According to the 1900 census Felipe B. Delgado was born in March 1842 to Manuel Salustiano Delgado and Maria de la Luz Baca. Lucia Ortiz, born in 1850, the daughter of Captain Gaspar Ortiz y Alarid and Magdalena Lucero of Santa Fe.
He was known as "El Chiquito" and was baptized on August 28, 1842, in Peña Blanca, Sandoval Co. According to the death certificate of one of his children he was born in Golden, N. M.
In testimony in the law suit "US v. San Pedro & Canon Del Agua Co, 1888, sent to me by Homer Milford, Felipe B. testified about January 21, 1884: "I am a merchant and live in Santa Fe. I am forty years old. I was born at the placer of Real de San Francisco, which is about thirty-six miles south of Santa Fe, and continued to reside there about seven years, and up to the time when the United STates forces occupied this territory. I recollect something of the mountains then. There are some ridges or mountains there to the sourtwest of Real de San Francisco. They are mountains. Teh last time I went there I saw them more distinctly. On the west side there are high mountains".
A number of historical accounts confuse Felipe B. and his brother Felipe S. (or even possibly nephews called Felipe). It helps to use the middle initial and keep in mind the great difference in age.
In the 1870 census he is listed as a 28 year old merchant with 500 dollars of real estate assets and a 3000 dollar personal estate.
Old Santa Fe Today describes his home, which is a historical monument at 124 West Palace Avenue, and says that Don Felipe was a grandson of Captain Manuel Delgado, founder of the Delgado family in New Mexico. Many members of the family --including four brothers of Felipe --became merchants and were prominent in public life.
Felipe Delgado was educated in St. Louis, Missouri. Later he operated a general store in Santa Fe and was one of the principal owners of mule and ox trains freighting over the Santa Fe Trail to Independence and the Camino Real to Chihuahua. His wife was Doña Lucia Ortiz, daughter of another prominent citizen and trader, Captain Gaspar Ortiz y Alarid, for whom Don Gaspar Avenue and Ortiz Street in Santa Fe are named.
In 1877, when Don Felipe bought the land on which this house now stands, it was part of the picket line for cavalry horses and wagon trains at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. During his lifetime the house was the scene of great social activity, typical of territorial days during the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is buried in Rosario cemetery.
In Down the Santa Fe Trail, Susan Shelby Magoffin wrote about a visit to the home of Felipe B.'s future in-laws Don Gaspar and Señora Ortiz on Saturday September 19, 1846. Only Señora Ortiz was home. She writes that she "stayed but a short time, in consequence of a threatening thunderstorm. Madam Ortiz is a very talkative and agreeable lady, her house I suppose is one of the best in the city. The entrance first is into a large court-yard (the fashion of all the houses) with portals all around. The long salon to the front, is the sitting room. This is furnished with cushions, no chairs, two steamboat sofas, tables, a bed and other little fixtures."
In Shadows of the Past (p. 93), Cleofas Jaramillo recalls a visit to the Ortiz house. She writes"we left the Cathedral to join my uncle, who awaited us in his fine coache, brought several years before from Saint Louis by his father-in-law, Don Gaspar. The driver took us up the road to La Garita and Fort Marcy. La Garita had been the Spanish prison during the Spanish occupation, but was at this time owned by Mrs. Gaspar Ortiz. While I was on a visit to her home, Governor Prince called and asked Mrs. Ortiz if she would donate La Garita to the Historical Society. They wanted to use it as a museum, and would place her statue and that of her husband in it. But Mrs. Ortiz had suffered great losses in properties and found it necessary to realize some cash from the sale of La Garita. The building which Adolph Gusdorf had leased from her for his dry-goods store on San Francisco street had burned to the ground. El Polaco had skipped the country, leaving Don Gaspar with a nine thousand dollar note, which Don Gaspar had signed as security for El Polaco; and Don Gaspar paid the note in full. Her sons, brought up in luxury and riches, had learned only to spend money; and her properties, once extending from the river to San Francisco street, were disappearing rapidly, because of heavy mortgages and taxes. Before his death, Don Gaspar had donated the land running rhough his corn milpas for the street now bearing his name."
The Illustrated History of New Mexico by Benjamin Read has a picture of him and reads: Mr. Felipe B. Delgado, also a son of Don Manuel Delgado, lived in Santa Fe all his life, was educated in St. Louis, Mo., and devoted his whole life to the mercantile business, having managed, until the day of his death, a mercantile establishment, and was, in the days of the famous Santa Fe trail one of the principal owners of mules and ox trains freighting from Santa Fe, to Independence, MO. And from Santa Fe to Chihuahua. In February 1869, Mr. Delgado married miss Lucia Ortiz, daughter of Captain Gaspar Ortiz y Alarid, of Santa Fe. From this marriage there was an issue of fifteen children of which only the following are living: Magdalena, Pablo, Ana, Lola, Lucia, Pilar, Ernestina, Geronimo and Miguel. Don Felipe B. died in Santa Fe November 22, 1908.
Felipe B.'s wife was Lucia Ortiz, born in 1850, the daughter of Captain Gaspar Ortiz y Alarid and Magdalena Lucero of Santa Fe. According to the death certificate of one of their children Lucia was born in Ojo Caliente, N.M. Lucia and Felipe B. married on February 8, 1869 at St Francis Cathedral and were supposed to have had 15 children.
I have these names:
Juana Magdalena, born July 20, 1871, married Carlos Digneo
Pablo baptized October 8, 1876. Pablo married Sofia Elisa Serna. The church record of their marriage reads:
1907. En la Iglesia de San Juan a los 24 de julio despues de la diligencias echas y de la tres banas publicadas junté en matrimonio segun el orden de la Santa Madre Iglesia Romana a Pablo Benicio Delgado de Española soltero hjo left de Felipe Benisio Delgado y de Lucia Ortiz y Sofia Elisa Serna de San Jose de Chama soltera hija legt. de Seferino Serna y de Barbara Salazar. Padrinos: José Nemesio? Sisneros y Olivama Serna. (LDS microfilm 0016979 Marriages San Juan Church 1857-)
Adela born July 1877;
Ana, born July 187?; did not marry.
Dolores (Lola) Faustina, born October 16, 1878, married Robert Emmet Campbell on August 25, 1913.
Maria Jeronima Lucia, baptized October 4, 1882.
Lucia, date of baptism January 4, 1885; married Newton Frank Thompson on June 9, 1909. She is buried with her father.
José Geronimo Alfredo, March 2, 1888, never married.
Maria del Pilar, according to her death certificate (cited below) she was born in Santa Fe on October 12, 1893 (another source has 1890) and died on April 6, 1936. She never married.
Miguel Marcos, May 8, 1894, never married.
Ernestina, November 4, 1896-1975, married Thomas Nicholson (1892-1953) and had a daughter Muriel. They are buried with Felipe B.
In her book on the Delgado family, Connie Gooch lists a number of children who died early. Her sources are LDS films 16894 and 16901. They are:
Victor Avel, November 18, 1869-January 27, 1870.
Simon Isaac, February 16, 1873-March 5, 1873.
Maria Gustana, July 18, 1874 (possibly died as an infant)
Maria Emilia, October 6, 1884-January 11, 1885.
Joaquin Nicasio Alfonzo de Maria, December 17, 1885-May 3, 1887.
Marcos, who died on March 18, 1889 at the age of 17.
The 1870 census lists Felipe B. as a 28 year old merchant in Santa Fe.
Felipe B. died in Santa Fe on November 22, 1908. He is buried in Rosario Cemetery. Thomas and Ernestina Nicholson are buried next to Felipe B. in Rosario Cemetery.
In the death yesterday afternoon shortly after 5 o'clock at the family home on lower Place avenue of Felipe B. Delgado, Santa Fe loses an old and respected citizen, one who for years was actively identified with the upbuilding and growth of the Capital City and a well-known merchant. The end came after a lingering illness due to dropsy. Mr Delgado was sixty-six years old at the time of his demise.
The deceased was born in the old Cerrillos mining camp where he grew to manhood. He came to Santa Fe when he was 18 years of age and entered into the mercantile business and had been actively engaged in business in this city from that time up to about three months ago, when illness forced him to retire.
Besides his widow there survive six daughters and three sons, a sister residing at Las Vegas and numerous other relatives. One of the daughters is married, she being Mrs. Charles Digneo.
The funeral will take place tomorrow morning, at 9 o'clock from the Cathedral and internment will be made in Rosario cemetery.
The 1920 census for Santa Fe (ED no. 130, no. 2) has Lucia Delgado living on West Palace Ave. She is the head of the household at 68 years. Her daughter Anna is 35 and a saleslady. Her son Geronimo is 28 and a printer, Pilar is 24 and a teacher. Miguel is also listed.
I have a death certificate for Mrs Magadeline Digneo who died in Santa Fe at her residence at 114 Manhattan Avenue at 3:30 pm on March 5, 1924. She had been born in 1872 and was 51 years of age. She was a self-employed housewife and married to Carlos Digneo. She had been born in Santa Fe to Felipe Delgado, birthplace unknown, and Lucia Ortiz, born in Santa Fe. The informant was Carlos Digneo. She died of cancer, which she had had for one year, and was buried in Rosario Cemetery on March 8, 1924.
I also have a death certificate for Maria Pilar Delgado of 124 W. Palace Ave. in Santa Fe. According to it she died of a left polycystic kidney at 11:25 pm on April 6, 1936 in St Vincent's Hospital. She was born in Santa Fe on October 12, 1893 to Philipe B. Delgado, born in Golden, N. M. and Lucia Ortiz born in Ojo Caliente, N.M. She was 42 years old at the time of her death and had been a school teacher in the public schools for 17 years until 1934. The informant was Pablo R. Delgado of Española. She was buried in Rosario Cemetery on April 9, 1936.
According to the death certificate of Lucia Ortiz de Delgado she died at 5 a.m. on September 4, 1935. at 124 W. Palace Ave. at the age of 83 years, 10 months and 3 days. She was the widow of Felipe B. Delgado and was born on November 1, 1851. She worked doing housework at home in her own home until August 1935. She was born in Santa Fe to Gaspar Ortiz born in Santa Fe and Magdalena L. Ortiz, born in Los Cerros, New Mexico. The informant was Pablo Delgado of Santa Fe. Her doctor attended her from August 23, 1935 to September 4, 1935 and last saw her alive on August 2, 1935. She died of arterio-sclerosis which had begun 7 years earlier. Senility was cited as a contributory cause. She was buried in Rosario Cemetery on September 6, 1935.