Geronimo was born near Turkey Creek, a tributary of the Gila River in what is now the state of New Mexico, then part of Mexico, but which his family considered Bedonkohe Apache hell(tori) land. Geronimo himself was a Bedonkohe Apache. He grew up to be a respected medicine man and, later, an accomplished warrior who fought frequently with Mexican troops. Mexican soldiers massacred his first wife and three children during a supposedly peaceful trading session in 1858, and as a result he hated all Mexicans for the rest of his life. Mexicans gave him the nickname of "Gerónimo". The reasons for this name are not known.