By Ruben Leyva, Gila Apache, PhD Student, University of New Mexico

During my visit to Chihuahua, Mexico, in July 2024, I delivered a presentation at the annual festival of the N'dee N'nee Ndé Apache Nación. It was a great honor to present and listen to other speakers with the assistance of a Spanish interpreter. The presentations by Dr. Phil "Felipe" Stover, Licenciado Jose Alberto Dominguez, and Maestro Horacio Chávez were genuinely enlightening. I gained valuable insights into my borderland Apache roots. I learned more about the Ndéndai local group leader Juh (Jú) and the movement of bands and other Ndéndai local groups who settled near Spanish peace establishments in Janos, Carrizal, and Guajoquilla.

Dr. Stover's presentation highlighted a mixed group of Apaches attacked by the Mexican Army on May 25, 1882. Juh, Geronimo, and other leaders were present. Maestro Chávez discussed the research of the University of Arizona's Dr. Ana María Alonso on Juh's genealogy. Juh was a Leyva, like his father and grandfather. Juh's family lived in the same communities my family lived in those days. Juh's father, the Janeros Ndéndai leader Placerís, sometimes lived near San Vicente (Silver City), New Mexico. Leyva and Elías family members signed the 1855 Treaty with New Mexico Territory Indian Agent Michael Steck. Placerís was baptized Leonardo Prudencio Leyva in 1801 in Valle de Allende, Chihuahua.

Church records state Leonardo was the son of Agustín Leyva and María Ygnacia Maldonado. But wait? My 5th Great-grandmother, Rita Leyva, had a younger brother, Agustín Leyva, who was baptized in 1783 in Valle de Allende. If we subtract 1783 from Leonardo's birth in 1801, that makes 18 years before Leonardo's birth. Could Rita's brother have been the same person? While my family stories support the family connection, the lack of concrete evidence makes it difficult to establish a definitive link. The evidence is inconclusive, given the possibility of more than one Agustín Leyva in the community.

Apache Asa Daklugie spoke this of his father, Juh. After Juh died in 1883, Daklugie's brothers, Delzhinne and Daklegon, rode with the Apache Mangus at the behest of their uncle Geronimo. Mangus, the son of the Apache leader Mangas Coloradas, led a band whose size had dwindled. Geronimo knew Mangus needed additional warriors. He assigned Juh's sons to Mangus' band; however, Delzhinne and Daklegon were captured and taken to Chihuahua City, where they succumbed to viruelas (smallpox). Daklugie lived with Geronimo and Mangus' bands, becoming friends with Mangus' son, who was near his age. The groups lived at Turkey Creek in the Fort Apache area for a while.

Evidence suggests the two Leyva families are related. We should consider whether others on my family tree who lived in Chihuahua lived on the same United States Apache Indian reservations in the 1880s. The answer is yes. The fact that my Elías and Gardiła families resided in reservations in the 1880s is unsurprising. According to The Apache Indians: A Father-Son Journey by Grenville and Neil Goodwin, Elías, whose Apache name was Natcułbaye, was listed as a part of Geronimo's band in an 1884-1885 census. I have discussed my Elías family history with Neil Goodwin. Neil affirmed, "You guys certainly are who you say you are." [The letter "ł" in Gardiła has a "th" sound.]

Goodwin told me about an August 20, 1890, edition of the Tombstone Epitaph that identified Atelnietze and Natcułbaye as effortlessly passing for Mexicans while entering villages freely. But how would these two do this if all the Chiricahua Apache had surrendered? The two were part of a group identified by Mexicans as Bronco Apache or Wild Apache. The group had escaped to the mountains in Mexico called the Sierra Madre Occidental to evade surrender.

Another Apache who joined the two was Satsinistu. Satsinistu was baptized Isac Gardea in 1852. His father was the Agua Nueva Carrizaleño local group leader, Christino "Cristóbal" Gardiła. Like the Leyva family, Cristóbal and his father, Ciriaco "Cigarrito" Gardiła, exist in Valle de Allende church records. The Carrizal Presidio, Guajoquilla (now Jimenez, Chihuahua), and haciendas in between served as peace establishments for the Mimbreño-Chíhéne (chí-éne) band from the Mimbres-Black Range region of New Mexico. The groups' movement south historically redesignated them from "Lower Mimbreños" to the Carrizaleño-Ndéndai band.

Satsinistu's seven children included my 2nd great-grandmother, Francisca. Francisca's brother was baptized Juan de Dios Gardiła in 1878. He became the infamous "Apache Juan." This family was at C.S. Fly's Cañon de los Embudos photography session of Naiche and Geronimo's band. Subsequent documentation of the photos taken on March 25 and 26, 1886, refer to "Garditha." Gardiła, the hereditary name, is often associated with more than one of the children photographed. Satsinistu, Atelnietze, and Elías were with Geronimo when he agreed to surrender. The three men and some of their people never reached Fort Bowie with Geronimo; instead, they made a home in the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Many believe Juan was Natcułbaye's son, but I want to clarify this. Juan was baptized the godson of Nicolás Elías, Natcułbaye's immediate elder brother. In our Apache culture, Natcułbaye would have been seen as a father figure or an uncle. Neil Goodwin's 2022 "In Search of the Sierra Madre Apaches" describes the interview with Chano Leyva about Juan. Juan's older sister, Francisca's daughter Praxedis, married Jose Leandro Leyva. They are my great-grandparents. Praxedis' grandfathers were Satsinistu and Natcułbaye.

Apache Juan remained in the Sierra Madres long after Natcułbaye died in 1903. Following Natcułbaye's death, Elías band members returned to the U.S., integrating into non-reservation Apache communities in El Paso and Las Cruces. The violence Juan was responsible for precluded his adaptation into mainstream society. Life had changed for Juan and those who remained with him. The Mexican Rurales and the Fimbres family made conditions unbearable.

The killing of Francisco Fimbres' wife and the kidnapping of his son in retaliation for the taking of the Apache girl Lupe prompted scalping campaigns against my family, who had stayed with Apache Juan. Juan was killed there in 1930, never adapting to modern society. Please support us at: https://www.chihenendenationofnewmexico.org/support-us .