Juanita Perez

Maria Juanita de la Trinidad Perez (1847-1871) was Chris Neisen (The Russian Joe)'s wife and Eliza's deceased mother.

Background


Juanita, full name Maria Juanita de la Trinidad Perez was born in 1847. Juanita along with her older brother Juan Juanito Antonio de la Trinidad Perez (b.1845) were born in a prominent New Mexican family from Valencia County. They came to Fort Sumner when they were young

The Perez Family owned two Saloon/Dance Halls in Las Vegas and in Fort Sumner. Along with owning the Dance Hall, The two were known to be very hardworking, The two were also known for their good looks, Juanito was handsome and the ladies were madly in love with him and Juanita was somewhat attractive, but she didn’t gain much attention unlike her older brother.

Juanito's death
Chris Neisen (The Russian Joe) was friends with Juanito, although they weren’t close. Chris convinced Juanito to join him drink in the bar at evening. While Juanito was walking to meet Chris, he brought Juanita along with her (At that time she wasn’t married yet and had no children of her own at that time).

Juanito and Juanita were ambushed by Chris Neisen who kidnapped the both of them and threatened to shoot Juanito if he didn’t allow her to bring Juanita close to her, Juanito refused and told Juanita to run, From there, Juanito was already shot in the stomach and died slowly. As Punishment, He brought Juanita with him and assaulted her, being pregnant with a child, they married soon after.