With all the books I have, it's a wonder why I've been scratching my head over where exactly "Las Nutrias" used to be. I've been mystified by this question for about 9 months now.
I know that my Grandmother was born in "Nutrias", according to an old blurry copy of her birth certificate I have. Various church records, at St. Joseph/San Jose, also show the family living in this town.
From what I heard about my Grandmothers visit to New Mexico in 2008/2009, they tried driving to Nutrias but there was just an old dirt road to that lead to the area her family once lived in and it wasn't maintained - my sisters' car got stuck driving on it, so they had to turn back. Basically, "Nutrias" was no longer a functioning town.
Here is the list of contributing factors that have lead me on this wild goose chase:
1) Nutrias is written in and crossed out of the 1930 Census record for the family. Cebolla was then written in above it
2) Cebolla (aka Sebolla) is 15.2 miles south of La Puente, NM
3) There is also a county named Cibola - 85.2 miles west of Albuquerque, NM
4) There is also a place called "Las Nutrias" in Socorro County - 204 miles south of La Puente, NM
Until today, every time I searched for "Las Nutrias, NM" or history of "Nutrias, NM" in my browser, all I'd get were results pertaining to what I described above.
FINALLY today, I somehow managed to find a few web pages that have solved this mystery for me.
Las Nutrias/Las Nutritas/Nutrias was established around 1860-1862, in Rio Arriba County. When the post office was established there, around 1866, it was called "Tierra Amarilla". The Tierra Amarilla Post Office closed a few years later and was reestablished in 1870. The named of the town was officially changed to Tierra Amarilla in 1880.
Before today, I'd searched all over Rio Arriba County and New Mexico to find the location of this town - which ended up being a mere 3 miles away from La Puente, NM. To make matters worse, I own at least 4 or 5 books that are particularly about this area and I don't think I ever bothered looking through them.
So now that I finally know where Las Nutrias once was, I thought I'd share this with you in case this information had evaded you too.
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Sources:
1) Yellow Earth and a Dual Name: Tierra Amarilla, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
By: Gary B. Speck
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gtusa/usa/nm/tierra-amarilla.htm
2) Los Ojos, NM
By: Robert J. Torrez, Former New Mexico State Historian
http://newmexicohistory.org/places/los-ojos-nm
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