Photos from the Kit Carson Memorial Cemetery

Earlier this week, I went to Taos with my wife. While she was busy at a conference, I decided to go exploring. Imagine what I found at Kit Carson Park: The Kit Carson Memorial Cemetery! Yes, I know, only true graveyard rabbits get excited about this type of stuff.

Anyhow, I took a bunch of photos on my cell phone since I left my camera back in the hotel room. A good thing, too, since I'm still trying to figure out how to use my camera, and the photos I took with the camera came out blurry, unlike these.

As a genealogist, I like it when I find a family tree. Here is a plaque showing the Kit Carson's family who are all buried in the cemetery:

Christopher "Kit" Carson married a local woman, Josefa Jaramillo. They are buried together at the cemetery. Josefa was the last of Kit Carson's three wives. Marc Simmon's wrote about his family in the book "Kit Carson and His Three Wives".

More photos from the cemetery, including the tombstones of Mabel Dodge Luhan and Padre Antonio Jose Martinez can be found at my Facebook photo page at this link.

Guadalupe Torres, Buried in the San Miguel Church

What you see below is a memorial for Dona Guadalupe T. de Baca, which states that she was born on born 12 December 1812, and died on 4 January 1901. According to baptismal and burial records, I show that she was actually born on 17 February 1812, and died on 6 January 1900, but we won't quibble on the details.¹ The memorial can be found on the wall of the San Miguel Church in Socorro, New Mexico.


According to F. Stanley's book Socorro: The Oasis, Guadalupe's second husband was buried within the north wall of the church, which is two yards thick. Stanley did not know exactly where Guadalupe had been buried, but her remains were said to be buried in the opposite wall.² Possibly behind the spot where her memorial plaque was placed?

Her maiden name was Maria Guadalupe Torres, and she was first married to Francisco Antonio Garcia. This couple were the parents of my 3rd great grandmother Juana Maria Garcia. She married her second husband Pedro Antonio Baca after her first husband's death.

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I wrote this post in response a post my cousin Maurine Pool posted on her blog. Read her article: Crespin's Aunt Guadalupe.

1. For more information about this woman and her family, read my article "Maria Guadalupe Torres: One Woman's Life in Nineteenth Century Socorro", New Mexico Genealogist, Vol 48: June, 2009, pp. 78-85.

2. F. Stanley, Socorro: the Oasis (Denver, CO: World Press, 1950), p. 45.