Data 1897-1944   Data 1945-1956
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Catholic Funeral Records
November 1897 -- December 1944 This data was abstracted from a microfilm of records of Santa Rita Catholic Church in Carrizozo. The records are a collection of reported deaths and burials of Catholics in Lincoln County from the end of 1897 until the end of 1944. The parish, or parroquia, covered the entire county and included the many small churches and cemeteries found in local towns and ranches. Entries note that many died without the Final Sacraments, a funeral Mass, or even the presence of a priest at the burial.

A NOTE OF CAUTION Do not rely solely on this list for your genealogical work. Information about the deceased was given to the parish priest by family, friends or neighbors, so it may or may not be accurate. The records were written for the most part in Spanish. But because Spanish was the third or fourth language for the priests (after French, Latin and English), common words and names can be misspelled. The records in this database have been transcribed as directly as possible without attempts to interpret what the priests meant to write. The handwriting can be difficult to read, so you will see a (?) wherever it was impossible to determine what a priest wrote.

The records vary in content from year to year and even page to page. The list includes biographical information which is present in most of the records. Be advised that the microfilm has more information than is shown here, such as parents’ names, the spouse’s name, the number of children in the family, the cause of death, and the name of the priest. Please allow two weeks for a response. Also note that there are no entries for the year 1919 and there may have been other deaths which were not recorded.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A FEMALE ANCESTOR - Married women were usually listed by their maiden names in early Hispanic sacramental records. When searching this list for a married female, look under the maiden surname first. Occasionally, both the maiden and married names were listed in official records. When this was done the maiden name came first, then the word de, meaning "of," and then the husband’s surname. In later years, the de was often dropped. When both the maiden and married surnames are listed in a record, the name appears twice in the list.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A MALE ANCESTOR - Men used to add their mother's maiden name to their father's surname with the word y, meaning "and." For example, if someone were named Jose Chavez y Montoya that would mean his father's last name was Chavez and his mother's last name was Montoya. When the deceased’s surname is listed in this way in a record, it appears exactly the same way in the list.

EXPLANATION OF NOTES IN LIST:

In the "Last, First Middle" column (?) indicates that the handwriting was illegible and this is a best guess as to what was written.

In the "Notes" column b. means "born in (place)" or "born on (date)"

d. means "died in (place)"
l. means "lived in (place)"
nr. means "near"
In the "Age" column y means "years old"
m means "months old"
d means "days old"

Lincoln County's oldest citizen: Catholic records revealed that a lady named Josefia Maestos died in Carrizozo on 16 July 1942 at the age of 110. The oldest woman in the United States, 118-year-old Senora Jertrudes Arguello, died in Clovis, New Mexico on August 10, 1942 at the home of her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Zeke Sandoval. Senora Arguello was born October 12, 1824.

The records vary in content from year to year and even page to page. The list includes biographical information which is present in most of the records. Be advised that the microfilm has more information than is shown here, such as parents’ names, the spouse’s name, the number of children in the family, the cause of death, and the name of the priest.

Records transcribed by Annette Wasno. ©2005-2006