I want to honor and celebrate the five generations of my mother’s maternal side of my family. My sister, Lynda (Sena) Kouba has traced our maternal side back twelve generations. Our haplogroup on our maternal side is C1b11.
My Encinias and Madrid Family lived in San Miguel del Vado, Romeroville, Las Vegas, Wagon Mound, French, Springer and various other locations in New Mexico. My grandmother Rebecca (Madrid) O’Canas, her husband Epimenio O’Canas and their family lived in La Junta, CO.
In this picture are six generations of women on my maternal line: Top left, Maria Refugio Encinias Madrid, top center, Rebecca Madrid O’Canas, top right Maria Deluvina Madrid Sena; bottom right, Yolanda Sena Gonzales, bottom center, Denise Gonzales Ricks and Kylah Ricks.
My mother had me and my twin sister Corrinne on September 24, 1954, La Junta, Colorado.
My granddaughter Kylah Ricks on the left and my daughter Denise (Gonzales) Ricks on the right.
Yolanda (Sena) Gonzales
My beautiful mom, Maria Deluvina Madrid Sena. My mother Della, as she was known, was raised by her grandmother Refugio Madrid and grandfather Juan Madrid in Springer, NM.
The below picture is of my grandmother Rebecca (Madrid) O’Canas. My grandmother Becky, as she was known, lived in La Junta, Colorado. We lived catercorner from her on Harriet Street.
When we moved to Pueblo, CO, we would spend many weekends visiting our grandmother Becky. We were not allowed to leave her yard and sat out front on her porch. I loved spending time with grandma Becky and loved her cooking. What I also remember is she had a cistern for water. We would get water out of the cistern and pour it into a bucket to drink. The La Junta water did not taste good. Sometimes we would walk to the store to get lemon to eat with salt. It was a treat to eat those lemons. My sisters and I loved to eat lemons with salt.
My grandma Becky and my mom Della loved to crochet and I’d watch them do that for hours. My daughter Denise was able to spend time with my mom and my grandma Becky. However, my great-grandma Refugio had passed away before Denise was born.
My grandma Becky is buried in the cemetery in La Junta, CO by her husband Epimenio (Ben) O’Canas.
This is how I remember my great-grandmother, Maria Refugio Madrid. She had a sparkle in her eyes. Also, I have to mention that she also rolled her cigarettes and I loved watching her place the tobacco on the paper, roll and lick the paper to seal it. She would just puff away and it was fun watching her do that. Her little fingers were stained because she smoked for years and years. We all loved her very much and miss her.
The picture below is of my grandma Rebecca Madrid she is the one on the top left standing, to her left is her mother Refugio Encinias Madrid, sitting down is her father Juan Madrid and on his left is his son Miguel Madrid and standing on his right is their young daughter Deluvina Madrid. She passed away young. My mother Maria Deluvina Madrid was named after her. I think all of my family members have this picture.
I am very lucky that I was able to spend time with my great-grandmother, Refugio and my mother gave me her name Refugio as my middle name. I also spent a lot of time with my grandmother Rebecca or Becky as we called her.
Listed below are twelve generations of the maternal women on my side of the family with their husband’s names:
Kylah Ricks, my granddaughter
Denise Gonzales, my daughter and husband Justin Ricks
Yolanda Sena and husband Dennis Gonzales
Maria Deluvina Madrid and husband Rolando Sena
Rebecca Madrid and husband Epimenio O'Canas
Maria Refugio Encinias and husband Juan Madrid
Maria Rita Salazar and husband Francisco Encinias
Victoria Ortiz and Antonio Salasar or Salazar
Maria Soledad Orioste and husband Jose Ygnacio Ortiz
Maria Josefa Leyva/Leiba/Leyba and husband Jose Miguel Urioste/Orioste
Maria de la Concepcion Martinez/Martin/Martin Serrano and husband Joseph Gregorio Leiva/Leiba/Leyba
Polonia Rodriguez and Joachin/Joaquin Martinez/Martin/Martin Serrano