The Raels of Questa
Life in plazuela
strengthened family bond, shaped their lives
By Jaime Loren Gross , For
The Taos News
QUESTA -- A small, feisty
woman with a head of curly white hair, Tessie Ortega cradles an enormous ring binder containing the
complete genealogical history of her family, the Raels. This impressive book is at least
three inches thick and very heavy, yet she keeps it on her lap for the duration of our talk.
To my surprise, she thumbs through it only occasionally.
Tessie, like most of the
Raels, knows her family history inside and out. She's
fastidious about facts,
muttering what sounds like complex algebra while working out
birth- and marriage-dates
in her head. She spells the name of a distant ancestor, then
explains when and where he
was born. And then, without missing a beat, she casually
mentions that Santa Cruz,
his birthplace, was actually called La Cañada back then --
"but just put Santa Cruz
because you don't want to confuse people ... because they can
get confused, you know?"
Yes, I know. My own head is
spinning with Rael-related trivia, and it's only been five minutes.
We drive down the road to
Rael's Market, owned and operated by her elder cousin, Aaron Rael Sr. He hastily pulls out the
now-familiar binder, muttering that his is the revised edition, then produces several
more binders stuffed with family documents, photos and his own typewritten stories about
growing up in Questa in the early 1900s. His wife, Ruth, is there too, and Tessie's
daughter, Esther, stops by. We all sit in the corner of the market on couches and bucket seats from
an old truck, watching as Aaron pulls various laminated pages from the binders and
hands them around.
Tessie and Aaron are the
ninth generation of Raels to live in New Mexico and the third
generation of Raels to live
in Questa. The first Rael, Alonso Rael de Aguilar, came to New
Mexico in 1683 from Lorca,
Spain; more than 300 years later, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren
discuss him fondly and familiarly.
"He was an educated man,"
Aaron points out proudly, then shows me an outline of his family tree in which he notes that the
22-year old Alonso "came to help Don Diego de Vargas reconquer New Mexico. Alonso was
a soldier in Spain; he brought 100 soldiers under his command." Soon after Alonso
arrived in El Paso (at the time, part of New Mexico), he married Josefa Ana Garcia
Noriega, a local woman. Alonso had a mistress, Maria Micaela Lopes, with whom he had a
son named Pedro Marcial Rael -- the first New Mexican Rael.
The first Raels to move to
Questa were Jose Antonio Rael and his wife, Maria Manuela Cisneros, in 1861. Both Tessie and Aaron
are quick to point out that their great-grandmother, Maria Manuela, was a "captive
full-blooded Navajo" raised by a family in Chamita, and both are proud to be one-eighth
Native American. They only discovered this part of their heritage within the last
decade, in the time since their family began to gather and preserve genealogical data.
Neither "my father nor my
grandfather ever told me that my great-grandmother was an Indian," Aaron said. "I don't know why
but I guess it wasn't important to them. But I am proud to have Indian blood; that makes
me more American ... [because] the Indians are the pure, real Americans."
In the late 1800s, Tessie and
Aaron's grandfather, Eliseo Rael, bought a plazuela (also known as an hacienda) along the main
road in Questa. "The plazuelas were built like an army fort in the shape of a U," Aaron
explained. "[They were] built of adobe; the walls were about two-feet wide and very hard
to break."
Originally, the plazuela had
a "big gate" on the east end that closed off the U-shape, with
all windows and doors facing
inward so as to protect the family "from the Indians that used
to roam and raid this part of
the country," he added. But by the time his grandfather bought the building, the gate was gone
and the Indians were largely at peace with the settlers.
One day, finally fed up with
the limitations of the plazuela, Aaron's mother, Adonaisa, and
Tessie's mother, Esther,
decided to take matters into their own hands. "When their husbands were out of town taking care of
sheep, these two ladies took the opportunity to dismantle the fortress and make it a
regular living quarters with doors and windows on the outside. When the men came back, they
found a bunch of holes in the walls," said Aaron.
Six families lived in the
Rael plazuela. Tessie lived with her three siblings and her
parents, Jose Praxedes and
Esther Gallegos. Next door was Aaron, his nine siblings and
his parents, Enriques and
Adonaisa Gomez. These two families made up the southern leg of
the plazuela, with their
grandparents and aunts and uncles making up the rest. Both cousins speak fondly of growing up in
the plazuela. "I think we grew up so nice," Tessie said. "My childhood, I enjoyed it."
Her father, Jose Praxedes,
known affectionately as "J.P.," had a tremendous influence on
his family. A gentle, loving
man, he passed his values on to his children in clever ways. Tessie recalls a certain lesson about
lying. "My dad used to tell me 'the truth is like a seed, it always comes out' He never punished
us -- he made it like a joke. My sisters would smoke, and he'd see them in the
outhouse. He'd go and throw water into the outhouse, saying, 'I saw the smoke, I thought
there was a fire.' And my sisters would be so ashamed, they wouldn't do it again."
Determined to keep his
family's history and culture alive, "he hired a man to play
Spanish music -- we
learned el vals (waltzes) and la cuna (square dancing). He'd
invite our great uncle to
dinner and he'd [the great-uncle] tell us how the family came
here, how they were afraid
of the Indians, how they had to hide."
Along with this emphasis on
respecting the past came lessons about respecting one's peers and elders. "If someone elderly
was in our home and they asked for water, we had to get it for them and stand like this
--" Tessie said, demonstrating by crossing her arms under her chest and assuming a
child-like expression of exaggerated patience -- "while they drank it. And we were taught to say
'buenos dias, buenas nochas, como esta usted?' and then to leave, and stay out of the
adults' way."
Education was highly valued
in the Rael family. Tessie attributes her drive for knowledge
to her father, who "had no
schooling, but he was so smart -- and you should have seen his
handwriting! He could read,
too. When he was supposed to watch the sheep, he'd take a book with him. He used to tell us: 'You
have to get an education, because no one can take that away from you.'" Tessie's
father fiercely pursued knowledge his entire life. At the age of 50, while living and working in
Santa Fe, he attended law school at night simply to learn more about a subject that
interested him.
Growing up, Tessie and her
siblings and cousins were all taught the same values, values passed down through the generations: "Be
good citizens and good Christians. Respect your elders. Respect other people --
even if you think they are wrong, respect them for what they are; don't act like you know
what is better." "I taught my children that if you respect other people, you will always
get along in life," said Tessie. "I was taught that; I taught my children that; and I hope my
children teach their children that." She was also taught something that today seems key to
understanding the Rael family's intimacy. "My grandfather always used to say, 'unidos
siempre y no los vencen' -- 'united you stand, divided you fall.' Stay together, he
told us." And they have.
Today, 140 years after the
first Raels settled in Questa, the bulk of the Rael family
still lives and works in
the small town. In addition to being geographically close, the
Raels share an emotional
closeness remarkable for such a large family. As Aaron's son,
Aaron Rael Jr., said: "The
Raels from hardware? They're five or six generations removed,
but we still call them
cousins." Tessie elaborates, explaining: "Since we grew up in
the plazuela together, we
became very close. We grew up close; we were always together
-- we'd walk to school
together -- and now we are still very close. If something
happens in the family, we're
right there, to be with each other. It's a bond between us."
Although the family is now
scattered in various homes throughout Questa, they still have
a "center, a gathering
place," Tessie said. This is Rael's Market, in the family for
74 years. Although it has
come a long way from the bustling 1927 store that, according
to Tessie, "had everything
... dry goods, grains, lumber, coffins and Questa's first
telephone," Rael Market is
still alive and well. More than just a store, the market
serves as a social gathering
place for the family and community. Sons and daughters and
cousins stop by daily, to
pick up lunch or a snack or just to say hello. And it is not
such a far leap from the family's
roots. Aaron motions out the window of his shop; right across
the street, within view,
are the last two existing walls of the Rael plazuela.
Back at Tessie's house, I
ask: "What keeps your family here in Questa?" She grins widely. "Business," she said, "family."
She rests her hands on the massive genealogical book in her lap and adds earnestly, "I
would never leave Questa. This is where I was born. These are my roots."
