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The Church that time forgot
Story by
Photography by Steve Larese
(Editor’s
note: El Carrizo Church is on the recently released list of Most
Endangered Places for 2005. The writer shares her personal story of why
she nominated the church for the list.)
My father, now in his 80s, often told me
he wanted to find his great-grandfather’s gravesite. Ten years ago, he
learned from a relative at a family reunion that his great-grandfather
was buried near Roy. Last fall, on our way home to Colorado from a
funeral in northern New Mexico, I decided to veer off 1-25 at Wagon
Mound to go looking for Great-Grandpa in Harding County.
It was a beautiful, clear day for a
drive through the Canadian River Canyon and New Mexico’s eastern plains.
My parents and I traveled along the two-lane highway for miles and miles
passing no other vehicles, only deer grazing on the prairie. Following
my father’s strict instructions, I pulled the van over once we arrived
at the small prairie town of Roy and asked the first person I found if
she knew the Romero family. The kind woman gladly directed us to the
home of Tomás Romero.
I found Tomás behind his house,
introduced myself, and asked if he was related to José Dolores Romero.
Luck was on our side—Tomás was his grandson. Tomás and my father
immediately started a conversation about how they were related (half
first cousins once removed) and where José Dolores Romero was buried. As
it turned out, Great-Grandpa was not buried in the Roy Cemetery, but in
El Carrizo Cemetery. Tomás began explaining the drawn-out directions to
the cemetery. Knowing I would definitely get lost, I asked if he could
accompany us to El Carrizo. Tomás accepted and became our personal tour
guide.
We traveled northwest from
Roy about 15
miles. The drive to El Carrizo gave Tomás and my father time to
“connect.” I enjoyed going through the family genealogy stored in my
head as I listened to their stories. We later turned onto a dry, dirt
road taking us through the Miller Ranch, drove over a few cattle guards
and continued on a prairie cow path for a few more miles. I listened to
the sound of the thick, tall feather grass brushing under the van as I
recalled the history of the area—Folsom Man and prehistoric bison,
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s explorations through this part of New
Mexico in 1540, and buffalo hunts by Native Americans and Hispano
ciboleros. Just after we descended a rough and rocky hill, a church with
a small belfry came into view. The turquoise tint of its weathered,
corrugated, metal-pitched roof enhanced the landscape—finding my
ancestor’s gravesite became secondary.
Although the sign on the gate reads, “El Carrizo Church,” the official name of
this Catholic mission church was San Antonio. José Durán, assistant
archivist at the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, confirmed that the stone
church was built shortly after 1916, when George Gonzáles and his wife,
Piedad M. de Gonzáles, deeded an acre for the church and cemetery. On
the front exterior of the church appears a large vertical crack
attesting to its loneliness on the abandoned prairie. The gaping hole in
the weathered door begged me to enter. Upon entering, I saw the
beautiful white altar adorned in three places by a bright red paper
flower. As I looked around, my heart sank. Some of the rustic benches
were broken and there were visible signs animals and birds had also made
their way into the abandoned church. Part of the ceiling panels had
started to fall. What really caught my eye were the six beautiful
stained-glass windows etched with the surnames Baca, Lucero, Chavez,
Gallegos and Valdez—descendants of El Carrizo’s settlers, community
leaders and church benefactors. These windows were all in excellent
condition, but clearly in danger of damage by vandals and severe
weather. I admired the pride the settlers took in building their church
on this sandy prairie and was sad to see it in such disrepair.
Two priests served in the San Antonio
mission church. Between 1920 and 1944, Mass was offered by the
Rev.
Courad Lammert, parish priest from the town of
Bueyeros. Then from 1944
to 1955, the Rev. Fred Stadtmuller, from the
Mosquero parish, served the
El Carrizo community. Area resident Doroteo M. Martinez was baptized in
San Antonio Church during its early years. “The church was beautiful
inside,” he recalls. “Mass was offered once a month. We had a funcion every
June 13 and (the statue of) San Antonio was paraded around the church.
My parents and other family members are buried in the cemetery.” His
nephew Epimenio Martinez remembers Rev. Stadtmuller, the “Flying Padre.”
“Father Fred Stadtmuller used to fly his plane into El Carrizo. He used
to give people rides. I rode in his plane once; it was my first time. He
landed the plane on the flat.” Monsignor Stadtmuller is now retired and
lives in Albuquerque.
The San Antonio Church in El Carrizo was
abandoned by 1960. Fortunately, this Harding County church made it on
the 2005 Most Endangered Places List issued by the New Mexico
Preservation Alliance. Although the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has no
plans to restore the church, many area residents agree something must be
done to protect the stained- glass windows, replace the door and repair
the exterior crack in the stone wall. I believe they will come together
bringing tools, ladders, and material and fostering community
involvement and volunteerism. Matt Mitchell lives five miles from El
Carrizo and has taken an interest in protecting it. “The church is a
part of the history of this part of the county. It’s a neat little place
to look at. I’d hate to see it fall down and ruin those stained-glass
windows.”
My family’s roots in northern New Mexico
and interest in our heritage led us to El Carrizo and the San Antonio
Church. Not only did we find the cemetery where my ancestor was buried,
we enjoyed the personal tour by our newly found relative and thoroughly
enjoyed the day and our travel in Harding County. We went looking for
Great- Grandpa in Roy and found much, much more in El Carrizo.
Virginia
Sanchez is a Historian/genealogist with deep roots in New Mexico. She
is a frequent presenter at Historical Society of New Mexico conferences
and genealogical societies in New Mexico and Colorado. Her favorite
topics include New Mexico’s Spanish colonial military, the life and
times of Juana Lujan (Virginia’s seventh great-grandmother) and a
Colorado acequia community in Huerfano County. She lives in Denver and
is writing a book about an 1866 settlement in Cucharas, Colorado. She
was a senior technical writer for 20 years and has a master’s degree in
technical communication.
NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE / MAY
2005
Used by permission
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