Daniel B Flores

Grzelachowski and Clancey Daniel B Flores

Alexander Grzelachowski and Capt. John G. Clancey were two pioneers in territorial New Mexico. Both of them lived in what was then San Miguel county in the area around Puerto de Luna. Grzelachowski established a business in Puerto de Luna in 1873. Capt. Clancey came to the area in the same year, shortly after Grzelachowski had established his mercantile business. Grzelachowski encouraged Capt. Clancey to go into the sheep business. The captain took the advice and began raising sheep in an area south of Puerto de Luna. He affectionately referred to the location of his ranch as "el Alamo Gordo." They were known by the Hispanic population of the area as el Padre Polaco and el Capitán Clance. Grzelachowski got his name because he had been a Catholic priest when he first came into New Mexico in 1851. After serving in several Catholic parishes in northern New Mexico he left the priesthood and settled in Las Vegas in 1863. He established a mercantile business on the Las Vegas Plaza. In 1873 he also opened a mercantile business in Puerto de Luna. He left his Las Vegas business interests in charge of his partner, Richard Dunn and relocated to Puerto de Luna with his small family, his wife, Secundina, a daughter, Adelina, and a son, Adolfo. His other children, Amelia, Emilia, Oscar, Leticia, Celina, and Florentina were all born in Puerto de Luna. Capt. Clancey had four children, his step-daughter, Camila Moore, Juan Jorge, who was his Spanish language namesake (John George), Carlos Cornelius, and Carolina. All four were born in Puerto de Luna. The area population also found it easier to refer to him as Padre Polaco because of the difficult pronunciation and even more difficult spelling of his surname, Grzelachowski. Likewise, Hispanics found it easier to call Clancey by the Spanish phonetic pronunciation of Capt. Clancey, Capitán Clance. Clancey's name was also widely spelled as Clancy without the "e." Eventually his two sons, Juan and Carlos, adopted the Clancy spelling.