Martinez, Severino, House

About this property

Martinez Hacienda, also known as Hacienda de los Martinez, is a Taos County, New Mexico hacienda built during the Spanish colonial era. It is now a living museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located on the bank of the Rio Pueblo de Taos. According to Miriam Webster, Hacienda meant a "large landed estate" in Spanish during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Its origin is the Old Spanish word facienda, which came from a Latin word that meant to do or things to be done. Often, Native Americans were brought on as "free wage" laborers. Don Antonio Severino Martinez, also known as Severino Martinez, bought the property about 2 miles southwest of the Taos Plaza in 1804, after relocating his family from Abiquiu to Taos that year. At first the building was a four-room dwelling and then it grew as Martinez became more successful. It was made of thick adobe walls, without exterior windows. The hacienda had 2 inner courtyards, or placitas, around which a total of 21 rooms were built. It was constructed as a fortress for protection against attacks by Plains tribes, such as Comanche and Apache raiders. When there was a threat of violence, the livestock were brought into the courtyards of the hacienda for safety. Martinez married Maria del Carmel Santistevan or Maria del Carmen Santisteban in Abiquiu in 1787. They had six children together, all of whom lived after the death of their parents. He was alcalde (mayor) of Taos, a trader and merchant. Owning five square miles of land, it was the largest Taos Valley hacienda and was a working ranch and farm. Severino raised pigs, goats, oxen, mules, burros, horses and sheep. Crops included corn, squash, wheat, peas and chilis. Severino had acquired Navajo and Ute workers for ranch and agricultural work. Maria managed 30 Native American servants on the hacienda, including women who made finished woven or knitted goods from raw wool and tanned leather. The men, women and children who served on the farm were acquired from Native American or Mexican traders. During the Spanish colonial period, goods were either made locally or transported from Mexico City to Taos along the Spanish El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro trade route, of which the hacienda was the final northerly stop. El Camino Real trade is depicted in the hacienda museum's exhibits. He also traded goods along the Santa Fe Trail after it opened up in 1821. Severino Martinez built a flourishing mercantile business trading goods from Northern New Mexico, allowing him to send his son Antonio José Martínez to study for the priesthood in Durango, Mexico. Antonio José was a spiritual leader in Taos from 1826 to 1867.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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