May 2005 
Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-5

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

ALL GAVE SOME
SOME GAVE ALL

Iowa, USA
Artist: Ray "Bubba" Sorenson
The flag is painted on, not draped.

East of the Mississippi  . . 130
East Coast  . . 132
Mexico  . . 140
Caribbean/Cuba  . . 156
Spain   . . 160 
International   . . 164
History . . 176
Family History . . 177
Archaeology  . . 184
Miscellaneous  . . 186
END  . . 189
Calendar
Networking 
Meetings 

“I prefer to be true to myself, 
even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, 
rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence”  
Fredrick Douglass

Sent by Willis Papillion   Willis35@earthlink.net


 

  Letters to the Editor : 

UNITED STATES

                                          The following is the brief narrative that I sent. 

 "Hispanics have a problem and the problem is that Washington, D.C. doesn't even know we exist  here in California." Those were my first words to my husband when he greeted me at the airport.

That was ten years ago, 1995, my first trip to D.C.. Because of my heritage involvement, as editor of Somos Primos, my name, resume, etc. was submitted to Senator Orrin Hatch to participate on the U.S. Senate Task Force on Hispanic Affairs. I was invited to participate, as Historian. I was honored and took the responsibility very seriously.

The first Task Force meeting and the entire experience of visiting the Capitol was life changing. My perspective on American history had evolved through researching personal family history in present day Texas and Mexico. I had learned that the presence of my ancestors among colonial census and land records contradicted the history that I had been taught. U.S. history textbooks had virtually excluded the historical Hispanic presence.

Determined to evaluate the conditions of public historical recognition in the capital, I visited every monument, tourist site and museum which I felt should have some mention of the Hispanic American presence, and presented in a accurate and positive way.

I looked for any evidence which a tourist from Kansas or Germany could pick up. Nothing, I found nothing, no brochures, posters, items, charts, graphs, postcards, etc.

The general public would not have grasped the significance of the Spanish explorers and colonizers in the foundation and development of the United States, nor the persistent existence of Hispanics in the formation of the American people. We were not there.

The Smithsonian bookstore had less than a dozen books on Hispanics/Latinos on their shelves. Their World War II exhibit included a small display on Hispanics, but the emphasis and slant was on how Los Angeles Pachucos fought against our military. Living in Los Angeles during that time period, and having researched the episodes, I knew the facts were not presented accurately.

Arlington Cemetery had books on the contributions of other ethnic groups, (as did the Washington Memorial), but nothing on the military contributions of Hispanic-Americans. The tour bus drivers (I went on several tours), pointed out many heroes as we circled the grounds, but not one with a Spanish surname.

I would have thought that at least a mention would have been made of Pvt. Felix Longoria. Longoria killed in WW II was denied the right to be buried in his own hometown. The injustice unified Latino activism.

The Library of Congress' Hispanic Reading Room is excellent, but not a tourist spot.
I wanted to judge what a student from South Carolina or Maine would subjectively conclude as he toured the Capitol. Would he be enlightened concerning Hispanics? Would he return to his small town realizing that some Hispanic Americans are descendants of colonizers that preceded the Mayflower? If not, than the public displays had failed them, had failed me.

Many of my ancestors were colonizers and settlers in present day Texas as early as 1691. Marrying among the indigenous whose heritage goes before written record, my ancestors were at home. However, many left their property and homes and fled to Mexico during the American take-over in 1848. About seventy-five years later, my grandparents and family returned to Texas. My ancestors were considered immigrants, aliens. Categorized by newcomers whose presence in Texas was perhaps 50-80 years old.

Eagerly, I visited the National Archives. Again, I found the same neglect of our history. The reference librarian showed me one single book on their shelves for doing Hispanic research in the National Archives. There were no How-To brochures as with all the other ethnic groups. There were no other guides on the subject of Hispanic research in their bookstore either.

Since 1990, I have been editing  Somos Primos, for our research group, the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research. My trips to D.C. strengthened my resolve that positive, historical visibility was greatly needed.  

January 2000, Somos Primos went online as a free monthly e-magazine devoted to Hispanic heritage and diversity issues, www.SomosPrimos.com. The mission was to increase historical understanding and encourage personal family history research.

The networking capability of the internet created national and international visibility and connections that eventually resulted in being asked by Sam Anthony, Producer of Public Program at NARA, to assist in bringing a Hispanic awareness to the resources of the National Archives. This was a request for a volunteer opportunity I could not resist, in spite of living in California.

Last year, in May with the opening of the World War II Memorial we held a 2-day series of lectures by Hispanic veterans who served in WW II as NARA. Then in October, we held a 2-day conference on researching Hispanic family history.

The following month, in November, Sam Anthony asked me to assist him in putting together the Hispanic America series for 2005. Through weekly teleconferences with members of the advisory committee, we have tried to fulfill the topics NARA assigned to us. In organizing the committee, I attempted to bring together a national cross-section of volunteers in various fields of professional endeavor to meet the challenge.

In addition, a website was created to log the conference-call results and update the progress of our efforts. The website is open to public reading. Support and comments are welcomed. 
Please go to: www.somosprimos.com/nara/nara.htm

Our first event is May 12^th. Judge Fredrick Aguirre, Orange County, California was a natural choice to put together the May 12^th event, "Hispanics, Education, and Civil Rights." We have worked on numerous heritage projects in the past, and Rick has a personal interest in the subject of public school segregation. His father, uncles, aunts, cousins were in segregated schools in Orange County. Rick was one of the first students in his family to attend a non-segregated school after the Mendez vs Westminster School Board was won in 1946.

The focus of the panel will be the contributions made by Hispanic leadership in desegregation of schools, prior to the well-known Brown vs. Board of Education. Text of the argument by Judge Aguirre can be found on the website.

Upcoming participation at the Archives includes . . .

July 3-4^th: re-enactor Hector Diaz as Spanish colonial General Bernardo de Galvez.
Plus, a San Antonio group, the Texas Connection to the American Revolution, and the Granaderos, San Antonio and Maryland Chapters will participate in the parade. Sylvia Carvajal sutton is the liaison.

September 24th: Hispanic Family History Conference being organized by George Ryskamp, Director of the Center for Family History and Genealogy at BYU

October 12th : "Latino Blood, American Heart" power point presentation by artist Eddie Martinez and a panelists of historians, historical overview of the contributions of Hispanics to the U.S. military.

November 10-13th: NARA will offer tours for Hispanic veterans. Debbie Salazar, Chairwoman for the National GI Forum is the liaison.

December: NARA is mounting a display and event, "The Way We Worked." Dr. JV Martinez, Senior Advisor with the Department of Energy is our  liaison.

Please distribute the press release below to friends, family and educators, particularly those on the East Coast.  

National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20408-0001

"Passing of a Generation"

Words of CPT. Stephen R. Ellison, M.D.
Page design by Mary Jones
Shared by Paul Newfield skip@thebrasscannon.com
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/PASSINGOFGENERATION.HTML

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff

74th Annual WD Writing Competition   http://www.writersdigest.com
              
Writer's Digest Writing Competition! Entry deadline - May 16, 2005

The categories:
Inspirational Writing, Memoir/Personal Essay, Magazine Feature Article, Genre Short Story, Mainstream/Literary Short Story, Rhyming Poetry, Non-rhyming poetry, Stage Play, Television/Movie Script, Children's Fiction

Grand Prize: $2,500 cash and all-expense paid trip to New York City to meet with editors and agents. Writer's Digest will fly you and a guest to NYC, where you'll spend three days and two nights in the publishing capital of the world. While you're there, a WD editor will escort you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents! Plus, you'll receive a free Diamond Publishing
Package from Outskirts Press.

Last year's grand-prize winner, Michele R. Bardsley, signed with the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (which she visited during her New York trip) and already has a book contract...and she didn't think she would win! This year, the winner could be you - but not if you don't enter! For complete rules and entry forms, or to submit your entry online, visit
http://www.writersdigest.com/specialoffers.asp?DMannual042805


First Place: The first-place winner in each category receives $1,000 cash, a manuscript critique and marketing advice from a Writer's Digest editor or Advisory Board member, commentary from an agent and $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books.

Second Place: The second-place winner in each category receives $500 cash and $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books. 

Third Place: The third-place winner in each category receives $250 cash and $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books.

Fourth Place: The fourth-place winner in each category receives $100 cash and a free copy of the 2006 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition, and a one-year subscription to Writer's Digest magazine.

Fifth Place: The fifth-place winner in each category receives $50 cash and a free copy of the 2006 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition, and a one-year subscription to Writer's Digest magazine.

Sixth through Tenth-place winners in each category receive $25 cash and a free copy of the 2006 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition.

PLUS a special prize for select Writer's Digest subscribers: All current WD subscribers who enter the competition and provide a valid subscription number are eligible to win a special prize package featuring a one-year subscription renewal to Writer's Digest, the 2006 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition, $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books and one year's worth of Writer's Digest special issues (15 in all, a $90 value!).  Five winners will be chosen at random from all eligible entries received.

For a full list of prizes, complete information and an entry form, please visit
http://www.writersdigest.com/specialoffers.asp?DMannual042805

Workshop to make writers of warriors
by Gwendolyn Driscoll, Orange County Register, 2- 28-05 
(714)796-7722 or gdriscoll@ocregfster.com

NEA's Operation, Homecoming: 
Writing the Wartime Experience
http://www.nea.gov/MtioMl/

"Uncover the Mind".  Standard adult size. For a LIMITED time and a LIMITED quantity available now are WHITE rubber band bracelets that say...  "Uncover the Mind"... "www.Treyce.com" on them.

They are beautiful! My son actually designed them. He said, "Uncover the mind is to find truth and truth is white mom because it's pure and good".
If you are interested in receiving one, please let me know and provide a mailing address! These will only be available through May 10th so contact us today!  

Thank you, Treyce   http://www.Treyce.com  

Guerrero, 'father of Chicano music,' dies

The songwriter who sold millions of records in Spanish and English was 88.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, via The Orange County Register, March 18
Guerrero did hundreds of free concerts at schools and senior centers into his 80s.
Photo at 87 years old, 2004

Rancho MIRAGE • Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero Jr., who for 60 years created songs in Spanish and English chronicling the Mexican-American experience, including Pachuco music later used in the play "Zoot Suit;" has died. He was 88.

The man that President Clinton called the father of Chicano music died Wednesday at an assisted living facility in Rancho Mirage, said his son, Mark Guerrero of Palm Springs.

Guerrero was born in an adobe house in the poor Barrio Viejo neighborhood of Tucson, Ariz., on Christmas Eve 1916.

He had no formal musical education, but his mother taught him guitar, and during trips to Mexico, relatives inspired him to write songs.

After dropping out of high school during the Depression, Guerrero drifted to Los Angeles, where arranger-producer Manuel Acuna saw him on a street, asked if he was a musician and had him in a recording studio the next day.

"It wasn't planned. I didn't have an agent," he told The Associated Press last year. "It just never occurred to me."

Guerrero went on to create more than 700 songs and sold millions of records in Spanish and English in a bewildering number of styles, from swing to protest songs, cha-chas to rock 'n' roll. His Spanish hits included "Nunca Jamas" and "Cancion Mexicania," which has been described as Mexico's unofficial national them.

Guerrero also wrote ballads in the Mexican "corrido" style that honored Robert F. Kennedy and farmworkers' rights leader Cesar Chavez.

He already was a star in Mexico and the Southwest for his traditional songs when he crossed into the mainstream charts in 1955 with a parody of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" from a Walt Disney movie. He replaced the pioneer frontiersman with a Mexican called Pancho Sanchez. It sold 500,000 copies.

A string of hit parodies followed in English and Spanish, including "Pancho Claus" and "Elvis Perez."

Some took satirical swipes at discrimination, such as "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Busboys."

Guerrero also did a series of children's albums featuring Las Ardillitas, a trio of squeaky-voiced squirrels that became wildly popular in Mexico and the Spanish-language community. He created them the same year that a song featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks came out in the United States. Alvin's creator sued but the suit was thrown out.

Guerrero lived in the East Los Angeles area for many years and had a popular nightclub there. He later moved to Cathedral City, near Palm Springs.

Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero Jr.

Born: Dec. 24,1916. in the Barrio Viejo area of Tucson, Ariz.

Training: Taught to play the guitar by his mother, Concepción, who had at least 15 other children.

Big break: During the Depression, was discovered on the streets of Los Angeles by a music producer who signed him to a recording contract.

Achievements: Believed to be the first artist to write and record bilingual songs. His work included everything from novelty tunes ("Tacos For Two") to the anti-discrimination protest song "El Chicano."

Hits: "Canción Mexicana," "Chicas Patas Boogie," "Vamos a Bailar"

Impact: His music was central to Luis Valdez's 1977 play and 1982 movie "Zoot Suit." Cited as a key influence by the rock band Los Lobos, comedian Cheech Marin and activist theater troupe Culture Clash.

Honors: Received National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton, alongside such luminaries as jazz artist Lionel Hampton, actor Robert Redford and Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. Was declared "a national folk treasure" by the Smithsonian.

We Need You to Save Our Heritage

Source: Hispanic Magazine

Here's a chance to give back to your community, and preserve deserving legacies of U.S. Hispanics who have contributed to American society.

HISPANIC Magazine, and its sister publications, HispanicOnline.com and Hispanic Trends, will launch an ambitious effort to preserve Latino history and heritage for future generations.

Working together with other organizations dedicated to restoration and preservation, HISPANIC aims to save historic sites, buildings, books, music and other cultural symbols in the United States.

Do you know of a historic site in your city that should be preserved for future Latinos? Have you collected the works of a particular Hispanic artist 

that should be preserved? Are you endeared to a particular landmark because it meant a lot to your immigrant family and it has since been neglected?

Tell us where, when, and why these projects should be preserved and HISPANIC will look into restoring them and making the public aware of these important sites and/or documents. We need you to help make this ambitious effort a success.

HISPANIC Magazine and Hispanic Trends will be writing about these projects in upcoming issues and the stories also will appear on HispanicOnline.com in the Hispanic Heritage Plaza.

Contact us at: Save Our Heritage, 999 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 600, Coral Gables, FL 33134 or email: Joe Vidueira at  j vidueira@hisp.com

You may also fax us at: 305-774-3578 Attention: Save Our Heritage.

Remarks by Raul Yzaguirre at the 2004 NCLR Annual Conference Phoenix,Arizona, June29,2004

We chose to bring our Annual Conference to Phoenix for the first time not only because the Convention Bureau promised us 70-degree weather in June, but also, more importantly, because this is our birthplace. When the Southwest Council of La Raza opened its doors for business in 1968, our Board of Directors chose Phoenix as our headquarters. Since then, in good times and in bad, we have had a continuous presence in this great city.

It feels good to be home.

If I may, I would like to discuss three interrelated topics with you today - our shared history, our shared beliefs, and our shared future. For you see, we need to define who we are or others will do it for us.

There are those like Professor Samuel Huntington, who recently released a book entitled, Who Are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity. He asserts the absurd notion that the growing presence of Latino immigrants is a threat to America. The essence of his argument is that America, in order to remain American, must be a nation perpetually dominated by a White, Anglo Saxon, Protestant, and English-speaking cultural and racial majority.

Let's use this time in Phoenix to educate ourselves and our fellow Americans about Latinos. Let us remember who we are and how we got here.

More than 500 years ago, long before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, our forefathers came to this new world. They were met by another set of our ancestors, native to this land. Over time, and with the inclusion of unwilling immigrants from Africa, a new people emerged whom we now officially refer to as "Hispanics." But in our barrios, many of us refer to ourselves as La Raza or, more precisely, La Raza Cosmica, the cosmic race, a race of all races, the Hispanic people of the new world.

We are as "white" as Cameron Diaz, and as "black" as Sammy Sosa. We are brown, we are red, and we are yellow. We are Arab and Jew. We are European, African, Asian, and Native American. And if your name happens to be Basque, like mine, you can arguably claim to be from the lost continent of Atlantis.

For Latinos, it is not me color of one's skin that determines a person's worth: it is the quality of his or her values, culture» ethics, and manners. For ours is a welcoming and inclusive culture that is ever open to enrichment

Over time, we became Americans - some by choice, many by conquest. Historians agree that our country traditionally has been reluctant to wage war. Yet, there are two acknowledged exceptions to this tradition - the two events which changed our destiny as a people were the only two wars of conquest fought by the United States: the Mexican American War and the Spanish American War. These were our country's only wars of aggression fought with the explicit goal of extending the territorial expanse of the United States.  

Texans seek compensation from Mexico 
for 12 million acres lost after 1848 treaty

Finding Cousin Tony 

Brigida "Bridget" Benitez spent six long years working on a pair of cases for the University of Michigan admissions office. When the Supreme Court finally settled the matter in June 2003, it marked what the New York Times called "the most important statement on affirmative action in a quarter century." Plaintiff and former University of Michigan president Lee Bollinger declared it "a great victory for American higher education, and for the nation as a whole."

At issue in the cases – involving three white college applicants who claimed discrimination because race was considered in the application process – was whether diversity at public universities was a compelling state interest and whether the specific Michigan programs were "narrowly tailored" to address discrimination, as the Supreme Court had previously required. 

Ultimately, although the Michigan cases yielded a split decision – striking down an undergraduate numerical system. But by upholding the university law school's system, the court clearly upheld the principle of a compelling public interest for diversity in education.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime case," says Ms. Benitez, partner at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Wash-ington, D.C. "I wanted to protect the opportunity for millions of people to get a college education."

Ms. Benitez's influential role in the nationally significant cases helped propel her selection as Hispanic Business magazine's 2005 Woman of the Year, honoring the national impact of her accomplishments and her long-term commitment to progress in the Hispanic community, as well as her leadership, innovation, vision, and character.

John Payton, a partner at Wilmer Cutler and one of the most prominent African-American attorneys in the nation, recalls asking Ms. Benitez to join the University of Michigan cases soon after the firm took them in 1997. 

At the time, he says, people considered affirmative action a lost cause. The consensus opinion was that it was going to die, so the attorneys should "just make the noble arguments and let the end come," Mr. Payton says. "But we were determined to talk around that argument. We were in this to win, not just to play it out."

With Ms. Benitez as second chair, the legal team set out to develop new arguments about the real-world benefits of affirmative action, rather than relying on the idealism of social justice. The litigators assembled a massive body of evidence from psychologists, demographers, sociologists, educators, and historians.

"We presented concrete data on the benefits of diversity in education," Ms. Benitez says. "The experts came together, all to tell the story of how diversity helps all students."

The court quickly grasped the argument. In her opinion for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote: "These benefits are not theoretical but real, as major American businesses have made clear that the skills needed in today's increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints."

One example of the arguments presented by Ms. Benitez and her team involved affirmative action in the military. During the Vietnam War, the Army had an all-white officer corps while the enlisted men were disproportionately minority. In combat conditions, the racial tensions contributed to what the military officially called "loss of unit cohesion." "What that means is that the soldiers were sometimes attacking their leaders and killing them," Mr. Payton explains.

To remedy the situation, the military worked to achieve racial and ethnic integration in the officer corps. That included recruiting minorities to the military academies and insisting on a diverse student body in ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) programs at colleges and universities across the country. The lawyers applied the same logic to civil professions, particularly law.

Ms. Benitez worked on the politically charged cases from their inception at a federal district court in Michigan, through the appeals courts, and all the way to oral arguments before the Supreme Court. The cases put Ms. Benitez, a prominent Republican, on the same side of the issue with traditionally Democratic groups in favor of using gender and ethnicity as a factor in college admission, an idea opposed by some conservative Republicans. 

But in six years of working the case, the issue of partisanship never once came up, says the Democratic-leaning Mr. Payton. "There's a recognition in Washington that there's a need on important public issues for bipartisanship," Ms. Benitez says. "I think diversity in public education is tremendously important." 

"We've had a number of high-profile Republicans, like former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who have come out in favor of the principles of affirmative action," adds Cari Dominguez, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a friend of Ms. Benitez. "I think there are many Republicans with similar views."

When the Supreme Court handed down its decision, praise rolled in from across the political spectrum. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle called it a "clear victory for all Americans." President George W. Bush congratulated "the Supreme Court for recognizing the value of diversity on our nation's campuses."

As the first Hispanic female partner at her firm, Ms. Benitez has a personal interest in the issue of diversity. Women now account for nearly half (48.3 percent) of law school graduates, and they make up 40 percent of the legal professionals in the private sector, a significant gain from 14 percent in 1975, according to a 2003 study by the EEOC. But Hispanics represent only about 3 percent of legal professionals, the study found, far below the Hispanic proportion of the population at 13.5 percent.

The numbers shrink at the top of the profession. Research from the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) based on 2004 data found that in Washington, D.C., only 4.9 percent of the law partners at major firms were people of color. Nationally, the figure came in even lower at 4.3 percent. In terms of gender equality, women accounted for only 17 percent of the nation's law partners. "Although the presence of women and attorneys of color at firms has increased each year since 1993, the total change since 1993 has only been marginal," the NALP observed.

"It's a rough road," Ms. Benitez concedes. "All I can tell you is I started at Wilmer Cutler in the second year of my practice, and I was the first Hispanic woman partner. Today, I'm the only Hispanic partner."  "Bridget has been a pioneer, and she has handled it marvelously," exudes Mr. Payton. "And being a pioneer is never easy – I don't care what people say."

For her part, Ms. Benitez offers a simple remedy for prejudice and discrimination: excellence on the job. "You have to know that people are going to make negative assumptions about you, and you have to be ready to prove them wrong," she says. "When people make those assumptions, make sure the opposing side is the one that gets the surprise. The one way to break down barriers is top-level performance."

Ms. Benitez graduated from Boston College Law School, where she was a National Hispanic Scholar and served as editor-in-chief of the law review. She worked for two years at a firm in Boston before joining Wilmer Cutler in the nation's capital. Besides the Michigan cases, Ms. Benitez has handled legal matters for clients including Citigroup, Sears, Pulitzer, American Home Products, and Qwest Communications. In 2003 she obtained a multimillion-dollar arbitration settlement for the federal government's Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) for a deal in Egypt. 

In her practice she also leads teams of attorneys to conduct internal investigations of Fortune 500 corporations. Here her bilingual and cultural skills come to the fore. Ms. Benitez has organized multinational investigations in conjunction with local lawyers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other venues in Latin America. 

She often works from home before coming into the office, where she typically can stay until 7 p.m. or later. Somehow, she finds time for community and pro bono work – another key consideration in the Woman of the Year Award. 

Her connection to the Hispanic community played a role in her most recent volunteer work. Last year, as president of the Hispanic Bar Association for the District of Columbia, she organized a Spanish-speaking legal aid clinic. According to the Brookings Greater Washington Research Program, the proportion of the population with limited English-language skills has increased from 6 percent to 9 percent since 1990, and most of these immigrants are Hispanic. Ms. Benitez addressed 
the issue by working closely with Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz and social service organizations CARECEN (Central American Resource Center) and Ayuda. 

"As an attorney, I'm not sure she has any weaknesses. She has an unbelievable personal presence. She has substantial leadership skills," says Mr. Payton. "And all that has possibilities outside the firm. That's why she is head of legal organizations." 

Ms. Benitez currently is on the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Election Law Advisory Commission and the D.C. Bar's Pro Bono Committee. She is vice-president of communications for the Republican National Lawyers Association. In addition to her presidency at the D.C. Hispanic Bar, she has served in the past as vice-president for the Hispanic National Bar Association, co-chair of the D. C. Women's Bar Association Litigation Forum, and as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

Mr. Payton notes that the law's tradition of public service has frayed in recent years as firms demand more billable hours from their employees. But for Ms. Benitez, community involvement is a natural part of her culture and career. Last 
year, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund gave her its Excellence in the Legal Profession Award. 

"The legal profession is an excellent career choice for those interested in the great debates that go on in our society," Ms. Benitez advises. "It allows you to balance your profession with public service, and I value that." 


Source: HISPANIC BUSINESS Magazine

SURNAME

ESTRADA

Don Alonso de Estrada, natural de Ciudad Real donde era Regidor Perpetuo e hi natural del Rey don Femando "el Catolico", file un controvertido personaje de su época que peleó en Flandes y la Isia de Sicilia y durante el alzamiento de los comuneros de Castill siendo Almirante de Malaga y Corregidor de Caceres. Llegóa la Nueva España con Corté en 1523, participando en numerosas conquistas que Ie valieron grandes riquezas, siendo nombrado, juntamente con don Rodrigo de Albomoz, Teniente de Gobemador del conquistador. Murió en el ano 1530, dejando varios hijos de su esposa doña Mariana Gutiérrez Flórez de la Caballería, con quien había casado en su tierra natal.

Don Francisco de Estrada, natural de Sevilla, grumes de Colón en su cuarto viaje, llegó a la Nueva España con Narváez, participando en la conquista de Pánuco y la ciudad i Tenochtitlán y otras acetones militares. En premiosa sus servicios, el Emperador Carlos V otorgó en 1539 el siguiente escudo de armas:

En campo de azur, un puente de piedra de dos ojos sobre ondas de agua de azur plata, sumando una torre de oro aclarada de azur. Bordura de gules, con siete veneras i plata, en su mitad diestra, y siete armiños de sable, en su mitad siniestra.

Las armas primitivas y puras del linaje se describen asi:

De una rama procedente del lugar de San Martín, en Asturias, fue tronco en México don Manuel García de Estrada y Trespalacios, mayorazgo de su casa en la indicac población, que en el siglo XVIII pasó a establecerse en el hoy Estado de Michoacán, siendo dueño de la hacienda de San José Apeo y las Minas de San Ignacio, en la jurisdicción de Maravatío. Tuvo el cargo de Alguacil Mayor del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición y de si bodas con doña Maria Ignacia Duarte y Nocedal y doña María Isabel de Mafra, dejo dilatada sucesion que aún pervive en nuestros día, especialmente en la ciudad de Morelia.

Information above from BLASONES Y APELLIDOS by Fernando Muñnoz Altea. (c) 2002
For information on obtaining a copy of the 828 book, contact blasones@mail.com or at P.O. Box 11232, El Paso, Texas 79995  or by contacting Armando Montes AMontes@Mail.com

For information on Estrada families in California, click.
For pedigrees of Estrada families, go to http://www.somosprimos.com/inclan/inclan.htm

Galvez Patriots

Gabriel Garcia Productions
The Relations Between Spain and the United States

The Relations Between Spain and the United States:
Lousiana and the Middle West Territory (1763 - 1795)
By Antonio R. Peña
 http://earlyamerica.com/review/2002_summer_fall/spain_english.htm

ABSTRACT: This article analyses the political, military and social relations that were established between Spain and the United States on the middle ground territories since 1763 to 1795. A great European power and a new republic fought over those unpopulated territories and the relations between them oscillated between cooperation and confrontation. Two opposite conceptions and political and socioeconomic models clashed and crushed in the same place. Key words: middle ground territories, Continental Congress, Continental army, Western Conventions, Virginia Assembly, Louisiana, Mississippi, Spanish government, Great Britain, France, James Wilkinson, José Bernardo Gálvez, Esteban Miró, Conde de Aranda, Floridablanca, George Washington, State Board.

Our main focus at Archiving Early America is primary source material from 18th Century America-- all displayed digitally. A unique array of original newspapers, maps and writings come to life on your screen just as they appeared to our forebears more than 200 years ago. 

As you browse through these original documents, you will find it easier to understand America's early residents, those who shaped and created the early Republic. These archival materials-- forming as they do an historical record of a significant time in the American experience-- are displayed in their original formats so they can be read and examined close-up....in detail. 

This unique resource is made available at no charge for personal use only. All of the materials found here are proprietary and protected under the copyright laws. Their use for any commercial or for-profit purpose....or their display or reproduction on any other media or format (such as another Internet site, distance learning course, an intranet or CD-ROM) is strictly prohibited and a violation of the copyright laws (see Rules of Use). However, commercial use of the images at this site or any of the images in our library is available through license. For information, please see The Early American Digital Library. 

Of special interest is the Maryland Gazette containing George Washington's Journal of his historic trip to the Ohio Valley. It is the only original copy privately held. Because of its historic significance and its rarity (most Americans are unaware of its existence), the March 21 and 28, 1754 issues of The Gazette can be viewed here in their entirety-- exactly as Washington wrote it, down to the last comma, apostrophe and period. It is available in the Milestone Documents section at this site. 

The availability to view these historical documents on-line 24 hours a day, literally at one's leisure, would have been considered no small miracle a few years ago. Today, this capability allows us an opportunity to see--- for the first time in many cases--- the way in which the colonists and early Americans expressed themselves...and the kinds of media they utilized in the process. 

Displaying documents from America's historical past achieves the following: 1) Provides open access of historic documents to the greatest number. Private collections by definition are closed to the public, and can be seen only by family and close friends. Institutions, for a variety of reasons, all too often make their historical collections difficult, if not impossible, to access by the public-at-large. 

2) Re-awakens, encourages and maintains an interest in this country's early history--- the roots of American society. Original two-century-old newspapers, maps and books that faithfully chronicle the events of the day track the beginnings of The Republic as few history books alone are able to do. These historical documents are an important adjunct to the study of early America.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

In a Mexico Groove

Arhoolie Records’ owner will share his vast collection via a UCLA project.
By Agustin Gurza, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, Calendar, Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Chris Strachwitz, an avid music explorer, felt like a visitor in a foreign world when he started collecting Mexican records half a century ago. He had no music catalogs to guide him. No sales charts or trade journals to consult in an industry at times as transient as its migrant customers. Plus, he was a German immigrant and didn't speak Spanish.

But Strachwitz had an ear for the grass-roots music he discovered in America—Cajun, country, gospel and the blues. And he heard a common quality in those rustic sounds of society's dispossessed, no matter what the language.

"The first time I ever heard Mexican music was on a small station in Santa Paula, and I just loved it," says Strachwitz, owner of the respected folk music label Arhoolie Records. "God, it had this sound, and the way these two voices blended together. To me, that's the most soulful stuff I've heard. I mean, I heard it in blues. I heard it in hillbilly duet singing. It didn't sound to me all that different."

Eventually, Strachwitz, 73, had amassed what is now considered the world's largest collection of commercially recorded Mexican and Tex-Mex music, more than 100,000 individual performances spanning almost 100 years and numerous styles, from norteñas to boleros and rancheras. Experts say it's the most comprehensive repository of Mexican vernacular music anywhere, including Mexico.

Soon, the public will be able to access a digital archive of the collection through a special project sponsored by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, in collaboration with New Mexico's Fund for Folk Culture. With the help of the university's Digital Library Program, the entire Arhoolie Frontera Collection is being digitally transferred, annotated and archived in the same way the records were gathered ­ one by one.

Early on, Strachwitz understood the importance of this enduring rural music, not just as entertainment but as an oral account of a marginalized population. In the grooves of the thousands of records in his collection revolves the largely undocumented history of Mexican immigrants over the last century.

The project is being funded primarily by the Los Tigres del Norte Fund at UCLA, named for the famed norteño group based in San Jose. Los Tigres, along with its record label, Fonovisa, established the fund to promote the study of the genre, historically disdained or dismissed on both sides of the border.

By this summer, the public will have Internet access to the first phase of the project, all 16,000 78 rpm recordings from the first half of the 20th century. Each file includes a snippet of the song, an image of the record label and information about the record's creators, content and condition.

So far, more than three-fourths of the digitized 78s are accessible at digital.library.ucla.edu/frontera. Still to come in the painstaking transfer process, depending on future financing, are Arhoolie's stockpile of 14,000 45s and 3,000 long plays, covering the 1950s through the 1990s.

The collection contains rare recordings by major artists, such as legendary duo Los Alegres de Teran, Chicano music pioneer Lalo Guerrero, San Antonio accordion ace Santiago Jimenez and his son, Flaco, known for recent collaborations with guitarist Ry Cooder.

One of the most important items is one of the oldest.

The 1928 recording of "El Contrabando de El Paso" (The El Paso Contraband), a Texas tale about liquor smuggling during Prohibition, is considered one of the world's first narcocorridos, a precursor to the border ballads about drug trafficking that would become so popular half a century later. Although the song has been recorded dozens of times over the years, experts say the composer had never been identified ­ until now.

True to the tune's first-person narrative, the man who wrote it appears to have been the man who lived it.

Last year, UCLA Spanish professor Guillermo Hernandez, author of an upcoming book about corridos, traced the events that inspired the song, which tells the story of a group of smugglers being taken by train from El Paso to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan.

Old prison records identify one of the convicts as Gabriel Jara, caught with 90 gallons of illegal brew in the early 1920s. Hernandez knew he had found his man when he discovered in the archives that the 28-year-old Jara had written several letters to Leonardo Sifuentes, a resident of Ciudad Juarez.

The prisoner's pen pal, as it turns out, happens to be half of the singing duo of Hernandez &Sifuentes, who made that historic recording. Professor Hernandez, no relation, believes the convict was transmitting his verses through the U.S. mail.

The discovery won't change history or make anybody rich. But it shows that in this type of Mexican music, art doesn't imitate life -- it documents it.

As former head of the Chicano Studies Resource Center, Hernandez was instrumental in bringing the Arhoolie collection to UCLA. He was a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the 1970s when he first met Strachwitz and got engrossed in his collection.

Strangely, Strachwitz says roots music was largely missing from his own rural boyhood in what is now Poland, where country folk "listened to Nazi music, mostly marches, and pop music which was horribly schmaltzy."

Strachwitz was just 16 when his family came here after World War II. He started collecting records almost as soon as he hit these shores.

He studied math and engineering at Pomona College and UC Berkeley, then briefly taught German in high school. In 1960, he founded his own label to capture the folk music that so fascinated him (www.arhoolie.com).

Mexican country music has provided the soundtrack to rural life since the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which sparked the first big waves of immigration. But most of the early recordings were made in the States, not in Mexico, says Strachwitz.

There was no market for the music in its homeland, he explains, because Mexican peasants earned too little to afford records, even if their homes had electricity to play them.

On the U.S. side, however, major record labels catered to an immigrant workforce earning dollars. Evidence of their growing buying power can be found in customs documents which show that the most common items being taken back to Mexico are records and record players acquired here, according to research conducted by Hernandez, the UCLA professor.

During World War II, a shortage of shellac forced U.S. labels to concentrate on American pop music, says Strachwitz. Mexican labels started taking up the slack in the late '40s, once they realized the market's potential.

In considering the fate of his collection, Strachwitz wanted to make sure the music wasn't just stored in a corner, even in some place as prestigious as UCLA. He knew of other bequeathed collections that "simply go into a dark hole someplace and they'll never be heard again."

UCLA's Digital Library Program was a high-tech way to keep the music alive.

The work is being done at Arhoolie's El Cerrito, Calif., headquarters by Antonio Cuellar, a paid employee who listens to each song as it's being digitized. Cuellar, who played in a Latino punk-rock band, keeps a running index of various themes contained in each lyric -- "Love, unrequited," "Boasting, sexual," Execution, firing squad," "Strikes and lockouts," Murder at dance or celebration" and "Tragic triangle."

Many of the old corridos, including "El Contrabando de El Paso," were so long they were recorded in two parts, one on each side. Over the years, Strachwitz picked up every two-part corrido he could get his hands on.

Many of those original versions contain lost verses. Even Los Tigres, says Strachwitz, were surprised to discover in his collection a two-part rendition of "El Huérfano" (The Orphan), recorded 50 years ago on the Okeh label in San Antonio.

"They were just amazed that there were so many more verses than they had heard," says Strachwitz. "Nobody had ever seen these old records, and they finally began to realize that all this music had been documented since the beginning of the last century. So they were really impressed."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Title: "Ezequiel Rodriguez"
Artist: Ortiz y Maldonado con el Dueto Abrego  Label: Orfeo
This corrido, or narrative ballad, is one of the earliest recordings featuring two artists who would later become the famous duo Los Alegres de Teran, the first superstar group in Mexican regional music. The duo was composed of Tomas Ortiz, on the 12-string guitar known as bajo sexto, and Eugenio Abrego, who's backup accordion on this record. Their big hits from the '50s are on the Falcon label, based in McAllen, Texas. Their early recordings on the Orfeo label, based in Monterrey, Mexico, are very rare.

Title: "El Contrabando de El Paso" (El Paso Contraband)
Artist: Luis Hernandez-Leonardo Sifuentes    Label: Victor
Recorded in 1928, this corrido about booze-smuggling during Prohibition is considered an early precursor to the narcocorrido, the drug-smuggling ballads that became widely popular in the 1970s. This 78 rpm is the original version of a song that has since been recorded dozens of times, though later versions use the Spanish contraction "del Paso." It was recorded in the Texas border town by the New Jersey-based Victor label, which did field recordings in hotel rooms.

Title: "Amor del Bueno"  Artist: Miguel Aceves Mejia  Label: Peerless
Aceves Mejia was one of the great mariachi singers of all time, famous for his thrilling falsettos. But he started his career singing tropical music. In this famous bolero, written by Abel Dominguez, he's backed by the orchestra of Noe Fajardo on Peerless, one of the major Mexican music labels. The record illustrates the breadth of styles included in the Arhoolie collection.

Museum of San Diego History

Corridos sin Fronteras: 
A New World Ballad Tradition

  "January 14th through September 5th" 

For more information:
http://www.sandiegohistory.org  
and  http:// www.corridos.org
Sent by Viola Salder  vrsadler@aol.com

Big Congratulations to Steve Santillan 

An Exhibit of his work, Saturday May 7th and May 26th 
City of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery

1100 West Clark Avenue
Near the Intersection of Olive Ave. and Victory Blvd.
Artists' Reception - Saturday, May 7, 2005
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
For more information, please call, 818-238-5397

Danzantes Unidos Festival
"Siguiendo La Tradicion"
Gardena High School, March 18-20

Photos by Beatrice Armenta Dever

 
We think it is time for us to get to know one another by getting together for dinner. This time was chosen because we have a cousin from Pennsylvia that will be here then. She has done much research on our families and can tell us about our Ancestors.

Five O’clock  Wednesday, May 25th, 2005
At El Torito Restaurant
3360 Ocean Park Blvd . Santa Monica, CA.  ( near Centinella and Santa Monica Airport)

Bring all your Family!

No Host Bar- Dinner  $20.00, includes Beverage Dessert and Tip (RSVP  310-451-3216  by May 10th, I need a count)

We have a beautiful Family Heritage which we are proud of.  we need to stand up and be seen and share our lives with each other. Having so few cousins left, put forth an effort to come together in love and talk things over.  Our past is interesting I am sure we all have stories and pictures to share with everyone.  

I have reserved a private room at El Torito, close for some of us and far for others.  Mark this special time and be there, is the way to do it, or we may never meet.  We are a piece of California history.  Our forefathers will be proud of all of us together as one.

Copy this letter and send it on to others who may want to come.

 

Carriage Museum, Santa Barbara

Source: Los Californianos

The Carriage and Western Art Museum of Santa Barbara has the largest collection of carriages and saddles outside the Smithsonian Institution. Its unique collection is comprised of over seventy horse-drawn conveyances manufactured between 1850 and 1911. The collection also includes one of a kind silver-mounted saddles and equestrian tack by noted leather craftsmen such as Bohlin and Visalia. On display are saddles once owned by Will Rogers, dark Gable, and Ronald Reagan. In addition, the museum features an original western mural by famed artist Ed Borein.

The museum was founded by Leonard Kummer. Mr. Kummer thought it was a shame that the old carriages, buggies, wagons, and stagecoaches were only seen once a year in the Fiesta parade. With the establishment of the museum, the collection can be viewed throughout the year.

The museum has several stagecoaches. The stagecoach was an important form of transportation. Stagecoaches went from Santa Barbara to Los Olivos from 1861 to 1901. A team of six horses pulled the twelve-passenger coach up the famous Slippery Rock route over the San Marcos Pass. The trek took eight hours with three stops to change to a team of fresh horses.

The museum is located at 129 Castillo Street in what used to be called Pershing Park. Museum hours are Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Admission is free; donations are accepted.

California

The Sculptures of José Escobedo
Strengthening Latino Advocacy in the Bay Area on May 20, 2005
Admission of Latinos Rises at UC  
Spanish~Mexican Families of California, Volume III
ESTRADA FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA 
     The Land Problem 
     Extract from: California a History, by Andrew F. Rolle, 1963
     The RANCHOS: Once belonging to the Families "Estrada" 
Descendents of Solano County's Pioneer Families
Old Mission San Juan Bautista

The Sculptures of José Escobedo. 

Field Work - The Sculptures of José Escobedo  
In the Ruiz Gallery through May 22 

1630 Van Ness, Fresno, CA  93721

Tel: 559-266-2623   Fax: 559-266-6904

http://www.arteamericas.org/programs/calendario/april/2005.html  

In the 1950’s through the 1970’s, José Escobedo created creatures from nuts, bolts, reinforced steel, gears, and junk he found on the East Side Ranch. He gave many of his objects away and sold some. The Escobedo exhibit of over 150 pieces is on loan to Arte Américas from the collection of Florence and Frank Caglia, and members of the Escobedo family.

“My father died in 1998 at the age of 91 from a massive brain aneurysm. He worked everyday of his life until the very end. He was a good father respecting everyone and everything, and I believe he was considered an admirable person to all who met him. He lived a simple life and adorned it with things he made from rubbish. Frank Caglia and my father were good friends, and we are very happy that the Caglia family decided to show his work. The highest compliment to my father would be that people will walk away with an appreciative smile for the work he put into his creations.” — Francisca “Patchi” Garcia, one of nine children born to Cuca Perez Escobedo and José Escobedo.

José Escobedo was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in, 1907. His parents were killed during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. When he was nine years of age, he and his sister migrated to Colorado, then to Los Angeles, and thereafter to the Central Valley during the Depression. It was while he was working at the East Side Ranch in Firebaugh that Escobedo started creating his art work. 

Spanish~Mexican Families of California 
Volume III
Los Pobladores de la Reina de Los Angeles
by 
Marie Northrop

ESTRADA FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA 
First of a series of articles by James Estrada Hardy, see below.
estradahardy@direcway.com

Jim Estrada Hardy and wife Virginia Buckles

LUIS and ROSA de GARCIA ESTRADA

THE LAND PROBLEM

James Estrada Hardy
First of a series of articles
estradahardy@direcway.com

For the Spaniards, LAND WAS ALWAYS HELD IN A PARTICULAR FASCINATION AND IMPORTANCE. Indeed, it was their very basis for measuring both wealth and status. Under the Spanish land system, newly discovered terrain belonged solely to the King, who did, however, authorize a few private grants to California colonists, as trustees of the Crown. Later, the Mexican colonization law of 1824 increased the number of California land grants to more than eight hundred. By the time of the American conquest, almost fourteen million acres in all had been granted by Spanish and Mexican officials, with some grants overlapping each other. A few claims existed that were gargantuan, 133,000 to 1,775,000 acres in size. The average expense to early grantees for sometimes-handsome properties had seldom exceeded twelve United States dollars.

Although the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War had guaranteed resident Californians protection and security in the "free enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion," increasing dissatisfaction over the large land grants was expressed by the settlers who had arrived more recently, especially the Americans. Two distinctly different land traditions—the Spanish and the Anglo-American—were at loggerheads. For perhaps too long the rural Hispanics populace had clung to its silver-trimmed saddles and other symbols of the past. After 1850, old-time California residents, with their many herds of stunted cattle in possession, which had to be offered for sale at prohibitive prices because of the high costs of raising them, faced increasing imports of stronger Texas longhorns. Many Ranchos fell into debt, finding themselves caught in a fatal net of rising costs, falling income, and heightened competition. Unfortunately for them, more and more land-hungry American farmers were streaming into this cattle frontier. Almost all of them sought land.

Ranchos located near a creek or on lake frontage were especially exposed to poachers. Overland cattle drovers often stopped at such places to water their stock. American homesteaders who liked what they saw frequently became squatters, challenging the right of the rancheros to hold their land grants intact. Some incoming Americans justified land seizures by pointing out that, unlike other areas of the United States, California had made available to the public almost no arable free land. Other squatters, who knew nothing of Spanish or Mexican land claims, looked upon unoccupied lands as government property legitimately subject to private occupation, claiming the produce of the land and even the stray cattle. Still other newcomers roamed about the country, living in their wagons and using up a free water supply and grazing areas; these nomads, too, often picked up unbranded calves and other range animals.

In 1849 the Secretary of the Interior appointed William Carey Jones, to investigate the validity of California’s land grants. Jones was to determine precisely which lands fell under congressional jurisdiction. His report of May 1850, was quite out of harmony with the wishes of the squatters. Jones found the majority of the Mexican grants in conformity with the law; in short, the titles were "mostly perfect," and "equivalent to patents from our own government." Even where technical evidences of ownership by grant were insufficient, continuous occupation was held to have established title.

A previous report on land titles, filed by Henry Halleck, on March 1, 1849, had reached a different conclusion. Halleck, an army captain, was then serving as California’s secretary of state under Colonel Richard B. Mason, acting military governor. His report, thus made under army auspices, highlighted the spurious basis and doubtful validity of many land claims granted in the Mexican era. Halleck found unsurveyed tracts particularly ill defined, both as to origin and as to boundaries. In the last year of the Mexican era, 1846, eighty-seven grants had been made by Governor Pico; some of these were to his personal friends. Such grants, may with no well-established boundaries, were the most questionable of all.

Viewed from the standpoint of the American pioneer, it was intolerable that "a few hundred despised Spanish and Mexicans" should control vast tracts of the most fertile and desirable lands to the exclusion of the American farmers. "What right did the Arguello’s, or the Estradas, or the Swiss Captain Sutter to regal estates of eleven or more leagues? Did not the land belong to ‘the hardy men who had faced the dangers of desert and sierra’ and brought American institutions and laws to California?"

Ultimately, the most important phase of the land question concerned how mush land might be opened up within the state by the federal government: which parts of California would be declared public lands for sale? After 1851, it took several decades to answer this question. The United States Land Survey of California was begun that year. Thereafter large tracts of federal land became available for sale and for pre-emption purposes, especially after the Homestead Act of 1862 was passed by Congress. California itself became a gigantic land merchant. The State was eventually granted 500,000 acres of land by the federal government for distribution, in addition to two sections in each township for school purposes. Many individual purchasers were attracted by the low prices of these federal lands, and some pressure was thereby taken off private landholdings that might otherwise have been subject to squatting.

As a preliminary step in the land survey, a congressional act of March 1851 ("to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the State of California") created a Land Commission to receive petitions from private land claimants and to judge upon the validity of their titles. Landholders failing to submit claims within two tears would forfeit all rights to their lands, which would thenceforth be considered "a part of the public domain of the United States." This Land Act was mostly the handiwork of Senator Gwin, whose sympathies lay with American landseekers. Justice John Currey of the California Supreme Court cogently questioned the constitutionality of the act.

It is certainly true that during the re-examination of grant titles by the Land Commission, which convened in San Francisco early in 1852, many native landowners were subject to embarrassment and perhaps, in some cases, to unfair legal treatment. On the other hand, a few fraudulent claims were uncovered.

Not all squatters were scoundrels! Many honestly believed that the grants on which they had settled were not actually the possessions of others. Thus they took on in good faith the backbreaking job of land development. Accurate surveys of grants generally did not exist, and most original boundary marks had disappeared or became unrecognizable. Things like "The large oak was taken as a boundary, in which was placed the skull of a cow and some of the limbs cut off" were used as boundary markers. Sometimes an owner’s cattle brand was burned into a tree. Such marks were quickly obliterated by nature and their existence was hard to prove. Further confusion because of numerous duplications and conflicts in the names and boundaries of grants. The Californios had built few fences and had almost never quarreled over boundaries. There had been no reason for disputes over land, which had been plentiful and a slight of value until the coming of the Americans.

The Land Commission had opened its hearings in San Francisco on January 2^nd 1852: it finally adjourned on March 3^rd 1856, having undergone a complete change of personnel during its existence. During that four year period rancheros searched their homes for the original grants from Spanish and Mexican governors, ferreted maps out of the Surveyor General’s San Francisco archives, called upon friends and relatives to testify to their long tenures on the land, and consulted lawyers (most of whom were American shysters themselves), all to justify their titles. The burden of proof relied on them. They were at a disadvantage in other respects, too. None of the land commissioners spoke or read the Spanish language. Claimants in southern California were further handicapped by their distance from the place of the sessions. Rancheros mortgaged at high interest rates to pay legal fees, made trips to appeal to Washington officials and agencies and waited hopefully for confirmation of their titles.

A large number of the land cases culminated in appeals to the United States Supreme Court. Legal delays ran into many years. Confirmation of the Patent on the SIMI Rancho, as an example took twenty-four and a half years. In another case a claimant had to wait thirty-five years before he could call his land his own. From 1865 to 1880 alone, the owners of The Rancho Palos Verdes underwent seventy-eight lawsuits, six partition suits, a dozen suits over the ejection of squatters, three condemnation proceedings, and other legal controversies outside the courts. Some titles were fortunately settled more quickly.

Confusion over titles was compounded when squatter settlements were "platted" upon lands claimed by the original grantees. In several such cases squatters tore down fences, built makeshift shacks, and ripped out boundary and ownership markers. Knifings, shootings, and other forms of bloodshed and personal violence occurred whenever squatters were threatened with eviction from lands on which they had made improvements. When they received adverse court decisions, settlers organized themselves to influence the nomination of judges sympathetic to their feelings. Squatters indeed sought to form a new Settler’s Party to safeguard their rights to land that they had made improvements. There soon were prominent politicians on both sides of the squatter-versus-rancher issues.

He fact that Congress could be pressured into rigorously shifting hundreds of land titles raised an unnecessary barrier between American claimants and Californios. He sense of security once felt by the Spanish and Mexican natives gave way to despair. Threatened sometimes by violence over land seizure or cattle rustling, the rancheros, unused to moving about with a revolver strapped to their hip, generally yielded. Law enforcement was not, incidentally, well organized in rural areas, and an influx of frontier "bad men," who could be enlisted by the squatters, made the rural areas dangerous.

Though the Californios theoretically had recourse in the courts, the law was often interpreted by squatter judges and squatter juries and administered by squatter sheriffs. The formidable amount of power on the side of the squatters at times lead to "squatter compromises" by which squatters could buy land whish they frequently already controlled with barbed wire and a revolver. Though such land sales radically altered the ranchos, this was frequently the only way to settle disputes with out violence.

A fairly contemporary assessment of all this confusion over land, that of Henry George’s Progress and Poverty (1871), stated:  "If the history of Mexican grants of California is ever written, it will be a history of greed, of perjury, of corruption, of spoliation, and high-handed robbery, for which it will be hard to find a parallel…".

The 1860’s were the years of the locust on California’s ranchos and farms. Land sales brought only temporary relief to the insolvent. Furthermore, a series of physical disasters combined to produce unfortunate results. In addition to a crop-destroying grasshopper invasion, came floods and then, in the middle of the decade, a period of bone-dry aridity. (Five thousand head of cattle were marketed at Santa Barbara in these years for only thirty-seven cents each, and the annual income of even wealthy American land barons fell to only $300.) Desperate rancheros tried to raise vegetables, to sell out corrals of horses, to rent them for plowing, to cut up cordwood to sell in the nearby towns—anything to recoup losses.

All their misfortunes, sometimes magnified, cannot, of course, be blamed on the United States land politics. Personal improvidence, falling farm prices after the Civil War, and mechanized agricultural systems were also responsible. New and oppressive property taxes reduced the fortunes of the landowners, encouraging concentration of vast holdings in the hands of lawyers and bankers. Mobilizing their credit effectively, California’s nouveaux riches formed relatively tax-free and tight land monopolies from whose deleterious effects the state took decades to rid itself.

In short, the Spanish-Mexican natives and the Americans were hurt by the confusion over land ownership in California. Public confidence in land titles was so shaken that for years buyers were well advised to exercise caution. No genuine title to land could be established in some cases until the 1870’s. This situation, incidentally, led to the founding of the flourishing state title-insurance business. Californian’s however weathered the many frustrations over land titles. The struggle over dissolution of these Spanish and Mexican land claims is, in a sense, related to the growth of a more modern California.

Extract from: CALIFORNIA A HISTORY

By Andrew F. Rolle
1963

The United States Land Commission met in San Francisco for the first time in 1852. They were a federal appointed board to adjudicate the nearly five hundred Mexican and Spanish grant land titles and confirm or reject each petition as soon as possible. At the end of four years the seven judges had settled three claims.

Besides this major struggle between the claimants and the Federal government, there was continual complicated litigation in progress between individuals over the same tracts. Even when minor skirmishes had ended, the battle had to be begun again in the Supreme Court of the nation.

To fight with legal weapons cost money. Sutter spent $325,000 in ten years to maintain his title, his occupancy, and to make necessary improvements on his property. For twenty years the federal government was credited with robbing seven of every eight claimants seeking justice before the United States Land commission, making the private citizen, at prohibitive expense, defend his title against powerful opposition that had no cost to pay. The very people who had been assured of their land titles by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, following the Mexican War, were thus despoiled. It was probably the most flagrant government confiscation of property in modern times, if we except the land-grabbing of the totalitarian states. The uncertainty of landownership held in check the development of the state’s natural resources for two decades.

Extract from; The Rivers of America

THE SACRAMENTO, River of Gold
By Julian Dana, 1939

Husband and Wife

  Juan Malarin, Sea Captain and Merchant                Maria Josefa Joaquina Estrada Malarin

Parents of Maria Concepcion Juliana Malarin, wife of
Jose Guadalupe Rafael Papias Estrada

Uncle of:
Juan Urbano Malarin
The Rail Car Man

Among the ranchos once possessed by the Familia Estrada was the RANCHO BUENA VISTA, and it was situated on the Salinas River, it was originally occupied as early as 1759 by Jose Maria Soberanes, a soldier of the Portola party, and his father-in-law, Joaquine Castro, of the San Francisco company. The Buena Vista was not far from the Monterey presidio’s "rancho del rey" where the military pastured their horses, cattle, mules and sheep. It was one of a group of six early and rather temporary private ranchos on the Salinas River near Monterey. Of the six, the names of the Buena Vista and Las Salinas appear in the list of ranchos the titles of which were finally confirmed The Buena Vista itself, long after the death of the first Soberanes and its abandonment by the family, was re-granted to another soldier, Jose Mariano Estrada and his son Santiago, in 1822-3. The Rancho consisted of 7,726 acres, this rancho in its later days was patented to Mariano Malarin, attorney for Santiago Estrada on 15 September 1869. Mariano Malarin, being a cousin of the Estradas.

*** Buena Vista, H.153; S.D. 204: Reg Br., 21; M. 247; U.S. 7,725.56 acres. Two square leagues in Monterey County granted May 1822 by Sola and June 1823 by Arguello to Jose Mariano Estrada, a native of Loreto and a soldier of the Monterey Company. This was an abandoned Spanish grant of 1795 that was given to Jose Soberanes and Joaquine Castro.

It is documented in the records of the Land Commission papers that there was 34 people who had, and were, living on the premises of the above-mentioned rancho, and the Rancho Llano de Buena Vista, for the past several years. (Bancroft Vol. II CA History)

*** The first reference # H.153 corresponds to the number of the case before the Land Commission which was appointed to judge these grants by the United States government. There was 813 such claims filed in the Hoffman’s index, but several were duplicates, some were fraudulent and some were merely too small to be considered as ranchos. The second number refers to the district in which the grant is located and may be either Southern or Northern, and it is by this number that copies of the original espediente’s, along with all related papers, are filed in the Federal Post Office Building in San Francisco. The third number refers to the Register of Brands, to be found in the volume marked Miscellany, MS. II in the Bancroft Library. Other grants shall also have a reference cited as Ex., which refers to the espediente as listed in the Jimeno and Hartnell Indexes of Land Concessions, 1830-1846. ***The Congress of the United States passed a bill March 3, 1851 establishing the Land Commission to investigate the validity of all Spanish and Mexican land grants in California, and to confirm titles thereto. Until March 1, 1856, when the commission disbanded, it examined 813 claims. Of these 591 were finally confirmed, and 203 were rejected. Of the 813 claims, 264 were settled by the commission, 450 were adjudicated by the district courts, and 99 by the United States Supreme Court. (* Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in California, R.H. Avina)

The RANCHO PASTORIA de los BORREGAS in Santa Clara County at Sunnyvale, 2 leagues were granted in 1842 to Jose Francisco Antonio Estrada, son of Jose Mariano Estrada, Francisco married Marcelina Castro, Marcelina’s brother Mariano Castro was claimant for 4172 acres, patented 17 September 1881. Also a portion of this rancho, 4,894 acres, was patented to Martin Murphy Jr. This rancho today would have encompassed everything north of El Camino Real from Castro Station (Mountain View) to Lawrence Station at Sunnyvale. *** H. 90/257; N.D. 84/97;Ex.265; M.144; U.S.4, 894.35 and 4,172.13 acres. In Santa Clara county, January 1842 by Alvarado to Francisco Estrada.

Granted to Joaquine Estrada, son of Jose Raymundo, was the RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA IN San Luis Obispo County at Santa Margarita. This was 4 leagues, being granted in 1841, and which consisted of 17,735 acres, and was patented 9 April 1861. *** H. 501; S.D. 149; Ex. 253; M. 316; U.S. 17,734.94 acres. Four square leagues in San Luis Obispo County, September 1841 by Jimeno to Joaquine Estrada.

Granted to Julian Estrada, son of Jose Mariano, was the RANCHO SANTA ROSA situated in San Luis Obispo County at Cambria that was 3 leagues or 13,184 acres, being granted in 1841 and patented 18 March 1865. ***H. 140; S.D. 173; Ex. 238; M. 323; U.S. 13,183.62 acres. Three square leagues in San Luis Obispo County, June 1841 by Alvarado to Julian Estrada, son of Jose Mariano Estrada.

The RANCHO ASUNCION located in San Luis Obispo County south of Atascadero being granted in 1845 to Pedro Estrada, son of Jose Raymundo, who was claimant for 39,225 acres, being patented 22 March 1863. ***H. 588; S.D. 76; Ex. 455; M. 318; U.S. 39,224.81 acres. In San Luis Obispo County, June 1845 by Pico to Pedro Estrada approved July 1845.

The RANCHO RINCON de las SALINAS, located in Monterey County south west of Castroville was ½ league granted to Cristina Delgado in 1833. Rafael Estrada, son of Jose Raymundo, was claimant for patent of 2,220 acres on March 1, 1881. ***H. 585; S.D. 215; Ex. 16; M. 255; U.S. 2,220.02 acres. ½ square league in Monterey County, December 1833, by Figueroa to Christine Delgado. Approved May 17, 1834.

The RANCHO SAN LUCAS, Monterey County at San Lucas. Two leagues were granted to Rafael Estrada in 1842. James McKinley was claimant for 8.875 acres, patented February 23, 1872. ***H. 530; S.D. 34; Ex. 282, 506; M. 315; U.S. 8,874.72 acres. Granted May 1842 by Alvarado to Rafael Estrada.

The RANCHO SAN SIMEON, located in San Luis Obispo County at San Simeon, 1 league was granted to Jose Ramon Estrada in 1842. Jose Miguel Gomez, a Mexican Priest and believed to be the brother of Rafael Gomez’ first husband of Josefa Estrada daughter of Jose Mariano Estrada, was grantee claimant of 4,469 acres which were patented on April 1, 1865. *** H. 504; S.D. 320; M. 322; U.S. 4,468.81 acres. One Square league in San Luis Obispo County, December 1842 by Alvarado to Jose Ramon Tibrucio Estrada, so of Jose Mariano Estrada, a native of Loreto.

RANCHO TULARCITOS, IN Monterey County at Jamesburg, Carmel Valley, 6 leagues were granted in 1834 to Rafael Gomez, husband of Josefa Estrada, daughter of Jose Mariano Estrada, and who’s heirs were claimants for 26,581 acres, patented 12 March 1866. Josefa Estrada later sold the rancho to the Boronda family who later sold a portion to the Marbles, this part of the rancho is today among the most naturally pristine parcels of land in the valley and is known as "The Marble Ranch". It is on the original Rancho Tularcitos that the Dona Juana Boronda is believed to have invented and processed the cheese that came to be known as "Monterey Jack", as she made this cheese by using a jack to press the homemade yellow cheese. ***Tularcitos, H. 195; S.D. 3; Ex. 95; M.291; U.S. 26,581. 34 acres. Six square leagues in Monterey County by Figueroa to Rafael Gomez, a Mexican lawyer and also grantee of Santa Rosa. *** Santa Rosa, H. 474; S.D. 294; Ex. 160; M.370; U.S. 15, 525.10 acres. 3 ½ square leagues in Santa Barbara County.

The RANCHO Llano de BUENA VISTA situated in Monterey County at Spreckles and which was 2 leagues being granted to Santiago and Jose Mariano Estrada in 1822-3. David Spence, husband of Maria Altagracia Estrada, daughter of Jose Mariano Estrada, was the claimant for 8,446 acres, patented 4 January 1860. Also was the RANCHO ENCINAL y BUENA ESPERANZA located in Monterey County 2 miles north of Chular was 3 leagues granted in 1834 and 1839 to David Spence, who was claimant for 13,391 acres, patented 23 May 1862. *** Llano de, H.518; S.D. 151; M. 266; U.S. 8,446.23 acres. Two square leagues in Monterey County granted June 1823 by Luis Arguello to Jose Mariano Estrada; often considered as one grant with Rancho Buena Vista. *** Buena Esperanza, H. 54; S.D. 4; Ex.94; M. 269; U.S. 13,391.64 acres. Two square leagues were granted November 1834 (Encinal) to David Esteban Spence; Alvarado granted 1 square league addition in April 1839. Approved August 29, 1835. Record of grant of Rincon de Buena Esperanza in 1844.

The Rancho EL TORO, Monterey County, 10 miles east of Monterey and which encompassed Mt. Toro. Jose Ramon Estrada was grantee of 1 ½ leagues in 1835. Charles Wolters was claimant for 5,668 acres, patented October 27, 1862. *** H. 194;S.D. 112; Ex. 7; M. 275; U.S.5, 668.41 acres. 1 ½ square leagues granted September 1835 by Jose Castro. He had formerly held San Lucas Gonzaga, but exchanged it for El Toro, to which an addition was made in 1840. Later he was grantee of San Simeon.

The RANCHO SANTA ROSA de CHULAR in Monterey County at Chular, 2 leagues were granted in 1839 to Juan Malarin, husband of Maria Josefa Estrada, daughter of Jose Mariano Estrada. Mariano Malarin, son of Juan, executor, was claimant for 8,890 acres, patented 31 October 1872. Also the RANCHO GUADALUPE y Llanitos de los Correos located in Monterey County 3 miles south west of Chular. 2 leagues were granted to Juan Malarin in 1833. His son Mariano, executor was also awarded the claim of 8,859 acres, patented 29 June 1865. ***Chular, H.154; S.D. 110; Ex. 46; M. 270; U.S. 8,889.68 acres. Two square leagues in Monterey County, September 1839 by Jimeno to Juan Malarin. *** Guadalupe Correos, H. 152 S.D. 109; Ex. 21; M. 273; U.S. 8,858.44 acres. Two square leagues in Monterey County, granted May 1833 by Figueroa to Juan Malarin, a native of Peru, Approved August 29, 1835.

To Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, brother of Josefa Maria Vallejo, the wife of Jose Raymundo Estrada was the RANCHO PETALUMA in Sonoma County at Petaluma and to near Sonoma. 15 leagues were granted in 1834 and 1843-4 granted. Vallejo was claimant for 66,622 acres, patented 19 November 1874. Vallejo’s claim was confirmed after he had given up his rights to squatters, who he was tired of fighting. Also the RANCHO SOSCOL (or Suscol) in Solano County at Benicia and Vallejo was granted in 1843 to Mariano G. Vallejo, whose claim was rejected as fraudulent. *** H.250, 800; N.D. 321, 256; M.49; U.S. 66,622.17 acres. Four square leagues in Sonoma County, granted October 1843 by M. Micheltorena to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, five square leagues in 1844 by sale to Vallejo. Approved September 1845.

The RANCHO BOLSA de SAN CAYETANO also in Monterey County south of Watsonville, which was 2 leagues, was granted in 1824to Ignacio Vicente Vallejo who was the father of Josefa Maria Vallejo, wife of Jose Raymundo Estrada. Jose de Jesus Vallejo, a son of Ignacio, was claimant for 8,866 acres, patented 14 February 1865. Also RANCHO ARROYO de la ALAMEDA in Alameda County was 4 leagues granted to Jose de Jesus Vallejo in 1842. He was claimant for 17.705 acres, patented 1 January 1859. ***San Cayetano, H. 85, 689; S.D.35, 278; Reg.Br. 26; M.221; U.S.8, 886.43 acres. Two square leagues in Monterey County, granted by Arguello to Ignacio Vallejo a native of Jalisco, and probably to Pico, whose claim (H.689) was refused as he failed to fulfill the conditions of the grant. This had been a Spanish grant by Sola and in October of 1834 was re-granted by Figueroa to Jose de Jesus Vallejo. *** Alameda, H. 82,83; N.D. 59, 60; Ex. 216, 318; M. 133; U.S. 17.705 acres. Four square leagues in Alameda County, granted August 1842 by Alvarado to Jose de Jesus Vallejo, son of Ignacio Vallejo a native of Jalisco.

The RANCHO PARAJE de SANCHEZ 9also called Punta del Monte) in Monterey County 1 mile south of Gonzales 1 ½ square leagues were granted in 1839 to Francisco Lugo, grandfather of Josefa Maria Vallejo. Francisco’s daughter Juana Briones de Lugo et al claimed this rancho, which was of area 6,548 acres, patented 9 August 1866*** H.537; S.D. 230; Ex. 75; M. 282; U.S. 6,584.31 acres. Granted by Alvarado to Francisco Lugo, a Mexican soldier of Sinaloa. This grant was possibly made in 1834.There are several more ranchos awarded to Lugo’s, as follows: *** Santa Anna del Chino. H.433, 434; S.D. 182, 335; Ex. 231, 191; M. 477, 478; U.S. 22,193.50 U.S. 13,366.16 acres. Five square leagues in San Bernardino County, granted March 1841 by Alvarado to Antonio Maria Lugo, son of Francisco. And also granted San Antonio, Los Angeles County at Lynwood, Bell, Montebello and Maywood. Granted in 1810, 1823, 1827, and 1828 to Antonio Maria Lugo, who was claimant for 29, 513 acres. *** San Antonio, H. 706, 707, 708, 710; N.D. 383, 366, 368, 354,378; Ex. 136; M. 176; U.S. 4,440.31 and 3,541.80 acres. One Square league in Santa Clara County, by Arrillaga 1810, Arguello 1823, Echeandia 1827 –1828.

The RANCHO NAPA, H. 495, 500, 649, 694, 717, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734, 835, 736, 737, 763, 791; N.D. 67, 78, 149, 141, 225, 122, 146, 111, 123, 109, 116, 120, 118, 117, 110, 393, 71, 79, 66, 313, 76, 139, 164,112; Ex. 200; M. 76. Patented by U.S. in 29 tracts totaling nearly 30,000 acres.( N.D. 433, 453.) In Napa County, September 21, 1838 by Alvarado to Salvador Vallejo. Approved October 8, 1845. January 1, 1839 he received the grant of Salvador’s rancho, which was also called Napa (H. 582, 583, 577, 579, N.D.241, 261. 249, 212). This was probably patented under the name Yajome, M 77 U.S. 6,652.58 acres, although other claimants for part of this Rancho (Salvador’s) claimed that it was a grant of 11 leagues in June 1837. One of the many claims for Napa, Salvador was given a patent for 3,178.93 acres. A grant of Lupyomi made to him by Micheltorena in 1844 was rejected. The Napa Rancho was devoted to planting rather than livestock and from it the present town of Napa has grown. His father, Ignacio, was a native of Jalisco, Mexico, and of pure Spanish blood. He was the brother of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.

The Rancho Las PULGAS, in San Mateo County, at Belmont and Redwood City. Four square leagues were granted in 1824 and 1835 to Luis Antonio Arguello, whose heirs were claimants for 35,240 acres, patented October 2, 1857. 1857. ***H.2, 640, 746; N.D. 54, 293; M.148; U.S. 35,240.47 acres. Granted in December 1835 by Castro to the heirs of Luis Arguello. This grant was made in 1820-21 by Sola and confirmed by Castro, and approved by the Territorial Deputation December 10, 1835. It was at first rejected by the United States on the grounds that the grantees had failed to comply with the conditions and that Castro ha no power to make grants. However it was finally recognized.

The Rancho TRABUCO, Orange County at Trabuco Canyon. Five leagues were granted to Santiago Arguello et al. in1841 and 1846. John Foster was claimant for 22,184 acres, patented August 6, 1866. *** H. 412; S.D. 216; Ex. 247; M. 497; U.S. 22,184.47 acres. Five square leagues in Los Angeles county; two leagues granted provisionally February 1841 and finally July or August 1841 by Alvarado to Ramon and Santiago Arguello, grandson of former governor and also grantee of Melyo, district of San Diego, granted 1833, rejected by land commission of the U.S. This was formerly a Mission Rancho (Trabuco). Juan Foster settled in the district in 1844 and possibly received a part of this land grant in 1846 from Pio Pico, who’s sister he married. At any rate the grant was confirmed to him and he was also grantee of Rancho de la Nacion and purchased San Juan Capistrano.

The RANCHO NOJOQUE in Santa Barbara County south of Santa Ynes, 3 leagues were granted in 1843 to Raimundo Carrillo, husband of Tomasa Lugo, daughter of Francisco Lugo, the grandfather of Josefa Maria Vallejo, wife of Jose Raymundo Estrada. Carrillo was claimant for 13,285 acres, patented 11 September 1869. Raimundo Carrillo was also the brother of Maria Anna Ysabel Carrillo, grandmother of Jose Mariano Estrada. There are several more ranchos awarded to the sons and daughters of Raimundo Carrillo. The RAMCHO LOMPOC in Santa Barbara County at Lompoc was granted to Joaquine and Jose Antonio Carrillo who were claimants for 42,085 acres, patented 3 November 1873. The RANCHO MISION VIEJO de la PURISIMA in Santa Barbara County at White Hills 1 league was granted in 1845 to Joaquine and Jose Antonio Carrillo, who were claimants for 4,414 acres, patented 12 October 1822.

The RANCHO ZANJONES, Monterey County 2 miles S. E. of Chular. 1 ½ square leagues were granted in 1839 to Gabriel de la Torre. Mariano Malarin, executor claimant for 6,714 acres, patented August 9, 1866. *** H.151; S.D. 108; Ex.169; M. 271; U.S. 6,714.49 acres Granted August 1839 by Jimeno to Gabriel de la Torre,

Surveying in early California was on a strictly amateur basis. Town lots did not absolutely require surveying and, for ranchos, the overseeing of the job fell frequently to the alcalde of the pueblo having jurisdiction. He would set forth, with or without a surveyor but accompanied by two chain bearers, all on horseback. A cord (or reata) one hundred (sometimes only fifty) varas long was used – a vara was about 33 inches long – and to each end was attached a wooden stake. This cord was always brought before the magistrate prior to its use and its length would be officially attested. Taking, say a black willow tree, as a starting point, the party would place between the limbs dry sticks in the form of a cross. At the willow tree, one of the riders would hold his stick attached to the cord into the ground and one of the riders would proceed at a full gallop in the proper direction along the perimeter of the land being surveyed, and when the end of the cord was reached that rider would place his stick into the ground at which time the other rider would remove his stick from the ground and proceed to overtake the other rider and thus stretch the cord to its length and stick his stick into the ground, two well mounted vaqueros could thus run many miles of boundary line in the course of a day, at which time the process would continue again and again until the next land marker was established, this maybe would be a large boulder covered with moss or some other distinctive land mark, even another tree. This procedure would continue all the way around the property in question back to the point of beginning. These measurements were obviously little more than rough approximations and furnished enormous opportunities for error.

Because many of these ‘landmarks’ were transient or destructible and only a few decades would render them un-recognizable or obliterated them completely, as in a tree, it would not take long before that marker would become disintegrated and the ‘landmarks’ were often lost, this happening, often one piece of property would overlap another. Often times such things as a ‘cattle skull on the top of a large rock’ would be used, or even just a large piece of an old dead tree. Vital locations were marked by almost anything that was at hand without thought for the needs of the future.

The Alcalde (Judge or Mayor of the pueblos) was not only a notary, but also a receiver and keeper of documents. Not only deeds, but also mortgages, bills of sale, leases, powers of attorney, wills, petitions, and other instruments were put into his safekeeping. The alcalde would record such things a markers and directions of travel from such markers, as from the boulder with the skull atop it at a right angle we would proceed a declared number of lengths or reata’s with certain mention of other markers along the right line to such a point as a small creek or streamlet (or other object) was arrived at (or something being placed there) and thus turning toward the north, east, south or west, etc. etc. until the property was measured and such measurements were duly recorded. At the time of the meeting of the beginning point the land petitioner would hold a small ritual in which he would throw a few hands full of earth or stones into the air and claim the measured land his.

With the occupation of California in 1846 by the United States these land grants and surveys were to be recorded as certified documents to conform to the ways of the American recording system. Many deeds were put to question as to validity, and areas covered, thus requiring them to be surveyed using a more precise way of measuring and recordings.

Bibliography:
Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in California, Rose Hollenbaugh Avina 1976

Los Ranchos de la Alta California, Robert G. Cowan 1977

Stokvis Studies in Historical Chronology and Thought

California Ranchos: Patented Private Land Grants Listed by County

Burgess McK. Shumway 1988

For information, please contact: 
Nancy Morebeck: Tel. 707-448-5217, - morebeck@sbcglobal.net   
Mary Higham: Tel. 707-426-2081 -  MaryLHigham@aol.com

Mission San Juan Bautista was founded on Saturday, June 24, 1797 by Fr. Fermín Francisco Lasuén, the Presidente of the California missions. June 24 is the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, hence the name. This mission was one of four begun by Fr. Lasuén in the summer of 1797 to fill in gaps between the existing missions. The others were San José, San Miguel Arcángel, and San Fernando Rey de España.

Construction began almost immediately under the care of Fathers José Manuel de Martairena and Pedro Martínez. By Christmas, because of the friendly and cooperative indigenous people, not only was there an adobe church built but also a granary, barracks, a monastery, and some adobe houses.

In June 1803, the cornerstone was laid for the present church. With three naves or aisles, it became the widest of all the mission churches. It was dedicated on June 23, 1812. Padre Esteban Tapis is buried in the sanctuary of the church. He was, at one time, Presidente of the Missions, and he was the founder of the Mission Santa Inés. When he retired from office he came to San Juan Bautista where his musical talents brought fame and a new name to San Juan, "The Mission of Music." Two of his handwritten choir books can be seen in the Museum.

Interior completion of the church continued through 1817 when the floor was tiled and the main altar and reredos (which holds the six statues) were completed by Thomas Doak, an American sailor who had jumped ship in Monterey and who painted them in exchange for room and board. He married a Castro and continued to live in San Juan Bautista.

The convento wing is all that remains of the quadrangle that had enclosed the gardens. The kitchen served 1200 people three times a day. Our collection of books and art works are in many cases older than the mission. Some of the fine vestments in the museum are from China, Russia, and Venice and were used at the mission as recently as the 1930s.

The cemetery contains the remains of over 4,000 Christian Native Americans and Europeans. There is also the grave of Ascención Solorzano, the last pureblooded Native of this mission.

The mission registers list forty-two Indian tribes that belonged to the mission. They spoke twenty-nine dialects and thirteen different languages. Fr. Arroyo de la Cuesta learned more than a dozen languages and could deliver sermons in seven of them.

In the Mission Museum the barrel organ may be seen. A barrel organ is like a big hand-cranked music box. Where this barrel organ came from is not very clear. Some say that George Vancouver gave it to Fr. Lasuén. It is also said to have come to Monterey on a whaling vessel. It came to Mission San Juan Bautista in 1826 or 1829. It was placed in the choir loft until the missionaries heard what tunes it played. Four of the thirty songs it played were "Go to the Devil," "Lady Campbell's Reel," "A College Hornpipe," and the "Marseillaise." The padres took it out of the choir loft when it was discovered that it did not play any music suitable to use in church. They played it for the Indians who loved it. Their favorite was the Marseillaise!

The present Gift Shop was a storeroom. In 1847, it was a temporary home for the Breen family who had survived the Donner Party tragedy. Their family Bible is in the Museum. The second room was known as La Sala. Here the padres entertained their guests.

The San Andreas Fault runs along the base of the hill below the cemetery. In 1906, there was a violent earthquake which shook the greater part of central California. The sidewalls of the church collapsed and were restored in 1976. Vestiges of the original El Camino Real can still be seen north of the cemetery.

In 1997, the site of the original chapel was restored and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is here that daily Mass is held.

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

BYU Computer Genealogy Conference

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Cuentos From My Childhood by Storyteller
Paulette Atencio

Patencio@ravin.net
Resume: http://www.pauletteatencio.com/welcome.html

Photos of My Family
Photo was submitted to MyFamily.com by Belinda Rose (Torres) Corre who writes:

This is a photo of my grandparents and their twelve children! It was taken in 1925. My dad, Guadalupe O. Torres, is the youngest of the twelve kids and is standing in front of his dad, Adrian Torres. MyFamily.com has brought our very large family together and we love the website.  

MyFamily.com includes a variety of family oriented articles on how to cherish and save   family records, traditions, even recipes.  It is not dedicated to Hispanics, but the 3/12/2005 included three photos with Hispanic surnames.    

MyFamily Weekly: Family Heirlooms and Portraits, 3/12/2005  
Sent by newsletter@reply.myfamilyinc.com
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Concordia Heritage Association

P.O. BOX 3153 EL PASO, TEXAS 79923-3153

For more information see the Concordia Heritage Association's website at http://www.rgfn.epcc.edu/users/bv929/cha.html

The extraordinary range of African-American migrations - from the earliest Africans who arrived to the recent movement of blacks back to the South - is the focus of a new Web site and an exhibition of recent research that could redefine African-American history, said scholars involved with the project, which was announced at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, "m Motion: The African-American Migration Experience," a three-year project that cost $2.4 million, is probably the largest single documentation of the migrations of all people of African ancestry in North America, said Howard Dodson, director of the center, part of the New York Public Library.

The exhibition at the Schomburg Center's Exhibition Hall, showcases many of the images, maps and music assembled for the project. But the project's 16,500 pages of essays, books, articles and manuscripts, as well as 8,300 illustrations and 60 maps are also available on the center's Web site (schomburgcenter.org) and could encourage a national conversation on the very definition of African-American, Mr. Dodson, a historian, said in an interview.

The project is chock full of illuminating facts. It shows that in recent years, twice as many African-Americans have moved from the North to the South as from the South to other regions. From 1995 to 2000 approximately 680,000 African-Americans moved to the South and 330,000 left, for a net gain of 350,000.

And for the first time, all the elements of the African diaspora - natives of Africa, Americans whose ancestors were enslaved Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, Central and South Americans of African descent, as well as Europeans with

African or Afro-Caribbean roots -can be found in the United States.

The project's scholars represent a range of mostly American universities, including the University of Chicago, Columbia and the University of Delaware. They were commissioned by the Schomburg, and most expanded on research that had already yielded scholarly material.

The money for the project, Mr. Dodson said, came in part from a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, through the efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus and Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York.

The research topics included the movements of blacks out of the United States to places like Liberia, Trinidad, Canada, Haiti and Mexico; the 19th-century migration north of both free and enslaved blacks; the migration of blacks in the West and even the journeys of runaway slaves. Some said their findings were surprising or at least tweaked conventional theories.

Loren Schweninger, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, said his research on runaways showed that many more fled to other parts of the South than made it North. Of the 50,000 or more slaves who ran away each year, perhaps only 2,000 made it North; it was just too difficult, for one reason. "And that tells you a lot about slavery," he said. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Los Angeles Family History Center New Hours of Operation

Tues-Thurs: 10 am to 9 pm Fri-Sat: 9 am to 5 pm Closed Sun & Mon

Abstract from SLAVERY IN COLONIAL MEXICO 
By John P. Schmal

The Marriages of Slaves in Mexico

http://marketplacesolutions.net/secure/heritagebooks/merchant2/merchant.mvc
?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HBI&Product_Code=M2469

History Celebrated 
by Page Johnson
Church News contributor

There is something bittersweet about discovering the name of one of your relatives listed on a bill of sale as a piece of property, said researchers of African-American history during the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center's annual observance of Black History month.

Church News, 
Week ending March 12, 2005

Held each weekend during February, the event featured varied musical performances, lectures and exhibits. Many participants, largely people of other faiths, expressed a sense of being "at home" on the beautiful grounds near the temple.

More than 1,600 people, including ambassadors and other dignitaries, attended the evening events that kicked off with a fireside featuring Darius Gray, past president of the Genesis Group, and Margaret Young, a BYU professor of creative writing who collaborated with Brother Gray on a trilogy about black Mormon pioneers, "Standing Promises."

MOHAWK LAND CLAIM

  In February 2005, the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs (a traditional Haudenosaunee government), the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne signed an agreement with Governor George Pataki to resolve their historic claim to lands in Northern New York.

  Represented by the Indian Law Resource Center, the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs approved the agreement only after years of vigorous advocacy to ensure that the deal adequately protected the interests of their community and of future generations of Mohawks. "Through a lot of hard work at home and at the negotiating table, the Council of Chiefs has forged an agreement they can be very proud of," said Indian Law Resource Center attorney Alex Page.

  The settlement agreement resolves legal claims first filed in federal court nearly twenty-five years ago. Those claims site repeated violations of a federal treaty confirming Mohawk land rights. Under the settlement, the Mohawks will receive lands and monetary compensation, as well as the opportunity to further expand their territory through purchases from willing sellers. The agreement does not include casinos or taxation, two issues the Mohawks successfully fought to keep separate from the land claim.

  "The Akwesasne Mohawks are a truly unique community of people who have united to cooperatively end this divisive litigation," Governor Pataki said. "I am very pleased that our collective efforts will achieve a fair resolution of the land claim, while protecting the interests of local governments, landowners and taxpayers in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties. We look forward to working together with the Legislature and Congress to implement this agreement."

  The Mohawk community of Akweasne straddles the US-Canadian border and is governed by three Mohawk councils. The Indian Law Resource Center has represented the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs for more than twenty years.

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Barbara's specialty is Native American, Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole). She also researches other American tribes and the First Americans of Canada. Benge offers help for those seeking their Indian Heritage through a Native American Genealogy website.

Both Barbara's husband and her family are of Cherokee descent. Barbara's husband's ancestors were very important members of the Cherokee Nation. These ancestors include John Benge and Peter Hildebrand who were both wagon masters on the Trail of Tears. Her genealogy addiction started after watching the documentary, How the West was Lost, which featured the Benge Trail. After that, Barbara began helping her husband's Aunt Rosie work on the Benge Genealogy.

CDs:
1880 Cherokee Nation Census Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Heritage Books Inc., 2000.
1890 Cherokee Nation Census Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Heritage Books Inc., 2002.

Barbara Benge's Message: "Millions of people throughout Canada and the United States share a Native American Heritage. Have you been putting off your search because of the difficulties of Native American genealogy? Join us to learn about the information that is available to you, and how to use that information once you obtain it."

Lesson 1: Getting Started
• Introduction
• Five Steps to Take Before Beginning Native American Research
• Non-Indian Records
• Princess and Indian Chief Tradition
• Using Maps to Determine Possible Tribes
• Migration Patterns and How they Fit into Indian Research
• Degree of Indian Blood
• Indian Names
• What Information is Available through Ancestry.com
• Assignment

Lesson 2: The Five Civilized Tribes
• Who are the Five Civilized Tribes?
• Original Area of Lands Covered for these Tribes
• Background Information on the Five Civilized Tribes History
• Removal-the Trail of Tears
• Freedmen Records-Black-Indians
• Old Settlers vs Immigrants
• Eastern Cherokees
  • Why Were Some Allowed to Remain in the East?
  • The Misconception of those who Escaped the Trail of Tears
  • Other Records for the Eastern Cherokees
• Assignment

Lesson 3: The Dawes and the Guion Miller Roll
• The Dawes Roll
  • What is it?
  • What were the Requirements
  • What Information Can We Gather from the Dawes?
• The Guion Miller roll
  • Goldmine of Genealogical Knowledge
  • Direct and Indirect Evidence
  • If Someone was Rejected Does that Mean they are Not Cherokee?
  • Other Tribes that Applied to the Guion Miller
• Assignment

Lesson 4: The National Archives
• Using the 1920 Census for Native American Research
• National Archive Records
• Indian Census Records
• Indian Boarding Schools
• What Information Can I Gather from a Treaty?
• Special Censuses
• Assignment

Lesson 5: The Plains and Central United States Tribes
• Tribes that Make up the Plains Indians
• What is the Difference Between a Tribe and a Band?
• Who are These Tribes?
• What Material will Help Me in my Genealogical Research?
• Assignment

Lesson 6: Early Eastern Tribes and Small Tribes including those of California
• Interrelationship with Other Tribes of the Area
• Taking Another Look at Maps and How they Can Solve Your Problems
• Searching for Small Bands that may have Been Absorbed into Other Tribes
• Using the Draper Manuscript and State Papers
• Checking to See if they have Been Absorbed into Another Tribe
• Assignment

Lesson 7: Tribes of the Pacific North West
• Why the Tribes of the Pacific North West Fared Better then Others
• What is a Confederacy
• Using Land Allotments to Find Families
• Why were Different Tribes Allowed Allotments not on their Reservation?
• Assignment

Lesson 8: The Metis and First Americans of Canada
• Researching the United States and Canadian borders
• Early Indian Traders
• The Canadian Archives
• Metis Scr
  ipt-- What this Information Can Do for You
• Assignment

Applications and final enrollments; please write:

National Archives Textual Research (NNR1) 7th & Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20408 (202) 501-5395

The National Archives-Pacific Sierra Region has these records on microfilm (provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs); please write:

National Archives—Pacific Sierra Region 1000 Commodore Drive San Bruno, CA 94066 (415)876-9018

Applications and final enrollments at both:

National Archives-Pacific Sierra Region (see address above)

Applications only, unindexed at the National Archives—Pacific Sierra Region (no final enrollments). Please call the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sacramento for the folder number and final enrollment, and then call the National Archives—Pacific Sierra Region with the folder number for the application..

American Indians Look to DNA Tests to Prove Heritage
By Adam Tanner 
Sent by John Inclan  fromgalveston@yahoo.com

DAVIS, Calif. - The Thursday before classes were to begin for the spring 2005 semester, DQ University faculty and students gathered for what they assumed was to be a standard orientation. In fact, the assembled group had no idea what was going to hit them since everything seemed normal as the proceedings began with a traditional drum opening and a Cherokee prayer. 

When it was time for DQ University President Victor Gabriel to take the microphone, instead of the usual orientation pep talk, he somberly informed the assembled group that the school's accreditation had been revoked. 

''I was hoping to have different news, but our accreditation has been taken away,'' said Gabriel to the stunned crowd. 

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) had only informed Gabriel and the top DQ University staff the previous day that the school's accreditation had been revoked. The action leaves the future of the institution in doubt. 

The 50 or so students in attendance were shocked. Stunned silence gave way to simmering anger as the news began to sink in. Students questioned where they would go to school this semester and what would happen to financial aid that they had already factored into their budget. 

Founded in 1971 on surplus government land, DQ University is California's only tribal college. The school has struggled for years to remain an accredited institution. Though officially designated a tribal college, the school is around half Latino and also has a smattering of white students. Twenty-four students at California's only tribal college for American Indians are defying orders to leave the campus after the school was shut down last month.

http://www.kumeyaay.com/education/dqu.html

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410260

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D-Q University Tribal-college students taking another stand
THE SACRAMENTO BEE 
Yola County

SEPHARDIC

Una Entrada al Arbol de la Vida, 
escrito por 
el Rabino Philip S. Berg

by Peter E. Carr

At the time of the first voyage of Columbus, there were several crypto-Jews on his expedition. Certainly by the later ones, other Jews came as well.

However they had to do so in secrecy because by this time Jews in Spain and its holdings either had to convert to Catholicism or be expelled. In fact, after the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many went to live En Portugal.

However, by 1497, they were expelled from Portugal/ too. Many went to live in friendly European places such as Holland. In Holland, they were still under the Spanish Crown until 1581 when The Netherlands gained its independence and religious tolerance was established. Some Jews went as far afield as the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Although they were forbidden to practice their faith, the Jews in Brazil prospered and maintained their faith secretly, hence the term 'crypto-Jews'.

Holland again enters the picture when in the 1630s, they entered the harbor at Recife in northeast Brazil, and claimed it for themselves. By 1642, there was a sizable Jewish community from Amsterdam, The Netherlands in the Recife area which numbered well over 3,000 members.

In 1654, Portugal attempted to regain control of the area from Holland. By 1664, the reconquest had taken place. Once again the Jews were expelled from the area and !eft aboard 16 ships. Many Jews returned to Amsterdam. Among these was Isaac de Fonseca who would later become the first rabbi on the North American mainland.

Others settled in the Caribbean islands of Curasao, Jamaica, Barbados, and Martinique as well as Surinam. Some of the Sephardic Jewish names in Curacao are reflected m census records of the early 18th century. These are: Curiel, Correa, Henriques, Alavares, Fonseca, Nunes, Salas, Gomes and others

At the time the Jews arrived in 1665, Surinam was a British colony. The Jews had been lured to settle here by the British government by being given 10 acres of land, British citizenship, and recognition of the Sabbath.

When in 1667 Surinam came under Dutch control, the Jews were once again in customary friendly hands. However, many moved to the British colony of Barbados in order to retain their British citizenship.

For over half a century, Surinam prospered under Dutch control and Jewish plantation management. Though the Jews in Barbados prospered and enjoyed freedom starting as early as 1660s and for a long time, resentment appeared among other settlers. Restrictions on Jewish trade were put into effect.

It was not until 1802 that all restrictions were once again removed. As far back as the early 1650s, a Sephardic synagogue had been established in Barbados and named Nidhe Israel, meaning the Dispersed Ones of Israel. Some of the headstones from the 1660s are still readable and in good shape.

By 1671, Jews in Jamaica were being asked to leave by the newly-arrived British settlers. Though not successful, a special tax on the Jews was passed in 1693.

In 1703, Jews were barred from using indentured Christian servants. Through all this, the Jews remained on Jamaica. There is a list dating from 1754 of Jewish landholders in Jamaica which includes such names as Fertado, Alvarez Fernandez, Gutteres, Gabay, Mendez, Henriques, Israel, Lousada, La Cruz (surprisingly as this may seem), Perera and various others.

On the French colony of Martinique as well as other French colonies, King Louis XIV ordered all Jews expelled in 1683. There were other smaller Jewish colonies on some of the smaller Caribbean islands. The larger islands, like Cuba, did not have any sizable Jewish settlement until well into the 20th century.

From these islands, many Jews would trade with mainland Spanish colonies such as Venezuela, Honduras, and even Mexico, though for the most part trade restrictions by the Spanish Crown did not allow easy contact or interchange between Caribbean Sephardic Jews and those on the mainland under Spanish control.

Father Symeon Clemente Carmona
Remnants of Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans
by Gloria Golden

I realized my heritage in my pre-teens. The incident, in which 1 found out, took place by having an argument or fight with other kids in which we were called strange names. Coming home and telling my mother of it, she told me to go to my great-grandfather and tell him exactly what had happened.

My grandfather took me out to sit beneath a large cottonwood tree that grew in the yard. He proceeded to speak of the Old Testament and the Jewish people. As he spoke, I interrupted him, and I asked, "What does that have to do with us?" It took a few seconds, and he answered me, hugging me at the same time, "But, my child, we are the people in the Old Testament. We are Jewish. You are a Jew." And he continued on for an hour or two, telling the history of the family, who we were and how we came to be in this place, New Mexico.

Yes, I feel connected to Judaism and the Jewish people in a great way, first, realizing that the faith I now hold came from the Jewish people, that it has the same ritual laws, rules, and regulations. Also, now that I am a priest monk, members of the Marrano community come to me to seek counsel about whether to return to Judaism fully or remain, as we are, a dying dinosaur in this place and time. They bring their children sometimes for me to bless them in the Jewish way, by laying of hands and reciting Ladino prayers over them. I believe that I am one of the very few persons in this world that can come through the door of time, and on either side, will be my family, my people, my joy, my all.

TEXAS 

Youth taking pride in the history of their ancestor: 
 The Angel of Goliad
Click to articles

Highlighting the 250th celebration of Laredo’s founding, the Webb County Heritage Foundation will kick off Founders’ Day week-end with a luncheon honoring the descendants of Don Tomás Sánchez and all the founding families of this historic community on Saturday, May 14, 2005 at12 noon in the Student Center Ballroom of Texas A&M International University in Laredo. The event is open to the public and all descendants of founding families are encouraged to contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation in order to be recognized that evening. 

The event will include local, state, national and international dignitaries as well as musical entertainment and a short video presentation. 

The newly named President of the Republic of the Río Grande will also be introduced. In addition, presentation of the annual Heritage Awards recognizing outstanding commitment to historic preservation will be featured. 

For more information and calendar updates on the 250th Celebration, contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation, Margarita Araiza, Executive Director at maraiza@webbheritage.org  or heritage@webbheritage.org   (956) 727-0977  All events are open to the public.

Chapter 17 from the
 "Continuous Presence Of  Italians & Spaniards In Texas As Early As 1520" 
by Alex Loya  alexloya@integrity.com

WE ARE AMERICANS!

As I went through the process of writing this book, there were so many wonderful things that I came to realize! One of the most precious things I came to realize is something that every descendant of original Texans, those of us whose ancestors were there since the Spanish Colonial Period of Texas, really needs to know. You will recall how in chapter 3 of this book I shared a little bit of history that, although critically important to the history of the United States, is not widely known, that Texas and Texans played a major role in the American Revolution. 

Briefly, as a reminder, Texas, as well as Louisiana belonged to Spain at the time of the American Revolution, our ancestors were subjects of the King of Spain. In 1779 the King of Spain declared war on England and ordered his subjects to fight the British wherever they could find them. 

Consequently, Governor Bernardo de Galvez of Louisiana, who had previously been a Lieutenant of the Spanish forces in Chihuahua and had led in numerous incursions against the Apaches, effectively linking our area with Louisiana, since part of West Texas was part of Nueva Viscaya also known as Chihuahua, mustered up an Army and Navy to fight the British. 

In what is known as the Galvez Expedition for American Independence, Governor Galvez, who corresponded with Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson etc., defeated the British in battles all over the South, from Baton Rouge and Manchac in Louisiana, Natchez in Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida. Spanish forces under his command also defeated the British in battles as far North as St. Louis, Missouri and St. Joseph, Michigan along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. 

There were Texans in this army, plus Texas also aided with money, prayers and thousands of heads of cattle to feed Galvez' army, and hundreds of horses for his cavalry and artillery. It was then that the original Texans naturally became emotionally, practically and even spiritually invested in the birth of the United States before the Republic of Mexico was ever conceived. It was then that the sense of destiny many original Texans had of being part of the United States and enjoying the freedoms they had fought for was naturally engendered. 

Governor Galvez effectively opened a third front in the American Revolution setting George Washington's Continental Army free to fight in the East without fearing an attack from the South. Louisiana and Texas and the other provinces of Northern New Spain played such a huge role in the war, that were it not for us, it is entirely possible the 13 British Colonies would not have been successful and the United States of America would never have been born. All men between the ages of 14 and 60 had to join the militia in the Spanish provinces, so that all male ancestors would have been, if not soldiers, militiamen.

As I thought about this, what I had been realizing became crystal clear! It is such a terrible mistake when original Texans think of themselves as a separate people from the United States, who were forced to join the U.S. through shame and defeat just because our land was part of New Spain in colonial days and became a part of Mexico for only 14 years! 

Remember, it was in the same ceremony on Nov. 30, 1803 in which Spain formally transferred the Louisiana Territory to France that the announcement was made that France had sold the territory to the U.S., so that in their hearts, as in the eyes of Texas and the world, the 90,000 inhabitants of Louisiana went from being citizens of Spain to being American in one day. One day! 

Yet the many Spaniards in Louisiana do not have a problem calling America home. And Spaniards our ancestors were, or Italian Spaniards and Hispanicized French-Italians for some of us. Think about it, Texas belonged to Mexico for only 14 years. Only 14 years! Truthfully, those 14 years were only a step in the process of the formation of this country at a time when all countries in the Americas were being formed. Think about what this means. 

As I mentioned before, my great great grandfather Arcadio Loya was born in Texas in 1817, four years before Mexico, which had begun its struggle for independence in 1810, actually gained its independence from Spain in 1821 after 11 years of not a continuous struggle but a series of confrontations, he and certainly his father before him were born subjects of the King of Spain. Arcadio Loya's son, Gabino Loya, my great grandfather, was born in 1847, within the border officially claimed by the United States, which had been claimed by the Republic of Texas. It is no surprise that Gabino Loya's family considered themselves Spaniards, as the obituary of Pilar Escontrias Loya, my grandfather’s half sister, indicates, and as the oral inheritance my own father passed down to me agrees. 

None in that line were born under fully Mexican jurisdiction, they went from being born citizens of Spain and subjects of her king born in Northern New Spain during troubled times, to being born American. Being called Mexican Texans to them was not the truth as the truth was what they considered themselves to be, Spaniard Texans, especially since the degree of intermarriage with Indian tribes in Northern New Spain, for the various historical reasons I mentioned, was nowhere near the degree that it occurred to the south. The so called "mestizaje", the intermarriage of Spaniards, or any other Europeans, with Indians, just did not happen in Northern New Spain to anywhere near the degree that it occurred in the south. It just did not happen. 

They were Spaniard Americans just like the ones in South Louisiana... and so it was with many if not most of you, as, indeed, the faces of the El Paso County Commissioners and the Spaniard Founding Fathers of Texas clearly show!

We are Americans! We have been part of it all along! From the very start! We have been here from the very beginning of the United States! We are descendants of the very first Europeans to settle on American soil, who fought the Indians and were pioneers in the land! We fully participated in the formation of this country from the very start! We celebrated the very first Thanksgiving on what would be the United States of America before the Pilgrims did on Plymouth Rock, yet together with the Pilgrims and their Thanksgiving, we effectively established this country as a Christian land at its foundation, from end to end! 

We fought and prayed and gave money and cattle for the American Revolution against England, we fought together in 1812. We stood like brothers alongside Bowie and Travis at the Alamo and with Sam Houston we defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, because they like brothers had selflessly joined us in our battle and our cause. We fought during the Civil War, some Union, some Confederate, and in San Elizario the town voted unanimously to join the Confederacy. Captain Garcia, and Telesforo Montes and Arcadio Loya and all of them, every single one of them, voted to join the Confederacy so that of all people we know the Confederate Flag is truly about heritage and not hatred. 

A year into the Civil War, however, San Elizario was occupied by the Union Army, bringing the war effectively to an end in West Texas, and, evidently conscripting some of the young men to serve in the Union Army, whose cause to set a whole race of people free and preserve the Union was a better cause. We fought the Indians in the Indian Wars, we suffered in the trenches of WWI, we shed our blood in WWII. We fought in the bitter cold of the Korean War, we poured blood, sweat and tears in the jungles of Vietnam, we liberated Kuwait in the Persian Gulf, we fought to set 50 million people free from the yoke of cruel and vicious tyrants in Afghanistan and Iraq, through the years wearing the boots of an American fighting man!…And even as I write this we are doing so! We are Americans! If anybody is an American, we are Americans! And we have fully participated from the very start! Do not think of yourselves, as some original Texans do, as a dispossessed people, we are not! We are an American people, who actually achieved the victory of our cause when Texas became part of the United States! And we were there with those who came after from a little more to the north in Europe, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, weapon with weapon, together as a single people, as brothers, fighting a common enemy, with celebrations of Thanksgiving making this a Christian land, and we have been so ever since. So fully embrace this American nation and its culture you were a foundational part of! Wear your cowboy hats and sing your country music, eat your Thanksgiving Turkey and, indeed, celebrate the Fourth of July, after all, there probably would not be any such celebration without us! We are Americans!

I'm certain you do (have criticism). In Texas, something has to give, either the Texas government or University of Texas. The infrastructure is such that it can not handle the rapid growth of both. I believe it is University of Texas that will have to limit its growth and in doing so will have to raise its entering requirements or standards. Articles coming out of U.T. Austin recommend lowering enrollment from 56K down to 48K. To compensate for the lose of revenue, higher tuition cost are now in place. It is more expensive for minorities to attend U.T Austin when tuition ranges around 15K per year not including summer.

One solution for the U.T. system is to construct a much needed Law School, Pharmacy
School, and upgrade it graduate schools in the different branches throughout the state. I know the Rio Grande Valley is now big enough and merits to have such branches constructed in South Texas, be it Pan Am or Brownsville.

With the rise in tuition cost at major universities in Texas, an increasing number of minorities are opting to stay close to their hometowns and attend community colleges at least for their first two years.

Just an observation and opinion on my part.  Have a great day. J.D. 

[[Editor: By JD response, I asked if he was in education and he sent the following, which I share by permission and with a sense of  pride in JD's accomplishment and caring .]]

I teach history in Rio Grande City High School. This is my 28th year with the school district. Ever since I graduated from U.T. back in 76, I returned to my hometown to try to help out other kids who were going the same road I was. As a migrant I attended about 14 different schools throughout West Texas over a four year period. I loved meeting new students, but life was hard. My dad use to work in road construction and was employed by Border Construction Co. from Laredo. The company took bids on roads going to El Paso by way of Del Rio and also by way of San Angelo.

I live in what the census labeled the 2nd poorest county in the United States., which also happens to be Gen. Ricardo Sanchez hometown. It's a small town but well known for its politics. It also happens to be the crossroads to much illegal activity, sorry to say. 

My aim has always been to point out the positive side of our region rather than the negative. Our children hear much of the bad news everyday and wonder if living in our area has anything positive in life. I feel for them and the elderly for they are the ones that suffer the most.    J.D. 

Biography of
CAPTAIN JOSÉ DE URRUTIA
Commander of the Royal Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar

© By John D. Inclan
Edited by Bernadette Inclan

http://www.geneabios.com/urrutia.htm

Mexico became a country when it gained independence from Spain in 1821. However, for almost three hundred years it is New Spain and its citizen’s Spanish subjects. In 1835, the Mexican State of Tejas declares independence from the new nation of Mexico. Nonetheless, to this day, Spanish roots are deeply entrenched in the histories and composition of both Mexico and Texas. The political, military and powerful elite families from New Spain begin this history and this story.

Much data and legends exist on the Oil tycoons and the cattle barons of Texas. Nevertheless, these men are mere latecomers in Texas history. Under the leadership of the Silver Magnate, Governor Juan de Oñate, Spanish Colonization of what is now the United States began in 1598. Nine years before the English established the first settlement at Jamestown and twenty-two years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, this early trailblazer used his immense wealth to finance an entire entrada into New Mexico. This expedition included his son, Cristóbal de Oñate, then eight-years old and a commissioned lieutenant governor and captain general, the two Zaldivar brothers, Juan and Vicente, and Oñate’s nephews. Ten Franciscan priests carrying crosses fronted 400 men, many with their families. The encumbered cortege entered New Mexico, via El Paso, with two luxury coaches, belonging to Oñate, eighty-three wagons and seven thousand heads of livestock. Dressed in full armor plate, these first Europeans that settle New Mexico shape the destiny of what is now the American Southwest. Eighty-two years later, the descendents of these colonies flee the Albuquerque area in what history calls the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The refugees settle in El Paso and Monterrey, Mexico. The families of Duran y Chavez of El Paso, and, generations later, San Antonio, Texas, and the De Las Casas of Monterrey, New Spain, are portrayals in this flight. Of these two families, later generation ally by marriage to the Urrutia family. In addition, through the intricate web of allied families of Monterrey one finds numerous descendents of the Onate-Zaldivar family in the genealogy of the Captain’s descendents of the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

By the late 1600’s, Florida, Texas and the Southwest belonged to the vast empire of Spain. José de Urrutia and Diego Ramón, governor of Coahulia, New Spain from 1691 to 1698, exemplify the "movers and shakers" of this new land. These two influential men and their families settled in the region of Coahulia.

Captain José de Urrutia was born in the province of Guipúzcoa, Spain, on or about 1678. He and his brother Toribio came to the Americas before 1691. Little information exists on their early years in and about New Spain, but by 1691, Jose, a mere youth, accompanies Dón Domingo Terán de los Ríos, into an expedition into Texas. Terán had been in the Spanish service in Peru for twenty years. In 1681, he came to Mexico as a deputy of the consulate of Seville. Because of his successes in quelling Indian disturbances, his instructions included establishing seven missions among the Tejas Indians. At this time the Spanish military established a garrison near the Neches River, a boundary stream forming the county lines in what is now East Texas and the Louisiana border.

In the winter of 1693, the Tejas Indians turned hostile which forced the garrison into a tortuous withdrawal from Texas. It was on this fateful date that José de Urrutia met with an accident on the San Marcos River, (but which scholars now believe to have been either the Colorado River or the Navidad River). The San Marcos River flows southeast for seventy-five miles, forming the boundary between Gonzales and Caldwell counties, before reaching its mouth on the Guadalupe River, two miles west of Gonzales. Forced to remain among the friendly Kanohatinos, Tohos, and Xarames Indians that inhabited this area, Captain Jose and four soldiers remained for an extended period. He soon gained the respect of these tribes by quickly learning their languages and becoming intimately acquainted with their customs. This earned him the title of "captain general" and soon afterwards, he oversaw the activities of all the nations hostile to the Apaches Indians. Under his leadership, he conducted several extensive campaigns against the fierce and hostile Apache.

By the early 1700’s a band of "nomadic hunter and gatherers", the Comanche, began migrating south and they showed up in the Texas panhandle and in New Mexico. It was this migration that would drive the Apaches out of the High Plains. Only after their arrival on the Plains did the tribe come to be known as Comanche, a name derived from the Ute word Komántcia, meaning "enemy". This fact alone tells the reader a great deal about these warriors. Like the Spaniards, the Comanche were a new addition to Texas. They came from Wyoming and had once been part of the Shoshone Indians. (The Comanche and the Shoshone share a common language). Historical data says that the Comanche acquired their first horses around 1680. It is interesting to note that in an ironic twist of fate, the Spaniards, in an earlier century, introduced the horse into the Americas. Once the Comanche had horses they learned to use them, thereby enabling this nomadic tribe to be more mobile in hunting and in warfare. As their migration continued, the Comanche used their skill with horses to strike swiftly and overcome their opponents. The numerous accounts of the depredations and murders inflicted by the Comanche on the local Indian population as well as on the Spanish featured prominently in the every day life of the settlers of San Antonio and its missions. The Comanche have distinguished themselves as the finest light cavalry in the world with the exception of the Cheyenne Indians, which out classed them. Even today, one can well imagine the Indian war cries that terrified my early ancestors.

By his own statement, Captain Jose claims to have lived amongst the Indians for seven years. When Captain José rejoined his countrymen remains unknown, but by 1696, he had returned to New Spain. There he held a prominent military position with the Spanish government.

To promote trade with the local Indians and the Spanish of New Spain, in 1714 a French cavalier, Lieutenant Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis, established a trading post that grew into the town of Natchitoches, Louisiana. It was a short time later that several overland highways met at Natchitoches, including the Natchez Trace from the east and the Camino Real (The King’s Highway) from New Spain. Natchitoches, recognized as the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana, plays a major role in the histories of both Texas and Louisiana, and given notoriety by the filming of the movie "Steel Magnolias". St. Denis presented himself to the Indians of East Texas and revealed his plan to go into Mexico. The Indians asked St. Denis if he would seek their beloved "captain general". This illustrates how completely Captain Jose endeared himself to the Indians. St. Denis did go to Mexico and found himself under a "pleasant house arrest" while Spanish officials awaited instructions from Mexico City on what to do with "a foreigner bearing goods banned by Spanish mercantile restrictions." The Spanish Crown enacted an order prohibiting entry of foreign traders or their merchandise into any Spanish territory. St. Denis, however, used this occasion to court and wins a promise of marriage to the Doña Maria Manuela de Sanchez Navarro. The beautiful Manuela, as referenced in numerous accounts, is the granddaughter of Dona Feliciana Camacho y Botello, and the step granddaughter of Major Diego Ramon. The union guaranteed St. Denis a successful outcome with the Spanish Viceroy, who later appointed him conductor of supplies for the planned Ramon expedition to Texas. In 1721, St. Denis became the commander of Fort St. Jean Baptiste, located near the mouth of Bayou Amulet. When Manuela died, April 16, 1758, the annals of Natchitoches record that she was the wealthiest woman in Louisiana. Northwestern State University of Louisiana now occupies the property of her estate. Throughout the parishes of Louisiana, the genealogist can find the descendants of the union between St. Denis and SanchezCaptain

José married twice. The first occurred on January 7, 1697 to Doña Antonia Ramón. Doña Antonia was the daughter of Governor Dón Diego Ramón and the Doña Feliciana Camacho y Botello. The marriage ceremony performed at the parish church, Santiago Apostol, in the silver mining town of Monclova, in the state of Coahulia in Mexico. Captain José and Antonia had one daughter, Antonia, who later married Dón Luis Antonio Menchaca. The Menchacas settled in San Antonio, and in 1753, Don Luis earned the appointment and title of the commander of San Antonio de Bexar. They left their own unique mark in Texas history.

After the death of his first wife during childbirth, Dón José married the Doña Rosa Flores y Valdez; the daughter of Dón Juan Flores y Valdez and Doña Josefa de Hoyos y de la Garza Falcon. Dona Rosa’s families are descendents of the original Conquistadors of Coahulia and Nuevo Leon in New Spain. This marriage most likely took place in Saltillo. From the union they had four daughters and six sons, including a son named Turbico de Urrutia, who would later succeed him as captain of the presidio de Bexar. Their children, Rosa Micaela, married Dón Pedro Jose de Godoy; Cathalina, married Dón Jose de Plaza; Juana married Dón Ignacio Gonzalez de Inclán. When widowed, her second marriage was to Dón Pedro Mariano de Ocón y Trillo; Ana Gertrudis Josefina, married Dón Antonio Nicolas de Treviño Gutierrez; Captain Toribio de Urrutia, married Doña Ana Maria de Farias y Flores de Abrego and Doña Maria Josefa Flores de Valdez; Joaquin married Doña Maria Josefa Hernández Longoria; Pedro married Doña Gertrudis Flores y Valdez; Manuel died young and never married; Ignacio Cayetano married Doña Rosa Sánchez Navarro y Gomez; Miguel married Doña Clara Cantu.

On March 1, 1700, the new Governor of Coahulia was Dón Francisco Cuervo de Valdez a knight of the Order of Santiago. (He would later serve as the Governor of New Mexico). To help establish the Mission San Francisco Solano, Cuervo de Valdez commissioned Dón Jose’s father-in-law, Major Diego Ramón, now the former Governor, the commander of the presidio de San Juan Bautista del Rio Grande. Major Ramón commissioned other frontiersmen and together they enter the regions of Texas. This mission, the predecessor of the Alamo, was later relocated and renamed.

On July 23, 1733, Dón José now had forty years experience with the Indians of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Texas. He earned the commission as the Captain and commander of the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar. This post suited him well, for Dón José was the most knowledgeable on Indian affairs of all the New World Spaniards. His new residence was the old Comandancia that today is known as the Spanish Governors’ Palace in San Antonio, Texas. Of note: The Governor never resided there. This building always served as an administrative office or for official ceremonies.

From 1734 to 1738, a succession of Apache raids resulted in a great loss of lives and livestock. Situated in a volatile area, the inhabitants of Bexar lived in constant fear and some families moved into the boundaries of the city. The situation worsen to the point that in the winter of 1739 Captain Jose led a campaign against the Apache Indians in the San Saba region (now known as located in the Texas "Hill Country" and boasts the title "Pecan Capital of the World"). He reached in this campaign the same point that years earlier another Spaniard by the name of Dón Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos had reached in 1732. This campaign momentarily defeated the Apache and brought a short period of peace and stability to the area. It would not be long after that the Apache and the Spanish would find themselves warring with the Comanche. In 1743, the first report of the Comanche was sent to the viceroy.

Captain Jose’s many connections in Coahulia, Nuevo Leon, and New Spain’s capital city Mexico (Mexico City) are acknowledged by the fact that he was a friend and confidant to the powerful Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo, Dón Joseph Ramón de Azlor y Virto de Vera and that he had a business venture with the merchant, Dón Juan de Angulo of Mexico City. On September 25, 1735, Captain Jose and Juan drafted a contract or a power of attorney (POA) where Jose had the authority to collect 350 pesos a year from 40 of his men’s salaries. Juan in turn would supply them with their necessary needs. This POA document, of particular interest to a genealogist, contains the roster of the soldiers that were garrison in San Antonio. An enthusiast can find housed in the Spanish Archives Collection at the Bexar County Courthouse a copy of the POA.

The San Fernando Catholic Church records of February 18, 1738 note that Captain José gave 100 pesos towards the construction of San Fernando Church. This church was named after the thirteenth century Spanish monarch, Ferdinand III. At eighteen years of age, the young king led his army to defeat the Moors and reestablished Christianity worship in Castile, Spain. In 1671, Pope Clement X canonized King Ferdinand III a saint. When founded in 1731, San Fernando church was the first Christian church west of the Mississippi River. The secular clergy administered the sacred rites under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Guadalajara, in New Spain. The monastic Franciscans administered prior spiritual care from the local mission, San Antonio de Valero. This new parish served the religious and civic events for the civilian and military populations. It became known as San Fernando Cathedral in later times.

Captain Jose’s property included holdings in Coahulia as well as in Texas. In San Antonio, Texas, Captain Jose and his family received a Royal Land Grant from the King of Spain. The land grants included water rights that went with the land and was measured by the number of days in which water could be used. The water was derived from the San Antonio River and one day of water was equivalent to 117 acres. (Even by today’s standards, this is quite a track of land). This grant was near what is now Military Plaza, between Houston and Commerce Street in San Antonio. A son-in-law, Dón Ignacio Gonzalez de Inclán, a native of Milan, Italy, (a duchy under Spanish domain) a soldier and cashier under the Captain’s command owned the property across the street from the Comandancia. On June 10, 1739, Dón Ignacio received his land grant (Spanish Deed #704 Bexar County Courthouse) located on the northwest corner of West Commerce and Flores streets. His widow, Doña Juana de Urrutia would later sell this property to Dón Diego Ramón Jr. This land with its adobe house would later pass to a kinsmen, Dón Luis Mariano Menchaca. Upon his death, the property passed to his widow, Doña Maria Concepcion de Estrada, and on her will of March 21, 1815, she bequest the property to her son, Dón José Maria Rodríguez. On her will was a clause which provided "one day of water" to be sold to defray her burial expense and the balance to be applied for masses to be said for her and her deceased husbands souls. This one story adobe landmark stood for two centuries before giving way for a commercial building that stands there today. The site remains as an abandoned five and dime store.

The Captain’s last will and testament is dated July 4, 1740, San Antonio, Texas. His will was witness by the Notary Public and Secretary, Dón Francisco Joseph de Arocha, and father-in-law to his granddaughter, Doña Maria Ignacia de Urrutia. He died in San Antonio on July 16, 1741. As mentioned previously, his son, Turbico de Urrutia succeeded him as commander.The sons and daughters of the Urrutia and Ramon clans married and settled in Coahulia and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. Later Generations also contributed in shaping the new Republic of Texas.

The flags from Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas and the Unites States have flown successively over Texas. Likewise, the intricate web of allied families of Coahulia and Nuevo Leon, found in Texas, comprise an interwoven community that irrefutably credits the Spanish conquests in providing the Hispanic origins.

fromGalveston@yahoo.com

 ReferencesBarnes, Thomas C, Nayor,Thomas H., and Polzae, Charles W. Northern New Spain A Research Guide. Tucson, Arizona The University of Arizona Press, 1981.

Chabot, Frederick C. With the Makers of San Antonio. San Antonio, Texas Artes Graficas Publishers 1970  

Chipman, Donald E. Spanish Texas, 1519-1821. Austin, Texas, University of Texas Press, 1992.

De Zavala, Adina. History and Legends of the Alamo and other Missions. Houston, Texas Arte Publico Press, University of Houston . 1996

Foster, William C. Spanish Expeditions into Texas 1689-1768. Austin, Texas, University of Texas Press, 1995

Gonzalez de la Garza, Rodolfo. Mil Familias III. 1998Hogan, Paul. Great River The Rio Grande in North American History. New York, Rinehart & Company, Inc. 1954  

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Select Websites for Louisiana Research 
Gathered by Paul "Skip" Newfield III 
skip@thebrasscannon.com

Paul Newfield's Brass Cannon Site - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brasscannon/

Genealogy index of the Falcon family - http://gw.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=falcanary&lang=en;m=N;v=falcon

An article detailing the many varied repositories and sources that are available for researchers in the Canary Islands. (En Espanol) - http://nti.educa.rcanaria.es/culturacanaria/f_documentales/fuentes_documentales.htm

Genealogy index for the Terrebonne parish genealogical group.  Many Canary Island names are indicated - http://www.rootsweb.com/~laterreb/

A beautifully written story of one of the ancient heroes of the Canary Islands, a chief named Doramas, and how his name has come down to us in the 21st century.  The site also includes genealogical charts for the Doramas family. (En Espanol) - http://webpages.ull.es/users/joramas/apellido/doramas.htm

Brief history of the Canary Islands migration to Spanish America along with ship passenger lists - http://www.rootsweb.com/~prhgs/passengers_01.htm#Migration

Information about Spain's involvement in the American Revolutionary War, including information about Galvez and the Canary Islanders in Louisiana. - http://www.sar.org/mxssar/spinvo-1.htm

Information on Captain Joseph M. Gonzales, grandson of an Islenos soldier at Galveztown - http://www.civilwarfamilyhistory.com/new_page_16.htm

An article about the history and ways of the Islenos by a man in the St. Bernard area - http://www.louisianafolklifefest.org/Articles/2002f2.htm

History of Lanzarote - http://www.webdelanzarote.com/1400e.htm

Louisiana historical timeline for the year 1779 - http://www.enlou.com/time/year1779.htm

This shows the flag of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, used during the Spanish period.  It would have been our ancestors' regimental flag - http://flagspot.net/flags/es^1779.html

Somos Primos - An online publication dedicated to past and present articles, events and information concerning Hispanic heritage issues - http://www.somosprimos.com/

A list of Spanish language manuscripts in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley collections of LSU libraries - http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/guides/spancoll.html#G

Documents from the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas (1576-1803).  Contains information on some Islenos. - http://www.archives.nd.edu/mano/default.htm

Information about the Archivo General de Indias - http://www.sar.org/mxssar/spflor.htm

Regiment of Louisiana Flag & Uniform  - http://www.canaryislanders.org/39.pdf

Information on the Nunez History Lecture Series, including a schedule of upcoming lectures - http://www.historylectureseries.com/

Canary Islanders Descendants Association (St. Bernard) - http://www.canaryislanders.com/

Tenerife News - http://www.tennews.com/

Flags of the Canary Islands - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/3642/index_en.htm

Pictures of the Canary Islands - lots of great pictures  http://www.bamjam.net/Canarias/

A link to a Canary Islanders Heritage Society in Puerto Rico (En Espanol) - http://groups.msn.com/BoricuasCanarios

State Archives Online Multimedia Archives - http://sos.louisiana.gov/multimedia/

Friends of the Canary Islands - Canary Islands heritage Society in San Antonio, Texas - http://www.friendsofthecanaryislands.org

©2005 Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana

EAST COAST

FLORIDA LAND GRANTS

By:Robert de Berardinis

The complete Spanish Archives collection t'rom the Florida State Archives is now available at Clayton Library thanks to the Clayton Library Friends. Not even the Family History Library in Salt Lake City has all the microfilm and microfiche comprising this important record group. The Florida State Archives also gave permission to Clayton Library Friends to collate, edit, and republish all their available and disparate indexes and calendars concerning this record group. One bound volume will be found in the Florida section, and two spiral bound with tabs will be available on the microfilm floor in the finding aids section.

The collection consists of the following titles (microfiche titles are underline, the remaining titles are microfilm):

1. S 990. Confirmed Spanish Land Grant Claims. 1763-1821.

2. S 991. Unconfirmed Spanish Land Grant Claims. 1763-1821.

3. S 992. Memorials and Concessions. 1786- 1821.

4. S 993, Memorials for City Lots in Saint Augustine, 1764-1821,'

5. S 994, American State Papers (Duff Green Edition), 1789-1834,

6. S 995, Minutes of and Testimony Taken Before the Board of Land Commissioners for East Florida, 1823-1821,

7. S 996, Memorials for Town Lots in Fernandina, 1808-1821,

8. S 997, Concessions for New Settlers, 1791-1821,

9. S 1001. Record Books. 1773-1828,

10. S 1022, Protocols, 1804-1819,

11. S 1023, Miscellaneous Spanish Florida Land Records,

12. S 1232, Surveys of Spanish Land Grants, 1791-1836

13. S 1235, Memorials and Concessions Not Acted Upon,1804-1821, and

14. S 1439, Concessions for Services, 1815-1821.

The only item in the Florida State Archives not available on film are Surveys of Private Claims, 1827-1853(859).

Researchers should note that translations in full or in abstract are available for the Confirmed and unconfirmed Land Grant Claims. They are the five volume, WPA authored Spanish Land Grants in Florida. Tallahassee, Fla.: State Library Board, 1940-41. CLF has also photocopied these volumes and spiral bound them for use on the microfilm floor.

Researchers should also note that S 990, Confirmed Spanish Land Grant Claims, 1763-1821 is available online at www.floridamemory.com.

The introduction to the new CLF guide to this collection also contains helpful research aids and other resources available for complementary use in Clayton Library. It is reprinted here:

Introduction:  This finding aid is designed to go along with the microfiche and microfilm collection of the "Spanish Archives" series of land records (now here at Clayton) from the Florida State Archives. This finding aid is in the order of the fourteen sub-series that comprise this record group. Of equal importance to this finding aid is the companion five volume set of WPA translations of selected documents, Spanish Land Grants in Florida (Tallahassee, Fla.: State Library Board, 1940-41), on the Clayton shelf and newly available as a microfilm finding aid at FLA 975.9 H673. This will allow the researcher who is not fluent in Spanish (or French), or who is unfamiliar with abbreviations of the period or Spanish units of measurement to access most of the data contained in the first two sub series.

CO 5/54234…..References for Petitions for Lands, 1767,

CO 5/548……..Correspondence, Original-Secretary of State,1746-67

CO 5/562……..Reports of Commissioners for East Florida Claims,1787-89, and

CO 5/56364…..Commissions, Instructions,etc.,A,1763-80;B, 1780-82

For West Florida, the records of particular interest are: 

CO 5/581………Correspondence, Original -Board of Trade, 1781-82,

CO 5/582………Correspondence, Original-Secretary of State, 1712-65,

CO 5/59798……Military, Pt 1, 177881; Pt 2, 1779-83,

CO 5/ 599600…Commisions, Instructions, etc., A, 1763-69; B, 1769-82,

CO 5/60102……Grants of Land; Mortgages, Conveyances, etc., 1764-68; 1765-67,

CO 5/60304……Grants of Land, Instructions to Surveyors, Certificates, 1765-68,

CO 5/605………Grants of Land, Mortgages, Conveyances, etc., 1768-72,

CO 5/606……….Grants of Land (Printed), 1772-70,

CO 5/607……….Grants of Land, 1772-78,

CO 5/608……….Grants of Land (Printed), 1772-80,

CO 5/609……….Index to Vol, 608,

CO 5/61011…….Grants of Land, Townlots, 1777-79; 1778-80

CO 5/612……….Mortgages 1770-79

CO 5/613……….Powers of Attorney, Bills of Sale, etc., 1771-79, and

CO 5/61417…….Conveyances, 1772-73; 1773-74; 1776-81; 1777-80

Etienne Taillemite, Inventaire analytique de La. correspondance generate avec les colonies. Depart, serie B, deposee aux Archives nationales (revised edition; Paris: Ministere de La. France d'outre mer, service aux archives, 1983), FRANCE A 673, and Mane-Antoinette Menier, Etienne Taillemite, and Gilberte de Forges. Correspondance a Varrivee en provenance de La. Louisiane. 2 vols. (Paris: Archives Nationales, 1976), FRANCE A 673, v.lv.2.

MEXICO

Personajes de la historia / Gobernadores de Zacatecas
Por: 
José León Robles de la Torre
Sent by Mercy Bautista Olvera  scarlett_mbo@yahoo.com

General don Victoriano Zamora

Lic. don José María Castro

Verbal Conversations W/ Jose Felipe de la Pena on " Los Viduarre".

La parte mas importante del Municipio y de la Parroquia es el cuartel de la LAGUNA GRANDE o San Miguel de la Laguna, que es su primitivo nombre. Tiene 500 habitantes. Está situado al norte de Monte Escobedo y distante de este 18 kilómetros 855 metros, o sean 4y media leguas. Está en el corazón de una hermosa llanura, que comienza en Santa Bárbara y termina hacia el norte, en las cumbres del rió de Atoloac.

Carácter de sus habitantes

El carácter de estos buenos vecinos, es alegre, festivo, animoso, franco y hospitalario, y sobre todo;
muy amantes de emprender en todo lo que SIGNIFICA ENGRANDECIMIENTO Y PROGRESO de su tierra natal. Este sano provincialismo y bellas cualidades, supo aprovechar muy atinadamente provecho de la población, el Sr. Pbro. D. Telèsforo Carlos, como se dirá después.

El año de 1892, se erigió la Vicaría de Laguna Grande, siendo su primero y muy activo Vicario, el Sr. Pbro.  D. Benjamín Luna, que estuvo con tal carácter hasta el ano de 1896.

El año de 1897, obtuve del Ilmo. Sr. Portillo, que el P. D. Telésforo Carlos, fuese el Vicario de la Laguna Grande, y en Agosto de ese año, tomo posesión de su cargo. Durante su permanencia en esa, que fue hasta el año de 1919, se captó el corazón de casi todos los feligreses, y aprovechando las cualidades de que se ha hecho mérito, pudo en pocos años realizar las importantes obras materiales con que cuenta esa vicaría .

Lo primero fue el Camposanto, la capilla nueva de bóveda con cruceros, otra adyacente a esta en el
costado Norte y dedicada a nuestra Señora del Refugio. Otra frente al espacioso atrio del templo, toda de sillería tallada, con gracioso templete que ostenta a la reina de México pintada al óleo, encuadrada en dorado marco. Esta capilla con vitrinas en sus tres muros, está a la entrada del vestíbulo del templo. El templo tiene su torre en el centro de la puerta principal, dotado de su pararrayo, su sacristía, bautisterio y piezas para muebles. Hay además en el cementerio, dos salones para escuelas, y la casa del Vicario, otro amplio salón para escuela, no distante del templo hacia el oriente.

Se fundieron campanas, se alinearon callejuelas y se abrieron otras .

Estimulados los vecinos por estas actividades de su Vicario emprendieron nuevas fabricas, y se ensancho la población .

Todos los operarios que se emplearon en estas obras, hasta los pintores, se formaron allí mismo, por obra de su natural ingenio , estimulados más por el sentimiento religioso y patriótico, que por necesidad de la vida. Tan cierto es que en donde sanjan los cimientos de un Templo, allí surgen como por encanto las artes y las letras, porque la religión ha sido y es la inspiradora de todas las artes, de todo lo bello y la que alienta el progreso de los pueblos, como lo prueban los monumentos que la cristiandad ha levantado en todo el mundo.


Un nuevo templo

Hacia tiempo que se imponía la necesidad de un Templo capaz de contener los vecinos, y que correspondiera mejor al decoro de la religión, y fue el P. Carlos, quien acometió la empresa, alentado por mi y siempre como buen compañero y amigo, nos poníamos de acuerdo en todas sus empresas, a favor de ese vecindario que siempre tomé con grande interés.

El día 2 de enero de 1899, fue el día en que se rayaron los cimientos del nuevo templo, y se hizo la
bendición de la primera piedra, con los ritos del caso. Este espectáculo fue por demás conmovedor .
Habiase preparado de antemano mucha herramienta para ejecutar la primera faena, todos estaba instrumentos enflorados , y empuñados por su edad, como por su posición social. Todos ellos eran padrinos de la imponente ceremonia, y llevaban bandas de colores terciadas. Algunos de estos ancianos , no podían ocultar un fondo de tristeza, pensando que ellos o muchos de ellos, tal vez no verían la gloría de aquel templo, y las lagrimas corrieron por sus mejillas, lo mismo que a otros muchos emocionados por la alegría.  Desde aquel día, era de verse aquel entusiasmo y buena
voluntad con que todos los vecinos aprestan sus fuerzas y sus recursos para llevar a cabo aquella obra y las demás que al fin llevaron a buen término festejando la terminación de cada una de ellas.
La terminación del templo y su bendición, se hizo con mejor solemnidad y se organizó un día de campo para premiar a todos los operarios que trabajaron en la obra. Apenas habría familia que no pasara en aquella plácida reunión campestre desbordante de jubilo , de unión y concordia entre todos.

Laguna Grande tiene una inmensa deuda de gratitud , hacia el sacerdote que supo llevar a buen término todas sus mejoras materiales de que se ha hacho mérito y no ha sido ingrata , porque su memoria tiene buen recuerdo , y cuenta con el cariño de aquellos vecinos. Pero la obra moral de este sacerdote, es de más valor que la material; logró una reforma de costumbres casi general, se difundió la frecuencia de sacramentos, y la pureza de costumbres recobró su prístino lugar del que se había distanciado. Los niños tuvieron una enseñanza elemental y primaria y se preservaron de los peligros.

Solemne Recepción de la Imagen del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús el 16 de Noviembre de 1911

Poco tiempo después de haberse bendecido por mí la iglesia de Laguna Grande, D. Epifanio Meza tomó empeño venerara en ella a una imagen del sagrado corazón de Jesús, y al efecto la mande a hacer a León; pero D. Epifanio tenia la idea que al recibirse la imagen en la población, ya estuviese bendita en el campo, y tanto el P. Carlos como yo, no tuvimos inconveniente en acceder al piadoso deseo. Llegado el día de la recepción de la imagen, se le preparó un rustico y poético altar bajo la sombrea de los árboles , en pleno campo, en el bajío de la Candelaria, distante del pueblo como 5 Kilómetros. Todas las familias pasaron el día en aquel campamento que me parecía un campo israelita, custodiando el Arca Santa. Cerca de la imagen, se sirvió la comida campestre, tendidos
todos sobre la yerba. Me parecía que éramos las turbas alimentadas milagrosamente en el desierto por el Divino Salvador, en premio de estar pendientes de sus divinas enseñanzas. Y después de saturados y saciados, más con las armonías de la religión que producían aquellas circunstancias, que con el alimento corporal, y cuando el sol se había inclinado bastante, organizamos la Solemne Procesión, marchando todos a pié, cantando y rezando los misterios del rosario, hasta llegar a la Laguna, a atardecido, lo cual dio mas realce a la procesión, porqué ya las callejuelas estaba ¡n profundamente iluminadas y adornadas. La imagen fue colocada en el templo y prediqué la
divina palabra.

Esta fiesta dejo muy gratas impresiones del Sagrado Corazón, recibió los honores de su realeza soberana, en cuanto se pudo.

Situación Critica

Critica , angustiosa y además casi desesperada era la situación de la Laguna Grande, después de la división de los revolucionarios, en carrancistas y villistas. Una parte de éstos, dominaron por completo todo el municipio y Laguna Grande tuvo que sufrir mucho por parte de estos, sin tener seguir ni lo mas sagrado del hogar, por lo cual determinaron sus vecinos como medida extrema , armarse y constituir la defensa social, como en efecto lo hicieron, no sin grande arrojo y peligro, por los escasos armamentos de que pudo disponerse, y por la superioridad de los enemigos, pero el valor y el patriotismo no se miden en casos extremos, y esta bélica actitud de defensa, fue un reto de muerte que les decretaron los enemigos. Sufrieron por esto muchos ataques, y llego el caso de tener que conservar el fusil al lado de la mancera y del arado, para estar listos a toda emergencia, y de
esta manera lograron tener a raya al enemigo, no sin sufrir continúas molestias y la pérdida de algunos
vecinos en los continuos asaltos y luchas.

Salvados por un Repique

Un día, Laguna Grande estaba sin resguardo, sus habitantes estaban en misa, solo tres jóvenes se
hallaban también dentro del templo, cuando de repente se nota grande alarma: era que un numeroso enemigo se presentaba por el norte, intimando la rendición y entrega inciondicional de armamentos, etc., Bajo la pena de arrasar a sangre y fuego todo el pueblo. Los pocos defensores contestan, que tenían armas, soldados y parque, y que bien podían los asaltantes pasar a tomarlas por su mano. Instan que la rendición y la respuesta es la misma, y lanzan algún disparo cono si fuera señal de rompimiento de fuego y uno de los jóvenes defensores apeló a un ardid. Las campanas, dice : sirven para ahuyentar a los espíritus malignos, y para implorar la piedad del cielo en aciagas circunstancias. ¿ Por que no las sonamos? Y, dicho esto le echan vuelo: los enemigos piensan que les viene auxilio a los sitiados y emprenden precipitada fuga, dejando en el campamento a tres o cuatro muertos envenenados por estricnina, que para envenenar coyotes tenía algún vecino en su casa, que
robaron al pasar.

Solemne Bendición y Recepción de la Imagen de San Miguel Arcángel.

Era el día 28 de septiembre de 1920. En el centro de un hermoso llano, el potrero de las cruces, se destaca un grupo de añosos encinos a manera de un kiosco, en torna a el se encuentra una gran multitud de gante de todas edades , distinguiéndose grupos de niños. Se agitan en los aires muchachos estandartes y flámulas policromadas, y bajo la umbrosidad de aquellos encinos , se encuentra un altar que ostenta una gallarda imagen de un joven guerrero halado , blandiendo flamígera espada , hollando con su planta un fiero dragón, que retuerce impotente, rabioso y de centellantes pupilas. Es la imagen de San Miguel Arcángel , patrono primitivo de Laguna Grande, que se va a bendecir, para hacer luego su entrada triunfal al pueblo, que le aclamo mil veces en los muchos y
amargos días de tribulación que tuvo que sufrir por defenderse de las irrupciones de las hordas que por tanto tiempo le amargaron, y quiere pagaron tributo de gratitud a su protector insigne.

El padre D. Telésforo Carlos, que había ido expresamente para hacer la bendición, acompañado por
el padre D. Daniel Márquez, tomamos paramentos litúrgicos, y se precedió a la solemne bendición de la imagen. Acto continuo, se procedió a ordenar el desfile de la gran procesión rumbo a la Laguna. La tarde era primorosa, el cielo parecía que había escogido sus mas bellos cortinajes de nubes, y sus
mejores celajes, y los campos ostentaban sus mejores galas de sus variadas flores y la alegría se
manifestaba desbordante en todos los semblantes. Las calles de la población se adornaron con lazos de vistosos ropajes , y se iluminaron con farolillos de colores, no faltando los arcos triunfales y la música. La imagen fue colocada en la Iglesia, y al siguiente día fue la misa de la Fiesta Solemne, con el sermón que me fue encomendado y todo ese día, como el anterior, fueron de jubilo para el pueblo.

¡El glorioso batallador de las huestes infernales, sea en todo el tiempo el defensor de aquel religioso y
viril pueblo hermano nuestro!

Notas Complementarias

La antigua capilla, se bendijo en el año de 1846, dedicada a la Santísima Virgen del Patrocinio.
El nuevo templo se termino en 1909.

La capilla anexa de Nuestra Señora del Refugio, la bendije el 12 de octubre de 1901.

La capilla de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, el 31 de mayo de 1906.

Artemisa artemisadcm@yahoo.com 

TENEMOS EL GUSTO DE PRESENTARLES A USTEDES,CUYAS INSTALACIONES HAN SIDO ESPECIALMENTE ACONDICIONADAS PARA PROPORCIONAR LOS SIGUIENTES SERVICIOS:
EVENTOS DE CAPACITACIÓN, CONVENCIONES, SEMINARIOS, RETIROS, REUNIONES DE CARÁCTER SOCIAL Y FAMILIAR


EN LOS 15 AÑOS QUE TENEMOS DE OPERAR, SE HAN ATENDIDO EVENTOS A: MAQUILADORAS, BANCOS, AGENCIAS ADUANALAES, ESCUELAS, INSTITUOS Y UNIVERSIDADES, GOBIERNO ESTATAL
GOBIERNO MUNICIPAL, ASOCIACIONES POLÍTICAS, COMPAÑIAS DE SEGUROS, ASOCIACIONES DE CONTADORES, CLUB ROTARIOS, EVENTOS FAMILIARES, ECT.

Email: gstevens@elp.rr.com    

Familia de doña Maria González Hidalgo y Treviño Maya
   Compilado por:  Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza 
Aclaraciones y comentarios:   mailto:cherrera@uat.edu.mx 

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

May 7 Raices Habaneras, Cuban dance troupe, Union City , New Jersey

The Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York, Inc.
Old Chelsea Stations, P.O. Box 474
New York, New York 10113

Lieutenant General Pedro Del Valle 
First Hispanic in the history of the United States Marine Corps to reach 
   the rank of Lieutenant General (three star general)

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center ’s “Performance Planet”

Music Series Features Rumba Troupe on May 7

Long Island City , NY —Rumba, the spirit and soul of Latin American music and dance, will be performed at the LaGuardia Performing Art Center ’s on May 7.  Raices Habaneras, a Cuban dance troupe based in La Esquina Habanera (Havana Corner) in Union City , New Jersey , will perform the different styles of rumba in its purest form without alterations and foreign elements.  

The concert will be held in the college’s Little Theatre at 47th Avenue and Van Dam Street in Long Island City . (#7 Train to 33rd Street, Long Island City).  The event begins at 7:30 p.m.    General admission tickets are $12; $7 for students and seniors.  To purchase tickets, please call the box office at (718) 482-5151.  For information on the other cultural events visit www.lagcc.cuny.edu/lpac.

The group is one of five contemporary international artists featured in “Performance Planet,” a multicultural concert series that celebrates the borough’s rich cultural diversity. The five-concert series’ finale is scheduled for June 14 when Kevin So, a Chinese singer/songwriter whose powerful music is a blend of pop, rhythm, blues, and hip hop, will perform. 

Since its creation in 1996, the group has performed every Sunday at La Esquina Habanera, a club in Union City .  Aside from playing every Sunday at the club, Raices Habaneras performed at the Fourth Annual Latin Grammy Performance, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center , and the Calle 8 Festival in Miami .  The group also appeared in the PBS film, “The Cuban Americans,” The Ivan Acosta’s film “How to Create a Rumba,” which was shown at the Lincoln Center Movie Festival, and the Heddy Honnigman’s film, “Dame La Mano,” which was shown at the Gramercy Theatre of MoMA. 

Save the date!
OCTOBER 16, 2005
Family History Fair at City University of NY
34 Street and Madison Ave., New York, NY 

Research Trip to PUERTO RICO
October 22 - 29, 2005
We have scheduled another research trip to Puerto Rico this year, so please mark your calendars. We will keep you updated on details of trip. :: Check out ::THE PUERTO RICAN MESSAGE BOARDS  at our Spinoff Puerto Rican Site! PRroots.com 


Coming Soon!!! 
Enter our: "Writing Contest" "My unusual family history" and A family history "Photo Contest" 
Look for the details and rules in the next issue of our Nuestra Herencia newsletter. 

More NEWS::  Members of HGSNY have the advantage of access to the Puerto Rican Censuses on CD ROM! These cd's are now available at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at New York's Hunter College of CUNY.   http://www.cafepress.com/hgsny


The Hispanic Query Boards  are back!
Use these boards to post messages, share information and get information for your family history search. You can post messages in the following boards: South America, Central America, the US Southwest, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico.  For messages in the Puerto Rico Boards to our spin-off site PRRoots,com

Resource Links 
• Puerto Rico Vital Records Information
• SHHAR's March 2005 newsletter, SOMOS PRIMOS"
• El Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños
• Boletin de Genealogias Colombianas
• Researching your genealogy - Pasajeros a Nueva York
• How to Research the 1930 Census Microfilm
• Find Family in Puerto Rico's Telephone Directory! 
• Telephone Directory in Spain! 
• Pionet.org (Todo lo que necesite sobre recursos de formación cristiana y educación humanística.) News :: Nuestra Herencia wins Best Newsletter Award...
Nuestra Herencia, the HGSNY members newsletter, won first prize in The Family Tree 2004 Newsletter Contest.
and..

.The Fall/Winter 2004 issue had a great article on the resources available at the University of Connecticut Libraries  http://www.lib.uconn.edu/
369 Fairfield Road
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-4637

Latin American Studies Microform Serials & Collections, Compiled by Darlene Waller 
dwaller@lib.uconn.edu   Revised March 1999 with assistance from José Crespo
This is remarkable collection. 
http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/bysubject/microcol.htm

Example: Extranjeros. (Foreigners in Puerto Rico), 1815-1845 (Film Shelf #26B)
Reproduces Spanish royal decrees and papers of individuals. Each reel begins with list of names of individuals for that reel.

Legion of Merit medal

   Lieutenant General Pedro Del Valle 
   Born August 28, 1893 – April 28, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico 

   Sent by Eddie Grijalva  grijalvaet@sbcglobal.net
   http://www.answers.com/topic/pedro-del-valle
 

   First Hispanic in the history of the United States Marine Corps to reach 
   the rank of Lieutenant General (three star general)

SPAIN

Angel Custodio Rebollo

LIBRO - Library of Iberian Resources Online - http://libro.uca.edu/title.htm

BARTOLOMÉ LOPEZ, DE MANZANILLA.  

Edición 29 de abril de 2005  de Odiel Información, Huelva

La comarca denominada Condado de Huelva también aportó muchas personas a nuestro encuentro con el Nuevo Mundo, muchos aún siendo de nuestra provincia han quedado incluidos como de Sevilla, ya que al estar la Casa de Contratación en aquella ciudad, aprovechando la vivienda de un familiar o por otro medio, declaraban ser de aquella población con lo que a veces se aceleraban los tramites y se adelantaba la salida.

Del Condado era Bartolomé López, natural de Manzanilla, vecino de la jurisdicción de Guanajuato, hijo legitimo de Alonso Guillén y Ana Torres. En su testamento, de septiembre de 1628,  pidió que a su muerte le dieran sepultura en la iglesia del valle de Silao, en Nueva España, con misa cantada y ofrendas de pan, vino y cera, Posteriormente se oficiarían misas y novenarios por su alma. También donaba 100 pesos a Isabel Maldonado y otros 100 a Aldonza Guzmán. En casa de Aldonza vivía una española llamada Juana a quien dejó 40 pesos para que se comprara ropa. En Apasco, dejaba 200 para su prima Ana Franco, la esposa de Blas Sánchez Pichardo y 50 para cada una de sus hijas. A Manzanilla enviaba 500 pesos para sus hermanas Juana Franco y Ana de Torres, que según sus noticias estaban casadas y eran pobres, 100 para la viuda de Alvarado y sus dos hijas.

Como era un hombre al que los negocios que tenía por aquellas tierras le fueron bien, tenía en su poder algunos objetos que recibía como garantía de préstamos, como: un cintillo de oro del Licenciado de Guanajuato Agustín Márquez, otro de 45 esmeraldas de la mujer de Martín Montes y dos anillos de oro del ensayador de minas, Diego López del Campo. Estos objetos pedía en su testamento que se entregaran a sus propietarios cuando saldaran las deudas por las que lo había recibido en prenda.

Declaraba como bienes, un mulato criollo llamado Juan, natural de Nueva Galicia y dos negros procedentes de Angola, llamados Francisco y Miguel, a los que se concedería libertad el día de su muerte, con la obligación para Miguel de acompañar durante dos años a sus albaceas para indicarles quienes eran sus deudores, a los que conocía muy bien.

Nombraba como albaceas testamentarios a Francisco de la Puerta y Juan de Anguiano.

                                                      Ángel Custodio Rebollo  custodiorebollo@terra.es
 .

INTERNATIONAL 

Rock of Gibraltar

Photos and text by Ed Barraza  edw.barraza@rcip.com . . .
Spain was at war with England, the war was over the Rock, Spain owned the Rock and England wanted  the Rock and Spain would not give it to England so England and Napoleon and his men went to war and beat Spain to claim the Rock of Gibraltar. It's  all spinach but your once your in the Rock it all English. Oh bye the way you do need your Pass Port to enter and leave the Rock.  
  


 

CIFEC to build an organizational structure to network Canary Islands descendents in the Canary Islands with those in the USA.

http://www.cifec.org/heritage.html

  I will try to ship cultural materials and books to
  you when we get them here at the US Office of
  the Canary Islands in Miami.

  We are in the early stages of planning a national 
   gathering for next year. Hope you will all be
   involved with us.  It will be a wonderful
   networking event.

  Please send your name and address to me, and  
  how you would like to be involved to me at:   
  CIFEC@cifec.org

  Thanks for your time, god bless you all,

  Alejandro Sanz, Drector
  CIFEC Foundation, http://www.cifec.org
  Phone 305 779 4967  Fax 305 779 4976
   E-mail alex@canaryislands-usa.com
  2655 Le Jeune Rd Suite 1016
  Coral Gables, FL, USA

EXPOSTOS/FOUNDLINGS 

By Eloise Cadinha

                                     Source: Vol. XII, #2 Portuguese Ancestry July 2002

There were many reasons why babies were abandoned by their mother and fathers. Some of the reasons being; an illegitimate child, extreme poverty with too many mouths to feed, perhaps the death of the father, or just simply an unwanted child.

One can research the smaller villages and not find a single exposto in the baptism records. At least this has been my experience. In the larger towns and villages many expostos are found in the records, certainly many of those abandoned from the smaller villages. In years of famine or terrible earthquakes many more babies were left as foundlings. These abandoned children were left at churches, convents and at the door of many homes.

Many children were left at convents. In many of the convents throughout Europe there was what was called the "Wheel" or "Roda". This wheel served a purpose. It was a wheel that could spin from the outside of the convent to the inside. Goods or other articles for the convent were left on the wheel and usually there was some kind of bell to let the nuns know that something had been placed on the wheel. In time, desperate mothers and fathers left their babies on the wheel.

In reading some of the exposto baptism records in certain villages, the priest notes to which mother in the village the child was given. The child had to be given to a nursing mother, and usually one can check back a few records and find that nursing mother in the record. Sometimes the priest noted where the child had been found.

When an exposto (male) married he had already a surname or perhaps was given one at the time of the marriage. I wish I knew more about this. As for surnames of the exposto, they ran the gamut from Azevedo to Xavier. As for the 

exposta (female) I don't think she was ever given a surname on her marriage record, or at least I can't remember seeing one.

Many parents when abandoning their children believed it would only be for a certain period of time. When the child was left at the convent or at the church or the doorstep of some farm house, sometimes clues were left so that parents could later claim their child. Notes sometimes were left with the name of the child, or perhaps a certain type of clothing, or an embroidered blanket. These were the clues and apparently the church did keep a record of these clues.

Some years back a fellow researcher sent me the following 1861 baptism record of a foundling from a parish in Sao Miguel.

A baby girl had been left at the home of a proprietor (land owner). The lady of the house with her servant took the child to the public roda of the Vila. The child was number 312. The baby was dressed in a cotton white shirt, a rose colored dress, and had two ribbons, one white and the other yellow.

In all the baptism records of expostos that I have seen in the records, I never saw a record such as this one. I have often wondered what happened to this baby. There was no notation in the margin, as I had seen in a few exposto records. The child was given the name, Ricarda, certainly a common one.

Marino Montero 
    Genealogical Research Foundation of Argentina    
(a non-profit organization) 
email: JMarinoMontero@aol.com

América Latina “conquista” Europa

El Nacional, 12/10/2004, Internacional y Diplomacia por Liza López
Enviado por perezfru@telcel.net.ve   Roberto Jose Perez Guadarrama

Cada año, medio millón de latinoamericanos aterriza en el viejo continente en búsqueda de oportunidades. Es un fenómeno que ha aumentado vertiginosamente en los últimos cuatro años y parece ser imparable. Europa compite ahora con Estados Unidos por el primer puesto en destino migratorio, y desde el suelo del mundo donde ancló Cristóbal Colón hace 512 años, se está cultivando esta nueva colonización de sangre criolla y mestiza 

No viajan en barco, como lo hicieron aquellos colonizadores hace más de 500 años. Estos nuevos conquistadores emigran en avión, en la clase económica de los boeing trasatlánticos, y van en la dirección contraria: de América Latina hacia Europa. Son cientos de miles los que se están marchando del nuevo hacia el Viejo Continente y este fenómeno migratorio parece estar en su mayor auge.

Las cifras son más que contundentes:
cada año llegan a tierra europea alrededor de 500.000 latinoamericanos, y desde 2000, esta cantidad se ha más que duplicado. Hoy suman, en esa región al otro lado del océano, más de 2 millones y medio de extranjeros con el ritmo criollo en las venas. Allá se reencuentran con otros acentos que le suenan a una misma raza y la latinidad los une en esta conquista intercontinental.

Aunque Estados Unidos sigue siendo el primer destino de los inmigrantes de este lado del mundo (hay más de 13 millones de “colonizadores” latinos y caribeños), Europa está cobrando cada vez más protagonismo al convertirse en el segundo punto de llegada. Sobre todo por el gigantesco número de personas que ve a España como territorio de oportunidades.

Italia, el Reino Unido, Alemania y Francia también figuran entre los destinos prioritarios, pero el impacto migratorio no es tan fuerte como en la madre patria, donde vive casi 1 millón de latinos en este momento. El idioma y la afinidad cultural, por supuesto, han hecho que las nuevas colonias latinas busquen concentrarse en las grandes ciudades españolas.

Esta migración que atraviesa el Atlántico, claro está, no se compara con el número de europeos que llegó a la región latinoamericana.

Estudios del Centro latinoamericano y caribeño de demografía (Celade) revelan que entre el siglo XIX y fines del XX, más de 11 millones de los inmigrantes llegaron de Europa y estas varias generaciones de extranjeros contribuyeron en gran medida a formar la sociedad mestiza latina. En este siglo, las evidencias muestran que los papeles se han invertido.



Legislaciones individuales
Quienes han liderado este flujo migratorio trasatlántico proceden en su mayoría de Ecuador, Perú, Colombia y Argentina. Los venezolanos todavía no representan una colonia numerosa en Europa, a pesar de que en España o Francia (más en el primero) se consiga en los abastos el ron criollo y la harina de las arepas.

Jorge Martínez, investigador del Celade -ente adscrito a la Comisión económica Cepal de las Naciones Unidas- confirma que la mayor parte de los latinoamericanos que emigraron hacia suelo europeo lo han hecho en los últimos cinco años. “En España, a pesar de la dureza de las políticas del ex mandatario José María Aznar, siguió recibiendo inmigrantes.

Las medidas actuales son una transición, pero eso no necesariamente implica una apertura de fronteras. En Portugal hay un despertar como destino migratorio para los brasileños, y la cifra de latinos allá no supera los 100.000. En Italia hay muchos menos que en España, pues su legislación es muy estricta para los extranjeros. No existe un escenario posible para una política de fronteras abiertas en Europa, sólo para circular dentro de ella”.

Según este experto chileno en migración internacional, la ley de extranjería aprobada por el nuevo gobierno español para regularizar a los inmigrantes que llevan al menos un año trabajando en ese país, es apenas un primer paso para flexibilizar la situación.

Sin embargo, en el seno de la Unión Europea, como comunidad que agrupa una diversidad de países potenciales para la inmigración, todavía no existen políticas conjuntas para regir los flujos migratorios.

Lo que sí existe son legislaciones individuales, pues cada país ejerce su propia soberanía en la materia, es decir, cada país decide a quién y cómo le permite la entrada y eventual residencia.

Pero el flujo hacia el viejo continente también se ha acentuado gracias a la cantidad de latinoamericanos que tienen alguna ascendencia europea. Esto ha permitido que muchos recuperaran la ciudadanía de quienes emigraron a América Latina décadas atrás, lo cual les facilita un pasaporte sin restricciones.


Tierra prometida
Las adversidades que viven los países en América Latina, la falta de oportunidades laborales, la formación profesional y la reagrupación familiar son algunas de las causas para la migración hacia el viejo continente. Tal como precisan los estudios sobre migración de la Cepal, entre las repercusiones que tiene este fenómeno destacan la pérdida de recursos humanos calificados Argentina y Venezuela se distinguen en este punto) y el riesgo de no lograr una efectiva inserción en el país receptor.

Para el especialista en migraciones latinoamericanas de la Universidad de la Coruña (España) y actual investigador del Centro para estudios de migración de la Universidad de California, Antonio Izquierdo, el mayor “empujón” de este fenómeno en los últimos cuatro años ha sido la acentuación de la crisis de países como Argentina, Ecuador, Perú, Colombia y Venezuela. Europa, explica, decidió invertir en el intercambio económico con Latinoamérica para competir con Estados Unidos, y está abriéndose a los trabajadores con buen nivel académico.

“El intercambio de migración calificada no es muy voluminosa, pero tiene un efecto importante para América latina. En general, el nivel de estudios de los inmigrantes latinos es comparable con el de países como España”, acota.

Su colega chileno agrega una reflexión. “El impacto es negativo y preocupante para el país de origen cuando la migración es de profesionales de alta calificación.

Por eso en América Latina hay que crear ambientes estimulantes para el empleo, porque Europa está ofreciendo alternativas laborales productivas”, subraya Martínez.

Algunas oportunidades, efectivamente, son bien productivas, pero no siempre están a la altura profesional del inmigrante.

Sobran los casos de latinos que deben sacrificar sus profesiones para sobrevivir como mesonero, cocinero, niñeros, obreros de construcción, etc. Si existe una consecuencia muy positiva de esta “colonización” en Europa, es el dinero que los latinos envían a sus países de origen. Las investigaciones dan fe de la magnitud de esta ayuda para las economías de países centroamericanos (los inmigrantes envían más de 3,5 millardos de dólares por año) o de Colombia, donde las remesas representan el equivalente a la mitad de las exportaciones cafeteras.


Mestizaje del siglo XXI
Si hace 500 años, el mestizaje comenzó a cultivarse en costas tropicales con sangre procedente de Europa, actualmente, el viejo continente experimenta una mezcla cultural inusitada con la llegada del sabor latino. Para el sociólogo español Antonio Izquierdo, este intercambio está lejos de ser negativo.

“Tengo mis dudas de que sea perjudicial para América Latina, pues depende de cada país. Si es bueno para las personas, entonces hay que proponer que reciban un trato justo y acorde con sus derechos humanos. En Europa, los efectos no se sienten igual en una península italiana que en una española. La migración se concentra sólo en algunas ciudades o provincias, y donde no hay flujos migratorios, los impactos positivos y negativos se dejan de sentir”, señala Izquierdo.

Y enfatiza: “Desde el punto de vista cultural, pretender decir que la identidad europea peligra por 6% de extranjeros es una bobada.

La identidad de Europa está cambiando y debe cambiar, pues todos somos producto de una mezcla de identidades”.


La utopía de las fronteras abiertas
Aunque existan ciertas políticas que rigen para el conjunto de 25 países que conforman la Unión Europea, todavía no hay lineamientos comunes en materia de migración.

Hasta el momento, en el seno de la Comisión Europea -brazo ejecutivo de la UE, promotora de la legislación y políticas de acción- se han discutido algunas propuestas, pero aún no se concretan en la práctica.

En sus documentos, se plantea la regulación de la admisión y estancia de inmigrantes, la lucha contra la clandestinidad y la cooperación entre países para el retorno de ilegales.

Con relación a América Latina, al menos ya se sugiere establecer “un diálogo consagrado a los flujos migratorios” entre las dos regiones.

El delegado de la Comisión Europea en Venezuela, Denis Daniilidis, explica que por los momentos en la UE funciona un sistema centralizado de intercambio de información en los controles fronterizos, pero todavía la inmigración no es un tema prioritario como el comercio.

En un estudio de Adela Pellegrino publicado por la Cepal, se contrastan las políticas de libre comercio y circulación de mercancías con las limitaciones de movilización y la radicación de inmigrantes en la UE. Los países europeos, recuerda la especialista, han cerrado sus fronteras a la inmigración desde 1974 y los ingresos se limitan a quienes aspiran condición de refugiados o a quienes postulan por empleos con calificaciones específicas. “El resurgimiento de nacionalismos acompañados de expresiones de xenofobia han vuelto a tomar peso en las últimas décadas”.

El experto español en derecho internacional y en relaciones EuropaAmérica Latina, Fernando Laiseca, precisa que hoy en día “cada país controla los flujos migratorios con las normas que quiere”. Con el Tratado de Ámsterdam (vigente desde 1999) y el proyecto de Constitución Europea, apunta, se busca establecer políticas comunes en materia de asilo y migración todavía por definir.


Mujeres en la delantera
Las féminas latinas llevan una clara ventaja en la carrera migratoria hacia Europa. Los expertos en el tema bautizaron esta tendencia como la “femenización” de la migración y coinciden en que se ha convertido en todo un fenómeno característico de la región. El sociólogo e investigador de migración internacional, Antonio Izquierdo, explica que esta corriente se hizo más fuerte en la última década por un aumento de la independencia femenina y por una alta demanda de mujeres latinas en muchos sectores de la economía europea (profesionales de la medicina, enfermeras, oficinistas, empleadas domésticas, obreras textiles, meseras).

En términos generales, puntualiza, el perfil de los inmigrantes latinos es de estudios cualificados y de clase media o alta, con algunos casos como el de los ecuatorianos, cuyo estrato es más bajo.

Lo que motiva a las mujeres, resalta el sociólogo, son factores como la independencia, las aspiraciones personales, los estudios, la familia y la movilidad. “Ella es quien reagrupa a la familia, y ya no se trata de la clásica mujer que sigue al hombre. En el caso de los hombres, el motivo para emigrar es más laboral. Llama la atención que hay menos migración femenina clandestina”.

El investigador del Centro latinoamericano y caribeño de demografía (Celade), Jorge Martínez, comenta que los latinoamericanos suelen tener mayor nivel educativo que otros extranjeros que se instalan en Europa. “30% de la fuerza de trabajo inmigrante son profesionales. Es lo que se conoce como desperdicio de educación para sus países de origen”.
  

HISTORY

The US Library of Congress has recently made available an interactive on-line index to the more than 15,000 names included in the 88 volume work Enciclopedia Heráldica y Genealógica Hispano-Americana of Alberto and Arturo Garcia Carraffa. The index also encompasses the continuation work by Endika de Mogrobejo, and displays a list of the libraries in the US that have the Carraffa work in their collection. By using this search engine you can find the names, volume and page number where the names appear in the Enciclopedia. The index is located at: Index to the Enciclopedia Heraldica Hispano-Americana of Alberto and Arturo Garcia Carraffa. . We have added this information to our Lookup Your Surnames web page.

Electrifying Data Faced with the problem of preserving 'the federal government's zillions of electronic records in on obsolescence-proof format, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has announced that technology and communication systems companies Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp will duke it out for a chance to solve that dilemma.

NARA's challenge for the two contenders is to design the Electronic Records Archive (ERA) - a system that will store information permanently so it's retrievable with whatever hardware and software ore available at the time. "ERA" promises to make finding records easy for the public and for government officials, and make delivering those records easy for the NARA staff.

Lockheed Martin already has subcontracted with Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the company that worked with Microsoft to design the country's first electronic-records preservation system for the state of Washington. 

FAMILY HISTORY

MyFamily Weekly: Family Heirlooms and Portraits, 3/12/2005  
Sent by newsletter@reply.myfamilyinc.com
Reply-to: unsubscribe2.pbkgf1744.1024.0.125@unsubscribe.myfamily.com
 

Preserving Records for Family History Research

Source: Church News

200 cameras in 44 countries gathering vital information

The Genealogical Society of Utah fills an important role in preserving and providing public access to records, said Wayne J. Metcalfe, director, Acquisitions Division of the Family History Department.

Speaking Jan. 28 at the conclusion of the library's weeklong open house, Brother Metcalfe, who is also vice president of the society, gave an overview of the collecting and value of international records, and spoke out in favor of public policy that allows public access to records of the deceased.

He said the Church goes to great lengths to acquire and preserve these records, and make them available to people in all places.

"Currently, the Genealogical Society of Utah manages more than 200 microfilm and digital cameras in 44 countries throughout the world," he said. "Each record is made available to family historians, genealogists and historians at our library here in Salt Lake City."

While some 750,000 visitors come to the library in Salt Lake City annually, more than 5 million visitors visit the 5,000 branch libraries each year.

"Now it is possible to have access to our microfilm collection in Budapest, Hungary; Cape Town, South Africa and Shanghai, China."

He said that the Church's Internet site,

 http://www.FamilySearch.org is provided at no cost to the user.

"All users, regardless of nationality, ethnic background, or religious affiliation, may access our databases, download information, and contribute their findings without cost."

After explaining policy related to the site, he noted that since the site was launched in 1999, there have been more than 15.5 billion hits on the site, or an estimated 192 million visitors from every continent on earth with the exception of Antarctica.

The site averages 14 million hits a day with an estimated 138,000 visitors per day, who view an estimated 4.7 million pages.

Some of the online databases viewed were compiled only with a tremendous effort, such as the Ellis Island immigration records that took volunteers 11 million hours to complete.

Such efforts between volunteers and the resources of the Church will help those who are seeking their family roots to be successful, he said.

"Information is a fragile thing," he observed. "Unfortunately, we are not always the best judges of what is important, particularly in the areas of what our descendants will want to know about us."

Regarding statutory, or legal, limitations, he called for finding a balance that will address both resource limitations, rights of privacy and "the rights of this and future generations to learn of their heritage and their ancestors."

GeoGene Newsletter  April 2005  
http://www.geogene.com
Editor: Zeena Eate  zeena@geogene.com