In his reminiscences, recorded in 1777, Juan Candelaria described the founding of many towns after the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in the 1690s. He thought that Sabinal was founded in 1741 and associated it with Belén (Armijo 1929:280-281). Sabinal is listed on official registers of towns for 1820s (Bloom 1913:15; Carroll and Haggard 1942:47-48). It does not appear in some of the early censuses of the nineteenth century, but a complete census exists for 1827 (Olmsted 1981:250-260).
Zebulon Pike reported passing “Sabinez” on 10 March 1807, on the west side of the Río Grande between Tomé and Sevilleta (Coues 1895:II, 628- 629). George Rutledge Gibson wrote in his journal that he went through “San Sabinal” with Doniphan’s army in December 1846. Doniphan’s army passed was following the west bank of the Río Grande from Alburquerque to Valverde (Bieber 1935:290).