About
Welcome to the re-launch of the Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families (BONMF 2) web site!
This series of pages is designed to provide additions and corrections to the great work of New Mexico Genealogy genealogy compiled by the late Fray Angélico Chávez (1910-1996), Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period.
Some History
The original BONMF web site was launched in April 1998 and was active until January 2007. The idea for the web site came from discussion with John B. ‘Jack’ Colligan in the mid-1990s about the fact that many people who were researching their New Mexico Hispano roots were discovering common ancestors with other researchers and were covering some of the same ground in terms of their research.
To facilitate sharing of new research findings about common ancestors, especially those listed in Fray Angélico Chávez’s essential book, Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period, the idea of a web site came about.
Around the same time of the discussion between Jack and me, a section titled ‘Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families’ appeared in print in Herencia, the genealogical journal of the Hispanic Genealogical Research center of New Mexico.
I borrowed the BONMF title for the web site and began posting findings from my research into primary documentation, ensuring that source citations were included to help others locate the records for their research. An open invitation was given for others to contribute their findings.
Postings of new material occurred on a monthly basis between 1998 and 2007 resulting in material that would cover over 300 pages in print.
Essentially, the material on the BONMF web site is a companion volume to Origins of New Mexico Families.
Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period was first published in 1954 by William Gannon, Santa Fe, New Mexico. A facsimile edition was published by William Gannon, Santa Fe, in 1975. Under the supervision of Thomas E. Chávez, nephew of Fray Angélico and Director of The Palace of the Governors (Museum of New Mexico), a revised edition was published by the Museum of New Mexico Press in 1992. This revised edition included the important addition of "Addenda to New Mexico Families," first published as a series in El Palacio, the magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, from 1955 to 1957, and "New Names to New Mexico," which also appeared in the same magazine in 1957 (September, October, November, December). Both of these related works were often difficult for interested people to locate.
ONMF is now available in an e-book digital edition from Amazon, making the volume searchable, a valuable feature given there was no index in the print editions.
The re-launched BONMF 2 web site contains genealogical information from the original BONMF web site and will include new findings on many New Mexico families that is based on research into primary documents. This site also highlights additional material published in past and current genealogical journals related to New Mexico colonial families or material from other publications.