 the work went forward with amazing rapid- 
 ity and the greatest interest was manifested, 
 but in April, 1903, the disappointment was 
 great in the plaza when their teacher was 
 
OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 77 
 
 removed to Santa Fe to fill the place vacated 
 by the resignation of Miss M. L. Allison. 
 Miss Isa Dwire, who had proved herself at 
 Arroyo Hondo, succeeded to the work, and 
 is carrying it on with marked success. 
 
 Twenty miles from Embudo, over the 
 mountains, in one of the isolated parts of 
 New Mexico, we find Penasco, where since 
 1888 Miss S. Zuver has conducted the mis- 
 son school. Here, ten years ago, the teacher 
 was attacked by a robber, but by her bravery 
 succeeded in driving him away. Since that 
 time she has stood at her post, spending part 
 of each year at Rio Pueblo, where a number 
 of children live without any other school 
 privileges. 
 
 A few hours over a mountain road and we 
 reach Las Truchas, eleven miles east of 
 Chimayo. In these plazas are found two 
 of the latest established mission schools, and 
 yet two of the best. Already the greatest 
 changes are seen. In IQOO the Misses Clark 
 opened school with six pupils in a little 
 adobe building in the plaza. Soon the room 
 was crowded to overflowing. Then the 
 "John Hyson Memorial" school was erected, 
 and after three years' work the register 
 shows an attendance of eighty. So much 
 interested did the people at Las Truchas 
 become in this work in their neighboring 
 
78 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 village that one of their older men pleaded 
 strongly for his people: 
 
 "Can you not get me a school at Las 
 Truchas for my people? We more people 
 there, we no read, no write, no care read nor 
 write." 
 
 When told that maybe some day they 
 would have a school, he replied: 
 
 "Some day — that no good. Me die some 
 day. Me an old man, sixty-five years old. 
 Me fight for the American Government in 
 the Civil War, and all me ask is a school." 
 
 This simple story was told in the First 
 Church, Newark, N. J., and at once a splen- 
 did company of volunteers guaranteed the 
 salary of a teacher, and in October, 1902, 
 Miss Rebecca Meeker opened a school in this 
 plaza, one of the most needy in the territory. 
 Before the work was fairly begun sixty-six 
 pupils had been enrolled. In these two 
 plazas churches with twenty-two members 
 have been organized. 
 
 Trementina is another of the New Mexico 
 schools which deserves special mention. Miss 
 Alice Blake was comfortably located at 
 Chaperito. Finding that nearly all the peo- 
 ple were compelled to move down the valley 
 early in the spring in order to tend their 
 flocks. Miss Blake proposed to follow them 
 and teach them during the summer months. 
 
OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 79 
 
 This proposition was accepted by the 
 Board, and the result has been the erection 
 by the people of a school chapel, dedicated 
 in November, 1903, and the organization of 
 a school of sixty-two pupils. 
 
 Passing south, mention can only be made 
 of the schools at Pajarito, Los Lentes, So- 
 corro, and Las Cruces, in which two hundred 
 and twenty-six pupils have been enrolled. 
 To tell the story of the work done in these 
 schools year after year would be to repeat 
 the story of what has been accomplished at 
 the places already mentioned. 
 
 The four schools in Colorado report two 
 hundred and thirty-one in attendance, and 
 Los Angeles school reports sixty-six. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 
 
 " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.** — ■ 
 Hosea iv: 16. 
 
 The Allison School 
 
 The Allison School, at Santa Fe, has well 
 been called "Our pride and jewel." Our 
 first mission school for Mexican children was 
 opened here by Miss C. A. Gaston, of Knox- 
 ville. 111., now the wife of the Rev. John 
 Menaul, Albuquerque, in November, 1867, 
 and soon forty pupils were enrolled. The 
 property which had been owned by the Bap- 
 tists was secured and the buildings repaired, 
 and the school was soon removed from an up- 
 stairs room on the plaza to the church. Soon 
 the attention of the bishop was directed to 
 the Protestant school, which was vigorously 
 denounced and all who attended it were 
 threatened with excommunication. After 
 this attack the school was at first very small, 
 but the attendance gradually increased. 
 
 Miss Gaston, after two years' excellent 
 work, left to labor with the Rev. J. M. and 
 80 
 
OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 81 
 
 Mrs. Roberts among the Navajo Indians. 
 After this the names of Miss Mallory, Mr. 
 A. G. Daniels, and Mrs. Perkins appear on 
 the records as teachers in Santa Fe, but no 
 further record is given. An association of 
 ladies of Auburn, N. Y., formed to sustain 
 a teacher in Santa Fe, co-operated with the 
 Board of Domestic Missions and established 
 the Santa Fe mission school. In 1870 this 
 association was dissolved and the Ladies* 
 Board of Missions was organized and as- 
 sumed charge of the school. 
 
 Miss M. L. Allison reached Santa Fe in 
 May, 1881, and found the property of 
 the Board to consist of a dilapidated adobe 
 house unfit for a dwelling. Little by little 
 the building was repaired and occupied, until 
 the present well-equipped building was 
 erected, largely by the ladies of the New 
 York Synod. 
 
 In 1884 a boarding department was com- 
 menced with twelve girls. At first it was 
 difficult to persuade the girls to come into 
 the home, but in late years the progress has 
 been marked. Twice the capacity has been 
 enlarged, and still the school is overflowing. 
 Although eighty were in attendance during 
 1902, over one hundred were turned away 
 for want of accommodation. 
 
 The girls are taught not only common- 
 
82 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 school branches and fitted to become teach- 
 ers in the puplic schools of the Territory, but 
 are given an industrial training — the only- 
 true system of education for the Mexican 
 people. Responsibility is throwm upon them. 
 Work which has been looked upon as de- 
 grading is raised into a higher position, and 
 the pupils are taught something of the dig- 
 nity of labor. In addition to their school- 
 room studies they are trained in housework 
 and given lessons in vocal and instrumental 
 music. If desired they are also taught sew- 
 ing in general and finer needlework and 
 embroidery. In a word, these Mexican girls 
 are so taught that they become teachers and 
 leaders of their own people. The heart, also, 
 is educated as well as the mind and hand. 
 
 Everywhere throughout the Territory this 
 school and its work is known, and lately an 
 ex-superintendent of education for New 
 Mexico, himself a INIexican and a Roman 
 Catholic, bore testimony that the Santa Fe 
 school for jNIexican girls had done more for 
 New Mexico than any other institution in 
 the Territory. Another superintendent of 
 education for New Mexico showed his appre- 
 ciation by placing his own daughter in the 
 school and paying the full amount asked for 
 board and tuition. 
 
 After twenty-two years of devoted service 
 
OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 83 
 
 as superintendent of this school that now 
 bears her name, Miss Allison resigned and 
 severed her connection with the work in New 
 Mexico. The work speaks for itself and will 
 stand through coming ages. To her labors 
 and efficiency are due the great importance 
 of this school and its wide-spread influence 
 for good. Hundreds of young women in 
 New Mexico owe all the training they have 
 to Miss Allison and her devoted helpers. 
 
 On April 1st, 1903, Miss M. Bertha Lead- 
 ingham, of Hammond, N. Y., who had spent 
 one year in Embudo as a plaza teacher, suc- 
 ceeded as superintendent of this school, and 
 with a devoted band of helpers continues to 
 prosecute the work with an energy and skill 
 which promise great things in future for the 
 Allison School. 
 
 The Menaul School 
 
 The Ladies' Association that established 
 the school at Santa Fe did not exhaust their 
 energies there, but next year began to raise 
 funds for work in Las Vegas. The Rev. 
 John Annin was the pioneer missionary and 
 teacher in Las Vegas. He opened a school 
 there in 1871. As in Santa Fe, the school 
 was conducted at different points until it was 
 comfortably located in mission buildings. 
 
84 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 The work of that school has been greatly 
 blessed, and its ex-pupils are found to-day 
 in all parts of New Mexico. 
 
 In 1886 this day-school was changed into 
 a boarding-school for Mexican girls and 
 boys. Its beginnings were small, but rap- 
 idly increased from four to eighty-two in 
 three years — 1886 to 1889- The boarding- 
 school continued for ten years, and in Feb- 
 ruary, 1896, was removed to Albuquerque, 
 where only boys are admitted. 
 
 The work in Albuquerque had been begun 
 in 1881 by the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., 
 in a large adobe building situated in a little 
 plaza about a mile north of Albuquerque. 
 In 1885 the school was moved to its present 
 site and was continued as a contract school 
 for boys until the Government erected their 
 large plant and equipped it so well that the 
 Board felt that the need for their work was 
 greater elsewhere, and hence closed the 
 school for a time. In 1895 the boarding de- 
 partment of the Las Vegas school for Mex- 
 ican boys was transferred to its present site. 
 
 The name "Menaul School" was given in 
 the spring of 1897 in memory of the Rev. 
 James A. Menaul, who as S3^nodical mission- 
 ary for the Synod of New Mexico for seven 
 years did so much to advance the interests 
 of the work within the bounds of the synod. 
 
OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 85 
 
 The attendance here has been from seventy 
 to eighty annually, and every year over one 
 hundred have been turned away for want 
 of accommodation. In 1902 over two hun- 
 dred were refused. The pleading of parents 
 for their boys was in many cases pathetic. 
 Every place is promised long before the 
 opening in September, and each pupil is ad- 
 mitted under agreement to remain ujitil 
 school closes in May. Miss Anna McNair 
 was the first superintendent. She started 
 the work in Albuquerque. Since her resig- 
 nation in 1898 Mr. J. C. Ross, with Mrs. 
 Ross as matron, and a band of teachers of 
 whom the Church may well be proud, has 
 carried on the work with marked success. 
 
 The class-room work includes all grades 
 from the primary to the eighth, and as the 
 pupils advance the grades are being in- 
 creased from year to year, so that eventually 
 the standard may be brought up to that of 
 high-school work. All teaching is in Eng- 
 lish, and the results are very satisfactory. 
 Some of the ex-pupils are now teachers in 
 the public schools and are classed among the 
 best. Others have chosen other lines of work 
 and are doing well. The Bible is one of the 
 text-books, and the boys are taught its pre- 
 cepts day by day. The home work is per- 
 formed by the boys under the direction of a 
 
86 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 competent teacher. The older boys attend 
 to repairing and look after the farm work. 
 
 It is most desirable that water be secured 
 for irrigation purposes, either by ditches or 
 pumps, so that a small farm may be culti- 
 vated to advantage. At a cost of $2,000 or 
 $2,500 an engine and pumps should be se- 
 cured and placed in position to enable the 
 school so to irrigate twenty or twenty-five 
 acres as not only to teach farming, but pro- 
 duce a revenue sufficient to meet the current 
 expenses of the school. 
 
 At no time in the history of this school 
 have the prospects been so bright as at the 
 present. For several years it was felt that 
 more accommodation was a necessity. In the 
 spring of 1902 this matter was brought to 
 the attention of the friends in the East. The 
 result is a $10,000 building, called "Pierson 
 Hall," in memory of the lamented secretary 
 of the Woman's Board. It is expected that 
 one hundred and fifty bright boys and young 
 men will here be educated year after year. 
 Already all the available room has been spoken 
 for, and again scores will have to be refused. 
 
 Albuquerque Training School 
 
 The story of the educational work in the 
 Synod of New Mexico would be incomplete 
 
Pierson Hall, Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 87 
 
 without reference to the training school for 
 Mexican evangelists^ helpers, and ministers. 
 For a number of years the College of the 
 Southwest at Del Norte, Colorado, did much 
 to train young men who were to become the 
 native pastors and evangelists. To the late 
 Rev. F. M. Gilchrist is due the credit of 
 inaugurating this work. On his recommenda- 
 tion a class of young men was gathered to- 
 gether in connection with Del Norte College. 
 This class was placed under the direction of 
 Mr. Gilchrist. These six young men com- 
 pleted the proposed course in 1893. After 
 this a number of men who were able to take 
 college studies were collected at Del Norte. 
 About the same time a summer school for 
 evangelists was held at Las Vegas. After 
 careful consideration the Board of Home 
 Missions established a training school for 
 native ministers in 1902, in connection with 
 the Menaul School at Albuquerque, New 
 Mexico. 
 
 The Rev. Henry C. Thomson, D.D., was 
 appointed to take charge of this department. 
 It was started under the most favorable au- 
 spices. During the first year ten young men 
 were in attendance with the Gospel ministry 
 in view. The students not only pursue their 
 studies, but preach on Sundays in the out- 
 lying districts that can be reached from Al- 
 
88 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 buquerque. During the summer months six 
 of the young men are employed as evange- 
 lists, and from all their fields of labor come 
 tidings of the good work performed. At the 
 close of the school year an evangelistic con- 
 ference is held for two weeks, in which not 
 only the students but the Mexican mission- 
 aries and evangelists in the work take part. 
 The Evangelistic Committee of the General 
 Assembly has co-operated with the Board of 
 Home Missions to accomplish this, and no 
 better work can be done. 
 
 Those who have studied the question most 
 carefully are convinced that the evangeliza- 
 tion of the Mexican people must be largely 
 effected by means of a native ministry. Just 
 as soon as possible we ought to have in this 
 training school a score of young men for our 
 own mission work, and as many more to fill 
 the calls that come from the regions beyond. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PERSONAL PICTURES 
 
 "/ have redeemed thee." — Isa: Ixiii. 1. 
 
 An introduction to some of the native min- 
 isters will be of interest to all who pray and 
 give for the extension of this work. 
 
 Jose Ynes Perea 
 
 The Rev. Jose Ynes Perea, of Pajarito, 
 was born in Bernalillo, New Mexico, in 1837. 
 He is the son of the late Don Juan Perea, 
 who spent two years in New York for medi- 
 cal treatment. While there he embraced the 
 Protestant religion, but on the entreaties and 
 tears of his wife he returned to the Romish 
 fold. The family were endued with Amer- 
 ican feelings and were advanced for the 
 times in which they lived. There being no 
 priest nearer than Isleta, it was agreed that 
 the baptism of the child should take place in 
 that Indian pueblo. The uncle and aunt were 
 invited to take part in the ceremony. When 
 89 
 
90 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 the day appointed arrived, a carreta (wagon) 
 was provided, and with two ox-teams the 
 journey was begun. All went well until the 
 river was reached. Before entering a few 
 ejaculations were uttered — "Ave Maria/' 
 "Jesus Maria y Jose." Then thinking them- 
 selves secure, they entered the current, but 
 soon found themselves, babe and all, indulg- 
 ing in a bath in the Rio Grande. All es- 
 caped, and after a thorough drying in the 
 house of a friendly Indian they appeared 
 before the priest. Alas, alas ! with the fright 
 of the bath all had forgotten the name the 
 mother gave the child. The priest in wrath 
 produced an almanac which contained the 
 names of the saints for every day in the 
 year. Remembering that the child was born 
 on April 23d, they found that the saint of 
 that day was "Ynes del Monte Pulciano." 
 The imcle declared that the parents would 
 not like the name "Yiies," that being a wom- 
 an's name (Agnes). The priest, however, 
 insisted, and the child was called " Ynes." 
 This was very distasteful to the mother, as 
 she had wished her son to be called "Ig- 
 nacio." 
 
 When but a boy "Jose Yfies" was sent to 
 New York to attend a French school. The 
 Bible was not allowed in the school. One 
 day during recess as Jose was passing a 
 
PERSONAL PICTURES 91 
 
 class-room he noticed a number of boys hid- 
 ing something. On promising not to tell, 
 they showed him the book, and together they 
 continued reading. It was a Bible, and from 
 the reading of that book Jose Yiies Perea 
 dates his conversion. 
 
 Some time after this a friend, who still 
 lives and occupies a prominent place in New 
 Mexico, visited the boy in New York. Be- 
 fore leaving, he said: 
 
 "Jose, is there anything you would like.'*" 
 To this the boy replied: 
 "I wish you would get me a Bible." 
 The request was granted, and the book 
 thus secured proved to be "the power of God 
 unto salvation" to the young seeker after 
 truth. 
 
 When Jose returned home he was told: 
 "You must be a Catholic while under age." 
 This drove the boy from home. He left 
 for New Orleans, where he secured work on 
 shipboard. He sailed to Rio Janeiro, Mobile, 
 Liverpool, Calcutta, and the Sandwich Isl- 
 ands, and back to Boston. 
 
 In 1859, while in Boston, there was a 
 great revival, in which Jose became deeply 
 concerned. A gentleman took a deep inter- 
 est in the Mexican boy and wrote to a friend, 
 who corresponded with Don Juan Perea, and 
 soon the boy was home. Here he remained 
 
92 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 in charge of his father's large flocks of sheep 
 until Mr. Annin came to Las Vegas and 
 found him the only Protestant in the place. 
 
 On the organization of the church there 
 in 1868 Mr. Jose Yiles Perea was ordained 
 the first elder^ and was thus the first native 
 Mexican to represent a congregation on the 
 floor of presbytery. In a few years Mr. 
 Perea was licensed to preach the Gospel and 
 afterward ordained to the Gospel ministry. 
 Mr. Perea has thus the honor of being the 
 first fruits of Protestant work in the Pres- 
 byterian Church in New Mexico. Since then 
 Mr. Perea has labored faithfully among his 
 people and done much good in winning them 
 to a truer, purer, and higher life. 
 
 Gahino Rendon 
 
 Gabino Rendon was born in Las Vegas, 
 New Mexico, in February, 1864. His father 
 was a farmer and served in the Union army 
 during the Civil War. He never joined any 
 Protestant church, but often said, what many 
 of his fellow-countrymen believe, that "the 
 priests and the wolves were the cause of 
 New Mexico's poverty." He studied the 
 Bible and argued strongly in favor of Prot- 
 estantism. His last sickness seized him 
 
Kev. Gabiiio Reiulon 
 
PERSONAL PICTURES 93 
 
 when accompanying his son on a missionary 
 trip. He died in July, 1903. 
 
 Gabino's mother died when her son was 
 only fourteen years old, and his early life 
 was one of difficulty and trial. He received 
 his early education in a mission school con- 
 ducted by the Rev. John A. Annin and his 
 daughters, Laura and Rebecca, in Las Vegas. 
 
 In 1877 he attended the Jesuits' College 
 for one year, but on the death of his mother 
 he was under the necessity of assisting in 
 providing for his sisters and himself. This 
 led the boy into bad company, where he sold 
 liquor for others and afterward for himself. 
 When the mission school was reopened by 
 Miss Annie M. Speakman she persuaded the 
 boy to attend. Let Mr. Rendon tell how he 
 decided to gain an education: 
 
 "I was visiting a little store in the neigh- 
 borhood with some of my schoolmates who 
 had been with me both at Mr. Annin's school 
 and at the Jesuits' school. A man came in 
 and asked the owner of the store to write 
 an order for him in English. The young 
 man took the pen and began to write, and I, 
 without saying a word, went home. A very 
 uncomfortable feeling came over me. I be- 
 gan to sweat at the thought, *What if he had 
 asked me to write the order?' For, simple 
 as it was, I would have been compelled to tell 
 
94 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 him that I did not know how. Right there 
 I formed this resolution: 'Now I have just 
 started anew going to school, and even if I 
 am jeered at I am going to learn whatever 
 may be necessary for me to write in the Eng- 
 lish language.' 
 
 "Three years after I was called into the 
 same place and asked to write an English 
 order, which I did without hesitation, and 
 there was joy in my heart. Then I con- 
 trasted the two scenes, and I realized that 
 I had gained a victory." 
 
 After this the teacher invited young Ren- 
 don to a Sunday-school, and he was im- 
 pressed with the regard that the Protestants 
 had for the Lord's day. Little by little he 
 became interested and more regular at Sun- 
 day-school and on Sunday services. 
 
 Again let Mr. Rendon speak: 
 
 "I soon quit going to the Catholic Church, 
 and even the idea had entered my mind, 'I 
 might leave it altogether and join the Protes- 
 tant Church.' But, no, that could never be. 
 I had been a strong devotee of the Virgin 
 Mary. She had been mediator between me 
 and God, but I found that Scripture was 
 directly opposed to my belief. 'I am the 
 way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh 
 to the Father but by me.' The question was, 
 which was right, my early teaching or the 
 
PERSONAL PICTURES 95 
 
 teaching of Christ ? Although it took a long 
 time to decide, the decision was in favor of 
 the Word of God. At the age of twenty- 
 years I experienced the new birth. Doubts 
 often bothered me until I read 1 Timothy ii. 
 5: 'There is one mediator between God and 
 man, the man Christ Jesus.' Then I was 
 firmly established in the Protestant faith, 
 and in March, 1885, joined the Protestant 
 Church." 
 
 In the following year Mr. Rendon was 
 elected an elder of the Spanish church at Las 
 Vegas. In 1888 he was engaged as a teacher 
 in Mora County, and in addition to his school 
 duties, other work was prosecuted, and Mr. 
 Manuel Barcelon, now one of our devoted 
 evangelists, was brought to the knowledge of 
 the truth. In 1890 Mr. Rendon was induced 
 to attend the special training class at Del 
 Norte, where he studied three years. 
 
 As soon as his course was completed Mr. 
 Rendon was engaged by the Home Mission 
 Committee of the Pueblo Presbytery to labor 
 as an evangelist, and through his labors the 
 church at San Pablo was organized. Mr. 
 Rendon returned to college for a year and 
 a half, and then went back to his evangelistic 
 work. 
 
 In 1899 he was ordained to the Gospel 
 ministry, and at once took charge of Pueblo 
 
96 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 Fifth Church and surrounding churches. In 
 October, 1 900, Mr. Rendon accepted an ap- 
 pointment to Santa Fe as missionary to the 
 Spanish church there. Since that time his 
 work has been marked by that zeal and ear- 
 nestness which a true missionary needs. He 
 has been moderator of the Santa Fe Pres- 
 bytery, and is held in the highest esteem by 
 all his brethren. 
 
 He has been adopted by the First Presby- 
 terian Church of Mt. Vernon, N. Y., as their 
 missionary, and has the oversight of the 
 churches of Santa Fe (Spanish), Chimayo, 
 El Quemado, Las Truches, and Embudo. In 
 October, 1903, he was unanimously elected 
 moderator of the Synod of New Mexico. 
 The first native Mexican to hold that posi- 
 tion, he filled the office to the entire satis- 
 faction of all the brethren. May he long be 
 spared to labor for his fellow-men! 
 
 John Whitloch 
 
 Mr. John Whitlock was converted, like 
 many others, through the reading of God's 
 Word and trying to find out if the Virgin 
 Mary is really an interceder. In 1875 there 
 was organized at ^Mora a debating society, 
 of which young Whitlock was a member. 
 Here the question was asked: "Is the Virgin 
 
PERSONAL PICTURES 97 
 
 Mary an interceder between God and man?" 
 The priest was chosen to answer the ques- 
 tion, but failed to do so to the satisfaction 
 of this young man seeking for truth. He 
 then began to read the Bible for himself, 
 and in company with others left the Roman 
 Catholic Church. Soon after this Mr. An- 
 nin visited Agua Negra and preached the 
 Gospel there. Whitlock became deeply in- 
 terested. In 1879 the Rev. Mr. Eastman 
 and others visited that district and held 
 meetings, and as one was preaching from 
 the text, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye 
 die.^" Whitlock says: 
 
 "I could resist the Spirit no longer. I 
 turned from my wicked ways, and in March, 
 1867j, I made an open confession of my faith 
 in Christ." 
 
 In 1883 Mr. Whitlock was employed as 
 a colporteur by the Board of Publication and 
 travelled through the northern counties dis- 
 tributing tracts and other good literature. 
 In 1884 Mr. Whitlock was appointed to assist 
 the Rev. John Annin at Las Vegas. The 
 church had become very weak, but was soon 
 revived. Mr. Whitlock continued to labor 
 in the Las Vegas districts until 1892, when 
 he was removed to Taos, and in 1898 to Lum- 
 berton, where he is now the missionary to that 
 whole region, Rio Arriba County. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS AND OUTLOOK 
 
 " Go in to possess the land." — Josh. : i. 11. 
 
 In April, 1904, the Presbyterian Church 
 reported in New Mexico thirty-one churches 
 among the Spanish-speaking people, with a 
 membership of over one thousand. In Cali- 
 fornia there are five churches with a mem- 
 bership of about two hundred, and in Colorado 
 twelve churches with a membership of nearly 
 four hundred. In New Mexico four of the 
 ordained missionaries are natives, and in 
 Colorado, three. In addition, there are about 
 twenty-five evangelists and helpers, all of 
 whom are natives. 
 
 By taking a review of the work of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the Synod of New 
 Mexico for the last five years we find only 
 encouragement. 
 
 On October 1st, 1898, there were forty-two 
 organized churches, of which only three were 
 self-sustaining, with a membership of nine- 
 teen hundred and eighty-six. These churches 
 were ministered to by twenty-one ordained 
 ministers and twenty evangelists. 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS 99 
 
 On October 1st, 1903, there were reported 
 sixty-four organized churches, and six mis- 
 sions where as yet no organization is com- 
 pleted. Of these nine are self-sustaining. 
 The membership is forty-four hundred and 
 forty-six, of which one thousand are Mexicans 
 and fifteen hundred Indians. There were 
 added to the church during the year ending 
 October 1st, 1903, six hundred and ninety-five 
 members, of whom two hundred are Indians. 
 These churches are ministered to by forty- 
 two ordained ministers and twenty-five evan- 
 gelists and helpers. 
 
 During these years there have been erected 
 or are now in course of erection nineteen 
 churches, ten manses, and six school chapels, 
 and during the year ending October 1st, 1903, 
 the congregations report as raised for all 
 church purposes $56,404, or $10,000 more 
 than was raised in any preceding year. 
 
 With such marked advance all along, for 
 which all are truly thankful, we look for- 
 ward with faith and hope to the coming 
 years. 
 
 With a total population nearing three hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand, made up of Indians, 
 native Mexicans, foreigners from every land, 
 and Americans ; with mining and agricultural 
 interests developing so rapidly; with the 
 great railroad systems everywhere opening 
 
100 OUR MEXICANS 
 
 up the country; with springing villages, 
 growing towns, and enlarging cities ; with the 
 prospects of being admitted to statehood at 
 an early date, the duty of individual Chris- 
 tians and of the Church is very clear. 
 
 Just as in other new States the herald of 
 the Cross will be met with infidelity, intem- 
 perance, and worldliness. These will stand, 
 as they now do, in keen competition for the 
 contrpl of these States. Anarchy and every- 
 thing that threatens public security will 
 spring from unevangelized masses. In addi- 
 tion to all these evils which are met else- 
 where, we have to meet the fact that in this 
 America of ours 40,000 Indians and 175,000 
 American-born Mexicans are living without 
 the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone 
 can mould and fashion and fit for true citi- 
 zenship here and happiness hereafter. 
 
 In view of all these facts, O Church of 
 Christ, in this favored land, come to the help 
 of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
 the mighty! 
 
 *' The time of hope 
 
 And of probation speeds on rapid wings 
 
 Swift and returnless ; what thou hast to do 
 
 Do with thy might. Haste, lift aloud thy voice 
 
 And publish to the border of the pit 
 
 The resurrection. Then when the ransomed come 
 
 With gladness unto Zion, thou shalt joy to hear 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS 101 
 
 The valley and the hills break forth 
 Before thee into singing. Thou shalt join 
 The raptured strain, exulting that the Lord 
 Jehovah, God Omnipotent, doth reign 
 O'er all the earth." 
 
NATIVE MEXICAN WORKERS. 
 
 (See Frontispiece.) 
 
 1. Rev. John M. Whitlock, . Lumberton, N. M. 
 
 2. Vincente F. Romero (Lie), . • Taos, N. M 
 
 3. Juan G. Quintana, . . . Las Cruces, N. M. 
 
 4. Lucas Martinez, Vallecitos, N. M. 
 
 5. Juan B. Torres, Raton, N. M. 
 
 6. Juan Baros (student), . . Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 7. Eliseo C. Cordova (student), Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 8. Juan G. Sanchez, .... Las Vegas, N. M. 
 
 9. Tomas Atencio (student), . . Chimayo, N. M. 
 10. Manuel Barcelon, .... Hall's Peak, N. M. 
 IL Rafael Q. Martinez Metcalf, Ariz. 
 
 12. Manuel Sandoval, Chacon, N. M. 
 
 13. Rev. Gabino Rendon, . . . Santa Fe, N. M. 
 
 14. Teofilo Tafoya (student), . Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 15. Rev. Jose Ynes Perea, . . . Pajarito, N. M. 
 
 16. Sam Sant Van Wagner (student), 
 
 Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 17. Rev. John Mordy, Laguna, N. M. 
 
 18. Abelino Aguirre, Penasco, N. M. 
 
 19. Rev. William Wallace, * . . Saltillo, Mexico. 
 
 20. Rev. Henry C. Thomson, D. D.,t 
 
 Albuquerque, N. M. 
 
 21. Rev. Matthias Matthieson, . Socorro, N. M. 
 
 22. Jose Emiterio Cruz, . . . Trementina, N. M. 
 
 23. Rev. Manuel Madrid Mora, N. M. 
 
 * Assisting in conference by request. 
 
 t In charge of Training Class for Evangelists. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
BW4256 .C88 
 Our Mexicans, 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00017 3254