Somos Primos

 June 2005 
Editor: Mimi Lozano
©2000-5

Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
 
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research

 


Page one: Azusa, March 8,1868     Author: Domingo Arvizu
The year of grace 1866, the great philosopher, Abraham Arvizu, was born at 5:00 in the morning
and in the years ahead he will play an important part in the history of the world.
Page two: La Fe De Bautismo
In the year of 1866, Abran Arvizu was born on January 10 at 5:00 in the morning.
In the year 1867, Analdito Arvizu was born on August 29 at 1:00 in the morning.
In the year 1868, Adela Arvizu was born on October 3 at 5:00 in the morning.
In the year 1874, Manuelito Arvizu was born on April 14 at 1:00 in the afternoon.  Go to: Arvizu article 
 

 


"Not to know what happened before we were born
 is to remain perpetually a child. 
For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven 
into the life of our ancestors by the records of history."

Author, MARCUS TILLIUS CICERO 106-34 B.C.
Sent by James Estrada Hardy estradahardy@direcway.com

                 

Content Areas

United States
. . . 4
Surname 
. . . 32
Galvez Patriots
 
. . . 33
Orange County, CA
 
. . . 37
Los Angeles, CA
. . .42 
California
. . . 63
Northwestern US
 
. . . 84

Southwestern US . . . 86
Black 
. . . 94 
Indigenous
. . . 95
Sephardic
. . . 97
Texas
. . . 106 
East of the Mississippi
 
. . . 126
East Coast
 
. . . 128
Mexico
. . . 136
Caribbean/Cuba 
. . . 153 
Spain 
. . . 157
International . . . 162  
History 
. . . 168
Family History
 
. . . 173
Archaeology
 
. . . 175
Miscellaneous 
. . . 179
Calendar
Networking 
Meetings 

END
  
. . . 180

 

  Letters to the Editor : 

Dear Readers, networking is the key to opening the doors of our ancestor's past. We invite you to share your family data in a way that will widen your outreach in finding lost family members. 

Below is a very kind email from Roberto José Pérez Guadarrama of Venezuela.  In referring to Somos Primos, he is identifying the value and the result of readers sending historical, current and family information.  

Every month the list of names under contributors are those who have sent or whose information was sent for use in Somos Primos. This month, letters received are dispersed within the issue, appropriate to the area of interest.  

With gratitude and thanks for  your submissions and letters.   
Sincerely,  Mimi

Somos Primos, Sra. Mimi Lozano.
 
Estimada Mimi
Espero que se encuentre muy bien de salud, en Compañía de su Familia y Amistades.
Le escribo para agradecerle las muchas publicaciones que Usted a realizado de Mis recortes, trabajos, escritos...en su muy completa pagina Web de Somos Primos. Esta pagina Web es bien completa, tanto en la calidad de los artículos, en lo experimentados Articulistas que en ella escriben, como en los diferentes y extensos tópicos que tocan en cada edición. Ya que escribir sobre Genealogía para Profesionales, Expertos, Académicos,...mensualmente tiene que ser muy difícil, pero Usted y su equipo de trabajo han hecho una Revista Electrónica que llena de Interés, Expectativa, curiosidad a Expertos y Novatos en la Genealogía, Historia, Antropología, Ciencias Sociales.

Felicito también a todo el Valioso Equipo que la acompaña en esa Titánica tarea. Este muy agradecido de recibir mensualmente esta información a través de Internet. Reciba Usted Mis Felicitaciones Sinceras desde Valencia, Venezuela
 
Roberto José Pérez Guadarrama  5/2/2005
perezfru@telcel.net.ve


 
   Somos Primos Staff:   
Mimi Lozano, Editor
John P. Schmal, 
Johanna de Soto, 
Howard Shorr
Armando Montes
Michael Stevens Perez

  Contributors:  

Ernesto Apomayta Chambi
John Arvizu 
Maribeth Bandas
Mirta Barrera   
Mercy Bautista-Olvera
Jane Blume 
Roberto Camp
Gloria Candelaria ???? 
Bill Carmena 
Angelo R. Cervantes
George Cisneros 
Santiago Corona Vallejo
Jack Cowan, 
William Dean 
Johanna De Soto
Edna Yolanda Elizondo
     Gonzalez.
James Estrada Hardy
Manuel Esqueda 
José A. Esquibel
Frank Faulkner
Jack Fishman
Gabriel Garcia
George Gause
Gloria Golden 
Josh Gradilla   
Mark Gradilla
Virginia Gradilla 
Addy Perez-Mau  
Roberto Jose Perez
     Guadarrama
Jose O. Guerra
José Angel Gutiérrez
Valerie Hall 
Michael Hardwick 
Esther.Herold
Carlos Martín Herrera de la
      Garza
Lorraine Hernandez 
Manuel Hernandez
Win Holtzman
Granville Hough
John Inclan 
Jynene Johnson
Mary.Kasulaitis,
Alex Loya 
Alfred Lugo
Elisa Lujan Perez 
Judge Roy Moore
Dorindo Lupe Moreno
John Navarrette
Paul Newfield
Luis Pacheco,
Yolanda Patino
Kathryn Peralta 
Elvira Prieto
Angel Custodio Rebollo de
      Barroso
José León Robles de la Torre
Dr. Refugio Rochin, 
Debra Romeyn
Viola Rodriguez Sadler
Richard G. Santos
John P. Schmal 
Louis F. Serna 
Howard Shorr
Bob Smith
Leonardo de la Torre y
      Berumen
Paul Trejo 
Halimah Van Tuyl 
Janete Vargas 
JD Villarreal 
Jennifer Vo 
Kirby F. Warnock
Doug Westfall
SHHAR Board:  Bea Armenta Dever, Steven Hernandez,  Mimi Lozano Holtzman, Pat Lozano, Henry Marquez, Yolanda Ochoa Hussey, Michael Perez, Crispin Rendon, Viola Rodriguez Sadler, John P. Schmal

UNITED STATES

Jose M. Lopez, Nations' Oldest Latino recipient of the Medal of Honor Dies
     Battle of the Bulge legend laid to rest  

     Medal of Honor awardee Lopez dies at 94                        

Josh Gradilla, Fourteen Year Old Wins Right to Celebrate Heritage

      
The 2005 National Theme for Hispanic Heritage Month is: 
      
"Hispanic Americans: Strong and Colorful Threads in the American Fabric"

Latino war project reveals the invisible 
Latino politicians gain clout in US
The Spanish Presence in the Americas
Latino/a Experience in the United States: Literary Truth of  21st Century
New book out by José Angel Gutiérrez
 
Top Hispanic Market Advertisers
Few Women, Minorities Serve on Boards, Study Finds
Poem by Judge Roy Moore 
Payments to Help Hospitals Care for Illegal Immigrants 
Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions 
Study on Latinos: Jobs up, Pay down
Introducing S.H.E. - StayHomeEntrepreneur.com
U.S. Hispanic purchasing power has surged
Hispanic advertising pie

 





Jose M. Lopez


When he saw that Germans were about to over run his company, he lugged his machine gun into a hole and started firing, giving U.S. troops time to regroup. 

Photo, Billy Calzada, Associated Press, L.A. Times, 5-18-05  Sent by Granville Hough gwhough@earthlink.net


Battle of the Bulge legend laid to rest  
Sent by Alfred Lugo alfredo.lugo@verizon.net
and Mercy Bautista-Olvera     scarlett_mbo@yahoo.com  

Former Army Sgt. José Mendoza Lopez, San Antonio's last Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, was lauded Saturday as a soldier of uncommon valor. 

"He was a giant of a man and a patriot who demonstrated on the battlefields of World War II that freedom is not free," Cornerstone Church Pastor John Hagee said at a memorial service in the church's Vada S. Hagee Prayer Chapel. 

Lopez, 94, died of kidney cancer Monday. 
In the foyer of the chapel, one of several large photographs on easels showed Lopez receiving the Medal of Honor from Maj. Gen. James A. Van Fleet, then commander of the U.S. Third Corps. 

Lopez's funeral drew several Medal of Honor recipients, including retired Army Col. Robert Howard of San Antonio, who received the medal in Vietnam, and representatives from veterans organizations. 

Hagee said Lopez's story is one of the greatest in U.S. military history. 
Wounded at Normandy on D-Day plus 1, the Mexican-born Lopez declined treatment and evacuation to England to stay with his unit. 

Mired in unrelenting combat during summer and fall 1944, he arrived in Belgium for the battle that would change his life. With no assistance, Lopez, then a private, wiped out an elite Nazi unit at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 14, 1944. By his engaging and killing more than 100 of the enemy, Lopez's Company K of the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, survived the German attack. 

After receiving the Medal of Honor four months later, Lopez was promoted to sergeant. 
"He made military history by killing more soldiers in a single engagement — higher than Alvin York and Audie Murphy together," Hagee said. 

One of Lopez's sons-in-law, Guy Wickwire of San Antonio, told in a letter read by Hagee how the elderly man cared for his wife, Emilia, who had dementia, during the last three years of her life. 

Already in fragile health himself, Lopez helped her bathe and dress, and he took her to church. 
Hagee recalled seeing Lopez, whom he said was like Superman, pushing his wife's wheelchair. 
"Superman was a 5-foot-5, 135-pound Hispanic sitting in the front row of Cornerstone Church every Sunday," the pastor said. "This is a man all of America needs to know about." 

Emilia Lopez died in February 2004. 
About 75 people gathered at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery for the burial ceremony as the temperature hovered in the 90s. 

Three soldiers on horseback accompanied the black steel caisson drawn by two horses. It carried the flag-draped, wood-sheathed casket to the outdoor pavilion where ceremonies were conducted. 

The caisson at Fort Sam is used only for burial ceremonies involving Medal of Honor winners and general officers. "I've known him for 43 years," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Alfred Valenzuela, who called Lopez "humble, focused and dedicated" in comments at the gravesite. 

"What a great hero, what a man, a great smile, very compassionate and just had it right," Valenzuela said. "He just wanted to give back to the community, and that he's done." 

After a three-volley rifle salute by a military honor guard and the sounding of taps, the family was presented the flag that had covered his coffin. 

One of his daughters said he was an anchor and guiding light for generations — in the family and in the community.  "He never missed an opportunity to meet with young people, whether it be in elementary school, high school, college or university," said Beatrice Lopez Pedraza, a daughter who lives in Peru with her husband, who is with the U.S. diplomatic corps. "My father was always very ready to share his values with young people. He instilled in me a true love for this country." 

Said John Arocha, 72, a neighbor of Lopez for the past 45 years: "He was a good man. You never heard him say a bad word about anybody. I was in the military and used to ask his advice. He'd tell me, 'Just do your best job and don't complain.'" 

"José was a real gentleman," said Frank Perales, commander of American GI Forum's Region 3. "A nicer person you would never meet. I think that's what made him so unique." 


  
 Medal of Honor awardee Lopez dies at 94   
 Web Posted: 05/17/2005                     
 Carmina Danini and Scott Huddleston  cdanini@express-news.net                        
 Sent by Maribeth Bandas   Maribeth.Bandas@dc.gov 


 José Mendoza Lopez, the oldest living Hispanic recipient of  the Medal of Honor and one of fewer than 40 surviving World War II veterans with the honor, died Monday, June 13th,  in San Antonio.    

 Lopez, 94, a Mexico-born Army veteran, received the nation's highest honor for bravery for single-handedly repelling German infantry forces advancing on his unit near the start of the    
Battle of the Bulge.                                           

"He was a great hero, a super guy and a super dad," said his son, John Lopez of San Antonio. 
 Lopez had returned a few weeks ago from the hospital. He had  been undergoing treatment for cancer that had spread from his kidneys. He lived at the North Side home of his daughter,      
 Maggie Wickwire, where he died about 2:45 p.m.                 
 
 In frail health and using a walker in recent years, Lopez  attended presidential inaugurations, as well as the funerals of other Medal of Honor recipients. In January, he made his  last inauguration, as President George W. Bush was sworn in for a second term in Washington.                               
 
 Many had become concerned about Lopez after his wife of 64 years, Emilia, died in February 2004. In one of his last interviews, in January, though too weak to speak at length, he  sang from memory a Spanish love song he'd often crooned to her.                                                           
                                                                
"They're dancing up there now," his son said Monday,  commenting on the couple's faith that they would meet in heaven.                                                        
 
On Dec. 17, 1944, Lopez, with the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry  Division, fended off dozens of German troops and tanks trying to overrun his Company K near Krinkelt, Belgium. He lugged a   
 .30-caliber Browning automatic rifle, jumped into a shallow hole and killed 10 German soldiers. 

"Ignoring enemy fire from an advancing tank, he held his position and cut down 25 more enemy infantry attempting to turn his flank," his Medal of Honor citation states. Lopez kept firing, despite having to reload and being blown backward by the concussion of enemy fire.                      
  
 "Sgt. Lopez's gallantry and intrepidity, on seemingly suicidal missions in which he killed at least 100 of the enemy, were almost solely responsible for allowing Company K to avoid being enveloped, to withdraw successfully and to give other forces coming up in support time to build a line which         
 repelled the enemy drive," the citation reads.                 
 
 Lopez was immediately promoted from private to sergeant.  Nearly 50 years later, he returned to the site in Belgium with journalist Bill Moyers and a PBS documentary film crew.  Questioned by Moyers about his bravery, the man who had prayed  to the Virgin of Guadalupe as he fired at Germans replied, "I  believe any man would do the same thing."                      
  
 Though his medal citation and most biographies list his birthplace as Mission, Lopez was born in Santiago Huitlan, Mexico. To join the Merchant Marine, he bought a false birth certificate in 1935.                                           
  
 In his youth, Lopez held a variety of jobs, from picking  cotton to working on ships. As a lightweight boxer using the moniker Kid Mendoza, he accumulated a 52-3 record.             
  
 Returning to the United States from Hawaii after the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Lopez almost was arrested. Authorities thought he was Japanese.    "I let them see my papers, that I was Mexican, and they let me  go. They were going to put me in the prison," he told an interviewer for the U.S. Latinos and Latinas & World War II oral history project. 

In 1942, Lopez enlisted in the Army. He received a minor wound  but rejoined his unit after being treated.  Lopez also was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.    But his Medal of Honor was what he cherished most among his  many mementos.                                                 
 
 His son reflected Monday on a man who lived a humble life.  "He was a hero, without being a hero around his family," John  Lopez said.     Sunday, José Lopez had enough strength to squeeze relatives'    hands as they spoke to him, said June Pedraza, a  granddaughter. Monday, he was unresponsive, she said. 
                         
"I told him, you're really sick, grandpa. It's OK if you go today," said Pedraza, 25.  A short time later, after family members dispersed for lunch,  Lopez died with only a nurse in the room, she said. Pedraza said she doubted Lopez had any fear of dying, because he'd always told her, "Fear is the one thing that will hold you  back in life."  

When she was 9, afraid to jump off a 10-foot diving board,   Lopez encouraged her to jump. At 78, he leapt off himself, landing with a belly flop.    Lopez would take his family fishing or ice-skating and hated  to be apart from his wife for long periods, even when they  were quarreling, Pedraza said. 
"He was the rock of our family," she said.                     
   
 In Austin, a hush fell over the House chamber Monday as Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, announced Lopez's death. The House adjourned for the day a few hours later in his honor.   

Other survivors include three other daughters, Candida "Marie"  Pierati of Mahopac, N.Y., Virginia Rogers of Ogden, Utah, and Beatrice Pedraza of Lima, Peru; 19 grandchildren; and 10       
great-grandchildren.   Porter Loring Mortuary is handling arrangements, which are  expected to include a wake at Cornerstone Church and graveside  service at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.   

 

 


Fourteen Year Old Fights to Celebrate Heritage
Copy of correspondence between Mimi and Virginia Gradilla   
In a message dated 3/21/2005 8:26:51 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
mzgrad1@msn.com<mailto:mzgrad1@msn.com writes:

   Subject: Josh's quest
   Date: 3/21/2005 
   From: mzgrad1@msn.com
   To: mimilozano@aol.com, fanmail@santana.com
   File: Josh'smexicospeach.doc,  1minute  Sent from the Internet


Hi my name is Virginia Gradilla and we live in Temecula, Ca.

I'm e-mailing you not for myself but for my son Josh. He is a 14 year old proud Hispanic young man and in the 7th grad. Please let me tell you how Josh's quest started. 


One day while in history class Josh started thinking about all the other holiday that they have been studying like Black history month, Women's Appreciation Month, Arbor day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Halloween and others that I cant think of now, but you get the point; so, he asked his teacher why don't we celebrate any Hispanic holidays or history? She said that's a good question why don't you go ask the Principal.  

He got a little upset that she didn't have an answer.  Little did he know, Josh was about to open a very BIG can of worms.  When he asked the Principal why don't we celebrate Hispanic holidays or history? The Principal said go ask Mrs. Kxxx, she has a cultural club.  So Josh asked Mrs. Kxxx and she said that she was not going to have a cultural club this year go ask another teacher. 

Josh felt he was getting the big run around. He went back to the Principal and told him what was going on and that Mrs. King was not having a cultural club this year.  The Principal said," I'll have to get back with you on this." 

Josh waited 4 weeks and nothing happened.  Josh kept on asking the Principal and all he would do is avoid him. Josh  then went to the Vice Principal and asked her.  The Vice Principal said that no one would be interested.  

Josh decided he was going to have to PROVE to the administration that kids want to know about Mexico and it's history. Josh went out and got 51 students and teachers to sign a paper saying, yes we would like to know more about Mexico's history. 

Josh went to the ASB [Assembly Student Body] and talked to Mrs. Hinkle.  She said it was a good idea but that she would have to set up a meeting and Josh would have to convince them as to why 
he wants this.

Josh is going to give his speech after spring break  He is almost done but still needs a little help so we are asking for your help on convincing them . 

Josh is going to give his speech after spring break . He is almost done but still needs a little help so we are asking for your help on convincing them. If you have any suggestions please let us know. I'm also sending you Josh's speech please let us know what you think.  Link to the speech. . .
 
Thank you for your time, Virginia Gradilla mzgrad1@msn.com


Subject: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage  
Date: Monday, March 21, 2005 
From: mimilozano
To: mzgrad1@msn.com
http://www.somosprimos.com/heritage.htm

DEAR VIRGINIA . . .  This makes me both disappointed in the school system and angry about the situation.  Be proud that your son is not backing down.

The school is derelict.  PLEASE GO TO THIS WEBSITE. . .
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage  http://www.somosprimos.com/heritage.htm

You will find the history of Hispanic Heritage Month.  It is a Congressional mandate. I designed the website for teacher use, with much information about the contributions and history of Hispanics/Latinos.  Briefly . . .

Thirty years ago, responding to the growing demands for recognition by many Hispanic organizations, a  Joint Resolution (H.J. Res. 1299) was approved September 17, 1968 by the U.S. Senate and House of  Representatives, 90th Congress.(l) The resolution was passed by 'voice vote' indicating obvious solid support, not requiring a vote count.(2)

Twenty years later, it was changed to a Month was set aside for honoring Hispanics.
PUBLIC LAW 100-402, Approved August 17, 1988, 100th Congress Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, Section 1. AUTHORIZE THE DESIGNATION OF THE NATIONAL HISPANIC 
HERITAGE MONTH.

PLEASE KEEP ME ABREAST OF WHAT IS HAPPENING. INVITE YOUR SON AND the 51 students THAT SIGNED THE PETITION TO  STRENGTHEN THEMSELVES WITH HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.

Besides the Celebrating website, there are 63 issues of Somos Primos emagazine http://www.somosprimos.com   It will empower them. . . .

This is my home number, please feel free to call me.  714-894-8161 I'll read Josh's speech right now . . I added your email to my mailing list so that you will know when the new issues are up.

Best of luck, Mimi



The heading on the PETITION: 
"Yes, I would like to learn about the Hispanic Culture"

You can read that along with Hispanic surnames like Florez, Pena, Osuna surnames are the non-Hispanic signatures of Smith, Martin and Blakely.

 

 



The Mexican Culture Days
by Joshua Gradilla speech

(Allowed to present to the Student Body, a week and a half before El Cinco de Mayo)


In 1969, Cesar Chavez organized a demonstration march from the Coachella and Imperial Valley, to the U.S.-Mexican border in protest to the unfair acts of the agriculture landowners.

Many people are not aware of this and it saddens me to say… some people have simply forgotten.

But now 37 years later, I would like to take this opportunity to share with my fellow students in this school a little history about what a few Mexican-American people have done. Allow me to share with you just a little of what Cesar Chavez, with the help of many Mexican-Americans able to accomplish by standing was united against the unjust.

Cesar Chavez was able to organize the farm workers to stand together and protest against unfair wages, and unfair working conditions. He was just one man who had courage enough to stand up for what he knew was the right thing to do! And because of his courage he was able to accomplish and acquire what many of us often take for granted, Such as the right to have substantial drinking water on the job, and the right to have sanitary facilities available. Can you imagine going to work for pennies a day and having to work out in the hot sun from sunrise to sunset without fresh water or a privet place to go relieve yourself!

Cesar Chavez coined the phrase: "I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others…" (Chavez)

I have been influenced by many strong Mexican-American men threw out my life and one such person is my uncle Luis Lopez. He came to America just after he had finished his school in Mexico; He began work here in the United States as a busboy and worked his way up to the position of Executive Chef at THE BEACH HOUSE which is a 5 -Star restaurant in Cardiff by the Sea.

He did not settle with being a busboy, he wanted better things from life so he worked hard and eventually worked his way up to a position he wanted. He had courage and would not settle for anything less.

Another person who has influenced my life is my Grandfather Ramon Gradilla. He came to America when he was a young teenager. When he came he had little or no education, but he had courage and was willing to work his way up. He began by picking fruit throughout California and he progressed to becoming the Head Foreman of a prominent Date and Citrus Ranch. He is retired now and has since sold a self started Gardening business in which he was a very well respected member of the community.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask the A.S.B. for your support in helping me establish a "LATINO HISTORY FIESTA" At the fiesta I want to learn about other Mexican-American people and their stories, traditions, Foods, Music, and Art, as well as their contributions to society. I would like to share my heritage and culture with the students at this school. I feel it would be enlightening and educational to know about what foods we eat and what holidays we celebrate. We could share Mexican beliefs and folklore.

I propose we take two days to commemorate the Mexican-American and Latino culture. I have the support of many students who are interested in the Latino heritage; I have compiled a list of 51 students and teachers who support this proposal. If the A.S.B. is willing to grant and assist in this proposal it would be greatly appreciated.

I thank you all for your time and hope you will support me in my idea.


Subject: Newspaper Article
Date: Monday, May 10, 2005 
From: mzgrad1@msn.com 
To: mimilozano@aol.com
File: JoshNewspaperClip.zip

Dear Mimi,

      I'm sending you a clip from the local newspaper and a copy of Joshua's speech. The Cinco de Mayo went very well, even the vice principal said she enjoyed it. A lot of the kids came up Josh to tell him that he did a great job, and it meant a lot to know more about their heritage.  Jose made a difference for them. The administration gave Josh the ok to start a culture club next year. Some businesses have his article posted.  Josh made not only a difference in the school, but in the community. I'll give you a call later on in the week.   Virginia . . ..




Student brings Latino recognition to campus

North County Times, North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County
Archives, Last modified Thursday, May 5, 2005 


By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer 

TEMECULA ---- Josh Gradilla, 14, was nervous Friday. The seventh-grader at Vail Ranch Middle School had to give a speech in front of the school's Associated Student Body in his quest to have Latino heritage celebrated and recognized on campus.

When he spoke to the students, he talked of how, nearly 40 years ago, Cesar Chavez had organized a demonstration march to protest unfair acts against Latino farm workers. 

Personalizing his speech, he also told students about his uncle and grandfather, both of whom were born in Mexico and came to America and created successful lives for themselves.

"I want to learn about other Mexican-American people and their stories, traditions, foods, music and art," Josh told ASB members. "I would like to share my heritage and culture with the students at this school."

Josh got his wish.

ASB director and teacher Donna Hinkle said the students voted unanimously to conduct a small celebration today on Cinco de Mayo, the day commemorating a crucial battle in Mexican history.

The school event will include red, white and green decorations in the lunch area ---- the colors of the Mexican flag ---- as well as posters hung around campus picturing several prominent Mexican-Americans and their accomplishments.

Moreover, school officials said they have plans to conduct annual events starting next school year to celebrate the Latino culture during late September and early October, designated by President George W. Bush as National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Josh was the driving force behind bringing Latino recognition to campus, Hinkle said.

"He used Cesar Chavez, and his uncle and grandfather, as examples," she said about Josh's speech. "And the students, they all voted to support his idea. He did take the initiative."

In fact, Josh had collected 51 signatures from students and some teachers in support of his goal, which he presented to the ASB. He said it was an uphill battle at times, but he's glad it paid off in the end.

"I didn't do it for me," Josh said. "I did it for all the students who want to learn about the culture. My grandfather always told me that I have a voice and to let it be heard. So I decided to make a difference at this school."

Josh has spent hours at the library and copy stores, making posters and fliers to let students know about the event and to hang the posters on the campus quad as part of today's celebration, said his mother, Virginia Gradilla.

"He had to pursue this and he worked hard," she said. "And he said when he gets into high school, if there is no cultural club, there will be one by the time he leaves."

Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.

Subj: Latino History Fiesta - UPDATE 
Date:Tuesday  5/11/2005 
From: mrmrsgrad@msn.com
To: mimilozano@aol.com

Mimi Hi,

Well...things went well, for starters,

Students had a wonderful time; several posters of Hispanics in society were posted on the walls, Caesar Chavez, Carlos Santana, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos... One of Joshua's friends volunteered to help by taking pictures; she was so excited, she said, "This exhibit makes me feel proud..." Other kids including Anglo kids found the exhibit very interesting and Joshua found himself caught in the lime light when many kids came to ask questions about the various artist's and politicians on the wall, The kids had the opportunity to hear Latin music through a P.A. system provided by the school and many really liked the music. Some kids expressed excitement about what they were going to do next year.

My husband and I, went to meet with the Vice Principal Mrs. Graiser, She supported the display, but as we pushed for the curriculum you had made for Hispanic Heritage month, we ran into resistance, she stated the schools teaching Code superceded Public Law when it came to curriculum, she also said it was so involved they were hard pressed to meet the Code requirements. She said best they would be able to do would be to give an announcement once a week, making statements like "Did you Know...?"

We are not discouraged because this is more than what was being offered before Joshua had started this Journey, We are taking steps to meet with the Director of secondary education Dianne Vaez, with a name like Vaez, I am hoping for favorable support. (Hoping not counting on) We have been to the library to request copies of the original Proclamation 3869 written by Former President Lyndon B. Johnson from the UCR Library as well as Joint Resolution 90-498, we want to enlarge, laminate, and frame them for our home as a reminder of how small steps can make big strides. We will continue to support our son Joshua throughout his education and ourselves by learning and becoming more involved in Hispanic awareness.

Continued Success to you and your endeavors

Virginia and Mark Gradilla


Subject: Latino History Fiesta - response
Date: 5/11/2005

From:  mimilozano@aol.com
To:  mrmrsgrad@msn.com 

Hi Virginia. 

Wonderful that you husband is also supporting you and Josh in this effort.


The response of 
Vice Principal "best they would be able to do would be to give an announcement once a week is a bit shocking.

There are 20 school days during Hispanic Heritage Month.  Those historical announcements could be made over the PA system each morning.  Most could be read in a minute or minute and a half.  She is saying they are not willing to dedicate 1-1/2 minutes or about 30 minutes total during the entire month of Hispanic Heritage Month.  

The problem is that Hispanic Heritage Month comes at the beginning of the school semester, teachers and students are adjusting to each other, new schedule, etc.

But the PSA concept, for an administrator wanting their school to participate  in recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, could easily implement.  Historical tidbits are available on the Celebrating Hispanic Heritage page. 

No teacher preparation is required.  No administrator need be involved beyond giving permission, and seeing that the sound equipment is in place.  The announcements could be read by student body officers over the PA system. 

Students would have 20 bits of historical facts that could lead them to a better understanding of the Hispanic presence and contributions.   http://www.somosprimos.com/heritage.htm

Best of luck Virginia in opening the doors of understanding.  Josh is an incredible young man. Please give him a hug for me.

Warm regards, Mimi


The 2005 National Theme for Hispanic Heritage Month is: 
"Hispanic Americans: Strong and Colorful Threads in the American Fabric".

In April,  the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers concluded the 2005 Voting and Selection process for the National Theme for Hispanic Heritage Month.  Sylvia Holguin Bourn, EEO Specialist with the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service submitted the winning theme.

Sent by Joe.Martinez@science.doe.gov


Latino war project reveals the invisible 
by Elaine Ayala
San Antonio Express-News, web posted  05/24/2005  
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/movies/stories
/MYSA052405.1P.latinos.wwII.2a304e7c1.htm

l
Sent by Yolanda Patino patinogil@stic.net

When Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez started an oral history project in 1999 documenting the experiences of Latinos in World War II, she didn't know she could be generating work for the next 50 years. 

But with the publication of "Mexican Americans & World War II" ($19.95, University of Texas Press), the associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas predicts, only half-jokingly, that it's going to take that long to finish a whole stack of books, educational materials, a play and various other projects spurred by the project, which started rather modestly. 

Initially, her goal was to gather about 200 interviews from Latinos of the "greatest generation," a group she says is invisible in mainstream media, academia and literature. 

Few references existed about the contributions of the 750,000 Mexican Americans who served in the war, Rivas-Rodriguez says, even though they earned proportionately more Medals of Honor and other distinctions than any other ethnic group. 

For example, the book's 11 essays tell a wide range of war stories, from the participation of San Antonio's Lanier High School students in the conflict and the beating of Pvt. Ben Aguirre of San Angelo, to the Zoot Suit riots in Los Angeles and other cities during which Mexican Americans were beaten by white sailors while police looked away, to the refusal of a Three Rivers funeral home to bury a Mexican American soldier. 

Rivas-Rodriguez wasn't alone in wondering why these stories have been all but forgotten. 

"We all had been going through the same thing," she says of the scholars who wrote the chapters. "All of us saw the same lack of material, the same lack of attention given to Latinos. The beauty of the oral history project is that it has created that primary source material. We have enough of a body of interviews that we can do some really good research." 

Now, instead of 200 interviews, the U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project has 500. Many of the oral histories reveal how Mexican Americans returned home from the war changed and — more important — demanding change, spurring rights movements and activism. 

One of the roles the project has afforded Rivas-Rodriguez is a platform from which to speak about these overlooked contributions. Today, she'll tell them to a group of about 225 students and their families receiving a total of $200,000 in scholarships at the 13th annual Ford Salute to Education ceremony. Scholarship winners will receive $750 or $1,000 to be used toward their college education. 

Not surprisingly, education has surfaced as a constant theme in the oral histories. Many subjects end up saying, "Get an education. It's the one thing they can't take away from you," Rivas-Rodriguez says. 

Also among the project's treasures are thousands of pieces of archival materials and photographs, much like the one on the book's cover of her parents, Henrietta and Ramon Rivas, which looks like it came from a central casting call for a portrait of a young soldier and his bride. 

"The truth is, there are a lot of photographs just like this one" that illustrate the hope and promise of their generation. "My father looked like he had just won a golden ticket. Here he is with my mother who was so beautiful, and he had beat out a lot of other guys for her," she says, laughing. 

Their stories, though varied, ring with similarities, exposing the racism these people confronted as well as their strength and self-sacrifice. 

In the book's chapter on Lanier High, Julio Noboa of the University of Texas at Brownsville explores the racism behind the school's vocational curriculum, which steered young Latinos into low-paying trades. Yet during the war, Noboa writes, "Lanier transcended social constraints, including low expectations of its student body, and fostered a patriotism that would lead to 550 of its young men serving in the military, scrap-metal drives that collected 123,000 pounds, a vigorous ROTC program and a deep pride in contributions." 

Rivas-Rodriguez writes the chapter about Three Rivers, where the director of the local funeral home would not allow the remains of Pvt. Felix Longoria to be buried because "the whites would not like it." 

At the time, Texas newspapers rarely covered people of color. But when out-of-state papers picked up the story, it became national news. Longoria was eventually buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. 

"The big point of that story is that this was nothing out of the ordinary here in Texas," says Rivas-Rodriguez, a former journalist. "It happened on a daily basis. The difference was the news media covered it and held a mirror up to Texas." 

Rivas-Rodriguez believes this history needs to be told and retold in books, classrooms and the media. 

"It's important for all Americans to have a sense of your country," she says. "To be educated is to understand your own country, and you can't understand your own country unless you understand the Latino experience, too. It has not been included in mainstream accounts. It's important for our kids, Hispanic kids, to have a sense of pride, but it's also important for non-Hispanics to know that Latinos have been here a long time and have made significant contributions." 


Latino politicians gain clout in US

By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor 
Web posted: Friday, 05/20/05
Sent by Win Holtzman

LOS ANGELES – The election this week of Mexican-American Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor of Los Angeles is the latest exclamation point in a story of Hispanic political empowerment that has been unfolding steadily nationwide for more than three decades. The high-profile ascent of Mr. Villaraigosa to the top of America's second-largest city builds on steady gains by Hispanics in municipal, county, state, and national governments over the past 25 years.

Political analysts mark those gains by comparing the political landscapes of Henry Cisneros, who was elected mayor of San Antonio in1981, and that of two US Senators, Mel Martinez of Florida and Ken Salazar of Colorado, elected in 2004.

Between those political bookends, the number of elected Hispanics has grown 30 percent in the past eight years, from 3,743 in 1996 to 4,853 in 2004.

While Hispanics still don't exercise their rights at the ballot box in the same percentages as they fill the American population, such gains, punctuated by the Villaraigosa victory, reflect the nation's changing cultural and social makeup - and Hispanics' growing ability to appeal to an ever-widening range of ethnic groups. Many such groups of newer immigrants - Koreans, Pacific Islanders, Armenians, Iranians, Russians, Filipinos - embrace the new Hispanic politicians because they sense fresh openness to their own struggles, observers say.

"The new political face of America is looking South and West for its emerging identity rather than to Eastern Europe as it did in the country's first big wave of immigration," says Antonio Gonzales, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, a Latino-based think tank. "Many of the emerging immigrant populations see Hispanics as accessible and open to them in the way more traditional American politicians have not been."

The Hispanic gains also reflect America's demographic evolution - and not just in L.A. While the number of Hispanics has grown nationwide (to 35.3 million - surpassing blacks as the nation's largest minority) the number of Hispanic voters has doubled (from 5 million to 10 million) in the past 10 years. That has brought emerging Latino populations - and politicians - to states outside the Southwest, including Illinois, and New Jersey which have seen rises of 95 percent and 209 percent respectively in the number of statewide elected Hispanic officials.

"Part of the story of growing Hispanic political clout is Hispanic's demonstrated ability to put coalitions together nationally, and organize voters from Kansas to Colorado to Florida," says Marcelo Gaete, senior analyst for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). "They are not just thinking in terms of Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico anymore."

Within this context, Villaraigosa's significant victory, winning 59 percent of the votes, is being trumpeted paradoxically as both a major symbol of Hispanic empowerment - a big-city win softening the doubt generated by recent losses of Hispanic mayoral candidates in New York and Chicago - and an indication of normalcy.

At the same time, analysts say the win is meaningful to Hispanics coast to coast as a political model to emulate. Yet to others, Villaraigosa's win is unexceptional because of its sheer predictability.

"I call it the hidden integration of the Latino presence," says Harry Pachon, director of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. "In a way, it's just as American as apple pie. Just as in earlier decades Irish, Italians, and Jewish politicians made it into the mainstream, Latinos are now experiencing that. One of the jewels in the crown of America's most populous state will now be held by a Latino."

Yet for all the euphoria surrounding Villaraigosa in some quarters, his victory may be as much a repudiation of incumbent James Hahn as it was an embrace of Villaraigosa. During the campaign, Mr. Hahn was criticized for alienating African American voters when he fired a black police chief and for angering white voters in the San Fernando Valley when he opposed a secession. Ongoing charges of corruption also trailed Hahn while other observers noted that he simply lacked the charisma to connect with voters in a city devoted to entertainment.

While Villaraigosa captivated audiences with his style and retelling of his climb from a high school dropout to successful politician, the new mayor still must prove he can transfer charisma into managing one of the largest cities in the nation.

The other side of high-profile victories for Latino politicians, say analysts, is that the brighter spotlight can also show deficiencies. Front and center in that challenge is Villaraigosa who has spent months making promises to diverse groups of voters and must now turn them into action.

"One thing people have not paid much attention to is the distinction between an electoral coalition and a governing coalition," says Frank Gilliam, a political scientist at UCLA. "The question is what happens now when those politicians who endorsed him, the unions and all the rest, line up and say, 'What are you going to do for us?' "

A subset of this challenge is one that faces all politicians: Can he or she govern for all voters, and not just those who helped secure the victory? In Villaraigosa's case, he will have a national spotlight on his efforts to balance the expectations of Latinos and non-Latinos.

"The key to continued expansion of Hispanic political power will be how can they respond to the Hispanic support that got them into office, [and] also reach beyond it," says Christine Sierra, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. "Villaraigosa will be in the spotlight in this regard more than most."



SOURCE: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS (NALEO);
 RICH CLABAUGH - STAFF




THE SPANISH PRESENCE IN THE AMERICAS

[The following is the historical introduction to a study: Latino Political Participation & Representation in Elective Office by Kevin Coleman, Analyst in American National Government, Government and Finance Division, CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS Order Code RS20353, Updated July 27, 2001]  

By the time England established a permanent new world settlement at Jamestown in 1607, Spain's colonial empire spanned both American continents, from Cape Horn to what is now Canada. Shortly after Columbus's expeditions for Spain, explorers and missionaries founded colonies at Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic) in 1496, Puerto Rico in 1508, and Cuba in 1511. Within a century, Spanish missions extended across southwestern North American from St. Augustine (Florida, 1565 to Santa Fe (1609):"There has been no other conquest like this in the annals of the human race. In one generation, the Spaniards acquired more new territory than Rome conquered in five centuries."'By the beginning of the 17th century, as French and English colonization of North America gained momentum, Spain's power had begun to ebb. England had repelled Spain's attempt to invade the British Isles in 1588 and destroyed the Spanish fleet. Spain's effort of maintain its far-flung empire further burdened the nation and, over the next two centuries, its empire receded as the result of competition from other European colonizers and armed conflict.Although Spain had claimed much of the North American interior, Spain's presence was found primarily in missions scattered along the Gulf coast and across the southwest to California. A series of agreements transferred the Louisiana territory, once claimed by Spain, back and forth between Spain and France until France sold the area to the United States in 1803. The U.S. nearly doubled its size by acquiring Louisiana, a vast region that extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Shortly thereafter, Spain accepted the transfer of east and west Florida to the U.S., under Transcontinental Treaty of 18119. Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1823. and Texas subsequently declared independence from Mexico in 1836. The U.S. annexed Texas in 1845. Following the Mexican-American War, the U.S. acquired lands north of the Rio Grande River under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and the Gadsden Purchase (1853). Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1898) that ended the Spanish-American War, Spain lost its remaining possessions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.' Samuel E. Morison, Henry Steele Commager, and William E. Leuchtenburg. The Growth of the American Republic.Spain's cultural influence on the territory that became the United States remained long after the Spanish Empire collapsed. Explorers, missionaries, and conquistadors had pushed the boundaries of European settlement in the Americas and created a distinct people and culture, with the Spanish language as the common element. When the United States expanded to the Pacific, the Spanish-speaking people of the west and southwest, and the settlements they established at San Francisco, Santa Fe, and San Diego, became part of the new nation. Until immigration laws were revised I 1965, most Latinos in the U.S. were of Mexican descent. Cuban communities inn Florida, New Orleans, and New York can be traced to the 19' century, and a Puerto Rican community emerged in New York in the 1930s, but most of the Latino population in the 1950 was found in the Southwest. including the descendants of the Spanish who originally settled the territory when it was called New Spain. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (79 Slat. 911) eased previous restrictions on immigration and established a 120,000 a year limit on immigration from countries in the Western Hemisphere. Latino immigration the U.S. has increased sharply since then, reinforced by migration from South and Central American countries because of political and social unrest. From 1950 to 1990, the Latino population of the U.S. grew by an estimated 265%, whereas the total population grew by approximately 50% during these four decades.2 Latinos will be the largest minority group in the country within a decade, according to the Census Bureau, a phenomenon which has focused greater attention on Latino voters and their impact on electoral politics.2 Edna Acosta-Belen and Barbara R. Sjostrom. The Hispanic Experience in the United Stales Contemporary Issue and Perspectives: (New York: Praeger, 1988) P. 10.

 


                                  The Latino/a Experience in the United States: 
                                          The Literary Truth of the 21st Century

                                              by Manuel Hernandez  mannyh32@yahoo.com
 

          When students make a connection to literature, they stay awake (intellectually and mentally). When a Latino teen (born and raised in the United States of Latino parents or recently arrived from Latin America) reads a story, poem, drama or novel that is far away from the student's personal, social and cultural background, the opposite occurs. The greatest secret of success is to come to understand identity, and how it intertwines with everyday living, reality and existence. The Latino/a experience in the United States is a literary truth that helps students have a close encounter with literature because their day to day experiences are reflected in its texts.

      The connection to literature is dumbfounded when Latino teens are isolated in classrooms and are separated from the mainstream (current classroom practice in many schools across America). Just like Latino teens, the Latino/a experience in letters is inseparable from the mainstream because it depicts the everyday living, reality and existence of the American Latino teen. By looking into a mirror (Latino/a literature), students are confronted with authentic reading and real-life symbols that help them make a connection to literature. As a consequence, interest and motivation develop into greater heights: academic results.

     Once the connection is established, students are encouraged and motivated to read rather than to find themselves thrust into a text that is distant from their culture and literary heritage. Instead of spending funds on assigning tutors and teachers' aides for the recently arrived Latino teen, spend America's money wisely and train teachers to teach Latino/a literature as a bridge to reading comprehension, literary appreciation and written communication skills. But how can students connect to a literature that was intended for a different audience, staged in a diverse setting and written by authors with another literary mentality? The answer speaks for itself.

         Once upon a time, the Bilingual Act of 1968 was enacted and the academic rights of the great wave of Latino immigrants that moved into U.S. cities right after World War II were tended to, but this is a different time, and we live in the 21st century. But the Latino wave threatens once more to surpass all sociological expectations in the up and coming U.S. Census in 2010. Og Mandino states that "When the lion is hungry, he eats. When the eagle has thirst, he drinks. Lest they act, both will perish" ( The Greatest Salesman in The World, p.99).  American education cannot dwell on its past successes. While American education gets hungry, the dropout rate of the Latino teen augments each year.  Today, Latino/a authors have developed a literary voice of their own and are being anthologized like never before.  Themes include education, identity, varied approaches to race, self-esteem, peer-pressure, family, domestic violence, mother-son-daughter; father-son-daughter relationships, just to mention a few.  In one of Arthur Schopenhauer's memorable quote he says, "All truth passes three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." 

 

 New book out by José Angel Gutiérrez 
 author of: 
 A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos 
 A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans 
 The Making of a Chicano Militant 

 The Making of a Civil Rights Leader: José Angel Gutiérrez
 Chicano Fire-Brand Civil Rights Leader Tells His Story
In his intensely narrated memoir,  José Angel Gutiérrez details his rise from the oppression of racist political and agricultural interests in South Texas to his leadership role in the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Complemented by photos from his personal archives, Gutiérrez recalls his struggle for education, his early baptism in grassroots political organizing, and his success in creating one of history's most successful third party movements, La Raza Unida Party. 

Born in 1944, José Angel Gutiérrez grew up in a time when Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Texas and the Southwest attended separate schools and avoided public facilities and restaurants that were designated "Whites Only." Despite the limits of segregation and rural culture in Texas, the passion to learn and to educate others, as well as to undo injustice, burned in his belly from an early age. Gutiérrez offers portraits of his early influences, from his father's own pursuit of knowledge and political involvement, to his Mexican pre-school teacher's dedication to bilingual-bicultural education which did not exist in public schools at that time, and to his mother's courage and persistence, taking up migrant field work to provide for her family after the death of young Gutiérrez's father. 

Along the way, Gutiérrez earned college and law degrees, as well as a Ph. D. in Political Science. He was elected or appointed to school boards, commissions, judgeships and party chairmanships, all with the single-minded purpose of extending equality to Mexican Americans and other minorities in the United States. Through his tireless efforts, he crossed paths with African American and Native American civil rights leaders, Mexican presidents, and other international figures.

José Angel Gutiérrez is the author of A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos (Arte Público Press, 2003), A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans (Arte Público Press, 2001) and The Making of a Chicano Militant (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998). He is the translator of Reies López Tijerina's autobiography, They Called Me King Tiger (Arte Público Press, 2000.) The founder and former director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington, he is a professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also practices law in Dallas, Texas, where he lives with his family. 

Title: The Making of a Civil Rights Leader: José Angel Gutiérrez
Author: José Angel Gutiérrez
Publication Date: April 30, 2005 Imprint: Piñata Books Pages: ?? Price: $9.95
Trim: 5 ½ x 8 ½ Format: Trade Paperback ISBN: 1-55885-451-7 Ages: 11 & up

MORE INFORMATION, Contact: Mónica M. Parle (713) 743-2999
mparle@uh.edu http://www.artepublicopress.com
 

Top Hispanic Market Advertisers

According to research report "U.S. Hispanic Media Markets, 2000-2007" by HispanTelligence, monies spent by the top-50 advertisers to reach U.S. Hispanics from 2000-2004 grew from $658.37 million to $1.23 billion, an 87 percent increase. Among the biggest investors are Procter & Gamble, General Motors, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola. Most notable however, is Lexicon, developer of Inglés sin Barreras, a video-based English learning program, which increased its advertising from $12.56 to $75.00 million in little over a year, and is now challenging Procter & Gamble for the top position.

Sears Catering to Hispanic Women
Sears Holdings Corp. and Latina Media Ventures, the publisher of Latina magazine, said they would create a new line of apparel, footwear and handbags designed for Hispanic women. Brief available at msnbc.msn.com/id/7561914/
  

Study on Latinos: Jobs Up, Pay Down
While Hispanics saw their unemployment rate drop in 2004, the hiring occurred primarily in low-skill jobs that dragged down their overall average wages, a May 05 report shows. More details

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050503/NEWS/505030347/1001 




Few Women, Minorities Serve on Boards, Study Finds
By Amy Joyce, Washington Post, May 12, 2005
Sent by Howard Shorr  howardshorr@msn.com

  Despite a growing number of women and minorities in the workplace, the directors of corporate boards remain mostly white and male, according to a new report on Fortune 100 companies and their boards.

Women and minorities together account for less than a third of the directors on more than 60 percent of the boards examined, according to the report.

"There are very, very small numbers of representatives on these boards," said Ilene H. Lang, president of Catalyst, a New York organization that tracks women's progress in the workplace. "The business case for diversity on boards is very strong and compelling. . . . We document that in the highest levels of corporations, there is under-representation as compared to lower levels in organizations."

The study was compiled by the new Alliance for Board Diversity, a collaboration of Catalyst; the Executive Leadership Council, formed in 1986 to increase African American representation in the workplace; and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, whose mission is to
increase inclusion of Hispanics in corporations.

As of Sept. 30, women claimed 200 of 1,196 board directorships, while men accounted for 996, or 83 percent, of board membership. Minorities held 178 director positions, or 15 percent. Blacks held 120 board seats, with 27 of those held by women. Hispanics held 46 seats, or 4 percent, with women holding six of those positions. Asian Americans, meanwhile, held just 12 seats, with women holding only three seats.

Lang said many of the same minorities serve on multiple boards.

Only four boards -- those of DuPont, PepsiCo Inc., Walt Disney Co. and General Electric Co. -- included both black and Latino members as well as women. Eight companies have more than half of their board members from those groups, including Alcoa Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., WellPoint Health Networks Inc., Albertson's Inc., DuPont, Target Corp., and United Parcel Service Inc.

Bonnie G. Hill, an black woman who sits on Albertson's and five other corporate boards, said the study points out a "continued need to get women and minorities on boards, particularly given the fact women and minorities have done exceedingly well in corporate America."

She thinks the paucity of women and minorities on boards points to the theory that "we pick those who closely resemble us. I think it's an awareness that has to be brought to the forefront."  "It's important to understand where the gaps are," Hill said. "Without a doubt, you'll fill them with women and minorities."


      POEM BY JUDGE ROY MOORE 

    
The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. Judge Moore was recently sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten  Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship  and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama.
        
           

                America the Beautiful,
               or so you used to be.
            Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
             I'm glad they'll never see.

           Babies piled in dumpsters,
             Abortion on demand,
           Oh, sweet land of liberty;
             your house is on the sand.

           Our children wander aimlessly
             poisoned by cocaine,
           Choosing to indulge their lusts,
             when God has said abstain.

           From sea to shining sea,
             our Nation turns away
           From the teaching of God's love
             and a need to always pray.

           We've kept God in our temples,
             how callous we have grown.
           When earth is but His footstool,
             and Heaven is His throne.

          We've voted in a government
             that's rotting at the core,
           Appointing Godless Judges
             who throw reason out the door,

          
            Too soft to place a killer
             in a well deserved tomb,
           But brave enough to kill a baby
             before he leaves the womb.

         You think that God's not angry,
             that our land's a moral slum?
           How much longer will He wait
             before His judgment comes?

           How are we to face our God,
             from Whom we cannot hide?
           What then is left for us to do,
             but stem this evil tide?

           If we who are His children,
             will humbly turn and pray;
                 Seek His holy face
             and mend our evil way:

           Then God will hear from Heaven
             and forgive us of our sins,
           He'll heal our sickly land
             and those who live within.

           But, America the Beautiful,
             if you don't - then you will see,
           A sad but Holy God
              withdraw His hand from Thee.

           ~Judge Roy Moore~
Payments to Help Hospitals Care for Illegal Immigrants by Robert Pear, 
The New York Times, 5/10/05
Sent by John Inclan

WASHINGTON, May 9 - The Bush administration announced on Monday that it would start paying hospitals and doctors for providing emergency care to illegal immigrants.

The money, totaling $1 billion, will be available for services provided from Tuesday through September 2008. Congress provided the money as part of the 2003 law that expanded Medicare to cover prescription drugs, but the new payments have nothing to do with the Medicare program.

Members of Congress from border states, like Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, had sought the money. They said the treatment of illegal immigrants imposed a huge financial burden on many hospitals, which are required to provide emergency care to patients who need it, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay.

Under the new program, hospitals are supposed to ask patients for certain documents to substantiate claims for payment. But Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said a hospital should not directly ask a patient "if he or she is an undocumented alien."

Instead, Dr. McClellan said, hospitals can try to establish a patient's status by analyzing the answers to "indirect questions": Is the person eligible for Medicaid? (If so, payment is generally not available under the new program.) Has the person reported a foreign place of birth? Does the person have a border-crossing card like those issued to Mexican citizens? Does the person have a foreign passport, a foreign driver's license or a foreign identification card?

The Bush administration abandoned a proposal that would have required many hospitals to ask patients if they were United States citizens or legal immigrants. 

"In no circumstances are hospitals required to ask people about their citizenship status," Dr. McClellan said on Monday.

Hospital executives and immigrant rights groups had said such questions would deter illegal immigrants from seeking hospital care and could lead to serious public health problems by increasing the spread of communicable diseases.

Cecilia Muñoz, a vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, said the new requirements were an improvement over the original proposal but would still discourage some immigrants from seeking treatment.

"Hospitals will have to ask confusing, highly technical questions about immigration documents," Ms. Muñoz said. "That will create a perception in the Latino community that you have to show your papers in order to get emergency care. That's a misperception, but it may be enough to deter some people from seeking care."

The new program is run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. McClellan said the department would not provide information about illegal immigrants to law enforcement officials for use in "routine civil immigration proceedings." But in rare cases, he said, the information may be used in criminal investigations.

The largest allocations this fiscal year are going to California, which will receive $70.8 million; Texas, $46 million; Arizona, $45 million; New York, $12.3 million; Illinois, $10.3 million; Florida, $8.7 million; and New Mexico, $5.1 million.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, said she was pleased that the money was being made available, even as she called for new efforts to "secure our borders."

Before tapping the new program, hospitals and doctors must seek payment from other sources, like Medicaid and private insurers.

The Bush administration emphasized that hospitals "should not single out individuals who look or sound foreign for closer scrutiny."

"Hospital and other provider personnel may not selectively screen individuals regarding their eligibility status on the basis of race, color or national origin," the guidelines say.

Jan Emerson, a spokeswoman for the California Hospital Association, said California hospitals provided $500 million a year in emergency care for illegal immigrants, seven times the amount of the federal grant. But Ms. Emerson welcomed the new assistance, saying: "This is a highly symbolic first step. The federal government is finally acknowledging that it has a responsibility to pay for health care provided to illegal immigrants."

Under the guidelines, hospitals are expected to make photocopies of documents indicating a patient's immigration status. They will not ordinarily have to submit such documents to the government, but must keep them for review by federal auditors.

         X X X X X X X X 


Study on Latinos: Jobs up, Pay down
By Chris O'Brien, San Jose Mercury News
Sent by Howard Shorr  howardshorr@msn.com

While Hispanics saw their unemployment rate drop in 2004, the hiring occurred primarily in low-skill jobs that dragged down their overall average wages, a report released Monday shows.

The findings from the Pew Hispanic Center suggests that the result is a growing polarization between Hispanic and non-Hispanic workers who are having more luck finding jobs at higher pay.

``The job picture has recovered,'' said Rakesh Kochhar, a senior research associate at the Pew Hispanic Center. ``But it seems like we've paid the prices in terms of wages.''

In March, Latino unemployment hit 5.7 percent -- down more a peak of 8.2 percent in 2003. For non-Hispanics, unemployment is down to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent in 2003.

However, average wages for Latinos have dropped 5 percent over the past two years, according to the Pew report.

Still, the study makes clear that Latinos continue to play an integral part in the U.S. economy. Hispanic workers were hired to fill about 1 million of the 2.5 million new jobs last year, according to the Pew report, which analyzed statistical information gathered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Kochhar said that while he expected to see unemployment rates fall, he was surprised by the drop in average wages. He said growing competition among Hispanic immigrants may be helping to drive pay levels down for many of these jobs.

At the same time, Kochhar noted that Hispanics continue to immigrate because employers are eager and willing to higher them, especially in areas like construction and service industry jobs.

That's not a surprise for Rosemary Romo, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 715, which covers Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Romo said many of the union's members are county employees who have been fighting pay and job cuts in recent years. Still, she knows they're attractive to many local employers seeking to hire people for low-wage jobs.

``There's a demand for people to do those jobs,'' Romo said. ``The Latino community, they just want to work to feed their family.''

Among the key findings of the report:

• Hispanic employment levels grew by 1 million workers -- or 6 percent -- in 2004. The ranks of unemployed Latinos fell by 48,000 workers.

• Latinos entering the country between 2000 and 2004 were hired to fill more than one-third of all new jobs in the United States last year.

• Eighty-one percent of new jobs for foreign-born Latinos and 76 percent of new jobs for native-born Latinos were in fields demanding minimal education. By comparison, 64 percent of new jobs for native-born white workers required at least a college education.

• Weekly earnings fell 2.2 percent in 2003 and 2.6 percent in 2004 for Hispanics, who were the only group of workers who experienced two consecutive years of wage declines.

Report can be found at http://pewhispanic.org

              X X X X X X X X

Introducing S.H.E. - StayHomeEntrepreneur.com
 
It is for moms who have started their own businesses while raising their children and tending the home.  Consider joining with us in this for the publicity and potential.  It is only $20 per year! 

Let us know if you are interested (and if so, please feel free to eMail info for publishing - your pop-up could be live soon).  The SHOP page will be a business directory so that we can all refer  one another, shop among our circle when appropriate and etc.  LINKS will provide business tools and other online resources.  We already have interest in the site from Working Mother and Latina magazines...  and we've only just begun.  

Home Sweet Success, Tamara & Addy
StayHomeEntrepreneur@yahoo.com


              X X X X X X X X

U.S. Hispanic purchasing power has surged to nearly $700 billion and is projected to reach as much as $1 trillion by 2010, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence®.

The rate of growth is nearly three times the overall national rate over the past decade and will propel the aggregate disposable income of the nation's largest minority group to $699.78 billion in 2004, according to a HispanTelligence® analysis of data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Hispanic Business, May 2004 
http://www.hispanicbusiness.
com/news/newsbyid.asp?fpa=0&id=16041

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions 
by Eduardo Porter
The New York Times,  4/5/05
Sent by John Inclan

Stockton, Calif. - Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, Ángel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour. 

Not surprisingly, Mr. Martínez, 28, has not given much thought to Social Security's long-term financial problems. But Mr. Martínez - who comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and hiked for two days through the desert to enter the United States near Tecate, some 20 miles east of Tijuana - contributes more than most Americans to the solvency of the nation's public retirement system. 

Last year, Mr. Martínez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martínez is not entitled to benefits.

He belongs to a big club. As the debate over Social Security heats up, the estimated seven million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year. 

While it has been evident for years that illegal immigrants pay a variety of taxes, the extent of their contributions to Social Security is striking: the money added up to about 10 percent of last year's surplus - the difference between what the system currently receives in payroll taxes and what it doles out in pension benefits. Moreover, the money paid by illegal workers and their employers is factored into all the Social Security Administration's projections.

It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake ID's to get a job. 

Currently available for about $150 on street corners in just about any immigrant neighborhood in California, a typical fake ID package includes a green card and a Social Security card. It provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal. It also means that workers must be paid by the book - with payroll tax deductions.

    IRCA, as the immigration act is known, did little to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants or to discourage them from working. But for Social Security's finances, it was a great piece of legislation. 

    Starting in the late 1980's, the Social Security Administration received a flood of W-2 earnings reports with incorrect - sometimes simply fictitious - Social Security numbers. It stashed them in what it calls the "earnings suspense file" in the hope that someday it would figure out whom they belonged to.

    The file has been mushrooming ever since: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's, two and a half times the amount of the 1980's. 

    In the current decade, the file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year, generating $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes. 

    In 2002 alone, the last year with figures released by the Social Security Administration, nine million W-2's with incorrect Social Security numbers landed in the suspense file, accounting for $56 billion in earnings, or about 1.5 percent of total reported wages.

    Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant. 

    "Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes," said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration. 

    Other researchers say illegal immigrants are the main contributors to the suspense file. "Illegal immigrants account for the vast majority of the suspense file," said Nick Theodore, the director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Especially its growth over the 1990's, as more and more undocumented immigrants entered the work force."

    Using data from the Census Bureau's current population survey, Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocacy group in Washington that favors more limits on immigration, estimated that 3.8 million households headed by illegal immigrants generated $6.4 billion in Social Security taxes in 2002.

    A comparative handful of former illegal immigrant workers who have obtained legal residence have been able to accredit their previous earnings to their new legal Social Security numbers. Mr. Camarota is among those opposed to granting a broad amnesty to illegal immigrants, arguing that, among other things, they might claim Social Security benefits and put further financial stress on the system. 

    The mismatched W-2's fit like a glove on illegal immigrants' known geographic distribution and the patchwork of jobs they typically hold. An audit found that more than half of the 100 employers filing the most earnings reports with false Social Security numbers from 1997 through 2001 came from just three states: California, Texas and Illinois. According to an analysis by the Government Accountability Office, about 17 percent of the businesses with inaccurate W-2's were restaurants, 10 percent were construction companies and 7 percent were farm operations. 

    Most immigration helps Social Security's finances, because new immigrants tend to be of working age and contribute more than they take from the system. A simulation by Social Security's actuaries found that if net immigration ran at 1.3 million a year instead of the 900,000 in their central assumption, the system's 75-year funding gap would narrow to 1.67 percent of total payroll, from 1.92 percent - savings that come out to half a trillion dollars, valued in today's money.

    Illegal immigrants help even more because they will never collect benefits. According to Mr. Goss, without the flow of payroll taxes from wages in the suspense file, the system's long-term funding hole over 75 years would be 10 percent deeper.

    Yet to immigrants, the lack of retirement benefits is just part of the package of hardship they took on when they decided to make the trek north. Tying vines in a vineyard some 30 miles north of Stockton, Florencio Tapia, 20, from Guerrero, along Mexico's Pacific coast, has no idea what the money being withheld from his paycheck is for. "I haven't asked," Mr. Tapia said.

    For illegal immigrants, Social Security numbers are simply a tool needed to work on this side of the border. Retirement does not enter the picture.

    "There will be a moment when I won't be able to continue working," Mr. Martínez acknowledges. "But that's many years off."

    Mario Avalos, a naturalized Nicaraguan immigrant who prepares income tax returns for many workers in the area, including immigrants without legal papers, observes that many older workers return home to Mexico. "Among my clients," he said, "I can't recall anybody over 60 without papers."

    No doubt most illegal immigrants would prefer to avoid Social Security altogether. As part of its efforts to properly assign the growing pile of unassigned wages, Social Security sends about 130,000 letters a year to employers with large numbers of mismatched pay statements.

    Though not an intended consequence of these so-called no-match letters, in many cases employers who get them dismiss the workers affected. Or the workers - fearing that immigration authorities might be on their trail - just leave. 

    Last February, for instance, discrepancies in Social Security numbers put an end to the job of Minerva Ortega, 25, from Zacatecas, in northern Mexico, who worked in the cheese department at a warehouse for Mike Campbell & Associates, a distributor for Trader Joe's, a popular discount food retailer with a large operation in California. 

    The company asked dozens of workers to prove that they had cleared up or were in the process of clearing up the "discrepancy between the information on our payroll related to your employment and the S.S.A.'s records." Most could not.

    Ms. Ortega said about 150 workers lost their jobs. In a statement, Mike Campbell said that it did not fire any of the workers, but Robert Camarena, a company official, acknowledged that many left.

    Ms. Ortega is now looking for work again. She does not want to go back to the fields, so she is holding out for a better-paid factory job. Whatever work she finds, though, she intends to go on the payroll with the same Social Security number she has now, a number that will not jibe with federal records. 

    With this number, she will continue paying taxes. Last year she paid about $1,200 in Social Security taxes, matched by her employer, on an income of $19,000.

    
Latin Business Association  lbanews@lbausa.com
120 South San Pedro Street, Suite 530 
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 628-8510

Hispanic advertising pie - estimated at $3.7 television will see a 9.5 percent increase in advertising spending this year, outpacing the 2.9 percent increase predicted for non-Latino networks, according to data from TNS 

The U.S. Hispanic market is now the fastest-growing segment in the U.S. film industry. 
Alliance For Board Diversity Launches!Uniting under the common goal of increasing representation of women and minorities on corporate boards, three leadership organizations-Catalyst, The Executive Leadership Council, and Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) announced their collaboration as the Alliance for Board Diversity and released the results of their first joint research, Women and Minorities on Fortune 100 Boards, which assesses diversity in the boardrooms of the Fortune 100 companies. In sharing the results of this benchmark study, the Alliance for Board Diversity called attention to the business imperative for advancing inclusion on corporate boards.  More...

Only 14.9% of board seats are held by a minority individual. Minority women fare worst of all, holding just 3% of board seats in the Fortune 100. * Particularly low is representation of Hispanics, who hold 3.9% of board seats.

 

SURNAME: LOPEZ/LOPES




http://shop.store.yahoo.com/4crests/misc.html
Source: Coat of Arms and Family Crests

 

LOPEZ, the 6th most common surname among modem Hispanic families in the United States and the 5th most popular in Spain. It is patronymic deriving its origin from the Latin "lupo," lupe, lope, meaning wolf. The very popular Lupe, used for both men and women as a first name does not originate from wolf. Lupe as a first name comes from Guadalupe which is Arabic in root.

Of the men who accompanied Cortes in 1521, the second most frequent surname was Lopez, twenty two men named Lopez, twenty four men named Femandez. A survey of surname frequency in the 17th century in northeastern Nuevo España placed Lopez in 6th place, which interestingly 300 years later still holds.

Lopez men came to Nueva Espana from all parts of Spain, Jaen, Cordoba, Salamanca, Asturias, and Seville. Most, however, came from Seville. The background and occupations varied from Jeronimo Lopez, Hidalgo as occupation, to Pedro Lopez, Physician to Martin Lopez, a ship's carpenter.

No one played a bigger part in the conquest of Tenochtitlan, save Cortes, then did Martin Lopez. Lopez was 26 years old when he arrived in the Indies in 1516. He spent a year in Cuba before joining the 1519 entrada with Cortes. The son of a Spanish carpenter, he was taken on as ships's carpenter. Although not the position Martin had wanted, it was his skill and knowledge that played a key role in the success of the conquest. It was he that fashioned a kind of wooden mobile fortress armed with guns and small cannons by which the small army escaped out of the Aztec capitol. It was he who devised the strategy for fighting against the 1,000 war canoes which made up the Aztec navy,

From a base high in the mountains with the Tiaxcala nation, Martin directed the building of 13 brigantines from scratch, improvising with found materials. Ship's riggings and sails which had been saved from their ocean voyage were used. After testing their sea worthiness, the ships were dismantled. On Christmas day and with the help of 2,000 Tiaxcalan Indians, the traveling navy began its descent. Ship pieces were carried the 60-mile four-day trek over the 11,000 foot mountain pass.

The city Texcoco was captured easily. Martin Lopez directed the construction of dry docks inside the city and lock and dams, from the lake to the city. On April 28, 1521, after a solemn mass, a salute was fired and the prefabricated vessels entered the water. The small vessels with no wind for their sails were almost surrounded by Aztec canoes, when a miraculous wind suddenly filled the ships' sails and gave them the victory. Martin Lopez's carpenter skills and creative brilliance had succeeded in capturing Tenochtitlan. Martin Lopez, son of Cristobal Diaz Narices and Estefania Rodriguez was rewarded with part of an encomienda and several land grants. He also received three different coats of arms, dated 21 December 1539, 15 May 1550, and 20 May 1551. His first wife, Ines Ramirez of Seville, died before 1529, and in 1533 in Seville, he married Juana Hemandez. He fathered 10, 5 boys.

By Mimi Lozano.  This article was first published in Spanish in the EXCELSIOR, November 25, 1992. Our organization wrote a series of surname articles.  They were submitted to the EXCELSIOR in English and translated into Spanish by the newspaper's staff.

 

Recommended:  Heraldaria.com  http://www.heraldaria.com/  
Sent by Bill Carmena  JCarm1724@aol.com 

 

Galvez Patriots

Recalling Spirit of 1782
Texas Connection to the American Revolution




Left to right Ernestine McGovern, Chumash descendant; Jarrell Jackman presidio comandante, Felipe de Goicoechea; and Michael Hardwick, Neve



Founding Day Speech, 
Santa Barbara, California
by 
Michael Hardwick 
as
Felipe de Neve
April 23, 2005


Good afternoon. I am Colonel Felipe de Neve, governor of both of the Californias and founder of the Presidio in Santa Bárbara. I first came to Alta California in 1777 to establish the seat of Provincial government in Monterey for both Alta and Baja California. As I traveled this area along the Channel Coast, I noticed a huge Native American population. Spanish settlements existed at San Gabriel Mission and San Luis Obispo with nothing in between.

The Province in 1777 had only 146 soldiers. The soldiers were short of rations, poorly paid, and resentful of service. Indians in California were far from submissive. Missions in San Diego and San Luis Obispo had just recently been burned. Mission San Juan Capistrano was abandoned after an Indian revolt at the San Diego Presidio. As I traveled the area along the Channel Coast, I became convinced that a revolt of the native population in this area could literally cut the Province in two.

I felt that it was necessary to fortify this area. Consequently, I wrote a new law for California (Reglamento) in 1781. This Reglamento provided for a presidio in Santa Bárbara, which was to be supported by 3 missions. The proposed missions were San Buenaventura to the South (founded 1782), Santa Bárbara near the Presidio in Santa Bárbara (founded 1786), and finally La Purísima Concepción to the North (founded 1787) in what is now Lompoc.

I also felt that it was necessary to support the California presidio garrisons with agricultural products to augment annual supply by sea from San Blas, Mexico. As a result, I founded two pueblos as agricultural towns. They were Pueblo San José in the North (founded 1777) and Pueblo Los Angeles to the South (founded 1782).

The California Province was a bastion of defense against foreign powers. The British and Russians had interests in this coast. Please keep in mind that the presidio in Santa Bárbara was part of Northern New Spain. In 1782 Spanish territory extended from the Pacific Ocean in the West to the Atlantic Ocean in the East and included the Provinces of La Florida and Louisiana.

In 1782 Spain was at war with Great Britain. Spain was engaged in a victorious struggle against British forces in Florida and the Mississippi Valley. She was allied with the French and the American colonies in the East. British General, Lord Cornwallis, had just been defeated at Yorktown in 1781. We have a Spanish officer here today from the Spanish Louisiana Regiment who will enlighten us of our struggle with British interests in the east. His name is Colonel Bernardo de Gálvez.

When Spanish soldiers arrived in Santa Bárbara to establish the presidio, the first people that they met were the local Chumash Indians. Yanunali greeted the Spanish here at the presidio. He was a Chumash chieftain who ruled 13 villages in Santa Bárbara from Rincon point to La Patera in Goleta. As governor I plied Yanunali with gifts. The presidial commander, Lt. Francisco Ortega, told Yanunali that the Spanish had come in peace to build a fort that would protect everyone from danger including the local Indians who were often the target of raids of marauding tribes from the great interior valley beyond the mountains.

Yanunali was persuaded by his own people to cooperate with the Spanish. And so it was with the help of Yanunali and the local Chumash people that the presidio was even built. The Chumash remained great friends of the Spanish at the presidio, and were rewarded and paid for their services.

After many years Yanunali was converted to Christianity, adopted the name "Pedro", and when he died in 1805 at the age of 68 he was buried at the Mission of Santa Bárbara. His son is interred here in the presidio chapel.

Now it is with great pride that I introduce you to a descendant of the Chumash people, Ernestine McGovern. Ernestine will tell us more of the Chumash people of the Santa Bárbara area


Left to right Soldado Leroy Martinez from Orange County, Michael Hardwick as Col. Neve, 
Jim Martinez as comandante Lt. Francisco Ortega, and Hector Diaz as Col Bernardo de Gálvez.  

 


Texas Connection to the American Revolution





Historical Points from talk given by 
Jack Cowan, President  
Texas Connection to the American Revolution
at the 
Fort Sam Houston Preservation Society  
May 17th


A. In June 1781, Paul de Grasse, the French Admiral of the French navy with 26 ships-of-the-line was put under command of the Spanish General Bernardo de Galvez for a joint invasion of Jamaica.
 
B. Francisco Saaverda, acting for Galvez and Grasse met on the French ship Le Ville de Paris at Cap Francias in what is now Haiti, to plan the invasion when word arrived that while British General Clinton was fortifying New York, General Cornwallis had moved south to Yorktown thus splitting the British force with the navy in support of New York.
 
C. The opportunity was too great to miss. Saavedra sent Grasse with 5,000 troops to Yorktown to surround Cornwallis and deal a crushing blow to the British.
 
D. But there was a big problem – the French had no money to pay their troops or the operation on Yorktown and the Spanish money to finance the Jamaica invasion had not yet left Veracruz with the silver from the mines of Zacatecas (Mexico).
 
E. Saavedra instructed Grasse to sail toward Yorktown and he would take a  fast frigate to Havana and somehow raise the money. He would then meet Grasse at the “Latitude of Matanzas” with the money. 
 
F. At Havana, the hat was passed and the Spanish people raised 500,000 Pesos which Saaverda then sailed to Grasse and the Battle of Yorktown was set.
 
 “Grasse himself later wrote that the victory at Yorktown on October 1781 happened because of the money supplied by Havana. That money, he wrote, might in truth be regarded as “the bottom dollars” upon which the edifice of American independence was raised.”
   From “When the French Were Here” by Stephen Bonsal
 “Spain and the Independence of the United States” by Thomas Chavez

For more information, contact Jack Cowan JVC4321@aol.com
Texas Connection to the American Revolution  




 

 

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Golden West President, Wes Bryan speaks at LDS Institute of Religion 
City of Orange Photographic Session,Shades of Orange, 2005 
Mexican American Award received by Kathryn Peralta
May 21st Corridos Update

 



Photo by Jynene Johnson

April 15, 2005
Institute of Religion, Huntington Beach, California
Photo by Jynene Johnson

 

The new President of Golden West College, Wes Bryan, spoke to students attending a lunch lecture at the Institute of Religion in Huntington Beach, California. Bryan took over as the seventh president of Golden West on January 1. Bryan had served as the vice president of instruction at Golden West since 1999. Prior to that, he was a speech communication instructor at the college for more than 20 years. 

Golden West College was founded in 1966 as the second college in the Coast Community College District. It serves an approximate annual enrollment of 40,000 students each year seeking lower division higher education courses towards a four-year degree, as well as training in nursing, criminal justice, technology and other career-oriented programs.

Over the last 20 years, my children and grandchildren have taken classes at Golden West College 
Also, I taught at Golden West College as a part time teacher between 1975-1980.  My interest in hearing President Bryan speak, within a small group, was to ask if any special programs were in place for Latinos.

I found out that in collaboration with the University of California, a program is in place, Puente designed to assist Latinos to transfer to a College or University where the students can earn a college degree.  The Puente program is committed to assisting first-generation, educationally disadvantaged/underserved students prepare to make the transfer.  Students enroll for a year and get specific help in the very needed area of English composition skills, college and career planning.  Remembering my needs as an undergraduate at UCLA many years ago, Puente sounds like a perfect base of support. For more on the Puente program, please go to http://www.puente.net

President Bryan's message was one of encouragement.  Using himself as an example, Bryan personalized the message when he shared the fact that it had taken him 8 years to get his Bachelor's degree. He just didn't give up, and neither should they, he told them strongly.

He spoke about the community college system which supports changes, catching up, making up, along the way allowing for alternate paths for getting an education.  Golden West College is quite innovative in its use of technology.  Bryan mentioned the wide range of online classes offered, and his projection that in the future 80% of the students will opt to take basic classes online. 

Golden West College will soon be the first college to offer a program on creating/developing/writing computer games as a profession. It was an excellent talk.  

The Institutes of Religion where the luncheon was held is an one of the educational programs of the Church of  Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Institutes of Religion are maintained close to colleges to assist the youth in adjusting to college demands, as a support system in addition to offering classes.

I am in purple in the photo.  The kneeling young man to the left  towers above me when he stands at 6 foot three.  Seeing Kevin reminds me of how the time has passed.  His mom and my daughter were high school friends.

 



SHADES OF ORANGE, 2005
Saving and sharing our history
We need your photographs of Cypress Street Barrio!

PHOTO DAYS, Cypress Street Barrio
Saturday, June 4, 10:00 a.m. -" 5:30 p.m
Sunday, June 5, 12:00 noon - 5:30 p.m

Orange Public Library 101 North Center Street Orange, California
(Corner of North Center and East Chapman) 

Please help preserve the history of the Cypress Street Barrio by bringing in your family albums and personal photo collections to the Orange Public Main Library. We will duplicate your photographs while you wait, then put them in the Local History Collection at the library so that they're available for everyone to see and use. We are interested in seeing all of your photographs! Some areas of special interest include:
History of the Mexican settlement
Cypress Street School 
 Sunkist packing house 
Anaconda Wire & Cable 
California Cordage 

In addition, we would like to interview and videotape longtime residents of the area, as part of Chapman University's documentation of Cypress Street Barrio history.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Rosemarie Williams at (714) 288-2472.

Shades of Orange Cypress Street Barrio Photo Days is sponsored by the Orange Barrio Historical Society (contact Leo M. Castro or Helen Poblano Castro at (714) 538-3758), Old Towne Preservation Association, Orange Public Library and the City of Orange, Chapman University and EDAW, inc. 


SHADES OF ORANGE - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

QUESTION:  What format of photographs are you looking for? A. We will work with any size B&W and color prints and negatives as well as slides. We prefer to work from the originals, as opposed to digitized copy prints. P. How do you decide which photographs ore historically important? 
ANSWER: We would like to see photos that you feel ore important, but we would also like to see photos that you may not think? are of historic value. Very often there is historic value and Interest in what is going on in the background of photos. A photograph provides a visual record of people, places, and events. 

QUESTION: What subjects are you interested in? 
ANSWER: We are Interested in a wide variety of subjects; here are some examples; 
• Family Life - homes/houses, family gatherings, vacations, celebrations 
• Community/Social Life - schools, graduations, holidays, parades, religious observances 
• Work Life - people at work. businesses, agriculture, uniforms 
• City and Neighborhoods - buildings, tourist attractions, cemeteries, park's 
• Transportation - cars. trucks. trains, buses, bicycles 
• Especially needed for the Chapman University study: History of the Mexican settlement. Cypress Street School, the Sunkist packing house, California Wire & Coble (Anaconda West Bldg, 204 N. Cypress), and California Cordage Plant (Anaconda EastBldg. demolished), the old Friendly Center, mural on garages at 400 N. Cypress St., 337 & 343 N. Cypress St.. 328 & 336 N, Lemon St 

QUESTION:  Will you be keeping my photographs? 
ANSWER:  Copy prints or digital scans will be mode on site of your photographs so you will not have to part with your originals. If It ts more convenient for you, we can have the copies made at the photo studio and return the originals within a week or less, so that you don't have to wait or if you are unable to attend the Photo Day.

QUESTION:  Some of my photos are fading and out of focus; should I bring them anyway? ANSWER:  Bring everything! Our first choice technically is clear, In-focus prints, but if a subject is of value and the only Image, we may choose to copy the photo anyway.

Photographs from family albums are highly valued by researchers precisely because they are documents produced from within the community. They can offer information not found in images taken by commercial or government photographers, documenting the personal history of the families and their environment. Photograph albums give families a sense of belonging. They include valuable information about the past-portraits of ancestors-possibly providing clues to who we are now, snapshots taken of ageless rituals and ordinary daily life. The albums assure us that our place in this family Is recorded for us and for our children. Browsing through snapshots, portraits, and personal mementos, we are reminded of what is Important—family, friends, and the community. 

Source: Doug Westfall ParagonA@pacbell.net

The Mexican American Award was given by Manuel Esqueda to Kathryn Peralta during a celebration at the home of Teresa Maldonado Parker in Santa Ana, honoring Kathryn.

It reads " Congratulations on your graduation from Chapman College . We are proud of you. Kathryn is recognized "for promoting unity and pride in education."

The Illustration has the figures of an American eagle and a Mexican eagle. The text reads:
Two symbolic eagles . . . one identity.

Kathryn received her Masters of Education. She is a 3rd grade teacher with the Santa Ana School District.  Very active in the community, she is President of the Santa Ana LULAC Chapter #3097, Nuestro Pueblo.  

Manuel Esqueda is the founder and President of Los Serafinas, an organization dedicated to encouraging Latino leadership and service to the community.  For over 50 years Esqueda has been involved in educational support for young people. In 1954, with the cooperation and collaboration of the Orange County Department of Education, Esqueda founded the Gemini Club to distribute scholarships to Orange County students based on scholastic achievement. 

Kathryn said "I am honored to have received the award., it was totally unexpected. I have frequently talked to Manuel Esqueda about the Hispanic community and what needs to be done. He has been a wise and supportive mentor. Kathryn has taken some of her family lines in New Mexico back to 1751. Among her surnames are Peralta, Nino Ladron de Guevara, Sandoval and Torres.

(Look for: The July issue of Somos Primos will carry a complete story on Mr. Manuel Esqueda life-long dedication to education and the community.)

 

May 21 Update: Photo on right: Dr. Guillermo Hernandez, his wife Yolanda and SHHAR program chair, Viola Rodriguez Sadler.

Dr. Hernandez kept his audience totally attentive to his presentation on the Corridos on May 21st.

One attendee said, " I can't believe the time, I thought it was about half and hour, not an hour and a half!"

 


Laura Arechebala Shane on the right, is retiring as a SHHAR Board member. Laura received a plaque recognizing her many years of service to SHHAR.  Her contributions included uniting researchers one with another with the use of a member database that included the family names and locations that members were searching. That included saving the data and sending letters. 

In addition Laura was a on staff most of the years during which  Somos Primos was a print publication (1990-December 1999). We will miss her dedication. 


LOS ANGELES, CA

Olvera St. 1930-2005, Celebrating 75 Years of Culture, Pride & Promise
The Four Latino Mayors of Los Angeles
Our Honors - The Mayors
The First Families of Los Angeles, are You Related to them?
The Expedition of 1781, the Founding of Los Angeles
Taking Part in History: the Founding of Los Angeles
La América Tropical, 1932 David Alfara Siqueiros
Putting an ear to the vision

 

 



OLVERA STREET
1930-2005

CELEBRATING 75 YEARS 

OF CULTURE, PRIDE AND PROMISE

 


Descendants of the early families that settled Los Angeles participated in the festivities, as well wishers who lined the streets to enjoy the parade.  Above Bob Lopez cuts a cake at the Pico Hotel.



Photos sent by Early California descendant, 
Bob Smith,Regriffith6828@aol.com  



In Celebration of Olvera Street's 75th Anniversary, a special historical exhibit is in place. The exhibit is in the Pico House and is free, opened daily from 9 am to 3 pm  and well worth the trip.  Plans are to keep the exhibit in place until the end of the year.

Las Angelitas, El Pueblo's docent organization, provides free tours to groups Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. of  Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical National Monument.

A self-guided tour brochure describing the historic buildings is available at the Information Desk in the Plaza or at the El Pueblo Visitors Center, located in the Sepulveda House midway down Olvera Street on the west side.

The Visitor Center also offers a free 18 minute film: "Pueblo of Promise" about the history and the development of the City of Los Angeles.

Individuals interested in joining Las Angelitas can obtain information by calling (213) 628-1274 or visiting www.lasangelitas.org

 

 



THE FOUR LATIN0 MAYORS OF LOS ANGELES

By John P. Schmal

 


Since its founding by Mexican settlers in 1781, Los Angeles has played an important role in California politics. Even while the administration of the state was concentrated in the north, Los Angeles continued to hold sway over California’s political direction.

For the first seven decades of its existence, Los Angeles was guided by Spanish and Mexican administrators. However, after the end of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), a series of Anglo-American and French Mayors were elected to office, starting with Stephen C. Foster, a Yale University graduate who had only arrived in Los Angeles in 1847 (as an interpreter for the Mormon Battalion).

However, since 1848 and the beginning of American control of Los Angeles, four Latinos have served as Mayor of Los Angeles. The first three mayors had the benefit of having served as administrators or council members of the City before the American occupation.

Antonio Francisco (Franco) Coronel

(May 3, 1853 – May 4, 1854)

In 1853, Antonio Francisco Coronel became Mayor of Los Angeles. Born on October 21, 1817 in Mexico City, Antonio had come to California with his parents in 1834. Antonio’s father, Jose Ygnacio Franco Coronel, had been born in Mexico City around 1795.

Ygnacio Coronel joined the Spanish army and very quickly rose to the rank of corporal of the cavalry (1814). In 1802 he had been married to Maria Josefa Francisca Romero, a native of Toluca. In 1837, Ygnacio brought his family to Los Angeles, where he started a new life as a civilian. Before his death, Ygnacio taught school, ran a small store, served as secretary of the Ayuntamiento, and enjoyed agricultural pursuits.

Antonio Francisco (more commonly referred to as Antonio Franco) was 17 years old when he first came to California. In 1838, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Tribunals for the City of Los Angeles. And in 1843, he became a Justice of the Peace in the City (the equivalent of Mayor at that time).

When the threat of war loomed, Antonio entered the military to serve his state. He served as a Captain and Sergeant-at-arms in the Mexican Artillery and took part in military operations against the United States in 1846-47 during the Mexican-American War. Once the war had ended, however, Antonio started a career in the service of his new constituency and served as County Assessor in 1850-1851.

In California’s first census under American rule, 32-year-old Antonio F. Coronel was tallied in the large household of his parents, Ignacio and Francisca Coronel. His profession was listed as merchant and he owned real estate valued at $8,000.

In the years to come, Antonio Franco Coronel would become very active in Los Angeles politics. He served as a member of the Los Angeles Council for several years between 1854 and 1867 and as State Treasurer from 1867 to 1871.

On December 18, 1873, Antonio was married at the Los Angeles Plaza Church to Mariana Williamson, a native of San Antonio, Texas. Antonio was 55 years old and Mariana was 23 years old at the time of their marriage. Mariana was the daughter of Nelson Williamson, a native of Maine, and of Gertrude Roman, a Mexicano Tejano woman from Los Brazos river area. At the age of nine, Mrs. Coronel’s father had brought Mariana to California, where her fluency in both English and Spanish earned her respect among many of her neighbors.

Even after his retirement from politics, Antonio F. Coronel retired to his orange orchard to concentrate on agricultural pursuits, earning great respect from his fellow Angelinos until his death on April 17, 1894 at the age of 77.

Manuel Requena

Acting Mayor (September 22, 1856 – October 4, 1856)

The second Latino Mayor of Los Angeles during the American Era was Manuel Requena, who, as Los Angeles Council President, briefly took office as Acting Mayor.

Manuel Requena was born around 1802 in the Yucatan, Mexico, and came to California by sea, after leaving the Mexican port of Guaymas (Sonora) in 1834. A trader by profession, Señor Requena sold his vessel on arriving in California and immediately became involved in Los Angeles politics. Not long after his arrival in his adopted homeland, Señor Requena was elected to serve as Alcalde of Mexican Los Angeles in 1836-1837 and 1844.

In California, Manuel Requena was married to Gertrudis Guirado. In 1850, after the American occupation, 50-year-old Manuel Requena was tallied in the Federal Census. A native of Mexico, Requena stated that he owned $14,500 of real estate. Living with Manuel was his 32-year-old wife, Gertrudes, and their four sons: Mattias, Juan, Geronimo and Jose.

During the American Period, Manuel Requena wielded the most influence as a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, where he served several terms (1850-54, 1856, 1864-68). In the 1870 census, Manuel Requena was listed as a 68-year-old retired merchant, who owned $20,000 of real estate and $3,000 of personal estate. His wife, Gertrudes, was 40 years old by this time. One son was still living with them at that time. Well respected by his peers and neighbors, Mayor Requena died in 1876 at the age of 72.

Cristobal Aguilar

(May 10, 1866 – December 7, 1868, December 9, 1870 – December 5, 1872)

The third Latino Mayor of Los Angeles was Cristobal Aguilar who served two separate terms as Mayor. Cristobal Aguilar was born in 1816 as the son of Jose Maria Aguilar and Maria Ygnacia Elizalde. The Aguilar family had played an important role in the California military and politics for several decades by the time that Cristobal came of age.

Cristobal Aguilar was married to Maria Dolores Yorba at San Gabriel Mission on October 31, 1848. Maria Dolores was a descendant of the famous Yorba family of Orange County. In the early years of the American Period, Cristobal Aguilar made a name for himself as one of the most visible members of the Los Angeles Common Council, serving several terms (1850, 1855-56, 1858-59, 1861-62).

Cristobal served as Mayor from 1866 to 1868. As Mayor, Aguilar signed an ordinance in 1866 to set aside five acres of land as "a Public Square or Plaza, for the use and benefit of the Citizens in common." This public square is now known as Pershing Square.

Then, in the 1870 census, 56-year-old Cristoval Aguilar was tallied in the Federal Census as a resident of Los Angeles Township. When asked for his occupation, Mr. Aguilar told the census taker that he was "Ex-Mayor of Los Angeles." He proudly pointed out that he was a native of California and noted that he owned $1,600 of real estate and $200 of personal estate.

Cristobal’s wife, Dolores, was 38 at the time of the census and was also a native of California. Living with them were four children: Librada (19 years old), Jose M. (17), Matias (12), Guadalupe (10) and Rosa (7). It also appears that Cristobal’s 68-year-old mother Maria lived with them.

Cristobal Aguilar was also elected Mayor from 1871 to 1872. When Aguilar became Mayor, there were less than 6,000 residents in the City. When the city council proposed selling off the city's water rights to bring in additional revenue, Aguilar vetoed the proposal. If Aguilar had not used his power of veto, Los Angeles would have lost control of its water rights, leading to serious problems at a later date.

When Aguilar was elected in 1870, the Latino voter registration was about 22%. When he ran for reelection, however, he was defeated by an Anglo opponent, who made an issue of his poor English. In the years following his term as Mayor, he also served as Deputy Zanjero. Aguilar was a great believer in education and made certain that all of his children received a good education. Living in quiet retirement during his later years, Cristobal Aguilar died suddenly on April 13, 1886 at his residence on Water Street.

Antonio Villaraigosa (2005 - )

In his second run for Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa defeated the incumbent Mayor, James Hahn on May 17, 2005. With this accomplishment, City Councilperson Villaraigosa became the first Hispanic Mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar left office on December 5, 1872.

Antonio Villaraigosa was born on January 23, 1953 in East Los Angeles as Antonio Ramon Villar in Los Angeles, the son of an immigrant father by the same name and Natalia Acosta Delgado.

Antonio’s grandfather had moved to Los Angeles from Mexico sometime around 1903. He built a successful produce business, which allowed him to put his two daughters in private school and buy a nice home on the Eastside. But the Depression affected this family as it did other families. Antonio’s grandfather lost his wife and his daughters soon ended up in foster care.

According to the 1930 Federal Census, a 42-year-old Peter Acosta was tallied as a Merchant working in a Wholesale Market, living in the 9th Ward of Los Angeles. His wife, Rebecca, was 30 years old, and his daughter Natalia was not yet two years old. The census states that Peter had come to the United States in 1906 and that Rebecca had arrived in 1916.

Eventually, Antonio Villaraigosa's mother, Natalia Delgado, was separated from her sister and moved from one foster home to another. Eventually, she married Antonio Villar, a butcher and taxi driver from Mexico City.

Antonio Ramon Villar, Junior, was the oldest son of Antonio Senior and Natalia. However, when Antonio was still in kindergarten, his parents were divorced. Although he grew up in a poor household, he became dedicated to improving his lot in life and became a labor lawyer. Villaraigosa has stated that his favorite role model was his mother, Natalia Delgado, "a woman of indomitable spirit who never stopped believing in me."

Unfortunately, Natalia Acosta Delgado died on February 5, 1991. Three years later, in 1994, Antonio Villaraigosa was elected as the representative of the 45th District to the California Assembly. He took on positions of leadership and became Assembly Majority Floor Leader in 1997. In 1998, Villaraigosa was elected to serve as Speaker of the Assembly, succeeding Cruz Bustamante.

Antonio was married to Corina Raigosa in 1987. After this marriage, Antonio and Corina combined their surnames, taking on the single surname Villaraigosa.

Assemblyperson Villaraigosa ran for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2001 but was defeated by a margin of 8% by his fellow Democrat, James Hahn, in the run-off election. In 2003, he defeated incumbent Councilman Nick Pacheco to win a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 14th District.

Having won election held on May 17, 2005, Mayor Villaraigosa’s story is just beginning.

Copyright © 2005 by John P. Schmal. All Rights under applicable law are hereby reserved.

Sources:

Huber Howe Bancroft, "Register of Pioneer Inhabitants of California, 1542 to 1848" (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1964).

J. M. Guinn, "Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California" (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1902).

Rosanna Mah, "Antonio Villariagosa (from LA Independent). Online:
http://www.antonio2005.com/news?id=0039

Marie E. Northrop, "Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California, 1769-1850." Two volumes (Burbank, California: Southern California Genealogical Society, 1984).

William A. Spalding, "History and Reminiscences of Los Angeles city and County, California" (Los Angeles: J. r. Finnell & Sons Publishing Company)





Our Honors - The Mayors
by William Dean  
wsdean@earthlink.net



To those of us descended from the Primo families of California, especially those living in Southern California, it seems amazing that it has taken this long for Los Angeles once again to have a mayor with Hispanic roots. The last one before Signor Antonio Villaraigosa was in 1872. That was Cristobal Aguilar, one of my distant ancestral cousins by marriage to Maria Andrea Dolores Yorba in 1848. Aguilar served two terms as L.A. mayor, first from 1866 to 1868 and again from 1871 to 1872.

In a city originally called El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula where the Hispanic population is nearly 50 percent, isn't it surprising that it's been so long since there has been an Hispanic mayor? And, as importantly, isn't it odd that there isn't more public acknowledgement of L.A.'s first three Hispanic mayors?

Los Angeles first Hispanic mayor Antonio Francisco (Franco) Coronel served from May 3, 1853 to May 4, 1854. He was born on October 21, 1817 in Mexico City and came to California with his parents in 1834.

His father, Ygnacio Coronel, joined the Spanish army and rose to the rank of corporal of the cavalry by 1814. In 1837, Corporal Coronel brought his family, wife Maria Josefa Francisca Romero, a native of  Toluca. and twenty year old son, Franco to Los Angeles, where he started a new life as a civilian. Before his death, Ygnacio taught school, ran a small store, served as secretary of the Ayuntamiento, and enjoyed agricultural pursuits.

In 1838, Franco was appointed Assistant Secretary of Tribunals for the City of Los Angeles. In 1843, he became Juez de Paz (Justice of the Peace) in the City.

When the threat of war loomed in Alta California, Franco entered the military to serve his adopted land. He served as a Captain and Sergeant-at-arms in the Mexican Artillery and took part in military 
operations against the United States in 1846-47 during the Mexican-American War. Once the war had ended, however, Antonio returned to his political service as Los Angeles County Assessor in 1850-1851. In 1853, he was elected mayor.

Coronel established the Department of Public Works and encouraged residents to gather in the public plaza at the sound of a gong and to publically vote on city matters by a show of hands.

He was a champion of civic beautification and supported the pueblo's horticultural and historical societies, a museum and the restoration of the missions. He and his wife, Mariana, helped Helen Hunt Jackson write the romantic novel "Ramona," which alerted the nation to the plight of Native Americans. Coronel was also highly respected for his courtly manners and served out his term as mayor with grace and honesty.

Coronel next served 12 years as a city councilman, and was state treasurer for four years. Even after his retirement from politics, Franco Coronel continued to earn great respect from his fellow Angelinos 
for his work in civic projects until his death on April 17, 1894 at the age of 77.

As Los Angeles Council President, Manuel Requena briefly took office as Acting Mayor from September 22, 1856 – October 4, 1856. Requena was born around 1802 in the Yucatan, Mexico, and came to California by sea, after leaving the Mexican port of Guaymas (Sonora) in 1834. A trader by profession, he sold his ship on arriving in California and immediately became involved in Los Angeles politics. Not long after his arrival in his adopted homeland, Requena was elected to serve as Alcalde of Mexican Los Angeles in 1836-1837 and 1844.

During the American Period, Manuel Requena wielded the most influence as a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, where he served several terms (1850-54, 1856, 1864-68). Well respected by his peers and neighbors, ex-Mayor Requena died in 1876 at the age of 72.

The third Los Angeles Hispanic mayor Cristobal Aguilar, by historical accounts, was a good politician. He made a name for himself as one of the most visible members of the Los Angeles Common Council, serving several terms (1850, 1855-56, 1858-59, 1861-62). After being elected 
mayor in 1866, one of his first acts was to sign an ordinance setting aside five acres of land as "a Public Square or Plaza, for the use and benefit of the Citizens in common." This public square is now known as Pershing Square and is one of L.A.'s enduring landmarks. Tourists and those of Hispanic heritage, however, will search in vain for any reminder that "their" mayor founded Pershing Square. Where is Mayor Aguilar's statue or historic plaque? Missing in inaction.

Another action by Mayor Aguilar was far more controversial and far-reaching in its effect. In 1868, after a disasterous flood, the Los Angeles City Council planned to raise money for repair by selling off the city's water rights to a private company. Mayor Aguilar vetoed the decision and proposed leasing it instead which, in turn, led to the formation of the city's first Water Company.

This was a "momentous decision," said Leonard Pitt, emeritus history professor at California State University, Northridge. It allowed Los Angeles to later develop its own municipal water agency and control its destiny as a growing metropolis.

The Los Angeles City Water Company was formed by Beaudry Prudent, a French Canadian from Montreal. One of its major shareholders and developers was Isaias Hellman, a Jewish immigrant from Europe who was also one of the founders of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, a direct 
ancestor through subsequent mergers of today's Bank of America. Mayor Aguilar obviously had little difficulty working outside the Hispanic constituency to help build a better Los Angeles.

In fact, when Aguilar was voted in for a second term in 1871, the Hispanic voting base only represented about 22 percent of the total.

We must make a stronger effort, I think, to remember and honor our past Hispanic mayors and the rich heritage they have bestowed on our fair city of de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula. By historical accounts, they were hard-working, family-oriented, decent, civic-minded men who were proud of their Hispanic roots yet were able to work with all citizens, business, and cultural interests for the continuing improvement of the city and its life. We can hope that newly-elected mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- Los Angeles' fourth Hispanic to hold that office -- will follow in their deep and colorful footprints.

 



THE FIRST FAMILIES OF LOS ANGELES:

ARE YOU RELATED TO THEM?
By
 Jennifer Vo & John P.Schmal

 

Has your family lived in Los Angeles for many generations? Do you have any of the following surnames: Verdugo, Sepulveda, Avila, Rosas, Higuera, Lugo, Domínguez, Serrano, Olivas, Ybarra, Palomares, Rodríguez, Reyes, Romero, Valenzuela, Pico or Feliz? Or did you or your family come from the states of Sinaloa or Sonora?

If you can lay claim to any of these criteria, you may be related to the first families of Los Angeles. Most people do not know much about the founding families of Los Angeles. Very few of their names have been given to streets, cities, barrios, or buildings in the Los Angeles area.

Most people, however, know that Los Angeles was founded in 1781. But many people believe that Los Angeles was founded by the Spaniards. In fact, some people believe that the founders of Los Angeles were actually from Spain. Nothing could be so far from the truth. It is true that Spanish administrators and authorities organized and carried out the founding of the small pueblo. However, the founders of the town itself were, in fact, Mexican people from the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Jalisco. The founding of Los Angeles was a Spanish endeavor carried out by Mexican people. The one exception was José Fernando de Velasco y Lara, who was, in fact, a native of Spain.

If you are from Sinaloa or Sonora, then you have ties to the earliest founders of Los Angeles. The first families of Los Angeles, for the most part, looked upon Sinaloa and Sonora as their "madre patria" because the lifeblood of Los Angeles was built on the manpower of citizens from Sinaloa and Sonora.

The Rivera Expedition of 1781 brought 44 settlers and several dozen solders into the Los Angeles area. Many of the people who participated in this expedition became members of the Los Angeles community. It should be noted, however, that Jalisco and other Mexican states did send their share of people in the early decades. In fact, two of the founders of Los Angeles – Luis Quintero and José Vanegas – were from Jalisco.

Many of these early citizens became involved in the political direction of the city of Los Angeles. Although these pioneers lived within the bounds of the Spanish empire, they became responsible for the success of the little pueblo. As you will see below, some of the Pueblo’s early Alcaldes (Mayors) were simple people of humble origin. Most of them were not educated but had a stake in the success of Los Angeles. If you are interested in knowing about these first families and where they came from, please read on:

Luis Quintero and María Petra Rubio. An official padrón (census) taken on November 19, 1781 listed Luis with his wife and five children. Luis was classified by the Spanish authorities as a "negro" and María Petra as a "mulata." It is said that Luis was of Indian and African extraction and was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, even though he apparently married and raised his family in Álamos, Sonora. Luis and his family left Los Angeles in 1782 for Santa Barbara, where he spent the rest of his life working as a tailor for the soldiers at the Presidio. But many of his descendants returned to live in Los Angeles.

Manuel Camero was a thirty-year-old mulato from Nayarit when he and his wife, María Tomasa, arrived in Los Angeles in 1781. Señor Camero became involved in the political scene at Los Angeles and served as a Los Angeles regidor (councilman) during his lifetime.

In 1781, when they arrived in Los Angeles, José Antonio Navarro was a 42-year-old mestizo from Sinaloa. He and his mulata wife, María Regina, later moved north to San José and San Francisco with their young children.

José Antonio Basilio Rosas was a 67-year-old Indian from the state of Durango. He and his 43-year-old mulata wife, María Manuela Calixtra Hernandez, brought six children with them to Los Angeles in 1781. Basilio lived to a ripe old age and was able to see his grandchildren raised in the little pueblo.

José Vanegas arrived in Los Angeles in 1781 as a 28-year-old Indian. A native of Jalisco, Vanegas was accompanied by his Indian wife María Bonifacia Maxima Aguilar and one child. Vanegas was a shoemaker, but he also became involved in city politics and served as the first Alcade (Mayor) of Los Angeles from 1786 to 1788.

Cornelio Avila and his wife Isabel Urquidez came to Los Angeles in 1783. Originally from El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Cornelio and Isabel had nine children, several of whom enlisted in the military and were posted at various presidios in California. "La Casa de los Avilas" – located on Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles – was built in 1818 by Cornelio’s son, Francisco Avila. The Adobe Avila – as it is called today – is the oldest building of Los Angeles and one of the few that carries the surname of one of Los Angeles’ founding families. The Avila family became actively involved in Los Angeles politics and Francisco served as Alcade (Mayor) in 1810-1811.

Felipe Santiago de la Cruz Pico was a mulato from San Xavier de Cabazán, a town located close to Horcasitas, Sinaloa. He came to California with the Anza Expedition in 1775 and served in the military up until 1790. In the Los Angeles census of that year, Santiago was listed as a 60-year-old mestizo vaquero from Sinaloa. Two sons lived with him and his wife Jacinta. Santiago and Jacinta’s grandson, Pio Pico, born in 1801, would be the last Mexican Governor of California.

Pedro Gabriel Valenzuela was a mestizo soldier from Álamos, Sonora. With his wife María Dolores Parra, he had accompanied the Rivera Expedition to San Gabriel in 1781. He served many years at the Santa Barbara Presidio, retiring in 1798 to the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Their family has many descendants living in both Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

José Antonio Ontiveros was a mestizo from Chemetla, a village near Rosario, Sinaloa. He was married to Ana María Carrasco, and in 1781, they and their two children accompanied the Rivera Expedition on its way to Los Angeles. José served at several presidios before retiring to Los Angeles, where he listed as a shoemaker in the 1790 census.

Francisco Serrano was born in Villa de Sastago, Aragon, Spain. At some point he made his way to Mexico and then to the San Diego Presidio, where he married María Blabaneda Silvas, a native of Villa de Sinaloa. Francisco and María had eleven children in all. After serving for many years in the military, Francisco moved to Los Angeles, where he served as Alcalde of the Pueblo from 1799 to 1800.

Juan Matias Olivas was a Indian soldier from Rosario, Sinaloa. He and his wife, Maria Doroteo Espinosa, took part in Rivera’s Expedition to San Gabriel in 1781. Juan served as a soldier at the Santa Barbara Presidio until his retirement in 1800. After this, Juan and his family made their home in the Pueblo.

Juan Antonio Ybarra was from Mazatlán de los Mulatos, Sinaloa. He married María de los Angles Velasquez around 1778 and came with the Rivera Expedition to Los Angeles in 1781. Juan served in the military for more years, retiring to the Pueblo of Los Angeles sometime around 1804. Juan and María had nine children, many of whom became involved in the military and lived in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

José Cristóbal Palomares was from San José de Canales in Durango. He came to California as a soldier. Cristóbal and his wife, María Benedicta Saez, had eleven children, most of them baptized at Santa Barbara and San Gabriel. After his retirement from the military in 1810, Cristóbal moved to Los Angeles and became actively involved in the political direction of Los Angeles, serving as an elector from 1822 and 1824.

Francisco Xavier Sepúlveda came from Villa de Sinaloa in the present-day state of Sinaloa. Francisco and his wife, María Candelaria de Redondo, had seven children, six of whom were born in Sinaloa before the Rivera Expedition. Francisco and his family accompanied Rivera on his long journey to San Gabriel in 1781 and continued to serve in the military for several more years. The Sepúlveda family is a famous first family of Los Angeles.

José Manuel Nieto was born at San Felipe y Santiago in Sinaloa. Nieto came to California in the 1770s as a soldier in the service of Spain. Sometime around 1784, he was assigned as a soldier at the San Gabriel Mission, where served up until 1795. Manuel requested and received a land grant of about 300,000 acres in the vicinity of East Los Angeles. By the time he died in 1804, he was probably the wealthiest man in California. His four sons inherited his large landholdings, which included the ranchos of Los Alamitos and Los Coyotes.

Corporal José Vicente Feliz, a veteran of the Anza Expedition of 1776, was one of the soldiers assigned to watch over the small pueblo of Los Angeles during its formative years. In 1787, Governor Fages appointed Feliz as Comisionado of the Los Angeles Pueblo, giving him the powers of community arbitrator, presiding judge, and the head of labor relations. In effect, he was like a Mayor. For his service, Vicente Feliz was granted 6,677 acres, which became El Rancho de Los Feliz. Most of the Los Feliz District and Griffith Park made up this ranch today.

Corporal Juan José Domínguez was from Villa de Sinaloa. At a young age, Juan joined the Spanish military. He was a member of the original Portolá Expedition of 1769 and became well-known as an Indian fighter. He eventually retired to Los Angeles, where he was listed as a 53-year-old Spanish (white) vaquero in the 1790 census. In 1784, Juan was granted 74,000 acres of land south of Los Angeles. The vast Domínugez Rancho encompassed much of what is now Torrance, Carson, Redondo Beach and San Pedro.

Mariano de la Luz Verdugo, a native of San Xavier, Baja California, came from a military family. His father had been born in El Fuerte, Sinaloa, but wandered far from home as a Spanish soldier. Like Corporal Domínguez, Verdugo came to California in the 1769 expedition and, for the next two decades, served at various presidios in California. Mariano retired to Los Angeles around 1787 and served as Alcalde of the Pueblo from 1790 until 1793. In 1784, Corporal Verdugo was awarded a 36,403-acre land grant,

Francisco Salvador Lugo came to California as a soldier in 1774. He served at several California presidios, but was later assigned to stand guard at the Los Angeles Pueblo during its early years. The Lugo family is one of the most famous first families of Los Angeles. Francisco’s son, Antonio María Lugo, became a famous landowner in Los Angeles County and fathered a large family. Many of the Lugo’s living in Los Angeles today are descended from Antonio, who served as Alcalde of Los Angeles from 1816 to 1819.

José Manuel Machado and his wife, Maria, traveled from Sinaloa, Mexico on the Rivera expedition of 1781. Machado continued to serve as a soldier in different locations until he retired to the pueblo of Los Angeles in 1797. Machado’s sons became owners of the 14,000-acre Rancho La Ballona which they established in 1819. Much of present-day Marina del Rey and Culver City stand on this former rancho.

Jose Sinova was a blacksmith from Mexico City who married María Gertrudis Bojórquez, a mestiza from Villa de Sinaloa. By the time of the 1790 census, Jose and Gertrudis were raising a family of four children in the Los Angeles. Although he was a blacksmith by trade, Jose Sinova became active in politics and served as Alcalde of Los Angeles from 1789 to 1790.

Juan Francisco Reyes was a mulato from Zapotlán el Grande in Jalisco. According to the 1790 Los Angeles census, Francisco was married to María del Carmen Domínguez, a mestiza from Villa de Sinaloa, and had three children. He was listed as a farmworker and became the original owner of the San Fernando Rancho, where he raised his cattle. Juan Francisco Reyes is regarded by many as the first Black Mayor of Los Angeles, having served as Alcalde of the Pueblo from 1793 to 1795.

Manuel Ramírez de Arellano was tallied in the 1790 Los Angeles census as a 46-year old weaver from Puebla, with a wife and four children. His wife, María Agreda López de Haro, was from Álamos, Sonora. He served as Alcalde of Los Angeles from 1797 to 1798.

Many resources on the Internet are becoming available to persons who are interested in knowing and appreciating the very important Mexican contribution to formative years of Los Angeles. A list of the early Hispanic Los Angeles Mayors can be accessed at the Los Angeles Almanac website at:

http://www.losangelesalmanac.com/topics/Government/gl11.htm

Copyright © 2005, by Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal. All Rights Reserved. The content of this article may be reproduced by individuals or educational institutions for non-commercial educational or personal purposes only.

Sources:

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.

William Marvin Mason, The Census of 1790: A Demographic History of Colonial California (Menlo Park, California: Ballena Press, 1998).

Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal, A Mexican-American Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2004). Available at
http://heritagebooks.com/ (Code S2448).

Jennifer Vo is a descendant of the Valenzuela, Olivas, Quintero, and Feliz families. She is a senior editor for a major publishing company in the Los Angeles area.

 

 



THE EXPEDITION OF 1781:

THE FOUNDING OF LOS ANGELES

By John P. Schmal


Most people living in Los Angeles today have probably never heard of the Expedition of 1781. However, if this expedition had not taken place or fulfilled its objectives, Los Angeles would not be 224 years old this year. This expedition of almost a thousand miles founded a small pueblo on the outskirts of the extensive Spanish Empire. That small pueblo, now known as Los Angeles, would eventually form the nucleus of a thriving multi-ethnic, multicultural urban center with a population of almost 10 million people.

In 1774, King Carlos III of Spain had authorized the settlement of the California communities we call San Gabriel, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. He believed that the establishment of pueblos, missions and presidios in these areas would serve as a bulwark against the looming threat of the Russian and British empires, both of which were moving closer to California.

In December 1779, Viceroy Bucareli and Commandant General de la Croix had approved a proposal by California Governor Felipe de Neve to establish settlements at the sites of present-day Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Soon after, Fernando Rivera y Moncada, the Lieutenant Governor of California, was appointed to oversee the recruitment of the proposed settlements.

In December 1779, Governor de Neve sent an expedition under the command of Captain Rivera into Sinaloa and Sonora to recruit 59 soldiers and 24 families of pobladores (settlers). Of the fifty-nine recruits, thirty-four soldiers were to go to California, while the other twenty-five would fill the places of those soldiers taken from the presidios in Mexico.

Most of the soldiers selected to accompany the settlers on their northward march belonged to a unique breed of Spanish soldiers called los soldados de cuera (the leather-jacket soldiers). Recruited from the poorest classes of Sinaloa and Sonora, these young men were prepared to serve and perhaps die in the service of the Spanish Empire. However, although they served under the flag of Spain, most of them were, in fact, natives of Mexico and of modest, mixed-race origins.

These young soldiers – and the pobladores (settlers) they accompanied – were prepared to take their families with them to this strange, untamed land, uncertain of the challenges that lay ahead. However, with the challenges and uncertainty came great opportunities and we are certain that they were well aware of this.

The instructions required that the soldier recruits and the settlers should be "healthy, robust, and without known vice or defect." Both the soldiers and settlers were to be married men – with families – and should possess "greater strength and endurance for the hardships of frontier service." Included among the settlers would be a mason, a carpenter, and a blacksmith.

Rivera was to offer prospective colonists daily rations and a monthly salary of 10 pesos for the next three years, as well as "an allowance in clothing and supplies." The settlers would be granted the use of government land as common pasture and would also be granted an exemption from taxes for five years.

All recruits were required to bind themselves to ten years’ service. It was also hoped that the unmarried female relatives of the pobladores would be encouraged to marry bachelor soldiers already in California. Upon completion of his task, Rivera would assemble the whole company of recruits at Álamos in Sonora. From Álamos the recruits and their families would move on by sea or land. In addition to recruiting soldiers and settlers, Rivera had to purchase equipment and supplies, as well as 961 horses, mules, and donkeys. The animals would be sent north by way of the Gila and Colorado Rivers.

Although he started his search in February 1780, Rivera did not enlist his first settler until May. It was difficult to enlist people for a ten-year commitment to a remote and desolate outpost surrounded by thousands of potentially hostile Indians. Most people realized that getting to California from Sonora and Sinaloa was a long, arduous and dangerous journey. Additionally, rumors were circulating in Sonora that soldiers serving in California were not getting paid their due.

By August 1, 1780, Rivera had recruited only 45 soldiers and seven settlers from Sinaloa and Culiacán. But, by August 25, he was able to recruit eleven farm families (numbering 44 people in all) and 59 soldiers. By November, Captain Rivera had recruited all of the soldiers he needed, but was still short on settlers.

Rivera’s entire expedition of settlers, soldiers, and livestock were assembled at Álamos in January. At this point, he decided to split the expedition into two groups. First, he assigned seventeen of his soldiers under the command of Alferez Ramon Laso de la Vega to accompany the eleven settlers’ families in their march up the Baja Peninsula. This party, under the overall command of Lieutenant José de Zuñiga, left Álamos on February 2, 1781, started northward, and eventually crossed the Gulf of California from Guaymas to Loreto, Baja California. An outbreak of smallpox among the settlers delayed the journey for awhile. Not until August would most of Zuñiga’s party make it to the San Gabriel Mission.

Meanwhile, Captain Rivera on the mainland, accompanied by 42 soldiers and 961 horses and mules, rode north toward the Colorado River. Rivera and his troops arrived in July at the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers. At that point, Rivera sent the troops and their families ahead to the San Gabriel Mission. With several men still under his command, Rivera camped on the eastern (Arizona) bank of the Colorado on the night of July 17, 1781 in order to rest and feed his livestock before crossing the Colorado Desert.

However, Rivera’s large herd of cattle and horses caused a great deal of damage to the Indians’ mesquite trees and melon patches. Enraged, the Yuma Indians attacked and massacred Rivera and several of his soldiers. At the same time, the Indians also attacked two nearby pueblos, killing a total of 46 people.

Fortunately, the thirty-five soldiers and thirty families of the Sonora escort had already arrived safely at the San Gabriel Mission on July 14, 1781. This massacre caused a great deal of trepidation to the Spanish frontier zone. As a result the inland route from Sonora to California was virtually closed for several years.

Rivera was 57 when he was slain. He had been a California soldier for 40 years. His widow was left destitute. She was never able to collect any part of Rivera's last five years of pay, held up as it was by disputes with missionaries and higher civil authorities. 

Having traveled more than 950 miles from their starting point in Sonora, the settlers and soldiers lived at the San Gabriel Mission for several weeks as they made preparations to start their new lives in Los Angeles. At that point, the settlers were only nine miles from their destination (Los Angeles).

The Pueblo of Los Angeles was officially founded on September 4, 1781, when, it is believed, a procession of settlers and soldiers made their way to a location along the Los Angeles River. In actuality, the building of the pueblo may have been a more gradual process.

Although founded in 1781, the small pueblo grew steadily over the decades. The Sinaloans and Sonorans who had contributed so greatly to the establishment and the life of the pueblo continued to play an important role in the growth of Los Angeles. At the following website, one can see the names of the inhabitants of Los Angeles in 1790:

http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/ca1790.htm#losangeles

Scanning this list of names, one can easily see that Sinaloans and Sonorans were, by and large, the life-blood of the young pueblo. The passing of two centuries has greatly diminished the influence of Sinaloa and Sonora on the city’s direction, but the Angelinos of today can still appreciate the efforts of these pioneers.

Sources:

Thomas Workman Temple II, "Soldiers and Settlers of the Expedition of 1781," Southern California Quarterly, Vol. XV, Part 1 (November 1931).

Marion Parks, "Instructions for the Recruital of Soldiers and Settlers for California – Expedition of 1781," Southern California Quarterly, Vol. XV, Part II (1931), pp. 189-203.

Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal, A Mexican-American Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags. Heritage Books, 2004.

 

 




TAKING PART IN HISTORY:
THE FOUNDING OF LOS ANGELES

By Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal

 


Few of the great cities of the land have had such humble founders as Los Angeles. Of the eleven pobladores who built their huts of poles and tule thatch around the plaza vieja … not one could read or write. Not one could boast of an unmixed ancestry… the conquering race that possesses the land they colonized has forgotten them. No street or landmark in the city bears the name of any one of them.[from J. M. Guinn, Historical and Biographical Record of Los Angeles and Vicinity (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1901)]

Not too many people can claim that they have had a ringside seat at significant historic events. And those who did have a ringside seat usually did not fully comprehend the significance of the events they took part in. This appears to have been the case for my ancestor, Luis Quintero, a poor middle-aged African-Mexican tailor from Sonora, Mexico. In September 1781, Luis and his family joined ten other families in the founding of El Pueblo de Nuestra la Reina de Los Angeles (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels), with no clear vision of what would happen.

My name is Jennifer Vo, and I am a senior editor for a major publishing firm in the Los Angeles area. I am one of millions of Angelinos who live in one of the largest cities in the world. But I am one of only a few thousand who is actually descended from the original 44 founders of Los Angeles.

The founding of Los Angeles, California, was not a random event. It was the result of a well-planned strategic move by Spain to secure the northwestern border regions of its extensive American empire in the last half of the Eighteenth Century. With this goal in mind, the Spanish authorities in Mexico organized the Expedition of 1781 for the specific purpose of founding of the Pueblo.

My ancestors, Luis Quintero and his wife María Petra Rubio, represent one of the eleven original couples to settle with their families at El Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1781. They are also my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents (also referred to as eighth-generation grandparents). Luis is said to have been born in Guadalajara, as the son of a Black slave and Indian woman, although we have not yet verified this through our own research.

When Captain Rivera assembled his crew of soldiers and settlers in Álamos in January of 1781, Luis Quintero's destiny was already tied to the historic expedition about to take place. On January 21, his 16-year-old daughter Catharina was married at Purísima Concepción Church in Álamos to one of Rivera's soldiers, Joaquin Rodríquez. His 15-year-old daughter, Fabiana Sebastiana, was married to another soldier of the expedition, Eugenio Valdés, on the same day. And, on the following day, Luis's eldest daughter, 18-year-old María Juana Josefa, was united in marriage with still another soldado de cuera, José Rosalino Fernández. 

The prospect of never seeing his daughters again may have played a role in the decision-making process, for it is believed that Luis Quintero was the last poblador to sign on the dotted line. When the settlers left Álamos on February 2, 1781, Luis, María Petra, and their eight children were among them. In addition to the three married daughters, María Concepcíon (9 years old), María Tomasa (7), María Rafaela (6), and José Clemente (3) made the 950-mile journey. Sixteen-year-old María Gertrudis Castelo came along as an adopted daughter. 

On August 18, 1781, Luis Quintero and the other pobladores arrived at the San Gabriel Mission after a journey of six-and-a-half months and 960 miles. Several weeks later on the morning of September 4, 1781, according to legend, forty-four persons set out westward from the San Gabriel Mission with an escort of soldiers and priests. It is said that Governor de Neve led the people in a parade, followed first by the soldiers and padres, who were then followed by the settlers. The travelers carried their belongings on their backs or upon their mules as they crossed the Los Angeles River. 

By late afternoon, the party arrived at the site of their new home. Ceremonies were concluded by prayers and blessings from the padres, shortly after which, the flag of Our Lady of the Angels was raised over El Pueblo de Nuestra la Reina de Los Angeles. In The Land Known as Alta California, the author Regina V. Phelan described the first night at the new pueblo:

That evening the women fetched water from the river and cooked supper for their families. The older boys took care of the livestock. The girls quieted their baby brothers and sisters. The men set about marking off their small parcels of land, then started building earthen-roofed huts of willow branches interlaced with tules gathered from the river.

Some researchers have suggested that the founding of the Pueblo may have been a more gradual process and that this grand procession on September 4th may not have taken place as dramatized by some historians. The one thing that is certain is that there is very little documentation about the first years of the pueblo and the events that took place there.

Of the fourteen pobladores that had been enlisted one thousand miles away in Álamos, Sonora, only eleven of them - with their families - actually took part in the founding of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. A list of the first settlers, as indicated by a padrón (census) taken on November 19, 1781, is shown below. This listing - which groups together people of the same surname - can also be found on the Pobladores' plaque on the south side of Pueblo Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles:

Lara
José Fernanco de, Español, Hombre, 50
María Antonio, India, Mujer, 23
María Juan, Niña, 6
José Julian, Niño, 4
María Faustina, Niña, 2

Navarro
José Antonio, Mestizo, Hombre, 42
María Regina, Mulata, Mujer, 47
José Eduardo, Niño, 10
José Clemente, Niño, 9
Mariana, Niña, 4

Rosas
Basilio, Indio, Hombre, 67
María Manuela, Mulata, Mujer, 43
José Maxímo, Niño, 15
José Carlos, Niño, 12
María Josefa, Niña, 8
Antonio Rosalino, Niño, 7
José Marcelino, Niño, 4
José Esteban, Niño, 2

Mesa
Antonio, Negro, Hombre, 38
María Ana, Mulata, Mujer, 27
María Paula, Niña, 10
Antonio María, Niño, 8

Villavicencio
Antonio Clemente, Español, Hombre, 30
María Seferina, India, Mujer, 26
María Antonia, Niña, 8


Vanegas
José, Indio, Hombre, 28
María Bonifacia, India, Mujer, 20
Cosme Damien, Niño, 1

Rosas
Alejandro, Indio, Hombre, 19
Juana María, India, Mujer, 20

Rodríguez
Pablo, Indio, Hombre, 25
María Rosalía, India, 26
María Antonia, Niña, 1

Camero
Manuel, Mulato, Hombre, 30
María Tomasa, Mulata, Mujer, 24

Quintero
Luis, Negro, Hombre, 55
María Petra, Mulata, Mujer, 40
María Gertrudis, Niña, 16
María Concepcíon, Niña, 9
María Tomasa, Niña, 7
María Rafaela, Niña, 6
José Clemente, Niño, 3

Moreno
José, Mulato, Hombre, 22
María Guadalupe, Mulata, Mujer, 19


None of these settlers ever became famous on an individual basis. Beloved and revered by their respective families, these settlers carried on with their mission, living life one day at a time and contributing their efforts to the formative years of the young pueblo. If they had been able to see the future, it is not likely that they would predicted the evolution of Los Angeles into one of the largest metropolitan regions in the world.

But these settlers did indeed become the nucleus of what would someday become one of the largest urban areas in the country. The Spanish racial classifications used to describe the settlers were used throughout the Spanish Empire. Español indicated a person of Spanish descent, while the term indio/india simply implied the male and female genders for Indian. A mestizo usually indicated a person of half Spanish and half Indian blood, while a mulato or mulata indicated a person of mixed African and Spanish origins. The use of these racial terms was very imprecise and was frequently based on the degree of darkness not on actual lineage. 

The new pueblo was six miles square with a plaza near its center. Each family was given a small piece of land, in addition to receiving two mares, two cows, one calf, two sheep, two goats, two mules, and two oxen, as well as implements with which to work the land. They had five years to pay for these items. All of the settlers also had access to an anvil, a forge, six crowbars, six iron spades, tools for carpentry and cast work, some carts, and wagons.

After the initial settlement of the pueblo, there was a great deal of work yet to be done. For that reason it is possible that some of the soldiers - many of whom were destined for service at the proposed Santa Barbara Presidio - had new responsibilities. According to Meredith Stevens, "The soldiers remained there to help the settlers get established. They built pole and mud huts with earthen roofs, and made corrals of willow poles laced with rawhide. They dug wells, cleared land for planting and set up an irrigation system fed from the river by zanja madre (mother ditch). After eight months of exhausting labor, in April 1782, the little village was crudely completed and most of the soldiers were sent north to build the new presidio at Santa Barbara."

The primary purpose for building the zanja madre was agricultural. From this main ditch, smaller ditches branched off to be used for irrigation of crops in different sectors. However, the smaller ditches were also used for drinking water and laundering. People in town went to the nearest ditch to fill their ollas (clay water jugs). A man called a zanjero was paid to watch the ditch and make sure that the cattle, sheep, and horses were kept out of the open ditches. 

Very little is known about Luis Quintero's activities in the first half year at the pueblo. But, on March 22 and 25, 1782, Luis served as padrino (godfather) for the Indians confirmed by Father Serra at the San Gabriel Mission. (In the early years of the Pueblo, the settlers attended church services in San Gabriel, nine miles away.) 

However, a day later, on March 26, 1782, Luis and two other settlers were expelled from Los Angeles by order of Governor de Neve and "sent away as useless to the pueblo and themselves." Their properties confiscated by the authorities, Luis and his family joined the Santa Barbara Company on their journey to the northwest.

In analyzing the causes of Luis Quintero's expulsion from Los Angeles in 1782, it should be noted that the tailor Luis Quintero was probably not well suited for the rigors of frontier life. He was not a farmer and, at the age of 55, it was not likely that he could have adjusted effortlessly to the profession of farmer. 

It should also be noted that three of Luis' daughters had married soldiers who were attached to the Expedition of 1781. All three of these soldiers (José Rosalino Fernández, Joaquin Rodríguez, and Eugenio Valdés) were destined to be stationed at the Santa Barbara Presidio in the Spring of 1782, and it is possible that the Quintero family hoped to be closer to those daughters. Whatever the case may be, it is known that Luis Quintero lived out the remaining 28 years of his life as a respectable member of the budding Santa Barbara community, serving as the maestro sastre (master tailor) for the soldiers at the presidio.

Although Luis Quintero never returned to Los Angeles, many of his descendants did make their home in the small pueblo. His daughter, Sebastiana Quintero and her husband Eugenio Valdés, had nine children between 1782 and 1799, during which time, Eugenio had served at the Santa Barbara Presidio and in the escolta at San Buenaventura. After Eugenio retired from the military in 1800, he moved with his wife and family to Los Angeles where he was given lands, which he cultivated until his death. The couple had one more child in 1801 and were registered in the 1804 census at Los Angeles with three of their children: Antonio María, Basilio, and María.

Eugenio and Sebastiana's fifth child, María Rita Quiteria Valdés, was married on February 16, 1808 in Los Angeles to a soldier named Vicente Ferrer Villa. This granddaughter of Luis Quintero was eventually widowed with a large family to support. In 1852, María Rita Valdés de Villa petitioned for confirmation of patent granted in 1838 for the 4,539-acre ranch, Rodeo de las Aguas (Meeting of the Waters). 

The house María built stood near the present corner of Sunset Boulevard and Alpine Drive. In 1854, María Rita decided to sell Rancho de las Aguas for about $4,000 to Major Henry Hancock, a New Hampshire attorney, and Benjamin Wilson, a native of Nashville, Tennessee. This property eventually became what we now call Beverly Hills.

My ancestor, Luis Quintero, had a ringside seat at a significant historical event. Ironically, his role in the founding of Los Angeles was cut short by bureaucratic meddling. Thus, he left the Los Angeles area and became involved the founding and building of Santa Barbara, California. Upon his death in 1810, Luis Quintero had lived a long and accomplished life, having served as the first official tailor of the young settlement at Santa Barbara.

Sources:

Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., The Founding Documents of Los Angeles: A Bilingual Edition. Los Angeles: Historical Society of Southern California, 2004.

Regina Phelan, The Land Known as Alta California. Spokane: Prosperity Press, 1997.

Meredith Stevens, The House of Olivas. Ventura, California: Chadron Press.

Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal, A Mexican-American Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2004.



As part of the Olvera Street 75th Anniversary Celebration
 1930-2005


 

Tropical America, 1932
David Alfara Siqueiros
18'H x 82'W
http://www.ci.la.ca.us/tourist/tropical.htm




http://olvera-street.com/html/siqueiros_mural.html

"Tropical America," ("La América Tropical") by David Alfara Siqueiros. is painted on the Italian Wall on Olvera Street. A banner reproduction, exactly 18 x 80 ft, just like the original  hangs over the protective cover of the original master piece. Tropical America was the first large-scale mural in the United States that created a public space by being painted on an ordinary exterior wall, 
History behind the Piece, America Tropical  

Upon is expulsion form Mexico in 1932 for political activity, David Alfara Siqueiros settled in Los Angeles for six months. During that brief time, he completed three murals. The first, Street Meeting, was painted at the Chouinard School of Art, where he taught a class on fresco paining. He painted the last mural, Portait of Present Day Mexico (which still exists), at a home in Pacific Palisades. But Siqueiros' most important mural in Los Angeles was his second -- Tropical America. The powerful political statement was executed along the exterior of the second floor of the Italian Hall, where the Plaza Art Center was located. 

The title was suggested by F.K. Ferenz, the director of the Plaza Art Center who, along with Dean Cornwall, one of the muralists of the Los Angeles Public Library, sponsored the work. Commercial companies donated paint, cement, mechanical equipment and wood for the scaffold. Siqueiros, assisted by approximately 20 artists known as the Bloc of Mural Painters, began the mural in mid-August. He worked primarily at night, paining with an airbrush after the design was outlined on the wall with a projector. The fresco, made of cement rather than the traditional plaster, was completed the night before its dedication on October 9, 1932. 

In executing this work, along with his other murals in Los Angeles, Siqueiros extensively used mechanical equipment, such as the airbrush, for the first time. So emotionally charged was the allegorical imagery that within six months, a section of the mural visible from Olvera Street was painted out. Within a year, the work was completely covered. Portraying the struggle against imperialism was particularly offensive to Christine Sterling, the leading promoter of Olvera Street, presumably because it did not conform to her image of a docile and tranquil Mexican village. 

Virtually forgotten for years, the mural was rediscovered in the late 1960s when the whitewash began to peel off. However, it was severely damager shortly thereafter by exposure to the sun. A plywood cover which now hides the work, was installed in 1982 to prevent further deterioration. The mural has now been conserved. 


David Alfara Siqueiros (1896-1974), born in Chihuahua, Mexico, joined Jose Orozco and Diego Rivera as the 20th Century's most influential muralists. They revolutionized mural content and style by portraying Mexico's rich history and contemporary economic problems in visually bold political terms.

 




Extract: Putting an ear to the vision
Two cultures and 20 pieces of visual art have inspired a new orchestral suite.
By Andy Brumer, Special to The Times
Sent by Viola Sadler and Jack Fishman

Two years ago, two composers — one from the United States, the other from Mexico — met for the first time at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. Their mission: to create an orchestral suite reflecting two cultures and inspired by the museum's permanent collection.

The result is "Dos Visiones," which will receive its U.S. premiere by the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra at the Terrace Theater on Saturday. The composition is coupled with a video of works from "Dos Visiones/Two Visions," an exhibition of 20 paintings and mixed-media works at the museum.

"There's not enough of an emphasis placed on the rich and positive dialogue between Latin America and the U.S. in general and in the arts in particular," museum director Gregorio Luke says.

"For example, few people know that Jackson Pollock was part of the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros' artists' workshop in New York City. Faulkner greatly influenced the magical realism of novelist Gabriel García Márquez. And Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who like Marquez and Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in literature, took inspiration from Walt Whitman."

The concept for the project originated in late 2001 out of discussions between Luke, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra music director Enrique Arturo Diemecke and executive director Jack Fishman. While they shared a mutual goal of growing each institution's audiences, they also wanted to create a work that would shed a positive light on the historical cross-fertilization of U.S. and Latin American cultures.

The Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México jointly commissioned the work, with additional funds from the American Composers Forum.

The next step was to pick the composers. Robert Maggio of Lambertville, N.J., got the assignment by winning a competition judged by the Long Beach musicians. His counterpart, Ana Lara of Mexico City, was handpicked by Diemecke. 

Lara and Maggio had never met or even heard a note of each other's work before agreeing to the project. But in January 2003, they convened at the museum, where they decided to separate the art collection into three categories — nationalism, magical realism and humor. They planned to create a movement to coincide with each theme, which the orchestra would perform in an alternating fashion as a six-movement suite. 

"We each then went back home and began writing and e-mailing each other files of what we had done," Maggio says.

While the composers based each of their movements' titles on one painting from the collection, they also selected the painting "Dos Visiones," by contemporary Venezuelan artist Wladimir Zabaleta, as the emblem for the project.

Maggio says he and Lara responded strongly to the folk and indigenous elements in the painting and in much of the art they saw in the museum, then allowed them to reverberate in their music. 

For example, in his piece on the theme of nationalism, Maggio juxtaposes motifs abstracted from a sunrise song of the Zuni Indians with war tunes taken from the American Revolution. Lara bases her nationalist segment on the sounds and rhythms of an Aztec dance.

To express humor, Lara says she integrated "some of the funny and ironic instrumentation of Silvestre Revueltas, a major early 20th century Mexican composer."

Maggio, in places, riffs ironically on the kind of popular children's nursery tunes, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb," that he sings to his 4-year-old child. 

Diemecke — who conducted the premiere in October with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México in Mexico City — says that the composers each created a work in different though equally dynamic ways.

Luke, Diemecke and Fishman enlisted Hollywood film engineer and cinematographer Vito Kobliha to create a digitized video based on the paintings the composers had chosen as their inspiration.

A blend between MTV and the "Back to the Future" ride at Universal Studios, this piece of photo-choreography transforms sections of paintings into one another and turns two-dimensional paintings into kaleidoscopic three-dimensional tunnels of streaming color, motion, images and light.

During the concert, Fishman, a Juilliard-trained classical musician, orchestrates the real-time projection of the video onto a screen above the orchestra in response to Diemecke's conducting. "I'm not just following the music," Fishman explains, "I'm trying to amplify it." 

"Hopefully," he continues, "the music will help people better understand the art, and the photo-choreography of MOLAA's collection will help them gain a deeper understanding of the music."

 

CALIFORNIA

Descendants of Domingo Arvizu by John Arvizu
Juana Briones Heritage Foundation
American Memory from Library of Congress Online Archive of California
Luis Cervantes -- muralist who inspired generations of artists
Adventures of Juan & Mariano Passage to Monterey, & Ally's Alarm Clock 
Networking via the Internet 
Discovery Reveals Rich Cultural Life in Spanish California
Portraits of their times, San Diego Museum, "Retratos"
 

 




Domingo Arvizu, 1859
The leather bound book is 3 X 5 inches. 
Domingo was the first author of this record.

 
History of Domingo's Log:


This small, tattered and leather bound log with the fading words on the cover is not more than 3 inches by five inches in size.  The words, now barely visible, "Azusa Order Book", reveal little of what is inside, but what they do show, must have been very important to my grandmother when she passed it on from her dying bed to my father in 1955.  

She knew, as did my father, that this little book was a connection to the past and to her husband's father, Domingo Arvizu, who was the patriarch of our family.  He became this when after being born in 1834, he left as a young man from Sonora, Mexico, to mine for gold in Azusa Canyon.  It is here in the Canyon east of Los Angeles and above Azusa, California that he mined for gold and along with his wife, Francisca Lopez, began his family of 14 children.  Two died at birth and two died in infancy
and so 10 are listed in the log.  

The first to be born in that canyon was "El Gran Filosofo", Abran Arvizu, in 1866, and was thus the first to be noted in the small log book that belonged to Domingo and Francisca.  Abran or Abraham was my grandfather.  Other names of all the children followed with the date and time of day noted.  As time passed and Abran grew to manhood, he married my grandmother, Louisa Romero, in 1904.

They too carried on the tradition of logging in the names of their eight children as well, beginning with Jaime Arvizu born in 1904 and ending with Alberto Arvizu, born in 1924.  These were my uncles and aunts.

The third child born, in 1910, was Guillermo (William) Arvizu and was my father.  He loved history, especially the oral history of the Arvizu clan and would sit me on his knee, when I was a child, and tell me stories of the old days, the pioneer days.......the days of the Ranchos, the Banditos and the Gold Rush as his grandfather had told him.  He became the keeper of this little book and passed it on to me just before his death in 1972.  

It was important to him and he made me promise to keep it safe and to pass it along to the next generation.  He also passed along the intangible concept of family tradition and love of our family's history and thus so began my life long journey of uncovering the Arvizu history in the Southwest.  

Our history parallels the history of numerous other Hispanic families as they helped settle the west over many past generations.  To me, the log is a key to our past, and as I follow the old Spanish script, I can almost feel the hand of Domingo as it must have moved when he first penned the names of all his children some 140 years ago.

                                                                                              John Arvizu

The "fechas de nacimiento"  were written by Abraham and Louisa Arvizu.


Page three:

The year 1876, Joaquincito Arvizu was born on January 8 at 5:00 in the morning.
The year 1878, Filomeno Arvizu was born on November 21 at 5:00 in the morning.
The year 1880, Mariana Arvizu was born on November 3 at 10:00 in the morning.
The year 1883, Julian Arvizu was born on January 28 at 1:00 in the afternoon.

Author: Domingo Arvizu

Page four: Azusa, February 8, 1884 
Births
Guadalupita Arvizu at 5:00 pm
The year 1890, the beautiful child, Domingito Arvizu, was born at 10:30 in the morning on July 18.  He was baptized in the church of San Gabriel and his Godparents were the young man Arnaldo Arvizu and the Senora Amandita Garcia and his parents are Domingo Arvizu and Francisca Lopez.

Author: Francisca Lopez Arvizu



The Year 1898


The beautiful child, Francisca Vicenta Montolla was born on April 5 at 5:00 in the morning.  Her Godparents were Marianita Arvizu and Don Domingo Arvizu and she was baptized on March 11 by a Father from Pasadena.  He gave her the blessed Sacrament of Christian Baptism.  Her parents are Senora Sarq de Montolla and Don Juan Montolla, city of Azusa, California.  Author unknown




Hole in the Wall 
Julian Arvizu is seated bottom right.  Pedro Romero is standing to the right

Circa 1900



                                                                        Abram and  Filomeno with friends

Where the script changes, most likely finished by his wife, Francisca Lopez Arvizu.  

Puente, September 14, 1899 Author:  Domingo Arvizu to his wife Francisca Lopez Arvizu 
How can I express to you my joy in realizing that you are my Sweetheart.

Sketches of Don Fulano by Arnaldo Arvizu  
"For the use of Arnaldo Arvizu" Date unknown but after 1867




Domingo Arvizu and grandchildren



Back row, left to right:  James Leano, Larry Shernamen, Damian Arvizu, John Arvizu, Yvette Arvizu, Malena Arvizu, Tish Shernamen, Rose Chavez, David Chavez.
Front row, left to right:  Chris Shernamen, Matt Arvizu, Mike Arvizu, Samantna Shernamen 

John Arvizu is a direct descendant of Domingo Arvizu. 


Juana Briones Heritage Foundation

Dear Mimi,  

 I have followed your incredible work at Somos Primos for awhile,  thanks to connections with Lorri Frain and Wilma Espinoza. Thanks for  a great website, and articles that end up fascinating me in for hours  at a time.

As president of the Juana Briones Heritage Foundation, I want to thank  you for  posting information about our effort to buy the house that  Juana built, in order to create a hands-on history program there for  schoolchildren and a scholar in residence, too.

The effort to save the house has gone through  many twists and turns.  At one point we were hoping the City of Palo  Alto would take initiative and help find a long term solution by  buying the house.

In October of 2004, our Foundation launched a campaign to form teams to:
 1.Seek to open negotiations with the owners to buy the house privately  and
 2. Broaden the base of public interest in Juana and what her story  represents of Latina's contributions to California history.   We'd  like people to have the most current information: that this is no  longer a campaign to convince City Council members in Palo Alto, but a  challenge to demonstrate Juana's importance to the Latino community,  to women's groups, and more.  Uncovering her story has brought the  Foundation members to many areas of study from archaeology to  curandera plant studies,  from ethnic scholarship about Afro Mexican families to historic  maps and Mexican California Expediente land records  in Sacramento.

When our newly remodeled website launches hopefully by the end of  May, we'd like toannounce that widely.  We want to stir up a buzz about Juana so the owners of the house, who do not feel she's significant in California or to women's history, will be willing to change their minds about
demolishing  this house, and move towards a sales agreement with the Foundation.  Individuals and groups are invited to endorse the cause right now at the website: www.brioneshouse.org   Signatures there can connect us with people who can help the cause, and also demonstrate a broad base of support for Latinas in California history.

Juana is going to be included in the soon to open exhibit in  Sacramento, "Latinas: The Spirit of California. "  On all these fronts  there's lots to celebrate. But challenges lie ahead if we are to save
the house to create a living history program.

We hope everyone who wants to know more about Juana, the rare form of rammed adobe walls,
and the possibilities for making history come alive in her historic house will visit the site:
http://www.brioneshouse.org
 
Regards, Halimah Van Tuyl,  president JBHF
Juana Briones Heritage Foundation
chair@brioneshouse.org



American Memory from the Library of Congress Online Archive of California
Fantastic family photos. . .  Sent by Johanna De Soto
http://ark.cdlib.org/?relation=oac.cdlib.org&mode=content&search
=estrada&institution.x=22&institution.y=2


A Virtual Tour of the California Missions
http://missiontour.org/sanluisobispo/santamargarita.htm
Photos of the mission believed to be the first stone building in Calif.





Luis Cervantes -- muralist who inspired generations of artists
Photo source:  http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/story/051005/stories/Luis.html
Cicero A. Estrella, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, May 2, 2005 
Sent by Dorindo Lupe Moreno dorindamoreno@comcast.net


Renowned muralist Luis Cervantes died at his San Francisco home Wednesday after a brief battle with cancer. He was 81. Mr. Cervantes, co-founder of Precita Eyes Muralists, a Mission District nonprofit that promotes the mural art form, inspired generations of artists. 

"He influenced a lot of Chicano and La Raza artists, and they influenced his work," said his son Luz De Verano Cervantes. "He was passionate about creating a message about one's roots. His murals were often about community, the universal themes of life and transformation and the spirit of family and friends." 

Luis Cervantes and his wife, Susan Kelk Cervantes, opened the New Mission Gallery in the 1960s, and in 1977, they started Precita Eyes Muralists, whose mission is to produce urban community art through collaborations. Mr. Cervantes directed many of the nonprofit's projects, including "The Cross of Quetzalcoatl" at San Francisco State's student union, "The Precita Valley Vision" at the Precita Valley Community Center and "Si Se Puede" at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in San Francisco. 

Mr. Cervantes was born in Santa Barbara. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 and served in England, Belgium and France with the 358th Engineer General Service Regiment. Mr. Cervantes was among the invasion forces at Normandy on D-Day. 

After World War II, Mr. Cervantes moved to San Francisco and found work as a custom mattress maker with the McRoskey Airflex Mattress Company, his employer until his retirement in 1992. He served as president of the San Francisco Furniture Workers Union for two years. 

Mr. Cervantes used his G.I. Bill scholarship to study sketching and sculpture at San Francisco State College and ceramic sculpture at the College of Marin and the San Francisco Art Institute. His sculptures have been shown at the M.H. de Young Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 

Mr. Cervantes, who abandoned ceramic sculptures in the 1970s to concentrate on painting with acrylics, taught at the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco State, the Galeria De La Raza and other venues. 

In 1990, he and his wife participated in the Ecological Arts Collaboration, a cultural exchange between American and Russian artists. The couple visited Russia three times and produced two murals in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow. 

Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed April 6 "Luis and Susan Cervantes Day," and May is Mural Awareness Month in the Bay Area. 

In addition to Kelk Cervantes and Luz De Verano Cervantes, Mr. Cervantes is survived by sons Suaro and Monte of San Francisco and Stephen of Corralitos (Santa Cruz County); daughter Lorna Dee Cervantes of Boulder, Colo.; brothers Angelo of Las Vegas, Juan of Crawfordville, Fla., and Frank of Lompoc; sister Aurora Cervantes of Santa Barbara; and five grandchildren. 

The family requests that donations and contributions be sent in Mr. Cervantes' memory to Precita Eyes Muralists, 2981 24th St., San Francisco, 94110. 

A public memorial is planned this month. 

Source of information: Silicon Valley De-bug, The Online Magazine of the South Bay Archives, Gallery, Poetry

Silicon Valley De-Bug is a collective of writers, artists, organizers, and workers based in San Jose, California.   We are a project of Pacific News Service, a national news service located in San Francisco.   De-Bug started in the Spring of 2000 by reporting on the hidden experiences of working people who were employed as low-wage temporary workers.   As we grew as a collective we began exploring all of the issues of our community - in the workplace, schools, streets, relationships, and everything else.   

De-Bug is about allowing everybody to tell the stories of their lives, and their opinions on the world, both near and far.   We operate by the principle that experience is the ultimate authority.   In this way, we are creating a platform for otherwise unheard stories to be communicated to each and other and the world around us.  For more information about any of the projects call or e-mail us.   
(408) 295-4424 / svdebug@pacificnews.org
48 South Seventh Street, Room 102 
San Jose, CA 95112 

 


The Adventures of Juan and Mariano Passage to Monterey, and Ally's Alarm Clock 
Sent by author Debra Romeyn  debraromeyn@comcast.net
http://www.gossamerbooks.net

The Adventures of Juan and Mariano Passage to Monterey  is on the shelf of  the California Historical Society, many libraries, some regular school classrooms, some Catholic classrooms, and some ESL classrooms. You can also view the book with a review at: http://www.bookhandler.com.  This website caters to teachers.  The book is on the ordering shelves at the Sonoma County Office of Education...it was placed there by Mr. Michael Powell who heads one of the three Legal and Social Compliance Review Panels in CA. 

 The first book has a fast paced plot and is based on a real war that took place in 1818 when Argentinean pirates attacked Monterey California the then Capital of California which was part of New Spain. (This is three years before Mexico declared its independence from Spain) Juan Vallejo was only nine and his brother Mariano was eleven.  Please see the list below for information on Mariano.  If you love California history you will love this man!  He was made Commandant General of Northern California at age twenty-nine.  He owned one of the largest land grants in California
  
The Bear Flag Revolt literally took place at Mariano's home in Sonoma, California in 1846.  Several Americans were upset because the Mexican Government would not allow them to own land in California.  They joined John Fremont, an explorer who had been sent to survey California for the United States Government.  In June 1846 the group of men surprised General Mariano G. Vallejo at his house in Sonoma.  They locked him up and hoisted their flag, which had a picture of a grizzly bear. 
  
When the United States acquired California, Mariano gave land to the US to facilitate their fledgling governmental agencies.  And so a city was  named after him,  Vallejo, http://vallejochamber.com
and one was named after his wife Benicia, http://www.beniciachamber.com/guide.  There is also an Island named for his favorite horse Mare Island http://www.visitvallejo.com/marehist.htm
  
You might think it strange that a man who had been so violently treated would give land to the US.  But Mariano had wanted California to be part of the US.  Mexico was not supporting the territory as well as Mariano would have liked and he knew that either France, Great Britain or The United States of America would take possession of California.  He was a progressive.  He was also an entrepreneur and he believed the United States was best suited to support California and develop its resources.  

Mariano owned the largest Library in CA during his lifetime.  He took education very seriously.  Near the end of his life he collected journals, letters and private reminiscences from native Californians.  These were called the Documentos Para la Historia de California.  This material is part of the Bancroft Library and is the basis on which much research into California's past is done today.
  
Mariano was on the state board of horticulture for several years and supported one of the first resolutions to protect the redwoods. He helped establish Arbor Day. He was the fist commercial wine maker in California. Although he spent his entire life in California, he was a citizen of New Spain, of Mexico and of the United States.  He spoke at least nine Languages including Spanish, English, French, Latin, Some Native American Dialects, and  Russian
  
On October 23, 1965, decades after Mariano's death, the USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN 658) was launched from the Naval Shipyard where it had been built: Mare Island Naval Shipyard.  It was in service as a nuclear Submarine from 1957 through 1970.
  
To view Mariano's Historical home visit: http://parks.sonoma.net/lachryma.html .  Notice his taste was Victorian.  Quite unusual for the owner of a huge western rancho.
  
[[ Editor:  I reviewed both books and found them right on target for the intended reader.  Ally's Alarm Clock is a child's bilingual book with bright cheerful illustrations of a clock which can't stopped ringing.  Juan and Mariano is based on a historical incident, totally new to me: the Argentine invasion of the California coast.  I surely encourage Debra to write more capsules of history which expand understanding of California's history.  Hispanic youths as heroes makes it even more fun reading.

Wholesale prices put the books into every schools' budget.  Suggested Retail for Juan and Mariano, ($5.95), but wholesale 1-10, ($2.67). Glossary in the back and a one-page synopsis of the historical facts on which the 40-page booklet is based. Ally's Alarm Clock is $6.99 retail, but $1.29 wholesale. ]]

To order email debraromeyn@comcast.net or call: 707-322-8699 or write:
Gossamer Books, 444 Eastwood Drive, Petaluma, CA 94954

Santa Barbara, April 23, 2005, 
Los Soldados del Presidio Real de Santa



Networking via the Internet 

Hello Rita, I've been searching the old records to see if I could find your Benny or Cecilia Yorba.  No luck, but I've found a family connection between the Pryors and the Yorbas.  

Miguel Luis Nathaniel Pryor was a silversmith and clockmaker who came to LA from Louisville, Kentucky by 1838, and married Maria Teresa Dolores Sepulveda, daughter of Jose de los Dolores Sepulveda and Maria Ygnacia Marcia Avila.  

Their son, Pablo, married Rosa Modesta Avila at Capistrano in 1864.  She was the daughter of Juan Avila (y Ruiz) and Maria Soledad Tomasa Capistrano Yorba (y Verdugo).  

Pablo and Rosa Modesta had at least 5 children, all baptized at Capistrano, and the Godparents we mainly Pryors, Avilas and Yorbas.  One of their 5 children, Teresa, born in 1866, married Jose Miguel Yorba, son of Jose Miguel Yorba (y Verdugo) and Maria Josefa Bermudez, at Capistrano in 1898.  

The old Mission records stop after that.  Wish I could help more, but I wouldn't be surprised if this last family is somehow related to your Benny Yorba, explaining how Cecilia would inherit the Pryor adobe.  
If you would like further details about any of this, just let me know.

Good luck, Valerie Hall vhall98@worldnet.att.net 
CA-SPANISH-L@rootsweb.com


Santa Barbara, April 23, 2005,  Reenactors: Bernardo de Galvez, Father Serra, and Felipe Neve 


Discovery Reveals Rich Cultural Life in Spanish California 
By Abigail Goldman
The Sacramento Bee, Sunday March 12,1995
Sent by Paul Trejo

A PLAIN METAL locker at the San Fernando Mission archives belies its magnificent contents - a 200-year-old homage to God and proof of the glorious, long-denied heritage of Old California.

But the treasure, much like the period of history it represents, remained hidden for centuries, all but forgotten. It was finally rediscovered in 1992 by a musicologist who stumbled upon the set of three Masses by composer Ignacio de Jerusalem, the choirmaster at the Mexico City Cathedral in the mid-1700s. Scholars believe that the complex, fully orchestrated Masses were brought here in the early 19th century and performed by Native American Christian converts.

The Masses of the San Fernando Mission are the most recent - and perhaps most elegant - examples cited by those who believe that California's most important post-Columbian cultural legacy comes not from pioneers moving west, but from those moving north.

Settlers from Mexico and the native people who entered their communities brought skills - from animal husbandry to high art - that some scholars contend are too often discounted when compared to the European-influenced culture of the East Coast.

"We no longer have to accept a rather dim, rather sleepy, rather lazy kind of distant view of Spanish California," said William Summers, an expert in Mexican American music. "We can see Spanish California as a vibrant, exciting, productive, artistically stimulating period in our history."

IF OTHER scholars are not quite ready to rewrite their history texts, they are willing to listen to the Masses and to their advocates' views of musical history.

Richard Crawford, a University of Michigan professor and a leading scholar of American Colonial music, acknowledges that an Eastern-centered view of Co-'< lonial-era culture predominates in academe. The Jerusalem Masses, he said, could give scholars a new lens through which to view the West.

Musicologist John Koegel came upon the Masses just before the 500th anniversary of Columbus' landing in America, when he went to Mission San Femando and, out of curiosity, asked for a stack of music vaguely referred to in a footnote of a 1941 book. The footnote made no mention of Jerusalem, just early Mass music.

"No one had ever asked to see them before," said Msgr. Francis J. Weber, the archivist of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "That's one that slipped through the cracks."

Weber rummaged through the metal cabinet, which is housed in a locked vault containing mission documents from throughout California. He brought Koegel a manila folder labeled simply, "Mass Music."

The loose pages were just slightly yellowed, as if they were no older than the average library book. The composer's name had been omitted. The musical notes were carefully drawn, the Latin text written in black ink.

SURVIVING ACCOUNTS from travelers to early California detail accomplished Native American orchestras that reportedly" rivaled Europe's own. Shipping logs, filled out by the mission fathers and sent to Mexico City, list requests for violin strings, flutes, orchestra gowns and sheet music.

But before Koegel saw the mission Masses, the few musicologists who studied early California could not prove the level of artistry that they thought must have existed.

"It was beautiful music," Koegel said. "I heard the music in my mind as"I looked at the pages (and) here were all the parts of the instruments and the singers." 'He imagined the sounds of the Mass in D, with trumpets, horns, oboes and all the fanfare of a battle Mass; the lyrical Mass in F, which emphasizes woodwinds and gentle, heavenly tones. Arid he imagined the two-choir echoes of the joyful Polychoral Mass in D, which at times exults in a combined . voice and then breathlessly splits into light, complex lines .that rush through chord progressions like a river rushes through rapids.

That most of the period's music has been lost does not surprise Koegel. Land deeds and other legal documents were protected from the elements and periodic house cleanings at the 'missions, when excess papers were burned. Music,, often stored with a musician's personal property, was not as well protected.

THE LAST area colonized by the Spanish Empire, California is among the few places where musical manuscripts can still be found; missions in the South and other parts of the Southwest contain few if any such treasures.

After his discovery at Mission San Fernando, Koegel first called colleague Craig Russell, who was soliciting works for a concert, "After Columbus, the Musical Journey."

Russell immediately suspected that two of the Masses were composed by Jerusalem because of the rhythmic style typical of his work. He confirmed his hypothesis when he found the single-choir Masses in the Mexico City Cathedral's microfilmed copies of Jerusalem's work.

Jerusalem, A violinist and composer, was born in Lecce, Italy, in 1710 and was recruited to play in the Mexico City equivalent of a Broadway theater in 1742. Jerusalem became that city's choirmaster in 1749, directing the choir and composing liturgical music until his death in 1769.

A composer as well as a musical historian, Russell filled in the Masses' missing parts. He began with the Polychoral Mass in D and what he called an effort at honorable "musical forgery." He pretended that he was Jerusalem while composing the Masses' "missing lower-register parts and correcting obvious copying mistakes.

"If you know the violins are doing one thing, you ask what natural harmonies would underscore that and support the melodic line," said Russell, a music professor at Cat Poly San Luis Obispo.."Are leaps allowed? How far? What sort of range would a cello player use? You look at his music and music of the time and try to find something to match the time and him."

Chanticleer, a vocal group from San Francisco, already was scheduled to sing at .Russell's conference. When members read through the "Polychoral" Mass, they readily agreed to perform it along with a selection from another Mexican composer, Manuel de. Zumaya.

"When we performed it for audiences here, they all asked, 'When are you going to record it?'" said Louis Botto, Chanticleer's founder and artistic director. "No one knew that this stuff from two Mexican composers could be so exciting."

The group recorded both selections on its 1993 release, "Mexican Baroque."

After the missing parts were reconstructed, there still were matters of history to resolve. Russell, Summers and Koegel wanted to show that these' works were not only artistically brilliant but genuinely American.

"American history is written by people who stand on the East Coast and look west, so they have a very hard time giving credit to the Spanish accomplishments throughout the United States," Summers said. "Where you would have simple psalm singing in churches on the East Coast, in California you would have orchestras and choruses performing marvelous concerted Masses."

SUMMERS HAS long chastised colleagues for setting one standard for composers of British ancestry and another for those from Mexico or the West Coast; the former are held to be American musicians, he said, while the latter are not.

"(Many historians think) the music by Ignacio de Jerusalem, performed in California, isn't American music, it's Spanish music, so we don't have to integrate it into our view of the American past," Summers said. "Historians have a hard time admitting Hispanic culture into American culture, whereas they have no such difficulty with the English culture."

As an example Summers cites Hanover, N.H., where he teaches music at Dartmouth University. The town was founded in 1769 - the year Father Junipero Serra established the first California mission in San Diego.

It was not until 1807 that Hanover developed its first choral group, the Handel Society, and not until 1830 that a major orchestral work was performed. That same year, the town had 100 head of sheep and cattle.

By contrast, the missions had full orchestras and choirs when the Jerusalem Masses were brought here in 1804.

At its most successful point in 1817, Mission San Femando -which was founded 28 years after Hanover - had 12,800 cattle, 7,800 sheep and 780 horses. Hanover did not have 1,000 residents until 1870; the mission's population topped 1,000 as early as 1804. "It was everything the Eastern Seaboard colonies would have liked to have been," Summers said.

To Russell, that people ask for comparisons between Jerusalem and better-known European composers illustrates early California music's identity problem.

"We ask ourselves the wrong question" he said. "We ask, 'Is someone as good as Bach or as good as Mozart?' That's like asking if enchiladas are as delicious as salmon. What an irrelevant question. The question is, does listening to Jerusalem's music enrich my life, and it's an unqualified yes."

RUSSELL AND Summers suspect that the Masses made their way north through Father Juan Sancho, an accomplished musician who came to California in 1804 and whose handwriting matches the notations on other pieces of music found with the Masses They hypothesize that Sancho brought the Masses for his orchestra at Mission San Antonio de Padua near what is now King City in Central California.

At the time, all of California was one diocese, so church documents were shifted around throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has housed its archives at Mission San Femando since 1981.

It is not clear where these Masses were performed, because mission padres shared their music. Scholars can document the expertise of musicians at missions San Antonio de Padua, Santa Barbara, San Jose and Santa Clara de Asis. A famous 1860 photo depicts a small ensemble of Native American converts and their instruments at Mission San Buenaventura.

The California musicologists also do not dispute that Native Americans had a vibrant pre-colonial society, or that it was ravaged in part by mission fathers. Their arguments are with the historical record of colonial development.

And they would like that record updated. Koegel, Russell, Summers and others see the Jerusalem Masses as an opportunity to re-examine the state's cultural roots and their legacy for Californians today.

"In academia we've been asleep at the wheel, and slow to look in our own back yard -Mexico, California, wherever that might be - and acknowledge it as a legitimate place to understand and find beauty and elegance," Russell said. "What we find in the mission doesn't invalidate Mozart any more than Arthur Miller invalidates Shakespeare, but there's room for both."

And it goes beyond Jerusalem, they say. They talk about a day when Zumaya, born in Mexico around 1678 of Native American and European ancestry, will be as well-known and as admired as other musical masters of the baroque.

In 1711, for instance, Zumaya did something no one born in the New World is known to have done before then. He wrote an opera.

Abigail Goldman is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Music from Polychoral Mass in D by Ignacio de Jerusalem can be heard on "Mexican Baroque," a CD recorded by the Chanticleer group for the Teldek label.


Portraits of their times
By Christopher Knight
Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2005
Sent by Viola Sadler vrsadler@aol.com

A face for the ages
(Colección Lambarri-Orihuela, Peru)
Lively spirit
(San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas)
Wedded to the church
(San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas)
Spirit of inquiry
(Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego)

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-retratos29may29,0,2038892.     story?coll=cl-suncal  A stimulating exhibition in San Diego traces the human image through the sweep of Latin American history.
  
Exhibitions of this scope — "Retratos" roams over territory that includes 15 modern nations and spans two millenniums — don't always offer much more than a cursory glimpse into their subject. "Retratos" is a happy exception. The exhibition was jointly organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and El Museo del Barrio in New York, where it had its debut in December. Perhaps because large surveys of Latin American art are not often done, its 105 paintings and sculptures offer many surprises — and, it turns out, at least one larger oddity.

Here's the curious part: Roughly one-third of the works on view are by artists whose identity is unknown. Even those whose name might be attached to a specific work, through a signature on the canvas or some other document, can remain mysterious. "Regrettably, nothing is known about the artists of these two images," says the catalog entry for a pair of watercolor miniatures on ivory made in Puerto Rico in the 1840s. "Little is known about the artist," says a wall label for the lovely painting of the woman in the shawl. Many catalog entries discuss details of the sitters' lives while saying nothing of the artists.
The galleries are divided into reasonable categories.

There's the "viceregal era" (24 works), when European colonists after Columbus were restructuring the social order in North, Central and South America as well as proselytizing Catholicism. Then comes the 19th century (42 objects), divided into two: the tumultuous battles for independence in the early decades, as the colonies broke away from Spain and Portugal, and the consolidation of national identities later. Tellingly, the show's first self-portrait turns up here — a woman, Guadalupe Carpio, shown surrounded by her mother and children and painting a portrait of her father. The catalog reports that "little is known" about her.

In the modern era (18 works), tradition is pitted against the rebellious avant-garde, both stylistically and in areas such as social reform. Finally, 13 contemporary works conclude the show. Portraiture shifts in accordance with social transformations.

 

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Ernesto Apomayta Chambi



Puno - Perú,04 de mayo del 2005 

Ernesto Apomayta Chambi, es uno de los pocos artistas de origen aymara. Construirán Museo Aymara en EE.UU. Apomayta uno de los pocos aymaras que radica en Salt Lake City. 



 

Más datos 

En el 2004 donó más de 49 mil libros desde Utah para las bibliotecas escolares de los departamentos de Lima, Cusco, Cajamarca, Arequipa y Puno, con una inversión de un millón de dólares. 

Puno/Magaly Ramos Carrillo
Con una inversión de medio millón de dólares aproximadamente, Ernesto Apomayta Chambi, uno de los pocos artistas de origen aymara en el extranjero, construirá el Museo Aymara en el Lago Salado de Utah en los EE.UU. en los próximos meses. 

La inauguración de la galería se efectuará el 4 de noviembre del presente año, con la participación de diversas autoridades peruanas y extranjeras, con la finalidad de realizar un intercambio cultural entre ambos países. 

En el museo se exhibirá cuadros de pintura, murales del interior de los Uros, así como los paisajes de la provincia de Puno, artesanía, vestimenta típica, animales destacados del lago Titicaca, utensilios de cocina aymara, entre otras características innatas de la población puneña. 

El artista, indicó que el 16 de junio tendrá una exposición de pintura individual en Washington DC, mientras que el 2006 estará presente en China para promocionar la cultura puneña en las olimpiadas Pekín 2008, auspiciada y organizada por la embajada del Perú en los EE.UU. 

Cabe destacar que Ernesto Apomayta Chambi, de origen aymara, ha trascendido artísticamente en diferentes partes del mundo, mucho más allá de su querido distrito de Acora. 

Reseña del artista 
De otro lado, Apomayta comentó que desde los 4 años de edad, había adquirido el dominio del pincel y pintaba murales en las paredes de su casa. Hoy en día la cultura puneña lo ha llevado por diferentes partes del mundo, enraizado en Salt Lake City, cerca del Lago Salado de Utah en los Estados Unidos, empero igualmente se siente íntimamente ligado a la milenaria y enigmática cultura China, en cuya capital Pekín, vive y estudia su hija Jade Iraida Apomayta Bai, de 16 años. 



The Embassy of Peru
cordially invites you to the event

Bridging the World through communication

and cultural exchange exhibition

 

Artistic works by
Peruvian painter

Ernesto Apomayta Chambi

From Thursday 16 until Thursday June 30, 2005

Opening evening on June 16, 2005, at 6.30 p.m.

at the

Gallery of Art of the Embassy of Peru

1700 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20036.

The Exhibition is open to the public
10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
From 16 to 30 June, 2005

About Ernesto Apomayta-Chambi

Born and raised in Puno, Peru, Ernesto Apomayta-Chambi was identified as an artistic prodigy at the tender age of five. As a boy, Apomayta was first influenced and inspired by the natural marvels surrounding the humble home he shared with his family. In close proximity to shimmering Lake Titicaca, the striking beauty of the Andes and the awe-inspiring Incan ruins of his ancestors, Apomayta was spiritually compelled to express his wonder visually through his paintbrush. A direct ancestor of Apomayta, the legendary photographer, Martin Chambi, derived inspiration from the same native influences and his legacy that encouraged Apomayta to fulfill his own artistic destiny.

Through the assimilation of other cultures, traditions and lifestyles, Apomayta has developed his own style that expresses the side-by-side harmony of East meeting West, past meeting present, nature meeting industrialization—a style that has gained him international acclaim. Apomayta expresses the urge of his spirit through watercolors, oils, natural inks, acrylics and charcoal applied to textured paper, rice paper, silk and the walls of structures. He speaks eight languages, holds a doctorate in Pre-Columbian art history and is an internationally recognized authority on Chinese art.

 

 

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Albuquerque, ¡Feliz Cumpleanos! Three Centuries to Remember
The Sernas of New Mexico, a Family History
Familia Navarrete-Navarrette Aldama, Chihuahua Mexico 
Mission 2000
Las Principales Misiones de la Pimeria Alta
International Workshop, Conservation/ Restoration, Earthen Architecture
State English rule is vetoed 
Anza and Cuerno Verde: Decisive Battle

El Corrido Tejano - Part II
 ***  Click to Ojinaga at la Junta de Los Rios

 




Albuquerque, ¡Feliz Cumpleanos! 
Three Centuries to Remember”

New Book To Honor Albuquerque’s Tri-Centennial:
 
by Dr. Nasario Garcia|
with assistance from freelance writer 
Richard McCord


Sent by Jane Blume  jblume@desertskycommunications.com
                        


The city was started in 1706 based “on a lie”… many of its important civic leaders first came as tuberculosis patients… it’s the highest metropolitan city on the U.S. mainland…it’s a leader in high-skill employment, supporting public art, care of zoo animals and non-profit blood banking… and it’s home to the world’s biggest hot-air balloon festival and the largest Indian powwow in North America. These facts and many more facets of Albuquerque’s unique characteristics and fascinating history are covered in Albuquerque, ¡Feliz Cumpleanos! Three Centuries to Remember” by Dr. Nasario Garcia - with assistance from freelance writer Richard McCord - which the publishing company La Herencia will release at the end of May to honor The Duke City's Tri-Centennial celebration.  

Garcia’s 224-page book weaves together the multiple strands of Albuquerque’s complex fabric which – in addition to tuberculosis and the hot-air balloons - includes the impacts of Spanish conquistadors [colonizers], native warriors, adventurous Anglos, covered wagons, the coming of the railroad, writers, artists and dreamers, nuns and missionaries, frontier photographers, All-American athletes, doctors, and “The Mother Road,” Route 66.  It is lavishly illustrated with 250 photographs taken between 1864 and 1990, many of which arguably have never been published before.

Nasario Garcia is a retired professor of Spanish literature who taught at colleges and universities in New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Considered a leading folklorist in this state, he is the author, editor and translator of seventeen previous books. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at the University of New Mexico and did graduate work at the University of Granada in Spain before obtaining a Ph.D. in 19th Century Spanish Literature at the University of Pittsburgh. 

[Co-author Richard McCord is a freelance writer who was raised in Georgia, trained in New York, and came to New Mexico in 1971. Three years later he founded the weekly, award-winning Santa Fe Reporter. Most recent books include The Other State: New Mexico USA & The Chain Gang.]

Albuquerque, ¡Feliz Cumpleanos! Three Centuries to Remember,” which includes Spanish-language summaries of each chapter, retails for $24.95 and is available for purchase on La Herencia’s website, http://www.herencia.com  Contact: Ana Pacheco, La Herencia, 505-474-2800
Jane Blume, Desert Sky Communications, http://www.desertskycommunications.com 505-294-1976

 
The Sernas of New Mexico, a Family History

Hello.... I am interested in helping Sernas, and descendants of other families married to Sernas, to find their ancestors by way of my genealogy page.... I have posted a direct-line genealogy from me, back to Alvar Gomez de la Serna, c.1360 Spain. I invite readers of Somos Primos to visit my page .

Louis F. Serna, Sernabook@aol.com

[[ Editor's note: I found the site clear, concise, with a full page of links to genealogical  sites. If you have any Serna's in your background, be sure and look. Forwarded by George Gause ]]
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/e/r/Louis-F-Serna/


Familia Navarrete-Navarrette Aldama, Chihuahua Mexico 

John Navarrette would like to connect with any Navarrete families.
Surnames of interest: Aguilar, Mendia,Lozano,Saldana ,Rodriguez ,Caldera .

Please contact him at: john.navarrette@worldnet.att.net

Please go to the SHHAR networking database for the family data that John has gathered. Click to the homepage and then click on Networking. http://www.SHHAR.org

 

Mission 2000

Tumacacori National Historical Park

Sent by Mary.Kasulaitis,  Arivaca Library, Arivaca, Arizona
  Mary.Kasulaitis@tucsonaz.gov

 

Tumacácori National Historical Park in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley of southern Arizona is comprised of the abandoned ruins of three ancient Spanish colonial missions. The Park is located on 360 acres in three separate units. San José de Tumacácori and Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, established in 1691, are the two oldest missions in Arizona. The third unit, San Cayetano de Calabazas, was established in 1756. Visitation to the Guevavi and Calabazas units is available only by reservation during monthly tours guided by the Park staff. All visitor services and Park operations are based out of the Tumacácori unit.     http://www.nps.gov/tuma/

I have been looking at your websites and links and would like to  suggest the following one for research into the Southern Arizona  Hispanic community. Don Garate, the Tumacacori Mission historian, has  been entering names into this database for many years. 

Mission 2000 is a searchable database of Spanish mission records of the Pimería Alta (southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico) containing baptisms, marriages, and burials from the late seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.  Don Garate, the Tumacacori Mission historian, has  been entering names into this database for many years. 

http://www.nps.gov/tuma/M2000.html
Names of persons associated with each event (i.e., priest, baptized, parents, godparents, husband, wife, witnesses, deceased, etc.) and personal information about each person are included. The ethnicity of names include O’odham, Yaqui, Apache, Seri, Opata, Yuma, Mexican, Spanish, Basque, Catalán, Gallego, Andalusian, Valencian, German, Swiss, Austrian, Bohemian, Italian, and others. 

Mission 2000
is an on-going project taken from the original mission records and updated weekly on the Internet.   As of the first of May, 2005 it contained 8090 events and 22,031 names of people and their known personal information. A majority of the present information comes from the Guevavi,  Tumacácori, Cocóspera and Suamca Mission registers and the Tubac Presidio register, but watch for more information in the future from Arizpe, Átil, Bisanig, Caborca, Cieneguilla, Cucurpe, Cocóspera, Horcasitas, Magdalena, Oquitoa, Pitiquito, San Ignacio, Santa Ana, Tubutama, and Ures.

The search is based on names in the database.  If you do not find what you are interested in, try a different spelling, or type only the first few letters of the name.  Since ancient spellings varied greatly, a partial spelling will list all entries with those particular letters.  Each person listed in the results will have a Personal ID Number shown in blue.  Click on the number of the person you are interested in to see his or her specific personal information. Included with the personal information will be a listing of all Event ID Numbers, shown in blue, with which that person is associated.  Click on any of those numbers for a display of information concerning that particular event.

 

Misión 2000 es un base de datos en el que puede buscarse nombres contenidos en los registros de las misiones españolas de la Pimería Alta (al sur de Arizona, EEUU, y al norte de Sonora, México), en el cual hay bautismos, casamientos, y enterrados desde el último del siglo diesisiete hasta el mitad del siglo diesinueve.  Los nombres de las personas asociadas con cada evento (por ejemplo: sacerdotes, los bautizados, padres, padrinos, esposos, testigos, los muertos, etc.) e información personal de cada persona son incluidos. La etnicidad de los nombres incluye O’odham, Yaqui, Apache, Seri, Opata, Yuma, Mexicano, Español, Vasco, Catalán, Gallego, Andaluz, Valenciano, Tudesco, Suiza, Austriaco, Bohemio, Italiano, y otros.   

Misión 2000 es un proyecto en progreso sacado de los documentos originales y revisado cada semana en el Internet. Hasta el primer día de mayo de 2005 contuvo 8090 eventos y 22,031 nombres de personas y su información personal conocida. Al presente, el mayor parte de la información viene del registro de las misiones de Guevavi, Tumacácori, Cocóspera y Suamca y el Presidio de Tubac, pero en el futuro busca información de Arizpe, Átil, Bisanig, Caborca, Cieneguilla, Cucurpe, Cocóspera, Horcasitas, Magdalena, Oquitoa, Pitiquito, San Ignacio, Santa Ana, Tubutama, y Ures. 

La busqueda es fijada en los nombres del base de datos.  Si Ud. no encuentra la persona en quien tiene interés, pruebe un otro deletreo, o marque solamente las dos o tres primeras letras del nombre.  Porque los deletreos antiguos variaron mucho, un deletreo parcial dará todos los nombres con esas letras particulares. Cada persona registrada en la resulta tendrá un número personal de identificación (Personal ID) enseñado en azul.  Marque el número de la persona con quien Ud. tiene interés a ver su información personal.  Incluido con la información personal será una lista de los números de eventos (Event ID), también enseñados en azul, en cual esa persona está asociada.  Marque cualquier número para un despliegue de información concerniente a ese evento particular. 
Las Principales Misiones de la Pimeria Alta
http://www.municipiodenogales.org/misiones_pimeria.htm
Sent by Johanna De Soto

Haz clic en los enlaces para ver las imágenes y una descripción de cada misión. 
A este Album se le irán agregando gradualmente las demás misiones de Sonora. ¡Sigue atento!

Information on each of these towns: Altar Atil Caborca Cíbuta Cocóspera Cucurpe Dolores Imuris Magdalena Oquitoa Pitiquito San Ignacio San Xavier del Bac Sonoita Tubutama Tumacácori 

Una página muy interesante que contiene abundante información histórica sobre las misiones del sur de Arizona, es la del Monumento Nacional de Tumacácori.



International Workshop, Conservation/ Restoration of Earthen Architecture
Taller Internacional de Conservación y Restauración de Arquitectura de Tierra
Mesilla Community Center & Guerra and Rivera Residence, Mesilla, New Mexico
Sent by Roberto Camp  mexicomarketing@yahoo.com

June 2, 3, & 4 2005

Location: Community Center, Guerra and Rivera Residence, Mesilla, New Mexico.
Who is Invited: Community members, Mayordomos, conservationists, plasterers, architects, historians, and general public. Registration: No registration fee is required, but program participants are encouraged to register. 

IMPORTANT: The lime that is handled during this workshop is a caustic material. All participants will have the opportunity to work with lime and mud. Participant are encouraged to bring gloves, eye protection, a long sleeve shirt, and long pants. Each participant should also have a hat and other appropriate sun protection.

Sponsors: 
Town of Mesilla, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), National Park Service (NPS), New Mexico Historic Preservation Division (HPD), Cornerstones Community Partnerships



Abstract:  State English rule is vetoed 
Elvia Díaz, The Arizona Republic, May. 10, 2005 
Sent by John Inclan   fromgalveston@yahoo.com

The movement to make English Arizona's official language came to a screeching halt Monday.
Lawmakers said they almost certainly will not pursue a resolution to put an official-English referendum on the November 2006 ballot at least this year. The resolution has been stalled in the Senate for more than a month. 

Two other key immigration measures did appear headed for passage by the Legislature but both face likely vetoes from Napolitano. If that happens, it would mean that most of the high-profile immigration proposals during this year's legislative session would have gone nowhere.

"The Legislature, to date, has failed to appropriate adequate funding to allow schools to teach English-language learners," she wrote. "Consequently, under Senate Bill 1167, English is required as the official language, but funds are not available to help non-English speakers to learn to read, write or speak English. Under these circumstances, making English the only language for official action is contradictory at best."

In 1988, Arizona voters approved an English-only law. But the state Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional because it violated free-speech and equal-protection rights. Supporters had argued the new proposal would have met that test because it would have allowed private citizens to speak or learn any language they wanted. 




Anza and Cuerno Verde: Decisive Battle
Sent by Bob Smith  Regriffith6828@aol.com 
Source: the Los Soldados

Hola Soldados!  I wanted to alert you about a second edition of a good book entitled "Anza and Cuerno Verde: Decisive Battle".  This is by Wilfred O. Martinez and is published by El Escritorio in Pueblo, Colorado.  It covers the major campaign that Juan Bautista de Anza mounted against the Comanche war chief Cuerno Verde and his warriors in 1779.  Anza gathered about 600 presidial troops and was joined by about 200 Ute and Apache allies.  They marched north from San Juan de los Caballeros in August, 1779, circled around through the San Luis Valley to attack the Comanches from the north, and met and defeated them on August 2, 1779.  This was at a location near present-day Pueblo, Colorado.  

Cuerno Verde, his son, four other major chiefs, an "immortal" medicine man, and many other Comanche warriors were killed; nearly 100 in all.  The El Pueblo Museum has a beautiful Spanish lance head which I believe was dug at the battle location.  As a result of the battle, a peace treaty was signed between Spanish authorities and the Comanches in 1785 which significantly lessened 
hostilities between the New Mexico settlers and the Comanches.

Martinez had two ancestors in Anza's army and has done a good job of describing the events surrounding the battle and pinpointing the exact location.  Maybe the most valuable part of the book to me was the listing of 120 presidial soldiers who fought in this campaign, broken down into soldados de cuera and ligeros.  He has included good information on each soldado, including family and occupation.

So I thought I would alert you to a good, detailed study of this particular Spanish military campaign, which was carried out largely by New Mexico presidio troops, with the help of their Indian allies.
EL CORRIDO TEJANO - PART II
By Richard G. Santos  rsantos_us@yahoo.com

Second of a series of 4 or 5 columns on the corrido. 
Part II appeared in the May 26th issue of the Zavala County Sentinel weekly.
Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu

If you thought only Jesse and Frank James, the Younger Brothers, Dalton Gang and non-Hispanics held up trains at the end of the 19th Century, then listen up. This is a peek at a part of Texas and U.S. history missing from textbooks, movies and TV. Moreover, neither John Wayne nor Clint Eastwood appear anywhere in sight. This is history, not make believe.

The lower Río Grande south of Laredo was in turmoil in 1891. It began on January 19, when Mexican bandit José Mosqueda crossed the river and held up a train! The holdup occurred at La Loma Trozada between Brownsville and Port Isabel. Ranchers, farmers, Tejanos and Mexican laborers took arms and joined various posses trying to catch the train robbers to recoup their hard-earned wages and payrolls. According to the ballad, there was a shootout at Rancho La Lata and another at Rancho el Calabozo. The Texas Rangers and the Cameron County Sheriff's Department also mounted their respective posses but Mosqueda and his men managed to cross the Río Grande into Mexico and elude capture. 

The Corrido de José Mosqueda tells the story. "El diéz y nueve de enero el pueblo se alborotó (the people got excited on January 19th) cuando fué el primer golpe que José Mosquedo dio" (for on that day José Mosqueda struck for the first time). En el rancho de la Lata donde se vío lo bonito ( It was at Rancho La Lata where they had a great shootout), es donde hicieron correr al señor Santiágo Brito" (that is where they made Mr. Santiágo Brito flee). "Más allá en El Calabozo donde se vío lo más fino (It was a little further at Rancho El Calabozo where they had a greater shootout) es donde hiciéron correr al diputado Justino" (that is where they made Deputy Justino run).
In reference to people who lost their money, the ballad says the property of Juan Benítez "will now have to be sold at auction". 

Meanwhile, one of Mosqueda's partners named Simón García reportedly told his fellow train robbers they were going to spend the stolen money in Mexico. Obviously feeling unsafe, the song adds that García moved from Tamaulipas on the Texas border to the State of Sinalóa on the Pacific coast. 

I met the descendants of Catarino E. Garza in Duval County. They reside in San Diego, Benavides and Concepción (i.e. "La Chona"). With my sound-on-sound, four-track, reel-to-reel recorder I taped two corridos concerning their ancestor. In fact, it was in this manner that I collected the Corridos Tejanos from San Ygnacío to Brownsville and San Diego to McAllen. More will be said about that later. At this point I should note Catarino E. Garza was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas on November 25, 1859. He was apparently educated in Monterrey, Nuevo León for he grew up to become a literate and prolific writer. 

In 1877, six years after General Porfírio Díaz was first elected President of Mexico, Catarino and many border Mexican citizens migrated to Texas. In 1879, Catarino was a reporter for El Bién Público newspaper in Brownsville. In 1886, he was writing for El Comércio Mexicano newspaper in Eagle Pass. The following year he was writing for El Libre Pensador at Eagle Pass. By 1888, Catarino was in Corpus Christi writing for another paper also called El Comércio Mexicano. Three years later he was in Laredo, Texas writing for another paper called El Libre Pensador. 

The restless, wandering journalist in August 1891 raised a force of 38 men and invaded Mexico via the village of Miér, Tamaulipas. Catarino E. Garza intended to start a rebellion to oust President Díaz. The invading rebel force harassed the rurales de Díaz (Federal rural police) for three months and returned to Texas in November. The following month he dispatched another invading rebel force that battled the rurales at Rancho de las Tortillas, Tamaulipas. El Corrido de los Pronunciádos (ballad of the rebels) tells of the battle which occurred on December 10th. 

"El día diéz de diciémbre, que día tán señalado" (the 10th of December is a memorable day). "En el Rancho de las Tortillas siéte muertos han causado" (seven people were killed at Rancho de las Tortillas). The song tells how the rebels crossed the Río Grande and attacked a military post commanded by an officer named Salinas. The rebels yelled "Víva Catarino Garza" and the besieged rurales replied "Víva el Supremo Gobiérno" (long live the national government). Defender José Besarrúbia was the first to be killed. According to the ballad, rebel Captain Darío Hernández killed the second-in-command (Besarrúbia?) with five shots to the head. Don Cristóbal, a rural officer, was saddened by the pleas of the dying officer. The ballad's last stanza tells how the rurales surrendered and the rebels took their horses, saddles and weapons telling the soldiers to charge President Díaz for what they were taking. It says, "Gritaban los pronunciádos con demaciádo valór ésto lo cargan a Díaz si al cabo es buén pagador" (the rebels yelled with much valor, charge Díaz for this as he pays well). 

With a major victory in hand, additional rebels were sent across the Río Grande in early 1892 and a large battle against the federal forces took place at El Chapeño, Tamaulipas. This time the rebels lost and had to flee back to Texas. Waiting for the rebels on the Texas side of the border were several posses and a U. S. Cavalry unit. The Ranger posse was under the command of Captain Hall from San Ygnácio, Texas. El Corrido del Capitán Hall picks up the story. 

"El diéz y seis de diciembre salió Hall de San Ygnácio a seguír los pronunciádos pero salió muy despacio ( Hall left San Ygnacio in pursuit of the rebels on December 16th but he moved slowly). According to the ballad, they had their first encounter at the "Rancho de Don Proceso" in Starr County. From there the rebels moved toward Granjeños where a Mr. Landín told them the Rangers had just left their camp. The song says Captain Hall hesitated when he saw the large rebel force. Rebel Melquiádes González removed his dry meat bag from his saddle to draw his weapon as he taunted the Rangers. Alejo (no last name given) quickly drew his carbine preparing to battle the Rangers. Margarito Benavídes, said to be riding a good horse, quickly dismounted after the first volley in order not to lose his mount. Idalécio Uribe was wounded and told his fellow rebels he was paralyzed. Meanwhile, Juan Duqué and Darío Hernández climbed a small hill and reportedly started serenading the Ranger posse. Seeing the posse backing away, Hernández yelled at them not be afraid and to continue the battle.

The one-sided Corrido del Capitán Hall favoring the rebels does not tell the rebels actually lost the battle. Those who did not escape were arrested and sent across the border where the rurales promptly executed them as "border bandits". Meanwhile, Catarino E. Garza managed to escape and in 1893 reappeared in Costa Rica. The following year (1894) he published his famous booklet against President Díaz titled La Erá de Túxtepec en México o séa, rúsia en américa (The Era of Túxtepec or, Russia in America). Soon after releasing the booklet, Catarino E. Garza moved to Colombia where he reportedly died in May 1895. 

To this day, his descendants reside in Duval, Jim Wells, Nueces, Jim Hogg, Hidalgo, Starr and Cameron counties. Descendants of the rebel Uribe reside in Webb, Strarr and Cameron counties and can count in their present extended family numerous teachers, business people and a former Texas State Senator. It was at San Ygnácio, Texas where the Uribes (including the former Senator) allowed me to record them singing El Corrido del Capitán Hall.

There is a certain overlap of time, but there are issues of Tejano history and society which stood separate and apart from the concerns of the Mexican citizens in exile. To again paraphrase the 755 year old El Romance de la Delgada, "ya con ésta me despido a la sombra de un mesquíte (under the shade of a mesquite tree, I now say farewell) aquí se acaba cantando la história de los corridos (this brings an end to the history of the corridos).

 

BLACK

Fugitive Communities in Colonial America Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica

               The two articles below are from the website:  http://www.somosprimos.com/blacklatino/bl.htm

Fugitive Communities in Colonial America

By Michael Kolhoff
http://earlyamerica.com/review/2001_summer_fall/fugative.html


The early colonial period was the heyday of the fugitive communities in North America. Europeans usually only occupied a small portion of a colonies available land. This left vast expanses of wilderness open to the fugitives. By the beginning of the 19th century expanded settlement and increased European populations had pressed the fugitive communities (with a few exceptions) ever further into the wild.

The Melungeons were driven from their farms in the Shenandoah Valley by the mid 18th century. Other tri-racial groups were driven deeper into the mountains and swamps. In the period prior to the Civil War, tri-racial people were classified as "free persons of color", a classification which has led many researchers to erroneously identify tri-racials as freed slaves.

After the Reconstruction period, with the rise of the Eugenics movement of scientific racism, tri-racial groups were classified as African Americans in many locations (based on the "one drop" rule: if you have ANY Negro ancestry, you are a Negro). These measures did much to destroy many tri-racial communities, since those who could "pass for white" eagerly did so to avoid the racist restrictions placed on Negroes. Those tri-racials who exhibited the most prominent Negro features were forced to dissolve into the African American community, where they became "mulattos". Those that exhibited the most prominent European features dissolved into white society, where they explained their dark features by various acceptable means. Tri-racial communities still exist, and many occupy lands that their fugitive ancestors settled generations ago. Their story is an important example of the determination and resilience human beings can achieve, as well as of the many complex possibilities that presented themselves in the early colonial period.

 

Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica
by Bobby Vaughn
http://www.afromexico.com

The purpose of this website is to introduce readers to the culture and unique experience of Mexicans of African descent. If you are like most people, you probably have never heard of Afro-Mexicans and are completely unaware that they exist. If you fall into this category, this page will hopefully be quite a learning experience for you.

As a cultural anthropologist, I am interested in how issues of race, color, and nationalism make the Afro-Mexican experience what it is, today, and hopefully, I can come to some general conclusions as to larger issues of race and ethnicity.

Perhaps the question most central to my thinking about the topic could be expressed succinctly as: "How do black people in Mexico understand and live their black identity?" This question fascinates me primarily because issues of blackness and race are rarely talked about in Mexico, and the black population is extremely small there.

 

INDIGENOUS

"Mujer Cosmica"
Ojinaga a la Junto de los Rios
Native American/First Nations LGBTQ Gathering: 
            17th International Two-Spirit Gathering  

 

Film screening "Mujer Cosmica"

A look through the eyes of a descendant from the Cosmic Race. Osiana, an illegal immigrant who refuses the concepts of machismo, capitalism, and social inequality finds her voice in the corrupt society of `divide & conquer' . . and poses the question of "What is the difference between a human being and an ant?" Are we truly living or do we conform to daily routines and become a seldom used verb? 

Sent by Dorinda Lupe Moreno
dorindamoreno@comcast.net

The film was screened during the month of April in several locations in northern California.





OJINAGA AT LA JUNTA DE LOS RIOS

by Elisa Lujan Perez 
elisalaprima@verizon.net

 

In 1985, I was catapulted into genealogy research by a chance remark from my mother. Not known for discussing family secrets, one day she shocked me with the following: “My grandfather kept an Indian mistress in a cave!”, she said. Indians? I thought we were the Indians. Caves? Where? In El Polvo--present day Redford, Texas? In Ojinaga, Chihuahua across the Rio Grande?. Or perhaps further south in Cuchillo Parado where my grandmother was born? 

Uniformed as to the topography and history of the area in question, I hit the books right away. I learned that El Despoblado, as referred to by Spaniards was a center of habitation for thousands of years. The junction of the Rio Grande, and El Rio Conchos--termed La Junta de Los Rios by the Spaniards encompassed both banks at Presidio and Ojinaga,. . 

In 1200 A.D. there was farming as far as El Cajon(125 miles south of El Paso. From 1200 to 1400 it spread as far as Canyon Colorado--below Redford and up the Rio Conchos into Mexico for 40 miles. Between 1400 and 1500 communities disappeared to be replaced by a main body of Jumanos that extended from El Paso to La Junta. Between 1683 and 1715 there were 15 Puebloan villages near La Junta and the lower reaches of the Conchos.

Explorer Cabeza de Vaca”s seven-year plight in search of civilization after being shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico took him through La Junta in 1535. There he found what he called the “comeliest” of natives. Back in Mexico Cabeza de Baca’s reports prompted entradas in search of riches of The Seven Cities Cibola. Before long, Vaca was saddened to learn about slave-raids that were rounding up taking his beloved natives as slaves for the mines of Chihuahua and points beyond. 

Ojinaga dates 1714 its founding with the arrival of Trasvina Retis. who along with auxilaries from Julimes, and Francisco de la Cruz (a ladino La Juntaen), escorted Friars Andres Ramirez, Gregorio Ozorio, and Juan Antonio Garcia in response to requests for missions by the local indigenous. Missionaries not withstanding--it was soldiers assigned to Presidios along the Rio Grande in the late 1700s.who settled La Junta, By 1772 there concern about American and French encroachment in northern Texas, therefore a line of Presidios guarding the frontier was established. . 

Today I enjoy contact with dozens if not hundreds of primos I would never have known otherwise. What began as a search for my Lujan lineage developed into a file that numbers over 5000 in my extended family data-base. A second file, “Ojinaga”, contains over15000 names, with hundreds waiting to be entered. 

I am half way though a book about my adventures and discoveries of the last fifteen years. My goal is to include as many of those who’s antepasados hailed from Southwest. Texas, Presidio, El Polvo, Ojinaga, Coyame, and Cuchillo Parado as possible. I would love to hear from los que somos primos.

elisalaprima@verizon.net



Native American/First Nations LGBTQ Gathering: 17th International Two-Spirit Gathering  
June 27 to July 1, 2005
http://www.baaits.org/twospiritgathering.html
Sent by        vira@mail.utexas.edu 

The Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) welcomes Native American LGBTQ (Two-Spirits) to join us for the 17th Annual International Two-Spirit Gathering. The Gathering will take place at Camp Cazadero located north of San Francisco. This year's Gathering will be held for five days beginning June 27, 2005, the day after the San Francisco Pride Parade. The first International Two-Spirit Gathering was held in Minneapolis in 1988. The Gathering has continued to grow and has been hosted by groups throughout Canada and the United States. For many the most important facet of the Gatherings are the spiritual and cultural activities that include the sacred fire, sweat lodge, talking/healing circles, feasts, powwow night, giveaway and pageantry combined with a no-talent talent show and fellowship.

Gathering fee is is $225.  Download the forms and pay online through PayPal at
http://www.baaits.org/twospiritgathering.html

 

SEPHARDIC

Remnants of Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans: Dora Marina Roe
The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
Basque lullaby  
New Mexico DNA Project
Sephardic Jews founded key cities in Mexico 



Dora Marina Roe



Remnants of Crypto-Jews 
Among Hispanic Americans 
by Gloria Golden


I didn't know that I had this heritage.  I was twenty-one when by mother sat me down and said, I have something I need to tell you." She said my father, Henry, was not my real father. "Your real father, Rodolfo Morales, wants to see you. That's why I'm telling you this. He never wanted to stop being part of your life. I've kept him from you all these years because I was afraid that you would feel a separation from your half sisters (Henry's and Mom's children)." We were united into one happy family. It didn't surprise me. 

Since I was a little girl, I dreamed I was adopted. I didn't know in my dream if my mom, dad, or both knew there was someone else somewhere. I was surprised because that was the solution to the puzzle.
Everywhere I went I was told that I looked different than my sisters. Mother said that she had seen a picture of my paternal grandmother, and I looked like her. Then she said one other thing, "Your father is Jewish." I know (through Mom) that my grandmother died giving birth to my real father. When I've completed school, studying for a nursing degree, I will research the family history.

I went to see Father twice. It was important to me and to him that I know where I came from. He told me that he had never stopped looking for me. My mother turned him away. When I was twenty-one, he knew she could no longer legally stop him.

My father said that my paternal grandmother (I don't know her name) was from Spain where she met my paternal grandfather. She was an Orthodox Jew, and her parents disowned her for marrying my paternal grandfather who was a traveling bullfighter, fighting in Spain at the time. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and traveled to Spain. After they married, they moved to Guadalajara.

On Father's line, Grandfather's name was Rodolfo Pulido (bullfighter). Pulido means to polish. This may have Jewish origins. Mom is Hispanic and her name was Rivera. She was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as my maternal grandmother, Marina Natalia Rivera. Mother's father was
Rosendo Peres. He never said his family was from Spain.  On Mom's side, I know she has a sister in Guadalajara and was raised within the Hispanic culture.  Father ws adopted by a childless couple because Grandfather's work took him away. He was born in Guadalajara.  I know my paternal grandparents met in Spain.

My great-grandmother on my mother's side was Elijia Rivera.  My maternal grandmother, Natalia Rivera was raised Catholic. Yet, she named my Dora. You were suppose to name your children after a Catholic saint.  The Catholic midwife asked, "What are you going to name the child?" Grandmother said, "Dora." The midwife said, the name Dora is not a saint's name."  My grandmother asked the midwife, "What name can I give that is a Saint's name?" On the midwife's suggestion, she named her Clara, but kept Dora as the first name. Grandmother said, "Then it will be Dora Clara." My grandmother never called her Clara, and my mother never used that name. My grandmother was raised Catholic, and as a Catholic, it was surprising that she no idea that Dora wasn't a saint's name.  In the Catholic Church a child is named after a saint. You can give them as many names as you want, but one of thenames has to be after a saint. Dorit is my Hebrew name, and it means generation. 

My maternal grandmother could not pray without lighting candles and always covered her head to pray. She did this every evening. Mom's family wouldn't talk about the pasti You never looked at them or any older person (parents, grandparents) in the eye when they were giving you a lecture. It was like you were disrespecting them or giving them the evil eye."  They would say, "You're going to to give me the evil eye." You were to sit there with head down. Mother's mother hated Christmas - detests it. She was raised this way.   She once mentioned that relatives may have come from Spain because of their light skin.  The Riveras look like Anglos, some red-headed with green and blue eyes, white skin and freckles.

He never said his family was from Spain. On Mom's side, I know she has a sister in Guadalajara and was raised within the Hispanic culture. Father was adopted by a childless couple because Grandfather's work took him away He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. I don't know when they came to Guadalajara. I know my paternal grandparents met in Spain.

My great-grandmother on my mother's side was Elijia Rivera. My maternal grandmother, Natalia Rivera, was raised Catholic. Yet, she named my mother Dora. You were supposed to name your children after a Catholic saint. The Catholic midwife asked, "What are you going to name the child?" Grandmother said, "Dora." The midwife said, "The name Dora is not a saint's name." My grandmother asked the midwife, "What name can I give her that is a saint's name?" On the midwife's suggestion, she named her Clara but kept Dora as the first name. Grandmother said, "Then it will be Dora Clara." My grandmother never called her Clara, and my mother never used that name. My grandmother was raised Catholic, and as a Catholic, it was surprising that she had no idea that Dora wasn't a saint's name. In the Catholic Church a child is named after a saint. You can give them as many names as you want, but one of the names has to be after a saint. Dorit is my Hebrew name, and it means generation.

My maternal grandmother could not pray without lighting candles and always covered her head to pray. She did this every evening. Mom's family wouldn't talk about the past. You never looked at them or any older person (parents, grandparents) in the eye when they were giving you a lecture. It was like you were disrespecting them or giving them the evil eye. They would say, "You're going to give me the evil eye." You were to sit there with your head down. Mother's mother hates Christmas-detests it. She was raised this way. She once mentioned that relatives may have come from Spain because of their light skin. The Riveras look like Anglos, some red-headed with green and blue eyes, white skin and freckles.

Mom said there were a lot of secrets in the family, and they didn't want to talk about it. My mother, when she was fifteen, went to confession and the priest made a pass at her. She never went back. She changed to the Baptist Church. I was raised that way even though I was baptized in the Catholic Church. My mother was seventeen when I was born. Her mother was still Catholic. To this day, Mom is a Baptist and hates Christmas. She hates Easter, all the fuss. My mother will get up in an ugly mood during these holidays.

I spent my formative years in New Mexico. Mother was from Chihuahua and was told her Spanish was different than in New Mexico because they spoke Ladino. I realized they spoke Ladino when I read about it. The Riveras speak Ladino. We didn't have icons in our home. Mom hated saints. Grandmother had saint figurines that candles were on. I don't remember icons in Grandmother's house.

We would come home from school on Fridays and make sure everything was clean for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. My mother or grandmother never swept dirt past the doorway. I got in big trouble when they saw me doing it. They said it was not correct to do it.

My grandmother had a little thing by the door with holy water. She would dip her hand in the water and cross herself when entering and leaving the house. Mom was very strict that we did not worship saints. "You don't pray to saints. You don't look at them. When you pray, you bow your head and pray." Mom said, "There is no Virgin Mary. We do not worship Mary as far as her being the mother of Jesus. She is simply remembered as the tool God used to bring Jesus into the world, but we do not put her on a pedestal." Mom is Christian, but is not convinced about the different beliefs within the religion.

My grandmother and mother would cook meat until it was well-done and didn't have blood. We ate pork, but this was rarely done. My step-grandfather took a chicken and twirled it until it was decapitated. It was hung to drain the blood and would dig a hole and bury it.  Mom wouldn't use eggs with blood spots.  Everything was cooked completely.  Mother took all fat and veins from the meat. We would not drink milk and watermelon together.

My little brother was circumcised.  Mother's brother is David. I would hear Grandmother say that it has been ayear since so and so died, and then she went to her candles and she lit them. She didn't go to church to do it, only at home.

We didn't observe Lent. I never grandmother saying, "Don't eat meat because it is Friday." Grandmother and Mom made buñuelos around Ne Year's. When someone was leaving or going on a trip, Grandmother would put one hand on their should and make the sign of the cross. We said grace after meals, thanking God for the food. My maternal grandmother would put a piece of bread a jar in the cabinet so there would always have bread in the house. I have a jar with bread so we'll always have bread. We wouldn't throw salt away because we were concerned about not having any more. Salt was like the spice of life.

My grandmother was not able to go to school. My mother  has a bachelor's degree. I'm working on mine.  Once, after she finished talking to an uncle, Grandmother Natalia dipped her hand in the holy water on the door and sprinkled it on him. I never remember Grandmother telling anyone to go to confession.

With children, a lot of times a child would get sick and they didn't know where the illness was coming from. Grandmother Rivera would rub a raw egg in the shell on the  child's body to ward off the evil eye.  Prayers were said during  this cleaning {limpia). In effect, you were cleansing the body  of the evil eye. After you were done, if the egg had a blood, they would say it was an evil eye. She was also a midwife. 

until it was decapitated. It was hung to drain the blood. Mom was raised by her mother Natalia and step-grandfather. They drained the blood and would dig a hole and bury it. Mom wouldn't use eggs with blood spots. We never ate anything with blood. Everything was cooked completely. Mother took all fat and veins from the meat. We would not drink milk and watermelon together.

My little brother was circumcised. Mother's brother is David. I would hear Grandmother say that it has been a year since so and so died, and then she went to her candles and lit them. She didn't go to church to do it, only at home.

We didn't observe Lent. I never remember my mother or grandmother saying, "Don't eat meat because it is Friday." Grandmother and Mom made buñuelos around New Year's. When someone was leaving or going on a trip, Grandmother would put one hand on their shoulder and make the sign of the cross. We said grace after meals, thanking God for the food. My maternal grandmother would put a piece of bread in a jar in the cabinet so there would always be bread in the house. I have a jar with bread so we'll always have bread. We wouldn't throw salt away because we were concerned about not having any more. Salt was like the spice of life.

My grandmother was not able to go to school. My mother has a bachelor's degree. I'm working on mine. Once, after she finished talking to an uncle, Grandmother Natalia dipped her hand in the holy water on the door and sprinkled it on him. I never remember Grandmother telling anyone to go to confession.

With children, a lot of times a child would get sick and they didn't know where the illness was coming from. Grandmother Rivera would rub a raw egg in the shell on the child's body to ward off the evil eye. Prayers were said during this cleaning (limpia). In effect, you were cleansing the body of the evil eye. After you were done, if the egg had a blood  spot, they would say it was the evil eye. She was also a midwife.

I returned to Judaism, and the children did too. Mom didn't, and she's fine with it. I hated going through conversion because I felt that I was always Jewish. I never could swallow church doctrine. I always asked questions. As a result, in Sunday school of the Baptist Church, teachers would tell me to go home and ask Jesus to come into my heart and that He would help me to understand.

Judaism makes a lot more sense to me. I believe my thinking has always been Jewish. I'm not a person that conforms to whatever. I always ask questions. If someone asks, "Why did you return," I say, "Why not?" Mom said, "You can never go by the rules. Your father had a very stubborn nature, and you're exactly like him." She said, "You were never around your father and you are just like him." I was very athletic and so was my father. My daughter has Hirschsprung, a rare congenital disease which is common in Jewish people. This disease is where cells in the large intestine that squeeze food down through the canal are missing. She had corrective surgery. I still have many questions about where I came from because I have many relatives out there, and I would like to find them. I am the first in my family to be born in this country, on both sides.




The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies


The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies fosters research and networking of information and ideas into the contemporary development of Crypto Jews of Iberian origins. Membership is open to anyone who is interested in this immensely fascinating area. This website is being updated regularly with articles from HaLapid, our quarterly publication and announcements about upcoming events.
http://www.cryptojews.com/Index.htm

CALL FOR PAPERS
The next conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies will be held in 
Miami Beach, Florida - August 7-9, 2005.

ARTICLES ABOUT CRYPTO JEWS
These papers originally appeared in HaLapid, the publication of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies. With each new issue more articles will be added below, as well as papers presented at SCJS conferences The End of Jewry in Sepharad by Matthew Warshawsky, PhD  (A background to history of Crypto Judaism)

22 Primos in Search of Sacred Memories: Portuguese Jewish Heritage Conference 
1497: The Forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal
A Historical Inquiry into the Marrano World Patrimony by David Elijah ibn Neryahu Ramírez
A Matter of Conjecture by Bob HattemAnusim and Hmung by Adam Sevran 
A Story of the Lemba and Me by Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum
A Walking Tour of Jewish San Diego by Stan and Laurel Schwartz
Activism  Rather Than Prayer and Payoff: Doña Gracia and Joseph Nasi by Dolores J. Sloan
Another Look at Pablo de Santa Maria by Arye Hazary
Art As Expression of Sephardic & Crypto-Jewish Identity: Looking at Ex Libris 
The Atlantic Monthly Exposé by Max Valerio
Belmonte: A Reporter Revisits an Anusim Community by Kitty Teltsch 
Card Playing to Hide Jewish Identity by Arthur Benveniste
Cervantes, Don Quijote and the Hebrew Scriptures by Keven Larson     
City Preserves Its Jewish Traditions by Andrea de Lima translated by Michele Greene 
Clearing Up Ladino, Judeo-Spanish, Sephardic Music by Judith Cohen
Converso as Metaphor Conference  by Gloria Trujillo
Crypto Connections: The Battle of Lepanto, Duke of Naxos & Don Quixote by Arthur Benveniste
Crypto Jews in Portugal by Eduardo Mayone Dias
Crypto Jews of Brazil by Arthur Benveniste
Did King Ferdinand Have Jewish Ancestors?
DNA & Sephardic Diaspora: Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Europe by Abraham D. Lavender
Doña Gracia … With the Warts by Arye Hazary
Dr. Hector Nuñes, Portuguese Physician & Crypto-Jew in Elizabethan England  by Charles Meyers
England and Bevis Marks Synagogue - 1701-2003 by Randall C. Belinfante
Fennel – A Food Rich In Sephardic Cooking Lore by Victoria Roza 
Ferrara: Spiritual Haven for Conversos in the Early Renaissance by Dolores J. Sloan
From Spanish Jews To French Huguenots by Abraham D. Lavender, Ph.D. 
Halapid’s Policy Towards Use of the Term “Marrano”
Inca Jews by Arthur Benveniste
The Inquisition and Crypto Judaism The Inquisition Trial of Andrés González, 
1486 By Vanessa Paloma 
John Paul Abranches Highlights Denver Conference
Journeys Through Space and Time by Alan M. Tigay 
The Key to a 500 Year Old Door by Judy Frankel
La Conquistadora: Her Crypto Jewish Connection by Mona Hernandez
Mestizo Jews: The Hidden Treasure of the World in the Canaries
The Mishna and the Masa of the Corn Tortilla by Gregory Cuellar
Mourning Rabbi Soloveichik, by Schulamith Halevy
Our Secret Heritage Crypto-Jews of South Texas© 2001 by Alberto Omero Lopez y Cadena 
Pablo de Santa Maria by Judith Kreiger 
Pirke Avot, Haggadah & Bible, Ladino Translations,Crypto Jews in Italy by Ora Schwarzwald, Phd The Poetry of Leonor de Carvajal and the Crypto Jewish Tradition in New Spain
Porto Synagogue, Comes Alive by Manuel A Lopes Azevedo  
The Portuguese Crypto Jews Of Nantes In The Sixteenth Century by Richard Ayoun
Santangel 98: Reflections on Atonement by Dolores J. Sloan 
SCJS Member Honors Colombus Scholar by Kathleen E. LeMieux    
Society Member Gladstone Raises Funds for Belmonte by Yaakov Gladstone
Spanish Textbook view of the expulsion of the Jews 
St. Vicente Ferrer and the Anti-Semitism of Fifteenth Century Spain by Ronald J. Duncan
Texas Mexican Secret Spanish Jews Today 
The Visigoth Code
Unto the Ancient Mothers by Massimo Mandolini, PhD  
Welcoming Back the Anusim by David Kunin 
Who are Crypto Jews and What is Their Origin?
Women, Ritual and Secrecy, The Creation of Crypto-Jewish Culture by Janet  Liebman Jacobs

PERSONAL STORIES    

 End of a Journey: My Return To Judaism by Lupe Mandujano Garcia  
A Letter From Brazil  by Sinaida Leão  
A Thread in the Tapestry, Narros of Saltillo, Mexico, History and Literature by Kathleen Alcalá
"Belinfante Family Odyssey by Randal Beninfante
Buscando Mi Propio Verdad by Randy Baca
Confessions of a Marrano by Guillermo Lazo
Conrique=Cohen-Henriquez: Evolution of a Name by Roberto Hayiym Cohen-Henriquez del Pulgar
Discovering My Jewish Heritage by Filipe Natal
Emerging Fragments by Max Valerio
Finding My Past by Norma Waggoner
From Alter Boy to Rabbi, A Crypto Jew's Story by Rabbi Yosef Garcia      
Gomez Pereira by Jaime G. Gomez
The Life of a Weblist Moderator by Ana Kurland
Looking for Sephardic Roots of My Ancestors, The Calle Last Name by Horacio Calle Restrepo
My Family History by Miguel Bedolla
My Jewish Story by Victoria Roza
My Journay, My Return, My Pilgrimage by Greg Cuéllar
Remembrances of a Monterrey Family by David Ramirez
Return: My 50-year Search for My Jewish Self, Identity and Heritage by Steve Gomes
Saudades, A Journey Full Circle by Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum
The Search for Family Origins by Everardo Treviño Garza
Spanish Jewish Roots by Laurel Ornish
How South Texas Mexican American Came to the Conclusion that She is Jewish by Orfa Salinas  



Basque lullaby  

Sent by Win Holtzman Win4sports@aol.com
Israeli songwriter lifted melody of 'Jerusalem of Gold' from Basque lullaby

JERUSALEM (AP) - The composer of "Jerusalem of Gold," the emotional anthem of Israel's victory in the 1967 Mideast War, admitted shortly before her death last year to lifting the melody from a Basque folk song, colleagues said Thursday.

Naomi Shemer, one of Israel's most beloved and prolific songwriters, made the admission in a letter to fellow composer Gil Aldema days before she died last June at 74. In the letter, she wrote she had unwittingly based the melody of her song on a Basque lullaby she had heard in the mid-1960s, the Haaretz daily reported.

"She agreed for the secret to be revealed after her death," Eldama told Army Radio. He said he had decided not to reveal the secret too soon after her death and didn't want to make a "big deal out of it."

Shemer wrote "Jerusalem of Gold," which describes the country's yearning for the city, shortly before Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

The song quickly became a symbol of the military victory. After the war, Shemer composed a fourth verse celebrating the capture of the Old City - home to Judaism's holiest sites. The song continues to serve as an unofficial national anthem and is frequently heard on the radio and at national ceremonies.

Shuli Natan, the singer who first performed the song, said the new revelation did not taint Shemer's legacy. During a career that spanned more than half a century, Shemer wrote dozens of songs. In 1983, Shemer was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for her contributions to Israeli music.



New Mexico DNA Project

Project Background:
The New Mexico DNA Project will cover the colonial expeditions of New Mexico by the Spanish in 1598 and 1693, by the Mexicans in 1821, and the Americans in 1848. The New Mexico DNA Project will encompass not only Hispanics, but also Anglo-Americans who have come to New Mexico. 

In the years just after the Conquest of the New World, the Native-American population were decimated by disease and war leaving a relatively small gene pool of Native-American, Spanish, French, and English ancestors. 

DNA studies on Hispanics show a higher European admixture. *Anthropologist Andrew Merriwether and colleagues conducted a study on Hispanics living in Colorado. Using classic genetic markers they estimated an admixture of 67% European and 33% Native-American. 

He further tested their mitochondrial DNA (mtdna) which is a test to find the origins of your great,
great...grandmother, going back 10's of thousands of years. This one ancestor which is your families "Eve" so to speak, showed up as Native-American 85% of the time and European in origin 15% of the time. Thus showing that the majority of unions in this admixture were of European males and Native-American females. 

Project Goals:
To find our ancient origins, whatever they may be. 
To discover previously unknown living relatives. 
To determine migration patterns of different families. 
To see if similar sounding surnames are related. 
To discover how closely related all of us really are. 
To share this information with others so that we can learn more about where we came from. 

In order to join the "New Mexico DNA Project" and just go to this link: 
http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=B54098&special=True&projecttype=G
or contact Angel R. Cervantes at angelrcervantes@yahoo.com


Just decide on the 12 marker test or the 25 or 37 Y-dna marker test. The 25 or 37 marker tests are more economical in the long run. All tests show the group discount of $99 for the 12 marker or $169 for the 25 marker test or $229 for the 37 marker test. The test results take about 4 to 6 weeks from the time FamilyTreeDNA gets your sample. 

To see project results go to this website: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/NewMexicoDNA

Sent by Angelo R. Cervantes  
 angelrcervantes@yahoo.com

Sephardic Jews founded key cities in Mexico 
San Antonio scholar to discuss culture at Laredo temple 
By Tricia Cortez, Laredo Morning Times,  May 22, 2005
Sent by George Gause  ggause@panam.edu

In the 1500s, Sephardic Jews founded several key cities in Mexico, namely Monterrey, Saltillo, Monclova, Guadalajara, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. They soon moved northward and quickly established themselves as part of the ruling class. 

"The fact that Nuevo Reyno de Leon (now the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon) was founded by Sephardic Jews is extremely important and serves as the basis of contemporary culture of Northern Mexico and South Texas," historian and scholar Richard G. Santos said. 

"Today, we find many of their descendants as business people, educators and in the arts. Some are acutely aware of their Sephardic roots, many are not," he said. 

Santos, a San Antonio native with deep Mexican Jewish roots, will give a talk this evening on how the Sephardic Jewish culture "is very much alive today." 

The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Congregation Agudas Achim, 1301 N. Malinche. Author of "Silent Heritage: The Sephardim and the Colonization of the Spanish North American Frontier, 1492-1600," Santos teaches English and history at Southwest Texas Junior Community College in Crystal City. 

He has conducted extensive research over the past 25 years on Sephardic Jewish colonizers, combing the national archives of Mexico City, state archives of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, municipal archives of Monterrey and the archives of New Mexico, and several towns along the Rio Grande. 

More than 400 years after Sephardic Jews colonized and laid their roots in the New World, their influence can still be felt in colloquial Spanish phrases, foods such as flour tortillas, cabrito al pastor, capirotada and pan de semita and "our general world view and religiosity," Santos said. 

"What they really passed on were survival skills," he said. "They survived not only expulsion from Spain but religious and social discrimination." 

Furthermore, the philosophy of the Spanish American frontier, "cumplo pero no obedezco (I deliver but don't obey)" can be attributed to Sephardic culture, Santos added. 

Hailing from the Iberian peninsula, records show that Sephardic Jews settled in Spain and Portugal as far back as 1500 B.C. Sepharad means "the land where we grew up to be princes and princesses," Santos said. 

When they were expelled from Spain in 1492, by order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, many left for the New World and lived their lives as crypto-Jews, practicing their religion in secret. 

Some were also sincere converts to Catholicism. The alternative was death at the hands of the Inquisition. 

One key Sephardic colonizer in the New World is Don Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, a Portuguese Jew, who established the kingdom, now state, of Nuevo Leon in 1580. Don Luis was a businessmen who dealt in African slaves, Native American slaves, wine and European merchandise. In 1576, he captured the British pirates of John Hawkins near Tampico, Santos said. 

One year after founding Nuevo Leon, Don Luis re-established what is now Monterrey in 1581. This Mexican city, originally named Santa Lucia, was founded in 1575 by Alberto del Canto, a Portuguese Jew born in the Azores Islands. In 1575, Del Canto also founded the cities of Monclova (originally called la Trinidad), Cerralvo (originally San Gregorio) and Saltillo. 

One interesting side note, Santos said, is that Don Luis de Carvajal changed the name of Santa Lucia to San Luis in 1581, before the name was permanently changed to Monterrey in 1596. 

"It is interesting that descendants of the original founding Sephardic families refer to Monterrey as San Luisito," Santos said. Another important Sephardic family during this era was the Oñate family. 

They were Basques of Jewish ancestry. Don Cristobal de Oñate founded the cities of Guadalajara in 1528 and Zacatecas in 1548 while his son, Juan, established the city of San Luis Potosí in 1591. 

Don Juan later became the founder of what is now New Mexico in 1598, but he was not the first to make this northward trek. 

Seven years earlier, Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, a Portuguese Jew, took the entire population of Monclova up the Pecos River and into New Mexico in 1591 . There, Castaño de Sosa was arrested and the would-be colonists are brought to Zacatecas, from whence they returned to Saltillo and Monclova. 

According to Santos, Don Luis de Carvajal and other Sephardic colonizers "suffered the same fate as other conquistadores." 

"Once they were seen as being too powerful, they were removed from office," he said. In Don Luis' case, he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1585 and charged with harboring Jews and heretics, namely his sister and her children. She and her children, with the exception of two who escape, are burned at the stake. 

Don Luis, meanwhile, died in 1591 in jail in Mexico City. Santos said these Sephardic families were tightly knit and initially safeguarded their identity, property and wealth by only marrying among themselves. 

By 1800, however, they began to intermarry outside their group. 

Birth and death records also show that they identified and recognized all wives, as well as all legitimate and illegitimate children, Santos said. 

Because these families became part of the ruling class, they successfully relocated priests and others who complained of too many Jews in a particular area, Santos said. 

He noted that it is difficult to assess how many Sephardic Jews settled in the region since many hid their identities and never gave their real names or where they were born or their parents' names. 
 
(Tricia Cortez may be reached at (956) 728-2568 or by e-mail at tricia@lmtonline.com.) 05/20/05 
SOURCE: Neo Gutierrez Neodance@aol.com

 

TEXAS 

26th Annual Texas Hispanic Genealogical and Historical Conference
Tejano Pride, Welcome to Tejano Land
UNIMOS - an E-museum for San Antonio's Historic West Side
Documentary Entitled "Border Bandits"
HOGAR de Dallas Newsletter
Deadline passes to change top 10 law 
The story behind El Corrido de  Oliveira 
Is the Southern Border of Texas Legitimate at the Rio Grande?
Samples of letters received by John Inclan pertaining to his information 
National Register Travels Deep In the Heart of Texas
Books for sale by Los Bexarenos

 

 


 
http://www.tejanopride.com/main.html

Rudy Tejano Pena,Gloria Candelaria, Hernan Jasso 
5 de mayo festival, Goliad 

The new website Tejano Pride was sent by  Gloria Candelaria founder and first President of the Victoria (Texas) Hispanic Genealogical and Historical Society of Texas, organized in 1998. 
Gloria has an outstanding website, easily to maneuver, lots of links, name search, and resources.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~abel2479/

 Gloria has extracted and compiled the parish records for the following:

"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. 

"Spanish Surnamed Citizens of Victoria County, Texas - 1850 Census,"  booklet contains 43 pages.
"Spanish Surnamed Citizens of Victoria County, Texas - 1860 Census,"  booklet has 77 pages.
"Spanish-Surnamed Citizens of Victoria County, Texas - 1870 Census,"  booklet has 92 pages.

"Spanish-Surnamed Baptism Records and Some Burial Records of St. Mary's Catholic Church of Victoria, Texas - 1840 to 1872."  baptism booklet, 100 pages, 194 entries, 1, 250 names in index.

"Spanish-Surnamed Marriage Records of St. Mary's Catholic Church of Victoria, Texas - 1840 to 1881," The  booklet has 25 pages with 194 entries, and 617 names in the index.

Email Gloria if you would like to order any of the books above, GeneGloCan@aol.com 
Also sent by Yolanda Patino       and George Gause ggause@panam.edu

 

UNIMOS - an E-museum for San Antonio's Historic West Side

   


FAMILY ALBUMS   COLLECTIONS   ABOUT US   GROUP PHOTOS
http://www.unimos-sa.com  210-533-2912
Sent by George Cisneros, Director  
Vuture Arts     P.O.Box 906     San Antonio, TX 78294        (210) 533 - 2912        cisneros@dcci.com

Editor: WONDERFUL Project  . . . DO CHECK THIS OUT!!!



Documentary Entitled "Border Bandits"
May 16th, Las Porciones Society held a special meeting to view and discuss "Border Bandits"
Panel Dr. Armando Alonzo, Dr. Joe Chance and Trine Gonzales will present their views on the film and the role of the Texas Rangers in 1910s in the lower Rio Grande Valley.  

Border Bandits Synopsis
From the producer of the award-winning PBS documentary Return to Giant comes a new look at a very old incident. In 1915 a group of Mexican banditos raided the McAllen Ranch, one of the largest in the area. The next day a group of Texas Rangers supposedly arrived and eliminated the perpetrators. However, the real story is not as tidy as it has been portrayed. Roland Warnock, a 19-year-old cowboy working on the Guadalupe Ranch near present-day Edinburg, witnessed two of these killings when he saw Texas Rangers from Company D shoot two unarmed men in the back and leave their bodies by the side of the road. The effects of these killings by the Rangers are being felt in south Texas some 80 years later. This single incident brings into play much of the roots of the distrust between Mexicans and the Rangers, as well as the continued friction between Hispanics and Anglos in Texas.

An important and moving story, Border Bandits was produced and directed by Kirby Warnock, the grandson of Roland Warnock, and features the actual voice of Roland Warnock as he describes the events of 1915. In 1974, he sat down with his grandson and dictated the entire story to him on a reel-to-reel tape recorder for Baylor University's oral history program. The younger Warnock kept the tapes, then thirty years later digitized them and placed them in this documentary, with re-enactors portraying the events described by Roland Warnock. Unlike other documentaries that rely on voice talent to read letters or journals, Border Bandits contains the actual voice of the primary source of information, Roland Warnock, lending it an air of authenticity unmatched in most documentaries.

Re-enactment scenes were filmed at Old City Park in Dallas, and Warnock's family ranch near Fort Stockton, Texas. Narration for the film is provided by Jon Dillon, the well-known radio personality for KZPS, 92.5 FM in Dallas, Texas.

For the performers, he "stumbled" across The Ramirez Family, an all-female mariachi band from Odessa, Texas. "A close friend took me to lunch at a restaurant in Midland, and The Ramirez Family was performing there. I had never heard those Tex-Mex sounds coming out of a female band before, and I was immediately captivated." Warnock tracked down Betty Ramirez, the leader, and arranged for them to record "Desperado" in Spanish for the soundtrack. The result is a haunting score of a familiar rock standard, sung in Spanish by female voices.

Information on upcoming screenings, kirby@bigbendquarterly.com
Read the story that inspired the film, from the book Texas Cowboy, available for $11.50 per copy (includes postage and handling). Trans-Pecos Productions, P.O. Box 4124, Dallas, TX 75208.

Major Controversy:  
After being postponed by PBS station KMBH in Harlingen, BORDER BANDITS is FINALLY going to be seen in the Rio Grande Valley, June 7, at 7 pm.   The hour-long documentary played across the entire state of Texas on May 16, EXCEPT in the Rio Grande Valley.  

Although it was slated to air state-wide on May 16, the programmers at KMBH notified me via e-mail that morning (May 16) that they were delaying the broadcast of BORDER BANDITS until June 7 "to draw a larger audience."  I don't know what the reasoning on this was, as we had newspaper stories, our Web site and a widely distributed e-mail message alerting everyone to the May 16 date .

I'm re-starting my publicity campaign for this one station. I think it is vitally important for EVERYONE in the Valley to see this program, so any publicity you can give us will be GREATLY appreciated.  Our Web site is http://www.borderbanditsmovie.com

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Kirby F. Warnock  Kirby.Warnock@acs-inc.com

PS: In response to the three e-mails I received from people who "don't want their PBS contributions spent on this type of programming," I am giving BORDER BANDITS to all of the Texas PBS stations free of charge. Not one penny of the taxpayers or PBS contributors money was spent on this documentary. You may contact the Texas PBS stations to verify this.

 

 

HOGAR de Dallas Newsletter, South Texas Researcher May-June 2005 is available
SOURCE: Frank Faulkner frankf@sanantonio.gov   Lots of wonderful information  . . . .



Deadline passes to change top 10 law 
State college admission criterion to remain for at least 2 years
http://www.dallasnews hhacker@dallasnews.com  5/25/2005
Sent by JD Villarreal juandv@granderiver.net
 

By HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News 
AUSTIN – All attempts at changing the state's top 10 percent law on college admissions this legislative session are dead, lawmakers said Wednesday. With a crucial legislative deadline passing and no more talk of compromise, the law will stay as is for at least two more years: The top 10 percent of high school students will still be guaranteed a spot at any Texas public university. 
Several lawmakers had suggested changes, ranging from doing away with the law to capping the number of students who could enroll in college under the law. 

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who supported some type of cap, predicted that the University of Texas at Austin will keep seeing more of its freshman class enter under the law, with other qualified students left out. "In my district, in Plano, we have a lot of young people who are in the top 15 percent. ... They make 1200, 1500, 1300 on their SATs and they can't get in." 

UT, which has been most affected by the law, admitted 72 percent of this year's applicants under the top 10 law. Leaders there say they have little discretion to round out the student body with applicants who have lower class ranks but who may have other talents. 

Lawmakers passed the law in 1997 in an attempt to keep college campuses diverse after a federal court had ruled that race could no longer be used in the admissions process. 

That ruling was supplanted two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the waning days of the session, Ms. Shapiro, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and others had discussed a possible compromise that would eventually admit only the top 7 percent automatically. 

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said lawmakers should continue studying racial-diversity efforts at universities to see how many schools are considering race in admissions. 

He said more high schools have sent students to UT because of the top 10 law and he supports leaving the law as is. 

"I heard no good public policy argument for gutting the top 10 percent rule, short of people who didn't get in being upset because they didn't get in," he said. 
 

The story behind El Corrido de  Oliveira 

By Jose (Joe) C. Martinez as published in the Alice Journal Magazine  jcm36@msn.com
Texas Cactus Council members visit Benavides Cemetery
Sent by George Gause 
ggause@panam.edu

Benavides -- Three time-weathered tombstones in the Benavides Cemetery are testament to a once violent period in the history of South Texas. From about 1915 and into the early 1920’s, the Texas Rangers were the scourge of South Texas, inflicting havoc among the Tejano population. Shoot first and ask questions later seemed to be order-of -the -day. It is estimated that between 1500 and 3,000 Tejanos were killed by the Rangers in the early 1900’s along the South Texas frontier. Thus, El Corrido de Oliveira.

April 1, 1920, the date inscribed on three tombstones in a cemetery in Benavides, Texas, denotes the fateful day when the Texas Rangers shot and killed three Tejanos who were on their way to Paras, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The three tombstones are located within feet from each other. Cresencio Oliviera, Jr., Dionisio Maldonado and Vicente Aguilar were killed in the community of Bruni by the Texas Rangers, who opened fire from behind the cover of a mesquite corral, ambush style. Maldonado, Aguilar and Cresencio, Jr. dismounted their horses, at which time the rangers opened fire. Two others who had not yet dismounted raced away unscathed. The two riders that escaped were the father and a brother of Cresencio Oliviera, Jr. It was a chilly, drizzling day so the riders were wearing oil cloth capes that opened up and spread out when the two hastily galloped away. To their amazement, upon dismounting, they discovered that the flapping parts of their capes were riddled with bullet holes.

The corral at Bruni was a stop-off point (a place to rest and water the horses) for those traveling by wagon or horseback on their trek to Mexico or other South Texas points. Here the group of five stopped to water and rest their horses. The three who were killed were also accompanied by Cresencio, Jr.’s, brother Doroteo and their father, Crecencio, Sr. Earlier, their departure point was Rancho Palo Blanco located 3 miles from Benavides, a ranch owned by Crecencio Sr.’s brother. Their destination was the town of Paras, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where Cresencio, Jr. was to wed Chucha Gutierrez, his beloved sweetheart. All plans for the big wedding were complete, the calf was already butchered, the wedding cake all decorated, and the rest of the arrangements finalized. The only thing pending was the arrival of the bridegroom who was traveling from Texas, Crecencio Oliveira, Jr.

Upon hearing about the treacherous death perpetrated on Crecencio, Jr., everything went into disarray in the town of Paras. “Not to worry,” said Crecencio, Sr., “I have another son that will marry Chucha,” “the wedding will proceed as already scheduled.” The other son and prospective groom, Doroteo Oliveira, however, was committed to his own girlfriend and thus refused to follow his father’s wishes. Fortunately, there is another son, Corando, the younger brother of Doroteo, who is coerced into marrying Chucha, although she was five years older than him. The wedding proceeded on schedule and the bride and groom lived happily thereafter. They had three sons and one daughter.

Members of the Texas Cactus Council were honored to have TCC member Dr. Crecencio Oliviera present at the Benavides Cemetery during their historical tour of Benavides recently. Dr. Oliviera is the nephew of Crecencio Oliviera, Jr, referred to above as one of three killed by the Texas Rangers. The preceding true story was passed on to the TCC group by Dr. Oliviera.

Other interesting anecdotes offered by Dr. Oliviera and others about the 1920 incident at Bruni are as follows:

The Oliviera families from both Texas and Paras decided to honor Crecencio Olivera’s memory by naming the first boy born to the family with his name. So, Dr. Cresencio Oliviera was named Cresencio for that reason. However, in Paras, Nuevo Leon another boy was born about the same and he too was named Crecencio, not knowing that a boy had already received that same in Texas. Today, many of the Oliviera’s descendents are named Crecencio.

Maldonado, Aguilar and Oliveira were buried in the Benavides cemetery at night for fear of reprisal from the Texas Rangers.

The three bodies were left where they were shot for several days because in those day the Texas Rangers would shoot anyone going near the bodies of their victims.

Rumors follow that during the Laredo, Texas George Washington Celebration held on February 22, of each year, that in 1921 in a cantina, the captain of the Texas Rangers was shot and killed. He was the commander of the rangers who killed the three in Bruni. Crecencio Oliviera, Sr., who escaped the bullet barrage at Bruni was brought before the law and interrogated as the likely suspect in the killing of the ranger captain. Oliviera, Sr. testified that he had upwards of 300 witnesses that placed him in Monterrey the day of the killing. Judging the hatred for the rangers among Tejanos and Mexicans during that period, there is no doubt that he could recruit that many witnesses.

While at the cemetery, the TCC group also visited the burial plot of a once powerful dynasty, the Parr family. Prominent among the several headstones was the one of the famed “Duke of Duval,” George B. Parr. This brought memories of the often talked about incident concerning the notorious Box 13 in Alice, Texas, a maneuver that threw the election for the U. S. Senate to Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1948, when he ran against Cokes Stevenson. The rest is history.


El Corrido de Oliviera

 

Año mil novecientos veinte    
mes de abril día primero.     
Mataron a tres Tejanos    
esos rinches de Laredo.    
Mataron a tres Tejanos   
esos rinches de Laredo. 

Cuando llegaron a Bruni   
las puertas tenían candado   
El que fue a traer las llaves  
fue Dionicio Maldonado.
El que fue a traer las llaves    
fue Dionicio Maldonado.   

Si te preguntan los nombres 
no lo vayas a negar.                        
Fueron Dionicio Maldonado 
Oliviera y Aguilar.     
Fueron Dionicio Maldonado  
Oliviera y Aguilar.                            

El rinche que estaba allí                     
corazón de una gallina.                     
Se puso descolorido   
nomas vio mi carabina.      
Se puso descolorido     
nomas vio mi carabina.     

Cuando oyeron el descargue
se oyeron tres tiros mas.
Fue cuando cayo Oliviera
Maldonado y Aguilar.
Fue cuando cayo Oliviera
Maldonado y Aguilar.

Oliviera como era hombre 
le dio rienda a su caballo.
Salgan rinches del gobierno
a pelear con este gallo.
Salgan rinches del gobierno
a pelear con este gallo.

Cuando su padre llego
 se encontraba en agonía.
 Fuerzas son las que me faltan
valor tengo todavía.
Fuerzas son las que me faltan
 valor tengo todavía.

No siento a mi caballo prieto
ni siento a mi silla plateada.
Lo que siento es a mi Chucha
que deje pedida y dada.
Lo que siento es a mi Chucha
que deje pedida y dada. 

 

 


Question:
 
Is the Southern Border of Texas Legitimate where is stands at the Rio Grande?

By Alex Loya

The following is a portion of the chapter entitled "The Legitimacy Of Texas As An American State" in my book "The Continuous Presence Of Italians And Spaniards In Texas As Early As 1520" which deals with  the issue of who started  the Mexican War and whether the southern border of the United States is legitimate where it stands at the Rio Grande"

When Santa Anna abolished the Mexican Constitution and the Mexican Republic, the Texans were under no obligation to submit to this self-crowned king, they legitimately had the right to declare their independence from Mexico. As the unsung giant of Texas and American history Lorenzo De Zavala so eloquently put it before his fellow Texans in an address urging them to resist Santa Anna:

"The fundamental contract having been dissolved, and all the guarantees; of the civil and political rights of citizens having been destroyed, it is incontestable that all the States of the Confederation are left at liberty to act for themselves, and to provide for their security and preservation as circumstances may require. Coahuila and Texas formed a State of the Republic, and, as one part of it is occupied by an invading force (Santa Anna’s army), the free part of it should proceed to organize a power which would restore harmony and establish order and uniformity in all the branches of the public administration, which should be a rallying point for the citizens whose hearts now tremble for liberty. But as this power can be organized only by means of a convention which should represent the free will of the citizens of Texas, it is my opinion that this step should be taken, and I suggest the 15th day of October as a time sufficient to allow all the departments to send their representatives." ( Manuel Justiniano Lorenzo de Zavala y Saenz; General Lawrence DeZavala, Lawrence L. McKeehan, Sons of Dewitt Colony, Texas, 1997-2003).

It can not be overly emphasized how absolutely important and significant this speech by the giant of Spaniard Founding Fathers of Texas Manuel Justiniano Lorenzo de Zavala y Saenz, also known as General Lawrence De Zavala, is. This is an authoritative source, De Zavala was there, he was a scholar, a Texas Patriot, a statesman of the highest order, an honest man and a man held in high regard. He had helped write the Mexican Constitution of 1824, he had traveled through out Europe promoting Mexico’s right to be a sovereign nation after it gained its independence from Spain in 1821. If any original Texan’s opinion of the fortunes and happenings in Texas is authoritative, it is that of Manuel Justiniano Lorenzo de Zavala y Saenz (I write his full name to stress the point). In his speech he said, "Coahuila and Texas formed a State of the Republic, and, as one part of it is occupied by an invading force the free part of it should proceed to organize a power which would restore harmony and establish order…"

This statement by De Zavala is crucially and essentially important because in it he, as a Texan Founding Father of Spaniard origin and not an Anglo-American Texan, addressed the issue of Texas Independence and American intervention at its foundation. According to De Zavala, Coahuila and Texas were one single State of the Republic of Mexico, not two different states. Furthermore, De Zavala in his speech argued for the right of this single State of Coahuila Texas to declare its independence from Mexico. The problems was, said De Zavala, that part of this one State, that part called Coahuila, was occupied by an invading force, that is, the Mexican army under Santa Anna. Because part of it was occupied by that invading force, the part of that one single State of Coahuila Texas that was still free needed to go ahead and organize an independent government. And so De Zavala called for a Texas Convention to declare independence from Mexico. As we just saw, in his speech, De Zavala identified the Mexican army under Santa Anna as the invading force that had successfully already occupied one of the two parts of the one State of Coahuila Texas. That De Zavala was not the only one who saw the Mexican Army as an invading force is evident in that in 1840, just a few years after the Texas Revolution, the occupied part of the one State of Coahuila Texas, that is, Coahuila, along with the other States of the Republic of the Rio Grande, had also attempted to expel the Mexican invading force but had failed to do so. That invading force had to be stopped. When American troops crossed the Sabine River or the Medina River, they were not invading Mexico unprovoked, they were not starting a war under false pretenses, as some disingenuously assert who (for some deep seated and unknown reason) like to blame their own country first. The American army was recognizing the border claimed by Manuel Justiniano Lorenzo de Zavala y Saenz and the Republic of Texas of the free part of the one State of Coahuila Texas that DeZavala had exhorted his fellow Texans to organize into a free state, and defending it against invasion. They were rescuing from the lion’s clutches the one part of Coahuila Texas that had not yet been brutally crushed and its yearning to breathe free suffocated by the invading force during the period of the Republic of the Rio Grande. They were selflessly once again leaving their homes and their families to, like brothers, join the Texans, both Spaniard and Anglo-American, in their struggle and their cause. Remember, after Mexican forces surrendered to Juan N. Seguin and Sam Houston they were escorted out of Texas at the Rio Grande. When the Mexicans agreed to leave Texas and left unmolested in return for their parole, they agreed to leave at the Rio Grande, by their action recognizing that the border of Texas, which had never been well defined, was the Rio Grande. The Mexican peace commissioners also recognized this border when they said,

" The intention of making the Bravo a limit has been announced in the clearest terms for the last twelve years… After the battle of San Jacinto, in 1836, that was the territory we stipulated to evacuate, and which we accordingly did evacuate by falling back on Matamoros. In this place was stationed what was called the army of the north". ( Z.T. Filmore "The Annexation of Texas and the Mexican War", The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Vol. V, page 46, July 1901).

By their own admission, when after their defeat at San Jacinto the Mexican Army peacefully evacuated the area south of the Nueces and Medina Rivers and fell back south of the Rio Grande and stationed their army of the north at Matamoros, Mexico recognized and legitimized the Texas border at the Rio Grande. Consequently, because by their own admission both in word and in deed the Mexicans had recognized and legitimized the Texas border at the Rio Grande, when they crossed the Rio Grande to attack General Taylor’s forces they did so on purpose and with intent, not to defend Mexico, but to invade and forcibly reannex Texas which had sovereignly decided to be part of the United States. What really happened then is that the Mexican government reneged on its own word and commitment. When in a cataclysmic flood the Rio Grande had changed course in 1830-31 placing San Elizario and its neighboring West Texas towns north of the deepest channel of the Rio Grande right in the nick of time before the Texas Revolution, with a bigger faith than mine you may call it coincidence, I recognize the eternal intent of Divine Providence that San Elizario and its neighboring towns should be part of the United States… of course, I am a theologian as well as a fledgling historian.

As President Polk pointed out in a message dated December 2, 1845, "the government of Mexico by a formal act agreed to recognize the independence of Texas on condition that she would not annex herself to any other power. The agreement to acknowledge the independence of Texas, with or without this condition, is conclusive against Mexico. The independence of Texas is a fact conceded by Mexico herself, and she has no right or authority to prescribe restrictions on the form of government which Texas might afterwards choose to assume." (Z.T. Filmore, p. 38). But the reason the Mexican government felt that it could prescribe restrictions on the form of government Texas chose while conceding its independence is because Mexico was acting deceitfully, despite her words, Mexico regarded independent Texas as a rebellious province. Mexico was doing to Texas what Spain, which did not recognize the independence of Mexico but until 16 years after the fact, had done to Mexico. Mexico started the Mexican War long before American troops ever crossed the Medina River, which was not the Texas border, the Rio Grande was, when it promised to go to war against the United States if the United States ever annexed the Republic of Texas. Mexico was forgetting that it was the United States who had first recognized Mexico’s own independence from Spain. That is why when, with strict orders from President Polk not to engage the Mexican Army but in self defense, General Taylor arrived at the Rio Grande across from Matamoros, which area he had found free of Mexican soldiers because the Mexicans had recognized that area as Texas when they had left after the Battle of San Jacinto, and he sent General Worth across the river to deliver a courteous note to the Mexican commander telling him of his desire that the two armies would be at peace pending a settlement between the two governments, the only reply he received was a rude note telling him his actions were acts of war. When Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked American forces, they were not defending their country, they were knowingly invading a territory they had conceded was part of the independent Republic of Texas, which had already voluntarily become part of the United States, and they were attempting to impose their will on a republic they themselves had recognized as sovereign. They were invading American soil. They had started the Mexican War.

As I was doing research for this particular section of this book, as I was writing this chapter, I just happened to go over my family’s, my ancestors’, family records in San Elizario, Texas. I had no intent, as I was doing so, to link my own family’s history with the issue I am presently discussing. But as I perused over the records, I found something so absolutely fascinating and so evidently linked with this particular discussion, that I had to include it here. As I was looking over the baptismal records of my great grandfather’s great grandfather’s children, Estanislao, Antonio, and Maria Tereza Loya, born in 1799, 1800 and 1801 respectively, I noticed something very interesting. I noticed that they had been born in San Elizario, Texas but had been baptized at the Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe,Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is located in present day Juarez, Mexico. I thought that was interesting, especially when, as I "traveled" up in time to 1844 (not literally, of course, but perusing the documents), I noticed that Maria Diega Loya, daughter of Arcadio Loya, older sister of my great grandfather Gabino Loya, was also born in San Elizario (circa Nov. 30, 1844) but baptized in the same Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Now, by 1844 the Rio Grande had changed course so that San Elizario and present day Juarez were no longer both on the south bank of the river. In other words, in 1844, one year before the annexation of Texas by the United States, not just the Loya family, but people in general who were born in San Elizario, and El Paso area in Texas, were traveling across the river to Mexico to be baptized. That was an established pattern that I noticed starting as far back as 1799 and continuing up until 1844. As I did more research, sure enough, I found out that up until November of 1882 the people of El Paso would cross the Rio Grande on a hand pulled ferry to attend mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) in Juarez. (The Handbook of Texas Online, El Paso, Catholic Diocese Of). What I began to find fascinating is that when my great grandfather, Gabino Loya, was born three years after his older sister, on February 2, 1847, he was born in San Elizario, Texas, but, unlike his older sister and his predecessors, he was also baptized in San Elizario by one Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho. I thought that was fascinating! Ever since 1799 at least, and up until 1844, the Loya family, and everyone else, born in San Elizario had to go across the Rio Grande to present day Juarez to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church to be baptized. Abruptly, in 1847, my great grandfather was both born and baptized in San Elizario, Texas. As I read the record of the birth and baptism of my great grandfather Gabino Loya’s uncle, Mercedes Loya (not to be confused with Mercedes Benz, that shiny vehicle worth a year’s salary), born to Gabino’s grandparents Antonio Loya and Gregoria Zeraffini, only six months before Gabino’s birth, on September 25, 1846, once again the absolutely fascinating became absolutely and extremely historically important! Mercedes Loya was born on September 25, 1846 in San Elizario, Texas, and was baptized on October 1, 1846 also in San Elizario, Texas by, again, the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho. The year 1846, as reflected by these baptismal records, appeared to be a crucial year in braking the pattern of people born in Texas and baptized in Mexico that had been established for a long time in the El Paso area. Starting in 1846, people born in San Elizario were now also baptized in San Elizario, they no longer traveled across the Rio Grande to be baptized, thanks to the services of the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho.

As I compared the photocopy of the primary handwritten document of my great grandfather Gabino Loya’s birth and baptism, with the translation of his uncle Mercedes Loya’s baptismal and birth record, as translated by Mrs. Lillian Trujillo, the genealogist with the San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society who is in charge of translating the church records, including the cemetery, marriage, baptismal and birth records (she is leaving a great legacy for generations to come!), I noticed it said basically the same thing, with one important difference. In 1847 in my great grandfather’s baptismal and birth record the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho identified himself as priest of "San Elceo" (San Elizario), whereas in his uncle’s baptismal and birth record six months earlier in 1846 the same Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho identified himself as from the Parish of San Antonio. In both he was under "holy visit" baptizing them. When I read what Mrs. Lillian Trujillo translated, that the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho came from the Parish of San Antonio, I thought it was significant because 1846 was the year the Mexican War started after the United States annexed Texas at the Republic of Texas' sovereign request one year earlier in 1845, and San Antonio was the seat of authority for the Republic of Texas which was now the State of Texas. As I did more research my amazement became absolute when I discovered that the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho, who was the first priest of San Elizario, had arrived and started his ministry at San Elizario on January of 1846 (rootsweb.com/txelpaso/priests), the same exact month President Polk had sent General Taylor south of the Medina River to the Rio Grande! Apparently, when President Polk sent the U.S. Military to assert the border of the United States where the people of the Republic of Texas and Mexico had both in word and deed recognized the border of Texas to be after San Jacinto, at the Rio Grande, Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho had arrived to West Texas from San Antonio to assert the same border by making sure that those who were born on the north bank of the Rio Grande were also baptized on the north bank of the Rio Grande within the border the Republic of Texas claimed and Mexico had recognized! Fascinating! And absolutely significant because, notice, the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho was not the Reverend Sean O’Flahearty or the Reverend Dean Johnson, he was the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho. In other words, from among the original Spaniard Texans, the original Tejanos, they sent the clergy to make sure those born within Texas were baptized within Texas and to assert the border Texas claimed and Mexico had recognized and accepted after the Battle of San Jacinto. For this, the name of the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho should forever be remembered among the heroes and Founding Fathers of Texas. When President Polk sent the U.S. Military to assert the U.S. border down in South Texas, the original Tejanos sent their clergy to assert the same border in West Texas. This in itself is significant because since the American military was not present in West Texas, the clergy, evidently, took up the responsibility to assert the border there, also at the Rio Grande. And this the clergy, in the person of the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho, did, not just geographically, but emotionally and spiritually by, again, braking the established pattern and making sure that through the duration of the Mexican War those who were born in West Texas were also baptized in West Texas, having started this practice at the exact time all knew war was imminent because the Mexicans had threatened to start a war should the U.S. honor the sovereign desire of the Republic of Texas to be annexed by the United States. This is absolutely evident by the documentation, which can be found at the Church of San Elizario, Texas and at the Latter Day Saints Genealogical Archives.

To be honest, I have not had the opportunity examine the primary document that Mrs.Lillian Trujillo translated to verify that, indeed, the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho came to San Elizario from San Antonio. I don’t have any reason to doubt the accuracy of Mrs. Trujilllo’s translation, specially since she is the genealogist for the San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society who is in charge of translating all those documents, but sometimes old handwritten archival records are hard to read. Never the less, it does not matter whether the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho came to San Elizario from San Antonio. For all that matters, he could’ve come from China because the point is that in the year 1846 the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho broke the long established pattern of people being born in Texas and baptized in Mexico, and made sure that starting in 1846, at the exact time that General Taylor was asserting the Texas border at the Rio Grande, and, like I said, through the duration of the war, people born in West Texas no longer had to cross the Rio Grande to be baptized but could now do so in West Texas. The point in history in which the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho started baptizing babies born in West Texas in West Texas is too crucial, too momentous to be coincidental! I mean, he did so when all knew that a major war, which had been long threatened by Mexico, was about to break out and would forever establish the Rio Grande as the border between these two neighboring nations. He did so through the duration of the Mexican War. It is clearly evident his actions were intended to assert the border of Texas, and of the United States, at the Rio Grande in West Texas. It is clearly evident his actions were intended to ensure that people born in West Texas, by also being baptized in West Texas, would feel, emotionally and spiritually, that they belonged in Texas and the United States, that they were fully and legitimately American. For this, like I said, the Reverend Jose de Jesus Camacho ought to be remembered and honored as a Texas and American hero.

Frankly, those who say the Mexican War was started by President Polk just to include another slave state in the Union do not know the facts, or purposefully conceal them. The former disqualify themselves from teaching this chapter of American History, the latter disqualify themselves from teaching anything at all. The reason I say this is because, when one studies the facts regarding the issue of slavery in the annexation of Texas, it is evident that, like I said, the issue of including another slave state had nothing to do with the annexation of Texas by the United States. The free States of Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maine, New York, Illinois and New Hampshire with a total population of 6,201, 991 white people voted for the annexation of Texas by the United States. On the other hand, the free States of Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ohio and Connecticut with a total population of 3, 281, 401 white people voted against annexation. In other words, twice as many people from free states voted for the annexation of Texas by the United States than those who voted against it. That the war had nothing to do with the issue of slavery is also seen in that of the slave holding States, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and, of course, Louisiana, with a total population of 2, 489, 358 white people voted for the annexation of Texas by the United States. On the other hand, the slave holding States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina, with a total population of 2, 092, 515 white people voted against annexation. In other words, people in slave holding States were divided roughly in half regarding the annexation of Texas by the United States. Twice as many more people in the free States voted for the annexation of Texas, while half the people in the slave holding States voted against annexation (Z.T. Filmore p.36). 

Clearly, to say that the Mexican War was about adding another slave State to the Union is just plain ignorant or intellectually dishonest and therefore perfidious. Outside of New England, the concern and argument against the annexation of Texas was that the annexation of Texas would result in Mexico waging war against the United States. When we realize that it was the fear of war with Mexico that actually affected the vote regarding the annexation of Texas, and not at all the issue of slavery, we are able to see that the kinship ties between the people of Texas and the people of Louisiana which I mentioned earlier in this chapter were very real and went both ways. Louisiana voted for the annexation of Texas knowing full well that doing so may lead to war with Mexico, and knowing full well that because of Louisiana’s proximity to Texas the war could possibly spill over into Louisiana, where the children of Louisiana would learn of the horror of war with their own eyes. Yet, Louisiana voted to annex Texas. By doing so the Louisianans showed the kinship they felt for Texas because they showed they were willing to sacrifice everything and to fight for Texas even if they had to do so in their own house. The fact that the vote for the annexation of Texas was directly affected by the fear of going to war with Mexico also serves to determine which country was picking a war before it ever started. To this we add the fact that Stephen F. Austin was a Southerner who vehemently opposed slavery, that his colonists included people from the most influential countries of Europe and from all over the United States including at least 60 families from New York State, and that the impresarios who actually brought colonists to Texas included men from England, Ireland, free States and Mexico, and it becomes clear that slavery was not at all a motivating factor in the colonization of Texas or its subsequent annexation by the United States.

When American troops crossed the Medina River, they were fulfilling the manifest destiny, not of the Anglo-Americans, but the manifest destiny of the original Spaniard Texans, the manifest destiny of which Antonio Menchaca and Judge Rodriguez wrote about, the manifest destiny that Francisco Ruiz always had a conviction of, Jose Antonio Navarro was willing to give his life for and Jose de Jesus Camacho labored to fulfill, the manifest destiny the original Spaniard Texans, also known as original Tejanos, held to that they should be and were a part of the United States of America ever since they invested money, prayers, cattle and soldiers in its birth before Mexico was ever conceived. It was the new Empire of Mexico that had no right then to attack Texas to try to crush it and forcibly re-annex it as it had brutally done with the other provinces of Northern Mexico which had also legitimately attempted to be free. When the border between the United States and Mexico was drawn at the Rio Grande, it was legitimate and ethical to do so because that was the border of the part of the one State of Coahuila Texas of which De Zavala spoke that had not yet been occupied by the invading Mexican force and it was the border Mexico itself had recognized and accepted in word and in deed after the Battle of San Jacinto. There really would not have been any border dispute had Mexico kept its commitment after San Jacinto, but although the territory was disputed, the provinces which laid claim to the land, as the Republic of Texas did, had also legitimately attempted to be free from Mexico, even then making its annexation by the United States legitimate. 

American troops did not attack Mexico unprovoked, they defended De Zavala’s home and Menchaca’s dream with their lives and their blood, like brothers. Why! The United States was so ethical in its conduct of war with Mexico that it was then that the U.S. Army mustered the first Roman Catholic chaplains into service! And it did this specifically as a gesture of respect towards the people of Mexico and to ensure their freedom of religion while the U.S. briefly occupied their land into Mexico City! On the other hand, on Palm Sunday, the day that Christian people celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, March 27, 1836, Mexican soldiers under Colonel Portilla, in what is known as the Goliad Massacre, brutally executed, murdered, over three hundred Texan prisoners of war, including 40 wounded Texans who were in the chapel, turning the day of Christian celebration into a day that will truly live in infamy! After shooting the wounded soldiers at the chapel the Mexican soldiers proceeded to entertain themselves by shooting at the chapel bells, demonstrating a marked difference between them and the Americans in their respect of their enemies’ religion. When Colonel Fannin asked 3 simple things as his last request before the Mexicans executed him; that they would not shoot him in the face, that his personal belongings be sent to his family and that he be given Christian burial, the Mexicans shot him in the face, a Mexican officer stole his personal belongings and his body was burned and discarded along with many others. Incredibly appalling!… The Mexicans left the Texans’ bodies exposed for two months to be eaten by coyotes and dogs (Katheryn Stoner O’Connor, Presidio La Bahia, & The Sons of Dewitt Colony). Judge for yourself which country and which army was brutal and unethical in its conduct of war! 

To say that American troops started the Mexican War under false pretense, to say that after knowing what the original Tejanos felt and thought, is to besmirch and taint the reputation of those selfless Spaniard Texans who sacrificed so much and who so deeply believed and felt it was their destiny and their descendants’ destiny, our destiny, to be Americans. It is to say their deep conviction, which was birthed from their participation in the American Revolution, was a "false pretense"… you might as well go spit on our ancestors’ graves! And you might as well flush our American Passports down the toilet since to say that is to say that all the descendants of original Tejanos, and also of original Anglo-American settlers, are not legitimately American and are all the descendants of traitors… now, that is reprehensible prejudice no longer founded on ignorance! No sir, Texas and the Southwest legitimately belong to and are part of the United States of America. "

Alex Loya  alexloya@integrity.com
Venice, LA.
April 22, 2005

For more, click to History

 



Samples of letters received by John Inclan pertaining to his information which can be found at:  http://www.somosprimos.com/inclan/inclan.htm


I have been researching Juan Baez de Benavides and have found a Jose Nicolas Benavides that fits about the same date but ends up in Reynosa, Tamp.  His wife is Maria Leonor Guerra and they are the grandparents of Placido de Benavides and his sister Maria Leonor Benavides.  Maria Leonor Benavides marries my own ancestor Jose Julian de la Garza y Guerra.  Both Julian and Leonor die in 1836, Julian by Indians around today's Odom, Tx and his wife in Victoria during childbirth of her last son.  This is around the Texas Revolution and all is lost in Victoria along with the De Leons. 

Attached is a portion of your webpage on the Benavides family.  The Nicolas Baez Benavides ( iv) is the one I am referring to.  Jose Ignacio Benavides left a will in Reynosa where he referres to his children, spouses and his parents Jose Nicolas Benavides and his mother Maria Leonor Guerra.

Great webpages, Jose O. Guerra
joguerra@hispanicgs.com
joguerra@olsenguerra.com

------------------

Fwd: Ancira genealogy

Esther.Herold@qwest.com


John,  I was looking at your Ancira family tree. I am descended for Jose Antonio Ancira, son of Clemente Ancira de Perez. I was looking at the 2nd marriage for Clemente Ancira. I was looking at the dates that the children of that marriage were born. It seems that Clemente would be about 100 years old. Doesn't that sound unlikely given that the average logevity was probably 50 years or so? Isn't it more likely that that Clemente was a grandson of the original and probably a son of Jose Antonio de Ancira de Perez? If the the the 2nd Clemente was in his mid to early 20s when he married it would mean he was born in the 1750s which matches with the children of Jose Antonio. Have you looked at the marriage record for Nov 1777?

As an aside MARIA-GERTRUDIS PEREZ-DE-ANCIRA-ELIZONDO and JOSE-FRANCISCO-XAVIER SAENZ-SANDOVAL-Y-MESA also had a daughter Faustina Saenz-Ancira. Married: 15 AUG 1795 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to Joseph Balentin Ayala. I have not yet found her baptismal record. I looked in Vallecillio, Monterrey, an Villaldama. I need to check out Salinas Victoria and places between Villaldama and Monterrey. I estimate she was born about 1778. Her parents were listed on her marriage record. I am descended from Faustina. My genealogy is out on www.rootsweb.com. Look for Bertha Ayala, my mother who is deceased.

I also have reason to believe that the 1st Clemente Ancira de Prez was born in Mexico City.

I go back to to Diego Montemayor about 25 times.  ALso to Diego Trevino about 25 times.  I also go back to the Garza's about 15 times. I also go back to the Farias, Sepulvedas, Arredondos, Ayalas, Villarreals.  I do have my genealogy out on www.rootsweb.com which is free access.

Thanks for sharing your genealogy, Esther

 

-----------------

Hi, John

that was a great webpage you have on Somosprimos on the Cavazos.

I have 10,000+ names on my database and had the wrong Cavazos tied to the wrong parents on a few instances and that helped me tie up lose ends.

Are you Cavazos-related ?

I am a Vallejo, my ancestor is Antonio Fernandez Vallejo, the first Vallejo in my tree from Nuevo Leon. We here in Austin, Texas are all descendants

of this man. Antonio was born to Lorenzo Fernandez Vallejo and Catalina de la Barreda abt 1658 in northern Spain.

Antonio married Elena de la Garza Falcon and then Maria Guerra Garcia de Sosa, all famous families from that era in Nuevo Leon.

I have tried to create webpages using PAF but they don't look like yours, yours is more streamlined and looks good. How did you create your webpage?

I have much to share with my Vallejo cousins and wish to do so this year, I have been researching for 2 years now and love this work Anyway, keep up the good work, it's well appreciated.

Santiago Corona Vallejo santiago_vallejo@contractor.amat.com

--------------------------

Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon

John--  Your genealogical research stops short of the descendants of Maria Josepha Guajardo's children. Maria Josepha was married to Jose Francisco de la Garza Falcon. I am a direct descendant thru this line and am searching for information on her daughter Juana Francisca's great-grandson Julian (de la) Garza's wife Micaela Gonzalez.

Juana Francisca de la Garza Falcon married Jose Francisco de la Garza Guerra and their son Julian's son Agapito de la Garza married Tiburcia Elizondo of the El Lucero ranch.

Agapito and Tiburcia's son Julian married Micaela Gonzalez (the mystery lady) This has been the focus of my search for months now and I am totally frustrated by my lack of success. She is the all time mystery lady.

I would appreciate any assist. Thanks.  Lexa  alexa0074@aol.com
P.S. your line from Blas Maria is thru ?

 


National Register Travels Deep In the Heart of Texas

The newest online National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary,
South and West Texas, found online at: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/
Sent by George Gause  ggause@panam.edu

Links National Parks with 50 places listed in the National Register that illustrate early periods of Texas history from Spanish colonial times to the 19th century. The itinerary includes a map showing the location of these historic places along with a brief description of their importance in our Nations past and the online version of this itinerary also includes six historic places in Galveston, not included in the previously printed version due to space limitations.

The South and West Texas Travel Itinerary was developed as a demonstration project by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. This itinerary was first created as a printed brochure; the design and initial printing of which were made possible by a gift from the American Express Company to the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.

SOURCE: Judy George-Garza / Texas Historical Commission  judy.george@thc.state.tx.us


Books for sale by Los Bexarenos
P.O. Box 1935  San Antonio, TX   78297

Please note that books numbers 40 through 44 of the following list are new and just off the press. Books Published by Los Bexarenos, P.O. Box 1935, San Antonio, TX, 78297 
May 26, 2005     Price            Postage

1. Baptisms of Our Lady of Monserrat Catholic Church 1767-1799, located in Cruillas, Tamaulipas, by Irma Garza Cantu Jones and Maria de la Garza Dellinger. 2001.  Paper bound, 175 pages with index.    $28.00        $2.00

2. Baptismal Records of the Presidial Company of Mission San Antonio Bucarelli de la Babia 1788-1823. Located at La Babia, Coahuila, by Jesse Rodriguez. 2001.  Paper bound, 126 pages with index.  $20.00       $1.75

3. 1901 Parish Census of San Fernando Cathedral, located in San Antonio, Texas, by Edward Trevino, Jr. 2001.  Paper bound, 240 pages with index.        $30.00        $2.00

4. Index to the San Fernando Church Baptismal Records 1731-1812, located in San Antonio, Texas, by Yolanda Patino.  2001.  Paper bound, 229 pages.       $30.00        $2.00

5. Index to the San Fernando Church Baptismal Records 1812-1850, located in San Antonio, Texas, by Yolanda Patino.  2001. Paper bound, 218 pages.        $30.00        $2.00

6. 1768 Census of San Jose del Parral, located in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, by Frances and Daniel Gomez. 2001. Paper bound, 100 pages, including index.        $16.00         $1.50

7. Baptisms of Presidio del Santisimo Sacramento del Valle de Santa Rosa 1738-1804, located in Melchor Muzquiz, Coahuila. By Jesse Rodriguez, 1997. Paper bound, 254 pages plus index   
$35.00        $2.25

8. Family Group Sheets of Members of Los Bexarenos Genealogical Society of San Antonio, Texas, Book I. By Jesse Rodriguez, 1993. Paper bound, 441 pages plus index  $30.00         $2.50

9. Family Group Sheets of Members of Los Bexarenos Genealogical Society of San Antonio, Texas, Book II. By Jesse Rodriguez, 1996.  Paper bound, 448 pages plus index.   $35.00        $2.50

10.  Baptisms of La Parroquia de la Villa de Gigedo 1853-1867, located in Villa Union, Coah., by Angel Brown 2002.  Paper bound, 220 pages plus index.       $35.00        $2.00

11.  1799 Census of Villa de San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta del Nuevo Reyno de Leon.  Located at Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, by Zelma Murphree.  2002 Paper bound, 105 pages plus index.     
$20.00        $1.75

12.  Baptismals Book I of San Isidro Labrador 1820- 1841.  Located in Arteaga, Coahuila, by Carlos Federico Valdes Ramos.  2003.  Paperbound, 42 pages.   $12.00        $1.35

13. Libro de Entierros de la Mision de Santa Rosa Nadadores 1718-1804.  Located in Nadadores, Coahuila. By Lucas Martinez Sanchez.  2003.  Paperbound, 102 pages plus index.  Book is in Spanish.    $20.00         $1.35

14. Brief History Of San Ygnacio. (Texas) By Jean Y. Fish  1993.  Paper, stapled 26 pages including bibliography.       $6.00           $1.35

15. Jose Antonio Zapata, a Borderland Hero By Jean Y. Fish  1993.  Paper, stapled 24 pages including addendum.         $6.00           $1.35

16. The Elected Officials of Zapata County, Texas 1858-1986 By Jean Y. Fish  1993.  Paper, stapled 40 pages.                 $6.00           $1.35

17. Jose Vasquez Borrego and the Hacienda de Nuestra Senora de Dolores. By Jean Y. Fish  1993.  Paper, stapled 26 pages.          $6.00           $1.35

18. Censuses 1867 and 1875 for Santa Rita de Morelos, Located at present-day Morelos, Coahuila.
By Donald May.  2003.  Paperbound, 78 pages.  Indexed.    $13.00         $1.35

19. Baptisms 1832-1855 of San Juan de Mata, Located at present-day Allende, Coahuila.
By Angel Brown.  2003.  Paperbound, 265 pages including index.        $30.00         $1.35

20. Index to San Fernando Marriage Records 1742-1850. Located in San Antonio, Texas.  By Yolanda Patino 2003.  Paperbound, 104 pages including index for brides.     $22.00     $1.35

21. Tombstone Inscriptions of San Fernando Cemetery No. 1. Located in San Antonio, Texas.
By Larry Kirkpatrick and Dennis Moreno. 2nd Ed.Reprinted 2003.  Paperbound, indexed.        
$35.00         $1.35

22.  1875 Census of the Municipalidad de Nava. Located at present-day Nava, Coahuila. By Donald May.  2003.  Paperbound,  Illustrated. 41 pages including index.. The Census contains 1217 names and gives name, age, marital status, and profession.    $11.00         $1.35

23.  1882 Voters Census of the Municipalidad de Parras Located at present-day Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila. By Donald May.  2004.  Paperbound,  Illustrated. 25 pages including index.. The census contains 649 names, all of them male,  and gives name, age, marital status,  and profession.   
$10.00         $1.35

24. El Valle de San Buenaventura, Provincia de Coahuila, Origen y Confirmacion de una Comunidad 1753-1777. By Lucas Martinez Sanchez.  2004. Paperbound, illustrated, 47 pages.  The book is in Spanish.  The book contains part of the 1753 report of the visita by Pedro Rabago y Teran as well as the 1777 census for el Valle de San Buenaventura.             $12.00         $1.35

25.   Beginnings of Community.  San Buenaventura Coahuila, Censuses of 1753 and 1777.  By Daniel & Frances Gomez.  2004.  Paperbound, illustrated, 33 pages.  The book contains part of the report of the visit of Pedro Rabago y Teran in 1753 to the Valley of San Buenaventura.  The rest of the book consists of the 1777 census of San Buenaventura including Sardinas, Cuatrocienegas, and Nadadores. This work is a translation of the book El Valle de San Buenaventura by Lucas Martinez Sanchez.     $12.00            $ 1.35

26.   Marriages 1854 to 1916 of the Graytown Church: La Capilla de Santiago (1854-1877) and Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (1877-1916).  Located at Graytown (present-day Wilson County, TX). By Doris Fischer & Larry Kirkpatrick.  2004. Paperbound, illustrated, 220 pages including index.          $30.00            $ 2.25

27. Nuestras Raices: Bautismos Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Tomo I, 1840-1879.  By Carlos
Federico Valdes Ramos.  2004.  Paperbound 171 pages.  The book contains baptisms of
San Nicolas Tolentino and Santa Maria.  $28.00             $ 2.00

28. Nuestras Raices: Bautismos Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Tomo II, 1880-1899.  By Carlos
Federico Valdes Ramos.  2004.  Paperbound 121 pages.  The book contains baptisms of
San Nicolas Tolentino and Santa Maria.  22.00             $ 1.75

29. Nuestras Raices: Matrimonios de Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, 1850-1899.  By Carlos Federico
Valdes Ramos.  2004.  Paperbound 88 pages.  The book contains marriages of San Nicolas Tolentino and Santa Maria.    $18.00             $ 1.50

30. Genealogical & Historical Sources in the San Antonio Area.  By Olga Murray, 1984. Reprint 2004.  Paperbound, 100 pages.           $20.00              $ 1.75

31. Marriages of Sagrario Metropolitano Nov. 1776-31 January 1781. Located at Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.  By Aida Martinez.  2004.  Paperbound, 41 pages with index.   $15.00     $1.35

32. Marriages of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Refugio Dec. 6, 1863-Oct 19, 1872.  Located
At Eagle Pass, Texas.  By Frances Aguirre Gomez and Daniel Gomez.  2004. Paperbound,
46 pages with index.                $15.00             $1.35

33. Index to the 1778 Census of Durango, Durango. By Andres Joseph de Velasco y Restan. 2004.
Paperbound, 78 pages including index. Has names of heads of Household.  $16.00             $1.50

34. Baptisms of Santa Rosa de Lima Church, Melchor Muzquiz, Coahuila 1805-1830.
By Jesse Rodriguez.  2004.  Paperbound, 213 pages including index.    $32.00              $2.25

35. Censuses of Punta de Lampazos 1753-1818 located at Lampazos de Naranjo, Nuevo Leon.
By Frances Aguirre Gomez and Daniel Gomez, 2004. Paperbound, 139 pages including index.
Contains censuses of 1753, 1762, 1768, 1807, 1818.           $22.00         $1.75

36.   Tejano Participants in the Texas Revolution 1835-1837.  By Robert Garcia, Jr. 2005.
Paperbound, 187 pages including index.  $25.00              $2.00

37.   Baptisms 1883 to 1897 of the Graytown Church: Nuestra  Senora de Guadalupe (1877-1916).
Located at Graytown (present-day Wilson County, TX).  By Oralia Galaviz Garcia, 2005.         Paperbound,  183 pages including index.      $30.00             $ 2.25

38.   Births of San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila, 1873 to 1884.  By Frances Aguirre Gomez and
Daniel Gomez, 2005.  Paperbound, 66 pages including index.          $18.00            $1.75

39.   Matrimonios de San Isidro Labrador 1870-1902 (Present-day Arteaga, Coahuila)  By Carlos Federico Valdes Ramos.  2005.  Paperbound, 52 pages. Both brides & grooms have alphabetical listing.                  $18.00             $1.50

40.   Marriages of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Refugio 1873 to 1893, Vol II .  Located at Eagle Pass, Texas.  By Frances Aguirre Gomez and Daniel Gomez. 2005. Paperbound, 85 pages plus index.    $20.00             $1.35

41.   Marriages of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Refugio 1893 to 1910, Vol. III.  Located
at Eagle Pass, Texas.  By Frances Aguirre Gomez and Daniel Gomez.  2005. Paperbound,
77 pages plus index.  $20.00             $1.35

42    Bautismos de San Isidro Labrador 1820-1901 (Present-day Arteaga, Coahuila)  By Carlos Federico Valdes Ramos.  2005.  Paperbound, 213 pages plus index.   $30.00            $2.25

43.   Deaths of Iglesia de Nuestra  Senora de la Asuncion 1802 to1832  (At present-day
Marin, Nuevo Leon).  By  Aida G. Martinez. 2005.  Paperbound, 88 pages  plus index. 
$20.00             $1.75

44.   An Eleven Generation Ancestral Chart of the Ancestors of Guadalupe Agapito Martinez. By Guadalupe Agapito Martinez and Jerry Benavides.  2005.  Paperbound, 139 pages plus index.  $25.00             $1.75

 

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Pt. Coupee Militia, 1777



Pt. Coupee Militia, 1777
Http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6753/index.html?200526
Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com
Soldiers of the American Revolution from Louisiana
Soldiers under Galvez, Baton Rouge

The following soldiers were part of the Pointe Coupee Militia, documented in Galvez' Army in 1777. It is interesting to note that these soldiers, many of French birth (or the children of French parentage) were serving in a Spanish army, and are eligible for status as American Revolution Veterans. This is because the Spanish assisted the U.S. in military action at Baton Rouge against the British during the Revolution. 



Plaque of Galvez in Natchez : In 1779 Spain entered the Revolutionary War (1775-83) on the side of the Americans, or more accurately, it entered the war against the British. Spanish Governor Bernaldo de Galvez raised a patchwork army of Creoles, Indians, free African Americans and his own Spanish regulars and marched on and seized British-held forts at Baton Rouge then at Natchez. A British counterattack failed, and in May, 1781 he engaged the British at Mobile, and a year after that at Pensacola, in western Florida, the last British military post on the Gulf. In each case, Galvez was able to force the British from their entrenchments. 

These victories diluted British strength in the south when Great Britain needed it most---just as it was bringing the campaign into the southern colonies. For his heroics, Galvez was memorialized in Texas, where the city of Galveston honors him with its name.

The war ended in 1783 with British recognition of American independence at the Treaty of Paris. The western border of the United States was set at the Mississippi, but in a separate peace agreement, the British ceded Western Florida (southern Alabama and Mississippi) and returned Eastern Florida to Spain. These Colonial Militia groups of Louisiana were the forerunner of today's Louisiana National Guard. 

The Pt. Coupee Chapter of the Louisiana Society of the D.A.R. honored these soldiers in ceremonies as part of the nation's Bicentennial on May 16, 1976. A plaque hangs in the lobby of the Pt. Coupée Courthouse which lists these soldiers. Additional information was added by myself in parentheses. 

GALVEZ and OTHER LOUISIANA PATRIOTS, contains brief history of the American Revolution in Louisina, and lists about 2,000 Spanish Militia from Louisina, whose descendants are elligble to join SAR or DAR. More information can be obtained from:
Sons of the American Revoultion
733 Chippenham Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Info: 504-769-5463


Links to the following:
The troops and men of Galvez' Army from Louisiana
Galvez Army Rolls listed by the various Militia across Louisiana
Links to other sites about Louisiana in the American Revolution
Revolutionary Soldiers listed by State, Links
Bibliography of Spanish Louisiana in the American Revoltionary War
History of National Guard of Louisiana
Governor Galvez, Spanish leader of the Louisiana Forces of the American Revolution
Winston DeVille's book which lists most Louisiana Soldiers in the American Revolution
Louisiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Gen. Philemon Thomas Chapter of Baton Rouge, SAR.
Avoyelles Parish: Home of many of the Pt. Coupee Military Soldiers

Email me at decuir@writeme.com   or PtCoupeeMilitia@avoyelles.com
.

 

EAST COAST

SACNAS  receives 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence
Film, "Timeless" viewed at the
Instituto de México
 
Hispanics Build a Solid Base
Bronx Community College, Legal Department tour DC



Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
 receives 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in 
Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring
(PAESMEM)

 

On May 16, 2005, the White House announced that the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) is among the recipients of the 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), a program supported and administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Each award includes a $10,000 grant for continued mentoring work.

SACNAS is recognized for establishing "an array of mentoring activities at scientific meetings, teacher workshops, and through its own annual conference. It engages in broad partnerships with other professional organizations.  The society provides and supports opportunities for students to strengthen their presentation skills, self-confidence and to make connections with scientists.  Recently established and expanded student chapters have brought to 2,862 the number of student members, which should broaden the organization's reach.  An ongoing project to develop biographies of Hispanic/Latino and Native American scientists serves as an inspiration to students from these populations."

PAESMEM honors individuals and institutions that have enhanced the participation of underrepresented groups such as women, minorities and people with disabilities in science, mathematics and engineering education at all levels.  Since its inception in 1996, the PAESMEM program has recognized 87 individuals and 67 institutions.  Each year's awardees add to a widening network of outstanding mentors in the United States, assuring that tomorrow's scientists and engineers will better represent the nation's diverse population.  This year, nine individuals and five institutions received the award.

The 2004 individual awardees are drawn from institutions across the country and represent a variety of professional fields.  SACNAS was honored alongside nine individuals and four other institutions with programs directed to Latino and Native American students, women and minorities in biological sciences and underrepresented groups seeking mathematics doctorates. 

For over 30 years, SACNAS has provided strong national leadership in improving and expanding opportunities for minorities in the scientific workforce and academia; mentoring college students within science, mathematics and engineering; as well as, supporting quality pre-college science education. SACNAS’ annual National Conference and K-12 Teacher Workshops, student chapters, e-Mentoring Program, and online internship/job placement resources are tools that help a diverse community of undergraduate and graduate students, professors, administrators, and K-12 educators achieve expertise within their disciplines.
 
PHOTO identities. .

Dr. Marigold Linton, President of SACNAS, seated second from right.
Dr. Refugio I. Rochin, Executive Director of SACNAS, standing at far left.

Top Row, left to right: Dr. Rochin; Mrs. Charlena Hole Grimes, Washington State University; Dr. David C. Manderscheid, University of Iowa; Dr. Richard E. Ladner, University of Washington; Dr. Jeffrey Russell, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Dr. Herbert Paul Schroeder, University of Alaska, Anchorage; Dr. Steven F. Watkins, Louisiana State University and A&M College; Dr. John H. Marburger, III, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the White House; Dr. Joseph Bordogna, Deputy Director, National Science Foundation;; Dr. Kathie L. Olsen, Associate Director for Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President; Dr. Donald E. Thompson, Assistant Director (Acting) Education and Human Resources, National Science Foundation;

Bottom Row, left to right: Dr. Elizabeth Greenwell Yanik, Emporia State University (Kansas); Dr. Judith Richardson Vergun for The Native Americans in Marine and Space Sciences (NAMSS) Program, Oregon State University; Dr. Barbara Ann Burke, California Polytechnic University, Pomona; Dr. Lenore Blum, Carnegie Mellon University; Dr. Judy Alexis Brown for the Miami Museum of Science, Inc.; Dr. Marigold Linton for the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS); and Mrs. Elizabeth Mark Marincola for the American Society for Cell Biology.

Dr. Refugio Rochin, 
831-459-0170 x 444
rochin@sacnas.org
333 Front St. Suite 104, Santa Cruz, CA. 95060

 


On Tuesday, May 24, 2005, the short  31 minute film "Timeless" 
was presented at the Instituto de México, Washington D.C.
2829 16th st . Washington D.C. 20009
Tel: (202) 728 1628 at 6:30 pm


 

The contribution of Hispanics to USA Independence

  • Inspired by real events circa 1781, a royal Spanish emissary is sent by Carlos III, King of Spain during the American War of Independence from Havana to bring money and support to General George Washington and the revolutionaries. His mission is sidetracked by love.

  • The film produced in the USA this year was directed by: Gabriel García
    Cast included: Hugo Medrano, Harold Ruíz, Laura Rose, Luis Simon, and Tom Nunan. For more information 

Gabriel Garcia
Producer/Director
2950 Van Ness Street, Suite 728, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Cell: 202 957 3198
www.gabrielgarciaproductions.com




Hispanics Build a Solid Base
By Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post, May 26, 2005
Sent by Howard Shorr  howardshorr@msn.com

Edvin Osorio's alarm clock echoes through his tiny Landover Hills basement apartment. It is 3:45 a.m. He and his roommates, all from the same town in Guatemala, rouse themselves quickly, dress and head to Osorio's white Chevrolet van.

Osorio climbs into the van with two of his three roommates and flips the radio to WHFS 99.1 FM "El Zol." "That's bachata ," Osorio says, smiling as the Dominican music fills the van.

They cruise down New York Avenue through the dark, sipping coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. Osorio pulls up to Sixth and F streets NW and parks at a meter, then waits for the six-foot-tall metal gate to open so they can enter the construction site of the Shakespeare Theatre.

The 35-year-old Osorio is one of tens of thousands of Hispanic construction workers who have been pouring the concrete and erecting the steel beams of the scores of buildings going up around the region. He and others are part of a historic shift to Hispanic from white construction workers that has brought prosperity to some immigrants and helped support the region's building boom.

Osorio came here illegally 13 years ago, and his first job was pulling weeds. Now he is here legally and makes $24.05 an hour. Each day, he shuttles between two worlds. As a construction worker, he deals with American bosses and translates their instructions for his co-workers who do not understand English. After hours, he eats food from home, listens to Spanish-language radio, watches television shows beamed in from Latin America and hangs out with friends from Guatemala and El Salvador.

"We like where we're from, our people and our ways," Osorio says.

His immigrant dream is not to have a big house in the American suburbs, but to earn enough money to return to Guatemala and start a business with his brother. That's partly because he misses Guatemala and partly because the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants makes him angry.

Osorio is particularly upset about a law recently passed by Congress that will make it more complicated for undocumented workers to get drivers licenses. That, he says, will hurt construction companies, which need these workers, as well as the immigrants, who are here simply to earn money to support their family.  "It's not fair," he says.

Osorio and at least a dozen of his co-workers are from Chiquimula, a town in the eastern region of Guatemala -- near the Honduran border -- filled largely with farmers who earn $6 a day growing beans and corn on small plots of land. Most families live in shacks with tin roofs and walls and no indoor plumbing, and they get around the hilly area by donkey or on foot.

His father, a farmer, is well known in the community because he helps serve Communion at his church and because his eldest son, Edvin, can help local men get jobs in the United States.

Osorio, who has a sixth-grade education, came to the United States with two cousins, an uncle and a friend. He rattles off the date his journey started the way others recite their anniversary or birthday: March 5, 1992. He paid a coyote, or guide, $2,400 to get him to California.

The journey included a four-hour bus ride, a 36-hour truck ride and a 10-hour walk through mountains. One of his uncles who was living in Maryland sent him money to fly to Washington from Los Angeles.

He got his first job when he met the owner of a landscaping company at a grocery store in Landover. After four months, he switched to a job repairing asphalt on Interstate 95. He then received political asylum -- part of a wave of Guatemalan immigrants who were granted that status because of the civil war back home -- and found a construction job at Miller & Long.

Almost four years later, his brother told him that the company where he worked, Wood Steel Company Inc., needed a Spanish-speaking manager. Osorio applied.

"I don't know any Spanish, and all of a sudden my whole workforce is speaking it," says Kenny Wood, founder of the 55-person iron-laying company in Charles County, explaining why he made Osorio a foreman almost four years ago.

At about 4:50 a.m., Osorio and his two roommates walk onto the Shakespeare Theatre construction work site, which is lit up by floodlights. One of his supervisors, Randy Howells, greets him.

"Everyone stayed yesterday?" asks Howells, who is 43 and white. He jots down details Osorio gives him about the group's work.

Osorio then makes his way down three makeshift ladders until he is on the level that will someday be an underground parking garage. It is cold that far down, and dark, except for a few naked light bulbs. He starts working, pulling wire from the coil on his belt and using it to attach iron beams
together. Soon other workers appear, including his brother. Osorio nods and keeps working in the dark corner.

Howells looks down as the hole begins to fill up with workers -- largely Hispanic with a scattering of blacks and whites. "This is the roughest work," Howells says. "They work hard. There's not anything pretty about it."

For years, local construction crews were almost entirely white, often men from rural Virginia and Maryland. In the 1970s, more black workers got jobs in construction. At first, they were mainly hired for lower-paying jobs, such as dry wall, painting, landscaping, iron work and concrete. Gradually, they moved into plumbing, electrical work, brick masonry and carpentry.

By 1990, Latinos began appearing at local work sites in noticeable but still small numbers. Back then, whites held 60 percent of the local construction jobs, blacks 25 percent and Hispanics 15 percent.

But then Latinos started pouring into Washington just as the economic and construction boom ramped up demand for construction workers. These days, about 45 percent of the region's 166,000 construction workers are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census, although construction executives, labor unions and workers themselves say the percentage is far higher.

Young men born in the United States, even those who might have in the past followed their fathers into brick masonry or carpentry, had other aspirations, said Henry Gilford, chief executive of Gilford Corp., one of the area's largest black-owned construction companies. When Americans work
in construction, they prefer trades, such as plumbing, where the wages are better and the work is less back-breaking than jobs such as iron work, according to union and company officials.

Robert Carter, a 30-year-old plumber's apprentice who is black, looks up from his work to say that Hispanics "are taking over" the construction industry.

Asked how he feels about that, Carter, who lives in Southeast, nods toward Osorio's group, which is working a few feet away. "Look at them," he says. "They work hard. Real hard. They don't stop. They don't complain, they get along. They came from much worse places, so to come in here and work is easy to them."

"In my opinion, if you want a job, you can get a job out here. You just have to work," says Carter, as he goes back to examining his blueprints for hot water lines.

Just as the sun rises around 6:15 a.m., Howells yells down: "Osorio, I need you and a few of your guys up here." Osorio nods and climbs up the ladder. Howells lays out the blueprints showing where heavy iron beams are needed to support the stage and the six stories of office building.

Osorio studies the blueprint and nods. "I got it," he tells Howells. He then switches to Spanish, explaining the plans to his crew, which includes 13 workers from Guatemala, eight of them from Chiquimula.

A few feet from Osorio's group, Hispanic workers with Clark Construction Group LLC saw plywood. Next to them, young Hispanics from another company push jackhammers into rock, their bodies shaking against the machines.

At 9:14 a.m., Howells yells, "Break!" Osorio and his crew scramble out of the hole and race to the lunch truck. A young Colombian man lifts the sides of the truck, and the workers push politely to get to the silver trays steaming with empanadas, tamales, pupusas, rice, black beans, broccoli
smothered in melted Velveeta cheese and a tray of iced Mountain Dews and Cokes.

Osorio grabs a disposable plate, serves himself a tamale and milk and pays $4. He quickly eats his food, and by 9:28 a.m., he and his crew are back in the hole, carrying more long, heavy iron beams.

At one point, one Latino worker is rapidly tying wires, and Howells tries to tell him that the power boxes are in the wrong place. The worker's head bobs back and forth as he tries to follow the English. Workers and bosses say it's common for a boss to give orders in English to Spanish- speaking workers, who will then quickly look around for someone who understands English to translate. But they add that in construction, the language difference is not the problem it might be in other lines of work.

Later, a supervisor notices that Osorio's crew is struggling with some heavy iron bars. The supervisor, who is black and has been with Kenny Wood for 30 years, yells out advice: "Edvin, you've got to swing it up and out." Moses, a Salvadoran on Edvin's team, yells "Arriba. Arriba," as the others on the line push the beam. When another worker asks how much farther, some
men respond: "Un poquito mas. Un poquito mas." The supervisor, who doesn't know Spanish, chimes in, "Yeah, what they said."

At 1:30 p.m., a supervisor gives the signal to wrap it up. An hour later, Osorio and his roommates are back home. After showering, they eat a bit of grilled meat, onions and tortillas, and then chat about their impressions of the United States.

Americans, they say, don't recognize how good they have it and because of that, sometimes they are lazy. "Those who come here easily don't work hard," Osorio says. "But the person who has had to suffer to get here, they appreciate the opportunity to work." His two roommates nod in agreement.

He marvels at how much he makes. "By 5 a.m. in the morning, we've made more here on our jobs than we'd make on a job back home in a month," he said. "Here we make as much as a lawyer does in a week back in Guatemala."

Osorio, who started at Wood Steel in November 2001, makes $962 a week, or $50,024 a year. He and his two brothers send a total of about $1,500 a month to their seven siblings and parents. Osorio is saving most of the rest of his money to start a tire-repair business with his younger brother in Guatemala.

Osorio says he is proud of the contributions Hispanics have made to the Washington area. Hanging on his wall are five digital photos of a job at 900 7th St. that Osorio says was supposed to have taken nine months. His team finished it in seven.

He thinks immigrants have contributed significantly to the vitality of the Washington economy. So government efforts to get tough with illegal immigrants puzzle and frustrate him.

Developers, union officials and social workers estimate that half of the construction workforce is here illegally, although precise numbers are hard to come by. Some companies, such as Wood, say they check documents, though others say they depend on unions to screen out undocumented workers. Some workers say they join unions to avoid having their papers closely scrutinized by employers. But some unions say they lack the resources to verify a worker's legal status.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says the agency is focused on tracking illegal aliens who may be a threat to homeland security. Boyd says that employers can be fined for hiring an undocumented worker but that the government must prove the employer knew the worker was here illegally. Illegal workers often have legitimate-looking
documents, and employers are not obligated to verify that the documents are authentic, according to an immigration official.

Osorio and others say immigration officials don't show up at job sites. But they tell stories about friends being pulled over by the police for a traffic violation and getting caught for being in the United States without a proper visa. It makes them feel unwelcome here and adds to their desire to keep a low profile. As a result, they spend their spare time with other Latinos.

At 4:30 p.m., Osorio and his roommates leave their house for a field in Cheverly a few miles away to play soccer. For Osorio and his friends, soccer is the biggest leisure activity.

The crowds are biggest on Sundays, when they often gather on a grassy field near a shopping center called the Plaza del Mercado in Silver Spring. On the sidelines, wives cheer, toddlers wander around and friends munch fried yucca and thinly sliced steak wrapped in warm tortillas cooked on portable grills. Spectators often number more than 100.

On this day, there are only a handful of people. They play for about four hours and agree to meet the next day.

When they arrive home, one of Osorio's roommates flips on Telemundo to catch the end of his favorite nightly soap opera, "Betting for Your Love." After it is over, they shuffle off to bed.

Osorio sets the alarm for 3:45 a.m.



Bronx Community College, Legal Department tour DC
April 15-17 a bus load from the Bronx Community College traveled from New York to DC.
Luis Pacheco contacted me to assist him in setting up a tour of the National Archives. He said they had a wonderful time viewing all the monuments and were very well received at the National Archives. [To schedule tour: Robert Borland 202-208-2062 . Tour office 202-501-5205]
Below are some of the photos and Luis writes:  Thanks for everything... 
Luis Pacheco, Khattab33@aol.com


 

Greeting to all of us from Bronx Community College, Legal Department

 

MEXICO

Bishop Emeritus Manuel Talamás Camandari
Porcallo de la Cerda 
Buenas Noticias 
US Library of Congress, Selected Titles, Hispanic local History/Genealogy
Gobernadores de Zacatecas: por José León Robles de la Torre
        
Lic. don Eduardo Guillermo Pankhurst
         General don Jesús González Ortega
Concesión de Merced de Tierra en Aguascalientes, 
                               por
Leonardo de la Torre y Berumen
La Familia Vásquez Borrego del noreste de México  
                                por Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza
Estrategias de Juan de Escalante por Angel Custodio Rebollo


Bishop Emeritus Manuel Talamás Camandari.
By Roberto Camp  


A dynamic cycle of 88 years of Chihuahua history ended on May 10, 2005 with the death of the Bishop Emeritus of Ciudad Juárez, Manuel Talamás Camandari.

His parents were Arab Christians from the city of Bethlehem, where they lived in close proximity to the Church of the Nativity, and were descendants of French and Italian crusaders to the Holy Land. From there they immigrated to San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila, and later moved to the city of Chihuahua, where he was born on June 16, 1917.   Monseñor Talamás epitomized the diverse ethnic and spiritual mosaic of Ciudad Juárez, which has received massive waves of internal migration and settlers from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as from the United States and Canada.

His initial religious studies were conducted in Chihuahua, Durango and San Luis Potosí, and he later studied at the Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained as a priest in Chihuahua by Archbishop Antonio Guízar y Valencia on May 16, 1943, and he subsequently played important roles in seminary activities in the Archdiocese of Chihuahua.  


In 1957 Pope Pius XII created the new Diocese of Ciudad Juárez, which at the present time covers 30 thousand square kilometers, and includes Ciudad Juárez, the Valle de Juárez, and Villa Ahumada. Monseñor Talamás was named as the first Bishop of Ciudad Juárez and served in that capacity from September 8, 1957 until July 11, 1992, after completing his 75th birthday.

Both during his period as Bishop and later as Bishop Emeritus, Monseñor Talamás maintained high local, national and international profiles. He was a prolific author and editorial writer, and displayed a frank, Norteño spirit in his social commentary and observations of the Mexican political scene. Que en Paz Descanse.

 

 

Buenas Noticias

Hola queridos primos.
 
Reciban un cariñoso saludo y mis mejores deseos .
Anoche tuvimos una junta los de la Sociedad de Genealogia de N. L. y tuvimos como conferencista a la Lic Juana Margarita Dominguez Martinez  ella es la Jefa o Directora de Archivo Historico  de N. L.  este Archivo esta en el Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey, frente a la Macroplaza donde estaba el antiguo Palacio Municipal. junto al Hotel Monterrey, su conferencia fue muy interesante y la mejor de la Noticias es que nos dijo que ya tienen casi toda la informacion de ese archivo  scaneado y digitalizado,  y que toda esa informacion esta abierto al publico que lo que se necesita es solo llevar CD. y pedir lo que quieran , testamentos,  actas de cabildo, protocolos, ventas , juicios, la Guerra Mexico con EUA.  etc. etc. etc.  asi que vamos a tratar de tener un juego de todos los  CD, aunque tambien nos comento que si DIOS QUIERE  para julio van a empezar a tratar de  subir a una pagina de internet la informacion que ellos tienen, que ha sido un trabajo de años pero que ya estan muy adelantados, espero que este trabajo que me ha tocado ver por buen tiempo ya que he visitado este Archivo varias veces ,   pronto sea  una realidad para que todo el mundo tenga la oportunidad de tener esta valiosa infomacion por este medio,  es un excelente trabajo y todos los que colaboran en ese Archivo siempre tienen muchisima disponibilidad de ofrecer la informacion que les pedimos.

Los que vivimos en el area Metropolitana de Monterrey, solo tenemos que llevar unos CD virgenes y se nos quema lo que queremos sin ningun costo, para los que vivan fuera del Area Metropolitana pueden pedir la informacion por este medio el correo de la Lic. es : jdominguez@monterrey.gob.mx
y los telefonos son: 01-81-83-44-12-35 y 01-81-83-44-15-30. 
 
Seguimos  en comunicacion suerte y que DIOS LOS BENDIGA
 
                           Edna Yolanda Elizondo Gonzalez. ednayelizondo@yahoo.com.mx
 
Porcallo de la Cerda  

Primos,

Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza wrote a rather thick volume around the year 1600 concerning families living in Nueva España that were related to conquistadores and primeros pobladores of Nueva España. He titled his book 'Sumaria Relación de la Cosas de la Nueva España." On page 199 of the 1987 edition (Editorial Porúa, S.A., México), he briefly addresses the Porcallo family:

#185. Casa de Vasco Porcallo, caballero conocido, conquistador.
Tiene indios.  Lorenzo Porcallo de la Cerda, hijo. Don Vasco Porcallo, nieto.         Legitimos

Then on page 385, there is a brief mention of Lorenzo Porcallo, hijo de conquistador, con pueblos, minas y estancias: muy rico; no prentender cargo.

From this information it is clear that Lorenzo Porcallo de la Cerda was an encomendero (tiene indios) who was living at the trun of the 17th century and was regarded as a son of Vasco Porcallo, a conquistador. In addition, this Lorenzo appears to be the same person identified by Dorantes de Carranza as Lorenzo Porcallo who was a son of a conqusitador and was reagrded as being 'very rich' and posessing land.

If one and the same person, he appears to be the man known both as Lorenzo Porcallo and Lorenzo Porcally de la Cerda who was Alcalde Mayor de Ixlahuaca in 1588 and 1590. This man owned land in this area in particular the area of Sultepeque, and was still living in the early years of the 1600s,  It was in the area of Sultepeque that don Vasco Porcallo de la Cerda resided with his wife, doña Catalina de Velásquez around the the early 1600s. This don Vasco, may very well have been a son of Lorenzo, or at least the Vasco Porcallo noted by Dorantes de Carranza as a grandson of the conquistador, Vasco Porcallo.

At any rate, on December 24, 1624, don Sebatsián Porcallo de la Cerda recorded his banns of matrimony at the Sagrario of the Catedral de México in Mexico City. He declared he was "natural de las minas de Sultepeque hijo de Don Basco Porcallo de la Cerda y de doña Catalina Velásquez. Don Sebastián sought to marry doña Francisca de Villalobos, a native of Mexico City and a daughre of Doctor don Cristóbal de Villalobos and doña María Matoso.

Don Sebastián Porcallo de la Cerda returned to his heriditary lands at Sultepec.

What the above information means is that the Porcallo de la Cerda family resided in New Spain at the end of the 1500s and during the early 1600s and that this family was regarded as being descended of the conquistador Vasco Porcallo.

What connection these individual have to doña Juana Porcallo de la Cerda is still unknown.

Amiably, José A. Esquibel
jesquibel@yahoo.com
Hispanic Local History and Genealogy in the United States: 
Selected Titles at The Library of Congress  

XIII. Mexico

  • Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico).
    Catálogo del ramo expulsión de españoles. 2 vols. to date. México, D.F: Departamento de Publicaciones del Archivo General de la Nación, 1980-
    LC call number: Z1426.2 .A7 1980
    LC control number: 91126250
    Catalog Record
    Paragraph-length descriptions of 1,091 documents concerning the deportation of Spanish citizens from Mexico. Many are requests for exemption from deportation, citing personal circumstances and histories. Surname index and place name index that includes parts of Mexico that are now in the United States.

  • Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico).
    Ramo pasaportes. Elaborado por Clotilde Martínez de Reyes. México, D.F.: Dirección de Difusión y Publicaciones del Archivo General de la Nación, 1980. 196, 31 p.
    LC call number: CS103 .M49 1980
    LC control number: 81216816
    Catalog Record
    Indexes the first eight of 58 volumes and covers the years 1821 to 1827. Listed by volume, year, city, and surname.

  • Archivo Histórico del Estado de Sonora.
    Catálogo del Archivo Histórico del Estado de Sonora. 4 vols. to date. [Mexico City]: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Dirección de Centros Regionales, <1977- .
    LC call number: CD3675 .S66 A73 1977
    LC control number: 82197661
    Catalog Record

  • Arrigunaga Icaza, Joaquín de.
    Indice-resumen alfabético y cronológico de los matrimonios del sagrario de Mérida, Yucatán, 1814-1821. Mérida, Yucatán, México: Academia Yucateca de Historia y Genealogía Francisco de Montejo, 1976. 1 vol. (unpaged).
    LC call number: CS108 .M47 A77 1976
    LC control number: 96233118
    Catalog Record

  • Arrigunaga Peón, Joaquín de.
    Estirpe de conquistadores. Mérida, México: Academia Yucateca de Historia y Genealogía Francisco de Montejo, 1967. 230 p., [4] leaves of plates. Geneal. tables.
    LC call number: CS109 .A77
    LC control number: 75408790
    Catalog Record
    Families of Yucatán. Cites primary documents.

  • Cabrera Ypiña de Corsi, Matilde.
    De la Peña. San Luis Potosí, S.L.P., México: Editorial Universitaria Potosina, 1985. 201 p. [1] folded leaf of plates, ill.
    LC call number: CS110 .D4 1985
    LC control number: 91168847
    Catalog Record
    Genealogy of the de la Peña family of San Luis Potosí in Mexico up to 1983. Because the family was perpetuated by four daughters, it soon became part of many other families and for this reason is a valuable adjunct to the genealogies of these additional families.

  • Camara Peón, Oswaldo.
    Indice-resumen alfabético y cronológico de los matrimonios del sagrario de Mérida, Yucatán, 1776 a 1788. Mérida, Yucatán, México]: Academia Yucateca de Historia y Genealogía "Francisco de Montejo," 1981. N.p.
    LC call number: CS108 .M47 C36 1981
    LC control number: 96147747
    Catalog Record
    Gives names of groom and bride, parents of each, notation if birth was out of wedlock, date of marriage, and number of original document in Mérida.

  • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Genealogical Society.
    Major genealogical record sources in Mexico. Series H., no. 2. [Salt Lake City], 1970. N.p., col. map.
    LC call number: CS101 .G45 LH&G
    LC control number: 70029773
    Catalog Record

  • Dahl, Torsten.
    Linajes en México. México: Casa Editora de Genealogía Ibero Americana, 1967- .
    LC call number: CS109 .D3
    LC control number: 79407772
    Catalog Record
    Genealogies of Mexican families. Many of non-Spanish origin. Lists several generations in Europe, the immigrant to Mexico, and succeeding generations to the 1960s.

  • Esparza, Manuel.
    Padrón de capitación de la Ciudad de Oaxaca, 1875. [Oaxaca de Juárez]: Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca, 1983. xvii, 131 p.
    LC call number: CS108 .O17 E84 1983
    LC control number: 86150090
    Catalog Record
    Lists are by section of the city and by block of residents obliged to pay tax. Alphabetical lists are by first name with age, occupation, and marital status.

  • Esparza, Manuel.
    Padrón general de los habitantes de la Ciudad de Oaxaca, 1842: 450 aniversario, 1532-1982. [Oaxaca]: Centro Regional de Oaxaca, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1981. xxii, 224 p.
    LC call number: CS108 .O17 E853 1981
    LC control number: 83236370
    Catalog Record
    A street directory giving name, age, occupation, and marital status of residents.

  • Fernández de Recas, Guillermo S., ed.
    Cacicazgos y nobiliario indígena de la Nueva España. 1. ed. México: Instituto Bibliográfico Mexicano, 1961. xxvi, 351 p. Plates, coats of arms.
    LC call number: CS104 .F4
    LC control number: 62042344
    Catalog Record
    Includes 35 documents from the Spanish monarch confirming pre-Columbian ownership of land, titles of nobility and coats of arms, and conferring Spanish titles and arms beginning with the generation of Montezuma. Genealogies show connections between pre-Columbian Mexican nobility and Spanish nobility. The author found these documents by happenstance in the Archivo de la Nación and believes that more exist. Black and white photographs of coats of arms.

  • González de la Garza, Rodolfo.
    Hispanic roots = Raíces hispanas: genealogy, history. 1st ed. 1 vol. to date. N. Laredo, México (Allende 701, Nuevo Laredo 88000): R. González de la Garza, 1996- . Ill. (some col.).
    LC call number: CS109 .G67 1996
    LC control number: 97121670
    Catalog Record
    Origins of most families of northeastern Mexico: Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and part of Guadalajara. Many have branches in the United States. Volume 1 contains 17,000 entries and the set, when completed, will contain approximately 250,000. Data are from primary sources in church and civil archives (cited on p. 10). Both paternal and maternal surnames are given for principals and parents. Brief historical sketch of the region, including a statement that the Inquisition was not active here and thus provided a haven for families of Jewish background. Describes kinds of documents consulted and defines the racial terms "castizo," "tresalbo," "mestizo," "mulato," "coyote," "lobo," and "casta" (p. 20).

  • González de la Garza, Rodolfo.
    Mil familias de Tam., N. León, Coah. y Texas. 2 vols. N. Laredo, Tamps., México: H. González de la Garza, 1980-1981. Ill.
    LC call number: CS109 .A2 G66
    LC control number: 81117624
    Catalog Record
    Extensive genealogies, drawings of coats of arms indicating colors, summary of accomplishments of each family. Surnames that have articles are listed in capital letters in the index; following each are surnames in lowercase letters that are mentioned in the article.

  • Greenleaf, Richard E., and Michael C. Meyer, compilers and editors.
    Research in Mexican history; topics, methodology, sources and a practical guide to field research. Compiled for the Committee on Mexican Studies, Conference on Latin American History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, [1973]. xiii, 226 p. Maps.
    LC call number: F1225.5 .G73
    LC control number: 72086020
    Catalog Record

  • Guerra, Raúl J., Jr., Nadine M. Vásquez, and Baldomero Vela, Jr., compilers and editors. Index to the marriage investigations of the Diocese of Guadalajara pertaining to the former provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Nuevo Santander, and Téxas. Vol. 1. 1653-1750. Ill.
    LC call number: CD3678 .G82G84 1989
    LC control number: 90093092
    Catalog Record

 

 

GOBERNADORES DE ZACATECAS
Personajes de la historia 
Por: José León Robles de la Torre



Lic. don Eduardo Guillermo Pankhurst, Gobernador de Zacatecas 1904-1908. 
Foto tomada de la Hemerografía de Zacatecas de don Rafael C. Puente, Edic. 1951.

El Lic. don Eduardo Guillermo Pankhurst, nació en la rica ciudad de Zacatecas el diez de abril de 1840, donde cursó la instrucción primaria con brillantez, haciéndose merecedor a que el Cuerpo Municipal le otorgara un premio especial el 26 de julio de 1851, firmado por los profesores Telésforo Pérez, Antonio Gaytán y Pablo Torres.

Los padres del joven Pankhurst (no se mencionan sus nombres), viendo con orgullo los adelantos del hijo, lo enviaron a la ciudad de Guadalajara, internándolo en el Seminario, donde cursó las materias de gramática latina, gramática española, retórica, lógica, metafísica, matemáticas, religión, inglés, derecho civil, etc. obteniendo en todas las materias y cursos, los más elevados promedios de calificación. Estos estudios fueron suspendidos debido a las luchas surgidas por toda la República y particularmente el levantamiento del Coronel Landa en el Estado de Jalisco en 1858. El aventajado estudiante se unió al Partido Liberal y con éste fue a dar a la Capital de la República luchando por los derechos constitucionales al lado del literato don Miguel Cruz Aedo.

Pasado lo agitado del momento, Pankhurst se dedicó de lleno al estudio del Derecho, hasta que obtuvo el título de abogado el 28 de junio de 1861. Ya para estas fechas había alcanzado distinciones como la de ser nombrado Miembro Honorario de la Sociedad Literaria el Crepúsculo, por sus dotes de exquisita y fina oratoria.

Al recibir su título de abogado decidió regresar a su natal Zacatecas, donde prácticamente empiezan paralelas sus carreras de político y periodista. La Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, lo nombró Miembro Corresponsal en el Estado de Zacatecas.

Después de varios cargos, el 14 de mayo de 1885 fundó el periódico El Álbum Zacatecano, donde escribía tantos artículos literarios como políticos que le atrajeron dificultades personales por su filiación republicana, llegando hasta ser procesado e internado en prisión, siendo clausurado el periódico, que luego continuó por algunos meses con el nombre de Porvenir.

En una época, el General Miguel Auza, siendo Gobernador de Zacatecas en 1867, lo nombró catedrático de Lógica en el Instituto de Ciencias del Estado en 1867. En 1875 fue Diputado Federal.

Después de otros cargos, fue electo Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Zacatecas para el período de 1904-1908. Una de las cosas que todavía se tienen a la vista de las mejoras que se hicieron durante su gobierno, fue la construcción del observatorio meteorológico, que se encuentra en el Crestón Chico del Cerro de la Bufa y cuyo acto ocurrió el primero de diciembre de 1906.

Algún tiempo después el Gobernador Pankhurst cayó enfermo y se trasladó a la capital de la República para su atención médica, falleciendo el día cinco no el cuatro como se dijo de julio de 1908. Su muerte fue muy sentida tanto en la Capital de la República como en Zacatecas. Se recordaba al periodista y escritor erudito e implacable, y no podía olvidarse al Gobernador justiciero y honesto que conservó siempre sus manos limpias y murió pobre. El cortejo fúnebre partió de la Calle de Medinas No. 7 presidido por el General Manuel González Cosío, Secretario de Guerra y Marina que llevaba la representación presidencial y personal de su viejo amigo el General Porfirio Díaz. Fue sepultado en el Panteón del Tepeyac de la Capital de la República.




GOBERNADORES DE ZACATECAS
Personajes de la historia 
Por: José León Robles de la Torre



General de División don Jesús González Ortega, 
Benemérito del Estado de Zacatecas y Gobernador del mismo. 
Foto oficial de la Galería de Gobernadores que está en Palacio de Gobierno.

General don Jesús González Ortega, que había quedado como Presidente de la Diputación Permanente del Congreso, recibió la gubernatura por renuncia del Lic. Parra, el día cinco de octubre de 1858. 

Este General jugó un papel muy importante dentro del Partido Liberal, no solamente en Zacatecas, sino en toda la República. Nació en la Hacienda de San Mateo, del Municipio de Valparaíso, Zacs., el día 19 de enero de 1822. Fue su padre don Laureano González, oriundo de Monte Escobedo; y su madre doña María Francisca Mateos Ortega, originaria de Morelia, Mich. No usaba el apellido materno Mateos, sino el segundo, Ortega. Era familiar del que después llegaría a ser Presidente de la República Lic. Adolfo López Mateos y del director don Juan A. Mateos. 

El General González Ortega, en su primer interinato como Gobernador de Zacatecas, duró hasta el cinco de abril de 1859, pero luego fue electo como Gobernador Constitucional y con algunas ausencias que cubrieron Gobernadores Interinos, estuvo los siguientes períodos: 

Del cinco de junio de 1859, hasta el 21 de octubre siguiente: del 21 de febrero de 1860, hasta el 25 de julio del mismo año; del 21 de octubre de 1862, hasta el 28 de enero de 1863; y del siete de julio de 1863 al cinco de febrero de 1864. 

El Gobierno del General González Ortega, ordenó la exclaustración de los religiosos del Convento de Guadalupe, Zacatecas. Sobre esto, dice el Profr. Salvador Vidal García en el Tomo III del Bosquejo Histórico de Zacatecas, continuación del de Elías Amador, editado en 1959, página 55, dice: 

“...Estos lamentables sucesos vinieron a poner en muy malas condiciones a los religiosos; por estos motivos el gobierno, dispuso el día 1º. de agosto de 1859, que dentro de los términos de veinticuatro horas debían desocupar el Convento”. 

“A las nueve de la mañana de este día, el Guardián de la Comunidad dio lectura al oficio del Gobierno a todos los religiosos y a las catorce horas abandonaron el Convento, siendo ayudados con sus acémilas, mozos, cabalgaduras y todo lo que pudieron proporcionarles varias personas, distinguiéndose, principalmente los señores José Elías Fogoaga de Sauceda; Joaquín Llaguno, de Santa Cruz; José María Pereda, del Maguey; Pascual Gordoa, de Cieneguilla. El número de los ex-claustrados, fue de 115, entre sacerdotes, coristas, novicios, laicos y donados”. 

El 14 de septiembre de 1859, se publicó un decreto que establecía en el artículo 1º., que se aceptaba la dimisión del cargo de Gobernador de don Victoriano Zamora. Y el artículo 2º. Establecía que continuaría en el cargo, el General Jesús González Ortega. 

El 22 de diciembre de 1860, se enfrentó con sus fuerzas al joven General Miguel Miramón en las lomas de San Miguel de Calpulalpan, donde resultó triunfador González Ortega. 

En 1861, en julio, el Congreso de la Unión nombró al General Jesús González Ortega, presidente de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, que equivalía a vice-presidente de la República. 

La estatua ecuestre dedicada a González Ortega, se develó el 15 de mayo de 1898, en la Plaza Tacuba por el Gobernador Interino Lic. don Pedro F. Nafarrate. En 1949, julio, fue cambiada al lugar donde se encuentra a un lado del acueducto de Zacatecas.

 



CONCESIÓN DE MERCED DE TIERRA 
EN AGUASCALIENTES

Pueblo de San Marcos

Recopilación paleográfica: Leonardo de la Torre y Berumen

leon_torre@yahoo.com.mx

 


Titulo y merced en forma al Capitán Pedro de Medina de dos sitios de ganado menor y uno de mayor en la jurisdicción de Aguascalientes por haber servido con 88 pesos en reales.

El Lic. Don Francisco Feijoo Centellas de El Concejo de su Majestad. Su oidor de la Audiencia Real de este Reino de la Nueva Galicia Juez Privativo de ventas y composiciones de tierras por el Lic. Don Bernardino de Valdés y Jirón de el Concejo de Cámara y Junta de Guerra de Indias de su Majestad. Por cuanto su Majestad que Dios guarde se sirvió expedir una su Real Cédula a los 30 de octubre del año pasado de seiscientos y noventa y dos: que su tenor es como se sigue:

 

Aquí la Cédula.

Y porque dicho Sr. Don Bernardino de Valdés subdelego en el todo la dicha Comisión en mi por lo que toca ... Reino de la Nueva Galicia y en su ejecución que no tengo dadas diferentes providencias en orden a que se reconozcan las tierras que se poseen sin justos y legítimos títulos las que no los tienen con la justificación necesaria y las que resultasen del Real Patrimonio para que estas se beneficiasen por cuenta de la Real hacienda y para ello nombrado jueces en los distritos de este Reino y estándolo en la jurisdicción de Aguascalientes don Luis Bernardo Pacheco compareció ante el susodicho el Capitán Pedro de Medina, vecino de dicha villa, hizo presentación de diferentes instrumentos en que se contienen un testimonio autorizado de Juan Rincón de Vivar de una merced hecha a Diego Peguero por el Señor don Santiago de Vera, Gobernador que fue de este Reino de un sitio de ganado mayor y cuatro caballerías de tierra a lindes del sitio de El Ojo Caliente, la fecha de dicha merced a los 24 de octubre del año pasado de quinientos y noventa y quatro. Otro testimonio autorizado de Pedro Arias Pardo, de una merced hecha por dicho Señor a los 20 de diciembre de año pasado de quinientos y setenta y sinco a Juan de Montoro, de un sitio de ganado menor dos caballerías de tierra y dos suertes de guerta el dicho sitio en el Peñol y Cerro de los Ojos de Agua que corren hacia (la) villa de Aguascalientes. Otro testimonio autorizado de don Alonso de Na... frigote, Escribano publico que fue de dicha villa de una Merced fecha por la Real Audiencia de este Reino a Andrés de Ayala de dos sitios de ganado menor y una caballería de tierra, el un sitio a lindes del Ojo Caliente el cual pertenece con los dos antecedentes al Capitán Pedro de Medina quien ha sucedido en el derecho de ellos y en virtud de dichos recaudos el dicho Juez pasó a su reconocimiento y medida cogiendo con las que hizo las caballerías de tierra que poseían los naturales del pueblo de San Marcos a cuyo pedimento mande que dicho Juez dejase a dichos naturales en la posesión de las cuatro caballerías de tierra y la tierra que cogían se la enterasen a dicho Capitán Pedro de Medina y habiéndolo hecho me remitió los autos y reconociendo no estar compuesto con su Majestad mande se le notificase al susodicho lo hiciese y habiéndose convenido a ello provey el auto del tenor siguiente: Auto: En la ciudad de Guadalajara a nueve días del mes de octubre de mil y seiscientos y noventa y seis años el Señor Licenciado don Francisco Feijoo Centellas del Consejo de su Majestad su oidor de la Audiencia Real de la Nueva Galicia Juez Privativo y Superintendente general de ventas y composiciones de tierras en este reino habiendo visto estos autos y en ellos los títulos y recaudos presentados por el Capitán Pedro de Medina en cuya virtud posee tres sitios el uno de ganado menor en El Ojocaliente y a sus lindes otro de ganado mayor; y otro de ganado menor. Las medidas hechas por don Luis Bernardo Pacheco y lo demás contenido en dichos autos. Dijo que aprobaba y aprobó dichas medidas y por lo que mira al derecho de justicia en su Real Nombre admitía y admitió a composición al susodicho con que sirva por esta gracia con ochenta pesos en reales para los efectos que su Majestad fuere servido y constando haberlos enterado con más ocho pesos de la media Annata se le despache titulo en forma con inserción de la Real Cedula inserta en la comisión de su Majestad Y este auto a la letra y así lo mando y firmó. Lic. Francisco Feijoo Centellas. Ante mi Ignacio de Tapia Palacios. Escribano Receptor. Por tanto y en consideración a lo que su Majestad que Dios guarde tiene dispuesto y ordenado por la Real Cédula supraincerta y a que por certificación consta haber enterado dicho Capitán Pedro de Medina la cantidad con que se le mande servir por el auto antecedente en nombre de su Majestad y sin perjuicio de su Real derecho y del de otro tercero que mejor lo tenga hago merced al susodicho por vía de composición de los dichos sitios y caballerías de tierra para que los goce como hasta aquí lo ha hecho y ocupe en lo que le pareciere y por bien tuviere metiendo ganados mayores y menores y sembrando en las partes más cómodas que hallare como suyo propio habido y adquirido con justo y derecho titulo y mando sean suyos y de sus sucesores y que de la posesión que en virtud de este titulo aprehendiere, no sea despojado sin ser primero oído y por fuero y derecho vencido ante quien y con derecho deba. Dado en la Ciudad de Guadalajara a nueve días del mes de octubre de mil seiscientos y noventa y seis años. Lic. Don Francisco Feijoo Centellas. Por mandato de su Merced. Ignacio de Tapia Palacios. Escribano Receptor. Fojas 249-251.

NOTA: Archivo de Instrumentos Públicos. Guadalajara, Jal. Número 221. Titulo y Merced en forma al Capitán Pedro de Medina de dos Sitios de Ganado menor y uno de Mayor en la jurisdicción de Aguascalientes por haber servido con 88 pesos en Reales.

 

 



La Familia Vásquez Borrego del noreste de México 

Incluye apellidos: Vásquez Borrego, Vidaurri, Sánchez de la Barrera y de la Garza, Canales, Navaira, Treviño, Dovalina, Valdés, Milmo, Hickman, Azcárraga Vidaurreta,entre otros. 

Por: Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza
Email- spanish or english: cherrera1951@hotmail.com

 


1.- Señor Vásquez Borrego
1.1.- capitán José Vásquez Borrego se casó con María Josefa Imperial Pérez de Guisar.
1.1.1.- Manuela Vasquez Borrego Imperial se casò con Juan Antonio de Vidaurre
1.1.1.1.- José Fernando Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego se casó para las segundas nupcias de doña María Alejandra Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza Uribe Treviño Lobo de la Cadena y Díaz Navarro hija del capitán Tomás Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera y de la Garza Sosa y de Catalina de Uribe Treviño, y quien era la viuda de Bartolomé Vásquez Borrego que fue hijo de Juan José Vásquez Borrego, el hermano del capitán José Vásquez Borrego. 
1.1.1.1.1.- José Alejandro Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en Mier, Tamaulipas en 1766 y murió el 10 de febrero de 1847; se casó en Mier, Tamaulipas el 10 de agosto de 1795 con María Leonor Canales García que nació en Mier, Tamaulipas el 28 de febrero de 1778 y murió en Mier, Tam. el 11 de marzo de 1850, hija de José Juan Antonio Canales González y de María de los Santos García de la Barrera.
1.1.1.1.1.1.- Alejandro Vidaurri Canales murió en el rancho Dolores del condado de Zapata en Texas en 1888, asesinado por los indios.
1.1.1.1.1.2.- Macario Vidaurri Canales nació en Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas en 1791, fue adoptado por José Alejandro y María Leonor y se casó en Mier, Tam.el 26 de noviembre de 1810 con (A) Ignacia Vela quien murió en San Antonio, Tx. en 1830; luego Macario se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 14 de marzo de 1850 con (B) María Pilar García Ramos
1.1.1.1.1.3.- María Antonia Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 20 de junio de 1796..
1.1.1.1.1.4.- María Antonia Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 18 de mayo de 1797 y se casó el 14 de mayo de 1816 en Mier, Tam. con José Hipólito de la Peña García quien nació en 1794.
1.1.1.1.1.5.- José Cecilio Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 6 de diciembre de 1800 y murió en Mier, Tam. el 16 de agosto de 1801.
1.1.1.1.1.6.- José Félix Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 25 de noviembre de 1802.
1.1.1.1.1.7.- Juan José Antonio Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 29 de mayo de 1804.
1.1.1.1.1.8.- José Manuel Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tam. el 20 de junio de 1809
y murió posterior a 1880 en el rancho"San José de Corralitos" del condado Zapata en Texas.
1.1.1.1.1.9.- José Laureano Vidaurri Canales nació en Mier, Tamaulipas el 6 de julio de 1818 y murió en el rancho "San José de Corralitos" del condado de Zapata en Texas; se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 23 de mayo de 1852 con Trinidad Cuellar Benavides que nació en Mier, Tam. en 1835 hija de Salvador Cuellar Sánchez y de Blasa Benavides Guzmán.
1.1.1.1.1.9.1.- Laureano Vidaurri Cuellar murió en 1889.
1.1.1.1.2.- Josefa Herculana Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en 1767.
1.1.1.1.3.- María Encarnación Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1768 y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 1 de diciembre de 1796 con el lugarteniente José María Naveira García que nació en Laredo Tx. en 1775, hijo de Domingo Naveira García y de Gertrudis García Sánchez.
1.1.1.1.3.1.- Santiago Navaira Vidaurri nació en Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas el 16 de septiembre de 1798. 
1.1.1.1.3.2.- María Navaira Vidaurri nació en Nuevo Laredo, Tam. el 8 de septiembre de 1800.
1.1.1.1.4.- María Josefa Fabiana Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en 1777.
1.1.1.1.5.- José Leonardo Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en 1779.
1.1.1.1.6.- María de la Luz Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1779 y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 18 de enero de 1797 con el alférez Cristóbal Treviño Ramón quien nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1775 hijo de irilo Treviño Moreno y de Ana María Ramón Treviño.
1.1.1.1.6.1.- Francisco Treviño Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el 5 de julio de 1823 en Laredo, Tx. con María Concepción Flores Sánchez hija de Antonio Flores y María Regina Sánchez.
1.1.1.1.6.2.- María Januaria Treviño Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el 22 de noviembre de 1826 en Laredo, Tx. con Martín Herrera Canales quien nació en Mier, Tamaulipas hijo de Domingo Herrera y de María Juana Canales.
1.1.1.1.6.2.1.- Francisca Herrera Treviño se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 9 de diciembre de 1866
con Julián Johnson. 
1.1.1.1.6.3.- Albino Treviño Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el 25 de mayo de 1831 en Laredo, Tx. con Máría Bárbara Bustamante Flores que nació en Laredo, Tx. hija de José Ignacio Bustamante García y de María Encarnación Flores Cervera.
1.1.1.1.6.4.- Eugenio Treviño Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1809 y se casó el 16 de julio
de 1835 en Laredo, Tx. con María Garza de la Cruz quien nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1815 hija de Francisco Garza y de Rosalía de la Cruz.
1.1.1.1.6.5.- Ángela Treviño Vidaurri
1.1.1.1.6.6.- Teresa Treviño Vidaurri
1.1.1.1.6.7.- María Concepción Treviño Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el
11 de junio de 1831 en Laredo, Tx. con José Ramón de la Garza 
Vásquez quien nació en Cerralvo, Nuevo León hijo de José María de la
Garza y de Narcisa Vásquez.
1.1.1.1.7.- José Fernando Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en
1780 y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 14 de octubre de 1801 con María Antonia
Báez de Treviño Treviño hija de José Antonio Báez de Treviño y de Rosalía
Treviño.
1.1.1.1.7.1.- María Amada Vidaurri Báez de Treviño nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1807 y se
casó en Laredo, Tx. el 23 de noviembre de 1825 con Anselmo Martínez de la
Serna quien nació en Laredo Tx. en 1805 y murió en 1859 hijo de Francisco
Martínez Peña y de María Juliana de la Serna..
1.1.1.1.7.2.- José Rafael Vidaurri Báez de Treviño nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1820 y se casó
el 26 de agosto de 1839 en Laredo, Tx. con Dolores Sotomayor y Martínez de
la Garza quien nació en Laredo, Tx. en 1821 hija de Andrés Sotomayor y
Martínez y de Francisca de la Garza.
1.1.1.1.8.- María Josefa de Jesús Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera
nació en Mier, Tamaulpas el 17 de abril de 1781 y murió en Laredo, Tx. el
28 de febrero de 1829; se casó con Victorino Dovalina Pizaña quien nació en
Laredo, Tx. en 1765 y murió en 1835 en Laredo, Tx. hijo de Manuel de
Dovalina Sánches y de María Francisca Josefa Pizaña.
1.1.1.1.8.1.- María Remigia Dovalina Vidaurri se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 30 de octubre
de 1827 con Rafael Gutierrez Vargas quien era soldado del Primer
Regimiento Permanente del estado de Tamaulipas.
1.1.1.1.8.2.- María Leonor Dovalina Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el 3 de
julio de 1829 en Laredo, Tx. con Joseph Apolonio Ramón Rivera quien
nació en Monclova Coahuila el 17 de marzo de 1799.
1.1.1.1.8.3.- José Domingo Dovalina Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. el 6 de agosto de
1801 y murió en Laredo, Tx. en 1862; se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 30 de junio
de 1836 con María Cayetana González Días que nació en Laredo, Tx. en
1817.
1.1.1.1.8.4.- José Agustín Dovalina Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. el 28 de agosto de
1807 y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 22 de octubre de 1832 conMaría Francisca
Sánchez Rodríguez quien nació en Laredo, Tx.
1.1.1.1.8.5.- José Lázaro Dovalina Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx. el 13 de febrero de
1814 y se casó con (A) María Felípa Balderrama quien murió en 1840; José
Lázaro celebró segundas nupcias en Laredo, Tx. el 2 de julio de 1842 con
(B) María Bárbara González de la Garza quien nació en Laredo, Tx. en el
mes de noviembre de 1822.
1.1.1.1.8.6.- José Julio Dovalina Vidaurri nació en Laredo, Tx el 27 de febrero de 1824
y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 9 de octubre de 1854 con Rafaela Rodríguez
Martínes que nació en Laredo, Tx. 
1.1.1.1..9- Ildefonso Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera nació en
Laredo, Tx. en 1783 y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 30 de abril de 1805 con
María Josefa García Treviño hija de Juan José García y de Maria Micaela
Treviño.
1.1.1.1.9.1.- Francisco Vidaurri García nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el
15 de octubre de 1827 con Josefa Salínas Ramírez que nació en Laredo, Tx.
hija de Juan José Salínas y de Jacoba Ramírez
1.1.1.1.9.2.- Rafael Vidaurri García nació en Laredo, Tx. y murió antes de 1857; se casó en
Laredo, Tx. el 11 de mayo de 1831 con María Lorena Gil Sánchez que murió
en Laredo, Tx. hija de Miguel Gil y de Ana María Sánchez.
1.1.1.1.9.2.1.- Felipa Vidaurri Gil nació en Laredo, Tx. y se casó el 25 de enero de 1855 en
Laredo, Tx. con Cayetano de la Garza Benavides hijo de Cayetano de la
Garza Sánchez y de María Inocente Benavides García Dávila.
Cayetano de la Garza Benavides ya antes se había casado el 8 de mayo de
1850 con Presentación Benavides García hija de Bacilio Benavides
Sánchez y de María Encarnación García.
1.1.1.1.9.2.2.- Atanasio Vidaurri Gil se casó el 10 de julio de 1857 en Laredo, Tx. 
con María Ignacia Farías hija de Juan Francisco Farías Sánchez.
1.1.1.2.- Ramón Macario Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.3.- José Ygnacio Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.4.- Rita Lizarda Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.5.- Joseph de Jesús Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.6.- Jesús María Lorenzo de San José Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.7.- Rita Ana Verónica Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.8.- José Maria Margil Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego se casó con su prima hermana
Marìa Josefa Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza hija de
Bartolomé Vásquez Borrego y de María Alejandra Sánchez de la Barrera de la
Garza Uribe Treviño Lobo de la Cadena y Díaz Navarro
1.1.1.8.1.- José Francisco Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la
Garza naciò el 25 de noviembre de 1793 en Laredo, Texas.
1.1.1.8.2.- José Jesús Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza
naciò en Laredo, Tx. el 8 de enero de 1796
1.1.1.8.3.- Alejandro Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza
naciò en 1797
1.1.1.8.4.- Dionisia Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza
naciò en Laredo, Tx. el 9 de octubre de 1797
1.1.1.8.5.- Ana Juliana Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la
Garza naciò en Laredo, Tx. El 19 de febrero de 1802
1.1.1.8.6.- Josefa Francisca Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la
Garza naciò en Laredo, Tx. el 2 de diciembre de 1802.
1.1.1.8.7.- Juana Marìa Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza
naciò en 1804 y se casò en mayo de 1831 con su primo hermano José
Santiago Vidaurri y Valdez hijo de Pedro José Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y
Villaseñor y de Teodora Valdés.
1.1.1.8.8.- Marìa Josefa Francisca Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera
de la Garza naciò en 1807.
1.1.1.9.- Verónica Mariana Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.10.- Francisco Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego se casò con Maria Ángela del Carmen
Villaseñor
1.1.1.10.1.- Juan José Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor
1.1.1.10.2.- José Antonio Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor
1.1.1.10.3.- Francisco Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor
1.1.1.10.4.- Pedro José Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor se casó con Teodora Valdés
1.1.1.10.4.1.- José Santiago Vidaurri y Valdez se casó con su prima hermana Juana Maria Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera Uribe hija de José Maria Margil Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego y María Josefa Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera Uribe 
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.- Prudencia Vidaurri Valdéz y Vásquez Borrego Sánchez de la Barrera se casó con el socio y amigo de su papá; Patricio Milmo O'Dowd, que nació en Ballysodere, Irlanda el 27 de septiembre de 1826, hijo de Dermott Milmo y Sara O'Dowd. 
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.1.- Sara Milmo O'Dowd y Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego murió en 1916 se casó con Harold Hutter Reeder quien murió en San Antonio, Texas el 13 de diciembre de 1932. Otra versión afirma que Sara casó con Eugenio Kelly. 
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.2.- Prudencina Milmo O'Dowd y Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego se casó con Albrycht Wojciech Radzwill.
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.3.- Leonor Milmo O'Dowd y Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego se casó con el
señor O´Hart
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.- Patricio Milmo O'Dowd y Vidaurri Vásquez Borrego nació en Monterrey, Nuevo León en 1874, y se casó con Laura Hickman Morales que nació en 1875 en San Antonio, Texas. .
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.- Laura Milmo Vidaurri y Hickman Morales nació en San Antonio, Texas en 1906 se casó el 26 de septiembre de 1925 con Mariano Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta hijo de Mariano Azcárraga y López de Rivera y de María Emilia Gloria de los Dolores Vidaurreta Rovira. 
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.- Laura Azcárraga Milmo nació en 1926 y se casó con Fernando Diez Barroso quien nació en 1917
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.1.- Fernando Diez Barroso y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.2.- Emilio Diez Barroso y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.3.- Laura Renee Diez Barroso y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.4.- Gina Lorenza Diez Barroso y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.1.5.- Mónica Diez Barroso y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.- Carmela Azcárraga Milmo nació en 1928 y se casó con Alejandro
Burillo Pérez
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.1.- María Carmela Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.2.- Alejandro Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.3.- Jorge Eduardo Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.4.- Emilio Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.5.- Patricia Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.2.6.- Javier Burillo Pérez y Azcárraga Milmo
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.- Emilio Azcárraga Milmo murió en 1972; se casó con (A) Almade
Schandube; tuvo segundas nupcias con (B) María Regina de Surmont, y su tercer matrimonio fue con (C) Nadine Jean. 
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.1.- Paola Azcárraga Milmo de Surmont
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.2.- Alessandra Azcárraga Milmo de Surmont
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.3.- Ariadna Azcárraga Milmo de Surmont
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.4.- Emilio Azcárraga Milmo y Jean
1.1.1.10.4.1.1.4.1.3.5.- Carla Azcárraga Milmo y Jean
1.1.1.10.4.1.2.- Maria del Carmen Vidaurri Valdéz y Vásquez Borrego Sánchez de la Barrera se casó con un hombre muy abusivo por lo que su suegro no lo quería y lo hizo desaparecer.
1.1.1.10.4.1.3.- Maria Daria Vidaurri Valdéz y Vásquez Borrego Sánchez de la Barrera
1.1.1.10.4.1.3.1.- Maria Antonia se casó con el señor Medellín.
1.1.1.10.4.1.3.1.1.- Maria Medellin 
1.1.1.10.4.1.3.1.2.- Medellín se casó con el señor Rivas
1.1.1.10.4.1.3.1.2.1.- Ana Rivas Medellín
1.1.1.10.4.1.4.- Indalecio Vidaurri Valdéz y Vásquez Borrego Sánchez de la Barrera
1.1.1.10.5.- Juan Antonio de la Trinidad Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor
1.1.1.10.5.1.- Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego
1.1.1.10.5.1.1.- Juan José Vidaurre y Villaseñor fue gobernador de Coahuila y Texas
1.1.1.10.5.1.2.- Francisco Vidaurre y Villaseñor 1834 gobernador de Coahuila y Texas
1.1.1.11.- Maria Venancia Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.1.12.- Josefa Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego
1.1.2.- Josefa Vasquez Borrego Imperial
1.1.3.- Juan José Vasquez Borrego Imperial héroe de la insurgencia; era sacerdote, 
1.1.4.- Macario Vasquez Borrego Imperial 
1.2.- capitán Juan Josè Vàsquez Borrego. 
1.2.1.- Bartolomé Vásquez Borrego murió alrededor de 1764 y se casò con María Alejandra Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza Uribe Treviño Lobo de la Cadena y Díaz Navarro hija del capitán Tomàs Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera y de la Garza Sosa y de Catalina de Uribe Treviño.
1.2.1.1.- José Francisco Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en Laredo, Texas y se casó en Laredo, Tx. el 27 de noviembre de 1792 con María de Refugio Treviño Treviño hija de José Antonio Treviño y de María Treviño.
1.2.1.1.1.- Ramón Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1794 
1.2.1.1.2.- Concepción Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1796
1.2.1.1.3.- José Francisco Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1799
1.2.1.1.4.- José Luciano Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1801
1.2.1.1.5.- Marìa del Carmen Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1804
1.2.1.1.6.- Marìa de Jesús Juliana Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1806
1.2.1.1.7.- Marìa Ernestina Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1807
1.2.1.1.8.- Manuel Florentino Vàsquez Borrego Treviño naciò en 1812
1.2.1.1.9.- Marìa Francisca Vàsquez Borrego Treviño Remigia naciò en 1814
1.2.1.2.- Marìa Josefa Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en 1765 y se casò con su primo hermano José Maria Margil Vidaurre Vasquez Borrego hijo de Juan Antonio de Vidaurre y de Manuela Vàsquez Borrego Imperial. 
1.2.1.2.1.- José Francisco Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza naciò el 25 de noviembre de 1793 en Laredo, Texas.
1.2.1.2.2.- José Jesús Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garzanació en Laredo, Tx. el 8 de enero de 1796
1.2.1.2.3.- Alejandro Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en 1797
1.2.1.2.4.- Dionisia Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en Laredo, Tx. el 9 de octubre de 1797
1.2.1.2.5.- Ana Juliana Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en Laredo, Tx. El 19 de febrero de 1802
1.2.1.2.6.- Josefa Francisca Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en Laredo, Tx. el 2 de diciembre de 1802.
1.2.1.2.7.- Juana Marìa Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en 1804 y se casó en mayo de 1831 con su primo hermano José Santiago Vidaurri y Valdez hijo de Pedro José Vidaurre Vásquez Borrego y Villaseñor y de Teodora Valdés.
1.2.1.2.8.- Marìa Josefa Francisca Vidaurre Vàsquez Borrego y Sánchez de la Barrera de la Garza nació en 1807.


Bibliografía:

Zorrilla, Juan Fidel; González, Salas Carlos 
"Diccionario Biográfico de Tamaulipas
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
Ciudad Victoria, Tam. 1984

Olivares, Arriaga María del Carmen
"Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. Bosquejo Histórico"
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
Ciudad Victoria, Tam. 2002
"Los Vidaurre de Coahuila, Nuevo Leòn, Tamaulipas & Texas" written by Anita Rivas Medellín in http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2005/spmay05/spmay05.htm
"Descendents of Don Francisco Sànchez de la Barrera And Dona Maria Duràn de Vzcanga" compiled by John D. Inclan in http://www.somosprimos.com/inclan/sanchez.htm



Publicado en Odiel Información el 31 de mayo de 2005

Estrategias de Juan de Escalante 

En la conquista de México, Hernán Cortes había llegado a Cempoala y se disponía a  continuar hacia Jalapa cuando llegó un mensajero enviado por Juan de Escalante, que se había quedado haciendo las veces de gobernador de Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, informando que cuatro barcos españoles habían sido avistados en la costa. Era una flotilla enviada por el gobernador de Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, que intentaba participar en la conquista de aquellas tierras.

Juan de Escalante que era un hombre muy astuto, ordenó a un jinete ataviado con una capa roja que galopara por la orilla para que fuese visto por los tripulantes de los barcos, como así ocurrió y cuando en un pequeño bote llegaron algunos miembros de la tripulación a la orilla, fueron capturados por Escalante y les obligó a confesar cuales eran sus intenciones.

Uno de los capturados, el escribano Guillén de Loja manifestó que venía en nombre de Francisco de Garay con el fin de entregar unos documentos a Cortés para compartir México con él.

Cortés cuando conoció las noticias que le enviaba Escalante, regreso con cien hombres a Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Intentó convencer a los intrusos para que volvieran a su barcos e invitaran a su comandante a visitar Villa Rica, pero como no le hacían caso, los mandó arrestar. Al día siguiente, desembarcaron otros tripulantes de los barcos, que también fueron arrestados. El comandante de la expedición que se llamaba Álvarez de Pineda, en vista de que lo sucedido se marchó.

Este enfrentamiento dio fuerza a Juan de Escalante y quiso gobernar Villa Rica con mano dura, imitando el procedimiento de Cortés, y se adentró en diferentes ocasiones en territorios dominados por los indios, en cuyas ocasiones siempre salió victorioso, hasta que una vez, fue a retar a Qualpopoca y además le pidió un tributo en oro. Qualpopoca se negó a dárselo y se entabló una batalla en la que Escalante cayó mortalmente herido y quedó prisionero un leonés llamado Argüello. Juan de Argüello fue degollado y enviaron la cabeza como trofeo a Moctezuma a quien aterrorizó el obsequio y ordeno que se lo llevaran a otra población y la enterraran.

                                                     Angel Custodio Rebollo de Barroso custodiorebollo@terra.es




 

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

Un Sanjuanero en la Guerra de Cuba por Angel Custodio Rebollo Barroso
Latino Baseball Players
The Redefining of a National Identity & National Puerto Rican Day Parade
                   By Manuel Hernández

 

Publicado en la REVISTA DE FIESTAS 2005, de San Juan del Puerto (Huelva)

UN SANJUANERO EN LA GUERRA DE CUBA

Yo siempre, en mi niñez, había visto en casa las fotografías de mi abuelo Felipe, especialmente una que estaba con el uniforme de los infantes de marina españoles en la guerra de Cuba. En todas las ocasiones que he tenido,  me ha gustado escudriñar en la vida de mis antepasados y entre lo que me ha facilitado el Archivo del Ministerio del Ejercito y los datos que he podido obtener en el  parroquial de San Juan del Puerto, esto es lo que he averiguado, sobre su vida.

Felipe Barroso Moreno, nació en la calle Dos Plazas de San Juan del Puerto el 10 de junio de 1874 y fue bautizado tres días después, imponiéndosele los nombres de Felipe Bernabé y de la Santísima Trinidad. Era hijo legitimo de Ramón Barroso y Josefa Moreno y sus abuelos paternos eran Felipe Barroso e Isabel Prieto y los maternos, José Moreno y Leonor Rebollo.

Y el apellido de mi tatarabuela fue una sorpresa para mí, ya que mi  paterno Rebollo, era procedente de Villanueva de las Cruces y Alosno, y ahora había descubierto que yo soy Rebollo por doble vinculo, porque también desciendo de los que llevan mi apellido en San Juan, donde tengo buenos amigos que se llaman así y que a partir de ahora los considero parientes.

Mi abuelo empezó estudios eclesiásticos, pero no los terminó y pasó a ser sacristán en la Parroquia de San Juan Bautista. Cuando le llegó la hora de ir al servicio militar, fue sorteado en el reemplazo de 1893 y firmó un compromiso de doce años desde el día 9 de diciembre de 1893, en que  fue destinado a Infantería de Marina en la Isla de Cuba, en la zona de Pinar de Río.

Mi bisabuelo, Ramón Barroso Roldan, el 10 de noviembre de 1894, pidió  a la Reina, que le concediera la redención del servicio a metálico, pero el 8 de enero del año siguiente, le fue denegada la petición.

Desde su llegada estuvo haciendo servicio normal de tropa, hasta el 12 de septiembre de 1896, que ingresó en el Hospital Militar de Pinar de Río, con el diagnostico de fiebres intermitentes, que era como se designaba entonces a la malaria. Allí estuvo hasta el 8 de octubre del mismo año, que lo pasaron al Hospital de La Habana, para continuar su curación, desde donde después de algún tiempo lo enviaron a San Juan del Puerto, licenciado..

Se casó con Francisca Fuentes Domínguez, de Moguer y tuvieron dos hijos, José Ramón e Isabel, mi madre. Después trabajó como funcionario, pero su salud siempre fue precaria, originado por la enfermedad contraída en Cuba, y el 18 de diciembre de 1909, con solo treinta y cinco años de edad, murió en San Juan del Puerto.

Lamentablemente, las fotos que yo había visto de mi abuelo de uniforme han desaparecido y es algo que me hubiese gustado conservar.

Afortunadamente y después de algún tiempo, he conseguido del Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar, unas  fotocopias compulsadas de todo el historial militar de mi abuelo Felipe, aunque me quedan algunas lagunas que espero conseguir en el futuro.

                                      Ángel Custodio Rebollo Barroso


Latino Baseball Players
http://www.latino-mlb-players.com
Sent by artijag@yahoo.com

Americas? most desired time entertaining activity baseball is indeed Latin Americas? preferred sport as well. Latinos have made great contributions to the sport of baseball since their commencement. The Latino players who played in the major leagues climbed the stairs of success and with their exquisite brilliance have virtually dominated every aspect of the game. These talented Latinos with their plenty of skills ruled the All-Star game that took place in Turner Field. Six Latinos started the game and one-third of all the players belonged to a Latin American country. 

Three to four decades back baseball didn't approve the Latino players. As a matter of fact the Latino baseball players were the victim of similar negative perceptions and discrimination that many of the early black players had to undergo and triumph over. For instance, the Yankees gave up their superstar Vic Power, a Puerto Rican due to his dark complexion and was rumored to date White women. In 1954, the Yankees traded him to the Philadelphia Athletics. With his new club, he became a constant All-Star. Following the decade of 50s the budding of Latino baseball players increased significantly. Currently, 30% of Latino players form the dominant force in the Major Leagues. 

The contemporary Latino megastars like Juan Gonzalez, Sammy Sosa, Bernie Williams, Vinny Castillo, Ivan Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez and many others with their will and determination have proved that they are no more less than any other player. This brilliant constellation of stars, in their full swing has become the most wanted of their respective teams and admirers. Sammy Sosa has become the preeminent player of the Chicago Cubs?. Alex Rodriguez in the uniform of Texas Rangers has invigorated every slugger that belongs to him. These two Dominicans have proved that they lead the pack of Latino players followed by the Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Mexicans and Colombians. 

Following Sammy and Alex leading the top-10 list for most home runs are Cubans Rafael Palmeiro of Texas and Arizona.  Luis Gonzalez. In the Chicago White Sox club, Venezuelan Magglio Ordonez is a forceful player who has assisted the team to mark victories in various playoffs. The same has been contributed by Edgardo Alfonzo of the New York Mets for his club. The other two sensational Dominicans are Vladimir Guerrero of Montreal Expos and Alfonso Soriano of New York Yankees. They are the leading stars of American League who have delivered incredible ranks from time to time. Dominican Luis Castillo of Florida Marlins and Colombian shortstop Edgar Renteria of St. Louis Cardinals are the most talented Latino guys. Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Erubiel Durazo proved to be the finest Mexican hitter after leading his club in the 2001 World Series by scoring a home run. The pitching king Pedro Martinez, a Dominican by origin possesses exceptionally good throwing skills. 

Mini-bios are included on this site for the following players. 
Albert Pujols 
Alfonso Soriano 
Andruw Jones 
Bartolo Colon 
Bernie Williams   
Carlos Beltran 
Carlos Delgado 
Carlos Zambrano 
Edgar Renteria 
Esteban Loaiza 
Francisco Rodriguez 
Freddy Garcia 
Ivan Rodriguez 
Javier Vazquez 
Javy Lopez 
Livan Hernandez 
Luis Castillo 
Magglio Ordonez 
Mariano Rivera 
Miguel Cabrera 
Miguel Tejada 
Oliver Perez 
Omar Vizquel 
Pedro Martinez 
Rafael Palmeiro 
Sammy Sosa 
Vladimir Guerrero 




 


The Redefining of a National Identity
and 
The National Puerto Rican Day Parade

By Manuel Hernández


A twenty-two year old nephew, a 2004 graduate at the University of Puerto Rico, on a  visit to the 2004 National Puerto Rican Day Parade to New York City, shared with me some interesting impressions of the Puerto Ricans there and made a few striking remarks about how his perception of a national identity had changed once he left the Parade and reflected on what he had seen and experienced while participating in the largest parade in the United States.

He was dazed at the sight of so many Puerto Rican flags being waved along Fifth Avenue and proudly displayed on tee-shirts, nails, hats, cheeks, heads and in other parts of the human body. In-spite of majoring in Puerto Rican history, it was hard for him to understand how and why Puerto Ricans in New York elected to celebrate and preserve culture without apprehension. He spoke about how excited, proud and happy they seemed after singing the one-hundredth version of "Que Bonita Bandera". I replied by giving Tomas a crash course on New York Puerto Ricans and how I felt the parade reflected a redefinition of a national identity.

Most New York Puerto Rican Historians agree that Puerto Ricans have been migrating to New York as early as 1830. But in an interview for Carmen Dolores Hernandez' Puerto Rican Voices in English, a New York poet and historian, Louis Reyes Rivera, stems the migration in the late 1700's:"Puerto Ricans in New York are traceable to the American Revolution and even before, given that Puerto Rico was New England's single largest customer for smuggling Operations which were intended to avoid paying taxes (121)."

Commercial ties and the trading of raw materials paved the way for the early settlers. Towards the latter part of the 19th century, political circumstances proved to be the most important migration factor. Puerto Ricans who were against Spanish rule voluntarily left the Island or were exiled. After the United States obtained official political control of the Island in 1898, more working-class Puerto Ricans came to New York.  By World War II, there were close to 150,000 people of Puerto Rican origin in New York.

Your grandparents migrated to New York in the late 1950's. They were part of a massive immigration movement fostered by the new Puerto Rican Commonwealth Government of 1952 and its political and economic links to the United States. "Los viejos" joined thousands of Puerto Ricans in their quest of the American Dream. The new immigrants founded a Puerto Rico of their own called "El Barrio". "The New York Island" stretched across 96th Street North to 127th Street and Fifth Avenue East in Manhattan. During the summers, "El Barrio" came alive with the sounds of "La Isla Del Encanto". Puerto Ricans brought their music, literature, arts, food and traditions to New York. As American citizens, they felt no need to deny their roots and culture. Spanish was kept alive at home. It was an inexpensive ticket back home, and many that came went back to "La Isla" or became extraordinary elements in the revolving door syndrome.

The first Puerto Rican Day Parade took place on Sunday, April 12, 1958 in "El Barrio". The Parade went National in 1995 to extend its borders and outreach. The Parade was established to create a national conscience and to appreciate the Puerto Rican culture and its contributions to the American society. It also stimulates the study, progress and development of the Puerto Rican culture and art. The National Puerto Rican Day Parade is a yearly event with on-going educational, cultural, social and artistic presentations throughout the year. Close to two million people attend the Parade making it the largest outdoor celebration event in the United States.

My nephew had listened for the past twenty-minutes, but he interrupted me and asked "Ok, that sounds interesting Tio but how is the Parade reflective of a Puerto Rican national identity?" I calmed him down and gave him my personal opinion. Puerto Ricans in New York are holding on to their culture. For us US Ricans, the National Puerto Rican Day Parade is more than just a celebration of sorts. It is an expression of national identity. It's standing up for what we believe in. By reaffirming our Puerto Ricanness as a people, we define ourselves as a nation. Remember Tomas; it is only when you leave the Island that you begin to understand that you are a Puerto Rican. The political mayhem on the Island does not allow you to flavor or even sense a national identity. Just the mentioning of the term nation, frightens Island scholars and academics alike. The four-year three-party political enterprise in "La Isla" entertains itself  with year long, endless and tireless futile debates on budgets, resolutions and foregone nominations. Flags are only pulled up after Tito Trinidad wins a fight or whenever a major Puerto Rican celebrity reaches a milestone or makes history. The red, blue and green politicians attend the National event in New York to make connections or to have an excuse to take a week off from work. Some Islanders will say that there is no need to honor the Puerto Rican flag, but Americans including the Puerto Ricans born and raised in New York honor the Stars and Stripes  in every school, neighborhood and community in the United States.

Puerto Ricans in New York and other cities have a sense of nostalgia because those that left as children take with them the Puerto Rico of their childhood. Those that left as adolescents struggled to adjust to another identity and in the cultural warfare dreamed with the Island every day. The adults that migrated had every day visions with the green plantain fields and blue green beaches and dream of going back and buying a "finquita". They did not have to hide or bury their national identity.

The American way of life celebrates the reaffirmation of national identities precisely because the United States was founded and populated by immigrants. You my dear nephew have had a close encounter of the third kind with your national identity. Thousands of Puerto Ricans will experience the same identity encounter when they migrate to New York City or other major United States cities. 

 

SPAIN

La Genealogía de Las Islas Canarias
Fabiola de Publicaciones Hispalenses

Odiel Informacion por Angel Custodio Rebollo Barroso 
        Otra vez los restos de Colón
        Carrasco
        Capitán Agustín de la Garza
        La Carta

 

 

La Genealogía de 
Las Islas Canarias

The Genealogy of The Canary Islands

Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com


-
Indice - Index
GenConnect
 
GenConnect Index
 
Surname Helper
 
Los Genealogistas
Paginas Personal
El Balcon Canario
Los Guanches
Recursos Genealógico
Canary Islanders
of Louisiana
Pagina de Preguntas
Los Apellidos
Bienvenido a las paginas del proyecto World Genweb representando a Las Islas Canarias, España.  El proposito de estas paginas es de asistir a todos los que están buscando su raíces genealógicas en Las Islas Canarias.  Es el objetivo de La Genealogía de Las Islas Canarias, de presentar información que le pueda ayudar a encontrar ese elusivo antepasado.  En las proximas semanas, tenemos la esperanza de presentar información genealógica, historial y cultural sobre Las Islas Canarias.  Le solicitamos a todos los que tienen preguntas sobre sus antepasados de Las Islas Canarias que por favor las anuncien en nuestro pagina de preguntas (QUERY PAGE).  Por favor de enviar su preguntas al presentador de 
La Genealogia deLas Islas Canarias
José Rivera Nieves@aol.com
-
-Welcome to the World Genweb pages representing the Canary Islands.  The purpose of these pages is to assist everyone who is researching their Canary Island ancestors.  It will be the objective of The Genealogy of the Canary Islands to present information which will assist you in tracking down that elusive Canary Island ancestor.  In the coming weeks ahead, we hope to bring you valuable genealogical, historical and cultural information relative to the Canary Islands.  We urge everyone who wishes to post a query relative to their Canary Island ancestors to do so here.  The information contained in these queries will then be posted in the Query Page and various indexes to assist others and you make family connections with each other.  Please forward all queries via e-mail to your host José Rivera Nieves@aol.com-

 


Fabiola de Publicaciones Hispalenses

Booksellers - Libreros Reunidos, S.L.
http://www.barataria.com/fabiola.html
Sent by Paul Newfield skip@thebrasscannon.com

Spanish books. At the right price at the right time.
Libros en español. Enviamos normalmente en 48 horas cualquier libro español disponible. Los precios de los libros están controlados por Ley.  Examples: 

HERÁLDICA DE SEVILLA. ADOLFO DE SALAZAR MIR. Tomo I. La Catedral.

Tamaño 210 x 295. 281 páginas. P.V.P. 35 euros.

Tomo primero de los tres que compondrán un estudio sobre la heráldica de Sevilla. El primero de ellos trata sobre la Catedral, con ilustraciones de los escudos de armas que se hallan en su interior y las genealogías correspondientes. El segundo y tercer tomo corresponderán a la heráldica en sus calles y en los conventos e iglesias

HISTORIA GENEALÓGICA Y HERÁLDICA DE LA MONARQUÍA ESPAÑOLA, CASA REAL Y GRANDES DE ESPAÑA. FRANCISCO FERNÁNDEZ DE BETHENCOURT.

Tomo I.   Tamaño 208 x 293. 572 páginas.   P.V.P. 72 euros

 

 
Edición del 25 de mayo de 2005 de Odiel Informacion.
  
Otra vez los restos de Colón

 
Hace unos meses hablábamos de que para averiguar si los restos óseos existentes en Sevilla y en Santo Domingo pertenecen al Almirante Cristóbal Colon, se procedería a analizar, entre otros, los del hermano menor del navegante que se conservaban en el antiguo Monasterio de Santa Maria de las Cuevas. Los antropólogos han manifestado que con los estudios efectuados sobre estos restos y los del hijo del Almirante, Hernando, se disponen de nuevas evidencias para compararlos con los de Cristóbal Colon.

Los científicos de la Universidad de Granada que coordinan el proyecto mantienen la teoría que como resultado del análisis antropológico y la investigación genética, los huesos que se conservan en la Catedral de Sevilla, pertenecen al navegante. 

Ahora existe un problema, pues aunque se averigüe que los huesos de Sevilla pertenecen a Don Cristóbal, difícilmente se podrá llegar a una conclusión con los que están en la Republica Dominicana, que también se dice pertenecen al Almirante, no se pueden estudiar ni analizar porque el gobierno de aquella nación no lo permite. Con este asunto entraremos en un circulo vicioso, como la pescadilla que se muerde la cola. Pero,  del hueso que se conserva en la Universidad de Padua, que también figura como perteneciente a los restos de Colon, no se ha vuelto a hablar. ¿ Es que no interesa conocer si pertenece a él? La verdad es que después de dos años de investigaciones, todo sigue enredado y con pocas aclaraciones.

Yo tenía entendido que con los adelantos que hay actualmente y muy en especial con las pruebas del ADN, esto iba a ser coser y cantar y pasa el tiempo seguimos con hipótesis, pero no con las conclusiones definitivas.

Tenía la esperanza que con el nuevo gobierno que tiene actualmente la Republica Dominicana, se conseguiría exhumar lo que hay allí y analizarlo para alcanzar conclusiones, pero muy dudosos deben estar en Santo Domingo de lo que tienen, cuando no permiten que se investigue sobre ello.

Esperemos que vuelva la cordura y dentro de no mucho tiempo se autoricen los diferentes estudios y se diga definitivamente donde están los restos del insigne navegante, para que lo dejen descansar en paz de una vez.

                                                      Angel Custodio Rebollo Barroso custodiorebollo@terra.es

 



Edición 27 de mayo de 2005 de Odiel Información. Huelva.

 
CARRASCO

La pasada semana y cuando íbamos al Puerto de Santa Maria, mi amigo Eduardo me pregunto unos datos sobre su apellido Carrasco, un apellido muy extendido por la provincia de Huelva, donde hay pueblos que una casa si y otra no, lo tienen , por lo que me he decidido a incluirlo en este espacio.

El apellido Carrasco, que muchos genealogistas consideran derivados de Carrascosa, es originario de las montañas de Burgos y diferentes ramas se fueron extendiendo por varias zonas de España, Chinchon, Cuenca, Albacete, Soria y Guadalajara, y una rama vino a Andalucía acompañando al rey Fernando en la conquista de Sevilla. Los genealogistas Corominas y Pascual, dicen que se deriva del vocablo castellano “carrasco”, cuyo sinónimo en portugués es “charneca”, que significa terreno arenoso y estéril en el que solo vegetan plantas silvestres. El licenciado Mongrobejo cita este apellido y dice que tiene origen vasco y significa “muchas llamas”.

El linaje probó repetidas veces su nobleza en Ordenes Militares, entre estas pruebas fueron reconocidos los perteneciente a la rama de Tudela en la Real Audiencia de Pamplona en el año 1665. Este apellido lo adoptaron muchos judíos conversos que quedaron en España en la época de la expulsión.  

El apellido Carrasco también está muy extendido por América, especialmente en Perú, Chile, Argentina y Uruguay. Uno de los primeros conquistadores de Perú fue Pero Alonso Carrasco, natural de Zorita en la provincia de Cáceres Uno de los mas importantes hacendados de la región de Piura,  Maestre de Campo y Alcalde de la población, fue Manuel González Carrasco, hijo de españoles, que contrajo matrimonio con Rita Cruzate, natural de Trujillo, en Extremadura.

Pero no solo la palabra Carrasco se ha utilizado como apellido, hay municipios en las provincias de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Albacete, Granada, Almería, Salamanca que mantienen el nombre, e incluso al aeropuerto de Montevideo, se llama Aeropuerto Internacional Carrasco.

Sin lugar a dudas, la rama que mas se ha extendido es la que llegó a Andalucía, ya que por aquí es frecuente este apellido y sin embargo hay zonas de España en las que es muy escaso, excepto en Castilla de donde es originario.

                                                  Angel Custodio Rebollo Barroso custodiorebollo@terra.es

 



Odiel Información, 12 de mayo de 2005

Capitán Agustín de la Garza

Todo empezó en Lepe, cuando Marcos Alonso Falcon, nacido en 1525 y Constanza de la Garza, que vino al mundo en 1529, formaron pareja y en 1550 contrajeron matrimonio, en el que tuvieron varios hijos. Uno de ellos, llamado Marcos Alonso de la Garza Falcón formó parte de las milicias castellanas que fueron con Hernán Cortés a México y una vez allí se casó con Juana de Treviño Quintanilla, de cuyo matrimonio nacieron ocho hijos. Marcos murió en Coahuila (México) en 1634.

A partir de aquí el apellido De la Garza se ha extendido por toda América del Norte, ya que he encontrado personas que han leído mis artículos de Estados Unidos, México, Panamá y hasta de la Republica Dominicana, recibiendo muchos correos electrónicos pidiéndome datos para ampliar los que obraban en su poder, a los que siempre he intentado ayudar.

Esto hace que, cada vez que estudio algún tema genealógico, cuando encuentro el apellido De la Garza, siempre me detengo y profundizo lo que puedo para ampliar datos.

Hace unos días, estudiando un tema del Archivo General de Simancas, me encontré con el Capitán Agustín de la Garza. Pero no era de ninguno de los países citados, Agustín de la Garza pertenecía a la milicia de Buenos Aires en Argentina y el expediente comprende desde 1791 hasta  1798.

He conseguido leer completo el legajo que forma este expediente de 79 paginas y encuentro a un hombre obsesionado con enviar instancias al rey ofreciéndole un plan secreto para conseguir que Inglaterra devuelva Gibraltar. Siempre dice que es un plan muy secreto y que hay que efectuarlo con el máximo sigilo para que ni siquiera sospeche el enemigo.

Casi todas las instancias están informadas al margen por lo militares, catalogando las ideas de Agustín de la Garza, como propias de una persona que no esta en su sano juicio.

Pero como no obtenía respuesta a sus escritos, pide traslado a España y como tampoco lo enviaban aquí, sin autorización se vino a Aranjuez y este fue el origen que dio lugar al expediente, por el que supongo fue apartado de la milicia, aunque este documento no lo he podido localizar 

                                               Custodio Rebollo

Edición de 6 de mayo de 2005

LA CARTA

En el pasado mes de abril publiqué en este mismo espacio, dos articulos sobre el piloto de Palos de la Frontera, Anton Alaminos y en uno de ellos mencionaba una carta o petición de su esposa, Leonor Rodríguez al Rey, para recibir ayuda económica ya que desde hacia tiempo no tenía noticias de su marido.

El escrito, cuyo original fue descubierto por Jesús Varela, catedrático de la Universidad de Valladolid, se encuentra depositado en el Archivo Nacional de Simancas y el texto literal es el siguiente:

** Leonor Rodríguez mujer de Antón de Alaminos piloto de V.M. vecina de la villa de palos; digo que el dicho mi marido ha veinte años que ha andado e anda en servicio de V.M. en descobrir las yndias e el yucatán e toda aquella tierra e ha siete años que vino de allá con el presente que se trajo a V.M. e debido ciertas heridas que le avian dado en su servicio por cuya causa V.M. mandó que fuese satisfecho en remuneración de los dichos servicios e nunca le fue dada cosa alguna; e porque dicho mi marido está todavía en su servicio en el dicho yucatán e no le han dexado venir e porque el dicho mi marido hizo muchos gastos en yr a V.M. con el dicho presente, e tengo muchos hijos menudos e entre ellos ay dos hijas doncellas, e por estas el dicho mi marido ausente reciben mucha fatiga e yo asi mismo; suplico a V.M. que mande el dicho mi marido e yo e sus hijos seamos satisfechos de los dichos servicios e gastos que ha fecho e fizo; en lo cual recibiré mucha merced e limosna proveyéndonos de algún acostamiento hasta que el dicho my marido venga; porque ha cinco meses que esto detenida sobre este negocio e aunque lo ha remytido a ciertas personas no me han despachado**

Después de leer el texto de este documento, nos afianzamos en la idea que Antón de Alaminos, cuando llegó a Sanlucar de Barrameda por encargo de Hernán Cortés y fue detenido, de alguna forma debió escapar y poner rumbo hacia el Nuevo Mundo, para ocultarse en aquellas tierras que él conocía tan bien y librarse de la persecución política a la que estaba sometido.

Y así fue, el ignorado final de uno de los hombres que mas prestigio tuvo en muchas de las conquistas de protagonizaron los españoles.

                                                          Custodio  Rebollo

 

 

INTERNATIONAL 

Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia
Juan
Fernandez por Angel Custodio Rebollo Barraso
July Family History & Genealogy Conference, Malaga, Spain

Plaza Bolivar de Trujillo

 

 Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia   
[Publicaciones periódicas]. Tomo 2, Año 1882

Página principal

     
NOTICIAS

     En la Biblioteca de la Academia existe depositada, para que pueda servir de consulta á los que lo soliciten, la obra titulada Coleccion de modelos de las Armas y de los Trajes usados por las tropas de mar y tierra, desde la más remota antigüedad hasta nuestros días. Dibujada y escrita por el Capitán de Caballería Don Manuel Jimenez Gonzalez.

 La Junta organizadora del Congreso internacional de Americanistas, que se reunió en esta corte en Setiembre del pasado año, pidió á varios establecimientos públicos, y entre ellos á nuestra Academia, notas de los mapas, cartas, planos, relaciones geográficas de Indias (Nueva España, Perú y otros reinos y provincias) y noticias de documentos relativos á nuestras investigaciones en el continente descubierto por Colon. La Academia se prestó gustosa á esta peticion, y reunió los documentos que han figurado en la Exposicion recientemente verificada.

http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/45702841981467439676679/p0000001.htm
  
[[ This is only a small fraction of what is contained on this website.  It is diverse with much variety of information, historical and literary.  Even includes a Section on the Guarani Indians.(c.1789)]]
Sent by Paul Newfield  skip@thebrasscannon.com

     Á propuesta del señor Bibliotecario, se ha reformado el Catálogo de precios para las obras que tiene en venta nuestra Academia: novedad que ha producido excelentes resultados.

     Entre otros descubrimientos, de que frecuentemente se da noticia á la Academia, merecen citarse el de multitud de sepulcros hallados al SE. de la ciudad de Vitoria, segun comunicacion dirigida por el señor Vicepresidente de aquella Comision provincial de monumentos.

     El Sr. D. Basilio Sebastian Castellanos ha ofrecido y regalado á nuestra Biblioteca las obras del diplomático y literato español D. José Nicolás de Azara, con algunas otras producciones sobre historia y literatura; desprendimiento que agradeció la Academia como era debido.

Con igual satisfaccion ha recibido ésta el donativo, hecho por Mr. Charles Boy, del drama lírico de Santa Inés, en verso provenzal, perteneciente al siglo XIII, y descubierto por el Sr. D. Víctor Balaguer.

 El Sr. D. Jacobo Zóbel, Académico electo, ha presentado el primer tomo de su Estudio histórico de la moneda antigua española, y leido algunos trozos, acompañados de observaciones que fueron oidas con mucho interés en la sesion correspondiente.

Nuestro individuo de número D. Juan Facundo Riaño, autor del interesante libro titulado The industrial arts in Spain, ha remitido un ejemplar de él por medio de la Seccion de ciencias y artes de la Comision del Consejo de instruccion del Museo de Kensington del Sur.

A cierta distancia de la ciudad de Córdoba, en el partido de la Fuente de las piedras, sitio de la Dehesilla, segun comunicacion del Sr. Marqués de la Corte, se han encontrado casualmente varias estancias sepulcrales subterráneas, y dentro de ellas despojos humanos, armas y otros objetos de pedernal, de los cuales acompañó los correspondientes dibujos. Acordándose dar las gracias al Sr. Marqués, se le ha rogado al propio tiempo que excite el celo del dueño del terreno, á fin de que se preste á continuar las excavaciones.

 El Excmo. Sr. D. Antonio Romero Ortiz y el Ilmo. Sr. D. Cesáreo Fernandez Duro, ocupan ya en la Academia las plazas de individuos de número, vacantes por defuncion de los Sres. D. Pedro Sabau y D. Antonio Delgado.

Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia [Publicaciones periódicas]. Tomo 2, Año 1882  http:www.cervantesvirtual.com     


Odiel Informacion Edición 17 de mayo de 2005

 
JUAN FERNÁNDEZ

Su nombre completo era Joâo Fernándes de Leâo Pacheco y era natural de Vila Nova de Portimâo, en el Algarve, donde había nacido en 1541, en una familia portuguesa de buena posición económica y muy influyente.

En 1549, la familia compuesta por sus padres y ocho hermanos, marcharon a residir a Cádiz, en la que su padre tenía negocios y donde Joâo paso toda su infancia. Cuando solo tenía veintiún años, parte para América en la nao “San Antonio”, llevando consigo a seis esclavos negros que vendió a su llegada a América.

Era una persona muy decidida y rápidamente se integra entre la sociedad local, lo que da origen a que contraiga matrimonio con la hija mestiza del conquistador Antonio Barrios, quien le ayuda para situarse en la población ocupando el cargo de escribano publico en una población de la región  que actualmente es Venezuela.

Al conocer que el gobernador Diego de Losada esta organizando a la tropa para conquistar Caracas, Joâo Fernándes se ofrece como voluntario, y por sus meritos en campaña, recibe una encomienda en tierras e indios.  Se distinguió en tantos encuentros que el gobernador Pedro Ponce de León, le atribuyo el estatuto de vasallo de su Majestad.

La ascensión del portugués, despertó rencillas entre los españoles, que medraron hasta conseguir una Cedula Real, para expatriar a todos los portugueses que no tuvieran una licencia expresa de Felipe III, alegando que habían pasado a aquella zona muchos portugueses que habían pactado con corsarios franceses e ingleses.

Fue entonces cuando Joâo Fernández decidió formar la ciudad del Espiritu  Santo del Valle de San Juan de Guanaguanaré, que acogió a muchos compatriotas, y el 3 de noviembre de 1591, el Capitán Fernándes formalizó la fundación de la ciudad en nombre del Rey de España, que entonces también lo era de Portugal, acompañado de 60 soldados mandó colocar un madero en lo que después seria la plaza mayor de la nueva población. Lamentablemente, Joâo Fernándes poco disfrutó del pueblo recién fundado, del que había sido nombrado Justicia Mayor su hijo Simón, ya que falleció dos años después, recién cumplidos los cincuenta años de edad.

                                                   Custodio Rebollo.







July Family History & Genealogy Conference, Malaga, Spain

 

Los archivos familiares como fuentede investigación histórica y genealógica
18th to 22th July 2005

Director: José Miguel de Mayoralgo y Lodo, Conde de los Acevedos
Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía
Secretary:  Francisco Rosales Martín
Archivero de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda

Monday, 18th July:   "Acto de apertura"
"Orígenes y antecedentes de los archivos familiares: la documentación medieval"
Jaime de Salazar y Acha
Doctor en Derecho, Profesor de Historia del Derecho de la UNED

"Reflexiones de un historiador y propietario de un archivo familiar"
Eduardo Pardo de Guevara y Valdés
Doctor en Historia Medieval, Director del Instituto de Estudios Gallegos "Padre Sarmiento"

Tuesday, 19th July:  "Mesa redonda": 
"La organización de los archivos familiares andaluces" 
Manuel Ravina Martín
Licenciado en Filosofía y Letras, Director del Archivo Histórico Provincial de Cádiz

"Proyecto de depósito de archivos familiares en la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda"
Francisco Rosales Martín
Licenciado en Geografía e Historia, Archivero de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda


Wednesday, 20th July: "Mesa redonda"
"Archivos familiares País Vasco: proceso histórico de creación y estructura actual de sus fondos"
Francisco de Borja de Aguinagalde y Olaizola
Licenciado en Geografía e Historia, Responsable del Patrimono Documental del Gobierno Vasco

"Los archivos familiares en el contexto general de los archivos"
Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués
Real Academia de la Historia

Thursday, 21th July: "Mesa redonda"
"Archivos familiares y depósitos institucionales" 
Manuel Fuertes de Gilbert y Rojo, Barón de Gavín
Abogado, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía

"La utilidad histórica y genealógica de los documentos habituales de un archivo familiar"
José Miguel de Mayoralgo y Lodo, Conde de los Acevedos
Licenciado en Derecho, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía

Friday, 22th July: "Mesa redonda"
"La genealogía familiar y la documentación de edificios históricos señoriales"
Javier Gómez de Olea y Bustinza
Ingeniero, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía

"Los archivos nobiliarios catalano-aragoneses"
Pedro Moreno Meyerhoff
Doctor en Derecho, Profesor titular de Derecho Procesal de la Universidad de Barcelona

"Mesa redonda"  
"Clausura del curso"
Information: http://www.fgum.es/cursosverano
Sent by Paul Newfield skip@thebrasscannon.com


PLAZA BOLIVAR DE TRUJILLO
Source: Maria Cristina Quevedo Lozada
Sent by Roberto Jose Perez Guadarrama
Urb.Trigal Norte, Ave. Del Antártico,
Conj. Resd. Valle Escondido, Casa # 10,
Valencia, Edo. Carabobo, Venezuela
Telf.: 58-0241-8432029
Telf. Cel: 58-04143403359
perezfru@telcel.net.ve

Plaza Bolívar con estatua de Don Cristóbal Mendoza
por Gilberto Quevedo Segnini

Desde tiempo inmemorial en todas las ciudades y poblaciones de Venezuela, la Plaza Principal se viene denominando PLAZA BOLIVAR. Así el Gobierno Estatal del Dr. Inocente de J. Quevedo, con sede en Valera, según lo registra en sus ediciones del 21 y 24 de noviembre de 1900 el "Diario Valera", decretó los trabajos de la Plaza Bolívar de Trujillo, noticia recibida con "manifestaciones del más insólito entusiasmo", construyéndose además una Junta encargada de los mismos integrada por el Dr. Antonio José Carrillo Márquez, el General Francisco Márquez y el señor Antonio José Briceño, hijo. Años más tarde, el 5 de julio de 1909 cuando se tomaban providencias para la celebración del centenario de la Independencia, en esta Plaza la Sociedad Patriótica Seccional ante retratos del Libertador y del General Cruz Carrillo, en la Presidencia Constitucional del Dr. Trino Baptista, se procedió a la colocación de la primera piedra del monumento que el pueblo trujillano erigía al Libertador con un encendido discurso del Dr. Melquíades Parra, y por la noche retreta, globos aerostáticos, quemas pirotécnicas, prolongándose la fiesta hasta el día siguiente con corrida de toros coleados en la calle Bolívar. Paso el tiempo sin que aquella primera piedra la siguieran otras con base para el esperado monumento al Libertador.

En 1916 siendo presidente del Estado el General Timoleón Omaña, haciendo honor a su nombre, timonea la idea de un monumento por suscripción popular de los tres estados andinos, "a la memoria del Ilustre Prócer Dr. Cristóbal Mendoza", y al efecto el 19 de diciembre de dicho año en otro solemne acto se colocó "en el pavimento redondel que sirve de centro a nuestra Plaza Bolívar" otra primera piedra que vino a ser la segunda, bajo el siguiente programa: "I- "Quejas del Alma" vals de A. M. Delgado. II- Lectura y Firma del Acta respectiva. III- Himno del Estado. IV- Colocación de la primera piedra por el muy digno señor General Timoleón Omaña. V- "Heliotropo" vals de Laudelino Mejía. VI- Palabras alusivas al acto por el Presidente de la Junta". La Junta que además se constituyó para recabar fondos para la obra, estaba integrada así: Dr. Amilcar Fonseca (Presidente) y Pbro. Etanislao Carrillo, doctores Inocente de Jesús Quevedo, Fabricio Gabaldón y Alfredo Carrillo, con una Junta filial en Caracas compuesta por los doctores Juan Francisco Bustillos, Enrique Urdaneta Maya, Samuel Darío Maldonado, C. L. Febres Cordero y los generales C. Parra Picón y Tobías Uribe, y el coronel Armando Márquez, estableciéndose otras en todas las poblaciones del Estado: la de Pampán quedo formada por Jefe Civil Coronel Antonio María Ramírez y los señores Fernando Segnini Lupi y Luis Peña.

El gran escultor carabobeño Andrés Pérez Mujica fue contratado para la ejecución de la estatua de Don Cristóbal, quien se traslado a Barcelona, España, a realizar su fundición, al no lograrlo se fue a París, donde sí lo consiguió. En Barcelona se ejecutó el pedestal en granito natural. Hasta finales de 1917 no se pudo traer de España la estatua, lo que se hizo por vía marítima desde Maracaibo a La Ceiba y luego a Motatán por el ferrocarril, allí surgieron de nuevo contratiempos por carecer de medios apropiados para su traslado. Solo se pudo traer a Trujillo en 1924 siendo Presidente del Estado el General Vicencio Pérez Soto, habiéndose colocado en el centro de la Plaza Bolívar y se inauguró el 21 de julio de dicho año para conmemorar el aniversario de la batalla librada en Ciudad Bolívar en 1903 por el General Juan Vicente Gómez. El discurso de orden lo pronunció el eminente pampanense Doctor Luis Valera Hurtado. La banda del Estado estrenó con ese motivo un pasodoble titulado "Dr. Cristóbal Mendoza".

ESTATUA ECUESTRE DEL LIBERTADOR

Transcurridos más de 20 años de aquella primera piedra es cuando el pueblo trujillano tiene la certeza de que se va a cristalizar el proyecto de un monumento al Libertador. En 1930 en la fecha patria del 19 de abril el Presidente del Estado General Emilio Rivas decretó como uno de los actos para conmemorar el centenario de la muerte del Padre de la Patria: "la erección de un Monumento de tamaño heróico que contenga la estatua ecuestre del Libertador , hecha en bronce de primera clase y sostenida en adecuado pedestal de granito, en boceto y proporciones de un todo iguales a la estatua del Libertador que luce la Plaza de Bolívar de Caracas. Este Monumento, con los escudos Nacional y del Estado Trujillo y las inscripciones patrióticas pertinentes, conforme a lo establecido en el contrato celebrado en Caracas con el señor Emilio Gariboldi, de fecha trece de marzo retropróximo; será colocada en la Plaza Bolívar de esta ciudad capital e inaugurada el diecisiete de diciembre del año en curso". (Memoria y cuenta presentada por el Secretario General de Gobierno a la Asamblea Legislativa del Estado Trujillo, en sus sesiones ordinarias de 1931. Trujillo, Imp. Oficial, sin numeración de página). Gariboldi copia el monumento del original de Adamo Tadolini, en la Fundición de Vittorio Lera en Viareggio, Italia, realizándolo en tamaño monumental en lugar de heróico.

El mismo magistrado asociándose a la celebración del Centenario de la Reconstitución de la República el 24 de de septiembre de 1930, el 8 de dicho mes decretó pavimentar con mosaico la Plaza Bolívar para que la "Estatua Ecuestre del Padre de la Patria… se destaque sobre un pavimento cónsono con el hermoso monumento". La estatua de Don Cristóbal Mendoza se trasladó entonces a la glorieta de la parte oeste de la plaza.En la prensa de la capital de la república hubo comentarios desfavorables a la ubicación de la estatua de Don Cristóbal, a lo cual Don Mario Briceño Iragorry contestó que con ello se simbolizaba lo que el Libertador le escribió al Primer Presidente de Venezuela: "yo iré adelante conquistando y Usted me seguirá, organizando, porque Usted es el hombre de la organización como yo el de la conquista".

No fue fácil el traslado de este monumento desde los muelles de Puerto Cabello, pues cuando las grúas colocaron el pesado encargo en un pequeño camión que habían enviado de Trujillo, se vió que no era el adecuado para su transporte, por lo que fue necesario contratar con un señor de apellido Finamore su flete. El verlo pasar resultó ser un acontecimiento para los poblados del trayecto, salimos vecinos y escolares con cantos y banderines a rendir tributo de admiración al bronce. Su colocación en el pedestal que no era tan alto como el actual, trajo también sus inconvenientes, pues en aquella época se carecía de implementos adecuados, viendo tanto alboroto un preso de nombre Jesús Abreu, desde el balcón de la Cárcel Pública, para entonces en la esquina noroeste de la Plaza les dio algunas indicaciones y se comprometió a ayudar a hacerlo con ramplas de madera, como lo logró, consiguió su libertad por indulto del magnánimo magistrado.

La primera estatua ecuestre del Libertador la realizó el escultor Adamo Tadolini y se inauguró en Lima en 1859 y según éste modelo encargó una copia el General Guzmán Blanco que fue ejecutada en la Real Fundición de Munich, e inaugurada en Caracas en 1876. La estatua de Trujillo se encargó con las mismas características de actitud heróica, "con bases y adornos de granito ‘boticino’". No he encontrado ninguna referencia de si debajo de la estatua se encontraron algunos objetos, como se hizo con la de Caracas, donde colocaron junto con retratos del Ilustre Americano, medallas, monedas de diferente valor, Historia y Geografía de Venezuela, tomos de leyes, distintas Constituciones, una copia del Acta del 5 de Julio de 1811, colecciones de periódicos de la época y diversas cosas más sin faltar un autógrafo de Guzmán Blanco.El monumento de Trujillo ha tenido tres diferentes pedestales: el original de 1930 menos alto que el actual, de mármol blanco que llego muy deteriorado y que además contenía mucho oxido de hierro, que se modificó dándole mayor altura y revestimiento de mármol gris en la administración del Mayor Santiago Ochoa Briceño, y después al reformarse la Plaza en el gobierno del Doctor Alejandro Sánchez Cortés, cuando a la estatua fue necesario hacerle unas reparaciones de soldadura en la base, por la mala calidad del mármol gris, se revistió con el actual granito natural rojo, trabajo que efectuó el marmolista Luigi Verde, establecido en Valera.

La conmemoración centenaria, que tuvo como centro la inauguración del Monumento al Libertador, revistió caracteres apoteósicos. Se pronunciaron en cinco días, del 17 al 21 de diciembre, más de cuarenta disertaciones entre charlas, conferencias y discursos de orden, entre otros por Don Ezequiel Urdaneta Maya, Monseñor Etanislao Carrillo, A. Lomelli Rosario, Neptalí Valera Hurtado, Ramón y Cláudio Llavaneras Carrillo; el discurso de orden del acto central del 17 cuando se inauguró el Monumento estuvo a cargo del Dr. Juan Penzini Hernández. Realmente impresionante resultó el Desfile Histórico, (Reproducción gráfica de las principales batallas y sucesos históricos de la Guerra de Independencia). Lo encabezaba la Banda del estado del Estado, personeros del ejecutivo, de la Brigada Nº 6, del clero; la señorita Rosa María Alizo, elegida Musa del Libertador en concurso promovido por el "Diario de Trujillo", portando la bandera nacional simbolizando a Venezuela; damas portando lo escudos de las repúblicas bolivarianas; 23 damas representando los Estados, Distrito Federal y Territorios, marchando en orden alfabético, cada cuadro con niños de Escuelas portando banderas con inscripciones en letras rojas de batallas y sucesos del país, (en el cuadro trujillano se mencionaban la Proclama de Guerra a Muerte, Tratados de Armisticio y Regularización de la Guerra, Niquitao, Agua de Obispo y Escuque); los escudos que por mucho tiempo permanecieron en el Museo "Cristóbal Mendoza" fueron pintados por Francisco Palazzi. El Ejecutivo del Estado promovió otro concurso entre los poetas trujillanos en el cual triunfó el Br. Eladio Alvarez de Lugo con un bello soneto que estuvo por decreto del Ejecutivo de fecha 11 de diciembre de 1930 en una loza a la entrada de la ciudad en la parte baja de la Cruz Verde; inscrito ahora en una columna rotaría en la parte alta de la Plaza "Andrés Bello". El prolífico poeta Pedro Pablo Maldonado escribió para ese concurso la friolera de cuatrocientos sonetos.

Hubo peregrinaciones de todo el Estado con desfiles escolares, ofrendas florales, etc.; quien esto escribe tiene un imborrable recuerdo de la romería de los pampaneros el día 20, presidida por el Jefe Civil y el Párroco, por haber sido su despedida de muchacho, al estilo de la época, al concurrir con calzones cortos, para su graduación de hombre la Noche-Buena siguiente de flamantes pantalones largos.

Así como se establece que en cuanto sea posible las estatuas han de erigirse mirando hacia el este, también es norma de la estatuaria que cuando el héroe a quien se rinde el homenaje del monumento ecuestre ha muerto en acción de guerra, el caballo ha de estar parado sobre dos patas, y cuando la muerte le proviene a consecuencia de la acción ha de pararse sobre tres, y si no se dan estas circunstancias el equino se posa sobre sus cuatro remos. Tadolini conocía muy bien esta regla, pero la grandiosidad de Bolívar debe haberle impulsado a darle la primera característica a su obra.

 

 

HISTORY

The Legitimacy of Texas as an American State by Alex Loya
Controlled Immigration in Spanish Louisiana

 

Alex holds Carissa (Little Bit).  Karaleigh sits on his wife Sandra's lap.
Standing from left to right, Keenan, Kirsten, Connor (Lil' Alex)

"As I shared in my previous contribution to Somos Primos, we original Texans, Tejanos, those of us whose ancestors were in Texas since its Spanish Colonial Period, we have been part of the United States from the very start. If anybody is American, we are Americans. Yet for some reason many among the original Texans to this day remain isolated, unable to assimilate and to fully embrace the United States, feeling like aliens in their own ancestral land. The following is a portion of chapter 8 in my book "The Continuous Presence Of Italians And Spaniards In Texas As Early As 1520" which I hope will begin to dissipate the root of bitterness many among the original Texans harbor, and, instead, will help them begin to feel how much they really are a part of this country. This I attempt to do by briefly examining the much neglected reality of the relationship that existed between the old original Texans, original Tejanos, and the newer Anglo-American Texans who, together, fought and worked to fulfill the destiny of Texas to become part of the United States."           

                                                       Alex Loya  alexloya@integrity.com
                                                       Venice, Louisiana

 

                                                                          Chapter 8

THE LEGITIMACY OF TEXAS AS AN AMERICAN STATE

When one reads commonly written and distributed Texas history and the general understanding of who the original Texans were, among whom the Loya are found, one is invariably given the idea that the original Texans became American only because they were defeated in a war against the United States in which the U.S. invaded the land and the original Texans were dispossessed of their land as a spoil of war. This belief is perpetuated by writers who, for whatever reason, hammer and hammer this idea until the original Texans feel like they were defeated and became foreigners in their own land. It seems almost as if some people actually have an interest and an agenda in keeping the original Texans and their descendants alienated from the mainstream of American society. When one begins to really study Texas history in depth, and the documents written by the original Texans who were actually there, a totally different picture begins to surface. Certainly, there were abuses and crimes perpetrated against the original Spaniard Texans by Anglo-American settlers, like the massacre of 9 original Texans by one "Mustang" Grey for the purpose of stealing some tobacco, or the killing of another old Spaniard Texas aristocrat by an Anglo-American who stole his horses claiming it was his reward for fighting in the Mexican War. But to focus on these incidents perpetrated by thugs and to then paint a picture as if this was the kind of relationship that existed between the Anglo-American settlers and the old Spaniard families of Texas, is really to paint a false picture of that relationship. Certainly, Old Spaniard families who had been given land grants in Texas by the King of Spain did loose much of their real estate, but contrary to what is commonly believed, however, they did not loose their property to the Anglo-Americans as spoil of war, rather, they lost their land in the confusion of war and the transition of governments.

The same thing happened in Louisiana with land grants given by the King of Spain to Louisiana pioneers. Even as I write this, a dear lady who attends the church I pastor in South Louisiana, Mrs. Muriel Buras, is involved in the courts in a dispute over 2700 acres of land her family owns in Plaquemines Parish just south of New Orleans. Mrs. Buras was born on March 29, 1928, and her father was already involved in the dispute over the land before she was born. Mrs. Buras showed me a title to the land that dates to 1835 in which the United States government recognized the claim her ancestor, Hubert Buras, had over the land. Hubert Buras’ father, Juan Pedro Buras (Burat), had been given a land grant by the King of Spain in the year 1793, according to documents in Ms. Muriel Buras’ possession, during Louisiana’s Spanish Period, and the U.S. Government recognized that claim. That Hubert Buras had to put a claim before the government for the government to recognize is an indication that in the transition of power from Spain to France to the United States, which occurred within a period of 20 days between November 30 and December 20 1803, the land that had been granted to his family by the King of Spain had been lost in the shuffle.

After the U.S. Government recognized their claim to the land, Plaquemines Parish remained largely uninhabited. Consequently, at some point, a man without scruples by the name of Andrew Hodge, began to survey the Buras’ family land grant and to sell the property which was not his to people who began to settle in the land. People who paid Hodge for land that was not his soon began to also sell and lease the land to others. Today, Shell Oil, PHI Helicopters, Chevron/Texaco and other such companies have settled in the Buras’ family land grant, and the Buras family has not received one cent for the use of their land. Today they are in the final stages of a legal battle over their land that has gone on for over 70 years! The Buras family was dispossessed of their land grant not as a spoil of war, rather, at first it was lost in the shuffle of governments, and then, because the property was so vast and uninhabited, new settlers just simply began to move in on it. A man with no scruples took advantage of the situation and began to sell their land which was not his to sell.

The same thing happened in Texas. The vast land grants that the King of Spain had given to the early Spaniard settlers were lost by the families who owned them not as a spoil of war, since the original Texans who remained in Texas actually fought for Texas, but in the shuffle of governments. Like it happened with the Buras land grant in Louisiana, because the land grants were so vast and uninhabited, new settlers began to move in on their land grants, including some without scruples, and so they lost their property. Through the years, writers without scruples, have turned this consequence of circumstance to make many among the original Texans feel humiliated and unable to fully embrace this American nation and its culture even years after the fact.

Although for some reason many writers exacerbate this feeling of alienation many original Texans have by hammering the instances of abuse and discrimination which actually occurred, and which always occur when different cultures meet, whether in the plains of Texas or the Italian and Irish neighborhoods of New York, the reality of the relationship between Anglo-American settlers and the old Spaniard families of Texas, was much warmer, friendlier and closer than is generally assumed. When James Bowie moved to Texas from Kentucky in the year 1830, for example, he developed a warm friendship with Lt. Governor J.M. Verramendi. Soon, their friendship became closer when Bowie asked J.M. Verramendi for the hand of his daughter, Ursula Verramendi, in marriage. Lt. Governor Verramendi granted Bowie’s request and, by all accounts, Bowie and his new bride had a good marriage, complete with love letters. When Ursula died on September 27, 1833 as the first victim of a cholera epidemic, James Bowie, the hero of the Alamo, mourned the loss of his Spaniard Texan wife for a long time. The 9 Spaniard Texans who were massacred by "Mustang" Grey that I mentioned before were the friends of Don Ysidro Benavides, and this is one incident that is touted as an example of the awful relationship between Anglo Americans and Spaniard Texans, and how the former discriminated and hated the latter. Yet, Ysidro Benavides’ three daughters, Juanita, Maria Antonia and Martianita married Captain James Cummings, Reverend W.M. Sheely, a Methodist preacher, and Mr. Warren Sheely respectively. To remember and tout the one tragic incident while forgetting the three lifetime relationships that produced descendants for generations is to write revisionist history and it is a terrible disservice to all Texans and to the United States.

According to James P. Newcomb, who published the invaluable memoirs of Captain Antonio Menchaca, in the Passing Show, San Antonio Texas, in weekly installments from June 22 to July 27, 1907, which we will briefly study, when Sam Houston was governor of Texas his first inquiry of visitors would be, "How is my old friend, Captain Menchaca, getting along?". Juan Seguin was a good friend of Sam Houston, as his father Erasmo Seguin had been a friend of Stephen Austin. When one begins to study the life and relationships of these Spaniard Texan Founding Fathers, it becomes clearly evident that not only were the new Anglo-American Texans and the old Spaniard Texans getting along fine and developing warm friendships and marriages, but they worked together as Founding Fathers of the Republic of Texas. Juan Miguel Aldrete signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence and was a good and trusted friend of Phillip Dimmit, but perhaps the most graphic description of the warmth of the relationship and the depth of commitment to each other and to the cause of Texas is the exchange between Antonio Menchaca and James Bowie, as recorded in Antonio Menchaca’s "Memoirs", on the eve of the Texas Revolution on December 20, 1835::

"As soon as he (Antonio Menchaca) arrived there, he sought Bowie, who as soon as he saw him, put his arms around his neck, and commenced to cry to think that he had not seen his wife die. He said ‘My father, my brother, my companion and all my protection has come. Are you still my companion in arms?’ he asked. Antonio answered, ‘I shall be your companion, Jim Bowie, until I die.’ ‘Then come this evening’, said Bowie, ‘to take you to introduce you to Travis, at the Alamo.’ That evening he was introduced to Travis, and to Col. Niel. Was well received."

This depth of friendship and commitment is reminiscent of the depth of commitment expressed by Ruth to her mother in law Naomi, in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. Naomi told Ruth she was free to go because her son, Ruth’s husband, had died, Ruth replied,

"Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 1:16-17

This was the reality of the depth of friendship and commitment between the original Texans, among whom the hispanicized French- Italian Loya were, and the Anglo-American new comers, as expressed in the exchange between Bowie and Menchaca. The many writers who have relentlessly focused on the incidents of discord, which will always happen in all human relationships, have truly done a disservice to the original Spaniard and Anglo Texans alike, and to the United States of America in fostering a feeling of alienation instead of the unity that had been birthed in God’s intent to make this nation one nation under God. Oh, that this message would spread and the original Texans would fully embrace this beautiful country which is theirs and its culture that they helped form!


Controlled Immigration in Spanish Louisiana--
Spanish Xenophobia in Texas--Rise of an Independent Tejano Society.
 

[[Extract from SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS http://dl.tamu.edu/Projects/sodct/Spain.htm ]]
Sent by Johanna De Soto

Despite the consolidation and survival of San Antonio de Bexar, La Bahia and Nacogdoches and the rise of private Texas ranches and farms, the decline of the Texas mission system signaled the failure of the Spanish Church and State partnership to secure, colonize and develop Texas through peaceful means. While the total Interior Provinces of New Spain averaged 6 inhabitants per square league (about 6 square miles), Texas averaged fewer than 2 per league, only twice that of the most severe desert regions of Baja California. In 1803 when Texas again became the frontier of New Spain (described below), the permanent population of Texas was 2500 San Antonio de Bexareños, 618 La Bahiareños and 770 Nacogdochereños, a total of no more than 4000 including the scattered settlements. The problems of maintenance of Spanish culture and control in the vast frontera lands far from the centers of government were rapidly becoming apparent. As early as 1783, a French Indian agent, Juan Gasiot, sent a prediction to Commandant of the Provincias Internas Felipe de Neve that the independence of British American colonies would bring serious dangers to Spanish interests in America:

"Citizens of the American Confederation are active, industrious, and aggressive people…..will constantly menace the dominion of Spain in America and it would be an unpardonable error not to take all necessary steps to check their territorial advance…."

The Spanish ambassador to France in about the same period warned:

"This federal republic is born a pigmy. A day will come when it will be a giant, even a colossus….liberty of conscience, the facility for establishing a new population on immense land….will draw thither farmers and artisans from all nations. In a few years we shall watch with grief the tyrannical existence of the same colossus."

Moreover, the small population of originally Spanish origin in Texas was evolving into a racially and socially diverse group, which coupled with private sector economic opportunities and frontier spirit, fostered independent thinking and desire for self-determination similar to that of the increasing number of similar-spirited peoples that had developed from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River and was spreading slowly within Spanish Louisiana to the Sabine River.

To leave the rich and vast territories of New Spain unsettled and undeveloped would most certainly mean loss of them by default to other world powers who had interest in North America and in particular the newly independent American Confederation. With insufficient Spanish citizens willing to colonize the Louisiana Territory and the northern Provincias Internas of New Spain, Spain had no choice, but to consider a policy of controlled immigration as a source of resident citizens under Spanish control. At first the policy emphasized fresh European immigrants direct from Britain, France and other European countries, but then residents of the American colonies to the east after 1783. With the latter, it was predicted that grants of land, economic freedom and de facto religious freedom would take precedence over allegiance of the mostly European immigrants and their descendants of only one or two generations to the fledgling Confederation of American States. However, unlike the Spanish Louisiana Territory, which was much more diverse because of its French background and contact with the outside world through its Gulf Coast and Mississippi River ports and its distance from southern provinces of New Spain, Spanish xenophobia dominated and was policy in Texas at the close of the 18th century.

From his headquarters in Chihuahua in 1796, Commandant of the Provincias Internas Pedro de Nava issued orders banning foreigners without extensive documentation, including citizens of Louisiana, entrance into Texas, targeting particularly the Anglo-Americans. A letter from Commandant de Nava to Texas governor Manuel Muñoz indicates that the policy came from the top:

"a royal order, sent through secret channels, has arrived ordering the utmost care to prevent the passage to this kingdom of persons from the United States of America. The king has been informed on good authority that the United States has ordered emissaries to move here and work to subvert the population…"

 

 

FAMILY HISTORY

National Grave Locator
Relatively Speaking Radio Program
Go Beyond Vitals in Newspapers

 

National Grave Locator
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1
Sent by Johanna De Soto

Search for burial locations of veterans and their dependents in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries and various other Department of Interior and military cemeteries.

The National Grave Locator includes burial records from many sources. These sources provide varied data; some searches may contain less information than others.  To search for a gravesite location, Search Options, Last Name (Required) and First Name 

If your search returns incorrect information about the deceased, you may contact the cemetery directly to discuss your findings.

If you cannot locate the person you are searching for, write and provide the following information on each individual: 
Full name, including any alternate spellings
Date and place of birth
Date and place of death
State from which the individual entered active duty
Military service branch

Most requests take approximately four weeks for a reply. Be sure to include your return mailing address, phone number or Internet e-mail address with your request and send it to:

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
National Cemetery Administration (41C1)
Burial Location Request
810 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20420


"RELATIVELY SPEAKING" RADIO PROGRAM TO DEBUT WITH EDITOR, HOLLY HANSEN  KUTR AM 820  
Sundays 4- 6 pm (MT)
Tune in on the Internet 
Sent by Lorraine Hernandez  Lmherdz@hotmail.com

Irene Johnson, host of Relatively Speaking on KUTR AM 820 (Utah's newest radio station geared exclusively to women) has asked Holly Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Everton's Genealogical Helper to be her first live guest. Relatively Speaking is a new talk show that will focus on genealogy-related topics with guests, question and answer series and more. Johnson met Hansen years ago at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. They have worked together on magazine articles, research tours and professional consulting. Johnson asked Hansen to be her first guest because, "Holly really knows her stuff. Everton's has had such a long history of serving genealogists in the USA - and from Utah to boot - and Holly is THE woman editor. I'm excited to have her as my first guest!"

Aside from her Everton responsibilities, Hansen runs a team of more than 40 research professionals around the country, with genealogy specializations in diverse areas, and her company runs events and retreats that connect people doing their family histories to professionals who can assist them in taking their research past brick walls into whole new levels. 

More KUTR information is available at ">www.kutr820.com. For more information on Holly Hansen and to see what she and her crew are up to, go to " http://www.myancestorsfound.com
 


Ancestry Quick Tip

Go Beyond Vitals in Newspapers

by Marilynn Boosinger

Beyond published birth, marriage, and death notices, newspaper collections are great repositories of anecdotal information on people. Like census records, though, the reader should be wary of any "facts" until you can corroborate them yourself.

If you know or suspect that your ancestor lived to a very old age, you may find write-ups about him or her in the local newspaper. This was the case with my great-grandfather who died just before his 102nd birthday in 1960. While newspaper accounts are notoriously inaccurate in the details, I nevertheless found enough clues to add a sister to his family, and I have the precise dates of his departure from Germany and arrival in the United States in 1881.

Unless your family member was famous (or infamous!), he or she was unlikely to make the front page, but searching the church and social columns, you can find evidence that he was active in a certain church or that she was an attendant at a wedding, perhaps that of another family member. Finally, don't overlook the business and classified sections. If your ancestor owned a business, you may find it advertised in the local paper.

The Ancestry.com OCR (optical character recognition) search feature can recognize names in scanned periodicals and documents with amazing accuracy. You just need to zoom in and determine if it's your ancestor that is highlighted.

Thanks to Marilynn Boosinger of Willits, California, for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

"Second Renaissance" Secrets of the Maya ... unlocked!

 

 
Steven Booras, Daniel Oswald, and Susan Booras of BYU-FARMS use MSI to read previously indecipherable text. 
Abstract: BYU Discovery Could Instigate "Second Renaissance"
Rebecca Walker Clarke
Meridian Magazine: Moses and Elijah 

Sent by Janete Vargas magnaguagno@gmail.com
And related information by 
JD Villarreal juandv@granderiver.net


Photo by Mark Philbrick, 
courtesy of Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, Italy

The breakthrough is being touted as the “classical equivalent of finding the Holy Grail.” Some are saying it will change the way we look at the world. One thing is certain: The largest cache of papyri ever excavated just became much more readable. Using imaging technology developed and utilized by BYU scholars, researchers are now able to finally read much of the Oxyrhynchus papyri that were previously thought to be blackened beyond legibility. 

Oxyrhynchus was an ancient Greco-Roman city located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo.  For about 1,000 years its inhabitants used a garbage dump just outside the city.  As providence would have it, this garbage dump happened to be situated perfectly above the flood plain of the Nile — creating a safe place for preservation.  The city's inhabitants used the dump to dispose of everything from poetry to plays to tax receipts, personal letters to philosophy.

The dump itself was excavated toward the end of the 19th Century, exposing the largest cache of papyri ever found in a single location.  Some of the more readable pieces have been long since deciphered.  These include plays by Menander, poems of Pindar, fragments of Sappho and Alcaeus, and the oldest and most complete diagrams from Euclid's Elements, to name a few.  Of the Christian texts found at Oxyrhynchus, fragments of the Gospel of Thomas probably dating from the 2nd or 3rd century AD have been found, the Gospel according to the Hebrews (3rd century AD); The Shepherd of Hermas (3rd or 4th century), and a work of Irenaeus from the 3rd century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus).

But as BYU teams up with researchers from around the globe using multispectral imaging (MSI), the most exciting discoveries in the Oxyrhynchus papyri are almost certainly still to come.  

Some are predicting a "second Renaissance" because of the use of MSI on the papyrus fragments, and others are claiming that deciphering the Oxyrhynchus papyri might increase the existing body of classical Greek and Roman work by up to 20 percent.  

And the early results truly are stunning.  The Online Independent, a publication of the United Kingdom, reported that during a period of four days in April, researchers were able to decipher a writing by Sophocles, Euripedes, Hesiod and other literary giants of the ancient world, lost for millennia.  They even believe they are likely to find lost Christian gospels the originals of which were written around the time of the earliest books of the New Testament. 

BYU and the Technology Team           
The text-imaging technology, called multispectral imaging (MSI), was born of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory technology, which was created to analyze surfaces of planets and moons throughout the solar system.  Dr. Greg Bearman, a physicist and member of that team, had the pioneering idea to apply similar technology to ancient texts.  

From that initial idea, Dr. Gene Ware, now professor emeritus of engineering at BYU, took the idea and carried it forth into a reality by creating the first multispectral imaging system.  

There are several MSI cameras now in existence.  One of these cameras is in the care of Steven and Susan Booras, a couple who worked extensively on the BYU Herculaneum project, living in Naples for almost a year and a half as they did so.  . . . it is quickly apparent that Steven and Susan Booras and other BYU researchers are doing anything but simply taking pictures. 

All elements have their own unique light-emitting signature.  So even though you have a papyrus that's burned black with black ink on it, that papyrus still has a chemical element of its own and the ink has an element of its own; each emits a different wavelength of light.  Even though the contrast between the two is very narrow — beyond what the light spectrum the human eye or even a regular camera can pick up — certain filters of ours will pick it up.  

So we go out and try to find where that contrast shows up.  We find the place where the ink stands out and the black papyrus drops away.  That's what multispectral imaging does.

One thing is certain about Steven and Susan Booras:  They are absolutely passionate not only about the product, but the process itself. Susan said of their year and a half working in Italy on the earlier Herculaneum project, “You’re looking at something so ancient.  It looks like burned newspaper.  You put it under the camera and turn the computer on, and voila.  It is amazing.”  

To stay tuned to upcoming finds and progress on the Oxyrhynchus project, you can find great information at Dr. Obbink's website: http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/index.html   Read the full text of the Online Independent story here:  (http://www.realopinion.com/realboards/showthread.php?p=2556 ).
Extract: Secrets of the Maya ... unlocked!
Byline:  Lesley Bannatyne, 05/24/2005
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0524/p18s02-hfks.html
Sent by John Inclan fromGalveston@yahoo.com



It's 1959. A young Ian Graham packs supplies on a few mules - food, mosquito nets, a camera, a machete - and hires a group of Guatemalans to lead him along the ragged jungle paths they've cut to gather chicle for chewing gum. The team treks through the humid overgrowth until they 
reach a site his guides had spotted earlier. There, beaten by weather and overrun with vines, lie ruins of the ancient Maya, a civilization that collapsed a thousand years ago.

Graham's passion is searching for treasures like these: crumbling buildings, statues, and tall stone monuments called stelae (STEEL-uh), carved with hieroglyphic writings. Graham works quickly to record his finds with photos, maps, and drawings.

That was the beginning of what became Dr. Graham's life work. He has been documenting all the inscribed monuments of the Mayas and publishing them in books so they won't be lost. He's recorded 400 monuments for the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphics, which he directs for the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Mass. The work is not finished.

"New monuments do appear quite often," Graham says in an interview in his museum office. It's stuffed with books, wide tables, and a darkroom.

Maya hieroglyphics make up the only writing system native to the New World. They are also the last great language mystery on the planet. Some 85 percent of the writing has been deciphered, but the rest is still a puzzle many are working to solve.

Maya dates and numbers were decoded in the 1800s. But the key to Maya writing did not begin to unfold until the 1950s.

The Maya lived in what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize since at least 2600 BC. (See map.) Their hieroglyphic texts were inscribed mostly from AD 250 to 900. This is called the "Classic Period" of the Maya. After that, the Maya mysteriously abandoned many of their major cities, and their civilization collapsed.

In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors defeated the indigenous peoples of the region and destroyed much of their culture. Maya books were burned - only a handful survived. Roman Catholic missionaries followed. The story of cracking the Maya code begins with one of them, Bishop Diego de Landa, who asked an educated Maya about his language.

"Well, the wretched fellow did the best he could," Graham recounts. The bishop assumed the Mayas had an alphabet, like Spanish. "The bishop asked, 'How do you write 'bay' - the letter 'B' in Spanish - and the man drew a picture of a pair of feet." People in Europe thought the man 
was making a joke. What alphabet includes feet? It wasn't until 1952 that Russian linguist Yuri Knorosov realized that the symbols stood for sounds, not letters. The sound "bay," in spoken Maya, means "road." The glyph for "road" is a little path with footprints!

Thanks to the work of many other epigraphers (eh-PIG-ruh-fers, people who decipher and classify ancient inscriptions), we now know that Maya writing has two kinds of symbols. Some represent whole words. For example, a picture of a spotted animal with long teeth means "jaguar." 
Other symbols represent sounds, such as "la," "ka," or "ma." When put together - la-ka-ma - they form "lakam," which means "banner." We know that from a 16th-century Spanish/Maya dictionary. The Maya used around 500 glyphs. They are inscribed in columns that are read in pairs from left to right, top to bottom.

Another breakthrough happened in 1960. Russian-American architect Tatiana Proskouriakoff noticed that when the ancient Maya drew a picture of a man being dragged by his hair, they often drew similar glyphs nearby, like a caption for the picture. She identified the symbols for "was captured" - chu-ka-ja, or "chukaj." Ms. Proskouriakoff was eventually able to prove that glyph texts told stories of real events in Maya history.

This was exciting news for Maya experts. Up until then, "you had dates, but you couldn't tell what happened on that date," Graham explains.

Earlier scholars had decoded Maya calendars, astronomical information, and a numbering system that were all quite extraordinary in their accuracy. (One Maya calendar had 18 months of 20 days each - 360 days - followed by five "unlucky" days.) They believed the Maya were a peaceful people who spent most of their time star-gazing.

But newly deciphered texts began to tell of wars and human sacrifice. Rulers emerged as real people with names like "Fire-Eating Serpent," "Jaguar Mirror," and "Smoke Monkey." In the 1980s, Maya epigrapher Linda Schele popularized inscriptions that described bloodletting 
ceremonies. In these rituals, rulers shed their own blood onto paper made of bark. They burned the paper as an offering to ancestors and gods. They claimed to see visions in the smoke.

"Once people started to understand the verbs," says Barbara Fash, a research associate at the Peabody Museum, "the illustrations appeared more graphic."

Today, with computers and books to help share information, and more and more glyphs decoded, our understanding of the Maya is changing again. "It's too bad all people know is that they went to battle, captured, and sacrificed," says Fash, "because that's only what rulers did - like [on] our war monuments. That's not the whole story." Modern researchers are looking at objects like pots, jewelry, even old garbage piles, to learn about everyday life. Fash is working on musical instruments, hoping the symbols painted or inscribed on them may contain instructions on how to play them or even fragments of songs.



Miscellaneous 

Barracks Air Ducts Hide a Trove of Memories

Barracks Air Ducts Hide a Trove of Memories
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer, May 25, 2005
Johanna De Soto


CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. — Crews demolishing old military barracks on this sprawling base near Paso Robles stumbled on a surprising find: wallets. Tumbling out of heating ducts suspended from the ceilings, the wallets were stuffed with remarkably well-preserved personal belongings dating from World War II and the Korean War.
Love letters. Religious medals. Base passes. High school identification cards. Driver's licenses. Dog tags. Snapshots. Tips for surviving an atomic blast.  The only thing missing was money.

The discovery posed unusual challenges for officials at the former Army base, now used by the California Army National Guard: How did the wallets get there? And could these leather-bound time capsules be returned to their owners?

An intensive search for clues among the wallets' contents, and for addresses and phone numbers of owners now in their golden years — or deceased — has reunited all but three of 25 wallets with their owners or relatives. And the work has yielded at least on theory about how they got there in the first place:

"The fact that there is no money in any of these wallets leads us to believe they were stolen," said California Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tom Murotake. "The thefts usually involved a trusting guy from a small town who set his wallet down, then got distracted. "Someone else, in one fluid motion, nabbed the wallet, snatched the cash and chucked the rest into the heating duct overhead."

Over the decades, the heat turned the leather into something resembling beef jerky, but left everything inside intact.
Murotake, who is in charge of tracking down the owners, said the wallets become instant "touchstones," jolting memories back to a grueling and uncertain time when thousands of recruits converged at the base for 13 weeks of basic training. From there, they were shipped out to the front lines in Europe, the Pacific and Asia, a few without their cherished photos and pocket keepsakes.

Looking inside these wallets captures a glimpse of what life was like in the 63-man barracks on the 43,000-acre base straddling Highway 101, once the world's largest infantry and field artillery training center.

Willard Groth was an Army private preparing to visit a cousin in Bakersfield when the wallet he kept in a barracks footlocker vanished one day in 1944.  "It had $20 in it, which I needed for the trip," recalled Groth, 81, of Hoyt Lakes, Minn. "No one else had any money to loan, so I stayed on the base that day."

Groth was stunned when Murotake called him in late 2003. "I have your wallet, the one you lost six decades ago. It's ragged, but still holding together," he said. Inside was a crumbling draft card, an American Legion hospitality card, a Social Security card and a tarnished dime minted in 1935. "I've decided not to polish that old dime," Groth said. "It's good to remember what you can from that long ago."

As for the reddish-brown wallet, embossed with a rising sun and with his name inscribed in gold letters, Groth said, "I put it away. My kids will find it when they dig through my junk someday."

To walk among the base's 300 two-story abandoned barracks today is to step into the past. Roads that once teemed with soldiers and 2-ton trucks after the attack on Pearl Harbor are now choked with weeds. Inside the buildings are beds, mattresses and pillows unused for decades. Windows are broken, and floors are caked with dust and crisscrossed with the tracks of raccoons and mice.ll of the barracks, which contain lead-based paint and asbestos, are to be torn down.

In some barracks, the heating ducts have been pried off their hinges, indicating that others may have heard about the wallets. "Call it 'Raiders of the Lost Ducts,' " Murotake joshed during a tour of the facilities. 

 

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

END

                12/30/2009 04:49 PM