The Garcia family and it's allied
families has it's roots deep in New Mexico history beginning in 1601 with
the arrival Juan De Onate. Many members of this family were major
contributors to the economic, spiritual, and educational development of New
Mexico. Juana Lopez de Aragon, who is considered one of the 12 founding
families of Albuquerque is The seventh great-grandmother of
Marie Garcia Shaffner.
The Garcia family can trace it's root directly to Montezuma the king of the
Aztec's.
The James W. Johnson family arrived in 1909 two miles south
of Glenrio, New Mexico from Pilot Point, Texas. The family secured several
homestead claims as actual settlers that eventually led to a ranch of several
hundred acres. The Johnson family raised milk cows shipping milk product via the
Glenrio train siding to Amarillo, Texas. The actual paper milk caps for the
bottles were stored in the ceiling of the house. In recent times the ceiling
collapsed strewing hundred of the caps on the floor. The property which has been
abandoned for several decades is still referred to as the "Old Johnson Place" by
the locals.
Research indicates the progenitor of the Johnson family, John A. Johnson lived
in Tennessee during the mid 1800's. He had at least two sons, James W. and John
A. Johnson. Both sons married sisters, Nancy Ellen Roberts and Anna Roberts. The
1880 Census records indicate that the two brothers lived near each other in
Mississippi. James had two daughters, Nancy and Johnnie while living in
Mississippi.
James
W. Johnson moved from Lafayette Mississippi sometime after 1880 with his wife
and three children Nancy, Johnnie and Edgar to Denton County, Pilot Point,
Texas. Here James had four more children Albert, William, Ira and, Bessie.
Bessie was severely handicapped when born. The family suggested she had gotten
into Lye when very young. We now know this not to be true, but at that time it
was the only thing a family could use as an explanation for the child's
disability. She never married and was cared for by several family members until
her death in 1943.
Albert Sidney Johnson, one of the seven children, married Elizabeth Lelia
Collins in Hereford, Texas September 6, 1908. He had four children with this
first marriage, Carmena born in 1909, Albert born in 1911, Dan born in 1921 and,
Robert born in 1923. Albert and Elizabeth met in Clovis, New Mexico where he
proposed to her at the Clovis train station.
Albert Sidney Johnson's second marriage was to Marion Jane Wetherill August 7,
1946 in Bernalillo, New Mexico. He had two children from this marriage, James
born in 1947 and Richard born in 1948. Albert and Marion met in Albuquerque, New
Mexico at St. Joseph's Hospital while Albert was visiting an insurance client.
Marion was a nurse at the hospital. They were together almost 10 years before
the marriage. The picture at right was taken June 30, 1939 in Amarillo, Texas of
Marion and Albert.
Marietta Palmer Married
Richard Wetherill December 12,
1896 in Sacramento, California. She and Richard set up house in the remote
New Mexico desert near an Archeological site called Pueblo Bonito in
Chaco
Canyon. Richard created a trading empire with the local Navajo tribe
members furnishing their locally manufactured products to be sold in the east.
Richard was murdered in 1910 by an angry Navajo while moving cattle near their
home. Marietta was left with five children in this remote area of New
Mexico with little means to earn a living so moved to the Jemez Mountains
establishing a ranch. She actually said she became a nomad the rest of her
life.
The Wetherill family were responsible for some of
the most important archeological discoveries in the Southwest, in particular
Richard Wetherill
and the discovery of
Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, Colorado. They were some
of the first explorers of Southwestern Native American Cultures in the Four
Corners area. Other creative members of the the family were
Robert and
Richard Wetherill of Chester, Pennsylvania who were two of the most
influential industrialists in the Eastern United States in the late 19th
century. They formed the Robert Wetherill and Company, manufacturing the
Wetherill Corliss Steam Engine and other heavy machinery.
