Trinidad Quintana, Red Wing Cemetery, Colorado

Trinidad Quintana
Born May 19th, 1881
Died June 17th, 1930

A few sources listed the birth date as 1831, others listed 1881, due to the carving illegibility, but likely that date is 1881, by records of other family members listed. I examined it very closely after reading a few different dates in articles found, and I am pretty sure that born in 1881 is correct! Going off of that information that I assume to be correct, here is what I came up with.

I found several different accounts of this name with similar information. One source listed her spouse as Solomon Padilla born in 1871, though they are not buried together, he is in another local cemetery. They passed away a long time apart. One story story I found on her husband stated that they were married April 16th, 1898, in Huerfano County. 127 years ago! They were said in that record to have at least 7 sons and 4 daughters. The post about her husband did say that they lived in Red Wing.

Another obituary I found is what I believe to be one of her daughters. It states that her daughter loved poetry, crocheting, fishing and camping. Her name was Theresa and she was born in 1916. They all sound like they had beautiful lives. Another record says that one of her sons, Gabriel enjoyed farming. He was born in 1899 to early settlers of the community, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Padilla. Another daughter was possibly Margarita Padilla Martinez, know as “Wally” to her grandchildren. There were 12 children in total at least, I hope that these records are her family! The obituaries I did find are the sweetest and most thoughtful accounts of a beautiful lives.

This is what it’s all about, that small things after all. I am sure that their mother loved many of the same things and the lives they led are memories out there for someone. And it was life well lived. I do my best to make sure I am not only honoring their memory, but attempting to tell the story as best as I can find. If I am at all incorrect, I would never mean is disrespectfully or intentionally. I hope that this is all factual and honors the lives connected to this beautiful area.

I have a growing love for this area, and try to come down to visit the cemeteries and land often. Gardner to Walsenburg is so spectacular. It is one of my favorite roads to take in Colorado. The side roads always lead to adventure and history.

The cemetery that Trinidad Quintana is buried in is near Gardner Colorado. The town of Red Wing was nestled against the hill to the west of Gardner near the river. In the foothills of the Sange de Cristo Mountains, it has a settler history of wagons routes, and a long history of life in that valley before that. Part of the Chama-Crestone route, traders were likely to be there much before the settlers that changed the name. Trails from the Utes were nearby and it is said that Cheif Ouray likely visited on the way through to Mosca Pass.

This post is about Trinidad Quintana though, I will do another post on the settlement of Red Wing and its evidence that is still around today.
To Trinidad and her Family. Thank you for the opportunity to share your story, I hope I got it correct!