Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families

New Book Collaboration Between Marc Simmons and José Antonio Esquibel

New Mexico in the Latter Seventeenth Century

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Marc Simmons at his home near Cerrillos, NM. Although we had met previously and encountered each other at various functions, we had not had the chance to just sit and talk about our favorite topic, New Mexico history. In our conversation I asked him what book projects he had planned. In addition to working on an extensive biography of Kit Carson, and research and writing about the history of Spanish lime kilns, for the past two decades he had wanted to finish a book that was begun by his mentor and history professor at the University of New Mexico, France V. Scholes, but that was never completed in Scholes' lifetime. Because I have been actively researching documents of seventeenth century New Mexico, I offered my assistance to Marc Simmons, and immediately our collaboration was formed.

The book was originally supposed to be one of the volumes of the famed Coronado Cuarto Centennial Series published by the University of New Mexico Press more that half a century ago. The book was to deal with the history of New Mexico in the latter half of seventeenth century. What made the book unique was that this history would be based on the life and military career of one very prominent soldier-colonist of New Mexico, don Juan Domínguez de Mendoza. The book even had a formal title, "New Mexico in the Latter Seventeenth Century," and was intended to be volume seven of the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Series.

Scholes had acquired photostat copies of the various titles of commission and patents for don Juan Domínguez de Mendoza that had been preserved in the Biblioteca National de Madrid, Spain. Elenor B. Adams was paid to translate the documents, and Scholes intended to write an introduction summarizing the history found in the collection of documents spanning from 1625 to 1701. For any number of reasons, the introduction was never written, although Scholes gave it several attempts. The book was never published, and the typewritten translations remained in the possession of Scholes for the remainder of his life.

About twenty-three of close to seventy of the typed translations from the Domínguez de Mendoza military service records found their way into Scholes collection at the University of New Mexico's Zimmerman Library. The remaining translations, along with the photstat copies of the originals, were stored in a box that came into the possession of Marc Simmons years after the death of France Scholes. The typed translations are now being entered into electronic format, the footnote are being updated, and an introduction and an account of the Domínguez de Mendoza family is being written. The University of New Mexico Press has expressed an interest in the manuscript when it is ready.

Because there is so little original documentation that has been preserved from New Mexico 17^th century, the series of documents in this upcoming book provide some valuable information about events and life in 17^th century New Mexico. In future updates, highlights from the book will be posted on this site.