From the Colorado State Archives

Prior to my recent trip to Finland and Iceland, I wrote about Jesus Anaya, first wife of Jesus Felix Campuzano. In recalling her story, she was sent to Federal prison for committing perjury in the case against her second husband, Louis Basso, who quickly escaped from Maricopa County Jail and fled the country in 1916. With Louis on the run, Jesus Anaya was sent to prison in Colorado. I wrote to the Colorado State Archives before departing my trip. While I was on the road, the Archives sent me a digital file from their holdings which adds an important picture to Jesus' story.

Source: Colorado State Archives. Jesus Anaya, Nov 1916.

The Colorado State Archives holds two kinds of records on penitentiary inmates: the record of convicts, and a mug shot. The photo of Jesus Anaya (shown when received as Jesus Campuzano), shows a young woman who had gone through quite a lot before being sent to Colorado. Arriving in the US at the age of 16, meeting and marrying Jesus Felix Campuzano when she was 18, meeting Louis Basso and then divorcing Campuzano at 20. And this was after she ran into trouble crossing the border from Mexico back to the US in early 1915. Her entry record lists her age as 23, but this was incorrect based on Mexican records, she was 21 when received in prison on 30 November 1916. The photo above also shows the signs that she survived a childhood bout with smallpox or chicken pox.

Her answers to the questions in the photo above provide more insight. She could read and write, and she answered no to tobacco. Jesus Anaya was discharged on 8 September 1917, when she was released, and then deported to Hermosillo where her husband Louis Basso was living. She served a little over 9 months in Federal prison.

After this experience, Jesus Anaya was able to live a long life in Mexico, where she raised a large family and was able to cross the border back to the US for visits to see her sisters. This extended family through her mother's Moreno line may link back to my own on another side of the Campuzano tree. I will pick that up for a future post.