Syndication News Column:
La Ciénega de San Vicente

Saint Vincent of Saragossa is the patron saint of Lisbon, Portugal, as well as Valencia, Spain.
(This image was provided courtesy of Ulrike Görgl through Pixabay, 2017.)

The Town of Silver City in New Mexico includes San Vicente Street and the San Vicente Creek Trail.  The San Vicente Arroyo drains about 26.5 square miles of the area, according to the United States Geological Survey.

These names all evolved from the name given to the area by settlers with European ancestry.  What we know as the Town of Silver City was initially a settlement called “La Ciénega de San Vicente” – Spanish for “The Marsh of Saint Vincent”.

(Different reports spell the wording for “marsh” or “oasis” as “ciénaga” or “ciénega” in Spanish.)

The first written mention found of “San Vicente” as a settlement in what is now Grant County was in a letter from Colonel B. L. E. Boneville (or “Bonneville”) to Colonel James Collins, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Santa Fe.  The letter was printed in the edition of the Santa Fe Weekly Gazette that was dated October 31, 1857, as well as in the edition of the New York Herald that was dated December 6, 1857.

Please note that the Apache, including likely the Chiricahua Apache and the Warm Springs Apache, had been living in this area for generations.

“In 1869, settlers from Pinos Altos arrived in the grassy valley known as ‘La Ciénaga de San Vicente’,” noted a brochure issued by the Silver City Museum in January of 2020.

“The present settlement [of Silver City] originated with the discovery of silver in 1870 near the San Vicente cienega, a marshy valley previously settled by the prehistoric Mimbres and Mogollon cultures and later frequented by Apache bands, Spanish explorers, and Mexican colonists,” according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an agency of the Federal government of the United States.  “Long before Americans came to the area looking for gold and silver, Spain (and later, Mexico) governed this far-northern province, producing copper.”

The Town of Silver City confirmed in the “Silver City Downtown Action Plan” issued in 2010 that “Following the discovery of silver ore near the San Vicente Cienega in 1870, the original townsite of Silver City was laid out in a grid pattern that is slightly obscured by the rolling topography of the site.”

While a number of sources are able to confirm that the name “San Vicente” was the initial name applied to the area by individuals with European ancestry, it is uncertain exactly for which “San Vicente” the settlement was named.

According to Catholic Online, there are 31 “Saint Vincents” – 31.

One source has been found that noted a specific “Saint Vincent” as the source of the name for this settlement in what is today Grant County:  The Place Names of New Mexico, a book written by Robert Julyan, indicated that “San Vicente” was named after Saint Vincent of Saragossa (also known as “Zaragossa”) in Valencia, Spain.

Several sources indicate that this specific Saint Vincent was martyred for his Christian beliefs in the early part of the 4th century;  he is considered to be the first Christian martyr in what is today Spain.  Saint Vincent of Saragossa is the patron saint of Lisbon, Portugal, as well as Valencia.

This image is of Saint Vincent, Patron Saint of Lisbon.  According to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the City of
New York, the painting was created by Frei Carlos and is on long-term loan to the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon,
Portugal.  The Met Museum indicated that Frei Carlos was Portuguese and was active as an artist in second quarter 16th century.
(Image was provided courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

© 2020 Richard McDonough