Salon & Saloon Lecture: The Munguía Ranch – Presidio Families who Remained in AZ Territory Following the Gadsden Purchase

Salon & Saloon Lecture: The Munguía Ranch – Presidio Families who Remained in AZ Territory Following the Gadsden Purchase
Presenters:  Filmmaker & Site Steward Kiersten Dunbar Chace & Presidio Museum Board Member Monica Smith
Saturday, December 16, 2 pm
$5/person at the door, or click here to pre-register.

**Lectures are held at the LaCo Pub, 201 N. Court St., across the street from the Presidio Museum.  Food and drink will be available for sale during the lecture.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, mestizo families from the Tucson Presidio area populated and developed ranches near the San Pedro River, which provided cattle and produce to Tucson and surrounding forts. Surnames such as Soza, Apodaca, Gamez, Araiza, Pacheco and Vasquez are just a few of the families that thrived and prospered along the beloved river and contributed greatly to the development of Tucson. One of these ranchers was Don Tomás Munguía, whose home still stands along the San Pedro River after 135+ years. In 2005, preservation archaeologist Jacquie Dale submitted the Munguía homestead to the Arizona Site Steward Program for protection and monitoring. Seventeen years later, filmmaker and site steward Kiersten Dunbar Chace visited the Munguía site to monitor and document the home and learn of Munguía’s rich Arizona ancestry, dating back to the 18th century. Dunbar Chace and Presidio Museum board member Monica Smith will share their findings.

Kiersten Dunbar Chace is a human rights activist/advocate and an award-winning indie film producer and director with Mondé World Films. For 27 years, she focused her camera lens on South Africa and produced several feature length documentary films, two of which were presented at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva Switzerland. For the past four years, Kiersten has focused on educating and protecting Arizona’s archaeological sites and cultural resources with the Arizona Site Steward program. Hence, the making of the Munguía film.

Monica Smith has been a Board Member of Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation for approximately 12 years and actively participates in ‘La Gente’ dressed in period costume.  Her interest in Arizona’s cultural and historic past stems from her family ties that date back to the 1752 Spanish Military at Tubac Presidio. She is a ninth generation descendant of Soldado Cristóbal Ortega, who traveled to Pimería Alta with Juan Bautista de Anza. Monica is also the great granddaughter of pioneer AZ Territorial Legislator, Thomas Dunbar, who was involved in the establishment of Cochise County in 1881; and who served as postmaster & stage stop owner at Tres Alamos, north of present day Benson, AZ. Her community service activity includes serving on the Board of Los Descendientes del Presidio de Tucson.  She was elected the first female President of the Mexican American Correctional Association in 1980.