Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
          Publication of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research 
http://members.aol.com/shhar      714-894-8161

 "The world would act more like a human family if people did more genealogy."
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, June 2003

UNITED STATES

National WWII Memorial, Washington, D.C.   
http://www.wwiimemorial.com  
Sent by Joan De Soto 

The National World War II Memorial will be the first national memorial dedicated to all who served during World War II. The memorial, which will be established by the American Battle Monuments Commission, will honor all military veterans of the war, the citizens on the home front, the nation at large, and the high moral purpose and idealism that motivated the nation's call to arms. The Second World War will be the only 20th century event commemorated on the Mall’s central axis. 

National World War II Memorial, 2300 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 501 
Arlington, Virginia 22201   Or call:    1-800-639-4WW2    e-mail: custsvc@wwiimemorial

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans who served in World War II or supported the war effort at home can now add their names to an online registry.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/03/veterans.registry.ap/index.html

Organized by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the Web-based list is an effort to extend recognition to as many as 16 million Americans who served in uniform during the Second World War. It is being launched almost a year before the dedication of the first national monument to World War II veterans, slated for May 29, 2004 -- Memorial Day weekend -- on the National Mall. 

The registry is open not only to veterans, but to "any American that served in the armed forces or contributed to the war effort on the home front, whether in factories and shipyards or farms and neighborhoods," the commission said in a news release. 

The registry is accessible on the National World War II Memorial Web site, or by calling the commission toll-free at 1-800-639-4WW2. Anyone can submit names and registration is free. 

Support the Memorials  You may support Valor Remembered's efforts to create these memorials through financial contribution, volunteer service, contribution of historic information, documents and photos, or simply by inviting your family and friends to visit Valor Remembered's website. http://www.valorremembered.org

Valor Remembered Foundation
1105 Gannon Drive, Plano, TX 75025   -   972.283.0097
webmaster@valorremembered.org
Sent by Walter Herbeck  epherbeck@juno.com

First published in a monumental bilingual edition on Independence Day, 1986. Widely hailed as the best translations of the historic texts as attested by many prominent individuals, including former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger who was presented with a copy at his office in Washington, and President Ronald Reagan who said:  Your edition of three of America’s greatest documents is a most meaningful addition to my library and will serve as a reminder of your friendship and goodwill.

Presentation of the book the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution in English and Spanish to members of the U.S. Senate at the Capitol Rotunda, July, 1986. The book was signed by 3000 Hispanic-Americans in tribute to the United States.  These are some of the comments received on the occasion of the publishing of America’s Charters of Freedom in English and Spanish, Independence Day, 1986. 

Prof. Vega is an able, dedicated and zealous patriot, with a deep concern that Spanish-speaking people would understand and appreciate the esteemed writings of our Founding Fathers.     
                                                  Senator Gerald Cardinale

Prof. Vega, a Bergen County resident, has distinguished himself as an individual interested in the promotion of better understanding and relations between Hispanics and the community at large.  His translation, edition and publication work throughout the years has assisted his goal of unity. As Governor, I take great pride in commending your work. New Jersey is proud of the achievements of this New Jersey citizen. I salute you and hope that you will continue your fine work for many years to come.  
                                                  Jim Florio, former Governor of New Jersey

Prof. Vega deserves to be commended for his fine contribution to the body of bilingual literature. His work will provide the non-English proficient Hispanics in this country and abroad an opportunity to read these important documents and perhaps to appreciate the foundations of our country and our democratic society. His initiative is a novel venture which replicates with such accuracy and authenticity the spirit of the original documents.  
                                                          T.H. Bell, former U.S. Secretary of Education

These translated documents, which have served to form and preserve our "great experiment," will be invaluable resources to the millions of Spanish-speaking residents of our nation. You are to be commended for your role in this most worthy effort.
                                            Ruth J. Winerfeld, former Chair, League of Women Voters

The editor of the Commission’s newsletter provided the enclosed copies reporting your presentation to Chief Justice Burger. If a picture is worth 10,000 words, your presentation was a major story! (I’m serious because there is heavy competition each month for space in the newsletter.) 
                                            Donald E. Reilly, 
                     Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution (1987)

Similar comments were also received, among others, from:
The U.S. Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives
The U.S. Department of Defense
The Library of Congress
The U.S. Bicentennial Commission
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation
The Council for the Advancement of Citizenship
The American Federation of Teachers
The American Library Association
The Center for Civic Education
The United Nations
The City of New York
The Governors and Chief Justices of New York and New Jersey
The Chief Justice of New York and New Jersey
Many U.S. senators and congressmen and mayors from cities across the country
The New York City Public Library
The Newark Public Library
The Lion’s Club and a host of universities and colleges, including Columbia University, Rutgers University, the University of Arizona, Montclair State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Seton Hall

University, and many others. It was also widely covered in over 150 national newspapers and magazines, as well as the national broadcast media, including ABC News. Following the unprecedented success of this first edition, it was subsequently published in three more editions, and now in a new fourth edition with all four documents contained in one single volume.

Book details:  Format size: 6 x 9. Pages: 100
Cover: full color, text in black, illustrated.  List: $18.95

Carlos B. Vega is a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey and author of a total of 34 books. His latest publications include: The Truth Must Be Told: How Spain And Hispanics Helped Build The United States, published in 2002, and Conquistadoras: Mujeres heroicas de la conquista de América, to be published Fall, 03. 

Carlos L. Vega was also a professor for many years at some of America’s leading universities and author of several books dealing with a wide range of subjects.

Published by:  Villamel Publishing Company
7311 Boulevard East
North Bergen, New Jersey 07047  U.S.A.
201.868.6750.     Electronic address: Spain37@att.net

Other titles authored by Carlos B. Vega (partial list)
-Vega’s English-Spanish Dictionary of Everyday Criminal and Legal Terms. 
-English-Spanish Instant Medical Dictionary. -Diccionario básico de términos literarios y gramaticales (Basic Dictionary of Literary and Grammatical Terms.)
-Éxito [ en el trabajo ] – Success at Work. 
-Spanish for the Prisons. 
-Conquistadoras: Mujeres heroicas de la conquista de América (Leading Women in the conquest of America.) Fall 03.
-The Truth Must Be Told: How Spain And Hispanics Helped Build The United States.

For information regarding any of the titles mentioned above, please contact the publisher. For orders contact: LEA Book Distributors, 170-23 83^rd Avenue, Jamaica Hills, New York 11432 
718. 291.9891   718.291.9830 (fax)
Or visits their website: http://www.LEABOOKS.COM
:

This web site is simply fabulous!!  Kudos to the San Jose Mercury News, Friday, July 4, 2003
Sent by Lorri Frain  lorri.frain@lmco.com

Family Research Abstract of the Week: Model Citizens

  World Congress of Families Update, Online!
    15 July 2003, Volume 04 Issue 28
      A Free Email Newsletter
secretariat@worldcongress.org

Has America lost the distinctive sense of civic involvement that once so impressed Alexis de Tocqueville? Unsettled by this question, sociologist Corey L.M. Keyes of Emory University recently set out to assess current levels of "social civility" in the United States. Contemplating survey data on "the amount and frequency of volunteering, civic association membership, voting, and religious participation in the United States," Keyes looked for signs of "social incivility (or 'a-civility')" in nationally representative survey data collected by the MacArthur Foundation during 1995 and 1996.

After weighing the data, Keyes acknowledges the evidence that "Americans were less involved [in civic responsibilities] at the close of the 20th century than they were in the middle of that century." Yet he rejects as "unwarranted" the conclusion that "the United States has little or no social civility," pointing to data indicating that Americans still "have a great sense of duty and obligation to society." Still, Keyes concedes that social civility does not appear to be "distributed equally in the U.S. population." Marital status, for instance, strongly predicts the level of civic involvement for American adults. In Keyes's data, "married adults were 1.3 times more likely than unmarried adults to have volunteered [to perform social service], and married adults averaged 1.4 times more volunteer hours than unmarried individuals" (p < .01 for both comparisons). Statistical tests also show that parents are almost twice as likely as childless adults to volunteer for social service (Odds Ratio of 1.8; p < .001).

Such data enable Keyes to render a composite portrait of "the exemplar of an adult most likely to volunteer" as "an older and married parent who attends religious services weekly." In contrast, the adult "least likely to volunteer" is "a younger, unmarried, childless adult who never attends religious services." Looking at his topic more broadly, Keyes identifies "the exemplar of civic social responsibility [as] an older and more educated female who is relatively wealthy, married, and attends religious services weekly." Predictably, then, the "antithesis of civic social responsibility is a younger and less educated male who is unmarried (or separated) with little income and does not attend religious services."

Highlighting the "robust" association between religion and marital status in predicting higher levels of social civility, Keyes reports that "religiousness explained upwards of 30% of the relationship of marital status with civic responsibility, social concern for others, and voluntary social involvement."

Keyes acknowledges that some observers fear that the United States is fast becoming "a country of rude, selfish, and uncaring individuals who are overly materialistic and unethical." His findings indicate that any hope of giving America a different and better national character, one which preserves the civic impulses that Tocqueville found so laudable, rests largely on the married and the pious.

(Source: Corey L.M. Keyes, "Social Civility in the United States," Sociological Inquiry 72[2002]: 393-408.)

California Senator Dunn Speaks Out On 1930s Injustices to Mexicans in US  
Sent by Zeke Hernandez  zekeher@juno.com
 
Apology Sought for Latino 'Repatriation' Drive in '30s

- Many U.S. citizens who were sent to Mexico consider suing for reparations.
By Gregg Jones, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Emilia Castaneda remembers the first years of her life as being a typical Depression-era childhood — hard times leavened with simple joys in the East Los Angeles melting pot that was Boyle Heights.

Now 77, she still conjures up treasured snapshots in her mind's eye: the duplex on Folsom Street that her father bought with his earnings as a bricklayer; her Japanese American girlfriends; and the elementary school on Malabar Street where she recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

For Castaneda, that world ended in nightmarish fashion one day in 1935. In a campaign carried out by Los Angeles County and city authorities, in cooperation with federal immigration officials, the Castanedas and hundreds of other families of Mexican descent were loaded aboard a train and moved to Mexico — part of a decade-long, nationwide effort to reduce unemployment and public welfare rolls by forcing more than 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans to leave the United States, scholars said.

State Sen. Joseph Dunn (D-Santa Ana) and a Los Angeles law firm are launching an effort this week to win reparations and an apology for victims of that largely forgotten campaign. Inspired by the Reagan administration's compensation of Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II — a program established under the threat of a class-action lawsuit — Dunn will preside over a Senate hearing today that will examine the 1930s removal of Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Dunn is also preparing legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for victims who wish to file claims for damages, commission a state study and ask Congress to review the issue.

"It's important for us as a society to recognize the wrong that was committed," Dunn said. "The best approach would be for Congress to enact a reparations program similar to that which was done for victims of the Japanese American internment."

As part of the campaign, a class-action lawsuit is being prepared and could be filed as early as today in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages from the city and county of Los Angeles, the state of California and possibly other defendants, said attorney Raymond P. Boucher, of the 
Los Angeles law firm of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson. The plaintiffs will allege that their constitutional rights were violated by the removal effort, Boucher said.

Scholars estimate that 60% of the people sent to Mexico in the 1930s "repatriation" campaign were U.S. citizens. One was Castaneda.

"Somebody could say, 'We were wrong for the injustices committed to you and apologize for what was done,' " said Castaneda, now a resident of Riverside. "Maybe other people who are still in 
Mexico would hear about this and would come back."

Civil rights advocates say the issue resonates far beyond the victims.

"We learn from lessons of the past," said Dale Shimasaki, former director of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, a program created by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to educate people about 
the Japanese American internment.

The foundation for Dunn's effort was laid by two Southern California scholars: Francisco Balderrama, a Cal State L.A. professor of Chicano studies and history, and Raymond Rodriguez, 
a retired history professor from Long Beach City College. They pooled their passion and years of research to write the 1995 book "Decade of Betrayal."

Many Mexican nationals who were forced to leave the United States in the 1930s had been encouraged to come here by industries in need of cheap, reliable labor.

By the eve of the Great Depression in the late 1920s, the subject of Mexican labor had become a point of regional political rivalry. Agricultural producers in the South had begun to advocate immigration  quotas for Mexican nationals. But those same Mexican nationals had been an important source of labor in California's agricultural industry, which had emerged as competition for Southern agriculture.

The onset of the Depression, however, created far broader support for action against Mexican and Mexican American laborers. By 1930, worsening unemployment and growing demands for public aid brought a backlash.

In Washington, Republican President Herbert Hoover initiated a "repatriation" program in 1930. Federal support ended when Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, but state 
and local governments continued their efforts throughout the decade.

Across the country, Mexicans — or people suspected of being Mexican — were stopped on the streets and asked to show papers to prove their right to be in the United States. The campaign 
spread to pool halls, parks — such as Los Angeles' La Placita — and other gathering places.

Lengthy Documents

The organizers of the Los Angeles campaign — including county and city officials and business groups — generated hundreds of pages of documents in their effort, many of which were reviewed 
recently by The Times. By 1931, Los Angeles County officials estimated that 60,000 people were receiving public aid. More than 6,000 of them were listed as foreign nationals, most of them classified as "Mexicans," a term loosely used at the time to refer to Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans.

W.F. Watkins, a local supervisor for the federal Bureau of Immigration, described in a 1931 memorandum to superiors how the Welfare Office of the Los Angeles County Charities Department 
was attempting to cut its costs by arranging "the voluntary return to Mexico of indigent citizens of that country or those who are a burden upon the public here," with free transportation to the Mexican border. Railroads agreed to carry the deportees for half  the usual fare, paid by California counties and cities.

With the first trains scheduled to leave in mid-February 1931, Watkins reported that "tentative plans contemplate the handling of additional trains each 10 days or two weeks following, depending upon conditions. Local officials hope to rid this locality of a great financial burden through the voluntary 
return of such aliens."

Documents suggest — and victims and scholars assert — that people were pressured and even threatened into joining the exodus. Organizers of the campaign planted stories in The Times and other publications that warned of a massive roundup by immigration authorities. In a June 17, 1931, memorandum to superiors in Washington, Walter E. Carr, the Los Angeles district director of immigration, blamed state and local authorities and groups such as the Los Angeles Chamber of 
Commerce for the stories.

Carr said "thousands upon thousands of Mexican aliens" had been "literally scared out of Southern California by the various propaganda and activities over which this service had no control."

In California and Michigan — where thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans worked in the fledgling automobile industry — there were proposals to summarily deport anyone who couldn't 
produce on demand evidence of legal entry into the United States.

To increase pressure on Mexicans and Mexican Americans to leave the United States, state, county and municipal governments denied employment on relief projects to out-of-work foreign nationals, and private businesses denied jobs to people "because they looked like aliens," Carr wrote.

"All of these matters were given wide publicity, not only in the public press, but through a whispering campaign which gathered strength as time went on until the Mexican population was led to believe, in many instances, that Mexicans were not wanted in California and that all would be deported whether they were legally here or not," Carr wrote.

Emilia Castaneda said she was too young to recall the early stages of the campaign. But she remembers well the hardships of the Depression and lining up to receive public aid, including a 
blue-checked dress that she called her Weber's dress because it reminded her of the wrapper on a loaf of Weber's bread.

The campaign against foreign labor put her father out of work. By the time her mother died of tuberculosis in May 1935, the family didn't have money to buy flowers for the grave.

Shortly afterward, her father informed Emilia and her older brother that "he had to return to Mexico," she said. "They were forcing us to return."

She remembers going in the darkness to the train station with a trunk packed with their belongings.

"We cried and cried," she said. "I had never been to Mexico. We were leaving everything behind."

They were packed onto a train that rumbled across the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico for what seemed to her like an eternity before arriving in El Paso and being ushered across the border into Mexico.

They returned to her father's home state of Durango. She was shocked by the poverty and primitive conditions as they moved from one relative to another, living in rooms with dirt floors, without plumbing or running water.

A New Life

Their relatives and classmates referred to them derisively as the repatriadas.

She had to drop out of school to help provide for the family — cooking and washing clothes for her father and brother and working as a domestic.

After mastering Spanish — a language she had been forbidden to speak back at her Malabar Street school — she began corresponding with her godmother in Los Angeles. Eventually, her godmother 
obtained a copy of Castaneda's birth certificate and sent it to her so she could show it to U.S. immigration officials when she tried to cross the border.

When the national economy needed workers during World War II, immigration attitudes changed and Castaneda returned in 1944 at age 17, catching a train from El Paso to Los Angeles. She found 
work at a candy factory and then a glass factory, and eventually married a co-worker in 1949.

Castaneda said she hopes that the campaign to publicize the issue will at least educate Americans about what happened to families like hers.

Dunn said the issue is still relevant because of the ongoing debate over immigration, especially during times of economic difficulty. "The deportation program of the 1930s is not a proud chapter in American history," Dunn said. "Hopefully, by acknowledging this, we can minimize the likelihood of unjustly treating future immigrants to this great nation."  

 Mexican Americans who were forced from California to Mexico.

"Many of these people lost their homes and property," he said. "It's a chapter that needs to be corrected, and the dignity returned to this large group of people."

 violated both the constitutional and legal rights of Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

"It's a bedrock principle of U.S. immigration law that U.S. citizens cannot be removed" from the United States, he said. "This is why this episode is so troubling to me." 

Extracts: Tempting Latino tastes

The Fresno Bee - July 6, 2003 
The reporter can be reached at dpollock@fresnobee.com or 441-6364. Posted on HispanicOnline.com
http://www.hispaniconline.com/buss&finn/article.html?SMContentIndex=0&SMContentSet=0

Extensive article with advertisers not only appealing to Hispanics in their outreach, but trying to change food habits.  

The California Latino 5 a Day Campaign encourages eating five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and calls attention to the fact that the state's Hispanics have an especially high rate of heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.

Sometimes the pitch for Hispanic consumption goes hand in hand with a pitch about health concerns. For instance, Irene Cabanas with Integrated Marketing Works in Irvine works with the California Avocado Commission to tout the use of guacamole and fresh avocados. The commission hired a doctor who is reassuring shoppers that the fruit can be used as a substitute for sour cream, cheese or mayonnaise.

Berven says the Latino outreach has proved a nice complement to conventional beef marketing effort: "Latinos are more willing to spend time on meal preparations. Convenience items are not a big issue."

Selling to Mexico is another market:  "We are trying desperately to get into Mexico," says Kenton Kidd, president of the California Apple Commission in Fresno.  Kidd says, pointing out that Washington ships 6 million boxes of apples each year to Mexico. "We have the potential in several years to be shipping a million boxes there, about $15 million-$20 million worth of apples, without hurting their industry."

Daily News – Bilingual Ed Needs More from Mayor Mike
Abstract by Latino Opinions, Raul Damas  (703) 299-6255  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/97524p-88305c.html

Part of the disappointment [with Bloomberg] stems from what [he] said during his campaign when he suggested bilingual education's days were numbered. "There must be total immersion for youngsters," candidate Bloomberg said in 2001. But that's not what he said last week. Instead, English learners will receive 40% of their instruction in English initially and then gradually increase, with the rest of the day taught in students' native languages. This is an improvement over the bilingual programs in which students remain in separate classrooms and are taught exclusively in their native languages. But it's hardly immersion.

Houston Chronicle – “Subprime” Loan Sharks Target Latinos
Abstract by Latino Opinions, Raul Damas  (703) 299-6255
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/97524p-88305c.html

Some U.S. banks and lenders still make their money by helping families get into homes. Others profit from loans that regularly force families out of their homes. In recent years, those lenders have been aggressively pushing large numbers of homeowners in our neighborhoods into high-cost refinance loans that strip equity and often end in foreclosure.  While elected officials have begun to recognize the damage caused by predatory home loans, most of the worst abuses remain completely legal, and some of the biggest mortgage lenders continue to make predatory loans. Just ask Jessie and William Navarro, who have lived in their home in Phoenix for 30 years. William works for the local Catholic diocese while Jessie recently retired. A few years ago, they refinanced their mortgage with Norwest Financial in order to make a few improvements, like adding a patio. But the loan, a high-cost or "subprime" loan, included an outrageously high interest rate and huge fees that cost them over $7,000 of their home equity. When Wells Fargo, a well-known bank and the country's biggest mortgage lender, bought Norwest, you might expect things would have improved for the Navarros. Instead, they got worse.

When Jim Carroll, an international motivational futurist, consultant and keynote speaker, recently delivered a speech on Economic Development in the Wired World, he made some very powerful statements about the role the Internet will play in our future. Some of his conclusions include the following:

• Technology improvements, particularly with emerging satellite technologies — will render irrelevant the old distinction between urban and rural environments.
• Communities which can best create a ‘buzz’ as to their telecommunication attributes will be those who best succeed in the emerging wired economy.
• Success will only come to those communities which can foster a creative approach between industry, business, government and academia in their approach to the opportunity afforded by the wired economy.
• Traditional rural industries — fishing, farming, agriculture, tourism — will be forever altered by the wired world. The success of a community with these industries will come to hinge not only on developments in world markets — but on the ability of local industry to play a role in the wired economy

10 things to celebrate/Why I'm an anti-anti-American
by Dinesh D'Souza, June 29, 2003
San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, June 29, 2003 
Sent by Joaquin Gracida jcg2002@k-online.com

Dinesh D'Souza's "What's So Great About America" has just been published in paperback by Penguin Books. He is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. E-mail: thedsouzas@aol.com.  

[[ Editor:  Written by native of Bombay, India, the essay is a beautiful reminder of why we should all be grateful for living in the United States.  The uniqueness of the American spirit is observed as an outsider, and makes one wonder if immigrants are changed by the American spirit, or they come because they share the basic desire to live in freedom. ]]

America is under attack as never before -- not only from terrorists but also from people who provide a justification for terrorism. Islamic fundamentalists declare America the Great Satan. Europeans rail against American capitalism and American culture. South American activists denounce the United States for "neocolonialism" and oppression.
Anti-Americanism from abroad would not be such a problem if Americans were united in standing up for their own country. 

But in this country itself, there are those who blame America for most of the evils in the world. On the political left, many fault the United States for a history of slavery, and for continuing inequality and racism. Even on the right, traditionally the home of patriotism, we hear influential figures say that America has become so decadent that we are "slouching towards Gomorrah."

If these critics are right, then America should be destroyed. And who can dispute some of their particulars? This country did have a history of slavery and racism continues to exist. There is much in our culture that is vulgar and decadent. But the critics are wrong about America, because they are missing the big picture. In their indignation over the sins of America, they ignore what is unique and good about American civilization. 

As an immigrant who has chosen to become an American citizen, I feel especially qualified to say what is special about America. Having grown up in a different society -- in my case, Bombay, India -- I am not only able to identify aspects of America that are invisible to the natives, but I am acutely conscious of the daily blessings that I enjoy in America. Here, then, is my list of the 10 great things about America. -- America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy. 

(1) Rich people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for the "common man." We now live in a country where construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids drive nice cars and where plumbers take their families on vacation to Europe. Indeed, newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities enjoyed by "poor" people. This fact was dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary, "People Like Us," intended to show the miseries of the poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan
administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens and cars. They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager to come to America?" He replied, "I
really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."

(2)  America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other country, including the countries of Europe. America is the only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only in America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer, become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for people to ascend from modest circumstances to success.

(3)  Work and trade are respectable in America. Historically most cultures have despised the merchant and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter as degraded and vulgar. Some cultures, such as that of ancient Greece and medieval Islam, even held that it is better to acquire things through plunder than through trade or contract labor. But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. They established a society in which the life of the businessman, and of the people who worked for him, would be a noble calling. In the American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The ordinary life of production and supporting a family is more highly valued in the United States than in any other country. America is the only country in the world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he were a knight.

(3)  America has achieved greater social equality than any other society. True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth in America. In purely economic terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and this is unaffected by economic disparities. Alexis de Tocqueville noticed this egalitarianism a century and a half ago and it is, if anything, more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical American and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely, the person would tell Gates to go to hell! The American view is that the rich guy may have more money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better than anyone else.

(4) People live longer, fuller lives in America. Although protesters rail against the American version of technological capitalism at trade meetings around the world, in reality the American system has given citizens many more years of life, and the means to live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life expectancy in America was around 50 years; today, it is more than 75 years. Advances in medicine and agriculture are mainly responsible for the change. This extension of the life span means more years to enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good cause, and more occasions to do things with the grandchildren. In many countries, people who are old seem to have nothing to do: they just wait to die. In America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people in their seventies pursue the pleasures of life, including remarriage and sexual gratification, with a zeal that I find unnerving.

(5)  In America the destiny of the young is not given to them, but created by them. Not long ago, I asked myself, "What would my life have been like if I had never come to the United States?" If I had remained in India, I would probably have lived my whole life within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic background. I would almost certainly have become a medical doctor, or an engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have socialized entirely within my ethic community. I would have a whole set of opinions that could be predicted in advance; indeed, they would not be very different from what my father believed, or his father before him.  In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given to me. In America, I have seen my life take a radically different course. In college I became interested in literature and politics, and I resolved to make a career as a writer. I married a woman whose ancestry is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German and American Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a policy analyst in the White House, even though I was not an American citizen. No other country, I am sure, would have permitted a foreigner to work in its inner citadel of government. In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are handed to
you; in America, you determine them for yourself. America is a country
where you get to write the script of your own life. Your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal of America. Young people especially find irresistible the prospect of authoring the narrative of their own lives.

(6)  America has gone further than any other society in establishing equality of rights. There is nothing distinctively American about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every culture, and xenophobia, prejudice and discrimination are worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to mount a principled campaign
against slavery; no country expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United States. While racism remains a problem, this country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts to members of minority groups. Such policies remain controversial, but the point is that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have permitted such policies in the first place. And surely African Americans like Jesse Jackson are vastly better off living in America than they would be if they were to live in, say, Ethiopia or Somalia.

(7)  America has found a solution to the problem of religious and ethnic conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of the world. Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way in which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work and live together in harmony. How is this possible when these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other's homes in so many places in the world? The American answer is twofold. First, separate the spheres of religion and government so that no religion is given official preference but all are free to practice their faith as they wish. Second, do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law, opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and everybody who embraces the American way of life can "become American." Of course there are exceptions to these core principles, even in America. Racial preferences are one such exception, which explains why they are controversial. But in general, America is the only country in the world that extends full membership to outsiders. The typical American could come to India, live for 40 years, and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see him that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."

(8) America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great power in world history. Critics of the United States are likely to react to this truth with sputtering outrage. They will point to long-standing American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern despot, or the unjust internment of the Japanese during World War II, or America's reluctance to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid regime. However one feels about these particular cases, let us concede to the critics the point that America is not always in the right. What the critics leave out is the other side of the ledger. Twice in the 20th century, the United States saved the world -- first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would have been the world's fate if America had not existed? After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the United States proceeded to rebuild both countries, and today they are American allies. Now we are doing the same thing in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Consider, too, how magnanimous the United States has been to the former Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For the most part America is an abstaining superpower; it shows no real interest in conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On occasion the United States intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to halt
massive human rights abuses in another country, but it never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti and Bosnia, the United States got in and then it got out. Moreover, when America does get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops are supremely careful to avoid targeting civilians and to minimize collateral damage. Even as America bombed the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes dropped food to avert hardship and starvation of Afghan civilians. What other country does these things? 

(9) America, the freest nation on Earth, is also the most virtuous nation on Earth. This point seems counterintuitive, given the amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice and immorality in America. Some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are morally superior to the United States because they seek to foster virtue among the citizens. Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is a higher principle than liberty. Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom will frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best. The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our highest admiration because they have opted for the good when the good is not the only available option. Even amid the temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely chosen. By contrast, the societies that many Islamic fundamentalists seek would eliminate the possibility of virtue. If the supply of virtue is insufficient in a free society like America, it is almost nonexistent in an unfree society like Iran's. The reason is that coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the woman who is required to wear a veil. There is no modesty in this, because she is being compelled. Compulsion cannot produce virtue, it can only produce the outward semblance of virtue. 

(10) Thus a free society like America's is not merely more prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and more tolerant -- it is also morally superior to the theocratic and authoritarian regimes that America's enemies advocate. "To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once said, "our country ought to be lovely." Burke's point is that we should love our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good. America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, American life as it is lived today is the best life that our world has to offer. Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more than any other society, it makes possible the good life, and the life that is good.

Bernardo de Gálvez

Happenings and Update on the October 12th Long Beach Concert and Galvez Gala 

We invite everyone to attend the August 5th, presentation of the Gálvez Project to the Long Beach City Council.  Representative from the Consuls of Spain, Mexico, and Israel will be present.  Juan Mayans will present an overview of the project.  Your presence will be a support  to the project.  The address is 333 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach at  5:30 p.m.

July 8th, your editor and Long Beach Liaison, Ana Maria McGuan  met with the Long Beach Museum of Art.  The LBMA is mounting Sueños y Encuentros: Latin American Masters from the Collection of the Long Beach Museum.  The Museum was founded in 1950.  This is the first time that this exhibit of their Hispanic collection has been organized for public viewing. mounted.  In support of Hispanic heritage month and in sink with the Gálvez Project, on October 11th, the museum is hosting a free reception the public from 2-4 in the afternoon.  The Long Beach Museum of Art is located at 2300 Ocean Blvd.  For more information, go to http://www.lbma.org

July 30th, the Executive Committee met with Ambassador Martha Lara, Consul General of Mexico, Alejandro Pelayo Rangel, Cultural Attaché, Agustin E. Pradillo, Press Attaché.  Ambassador Lara was enthusiastic about the project, offering the support of Rangel and Pradillo as advisors and consultants to reach out to the Mexican community. Present were Carlos Olamendi, Galvez, Project Liaison with Mexico, Judge Aguirre, his wife Linda Aguirre, Michael Perez, Henry Marquez, Katherine Peralta, and your editor.

We are also enjoying the support of the Puerto Rican community through the efforts of Les Rivera and Don Jibaro, http://www.jibaros.com/. To find out more about these two men, go to: http://www.jibaros.com/interview.htm  for an interview of Orlando Jibaro by Les Rivera.  Les Rivera is a freelance writer, covering New York-Puerto Rico-Cuba style salsa/mambo music, and the sport of boxing. He is also a Los Angeles salsa events promoter. (626) 795-9763, e-mail: mambo75@sbcglobal.net. His website: http://www.SalsaSexy.com.  Both Les and Don Jibaro will be assisting us in our outreach, through their websites, mailing lists, and radio connections.

Among the entertainers for October 12th are the following with their websites:
Los Soldados: Soldiers of the royal Presidio of Santa Barbara http://www.soldados.us/StBarbara/
Los Californios http://www.jashford.com/Pages/Calif2.html
Yesteryears Dancers  http://www.yesteryearsdancers.com/

Speech delivered by Maria Angeles O'Donnell Olson
The Honorary Consul of Spain in San Diego County

The 21st Annual San Diego Spanish Founding Families "Descendants Day".
June 28th, 2003

Good Afternoon, first, I would like to thank you for the invitation.  And secondly, to tell you that it is an honor to be here.  

Although I am the Honorary Consul of Spain in San Diego, today, I just another person with a common goal, which is the Gálvez Project.  From the information I have been receiving, it's purpose is to awaken the people, especially school-age children, to gain a better understanding of the history of the United States by recognizing the contributions that Spain, Spaniards and their descendants living in the United States have made, not only to the independence of the United States, but also to its formation.

History books in the schools of the United States have all but eliminated the teaching of history that relates to Spain and its descendants.  In schools they mention that an Italian, Christopher Columbus, discovered American in 1492.  However, they neglect the fact that Columbus served under the Spanish flag.  There are many heroes in American history, but few Hispanics.  They don't mention that a young colonel, 31 years old, named Bernardo de Gálvez  became the Governor of Louisiana by Royal Degree on February 1st, 1777.  The new governor quickly gave signs of wholehearted sympathy for the American revolutionaries.

Gálvez did not allow the British Navy to operate on the waters of the Mississippi River, its mouth, and and opened the Port of New Orleans to the trade with the Rebel colonists.  Gálvez went even further.  In the spring of 1777, he seized eleven British ships on smuggling missions, and ordered the British subjects to leave Louisiana within fifteen days.

In honor of his great works, Galveston, Texas is named after governor Bernardo de Gálvez.

American history books mention little of Gaspar de Portolá, first governor of California, or Fray Junipero Serra, the founder of the Mission of Alta California.  They mention little of Saint Agustine in Florida, becoming a permanent settlement in 1565, or the establishment of the missions by the Franciscans in Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico. 

It should also be remembered that the Spanish treasury backed and guaranteed the first issue of American currency, authorized by the Continental Congress in a resolution dated May 9, 1776, which was to take it's name "dollar" from the Spanish milled dollars, that is doblas.  "The dollar sign, from the pieces of eight of the Spanish government, evolved from the two upright posts on all coins and winding inscription reading, plus "ultra" which for years appeared on the United States coinage.

Without this information, it seems that the United States began with the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620.  How long was the presence of Spain in the territory that is today called the United States of America.  On the second of April of 1513, Juan Ponce de León saw the coast of Florida for the first time and took possession of the land for the Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabel.

The news of the independence of Mexico from Spain arrived in Santa Fe (New Mexico) the 26th of December of 1821.  In California, not until early 1822, was the Spanish flag stricken.  For 309 years, from 1513 to 1822, the colors of Spain governed the territory above the Rio Grande, also for 257 years (from 1562 to 1822), the Spanish flag waved uninterrupted.  This was recognized by the United States Armed Forces in 1942, by including the Spanish flag as on of the primitive flags.

How long have other flags waved in the United States?  The stars and stripes was established by Congress, the 14th of June of 1777, 226 years ago.  The English, if we use the date of 1586 of Walter Raleigh, it only waved 197 years.  The French, counting from the explorations of Father Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1672, and the ceding of Louisiana to Spain in 1763, not even 100 years.

If we decide to add the sporadic French presence on the East Coast (Jean Ribaut in 1563), we could say 100 years.  And in what refers to Mexico, it succeeded Spain in 1821, and disappeared with the signing of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty of 1848  (27 years).  Other flags waved in the United States, but for such a short time that their brief existence was inconsequential..

The Spaniards left the Carolinas in 1587, and the last of the missions disappeared from Georgia in 1703.  They were in Florida until 1821.  From Alabama they left the 13th of April, 1813, when Jackson took the city of Mobile.  In Mississippi, they governed until the same date that Biloxi and Gulfport were incorporated in the United Stated together with Mobile.
 
Spain held the territories of Louisiana from 1763 to 1803. In 1803 Spain sold the Louisiana Territory to France,  with the understanding that it would not sell it to another country. France broke the Treaty and sold it to the United States. Baja Louisiana was a possession of Spain.

In view of what I just mentioned, why is it that the school children are more or less taught that this country began with the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620, and they only know about the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims?

We have to make sure that the children are proud of their heritage and aware that this country was founded by many different people, from many different nations that came here looking not only for adventure, but also for a better life.

Although I am now a naturalized citizen of the United States, I am still a Spaniard and proud of my Irish blood.  My ancestors in the 1700s immigrated to Spain from Ireland. I am also proud to have contributed to the well-being of this country and by giving my children a good education and making them proud of their ancestors. 

Some Periods in the Life of General Bernardo de Gálvez
by 
Granville Hough  
gwhough@earthlink.net

SURNAME

Una de sus ramas, se denominó Manrique de Lara, sin que otras que llevan antepuestos diferentes patronímicos, tengan relación, con este origen.  Esta casa procede en línea directa de Amalarico y demás Reyes de las dinastías godas, y por tanto de los Condes Soberanos de Castilla.

Don Fernán González, valeroso guerrero de quien cuenta la historia que ganó a los moros cuarenta y seis batallas campales, murió en Burgos el año 970, siendo sepultado en el Convento de San Pedro de Arlanza, Orden de San Benito, fundación suya. Estuvo casado con la Infanta doña Sancha, hermana del Rey don García Sánchez, IV de Navarra, de quien fue hijo don Gonzalo Fernández, Conde de Lara y de Bureba, esposo de doña Nuña, padres del Conde don Nuñoz González, Señor de Lara, Gobernador de Alava, Ricohombre que vivió en 1047, y quien en su mujer doña Dordia Díaz, procreó al Conde don Gonzalo Núñez Minaya, Señor de la casa de Lara, que debió morir por el año 1075, y de su enlace con doña Gontroda, nació el Conde don Nuñoz González de Lara, también Señor de esta casa, Gobernador de Lara, Asturias y Mena, Ricohombre y confirmador de privilegios con don Alonso VI. De este trono, se derivan numerosas líneas, algunas de las cuales adoptaron el apellido Manrique de Lara.

Las numerosas probanzas de nobleza de los Caballeros de este linaje en las distintas Ordenes Militares y demás corporaciones nobiliarias, así como los títulos otorgados a esta familia, constituyen una larga relación, imposible de numerar en esta breve síntesis, por lo que damos solamente noticias de los este linaje que tienen relación con México. Los que se interesen por un estudio más profundo, pueden consultar la monumental y erudita obra impresa de don Luis de Salazar y Castro, “Historia Genealógica de la Casa de Lara”, compuesta de cuatro grandes tomos y publicada en Madrid, entre los años 1694-1697.

Las armas de esta casa son: EN CAMPO DE GULES, DOS CALDERAS DE ORO, O JAQUELADAS DE ORO Y SABLE, PUESTAS EN PALO; SALIENDO DE CADA ASA, CUATRO CABEZAS DE SIERPE, DE SINOPLE DENTRO Y TRES HACIA FUERA.

Este blasón que es el de los Manrique de Lara y uno de los más utilizados por este linaje, tienen el siguiente lema: “Nos non venimos de Reyes, que Reyes vienen de nos”.

Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara y Manrique de Aguayo, natural de Málaga, ingresó en la Orden de Calatrava el año 1631, desempeñando en esa fecha el cargo de Castellano de Acapulco; y don Juan de Cervantes y Casaus, natural de México donde nació hacia el año 1576, vistió dicho hábito en 1616, siendo sus abuelos maternos, don Juan de Cervantes, natural de Sevilla, que pasó a la Nueva España como Factor y Veedor de la Real Caja, luego Teniente de Capitán General de la Provincia de Pánuco, y doña Luisa de Lara Cervantes, de Burguillos, en Extremadura.

Don Francisco Manrique de Lara, fue Fiscal del Crimen en la Audiencia de México, el año 1640, y don Antonio de Lara Mogrovejo, Alcalde del Crimen, en la misma, en 1660.

Don Ignacio, don Juan María y don Julián de Lara, fueron Cadete, Capitán y Subteniente, respectivamente, del Regimiento de Milicias Disciplinadas de Infantería de Voluntarios Blancos de Mérida Yucatán, los años, 1793, 1796 y 1799, y don Luis Lara, Cadete del de Infantería de la Nueva España, en 1800.

En el Archivo de la Casa Ducal de Alba, se custodia una cédula de Felipe II, de fecha 16 de agosto de 1563, a favor de don Juan Manrique de Lara Maxizcatzin, indio, hijo de Hualamantzin a quien  por sus servicios a la Corona y a la religión católica en la ciudad de México, se le hace merced de ciertos privilegios.

Extract from BLASONES Y APELLIDOS, 828-page book by Fernando Muñoz Altea
In its second edition, the book can be ordered from blasones@mail.com
or at P.O. Box 11232, El Paso, Texas   79995  
or by contacting Armando Montes   AMontes@Mail.com

Go to this web site for a well-known figure with the LARA name:  http://www.naleo.org/Los_Angeles_faculty.htm

Spanish Coats of Arms in Spanish 
 http://www.gilberto.bodu.net/Heraldica.html
Check this out for a lot of and enjoy!   Bill Carmena   JCarm1724@aol.com

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Harry W. Crosby to present his new work
"Gateway to Alta California"
at 
The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art 
Sunday, August 17, 2:30 P.M.

2002 North Main St.  Santa Ana, CA  92760
For more information: 714-567-3600

Mr. Crosby is a well-known historian.  The author of several other books on both Baja and Alta California history. For those with Early California lines, this should be a must event. For those that do not have Early California lines, you may want to learn about  your neighbor's ancestors, and the social structure that affected the soldiers' lives and standing in the eyes of the authorities. 

Mr. Crosby sent a copy of his hand-out which includes the names of the soldiers that were serving in California. In 1786, José Francisco de Ortega, under directions from then Governor José Joaquin de Arrillaga, compiled all the accounting records for men who had participated in the opening of Nueva California; a copy was sent to Mexico City.  It this information which will be shared and interpreted to break some of the myths of the "Spanish" Settlers in Nueva California.

Several factors have coincided to distort the historical view and appraisal of the officers and men of the Presidio de Loreto, the greatest by far being the gulf between gachupines and criollos, men of Spanish birth and those, even of the same ancestry, born in the New World.  This division had a major impact on prestige, social status, promotions, pay, relations between individuals such as friendships, and marriages. 

The cover of the hand-out is a copy of the original document "Libro pertheneciente alas Cuentas antiguas de Monterrey.  Archivo General de la Nación, Indiferente de Guerra, 161 B, folio 55 ff.  

will introduce the goals of the Foundation.   This exhibit of 100 historic photographs and stories, circa 1910 - WWII, of Mexican American history in Orange County, runs September 5 through October 3 at Cal State University Fullerton Grand Central Art Center 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana. Exhibit hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and by appointment.  For more information about the  Orange County Mexican American Historical Foundation, contact Director, Yolanda Alvarez : yalvarez@chapman.edu  

Photo Karen Tapia-Anderson, Los Angeles Press

Orange County in the late 1940s boasted more than 65,000 acres of orange groves and about four dozen packing plants.  Only one packinghouse survives. For nearly a century, the owners of  the Villa Park Orchards packing plant on Cypress Street processed between 500,000 and 900,000 pounds of citrus each day.  The oranges arrived from the San Joaquin Valley, San Diego and Ventura counties, and other sources.

Emma Avalos is credited with being the fastest orange packer in the state of California.  Once she filled 700 crates in one day.  Avalos has learned the trade one orange at a time, moving from packer to sorter and eventually into management.  Her mother and father had worked at Villa Park for a decade - she was a grader, he a machine operator - when Emma came to work at the age of 19.  That was 30 years ago- a tenure that's not unusual at the packinghouse where most of the 70 or so permanent employees have logged more than two decades on the job.  Recently a woman retired after 54 years of packing.

Whereas before everything was done by hand, today each orange is examined by a computerized camera that instantaneously determines whether the fruits is first-grade or meant for juice. The rest is caught, as it always has been, by hand.

  New World Flamenco Festival
http://www.thebarclay.org/festivals.asp
August 3-18, 2003  

2. How many incorporated cities did we have when Orange County split from Los Angeles County in 1889?

3. Which Orange County cities were once the towns of:
a. Bay City
b. Dairy City
c. Dairyland
d. Pacific Beach
e. Richland
f. Talbert

4. What does "Costa Mesa" mean?  

5. How did Walter Knott come up with his famous "boysenberry" for Knott’s Berry arm’s pies and jellies?  

6. Which freeway came first, the 5 or the 405?

7. Name the first major agricultural product in Orange County?

8. Who wrote the famous song When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano?

9. How many islands are in the waters of Newport Beach? Can you name them?

10. Which city in Orange County is not a city?  Can you name the most famous person to grow up there?

ANSWERS:

1. Anaheim . It was founded as a German settlement by a pair of San Francisco musicians in 1857.

2. Three.  Prior to the split in 1889, Anaheim was incorporated in 1878, Santa Ana in 1886, and Orange in 1888.

3. (a) Bay City became Seal Beach
(b) Dairy City became Cypress
(c) Dairyland became La Palma
(d) Pacific Beach, once Shell Beach, became Huntington Beach
(e) Richland became Orange
(f) Talbert became Fountain Valley

4. Costa Mesa means "high table"; it sits on a bluff.  

5. Anaheim farmer Rudolph Boysen produced a hybrid plant from the loganberry, raspberry, and blackberry. When plans to promote it fell through, he gave the few plants left to a new acquaintance, Walter Knott. Knott created a sensation with it that still carries on, naming it boysenberry, in his new friend’s honor.  

6. The 5 Freeway. The first leg of the 5 Freeway was completed in 1955, and ran through all of Orange County by 1958.  The 405 Freeway was built in stages between 1964 and 1968.

7. It was the grape, not the orange. Widespread disease led to the demise of most grape vineyards in the 1870’s.  

8. Leon Rene of Los Angeles in 1939 after hearing a radio broadcast about the swallows’ annual return. The Inkspots and Nat King Cole made it famous, then Pat Boone. Even Elvis Presley recorded it.  

9. Seven islands are in the waters of Newport Beach: Balboa Island, Bay Isle, Collins Isle, Harbor Island, Lido Isle, Linda Isle, and Newport Island.

10. Midway City. Its founder, John Harper, chose the name because the settlement was six miles from Huntington Beach, seven miles from Long Beach, and six miles from Santa Ana. 
The famous resident: Michelle Pfeiffer.

Information sent by Tony Forester, President: 
Earl Dominic Soto is a proud native of San Juan Capistrano and an artist who renders emotionally-charged portraits of American Indians.  The rich tapestry of his Native American heritage compelled Sotos to develop a strong interest in the the vanquished American native.  He poignantly captures the anguish and nobility of these remarkable people through their stoic expressions that echo their philosophy of respect between man and his environment.  

Born in 1924, Soto was raised on now-historical Los Rios Street in San Juan Capistrano and attended school at the Mission; his mother was a Tewa Indian from El Paso, Texas, and his father was from Barcelona, Spain.  Soto graduated from the prestigious Art School of Design in Los Angeles after his stint as a signal man for the U.S. Navy during World War II.  He was an advertising art director through out most of his career.  

Now living in Carlsbad, CA, he dedicates much of his time to exploring myriad ways to express his subjects (in oil, watercolor, acrylic, charcoal, pastels, etc.) and developing a versatility and range of topics.  For a price list of his work or other topics explored, please call (760) 720-7222

Mexico on Paper, 20th Century Mexican Masters
August 7 - September 28, 2003
The Mexican Cultural Institute of Long Angeles 
125 Paseo de la Plaza, Suite 300
(Olvera Street) Los Angeles, CA90012
Info@mexicanculturalinstitute.org

Founded by the Mexican government in 1990, the Mexican Cultural Institute has transitioned to an independent organization that serves as a valuable cultural resource for the city of Los Angeles, committee to providing education, disseminating information, and presenting the contemporary and traditional arts and culture of Mexico within Los Angeles, Mexico, and abroad.

Memoria, Voz, y Patrimonio Conference
6th Institute of the Trejo Foster Foundation for Hispanic Library Education
August 15-17, UCLA
Sent by Robert Rios  riosr@lib.uci.edu

Jon Reed at (562) 505-0985  or  Jreed26644@aol.com

This website is dedicated to the Arts and their role in transforming society, from my own socially conscious Artworks to the works of other like minded Artists possessing a critical vision. This site encourages and promotes the creation of artworks that envision a just, peaceful world. My AFC Web site exists primarily as a Gallery, Educational Forum, and Resource Center, but it should also be thought of as a platform for Arts Advocacy. The belief that Art can make a difference in our World and that there can be no social progress without it, is the motivating force behind this Web site. If you'd like to be placed on my mailing list for future site updates, then please e-mail me at: vallen@art-for-a-change.com  Sent by Mark Vallen 

Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas
June 22 through September 7, 2003 
Los Angeles, the County History Museum, Los Angeles
Click for Peruvian historical/cultural information

The largest exhibition of Inca treasures ever assembled in the United States. 
http://www.nhm.org/exhibitions/machupicchu/index.html
Sent by Ana Maria McGuan   AnaMariaMcGuan@aol.com

California

California Genealogy  http://www.cagenweb.com

Sharing a correspondence from  Barbara Voss   SMTP:bvoss@stanford.edu
to Lorri Frain lorrilocks@earthlink.com   July 20, 2003 11:41 AM
    
Dear Lorri,

I hope your summer is going well! We have just finished our second week of  excavation, and I am delighted to share the news of some new     archaeological discoveries. We have encountered an intact foundation of     one of the adobe houses that once stood at El Polin Springs at the     presidio. From historic documents, we believe that this house was first     built and occupied in the mid 1810s by presidial soldier Marcos Briones     and his daughters, Juana, Guadalupe, and Maria de la Luz, and their families.  Guadalupe and her husband Calendario Miramontes continued to live at El Polin Springs with their children until the late 1840s.

Later this week more details about this discovery will be posted on our newly-launched website: http://www.stanford.edu/group/presidio  

 If you'd like to come see this new find, please feel free to come visit     anytime during our working hours - Monday - Friday, 9am to 4pm. I also  wanted to let you know that in conjunction with the Presidio Trust, we are  holding a special Open House of the excavations this Saturday, July 26,
from 10:30am - 4:00pm.

Wishing you a very good summer, please do contact me if you have any questions about this new find.

All my best, Barb Voss
Barbara L. Voss, Assistant Professor
Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Building 110, Room 112-T
Stanford University,  Stanford, California 94305-2145
phone:  650-725-6884      fax:  650-725-0605       email:  bvoss@stanford.edu

Dr. Voss sent an email adding, 
 "You might want to add that the field excavation is ending on August 15, so people can only visit through that day."

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Looking for an ancestor, or maybe researching the history of Goldfield?

Now your job is easier thanks to the state's Cultural Affairs Department, which has made Nevada's oldest census records available to anyone with a computer and Internet access.

"This database is extremely important for researchers, genealogists and anyone interested in the history of the West,"said Ron James, state historic preservation director.

Records include details of the estimated 310,000 people who lived in Nevada from 1860 to 1920 _ everything from names and ages to occupations and birthplaces.

The only data missing are from the 1890 census. That year's information was destroyed in a warehouse fire, James said.

Besides facts and figures, the information provides a glimpse of what life was like in Nevada more than 100 years ago, when miners were more common than doctors. The data shows an influx of Chinese immigrants, including 20 who worked at a Storey County laundry. The database even has categories where people could indicate they suffered from such ailments as "idiotic" or "insane."

"There is a tremendous potential for developing community histories, profiles of houses and treatment of all sorts of aspects of our past," James said.

The historic preservation office worked with Ken Fleiss, an associate professor of anthropology at University of Nevada, Reno, for about 10 years to compile the data and enter it into a computer. The Legislature helped fund the project.

Officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members often conduct genealogical research as part of their religious rites, praised the new database.

"We're very, very pleased with all of the records that are available through the census or otherwise that allow people to do their genealogical research," said Ashley Hall, director of public affairs for the Mormon Church." For LDS people it's very important."

On the Net: 
State Historic Preservation Office, http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/shpo/NVCENSUS/

Your Turn: University of Nevada, Reno striving to attract, retain Latinos
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/06/26/45582.php
Special to the Reno Gazette-Journal  6/26/2003
Sent by Cindy LoBuglio

The University of Nevada is committed to providing educational opportunities and employment for our state’s increasingly diverse population, particularly Latinos.

In the past 10 years, the university has more than doubled its Latino student population. Today, student enrollment at the university is the largest in its history, with the number of students of color also at its highest point, comprising 15.5 percent of our total enrollment.

The graduation rate of Latino students from the university is now more than three times the national graduation rate for Latinos, a figure that exceeds that of the university student body as a whole.

At the same time, we have succeeded in doubling our Latino faculty, despite the national availability of only 4.3 percent in all disciplines. We continue to work to attract and retain a diverse faculty.

Despite this success, one issue concerns my colleagues and me greatly: the retention rate for Latino males, which is significantly lower than that for females. Although we have implemented a variety of initiatives that have had a positive impact, we continue to seek better methods to support this group of students. This is an area where we must improve.

We are always learning how to be more effective. For more than 25 years, this university and its students have benefited from the federally funded Upward Bound and TRIO programs. 

These programs help students who are low-income and often are students of color to graduate from high school, to attend college and to achieve graduation.

Between 1998 and 2000, the TRIO Scholars program at this university produced an average retention rate for Latino students of 90 percent. The most productive elements of this model program have been incorporated in the university’s retention efforts.

The university’s success in Latino-student recruitment and retention has been a collaborative effort with community groups, teachers, school counselors, parents and families. 

For many years, this university has been reaching out to elementary, middle and high schools with significant populations of students of color.

More recently, we have expanded this effort to include families of prospective students by developing bilingual programs, recruiters, and materials.

The university has instituted numerous programs for the recruitment and retention of all students. About half of them place a particular emphasis on populations of color. These include:
o Dean’s Future Scholars, College of Education.
o Pre-Med Mentoring Program.
o Center for Student Cultural Diversity.
o Minority Undergraduate Fellows Program.

Some of these outreach and support efforts are directed specifically at the Latino community. They include:
o Hispanic Engineering Program.
o Bilingual tours, recruitment materials, and orientation sessions.
o Latino Convocation March.
o Student organizations such as MEXA, Las Americas and Latinas Unidas.

It is the long-term goal of our recruitment and retention plans to improve participation rates for all students of color at Nevada by increasing the enrollment of students of color from 15.5 percent to 25 percent of the student body by 2011. This effort will include a significant number of Latino students.

We would welcome the opportunity to work together with members of the community in establishing a Latino Institute as we pursue our goals. 

The university maintains a strong belief in access and will continue its commitment to students coming from various backgrounds, including Latino students.

We invite you to learn more about the university. Please contact the Office of Prospective Students

 at 784-4700, ext. 2085, www.unr.edu/content/prospective.asp
John Lilley is president of the University of Nevada, Reno.

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

He will receive a salary package worth $370,600 a year.  The appointment is effective August 1.  At the time of his appointment, Mr. Caldera was serving as a vice-chancellor for the California State University system.  He served as secretary of the Army in the Clinton administration.  "I am very excited, very delighted to be here today," Mr. Caldera said after the UNM Board of Regents unanimously voted to appoint him during a public meeting May 13.   "We are very excited that the regents have unanimously selected Mr. Caldera to lead us to the next level.  He is truly qualified in every sense of the word," said Jack Fortner, vice-president of the UNM Board of Regents.
Hispanic Business, 

Prologue
Exactly 88 years ago this June, the United States and Mexico careened onto the brink of war. Laredo (population 16,000) was inundated by more than 20,000 US Army and National Guard troops deployed to protect the border and to invade Mexico. Sinister agents of the German and Japanese empires plotted in downtown Laredo hotel rooms while fiery saboteurs terrorized the local population. A few miles south of the Río Grande, a Laredo-born Carranzista general prepared to invade the US, beginning with the city of Laredo. Laredo and the Río Grande Valley were forever transformed by the tumultuous events of 1915-1916, inspired by the notorious Plan de San Diego.

I don't recall exactly when I was first aware of the series of border raids associated with the Plan de San Diego. The 1915 Plan de San Diego was a modest proposal that Mexicanos, Negroes, American Indians, and Japanese take up arms to seize the territory stolen by the United States from
Mexico. To secure this goal, all North American males over the age of 16 were to be exterminated.

More than likely, I learned about the Plan de San Diego in the pages of Aztlan during 1970 or 1971. Juan Gomez-Quiñones' article was more intent upon political rather than historical correctness, and it was fraught with the chicanismo vehemence so endemic to the times. Gomez' recommendation
that community organizers had much to learn from the Plan (a racist screed that called for genocide) indicated that he was more focused on Texas Ranger harassment of farm workers' unions in the late 1960s than on the appalling events of 1915-1916. It was also during this period of the early 70s that I read Barbara Tuchman's The Zimmerman Telegram and related articles that detailed the role of Japanese and German secret agents in the Plan de San Diego activities along the border. However, at the time I was a graduate student in English, and I put off pursuing these tantalizing historical details.

Two decades later, I was simultaneously pursuing a graduate degree in Mexican history and sleuthing into the circumstances that had forced my father's family to precipitously flee Yucatan during the Revolution. The Plan de San Diego was drafted on January 6, 1915 by alleged Huertista
sympathizers. Two days before that, on January 4, my grandfather, who held a colonel's commission signed by Victoriano Huerta, led a full-scale assault on the revolutionary government forces in Merida, Yucatan. Later that spring, after a Carranzista army forced him to abandon hope of separating Yucatan from Mexico, he was an exile improbably ensconced in the luxurious St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans. The summer of 1915 found him residing in Laredo's Grant Street, within sight of the Río Grande, just in time for the worst of the Plan de San Diego's raids.

Intrigued by these parallels, I began to tear into the many studies about  the Plan de San Diego. This wasn't the last time that I suspected my grandfather of involvement in nefarious counter-revolutionary activities centered in Laredo. Later, after diligent procedurals, I could be only somewhat relieved that his "alibis" cleared him of involvement in the Felix Diaz and Lucio Blanco capers. I was in search of facts, even at the risk of airing defamatory dossiers, to fill the mysterious and tantalizing voids in
the life of my grandfather, this enigmatic exile who died almost a decade before I was born. 

n 1992, James A. Sandos published the first book-length study of the Plan de San Diego, Rebellion in the Borderlands: Anarchism and the Plan de San Diego, 1904-1923. Briefly stated, Sandos viewed the Plan as a failed but noble attempt to implement the anarchist principles of Ricardo Flores Magon. (Flores Magon and his brother Enrique are considered the preeminent intellectual precursors of the Mexican Revolution.)

BLACK

Roman Catholic Church Opposition to Slavery
http://medicolegal.tripod.com/catholicsvslavery.htm

Roman Catholic Church Opposition to Slavery:
 441 AD - 873 -1102 - 1462 - 1591 - 1686 -1890
Sent by Joan De Soto

". . . the Church, from the beginning, regarded [the slave trade] as immoral . . . In 873, John VIII wrote to the rulers of Sardinia . . . ordering them to restore freedom to slaves bought from the Greeks. . . . ["on Oct. 7, 1462" "Pius II" issued a "condemnation" of the "slave trade."] [See also Biography of Pius II.]

St. John Chrysostom [345 A.D. - 407 A.D.], Patriarch of Constantinople, said "Slavery is the fruit of covetousness, of extravagance, of insatiable greediness" in his Epist. ad Ephes., Homil. XXII. 2.

Pope Eugene IV condemned slavery in the Canary Islands in 1435 and ordered immediate manumission (within 15 days). Other Popes condemning slavery included Gregory XIV (1591); Innocent XI (1686); Benedict XIV (1741), and Pius VII (1815). See The Catholic Church and Slavery, by Lane Core, Jr. Core says that Paul III explicitly attributed slavery to "the enemy of the human race, Satan."

In 1537, Paul III excommunicated those who enslaved the Indians of America and confiscated their property. . . . In 1838, Gregory XVI condemned all forms of colonial slavery and the slave trade, calling it inhumanum illud commercium."

"In a letter to the bishops of Brazil (May 5, 1888), Leo XIII recalled the Church's unceasing efforts in the course of centuries to get rid of colonial slavery and the slave trade and expressed his satisfaction that Brazil had at last abolished it."

"From the 15th century Catholic missionaries, theologians, and statesmen never ceased to strive for the abolition of ignominious traffic in human beings."

          Many more examples listed.

by Granville Hough, Ph.D.

Men of color served in all branches of service during the American Revolutionary War, and they did so in spite of hardships of service. The following listing is for one group, those who served from the
slave-holding state of Virginia in its state navy.  Any descendants of these persons are eligible to join the patriotic and historical societies of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of
the American Revolution.

The source of the following information is the work by Robert Armistead Stewart, The History of Virginia’s Navy of the Revolution, originally published 1934, republished 1993 by Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., Baltimore, MD, designated as S:page number.  Documents used by
Stewart are indicated exactly as he showed them, with an explanation of each at the end of the listing.

S:140.  ABRAM.  A Negro.  War 5, 31.
S:142, 230.  BACHUS (negro).  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  H.D. 1833-4, Doc. 33, 15.
S:143.  DAVIS BAKER (negro).  H. D. Oct. 1794, 44 (petition for promised freedom).
S:152, 230.  BOSTON.  Negro.  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  H.D. 1834-5, Doc. 33, 15.
S:154.  WILLIAM BOUSH.  Negro.  HD, Oct 1789.  (See also next entry.)
S:159.  WILLIAM BUSH.  Public Negro.  VA boat Liberty.  LBP Dr. P.Bartlett.
S:168.  CHRIS.  Mulatto, N. A. B.
S:176.  CUFFY.  Elenor Boury’s negro slave, whom she caused to be enlisted on the Norfolk Revenge, under Capt Calvert, in Sept 1777 as an able seaman.  See H. D. Nov 13, 1780, p. 47.
S:176.  CUFFY (CUFFEE).  Pilot on Row Galley commanded by Capt. Richard Barron; died from injuries received in service.  LBP Dr Bartlett, testimony of Mary C. Ward.  In USP Mrs. Mary C. Graves states that she was owner of Cuffee, died 1781.  On the boat, William Graves was Lt and
Dr. Philip Bartlett, Surgeon.
S:177.  DANIEL.  A Negro.  H. D. 1834-5, Doc. 48, 7.
S:179.  JOHN DAVIS of Westmoreland County.  VA Dragon.  Father red man, mother white.  LBP James Jennings.
S:185.  EMANUEL.  A Negro.  VA Tempest, Oct 7, 1779.
S:188.  FRANK.  Mulatto.  Seaman.  N. A. B.
S:189, 230.  GEORGE.  Negro.  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  VA Tempest, Dec 7, 1779.
S:202.  LEWIS HINTON of Lancaster County (born Aug 20, 1760), “an orderly colored man and respectable”.  Was enlisted on VA Dragon for three years, to take the place of his master, Thomas Hinton, who retired from the service on account of ill health.  In USP, 1836, he gives an interesting account of his experiences in the Navy.
S:206, 230.  JACK (negro).  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  N 8, 10.
S:206, 230.  JAMES.  Negro.  VA Tempest, Dec 7, 1779.
S:212, 230.  KINGSTON.  A negro man belong to Sailing Master Jenifer Marshall.  Kingston was “one of the foremost hands” on board the VA galley Accomac, 1779.
S:212.  JACK KNIGHT.  Negro.  H. D. Oct 1789, 7.
S:226.  MINNY.  Negro Pilot.  C. J., May, 1776, 19.
S:236.  NIMROD PERKINS.  “A freeman of colour,” VA galley Diligence.  In LBP for William White, Elkanah Andrews stated, in 1831, that, so far as he knew, he and Perkins were the only survivors of the crew of the Diligence and Accomac galleys.  BH, 396-7.
S:236.  PETER.  A Negro.  Able Seaman.  War 5, 157.
S:230, 237.  PLUTO.  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  H. D. Oct
1793, 43.
S:247.  SINGLETON.  Negro.  VA galley Accomac.
S:249.  ABLE SPRIGGS/SPRIGS.  Mulatto.  Deserted from VA Dragon, VA
newspaper Gazette, July 3, 1779.
S:256.  JAMES THOMAS.  Testimony of Capt James Barron, Jr.  Thomas a “man of colour late of the Borough of Norfolk, who served through the War in the Capacity of Boatswain, with explemplary conduct, as I had frequent opportunities of witnessing it.  In the year 1779 he served as
a Boatswain of the Brig Northampton (originally commanded by Capt Francis Bright).  He was a fellow of daring and though a man of color was respected by all the officers who served with him.”  Petition of Nancy Bell of Norfolk Cok a “free woman of colour,” daughter of James Thomas, “a free man of Colour.”  BH, 1216.
S:257.  TOM.  Negro.  War 5, 196.  A second entry shows TOM.  A Negro. Ordinary seaman.  HD Doc 48, p 18, 1834-5.  It seems likely these records are for the same person; however, detailed study of the documents may indicate otherwise.
S:264.  A Negro Boy.  “Francis Webb went on board a private armed vessel.  This was about the commencement of the Revolutionary War.  He was only about 16.  Every one on their little craft was either killed or wounded but their Captain John Evans and a negro boy.  My father was shot in the ankle, which caused one of his legs to be shorter than the other.  Although they were all so disabled, they managed to save their vessel.  For his gallantry, he received the appointment of Midshipman in the Virginia Navy, and was stationed on board the Ship Dragon, where he served the principal part of the Revolutionary War.”  In this manuscript of the son of Midshipman Francis Webb, there is no mention of how the negro boy was rewarded.
S:267, 230.  WILL/WILLIAM.  On VA galley Hero, Nov 4, 1777.  NBJ.  N 8, 10.
S:270.  THOMAS WOOD.  Mulatto.  Deserted from VA Dragon, VA newspaper Gazette, Jul 3 1779.

References shown above which would be helpful for additional research:
BH. (followed by a page reference).  Lewis A. Burgess’s Virginia
Soldiers of 1776, with mention of heirs.
CS or C. J.  Journals of the Council of Safety, 1775-76.
HD or H. D.  Journals of the Virginia House of Delegates, yearly from 1776 to 1835, with numbered Documents and pages.
LBP.  Land Bounty Claim Papers, Virginia State Archives.
N.  refers to publications of Stratton Nottingham on soldiers and sailors of Accomack, Lancaster, and Northampton counties (separate publications).
NAB or N. A. B.  Naval Account Book, Virginia State Archives
NBJ.  Journal of the Virginia Navy Board, manuscript, VA State Archives.

War (followed by a numeral).  A collection of manuscript volumes bearing on the military establishment of Virginia as a state during and after the Revolution. USP.  Documents submitted to the Pension Bureau in Washington in connection with pension claims for service, available at U. S. Archives branches.

Where the documentation for service is not shown above, for most it will be found in the manuscript collection entitled Navy 8, deposited in the Virginia State Archives.

Black/Mulatto Spanish Soldiers.

Information shared by Granville Hough, Ph.D. gwhough@earthlink.net

The DAR published a series of  pamphlets on minority soldiers from the 13 colonies.  One of the problems encountered in searching for Black/Mulatto Spanish Soldiers is that one priest or census-taker would list everyone as Mestizo and the next would list the same persons as Mulatto. 
I suspect the translator merely assumed an abbreviation such as M was Mulatto or Mestizo, with further checking. I think today the best translation for abbreviations or for Mulatto/Mestizo is simply Mixed.

The other problem is that the designations were not strictly accurate but reflected social status. A San Diego soldier whose descendant joined the SAR was recruited as an Indian, then as a successful soldier was Mestizo, then as a retired soldier and owner of the land in and around UCLA, he was Español. 

I think the problem for the descendants of black soldiers is working back the six to eight generations to identify the names of soldiers or sailors.

As far as the 8-volume Spanish Patriot's books are concerned, I included racial designations if they were given in the references used. However, it doesn't matter to the Sons of the American Revolution. What matters is that the service is documented.

I believe there is no way to develop a list of Spanish soldiers which accurately indicates racial background. They were all culturally Spanish because the Spanish Empire was the foremost racial integrator of its time. We forget that the Republic of Mexico would not elect a President who was not part Indian, or did not elect one until possibly Fox.

Extract: Contempt charge against Interior secretary rejected
Source: Associated Press via OC Register, 7-19-03

The case against the official grew out of a $137 billion class-action suit filed in 1996 on behalf of more than 3000,000 Indian plaintiffs.  The suite alleged that the Interior Department improperly managed oil, gas, mining and timer royalties from land the government assigned to Indians more than a century ago.   The department believed the figure is much lower.

Norton has blamed most of the problems on previous administrations and said most of her energy is devoted to fixing the mismanagement of the Indian royalties.

Sent by  Galal Kernahan  pepejose@oc-net.com

I know only one coin that features a baby.  It is the U.S. Sacagawea Dollar.  It depicts the American Indian woman, who guided (and, by her presence, probably repeatedly saved from harm) the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific and back.  On her dollar, there is an infant in a rebozo on her back.

The explorers repeatedly stumbled into tribes, who might have slaughtered  them without that reassurance of peaceful intent brought by the presence of Sacawagea and her child.

Actually, she was little better than a slave to her husband, Toissaint Charbonneau, an only marginally passable member of the expedition (while she proved absolutely invaluable).  Back from the endless trek crossing the Rockies to and from the Pacific, she bore another child, a little girl named Lisette.  Sacagawea died on December 12, 1812.

Her young son, nicknamed "Pompey," was the tiny favorite of everyone in the "Corps of Discovery." William Clark doted on him.  Pompey and his sister became wards of Clark when their mother passed away.

He grew up to be a an excellent hunter, tracker and guide.  In 1823, when he was 18, sportsman and amateur scientist Prince Wilhelm of Wurttemberg took him back to Germany with him.  There, he learned German and French before he returned to the west in 1829.

His life was full of adventure.  He even tried gold-mining in Montana. He died of pneumonia in Oregon, May 16, 1866.  He lies buried in the bleak high desert of the Great Basin.

During the 1846-1848 U.S.-Mexico War, he led the Mormon Battalion across the vast desert to San Diego.   Now, did you already know that?

Source: JEFFERSON AND HIS GUN-MEN.

SEPHARDIC

Sent by Paul Newfield  pcn01@webdsi.com

Introduction to the article:  Imagine descendants of Jews pursued by the Spanish Inquisition, still tending the dying embers of their faith among peasant Latinos in the American Southwest. The story has obvious resonance, and it has garnered considerable publicity. The truth of the matter may turn out to be vastly different, and nearly as improbable . . . 

Paragraph of interest:  Almost all Jews in North America today are Ashkenazim. Before the late nineteenth century the Jews in Latin America were overwhelmingly Sephardim. Throughout the Diaspora, Sephardic Jews have eaten food made with olive oil, chickpeas, and other Mediterranean ingredients; Ashkenazic foods such as bagels, lox, kugel, and borscht are not traditionally part of their diet. Yiddish, with its German and Slavic components, has nothing to do with Sephardic Ladino, which mixes Hebrew with medieval Spanish, Turkish, and Moroccan. Today Sephardic Jews make up only 10 percent of the Jewish population worldwide.

The online version of this article appears in three parts. [[Well worth the reading.]]You can link to the other two parts from this article.  Barbara Ferry is a reporter for The New Mexican. Debbie Nathan is the editor of the NACLA North American Congress on Latin America] Report on the Americas and a co-author of Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt (1995). 

Copyright © 2000 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; December 2000; Mistaken Identity? The Case of New Mexico's "Hidden Jews" - 00.12; Volume 286, No. 6; page 85-96. 

The following websites were included for reference and study in the article.

Halapid: The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
The Web site of an organization for those who believe they are descended from crypto-Jews. The site offers research papers, personal essays, and information about upcoming conferences 
http://sephardiconnect.com/halapid/halapid.htm

-----------------------
The Leona G. and David A. Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives
The Web site of a University of Arizona archive of materials pertaining to the history of Jews in the American Southwest. The site offers suggested readings, general information about crypto-Jews, and a collection of memoirs and articles. 
-----------------
Yom Kippur in El Paso," Morning Edition, NPR (September 20, 1999)
A five-minute-long audio file from an episode of Morning Edition: "Brenda de Anda reports that Yom Kippur, the Holiest of Jewish holidays, has special meaning for Crypto Jews in El Paso. Five-hundred years after the Spanish Inquisition forced their families into Catholicism, two women in El Paso share their experience of pain and renewal in embracing Judaism." 
---------------------------------------
KULANU

http://www.kulanu.org/

"Our primary goal is to find lost and dispersed remnants of Jewish migrations and to help those who wish to rejoin the Jewish people." The site offers an overview of "lost" Jews in various parts of the world, with links to related Web sites pertaining to each "lost" community.

--------------
Jewish Walking Tours of Mexico, Precencia judia en la ciudad de Mexico.

http://www.jewishtours.com.mx/default.htm 
---------------

http://www.avotaynu.com/sourcebook.htm
8½" x 11" 480 pp. hardcover   Price Reduced! $45.00 
http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi     Sent by Joan de Soto

TEXAS 

Current Information
Los Bexarenos Genealogical Society
http://www.geocities.com/losbexarenos/current.html

24th Annual Texas State Hispanic
Genealogical & Historical
Conference
Sept 5-6-7^th 2003

Sent by John Inclan fromgalveston@yahoo.com
Mark your calendars and call Elsa Herbeck at (210) 684-6047 for information. 

http://www.amarillo-cvb.org/texas_legacies.html 
For more info on the musical, type "texas legacies" in Google (use quotes).

Second Annual Col. Juan N. Seguin Memorial Picnic 

I just wanted to let your readers know about our Second Annual Col. Juan N. Seguin Memorial Picnic which is being held on Oct 25, 2003.  We are commemorating all the heroes of the Battle of San Jacinto.  We are looking for descendants of this historic battle from either side please help spread the word. 

Thank You, Angel & Linda Seguin Garcia, ATexhero@aol.com
More information: Seguin Descendants Historical Preservation Tejanos Since 1712
http://www.seguindescendantshp.com/news.html
http://www.seguindescendantshp.com/

By Angelita Hernandez, Tahoka, Texas
Sent by Jerry Benavides, Jgbenavide

Angelita Hernandez wrote, on November 7, 2001, the following letter to her Great Grandfather, Alejos Zepeda. Alejos was born in July 1850 and died on November 14, 1925 in Dallas, Texas, where he was buried at the Rancho Grande Cemetery. (Please see the Notes at the end.)

Nov. 07, 2001

I never knew you, or knew your name, until I started doing the family tree. I found out you were born in 1850—where, I don’t know yet. You married my great-grandmother, Angelita Garza, on Jan. 08, 1879, in Del Rio, Texas.

You had three daughters—Bonefacia, Ylfonsa and Tiodora (Lola), my grandmother. You also had four sons---Leandro, Manuel, Vidal and Merejildo. I only knew two of them, Vidal and Merejildo. My grandmother married my grandfather, Ysabel Maldonado, on Jan. 19, 1901, in Sonora, Texas.

They had one son, Rafael, my father, and eight daughters---Anita, Rosa, Maria, Guadalupe, Elena, Paula, Victoria and Felipa. I only knew three of them----my aunt Elena, Felipa and Victoria. The rest died before I was born. Tiodora and your other daughter, Elfonsa, and her husband, Julian Garcia, are buried there (in the Rancho Grande Cemetery) and your Granddaughters, Paula and Guadalupe and your great-grandson, Braulio, and his sister, Natalia, your son-in-law, Jose Angel Benavidez, and one of his grandsons, Elario Benavidez, are also there.

So, you see Grandfather, I never thought I would find out your name, much less where you are buried.

So, because of the family tree, I found you and the rest of the family. I went three times to Dallas to find the cemetery, even though I didn’t know where to start.

I was only seven years old when my Grandmother Tiodora died. All I remember is when they had her in the funeral home, and I remember my father crying by her casket, trying to wake her up. Then, then they took her to the cemetery, I stayed in the car. I remember that day as if it were yesterday, it was cloudy and raining lightly. There were a lot of people standing around her grave; almost all of them wore black and had black umbrellas. I was so scared, I wanted to hide.

I also remember that there was a railroad track next to the cemetery, so, first times we went, we would drive by the railroad tracks trying to find a cemetery close to them.

So, the family kept on growing and I kept asking questions until someone told me a name---they said it was the Rancho Grande Cemetery. My aunt Dorothy told me that when Uncle Joe Chaves was alive, he would go almost every week to take flowers to his Mother, Tiodora (Tiodora , my grandmother, married again when my Grandfather Ysabel died.) She married Salvador Jose Chaves on Oct. 15, 1919, in Santa Anna, Texas. They had two sons---Santiago and Jose M. Chaves (Joe); Santiago died before Jose was born.

So, now I had a name, but where to start? I was also told that the cemetery was located behind a hospital. We kept asking but nobody knew of a cemetery by a hospital.

We even asked some people who lived not even a block from where you are, but nobody knew. My son Raymond told me, "Maybe they were moved so the city could build." I said, "No, they have to be there!" One of my sisters, Paula, came to visit from California, so we went back to Dallas again, but no luck.

We were so close yet so far away.

Then, my brother Vale (Ralph) came to visit from Phoenix, Arizona. And, we went back for the third time. This time I printed a map from the Internet; still, we looked for about three hours. The address is Lee Hall. We went in there so many times; it would take us back to a lot of stop signs, dead ends, and back to the entrance.

We drove around all the hospitals that were close to Lee Hall. We had stopped at a red light and I was looking around and saw a cross. I told my brother, Vale (Ralph), "Look over there behind those trees; I see a cross, or am I seeing things? I even see a headstone; do you see it?" He answered, "Yes, I see it too!" Lola had told me that her father—your son Vidal—had made the crosses for you and Grandmother Angelita. She told me that when she was six years old she went her Grandfather, Alejos, to visit Angelita’s grave. When she went back to the house, she ran to her father, Vidal, and told him that she knew where her grandmother was; that she was by the railroad tracks and there was a mound of dirt on top of her. Her father asked Alejos what she was talking about and he old Vidal that they had gone to visit Angelita’s grave. Vidal said that he had to make a cross for her grave so it wouldn’t get lost, and he did! After you died, he made a cross for you, too.

At last, we had found the cemetery, but there was no way to get through. We parked the car by a gas station and tried to walk to the cemetery, but not even that way could we get through. So, we got in the car again and drove around. We had to Harry Hines Blvd. to Lee Hall again. Then we had to go through two houses to get there.

At last, we were there!

There was a fence around the cemetery, and the gate was locked. So my brother, Vale, jumped the fence so he could to look at the graves. Then he yelled, "Here is my Aunt Guadalupe and here is my Aunt Pauline," and then he hepled me over the fence so we could look for the graves together. At last, we found your grave with cross that your son Vidal had made. Then, we found Angelita’s grave, too, and Grandmother Tiodora, and all the familiar name that I have heard of. I can’t describe how I felt—the only way I can say it, is when I my children and you see them for the first time; you can’t wait to touch them; to hug them, to kiss them, and to hold them in your arms; that is how I felt, Grandfather Alejos. But, you see I could not do this to you or the rest of the family. Seeing where you and the rest of the family were, felt the same way. Now, we can come visit and bring our children and tell them about all these families that once were lost, but now are found.

I had also been told that on El Dia De Los Muertos, people would get together at the cemetery and the priest would come and say mass and bless all the graves. So, my son Raymond, his children, and I went. We came and it was a nice day, Dorothy and her daughter, Barbara, went also. My cousin Marce and her husband, Pablo, went, too. Almost all the people that were there were related to us, one way or another. The Zepedas, Montalbos, Benavidez and Garcias---they are all descendants of you, Alejos. So, you see, Grandfather, because of you and all the people that are buried here in Rancho Grande, we are all coming again next year. A lot of family from California also want to be here. So we all my sons and daughter and all their children. We are keeping in touch with all of our new found family.

Now, I am finding out the city wants to get rid of the cemetery and to remove your remains somewhere else.

So, Grandfather, after all you and Grandmother suffered the first time you came here, not even dead will they let you rest. Lola told me about the first time you came here in 1919; how Grandmother Angelita was very sick. You had just come in from Santa Anna, Texas, by wagon. She said you stopped at the Gomez house that was by El Rancho del Japones; you asked for water for Grandmother; they saw that she was sick and offered you a place to stay, but you said no. You were looking for La Hacienda Del Rancho Grande, as the Hispanics called it then. Then, she died a few months later.

How sad it must have been. You still had your son, Tio Merjildo, and your daughter, Alfonsa, with you. They would not le you bury her at the white cemeteries, but the people from Rancho Grande were kind to you and let you bury her there; also, a lot of other people later on. If only there were more people like them, this world would be a better place for all. If only they would walk in our shoes for a couple of days, they would think different. I know how you must have suffered, going from place to place and from job to job.

I have been told about your son, Manuel; how he wanted to join the war in the U.S.A., but you wouldn’t let him go, so he did what you said because back then, kids obeyed their parents. He wanted to join so bad, but he didn’t, so he went crazy. You had to put him in a mental hospital in Dallas; that must have been very hard for you. I’ve been told that he died there. I’m trying to find out where he is buried and about your other son, Leandro; how he went to California and married over there. Then, you were told he went to Mexico and you never heard from him again.

Well, Alejos, I found out he married a girl a named Elena and they had two sons and one daughter. He died at an old age. My father, Rafael, used to tell my children that you were related to Emiliano Zapata. I will try to find out about that, one of these days, because Zapata and Zepeda mean the same name. I have father Edwardo Fentez and Mrs. Villanueva to thank, because, if they had not tried to save Rancho Grande and all the people that helped them, I would have never found you.

So, I will try my best to help Father Fuentez, so that you and all the people that are buried here at Rancho Grande can rest in peace forever. And, I hope that one day my grandchildren can bring their grandchildren here and tell them about the families that came here to work and help build the city of Dallas in their own way.

Your great-granddaughter, Angelita

Note: The letter to Alejos was emailed to Shirley Sloat on October 21, 2002 by Angelita Hernandez. Mrs. Hernandez’s transmittal letter and the fruitful and interesting commentaries from the Desk of Shirley Sloat appeared in the DGS Newsletter , January/February 2003, Volume 27, Number 1, Issue 233. DGS Newsletter is a publication of the Dallas Genealogical Society.

History accounts the events of the past through the eyes of the chronicler. Genealogy registers the ancestry, that is to say, the bloodline, of who we are and how we connect to significant pioneers. The history of the early families of New Spain could remain obscure were it not for the documentation found in the archives, such as public records, the census, parish rolls, to name a few. With great pride, I present this tiny part of my family’s rich and stated history. As a descendant of the Dona Feliciana Camacho y Botello family, I introduce to you this short story on this prominent pioneer family.

Captain Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis, the eleventh of twelve children of Nicolas Juchereau and Marie Thérèse Giffard, was born at Beauport, New France (Quebec, Canada), on September 17, 1674. Captain Louis’ grandfather, Jean Juchereau, and his two brothers, Noël, and Pierre had emigrated from the town of Tourouvre in Perche, France. These three brothers recruited up to eighty families for New France. They became the founders and the early settlers of Beauport, located just northeast of Québec City on the St Lawrence River. When young Louis became of age, he was sent to France for his education.

In late 1699, St. Denis sailed to Louisiana from La Rochelle, France with his first cousin, the newly appointed 27 year old governor, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville. This would be Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville’s second expedition into this reigon. In Louisiana St. Denis found himself as the commander of a fort on the Mississippi River and another at Biloxi Bay. During this time he carried out important explorations to the west of the Bay and upstream, to the lower region of the Red River. These journeys brought him into contact with Karankawa and Caddo Indians and he learned invaluable lessons on how to cope in the wilderness land of Louisiana.

In September 1713, Antoine de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, the French governor of Louisiana, responded to a letter received from the Spanish priest, Father Francisco Hidalgo, urging the governor to establish a post near East Texas. The governor dispatched St. Denis, this Canadian-born adventurer, along with a company of men from Mobile, Alabama. This same year, St. Denis founded in Louisiana the village-post of Natchitoches. Natchitoches, recognized as the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana, plays a major role in Louisiana and Texas history, and given notoriety by the filming of the movie "Steel Magnolias". In 1714, St. Denis built a garrisoned post to repel the Spanish of Texas and to promote trade with the locals. An illicit trade soon flourished with the Indians who traded with both the French and the Spanish. This post became the first permanent European settlement in the territory that would later be known as the Louisiana Purchase. From Natchitoches he traveled to the lands of the Hasinai Indians, and from then on to Spanish outposts on the Rio Grande.

On July 19, 1714, St. Denis strode into the Presidio San Juan Bautista Del Rio Grande de Norte, located in the state of Coahulia, Mexico. The Commander of the presidio, Major Diego Ramón, placed St. Denis under a pleasant house arrest. The Spanish Crown had enacted an order prohibiting the entry of foreign traders or their merchandise into Spanish territory. St. Denis violated the prohibition by bearing goods banned by Spanish mercantile restrictions. Major Ramón awaited instructions from Mexico City on what to do with this foreigner bearing such goods. In the interim, St. Denis, a Frenchman and a cavalier, and wasting no time, used the occasion to court, and win a promise of marriage from Ramón's beautiful step-granddaughter, Dona Maria Manuela Sánchez Navarro y Gomez Mascorro. Manuela was the daughter of Don Diego Sanchez Navarro y Camacho and Dona Mariana Gomez Mascorro de la Garza. She was the granddaughter of Don Diego Sanchez Navarro and Dona Feliciana Camacho y Botello. When widowed, Dona Feliciana married a second time to the Major Diego Ramon, the former Governor of Coahuila, and now the Commander of the Presidio. St. Denis, ordered to Mexico City, defended himself properly and competently. Soon after, in 1716, he became a member of the Ramón Expedition. Appointed as commissary officer, his duties included the founding of Spanish missions in East Texas.

This same year and on February 17, 1716, St. Denis married Manuela in the local Chapel of the Presidio San Juan Bautista. During 1716 and 1717, he participated in the founding of six missions and a presidio in East Texas. On April 1717, he returned to San Juan Bautista with a sizable amount of merchandise. Although well received on his first visit, the era of Franco-Spanish cooperation ended with the death of King Louis XIV and thereby concluded the thirteen years’ War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). St. Denis, again found himself viewed a foreigner under suspicion. However, this time he underwent more severe repercussions. To avoid a transfer to Spain as a prisoner when sent to Mexico City a second time, St. Denis fled the capital. By February 1719, he made his way back to Natchitoches. In 1721, Spanish officials permitted his wife, Manuela, to join him, and the couple spent their remaining years at the French outpost on the Red River. The 1722 census for Natchitoches lists the St. Denis’ and two children. The 1726 census of Natchitoches, LA. indexes St. Denis, his wife and three children.

St. Denis served for 24 years as Commander of Post St. Jean Baptiste in the Natchitoches District. From his command at Natchitoches, St. Denis was often a bothersome thorn for Spanish Texas. To this day controversy continues to surround his motives and actions. He insisted that his marriage to Manuela Sánchez indicated a desire to become a Spanish subject. Suspicious Spaniards, however, saw him as a covert agent of France.

For his leadership in dealing with the native Indians and his victory at Pensacola, King Louis XV of France granted St. Denis knighthood in the military Order of St. Louis. Without question, his accomplishments during his military career are indisputable. St. Denis contributed to the expanded geographical knowledge of the East Texas area for both France and Spain. He brought Spanish and French settlements into close proximity. Most significantly, he made banned trade a way of life on the borders of Spanish Texas and French Louisiana thereby firmly establishing trade on the Camino Real (The King’s Highway). On January 10, 1743, the 69-year-old captain wrote to Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas at Versailles indicating that he no longer could perform his duties as commandant of Natchitoches. He asked permission to retire to New Spain (Mexico) with his wife and children. Count of Maurepas denied his request. St. Denis died at Natchitoches on June 11, 1744. His tomb is under the site of the first parish church constructed in Natchitoches in 1728, St Francis, and located just outside the stockade of Post St. Jean Baptiste. Survived by Manuela and seven children, one daughter, Dona Marie Petronille Feliciana Jucereau St. Denis, was married to Captain Athanase Fortune Christophe de Mézières.

The achievements of Captain Athanase Fortune Christophe de Mézières deserve mention. He was born in 1719, the son of Louis Christophe de Mézières and Marie Antoinette Clugny, two prominent noble families of Paris. His parents had him baptized on March 26, 1719. His career as an infantryman began in Louisiana in the early 1730’s. Over the next thirty years, he served as ensign, lieutenant, and captain. On April 18, 1746, while assigned to the French outpost in Natchitoches, LA, he married Marie Petronille Feliciana Jucereau St. Denis. The marriage was brief. Marie died in 1746 while giving birth to their only child. Mézières later married Pelagie Fazende. On September 15, 1763, shortly after Louisiana passed from the French to Spanish control, he was discharged from the infantry. Like many Frenchmen in Louisiana at that time, he offered his services to Spain. In late 1769, Alejandro O’Reilly, then governor of Louisiana, appointed Mézières Lieutenant Governor of Natchitoches. Skilled in Latin, French, and Spanish, as well as in several Indian languages, Mézières embarked on an extraordinary career as a Spanish agent to the Indians of northern Texas. In 1770, he carried out the first of several expeditions to the Red River. In the following year, he successfully negotiated treaties with the Kichais, Tawakonis, Taovayas, and the Tonkawas by proxy. In 1778, Bernardo de Galvez, governor of Louisiana, released Mézières for additional services in Texas. He was to forge an alliance among the Spanish, Comanches, and Nortenos against the Apaches. To this end, Mézières traveled extensively over the course of a year to the new town of Bucareli, a settlement in Texas that eventually failed to prosper, to the Red River and even to New Orleans. En route between Los Adaes, now a historic site in Louisiana, and Nacogdoches, Texas, he suffered a serious brain injury when thrown from his horse. After convalescing, he continued on to San Antonio, the capital of Texas, arriving in September 1779. It was here that he learned of his appointment as governor of Texas. Mézières, now about 60 years of age, remained gravely ill and did not assume this office. He died at San Antonio on November 2, 1779, never fully recovering from his injuries. The proposed general alliance with the Comanches and Nortenos was never realized. He had one child by his first wife, Marie, eight by his second wife.

Dona Manuela died on April 16, 1758, and buried next to her husband. The annals of Natchitoches record that she was the wealthiest woman in Louisiana. Northwestern State University of Louisiana now occupies the property of her estate. Throughout the parishes of Louisiana, a genealogist can find the descendants of the unions between St. Denis and Sanchez.

Post St. Jean Baptiste continued to serve as a military outpost and commercial trade center until 1762. When England defeated France in the French and Indian War, France surrendered the Louisiana colony to Spain. In 1800, the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso officially returned the Louisiana territory west of the Mississippi to France. The Treaty discharged the Spanish from the continued deficits caused by the colony and relieved the growing possibility that Spain, to retain control of the lands, would find herself at war with the ever-growing numbers of Americans.

On May 2, 1803, the U.S. representatives Livingston and Monroe agreed to purchase the Louisiana territory for $15M. The United States doubled in size overnight! Louisiana was officially transferred from Spain to France on November 30, 1803, and on December 20, 1803, France transferred Louisiana to the United States. To date, this purchase of real estate has the distinction of being the biggest bargain in history!

References

Celiz, Fray Francisco. Diary of the Alarcon Expedition into Texas, 1718-1719.

Published by the Quivira Society.

Chabot, Frederick C. With the Maker of San Antonio.

Chipman, D.E. & Joseph, H.D. Explorers and Settlers of Spanish Texas.

De Zavala, Adina. The Handbook of Texas Online; History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions

Foster, William C. Spanish Expeditions into Texas 1689-1768.

Syers William Edwards. Texas:The Beginning 1519-1834

Weddle, Robert S. San Juan Bautista - Gateway to Spanish Texas

Wharton, Clarence Remember Goliad

Source: Laredo Morning times: Main News and Local Stories http://www.lmtonline.com/news/news.htm

SAN ANTONIO - A rare signature by James Bowie, one of the leading martyrs of the Alamo, has been found on what amounts to a prenuptial agreement filed with Mexican authorities five years before he was killed by Santa Anna's troops. 

The scarcity of Bowie signatures in existence would make this John Hancock worth at least $50,000, according to several historians. Not that the owner, Bexar County, has any plans to test its value in the open market.

"It's a one-of-a-kind," county clerk Gerry Rickhoff said. "It needs to be preserved so people 100 or 200 years from now can see this document."

Bowie, raised in Louisiana, came to San Antonio as a land speculator in 1828 when Mexico still controlled Texas. He later joined the Texas independence fight and was among the most prominent of those killed in the Battle of the Alamo in March 1836.

The prenup was recently dug out of Bowie's probate file, which for more than 160 years has been buried in the county's extensive archives of Spanish-language papers.

The April 22, 1831, marriage contract was penned in Spanish in an ornate hand and is chockful of legalese.

In its four pages, Bowie, famed knife fighter and entrepreneur, claims sufficient assets to provide a dowry of 15,000 pesos to Maria Ursula de Veramendi, 19-year-old daughter of the Mexican provincial governor.

"That would be a fair sum of money," Alamo curator Bruce Winders said.

By comparison, he said, a typical horse sold for about 40 pesos in those days.

Bowie's rough-handed signature, in fading brown ink, is near the bottom of the fourth page, and is underscored by a series of horizontal swirls that resemble a tornado sketch, wide at the top and tapering down.

In the document, Bowie claims assets worth nearly 150,000 pesos, the vast majority being money owed to him by the U.S. government and various business partners. He also listed 50,000 acres of land in Arkansas.

The couple was wed within days of the signing, but the union didn't last long, in 1833, while Bowie was away on business, Ursula and their two young children died in a cholera outbreak.

"This is such an unusual document," said Guimarin, whose shop stands across a narrow street from the Alamo. "The fact that this is Bowie, he died at the Alamo, that he has this romantic, adventurous life. He was a true frontier hero."

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Not being of the Catholic faith, I was deeply touched with this gentle vision. Doing a Google search, I found thousands of sites about St. Thérèse of Lisieux, even a movie has been made of her life. The website includes an audio. 
http://www.ewtn.com/therese/therese.htm

Society of the Little Flower
St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"Let us go forward in peace, 
our eyes upon heaven, 
the only one goal of our labors."

DIOCESE OF BATON ROUGE

Department of the Archives of the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge

http://www.diobr.org/departments/Archives/

http://www.diobr.org/departments/Archives/published_sacramental_records.htm
Sent by Bill Carmena  JCarm1724@aol.com

The Department of the Archives of the Diocese of Baton Rouge is the repository of the sacramental records of the Catholic churches within the diocesan territory. Civil parishes included in the Diocese are: Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupée, St. Helena, St. James, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.

The Department has published abstracts of its holdings of sacramental records. To date Volumes 1a through 19 have been published and are available for purchase. These books contain records of baptisms, marriages and burials dating back to the early records of the Parish of St. Charles-aux-Mines, Grand Pré in Acadia (1707-1748). There are many records of the Louisiana colonial period including those of St. Francis of Pointe Coupée (1722-1769). Volumes 1a through 19 contain records through 1894. In each volume the abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by surname. Volume 1b is the first volume to contain records of those without surnames.

EAST COAST

MEXICO

Linda Castanon-Long and her Journey of Discovery

Two and a half years  ago I started doing the genealogy of my family in Jerez, Zacatecas Mexico.  I sent a letter to Armando Montes since he has ancestors in the Jerez Zacatecas area.  In fact Al Duarte, Armando and Gabe Gutierrez all have ancestors whose lines have crossed with mine.  It was through Somos Primos Magazine that I found them and started my search for my roots.  They have been helping me with my genealogy and we are exchanging information with each other.  Armando thought you might be interested in my trip to the motherland.  Please feel free to make changes or shorten according to your needs if you decide to use it.

The exam prep course now being used by LDS Churches had its beginnings several years ago in the Monterrey Mexico area.  Professional and educators from the LDS Church volunteered their time and expertise during weekly workshops to help students prepare for their high school entrance exams.  The results have been impressive - 95 percent of the LDS young people in the Monterrey area who participated in recent workshops passed the national exam and went on to high school.

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

     

CubaAyer@AndresRivero.com

Vistas y relatos de la Cuba que la revolución fidelista ha envilecido; la república próspera y esperanzadora de ayer. Contribuya a esta sección con sus anécdotas y fotos: 

Capitolio Nacional Cubano, La Habana, construído durante el gobierno de Gerardo Machado (1925-1933)

Medrano reports at least a few walkouts every show -- usually Puerto Rican nationals whose beliefs get skewered. (Frankly, all "isms" come under Vazquez and Concepcion's friendly fire.) Still, despite his initial trepidation, Medrano says most GALA audiences seem open to a different perspective. "The non-Puerto Ricans -- to put it that way -- are watching this way, in an attitude of wanting to learn more," he says, leaning forward in his seat. "To me it means they're not as educated about Puerto Rico as I would have expected, but they're very interested in the show."

PRESIDENTE:     German Bolaños Zamora
VICEPRESIDENTA: Brunilda Hilje Quirós.
SECRETARIA:     Cecilia Lépiz Valls.
TESORERO:       Oscar Solano Zavaleta.
PRIMERA VOCAL:  Itza Alpízar Fallas.
SEGUNDO VOCAL:  Fernando Jáen García.

FISCALÍA:     FISCAL:  Mauricio Meléndez Obando.
COMISIÓN ELECTORAL: 
Ana Isabel Herrera Sotillo, José Antonio Fernández Molina, María de los Angeles Acuña León.

Atentamente, German Bolaños Zamora, Presidente

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SUPPORT FOR CHESAPEAKE BAY/YORKTOWN
by 
Granville Hough  
gwhough@earthlink.net

Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) was actively involved in financing, providing troop support, and protecting itself during the Chesapeake Bay/Yorktown Campaign in which America’s independence was assured.  Here is how it came about.

After General Bernardo de Gálvez’ captured Pensacola, his working partner, the King’s Representative, Francisco de Saavedra, went in July to Cap Français (capital of what is now Haiti) to coordinate Spanish-French activities.  Saavedra, as representative of King Carlos III, and de Grass, as representative of the French government, developed the de Grass-Saavedra accord, which their governments later ratified, for conduct of the war against Britain in the Western Hemisphere.  First
in their agreement was to strike a blow in America which would assure American independence.  Second was to recover bases and sugar islands in the Caribbean.  Third was to eliminate the British from the West Indies by taking Jamaica.  De Grasse had a plan for the first objective, which was to use his fleet in the Chesapeake Bay to work with Rochambeau’s French Expeditionary Force and with Washington’s American forces to corner and defeat Cornwallis in Southeastern Virginia.  Saavedra approved this plan, but de Grasse had a problem.  Before he could sail, he needed 2 million livres for his fleet and for Rochambeau’s army.  He could not raise the money in Haiti.

Saavedra, recognizing that immediate action was required, transferred 100,000 pesos, which happened to be stored at Cap Français, half the funds allocated for Santo Domingo’s governance, to de Grasse; then went to Havana to secure the additional money.  It is well known how the citizens of Havana, in six hours, provided 500,000 pesos, and were able to get the money to the de Grasse fleet.  (Five days later, 1,000,000 pesos from the mint of Mexico was dispatched from Havana on another French vessel to de Grasse.)  But the Santo Domingo money was first and very encouraging to de Grasse.

By terms of the de Grasse-Saavedra accord, de Grasse took his whole fleet and all the armed forces and militia in Haiti.  Then, the regular garrison of Santo Domingo, the Enghien Regiment, moved from Santo Domingo to Haiti to cover for the absent troops.  Within Santo Domingo, the local militia was alerted to defend their land and shores in case of any British attacks.

So the Dominican Republic, not really in the center of events, became truly committed to the Chesapeake Bay/Yorktown operation.  Everyone must have been aware they were contributing to truly significant events.

Reference: Saavedra de Sangronis, Francisco, "Journal of Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis during the commission that he had in his cargo from 25 June 1780 until 20 June 1783," edited and introduced by Francisco Morales Padron, translated by Aileen Moore Topping,
Gainesville, University of Florida Press, 1789.

INTERNATIONAL 

FROM CEBU TO MANILA: MAGELLAN, LEGASPI and SALCEDO
by
Rina D. Dungao, Ph.D  RayandRinaD@netzero.com

Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/catalogo.shtml
Biblioteca Digital de la Universidad de Chile http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/catalogo.shtml
California Digital Library  http://www.cdlib.org/
Alexandria Digital Library Project  http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/
Biblioteca Digital de la Facultad de Informática Universidad Politécnica de Valencia 
http://bdpfc.inf.upv.es/

Martha E. Galindo  mgalindo@ix.netcom.com
Galindo Publicidad, Inc.
10677 NW 48th Street
Coral Springs, FL 33076
Tel. 954 255 5620
Fax 954 255 5615 
http:// www.translationsandmore.com
A full-service Translations firm helping you say what you mean in today's global marketplace

 
   SPAIN  Mosque Dedicated,  First in 5 Centuries, July 11th L.A. Times.
 
The cry of a muezzin echoed from a hilltop overlooking the Alhambra as Spain got its first new mosque since Muslim rule ended more than 500 years ago.  Dignitaries from Arab and Muslim countries worldwide gathered at the former seat of Moorish government for the opening of the Great Mosque of Granada.  Sent by Mary Lou Montagna nandin@att.net

Sent by Roberto Pérez Guadarrama perezfru@telcel.net.ve

http://www.geocities.com/venezuela_genealogia/index.html
http://www.saur.de
http://www.familysearch.org
http://www.andalucia.cc/habis/primeros.htm
http://www.google.com
 http://searches.rootsweb.com/share.html

Chao, Roberto Pérez Guadarrama   

If you have a photo that you would like to share with MyFamily.com send it to tips@myfamilyinc.com* with the word "photos" in the subject line. Please include your first name and hometown.

http://www.myfamily.com/html/CM/News/
weekly/030709.html

Jose Figueroa Gonzalez, Lima. Peru
Father's Day with Sons

 Camp David’ for Inca Royalty 

Canary Islands Foundation For Education and Culture

July 3^rd, 2003

I, Mr. Alejandro Sans, CEO of the USA the Office of the Government of the Canary Islands and founder of CIFEC, want to cordially invite all Canary Islands organizations to join us in our mission.

We are a non-profit organization which establishes, fosters and supports institutional, commercial and cultural relations between the Canary Islands and the United States, Mexico and Canada. The office opened its doors on January 1999 because of the special relations of the City of San Antonio, and the Canary Islands. San Antonio is a sister city with both capitals of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canarias. On November 2002, Miami was established as the headquarters of the US offices because of its relationship with its sister city Tenerife, Canary Islands. Currently, the Miami office is working on building bonds amongst all Islands organizations in the US.

CIFEC (Canary Islands Foundation For Education and Culture), is a national foundation that works on fostering the awareness of the rich historical contribution of the Spanish Canary Islanders in USA.

As CEO of the USA Offices of the Government of the Canary Islands, and founder of CIFEC, I have implemented my efforts to work continuously with all of the existing Canary Islands Descendent Organizations in North America by:

• raising funds towards education and culture
• establishing student exchanges and cultural programs
• strengthening the ties between the U.S. and the Canary Islands
• providing cultural materials for all Canary Islands descendents and the public
• supporting efforts and coordinating projects.

For all of the above, I would like to implement a newsletter that will bring all descendent organizations closer together and increase awareness of the Canary Islands.

We will be providing the newsletter through the CIFEC web page that can be found at http://www.canaryislands-usa.com/cifec/. The newsletter will also be found through search engines and links on the web.

The newsletter is your outlet to the world. Use this opportunity to promote your organization and programs. By this initiative, the relationship between all Canary Islands organizations in the US will be strengthened and we may work together as a team to achieve our goals.

I will include an attachment of the guidelines for the newsletter. The newsletter will be sent at the end of every month and will include different sections that will be thoroughly explained within the attached letter.

Lastly, there will be a Canary Islands Descendents Association Council within CIFEC, that will try to meet once a year where all Canary Islands organizations in the US will discuss their projects and initiatives. I ask from you to send one representative from your organization to participate in the Council.

This is a unique opportunity to bring the Canary Islands organizations in the US together as well as all Canary Islands descendents. This initiative will increase awareness of the Canary Islands contributions and involvement in the US, while allowing organizations to become more familiarized with one another. I strongly urge you to participate in the newsletter and choosing a representative to join the CIFEC foundation. I look forward to including your articles in the newsletter and working closely to achieve our goals.

Best Regards,  Alejandro Sans
Director of Business Development
http://www.canaryislands-usa.com/

A multi-media online magazine, diverse Latino New magazine, first published in 1995.  Back issues available.  Quite advanced technology and high level of cultural offerings. 

Slide show by Alma Lopez

AUDIO-POEM by JUAN GELMAN
ORACIÓN DE UN DESOCUPADO
Read by the poet.

HISTORY

SPANISH CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Contributed by Verne White vswhite1@earthlink.net writes: This article was prepared by Granville Hough, Ph.D. taken from a talk by the Consul General of Spain in 1979. First published by the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans

“DISCURSO PRONUNCIADO POR EL SR. CONSUL GENERAL EL 29 DE MARZO DE 1979
ANTE LA LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,” by Hon. José Montero de Pedro, Marqués de Casa Mena, Consul General de España.

It is a great pleasure and satisfaction for me to be with you this evening on the occasion of the viewing of the films about the life and career of Bernardo de GÁLVEZ in Louisiana. In accepting the invitation of the Louisiana Historical Society my address will deal with the Spanish contribution to the cause of the American Revolution.

Ask any American, with the exception of the trained historian, what he knows of the aid given by Spain to the United States in its struggle for independence during the Revolutionary War and the answer will be short and instantaneous - “Nothing”. Ask the same question of many students
of American History and the answer will be the same. And yet, the Spanish contribution to the birth of the United States was enormously important.

Let it be recognized frankly that neither France nor Spain entered the struggle for the independence of the American Colonies from pure altruism. Nations have always acted for reasons of state, as they do to this day. But this is not to say that the participation of the two countries did not substantially contribute to the winning of independence.

The story of the contribution of France has often been told. But what of the contribution of Spain? That story has been sadly and inexplicably neglected. It is the purpose of this short address to reveal or remind you of that story, as dispassionately and objectively as possible.

Modern research carried out in archives in Spain, France, and Washington reveal that the courts of Madrid and Paris had agreed, early in the year 1776, upon a plan for giving assistance secretly to the
revolting colonies. It was agreed between them that in order to insure the secrecy, since neither Court was to appear as an ally of the insurgents, all monies and supplies should be handled by a third party and appear as open business transactions. (italics added). (Comment by GWH: Why was it feasible on 4 July 1776 for the American Colonies to declare independence? One partial answer is that the framers knew that France and Spain were in support and would presumably be trading
partners for the future. Without such support, it would not have made sense to declare independence from one’s lifeline, and the war would have taken some other course.)

Sympathy for the Americans, when they began open hostilities against the mother country, ran high throughout Spain. At that time, however, Spain was not in a position to make her sympathy openly known. She was engaged in a war with Portugal over possessions in South America that was costing her vast amounts in money and many men and ships. England, the open ally of Portugal, held the dangerous points of Minorca, Mahan, and Gibraltar. Her navy was the most powerful on the seas, second in numbers only to the Spanish fleet.

Carlos III, was, at this time, diplomatically involved in peace negotiations with Portugal and could ill afford to enter into any alliance that might endanger the successful conclusion of these negotiations. To become openly engaged in the struggle of the American colonists against their mother country would certainly lead to a declaration of war against England and invite an immediate blockade of
all Spanish ports, thus ending all possibility of signing the desired treaty with Portugal. Such was the position of Spain when the Americans began hostilities against England. It also sufficiently explains the reasons why Spain decided to keep secret her aid to the revolting colonies.

It was arranged accordingly that, to start with, the two Bourbon Courts would make an outright gift of two million “livres tournaises,” one million to come from each Court. One of the first moves consisted of setting up a fictitious company to direct the aid program, make purchases of supplies, arrange for their shipment to the Colonies, contact American agents living in France, and account for the money
spent. (Comment by GWH: the dummy company was the famous “Rodrigue Hortalese and Company,” and its main director was the French playwright and statesman Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais of France.) Thus, in June 1776, when the American Revolution had just begun, we find both Spain and France acting officially, though under the seal of secrecy, as allies of the English colonies against their mother country. Even before this date, however, supplies had been going out on a haphazard basis through the ports of Spain, France, and Holland, as ship captains from America picked up arms and ammunition in personal trading ventures. Moreover, much important trade of this nature had been going on through the Spanish ports in the West Indies. Using these same ports as bases, American captains had been able to prey upon British merchant vessels during the first months of the war. (italics added).

By September 1777, Spain had already furnished the American insurgents with 1,870,000 livres tournaises, but before long, it became apparent to the court of Madrid that the funds which had been given equally by the two nations were being credited, by the Americans, solely to the Court of France.

Nevertheless, Spain was still maintaining in 1777 the cloak of secrecy over its operations, a secrecy believed to be vital to the security of its (Spain’s) American dominion. For this reason, when Charles III decided to send Juan Miralles as an observer to the headquarters of General Washington in 1777, Miralles took up his duties under the patronage of the French Ambassador, following the instructions of the Spanish Court. Miralles’ position was humiliating. He felt, and not without reason, that the affairs of Spain were being adjusted to the indirect advantage of France. But it proved impossible to bring about a change in his status. Washington and Miralles became very close friends. The Spanish diplomat died in Washington’s headquarters, at Morristown, in April 1780. The highest military honors were rendered to him as if he had been a fully accredited ambassador. Washington paid his final tribute to his friend in a letter to the Governor of Havana saying of him “in this country he has been universally esteemed and (his death) will be universally regretted.”

In the fall of 1777, Washington, his army short of clothing and war supplies, was facing the winter that might well decide the fate of his country. Desperate agents of the colonies were becoming more and more indiscreet, announcing openly the sources of aid to America. By giving the strong impression that Spain and France were actually their open allies, they hoped to weaken England’s will to continue the war.

Finally, on the 21st of June 1779, Spain declared war against Great Britain. But before that happened, the hard-pressed Americans were being placed in possession of sorely needed supplies along the western frontier through the Spanish Governor of Louisiana in New Orleans, Bernardo de GÁLVEZ. New Orleans was this to become crucial to the cause of the American Revolution. There, the story of the collaboration between Oliver POLLOCK, who was well on his way to becoming one of the
greatest financiers in North America, and the young Spanish Governor, Bernardo de GÁLVEZ, would remain forever a glorious affirmation of the friendship between Spain and the struggling new nation.

It is not my purpose to go into the narrative of the campaigns which followed. I would rather mention very briefly some of its more relevant details.

Fortunately the renewed interest in their own history awakened in Americans by the celebration of the Bicentennial year has reminded many of the decisive importance of the role played by Bernardo de GÁLVEZ in the unfolding of the American Revolution. Nevertheless, not many Americans know about the “Marcha de Gálvez” and about the fight which took place along the Caribbean (Gulf) coast of the United States or up the Mississippi Valley, in which Americans and Spaniards fought together
against the common English foe. And this is so because there is a tendency to consider the American Revolution as a series of dramatic events taking place in a comparatively small area along the Eastern Seaboard, forgetting the crucial importance that the Mississippi River Valley and the Northeast Coast of the Gulf of Mexico did actually have in the success of the uprising.

The celebration of the Bicentennial has been an excellent opportunity to bring back to the arena of the American Revolution the role played by Louisiana and the rest of the territories of North America which were once under the sovereignty of Spain (italics added.)

Spain’s attitude in the first moments of the Revolution was clearly expressed by Don Bernardo de GÁLVEZ when he wrote Colonel MORGAN, at the time Commander in Fort Pitt, on August 9, 1997. After expressing his support for the colonists’ cause, GÁLVEZ said: “Your can count on me
extending whatever aid is within my power to give, as long as I appear to be totally ignorant of it.” That cautious attitude was totally in line with the secrecy requested for the operation by the court of Spain, as was mentioned before.

Spain’s entry into the War came at a time that was highly critical for the Colonists, who were trying to fight the strongest nation in Europe almost barehanded. In 1778, the center of gravity of the war had been transferred from the North to the South and there the fortunes of war were not exactly favoring the Colonists. That year the English took Savannah and Augusta, as well as other towns, causing severe setbacks for the American forces which had lost some 5,000 men.

It was then the British hastened to put into action their long contemplated plans for the capture of New Orleans, and there is little doubt that their success would have given them permanent command of the Mississippi Basin, from Canada to the Gulf.

It is very easy to imagine what the consequences of such a situation would have meant to the cause of the American Revolution. With the British already controlling all the Eastern Coast, Canada and Florida, their possession of the Mississippi Valley would have strangled the rebellion to death.

Spain contributed to prevent this from happening by entering the Revolutionary War and providing the Colonists with secure Southern and Western borders, from its (Spain’s) bases in Louisiana and Cuba. This was extremely important since it prevented the American Revolutionaries from getting encircled. Supplies could continue to flow up the Mississippi and, from then on, the Colonists would be able to wage their war of Independence with their backs well protected.

The Spanish Commander-in-Chief was Don Bernardo de GÁLVEZ. In September 1779, he led his forces 115 miles north of New Orleans in eleven days, in what is known as the “Marcha de Gálvez,” capturing Manchack (Manchac), Baton Rouge and Natchez, British posts on the Mississippi. Then he turned on Mobile, which he conquered by the end of March 1780, leaving only Pensacola, capitol of West Florida, that was to be surrendered to him by Brigadier General John CAMPBELL, together with
1100 prisoners, by the summer of 1781.

Spain’s declaration of war on England forced the British to fight on several fronts at the same time, having to oppose the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 90 vessels which was laying siege to Gibraltar, and (which) had even threatened to invade England itself. In this way, they tied up a sizeable percentage of the British fleet from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean, making it impossible for England to effect a blockade on the American Coast, and so facilitating the operation of an
ever-growing fleet of American and foreign privateers. The activities of Spanish privateers were also an important factor as they helped to cripple English means of communication and transportation. Among these privateers was the Spaniard Jorge Farragut, father of the first American Admiral. (Footnote: Jorge Farragut was actually father of David G.Farragut, famous for his capture of New Orleans in the Civil War, April 1862.)

(The above was published by the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans, P. O. Box 51791, New Orleans, LA, 70151, in its journal, New Orleans Genesis, vol 71( June 1779) 269-270, and used with permission.)
,

The Fate of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence ?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners: men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall and straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of the declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America . The history books told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: Freedom is never free! I hope you show your support by sharing this with as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that Patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

~Author Unknown~Contributed by: Harry Updegraff, Jr.  
Source: HispanicVista.com 

ARCHAEOLOGY

FAMILY RESEARCH TIPS

BEGINNING HISPANIC RESEARCH

By, Salena B. Ashton © 2003, Mission, Texas

To begin researching your Hispanic ancestors, use the entire research process. As you gather your preliminary sources, or, works that others have done (family sources, Internet and other databases, LDS sources, printed and non-printed materials, biographies, etc), you must tuck a few thoughts into the back of your mind.

Not many people who research their genealogy have Hispanic ancestry and, unfortunately, Hispanics are not researching enough. Of those who do, only a portion contribute their work to databases and other resources, which could help fellow researchers. When you research the Internet, books, and other databases, you may not find as much information as your Anglo counterpart. You could easily become frustrated, as I did when I began researching my Hispanic ancestors, and many decide that genealogy is too hard. That is not true. Do not get discouraged if you find no names in these secondary sources. It does not mean that your ancestors did not exist—it only means that no one has contributed these names to that particular resource.

Because there is not a lot of secondary material available, family sources are your key to a successful beginning in your research. Ask as many questions about your family that you can think of. Ask specific questions—they will be easier for your family to answer and you obtain greater detail. If you ask your mother, "What was your childhood like?" she will just look at you. If you ask her, "What was it like when you learned to ride a bike?" You will then be told a detailed story. Take notes, or better yet, record the interview with a tape recorder. People talk faster than we write. Try not to ask them to write their memories down—do the work yourself. When you allow people to simply talk, they use more details and procrastinate less, and enjoy relaxing while you do all the work.

Your parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins will have vast amounts of information to get you started on your research. This information will come in the form of birth, marriage, and death certificates, cards and letters, pictures, memories that are written, memories that will need to be extracted from Grandpa Joe’s head, and perhaps there will even be some compiled genealogy. Use the list found below.

When you start talking to people about family history you will first want to start with yourself, then your parents and siblings. Then you can talk to aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. You will want to ask specific questions. When people tell you what they know, it is good to be prepared:

1. Paper and Pencil. Take notes on what you learn. Write down the specific questions you want to ask. Very few of us will be able to keep all of the facts straight in our heads. Don’t take chances.
2. Tape Recorder, tapes, extra batteries and an extension cord. Unless you are super human, you won’t be able to write as fast as people talk, neither will you be able to remember everything people tell you. Using a tape recorder allows you to enjoy talking with people without worrying about getting down all of the facts. It also allows the person to talk without worrying about your writing.
3. Ask specific questions. Which question will be easier to answer? "Grandma, tell me about your childhood." or the second, "Grandma, tell me how you got to school everyday."

Anything that the family lends to you, be sure to return it. Get a Xerox copy of what they hand you. Take notes on who gave you what. The last thing you want to do is create a family feud by giving Aunt Flo’s pictures to Uncle George.

Speaking of family feuds, very few of us come from a perfect family. There are tough situations that you may have to deal with. If parts of your family don’t talk to each other, you will have to overcome that. Unless the problems involve you directly, overcoming these obstacles will be easier. Most often the reason people fight will have to do with other generations and you, as the child of your parents, are indirectly caught in it. By simply re-establishing contact with a grandparent or aunt, you can assure them that you still want to speak with them and get to know them.

If your family will not help you in gathering information and resources, then that is fine. Keep trying. It might take two or three contacts. It might require that you pay for all expenses. It might require two weeks or six years of patience. But do what you can. Most often, when relatives see that you serious, they will usually lighten up. For example, my dad’s side of the family tree resembles a collection of family splinters. No one talks to anyone. After I moved out for college, I could start talking to them without my parents forbidding me. Imagine how hard that was for an eighteen year old! Well, the family is not nice and my parents had good reason to cut off all contact. However, they are still my family and they still have information. They have the same ancestors that I do, and those ancestors have as much need for genealogy and being remembered as we do.

And so it happened that the family would not cooperate with me. I had to start from scratch. About five years later, I presented an aunt with the work I had done (keeping in contact with her from time to time). She saw how much work I had been able to do and three weeks later she gave me some names, dates, facts, stories, and some pictures to be Xeroxed. I had to constantly keep contact with people who disliked my parents, who avoided my calls, and who could care less about genealogy. It took a lot of work (and I often think working with the living is harder than the deceased), but I learned the name of my third great grandma Rosa May Wolfe. Now tell me, was all that work worth it? Ask Rosa May Wolfe. Don’t you think she feels better having been remembered? Yes, this work is worth it.

For more information about how to do family history interviews and what kind of sources to ask for your family, check out William G. Hartley’s The Everything Family Tree Book. And especially Don Ray’s Make Anyone Want to Talk. No Questions Asked: An Investigative Reporter’s Guide to Perfect Interviews.

After five years of searching for your missing link ancestor who will take you back eight more generations, your great aunt says, "Well, I could have told you that!"

When you do not know your relatives very well, it is best to write them first before calling. Send your pedigree and some family history from their branch of the family (makes a wonderful bait). Send along a family group sheet for them to fill out, if they wish.

Don’t immediately ask for original items unless you want to scare them away. Build a sincere relationship of trust before asking for other people’s personal belongings, whether it takes two days or two years.

Ask for photocopies of the appropriate items from this list:

Old letters

Photographs

Business papers

Naturalization certificates

Deeds

Family group sheets

Family histories

Military papers and stories

Funeral card

Obituaries

You may also want to, after establishing a relationship of trust, offer to scan original documents. I have often found that when I offer this, and then mention they will get the original and ‘free’ copies back, I usually get access to the pictures. Promise to share with them what family history you gather. Offer to pay for their copying and mailing costs. Enclose a SASE.

Questions:  These questions are meant to give you ideas on what to ask. They are certainly not the only questions to ask, and should not limit the conversation. Let these questions guide—not dictate—your interview.

When were they born?

Might they have been christened or baptized?

Where and when did they attend school?

Where and when did they marry?

Where and when did they die? What about burial?

Did they have children?

Where and when did they have children?

Where did they come from? Country, county, area, town, parish?

How did they get here?

When and why did they come here?

Why did they leave their mother country?

Did they come alone?

Was he or she indentured?

Did they come as part of a group?

Did they come directly or did they stop in transit on their way here?

How did they make a living in their mother country? What about here?

Would they have owned, land house, or business?

Where might their names have appeared?

For what reason might their names have appeared?

When might their names have appeared?

Would newspaper stories or statistical columns have listed their names?

Would their names have appeared in town or city directories?

What about telephone directories (1890 and on)?

Would they have belonged to a particular religion?

Did they attend church?

Where and when did they attend church?

Might he have served in the military?

When and where did he serve in the military?

What were the military conflicts of that time?

Might they have been members of a fraternal organization?

Where were they at every census enumeration?

Were their movements recorded by any authority?

MISCELLANEOUS

You Never Know.........
Quite a few of us grew up with Captain Kangaroo, as you or your children probably did. I knew nothing of his background, only that his show was both entertaining, educational, and as kids, we looked forward to it with great anticipation. Captain Kangaroo turned 76 recently, which is
odd, because he's never looked a day under 76 . (DOB:>6/27/27) It reminded me of the following story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Some people have been a bit offended that Lee Marvin is buried in a grave alongside 3 and 4 star generals at Arlington National Cemetery. His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here's a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys?

Well, following is the amazing answer:

I always liked Lee Marvin, but did not know the extent of his Corps experiences. In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces, often in rear-echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima. There is only one higher Naval award... the Medal Of Honor.

If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialog from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson: His guest was Lee Marvin. Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima... and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."

"Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the butt and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi ...bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys gettin' shot hauling you down.

But Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. The dumb guy actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. That
Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends. When they brought me off Suribachi we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me lying on my belly on the litter and said, 'Where'd they get you Lee?' Well Bob... if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse! Johnny, I'm not lying... Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew..... Bob Keeshan... You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo."

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quite. Mr. Rogers is another on those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long sleeve sweater to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. A master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, he was able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat. He hid that away and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm.

America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did, they quietly go about their day to day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedom's that we all enjoy.

Plastics that are not acid-free produce gases that can eventually erode the image.  Never use magnetic album pages.  The adhesive can cause staining after a short time and make the photos hard to remove without ripping them.

Never write on the back of photo with ink or ballpoint pen.  The safest way to label the back of a photo is with a soft lead pencil.

Framed photos should never be placed in direct or indirect light, which will cause the image to fade, or near heat, which can accelerate the breakdown of the emulsion.

Three types of acid-free plastic are safe for storage: polyethylene, polypropylene, and Mylar or Melinex. Product websites:
http://www.archivalsuppliers.com  University Products
http://www.lightimpresssionsdirect.com  Light Impressions  800-628-1912
http://www.gaylord.com   Gaylord Brothers  800-634-6307

Subject: Scholarships for Undocumented StudentsSource: http://www.Latina-Leadership-network.org

Financial Aid for Non-citizens and non-permanent residents College-bound students who are not citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States are not eligible for State or federal financial assistance because of their immigration status. In addition, they are generally classified as international students and therefore are required to pay higher tuition and fees. However, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), has compiled a list of scholarships that are open to undocumented students. 

The list is available on MALDEF's website at http://www.maldef.org or by calling (213) 629-2512. Scholarship Listings and Search Engines:

 Scholarship Listings Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute http://www.chciyouth.org>>

 -- Aspira Association, Inc. http://www.aspira.org/Scholarships.html>>

 -- Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities <http://www.hacu.net/student_resources/index.shtml>>

  -- Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) <http://www.maldef.org>>

  -- Scholarship Search Engines || HispanicScholarship.com <<http://www.hispanicscholarship.com>>

 -- College Board <<http://www.collegeboard.com>>

--Absolutely Scholarships <http://www.absolutelyscholarships.com>>

 || Fastweb.com <<http://www.fastweb.com>>

 || FreSch! <<http://www.freschinfo.com>>

 |http:// www.moneycentral.msn.com/family/home.asp

| Petersons.com <<http://www.petersons.com/finaid>>

 | Scholarships.com <<http://www.scholarships.com

Garry's Home Cookin' garry@netrelief.com
Eat first, ask questions later!  http://www.netrelief.com/garry/

[BBQ] [Chili] [Home Cookin'] [Links] [Mexican] [Recipes] [Texas Cookin']

Don't let the name throw you.  Garry has links to many other collections, such as: Mexican Recipes shared by Patricia Wriedt.  These are recipes translated into English and shared by Patricia Wriedt from Mexico City. Download all of Patricia's recipes in a single zipped file in Mastercook export format. You do not need Mastercook to use these recipes. They are in text file.
http://mexicancooking.netrelief.com/wriedt/default.asp      Sent by Joan De Soto