Feliz or Felix Montague/Montegues /Montes/Mestas
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Holy Trinity Church, Trinidad, Colorado, 1907. |
| Here is the story of Feliz Montague who may also have used the names Felix Montegues or Felix Montes (or Montez), and his wife, Maria delos Reyes (Reagita, Rallitos) Johnson: |
| We know Feliz was born to Juana Romero in 1874-6 but we are not certain he is also the son of Henry C. (Harris, Harry), Montague. He is found listed with these parents, his brother Samuel, age 2, and his grandmother Maria J. Romero, age 55 on the1880 Census of Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado. |
| Family legend states that Harris was a sheriff who was shot and killed by an outlaw and buried on "Boot Hill" sometime between 1880 and 1885 when the whole family seems to have disappeared from the 1885 State Census of Colorado. |
| Felix' brother Samuel said the boys were separated after their father was shot, and they never saw each other again. Supposedly they each went to live with different relatives. However, a painstaking search of the 1885 Colorado State Census of Las Animas County lists Juanito Mestas, wife of Marcelino Mestas, with son Felix, age 11, and mother-in-law Jenuitt Romero...I believe these are Juana, Felix and Maria J. without Samuel. Why, if she was the mother of both boys, did she keep one son and not the other? Why are the boys names so completely different: Feliz, clearly Hispanic, and Samuel Clay, clearly Anglo? Was "Montes" the real surname of Feliz (as listed on his childrens' baptismal certificates, while "Montague" was really Samuel's surname? Another intriguing fact is that on the mortality schedule of 1885 there is listed an Antonia Montague, age 70 who died in Las Animas County. Was she somehow related to Samuel or Feliz? |
| In the early 1900's Felix Montegues was married to Maria delos Reyes Johnson. On the 1900 Las Animas Federal Census Felix does not appear in the index. However, the name Jacobo Johnson and his wife Rufigina, appear to be living next door to a Felix and Reagita Monteje (sp?) The name Jacobo Johnson appears as a witness on the baptismal certificate of Maria Eduvigen Montegue/Montes, b. 1902. Jacob Johnson was the father and Rufigena Johnson was the stepmother of Maria delos Reyes Johnson. Felix and his wife "Reagita" (nickname for Reyes Johnson?) have one baby daughter 8/12 yrs. old. Felix worked as a teamster for the mines in Hastings. (Isn't it interesting that his brother Samuel also worked with teams of horses, in Yellowstone Park and in Oakland, California?). |
| Together Felix and Maria had five children, all born in Trujillo Creek or Hastings which were small mining camps: Veroniz Montes, b. Sept. 5, 1899; Maria Edugiven Montegues, b. March 22, 1902; Teresina Montegue Montes, b. Sept. 11, 1904; Placidus Montegues Montes, b. April 11, 1906, and Maria Labeida (or Sobeida) Montegue Montes, b. Jan. 10, 1908. The birth dates were taken from copies of baptismal records of Holy Trinity Church, Trinidad, CO where they were baptized. |
| Felix must have died between 1908 and 1910 in Trujillo Creek, Colorado, although there is no record with the Los Animas County Clerk. Maria delos Reyes or "Rallitos" remarried, and in 1910 we find "Rallitos" married to Pedro Martinez. They are listed with his son, Juan, and there appear to be two surviving daughters of Felix Montague/Montez: "Teresina Montez" and "Sobeida" appear on the 1910 Census in Trujillo Creek, Las Animas County, CO. It was the second marriage for both Pedro and "Rallitos." |
| In 1920 in Trujillo Creek, Colorado we find Pedro and Maria delos Reyes "Rallitos" Martinez with his son Juan, 16, and three more children: Eloisa, 9; Bernardino, 7; Rosana; 5; and Ernesto Martinez, 1. Teresina had married to Hilario Vasquez of Huerfano, and there is no mention of Sobeida. |
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Daughter of Felix Montague/Montez
The Generation of Teresina Montegue/Montes/Montez |
| On August 22,1919 Felix and Maria delos Reyes Johnsons' daughter Teresina married Hilario Vasquez, b. Nov. 1895 in Huerfano County, CO. Hilario was the son of Marcelino Vasquez and Felicite Deaguero. In 1920 the census taker states that Hilario was working as a railroad section hand in Huerfano Co., CO. He died November 6, 1925, probably in Walsenburg, Colorado. He is buried in South St. Mary's Cemetery, Walsenburg, CO. His brother Victor is also buried there. Both Hilario and Victor served in the U.S. Army. |
| If the above is correct, then Teresina Montegue Montes Vasquez had a very difficult life. Her father, Felix Montague Montes, died before she was six years old. She may have been the only survivor of five siblings, although her mother remarried and had several more children with Pedro Martinez. Teresina was 15 when she married Hilario Vasquez in 1919. They were married six years when Hilario died in 1925, leaving her at age 21 with a 4 year old son, Lee. |
| On the 1930 Census of Walsenburg, Huerfano Co., CO, "Trecina" is listed as the wife of Luis Buster. Living with them was Lee Vasquez, "stepson," age 9 (the son of Hilario Vasquez and Teresina Montegue Montes). Luis Buster is listed as a section hand on the railroad. There are actually two listings for Louis and Luis Buster in 1930. The other one lists Louise Martinez living with them as a "sister." Here is our proof that Trecina is the daughter of Felix and that her mother remarried to Pedro Martinez and gave birth to Eloisa or "Louise." |
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