Torrance County NM Archives History - Books .....Full Text Of The Abo, New Mexico Story 1969
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Book Title: The Abo, New Mexico Story

The Abo, New Mexico Story
By F. Stanley

(LIMITED TO 400 COPIES)

June - 1966
P. 0. Box 11
Pep, Texas 79353

The Abo, New Mexico Story

ABO SEALED ITS FATE, as far as the Spaniards were concerned, by its location.
The governor at Santa Fe did indeed comply with the laws of the Council of the
Indies, the laws of the king, the laws of the viceroy in Mexico City, but as far
as he was concerned they were the "Outcasts of Poker Flats" of their day, those
Piros Pueblo Indians, for being so far removed from Santa Fe and prompt military
aid from the castrense. They were also too far removed from Socorro. Several
soldiers they had. Four was all the law called for. A padre they also had. And a
encomendero. Perhaps what annoyed the official more than anything was the fact
that constant inroads of Comanches, Apaches, Kiowas, Jumanos tribes carried off
whatever profits migt have benefited the encomendero, soldiers, governor. Abo
was one of the cities that died of fear. It didn't have to. The Spaniards had so
spread themselves they just couldn't do justice in adequately protecting any one
pueblo against the inroads of marauders. Oddly enough, we know more about this
particular Piros place than most of the others that disappeared after repeated
attacks from non-pueblo tribes.

    The present Abo of several hundred people is not to be confused with the
ancient vanished pueblo. This little community once boasted a postoffice. Maud
Bond was first postmaster. After about a year, it was decided to operate out of
Mountainair. With the present highway system this isn't difficult. Abo has a
fascination not only for tourists but for the horde interested in finding the
buried treasure said to be there. Many have tried to find it through the years
but without success. If a treasure there be, it awaits the lucky person to
unearth it. Abo is ever so rich in folklore if not in hidden treasures. Perhaps
some day someone will startle the world when he forces the ancient ruins to
loosen their hold and their secret. Through the centuries treasure hunters have
used every means to force the earth let go, but so far all they had were old
wives tales, dreams, sore backs and hope of better luck the next time around.

    The ruins of the old mission are located some ten miles west of Mountainair,
on U. S. 60, in Section 25, Township 3, north; Range 5, east. The boundary of
the Cibola National Forest is about two hundred yards to the west of the west
boundary of the monument. A mile to the south the Santa Fe Railroad tracks climb
over Abo Pass. This hulk from out of the past lies on a point at the conflux of
an arroyo and the quaintly named Arroyo Barranco. Fencing it in from all sides
are an infinitude of knolls, covered with shrub standing like so many vigil
lights protecting what is left of a once proud edifice, an ambitious project
even for Santa Fe, and certainly lord-like in its solitary confinement. On the
south side of the old mission a spring continued to babble about the days of
yore and of the various things it witnessed here in the long ago. Perhaps the
fact that water was here induced the padre to select this spot for his great
church and convento. Native New Mexicans who call this place Abo Viejo have use
for this spring. Those who settled here after the return of the Spaniards were
anything but lazy. They planted alamogordo trees, locust, poplar, fruit tries in
variety, and trusted the spring water to perform its share in their growth.
There was also a garden patch, a little cotton and tobacco, this latter being a
black-market commodity since the government had the complete say-so when it came
to tobacco, paper and several other items. Along the arroyo to the east seeps
were found. The physiography of the area is one of mesa, mountain and valley.
The Chupadera escarpment — or to give it the name by. which it is more commonly
known, Mesa de los Jumanos — is seen along the horizon to the south; to the
northwest are the sharp, rough Manzano hills into which the Barranco seems to
pour itself. The erosion penetrating the bed rock to the west of the pueblo
ruins has often been a cause of alarm. Little enough planting can be done. New
soil conservation methods are helping to change the landscape and it is a matter
of time when all the land may be serviceable in producing a crop of chili,
beans, perhaps peanuts and lots of cotton. It is even hoped that more towns may
be built in this area due to the rapid expansion of Albuquerque and the
surrounding towns. Minute rock-bottom arroyos cut through the old pueblo itself,
close to the mission. The drainage runs into the canon de Abo on to the languid,
mud-ridden Rio Grande to empty into the gulf. The more notable geological
formations of the region are the red colored Abo sandstone (Lower Permian) from
which the building material for both the mission and pueblo seem to have been
taken; the Chupadera limestone (Upper Permian) which caps the mesa bearing the
name. We are now within the habitat of the ancient peace-loving, farm-producing
Piros Pueblo Indians. What their lives were prior to the entry of the Spaniards
is conjecture mixed with findings of the archaeologists who have spent time and
money to unearth pots, artifacts, stones, graves and rooms related to piecing
together life as it was lived at Abo prior to its abandonment and destruction.

    Technically Abo is referred to as a Tompiro pueblo, a part of the Salinas
group making up Quarai, Abo, Gran Quivira, San Isidro and several lesser known
once seen by early colonists. Many disappeared from the time several of
Coronado's men came by in quest of food to the time Onate's men came for gold.
There is no positive proof that Coronado himself spent time here although it is
equally certain that some of his men came by. The first mention of the pueblo
made by a European is found in the Gallegos Relation of the Rodriguez Expedition
of 1581-1582 where one comes across the lines: "We are informed that the Salinas
were three large pueblos — i.e. Abo, Tenabo, Tabira. According to their (Indian
informants) indications these seemed to be very large cities. They were not
visited due to the heavy snowfall which the discoverers experienced at the
time." (o.c.) Authors making a study of Abo, notably Joseph H. Toulouse, Jr.,
who produced an excellent monograph for the School of American Research, and
published by the University of New Mexico press in 1949, Bancroft, Twitchell,
Scholes Mera, Thome, are of the opinion that the Franca Villa mentioned in the
Gallegos report is possibly Abo. However, Franca Villa may have been merely a
summer camp used by Abo residents during planting and harvesting seasons.

    Espejo and Lujan may not have visited Abo but their writings indicate that
they were aware of its existence. Onate came by in October of 1598 and
identified it as a pueblo of the Jumanos. The first friar to conduct religious
services there was Fray Francisco de San Miguel, a chaplain in Onate's army, and
assigned the jurisdiction which included in this pueblo. Abo later became a
visita out of Pecos, the parish center for the area for the next thirty years.
Onate had his difficulties at San Gabriel. For a while it looked as if a civil
war was brewing. Some of the men fled, moving in the vicinity of Abo. Whether
they came by here because they thought it was a route back to Mexico, or in
quest of food or gold, the fact remains that they were killed by Indians. Some
say it was the work of Tompiros, others Piros, and still others Jumanos. Onate
blamed the Jumanos. Since he insisted that Abo was a Jumanos pueblo, he sent
Vicente de Zaldvar to Abo in 1601 to punish the pueblo for spilling Spanish
blood. Abo was not without its spies. The Indians fled to Acolocu (which has
been identified as Juarai) for a last ditch stand. Here occurs something strange
in the annals of warfare. The Indians offered a resistance that lasts several
days. The Spaniards report that they killed several hundred of the pueblo
defenders. Assuming that this is true since they had guns pitted against lances,
bows and arrows, it is remarkable how these Indians fought so long and hard, yet
they seemed defenseless against Apaches, Comanches and other Plains tribes.
Hence to say that Abo was a city that died of fear isn't exactly correct since
drought, disease, and other factors played a large part in carrying off a number
of tribesmen. These Indians were well aware of what happened at Acoma. The same
Vicente de Zaldivar who took seventy men and destroyed the fortress city was the
man now in charge of the soldiers attack-Acolocu. Perhaps the Indians felt the
Spaniards would offer no quarter so that the fight was to the death. Whatever
the reason, it was a heroic stand that had no Villagra to write it up for future
generations as he did Acoma. Fighting Spaniards was not the same as fighting
Apaches. In the end they were no better off than Acoma.

    Zaldivar set fire to the pueblo. If it proved any consolation to the
Indians, Lt. Governor Don Francisco de Sosa y Penalosa called in Captain
Geronimo de Marquez, handed him a questionnaire and asked him to help work up a
case against Onate. Questions 16, 17 and 18 pertained to the incident at the
pueblo. Sixteen related to the killing of Castaneda and Santillan, the two
soldiers fleeing San Gabriel. The lieutenant governor was interested in knowing
why these two men had to leave the settlement. He also sought to investigate the
unrest at San Gabriel. For reasons of his own he hoped Onate would be convicted,
no doubt expecting to step into his shoes. For a man who invested all his wealth
in getting New Mexico settled as a possession of the crown, Onate suffered
untold cruelties .from the very people he sought to help. Friends he could count
on his fingers; enemies he had by the score.

    Question 17 (Ask any witness): "If he knows that the governor commissioned
Sargento Mayor Vicente de Zaldivar to go to the Jumanos pueblo de Abo to punish
the offenders who killed Castabeda and Santilan, and that as they were on their
way to that pueblo, the Indians heard of it and appealed for help to their
neighbors and surrounding pueblos and assembled their warriors at the pueblo of
Agualagu (a different spelling again than that used by Lumnis. Toulouse,
Hammond, Twitchell, the authors I am most relying on for this booklet for beyond
the abstract map of the county which places Abo the county files have little or
nothing about the ancient Abo, only, the present, little settlement.) Also if it
were not so that the sargento mayor marched off guard, thinking that the Indians
of that pueblo had not planned to ambush him since they indicated that they were
friends, when he approached the pueblo, more than eight hundred Indians
attacked, and a serious and dangerous attack took place.

    Question 18 — "Ask if he knows that after what is stated in the previous
question the sargento mayor called a meeting of the captains and soldiers and
asked them all to commend the affair to God; that everyone should say what he
thought about the matter . . . They all declared that it was necessary to punish
the Indians because if they did not, the Indians would rise up and destroy them.
K the Indians went unpunished, the Spaniards would be held in contempt and every
Indian would attack without fear. The captains and the soldiers replied to the
sargento mayor that the Indians had to be punished in order for them (i.e. the
Spaniards) to live safely in the land. As there was no dissenting voice, the
sargento mayor said that since we were devoted to our Holy Mother, we should beg
her on our knees to intercede with her precious Son to get the Indians to submit
peacefully in order to spare the loss of life on both sides.

    "Ask if the sargento mayor said he would take it upon himself to go with an
Indian interpreter and eight or ten men to the pueblo to offer them peace, and
that he did so, promising them many things, but that they would not accept
peace, and that, on the contrary, they attacked with stones and arrows and
challenged us to fight; that during the six days and nights of the battle he
offered them peace many times, but they steadily refused; that after six days
they surrendered; that the sargento mayor pardoned all the Indians, men and
women, and set many free (no mention here of the several hundred who lost their
lives during those six days); that he assigned the most guilty (i.e. of the
prisoners taken) one to each soldier as a compensation for the hardship he
endured; this assignment being without title of any kind, so that the Indians
brought here (San Gabriel — the first settlement of the Spaniards in New Mexico
prior to moving to the new villa called Santa Fe) gradually returned to their
country so that there is hardly one left who has not returned to his own land .
. . " (A.G.I. A.M. 1,26).

    Fray Benavides is the first to include the Tigua villages of the area as
part of what he termed the Tompiros, by which name he designated the Piros
tribes in the Salinas district. Fray Francisco may have dedicated his early
crude chapel to San Gregorio, but he had no time to build a pretentious affair
since his vast parish was so extensive it hardly justified him remaining for any
length of time in one given place. The Mission caravan brought more padres.

    Each caravan brought more friars to work in the pueblos. At this time Santa
Fe was the only villa. Santa Cruz and Albuquerque were to be founded after the
re-conquest still some decades away. In 1622 serious thought was given to
establishing Abo as a parish with a resident padre for the pueblo numbered well
over a thousand souls. It was also ideally located for visiting the Salinas
pueblos and the Jumanos. About this time also the salt lakes attracted the
attention of the Spaniards and Indians were sent to gather it for possible sales
at El Paso, Parral and other places in Mexico. A number of Indians were required
weekly to staff the Palacio in Santa Fe where the governor demanded a certain
amount of servants ior his needs as well as for his profit for they were not
only used in the kitchen and general house work, but also to tend his flocks, to
make stockings, plant his fields, attend his garden and perform whatever tasks
he asked of them. The friar at Abo also required a number of servants to take
care of the mission sheep, plant the mission fields. This was permitted him by
order of the Council of the Indies in charge of mission affairs. The intricate
pattern of the Spanish labor laws, the laws of the Indies, the laws of the
crown, the laws of the governor of New Mexico, the laws of the encomendero
system cannot adequately be explained in a work of this nature for each of these
would take a thesis all its own, but many of the troubles between the governor
and the missions during these decades stem from a misunderstanding of many of
these laws and from the fact that many of the officials of the crown were out to
exploit the Indians. The friars sent letters of protest against these injustices
to the viceroy, but he either ignored them or considered them too petty for his
attention. Only when the trials of Penalosa and Mendizibal as well as their
cronies, Romero and Aguilar, received widespread publicity did the officials in
Mexico City begin to take notice. But then it was too late and the rebellion of
1680 was in the making. How many of the Abo Indians were sent to work in the
mines in Mexico will never be known. It is known that they were exploited to the
hilt by government officials.

    Fray Francisco Acevedo came to New Mexico with Fray Perea's Mission Band.
Fray Benavides had made as many as nine trips covering the Salinas and Piros
pueblos. Abo was readily recognized as the largest of both groups, having a
population numbering well over a thousand. It was also the trade center. At
first Fray Francisco Fonte was placed in charge and named guardian. No doubt he
began the massive structure that might have been the queen of the missions had
it been completed and preserved. Fray Perea's group did not arrive in New Mexico
until 1629, therefore Fray Acevedo must have found the groundwork prepared for
him. when he took over. He is recognized by all authorities as the founder of
the mission at Abo. One ambitious product was the aqueduct that merits to be
recognized as one of the Seven (man-made) Wonders of the State. Patterned after
the aqueducts of Ancient Rome, it was an engineering feat marvelous in any age.
How much of it was completed is conjecture, but many Indians must have been
employed in building it. Fray Acevedo also worked for many years at Alamillo.
The great mission church was probably started by Fray Nicolas del Villar who was
stationed there in 1669 and brought to near completion by Fray Alonso Gil de
Avila who was there in 1672. It is doubtful that any religious services were
held in it. Vetancourt in his CRONICA remarked: "San Gregorio de Abo is in the
Salinas valley which is ten leagues in circumference, and produces such
excellent salt, has eight hundred inhabitants, two visitas (Tenabo and Tabira.)
Fray Acevedo is buried there." (o.c.) It is said this friar met a violent death
at Zuni. No doubt the body was conducted to Abo for burial. He had worked over
thirty years in New Mexico and was in his 80s when he died. Aguilar sought to
make his life impossible and enjoyed bringing false charges against him. Aguilar
was the alcalde, encomendero and captain in charge of the district. He
worked-hand in glove with the governor in employing Indians to gather and carry
salt, making stockings, gather maize, attend his flocks and plant his fields.
The Indians at Abo came to fear not only marauding tribes, but also the greed of
the officials who considered them slaves rather than reducidos. Whenever the
friars complained, the officials brought counter-charges so that life was rather
miserable even for the missionaries. Don Bergardo Lopez de Mendizabal also had a
hand in all this as was brought out in his trial. Penalosa proved even worse
than both Aguilar and Mendizabal. One almost feels that the swoop of the Apaches
that caused the final abandonment of Abo was a welcome relief to the
long-suffering Indians and friars. It is inconsistent that they should give
Spaniards a six-day battle but bow their necks to attackers who intended neither
rule nor conquest, but merely plunder. Fray Nicolas de Freitas testified on
February 21, 1661, that: "Fray Antonio Aguado was guardian and minister
doctrinero in the pueblo de Abo. Inasmuch as its language is very difficult to
learn, there being no grammar for it, nor, indeed, of any of the other languages
of (the Indians of) New Mexico, Padre Fray Antonio Aguado availed himself of an
Indian named Bartolome, who knew Castilian, with whose aid he administered the
sacraments to the Indians, and supplied what he lacked of that language in
administering to the Indians, and in preaching. Learning this, Nicolas de
Aguilar ordered this interpreter on no account to enter the convento (i.e.
residence of the guardian or pastor then referred to as convents — where a
number are gathered it is a friary which is distinct from a monastery), imposing
upon him the penalty of two hundred lashes; thereby did Nicolas de Aguilar on
his own initiative place an obstacle in the way of administering the Holy
Sacraments and the spiritual welfare of those souls. This witness knew this this
for he was told of it in Senecu by Padre Fray Antonio Aguado himself. (Senecu
was south of Socorro about a mile and a half from the site of the present San
Antonio where the parents of Conrad Hilton lived). For this reason Fray Antonio
Aguado resigned the office of guardian and left it. He did, however, return
afterward, because he was placed under obedience to do so by the vice-custodian,
to the same doctrina, to endure the same hardships and even greater ones, for
Nicolas de Aguilar, deserting the house which he has on his farm within the
jurisdiction of the pueblo of Chilili, goes to live in the pueblos within the
jurisdiction of the alcaldia mayor of Las Salinas. This he does in obedience to
the commands of Governor Don Bernardo Lopez de Mendizabal, merely to prevent the
Indians from attendig the service of the religious and of the church. This
witness was obliged, in Cuarac, to go to the forest for wood, and though a
priest, to bring it back on his own shoulders. Father Fray Diego de Parraga was
obliged to cook their food, which he did, though poorly, not knowing how to do
it, because the governor would give them no Indian to serve them. It got to such
a pass that they received no obvention of any kind, for mariages, burials, watch
services. festivals for their patron saints, nor anything else." (A. G. I.)

    It is not for us to judge who was right or who was wrong, for these
incidents are not weighed by our standards but by the way of life of that day
and age. Beyond doubt Aguilar was the pasty for Mendizabal. On the other hand,
he was also lining his own pockets. The governors coming to New Mexico during
these pre-rebellion days did not hide the fact that they sought the office
mainly for exploitation and to return to Mexico to end their days in wealth. How
much of the viceroy's bread they buttered would also prove interesting. The Laws
of the Indians were clear regarding the friars. Evidently many of the governors
decided which of these laws applied. Despite the plight of the friars they
managed to bring a culture to New Mexico that has remained to this day. No
history of New Mexico can ever be written without more than a reference to the
work of the friars.

    Even if the friars considered Aguilar a villain or worse, it is surprising
why his biography has not come to the attention of a novelist, or script writer.
It would thrill movie and TV audiences. Born in the province of Mechoacan, he
tired of life there and at eighteen showed up at Parral where he entered the
military, dividing his time between soldiering and mining. Six years later he
became involved in an argument with his uncle and killed him. He fled to New
Mexico. Due to the general amnesty granted by law in the case of the birth of a
royal prince, he was pardoned for his crime and re-enlisted in his majesty's
army. He definitely found life more interesting in New Mexico than
Yurirapundaro, his birthplace. As a soldier he lived for a time in Santa Fe
where he courted and married Catalina Marquez, daughter of Francisco Marquez and
Maria Nunez. The four children of this marriage were Geronima, Maria, Isabel and
Nicolas. He became a captain and seems to have had a good reputation as a
soldier and Indian fighter. Governor Mendizabal appointed him alcalde mayor of
the Salinas tribes and he soon learned that he had the choice of siding either
with the friars or the governor. He was definitely on the governor's side. His
trial in its entirety may be found in the Archives of the Indies. Scholes and
others have translated it for the general use of the public, or for those
interested in this period of New Mexico's history. It did not go well for him
any more than for Romero, Mendizabal and Anaya. But Penalosa seems to have
carried his adventures to England and France. Some day these adventures will be
discovered, and the pubic might find them even more exciting than Kit Carson,
Fremont, deVargas, Billy the Kid and Clay Allison. Why script writers have not
ventured into this period of colonial history is a mystery. There is enough
material here to keep them occupied for the next ten years at three hundred and
sixty-five days a year working ten hours a day.

    Abo was definitely better equipped than most missions even to the extent of
having an organ, something rather rare for the time in New Mexico. The fact that
such a project as immense as the mission compound of Abo was attempted spoke of
its importance in that day. Evacuations indicate that it certainly would have
ranked as one of the major missions of New Mexico had not so many things
happened to exterminate it. It was a gem, a plum as far as the Spaniards were
concerned, for it was rich in salt, cloth, sheep, cattle, maize, pinon nuts,
manuel labor. The fact that the friars could still keep a number of natives on
hand to gather stones mix mortar, make adobes, cut vigas, tend sheep, proves
that man power was not lacking neither for the needs of Mendizabal, Penalosa,
Anaya, Romero, Aguilar nor the friars. A scale model of the mission housed in
the Museum of New Mexico collection shows it to have been by far possibly the
largest church in New Mexico at the time. Excavations bear this out. It would be
a large building in our day and age. It was on the whole the nearest thing to a
reducido as understood in the Archives of the Indies that New Mexico had prior
to the abandonment of the settlement. There was a choir, also catechism for boys
and girls and instructions for adults. The maidens sent to Santa Fe for their
share of the work in the Palacio were so fascinated by the city that they often
refused to return to Abo and hired themselves out as help in the homes of the
residents there. We read this often in the archives. As ambitious as the program
seemed to be, there was no denying that Abo was doomed by many things. Droughts,
disease and repeated raids helped in the downfall long before the rebellion.
Aguilar also insisted on a quota of weavers that were sent to Santa Fe to work
for the governor. Although the Indians complained constantly that the work for
the governor, the needs of the friars, the demands of Aguilar so occupied them
that there seemed to be no time for planting for themselves, it mattered little.
All other work came first. Outnumbering the Spaniards as they did, it is
difficult to understand why they tolerated such a state of affairs unless they
felt that it was a choice of Apaches or Spaniards and they preferred the latter.
Whether they would have joined in the revolt of 1680 is pure conjecture since
they were not around at the time to decide one way or another. Fear of the
Apache tribesmen may have forced them to take up arms against the Europeans. At
least it was a reason given hy many of the Pueblo Indians for taking part in the
blood bath. Nor is there any indication as to how many of the Abo Indians were
living in the pueblos that revolted at the time. It is said that Fray Antonio de
Aguado was able to buy an organ for the church simply on the profits derived
from the sale of pinons.

    Abo came in for its share of attention in 1668 when Bernardo Gruber, a
German, was brought before the representatives of the Holy Office to answer
charges that he practiced witchcraft. That New Mexico was connected with the
Inquisition is a little known fact. While most of the work was confined to
questioning and investigating, it was nevertheless an active force bent on
rooting out witchcraft, heresy, paganism and false doctrine. Gruber was accused
of selling magical paper cuts to Indians for reasons known only to themselves.
When they swallowed these little bits of paper no harm would come to them from
disease, Apache arrows, Spanish bullets. It didn't take very long to find out
how ineffectual the magical paper proved to be. It did annoy the digestive
tract. Duped by the foreigner, they made bold to denounce him as a wizard.
Gruber insisted that all this was the concoction of the governor who had an
eagle eye on his worldly goods. Perhaps he was right. No sooner was he
imprisoned than he was notified he was poorer than the poorest Indian in the
land. Taken to Pecos and imprisoned there, he soon made his escape intent on
getting to Mexico before the messengers of the governor in order to plead his
case before the viceroy. But he never made it. He came to a tragic end somewhere
along the Jornada del Muerte.

    Then followed crop failure after crop failure brought on mostly by a
sustained drought. This angered the Apaches, who looked for their annual tribute
by way of maize and other produce. Between the year of 1672 and 1675 the Apaches
and other tribes were at their worst in raiding and taking prisoners. Senecu and
other pueblos, including Abo, were hard hit. It was decided to abandon Abo
completely. It seemed so vain, so useless to have built the big church that may
have served as a fortress had there been a means of storing away sufficient
grain, food and water. A treasure was lost to New Mexico when pueblo and project
were left to the wind and the sands of time. The move definitely affected the
history of that area forever. Why some of the natives selected to go to Senecu
has not been explained except that perhaps there were relatives there. Others
left for Alamillo and Pilabo. All of these places ended their history with the
flight of the Spaniards in 1680. Although San Antonio, Alamillo and Socorro
survive now, they are not a part of the story of the Piros, but of New Mexicans.
The Senecu, Isleta, Socorro of the El Paso area are not to be confused with
present day towns although they started as a result of the exodus. Perhaps in
these Texas communities one may trace back ancestry to Abo. A difficult task,
since family trees hardly concern these people, but at least an interesting one.
The Apaches were not agricultural people so they had no interest in taking over
the abandoned pueblo. Some time after the return of the Spaniards (or New
Mexicans since they were for the major part naitves of New Mexico), the tall
tales of buried treasure began to circulate. Whether tribesmen came by each fall
to avail themselves of the apricots, peaches, apples from the trees of the
convento garden, or whether the trees died quickly from lack of water is not
known. The intricate system of canals, the irrigation ditches, the pine-wood
aqueduct lines that carried the precious fluid were probably destroyed in one of
the raids. Even if the padre succeeded in talking the Abo Indians out of
abandoning the pueblo, the handwriting on the wall would have merely been
prolonged until 1680. It would definitely have been abandoned then. On the other
hand, it may have been re-occupied when General deVargas returned. Even empty,
the pueblo had its uses. When the settlers began to infiltrate the area they
took away the vigas and much of the material they needed to erect their homes.
Perhaps there would have been more buildings and less ruins had these things not
been carried away. The philosophy and thinking were sound. The empty buildings
were doing no one any good. One can imagine them also availing themselves for
the opportunity for digging in the expectation of uncovering wealth beyond their
wildest dreams. They never gave up. It was there somewhere. Abo is definitely an
Indian word. Note how some towns spell — Pil-abo — No one has offered an
explanation of what the word means. My guess is that it has to do with
direction. The name Gregory may be because a Pope Gregory granted St. Francis
his rule and the friars sought to honor the patron saint of this pope. St.
Gregory of Abo in Finland hardly has any connection with Abo in New Mexico. Pure
coincidence. Franciscans in New Mexico were more apt to honor saints of their
own order. Gregory IX was a personal friend of St. Francis, St. Clare and St.
Anthony. Blessed Gregory X helped St. Bonaventure spread the Franciscan Order,
but the pueblo was named for a St. Gregory. It is my guess (merely a guess) that
the name stems from the fact that Pope Gregory IX made the Franciscan Order
possible b3r his approval and in honoring St. Gregory Abo was really honoring
Ugolino, the cardinal who became Pope Gregory IX in 1227. No more particular
attention was paid to the place until the arrival of the Americans under General
Kearny. Whether any of the trappers from St. Louis or any of the traders
occupied with selling merchandise brought over the. Santa Fe Trail bothered to
visit the place if only to prospect it for the storied treasures of the
abandoned mission is of little importance since they left no records. It is
quite a skip and a jump from the Archives of the Indies to the days of the
American Occupation when men like Emory, Abert, Carleton and Webb wrote their
impressions of the ruins. Bancroft, Bandelier, Lumnis, came later and Toulouse
still more recently. Although W. W. H. Davis did write about Abo in his book EL
GRINGO, he says that he got his information second hand from Bvt. Major
Carleton. We find on page 314 of this book:

    "The ruins of Abo are in the county of Valencia, a few miles south of the
town of Manzano, and consist of the walls of the church, and heaps of stones
that mark the site of ruined houses. The church was evidently the work of
Christian hands, as it was built in the form of a cross, and some of the timber
shows marks of the axe upon them. The dimensions are one hundred and thirty-two
feet for the long arm, and forty-one feet for the short arm of the cross. The
height of the walls still standing is about fifty feet; they are of great
thickness, and the material of construction is a dark red sandstone found in the
neighborhood. The stones are in small pieces, undressed, and were laid in mud.
There are no remains of an arch about the building, and the roof, although now
in ruins, was probably composed of earth, as at the present day, and supported
by large beams. The remains of an outer wall, which probably inclosed the town,
can still be traced, about 950 feet from north to south, and 450 feet from east
to west. These distances would indicate that the population was considerable,
with the compact mode of building practiced by the Pueblo Indians." Several
years prior to Carleton's visit a man named Powell, enroute from Greenville,
Illinois, to California where he hoped to discover gold fields, visited Abo on
April 3, 1849. He wrote: "Went with Dr. Compton, in a shower of rain, to see the
ruins of Abo. When there the rain held up for four or five minutes which enabled
us to make a hasty sketch. Abert's (the army man) does not give the idea at all.
The background of the mountains in mine shows our old friends the "Sierra Mina"
at the foot of which we have encamped so long. Abert is wrong in some
particulars concerning these ruins, as well as those of Quarai. I have observed
that the churches of Pecos, Quarai and Abo all stand due north and south and at
each place the turtle doves resort. They are indeed the only places that I have
seen doves since coming to this country. They tell many stories of great
quantities of money being hid in or near these ruins, and some still believe it
. . . West of the ruins there were the remains of a long line of buildings
parallel with the church and about 300 paces long. Other ruins are to the south
and east. These are chiefly of small rooms, all built with the flat red stone
described by Abert. They have not been faced by hand but arranged with the
natural face of the stone cut. The church, too, like that of Quarai, is not
built as well as experienced workmen would put it up, but looks as if built by
just such persons as it was. They were erected with great care, to be sure, but
many of the towers, and walls lean, some one way, some another, and some bulge
out in the middle. This is not the work of time, nor the effect of decay, but
evidently the want of skill." (o.c.)

    In December of 1853 a squadron of cavalry under Lfc Samuel D. Sturges went
on an exploring expedition to the Gran Quivira. With this group was a company of
dragoons under Major Carleton. Of the hundred men in the expedition, there
wasn't one who didn't hope to find the hidden treasure. A decade later, when
Carleton was command of the New Mexico military forces, during the Civil War, he
still hoped to uncover the treasure of Abo. What he wrote came to the attention
of Davis as stated above. He also said:

    "The walls are of great thickness, and their height is, at this day, in over
half the structure, all of fifty feet. The upper ledge of these walls is cut
into battlements. The church as well as the neighboring buildings now in ruins
about it, was built of a stratified, dark red sandstone, such as crops out along
the creek and makes its appearance on the sides of the surrounding hills. The
pieces of stone do not average over two and a half inches in thickness and are
generally not over one foot in length ..." The rest is substantially what Davis
already noted. He remarked that he saw no signs of cultivation. Hardly, when no
cultivation had been attempted for well over a hundred years. Lumnis in his book
the LAND OF POCO TIEMPO also gives the dimensions and tells of his interest in
the sandstone. It was the work of Lumnis and Bandelier that evoked the interest
in the preservation of the old ruins. The people of the area appreciated the
idea that perhaps these ruins could be preserved as a monument. The University
of New Mexico became interested in the idea and undertook the direction of
excavation, Joseph H. Toulouse, Jr., placed in charge. The work fascinated him
and he published his findings in an interesting book. It was printed by the
University Press in 1949. He found some Hopi, Zuni and Acoma ware in the ruins.
This indicates that the Abo Indians had dealings with these tribes. This is
understandable since all the pueblo tribes were interested in procuring salt and
possibly traded pots and such things in exchange for salt, maize, pinons.
Excavations also came up with some Mexican majolica and Chinese porcelain which
helps to prove that Ag-uilar and the other soldiers' families had conveniences
which perhaps many at Santa Fe did not have. Such things could also have been
property of the convento. There are indications that the padres taught the
Indians the then known European system of planting and farming. At the time the
university became interested, the property was in private hands. P. Rodey of
Albuquerque carried through the negotiations that made the ruins the property of
the University of New Mexico. As the work progressed it was recognized that some
of the mission ruins were included in the property owned by Frederico Cisneros.
He was kind enough to donate the land necessary to complete the excavations to
the university. Excavations began in June of 1938 and continued until December
of that same year when the cold weather made further work impossible. The Soil
Conservation Service was generous in supplying labor from the Manzano camp. Work
was resumed in the middle of February of the following year. This in itself was
a feat and an act of bravery for this time of the year can be even colder than
December. Work continued until June. The American School of Research also played
an important part in helping to obtain the State Monument. Dr. Hewitt will ever
be remembered for the part he took in aiding this program.

    Looking at the ruins as they are today, one cannot but think that the place
is as desolate and remote from civilization as in the days when it was abandoned
by the Abo Indians. There are hills and pinon trees. There are ruins, crying in
the New Mexico sun, hoplessly desolate, never destined for habitation even in
the glorious days when the Abo Indians laughed and danced here, raised their
families and died. There are ghosts here. Shadows of things that had been. These
mighty walls call to tourists, wondering why Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Socorro and
Taos should be so attractive to them when here in the great silence that belongs
to the valley history beckons, but Abo is too far afield, off the beaten track
to attract camera fans, travelers, the flow of the summer crowd except some
historians, antiquarians, lovers of the past and preservers of history. Somehow
the action of the University of New Mexico will bear fruit. These ruins are a
symbol.

    Toulouse is of the opinion that at a time when the friars were absent the
Indians of Abo built a kiva. He is fairly certain that it was in use for a short
time, and probably destroyed at the behest of the friars. He reasoned that while
the friars were absent the natives sought to continue their ancient rituals so
as to placate their own god who might punish them for abandoning him. Stubb
published an article on ABO, but it is rather limited since his excavation was
confined to the sanctuary area. Sallie Van Val-denburgh and Gordon Vivian also
published their findings en Abo. Thus the list grows as interest in the ruins
grows. Abo deserves attention.



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