When we think
of the homesteader,
we imagine folks heading out
west on the Oregon Trail,
braving the long voyage
on an ocean liner
or riding the
Transcontinental Railroad
to a distant land claim.
In New Mexico.
Homesteaders like
Maria Adelina Isabel
Emilia Luna Otero
claimed land
where her familial roots
dated back to Spanish
colonial times.
The U.S.
border would cross over
her family's lands.
When the Treaty of Guadalupe
in 1848 made new Mexico a U.S.
territory. Born in 1881,
Adelina would maintain
the Spanish
language of her ancestors
while also learning English.
Her bilingualism would help her
make a powerful reformer
for suffrage and education
in New Mexican society.
To merge the Hispano
and Anglo worlds,
she would shorten her
name to Nina
and later adopt her
mother's maiden name, Otero.
Her short and unhappy
marriage to Lieutenant Rawson
D. Warren
gave her the last name Warren,
which she kept
for the rest of her life,
claiming she was a widow
and not a divorcee
to protect her reputation
in a deeply Catholic society.
After President William Howard
Taft signed a bill
granting New Mexican statehood
in 1912,
women could vote
in school elections.
Seizing the moment,
Nina accepted an appointment
as the superintendent
of public schools
in Santa Fe County
and later won reelection.
This work often
sent her out to rural schools
in remote areas,
which for her retained
their natural beauty
and deep historical
and cultural roots.
She lyrically wrote in an essay:
The spell of my country...
Perhaps it is
the beauty of it all.
To some,
it is the sunset of a fall
afternoon,
bathing a little community
in its afterglow,
turning the vivid
yellow of the aspen trees
to gold.
As the sun disappears
behind the mountains
in the west,
its crimson glow is reflected
on the snow covered
range in the east.
My people watched this
with reverence--Sangre
de Cristo,
blood of Christ
they call these mountains,
so named by the early
Franciscan missionaries.
These
place names reflect her
own Spanish origins
and the timeless beauty
of her beloved landscape.
After she finished her
tenure as the Superintendent
of Public Schools
in Santa
Fe County in the 1930s,
Nina and her business partner
and companion, Mamie
Meadors, a transplant
from Arkansas,
both claimed under the Stock
Raising Act of 1916
640 acre
homesteads
near the pueblo of Tusuque
tribal lands.
The Stock
Raising Act offered lands
that did not have irrigation
or sufficient
rainfall for farming.
Homesteaders
needed to remain on the land
for three years to prove up.
Mamie and Nina
called their
adjoining homesteads
"Las dos" or the two women.
Other friends and associates
joined their
homesteading adventure
and claimed nearby lands
under the name Los Pobladores,
the settlers.
Though Nina, unsuccessfully
lobbied for the name
"Los Pobres Burros,"
the poor donkeys,
presumably
to honor the homesteader's
intense work ethic.
In their mission statement,
the Pobladores said,
"We aim to work together
for mutual benefit
and to preserve
the character of the country
and keep things
as nearly as possible as is,"
said,
Will Schuster,
who held the comedic title
of Grand Principal Woodsman.
He continued,
"I believe this is about
the first time
a gang of homesteaders
formed a close corporation,
and at least we are having
a lot of fun out of it."
Nina did indeed
have plenty of fun
as her frequent appearances
in the Santa Fe Society
pages suggests,
including participating
in the Historical
Hysterical parade.
While they lived in nearby
houses on the Las
those grounds.
Nina and Mamie,
who was a stenographer by trade,
or what,
the Pobladores called,
"grand Keeper of the birch
bark records"
started the Las Dos
Realty
and Insurance Company.
Having claimed
free land from the government,
they would each spend
the rest of their lives
selling real estate.
Later in the 1970s,
real estate
developers would plan a large
housing development
also called
Las Dos in their honor.
Nina died in 1965
at the age of 83...
Decades before her death,
Nina wrote a poetic summary
of her
life's work
committed to the New
Mexican lands
and people she loved.
"The sun is setting
over my country,
but no day dies
without a
better understanding
of my people."
Or
"El sol va bajando
sobre mi patria,
pero ningún día
muere sin el mejor
entendimiento de mi gente.”
In 2022,
her deep commitment
to New Mexico
and the rights of her people
earned Nina a place on a U.S.
quarter.