Hello. . Welcome to my family Web site:  tiasfamilia .com. I created this special place on the Web to share My life with you. I hope this site will enable family and friends, near and far, to stay connected. I look forward to sharing my family news and precious memories with you for years to come! Feel free to contact me.

 
My name is Theresa Torres Mata, I was born in Roswell, New Mexico to Johnny and Teresita (Torres) Mata, in 1953. I started my research about thirty years ago.
At first I thought I only needed to know about my grandparents, but as the years passed it turned out that I have gone back to the early 1600's.
I have done more research on my mother's side, mainly because of easier access to Catholic church records and being around the family.
My mother, uncles, aunts, and many family members and friends gave me a lot of information and stories about the family.
My father was not a Catholic so there weren't church records to research. I keep finding information and have many stories to share.
I decided to share as much as I can to leave a gift for our family to treasure for ever.
Be sure and look at the family trees. I have entered over 2000 individuals, over 500 marriages, and the earlist birth was 1665 of Jacinto de Inigo Lopez Sanchez.
Charlie Bowdre and "Doc" Josiah Scurlock married two of Fernando Herrera's daughters. They rode with The Regulators in the Lincoln County War along with Billy the Kid. Fernando was known as an expert marksman. Another daughter of Fernando Herrera was my great-great-grandmother Maria Alta Gracia. She was married to William "Billy" Gill, who discovered the first gold mine in Nogal, Lincoln County, New Mexico.

My childhood memories of Glencoe in Lincoln County, New Mexico, were so enjoyable. I remember the loud noise of the river (Ruidoso means loud noise), which ran in front of the house that we visited,  usually during summer vacations. I looked forward to these times. 
The highway was only two lanes and narrow. My mother Teresita would tell us to roll the windows up, a mountain lion or a panther, or maybe even a bear could just grab us. The rocky mountains on the side of the road seemed enormous with large caves. I remember being so frightened. It felt like you could almost touch the boulders and plant life, and wishing I could just spot one of those animals, or maybe not.  As soon as we arrived we would run into the dusty house, which my great grand-father (Manuel Mirabal Sanchez built for him and Estella.  The mountains were so quiet that our voices would echo.  Then all of us children (cousins and siblings) would look for old purses and bags and run into the orchards to eat fruit.  There were apples, peaches, pears, and cherries.  We would fill up our bellies and pockets with the fruit which we later regretted, because it kept us running to the scary outhouse all night long. 
My mother's mom Amanda Gill Sanchez, grew up an only child, her baby brother, Estelano lived only eight days when she was five. Perhaps that's why Amanda had nine children. 

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