"Shedding Light on the Santa Fe Trail's
1839 Mysterious Female Traveler"

***

Admission is free for current members of the Society
with a $5 suggested donation for non-members.

Born in 1823, Marie Felicite St. Vrain was inducted into the Santa Fe Trail Association’s Hall of Fame in 2017 for her travels in 1839 along the mountainous route of the Santa Fe Trail and she is considered one of the earliest known females to do so. Marie was also honored in 2020 with a Women in Americans History award from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Marie’s father, an Indian Agent murdered during the Black Hawk War in 1832, prompted favorite uncle Ceran St. Vrain to arrange her visit in 1839 at age 16 to Bent’s Fort, CO. Only mentioned briefly in two books, join Christine St. Vrain Fischahs on a journey to learn more about this mysterious woman.

Christine St. Vrain Fischahs has strong family ties to New Mexico, going back to the 1820s when her 4th great uncle, Ceran St. Vrain, ventured from St. Louis, MO to Taos, NM. Her great-grandfather, James B. Jones, served as Lt. Governor of New Mexico from 1943-1947. Her great uncle, born in Albuquerque, was the playwright Preston St. Vrain Jones.

Christine is a retired paralegal living in Los Alamos. She is a genealogist, historian, writer and current member of the Taos Mountain Chapter of the American Revolution, the Santa Fe Trail Association, the St. Vrain Mill Preservation and Historical Foundation and the New Mexico Genealogical Society. In addition, as the Publications co-chair for the SFTA, Christine created the website www.santafetrail200.org to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail.

The Taos County Historical Society is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1952 and dedicated to the
recording and preserving of the irreplaceable in Taos County. Membership is open to anyone upon payment of dues.
For additional information on the programs, activities and history of Taos visit the Society's website at www.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

AYER Y HOY
2021 Winter
Issue #49

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Winter 2021 issue:

• Peter Joseph:
An Unrecognized Entrepreneur
by John B. Ramsey & Corky Hawk

• Peter Joseph-Freemason
by Dave Cordova

•Taos: Melting Pot of the Southwest
by Gilbert Andres Archuleta

• The History of the
Ranchos de Taos Plaza
by Van Dorn Hooker

AYER Y HOY
2020 Summer
Issue #48

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Summer 2020 issue:

• Obra de Agricultura
by Michael Miller

• Blue Lake Was A Turning Point
by Rick Romancito

•Evolution of Taos County
by Dave Cordova

• Captain Milton Potts: A Colorful Taoseño
by William Christmas

• A Sweet Refuge
by Jim Levy

• Taos Contributes For Support of the Troops
by Robert J. Torrez

AYER Y HOY
2019 Fall - Issue #47

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Fall 2019 issue:

• John Dunn's Story: 1857 - 1953
by Polly Raye

• Our Responsibility to History
by Rick Romancito

• Piñon
by Michael Miller

• The Literary Scene
by T.N. Luther

Mil Gracias, A THOUSAND THANKS, does not begin to cover the many, many individuals to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. This debt is not only the living but also to those men and women who long ago began to preserve the journals and documents we now depend upon for knowledge of the past: the chroniclers who accompanied the explorers and settlers and who, dusty, tired and hungry, sat in the light of a candle to record in their journals the events of the day and the Franciscan clerics who made detailed reports of their canonical visits to the mission churches of Nuevo México.

Corina A. Santistevan
Acknowledgements in "Taos: A Topical History"