New Mexico Biography

Online Resources
Biographies provide useful genealogical information such as a person’s birth date and place; names of family members, including maiden names; education; occupation; and social, political, and religious affiliation. They may also contain a physical description of the person, previous residences, and immigration information. Biographies are the product of family knowledge or previous research about early settlers and prominent citizens of a state, county, or town. Local histories may contain biographical sketches of lesser-known people.
 * History of New Mexico : from the Spanish conquest to the present time, 1530-1890 : with portraits and biographical sketches of its prominent people
 * History of New Mexico: Its Resources and People, Volume 1, e-book, Vol. 2

Biographies in Local Histories

 * Biographical information is often found in state, county, and town histories.
 * Towards the end of the 19th century, began publishers soliciting short biographical/family histories from local founding families, offering to publish them in an upcoming local history. This then became an incentive for family members to buy a copy of the book.
 * Families represented were not necessarily prominent. Practically everyone living there, especially in the Midwest, counted as an early settler.
 * These biographies often start with the first member of the family to settle in the area, and detail their descendants at the time of publishing. They may tell where the family moved in from. Children's marriages often are given, with maiden names included.

Finding Biographies
The best collection of published biographies in New Mexico is at the New Mexico State Library. The Family History Library has some biographies.
 * The county Wiki page lists several county histories. It also lists local libraries, and societies which probably have copies of local histories.
 * Many histories are no longer under copyright and can be found in the following online, digitized book collections. Search with keywords "History" and "the name of your locality" (state, county, or town).
 * FamilySearch Books
 * Google Books
 * World Cat
 * HathiTrust
 * Internet Archive
 * The FamilySearch library has extensive collections of these local histories. Many are digitized. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under your locality for the topics "Biography" and "History".

Biographical Encyclopedias
Examples of statewide biographical encyclopedias are:


 * An Illustrated History of New Mexico and Biographical Mention of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Citizens of Today. Chicago, Illinois: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1895..


 * Chavez, Fray Angelico. Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period. 1954. Reprint, Albuquerque, New Mexico: The University of Albuquerque, 1973. . This pertains to the period from 1598 to 1821.


 * Coan, Charles F. A History of New Mexico . . . Historical and Biographical. Three Volumes. Chicago, Illinois: The American Historical Society, 1925. . Volumes 2 and 3 are biographical.


 * History of New Mexico: Its Resources and People. Two Volumes. Los Angeles, California: Pacific States Publishing Company, 1907. ; ;.

Websites

 * New Mexico State Library


 * Mexico Access Genealogy - New Biographies