OCTOBER  2003
Editor: Mimi Lozano, mimilozano@aol.com 
©2000-3

          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

 

Content Areas
United States
-

Galvez-
15
Surnames-
27
   Ortiz and Ortega
Orange Co, CA
- 29
Los Angeles, CA
- 35
California- 4
Northwestern US
- 59
Southwestern US
Black - 66
Indigenous - 66
Sephardic - 73
Texas -74
East Mississippi
 - 81
East Coast
- 83
Mexico
- 85
Caribbean/Cuba
-101
International
-107
History
-110
Archaeology
-112
Family History
-114
Miscellaneous
-116
2003 Index
Calendars
Networking 
Meetings Gálvez Gala

END

 


Front cover of 
La Luz, June-July 1981, Vol.9, No.5.  
Charlie and Sebastiana Erickson 
stand in front of a statue of Bernardo de Gálvez.
Washington, D.C. 


I feel privileged to share information from an 1981 issue of  La Luz.  It was sent by Charlie A. Erickson, founder of the Washington-based Hispanic Link News Service. The insight, vision and dedication that Erickson's personal story reveals is an inspiration. A life-commitment was firmly established in 1979. Ericksen, then 51 said he had the idea of establishing an Hispanic news service when he realized there were no Hispanic writers being syndicated in American newspapers. 
The fuel for Ericksen's Hispanic rights passion came from two sources.  One, his wife Sebastiana is a native of Oaxaca, Mexico.  The other from the days when his five mestizo children were growing up in the barrios of East Los Angeles.   "Every part of them that was Hispanic in culture was given no value by the schools or anybody," said Erickson.  "They were only measured by that part of them that was Anglo."  

So in 1979, having accumulated more than 30 years of experience in journalism and public relations, Ericksen quit his job as director of media relations for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  And in January 1980, he established the Hispanic Link News Service with headquarter on N Street NW.  He said he chose "Hispanic Link" because "what we're trying to do is be a link between the part of the country made up of different Hispanic backgrounds and the dominant society.

Charlie and Sebastiana 
on their wedding day.

Holly Lown, an editorial volunteer, Sebastiana, Cynthia Valdez, and Charlie.


"Most newspapers take a very narrow view of the benefits which a bilingual of bicultural people can bring to society.  They don't present a Hispanic perspective."  "The ultimate proof of our success won't be measured by what happens to Hispanic Link.  A better yardstick will be what role we can play in influencing establishment newspapers and syndicates to hire their own Hispanic reporters, editors, columnists and editorial writers - to that this critical viewpoint is finally built into the structure of American journalism."

Ericksen continues as a reporter to the Hispanic Link Weekly Report.  He was recently selected as one of the top 50 Hispanic Media Publishers, Editors, Reporters and professionals from across the nation by an independent group of judges in the Spanish journalism field.  

 


All life is an experiment. -- 
Do not go where the path may lead, 
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sent by Salena Ashton


Somos Primos Staff: 
Mimi Lozano, Editor
John P. Schmal, 
Johanna de Soto, 
Howard Shorr
Armando Montes
Michael Stevens Perez
Rina Dichoso-Dungao, Ph.D.

Contributors: 
Salena Ashton
Bill Doty
Mark Bixler 
Stephan Cano
Bill Carmena
Michael Carrillo
Ashley Chancellor

Gloria Delgado
Joan De Soto 
Charlie A. Ericksen
Rina D. Dungao
Frank Fregoso
Anthony Garcia
Mary Garcia
Art Garza
George Gause
Jose O. Guerra Jr.
Rafael Ray Hagar
Elsa Pena Herbeck
Steven Hernandez
Zeke Hernandez
Marjorie Higgins
Granville Hough
John D. Inclan
Cindy LoBuglio 
Gregorio Luke
Armando Montes
Viola Myre
Marcos Nava
Donie Nelson
María Newman
Paul Newfield
Gloria Oliver
Rudy Pena
Sebastian Rotella
George R. Ryskamp
John P. Schmal
Brittany Skousen
Elizabeth Stookes
J.D. Villarreal
Winnie Yamada
Prieto Zartha

SHHAR Board:  Laura Arechabala Shane, Bea Armenta Dever, Steven Hernandez,  Mimi Lozano Holtzman, Henry Marquez, Carlos Olvera, Crispin Rendon, Viola Rodriguez Sadler, John P. Schmal

The Board expends a big, warm thank you to Diane Burton Godinez who maintained the calendar for SHHAR, and contributed in many ways to the needs of the organization.  She will no longer be able to serve on the Board.  Her cheerfulness and dedication will be missed.
      Don't miss the Gálvez Concert and History Expo, Oct 10-12
 

 

UNITED STATES

SEXTA CONFERENCIA ANUAL DE
HISTORICA FAMILIAR HISPANA

Salt Lake City,  October 18th


Mormons archive vast genealogical records
Si...! We have a new Hispanic PARADIGM !
World Book, Inc.
Immigrants emigrating from Calif. & New York
Census Notes Rise in Hispanic Population 

Local School Gets Grant; to Receive 1.35 Million
Hispanic Homeownership Opportunities
"The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love"
Espeuelas and U.S. Hispanic English-Speakers
Language - Cultural barrier in American society
Aging U.S. Needs Migrant Workers
Deportation of Mexicans & US Citizens in 1930s 
The Pancho Villa Remix
TV Movie Shows Pancho Villa As Movie Star 
Restoring the Golden Door
 


October 18, 2003

SEXTA CONFERENCIA ANUAL DE HISTORIA FAMILIAR HISPANA
Spanish Language Family History Conference

"Preservando Nuestras Raices Culturales atra vez de Nuestra Historia Familiar"

BIBLIOTECA DE HISTORIA FAMILIAR
40 S. WEST TEMPLE, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 
8:00am- 8:50am
INSCRIPCIÓN Y CASA ABIERTA

9:00am- 10:00am
Herencia y Aventura: Porque Hacemos la Genealogía
Mickey García,Houston,Texas, 
Autor y Geneaogista

10:15am- 11:15pm
Family Search Principiantes:
  Jose Sánchez
PAF 4.0 Principiantes: Mindi Anderson
Family Search: Avanzado Estudiantes de
BYU

Como Comenzar: Brenda Helsten
Registros Parroquiales: Ruth Gomez Schirmacher
Somos Todos Primos: Networking and Sharing: Mimi Lozano
Hay Mas: Registros Diocesanos George Ryskamp
TempleReady (español) Jerry Castillo
 
11:30pm- 12:30pm
Catálogo, de la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar:  Irene Jiménez
PAF 4.0 Principiantes: Mindi Anderson
PAF 4.0 Avanzado: Maria Luisa Welch
Recursos para Genealogía en el Internet: Alfredo Vélez
La Búsqueda Advanzada en México: |Lyman Platt
Places and Records in Spain and Latin América: George Ryskamp
La Búsqueda en Brazil: Mark Grover
FamilySearch Pedigree Resource Files (español): Jerry Castillo
 

LUNCH BREAK (Attendees on their own)
VIP Luncheon in JSMB with Award Presentation    
12:30pm-2:00pm

 
2:15pm-3:15pm
FamilySearch Principiantes: Brenda Helsten
PAF 4.0 Principiantes: Mindi Anderson
PAF 4.0 Avanzado: Maria Luisa Welch
Registros Civiles: Ignacio Delgado
La Búsqueda en Italia Paula Manfredi
Spanish Resources on the Internet: Rebecca Carvahlo
Viajando Para Hacer Genealogía en México: Mickey García
Catálogo de la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar: Irene Jiménez
 
3:30pm-4:30pm
FamilySearch Avanzado Estudiantes de BYU
PAF 4.0 Principiantes: Jose Sánchez
Catálogo de la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar Avanzado: Alfredo Vélez
Como Aumentar Interés en Genealogía: Daisy Jiménez
Censos: Lyman Platt
Parish & Civil Registers: Laurie Castillo
Antes de 1600: George Ryskamp
Ayudando al Principiante
 

4:30pm- 5:30pm  Panel de Preguntas y Respuestas – Museum Auditorium


Mormons archive vast genealogical records by Mic Barnette, September 19, 2003
HoustonChronicle.com  http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/features/2110225
More information on the records and services of the LDS Church for family history research.
Sent by Gloria Oliver  oliverglo@msn.com

 Si. . . ! We have a new Hispanic PARADIGM!
By Ricardo Castanon rcastanon2001@yahoo.com   
September 8, 2003

SUMMARY: HISPANIC THINK-TANK: Hispanics have a new and dynamic PARADIGM! From the rich mixture of indigenous traditions, mestizos have kept the best of their ancestors heritage and passed-on this legacy to our offsprings. These new generations have had to combine the old and the new and it has resulted in a whole new set of qualities that bring out all of their potential for a better future.

To describe this new Hispanic paradigm, it is necessary to realize that our Latin-American origins
group together a large diversity of mores, customs and traditions that although similar, really belong to the various original locations. When these traits and behaviors -no matter how deeply rooted in the individual persona they may be- are confronted with a different set of values and principles, inevitably an adjustment takes place. The original immigrant to this land has to set aside his old perspective and open-up his mind and heart to the new and sometimes blinding ways and means of the modern global society.  

This initial adjustment often goes unnoticed. The real and important transition happens when the subsequent generations begin to merge the old and the new concepts. The substance of our old ways and traditions -our culture- has had to adapt to the times, it has transubstantiated. The very essence of our roots is still there though, and will remain as the glue that holds our community together. This solid foundation of valor, perseverance and courage contained for centuries finally has an escape valve to channel all that accumulated energy through. Our ancestors had to accept the imposition of the conquistador ways. Our subconscious was thus conditioned, subjugated and
deprived of all initiative. When the dormant warrior' spirit in our offspring is exposed to the modern ways of opportunity and freedom we enjoy in America today, the best of alloys is obtained.

That is the metamorphosis our young men and women are going through today. This new breed already in the workforce, has been having their Latin roots transmuted into a new and singular Hispanic culture of their own. They are destined to turn history around! From XVI century "conquered" to XXI century conquerors! That is today's Hispanic paradigm! A new culture that uses all the qualities inherited from our forefathers as a fuse to ignite all the potential they have at hand, and forge with wisdom and love for one another the ideal society once predicted by the gods!

Viva AMERICA!  Verdad que... Si?
___________________________________________________
Ricardo Castanon is an essayist contributing weekly columns to the virtual magazine Hispanic Vista.
http://www.HispanicVista.com . Ricardo is the author of the trilogy "SIMPLE SIMON'S ODYSSEY...facing the big questions" a Latin perspective on practical philosophy. Book information is available at http://www.SimonBook.com . Ricardo is based in El Paso, TX. Contact Ricardo at Rico@SimonBook.com.  

Big Congratulations to Albert Seguin ASeguin2@aol.com  for making a difference > positive activism.
Great News, read the following!!!!

"Dear Albert:
I apologize for not responding to your e-mail sooner. You may recall that you had recommended adding mention of Texas Revolutionary hero Juan Seguin to World Book. I agree with the recommendation, and an article is in the planning stages. It will be uploaded to World Book Online Reference Center later this fall. Thanks again for taking the time to send us your suggestion."

Dale W. Jacobs,
Editor in Chief, World Book, Inc.

Extract:
Immigrants emigrating from Calif.and N.Y.
By Haya El Nasser USA TODAY – August 22, 2003
http://www.hispanicvista.com/html3/082503en.htm

A Census report out today indicates that the "white flight" of the early 1990s is not so white anymore. Hispanic, black and Asian immigrants are leaving states that are traditional immigrant gateways for the same reasons that others are leaving: affordability, quality of life and jobs. . "Now, it's a middle-class flight motivated by cost and congestion."

The arrival of thousands of Californians to states like Nevada has created a demand for workers in construction and service industries. In the Midwest and Southeast, immigrants are filling farm and factory jobs abandoned by U.S.-born workers.

The report also shows that a smaller share of new arrivals are settling in states that have been immigrant magnets. About 60% of the foreign-born who came to the USA between 1995 and 2000 went to California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey, down from 73% a decade earlier.

"The pioneer immigrant leaves Mexico and goes to California," says Jeffrey Passel, an immigration expert at the Urban Institute. "After a while, he goes to Iowa and gets a job in a pork-processing plant. He sends word to Mexico that, 'Hey, there are jobs here.' "

Suddenly, immigrants skip California and go straight to Iowa. "California is full," he says.
Immigrants moving to California from other states are better educated than those leaving. More education can result in more money to cover California's high cost of living.

In most cases, if more U.S.-born residents leave a state than come in, the same holds true of the foreign-born. New Jersey and Michigan were exceptions. They both lost natives but gained immigrants.


Extract:
Census Notes Rise in Hispanic Population 
 
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030918/ap_on_go_ca_st_
pe/pentagon_hispanics_2 
By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON - The nation's Hispanic population is keeping up its explosive growth of the 1990s, led by states in the South and West, the first detailed Census Bureau estimates since the 2000 national head count show.

Georgia topped the list of states with the fastest-growing Latino populations, adding nearly 17 percent between July 2000 and July 2002 to reach 516,000 residents, according to Census Bureau estimates being released Thursday. North Carolina's Hispanic population grew by 16 percent, while Nevada, Kentucky and South Carolina were next. 

"Hispanic immigrants are coming here for jobs and quality of life," said University of Georgia demographer Douglas Bachtel. "They are taking jobs that a lot of Americans don't want, like construction, landscaping and in the service economy." California still has the largest number of Hispanics with 11.9 million

California still has the largest number of Hispanics with 11.9 million, about one-third of its total population, followed by Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois. Los Angeles County had the largest population of Hispanics among counties (4.5 million), and Webb County, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes Laredo, was the county where Hispanics comprised the highest proportion of the population (95 percent). 

Hispanics are the nation's largest minority group. The Census Bureau released a report in June that found the Latino population stood at 38.8 million, an increase of almost 9 percent in the two years ending July 2002. That was four times the growth rate for the U.S. population overall and about 14 times greater than the rate for non-Hispanic whites. 

As the population grows, Hispanics are becoming a more influential and desirable market.

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov

Extract:
Local School Gets Grant; A&M-CC Will Receive 1.35 Million
BYLINE: Icess  Fernandez, Caller-Times, Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas) 
Sent by Carlos Villanueva. MBA. carlosvillanueva@cvinternacional.com  July 21, 2003,

A recently awarded $1.35 million grant will help Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi recruit more students, specifically Hispanic students, to computers, math and science programs.

"We have a major Hispanic population and we don't have enough Hispanic students involved in math and sciences," said Carl Steidley, professor and chairman of the university's Computer and Math Sciences Department. "It's also a national trend as well as part of the university's mission."

About 38 percent of students in the Computer and Math Sciences Department are Hispanic, Steidley said. Steidley said he would like to see that percentage increase. The grant is from the National Science Foundation to the College of Science and Technology.

Extract: 
De Oro Group, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage and Freddie Mac Form Partnership to Boost Hispanic Homeownership Opportunities; Goal to Generate $1 Billion of New Mortgages Over Two Years,
PR Newswire, July 21, 2003  
Sent by Carlos Villanueva. MBA. carlosvillanueva@cvinternacional.com  

The De Oro Group, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage and Freddie Mac announced today that they are teaming up to bring the dream of homeownership to thousands of Hispanic families. 
Through the new partnership, the De Oro Group, one of the largest Latino- owned mortgage companies in Southern California, will benefit from increased access to the secondary mortgage market through U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, a prominent Freddie Mac lender customer. U.S. Bank Home Mortgage and Freddie Mac are also offering technical, financial and marketing expertise including an affordable mortgage product specially designed to help more Hispanic and other borrowers achieve homeownership. This partnership is supported by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), and furthers NAHREP's mission to increase Hispanic homeownership by empowering professionals that serve Hispanic consumers. 

This important joint effort leverages the key strengths of each participant to achieve a common goal of expanding minority homeownership. It brings together De Oro's knowledge of the needs of the Hispanic community, several NAHREP members, the financial and organizational strength of U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, and Freddie Mac's affordable mortgage product and secondary market expertise. The goal of the partnership is to originate in excess of $1 billion in mortgages for Hispanic families over the next two years. 

The new alliance supports Freddie Mac's Catch the Dream initiative announced last year in support of President Bush's Blueprint for the American Dream, which calls for 5.5 million additional minority homeowners nationwide by the end of the decade. As part of this effort, Freddie Mac has committed to increase its mortgage purchases to support minority homeownership and announced 25 initiatives designed to eliminate the barriers faced by minority families. 

"This new undertaking will pave the way to bring viable homeownership opportunities to the nation's Hispanic families and communities," said David Stevens, Senior Vice President of Single Family Lending at Freddie Mac. "The disparity between the national homeownership rate of nearly 70 percent and the homeownership rate for Hispanic families of 48 percent shows that the market for homebuyers has plenty of room to grow. Our initiative with the De Oro Group, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, and NAHREP will help us understand and overcome the barriers facing Hispanic families." 

Sent by Carlos Villanueva. MBA. carlosvillanueva@cvinternacional.com  

Pulitzer Prize Winner Oscar Hijuelos to Receive Inaugural Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature

Santa Barbara, Calif. -- Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" and other novels, has been chosen to receive the first Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature.

The prize was established by the Santa Barbara Book Council and the University of California, Santa Barbara in honor of Luis Leal, the 95-year-old professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCSB
and an internationally recognized scholar of Chicano and Latino literature. It is also supported by a contribution from Wells Fargo Bank.

    "Oscar Hijuelos is the first and only U.S. Latino writer to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize in literature," said Mario García, a Book Council member and a professor of Chicana and Chicano studies and history at UCSB. "So this is a major honor to have him receive the first Leal award. It's just a major achievement to get him here."

    The son of Cuban immigrants, Hijuelos was born in 1951 in New York City and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English and writing at the City College of New York. After graduation, he made his living working in an advertising agency for seven years, before publishing his first novel, "Our House in the Last World," in 1983 and earning a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

    "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," Hijuelos' second novel, was published in 1989 and established him as an important American literary voice. "The Mambo Kings" was nominated for a
National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award in 1989. And in 1990, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. His other books include "The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez
O'Brien" (1993), "Mr. Ives' Christmas" (1995), "Empress of the Splendid Season" (1999) and "A Simple Habana Melody" (2002).

    "While I am honored to be singled out for this award I want it understood that I am accepting it in the spirit of sharing this special recognition with all Hispanic writers. The collective grace and elegance of our literature is far beyond what any one individual can contribute -- and greater than any
honor" said Hijuelos who will receive a $1,500 cash prize with the award.

    Leal, who is credited with being the first to bring attention and credibility to Mexican, Latin American and Chicano writers during his 60-year academic career, said he is honored to be the namesake of the award and to have Hijuelos selected as its first recipient.

    "I am very pleased with the selection," Leal said. "I hope that this award may encourage other Latino writers to publish their fiction."

Winnie Yamada, Public Affairs  winnie.yamada@ia.ucsb.edu 805-893-4834

Extract:
Espeuelas Aiming at U.S. Hispanic English-Speakers
by Alberto Alerigi, Entertainment-Reuters Industry
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030916/media_nm/media_hispanic_dc_1 

Fernando Espuelas launched on Monday VOY, a new media company that will produce cable television, music, film, print and Internet content mostly for young Latinos. Unlike leading broadcasters Univision Communications and NBC's Telemundo -- which offer a wide range television programing in Spanish for more mature viewers-- VOY will aim at the English-speaking Hispanic audience. 

Espuelas' first produced program will likely be a talk show about successful Hispanics in the United States. This genre has a strong following in the region and hosts like Miami-based Cristina Saralegui or Laura Bozzo from Peru share the same star status that Oprah Winfrey (news) does. 

Extract:
Language problema numero uno cultural barrier in American society – discrimination and racism numero dos y tres. 
http://www.hispanicvista.com/html3/091503immi.htm

New York, U.S., September 10, 2003 (Notimex)- The Spanish-speaking community in the United States considered language as the main cultural barrier to deeply integrate into American society, a poll thrown by a very important business organization revealed.

The Hispanic Business Roundtable poll indicated that a 26.5 % of Latins think that the inability of expressing themselves and communicating in a proper way prevents them in a big way from becoming successful immigrants.

Following the language barrier, discrimination and racism stand as the second greatest obstacle to surmount (13.9%), being education the third one (13.5%)

Nine out of the ten interviewed people (an 86.7%) supported a policy that "helps regulate "undocumented workers' status without a criminal record

Extract: Aging U.S. needs migrant workers, 
Associated Press via HoustonChronicle.com http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2047072 

MEXICO CITY -- America relies on millions of illegal Mexican laborers to keep its economy going and it will need them even more as a large chunk of the aging U.S. population retires, Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Wednesday. 

Speaking at an event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, Derbez said Washington has to "view migration as a positive thing" and can no longer afford to ignore the plight of millions of Mexicans who risk their lives to sneak into the United States and go to work. 
"This subject isn't going anywhere. It's going to be a fundamentally important subject for the United States in the future because of the fact that its population is reaching retirement age at an accelerated rate," Derbez said. 

"As time goes on, there will be more evidence that the U.S. labor needs in many areas, especially in the service industry, will require the presence of laborers who come from outside the country," he said. Derbez said Sept. 11 "of course made security a top priority" but said there was "an important human factor to migration discussions" that the U.S. government has overlooked. 

Derbez said the U.S. population includes 26 million people of Mexican origin, 10 million of whom were born in Mexico. Every year, another 400,000 Mexicans head north with the intention of staying in America for good, he added. 

Deportation of Mexicans & US Citizens in 1930s 

Sent by Zeke Hernandez zekeher@juno.com  

By Fermin Leal - The Orange County Register, Sunday, August 31, 2003

After seven decades, Trinidad Rubio still feels betrayed by her country.  America, her birthplace, rounded up her and her family during the Great Depression and shipped them to Mexico, a country Rubio had never before seen and knew nothing about. 

Rubio, a Santa Ana resident for the past 36 years, lived in Los Angeles at the time. But hundreds of Orange County families, mostly workers in the county's countless orange groves, suffered the same fate, as a country that welcomed Mexican immigrants as cheap labor during the 1920s suddenly forced them out when the economy crashed.  "I was an American," said Rubio, 75. "My family and others like us did not deserve what this country did to us. We lost everything we worked so hard to have."

This week, state lawmakers will consider sending a resolution to Congress asking it to investigate the little-known Depression-era campaign to deport about 1 million people of Mexican descent  nationwide because they were taking jobs from people considered "real Americans." Scholars estimate more than half were U.S. citizens.

FAR JOURNEY
Rubio still remembers her mother, Zenaida, gathering the family's belongings from their two-bedroom home in Los Angeles in 1931 before immigration authorities loaded them onto a bus that took them to the train station. "They told us to grab only what we could carry," said Rubio, who was 4 at the time. "I was too young to understand where we were going, but I knew I was leaving my home for good."

Her mother and father, Pedro, entered the United States in 1916 shortly after they married in hopes of finding work. The eventually had five children, all born in the United States, and bought the Los Angeles house before their deportation, Rubio said.

"They had to leave everything behind," Rubio said. "Authorities told us there were no more jobs, no more money, and no more room for us here."  At the station, the family boarded a train that took them 800 miles to the border town of El Paso, Texas. Another train then took them into the Mexican state of Chihuahua, where Rubio would spend the next 26 years. 

Anaheim resident Richard Lopez said his mother, two siblings and parents found themselves in a similar situation after they were deported from Los Angeles to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, near the Texas border.  His mother, Anna Maria de la Fuente, and her brother and sister were also U.S.-born, he said. "None of them even spoke Spanish and here they were, transported to the streets of Nuevo Laredo," said Lopez, 51.

The family lived in near-poverty in Nuevo Laredo, Lopez said.  "They had a house and lived comfortably in the United States, now they were living practically on the streets, scraping for money just so they could eat."  After 10 years, they returned.

THRIVING COMMUNITIES
Throughout the late 1920s, about 20 Mexican agricultural villages thrived in central and northern Orange County. Many were built by growers, who offered low or free rent in return for the cheap 
labor.

About 400 laborers lived in Campo La Habra, built by La Habra Citrus Association. Mexican families, many with U.S.-born children, lived in the village that was made up of 60 three-room cabins and sat on a breezy hillside a mile west of the town of La Habra. Laborers there earned up to $3 a day working in the orange groves. 

The village flourished in the late 1920s with plans to add more homes. Then the Depression hit.
The book "Fullerton Union High School and Fullerton Junior College, 1893-1943," chronicled the shift in mood toward the laborers at Campo La Habra as the economy worsened.

"Community members no longer spoke of 'our' Mexicans. They no longer considered that no white man could pick oranges. Instead, they felt that the jobs done patiently by Mexicans for so many 
years should now be given to them," Fullerton teacher Druzilla Mackey said in the book. Before the Depression, Mackey, employed by the citrus association, worked at Campo La Habra teaching 
laborers English.  By 1934, the village was virtually abandoned. Its residents were either repatriated or decided to leave willingly, disillusioned by the lack of jobs

Throughout other parts of the county, "Americanization" centers, once used to help laborers assimilate into American society, were turned into repatriation centers where local authorities 
organized deportation efforts, said Gilbert Gonzalez, a historian and Chicano studies professor at University of California, Irvine.

Jess Saenz, who grew up in Colonia Independencia, one of Anaheim's oldest Mexican-American neighborhoods, remembered seeing trains roll in from Los Angeles carrying hundreds of families on the way to Mexico. "They'd stop here and authorities would cram our repatriates in. Then the trains would roll away," said Saenz, 77. "It was heartbreaking when you'd see all the children crying."

UNCERTAIN FUTURES
Many of the repatriated stayed in Mexico, distrusting of a country that had once welcomed them. 
Others came back years later when America once again opened its borders as the demand for labor surged.

The ones who returned often did so to a different city or state, depending on where there was demand for workers.  Rubio returned to California in 1960 as a 32-year-old single mother of three. 
She spoke no English and didn't receive an education beyond grammar school while in Mexico because no other school was available in her town. 

"All I want is for the government to admit what happened to me was wrong," she said. "All I want is an apology."

Extract:
The Pancho Villa Remix; HBO Film Raises Questions About What Is Fact, Fiction Richmond Times-Dispatch - September 11, 2003
Source: Hispaniconline.com,  Sent by paul@hisp.com 

Almost 100 years before embedded reporters provided a firsthand look at the war in Iraq, cameras were set up on another battleground - in Mexico.In 1913, Pancho Villa, hero of the Mexican Revolution, invited Hollywood to film his army in action. 

For the privilege of filming his war on behalf of Mexico's downtrodden, Mutual Films must pay Villa $25,000 in cash. Villa is interested in his story being told on film. But he's more interested in financing the revolution. 

The result, "The Life of General Villa" released in 1914, is only a footnote to history. Sadly, the film itself no longer exists. But what a footnote, including the manipulation of facts by both filmmakers and subject. 

The script from Larry Gelbart ("M*A*S*H") is designed to give viewers lots to think about, especially the blurring between the facts of Villa's actions and the fiction of the film made about him. Another interesting, oddly topical tidbit is the United States' interest in Mexican oil.


Extract:
(HBO) TV Movie Shows Pancho Villa As Movie Star 
By CHRIS ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer, Tue Sep 2, 3:27 PM ET
Source: Hispaniconline.com, Sent by paul@hisp.com  

He hoped his $25,000 deal with the Mutual Film Co. of New York would get him good publicity in the United States and money to buy arms and supplies. 

The battlefield footage became the first U.S. newsreel. But like most reality shows, all was not as it seemed. Certain battles and executions were staged for the cameras. Villa's skin was lightened and his hair was styled to make him more appealing. 

Along with boots and artillery, Mutual supplied 5,000 Confederate Army uniforms for Villa's scruffy soldiers because the studio wanted to make them look better. Villa, who often transported his troops by train, reserved cars for reporters and a special car for Mutual that allowed its employees to develop and edit film. All sides in the Mexican Revolution used the media — establishing their own newspapers, censoring legitimate media reports, paying money to reporters, editors and newspapers with the expectation of positive coverage. 
In El Paso, people would gather on the top of buildings to watch the fighting in Mexico. Metz said a cannon was perched on a road that traverses high on the southern flank of the Franklin Mountains to return fire if the hostilities spilled over the border. 

Things went well for Villa until his army suffered a string of military defeats at the hands of another, more moderate revolutionary leader with whom he had broken ranks. Then the U.S. media began to ignore him, Anderson says. 

Ultimately, the United States recognized Villa's opponent, Venustiano Carranza, as Mexico's president. The Carranza general responsible for Villa's defeats, Alvaro Obregon, was later elected president and some believe had a hand in Villa's assassination in 1923. 



Bernardo de Gálvez 

Three days of Activities
Schedule for October 12th
California State Proclamation
Speaker bios & text of lectures
History Lessons Learned During the Search for Spanish Soldiers and Sailors
Center for Family History & Genealogy, BYU Immigration Ancestors Project   


Celebrate the last weekend of Hispanic Heritage Month 
in Long Beach, California  

Oct 10th, Memorial Mass for Gálvez, St. Anthony's Church, 6 p.m., 600 Pine Ave.
Oct 11th, Reception, 2-4 p.m. Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd.
              Tour, 3-5 p.m. Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave.


October 12th, Long Beach Gálvez Concert and Gala, 
Long Beach Performing Arts Center
300 E. Ocean Blvd.

SCHEDULE FOR GALVEZ CONCERT and GALA 
OCTOBER 12, 2003

 
10:00 a.m. Will-call concert tickets can be picked-up throughout the day.
Lobby: Displays and hands-on family history research.
Outside: Historical/genealogical society family history displays.
Children's activities, face painting, colonial crafts, 
11:00-12:30 Hispanic Contributions to the American Revolution
Historical Mini-lectures, Meeting rooms 301 and 302
Steven Hernandez  Welcome and introduction
Clarence Lucas,  Sons of the American Revolution Hispanic Outreach  
Hector Diaz, Gálvez  Reenactor
  From the lips of the General 
Mildred Murry, Ph.D.  Daughters of the American Revolution Mission Project
Granville Hough, Ph.D
         History Lessons Learned During the Search for Spanish Soldiers and Sailors

George Ryskamp   Tracking Emigration out of Europe, a World-wide Perspective 
Steven Hernandez  Questions and Closure     
11:00-1:00 Two hours of entertainment to include: Los Californios Musicians, Yesteryears Dancers,  Swedish, Salsa, Flamenco dancers and re-enactors, Bernardo de Galvez, Governor Philipe de Neve,  Father Serra, Juan Pablo Grijalva and Maria Moreno, as her great-grandmother.  

12:30-1:00

Cadet demonstration in front of building.

1:00- 1:30

Opening Ceremony-  Welcome, posting of colors, Navy Jr. ROTC, Santa Ana High, Dignitaries, Pledge of  Allegiance, National Anthem, sung by Humberto Argucia, Los Angeles County Firefighter. Introductions of participants. Retiring of Colors   

1:30-2:00

Demonstrations by the Santa Barbara Soldados.  Proclamation in honor of Galvez, this will be followed by a short drill of troops as they pass in review to be followed by a volley of musket fire.  

2:00

Seating for concert commences.  Pre-concert music on the Plaza and in the lobby provided by the Long Beach Millikin High Choir, Brass quintet of Long Beach Poly High, Frances Rios, Pianist, guitarists Jose Zerimar and Jean Fritz. 

3:00-4:00

CONCERT 

4:00-4:30

Awards and recognition  
For more information on some of the performers, please go to their websites 
http://www.yesteryearsdancers.com
http://www.jashford.com/Pages/Calif2.html
http://www.lasoleflamenco.com
http://www.passionatedance.com
http://www.soldados.us/StBarbara

California State Legislature Recognizes Bernardo de Gálvez Project

California Assemblywoman, Bonnie Garcia, on the right, makes a presentation of the Assembly Resolution, 1415 to Chuck Knuthson, California State Genealogical Alliance Webmaster and Barbara Edkin, President of the Alliance.

Full TEXT


By the Honorable Bonnie Garcia, 80th Assembly District, 
Relative to recognizing The General Bernardo de Galvez Project

Whereas, The General Bernardo de Galvez Project is in honor of the General's efforts on behalf of the American Revolution and to call attention to the sacrifices made by his multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and racially diverse army on behalf of the American Colonists; and

Whereas, This project is being promoted through a series of events, a gala, and the production of a documentary film based upon his life and military exploits during the American Revolution; and

Whereas, The following is a partial list of entities and individuals dedicated to the success of the Galvez Project:  The Spanish government, Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, California State Genealogical Alliance, numerous historians, Soldados, The Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce, the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Native Americans, and countless educators; and

Whereas, The American Revolution was a transatlantic event that involved virtually every European government, and in addition to France's well-documented role in the conflict, Spain also played a vital part in helping to create the United States of America, and the Galvez Project seeks to inform Americans of Spain's monumental contributions to the positive outcome of the American Revolution and the founding of our great nation; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by Assembly Member Bonnie Garcia, That she commends and thanks the Hispanic-American Heroes Series as it presents The General Bernardo de Galvez Project, and its Executive Directors:  Chairperson Mimi Lozano, Editor, Somos Primos E-magazine, Co-Chairperson Judge Frederick Aquirre, and Program Manager Michael Perez, for educating the American public to the significant contributions made by Spain and Hispanics to the success of the American Revolution.

Members Resolution No. 1415
Dated this 23rd day of May, 2003
Signed by Bonnie Garcia
Honorable Bonnie Garcia
80th Assembly District

LECTURE PARTICIPANTS


BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF HECTOR L. DIAZ

Born in Puerto Rico in 1955, Héctor L. Díaz is a Psychologist, historian and professional actor by training. He has been researching the Hispanic assistance to the American Revolution since the mid-1980’s, and recreating the Hispanic troops of General Bernardo de Gálvez since 1993. Mr. Diaz is the author of Maryland’s "Senate Joint Resolution 2" adopted in 1997, which recognizes the "Hispanic Participation in the American War of Independence" and of several article written on "COBBLESTONE" Magazine on the same subject and on General Gálvez.

Mr. Diaz originated and organized the " Hispanic Heroes Parade" in Washington D. C., which was celebrated annually from 1995 to 1998, and the "General Bernardo de Gálvez. Go to: Royal Presidio

Honor Ceremony" which has been celebrated yearly since 1995. Other ceremonies or recreations he has organized or has been part of have taken place at; General George Washington’s residence, Mount Vernon; The Maryland State House; The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and the St. Augustine, Old San Juan, and Natchez, National Historical Sites in Florida, Puerto Rico and Mississippi, respectively.

In Héctor Díaz’ opinion; "The greatness of Bernardo de Gálvez rests not only in the fact that he is a Hispanic Revolutionary War hero; his tenacity, intelligence, humanity and bravery, everything about him, is as relevant today as it was 222 years ago, when he was leading his forces to victory against the most overwhelming odds. Gálvez is and will always be an example and an inspiration for everyone, in our times and for the ages to come".

 

Professor Granville W. Hough’s Background

Granville W. Hough of Laguna Woods, CA, is Professor Emeritus, California State University, Fullerton, and a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Regular Army.  He has been an amateur genealogist and historian for forty-five years, with more than twenty-five books to his credit,
including eight written with his daughter, N. C. Hough, on Spanish soldiers of the Borderlands who served during the time of the American Revolutionary War. Listings of these books may be viewed on the web site for the Library of Congress or on the web site of the Family History Center at Salt Lake City.

Granville was a student at Mississippi State University in Nov 1942 when he joined the Army Enlisted Reserve shortly before his 20th birthday.  He was soon on active duty as an infantryman, but he was
appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point and joined the class there in Jul 1943, graduating in Jun 1946 with a BS in Military Art and Engineering.  He served in the Regular Army as an artilleryman, intelligence analyst, and general staff officer until Jan 1969, concentrating on Cold War and technical intelligence research. After graduating from the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth in 1959, he was assigned to the Pentagon, where he was able
to begin his weekend hobby of genealogical and historical research in the Library of Congress and the National Archives.  In subsequent assignments, Granville also graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Air War College.

The Army had constantly changing needs for people with higher education skills during the Cold War.  Responding to those needs, Granville gained a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from USC in 1955, a Master’s degree in Business Administration from George Washington University in 1965, and a PhD in Public Administration from American University in 1971 (after retirement.)

From 1969 through Spring, 1992, Granville taught business management at California State University, Fullerton, serving three years of that time as Management Department Chairman.  His specialty in teaching was Project Management.

In 1991, Granville joined the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution.  His research experience has indicated to him that much of the history of the American Revolution is incomplete and misleading.  He strongly believes that the NSSAR, and other patriotic organizations,
should be at the forefront of revising the history we teach our children about our country and those who have worked with us as allies, co-belligerents, and even as enemies.

GEORGE R. RYSKAMP
Associate Professor of History
Brigham Young University
ryskamp@byu.edu
 

EDUCATION:
1979 J.D., J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
1975 B.A., double major in Spanish and History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE:
2003- present Director, Center for Family History and Genealogy, Brigham Young University
1993-Present- Assistant, then since 1999, Associate Professor of History at BYU, Provo, Utah
1979-1993- Attorney in private practice Riverside, CA, probate, tax and business advisement and bankruptcy law.
1975-Present- Accredited Genealogist doing privately funded research, specializing in Spanish language research and United States probate and legal systems.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Ryskamp, George R..Finding Your Hispanic Roots. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. (290 pages)
______, and Peggy Ryskamp. A Student's Guide to Mexican American Genealogy. New York: Rosen Publishing Company, 1996. (168 pages)
. "House Histories, Reconstructing Your Ancestors’ Daily Lives." Ancestry 18(Oct. 2000): 34-42.

 "The De Lema Dilemma: Exploring the Complexities of Spanish Naming Patterns," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 90(June 2002):87-98.

. "War and Marriage: Some Reasons for Deportation in Hispanic North America," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 86 (June 1998): 134-137.

. "Fundamental Common-Law Concepts for the Genealogist: Real Property Transactions," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 84 (Sep. 1996): 165-181.

SELECTED SCHOLARLY AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES:

Académico de Numero of the Academia Americana de Genealogía . Appointment Aug. 2003

Vice Chairman and Commissioner, International Commission for Accreditation of Professional Genealogists, .December 2001-Present.

"El linaje noble de Alonso de Sosa, conquistador de Nuevo Mexico: Usando lugar y posición social en la investigación genealógica." II Congreso Iberoamericano de Ciencias Genealógica y Heráldica y XII Reunión Americana de Genealogía, Sucre, Bolivia, August 31-September2, 2003.

"Caseríos de Mendiguchia e Yrigoen: The role of the Casa y Casería in Tracing Basque lines before 1600." XI Reunión Americana de Genealogía, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, September 6-10, 2002.

"Encircling Perspectives of Family: Intergenerational Transmission of Surnames in Spain, 1500-1900." Virginia F. Cutler Lecture ,FHHS College, BYU, Provo Utah, 25 October 2001.

"Catholic Marriage Records as a Source for Determining and Studying Immigrant Origins," Symposium in Genealogy and Heraldry, San Marino (Italy), June 5-8, 2001.

"Genealogía en la Frontera Norte de Mexico," Investigación Genealógica antes de 1600," and "El Caribe en los archivos de España," Fortaleciendo Eslabones Familiares: Tercera Conferencia Hispana de Historia Familiar, Provo, Utah. Oct. 2000.

 

Mildred Murry, Ph.D.  
Education, 3 degrees from the University of Southern California, 
B.A.: Sociology, history minor
M.A: Counseling and Guidance, history minor 
E.D.  Research emphasis, Educational Psychology, history minor
5 California Credentials

Professional Experience
Los Angeles Unified School District- 34 years, elementary, secondary, administration
University of San Francisco, Adjunct Professor of Education 
Legislative Aide to the State Assembly
Civic research "Documenting Hispanic Influence in North America and U.S. History and Heritage, 1492-1865"

Volunteer
Daughter of the American Revolution, 22 years
National:  Vice Chair, resolutions,  member of Spanish Research Task Force
State: Chairman, Resolution Committee Chairman; California Mission History in Heritage Committee
Local: Past Regent, Vice Regent, Chaplan, Historian, currently Librarian 
Balboa Bay Republican Women, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee
Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge Orange County Chapter, Vice President, Sec/scholarships


Clarence Lucas

Sons of the American Revolution
National: National Trustee
State: Past President

Steven F. Hernández

Board member of the hosting organization, the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research.   He graduated from California Polytechnic University Pomona in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.  Since then, he has been a substitute teacher, at all grades, for the Walnut and Baldwin Park School Districts and a has been a tutor for the past five years.   He currently attends Azusa Pacific University in pursuit of both a teaching credential and a Master's Degree.  His goal is to become a High School teacher or College/University professor in History (or upper level Math or Spanish).
 
Steven Hernández is deeply aware and proud of his Mexican and Spanish heritage, as he has been researching his family's genealogy for the past ten years.  Research and study of his family history, coupled with his passion for history overall, has focused his preferred area of study to the Spanish Colonial period and Early Mexican Independence period, but also extends to Iberian, Latin American, and Western European history as well.  He is the Editor in Chief of SHHAR's Genealogical Journal, Volume 5."
   History Lessons Learned During the Search for Spanish Soldiers and Sailors

Granville Hough, Ph.D.   gwhough@earthlink.net

    In 1996 I learned that the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution, had turned down a California applicant who had no receipt to prove his soldier ancestor had donated one or two pesos to defray  the costs of the war with Britain from 1779 into 1783.  This seemed a strange denial as the applicant's ancestor had risked his life as a soldier, so why worry about a donativo?  I told my SAR chapter I could develop a rationale for acceptance  of Spanish soldiers as patriots, and it said go ahead.

    I knew Louisiana soldiers serving under Governor Bernardo de Gálvez had been accepted as Patriots since 1925, and that French soldiers and sailors who served under General Rochambeau and Admiral de Grasse had been accepted since 1903.

    So I developed the rationale and looked for applicants to test it.  We found two descendants of California soldiers, with clear lineages, and got our first California descendants admitted in 1998. 

    I had no intent of publishing anything, but concluded it might be useful publish the rationale, then to list names of California soldiers, visiting sailors, and other men who were of the right age to make the donativo.  

    My daughter joined me in the research, and we did the first book on California, mostly rationale, then the second book giving the names of nearly everyone in California under Spanish jurisdiction during the war period, and most of their descendants until American occupation in 1848,
about 5000 persons.

    It was interesting research, and no one had ever done such a compilation of Spanish soldiers and  sailors.  We then did Arizona and Northern Sonora, then New Mexico.  We were able to get our first descendant of a New Mexico soldier accepted in 1999.  We moved on to Texas where we found a couple of people had already been accepted but there was no composite list.  So we did one, including all the territory now under Texas jurisdiction. 
   
    Up to this time we had worked on more than 20 Presidios, more than 10 flying companies of mounted infantry units, and militia units of the larger towns.  When we worked on Louisiana, we encountered our first organized Spanish Regiment, the Regimento de Infanterie de Luisiana. Then we went on through the West Indies in the seventh volume with numerous Spanish and colonial regiments, then finally back to Northern Mexico for the backup units for the Presidios in the eighth volume.  We have four more volumes in progress.

    Along the way, we were questioned on the work we were doing, mainly based on the way people were taught American History.  The question was: "How can we accept descendants of Spanish soldiers.  Spain has always been our enemy."  And that is exactly the way many influential American historians have depicted it.  But that is not the way Spanish soldiers and sailors saw it at the time.  They, just like Americans, fought the British where they were or wherever they were sent.  They celebrated all victories over the British, no matter who won them.

    But there is one quote from a highly regarded American historian at the time of WW I and is still quoted:  He made a statement that John Adams and John Jay in negotiating for peace with Britain had no reason to consider Spanish interests as Spain had been of no help to the American colonies and wished them ill. 

He apparently knew nothing of Spanish aid or of the DeGrass/Saavedra Accord which governed French and Spanish operations in the Western Hemisphere from July 1781 until the end of the war.  He was not aware that a Chesapeake Bay Campaign (Yorktown) was the first item of that accord and that its success was due to five elements, two of them Spanish: Washington's Army, Rochambeau's French Army, DeGrass' French Fleet, Spanish financing, and Spanish covering for France in the West Indies.
       
    Nor did this eminent American historian have the faintest idea what SECURED Yorktown, or why the four British staging areas at New York, Charleston, Penobscot Bay, and Detroit were never used by the British to reinvade.  Few Americans know that the British were straining mightily
in 1782 and 1783 just to hold on in the West Indies.  Bernardo de Gálvez was waiting to invade Jamaica during that time with 10,000 troops at Guarico in Haiti.  He was joined in Venezuela in Feb 1783 by nearly all of Rochambeaus's American Expeditionary Force which had fought at Yorktown, 10,000 more French troops.  French General d'Estaing was lining up 20,000 more French and Spanish troops at Cadiz in Spain awaiting orders to sail.   And Bernardo de Gálvez was already designated as the overall commander of the invading forces.  The British had to negotiate or lose everything in the West Indies.  That imminent threat in the West Indies is what SECURED Yorktown and made it into the victory we celebrate. 
   
    I will point out two other false beliefs which have harmed our relationships with our neighbors:

    One is that the War with Mexico began when Mexican troops attacked American troops on Texas soil near the Rio Grande.  I defy any historian to show evidence that Texas ever extended south of the Medina River. The Mexican War started when pro-slavery President James K. Polk in May 1848 sent American troops into Mexican territory south of the Medina and Mexicans defended their land.  It is clear we started the Mexican War under false pretenses.

    Another false belief is that the Spanish American War was started when saboteurs blew up the battleship Maine on 17 Feb 1898.  I defy any historian to show that there were any saboteurs near the Maine that night, whether Spanish, Cuban, or some other.   Most likely, the Maine blew up from instantaneous combustion of overheated coal in confined ship storage.  Admiral Rickover headed the last committee to study that explosion.  The Navy had destroyed all physical evidence, but had
pictures of bent metal.  Admiral Rickover's committee reported that the pictures simply gave no conclusive evidence on why the explosion occurred.  It seems quite clear, today, that we entered the Spanish-American War under false pretenses.

      These three fallacies have biased American history and textbooks for generations.  They constantly come up in one form or another, in editorials, from TV commentators, politicians, patriotic speakers, and even from reviewers of SAR applications.

     But the study of service records of Spanish soldiers shows interesting and remote places where they served, each with some relation to the war with Britain.  Last December, I predicted the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution, would in time remove all geographic restrictions on where Spanish patriots served when enough SAR members understood the relationships among the nations fighting the British.   I mentioned one year, ten years, or even 50 years.  It actually happened in just over 50 days when in March of this year, the Society did remove all geographic restrictions.   Male descendants of Spanish soldiers in service 1779-1783, can now join our organization, no matter where the ancestor served.


Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University
George R. Ryskamp, Director

A community of family history scholars--faculty, students and volunteers
-- working and learning together.
  - simplify the finding of ancestors
    - support the training of new family historians and genealogists
    - aid researchers in their study of families and the populations in which they reside.

To accomplish this mission we:

A. Offer Family History training for students on the BYU Provo Campus, at the BYU Salt Lake Center, and through correspondence courses and other distance learning.

B. Sponsor projects designed to provide information and/or training aids to the community, including the Immigrant Ancestors Project, training lessons at http://261.byu.edu, and research guides and other resources found at http://familyhistory.byu.edu

C. Participate in and sponsor genealogical training conferences.

D. Sponsor and supervise student interns throughout the world such as London, Madrid, Bern, Boston, Washington, New York and Mexico City, and provide them with funding assistance.

E. Publish The Family Historian (a scholarly journal) and other genealogical publications.
   
The Center for Family History and Genealogy offers the following services to enhance the education and training of students and other members of the genealogical community.

Family History Labs: Our two labs are equipped with specialized genealogical software, books, and periodicals and are staffed by students majoring in family history. Hands-on workshops are taught every semester to over 700 students.

Student Employees: The Center currently employs about 20 students to conduct research, run projects, staff the labs, and teach lessons giving our students excellent experience in their chosen field of study.

Scholarships: Every year six academic scholarships and an internship with the New England Historic Genealogical Society are awarded to outstanding family history majors.

Internships: All students majoring in family history are required to serve an internship. Internships provide exposure to the real working world of the family historian/genealogist and are an integral part of the BYU family history experience. In recent years interns have served in many ways both locally and all over the world including England, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, and other countries.

Tutorials: Choose "Instruction" at Internet site for  the Center for Family History and Genealogy http://familyhistory.byu.edu  where you will find free online Family History lessons including, "Finding Your Ancestors."

Current Projects
1) French Immigrant (Huguenot) Ancestor Database, genealogical information,French Protestants.
2) Mormon Immigration Index CD-ROM covering immigration voyages to the US, 1840 to1925.
2) Video: Family History in the LDS Church Since the Restoration.
4) Monthly Newsletter
5) Immigrant Ancestors Project (see below)
6) Immigrant Experience Bibliography
7) Other research projects using talents of faculty and students.   

     
 Immigrants Ancestors Project -  Where was my immigrant ancestor  born?

To locate the birthplaces of immigrants- generally missing on records in arrival countries- the IAP looks for emigration records in European home countries. Emigration records, such as passport files, passenger contracts, vestry minutes, consular records are rich in genealogical information, but largely untouched simply because they are not easily available. Few are microfilmed. Most are accessible only by visiting the archives containing the records and are rarely indexed or sorted.

The IAP goals center on those hard- to-find records:
    IDENTIFY EMIGRATION RECORDS
    ACQUIRE COPIES
    EXTRACT DATA ON INDIVIDUALS
    MAKE INDEXED DATA AVAILABLE FREE

Volunteers work via Internet to extract the data from emigration records to create a database of millions of immigrants with their places of origin. At the Center student supervisors check extractions for accuracy before they are added to the database. Anyone can search this free database at http://immigrants.byu.edu .

At present the project focuses on emigrants from Germany, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy and France, but plans are to add other countries. Funds donated to the IAP will pay wages for student  researchers, provide copies of identified records, and support computer development and maintenance. Come join our community of family history  scholars, as a volunteer and/or a donor. Help us extract these emigration records


SURNAME

Hay diferentes blasones de los Ortíz, según la región de procedencia, aunque la mayor parte de las ramas utilizan el siguiente, que puede considerarse como más antiguo o primitivo:

En Campo de Oro, una estrella de azur; bordura de plata con ocho rosas de gules, segunda bordura componada de gules y plata. 

Las estrellas simbolizan la grandeza,la verdad,la luz,la magestad,pero ante todo,,la prudencia.

Las rosas son emblemas de belleza, de honra inmaculada, de pureza de costunbres. y de méritos reconocidos.

Las borduras representan la cota de armas de los guerreros manchada con la sangre de los enemigos en combate.

 

ORTIZ


Este apellido es del género de los patronímicos, derivado del nombre propio de Fortunio al que algunos, autores atribuyen origen mozárabe, al igual que otros de su especie, proceden de diferentes solares sin conexión entre si. Desde el siglo XI y siguientes se encuentra muy extendido por toda la Península Ibérica, originándose sus asentamientos mas antiguos en ambas Castillas, principalmente en las denominadas "Montañas de Burgos".

Hay diferentes versiones sobre el nacimiento de este linaje, existiendo historiadores que afirman que dicha palabra tiene raíces del sánscrito, viniendo a signifiar "el de fuera".Según Rivarola en su obra "Historia de la Monarquía Española " (1736), su tronco procede de los Duques de Nomandía, concretamente de dos hermanos apellidados Ortíz (?) que pasaron a España a pelear contra los moros,y que posteriormente se establecieron en el antiguo Reino de la Navarra y el Señorio de Vizcaya, añadiendo que uno de sus descendientes, caudillo en aquellas regiones, fue el tronco común de la casa solariega afincada en el Valle de Carriedo ,Santander, y de la que radicó en la villa de Espinosa de los Monteros, Burgos.

Baños de Velasco, en una de sus conocidas obras manuscritas del siglo XVIII, "Genealogías",escribe los siguientes versos a "Vi el Ortiz generoso —venir con muy gran denuedo — muy valiente y animoso - de linaje valeroso — y -pobló Val de Carriedo — el cual venía de la línea — del primer Duque Normando —a socorrer a Castilla — con el Norte relumbrando".

Al decir de este último autor, los Ortiz pasaron después a Castilla y Asturias, donde fundaron otra casa solar en el Concejo de Colunga y mas tarde arraigaron en Andalucía por medio del Comendador de la Orden de Santiago don Alonso Ortiz,,nieto de don Pedro Ortíz, paladín castellano en el sitio de Sevilla a las órdenes de Fernando III "el Santo", el año 1248,quien se distinguió por su especial arrojo.

En el Archivo General de Simancas, Valladolid, se conserva un documento de confirrnación de privilegio realizado a favor de don García Ortíz, en el año 1014, que como Ricohombre le hizo don Sancho IV de Navarra, y en el de 1214, idéntica merced a nombre de don Ortún Ortíz, igualmente Ricohombre, Merino Mayor de Castilla, por el monarca don Alfonso IX. También,entre aquellos fondos, existen numerosas concesiones de hidalguia otorgadas, especialmente por don Juan II durante el siglo XV.

Entre las distinguidas estirpes con las que entroncaron, son de destacarse las casas de los Duques de Granada, Duques de Rivas, Marqueses de Benamejí, Condes. de Canillas, Condes de Almodovar, Condes de Vallehermoso, Condes de la Mejorada y otras numerosas mercedes nobiliarias.

Los Ortíz hicieron patente su hidalguia a través de varios siglos en las Ordenes Militares de Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara y Montesa, así como en la de San Juan de Jerusalén y la Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, en las Reales Maestranzas de Caballeria y otros numerosos estamentos nobiliarios las diferentes regiones de España. Igualmente, litigó por el reconocimiento de sus preeminencias de sangre ante las Reales Chancillerías de Valladolid y Granada.

También ingresaron los de este apellido en las Reales Compañías de Guardias Marinas Españolas, previas las probanzas estatuidas en aquel noble cuerpo naval

.Don Jerónímo Ortíz de Sandoval Regidor, Procurador en Cortes y Veinticuatro de la Ciudad de Sevilla, fue agraciado por Felipe V, en 1702 con el Marquesado de la Mejorada; don Isidro Ortíz de Haro, Gobernador y Capitán General de Tucumán en el Virreinato de la Plata, Alguacil Mayor y Perpétuo de la Audiencia y Chancillería de Charcas, Marqués de Haro, por Felipe V, en 1715; don Domingo Ortíz de Rozas, Caballero de la Orden de Santiago, Teniente General de los Reales Ejercitos, del Consejo de S.M., Gobernador de Buenos Aires, Capitán General del Reino de Chile y Presidente de la Real Audiencia de Santiago, Conde de Poblaciones por Fernando VI, en 1757 y don Melchor Jacot y Ortíz Rojano, Caballero de Carlos III, Ministro Togado del Consejo de Indias y Regente de la Audiencia de — Lima,Conde de Pozos Dulces, por Carlos IV en 1790, y don Rafael Ortíz de Almodovar y Pascual de Ibarra, Guardia de Corps y Caballero de Santiago, Conde de Almodóvar, por Carlos IV en 1790, dignidad ésta que obtuvo la Grandeza de España por —Alfonso XII al IV titular en 1875.

Don Diego Ortíz de Zúñiga, en su obra "Discursos genealógicos de los Ortices de Setilla, editada en aquella capital el año 1673,trata con profusión de éste linaje y de sus ramificaciones andaluzas. En la reedición que se hizo en 1929, se amplian notablemente los. antecedentes sobre dicho apellido.

Don Diego Ortíz de Largacha,natural de Veracruz,donde fue Alférez Mayor,Gobernador y Teniente de Capitán General,ingresó en la Orden de Santiago el año 1668; en 1681, don Bartolomé Ortíz de Casqueta y Ballesteros, natural de Requena, Valencia, Alférez Mayor de la ciudad de Puebla de los Angeles, fue agraciado por Felipe V, el 24 de mayo de 1710 con el título de Marques de Altamira de Puebla siendo Caballero de la Orden de Santiago, desposándose con la poblana doña Ana de Rivera Vasconcelos; don Manuel Ortíz y Cantón, de Poza, Burgos X Capitán de caballos, santiaguista en 1755 y Alcalde Mayor de Ciudad Real de Chiapa,y don Bartolomé Ortíz de Jáuregui,Alcalde Mayor de la ciudad de Puebla en 1692, que vistió el repetido hábito en 1687.

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


Heraldica: Spanish Heraldry site.

http://gilberto.bodu.net/Heraldica.html
Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com

An Example from the site:  
ORTEGA: Castellano, su antiguo solar esta en las montañas de Burgos en el valle de Mena, debajo de la Peña de la Magdalena y tambien en Carrion de los Condes. Procede de los Duques de Bretaña; el Rey Don Ramiro I de Leon, dio a uno de ellos en casamiento a su hija Doña Ortega Ramirez. Esta muy extendido por la peninsula.
En oro, un peral de sinople frutado de oro.
En azur, seis bandas de oro. Bordura de gules con diez aspas de oro.
Cuartelado. 1º y 4º: En azur, una flor de lis de oro. 2º y 3º: En oro, una rueda de carro de sable. Bordura de plata con ocho armiños de sable.
En oro, cinco matas de ortigas de sinople puestas en aspa.
En gules, un leon de oro coronado de lo mismo.
En oro, cinco lises de azur. Boirdura de gules con ocho aspas de oro.
En oro, un castillo de azur rodeado de ocho panelas de gules.
En gules, cuatro rosas de oro puestas en los cantones.
En oro, una tao, de gules.
En plata, una cruz pate, de gules, cargada de cinco panelas, de oro.
En gules, un león de oro, coronado de lo mismo. En oro, cinco flores de lis, de azur; bordura de gules, con ocho aspas de oro. 
En plata, un palo, de azur.
      Don't miss the Gálvez Concert and History Expo, Oct 10-12

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Oct 1, Viola Sadler presents to HIRE and NARA
Oct 3, Michael Perez presents to Knights of Columbus
Oct 4,
Searching Other Record Types, OCCGS
Oct 4, 4  Generations of Guevaras' Works Art Exhibit
Oct 4, Orange County Archives Seminar 6th 
Oct 4, Center For Oral & Public History 
Oct 8, "Soldados, Chicanos in Vietnam"
Oct 10, 5th Annual Visionary Luncheon  
Oct 11,
Logan School Reunion
Oct 11,
Latina Mothers Award Banquet
Oct 11,
Grijalva Park Annual Picnic
Oct 16, NARA Genealogical Workshops
Oct 17,
Dr. Tomas A. Arciniega 
Oct 1st, Hispanic Internal Revenue Employees (HIRE) and NARA - 
Pacific Region Laguna Niguel to hear Viola Sadler 

HISPANIC FAMILY HISTORY: Wednesday, October 1, 2003 - 11:30 am-1:30 pm 
Speaker: Viola Rodriguez-Sadler, Board member of the Society for Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research. Ms. Rodriguez-Sadler will introduce those interested in Hispanic genealogy to resources for Hispanic Family History using local records and those available at major repositories such as the National Archives. Tickets to performance events also available at this presentation. 

Oct 3rd, Knights of Columbus to hear Michael Stevens Perez
For information on attending, please contact Board Member Henry Marquez, 714-670-7237

Oct 4th: Searching Other Record Types  
  

 Having trouble locating an ancestor in federal census records? Census records are among the most valuable records for genealogical research. But it is not always possible to locate your ancestors' and collateral families in census records for a variety off reasons. Nor do the censuses provide all the information one would wish for, especially the earlier censuses. Gene Cheney, director of the Hemet Family History Center, will speak to us about the use of other records types that may be used as census substitutes or as supplements to the census records. Part 2 of Mr. Cheney's lecture will be presented in Room C at 12:30pm.

 Mr. Cheney's is the current director of the Family History Center in Hemet, California and serves as the director of education for the Hemet-San-Jacinto Genealogical Society. He has Taught genealogical research classes for 46 years.

 The Orange County California Genealogical Society General Membership Meeting is held the first Saturday of each month in Meeting Room C & D at the Huntington Beach Central Library.
711 Talbert Ave, Huntington Beach, CA.   

     October 4th, 6th Annual "Four Generations of Guevaras' Works Art Exhibit   

Saturday October 4, 2003 / Reception: 7 pm - 9 pm
Santora Arts Building, 205 No. Broadway St., Santa Ana, CA
INFO: guevarasart@yahoo.com  / 949-248 3324  http://www.sanjuancapistrano.net 

Orange County Archives Seminar

Saturday, October 4, 2003

No Charge-Limited Seating - Register to reserve your seat Meet the new archivist: Phil Brigandi
Learn how to use the archives materials: County Records, Historic Building Records and Genealogy
Open to all people interested in doing research at the Orange County Archives 
Free Parking-Old Courthouse Parking Lot (Civic Center & Broadway)

Seminar sponsored by the Orange county Historical Commission Old Orange County Courthouse
211 West Santa Ana Blvd.
Santa Ana, CA 92701

Voice mail (leave message): (714) 973-6609  Fax: (714) 834-2280
E-Mail:  Griselda.Castillo@pfrd.ocgov.com 


October 4th first in series at the Center For Oral and Public History 

Preservation Workshop Series, 2003/2004

COPH premiers a new series of preservation workshops dealing with archival techniques, historical buildings, audio tape storage and migration, and production of documentary films and photographs. Regionally and nationally recognized leaders in their own fields, workshop facilitators come co COPH with years of experience and eagerness to share their respective expertise.  

Workshops are offered from 9:00am  to 3:00pm four Saturdays during the 2003-2004- academic year at the Center for Oral and Public  History, CSU Fullerton. This "hands-on" approach offers participants practical guidance, involvement, and the opportunity to exchange ideas with others. 

Contact Info:
Center for Oral and Public History  http://coph.fullerton.edu  
(714) 278-3580  (714) 278-5069 Fax  


GRIJALVA COMMUNITY PARK AT SANTIAGO CREEK

ANNUAL PICNIC IN THE PARK

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 11 AM - 2:30 PM

This beautiful new park is in the city of Orange and is easily accessible from all parts of Orange County. Take Chapman Ave. east from the 55 Freeway; turn left at Prospect Ave. and go two blocks (north) to the signal at Spring St.; turn left on Spring and proceed along the park perimeter to the end; turn right and continue along the west perimeter to the large parking area. OUR AREA - PICNIC AREA #2 - IS RIGHT THERE WITH BALLOONS FLYING.

Our Board member, EDDIE GRIJALVA, the guest of honor at the grand opening of the park, will be our speaker.  Bring your picnic baskets with your favorite outdoor fare and we'll provide the punch and coffee. This will be a wonderful opportunity to visit a new Orange County park and renew acquaintances.


Chicano film screening at Libreria Martinez 

Sent by Anthony Garcia garcia@wahoo.sjsu.edu

On October 8th at 6:00 P.M. there will be a Free screening of the acclaimed film "Soldados, Chicanos in Vietnam" at the Libreria Martinez in Santa Ana Ca.   The screening will be followed by a lecture and book signing by the Writer/Producer/Publisher  Mr. Charley Trujillo.

"Soldados, Chicanos in Vietnam"
Wednsday October 8th  6:00 P.M.
Libreria Martine, 1110 N. Main St., Santa Ana, Ca.
(714) 973-7900

For more information on the film, and educational materials on the topic of Chicanos in Viet Nam visit: http://www.pbs.org/pov  For more information on Charley Trujillo: http:// www.chusmahouse.com

5th Annual Visionary Award Luncheon   Friday, October 10, 2003
 Proceeds to benefit Orange County Council, Scouting Outreach Programs 
Sent by John Palacio Jpalacio@pacbell.net  
 
Master of Ceremonies: Michael Carona, Sheriff County of Orange
Honoring  . . . The Hon. Todd Spitzer and Teresa Saldivar

Lunch & Program  12:00 noon  Tickets, $100.
The Coast Anaheim Hotel (formerly Anaheim Westcoast) 
1855 S. Harbor Blvd.  Anaheim, CA

R.S.V.P. Marcos Nava (714) 546-4990 ext. 106,  Fax (714) 546-0415
Email:  Marcos Nava -  marcosn@ocbsa.org 
Make Checks Payable to:  BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 
3590 Harbor Gateway North, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Logan School Reunion 
October 11, 2003 

Logan School on the corner of Logan and Stafford was one of the Mexican segregated schools of that time. The school was demolished many years ago, but many of its former students will be reliving some of those memories at the upcoming Logan reunion.   

Sent by Mary Garcia maryr_garcia@hotmail.com

Many of the residents of the first early Mexican barrios in Orange County have been getting together and conducting their own reunions. Bringing to mind those times when the towns were young and things were in many ways, oh, so different. The early residents bonded, worked hard, celebrated, and lived a life that instilled in them a deep pride and ownership of being part of those eras. Santa Anita, El Modena recently have had their reunions. Logan had a mini reunion  in June, 2003 but that only whet their appetite. On Saturday, October 11, 2003 they will be meeting at Logan Park, corner of Stafford & Custer St. with a bigger reunion. Music will be provided by Los Latinos (prior Logan residents), a potluck lunch, a picture display brought by many of the first family of the Logan area, and all will be reliving those good times and feeling the pride of our culture and of our ancestors who

made it possible.  Logan is thought to be the oldest Mexican community in Santa Ana.


 Latina Mothers Awards Banquet, October 11th 


Familia Latina magazine in partnership with Latino Health Acess will recognize and celebrate Latina Mothers by honoring five mothers at an awards banquet on Saturday, October 11 at the Santa Ana Performing Arts & Event Center.  The event is known  as Las Madres de Honor (The Mothers of Honor).

Categories are as follows:  
Mama de la Comunidad (Mother  of the Community) 
Corazon Immigrante (Immigrant Heart) 
Vencedora Victoriosa ( Victorious Overcomer) 
Triunfadora Jovencita (Triumphant Young Lady) 
Abuelita Extraordinaria ( Extraordinary Grandma)

"Through these events we can say  "Thank you" to these mothers and recognize their achievements which might otherwise be overlooked," said Laura Lentz, President of Latino Family Media, Inc.  " We think it is critical to continue our event series to honor Latina mothers and their contributions to
family and community."

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and will include a brunch and entertainment.  Gifts will be given as door prizes to mothers attending the event.  ATTENDANCE IS FREE, and open to families in Santa Ana and the surrounding communities via reservation only.

PLEASE CALL 800/ 509-0072 FOR RESERVATIONS NOW!
Viola Myre vmyre@hcoc.org 
Office Manager, Hispanic Chamber of Orange County 
2323 N. Broadway, Suite 305
Santa Ana, CA  92706-1640
Phone:  (714)953-4289 Ext:21  Fax:  (714) 953-0273
Schedule of Genealogical Workshops, National Archive & Records Administration
24000 Avila Road, 1st Floor East, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677-3497

Fall 2003

Oct. 16th       Introduction to Genealogical Resources
Oct. 22nd      Preserving Your Family's History
Oct. 30th       Naturalization & Immigration Records

Reminder: Reservations Required!
Class sizes are limited. Please call (949) 360-2641, ext. 0 to reserve your place in each class you would like to attend. All workshops cost $7.50, payable at the door.

Driving Directions:
From I-5, exit at Oso Parkway and head west. Turn left at La Paz Road. Follow La Paz through the intersection with Avila and make the next right on Allegra, a small side street in the midst of an office park. Go straight and park in any unmarked space.  


HACU Salutes Dr. Tomas A. Arciniega at First Annual Roast and Fundraiser


Sent by Anthony Garcia agarcia@wahoo.sjsu.edu
Source: Emily Robinson emrobinson@earthlink.net
 
Tickets are now available for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) 1st Annual Roast and Fundraiser. The achievements of nationally renowned champion of Hispanic higher education, Dr. Tomás A. Arciniega, President of California State University at Bakersfield will be formally recognized at the inaugural event on October 17, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency- Orange County in Anaheim, California.

“Dr. Arciniega is an extraordinary leader for diversity, equity and excellence who continues to inspire all of us in the Hispanic higher education community,” Flores said.

As one of the longest-serving presidents in the California State University System, Arciniega, 65, has served as president of California State University at Bakersfield since 1983. The university's  multi-cultural student enrollment has more than doubled during his 20-year tenure, and the university’s budget has more than tripled.

Arciniega, who in June announced plans to retire on July 1, 2004, is the winner of numerous state and national awards. He is a widely published expert on higher education administration, bilingual education and multicultural education. He has served as a technical consultant to the Ministries of Education in Honduras, Bolivia, Panama, and Guatemala. Arciniega was named by Change magazine as one of the top 100 Academic Leaders in American Higher Education.

Arciniega formerly served as vice president for academic affairs at California State University at Fresno, dean of the College of Education at San Diego State University, and graduate dean and educational administration chair at the University of Texas at El Paso. Arciniega, who is also a tenured professor of educational administration at the Bakersfield campus, was a tenured faculty member at each of these higher education institutions before arriving at the Bakersfield campus in
1983.

Arciniega is Trustee Emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation and a past presidential appointee of the National Council on Education Research. He serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute, Educational Testing Service, Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
and MESA (Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievements). He is a past president of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and a member of the Telecommunications Advisory Panel for Pacific Bell.

A portion of the proceeds from the 1st Annual Roast and Fundraiser, which is open to the public, will be used to establish a scholarship in Arciniega’s name. The Roast and Fundraiser will serve as the lead event of HACU’s 17th Annual Conference scheduled for October 18-21, 2003 at
the Hyatt Regency – Orange County in Anaheim, California.

Higher education leaders and advocates attend HACU’s annual conferences, which have become national platforms for promoting new public policies, partnerships and programs in support of Hispanic higher education.

For tickets (Individual tickets are $150), table and sponsorship information about HACU’s First Annual Roast and Fundraiser honoring Dr. Tomás A. Arciniega contact Ms. Lorena Blanco, Assistant Director of Development at (210) 692-3805. ext. 3224.or  "mailto:lblanco@hacu.net"lblanco@hacu.net
For more information about HACU and the 17th Annual Conference, please contact Daniel Casillas, Director of Communications and PR at (210) 692-3805 ext. 3249 or e-mail dcasillas@hacu.net

Don't miss the Gálvez Concert and History Expo, Oct 10-12

LOS ANGELES, CA

Oct 2,  Gregorio Luke Lecture Series in Pasadena
Long Beach Questing Heirs offer free consultations

Largest Latino Cultural Bookstore
Oct 2,  Agustin Lara
Oct 11, 2003 GSHA-SC Fiesta 
Oct 18, Third Annual CAAGS, West Coast Summit
Mariachi Spirit of Mexico  
Rancho Los Cerritos
Rancho Los Cerritos,
Hispanic History Comm
Rancho Los Alamitos, Barnyard Hoedown
Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
Folklorico Dance
American Family
Gregorio Luke October Lecture Series in Pasadena  
Pasadena Central Library
285 E. Walnut Street 
Pasadena, CA, 91101
(626) 744-4052

We hope that you will join us for these 4 lectures. 
This lectures are free and open to the public. An RSVP is not necessary, just show up early and enjoy. 

October 2 at 7:00pm:   Jose Clemente Orozco
October 9 at 7:00pm:    David Alfaro Siqeiros
October 16 at 7:00pm:  Frida Kahlo
October 30 at 7:00pm:  Diego Rivera

Gregorio Luke an expert in Mexican art, is the director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. He was formerly the Consul of Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles and the First Secretary of the Embassy of Mexico in Washington D.C.

Mr. Luke has given over 500 lectures in museums and universities in Mexico and the US. He has spoken at institutions such as The library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution, the San Diego Art Museum, the Detroit Institution of Art, and universities such as Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown among others. 

In 1992, Mr. Luke received a mayoral Citation from the District of Columbia for his promotion of Mexican Culture and in 1995 he was conferred the Irving Leonard Award by the Hispanic Society of the Library of Congress. 

His extensive knowledge and true appreciation of Mexican art and culture, allows him to share his extensive experience through lectures, exhibits and seminars, among other varied actives. 
These lectures series are not to be missed Gregorio Luke's presentations are incredibly through and entertain. If you are an art lover, these lectures will enrich your mind, and certainly will leave you with a fresh perspective about Mexican art in general and in particularly about these great masters. 
October is Family History Month, Free Consultations by Questing Heirs 

Long Beach's Questing Heirs Genealogical Society, Post Office Box 15102, Long Beach
For Additional information: Liz Myers  Lizstookes@cs.com  562/598-3027

CA 90815-0102 is celebrating Family History Month by offering the family researcher a free consultation at the Long Beach Public Library, on Ocean Blvd. every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon from 1 PM to 5 PM.  Help has been available at the library every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon from Bob Brasher throughout the year.  However, during October a beginner's packet will be available with additional experienced researchers to help launch inquirers into the
fun and educational opportunities of looking for grandparents and the history that surrounds them.

October marks the 3rd annual celebration of Family History Month since the U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation on September 26, 2001, just 15 days after world history was made on September 11. According to the PBS "Ancestors" program website, family history has become the second most popular topic on the Internet, and the third most popular hobby in the U.S. As of September 1, 2002, another top genealogy website, FamilySearch.org, has had 8.8 billion
hits and 1.7 billion page views since it launched in May of 1999. It is estimated that more than two million separate websites are devoted to genealogy.

"This is a huge day for the more than 80 million Americans who are believed to be actively searching for more information about their ancestors. "Millions of Americans are researching the history of their families," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican who introduced the Family History Month resolution. "Experts say that in the United States, genealogy is now the second most
popular hobby next to gardening."

"It is only natural that we want to find out more about our ancestors," Hatch continued. "What better way to bring families closer together than by discovering more about the story of their own family? Like it or not, who we are today is in large part, a product of our ancestors.


The Largest Latino Cultural Bookstore in the U.S. 


Planned for a February 2004 Grand Opening, a sneak preview of the interim location was held on September 30th at the new Plaza Mexico 
in Lynwood.

Libreria Martinez, Plaza Mexico
3170 E. Imperial Highway, Suite B
Lynwood, CA 90262  E. Imperial Highway @ Long Beach Blvd.
http://www.plazamexico.com 

Tribute to Mexican Composer Agustin Lara Los Angeles' Bilingual Foundation of the Arts
Sent by Bill Doty

The Bilingual Foundation of the Arts is providing a limited number of vouchers, each exchanged for two free tickets, for the evenings of Thursday, October 2 (performed in Spanish) and Thursday, October 16 (performed in English). 

For free ticket vouchers please see Cathy Westfeldt, (Ext. 42) ASAP. PLEASE NOTE: Each voucher may be exchanged for two tickets at the theater box office. Reservations must be made by phone in advance of the performance by telephoning the theater box office at: (323) 225-4044. 

Founded by award-winning actress Carman Zapata, and now in its 30th year, The Bilingual Foundation of the Arts - with the support of Bank of America, The Boeing Company, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Southern California Edison and Heineken, USA will premiere "Solamente una vez/ You Belong to My Heart" a tribute to prolific Mexican composer Agustin Lara. Composer Lara has been likened to legendary American composer Cole Porter.

The Bilingual Foundation for the Arts Theatre is located at 421 North Avenue 19 in the Lincoln Heights section of Los Angeles.
 

2003 GSHA-SC Fiesta
October 11, at Olvera Street, from 10am - 4pm.
Sent by Donie Nelson doniegsha@earthlink.net  

10:30am Keynote Speaker Paul Apodaca, M.A., Ph.D. 
Topic:  The Multi-Cultural History of California
Paul Apodaca is an artist, educator, composer, musician, editor, author, curator and consultant to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and to the Walt Disney Corporation.
Apodaca obtained his Master's Degree in American Indian Studies from UCLA in 1995, and his Ph.D. Degree in Folklore and Mythology also from UCLA in 1999. He currently is Assistant Professor of American Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, a Consultant to the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, and a Consultant to the Walt Disney Corporation.

Lunch
1pm  Introduction to Hispanic Genealogy Workshop (1.5 hours)  - Lisa Castañeda
Manager, Montebello Regional Library.  Lisa will share useful resources available for genealogists and books for beginning researchers, genealogy magazines, local newspapers on microfilm, and public access internet stations. 

2:30 pm Introduction to Mexican Genealogy Workshop (1/5) - John Schmal)
Well-known lecturer, Schmal is a volunteer consultant at the Los Angeles Family History Center and leads classes there on "Hispanic Research Methods Class" and "Mexican-American Genealogical Research.  Schmal  has  been doing Hispanic Research for more than a decade, with special emphasis on Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Guatemala. His other areas of research include California, New Mexico, Colorado, Germany, Midwest, and some Louisiana and Texas African-American. 

Following the Paper Trail to Mexico" is the title of John's latest book, which he co-authored  with Donna Morales. Schmal also collaborated with Morales on a 400-year history of her Jalisco, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas ancestors in a book entitled "My Family Through Time:  The Story of a Mexican-American Family." Schmal wrote "The Ancestors of Professor Julian Nava," and has an unpublished book, about a 12-generation Calif. family, entitled:  "A Pioneer Family of California:  In the Service of Three Flags."  He is now writing a book about the immigration statistics for each port-of-entry along the Mexican border, focusing on trends.  

Schmal is a Board member of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research (SHHAR),
an  associate editor of Somos Primos, a frequent submitter of original research, and prepares the monthly index for each issues.


Third Annual West Coast Summit, CAAGS, Oct 18

 

Celebrating A Tree of Life - Our Family, Third Annual West Coast Summit on African 
October 17-18 2003, Patriotic Hall, 1816 Figueroa St.

Presented by the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach and California African American Genealogical Society. For  volunteer or sponsorship opportunities contact: Marjorie Higgins
NMIGG71503@aol.cmo or phone (323) 755-6582 

Mariachi Spirit of Mexico  
Saturday, October 25th at 7:00PM
Greek Theatre Contact yourcontact@greektheatrela.com
Come enjoy some of the most accomplished and influential Mexican Mariachi ensembles in the United States under the Stars at the Greek Theatre!               
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/090036FEE8AF7352?brand=&artistid=880182&majorcatid=10001&=
minorcatid=5

Rancho Los Cerritos

Are you a descendant of one of the early Spanish and Mexican land grants that once made up today’s Los Angeles and Orange Counties? Rancho Los Cerritos, carved from the original 18th century Nieto land grant, is planning a gathering of early California families in July 2004 so that family descendants can:

  • Get to know each other
  • Participate in oral and video interviews about your family history
  • Share historical and genealogical information
  • Celebrate the accomplishments of California’s first Spanish and Mexican families
  • Have fun!

We need your help: If you are a descendant of one of the Spanish or Mexican land grant families from Los Angeles or Orange counties, will you help promote and publicize this event to your families?

Are you also willing to advise us as we plan the event, and let us know what you’d like to see at such a gathering, so that the event appeal to both young and old and your extended families will want to participate?  Please contact Rancho Los Cerritos at 562-570-1755 or our planning committee chairs 
Maureen Habel (562) 434-4693 and Dolores Gibson (562) 421-5481.

Rancho Los Cerritos is a National, State and Local Historic Landmark located in Long Beach and open for public tours. The site includes a two-story Monterey-style adobe built in 1844 by John (Don Juan) Temple as headquarters for his cattle ranching operations and landscaped grounds. Temple purchased the 27,000 acre property from descendants of Manuela Nieto de Cota, who in turn had inherited the land from her father, Manuel Nieto. For more information on the Rancho, please check out our website at www.rancholoscerritos.org  

Friends for forty Years
Friends  of Rancho Los Cerritos was established in 1963 by a small group of volunteers who met regularly in a tiny office at the Rancho and Passed a collection hat amongst themselves to cover postage. Forty years later, the group numbers over 300 members and proceeds from their efforts support their organization's monthly and quarterly newsletters, as well as special events and educational programs at the Rancho.


Friends of Rancho Los Cerritos recently formed the Hispanic History Committee for assistance with new ideas and community contacts. Committee members are busy looking at ways to increase research on the Nieto, Cota and Temple eras and to expand upon the interpretation of the Rancho's Spanish and Mexican California History As the Rancho approaches the 16th anniversary of the historic adobe, the committee members input will be very helpful. 

For more information about the Hispanic History Committee call:  Ann Salas-Rock  (562) 435-6259
or write:  555 Maine Ave #421, Long Beach, CA
, 90802 

Barnyard Hoedown,
Sunday October 26, Noon to 4:30 p.m.
Another historical facility owned by the City of Long Beach, under the auspices of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine is the Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Garden's. 
Address:  6400 Bixby Hill Road, Long Beach, CA 90815

 A free afternoon of activities are planned for the Children's Fall Harvest Festival, to include:
- Performances by "Riley's Mountaineers" Old-time Hoedown Band, California Singers & Cloggers
- Buckaroos Rodeo Games - steer roping, barrel races, sack and scarecrow relays
- Ranch Hands at work, animal tending, blacksmithing, rope-making, woodworking, wool spinning and clothes-washing and much more. . .  

Free parking at CSULB, Lot 11 on Palo Verde Avenue.  562-431-3541


Tomas Rivera Policy Institute

FYI I have been informed by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute that they have
moved to the USC campus.  Their new address is:

        Tomas Rivera Policy Institute  http://www.trpi.org
        Univ. of So. California, School of Policy, Planning & Dev.
        650 Childs Way, Lewis Hall, Suite 102
        Los Angeles CA 90089-0626
        (213) 821-5615   (213) 821-1976 Fax
       
Of particular interest to librarians is their list of publications for sale. You can access the list by logging onto their website  http:// www.trpi.org.  Librarians interested in the topic of the "digital divide" might want to check out the titles listed under "Information Technology."  Many of the publications are free or can be downloaded!  Others are reasonably priced at $5-10 (plus shipping and handling).

Sent by Al Milo, Library Director, Fullerton Public Library alm@ci.fullerton.ca.us
URL for REFORMA web page: http://www.reforma.org


Folklorico Dance
From the state of Nayarit, Mexico
Dance Class for All Ages,
October 5, 2003, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Costumed dancers from the Ballet Folkorico Azatlan will present and teach the dances of the Mestizo Huichol Indians From the high central plateau. Bring friends and family to enjoy this fun and exciting performance and workshop! 

American Family 

Sundays at 7pm  starting September 28, encores Thursday at 8pm starting October 2. 
Gregory Nava's series broke ground last year as the first Latino drama on broadcast television. It feature the Gonzalez family of East Los Angeles and its experiences, hardships and triumphs.

 

Don't miss the Gálvez Concert and History Expo, Oct 10-12

CALIFORNIA

Link to: Royal Presidio
20th Annual MACHADO Family Reunion
"For Virtue and Merit" 
CSGA Annual Meeting
Hang Town Fry
Growing impact, But Valley Latinos' progress still slow

A Legacy of Service: Mexican-American Defenders of California
by John P. Schmal


20th Annual MACHADO FAMILY REUNION

October 4, 2003, 11 am to 9 pm

Jose Manuel Machado and his wife Maria del Carmen Valenzuela came from Sinaola, to California in 1781.  If you are a descendant of, or related to this family, you are invited to our Family Reunion.

WHERE: Chevron Employees Park, 324 W. El Segundo Blvd.  
WHAT: Genealogy, food, music, dancers, raffle, and lots of sharing
COST:  Prepaid: Adult $10/Kids $8/over 70 free
             At door: Adult $15/Kids $10/over 70 still free
Please contact Ronnie Mendez for more information on the activities, what to bring, etc. 310-548-1818 or RIME@cox.net 

Santa Barbara, California

In 1952  "The Royal and Most Illustrious Order of Carlos III"  was bestowed upon the city of Santa Barbara, which is the only city in the United States to be so honored. The flag of the city wears the rosette and ribbon of the order.

"For Virtue and Merit" 

 

On the occasion of the birth of his grandson and heir, Carlos III created "The Royal and Most Illustrious Order of Carlos III". The heavenly blue and white colors of the decoration signifies that it was under the protection of the Virgin Mary, while its motto "For Virtue and Merit" appropriately expressed the king’s values. The present king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, regularly wears the rosette and ribbon. The decoration was awarded to many men who helped create California, including Portolá and members of the Gálvez family.

Visit Los Soldados on the internet  
 http://www.Soldados.us/StBarbara/index.htm
Presidios and Soldiers bibliography  
  http://www.ca-missions.org/biblio.html


CSGA ANNUAL   MEETING
OCT 18, Foster City CA  9AM  

The San Francisco Bay Region of CSGA has a great conference planned conjunction with the CSGA Annual meeting.  They  hope to see you there.

The conference is the result of the dream of some local genealogists to have a conference specializing in California Research.  Knowing, however,  that there are many California genealogists that have no California ancestors, the planners also added tracks in Preservation, Organization, Immigration and more.  Whatever your genealogical interests, you are sure to learn something new.

For those who choose not to attend the conference, we still welcome you to the meeting which will begin promptly at 9am.  All Annual Meeting attendees will receive one free raffle ticket and will have an opportunity to browse through the vendors’ hall.  We will have a great selection of books, CDs, used publications, novelty items, photography items and more. Check the website for a vendor list.

Raffle prizes include a one week time share with great flexibility of time and place, four nights at the Best Western in Salt Lake City, Books, periodical subscriptions, computer programs and more. A list of prizes and donors will be posted on the conference website http://users.lmi.net/catcn/ca_conf 
You will also find a link on the CSGA Website at http://www.CSGA.com

There are still a few openings in the workshops and field trips that will be held on Friday and Sunday. Workshops are Cemetery Research, Cath & Cat’s Photo Collage, Organizing a Research Project, and Document Preservation.  Field Trips are: A Walking Tour of SF City Records, Sutro Library, Cemeteries, and NARA Pacific Region.  Be sure to get your registration in soon to assure yourself
a place.  Download a registration form or send a SASE to Cath Trindle, 56 Orchard Ave, RWC CA 94061 for a paper copy. 
Hang Town Fry
By Gerry Schremp, Celebration of American Food. Four Centuries in the Melt Pot. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing 1996
Sequoia Genealogical Society, Inc. Newsletter, Volume 30, Number 7, September 2003 

Hang Town Fry was an omelet made of oysters and eggs? This dish was concocted at Hang Town (modern Placerville, California) during the gold Rush era and made from the two most expensive items on the menu. Some  say the dish was invented at the Cary House Restaurant. Miners who struck it  rich in the gold fields asked for the most expensive dinner their new money could buy.

Growing impact, But Valley Latinos' progress still slow
By Steve Wiegand -- Sacramento Bee Staff Writer, September 14, 2003
Entire article included by permission of author.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/latinos/story/7414974p-8357892c.html


Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, September 14, 2003VISALIA -- As a boy growing up in the Central Valley, Rich Rodriguez was sometimes embarrassed by his lunch. The Anglo kids at his school brought baloney sandwiches. He brought tacos."I was ashamed to open my bag sometimes. ... I wanted to fit in," recalled Rodriguez, the son of farm workers who now counsels immigrant parents about the value of an education for their kids.

On the day he relived his lunchtime humiliation of several decades past, the local paper carried its usual brief notice announcing the lunchtime entree for the Visalia city school system.

It was tacos.  Things are changing in California's vast Central Valley.

Once a bastion of sharp class divisions defined largely by ethnicity, the Valley's farm fields, small towns and metropolitan areas are giving birth to a generation of Latinos who want more than their parents had -- and are getting it.

Once home to a monolithic popular culture that reflected a narrow set of tastes, the Valley's media, food and even language have broadened considerably in recent years.

And once dominated by a one-size-fits-all business climate, Valley commerce increasingly is conducted with a flexibility that suits its shifting clientele.

In short, the Latino population's impact is beginning to be commensurate to its rapidly growing size.

"There are enclaves in the Central Valley, and elsewhere in California, where if you don't understand Spanish and (Latino) cultural cues, you are not going to do well," said Adela de la Torre, director of the Chicano Studies program at the University of California, Davis. "That is reality."

Signs of change are everywhere: A Mervyn's ad for Father's Day on the side of a Sacramento bus, in Spanish; a snack chip rack in a Modesto convenience store that contains as many Mexican brand names as American; a Huron City Council whose members' last names are Pasencia, Dominguez, Gonzalez, Zavala and Pimentel; a red T-shirt with the phrase "Viva la Vida Loca" ("Long live the Wild Life"), worn by a blond Visalia teenager whose family tree, she says, contains no one of Latino heritage.

Such anecdotal evidence of an increasing Latino presence in Valley life is backed by the numbers. A Bee analysis of federal census data gathered from the Central Valley's 18 counties found:

* While the Valley's overall population grew by almost 59 percent from 1980 to 2000, the Hispanic population grew nearly three times as fast -- by 168 percent. That does not include what is believed to be a substantial number of Hispanics who were not counted because they are in the United States illegally and ducked census takers.

* Hispanics, about 84 percent of whom were of Mexican heritage, comprised 30 percent of the Valley's population in 2000, and about 40 percent of the eight Valley counties south of Sacramento, combined. In five of the 18 counties, Hispanics made up more than 40 percent of the population, and in Tulare County, slightly more than 50 percent. Some small cities are overwhelmingly Hispanic, such as Orange Cove (91 percent), Parlier (98 percent) and Huron (99 percent). Even Kingsburg, which advertises itself as "a bit of Sweden in the Central Valley," is 36 percent Hispanic.

* About two-thirds of Valley Hispanics counted in the 2000 census were listed as U.S. natives. Of the rest, 8.5 percent were naturalized citizens and 26 percent were not U.S. citizens.

* The Valley's Hispanic community is younger, has a higher birthrate and larger families than the overall population: Slightly more than 44 percent of all the children attending kindergarten through third grade in the Valley are Hispanic. That's of particular interest to businesses because larger families with young children spend more money on the necessities of life, even in down economic times.

And sometime in the next two decades, demographers say, the state's largest minority group will become its majority.

"It's not just that they are growing, it's that they are growing as essentially the youthful part of the population in the state and the region," said de la Torre, "and that has tremendous implications for the future."

One of those, cultural analysts point out, is the juxtaposition of a large generation of young Latinos with the aging generation of mostly Anglo baby boomers.

"Over 50 percent of California's first-graders are Latino. They are coming into the work force in about 12 years to 15 years," said Harry Pachon, executive director of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, a Latino issues think tank at Claremont College.

"That's precisely at the same time when the white baby boomers will be retiring. So there is a segue issue here: Who is going to be our work force in 15 years? Who is going to take care of the retirees?"

As the generation Pachon referred to is growing up, it's finding new Valley role models in Latinos who have broken out of roles they may have been expected to fill.

When Graciela Moreno told her father she was to be the commencement speaker at her eighth-grade graduation, he told her to enjoy it, because her love affair with education was over -- she would not be going on to high school.

"You speak perfect English now, and you can get a job at the grocery store and make good money," the lifelong farm worker said.

"I said, 'In this country, Dad, you can't stop me' ... and he said, 'I'll drag you off the school bus.' The first few weeks of (high) school I would watch to see if he was coming for me in his blue truck, but he never did."

Despite her father's threats, Moreno, now 31, finished high school and graduated from California State University, Stanislaus.

"My dad is a very proud man who always did what he thought was best to keep us in line," Moreno said, explaining that her father was much more lenient with her younger brother and sister and now is so proud of her he carries her photograph to show to people who don't believe she is his daughter.

That's because Graciela Moreno has become something of a household name in Fresno, where she co-anchors the city's biggest television news show. She also is something of a role model to a younger generation of Valley Latinos, who see a woman who speaks fluent Spanish, did not Anglicize her name, yet has succeeded.

"I was in Madera once speaking at a school, and afterward this little girl walked me out to my car and said, 'I used to think when I watched you on TV that you were some rich Mexican and your parents were the owners, and that's how you got that job,' " Moreno said. "And she was shocked to hear my father was, and still is, a farm worker."

Moreno is emblematic of a growing number of second-, third-and fourth-generation Latinos penetrating jobs and professions that have nothing to do with planting, picking or packing produce.

While the number of Valley Hispanics in the agriculture industry increased 61 percent from 1980 to 2000, according to census data, the number in public administration increased 112 percent.

During the same period, the number of Hispanic engineers, educators, police, firefighters and computer-related workers in the Valley more than quadrupled.

"Success breeds success," said Pachon of the Tomás Rivera institute. "When young Hispanics see Hispanics in jobs that seemed unobtainable, they are encouraged to knock on doors they once would have passed by."

The pervasiveness of Latino culture -- think "chipotle chicken sandwiches" at Jack in the Box, the crossover hipness of following Spanish television "novelas," the pop star popularity of Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez -- may also be changing the attitudes of the newest Latino generation toward itself.

"When I was growing up, there was a huge shame factor about being Mexican, being poor, having parents who were farm workers," Moreno said.

"But now what I see more of when I go and speak at schools is a big embracing of the Hispanic culture, and Cinco de Mayo is a big thing, and speaking Spanish, and these things have helped give them the values that we should always have felt."

Victor Hanson's affection for the past is reflected by his occupation as a professor of Greek and Latin at California State University, Fresno. Nationally known as a military historian, he lives on the farm near Selma that his great-great-grandmother settled in the 19th century.

When Hanson looks around his hometown, this is what he sees: More people who speak Spanish than speak English. More signs in Spanish than English at the grocery store. Public schools more segregated and students less proficient than when he attended school 40 years ago. Government-subsidized apartments populated by large families of Latinos.

"Three decades ago my hometown of Selma was still a sleepy little town in Central California," he writes in a recently released book entitled "Mexifornia."

"I hoped that the new Selma would at least retain the language, customs, laws and multiracial but unicultural flavor of the old. But it has not."

Hanson is quick to point out his views have nothing to do with any personal antipathy toward Latinos. He has a brother who is married to a Latina. Both his daughters go steady with Latinos. Most of his friends growing up were Latino.

But, he argues, things like bilingual telephone books and government documents, Spanish language media and Chicano studies programs at state universities are actually disincentives for Latinos, particularly new arrivals, to merge into the California mainstream.

"We have one to two million people a year coming here illegally," he said in a recent interview, "and the host culture gave up on assimilation and began to institute programs like bilingual education or special driver's licenses for people here illegally. So we've undermined the concept of legality because we're overwhelmed by the numbers."

The result, Hanson says, is an apartheid system that keeps Latinos locked in a lower class. The system is perpetuated by the constant arrival of immigrants coming here illegally, who are encouraged to cling to their native tongue and culture.

"Here in the Central Valley we have towns that more resemble Mexico than California, and those are going to increase," Hanson said, "and you are going to see this Asian and white flight out of those areas, as well as flight by third-or fourth-generation Mexican Americans who don't want to live there either."

Hanson's unease about the impact of the Latino community's growth in the Valley is macrocosmic in scope. But similar unease has been reflected in public squabbles over issues far narrower than apartheid or white flight.

Two years ago, the Visalia Unified School District's board of trustees took up the task of naming the town's new high school. The five choices, forwarded to the board by students expected to attend the school, were Four Creeks, Summit, El Diamante, Tierra del Sol and Frontier.

None of the school board members is Latino, though more than a third of the city and nearly half its public school students are Latino. But on a close 4-3 vote, they chose "El Diamante," Spanish for "The Diamond."

"We represent a town that has a growing Hispanic population," school board member Niessen Foster said at the time, "and I think their view should be represented."

But the choice kicked off a flurry of indignation among some Visalians that lasted more than a year.

"Perhaps in another city the name 'El Diamante' would be better suited," resident Amber Jackson wrote the local newspaper, "but not here. Students should take pride not only in their school, but also in their community and Valley. What about 'Sierra Nevada High ...'?"

In Los Baños, a Merced County town of 26,000 that is about half Latino, there are ongoing rumblings about whether there should be a tilde -- the grammatical mark resembling a squiggly horizontal line -- over the n.

Pro-tilde forces argue that with the tilde, the term means "the baths" in Spanish, while without it, the term means nothing in any language. They also point out that the town was named for bathing pools that once existed in a now mostly dry creek, which were used by Spanish priests in the early 19th century.

But others find the tilde intolerable. "If you want to call it Los Baños, go to Mexico," an irate resident told the Modesto Bee in May. "When you're in the USA, speak English."

Throughout its history, the United States has been the recipient of successive waves of immigration and the subsequent rapid growth of the immigrant groups, nearly all of which have been accompanied by concerns about the impact they might have.

Benjamin Franklin, reflecting on German immigrants to Pennsylvania in 1753, wrote: "Few of their children learn English ... the signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages. ... I suppose in a few years (interpreters) will be necessary in the Assembly, to tell one half of our legislators what the other half say."

But historians, demographers and sociologists say there are key differences between past waves and the one bringing Latinos to the Central Valley and the rest of California.

For one thing, the Latino wave is continual. While groups like the Irish tended to come in a giant rush over a relatively short period, Latinos immigrate in large numbers every year.

For another, Latinos are more easily differentiated -- and targeted -- than some other immigrant groups.

"The Irish and the Italians became American very quickly, in part because they were white and their legal status was not a question, whereas for Mexican Americans, this was not the case," said David León, director both of Chicano Studies at California State University, Sacramento, and of the university's Serna Center for Latino research.

But the biggest difference is a porous 2,000-mile-long border between the United States and Mexico that makes it relatively easy to move back and forth between countries, and makes each side familiar with the other.

"If you go to Mexico, on television you see the 'novelas,' but you also see "Beverly Hills 90210" in Spanish," said León. "The Mexicans see what Americans are doing and imitate it.

"We are really seeing a blurring of that 2,000-mile border in terms of culture. Many aspects of American life are already known to first-generation Mexican Americans, some even before they cross the border ... and many aspects of Mexican culture are increasingly more acceptable, and even valued, to many white Americans."

Other immigrant groups have assimilated culturally as their members gradually forsook their native languages for English and intermarried with other groups.

Census statistics suggest there is a gradual abandonment of Spanish occurring among Hispanics in the Central Valley as well.

While only 17 percent of Hispanic respondents 65 years old and older said they spoke only English, the figure rose to 26 percent for those 18 to 64 and to nearly 37 percent for those 5 to 17.

Conversely, 16 percent of those 65 and older said they speak no English, compared to just over 2 percent of those 5 to 17.

Some social analysts think the accessibility of Spanish-language radio and television and the availability of government and commercial materials in Spanish, coupled with the attractiveness of knowing both languages in the business world, may keep the Valley on a bilingual track.

"My third-and fourth-generation students feel really bad when they don't speak Spanish," said Sacramento State's León. "As it becomes less of a stigma to speak Spanish, especially in public, it will become more of a bilingual culture."

That observation mirrors the experience of George Martinez's family. Martinez is a 58-year-old Sacramento business consultant. His parents speak mostly Spanish, but sent him to private schools so he could learn English quickly.

"I was embarrassed to speak Spanish around my Anglo friends at school," Martinez recalled, "and embarrassed to speak English at home."

But Martinez's two daughters, both in their 20s, have no such problem.

"My daughters say, 'I'm going to speak Spanish to my abuelita (grandma), but then I'm going to hang out with my friends, who are Anglo and Mexican and black and Asian, and I'm going to speak only English.' "

On a sultry summer afternoon in Rich Rodriguez's back yard, Natán Rodriguez is getting married.

Natán is the son of Rich, a Latino, and Peggie, an Anglo. Natán's bride, Sarah Goodman, is also Anglo.

The festivities befit a wedding of diverse cultural backgrounds. The groom wears a custom-made Western shirt; the bride a traditional white gown made by her mother. The food includes fajitas, beans, rice, salad with ranch dressing and German beer. The music includes a Latina duo playing "norteño" music, the bride and groom singing a Johnny Cash song and a disc jockey spinning rhythm and blues.

"I don't see any Latinos or Anglos here," says Rich, "just friends and family."

The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics estimate that while only 8 percent of first-generation Hispanics marry non-Hispanics, 57 percent of third-generation Hispanics do.

The Serna Center's León thinks that one reason is that second-and third-generation Latinos who enter college often develop a commonality of interests with non-Latino classmates.

"Intermarriage thus becomes part of the natural process of moving up the education level and the economic level," León said.

Natán's and Sarah's children, if they have them, will be by traditional reckoning one-quarter Latino and three-quarters Anglo. But guessing how much of which culture they will be exposed to, or choose to embrace, is an exercise in futility.

Sarah believes it's also a flawed question.

"I don't really want them to be thinking, 'This is your Mexican side, take pride in it,' or 'This is your European/American side, take pride in it,' " she said. "They should have the freedom to choose what appeals to them. I'd rather have them be good citizens of the world and have knowledge and respect for all cultures."

That may prove easier to accomplish in 21st-century California than it was in centuries past.

"There is no single American identity anymore," said UC Davis' de la Torre. "The premise of cultural assimilation is dead."

De la Torre and others argue that instead of a melting pot, tomorrow's California will resemble a salad, with the ingredients still individually identifiable, but complementing each other rather than clashing.

"In the future," she said with a chuckle, "we are all going to be mixed. We won't be Latinos or Anglos. We'll be mutts."

Graphic: The growing minority [227k]
Monday: A place at the table.
About the Writer
---------------------------
The Bee's Steve Wiegand can be reached at (916) 321-1076 or swiegand@sacbee.com.


A LEGACY OF SERVICE:

MEXICAN-AMERICAN DEFENDERS OF CALIFORNIA

By Jennifer C. Vo and John P. Schmal

 


The state of California is a very special place for many people. Millions have come here from other parts of the United States and from around the world to live, work, and prosper. And many of these people embrace their new lives in this western state. As the world's fifth largest economy, California has a great deal to offer the many people who make their way to the Golden State in search of a better life.

My name is Jennifer Vo and to me and my family, California is a very special place. This may be due to the fact that – my Chumash Indian ancestry notwithstanding – I am an eleventh-generation Californian of Mexican descent. In 1781 - when an expedition was organized to bring a small group of civilian settlers from Sonora, Mexico to take part in the founding of El Pueblo de Nuestra la Reina de Los Angeles del Rio Porcioncula - an escort of several dozen Mexican soldiers serving under the flag of Spain were recruited. One of those soldier recruits who took part in this important expedition was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Juan Matias Olivas, an Indian from Rosario, Sinaloa.

From my earliest memories, my family has always expressed its pride in its California roots. When my mother, Sarah Melendez Basulto Evans, was just a teenager, she went to her grandfather's funeral in Oxnard, California. After the church service, the family had driven to the Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard for the burial service.

Recounting that day thirty-nine years ago, Mom told me, "Once the graveside service had ended, my Uncle Simon [Melendez] took me for a long walk, pointing out the various tombstones for many of our ancestors. I was amazed that he could recount so many stories and names from our family history. As we walked along, Uncle Simon explained to me that our family had been in California for a very, very long time. For him, this was a great source of pride. I remember his words very clearly when he said, 'Our family has known no home but California. This is where we belong.' From that day forward, I have always felt a great emotional attachment to California, the land of my ancestors."

Sarah also told me that Uncle Simon had explained to her that our California family has had a long and proud tradition of military service extending back to our earliest California ancestor. One generation after another had joined the military to defend the only land that we could call home. And, although Mexican Americans in California have been treated unfairly at times, our resolve to defend this state and this country has never wavered.

As I was growing up, my mother expressed these sentiments to me, and for this reason, I have always told people that I am proud to be a descendant of the California pioneers. And, over time, I have gradually learned the details about my family's military service. From the first moment Juan Matias Olivas entered California - and for the better part of nine generations - my family has played a role in the defense of California. And, in some cases, members of my family had to make the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the security of California. Over a period of two centuries, the flags, the causes, and the surnames have changed, but my family's legacy of military service to California has endured.

First Generation:

Juan Matias Olivas was born two and a half centuries ago near Rosario in what is today known as the state of Sinaloa (in the Republic of Mexico). On May 25, 1777, Juan was married at Nuestra Señora del Rosario Church in Rosario to María Dorotea Espinosa. Three years later, their second child, José Pablo Olivas, came into the world and was baptized in the same church.

On August 6, 1780, Juan Matias Olivas, enlisted for ten years as a soldado de cuera (leather-jacket soldier), attached to the Military District of Monterrey of northern Mexico. Interestingly, Juan Matias' discharge papers of 1798 provide us with his physical description. He was 5 feet and 2 inches in height and had black hair and black eyes. In addition, Juan Matias had olive skin and - unlike many of his fellow soldiers - was clean-shaven, an obvious manifestation of his predominant Native American ancestry.

Joining Spain's frontier army offered Juan and his family with great opportunities that were not available to Indians who lived in the Rosario area. If he had stayed in Rosario, Juan Matias Olivas would have been destined to a life as a poor and lowly Indian laborer, subject to the whims of his hacienda jefe and to a society that classified him within the lower rungs of a racist caste system.

But, as a soldier serving in the Spanish military, Juan Matias would be permitted to ride a horse, carry his own weapon, have access to skilled medical attention, and enjoy free housing. Such a profession also provided him with retirement benefits and guaranteed that his wife would receive a pension if he died while performing his duties.

At about this time, Captain Fernando Rivera was scouring the coastal cities of Sinaloa and Sonora to find and recruit 59 soldiers and 24 families of pobladores (settlers) who would make up the nucleus of an important expedition to the north. The ultimate goal of the expedition would be the founding of the Pueblo of Los Angeles and the Military Presidio of Santa Barbara. In the end, Rivera was only able to recruit twelve families, which would be accompanied by 59 soldiers on the northward journey.

Late in the winter of 1781, the expedition embarked. The soldier Juan Matias, his wife -María Dorothea Espinosa, then 23 years old - and their two young children, María Nicolasa and José Pablo - took part in the 960-mile journey, arriving at the San Gabriel Mission on August 18, 1781. In the months following their arrival at the Mission, Juan Matias Olivas and his family were housed with the rest of the soldier families near the mission. Soon after, on the morning of September 4, 1781, the Pueblo of Los Angeles was founded, with forty-four settlers and several soldiers in attendance. It is likely that the services of several soldiers - including Juan Matias Olivas - were needed to help the small pueblo get started. Juan Matias, as a matter of fact, would - after his enlistment ended - make his retirement home in the small pueblo.

Early in the next year, Juan Matias Olivas and forty-one other soldiers made their way to the Santa Barbara Channel, where, on April 21, 1782, the Santa Barbara Presidio was founded. Not long after, the families followed and the rest of my ancestor's military career would be spent at the Santa Barbara Presidio.

As a Presidio soldier, Juan Matias Olivas and the other soldiers had a multitude of responsibilities: Sometimes they delivered the mail to other parts of California or escorted priests to and from their destinations. A regular escort of fifteen soldiers from Santa Barbara were posted to guard the San Buenaventura Mission. And, of course, there was always the possibility that they would be called upon to take part in an Indian campaign. (The soldados posted in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Chihuahua were almost constantly at war with the indigenous groups. By comparison, California was relatively calm and the Spaniards cultivated their relationships with most of the Indian groups surrounding their presidios.)

After a few years at the Presidio, Dorotea died, leaving poor Juan Matias a widower with six children, including Pablo. Not long after he was widowed, Juan Matias Olivas was tallied in the 1790 census of the Real Presidio de Santa Barbara. Listed as a 31-year-old widower, Juan Matias was classified was an Indian and a native of Rosario. Four of his six children were listed as living with Juan Matias. By now, the entire population of the Santa Barbara Presidio had reached 230 individuals, comprising 24 percent of the entire Hispanic population of Alta California.

In March 1794, Spain declared war against France. Eventually the news of this war arrived in California. The soldiers became acutely aware of the fact that both France and England yearned for the opportunity to take California into their own empires. But it was not likely that the two hundred and seventy-five soldiers at the four presidios in California could have held off a serious invasion by a foreign power. Nevertheless, the presidio was their home and steps were taken to safeguard the safety of their families and possessions in case of attack.

On June 1, 1794, Juan Matias married his second wife, Juana de Dios Ontiveros, at the San Gabriel Mission. After their marriage, Matias and Juana had several children. Then, on November 23, 1798, Juan Matias Olivas, now 40 years of age, was discharged from the military after eighteen years of service. Two years later, Juan Matias Olivas and his family took up residence in the small pueblo of Los Angeles. By this time, the small pueblo had seventy families, 315 people, and consisted of thirty small adobe houses. He died a few years later.

Second Generation:

My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, José Pablo Olivas, the son of Juan Matias and Dorotea, had been born in Rosario, Sinaloa, on January 25, 1780 as the legitimate son of Juan Matias Olivas and Dorothea Espinosa. But, from the age of two, Pablo grew up within the walls of the Santa Barbara Presidio. Living at close quarters with fifty other families was no easy chore, but the inhabitants of the garrison were united in their camaraderie as the families of soldiers. As a child, José Pablo attended the same church services as his future wife, María Luciana Fernández, the first-born child of another presidial soldier, José Rosalino Fernández.

Around the turn of the century, José Pablo Olivas stepped into his father's footsteps and became a soldier of the presidio. In a roster of individuals dated February 17, 1804, Pablo Olivas was listed as one of the fifty-four soldiers on active duty at the Santa Barbara Presidio. Four years earlier, he had married María Luciana Fernández. Between 1801 and 1812, José Pablo and María Luciana would have eight children, including my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, José Dolores de Jesus Olivas, who was baptized on Nov. 3, 1802 at Santa Barbara, and would represent the third generation of soldiers in my family.

Mexico's struggle for independence against Spain began on the night of September 15/16, 1810 when a mild-mannered Creole priest, Father Miguel de Hidalgo y Castillo, published his famous outcry against tyranny from his parish in the village of Dolores. His impassioned speech - referred to as Grito de Hidalgo ("Cry of Hidalgo") - set into motion a process that would not end until August 24, 1821 with the signing of the Treaty of Córdova.

From 1810 through 1821, Mexico's war of liberation interfered with the arrival of Spanish supply ships in California. Eventually, supplies dwindled to a mere trickle, making the California presidios more dependent upon the local missions for food supplies and manufactured items. By 1813, the Commandant of Santa Barbara informed the Governor that his soldiers were without shirts and had little food; in addition, the presidio soldiers received no pay for three years, and pensions were suspended. Four years later, on December 16, 1817, José Pablo Olivas, the second-generation soldier, died.

Third Generation:

José Pablo died when his son José Dolores Olivas was only fifteen years of age. It was during this period of intense upheaval that José Dolores Olivas stepped into his father's shoes and served as a third-generation soldado de cuera. José Dolores Olivas was actually the first of my Olivas ancestors to be born in California, and he would become the third generation of Olivas men to become a soldado de cuera at the Santa Barbara Presidio. It was his destiny to see the transition of California as it passed from the hands of the Spanish empire to the newly independent Mexican state. And he would serve as a soldier to both nations.

In 1821, Mexico had finally achieved independence from Spain, and on April 1822, the California soldiers were notified the revolt had been successful. Almost immediately, the California presidios lowered the Spanish flag and California became a province of the new nation. On April 13, 1822, José Dolores Olivas and the other soldiers at the Santa Barbara Presidio took their oath of allegiance to the new government in Mexico City.

On June 14, 1829, José Dolores de Jesus Olivas was married to María Gertrudis Valenzuela at Mission Santa Ynez. Dolores Olivas was listed as a single soldado de cuera and a native of the Santa Barbara. His bride, Gertrudis, was a daughter of another presidio soldier, Antonio Maria Valenzuela and his wife, María Antonia Feliz. María Gertrudis Valenzuela had been baptized sixteen years earlier on June 7, 1813 at the San Gabriel Mission. Like her husband, she was the daughter of a presidial soldier and had spent most of her early years growing up at the presidio.

As José Dolores and Gertrudis prepared to start their family in 1830, they took their position as members of the growing Santa Barbara presidial community, which now numbered 604. Between 1830 and 1850, José Dolores and Gertrudis became the parents of twelve children. My great-great-great-great-grandmother, María Antonia Olivas, born in February 1834, was the fourth-born child of this group, although she shared that position with her twin sister.

After serving out his term of enlistment, Dolores Olivas retired from the military and became an agricultural laborer. He and his family continued to live in the vicinity of the presidio. It was during this time that President James K. Polk of the United States devised a strategy for snatching California from the hands of the Mexican Republic.

In the fall of 1845, President Polk sent his representative John Slidell to Mexico. Slidell was supposed to offer Mexico $25,000,000 to accept the Rio Grande boundary with Texas and to sell New Mexico, Arizona, and California to the U.S. However, the President of Mexico turned this down, and in May 1846 Polk led his country into war.

The Mexican-American War in California ended on January 13, 1847 with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga. A year later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848, ending all hostilities between the two nations. By the provisions of this treaty, Mexico handed over to the United States 525,000 square miles of land, almost half of her national territory. In compensation, the U.S. paid $15,000,000 for the land and met other financial obligations to Mexico. By the provisions of this peace treaty, the Mexican citizens living in California were offered American citizenship and full protection of the law.

The area which Mexico transferred to American control in 1848 contained a population of 82,500 Mexican citizens, 7,500 of which lived in California. Two years later, on September 9, 1850, California was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state. During the Federal Census of the same year, my ancestor, José Dolores Olivas - now an American citizen - was tallied in his Santa Barbara residence as the head of a household of eleven. My ancestor would die a few years later.

Fourth Generation:

At the time of the 1850 census, my great-great-great-great-grandmother, María Antonia Olivas, was only 15 years of age. María Antonia Olivas was truly a daughter of the Californian military establishment. She was descended from five pioneer California families (Olivas, Fernández, Valenzuela, Feliz and Quintero) and lived at the Santa Barbara Presidio which four of her soldado ancestors had helped to found. Her father (José Dolores Olivas) was a retired soldier. Both of her grandfathers were California soldiers (José Pablo Olivas and Antonio María Valenzuela), as were all four of her great-grandfathers (Juan Matias Olivas, José Rosalino Fernandez, Pedro Gabriel Valenzuela, and Anastacio María Feliz).

On November 30, 1849, María Antonia Olivas was married to José Apolinario Esquivel, a native of Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, at the Santa Barbara Mission. The two of them relocated to the San Buenaventura Township to raise their family and tend their crops. Her brother, José Victoriano Olivas, four years younger than she was, would become the fourth generation Olivas to serve as a soldier in the defense of California.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) divided the American people into two camps and resulted in more casualties than any other war in American history. Many of the hostilities in this war took place in the eastern half of North America, especially in the Southern states. For the most part, California - which was a Union state - seemed removed from most of the battlefields and action that was taking place.

In 1863, as the Civil War raged in the eastern and southern states, the United States Government became concerned about possible Confederate incursions into New Mexico and other Union-held areas. In order to avoid such confrontations, the U.S. Government authorized the military governor of California to organize four military companies of Mexican-American Californians into a cavalry battalion in order to utilize their "extraordinary horsemanship."

Major Salvador Vallejo was selected to command this new California militia, with its five hundred soldiers of Spanish and Mexican descent. Company C of the First California Native Cavalry was organized under Captain Antonio María de la Guerra. María Antonia’s brother José Victoriano Olivas joined this company, which was made up of native troopers from Santa Barbara County. This battalion primarily served in California and Arizona, guarding supply trains, and helped defeat a Confederate invasion of New Mexico. José Victoriano Olivas would thus become the fourth generation of the Olivas family to serve in the military. And this service had now been extended to three flags (Spain, Mexico, and the United States).

Fifth Generation:

My ancestor Regina Esquivel was born in 1851 as the daughter of José Apolinario Esquivel and María Antonia Olivas and as an American citizen. Nineteen years later, on January 3, 1870, Regina Esquivel was united in marriage with Gregorio Ortega at the San Buenaventura Mission. Gregorio was a laborer who had emigrated from southern Mexico in the 1860s. Over the next two decades, Gregorio and Regina would become the parents of eighteen children.

Sixth Generation:

On September 16, 1875, Gregorio Ortega and Regina Esquivel became the parents of Valentine Ortega. Eighteen years later, Valentine was united in marriage with one 18-year-old Theodora Tapia, a native of the Los Angeles area. Valentine and Theodora had five children in all, including Isabel (born in 1902), Paz (born in 1906) and Luciano P. Ortega (born in 1908).

During the early Twentieth Century, this family lived in the Saticoy District of Ventura County, California. Saticoy was nine miles east of the county seat, the City of Ventura. In 1918, at the age of forty-three years, my great-great-grandfather Valentine Ortega fell victim to the worldwide influenza epidemic that ravaged the American continent at the end of World War I.

Seventh Generation:

As Isabel Ortega and her siblings grew up, they witnessed what would eventually be called the First World War. Initially the war broke out in Europe and, it was not until three years later that America would join this conflict, with its declaration of war on Germany on April 6, 1917. During this war, the American military was rife with discrimination against Hispanic and African-American soldiers. Soldiers with Spanish surnames or Spanish accents were sometimes the object of ridicule and relegated to menial jobs, while African Americans were segregated into separate units. Some Hispanic Americans who lacked English skills were sent to special training centers to improve their language proficiency so that they could be integrated into the mainstream army.

My great-grandmother, Isabel Ortega, married Refugio Melendez, an immigrant laborer from Penjamo, Guanajuato. Refugio and Isabel met during the 1920s and their first-born child was my grandmother, Theodora (Dora) Melendez, who was born in November 1927. Dora was followed two years later by my Uncle Raymundo Melendez. Isabel and Refugio raised their family in Saticoy, living right across the street from the Ortega family during the 1930s and 1940s.

The Great Depression was a difficult time for my family as it was for most American families. But the beginning of World War II was an ominous event for all Americans. For three years, the United States avoided this war, which pitted the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) against a multitude of other nations, including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China.

On December 7, 1941, everything changed. The surprise attack on the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii would bring America into this struggle against tyranny. And when Uncle Sam called for recruits, his call was answered. By the end of the war in September 1945, sixteen million men and women had worn the uniform of America's armed forces.

At the time of America's entry into World War II (1941), approximately 2,690,000 Americans of Mexican ancestry lived in the United States. Eighty-five percent of this population lived in the five southwestern states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado). Like other ethnic groups, Mexican Americans responded in great number to our nation's dilemma. At least 350,000 Chicanos served in the armed services and seventeen Hispanic individuals won the Congressional Medal of Honor.

California played an important role in World War II. Eighteen California National Guard Divisions were sent overseas, and thousands of men enlisted or were drafted. According to the United States War Department, California - containing 5.15% of the population of the United States - contributed 5.53% of the total number who entered the Army. Of these men and women from California who went to war, 3.09% failed to return home, representing 5.54% of the American casualties

In 1942, my great-uncle Luciano P. Ortega - the brother of my great-grandmother Isabel - was drafted into the armed forces. For some reason, his name was Americanized to Joseph P. Ortega while he was in the service, but our family has always called him Luciano. Luciano was attached to the 34th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division, which was on the front lines in the war against Japan.

During October and November 1944, the 24th Infantry Division was involved in the campaign to eject the Japanese from Leyte in the Philippine Islands. Then, on November 19, 1944, Uncle Luciano was killed in action. He was buried in the Manila American Cemetery in the capital city. My uncle by marriage, Joseph Torres (the husband of Lucy Ortega) - who also served in the Philippines - saw Uncle Luciano's grave and informed the family of where the body had been laid to rest. However, my great-great-grandmother, Theodora Tapia Ortega, never reconciled herself to her son's death and refused to accept it. Instead, she continued to believe that he was missing in action and would someday return home to Saticoy.

Eighth Generation:

The eighth generation of my family was involved in two wars: World War II and the Korean War. Late in World War II, Chello O. Ortega, the son of Paz Ortega (a sister of Luciano and Isabel Ortega) and Laurencio Ortega, went to war. He was the second Ortega to go to the Army from Saticoy and - like his uncle Luciano - was sent to the Pacific Theater. On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany had surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces. However, the war in the Pacific Theater continued unabated.

On June 27, 1945, a month-and-a-half after Nazi Germany had surrendered, the Oxnard Press Courier announced that Chello Ortega from Saticoy was missing in action in the Pacific Theater. Nine days later, on July 6, 1945, the same newspaper announced the sad news that Chello Ortega had been killed in action (although his exact date of death is not known to us). Less than two months later, Japan would surrender and peace would finally come to America after three years and nine months of war.

As World War II drew to an end, the three Melendez brothers - sons of Refugio Melendez and Isabel Ortega and brothers to my grandmother Dora - were teenagers. Raymond (Raymundo) Ortega Melendez had been born in 1929 and yearned to join the military. In 1945, at the age of 17 - with his parents' permission - Ray entered the American armed forces. This would mark the beginning of a long military career, which would take him through the Korean and Vietnam Wars before his retirement in 1969.

The Korean War began in 1950, only five years after the end of World War II. The participation of Mexican Americans and other Hispanics in the Korean War was such that the Department of Defense publication, Hispanics in America's Defense (Collingdale, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing Co., 1997), has paid tribute to their contribution: "The Korean Conflict saw many Hispanic Americans responding to the call of duty. They served with distinction in all of the services…. Many Mexican Americans from barrios in Los Angeles, San Antonio, Laredo, Phoenix, and Chicago saw fierce action in Korea. Fighting in almost every combat unit in Korea, they distinguished themselves through courage and bravery as they had in previous wars."

By the end of the Korean War, all three of my grandmother's brothers, Raymond, Donald (Danny) and Simon would join the United States Army. During this war, Uncle Ray served as an airborne paratrooper for many years. But my Uncle Simon Melendez's experiences in the Korean War are the stuff that legends are made of.

Born on October 28, 1930, Simon Ortega Melendez was raised in Saticoy and attended Ventura Junior High School and Ventura City College. When the Korean War started, Simon joined the 2nd Division of the U.S. Army and became a machine gunner. It would be Uncle Simon's destiny to take part in two of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War. The "Battle of Bloody Ridge" began in August 1951 and continued up until September 12, 1951. On August 27, Simon was hit in the neck and legs by mortar shrapnel and in the back by grenade fragments. At the same time, he was separated from his platoon. For seven days, he was behind enemy lines and disoriented by torrential rains that made his weapon inoperable.

The rain did not stop until the sixth day, and on the seventh day he was able to make his way into the area of the 9th U.S. Regiment. When asked how he managed to make his way through enemy lines for seven days, 21-year-old Simon explained that "my extreme faith in God brought me through." Soon after this, Uncle Simon was able to have a three-day reunion with his brother Ray near the front lines. Raymond, who had already been in the service for six years, was a paratrooper and had been stationed about a 100 miles from Simon's position. Soon after, Simon was once again in the thick of the fighting when his unit took part in the "Battle of Heartbreak Ridge," which lasted from September 13 to October 22, 1951.

The Battles of Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge were the two bloodiest battles of the Korean War. By the time he left the service, Simon had been awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. He also founded the Mexican-American Korean War Veterans of Ventura County and became a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. Simon Melendez, the proud Korean War veteran, died at the age of 71 on June 15, 2002, surrounded by a family that adored him. Even to this day, Uncle Simon's memory remains strong with me and my family, in large part because he had a larger than life personality that endeared him to everyone.

Donald Ortega Melendez, who was born in 1936, entered the service in 1954 at the tail end of the Korean War. Like his brother Raymond, he initially joined the paratroopers. During his first stint overseas, Donald was assigned to the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry division. He did three separate hitches overseas and was on service during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Uncle Donald spent 25 years in the military and achieved the rank of First Sergeant before he retired in 1979.

Uncle Ray, also an airborne paratrooper, served all around the world at one time or another and achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major by the time he retired in 1969. Like Donald, Uncle Ray was a career military person and does not feel that he is at liberty to discuss his military service in great detail. Uncle Simon - after his Korean War service - had been offered a promotion too, but he decided that he was ready for civilian life.

Ninth Generation:

Four members of our family's eighth generation served in the military, possibly even more that I do not know about. But the military tradition has carried through to the present generations and the number of Ninth Generation family members who have served in the military is hard to tally. Luciano Ortega's daughter, Geraldine, joined the military for a long period of time. Donald's son Daniel Melendez followed in his father's step and served as a paratrooper from 1970 to 1982. Uncle Simon had two sons who spent a number of years in the military: Ricardo Melendez served in the air force and Roy enlisted in the U.S. Marines.

When he was twenty years old, my mother's brother, Eusebio Javier Melendez Basulto followed in our family's military tradition by enlisting in the U.S. Army. He served in Military Intelligence with MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) Unit 406 ASA, where he achieved the rank of Specialist, Fourth Class. Uncle Eusebio's military career lasted from 1973 to 1985, a total of 12 years, after which he became a chemist in the civilian world.

During the extended Vietnam Conflict (1963-1973), approximately 80,000 Hispanic Americans served in the American military. Although Hispanics made up only about 4.5% of the total U.S. population at that time, they incurred more than 19% of the casualties. In all, thirteen Hispanic soldiers received the Medal of Honor during this conflict.

Continuing this trend of service into the last decade of the Twentieth Century, twenty thousand Hispanic servicemen and women participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990-1991). Writing in Hispanic Heritage Month 1996: Hispanics - Challenging the Future, Army Chaplain (Captain) Carlos C. Huerta of the First Battalion, 79th Field Artillery stated that "Hispanics have always met the challenge of serving the nation with great fervor. In every war, in every battle, on every battlefield, Hispanics have put their lives on the line to protect freedom."

As Mexican-American citizens of California, my family has carried on a proud tradition of military service. When our nation has been in need, my ancestors - from the earliest days in California - answered the call with a sense of pride and obligation. This sense of duty is a deeply held tradition to all Mexican-Americans.

Although I have inherited my dark eyes and thick dark hair from my Mexican ancestors, I am also German and Anglo-American through my father's side of the family. For this reason, it is not readily evident to some people that I am Mexican-American. As a result, I have - on occasion - heard friends and acquaintances express less than flattering opinions about Mexican immigrants or Mexican Americans.

Such comments and criticisms - although they were undoubtedly based on ignorance or fear - hurt me and were an affront to my family's pride and dignity. I can only say - in response to such hurtful comments - that I hope those people are reading this article. If I could speak to them today, I would tell them that my family - for two centuries - has been fighting for their freedom. And when my Uncle Luciano Ortega and my Cousin Chello Ortega were killed in action during World War II, they were sacrificing their lives for the freedom of all Californians.

DEDICATION: This work is dedicated to my ancestors who have defended California for two centuries:

1. José Matias Olivas - Soldier in the Service of Spain, 1781-1798

2. José Pablo Olivas - Soldier in the Service of Spain, 1804-1817

3. José Dolores Olivas - Soldier in the Service of Spain and Mexico

4. José Victoriano Olivas - Civil War Veteran (1863-1865)

5. Joseph Luciano Ortega - World War II -

Killed in action, Philippine Islands, November 19, 1944

6. Chello Ortega - World War II -

Killed in action, Pacific Theater, June 1945

7. Raymond Ortega Melendez, Korean War Veteran and Career Soldier (1945-1969)

8. Donald Ortega Melendez, Korean War Veteran and Career Soldier (1954-1979)

9. Simon Ortega Melendez, Korean War Veteran

10. Eusebio Basulto, Jr., Specialist, Fourth Class in Military Intelligence (1973-1985).

Special Acknowledgments: We thank Eva Melendez Aubert, Dora Melendez Basulto, Eusebio Basulto, Donald Ortega Melendez, Sarah Basulto Evans, and the Simon Ortega Melendez family for their valuable contributions to this tribute.

Copyright © 2003, by Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved.

About the Authors: Jennifer Vo and John Schmal are the authors of A Mexican-American Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags which will be published by Heritage Books on November 1, 2003.

Sources:

Interviews conducted by Jennifer Vo, Sarah Basulto Evans, and John Schmal.

Spanish and Mexican military research conducted by Robert Lopez and John Schmal.

California Archives, "Provincial State Papers, 1767-1822." Archives of California, Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley).

Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Manpower and Personnel Policy, U.S. Department of Defense, "Hispanics in America's Defense." (Collingdale, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing Co., 1997).

Daniel J. Garr, "Hispanic Colonial Settlement in California: Planning and Urban Development on the Frontier, 1769-1850." Cornell University, Ph.D. Thesis, 1971.

Maynard Geiger, "Six Census Records of Los Angeles and Its Immediate Area Between 1804 and 1823," Southern California Quarterly, Vol. LIV, No. 4, pp. 311-341.

Antonio Rios Bustamante and Pedro Castillo, "An Illustrated History of Mexican Los Angeles, 1781-1985." University of California Monograph No. 12. Los Angeles: Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 1992.

Robert S. Whitehead, "Citadel on the Channel: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara: Its Founding and Construction, 1782-1798." Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Trust for Historical Preservation, 1996.

War Department. The Adjutant Generals Office. Administrative Services Division. Strength Accounting Branch. "World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from California, 1946" - from Record Group 407: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917- [AGO], 1905 - 1981

American Battle Monuments Commission. "National World War II Memorial" Online: http://www.wwiimemorial.com  2003.

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Museums rediscover different shades
Ponca Tribe
Hispanic community at University of Reno 
Hispanic history intertwined with Nevada 
Northern Nevada’s Hispanic population surges
Extract: Museums rediscover the different shades of Hispanic art, Latin Palette
By María Newman    http://www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2003/sep/Features/hh-museam.html

When the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno hosted the grand opening of its new 60,000-square-foot museum in May, it chose an exhibit of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other Mexican artists to inaugurate its striking black granite building that contrasted with the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevadas. With this exhibit, the Nevada Museum of Art joined the growing cadre of museums throughout the country that recognize that the mushrooming numbers of Hispanics in their communities have an appetite for cultural exhibits about them and about where they come from, and by people who look like them.

Ponca Tribe
Source: Church News, week ending September 6, 2003

During the winter of 1846-47, the Ponca Tribe in what is now northeastern Nebraska saved the lives of many members of a company of about 400 Mormon Pioneers. Tragically about 20 pioneers died that winter, but many more were spared because of the generous support of the Ponca.

On behalf of the LDS Church and descendants of the pioneers who were benefactors of the tribe's service, a ceremony was conducted during the tribes' annual powwow. Included in the presentation was a wood, laser-engraved plaque commemorating the warm relationship between the pioneers and the Poncas. Mark Peniska, chief and chairman of the Ponca Tribe received the plaque.

The tribe was disbanded in 1960 and then was restored in 1990 and is continuing an effort to regain its identity and culture. Tribal members had traveled from many parts of the Untied to attend the powwow.  The text of the plaque states: "The Poncas and the pioneers learned and traded with each other. Homes were built of native materials. Buffalo hunts were conducted. Food was enjoyed together. Faith and hopes were shared."


Extract;
Hispanic community spreads its wings at UNR celebration 
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/09/07/51118.php
by Ray Hagar  RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, 9/7/2003 
Sent by Cindy LoBuglio lobuglio@thegrid.net

he University of Nevada, Reno campus held its 15th annual Hispanic Heritage Day Celebration on the quad. It showed that the strength of Northern Nevada’s Hispanic community is in its youth, organizers said.

“The majority of the Hispanic community is young,” said Jesse Gutierrez, executive director of Nevada Hispanic Services. “They will be voting soon. They will be professionals. They are the people who will carry the Hispanic growth.”

Marybel Batjer, the chief of staff for Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn said: “This is the fastest growing population in our state. We need to recognize that. We need to invest in the Hispanic future now to make sure they are part of our long-term future. “The governor believes very strongly that the Hispanic community should have every opportunity that will help them become our state’s future business leaders, doctors, nurses and lawyers,” Batjer said.More than $48,000 in scholarship money was dispersed among 58 Hispanic recipients. UNR awarded about $20,000 in scholarship money. Also sponsoring scholarships were Jack in the Box, Nevada Hispanic Services, the Gannett Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

Extract:
Hispanic history intertwined with Nevada 
by Geralda Miller, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
http://www.rgj.com /news/stories/html/2003/09/14/51670.php
Sent by Cindy LoBuglio  lobuglio@thegrid.net 

M.L. Miranda, chairman of the Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Miranda has written the only book solely about the contributions Hispanics have made to the Silver State in “A History of Hispanics in Southern Nevada.” 

Miranda’s book says Mexicans were part of a team mapping and surveying the region in the mid-1850s. They rode in the Pony Express. They also were among an international group of miners out to find wealth and chance at a better life. Fifty years later, Mexican immigrants were the key workers laying track for U.S. railroads. But very little has been collected in the annals. “This was Mexican territory taken in the Mexican-American War,” Miranda said. “They’ve been here the longest of any other group and they have a great history here.” The discovery of silver in the Comstock Lode in 1859 lured many to settle in Nevada.

There were 99 Spanish-speaking adults living on the Comstock in 1860, 17 percent were women. The percentage of Hispanic women far exceeded that of the other immigrant groups, according to a book by Ronald M. James titled “The Roar and the Silence.” About 12 percent of the Hispanics were children under 16 living with their mothers. 

Hispanics “faded back into the landscape” until people were needed in the early 1900s as cheap labor for the building of the railroad, Miranda said. Between 1880 and 1930, Mexicans made up 70 percent of the section crews and 90 percent of the extra gangs on the main railroad lines in the Southwest, Miranda said. 

The success stories and contributions by Hispanics in Northern Nevada are evident but sometimes as hushed as the people, Miranda said. “Those railroads were built by Mexicans,” Miranda said. “Those crops you eat were picked by Mexicans. They also were they ones who went down in the mines dropping the dynamite.” 

No longer are they just Mexicans. The 393,970 Hispanics are 19.7 percent of Nevada’s population, according to 2000 census figures. Although 72.6 percent are Mexicans, Cubans account for 2.9 percent and Puerto Ricans 2.6 percent. The remaining 21.9 percent are from other Spanish-speaking countries, including Central America, South America and the Dominican Republic. 

Extract: Northern Nevada’s Hispanic population surges
by Steve Timko, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, 9/17/03
http://www.rgj.com /news/stories/html/2003/09/17/51915.php
Sent by Cindy LoBuglio lobuglio@thegrid.net

Almost four of every 10 people who moved to Washoe County and Carson City between 2000 and 2002 were Hispanic, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.  Hispanics now comprise an estimated 18 percent of Washoe County’s population and 15 percent of Carson City’s population.

Opportunities for employment seem to be the primary magnet. “Jobs are more readily available than some of the other states,” said Jesse Gutierrez, executive director of Nevada Hispanic Services. “Texas is full and California is getting full. They’re trying to move into areas where the job market is there.”  

“I know a lot of people move here because there’s a better opportunity to work,” said Jose Diaz, who works in quality control at Radtke Tile & Marble in Carson City. Diaz moved to Nevada 12 years ago.  “You can’t make any money in Mexico. That’s why we moved here.”  In addition, Nevada has one important advantage over most places in the Golden State. “They can buy a home here cheaper than in California,” Diaz said.

Nevada State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle said the surge in Hispanic population in Nevada started in the latter half of the 1990s as people came to work mostly in the service and construction industries. And those workers are starting families in Nevada as well. 

Washoe County School District had 1,745 students in the English-as-a-second-language program in the school year that ended in 1991, spokesman Steve Mulvenon said. Last June, there were 7,208 ESL students. The school district set aside $5.3 million for its ESL program the last school year, Mulvenon said.

To meet the growing demand, the Carson school district is giving mainstream teachers instruction on how to handle an ESL student in addition to those who specialize in ESL courses.

Peter Padilla, Hispanic Chamber secretary and vice president and general manager of KUVR, the Azteca America station, and KREN, the WB affiliate, said state and local governments seem to be making an effort to accommodate Spanish-speakers.

For instance, the Nevada Division of Motor Vehicles invited him to sample new driving tests that lets people answer questions in Spanish. “To me, the state is accommodating the Hispanic population,” Padilla said. “They know they’re coming and they know they prefer to speak Spanish.”

It looks like the increase of Hispanics will continue, Mix said. “As long as the economy is doing well in Nevada, then the Hispanic population will continue to increase,” Mix said. “It means we’ve got some more changes in the area and the dynamics of the population that have to be accepted and addressed”

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Center for Desert Archaeology
Mexico/Arizona Biographical Survey
Belen Robles: New Advisory Council Member for Paso al Norte Museum

Center for Desert Archaeology
Río Nuevo Archaeology and History 
http://www.rio-nuevo.org/rionuevo/people/hist_records.htm
Sent by Joan De Soto
Río-Nuevo.Org is maintained by the Center for Desert Archaeology
http://www.rio-nuevo.org/rionuevo/index.html

 

The Convento of the San Agustín Mission, Tucson AZ, 1899
Arizona Historical Society Image #2535
http://www.cdarc.org/cdarc/pubs/arch_sw/v15_no2/san_agustin.htm


Arizona Historical Society's
Teacher's Guide to Rio Nuevo Archaeology is now available as a free download 
Early Historic Records of Tucson, starting in 1791 to 1874
1791 Tucson Presidio Roster
1797 Census of Tucson
1801 Census of the Pimeria Alta

Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: August 1816
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: Dec. 1816
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: April 1817
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: Sep. 1817
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: May 1818
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: August 1818
Tucson Presidio Monthly Roster: Dec. 1818
1831 Census of Tucson
1862 Property Deeds
1866 Tucson Area Census
1873 School Census
1874 School Census
Web Links to Other Documents


Mexico/Arizona Biographical Survey

by Scott Solliday   http://www.mexicoarizona.com
Sent by Joan De Soto

A History of Mexican Settlers in Territorial Arizona

The Mexico/Arizona Biographical Survey was conceived in 1992, while I was doing research at the Tempe Historical Museum for an exhibit called The Barrios. It was the first effort to portray the story of the Hispanic community that had been a part of Tempe since the 1860s, but of which so little was known. Documentation on Mexican families was vague or non-existent. Only four Hispanic individuals were prominently mentioned by name, and in all of the written histories, articles, memoirs, and archival collections, it was never mentioned that Tempe was originally settled by Mexican farmers, or that the town continued to be a predominantly Hispanic community through its first 30 years. In fact, through nearly all of the published histories of Arizona, the contributions of people of Mexican ancestry in the late 19th century have been virtually ignored.

However, these people did not disappear entirely. They were baptized, married, acquired property, and otherwise left their footprints all over the public record. And generations of their descendants still live in Tempe. Reconstructing their history required a genealogical approach. Genealogy proved that they were here and revealed a lot about who they were.

After documenting Tempe's Mexican American community, I began expanding this research to other towns in southern Arizona. In 1999 I received a six-month fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supported initial development of a biographical database of Hispanic settlers in Arizona. The database now has records of more than 18,000 Hispanic individuals who lived in southern Arizona before 1900. Since June 2000, this database has been accessible to researchers at the Mexico/Arizona Biographical Survey Website.

There has not been any additional funding for this project, and I have not been able to work on it for the past two years. However, as of January 2003, I have now resumed work on the database and will continue on a limited basis, as my schedule as allows.

The goal of this project is to provide comprehensive documentation of the people of Mexican ancestry who were living in Arizona in the 19th century.

The biographical and genealogical database now has records of more than 18,000 individuals.

Family historians, genealogists, and researchers are invited to submit their own biographical entries and family histories for inclusion in this project. For more information, contact Scott Solliday.
email: mexicoarizona@ix.netcom.com 
mailing address:
   Mexico Arizona Research
   P.O. Box 24812
   Tempe, AZ 85282

Belen Robles New Advisory Council Member for Paso al Norte Museum
Cross Roads 
Paso al Norte Museum 
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texas 79968-0725


The Paso al note Museum is pleased to announce a new member of its International advisory Council. Born in El Paso to Mexican immigrant parents, Belen Robles is well-known figure nationally and in the El Paso community where she has served in a variety of role as a government official, professional volunteer, and activist. In 1999, Ms. Robles officer for New Mexico and West Texas after 41 years of service. during that time, she broke through numerous barriers that held prevented women and  Mexican-Americans form advancing in the law enforcement field. starting as a clerk-typist with the federal government, Ms. Robles worked her way through the ranks of the U.S. Customs to achieve a number of "First," including serving as the first woman to head the enforcement branch at a U.S.-Mexico port.

Tenacity, hard work, and leadership helped Ms. Robles similarly rise within the national organization of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. Beginning as a volunteer member in an El Paso LULAC Council, Ms. Robles quickly assumed positions of increasing responsibility and national standing and in 1994 became the first woman to serve as LULAC's national president. 

 Belen Robles was recently honored as a Hispanic activist by the national Hispanic Leadership Institute in Washington, sharing the platform with a number of other exceptional leaders, among them Ellen Cchoa, the nation's first Hispanic astronaut, and five Hispanic congresswoman.
  

BLACK


A History Remembered
by Granville Hough, Ph.D., gwhough@earthlink.net


    Like Ranger Shelton Johnson, I, too, became intrigued with the history of the Buffalo Soldiers of the 24th Infantry when some 15 years ago I, with my son and grandchildren, first walked the trails they
established in Yosemite National Park.  We visited the foundations of the barracks they had occupied, and we pondered how they endured the cold winter nights.  We learned they had been withdrawn about 1913 during the Mexican Revolution to join or support General Pershing in
Northern Mexico.
    The experience brought into vivid focus my own time as a Caucasian officer in the 969th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Sill, OK, the last black unit at Fort Sill.  Some of the men who knew history
sometimes said, "We are the last of the Buffalo Soldiers."  Indeed, in 1948/49,  under President Truman's orders, we were all reassigned to other units, and segregated Army units became history.  As an old soldier and Regular Army officer, I still recall with respect the men of the 969th and how we excelled in the tasks we were assigned Mimi, this is introduction to the articles I am sending separately. I suggest the October issue of Somos Primos.  Granville..

INDIGENOUS

Martin Espino, Prehispanic Music
Pyramids of Mexico 
Los Antepasados Indigenas de Los Guanajuatenses: A Look into Guanajuato's Past

Martin Espino, Prehispanic Music
http://www.martinespino.com
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/espino

 

The exotic, soothing and cosmic sounds of Ancient Mexico and the Amazon. Performed and composed by Martin Espino. "CURANDERO" features ONLY Native Central American. All the music is based on serious scholarly research.  Martin is of Mexican/Indigenous heritage (Tepehuano and Yaqui). This recording, originally released in 1985 is important because it is one the first ever to bring to North American audiences the sounds of the other part of Native America!
[[Editor:  These are beautiful sounds.  Take the time to go to this site. I remember seeing a presentation by Martin about 10 years ago.  I was delighted to receive his website information. ]] 

These mesmerizing rhythms relieve my urban stress

Reviewer: C. Russell
It is difficult to find words to describe how this music makes me feel but I will try. When I am stuck in the office on a beautiful day, I listen to Martin's music and feel like I am in the forest. The rain stick, the flute and the hypnotic drumbeats chase away the stress and soothe my restless spirit.


PYRAMIDS OF MEXICO

http://www.crystalinks.com/mexico.html
Sent by fromgalveston@yahoo.com


Deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala and extending into the limestone shelf of the Yucatan peninsula lie the mysterious temples and pyramids of the Maya.

While Europe was still in the midst of the Dark Ages, these amazing people had mapped the heavens, evolved the only true writing system native to the Americas and were masters of mathematics.

They invented the calendars we use today. Without metal tools, beasts of burden or even the wheel they were able to construct vast cities across a huge jungle landscape with an amazing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their legacy in stone, which has survived in a spectacular fashion at places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichen Itza, Copan and Uxmal, lives on as do the seven million descendants of the classic Maya civilization.

The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.

The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.

The pyramids of Teotihuacan rise as high as twenty-story buildings,above the central Mexican highlands with a grandeur and mystery that stirs the imagination and inspires the soul. As a civil engineer, I have often been intrigued by the surveying and construction skills of so-called primitive societies; this site is truly exceptional. All of the buildings are aligned with the stars and the solar system from precise survey points in the nearby mountain range, using an advanced understanding of mathematics, geometry and astronomy.

Little is known by traditional researchers about the pyramids of Teotihuacan (pronounced tay-oh-tee-wah-con, and simply referred to as "Teo" by the locals). Built bythe Toltecs, Teo was once a city the size of ancient Athens and Rome. It thrived as the primary center of learning and culture in America for over one thousand years, before it was abandoned about fifteen-hundred years ago.

According to legend, after the fall of Teotihuacan, two major paths of sacred knowledge formed. One Toltec path went to Tula near present day Hidalgo. The magic of Tula can be compared to what our culture might term "black magic." The generally more enlightened path called the Path of Freedom went south toward Xochicalco, near present day Cuernavaca, and also eventually went into hiding.

The term "Toltec" as used by the Aztecs (who came many years after the Toltecs) meant either a "great wise one" or a native healer or artist who followed a certain tradition; it was not necessarily meant to define a specific ethnic group. In fact there is evidence that Toltec society was a relatively harmonious blend of several of America's early native cultures.

The Olmecs and the builders of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, with whom the Toltecs traded, revered the Toltecs and regarded them as the most highly advanced society in religion, magic and art. Yet, unlike the art of other early American societies, Toltec art depicts only two gods: the earth goddess and the rain/sky god. The fact that Toltec art does not prominently portray many gods for worship, supports the belief, common throughout America for over one thousand years, that the Toltecs were able to communicate directly with the gods in the sun, the moon and the stars.


LOS ANTEPASADOS INDÍGENAS DE LOS GUANAJUATENSES
A Look into Guanajuato's Past

by John P. Schmal


For the better part of a hundred years, thousands of people have emigrated from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato to the United States.   A hundred years ago, fifty years ago  - and today - Guanajuatenses have represented a significant portion of all Mexican immigrants to Los Estados Unidos.  It can thus be stated that millions of Americans look to the state of Guanajuato as their "madre patria" and that we all know people whose roots are nested in this beautiful state.  As a matter of fact, the paternal grandmother of my nieces and nephews came from Valle de Santiago in the state of Guanajuato.

But what do most Guanajuato-Americanos know of their ancestral homeland?  The Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato is a landlocked state in the center of the Mexican Republic. It shares borders with San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas on the north, with Querétaro on the east, the state of México on the southeast, Jalisco on the west, and Michoacán on the south.

Guanajuato is a relatively small state - twenty-second in terms of size among the Republic's thirty-one states - with a surface area of 30,768 square kilometers of territory, giving it 1.6% of the national territory.  Politically, it is divided into 46 municipios.  The capital of Guanajuato is the city of Guanajuato, founded in the middle of the Sixteenth Century after Spanish entrepreneurs found rich veins of silver in the mountains surrounding the city.

But there was a large group of people who inhabited Guanajuato long before Spanish businessmen arrived with their Náhuatl-speaking allies from the south of Mexico.  When the strangers first entered this land, they made no effort to distinguish between the various cultures living in Guanajuato.  Instead, they applied the term Chichimeca to these aboriginal peoples.  Utilizing the Náhuatl terms for dog (chichi) and rope (mecatl), the Aztec Indians had regarded their northern neighbors - the Chichimecas - as being "of dog lineage."  (The implication of the term rope was a reference to "following the dog," hence a descendant of the dog).

But the Chichimecas were also given other labels, such as "perros altaneros" (arrogant dogs), or "chupadores de sangre" (blood-suckers).   The late great Dr. Philip Wayne Powell - whose "Soldiers, Indians, and Silver:  North America's First Frontier War" is the definitive source of information relating to the Chichimeca Indians - referred to Chichimeca as "an all-inclusive epithet" that had "a spiteful connotation." 

But it is important to mention that the word Chichimeca was just an umbrella term that the Spaniards used to describe most of the indigenous groups scattered through large parts of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, and Durango.  The Chichimeca peoples were actually composed of several distinct cultural and linguistic groups inhabiting this area. 

Because these indigenous groups are, in fact, the ancestors of the present-day Guanajuatenses and their Mexican-American cousins, it is worth exploring them as the individual cultures they once were.  The group that occupied the western end of present-day Guanajuato was known as the Guachichiles.

The Guachichiles, of all the Chichimeca Indians, occupied the most extensive territory stretching north to Saltillo in Coahuila and to the northern corners of Michoacán in the south.  Considered both warlike and brave, the Guachichiles roamed through a large section of the Zacatecas, as well as portions of San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato and northeastern Jalisco.  Some bands of Guachichile Indians reached as far south as the present-day boundary of Guanajuato and Michoacán.

The name "Guachichile" that the Mexicans gave to these Indians meant "heads painted of red," a reference to the red dye that they used to pain their bodies, faces and hair.   According to John R. Swanton, the author of "The Indian Tribes of North America," (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145-1953) classified the Guachichile tribes as part of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family.  This would make them linguistic cousins to the Aztecs. 

The Guamares - another Chichimeca group - inhabited a large section of Guanajuato. They were centered in the Guanajuato Sierras, but had some bands that ranged as far east as the state of Querétaro.  The author Seventeenth-Century author Gonzalo de las Casas called the Guamares "the bravest, most warlike, treacherous and destructive of all the Chichimecas, and the most astute (dispuesta)." 

One of the few scholars to study the lifestyle of the Guachichiles, Guamares, and other Chichimecas in detail was the archaeologist, Dr. Paul Kirchhoff.  His work, "The Hunting-Gathering People of North Mexico," is one of the few reference works available that describes the social and political organization of both the Guamares and Guachichile (See "Sources" below for the citation).

The semi nomadic Pames constituted a very divergent branch of the extensive Oto-Manguean linguistic family. They were located mainly in the north central and eastern Guanajuato, southeastern San Luis Potosí, and also in adjacent areas of Tamaulipas and Querétaro.  To this day, the Pames refer to themselves as "Xi'úi," which means indigenous.  This term is used to refer to any person not of mestizo descent.  They use the word "Pame" to refer to themselves only when they are speaking Spanish. But in their religion, this word has a contemptuous meaning and they try to avoid using it.

From 1550 to 1590, the Guachichiles, Guamares and Pames waged a fierce guerilla war against the Spaniards and Christian Indians.  The Spaniards and their allies had entered Guanajuato and Zacatecas to exploit their rich mineral resources.  But to the Chichimeca groups, this land was home, so they regarded these intrusions as a disruption of their sovereign rights.  Dr. Powell's work (mentioned above) discusses this war in great detail.  And the people of Guanajuato can be proud of the fact that their ancestors had to bribed into making peace.

Unable to defeat the Chichimecas militarily in many parts of the war zone, the Spaniards offered goods and opportunities as an incentive for the Guachichiles and Guamares to make peace.  Many of the Chichimecas had been nomadic (or semi-nomadic) and had not possessed most of the luxury items that the Spaniards had (i.e., warm clothes, agricultural tools and supplies, horses, and beef).   Those who made peace were given agricultural implements and permitted to settle down to a peaceful agricultural existence.  In many cases, Christian Indians from the south were settled among them to help them adapt to their new existence.

The Otomíes were another Chichimeca tribe, occupying the greater part of Querétaro and smaller parts of Guanajuato, the northwestern portion of Hidalgo and parts of the state of México.   The Otomíes are one of the largest and oldest indigenous groups in Mexico, and include many different groups, including the Mazahua, Matlatzinca, Ocuiltec, the Pame and the Chichimec Jonaz. 

Many of the Otomíes aligned themselves with the Spaniards during the Chichimeca War. As a result, wrote Dr. Powell, Otomí settlers were "issued a grant of privileges" and were "supplied with tools for breaking land."  For their allegiance, they were exempted from tribute and given a certain amount of autonomy in their towns.  The Otomí are described in great detail by the U.C. Davis graduate student, Kerin Gould, in her work, "The Otomí: Complex History, Adaptable Culture, Common Heritage" at the following website: http://home.earthlink.net /~kering/history.html

In pre-Hispanic times, the Purépecha Indians - also referred to as the Tarascan Indians - occupied most of the state of Michoacán, but they also occupied some of the lower valleys of both Guanajuato and Jalisco.  Celaya, Acámbaro, and Yurirapúndaro were all in Purépecha territory.

It is believed that the Spanish explorer Cristóbal de Olid, upon arriving in the Kingdom of the Purépecha in present-day Michoacán, probably explored some parts of Guanajuato in the early 1520s.  Then in 1529-1530, the forces of the ruthless Nuño de Guzmán ravaged through most of Michoacán and some parts of Guanajuato with an army of 500 Spanish soldiers and more than 10,000 Indian warriors. 

In 1552 Captain Juan de Jaso discovered the mining veins of the present-day city of Guanajuato.   This picturesque city - founded a few years later - nestles snugly into a valley of the mountains of the Sierra de Guanajuato. The indigenous tribes of the area made note of the numerous frogs in the area and referred to it as Quanax-juato - "Place of Frogs," the sound of which the Spanish would translate to "Guanajuato."

The Valenciana silver mine located near the City of Guanajuato was one of the richest silver finds in all history.  In the Eighteenth century this mine alone accounted for 60% of the world's total silver production.  For this reason, Guanajuato flourished as the silver mining capital of the world for three centuries, producing nearly a third of the world's silver during this time.

After the Chichimeca Indians were persuaded to settle down in the late Sixteenth Century, Guanajuato experienced a high degree of mestizaje.  This would be due in great part to the huge influx of a very diverse group of people from many parts of the Spanish colony of Mexico.  The influx of more established and refined Indian cultural groups combined with the establishment of the Spanish language and Christian religion as the dominant cultural practice.  And the result was a high degree of assimilation, in which most traces of the old cultures were lost.

In modern times, Guanajuato has had a very small population of people speaking indigenous languages. Although many of the Guanajuatenses are believed to be descended from the indigenous inhabitants of their state, the cultures and languages of their ancestors - for the most part - have not been handed down to the descendants.  In the 1895 census, only 9,607 persons aged five or more spoke indigenous languages.  This figure rose to 14,586 in 1910, but dropped to only 305 in the 1930 census, in large part because of the ravages of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), which took the life of one in eight Mexican citizens.

As a matter of fact, Guanajuato's total population fell from an all-time high in the 1910 census (1,081,651 persons) to a Twentieth Century low of 860,364 in the 1921 census. But the 1921 Mexican census gives us a very interesting view of the widespread mestizaje of Guanajuato's modern population.  In this census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including "indígena pura" (pure indigenous), "indígena mezclada con blanca" (indigenous mixed with white), and "blanca" (white).  Out of a total district population of 860,364 people, only 25,458 individuals (or 2.96%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background.  A much larger number - 828,724, or 96.33% - classified themselves as being mixed, while a mere 4,687 individuals (0.5%) classified themselves as white. 

From the latter half of the Twentieth Century into the present century, the population of indigenous speakers has remained fairly small.  When the 1970 census was tallied, Guanajuato boasted a mere 2,272 indigenous speakers five years of age and over.  The Otomí speakers made up the most significant number (866), followed by the Purépecha (181) and Náhuatl (151).  The Chichimeca-Jonaz language, a rare language spoken in only in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí, was not tallied individually in the 1970 census, but was probably among the 790 persons listed under "otras lenguas Indígenas."

According to the most recent census (2000), the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages in Guanajuato amounted to only 10,689 individuals, or 0.26% of the total state population. These individuals spoke a wide range of languages, many of which are transplants from other parts of the Mexican Republic.  The largest indigenous groups represented in the state were: Chichimeca Jonaz (1,433), Otomí (1,019), Náhuatl (919), Mazahua (626), Purépecha (414), Mixteco (225), and Zapoteco (214).

Today, the Chichimeca-Jonaz language is found only in the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato. Chichimeca Jonaz is classified as a member of the Oto-Manguean language family and is divided into two major dialects: the Pame dialect, which is used in San Luis Potosi, and the Jonaz dialect used in Guanajuato.  With a total of 1,433 Chichimeca-Jonaz speakers living in the state of Guanajuato in 2000, it is interesting to note that the great majority - 1,405 persons five years of age or more - actually lived in the municipio of San Luis de la Paz.

All of the other languages spoken in Guanajuato are not well represented. In fact, all of these languages are spoken by many more people living in other Mexican states, some of these states being adjacent to Guanajuato.  The Mixteco and Zapoteco are indigenous to the state of Oaxaca, while the other languages have cultural centers in Querétaro, Puebla and Mexico.

The people of Guanajuato are the living representation of their indigenous ancestors.  While most of the languages and cultures have disappeared or been absorbed into the central Hispanic culture, the people of Guanajuato have inherited the genetic legacy of the original Indian people.  In this respect at least, the indigenous people of pre-Hispanic Guanajuato will endure forever.

Sources:

Gonzalo de la Casas, "Noticias de los Chichimecas y Justicia de la Guerra Que Se les ha Hecho por los Españoles" (Stuttgart, 1936).

Departamento de la Estadística Nacional, "Annuario de 1930" (Tacuba, D.F., Mexico, 1932).

Basil C. Hedrick et al., "The North Mexican Frontier: Readings in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Ethnography." (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1971).

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). "Estadísticas Históricas de Mexico, Tomo I" (Aguascalientes, INEGI, 1994).

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Tabulados Básicos. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2000. (Mexico, 2001).

Paul Kirchhoff, "The Hunter-Gathering People of North Mexico," in "The North Mexican Frontier: Readings in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Ethnography" (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1971), pp. 200-209.

Philip Wayne Powell, "Soldiers, Indians and Silver: North America's First Frontier War" (Tempe, Arizona: Center for Latin American Studies, Arizona State University, 1975).

Juan Jose Prado, "Guanajuato's Legends and Traditions" (Guanajuato, Gto.: Prado Hnos., 1963).

Secretaria de Industria y Comercio, "IX Censo General de Población. 1970: Resumen General Abreviado" (Mexico, 1972).

Cyrus Thomas, "Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America" (Washington, D.C.:  Bureau of Smithsonian Institution, 1911, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 44).


SEPHARDIC

What's hot in Tel Aviv? Telenovelas
Testimonios relativos limpieza de sangre
Mexican Mormon’s Jewish Bakery

Extract:
What's hot in Tel Aviv? Telenovelas
by Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times Service
Source: The Miami Herald Herald.com

Thousands of Jews have fled Argentina's economic crisis to Israel, knowing they were coming to a country with a sizable, well-integrated population of Argentine descent.  

Israel has gone wild about the Spanish language, Latin American culture and above all, Argentine soap operas. Israelis can't get enough of Spanish-language soap operas, known as telenovelas. Two cable channels broadcast about 30 shows a day, mostly Argentine productions with Hebrew subtitles. 

Enrollment in Spanish classes has increased tenfold in the last three years. ''It's really been a revolution,'' said Yair Dori, the Argentine-born Israeli television impresario who is the driving force behind the telenovela boom. ``It's now part of the culture, the national personality.'' 

Argentina has one of the biggest Jewish populations outside Israel, mainly rooted in immigration from Eastern Europe and Russia that began more than a century ago. The community was estimated at its peak at a quarter of a million. 

The presence of Argentine culture has only grown here since Argentina's economic meltdown in 2001. More than 30,000 Argentines have emigrated to Israel in the last three years, according to Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. 

Argentines have been consistently well-received, Dori said. Argentine immigrants tend to be well-educated and middle class; their national personality clicks with Israelis, who see them as warm and good-humored, he said. 
Title:  Testimonios relativos de legitimidad, limpieza de sangre, hildalguia, y nobleza de D. Pedro Joseph Romero de Terreros, Rodriguez de Pedroso, y de los distinguidos méritos y servicios de su padre, y de su abuelo, los señores condes de regla.

George Gause ggause@panam.edu
UTPA Library / Special Collections recently obtained the following title through UT Austin / Benson Latin American Collection / Duplicate Exchange. 
Publication:   Impresos en México, en la Imprenta de Doña Maria Fernandez de Jauregui: Calle de Stô. Domingo. Year:  1803, Description: 54 p. 20 cm. Book, Language:  Spanish
Named Person:  Romero de Terreros, Pedro, conde de Regla, 1710-1781.

The Mexican Mormon’s Jewish Bakery by Gustavo Arellano
Abel Salgado keeps the Challah coming
Check out this article at http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/04/01/food-arellano.php 

TEXAS 

Los Bexarenos Celebrate 20th Year
Gloria Candelaria
Researching Your Civil War Ancestors 
Introduction to Tejano Paleography
Texas General Land Office collection
Annexation of Texas Materials 
King Ranch Lawsuit  
Historical Tejano Advocate, Living History Commentator
Microfilm Records - NEW
Second Annual Juan N. Seguin Memorial Picnic 
Annexation of Texas Materials
The Men Named Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna  

Goliad / Victoria / Refugio Websites


Congratulations to Los Bexarenos Genealogical Society
celebrating the 20th year anniversary of their founding, September 1983. A meeting will be held October 3, 2003, 7:30 pm at the Catholic Chancery 2718 W. Woodlawn, San Antonio. 
Sent by Elsa Peña Herbeck  epherbeck@juno.com 
Gloria Candelaria I am a native of Victoria, Texas. I am an author, historian, genealogist, and speaker who has been specializing in the Texas pre-Republic period since the early 1960s.  I have compiled and published five booklets that pertain to Victoria County, Texas that will certainly be of interest to those genealogists looking for their Spanish surnamed ancestors.

I have annotated and compiled several books on the early Spanish surnamed citizens of Victoria and Victoria County, Texas.

GLORIA CANDELARIA 

My latest book is titled: "1880 CENSUS - Genealogies and Family Histories of Spanish-Surnamed Citizens of Victoria County, Texas  to 1889"  This book contains vital information on early Victoria County Mexican Americans such as births, baptisms, marriages, divorces, cemetery information, land records and much more. The book is 228 pages, soft bound with spiral binding.  The cost is $35 plus $ 3.50 for postage and handling.  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~abel2479/

Researching Your Civil War Ancestors  

Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2003,  9:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. 
Location: St. Mary's Parish Hall, St. Mary's, Texas [Lavaca County]
Fee: $15.00 for one $20.00 per couple  $5.00 for student
Chicken Noodle soup lunch and chicken salad sandwich included in fee
Sponsors by: The Lavaca County Historical Commission and the Raymond Dickson Foundation

Program:
Civil War Records In the Texas State Archives part I and part II
Donaly Brice, Reference Archivist at the Texas State Archives
A Mountain of Rocks to Hide Under  Bill Stein .
We were Jaded, Putting your Civil War Families in the Saddle, Doug Kubicek, 

At 3:30 the Sons of the Confederate Veterans Camp consisting of crews and their cannon from Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New Braunfels, and the Hill country area will demonstrate the safe loading and firing of replica Civil War cannons. The participants will be dressed in period Civil War uniforms and will demonstrate the various Civil War drills with their cannons. 

To register: send your name and address to:  Lavaca County Historical Commission
c/o Brenda Lincke-Fisseler   P.O. Box 18, Hallettsville, TX 77964 worthing@txcr.net

Introduction to Tejano Paleography
  
Center for Mexican American Studies and Research
Sent by ggause@panam.ed 

Reading Texas' Original History & Heritage of the 18th and 19th century from its Spanish and
Mexican Documents Guest presenter:  David McDonald, researcher, translator, author
Friday, October 10, 2003, 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon
Pre registration Fee:  $15.00, Registration on site: $20.00 OLLU Student discount available
For details call 210-434-6711, Ext 8164 or email: cmasr@lake.ollusa.edu 

Resendez, Vela, Pena Families
  
by Jose O. Guerra, Jr.
As originally printed in the [Houston} Hispanic Genealogical Journal.  Volume 21, 2003, pp. 1-13
http://www.hispanicgs.com/res.html
SOURCE: Jose O. Guerra, Jr. Email  joguerra@hispanicgs.com
Visit my webpage http://www.hispanicgs.com http://www.olsenguerra.com

Texas General Land Office offers a searchable database of land grant collection 

Sent by George Gaurse ggause@panam.edu 

The Texas General Land Office offers a searchable database of our land grant collection.  Land Grants of Texas tell the story of the settlement and early history of Texas.  The database currently has 442,716 records. http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/central/LandGrants/LandGrantsSearch.cfm 

Below is an example of a search for Garcia in Hidalgo County, Texas:
Request resulted in 4 records: County Abstract  # District Class File Number Grantee Patentee   

http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/central/LandGrants/landgrants.cfm?intID=160053 
San Patricio 1st  556 Antonio Garcia 

http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/central/LandGrants/landgrants.cfm?intID=160057 
San Patricio 1st  655 Pedro Garcia 

http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/central/LandGrants/landgrants.cfm?intID=160057 
San Patricio Scrip  2512 C. & M.R.R. Co.  Benito Garcia 

http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/central/LandGrants/landgrants.cfm?intID=160624 
San Patricio 1st 575 
Jose A. M. Garcia; Apolinario Morales Garcia  
Jose Antonio Morales Garcio; Apolinario Morales Garcia  
SOURCE; Dennis Carter DennisVCarter1@aol.com

Annexation of Texas Materials
  
HTTP://texinfo.library.unt.edu/annexation/default.html 
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu 

Announcing digitized materials related to the annexation of Texas to the U.S.:
From Republic to State: Debates and Documents Relating to the Annexation of Texas, 1836-1856
University of North Texas Libraries

As one of only two sovereign nations to become a part of the United States of America, the Republic of Texas and its annexation occupies a fairly unique place in American History. Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, played an important role in leading the Republic during this tense period of annexation debates when many voices were raised both pro and con. 

In 1972, the Jones family library became part of the Texana Collection at the University of North Texas Libraries. This collection contains a number of primary and secondary materials relating to Texas as a Republic, the turmoil of the Annexation, and the final conversion to statehood.  Other items in the Texana Collection enrich the Jones materials and include various published addresses, speculations, reports, and official announcements. Also included in the materials presented here are
perspectives from the U.S. Congress and President as recorded in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set and the Congressional Globe. 

The Annexation collection supplements the digitized version of Volumes 1-10 of Gamel's Laws of Texas, also available from the UNT Libraries Web site at:  
HTTP://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas/default.html  

The Annexation project is sponsored in part by a TexTreasures Grant from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.  If you have comments about the Web site or suggestions for other materials to include in this collections.  Please contact us.

Cathy N. Hartman, chartman@library.unt.edu 
Associate Fellow, Texas Center for Digital Knowledge
Head, Digital Projects Dept.
University of North Texas Libraries
P.O. Box 305190, Denton, TX 76203-5190 
Phone: 940-565-3269  Fax: 940-565-2599

Extract: 
King Ranch Lawsuit   Court ends family's fight to gain King Ranch land. 
The Austin American-Statesman (TX), August 29, 2003 pB1 
Byline: David Pasztor, dpasztor@statesman.com
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu


A jury will not be asked to root through Texas history to decide whether Capt. Richard King swindled a widow of part of the fabled King Ranch more than 120 years ago. 

The state Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a lawsuit filed by more than 20 descendents of Helen Chapman, whose husband, William, was one of King's business partners. 

The family wanted a chance to argue in court that King cheated Helen Chapman out of one-half interest in 15,500 acres after her husband died. The lawsuit potentially would have allowed Chapman's heirs to lay claim to a share of the riches that have flowed from the internationally famous
ranch that has come to epitomize the Texas frontier. 

But the court ruled that the case should not go to trial because there is little evidence that King defrauded anyone, and too much time has passed to prove whether anything untoward happened. Any question of who rightfully owned the land was settled by another court in 1883, the justices said. 

"Richard King and William Chapman, along with every witness with personal knowledge of the events at issue, have long since expired," Justice Wallace Jefferson wrote for the court. "The paper trail of evidence, though surprisingly detailed, cannot turn speculation about King's motives into evidence of his fraud." 

Chapman's descendents argued that information unearthed in the 1990s showed that King and attorney Richard Kleberg conspired to cheat Helen Chapman, and then her estate, out of their fair share of the land. The heirs were asking the court to take a highly unusual step and reopen the case. 

"What this opinion says is that you can't get a do-over after 120 years," said John Thomas, another attorney representing the ranch. 


Historical Tejano Advocate, Living History Commentator
 

For all Tejanos at HEART!
From: "Rudy Pena" Rudytejanopena@yahoo.com 
Sent by Elsa Pena Herbeck epherbeck@juno.com 

Mr. Rudy ‘Tejano’ Pena is a devoted and dedicated advocate for the acknowledgement and recognition of the original American U.S. Tejano / Texan distinguished native identity, culture and heritage. Currently legions of direct Tejano descendants live in Texas, the United States and around the globe. Historically, U.S. American Tejanos may be descendants of the early European settlers, who immigrated from Europe and the Indigenous people that populated the territory in the early 1600’s. Theoretically, it’s from combinations of these diverse cultures that Tejanos emerged evolved and developed. Traditionally, combinations of Spaniards and local Indigenous people are the most prevalent. It’s not unusual to find other European influence, in the fancy Tejano appearance of beautiful women and handsome men. The distinctive features of these cultural combinations is what in many cases favor the Texas born Tejano peoples image. The other influence has been the Mexican. While historians, educators and societies in general have acknowledged and recognized Latinos, Mexican, Hispanics, Mexican-Americans and Chicanos, somehow they have completely ignored and excluded the existence and identity of Texas born Tejanos. 

Mr. Pena, is currently one of a few United States born Tejano citizens relating Tejas / Texas historical references and events from a Tejano /Texan perspective, rather than from the viewpoint of an Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Chicano, Mexican-American or persons of non-Spanish origin. He emphasizes significant, pertinent Tejas / Texas historical events and references, demonstrating participation and actual involvement of original Tejanos. He invites the entire world to discover the truth and give credit to all deserving Tejanos and Tejanas. 

Mr. Pena was born in Laredo, Texas. He takes great pride of his U.S. citizenship and being a U.S. Tejano patriot at heart. He welcomes and encourages all others, who have similar origins and views to support his noble efforts and cause. His presentations include Tejano contributions to the American Revolution 1776, Battle of Medina 1813, first Tejas /Texas short lived Independence, Successful struggle for Independence from Spain 1821, Only Two native Tejanos / Texans, who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence 2nd March 1836, Tejas/Texas Revolution, U.S. Mexican war, Civil War, World War I and II, Korean conflict, Vietnam, Dessert Shield and Storm. 

Musicians, entertainers and politicians are among other distinguished American Tejanos. Mr. Pena, urges you to learn about Tejanos and Tejanas. Appreciate their true, authentic free Texas spirit. 

361-854-1732 Cel 361-850-0006 
RUDY ‘TEJANO’ PENA, USN., RET. Tejano_pride@hotmail.com  
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEJAS 

Microfilm Records - NEW
  
Sent by George Gauseggause@panam.edu  

The University of Texas - Pan American Library
1201 West University Drive 
Edinburg, TX 78541-2999
Telephone: (956) 381-3304 http://www.lib.panam.edu 

The following microfilm records, from the US National Archives, have just been cataloged and added to the Library's holdings. These reels of microfilm are located on the 3rd floor of the Library.

Index of vessels arriving at Brownsville, Texas, 1935-1955; Houston, Texas, 1948-1954; and Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, 1908-1954.  [microfilm] / 1 roll

United States.  Consulate (Monterrey, Mexico).  Dispatches from United States consuls in Monterrey, Mexico, 1849-1906.  [microform] / 7 reels

United States.  Consulate (Nuevo Laredo, Mexico).  Dispatches from United States consular officials in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 1871-1906.  [microform] / 4 reels

United States.  Consulate (Saltillo, Mexico).  Dispatches from United States consuls in Saltillo, Mexico, 1876-1906.  [microform] / 1 roll

Second Annual Juan N. Seguin Memorial Picnic
 

Honoring all the Heroes of the Battle of San Jacinto
When: Saturday, October 25, 2003
Where: Battleship side under the Pavilion on the left side of the park Time: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
San Jacinto battleground site at 3523 Highway 134 La Porte TX.

SDHP is looking for descendants who fought at the historic Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Please come and share family information at the Second Annual Col. Juan N. Seguin Memorial 
Picnic. The goal of this event is to bring families together to share their historical knowledge of the battle that changed Texas and United States history forever. Whether Mexicans, Texians, Tejanos,
Americanos, or Europeans, their part in the drama of Texas is greatly desired to help preserve the history of several diverse cultures and to educate present and future generations Texans.     

Thank You!  Angel & Linda Seguin Garcia Atexhero@aol.com 
Founders SDHP & Co-founder 1st Priority Search & Recovery


About Publishing Family Story

Check with Antonio Uribe  AEUribe25@aol.com
http://www.incdef.com/san%20ignacio/ignacio.asp


THE MEN NAMED ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA

After a year filled with very hard work, I've finished a book I've been working on for many, many years.  The title is THE MEN NAMED ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA.  It is not the regular and Oh-So-Boring tale of Santa Anna the blood-thirsty tyrant who came to Texas to kill and maim and to steal the food out of his soldier's mouths in order to enrich himself.  The documents I read do not paint him as a perverted, cowardly commander who sacrificed his men for his own glory.  To the contrary, I've tried very hard to describe him as he must have been in life.  I neither hate Santa Anna nor do I admire him, I do find him fascinating as an historic figure.
 
I've done a great deal of research on Santa Anna and found that he was a man very much like all those of his time.  On the other hand, he was exceptionally brave in combat, probably the most sophisticated military commander of his time, and a man that others followed wherever he would lead them.  He was elected to the presidency five times, it was given to him five times by the Congress of Mexico, and he took it by force one time.  The congress named him Emperor of Mexico but he refused to accept that office.  He was also exiled four times and sentenced to death five times.
 
He was certainly the hero of Mexico for some thirty-five years and probably a traitor for a good part of that time, also.  His history is far more interesting than that given in Mexican, Texan, and U.S. books.  Most of us know very little about this very interesting individual.  He was so much a part of the early history of Texas that we should know a lot more of him than what we are told in school, aqui o en el otro lado.
 
 This book will be ready for sale (probably) by October 1, 2003, but I will bring a DRAFT copy to the San Antonio meeting September 6. I hope to show it to all attendees and discuss it with you at length.  I will also be looking forward to your remarks and comments.  Please find me in the vendor's room at the Omni Hotel or contact me:
 
G. Roland Vela
P.O. Box 305231
Denton, Texas 76203 
 

Goliad / Victoria / Refugio Websites
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu  
Websites for genealogists and historians researching Goliad / Victoria / Refugio, Texas.  Included are Land records, the census of 1790, 1810, 1811, and 1825.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrefugi/   
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrefugi/HispanicArchives.htm  
SOURCE: Gloria Candelaria  GeneGloCan@aol.com 

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Hiram Carmena Photo and Networking
Georgia Tops Nation in Latino Growth  
Hiram Carmena Photo  
 
Bill Carmena JCarm1724 shares a thank you letter reflecting successful internet networking. The letter is about Josef Morales, an ancestor who served under Bernardo de Galvez. 

Thank you for the info on the Hiram Carmena picture. It has added a few more "leaves" to the family tree. The picture you saw in the Advocate Magazine section of me was from a number of years ago. We get our Canary Islands connection thru our G/G/Grandmother Josefa Morales ,daughter of Josef Morales , who married Roumaldo Carmena in 1796 . We are descendants of that union. The Morales family came from the village of Aguimes on Grand Canaria Island to Louisiana in 1778 on the Spanish Frigate San Ignacio de Loyola.  Josef Morales  was recruited to serve as a malitiaman at the Spanish fort at Galveztown , on Bayou Manshack about 18 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. Josefa, his 4th daughter was born at Galveztown and was our first ancestor to be born in  what we now call the USA. Roumaldo was also a Spanish soldier at Galveztown so we have 2 generations of military service there.Josef Morales participated in the Battle of Baton Rouge campaign (1779)  when General Galvez captured it from the British thus preventing them from controlling access to the  Mississippi River and the Western  areas of the Revolutionary War. Galvez also captured Mobile and Pensacola from England preventing  any help to the British from the Gulf of Mexico. Most people don't realize what a tremendous contribution Galvez made to the American Revolution. As a result of Josef Morales being in Galvez's army, his descendents are eligible for membership in the Sons  or Daughters of the American Revolution. I have the necessary documentation and plan on submitting my application soon. Back to the Canary Islands connection. There is a website  about the "Islanders" on rootsweb.com/~lachisl. I am on the board of directors and our picture is on the home page. I am still trying to find the location of Roumaldo/John's old home site. Any help you can give me will be appreciated.  Your Cousin Bill
  
Georgia Tops Nation in Latino Growth  
Extract: Georgia tops nation in Hispanic growth  Atlanta leads large cities, census says 
By Mark Bixler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (September 19, 2003)
Sent by Howard Shorr  howardshorr@msn.com 

The Hispanic population grew faster in Georgia than in any state in the nation from 2000 to 2002, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau figures released today.

Lured by jobs and relatives, a net gain of about 102 Hispanics a day came to Georgia in the last two years from Latin America, mainly Mexico, and from states with much larger Hispanic populations, such as California, Texas and Illinois.

Georgia's Hispanic community grew 17 percent, to about 516,500, the latest evidence of profound transformation of a state long cast in black and white.

The pattern repeated itself around the Southeast, in places with little sustained history of Hispanic settlement. The eight states with the fastest growing Hispanic populations included North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia and Alabama.

It is the promise of work that attracts people such as Emma Paz, a young Honduran who cleans rooms for $8.30 an hour at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel in downtown Atlanta. She left her native Honduras in 1991 and joined siblings in Los Angeles, where she found a factory job sewing clothes.
Her pay hinged on production, she said, and averaged a paltry $3 an hour. So she wasted no time after a friend told her about plentiful jobs in Georgia.  When Paz came to Atlanta in 1996, half the housekeepers at the Renaissance hotel were Hispanic and half were black. Now 95 percent speak Spanish as their native tongue. 


"In California, there were no good jobs," she said in Spanish on Wednesday afternoon. "There are more jobs here."

Open job market|

Some industries to which Hispanics gravitate have openings despite an economic slowdown, said Stephanie Bohon, a University of Georgia sociology professor.  She attributed some growth in the Hispanic population to the arrival of men in search of jobs, but also pointed to a growing number of women and children. Many young men from Latin America who have worked here for several years want relatives to join them. "Now they can afford to bring their wives and children," she said.

Francis Antunez knows the routine well. She started cleaning rooms at the Renaissance about the same time as Paz. Now she manages a housekeeping staff of 70 workers. One difference between her and most of the housekeepers, she said, is that she speaks fluent English. Her parents brought her from Mexico to Chicago at age 4. Her command of English helped her move from a job paying $6 an hour to a position that pays $40,000 a year. 

UGA's Bohon and a colleague, housing and consumer economics professor Jorge Atiles, interviewed more than 300 Latinos and social-service providers in Georgia for a study published last year. They suggested the rapid demographic changes and economic recession may exacerbate social tension between native-born Americans and their Spanish-speaking neighbors. 

One common complaint is that many Hispanics in Georgia are illegal immigrants. No one knows the precise number, but Bohon said she believes people tend to exaggerate the illegal immigrant population.  Immigration authorities said this year that 228,000 illegal immigrants live in Georgia, though it is not known how many are from Latin America as opposed to other regions. But national estimates are that 76 percent of all illegal immigrants are Hispanic.

Growth of the state's Hispanic population has enormous implications for just about every major institution in the state. 

One of the most telling signs of the future: Spanish-speaking nurses are suddenly in demand in hospital obstetrics wards. A growing number of babies born in Georgia are Hispanic boys and girls who are likely to come of age in a different Georgia.

"The Latino population is here to stay," Bohon said, "and it's going to get larger."

EAST COAST

California Royal Presidio Soldiers, 1996  More than 50,000 attend La Fiesta del Pueblo. 

October 6, 1996, the Royal Presidio Soldiers of Santa Barbara California traveled to Washington, D.C. and participated in the Second Annual Hispanic Heroes Commemoration parade.
Extract: 
More than 50,000 attend La Fiesta del Pueblo. Yeah, so?  – In North Carolina
By Rafael Prieto Zartha.
http://www.hispanicvista.com/html3/091503mn.htm 

Raleigh, U.S. - (EFE).- September 8, 2003 - More than 50,000 people turned out here this past weekend for La Fiesta del Pueblo, the biggest event of the year on the calendar of the burgeoning Hispanic community in North Carolina.  Around 20 local troupes performed folk dances from across Latin America on three different stages at the festival, which took place at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh.

"I've been able to see everything here - tango, flamenco, joropo, salsa, Panamanian murga, Puerto Rican plena, Dominican bachata, Brazilian capoeira, a Mexican dance by little old people and Andean music from my country," said Eduardo Chavez, a Peruvian immigrant.

The Hispanic community in North Carolina quadrupled between 1990 and 2000, with close to 400,000 Latinos currently living in the state.

"It's been a complete success. It shows the rise of Hispanics in North Carolinaand the most interesting thing is that it also presents a lot of diversity," Andrea Bazan-Manson, executive director of El Pueblo - the community organization that has organized the festival for the last 10 years - told EFE

MEXICO

Oct 19  V Encuentro de Cronistas - Invitación
Archivo de Indias 
Tamaulipas 
Arquidiocesis de Guadalajara 

Family Search Research Guidance
50 frases favoritas de las madres Mexicanas 
History of Mexico website
Catholic Church in Mexico website 
Genealogical Studies of Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon 
Cano Family Geneaology Vol. III
Corpus Christi Public Library
Clements gives historic papers to Mexico
Latin American MSS - Mexico II
The Sanchez family of Laredo

V Encuentro de Cronistas - Invitación
Día Domingo 19 de Octubre del 2003  

Lugar:
Salón de los Presidentes en la Presidencia 
Municipal de Nueva  Ciudad Guerrero,Tamaulipas.
Hora: 1:00 p. m. 

Invitado de honor: Lic. Joel Roberto Olivares Villarreal
Presidente Municipal de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, Tamps.

El Colegio de Cronistas e Historiadores de la Frontera Norte de Tamaulipas y Sur de Texas, A. C.
Le invitan a su V reunión de trabajo en el marco del 50 Aniversario de la Fundación de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero y la Construcción de la Presa Falcón.
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu  

Presentaciones: Las ponencias se entregaran por escrito con el objetivo de reproducirlas y entregarlas ese mismo día a los participantes, el tema principal será la Historia del Municipio de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, la duración será de 15 minutos máximo, para mayores informes comunicarse al:  Presidencia Municipal (897-97) 601-14 y 603-70: fax:604-94
us (956) 849-0099 cel en mex: 01-86-88-85-20-28 o al correo electrónico: rugerio@email.com 

Las Ceremonia empezará a las 9:00 a.m. en el Monumento a mitad de la Presa Falcón, posteriormente iniciara el desfile para terminar con una comida ofrecida por el Municipio

Colegio de Cronistas e Historiadores de la Frontera Norte de Tamaulipas y Sur de Texas, A. C.

DIRECTORIO 

!! APÚNTATE !!

TAMAULIPAS 

Matamoros
    Ing. Clemente Rendon de la Garza, IV. Cronista.  clementerg@hotmail.com
    Monseñor Roberto Ramírez. Filosofo e Historiador
    Arqlga. Mónica Robles, Museo del Agrarismo Mexicano

Valle Hermoso
    Dr. Renato Vázquez, Cronista de la Ciudad.

San Fernando
    Jesús Gracia Padilla, Cronista de la Ciudad

Ciudad Rio Bravo.

Reynosa
    Lic. Cesar H. Isassi Cantú Cronista de la Ciudad.(899)922-4242
    Lic. Pedro Antonio Campos Rodríguez, Director del Archivo     Historico. (956) 782-7350
    Joel Hinojosa. G. Sociedad Historica de Reynosa, 
    Arq. Jorge Padin, El Mañana de Reynosa (899)922-1040
    Dr. Rafael Beltrán Del Rio:  beltran_del_riorafael@hotmail.com

Cd. G. Díaz Ordaz
    Dr. José Rosas Navarro. Cronista de la Ciudad.

Camargo.
    Don Ernesto Garza Sáenz. Cronista de la Ciudad.
    Dr. Javier Garza López, Director de Turismo
    Juan Alaniz. Sociedad Villas del Norte.

Ciudad Miguel Aleman.
    Prof. Amaro Guerra.
    Prof. Juan Gilberto García. Cronista de la Ciudad
    Sr. Manuel Mercado. Cronista Grafico.
    Ing. Elva Nelia García., Patronato pro-restauracion del Puente     de Suspension.
    Lic. Jesus Amando Sáenz Barrera 

Ciudad Mier.
    Prof. Enrique Maldonado Quintanilla. Cronista de la Ciudad.
    Lic. Antonio Guerra
    Prof. Ma. de Lourdes Balderas. Directora del Archivo Municipal.

Nueva Ciudad Guerrero.
    Prof. Lilia Treviño Martínez. Fundación Hijos y Amigos de Cd. Guerrero.
    Jaime Gutiérrez. Fundación Hijos y Amigos de Cd. Guerrero.
    Jaime González González Cronista de la Ciudad.
    Lic. Olga Juliana Elizondo Guerra

Nuevo Laredo
    Fernando Garza González. Cronista de Nuevo Laredo.
    Dr. Manuel Cevallos. Colegio de la Frontera.
    Dr. Eduardo Alarcón, Colegio de la Frontera
    Arq. Noé Magaña, Restaurador

Ciudad Victoria, Tamps.
    Lic. Baldomero Gonzáles Sotelo, Etnohistoriador     cpopulares@hotmail.com 
    Dr. Octavio Herrera Pérez. Colegio de Historia de Tamaulipas

NUEVO LEON

Monterrey
    Mtro. Israel Cavazos Garza, Cronista de la Ciudad
    Lic. Jorge Pedraza. S. Sociedad Nuevoleonesa de Historia Geografía y Estadística

Cerralvo, N. L.
    Dr. Leonardo Contreras López. Cronista de la Ciudad.

Ciudad Anahuac, N. L.
    Mtra. Hortensia Camacho, Presidenta del Colegio de Cronistas e Historiadores de Nuevo León,  A. C. Tel: (81)83-12-0611 y   cel. (811)011-6920

Agualeguas, N. L.
    Prof. Mauro Martínez Pérez.

Hacienda de San Pedro, Zuazua, N. L
    Centro de Estudios Historicos Regionales (UANL)
Archivo de Indias  

mexicangenealogy@ancestros.com.mx
 

Hace algun tiempo les comentaba que el Archivo estaba preparando una version en CD de las Listas de Pasajeros. Pero me ha llegado informacion importantisima y les puedo decir que estoy consultando OnLine al menos los primeros 10 libros.

Viendo las fojas he sentido una emocion tan grande que he llorado de alegria por esta informacion que ya esta al alcance de cualquiera que tenga una Pc y conexion a Internet.
la direccion donde estoy consultando es
http://aer.mcu.es/sgae/index_aer.jsp

Luego de Inscribirme gratuitamente y seguir una ruta un poco complicada la primer vez estoy leyendo esos documentos, la calidad es impresionante, puedo magnificar un documento no se cuantas veces pero nunca he podido ver los pixeles.

Ojala que los usuarios de sus sitios web puedan usar este servicio de consulta.

--
Benicio Samuel Sanchez Garcia
Presidente de la Sociedad Genealogica del Norte de Mexico 

* Si necesitas informacion Genealogica enviame:
1. Una Copia de tu Cuadro Genealogico O bien un GEDCOM 
2. Detalles de las lineas a investigar
3. Detalles de la Investigacion que haz hecho 
(envia copias de los documentos. TRANSCRIBE LAS ACTAS NO ENVIES ORIGINALES, SI NO TIENES LAS ACTAS TRANSCRITAS TE COBRARE POR HACERLO)
4. Enviame un sobre con cupones internacionales que consigues en tu servicio postal local (estampillas internacionales) y un sobre con tu direccion escrita a la direccion que aparece abajo.
5. Si quieres CHATEAR conmigo usa el messenger de msn y agregame en tus contactos: mexicangenealogy@ancestros.com.mx 

If need Genealogical Data please send me:
1. A Copy of your pedigree chart or Gedcom file
2. Details on those lines that need work
3. Details on research that has already been done on those lines that need work. (Send only copies of your documents. DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS.)
4. Self addressed, stamped return envelope, or one with international reply coupon(s) if you do not live in Mexico.
5. If you like add me in your contacts for a MSN CHAT SESSION: mexicangenealogy@ancestros.com.mx

Send your request to:
Benicio Samuel Sanchez
Ramon Lopez Velarde 729
Contry La Silla
Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon
67173 Mexico
Office Phone (81) 8387-5400
TAMAULIPAS   http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx 
Sent by George Gauseggause@panam.edu   

Municipios [General - Individual Cities / Towns]
http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx/tamaulipas/configpolitica/ 

Matamoros, Tamaulipas
http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx/tamaulipas/municipios/22/ 

Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx/tamaulipas/municipios/27/ 

Reynosa, Tamaulipas
http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx/tamaulipas/municipios/32/ 

Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas
http://www.tamaulipas.gob.mx/tamaulipas/municipios/41/ 

Arquidiocesis de Guadalajara

http://www.arquidiocesisgdl.org.mx/Default.htm 
SOURCE: Art Garza / HOGAR Dallas AGarza0972@aol.com  
Sent by Gloria Delgado and George Gause
Family Search Research Guidance
Mexico Research Outline

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/rg/guide/Mexico.asp
Sent by Joan De Soto

This research guide is an expanded version of the research guides that the LDS Church published about 30 years ago. It is excellent and should be put in your favorite places.
50 frases favoritas de las madres Mexicanas  

From: epherbeck@juno.com  

They were great Mothers!  Thanks Rogelio!
50 frases favoritas de las madres Mexicanas

1.¡Te lo dije!
2. Ponte un sueter.
3. ¡Dejate ahi!
4. ¿Que, se mandan solos?
5. Esa muchachita no te conviene.
6. Te lo digo por tu bien.
7. ¿Quien crees que lava la ropa?
8. Ahorita que llegue tu papa arreglamos cuentas.
9. ¡Acuerdate que soy tu madre!
10. Eres identico a tu padre.
11. Un dia me van a matar de un coraje.
12. ¿Por que me castigo Dios con estos hijos?
13. Ya tendras a tus hijos.
14. ¿Que creen que estoy pintada o que?
15. ¿Que creen que soy su sirvienta?
16. Síiiiguele siiiguele
17. ¡Acabate el higado encebollado!
18. ¡Andale, sigue tomando y acabate el higado!
19. ¡No me respondas!
20. Deberias estar agradecido.
21. ¡Mira nada mas como vienes!
22. De seguro vienes del hotel.
23. ¡Que sea la ultima vez!
24. Hasta que te acordaste que tienes madre.
25. Deberias de aprender de fulanito.
26. Fulanito si quiere a su mama.
27. Para mi siempre seras mi bebe.
28. ¿Quien es mi niño?
29. No tienen llenadera.
30. ¡Si no te acabas el chayote va a venir el señor del costal!
31. ¿Que te cuesta avisar?
32. Para eso se invento el telefono.
33. ¡Arregla tu chiquero!
34. No le pongas seguro a la puerta del baño.
35. Huele a petate quemado.
36. Aqui no es hotel.
37. Ya duermete, caramba.
38. Ya lava tus tenis.
39. Cuando tengas tu casa haras lo que quieras.
40. ¡Levantame la mano y se te va a secar!
41. ¿Otra vez te vas con tus amigotes?
42. ¿Que, tus amigos no tienen casa?
43. Vete por las tortillas.
44. No te tardes y me traes el cambio.
45. ¡Te dije cilantro!
46. Ve a ver si tu padre sigue en la cantina.
47. Dile a tu papa que ya se venga.
48. Te voy a poner una ch#@! de perro bailarin.
49. Esto me va a doler mas a mi que a ti.
50. ¡Ni se te ocurra!
History of Mexico  [[Links, Links, Links. . . do see]]
http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~borge/MEXICO-VL/mexico.html

Catholic Church in Mexico: 
An Inventory of Collection at the Benson Latin American Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlac/00010/lac-00010.html
Sent by Joan De Soto


Genealogical Studies of Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Research by Michael Carrillo

Vol 1: With Complete Baptismal Extractions for 1806-1815

Description: This study includes 1,869 baptismal records for the given period. Most Baptismal records include the Baptismal date, race, age in days, child's name, parents' name, town of origin, grandparent's names and padrino name(s).  Copyright 1998, pgs 193.

Vol 2: With Complete Baptismal Extractions for 1816-1825

Description: This study includes 2,866 baptismal records for the given period. Most Baptismal records include the Baptismal date, race, age in days, child's name, parents' name, town of origin, grandparent's names and padrino name(s).  Copyright 2000, pgs 289.

Vol 1 and Vol 2 Features:

  • Indexes: Mother, Sponsors
  • Sorted by family
  • Community Statistics

Vol 3: 1827 Census
Description: This study includes 5,032 listed individuals from 1,411 households from Cadereyta and the municipal area. This area includes 32 surrounding Haciendas, Ranchos and communities.
Copyright 2003, pgs 198.

Vol 3 Features:

  • Indexed
  • Community Statistics

Pricing Standard Edition: Library Edition:

Standard paper Bond Paper, Vol. Desc. on Spine.
Volume 1: $35 Volume 1: $45
Volume 2: $40 Volume 2: $50
Volume 3: $35 Volume 3: $45

To Order by Mail: Michael Carrillo  Phone: (210) 601-9122   macarrillo@ev1.net 

Cano Family Geneaology Vol. III  
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu 

Casts a broad net over the geneaology of Northern Mexico's founding families and their origin in Mexico and Europe and connects them to their many decendants over an approximate 500 year period.

Includes over 8750 people and a 187 page family tree (over 3000 pages including redundant lines), rarely seen genealogy on the Arredondo line, 5 lines connecting to royalty and very large number of lines derived from Northern Mexico.

Order and check or money order payment deadline: Must be received by September 13th. Note: All books will be printed based on orders so no refunds. NOTE: Volumes I and II are no longer available. 

Mail to: Stephen Cano SCano63@cs.com
135 W. Mansionette Drive, Hanford, CA  93230

Corpus Library Public Library Hispanic Genealogy 

http://www.library.ci.corpus-christi.tx.us/lhhispanic.htm
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu
SOURCE: Gloria Candelaria GeneGloCan@aol.com

The University Record, June 7, 1993 Clements gives historic papers to Mexico
By Kate Kellogg, News and Information Services 
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9293/Jun07_93/2.htm 
Sent by Joan De Soto

The William L. Clements Library has given a major manuscript collection—the original treasury records of the Mexican state of Zacatecas—to the Zacatecas campus of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. 

Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari accepted the gift from Clements Library Director John C. Dann May 27 in a private ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford Library. 

Salinas was on campus to deliver the William E. Simon Lecture sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, and received an honorary degree. 

The collection, which will be housed in the Manuel Sescosse Library on the Zaca-tecas campus, includes nearly 40,000 historical documents worth approximately $250,000, according to Dann. 

The library purchased the documents from a Mexican book dealer for $10,000 in 1951 and legally exported them to the United States. Thus, the U-M is effectively returning the documents to their appropriate home, Dann said. 

“This very complete historical collection dates from the 16th through the 19th centuries and is much more than a set of financial records,” he said. “Zacatecas was the center of Mexico’s silver-mining industry, a source of great wealth for Mexico during that period. The collection provides information on mining, the Indians who lived in Zacatecas, local history and genealogy.” 

Scholars have used the collection for a variety of purposes including dissertation research, Dann added. “But I’ve always felt the Zacatecas Papers belonged in Zacatecas. The visit of President Salinas provided a good occasion for us to officially present the papers as a gift to his country.” 

Mexico is rightfully sensitive about its historical artifacts because so many have gone out of the country to museums and private collections, Dann said. “Mexican scholars consider the return of these papers a great triumph.” 

The decision to return the Zacatecas Papers resulted from Dann’s communication with Mexican scholars, including Rafael Rangel Sostmann, rector of the Monterrey Institute, and Manuel Sescosse Varela, president of the Society of Friends of Zacatecas. 

LATIN AMERICAN MSS.--MEXICO II


http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/html/latinammex2.html 
Sent by Joan De Soto

The Latin American mss. Mexico II span the years 1560-1940 and complement the materials in the Latin American mss. Mexico collection. 

The colonial period of Mexican history is covered extensively in the collection. There is a large number of land grants, land transfers, and title and boundary disputes, as well as documents referring to various other legal disputes. The many royal directives and cedulas and vice- regal documents contain information on the administration of the colony. Several manuscripts are concerned with inheritances and descendants' estates. There are many documents pertaining to the administration, finances, and missions--particularly those of the Jesuits and Franciscans-- of the Catholic Church. Among these is a group of 102 documents from the Catedral of Mexico City from 1563-1604. 

A small group of manuscripts from Atlixco (then Villa de Carrion) has several items of interest, including a Libro de entradas de la carsel publica desta villa de carion for the period Jan. 8, 1644-Nov. 29, 1646. 

Other documents from the colonial period include manuscripts about slavery, the prevention of smallpox, the internal politics of Spain, military notarial archives from Nuevo Santander in the mid-eighteenth century, and a Relacion Yndividual y substancial de la Caussa que se formo a los Omicidas de Dn. Joaquin Dongo y 10 familiares suyos ... of 1789. 

The struggle for independence is covered in some depth. There is correspondence and documents by many of the leaders of the movement, among them Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Ignacio Maria de Allende y Unzaga, Jose Maria Teclo Morelos y Pavon, Leonardo Bravo, Juan Nepomuceno Rosians, and Ignacio Lopez Rayon. There are several manuscripts dealing with the capture and trials of Hidalgo. 

This era was strongly influenced by Spain's internal politics, as several of the documents testify. A non- governmental point of view of the period after the defeat of Morelos and before independence was actually achieved is presented in the correspondence between the businessman Francisco de Llano y Chavarri and Jose Parache. The fifty- seven letters in this group range from Nov. 6, 1816 to Sept. 16, 1818. 

The culmination of the independence movement is illustrated in two contemporary documents issued within a few days of each other. The first is by Juan O'Donoju, last viceroy of Mexico, addressed to Havitantes de Nueva Espana on Sept. 17, 1821. The second is Agustin de Iturbide's El Primer Gefe del Ejercito Ymperial a los havitantes de Mexico, issued on Sept. 20. 

The period immediately following independence, 1821-1861, has a few items concerned mainly with honors and rewards to the veterans and heroes of the independence and continuing hostilities with the Spanish at the castle of San Juan de Ulua and Veracruz. This early national period is represented by military and governmental appointments, the move for colonization in Texas, and more land and inheritance disputes. A number of government circulars contain information on a variety of subjects such as the Catholic Church, commerce and taxation, and the Congress. A series of twenty-six manuscripts relating to the Mexican consulate in New Orleans shed light on some of the problems in foreign relations with the U.S. 

A number of items concern Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his role in Mexican history. Two of the more interesting are his Confesion y arrepentimiento ... of Jan. 8, 1830, and a bando containing his account of the siege and fall of the Alamo. 

The materials in this period also include several sonnets by the poet Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra; a Constitucion politica del Estado de Jalisco, dated Nov. 26, 1857; Sesiones del dia of the Congreso of Jalisco for six days in January of 1858; one of the Leyes de reforma signed by Benito Juarez on July 12, 1859; and a number of documents concerned with the suppression of the Colegio de la Caridad. 

The European intervention and the reign of Maximilian, 1861-1867, are represented by a letter from Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to Napoleon III, offering his services; several laws and appointments by Maximilian; extensive correspondence between Maximilian and his government officials, some of it in code; and several other items. 

The materials in the collection after the European intervention are primarily correspondence and governmental awards and appointments. Among the manuscripts of the period are one hundred and seventeen items from the years 1882-1894 concerning the Banco Nacional de Mexico; a large number of mine titles granted by Porfirio Diaz; a document by Venustiano Carranza concerning the installation of deputies to the Congreso Constituyente in 1916; and a group of twenty- nine letters and sketches by Jose de Leon Toral, assassin of Alvaro Obregon, shortly before his execution. 

Ranging over both the colonial and national periods of Mexican history is a large number of manuscripts from Coahuila. This group includes extensive government correspondence and circulars concerning both local and national matters; statistics; legal disputes; a letter copybook of the governor of Coahuila for July 23-Dec. 31, 1820; two mid-nineteenth century copybooks of officials of Muzquiz; and an Ynventario del archivo de Govierno de la Provincia de Coahuila from June 15, 1705 to Apr. 18, 1708. The Coleccion de notas del Coronel D. Francisco Castaneda y otros is a bound volume containing correspondence and other documents addressed principally to various officials of the government of the Valle de Santa Rosa (later Muzquiz) in Coahuila, covering the years 1802 to 1860. The majority of the manuscripts are concerned with Indian relations in the area. 

Among the more than twenty-five bound volumes in the collection are the third and fourth parts of the Noticias de la verdad, y luz de los diuinos Artributos ... dated circa 1629 and 1647. This lengthy Catholic work apparently has not been published. Covering the century from 1695 to 1795 is the volume Titulos del meson y demas posesiones que pertenezen þ Juan Matz de la escalera vezino de queretaro. Two religious works from the eighteenth century are the Discalced Carmelite nuns' Regla, Y Constituciones de las Religiosas Descalzas de la Orden de la Gloriosissima Virgen Maria del Monte Carmelo, a copy of the published work of the same title reprinted in Mexico, En La Imprenta rl. del superior govierno de dona Maria de Rivera, en el Empedradillo, ano de 1733; and Joaquin de Albalate's Doctrina Christiana Regular del Frayle Menor, Que para instrucion de los Novicios de la Sta. Provincia de la Ymmaculada concepcion de Franciscos Descalzos, en Castilla la Nueva, on the last leaf of which is what appears to be the autograph of Maximilian, emperor of Mexico. 

A curious item is a volume containing privilegios and a pleito. This work, done on vellum, is probably dated Apr. 28, 1589. However, the names of the original beneficiaries have been removed and the names of some Tlascalan caciques inserted in their places. 

Three eighteenth century works in the collection concern medical topics. El Promotor de la salud de los Hombres sin dispendio el menor de sus caudales ... written by Vicente Perez, was published in Toledo in 1752 (Palau, 219568) and discusses the practice of hydrotherapy. Anton de Haen's Dysertacyon Medyca Que contiene el Examen del muy usado Proverbio La Medicina es una doctrina mala o vergonzosa was translated from the Latin version Dissertatio medica sistens examen tristissimi proverbii, medicina turpis disciplina, Neapoli, typ. J.M. Porcelli, 1778. El Onanismo Disertacion sobre las Enfermedades producidas por la Masturbacion by Samuel Auguste Andre David Tissot, translated from the French L'onanisme, dissertation sur les maladies produites par la masturbation, Lausanne, F. Grasset, 1764, is a treatise on the bad effects of masturbation. 

Ramon Zazo y Ortega's genealogy of Francisco Antonio de Goytia y Bulqua was completed in Madrid on May 11, 1776. This work, done in vellum, has several illuminated coats of arms and uncials. Folded in at the end of the work is Goytia's family tree, in colors, traced back four generations. Also from the eighteenth century is the Methodo, Con Que deben mandarse los Exercicios Generales Que hagan los cuerpos de Ynfanteria quando el Rey, þ los Gefes quieran verlos egecutar. This is dated Jan. 10, 1787, in Puebla. 

Four works pertain to the independence period of Mexican history. The Visitas de Apolo, y de las Musas þ M. Dogast en su prision de Queretaro is a volume of poetry written in 1811. In the Advertencia the author gives the information that he enlisted with Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on Oct. 17, 1810, and was captured on Nov. 7 of the same year. Gregorio Melero y Pina, also known as Fray Gregorio de la Concepcion, wrote Apuntes para la Historia de la revolucion del Ano de 1810, escritos por un companero del Senor J., in 1832. A copy of this work with an appendix written in 1852, an 1832 draft of the work, and several appended documents are all in the collection. Two disbound volumes of Autografos contain a large number of documents relating to Francisco Primo de verdad y Ramos and cover the years 1776 to 1836. This group of manuscripts needs indexing to reveal the full extent of their worth. 

The Causa criminal formada en la comandancia militar de Chihuagua contra el Senor D. Miguel Ydalgo y Costilla Cura del Pueblo de Dolores, por haver dado la primera vos de Yndependencia de la America Mexicana de la Nacion Espanola ... is restricted and may be used only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts. This is a contemporary copy of the trial of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and is dated May 6-July 11, 1811. The bulk of the document has been published by Antonio Pompa y Pompa as Procesos inquisitorial y militar seguidos a D. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. [Documentos] M‚xico, Instituo Nacional de Antropolgia e Historia, 1960 (F1232 .H59 P96); however, it appears that there are some documents that have never been published. 

Carlos Maria de Bustamante's La Sombra Moctheuzoma Xocoyotzin ... is an essay about pre-Colombian governments and is bound with several other items written from 1832 to 1835. It is followed by a Discurso en la camara de Diputados and then a Diario exacto de Zacatecas remitido por un curioso a un amigo de esta capital for the days May 8-30 of 1835. The volume is continued by both a manuscript and a printed version of Invasion de Mexico por d. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna [Mexico, Impr. del ciudadano A. Valdes, 1832]. 

The Actas Originales del Comite Electoral del Estado de Mexico of the Circulo nacional profirista from the year 1903 provides information about the personal and political machinery of Porfirian Mexico. 

La Pasion Y La Muerte De Nuestro Senor Jesucristo ... was excerpted from Luis Malanco's Viaje a Oriente ... Mexico, Impr. agricola-Commercial, 1883 (G490 .M237). The Verdadero Camino Del Espiritv, written by Martin de Ballarta, is another piece of Catholic literature, probably dating from the eighteenth or early nineteenth century. 

Other bound volumes in the collection include the undated Historia de Napoleon Bonaparte; Curioso Manuscrito, an undated work on [Matematicas y fisica] attributed to Fray Jose Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega y Guerra, and Miscelanea. Manuscritos de principios del siglo XIX, a miscellaneous collection of autographs, and letters primarily from the nineteenth century. 

The correspondents in the collection are Jose Mariano de Abasolo; Manuel de Agreda; Victoriano Agueros; Lucas Alaman; Miguel Alaman; Juana Allende; Juana Maria Allende; Ignacio Maria de Allende y Unzaga; Juan Nepomuceno Almonte; Ignacio Altamirano; Juan Alvarez; Jos‚ Vicente de Anda; Manuel Andapia; Anonymous; Mariano Arista; Jose Miguel Arroyo; Miguel Barragan; Jose Francisco de la Barreda y Cos; Manuel G. Bejar; Felipe Berriozabal; Victor Blanco; Nicolas Bravo; Ramon Bravo; Carlos Maria de Bustamante; Manuel Joaquin Bustamante; Juan Manuel Caballero; Jose Maria Cadena y Trevino; Felix Maria Calleja, conde de Calderon; J. Maria Cantide; Carlos II, king of Spain; Carlos III, king of Spain; J. Esteban del Castillo; Jose Maria Catalan; Charlotte, consort of Maximilian, emperor of Mexico; Jose del Collado y Bocanegra; Ignacio Comonfort; Antonio Cordero y Bustamante; Ramon Corona; Aurelio Correa; Jose Antonio Correa y Nieto; Antonio Crespo; Carlos Francisco de Croix, marques de Croix; Jose de la Cruz; Lope de Cuellar; Porfirio Diaz; Benito Dominguez; Enrique T. Dominguez; Miguel Dominguez; Alphonse Dubois de Saligny; Jose Ignacio Duran; Santiago Jose de Echavarria y Elguezua; Jose Nicolas Elizondo; Antonio Elosua; Miguel Maria Espinosa de los Monteros; Jesus Estada; Jose Agustin de Estrada; Jose Maria Felan; Bonifacio Fernandez; Vicente Filisola; Jose Leonardo Flores; Manuel Flores; Manuel de Flores; Manuel Antonio Flores Maldonaldo y Martinez de Angulo y Bodquin; Jose Antonio Fraile; Jesus Fuente; Jose de la Fuente; Jesus Fuentes y Muniz; Ignacio Galindo; Antonio Galvan; Anna Rita de Gaona; Juan Francisco de la Garza; Jacinto de la Garza Falcon; Juan Garza Gonzalez; Juan M. de la Garza Sanudo; Lazaro de la Garza y Ballesteros; Luis Gomez; Valentin Gomez Farias; Manuel Gomez Pedraza; Antonio Gonzalez; Laureano Gonzalez; Manuel Gonzalez; Rafael Gonzalez; Mariano Gonzalez Calderon; Fermin Gonzalez Riestra; Rita de las Granjas; Matias Guadiana; Vicente Guerrero; Jose Francisco Gutierrez; Manuel Guzman; Rosa Z.B. de Guzman; Francisco Hernandez; Juan Hernandez; Marcos Hernandez; Francisco Herrera; Jose Joaquin de Herrera; Jose Manuel de Herrera; Anacleto Herrera y Cairo; Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla; Antonio de Icaza; Mariano Icaza y Mora; Agustin de Iturbide; Jose de Iturrigaray y Arostegui; Antonio de Labastida y Davalos; Jose Joaquin de Lacunza; Teodosio Lares; Gertrudis Larilla; Sebastian Vicente de Legorguru; Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada; Felipe de Leyba; Jose Maria Liceaga; Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont; Cipriana Llorente; Carlos Lodiza; Manuel Maria Lombardini; Felipe Lopez; Jose Lopez; Ignacio Lopez Rayon; Jose Lujan; Juan N. Margain; Felix Berenguer de Marquina; Ignacio Martinez; Jose Martinez; Ramon Martinez de Arellano; Jose Maria Martinez Sotomayor; Pedro Marzal; Maximilian, emperor of Mexico; Lorenzo Medina; Francisco Mejia; Jose Guadalupe de Messa; Mexico. Administrador de bienes nacionalizados; Mexico (Viceroyalty) Direccion General de Aduanas; Marin Rafael del Michelena; Gregorio de Mier y Teran; Francisco Javier Mina; Miguel Miramon; Juan Montufar; Jose Maria Teclo Morelos y Pavon; Pedro Munoz; Jose Maria de Murguia Galardi; Miguel Negrete; Alonso Nunez de Haro y Peralta; Melchor Ocampo; Tomas O'Haran y Escurdero; Juan Antonio Olavarrieta; Pascual Orozco; Alejandro Ortega; Jose Maria Ortiz Monasterio; Jose Francisco Osorno; Laureano Palma; Manuel Pardo; Jose Maria Paredes; Jose Ignacio Pavon; Manuel Payno; Jose Perdiz; Jose Manuel Perez de Anguello; Jose Pillado; Jose Andres Pimentel; Fernando Poucel; Guillermo Prieto; Miguel Antonio de Quesada; Francisco Quintero; J. Raigosa; Jose Fernando Ramirez; Vicente Ramirez; Miguel Ramos Arizpe; Francisco de Asis Ravana; Mariano Riva Palacio; Vicente Riva Palacio; Jose Maria de la Riva y Rada; Domingo Rodriguez; Jose Maria Rodriguez Gomez; Francisco Romero; Matias Romero; Juan Nepomuceno Rosains; Victor Rosales; Vicente Rueda; Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, conde de Venadito; Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabanas y Crespo; Saganta; Nemsio Salcedo; Francisco Saldivar; Jose de San Camilo; Pedro A. de San Martin; Jose Sandoval; Miguel Sevillano de Paredes; Juan Alberto Tavares; Felipe Tellez Geron; Jose Antonio Tijerina; Toncerrada; Jose Antonio Torres; J. Serapio Traqueo; Juan Ugalde; Jose Joaquin de Ugarte; Juan del Valle; Manuel del Valle; Manuel de la Vega; Francisco Javier Venegas de Saavedra, marques de la Reunion y de Nueva Espana; Jose Sixto Verduzco; Guadalupe Victoria; Jose Maria Viesca; Juan F. Villalobos; and Francisco Zarco. 

Collection size: 1756 items in 20 boxes and 25 vols. 

For more information about this collection and any related materials contact the Manuscripts Department, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 -- Telephone: (812) 855-2452. 
The Sanchez family of Laredo  
 Captain Tomás Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera y de la Garza (1709-1796)

 By John D. Inclan fromgalveston@yahoo.com 

Edited by Bernadette Inclan

 A century and a half had passed since the last Conquistadors plundered through the Texas panhandle searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. Their sons and daughter inherited the task to civilize and domesticate this vast terrain of the Southwest. Of consequential significance in this new era is Captain Tomás Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza, credited as the founder of Laredo, Texas. He was born in the Valle de Carrizal near Monterrey, Nuevo León, on June 04, 1709. His parents were Don Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera and Dona María Josefa de la Garza y Sosa.  Dona Maria Josefa was a descendant of one of the oldest families of Monterrey. Her paternal ancestor was that of Don Marcos Alonso de la Garza y Arcon.  On her maternal side, she descended from the Onate-Saldivar family of Zacatecas and New Mexico. 

 It was prevalent for young Spanish males to enlist into the service of their king. These pioneer men not only cared for the everyday chores of ranching life, but when the occasion arose, they also served as soldiers.  At an early age, Tomás Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza distinguished himself by ascending to Captain.

 On or about April 11, 1729, he married Dona Catalina Uribe, the daughter of Don Phelipe de Uribe de la Cadena y Lobo, a native of Wichapan, and Dona Maria de Tremino Diaz y Navarro. From this union, the Archives of Laredo list nine children. A widower by 1760, Captain Tomas married for a second time to Dona Teodora Yzaguirre. This union produced two children.

 In 1747, the Count of Sierra Gorda, Colonel Jose de Escandon organized from Queretaro, an expedition to explore and colonize Nuevo Santander.  The Count, a knight of Santiago and Spain’s highest military honor, wanted a territory named after his boyhood province in Spain. This new territory in New Spain (Mexico) included most of the northeastern part of what is today Tamaulipas, Mexico and Texas. During this time, he began allocating ranching grants along the Rio Grande. One of the first settlements established on the Rio Grande was Camargo, located across the river from present-day Rio Grande City. 

 As civilization pushed down stream from Camargo, in 1750, another pioneer, Don José Vásquez Borrego received the first land grant on the northern bank of the Rio Grande. This grant, located halfway between the Presidio San Juan Bautista Del Rio de Norte and the mouth of the Rio Grande, consisted of fifty sitios de grande  mayor. Here, at the Hacienda de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores,  Don Borrego established his ranch and headquarters. In 1753, he received an additional fifty sitios, bringing the combine total of his grant to four hundred thirty-three thousand, eight hundred acres. Besides ranching, Borrego maintained a ferry service to transport cattle and the local population. This service attracted commerce to Dolores and Laredo, and eventually replaced the importance of the Presidio San Juan Bautista.

 Captain Sánchez opened a ranch on the south side of the river within sight of Don Borrego’s settlement. By 1754, he petitioned Count Don José de Escandón  for permission to found a town on the north bank of the river. 

 Orginally, Escandón wanted a settlement on the Nueces and told Sánchez to explore that area to determine the feasibility of establishing a colony there.   However, after attempting to carry out this suggestion, and thwarted by savage Indian attacks, Captain Sanchez reported that part of the frontier unsuitable. The Captain then engaged Don Borrego to convince the Count of a more suitable terrain up stream from the Rio Grande and located twenty-five miles from Dolores. Giving his consent, he bestowed a second grant on May 15, 1755, to the then forty year old Captain Tomas.  Located at a ford and christened by Captain Tomas "El Paso de Jacinto" (later called Indian Ford), and in honor of Count Escandon, he named the settlement "Villa de San Agustin de Laredo" after the city of Laredo on the Bay of Biscay in the Spanish Province of Santander, the Count’s birth place. The site consisted of nearly sixty-six thousand five hundred acres.  Located near the present San Agustin Plaza and the parish church, it situates close to the Rio Grande River in the heart of modern day Laredo.

 By Royal decree, on July 23rd, 1757, a census of San Agustin  recorded eleven families, including two of

Captain Tomas brothers, Juan Bautista and Leonardo.  Don Juan Bautista Sanchez de la Garza, was listed as 43 years old and married to Dona Juana Maria Diaz Trevino of Monterrey.  (The 1780 census would list them at Guerrero Viejo, Tamaulipas, Mexico). Don Joseph Leonardo Sanchez is listed as single.

 Don Borrego’s grandson, Don Jose Fernando Vidaurri Vasquez Borrego, married Dona Maria Alexandra Sanchez de la Barrera, the daughter of Captain Tomas and Dona Josefa. This marriage took place at Los Dolores on August 12, 1765. This marriage entwined the genealogies of these two ranching families. 

 The settlements of Camargo, Mier and Revilla predated Captain Tomas Sanchez's little town, but all were subsidized, either as soldier-garrisoned "presidios" or by well-protected missions. Thus, Laredo has the distinction as founded without financial aid or military protection from either the Spanish Crown or the Diocesan Church. Don Tomas Sanchez’s merits and achievements unquestionably place him at the topmost of Texas'  “Movers and Shakers” of this era. Through his foresight, he created an empire famous the world over.

 Of the expansion moves for Spain, Count Escandon’s expedition is extolled as the most determined and successful.  Spain finally began to feel its northern borders secure against any encroachment from the forces of the French at Louisiana and the English off the coast of California when Captain Sanchez founded the little frontier town of Laredo. Huddling along the seacoast, the navies of these two super powers were increasingly making their presence known. (It would take Russia’s colonization of Alaska and Oregon to prompt the Spanish crown to secure their holdings in California).

 During its first fifty years, Laredo faced normal frontier-life problems.  Drought, flooding, and temperature changes, which shifted from humid semi-tropic intensity to chilling cold, provided the colonists with unimaginable challenges. In addition, they dealt with more than just the extreme weather. The fierce Comanche and Apache Indian tribes, on their annual treks from their northern hunting grounds, extended their boundaries into sunny Mexico. Competing for the same resources, they confronted the Spanish settlements with fierce and often devastating results.  This clash ultimately ended in a murderous rampage. To add to the mayhem, less belligerent local tribes skirted on the settlement’s  perimeters  capitalizing on such vulnerable occasions and using these opportunities to strike back. 

 During the settlement’s early years, Captain Sanchez solely administered political and military decision-making.  This included organizing his own militia to fight the migrating Indians and imposing disciplinary measures to the natives of this untamed wilderness. This capable servant of the Crown stood up to the task of holding the Indians at bay and thereby secured the boundaries of his settlement.

 In 1767, after settlers had received grants and a charter from the Spanish crown, they elected Don José Martínez de Sotomayer Alcalde. It soon became clear that he lacked the courage to protect against Indian attacks. He attempted to move the settlers to the southern side of the Rio Grande to avoid confrontations.  This became the “final straw”, and in 1770, he was removed from office. Sotomayer’s discharge and the mounting nuisance of Indian raids prompted the Governor of the Province to appoint Captain Sanchez to take over as mayor. He served in the capacity of Alcalde for twenty-two years.  In 1792, at the age of eighty-two, he resigned. On January 21, 1796, Captain Sánchez died in Laredo. His widow, Dona Teodora Yzaguirre, died on October 21, 1825.

New generations of descendents inherit his long legacy.   On October 16, 1938, the Texas Centennial Commission erected a monument marking the site of the founding of Laredo by Captain Tomás Sánchez. 

 Conclusion: The Archives of Laredo list nine children for Captain Tomas and Dona Josefa. I have eleven children. I leave it for others to query the variance.

 Tomas Sanchez de Uribe, baptized on July 11, 1730, at Nuestra Sra  de Guadalupe, Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Maria Josefa Sanchez de Uribe, baptized on March 13, 1732, at Nuestre Sr. de Guadalupe, Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Joaquin Cayetano Galan de Leon.

Blas de Jesus Sanchez Uribe, baptized on March 07, 1736, and married to Francisca Flores.

Maria Gertrudis Sanchez Uribe, baptized on October 26, 1737, at Nuestra Sra  de Guadalupe, Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Jose Francisco Javier Ramon.

Tomasa Sanchez Uribe, born July 11, 1740, at Cienega de Flores, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and Married to Juan Francisco Cayetano de la Garza y de la Garza.

Joseph Eugenio de la Candelaria Sanchez Uribe, baptized on December 30, 1741, at Nuestra Sra  de Guadalupe, Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Maria Rafaela de la Garza y de la Garza.

Maria Alexandra Sanchez de la Barrera y Uribe, baptized March 13, 1742, at San Juan Bautista, Lampazos de Naranjo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Jose Fernando Vidaurri y Vasquez-Borrego.

Antonio Dionicio Sanchez Uribe, born November 08, 1748, Lampazos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Maria Antonia Flores.

Joseph Enriquez Sanchez Uribe, married May 10, 1768, at San Agustin, Laredo, Webb County, Texas, to Maria Guadalupe Villarreal de la Serna.

Tomas Antonio Sanchez Uribe, baptized on January 11, 1750, at San Juan Bautista, Lampazos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and married to Gertrudis Gonzalez Hidalgo y Lozano, on October 20, 1774, at San Juan Bautista de Rio Norte, Coahulia, Mexico. (Marriage Source from the Book, Mil Familias III by Rodolfo Gonzalez de la Garza. Page 83). 

Santiago de Jesus Sanchez Uribe married Maria de los Santos Gonzalez, on September 30, 1776, at Nuestra Sra de Guadalupe, Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Source:
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints microfilm collection # 605,179 Horgan, Paul, Great River The Rio Grande in North American History. Sepulveda Brown, Angel and Villa Cadena, Gloria, San Agustin Parish of Laredo Webb  County Historical Commission, Su Vida y Su Espiritu Webb County Family Histories. Williams, Lyle W., Ranches and Ranching in Spanish Texas. Sanchez Spanish and Mexican Land Grants Recipients in South Texas

Agustin Sanchez: Porcion 26, Laredo 5,314 acres

Antonio Sanchez: Porcion 69, Mier  6,399 acres

Eugenio Sanchez: Porcion 42, Laredo 5,314 acres

Guadalupe Sanchez: Brooks and Hidalgo County, 22,140 acres

Isabel Maria Sanchez: Porcion 21, Guerrero 6,366.24 acres

Leonardo Sanchez: Porcion 23, Laredo 5,314 acres

Leonardo Sanchez: Porcion 53, Laredo 5,316.4 acres

Maria Gertrudis Sanchez: Porcion 27, Laredo 5,570.93 acres

Maria Jesus Sanchez: Porcion 22, Laredo 5,314 acres

Santiago Sanchez: Porcion 12, Laredo 5,314

Tadeo Sanchez: Porcion 38, Laredo 5,681.97 acres

Tomas Sanchez: Porcion 11, Laredo 5,313.6 acres

Source:Texas General Land Office

CARIBBEAN/CUBA


THE EVOLUTION OF PUERTO RICAN CULTURE

By John P. Schmal


For more almost a century, the Puerto Rican population of the mainland U.S. has grown steadily.  Starting with a mere 1,500 individuals in 1910, Puerto Rican migration picked up dramatically in the years following World War II.  From a population of 70,000 on the mainland in 1940, the Puerto Rican tally in the United States reached 226,000 in 1950.  By 1996, this figure had reached more than 3 million. 

In the 2000 U.S. census, Puerto Ricans in California numbered a total of 140,570 souls, a significant increase from the 1970 figure of 46,955. But seven states in the 2000 census actually had larger populations of Puerto Ricans: New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois.

Puerto Ricans have arrived on the mainland for a multitude of reasons and, as American citizens, are seeking many of the same opportunities that their fellow American citizens have or aspire to.  But, the quality that sets Puerto Ricans apart from others is their unique identity.  This is an identity fostered on the island, but carried by Puerto Ricans to mainland. 

It is worth noting that a Puerto Rican is a Puerto Rican whether the individual is born in Puerto Rico, Texas, or California.  This fact is a manifestation of Puerto Rican pride that is evident from the east coast to the west coast, and the exceptions to this
rule are rare.

The uniqueness of Puerto Rican identity, however, is actually very complex and not well-understood by most people. In order to understand this cultural and genetic identity, we need to reach 500 years into Puerto Rico's past.  It is at this point, where we see the creation of this distinctive Puerto Rican character.  But the story does not end here.  Puerto Rico's history from the early Sixteenth Century to 1898 is a chronicle of evolution:  evolution of a unique cultural identity. 

The island of Puerto Rico is centrally located in the arc of submerged mountains that connects North America with South America and forms the archipelago of the Antilles.  The total area of Puerto Rico - including the small, neighboring islands - is 3,417.5 square miles, making it roughly the size of Connecticut.  Those who are not familiar with Puerto Rico are likely to think that such a small compact island would not be very culturally complex.  They would, however, be wrong.

As a matter of fact, the Puerto Rican culture is both complex and multifaceted.  Although small in size, Puerto Rico has been able to draw a large number of diverse peoples to its shores. For this reason, Puerto Rican culture is unique from that of its neighboring islands and is the result of almost five hundred years of evolution.

First of all, we should address the definition of culture.  The late Puerto Rican author, María Teresa Babín, explained that "by culture we mean all that which a country has created in daily living as well as in arts, sciences, letters, folklore, music and dance."  In order to understand the "cultural homogeneity of the Puerto Rican people," Ms. Babín wrote that it is necessary to review "all the attributes contributing to its formation by the Indian, the Black and the Spaniard."  At the same time, however, she said that we cannot forget "the fruitful contributions of the minority group of foreigners who have been assimilated into our country."  Ms. Babín concluded that "with the cultural and racial amalgamation of all these diverse beings, a national reality has been able to coalesce, which persists and is projected toward the future with growing impetus."

Ms. Babin has pointed out that three ethnic elements were most important in the formation and evolution of the Puerto Rican people and their "national culture."  These three primary elements in the cultural development of Puerto Rico are the pre-Columbian Native-American element, the Spanish element and the African element. 

The writer, Salvador Brau (1842-1912), seeking to understand the intricacies of the Puerto Rican genetic heritage, pointed out that "the basic sources of our [Puerto Rican] character" derive as follows: "from the Indian remained the indolence, the quiet character, the unselfish and the hospitable sentiments; the African brought his resistance, his vigorous sensuality, the superstition and fatalism; the Spaniard contributed his chivalrous gravity, his characteristic pride, his festive tastes, his austere devotion, constancy in adversity and love for the mother Country and for independence."

The Indians
When Europeans first stepped foot on Puerto Rican shores in the late Fifteenth Century, the island - known as Borinquén to the natives - was inhabited by the Taino Indians, a peaceful agricultural people of Arawak stock who probably originated in South America.  The first major Indian rebellion that took place in 1511 was brutally suppressed and was followed by epidemics that decimated the aboriginal population.  However, even with the assimilation that took place under Spanish rule, elements of the Native American culture, language, and spirit remained alive.  

Today, the abundance of Indian names of villages, towns, mountains and rivers offer indisputable evidence of the influence of the Amerindians to Puerto Rico's national culture. Further evidence is provided by the many words referring to household objects, tropical fruits, animals, birds and some condiments and dishes of regional cooking.  Among the many words donated by the Taínos on Borinquén were hamaca (hammock), maíz (maize, corn), tabaco (tobacco), sabana (savanna), huracán (hurricane), bohío (hut, cabin), canoa (canoe or boat) and batey (porch or stoop), as well as papaya, iguana and yuca.

The Africans
When African slaves were first introduced into Puerto Rico for the sugar harvest in the Sixteenth Century, they introduced African strains of music, African ceremonials, African witch doctor medicine and a new infusion of blood for the island's ethnic pot.  According to Ricardo Alegría, the numerical strength of the black man in Puerto Rico was a "vigorous cultural force," constantly renewed by the arrival of new slaves. 

Although many of the Africans brought to Puerto Rico during the first century of occupation were Jelofe (Wolof) tribesmen from Senegal, Luis M. Díaz Soler states that "the largest contingent of Africans came from the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Dahomey, a region known as the area of Guinea or the Slave Coast."  He also explains that "the English slave-traders introduced Negroes from the region of the Congo and Senegal."

As stated above, many of the slaves brought to Puerto Rico would be of the Yorubas, Ashantis, lbos (or Eboes), Fantes, Congos and Mandingoes.  Some tribes were considered better "merchandise" than others and, therefore, were shipped in disproportionate numbers. The historian, Carter G. Woodson, has provided us with a description of some of these people whose genetic influence on the modern Puerto Rican is considered most significant:

"Slaves came in the main from Guinea and the Gold Coast and Senegal. The Mandingoes were considered gentle in demeanor but prone to theft. The Coromantees brought from the Gold Coast were hearty and stalwart in mind, and for that reason frequently they were the source slave insurrections which became the eternal dread of the masters… Slavers brought over some Whydahs, Nagoes and Pawpaws, as they were much desired by the planters because they were lusty, industrious, cheerful and submissive... the Eboes from Calabar were not desired because they were proud and inclined to commit suicide rather than bear the yoke slavery. The Congoes, Angolas, and the Eboes gave their masters much trouble by running away."

In his analysis of the African contribution to Puerto Rican culture, the author Luiz M. Diaz Soler explained that: "The contribution of the Black to Puerto Rican culture dates from the moment of his appearance on the Antillean shores. With him there were brought to these lands the mysterious and sensual rhythms of his music, filled with spiritual feelings right from the heart of Africa, its tradition and customs; today one can only perceive slight traces of what the Black brought in the sixteenth century."

Isolation and Assimilation
The historian R. Ruiz Arnau observed that the "social-ethnological development of Puerto Rico" was severely limited during the 1500s and 1600s due to the "conquest and colonization of Mexico." This factor, as well as the numerous opportunities envisioned in the other Spanish-American mainland colonies, impeded population growth on the island which ultimately "suffered serious setbacks in its demographic and development."

According to the historian Roger A. LaBrucherie, Spain had "discovered and claimed for itself an expanse of territory in the New World many times larger than Spain itself... Spain quite simply had not enough men, money and resources - ships, arms, tools, the whole of materials needed - to successfully establish and maintain all these new colonies." As a result of this situation, LaBrucherie explains that "Spain naturally and logically concentrated its resources where the payoff would be greatest. Puerto Rico, lacking in precious metals and tiny alongside the other Spanish colonies, was simply passed by in the rush to richer.prizes...."

As a result, the author continues, "Puerto Rico - too small and poor in metallic wealth to command Spanish attention to developing it, simply languished during most of the 17th and 18th, and even into the 19th centuries." With the decline of Spanish colonial shipping in the Seventeenth Century, Puerto Rico became more and more isolated from metropolitan markets. The development of the sugar industry during the Early Sixteenth Century had proved short-lived, unable to compete with the more advanced technology of the English and French sugar colonies. As a result, very little export-oriented agriculture survived, and, according to Francisco A. Scarano, "the rural population outside the walled city of San Juan - now an important military outpost - led a nearly autarchic existence."

One of the consequences of this "relative isolation from the international economy," Scarano notes, was the development of "an independent racially mixed peasantry." The limited contact with outsiders consisted of "occasional contraband trade with foreigners" who exchanged European products (usually flour and wine) for timber, cattle (hides), tobacco, and native foodstuffs, produced by the largely subsistence economy.

In 1646 the population of San Juan was a mere 500 people.  By 1673, Puerto Rico was an isolated and sparsely populated island with an entire population of only two thousand. San Juan itself boasted a population of only 820 white inhabitants. The population suffered still another setback in 1689/1690, when epidemics of smallpox, measles, and tabardillo (spotted fever) claimed the lives of 631 whites and slaves.

At the start of the Eighteenth Century, Puerto Rico was of little economic value to Spain. The economy was frequently stagnant and only a handful of sugar producers and cattle ranchers profited from the commercial relations with Spain. The revenues generated by the island for the Crown were insignificant and barely covered the cost of administering and holding onto the island. Nevertheless, Puerto Rico, while an economic liability to Spain, continued to be very important from a strategic standpoint. Señor Ruiz Arnau comments on the revival of Puerto Rico that would take place in the following centuries:

"The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw a veritable rebirth through several immigration movements which first brought Biscayans, then Catalonians, and, during the final third, Asturians and Gallegos, ending with people from Mallorca. This became the most important ethnological movement of the Caucasian race and its evolution on Puerto Rican soil...."

Thirty-one new towns were founded, mainly in the second half of the Eighteenth Century. Marshall Alejandro O'Reilly's census of 1765 showed that the total population of Puerto Rico had grown to 44,883. Of these, 5,037 were slaves, while the Spaniards only numbered a few hundred. By 1787, the population increased to 100,000. At that time, the population was made up of 79% free white or mixed-raced individuals, followed by 11% black or mulatto slaves; 8% free black; and 2% Amerindians (amounting to 2,302 Indians). By the end of the Eighteenth Century, the population had reached 155,426, indicating a growth of more than 300% in 35 years (from a population of 44,883 in 1786).

A multitude of political events that occurred in the early Nineteenth Century would stimulate further immigration to Puerto Rico from many (and disparate) sources and accelerate the development of Puerto Rico's diverse cultural heritage. On April 3 1803, after a treaty signed at Paris, France ceded the Province of Louisiana to representatives of the American President Thomas Jefferson. This event, referred to as the Louisiana Purchase, transferred to the fledgling republic an 825,000-square-mile area for $16,000,000 and greatly increased its economic and strategic resources, eventually adding all or parts of 15 states to the union. However, in the wake of this acquisition, many Spaniards and Frenchmen left that territory for Puerto Rico in order to escape the rule of Protestant, Republican America.

In 1791, the black slaves in the nearby French colony of Haiti (St. Domingue) had launched the first successful black rebellion in the New World. It was a violent and bloody affair which, by 1803, had successfully ousted the white rulers and resulted in a large-scale exodus of the survivors to Louisiana, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.  Many of the Frenchmen who had lived in Haiti had fled to Puerto Rico to escape the wrath of their former slaves, as did many of the light-skinned mulattoes.

However, a more far-reaching effect of the revolt would benefit Puerto Rico in the years to come. For many decades, St. Domingue had been a prosperous sugar colony ruled by a small elite of white planters and made productive by a large mass of brutalized slaves. In the wake of the bloody insurrection, the colony's lucrative sugar economy was destroyed. The destruction of Haiti's sugar industry stimulated the expansion of the sugar industries in both Cuba and Puerto Rico, whose sugar producers now sought to supply the European markets that had previously been supplied by the efficient planters of St. Domingue. In Puerto Rico, new lands were brought under sugar cultivation and more slaves were imported to work them. The expansion of sugar production was facilitated by the presence of French planters who had fled from Haiti and were able to provide their knowledge and experience about the industry.

The introduction of coffee to Puerto Rico during the Eighteenth Century would also have a favorable long-range effect on Puerto Rico's economy in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. Rising demand for the commodity in both Europe and North America, coupled with its scarcity on the world market, gave Puerto Rico new economic opportunities. The ease of its cultivation led many peasants to grow it alongside their traditional food crops.

Starting in 1810, many parts of Spain's large American empire began insurrections. Tired of excessive taxation and restrictions on trade, the colonial elites in Mexico and South America made bids for political and economic autonomy that developed into full-fledged wars of independence. By 1826, every continental possession of Spain had gained independence, reducing Spain's once vast empire to the small island possessions, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

As a consequence of these events, wealthy Spanish royalists from Venezuela and Colombia would seek refuge in Puerto Rico, which soon became known as the "Canada of the Caribbean," referring to Canada's role in accepting American loyalists after the American revolution.

With a tenacious grip, the Spanish held onto both Cuba and Puerto Rico even as they were losing everything else. Cuba, called the Pearl of the Antilles by virtue of its beauty and natural wealth, as well as its lucrative trade in sugar-cane and its strategic position along trade routes, would be defended vigorously. After 1810, the Spanish military presence increased substantially on both Puerto Rico and Cuba in order to forestall disruptions therein.

Real Cedula de Gracias.
In response to these events, Spain enacted the Real Cedula de Gracias of 1815. The Cedula abolished many of the existing restrictions on trade between Puerto Rico and countries other than Spain, permitted the tax free importation of sugar-processing machinery, and invited Catholics from all nations to settle in Puerto Rico. To stimulate Catholic immigration, incentives were offered. Royal lands would be given free to these new immigrants, six acres for each member of the family and three acres for each slave a family brought to the island. The Cedula also exempted immigrants from taxation for a period of ten years after they arrived on the island and offered them Spanish citizenship after residing in Puerto Rico for five years.

According to the author José Luis González, the Real Cedula de Gracias was an attempt by Spain to "whiten" the population of Puerto Rico and represents the second "storey" (or tier) of the Puerto Rican national identity. Thus, the Real Cedula de Gracias encouraged a new class of white immigrants to settle in Puerto Rico. In the years to follow, English, French, Majorcan, Dutch, German, and Spanish immigrants flocked to Puerto Rico, as did Creole refugees from the South American colonies. After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, Corsicans also came to Puerto Rico. Later on in the century, the migration of agricultural laborers from the Canary Islands also increased significantly.

1898
Puerto Rico was still under Spanish control when the Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898.  As a result, the occupation of the island became an objective of the American military.  On July 25, 3,400 American troops commanded by General Nelson A. Miles landed at Guanica, not far from where Cristobal Colón had first stepped ashore.  In a brief battle, they defeated the Spanish troops that were defending Yauco, a short distance inland.  On August 13, 1898, Spain and the United States signed a peace agreement to end the hostilities.

The American influence on Puerto Rican culture has been present for more than a hundred years.  In 1917, all Puerto Ricans were given full American citizenship.  In 1952, the island was given its own constitution and government.  Although the United States is the ruling authority, Puerto Rico - by nature of its great distance from the mainland U.S. - has preserved the unique culture that has evolved over the last 500 years.  This fact remains a source of great pride to Puerto Ricans, no matter where they may live.

Bibliography

Babín, Marín Teresa. "The Puerto Ricans' Spirit: Their History, Life, and Culture." New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1971.

Brameld, Theodore. "The Remaking of a Culture." New York: Harper & Brothers and Publishers, 1959.

Carrión, Arturo Morales. "Puerto Rico:  A Political and Cultural History."  New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1983.

González, José Luis. "Puerto Rico:  The Four-Storeyed Country." Princeton, New Jersey: Marks Weiner Publishing, Inc., 1993.

LaBrucherie, Roger A. "Images of Puerto Rico." El Centro, Calif.: Imágenes Press, 1984.

López, Adalberto (ed.), "The Puerto Ricans:  Their History, Culture and Society." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman Publishing Co., Inc. 1980.

Samoiloff, Louise Cripps. "Portrait of Puerto Rico." New York: Cornwall Books, 1984.

Silén, Juan Angel. "We, The Puerto Rican People: A Story of Oppression and Resistance." New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971.

U.S. Census Bureau, "Census 2000 Summary File 1(SF1) 100-Percent Data, Detailed Tables for States, Table PCT11."

INTERNATIONAL 

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Spanish Literature, Theatre, Cinema, Folklore
A Filipino National Hero in Madrid 
 

Iberoamericana

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Columbia Research  http://www.geocities.com/raicespaisas/recursos.htm 
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Wonderful resource for beginners or advanced researchers. Many links to websites with sufficient notes explaining what can be found on those sites. In addition, links to research data on specific families in Columbia. 


A FILIPINO NATIONAL HERO IN MADRID

By Rina D. Dungao, Ph.D


Avenida de las Filipinas", Madrid, Spain-a major busy street passed through by busy and well-dressed Spaniards going about their way for the day. Intersected by a charming park filled with different families presumably enjoying "quality time", one can also find a sand-colored cement monument built in honor of the Philippines' national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. What an honor this has been and will always be for the Filipinos.

As visited and seen by Dra. Soliven (1999) who writes: "We (with her husband named Max) looked up the splendid 15-step sand-colored cement pedestal. There on top stood out our handsome hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. 

With the bearing of a grand dignitary, he was pleasantly gazing at the Spaniards. Several gentlemen and ladies paused by and read the large polished brass plaque where the hero's Mi Ultimo Adios ("My Last Farewell") is inscribed. Many of them wondered, "Who is Dr. Jose Rizal"? This is a question often asked by the Spaniards of today of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Filipino student-turned-national hero who lived in Madrid a hundred years ago."

And so, just as this two-part series (again!) on Dr. Jose Rizal  begins to unravel, I am wont to share some more excerpts from the book (1999) written by Dr. Soliven who excellently describes in journalistic detail her experience in Madrid and her tour on the places once lived and visited by our national hero, Dr. Rizal.

Dr. Jose Rizal , the Philippines' national hero,  "lived in Spain between September 1882 to October 1885. This was the period of industrial revolution in Spain where the "bourgeoisie" in the Basque and Catalonia regions were gaining wealth. While busy sponsoring cultural art centers, they were very concerned with the strong labor movement with radicalized trade unions which rapidly developed. Anarchist atrocities were met by government atrocities."

"This happened after 50 years of unrest which included the Carlist wars 1833-1839, a bitter dispute over the legality of royal inheritance through the female line. King Ferdinand's daughter Isabella (1833-1868), a frivolous monarch, had a troubled reign."

"The radical unrest was surely felt among the university students in Madrid, particularly Jose Rizal, then an avid scholar who took up several courses simultaneously within the student quarters of Madrid most of which are centered in what tourists know as "old Madrid". The Faculta de Medicina" was in Calle Amor de Jesus. He did his Pilosophia y Letra in the Universidad Central de Madrid (now the railway station, Estacion de Atocha). He did Arts at the Ateneo de Madrid. Today, the Plaza Hotel stands on the site of this former Fine Arts school. Hanging in the lobby is a very large painting of the most illustrious students of Arts during this period. Dr. Jose Rizal is one of them."

"Whereas a century ago, Dr. Jose Rizal what shot to death for his fight to liberate the Filipinos from tyrannical friars and gain the right to be recognized in the Spanish cortes or parliament, today, Spain recognizes him, putting him on a pedestal as a fighter for world freedom, just as they also put up the statue of Simon Bolivar, the "liberator of South America" and Jose Marti, the Cuban patriot in Madrid. (Soliven, 1999)

"A WALK WITH RIZAL" 

"A Walk with Rizal" is a historical tour of one hour put together by the Philippines' ambassador to Spain, Isabel Caro Wilson together with Eve Fleischer Diago. The tour focuses around the university site (then Calle San Bernardo) and Dr. Rizal's pesos or pension houses where students rent rooms with private families. The student quarters of Madrid were within the perimeters of the still existing Gran Via, the Paseo del Prado, the famous museum complex, the Atocha Railway Station and Plaza Mayor. All the small intersecting roads from Plaza Mayor to Puerto del Sol down to Plaza de las Cortez and Calle de la Magdalena are studded with tavernas."

"Rizal first lived in Calle San Miguel, now known as the Grand Via. After a few months, he transferred to Calle Bano to board with other colleagues. By this time, Juan Luna and Pedro Paterno Hidalgo had won first and second prize at the Exposicion Internacional de Bellas Artes. Visiting the still existing Hotel Ingles easily stirs up one's imagination in picturing Joe Rizal deliver speeches of praise and congratulations to the two eminent Filipino artists." 

"The last two places where Jose Rizal lived before he left for Paris and Berlin were Calle Pizaro, where his classmates Llorente and De Leon boarded together with him, and Calle Sedaceros." 

"As a student, Dr. Rizal made the succession of bars or the chatos circuits with his intellectual friends including las chicas de alterne which designates the young ladies also found in the circuit. During Rizals' student days, the slices of ham, bacon or sausage covered the tall narrow chato glasses of wine offered for free. The cover of tapas preserved the bouquet of the wine."

"It is very informal. The enjoyable think is the slow, quiet walk of the group from one tavern to the next, drinking Fino and Manzanilla with a Sevillana olive, a small slice of good ham or potato omelette. It is possible to have a truly serious discussion, while drinking unos chatos and taking some tapas"  because this was managed by our national hero when he "not only discussed but wrote his series of "La Solidaridad" articles in the tapas bar of Viva Madrid on Calle Atocha." 

THE END
November article: More on Rizal and his Vision for the Philippines…
References and Special Thanks to: Half a Millenium of Philippine History, by  Preciosa S. Soliven. Manila: Philippine Star Daily, Inc., pp. 14-17, 1999.

HISTORY

The Forgotten History
Spanish American War, Centennial Website

The Forgotten History 
Sent by Frank Fregoso FGCFregoso@aol.com

Did you know that 52 of the 55 signers of "The Declaration of Independence" were orthodox, deeply committed, Christians?  The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention.  It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society, immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of  Scripture for the people of this nation.

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me death"; but in current textbooks, the context of these words is omitted.  Here is what he actually said: "An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us.  But we shall not fight our battle alone.  There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations.  The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone.  Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of  chains and slavery?  Forbid it Almighty God.  I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death." These sentences have been erased from our textbooks.

Was Patrick Henry a Christian?  The following year, 1776, he wrote this:

  "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."

 Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the front of his well-worn Bible: "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.  I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator."  He was also the chairman of  the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role.

 On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: "It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."

 Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."

 In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."

 William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963.  President Lincoln called him the "Schoolmaster of the Nation." Listen to these word of Mr.  McGuffey:

"The Christian religion is the religion of our country.  From it are derived our nation, on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe.  On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions.  From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures.  From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology."

 Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636.  In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures: "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies, is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."

 James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: "We have staked the whole future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."

 Today, we are asking God to bless America.  But, how can He bless a Nation that has departed so far from Him?  Prior to September 11, He was not welcome in America.  Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks.  Revisionists have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's Christian roots.

    You are encouraged to share with others, so that the truth of our nation's history will be told.

 John 3:16.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!

 This information shared is only a drop of cement to help secure a foundation that is crumbling daily in a losing war that most of the country doesn't even know is raging on, in, and around them...

 Please do your bit and share this with as many as possible and make the ill-informed aware of what they once had.
 Author Unknown 

Spanish American War, Centennial Website

The Spanish American War Gravesite Recording Project
By Patrick McSherry  http://spanamwar.com/cemetery.htm
Sent by Joan De Soto

General: The Spanish American War Centennial Website has begun an effort to record the gravesite data and grave locations of Spanish American War Veterans. The data is being compiled by state. 

If you care to begin a grave recording project in your area or simply add to one of the pages already being compiled, we would welcome your contribution of information. If you simply want to contribute the data on a single person, and we have no page for your state yet, please submit the data and we'll start a new page. 

ARCHAEOLOGY

Ancient Amazon Settlements Uncovered 
By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
Sent by John Inclan galveston@yahoo.com  

WASHINGTON - The Amazon River basin was not all a pristine, untouched wilderness before Columbus came to the Americas, as was once believed. Researchers have uncovered clusters of extensive settlements linked by wide roads with other communities and surrounded by agricultural developments. 
  
The researchers, including some descendants of pre-Columbian tribes that lived along the Amazon, have found evidence of densely settled, well-organized communities with roads, moats and bridges in the Upper Xingu part of the vast tropical region. 

Michael J. Heckenberger, first author of the study appearing this week in the journal Science, said that the ancestors of the Kuikuro people in the Amazon basin had a "complex and sophisticated" civilization with a population of many thousands during the period before 1492. 

"These people were not the small mobile bands or simple dispersed populations" that some earlier studies had suggested, he said. 

Instead, the people demonstrated sophisticated levels of engineering, planning, cooperation and architecture in carving out of the tropical rain forest a system of interconnected villages and towns making up a widespread culture based on farming. 

Heckenberger said the society that lived in the Amazon before Columbus were overlooked by experts because they did not build the massive cities and pyramids and other structures common to the Mayans, Aztecs and other pre-Columbian societies in South America. 

Instead, they built towns, villages and smaller hamlets all laced together by precisely designed roads, some more than 50 yards across, that went in straight lines from one point to another. 

"They were not organized in cities," Heckenberger said. "There was a different pattern of small settlements, but they were all tightly integrated. 

He said the population in one village and town complex was 2,500 to 5,000 people, but that could be just one of many complexes in the Amazon region. 

"All the roads were positioned according to the same angles and they formed a grid throughout the region," he said. Only a small part of these roads has been uncovered and it is uncertain how far the roads extend, but the area studied by his group is a grid 15 miles by 15 miles, he said. 

Heckenberger said the people did not build with stone, as did the Mayas, but made tools and other equipment of wood and bone. Such materials quickly deteriorate in the tropical forest, unlike more durable stone structures. Building stones were not readily available along the Amazon, he said. 

He said the Amazon people moved huge amounts of dirt to build roads and plazas. At one place, there is evidence that they even built a bridge spanning a major river. The people also altered the natural forest, planting and maintaining orchards and agricultural fields and the effects of this stewardship can still be seen today, Heckenberger said. 

Diseases such as smallpox and measles, brought to the new world by European explorers, are thought to have wiped out most of the population along the Amazon, he said. By the time scientists began studying the indigenous people, the population was sparse and far flung. As a result, some researchers assumed that that was the way it was prior to Columbus. 

The new studies, Heckenberger said, show that the Amazon basin once was the center of a stable, well-coordinated and sophisticated society. 

Science: www.sciencemag.org


FAMILY HISTORY TIPS

FILTERING THROUGH THE INTERNET

By Salena B. Ashton

Copyright 2003 Mission, Texas

Every day people flood my email account with copies, links, and references to some information they found on the Internet about our ancestors. They refute work done by others simply because they found something on the Internet. It is true that the Internet has helped genealogy progress, but it has come with a price.

Imagine that you draw a picture of a tree with apples in it. Then you make a photocopy of it and give it to a friend. That friend makes a photocopy and gives it to her brother, who draws monkeys in the branches. He then makes a copy for his friend, who had another picture of a tree (except it had pears instead of apples) makes a copy for his aunt, who makes a copy for someone else. Three years later, you get an email that says the following:

"I was looking through the Internet to find out information about my family tree. I found your picture with the apples, but you don’t have the monkeys in it. I also found a picture with some pears. Do you mind telling me why you think the original picture had apples? Perhaps we should trade information because the information I got was from my grandmother."

That happened to me. I spent three years researching one specific problem in my family history. I used primary documents to prove that my fifth great grandfather, Osborn Ball, married Martha Thomasson, and not Mary Harp. By using census, tax, land, and pension records, I successfully proved my point. A year later, someone wrote me stating that I missed some facts (which were posted on some Internet site). Her research sources were secondary so I did not question the quality of my work, but I questioned hers. Many people listened to this woman and now accept--- and replicate this error--- to other researchers. I was upset to see so many intelligent people who do genealogy research ignore the differences between primary and secondary sources and how drastically they affect our research.

A primary source is a document created at the time of the event. When someone is baptized, a priest writes about the event in the parish record. That is then a primary source. Other primary sources include marriage records, death records, and burial records. Census records are not primary sources for ages, however, they are primary sources that state someone was living somewhere at that particular time.

A secondary source is a document created after a significant amount of time from the event. A census record is primary when it comes to location at that time, but it is created much later when it comes to the person’s birth. Other secondary resources include biographies, Internet postings and separate works created from primary sources such as extractions and transcriptions.

A tertiary source is a document that is created from secondary sources and are questionable when used as proof in research. Had I used email references for my research report, my report would have become tertiary, and thus, questionable.

But that is just the problem—many people jump on the Internet, find ‘stuff’ that was posted, download it in their notes, and they don’t even do research to see if what they downloaded was the correct information. When someone comes along with different information, they start to compare and swap information. Before you know it, the Internet is full of replicated—false—information.

Here are some guidelines in using Internet sources:

  1. Remember that an Internet source for genealogy is generally not a primary source. If you find extractions of census, birth and death records, remember, you are looking at an extraction and not the original record itself. Exceptions: scanned images of original records.
  2. Be aware that typos and other accidental strokes of the keyboard ARE harmful when it comes to genealogy. Most people are not purposely making mistakes.
  3. When you find information that was posted on the Internet, contact that person as ask for their sources. Don’t rely on the website to give you sources. For example, I use PAF 5, but I do not state my sources in the source field. I state them in my notes field, so I can write down extra things that are important. When I uploaded the file on www.familysearch.org, the site states my work as having no sources, because it was trying to read the source file. So, contact the person for their sources. If people give you no sources, or secondary and tertiary sources, write that down by the information you found.
  4. Use secondary and tertiary information to GUIDE your research, and not as the results of the research. If you find a family line that goes back three generations, rather than stating, "Well, this is a secondary source so it’s no good because there are no other sources." You could look at it this way:

I will use this undocumented family line to guide my research. If, by looking at original sources independent from this work, I am able to prove or disprove this work, then I would have gotten that much further.

The Internet is a necessary tool to do genealogy. But, as with all tools, we must learn how to properly use it. By questioning what we find on the Internet, not only do we exercise our analytical skills, but we prevent ourselves from being fooled, and from fooling others when we share our work. I apply my father’s advice heavily to the Internet, "Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see."

Salena B. Ashton received her bachelor’s degree in Family History and Genealogy from Brigham Young University. 
She can be contacted at shhardatabase@yahoo.com.

MISCELLANEOUS

Genealogy Forms
LDS Church Family History Library Catalog
Ethnic Research
YEAR OF 1903 
Ye Olde Genealogie Shoppe

Genealogy Forms
Gloria Candelaria GeneGloCan@aol.com 

Friends and family: I am attaching an excellent website which I obtained from Martha Jones' column in the Victoria Advocate: this website has, among other things, 36 forms for you to download (in Acrobat form) PLUS you can type right into the forms themselves using the "text" process -- which is awesome! Search for "Download Forms" on the Webpage.

For those of you interested in researching Spanish countries, such as Puerto Rico, Mexico, etc., there is a link on this website which will take you there under "Ethnic Research." 

This is really a treasure of a website for genealogists. The forms are there for you to use, copy, print, etc. Enjoy! I hope you pass this information to others as well.  www.familytreemagazine.com 

LDS Church Family History Library Catalog
Church News  week ending August 9, 2003

 
The Family History Library Catalog is key resource explore what resources the Church has to assist in family history research. Most of these resources can be ordered on microfilm through local family history centers for personal viewing and research. the recent upgrades will enhance the usefulness and value of the catalog. 

 The Family History Library Catalog, which describes the more than 2.3 million microfilms, microfiche, books and other items available at the Family History Library, has been updated with several helpful features.

The new features include:
  1. A daily update of the information in the catalog. "The church is currently microfilming vital records in over 40 countries," said Paul Nauta, manager of public affairs for the family and Church  History Department. "The Library receives about 6,000 microfilms per month from these operations. As these films and other items are catalogued, they will be added to the online catalog daily. 
 
2. A new " Keyword Search with this search, a patron can use many combinations of surnames, place names and topics in a single search.
  3. Pop-up instructions on searching appear on the first catalog screen when the mouse hovers over a search selection button.
  4. Records in Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic and other non-Roman scripts.
  5. A "Help" panel that remains closed instead of open to provide more viewing room on the catalog screen.  


Ethnic Research

Friends and family:

I am attaching an excellent website which I obtained from Martha Jones' column in the Victoria Advocate: this website has, among other things, 36 forms for you to download (in Acrobat form) PLUS you can type right into the forms themselves using the "text" process -- which is awesome!
Search for "Download Forms" on the Webpage.
 
For those of you interested in researching Spanish countries, such as Puerto Rico, Mexico, etc., there is a link on this website which will take you there under "Ethnic Research."
 
This is really a treasure of a website for genealogists. The forms are there for you to use, copy, print, etc. Enjoy! I hope you pass this information to others as well.

Go to www.familytreemagazine.com  SOURCE: Gloria Candelaria GeneGloCan@aol.com 


YEAR OF 1903   What a difference a century makes!

Sent by Steven Hernandez   Pacorro73@aol.com

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1902: The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 Percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st- most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.  The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.  A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home. Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.
1 DOZEN Eggs were fourteen cents.
Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

One in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the is, in a perfect guardian of health."

18% of households in the U.S. had at least one servant or one domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Just think what it will be like in another 100 years.

It boggles the mind.....

Ye Olde Genealogie Shoppe

Recommended by Josie Trevino Trevino JOSIETT3@aol.com  as "a great place for genealogy supplies that you do not find elsewhere.  For example, the Ye Olde Genealogie Shoppe September 17, 2003 newsletter included: 

The perfect gift for any researcher or would-be genealogist. This attractive binder comes complete with lineage charts, family group sheets, index tabs and a handy storage pocket. Available in Ten Colors! To see pictures of the Mini-Binder &samples of the refill packs, left click on this link:

The Secret is ..... These six-ring binders are perfect for recording information, yet comfortable to use because of their convenient 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 size. These books are permitted in many libraries. Ideal for traveling. They make a great gift idea, 1 for grandma's family and 1 for grandpa's family too! Give one to your brother or sister and one to your son or daughter.  

The SECRET is that each page, in the binder, folds out to a Colossal 13 and 1/2 inches WIDE!
The other secret is..... buy 2 Mini-Binders and get FREE SHIPPING! Mention Coupon Code: EZ-FREE

Also books, listed as CRATES
INTERNET/PUBLISHING CRATE 20 BOOK 3:
PUBLISHING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY ON THE INTERNET
by Richard S. Wilson, First Edition, Betterway Books, 1999, laminated wrappers, 331 pp. Work smarter, not harder, with the Internet. Have a yearning to be published on the Web? Want to get up there and put your own two cents worth in? Eager to share what you have found before someone else does? Wow! Want your own Family Website? Dream on for now those dreams are possible. Thousands of men and women are up there every day adding to the world's knowledge in the hopes that it will help someone else to learn and/or add something new to what is already known. Just dying to get up there and have your own Website? This is just the book for you. In a lot of details you need to know and a lot of simple words, Mr. Wilson tries very hard to answer your questions and give you the knowledge and confidence you need to get out there and strut your stuff! This book will help you design and create Web pages, discover ways to get Web space for free, advertise your site and do the greatest favor for your family’s descendents you could ever do. 
New. $20 SPECIAL PRICE $17

9605 Vandergriff Rd
P. O. Box 39128
Indianapolis, IN 46239
Phone: 317-862-3330 or call 800-419-0200  Fax: 317-862-2599
Web site: http://www.yogs.com  E-mail: yogs@Iquest.net

END

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