Nancy Brown-Martinez, a librarian at the UNM’s Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, said the Juan Tabo question has come up many times, but added there is no definitive answer.
The CSWR has only a few clues as to whom or what Juan Tabo might have been.
One explanation can be found in the Center’s Ruben Cabos collection. In a 1974 interview, Epifanio Gutierrez, a native of Cuba, New Mexico, spoke about a man named Juan Tafoya, who was called Juan Tafo, and later Juan Tabo. Gutierrez said he believed Tafoya was a Native American Indian, but cited no source.
In addition to archival records, books detailing Albuquerque street names reference Juan Tabo.
In “Atrisco to Zena Lona: A Snappy Survey of Selected Albuquerque Street Names,” author Judy Nickell offers a pair of accounts. Nickell cites former English professor T.M. Pearce, who put forth the theory that Juan Tabo did not refer to a person, but rather a group of people; the Taboso Indians of north Texas. Nickell said the Taboso Indians were akin to the Lipan Indians and that Pearce theorized that Juan Tabo may have evolved from “Lipan Taboso.” There was no explanation as to how Lipan would have morphed into Juan.
Next, according to Nickell, the phrase “La Cañada de Juan Tabo” is found in a 1748 document, and it refers to what is now Tijeras Canyon.
The Albuquerque Historical Society’s website provides yet another account, which states that Juan Tabo was a shepherd who grazed his flock in Tijeras Canyon. The source of the account is not clearly identified.
In an article published by Albuquerque the Magazine in 2004, Joe Sabatini presented several other accounts on Juan Tabo. A speaker at the Albuquerque Historical Society, Sabatini said that he was unaware of anything more recently to establish a definitive answer to the question.
In his article, Sabatini cites from Pearce’s book, “New Mexico Place Names,” saying that on April 5, 1748, a petition designated the La Cañada de Juan Tabo as west of the Sandias.
According to another account by Pearce, Juan Tabo is listed by Elsie Clews Parsons as a name used by members of a ceremonial society at Jemez Pueblo, which is northwest of Juan Tabo canyon.
Sabatini also mentions an account out of Marc Simmons’ “Albuquerque: A Narrative History,” in which Juan Tabo was a priest who lived “nearby” but adds that no such name exists in church records.
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Sabatini also said Tabo is a nickname for Octaviano.
Sabatini said he received the question frequently when he was the Special Collections Manager of the Public Library.
“Nobody can accept that there was not an individual named Juan Tabo,” Sabatini said. “I even made up a story about who he was, assuring my listeners that it was completely fictional.”
According to Sabatini’s story, Juan Tabo was one of the ill-fated settlers of the Canyon de Carnue grant established in 1763.
A user on The Duke City Fix provides a parable account of Juan Tabo, involving a hotel owner named John and his fish companion named Tabo, but since the fish talks in the story, it is unlikely to be an actual account.
If you have information on the mystery of Juan Tabo, contact Mychal at mmiltenberger@unm.edu.
Mychal Miltenberger, Kyle Lord and Scott McCoy are student writers for the New Mexico News Port Curious New Mexico news project and wrote this story as part of that project. Miltenberger, Lord and McCoy can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
