My name is Sandi Barber and I am your host for this site.
I hope you find the resources and ideas here that you need in your search for your Las Animas ancestors.
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Las Animas is the largest of Colorado's 64 counties. It has a area of 4,773 square miles.
Las Animas was formed in 1866 from Huerfano County. Several years later, more of Huerfano was added. In 1889, part of it was split off to form Baca County.
Las Animas was named for the Animas River. The Spanish name for this river was El Rio de las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio. This translates to the River of the Lost Souls in Purgatory.
Legend has it that several Spanish explorers were lost on the river in the late 1760s. Their bodies were never recovered, and thus they were doomed to spend eternity in Purgatory.
Trinidad is the county seat. There are several cities and towns in Las Animas. Some of these are:
Aguilar, Boncarbo, Branson, Cokedale, Delhi, Hoehne, Jansen, Kim, Ludlow, Model, Sopris, Starkville, Thatcher, Trinchera, Tyrone, Villegreen and Weston.
Las Animas is bordered by the following counties:
Bent to the northeast
Baca to the east
Union New Mexico to the south
Colfax New Mexico to the southwest
Costilla to the west
Huerfano to the northwest
While I don't live in Las Animas or even in Colorado, I have a very real and a sentimental attachment to Las Animas.
Trinidad is where my grandfather first worked when he came to America from Hungary. When my grandmother and uncle arrived six years later, they came to Trinidad as well.
My second uncle was born in Primero in 1908. By the time my mother was born in 1914, they were in Illinois and on their way back east to settle permanently in the Pittsburgh, PA area.
I am not able to assist with specific family research, but I can certainly try and find resources and give some areas to look next. I have experience with Eastern European and early and pioneering American research.
I have found both my mother's and father's families back to the late 1600s and early 1700s in Hungary. My husband's family first arrived in America in 1632, and settled in Dunstable, Massachusetts. His ninth greatuncle testified against a young lady who was eventually hung in the Salem Witch Trials. (When we took an RV trip to New England, I made him sit on her memorial bench in Salem and apologize for his ever so great uncle!)