October 2005 
Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-5

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

Honoring contributions of Latino art  to the American culture, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing four stamps in 2005 featuring dances that trace their roots to the Caribbean islands. Click

"An America that is militarily and economically strong is not enough. 
The world must see an America that is morally strong 
with a creed and a vision. 
This is what has led us to dare and achieve. For us, values counts."
—Ronald Reagan 

  Letters to the Editor : 

UNITED STATES

New Orleans: a Geopolitical Prize  
Geopolitical Intelligence Report
A Soldier's Funeral
The untold true story of Guy Gabaldon
Who's a Latino Baseball Legend?

Announcing Nuestra Familia Podcast Series
Top 10 Companies for Workforce Diversity
Dorinda Moreno invited to be included in Pioneer Feminist Directory 

A Soldier's Funeral 

There's something to be said for being raised in a small town. What follows is a message from Vicki Pierce about her nephew James' funeral (he was serving our country in Iraq):  
Sent by Tortelita@aol.com

THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF GUY GABALDON
by Steven Jay Rubin
(writer, director, producer)

A feature-length documentary is in the final stages of completion.  It is about the extraordinary exploits of one of the last great living heroes of World War II - Guy Gabaldon - a U.S. Marine of Hispanic descent, who single-handedly captured 1100 Japanese soldiers during the bloody fighting on Saipan in 1944. 

Background: Guy Gabaldon lives in Florida today, but he could hardly be considered retired. At 79, he still has that steely resolve that saw him fight his way across one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War II. Not only is he a popular guest on the inspirational speaker circuit, but the White House nearly sent him to Iraq to indoctrinate U.S. troops in the dynamic of prisoner capture. And on that subject, Guy is quite an expert. During the two months of heavy fighting on Saipan in June of 1944, Guy is credited with bagging over 1100 Japanese - a record that is untouchable in the military history of the United States. 

Guy Gabaldon grew up in East Los Angeles where he spent more time on the streets than at home. He would get into fights and he was thrown out of school at one point, but things began to change when he was introduced to the Japanese American community. Practically adopted by his Nisei school friends, Guy learned about the Japanese culture, its language, and the tight family structure that was alien to him. All of these elements - learned at first hand - would have a dramatic effect on his experiences on Saipan. 

When his Japanese American friends were interned after Pearl Harbor, Guy, 17, joined the Marine Corps, trained at Camp Pendleton, and was assigned as a scout to the 2nd Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. His unit was then shipped to Hawaii, and then on into the Central Pacific, where he landed on Saipan, nine days after D-Day in Europe. 

Saipan was a rocky, cave-strewn island in the Mariana chain. It was part of the Japanese Empire's inner defense perimeter and it had an airfield within striking distance of Japan. It also had a large civilian population of Japanese and native islanders. The American high command in the Pacific had determined that the Marianas - Guam, Tinian and Saipan were a high priority for the war effort. B-29s were now flying and they needed a base to attack Japan. Saipan fit that bill. 

Guy Gabaldon didn't set out to be a hero. In the first few days of heavy fighting, he simply tried to survive murderous mortar, artillery and machine gun fire. But in succeeding days, he began to go on lone-wolf excursions into the countryside and he brought prisoners back. Japanese prisoners were a bit of an oddity at that time. The credo of most soldiers of the Japanese Army was kill or be killed. Japanese soldiers on Saipan were ordered to kill seven Marines for one Japanese. Thus, the campaign featured one suicide banzai charge after another. Capturing one Japanese was considered a feat - bringing in 1100 was unthinkable. 

But, amazingly, that's exactly what Guy Gabaldon did during the two months of early fighting on Saipan. At one point, he captured 800 in one day - his commanding officer Captain John Schwabe would later dub him "The Pied Piper of Saipan." How did Guy do it? Perhaps it was his language skill - Guy was hardly fluent in Japanese but he spoke the language with a certain inflection that reached into the psyche of the exhausted, hopelessly outnumbered island garrison. He had learned the words on the streets of L.A. with his Japanese-American friends, and those words helped him on the island. Perhaps it was the fact that the Japanese were, in the end, human beings who just couldn't fight anymore. Timing was thus everything. Guy wasn't hesitant to make a point with a hand grenade of a carbine if the enemy proved stubborn. But they eventually came out of their caves and became his prisoner. 

Guy was later wounded after the island was secured. Astonishingly, he was denied the Congressional Medal of Honor - a medal for which he was recommended by Captain Schwabe of the 2nd Marines. He did receive the Silver Star for his valor, but he was not promoted and left the Marine service as a PFC. Being Hispanic, perhaps, didn't help his cause. Racism and prejudice was rife throughout the U.S. armed forces in World War II and Guy was not immune to it. 

Guy returned to the United States, married a Japanese woman who was living in Mexico and became a successful pilot and importer. His story was first told on the television program "This is your Life" in the late 1950s. That program came to the attention of Hollywood and a movie was produced in 1960 entitled "Hell to Eternity." Actor Jeffrey Hunter played Guy. Hunter was your poster boy U.S. Marine - no reference was ever made to his Guy's Hispanic ethnicity. However, the notoriety of the film at that time encouraged the U.S. Navy to award Guy its highest decoration - the Navy Cross. But no Medal of Honor. 

Today, a strong effort is being waged by Congressmen, private business people and friends of Guy to get him the Medal. It would be measured as a sign of respect, not only to Guy, but to the people in America of Hispanic descent. 

Production

Production on "The Pied Piper of Saipan" commenced in late 2003. Guy Gabaldon was enlisted as a creative partner on the project, and he was interviewed, at length, at his home outside Gainsville, Florida. We later interviewed his commanding officer, U.S. Marine Colonel John Schwabe, at his winter home in Tucson, Arizona. 

In June 2004, during the 60th Anniversary celebrations on Saipan, a local DV crew was hired and footage was gathered all over the island. Seventeen additional interviews were completed with returning veterans, local historians and friends of Guys. Guy and his wife had returned to the Island and lived there for many years - so he was well known throughout the Marianas. His autobiographical book Maverick Marine was published in 1990. Much of the footage that was gathered on the island is designed to match combat footage and still photographs taken of the campaign (yesterday and today shots). 

In early 2005, we interviewed a number of Hispanic veterans in Montebello, California. That May, we met Guy in Corpus Christi, Texas and helped celebrate Memorial Day with him. Footage of Guy participating in solemn commemorative ceremonies combined with nostalgic trips to the U.S.S. Lexington - a U.S. Essex-class aircraft carrier, that participated in the invasion of Saipan, sixty one years ago. 

"The Pied Piper of Saipan" is a World War II themed documentary project with mass market and niche appeal. Guy is one of the last great World War II heroes who is still alive and can talk about his exploits. The Hispanic angle appeals to a large U.S. audience - an audience that would also include Japanese Americans, World War II buffs, and fans of the 1960 film that was so popular at the time.

Ted Williams
www2.hawaii.edu/~craigcam/frames/sports.thml

Reggie Jackson 
www.yankeesposters.com


Who's a Latino Baseball Legend?
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: August 26, 2005
Sent by Howard Shorr
howardshorr@msn.com 

Anti Spanish Legends

SURNAME

MONTOYA

(Click for a Montoya descendent)
Tiene su arranque de la provincia de Alava, des( que se extendio por las de Guipuzcoa, Logrono, Bin Salamanca y otros puntos de Castilla, Andalucia ; Continente Americano. Montoya o Montoia, significa en euskera "pastizi juncos". Don Martin Perez Montoya ya, figuraba c Procurador de la'Alcaldia de Sayaz, en la Junta Generi Guetaria, el ano 1397. En el ano 1466, figure en la frustrada toma de Bi Jaen, entre las tropas sitiadoras a las ordenes del Rey Enrique, el Capitan don Rodrigo de Montoya, que se destaco por su valentia. 

Galvez Patriots

Spanish Louisiana Regiment in the Floridas, 1774-1781

The people in Spanish Louisiana were not fighting for some abstract cause or for some king they had never seen. They were fighting for home, hearth, and family. 

The British planned to invade Spanish Louisiana. Galvez simply beat them to the punch and invaded them first. Letters captured at the Battle of Baton Rouge in 1779 laid out the planned British invasion in glorious detail. 

Take a look at Louisiana. Imagine you are living in New Orleans and the British warship the WEST FLORIDA is daily patrolling Lake Pontchartrain. How secure do you feel? You feel that your life and liberty are under constant threat. 

Baton Rouge, held by the British, is a mere 70 miles away. The British come to New Orleans all the time on shopping sprees. If they come to shop, they can come to invade in a thrice. 

Now, imagine further, that you have managed to capture some British couriers and you know the British are planning an invasion. (Galvez did in fact learn of British perfidy through his extensive spy network.) 

You can talk all you want about King A and King B. When King B is sitting in Spain and you're worried about the British invading, treaties and politics don't mean much to you. 

Consider Galvez's position from a purely human standpoint. In 1779, he was married to a French creole. He had a stepdaughter and a baby daughter. His father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law lived in New Orleans. He had been living in New Orleans since Jan. 1776 and had friends galore in Louisiana. The king be damned when you are defending the people you love. 

People fought for many reasons. Some were not the purest of reasons, to be sure. The French were stinging from their recent defeat at British hands. Did they help us because they loved liberty or did they want to stick it to the British? 

Many of Galvez's militiamen hated the British because they had been forced out of their homes in Canada and had come to Louisiana to live. This was a sore spot and many saw the attack on Baton Rouge as a chance for revenge. 
Oliver Pollock was Irish. His reasons for funding the fight against the British is obvious. 

The Spanish contribution is not inflated if you consider that the Spanish sent 10,000 lbs of gunpowder to George Washington at a critical time in 1776. General Washington was measuring out how much powder and lead he had left and deciding when to fight and when to flee based on his available supplies. 

Galvez sent a flatboat flotilla with 9,000 lbs. of gunpowder up the Mississippi in Sept. 1776. (The other 1,000 lbs. went by ship with George Gibson.) The supplies included cloth, medicine, lead, and muskets. 
Bernardo de Galvez opened up another front in 1779, drawing British supplies and troops from the 13 colonies and thereby helping General Washington's troops. 

Galvez fought the Maryland Loyalist forces, Pennsylvania Loyalists, Waldeckers, along with the 16th Foot while colonists were fighting similar units. 

Captain Pickle of the US Navy captured the West Florida on Lake Pontchartrain. Is his contribution to the war any less important because it was outside the original 13 colonies? 

It doesn't matter where the battles occurred. 
The problem is that history books often said that the French were the only foreign power to help in the American Revolution. We remember the Marquis, Pulaski, and Von Steuben but forget others. 

Look. I don't want to change history. I only want the complete story told. Not every British colonist was fighting for liberty. About 1/3 of them were Loyalists, about 1/3 rebels, and the final 1/3 didn't care. 

And sometimes people contributed a great deal without even knowing they were making a contribution. Take Jane McCrea's death. It certainly forced many colonists to make a choice: Tory or Whig? If the British could not protect the fiancée of a British lieutenant, how could they protect the colonists? 
Lila Guzman

Lila wrote:  Hello, everyone. 

A huge "amen!" to educating everyone about the Spanish contribution to the founding of our country. Let's do whatever we can to get the word out. I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but I have to correct something in the rousing call-to-arms email Michael wrote: Today, we Americans are indebted to this heroic Spaniard and his Hispanic army of 7,000 for assisting in the founding of the United States of America by helping to win her independence. 

I'm sorry, Michael, but no. To say that his army was Hispanic is to deny the role of the free mulatto militia, black slaves, Indians, the French (Creoles and Acadians), the Germans, the Anglo-Americans, and even Oliver Pollack (an Irishman) who participated in the march on Baton Rouge.

In 1779, when Galvez marched on Manchac and Fort Richmond (Baton Rouge), his army was a crazy quilt of nationalities and skin colors.

Ditto for the Battle of Mobile (some say the "Siege of Mobile.") If you were breathing and willing to fight for Don Bernardo, you could become part of his military operation.
And as a former member of the US Navy, I have to point out that it wasn't just an army. Don Bernardo had naval forces under his command, too. In Aug. 1779, a hurricane sank his ships in New Orleans harbor and he had to raise them before his troops could set out. Some marched. Some sailed up the Mississippi. He set sail for Mobile in 1780. He set sail for Pensacola the following year.

Additionally, I don't think you can lay all of this at the feet of the Black Legend. When I was a kid growing up in Kentucky, I watched Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy. He was the only Cuban I knew in the 1950s. I saw Zorro and was transported to Spanish California. I watched the Cisco Kid (although memories of that show are fainter than the rest.)

Then suddenly--there were no Latino faces on TV. Not until Chico and the Man in the 70s. After Freddy Prinze's death, there were scattered faces--Jimmy Smits and the guy on Law and Order (I've temporarily misplaced his name). Then in the 90s, George Lopez (the other Lopez) was discovered by Sandra Bullock and given a tv show.

What happened? Why did Hispanics vanish from television? Why the resistance? Perhaps there are historical reasons for excluding the Spanish from the history of our founding. There was some attempt by the Spanish in New Orleans to get Kentucky into the Spanish Empire. That may not have set well with some.

Don Bernardo died in 1786. I have often speculated that history might have been told differently if he had lived. The Marquis de La Fayette was around to do the grand tour in the 1800s after surviving the French Revolution. Poor Don Bernardo was not. Perhaps there was a lack of opportunity for promotion of the Spanish cause?
Whatever the reason, I can only give you my anecdotal suspicions. And I rely on your discretion with the following 2 paragraphs.

A Latina writer friend of mine has won beaucoup awards, including a very prestigious one from the American Library Association. She cannot get attention from the major publishers in New York City because they think all Latinos live in barrios, are gang members, and just arrived in the United States. They cannot accept that there are middle-class Latinos with ancestors who have been here since the founding of the US. Hispanic doctors? Lawyers? Coca Cola executives? Whoever heard of such a thing!

I just completed a series of non-fiction books with my husband for a particular publisher. The subjects include: Roberto Clemente, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Ellen Ochoa, Cesar Chavez and George Lopez. Why are we going back 50 years on some of those biographies? Why aren't we writing about Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots in the latest Shrek movie), Don Francisco, Cristina, Alberto Gonzales, General Ricardo Sanchez, Bill Richardson? (We have Governor Richardson's permission to write a children's bio of him--but we don't have a publisher yet.) I don't have the answer. But I am encountering resistance to biographies of modern Hispanics.
In Austin, Texas (my community), Univision was recently the #1 television station in the 18-35 demographics. Yet, was the death of Eduardo Palomo covered by the mainstream media? Not that I'm aware of.

OK, I've finished ranting. 
Lila Guzman, Ph.D.

Hello:
 
Before you read this, I'm generally not given to emotion.  However, some things in life are important enough to invest one's self in.  Therefore, please forgive me in advance if I seem to be too invested.
 
I've read your comments and find this whole thing fascinating.  I'm not a historian, I'm an MBA.  I'm just a guy who spent his life as a corporate executive, government executive, and university adjunct professor.  All of you folks have blazed trails in history and genealogy way beyond my capacity.  Frankly, Mimi infected me with the genealogy bug back in 1994.  Since our first meeting, I have completed my work on my mother's lines, only that.
 
I would like to make a point to all who have read my suggested course of action.  What you read from me was a cut-and-paste, excerpts from a book I've written for my two sons.  Hopefully, the book will be published this year.  I've spent five years on this adventure.  
 
The purpose was to give them and understanding of our roots.  My family settled North America in 1599.  They remained soldiers under Spain until 1821, when the new nation of Mexico annexed New Mexico.  They served as soldiers under Mexico until 1846, when the Americanos took New Mexico.  Our clans then served proudly as Americans in the Spanish American War with dear Teddy, Civil War, W.W.I, W.W.II, Korea, Vietnam, etc.
 
It is not my intent to take anything away from the French, Germans, Blacks, Native - Americans.  Most certainly, I appreciate the Anglo - American colonists that established this great nation.  Without them there would be no United States of America.
 
In short, I'm an American and I really like it.  It makes me feel good.  I'm not anti - American.  I love this country.  With that said, let me now explain my position as simply as possible.  Spaniards under the Empire (White, Black, Brown, Yellow, Purple), Hispanics, Latinos, Hispanos, etc., (all) have given a great deal to this country.  That doesn't make them good or bad, just people who participated.  Those who died to secure this nation's freedom just did their job, nothing more nothing less.
 
To report their doing their jobs in defense of this nation is not to exclude any other group of Americans or others.  It is simply to add to that wonderful list of patriots and those non - Americans that gave so much to make this wonderful place happen.
 
I don't know if I qualify as a true American, perhaps a better term would be a descendant of  families that were very early explorers and settlers of portions of the North American Continent that later became the USA.  Hopefully, this will satisfy Native - Americans that wish to remind all that they were here first or Anglo - Americans who may view themselves as the true American.  What ever the case, I wish them well in their perspective.
 
With that said, I would like to assist in reporting the facts, not fiction.  My intent is not political, but simply to tell the truth.  Like every other group that loves this nation, Hispanics wish to offer their remembrances of those they lost and those that suffered for this nation.  After all, she's worth it!!!!
  
Michael Perez  msphistory@aol.com

Perdona me "dos centavos" (and my Spanish): 
Paul makes very good points. History is a dress designed by the one who wears it. Kind of like a man with a wife. If she is proud of him, she will want the world to know him; if she is jealous of him, she will try to hide him; but almost always she will want to change him to her own personal liking. History is manipulated because it isn't a popular subject among people and thus, easily fashioned without objection. Teaching a balanced or "inclusive" history is far more complicated than prejudices. That would be too easy to correct. It has to do with teaching people something most do not care to know, "so don't make me learn more than I absolutely need to know to pass the test". Isn't that why Lila and Rick used a young lad - to sell the stories (books) about the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution? Who would read them if they didn't include Lorenzo? Hats off! That's the way to sell history. 

Promoting heroes by "race" limits an audience to that same "race" whereas promoting heroes by deeds appeals to all races. While the former may serve to help produce pride in a particular race it does little or nothing to establish historical truth among all races. Said the Marine, "You can't handle the truth" - so it is easier to change truth than to face it and so it is hard for most people to acknowledge that American Independence was fought for and won by many who did not directly enjoy it (i.e. live in the North). I once had an SAR member tell me, "I don't want to hear about TCARA, I want to hear about the American Revolution". Hello?!! 

While it is easy to "sell" exclusive history to someone whom it directly relates, it is another project entirely, to "sell" that history to a disinterested party. And that is the question at hand. How do we "sell' or educate ALL peoples, "exclusively Hispanic" history. Unless you have a targeted customer base, you must make your product appealing to a crosscut of customers at large. That is, unless we want to educate only Hispanics, we must teach an "inclusive history" that has something of interest to everyone (America's History is the most inclusive of any other country's). Otherwise, we only succeed in polarizing our audience. (Isn't that what our schools have done?) I do not believe that is our objective. 

The question begs, how do we promote an "Inclusive American History" to all Americans? 
Pero, este es me "dos centavos". 

Jack Cowan  JVC4321@aol.com

Hi everybody,

Here is my two cents. It is crucially important that in promoting the history of Spain in the United States, those of us who are descendants of her subjects in the United States, do not segregate ourselves with our attitude and the word w e use. It seems to me that not only is the general American public ignorant of the role Spain and her children played in American history, but also most of the Hispanics. Hispanics by and large believe themselves to be victims, that the Anglo Americans came and took over because of their manifest destiny doctrine. In this email Michael, you mention that Manifest Destiny could only go forward if the history of Spain in this country would be forgotten. Here is the thing I discuss in my book, when you study the history of the Hispanics that were in Texas and the Louisiana and the rest of what would be the U.S. in colonial days and not the history of the millions of Hispanics that have come in more recent times, when you read what they, their leaders and representatives wrote, they had a sense of destiny that they would be part of the American Union. Of this everyone it seems is ignorant. The Texas Revolution was first and foremost an original Tejano cause, if not a present day Tejano cause, the Anglo Americans only joined them in that cause, as they themselves said, as brothers. It seems to me that the whole history is twisted up side down, the Anglo Americans were not the enemy of the colonial Spanish settlers of Texas, the Mexicans were, for Texas to be part of the United States was not just the manifest destiny of the Anglo Americans, it was the manifest destiny of the Spaniards who were already in Texas, and they wrote about it. Perhaps if we teach what the Spanish colonial settlers of Northern New Spain in  what would be the United States believed, instead of what their Mexican oppressors to the south believed, our history could be incorporated in to the history of the United States.

At any rate, it has taken me 3 revisions and 420 pages to explain what I mention in this email. Not  for the financial gain that would come of it, I am well provided for as I am now, but for the benefit of incorporating the history of Spain and her children in the United States do I wish every American school would use my book to teach in which I give a voice to the silenced Spaniard Founding Fathers of Texas. We have to begin by recognizing that the Spanish colonials of the US were distinct from the people in Mexico, they were distinct ethnically and racially, generally speaking, their history and struggles were distinct, their situation was distinct, they were isolated from the rest of Spain's possessions in the new world, and they were certainly distinct in their views of the destiny of their land and who the heroes and villains were, who the oppressors, the Mexicans, and their liberators, the Americans, were. But they were very few in number and so today they have been lost to history being replaced by the views, history and views of history of those who, although shared a common language and many surnames, were their oppressor. Never the less, it was them who tamed the wilderness of Texas and not another, and their views views are what their history should be built upon, and their views and beliefs actually form a full part of the United States and are not the views of a conquered people, rather, of a liberated people. I realize I may be ruffling some feathers, but, like I said, it takes 420 pages to explain. 
Sincerely,

Alex Loya  alexloya@integrity.com

I had not read Paul's email,

I agree that we should not inflate the contribution of Spain and her American (United States) colonies in the American Revolution, but I believe it is crucially important that the contribution should be known because the effects of it, which I discus in my book, are completely related and have everything to do with the events that later caused the United States to extend to the Pacific, and to the legitimacy of our present borders. I believe that the participation of the colonial Texans in the American Revolution, and I base this on what they wrote, the histories they wrote, had a profound effect in their own desire for freedom and their sense of destiny, which very few people are aware of, that they were a part of the United States. In our present circumstance, when so many question our borders and their legitimacy, when so many Hispanic newcomers of a different ethnic background than the original Spanish settlers of Texas were, generally speaking, I believe it is essential for the contribution, and the effects of that contribution, of Spain in the American Revolution be taught, also to preserve the identity and the history of those who were the actual colonial settlers of Texas and the Southwest. But, like I said, it takes at least 420 pages to explain.

Alex Loya  alexloya@integrity.com

The next book in the Lorenzo series, LORENZO'S TURNCOAT, is due out May 31, 2006 and focuses on the Battle of Baton Rouge. A hurricane in New Orleans in 1779 sank all the ships in the harbor. Galvez was ready to attack the British (before they attacked him) and had to start war preparations from scratch.

New Orleans suffered two hurricanes in 1779.  I have been watching coverage of the hurricane and cringing. It is true. History does repeat itself.   
Lila Guzman

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

October is designated Family History Month
October/November recognized for Dia de los Muertos

October 23: Bower's Museum Dia de Muertos Celebration
George Newnam's Casa de Calaveras, House of Skeletons
History of Dia de los Muertos

8th annual El Dia de la Familia, Segler Park, Westminster, Sept 11
SHHAR at Hispanic Heritage Month Mixer, Bowers Museum, Sept 21
SHHAR at Orange County's Stay Connected Professional Mixer, Sept 29

     Many family history lectures and events are offered at local libraries
   Fullerton, Brea, Placentia, Yorba Linda, an evening lecture in October

Hispanic Heritage Month Activities at Santa Ana Library:  3- 2 p.m. lectures
October 15: Archival workshop at the old Court House, Santa Ana
October 15: Fall Harvest Dance, Westminster 
Suggested Family History Month Activities
California Story Fund Project: The Mexican Orange County 

George Newnam's
Casa de Calaveras, House of Skeletons
http://www.hometown.aol.com/casacalavera

"First, a Little History"
Source: Tu Ciudad October/November 2005 www.ciudadmag.com

Throughout October and into early November, ofrendas, or altars, are built to honor the memory of the dearly departed.   They wear garlands of marigolds to parties thrown in their honor—colorful gatherings that feature stacks of sugar skulls, masses of candles, and gifts of food and drink. Each year, the start of November marks a playful celebration in Mexico and Central America called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The holiday is a rich and colorful outlet for grief and a way of treating lost loved ones to a celebration in their honor.

Dia de los Muertos can be traced back to the pre-Hispanic Aztecs, who held feasts throughout the year in honor of the dead. According to the history books, native culture blended '' with Catholic tradition: the Spanish, seeking to Christianize the Aztec ritual upon conquering the New World, condensed and moved the tributes, especially two of the most widely ' celebrated—Miccailhuitonti (Feast of the Little Dead Ones) and Miccaihuitl (Feast of the Adult Dead)—to coincide with All Saints' and All Souls' days. Through the years, elements of ' both the Spanish Catholic and Aztec beliefs have survived, some virtually intact, others transformed by their coexistence. The merging of cultural expression blossomed into unique hybrid imagery, signs of which can be found in decorative sugar skulls, playful skeleton dioramas, and intricate paper craft called papal picado, all of which are prominent at this time of year.

Throughout October and into early November, ofrendas, or altars, are built to honor the memory of the dearly departed, with trails of bright yellow cempasuchiles (marigolds) to coax the dead back from the afterlife. Graves are decorated with cross-adorned candles, skeleton dioramas, and mounds of pan de muerto (bread of the dead) as well. The holiday has gained popularity in the United States as immigrants import the tradition and as second-, third-, and fourth-generation Latinos discover it here. Gregorio Luke, director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, sees Day of the Dead as a way of affirming life by confronting death. "When you make an offering for somebody," says Luke, "you have to remember his life. What did he like to drink? To eat? What were his favorite colors? It forces you to bring that person back because you are reenacting their deeds, their tastes, and their thoughts,"

Researcher Jaime Cader sends information that traces the history back to an Egyptian origins/influences in the Day of the Dead customs of Mexico. " It is taken from the bilingual book "The Days of the Dead -Los Dias de Muertos" by Rosalind Rosoff Beimler (1991).  It starts on page 19 saying: "With the Spanish conquest, a new set of mourning rituals was introduced into Mexico.  The Catholic missionaries who fanned out across the land . . . brought a cosmology parallel in some ways to that of the Aztecs.  

Made familiar enough to be palatable, their ideas came to coexist with rather than supplant existing beliefs.  Saints joined the hierarchy of gods; heaven and hell added (pg. 20) new dimensions to Mictlan; All Souls' and All Saints' days merged with the harvest rites of Mictlantecuhtli.  The Catholic rites had grown out of Egyptian mourning practices commemorating the deceased god of Life, Death, and Grain -Osiris.  By the Alexandrian calendar, Osiris was murdered on the seventeenth day of the month of Athyr, in our November - a time when the Nile is sinking, the nights are lengthening, and leaves are falling.  On those nights the dead were thought to revisit their homes, and people received them with food and lamps to light the way.  The Romans inherited the concept in turn; Bacchus, the Roman god of life and renewal, is Osiris in Roman dress.  As Christianity replaced the gods of Rome, ancient rites were recast.  All Saints's Day, November 1 was established as the time to pray for the souls of dead children; All Souls' Day, November 2, became the day to remember the adults.  The night of October 31 became All Hallows Eve.  Halloween evolved separately from the Days of the Dead, though it remains a close cousin..."

So anyway, here is a start for anyone that wants to do more research on this subject.  Adios por ahora.        Sincerely,  Jaime Cader  jmcader@yahoo.com

8th annual El Dia de la Familia, Segler Park, Westminster, September 11
Ileana and Rodolfo Velarde manned the SHHAR table for a wonderful experience.
Hundreds of families enjoyed the entertainment, foods and information
 distributed by many community organizations.

SHHAR participated in the Hispanic Heritage Month Mixer at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Arts, Santa Ana
September 21.

SHHAR Board member Yolanda Ochoa and researcher Gerardo Valdivia share their family information with Cal State University, Fullerton student, Jeannette Flores.

SHHAR Board member Bea Dever on the left, Gil Flores, Executive Director of the Orange County LULAC Foundation and your editor 
Mimi stand by the table display, encouraging professionals to start family history research.

The Light Impressions Archival workshop is coming to Orange County!

The Light Impression archival workshop, now in its fifth year, will be held in conjunction with the Orange County Historical Commission at the Old Courthouse in in Santa Ana on Saturday, October 15. The workshop is open to those who work with archival collections, in a professional or volunteer capacity. A variety of topics related to archival management and preservation will be presented in five separate all-day classes. Attendance will be limited, so please make your reservations soon.

When: Saturday, October 15, 2005 9 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Where: Old Courthouse Museum 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd. Downtown Santa Ana
RSVP: (714)973-6607 (Marshall) or 973-6610 (Sharon)
Cost: $10, Which includes lunch
Parking: Orange County Hall of Administration lot, Santa Ana Blvd. And Ross Street. 
For direction to the old Courthouse, Visit us on the web at www.ocparks.com/oldcourthouse

• Archival Products A to Z: What They Are and How to Use Them
Larry Poctor sr, Account Manager, Light Impressions

• Materials and Practices for Photographic Storage
Ray Adams Account Manager, Lights Impressions

• Processing and Describing Your Archives
Robert Marshall Director, Urban Archive, CSUN

• Basic Book and Paper Repair
Sheryl Davis U.C. San Diego

• Funding Sources/or Archives
Felicia Kelley Sr. Program Manager, Calif. Council for the Humanities

        • A City Revived: Santa Ana (lunch)
       Mayor Pro Tem, Santa Ana

California Story Fund Project: The Mexican OC 

From: breathoffiretheater@yahoo.com

THE "MEXICAN" OC: TRIUMPHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORANGE COUNTY’S MEXICAN COMMUNITIES

CONGRATULATIONS are in order. El Centro Cultural de Mexico (in conjunction with Breath of Fire Theater) has been awarded a California Story Fund Grant.

The CALIFORNIA STORY FUND is one of the components of California Stories, the California Council for the Humanities’ statewide initiative that seeks to strengthen California communities through story-based public humanities projects. Through $5,000 grants awarded quarterly through a competitive process, the California Story Fund supports public humanities programs that will bring to light compelling stories from California’s diverse communities and provide opportunities for collective reflection and discussion.

Few people in Orange County have knowledge of the history, positive contribution, or struggles for social justice of Mexican communities. The rich stories of triumph and survival of our ancestors wait to be told to a new generation of Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrant communities, and the other populations residing in the county. 

Our project, entitled THE "MEXICAN" OC: TRIUMPHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORANGE COUNTY’S MEXICAN COMMUNITIES, hopes to address this void by presenting a play based on stories of Mexican people, past and present, who have challenged the status quo to assert the rights of Mexican communities in Orange County. The work on this project includes:

The collection of oral histories of living Mexican American activists
The researching of historical Mexican figures 
The creation of a play interwoven in Spanish and English, based on the interviews and archival data. 

Community dialogues that will immediately follow 3 play productions

We are looking forward to the theatrical presentation in March of 2006, and there is much work to be done in the months ahead. We are looking to match the funds, $5,000 provided in the grant (a provision of receiving the grant). Project coordinators will be conducting historical research, surveying members of the Mexican community in Orange County, writing an original stage play based upon the stories collected, and producing this play at one or more venues. If you are interested in making a monetary or material contribution please contact:

Fundraising Director: 
Andrea Ramierz 626-665-8102 
cedahliafairy@hotmail.com

Or a contribution of your time and talents, please contact one of the Project Directors.
Project Directors:
Sara Guerrero (714) 785-0764 
Heather Enriquez (714) 397-7818
breathoffiretheater@yahoo.com
www.themexicanoc.org
http://www.el-centro.org/

Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles on the River Porciúncula
By Howard H. Metcalfe
Sent by Johanna de Soto and Mary Ayers M3Ayers 
Site of Original Pueblo
http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/LASite.html  

Probable Location of the Original Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles on the River Porciúncula
By Howard H. Metcalfe

This article discusses the origin and location of the original pueblo of Los Angeles, founded on September 4th, 1781 and confirmed on September 4th, 1786. This pueblo deteriorated and a gradual abandonment and move to the present location around the current plaza took place between about 1815 (the year of a major flood) and 1835 (the year Los Angeles was elevated to a ciudad) the precise years not being known.

Contents
1872 Description of the Original Pueblo 
1976 Description of the Original Pueblo 
Probable Location of the Original Pueblo 
Counterpoint; Conclusion; Harlow's Sources; Appendix; Notes 

1872 Description of the Original Pueblo
The early history of the city was well described in the first Los Angeles City and County Directory, published in 1872.[1] The relevant portion of the directory is reproduced verbatim below, with the author's comments in footnotes.[2]

Los Angeles City
The City of Los Angeles was founded on the 4th day of September, 1781, in conformity with the laws of Spain, providing for the settlement and organization of towns (pueblos) or municipal communities. The founders of the town had, mostly, if not all, been soldiers;[3] and, although relieved from active service were entitled to and continued to receive pay and rations during the supremacy of the Spanish Government in California. The settlement consisted of twelve families. One of the settlers was a widower having one child, a daughter, aged eleven years. The others were all married and eight of them had children. The eldest of the settlers was sixty-seven years old, one was fifty-five and three were fifty years of age, and one was forty-two and the others were from nineteen--the youngest, an Indian--to thirty-eight. The average age of the twelve male settlers was thirty-nine and two-thirds years. There were eleven married women. The whole number of children were twenty-three, only three of which were over ten years old. Eleven of the children were boys and twelve were girls. The community numbered in all forty-six souls. Of the twelve men, heads of families, two were Spaniards, two mulattoes, two negros, four Indians, one Chinaman[4] and one half-breed (Indian and negro). Of the women, six were mulattoes and five were Indians. The adults were natives of Lower California, Sonora and Sinaloa, excepting the two Spaniards and the Chinaman.

Each family was furnished from the royal treasury, with two oxen, two mules, two mares, two sheep, two goats, two cows with one calf, one ass and one hoe, and to the community the necessary tools of a cart maker. These articles, inclusive of the live stock, were all charged to the individuals or the community at a price established by the Government and that amount was to be deducted, in small installments, from their pay.

For the town site a parallelogram one hundred varas[5] long by seventy-five in width was laid out. Upon three sides of this twelve were house lots, each forty by twenty varas, excepting the two corner lots, which fronting in part on two sides of the square were of a different figure. One half the remaining side of the parallelogram was open, the other half was for the guard house, royal officers and a granery. The location of this town site was above or northeast of the present Catholic Church site. The guard house and royal building which occupied the west half of the southwestern side of the parallelogram were on the opposite side of Main street from Campbell's store.[6] The four lines of the parallelogram instead of running towards the four cardinal points were about equi distant between these points. An irrigating ditch bringing water from the river passed along to the east of and in the rear of and close to those lots on the southeast corner of the square. Thirty fields for cultivation were also laid out.[7] Twenty-six of these fields contained each forty thousand square varas. They were, with the exception of four, which were three hundred varas by one hundred, two hundred varas square and separated by lanes three varas wide. These fields were located between the river and the irrigating ditch and mostly above a line running direct and nearly east from the located town site to the river. The distance from the irrigating ditch to the river across these fields was upwards of twelve hundred varas. At that time the river ran along by where now stands the houses of Julian Chavis and Elijah Moulton,[8] and the easternmost of these fields were close to the river.

It is evident that when the town was laid out, the bluff bank which in modern times extended from Aliso street up by the Stearns Mill to the toma[9] did not exist, but was made when the river moved near the town.

The surnames of the twelve settlers were Lara, Navarro, Rosas, Mesa, Villavicencio, Banegas, Rosas, Rodriguez, Camero, Quintero, Mereno and Rodriguez.[10] Subsequent to the settlement of the town, the river abandoned its bed and moved to the west side of all the fields and flowed along where the Eagle Mill now stands, and where Alameda street is now located. The old fields were either washed away or covered up with sand by the change of the river bed. In 1825 the river again left its bed and made a new one nearly intermediate between the two preceding ones.

From its settlement the growth of the town was very slow for a period of fifty years. Its growth was dependent upon the natural increase of the settlers by additional soldiers, as they were from time to time relieved from active service and permitted to make the town of Los Angeles their residence.

About 1836 the town (pueblo) was created a city and made the capital of Alta California by act of the Mexican Congress, and the Governor, Don Carlos Carrillo, during his brief administration made it the seat of the Civil Government. After the expulsion of Micheltoreno it again became the seat of Government under the administration of Don Pio Pico, in 1844, and so continued until the emigration, in August, 1846, of the Mexican authorities upon the occupation of California by the United States forces.

The corporate limits of the city extend one Spanish league[11] north, east and west, and one Spanish league and four hundred yards south from the centre of the plaza. The Los Angeles river, originally called the Porciuncula, flows through the city limits, a little east of the centre, in nearly a south course. Nearly all the buildings and inhabitants of the city are upon the west side of the river.

From some undefined cause the growth or extension of the improved or built up part of the city has ever been in a southwesterly direction. Notwithstanding that for a period of fifty years, until 1832, the town was a quasi military post, the able-bodied male population being on the muster rolls and performing guard duty by day and night at the guard house, and field duty whenever circumstances required, the public square and houses around it fell into decay and ruins, while the accession was mostly on the southwest of the original site. This might have been and probably was caused by the change in the bed of the river, the destruction of the agricultural fields and the washing out and leaving the bed of the river so much where the water was taken out, that the water could not be brought into the original ditch, and the inhabitants were forced to make new fields in the neighborhood of what is now San Pedro street. But whatever may have at first impelled that people to extend the town southwesterly, its growth in time past has been and at present is in that direction. 

Please go to the site for much more information . . . .

CALIFORNIA

New Book on California Mission Horticulture has been published  
From: Michael Hardwick hardwic2@cox.net 

.   
The book was published by: The Paragon Agency Publishers PO Box 1281 Orange, CA. 92856 (714) 771-0652 available  www.SpecialBooks.com or through myself hardwic2@cox.net

PREFACE
            Long before Europeans mapped the region, California’s tallest mountains, largest lakes, longest rivers, and oldest trees all had names.  What was labeled wilderness by European explorers was a human homeland for Native Americans.  Native peoples gathered wild plants for their harvests.  They regularly burned the landscape to rejuvenate it.

            Introduction of agriculture through the California Missions changed the ecosystem of California. Natural plantings gave way to introduced ones, and livestock grazing facilitated dispersal of introduced plants.  Native use of fire was curtailed in favor of agricultural pursuits.  California Indians became neophytes, ranchers, and mission farmers. The Missions of Mexico established the pattern for those founded in California. Franciscans introduced agriculture in an attempt to make Missions self-supporting. Planting cereals and grains defined mission agriculture. Crop yields were reported in annual reports.  Little mention was made of ornamental plantings and harvests of fruits and vegetables in the reports.  It is from Mission correspondence and other accounts that a picture emerges of the horticulture introduced to the Missions of California.  Missions located on the coast became experimental stations for horticulture as ships brought plants to them from far away places.

            The Secularization Act of 1833 changed all of this.  Newly-granted ranches focused on livestock. Mission communities disintegrated as did the agriculture and horticulture fostered by them. California landscapes changed again as agriculture and horticulture declined.  Today horticultural plantings around the Missions are on the endangered list.  The Huerta Project at Old Mission Santa Bárbara, described in the Appendix of this book, is propagating and preserving heirloom plants that grew at the Missions.  This gardening effort is a living museum and a resource for those interested in restoring original Mission plant communities.

Regards,
Mike Hardwick
Santa Barbara


The photo of me is at El Presidio State Historic Park in Santa Barbara. I am pointing to one of the Mission-Era grapevines that they have transplanted there.

The Fiesta is a celebration of the peoples, cultures, history, and environment of the San Diego/Northern Baja region surrounding the Tijuana River Estuary. The Fiesta celebrates the heritage, pride, and cultures of the two countries, Mexico and the U.S., to which the estuary belongs.

For more information contact
Los Californianos, Benita Gray
Phone 858-538-3027
E-mail Gray850@aol.com

California State Census, 1852

Lost an ancestor in 1850? . . . . Try checking the 1852 California State Census. Over 50,000 people traveled overland to the gold fields while more went by ship. Census gives the person's residence and most answered with the name of the state from which they came. (CSGA Newsltr Vol 12, #10 Oct 1994.)

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

At the end of the nineties, the Basque Studies Library at the University of Nevada, Reno acquired from a book dealer in Bilbao a large and important archive on the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, which had belonged to Jose Maria Huarte de Jauregui (1898-1969) of Navarre. Head archivist of the General Archive of Navarre and member of the Academy of History and the Academy of Fine Arts in Spain, Huarte de Jauregui was a Carlist who participated in the Civil War, achieving the rank of artillery lieutenant in the army of General Franco, and head of the Military Command of Zarautz (Gipuzkoa). The origin of the archive relates to this military post, which allowed him to collect abundant documentation on the new Francoist State that was created at that time in Gipuzkoa, and also numerous documents confiscated in Euskadi under the jurisdiction of the first Basque Government (Bizkaia) and in the rest of the northern zone of the Spanish Republic (Santander and Asturias). This archive focuses on the Civil War, but includes as well the historical periods just prior to and following it: the Second Republic (1931-1936) and the Franco Dictatorship (1939-1975).

In 2003, the Basque Studies Library completed a catalog of the Huarte de Jauregui Archive, consisting of sixty-three pages that can be consulted on the Internet. These thousands of documents, most of them original and unpublished, along with clippings and pamphlets of the period, are kept in some thirty archive boxes that are classified in three categories: the first refers to the Republican area of the Civil War, the second— the most numerous—refers to the Francoist area, and the third—the smallest—includes various Basque nationalist magazines from the 1930s and many newsletters from the Franco faction, published in Paris during the Civil War.

The most interesting documents concerning the Second Republic are political manifestos and electoral propaganda from the right, left, and nationalist parties, produced for the Spanish Parliament general elections of 1931, 1933, and 1936. There is also documentation from unions (mainly, the socialist General Workers' Union), as well as on the religious problem and the Basque Statute of Autonomy, two key questions in the political life of Euskadi during the Second Spanish Republic.

The documentation preserved in this Spanish Civil War archive is immense and varied, though most of it is of a military or political nature. The most valuable part concerns Franco's army offensive in the northern Iberian Peninsula in 1937: first in Bizkaia in the spring, later in Santander in the summer and Asturias in autumn. The military conquest of this industrial and mining territory was very important for the final victory of the Franco faction in the war. What is most interesting about this archive is the abundant documentation on the armies that fought in the north:

the Republican army, within which the Basque army was situated; and the Franco army, comprising the Brigades of Navarra along with the Carlist militiamen. Within the archive are diverse historical documents, such as reports of battalions; official reports on war actions, the Navy of the Basque Government, the Department of Military Information; communications between military commands—for example, many telegrams exchanged by the ministry of Defense, the socialist leader from Bilbao, Indalecio Prieto, and the head of the northern Republican Army, general Gamir Ulibarri, among others.

Among the political documents are briefings, letters, peace proposals to the Basque nationalists encouraging them to abandon the Republican cause, calls to resistance or to surrender (subject of a proclamation of Franco to the Bilbainos asking that they surrender, on the eve of the taking of Bilbao in June 1937), Nazi propaganda against Communism, printed in Spanish in Hamburg, Germany, etc. The archive also contains quite a few pamphlets: those published by the Basque Government of Jose Antonio Aguirre, various on the controversial case of the Basque Catholics and on the international controversy created by the bombardment and destruction of Gernika by the German Legion Condor. The Prancoist version of this event can be read in the Bulletin d'Information Espagnole, published in French by its supporters. There are also many dossiers from the Spanish, French, English and Italian press on the course of the Spanish conflict and its repercussions in the Basque Country. In addition, this archive preserves some notebooks, maps, flags, and many photographs.

The most documented zone of the Basque Country is the coast of Gipuzkoa from Zarautz to the border with Bizkaia, taken over by the army coup in September 1936 and controlled by the Military Command of Zarautz, headed by Huarte de Jauregui from March of 1937 until November of 1939. By studying the copious documents generated by this command, related to the ministers of Franco's government and high commands of his army, one can pinpoint the first introduction of Francoism into the region of Gipuzkoa. The firm political repression is apparent in numerous police reports and in long lists of exiled nationalists or leftists, prisoners, and those who were fined (the fines were camouflaged with the euphemism, "donations for the National Trea- sury"). In addition, the army, Carlists, and the Falange constmcted a new State with a Fascist character with the help of part of the Basque Church, at the same time that the nationalist clergy was retaliated against. The relations between the forces forming the Francoist group were not always cordial and there were conflicts between Carlists and Falangists or between the military and civil powers; for instance, the dispute that put Comandante Huarte himself in conflict with the mayor of Zumaya, who was removed from office and detained by him in 1937. This is a good example of the fact that in Franco's Spain the supreme power lay in the hands of the army. The archive informs us of the visit of Count Ciano, Minister of Exterior Affairs of Mussolini's fascist Italy, to Gipuzkoa in 1939, who was entertained in Zarautz by Huarte de Jauregui with a sumptuous lunch, as can be seen from the menu card written in Italian.

The later part of the archive refers to the Franco dictatorship, centered in the years of World War II (1939-1945), and the several rival branches of the Cariist movement gathered around the aspirants to succeed Franco with title of King—Carios VIII, Javier de Borbon Parma with his sons Carios Hugo and Sixto, and don Juan de Borbon. It also focuses on an exiled and clandestine Basque nationalism with its manifestos, pamphlets, and periodicals. These documents end in the 1970s, although their principal compiler, Jose Maria Huarte de Jauregui, died in 1969 in Madrid.

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Remembering September 16th and Mexican Americans  

From: dorindamoreno@comcast.net 

Remembering Sept. 16 and Mexican Americans 
Susan Guerrero, New York Times 
Sunday, September 11, 2005 

My grandfather often spoke to me of the old-fashioned knock-down, bang-up Sept. 16ths of his boyhood, when every town in the Arizona Territory shut down and everybody celebrated, Mexican and Anglo, just like on the Fourth of July. 

He was the son of a famous 16th of September orator and proud of it, although he was just a baby when his father made his last long speech from the back of a flag-draped wagon. 

He often asked me why we didn't celebrate the 16th of September anymore, but I had grown up in Connecticut and had no idea. "I guess they just forgot," he would say sadly. 

Because of him, I think of Sept. 16 not as the day Mexico handed Spain her hat, but as the day of forgotten Mexican American history. It wasn't only the vanished holidays that had somehow congealed into a weeklong supermarket celebration of Cinco de Mayo that upset Tata. He felt that Mexicans were being left out of the history of the Southwest. 

He was not as well educated as his father, going no further than the third grade at a ranch school, and he was an awkward writer. But he was an eloquent speaker, having inherited his father's gift for oratory and trained in it by diligent attendance at his local Toastmasters club. 

These are Tata's notes for a speech he gave in 1972 at for the historical society in Florence, Ariz., a town he had known well as a boy: 

"My interest not only of Arizona history as a whole, but of Mexican American participation in particular. I find where we have lacked so very much writers, who gave Mexican American pioneers very little mention, if any at all. Yet Florence was a half and half population of Anglos and Mexicans. 

"In researching, mostly from old-timers, I can cite that we had quite a number of prominent men in many fields, but history books that I have been able to acquire mention none, at least in Florence. In making reference where events and men are concerned, they read Jack Brown and Jim White and a Mexican or two Mexicans. Bob So and So owned the ranch or farm and had a Mexican for a neighbor. Johnny Du Vois called Soft Drink Johnny came to Arizona in 1876 as a stage driver -- married a Mexican woman. DOES NOT MENTION THE NAME OF THE 

WOMAN'S FAMILY." 
As he would say, it burned him up. 

Even today, the historical society -- to which he was devoted -- has the standard "O Pioneers" kind of exhibits, reproduced in a thousand dusty little museums all over the West and Southwest. There are arrowheads and pottery to represent the Indians, and guns and saddles to represent the cowboys. And to represent the ladies, a bonnet or two, a washboard and a sunburned piano or, in Florence's case, the exhausted-looking organ that Tata's mother played at the Presbyterian church. 

There is nothing there, unless fingerprints count, to recall her or any other of the town's many Mexican settlers. 

In any event, Tata had his own museum, a memento-filled cabinet in the guest room of his house. The museum -- that is what he called it -- had five or six shelves of souvenirs: a clay bust of him by a grandson, a Barry Goldwater lighter, a key to the Playboy Club, hospital I.D. bracelets, seashells, rocks, a rusty spur, ashtrays, matchbooks, cheap plastic trophies, campaign buttons and pill bottles full of soil from the many places he had been, including one that said "unknown," all symbolic of some event, time or trip he did not wish to forget. 

As he grew older, he turned his attention to another kind of remembering, making tombstones for his friends who could not afford one, troweling concrete into a wooden form so that they would not lie in unmarked graves. 

He also collected photos by the dozens of Mexican Americans he had known in territorial days, their houses and the buildings that they had owned, which he kept in a locked, fireproof room off his bedroom. 

Over time, I became familiar with the La Familia Cruz and the Armentas and even with the Lopez sisters, grim-looking in their Gibson girl shirtwaists, who, Tata said, would do all kinds of things with young men under such-and-such a bridge, "especially Adela." So much history had been lost that Tata was anxious not to lose one more speck, even if it meant besmirching a woman's name. 

His collection of photos of now melted adobe buildings included a general store in Casa Grande, Ariz.; its owner, Gin Lung; and his brother, Fatso Lung. When I asked Tata how Gin Lung and Fatso Lung, who were from China, got into a collection of photos of Mexican American pioneers, he said: "Because my mother probably owed Gin Lung money when she died. And because they had no one else." 

This series of pages is designed to provide additions and corrections to the great work of New Mexico genealogy compiled by the late Fray Angélico Chávez (1910-1996), Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period. 

This seminal book was first published in 1954 by William Gannon, Santa Fe, New Mexico. A facsimile edition was published by William Gannon, Santa Fe, in 1975. Under the supervision of Thomas E. Chávez, nephew of Fray Angélico and Director of The Palace of the Governors (Museum of New Mexico), a revised edition was published by the Museum of New Mexico Press in 1992. This revised edition included the important addition of "Addenda to New Mexico Families," first published as a series in El Palacio, the magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, from 1955 to 1957, and "New Names to New Mexico," which also appeared in the same magazine in 1957 (September, October, November, December). Both of these related works were often difficult for interested people to locate. 

This web site contains new genealogical information on many New Mexico families that is based on research into primary documents, and highlights additional material published in past and current genealogical journals related to New Mexico colonial families or material from other publications.

If you have corrections and/or additions to Origins of New Mexico Families, please feel free to share that information by submitting it to Jesquibel@yahoo.com . Please submit the source(s) of the new information, providing a complete citation. Brief and relevant direct quotes from the source(s) are encouraged. Indicate the individual's name, or family name, for which you have new or corrected information and provide the page number from ONMF (e.g. Buenaventura de Esquibel, ONMF: 173, or Gabaldón, ONMF: 177). Your submission will be posted under New Items and eventually added to Beyond ONMF Volume 10.

Sorry, but queries will not be posted on this web site nor answered. Links for posting queries related to New Mexico genealogy research are provided.

Watch this site grow as new items are added. Working together, we can continue to enhance New Mexico genealogical research and reduce the duplication of our collective efforts as we extend the lineages of our families. 

As you collect information from these pages for your genealogical files, remember to record the sources. It is important to give credit where it is due and cite all sources. Enjoy!! 

New Items (7/8/05)
Beyond ONMF Volume 1 ½ Beyond ONMF Volume 2 ½ Beyond ONMF Volume 3
Beyond ONMF Volume 4 ½ Beyond ONMF Volume 5 ½ Beyond ONMF Volume 6
Beyond ONMF Volume 7 ½ Beyond ONMF Volume 8  ½  Beyond ONMF Volume 9
Beyond OMNF Volume 10 

About Your Host 
Order: Second Volume of New Mexico Prenuptial Investigations from the Archivos Históricos del Arzobispado de Durango, 1800-1893 (254 pages) 

 
New Items:, Baca, Carvajal, Martín Serrano, Montes Vigil, Perea, Sandoval Martínez, Valdés-Hernández Cabrera (updated 7/8/05) 
Current Projects and Bibliography of José Antonio Esquibel updated 3/1/05 
New Book Collaboration Between Marc Simmons and José Antonio Esquibel "New Mexico in the Seventeenth Century" 
Northern New Mexico Genealogical Group (4/1/00) 
Update on The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico: An Account of the Families Recruited at Mexico City in 1693, by José Antonio Esquibel and John B. Colligan. (12/1/99) 
Special Features: I. Alphabetical and Annotated Guide to the 1788 and 1790 Censuses of El Paso del Norte 

II. Spanish Surnames Found in the First Book of Baptisms of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Paso del Río del Norte, 1662-1688 
III. Comparison of Two Spanish Colonial Censuses of the El Paso Area: 1784-1787
IV. 1803 Census of the El Paso Area, transcribed by John B. Colligan
V. 1806 Census of the El Paso Area, transcribed by John B. Colligan
VI. Prelude to SRNM: Sample genealogical material from the book The Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico
VII. Common Errors in Spanish Colonial New Mexico Genealogy
VIII. The Jewish-Converso Lineage of Don Juan de Oñate 
XI. The Jewish-Converso Ancestry of Doña Beatriz de Estrada, Wife of Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
X. Four Additional Lines of Descent from the Ha-Levi Family of Burgos, 13th Century - Present
XI. Sephardic Legacy in New Mexico (4/1/00)
XII. New Mexico Colonial Patriots and the Sons of the American Revolution
XIII. Pasajero Records for Colonial New Mexico Families (Robledo and Montes Vigil)
XIV. “Don Diego Vásquez Borrego: Adventurer and Prominent Rancher of Belen, 1733-1753”
XV. Title of Hidalgo
XVI. Selected Burial Records of Santa Cruz de la Cañada 1726-1749
XVII. Abiquiu Fragment Marriage Book 1756-1769
XVIII. Anthology on New Mexico History: E; Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Vol II

About “New Mexico Roots, Ltd.” and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Diligencias Matrimoniales (DMs) 
About the DMs of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Durango 
Links to related New Mexico genealogy web site and posting of queries 
Update on <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Royal Road: El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, photographs by Christine Preston, text by Douglas Preston and José Antonio Esquibel, Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press, 1998. (3-1-99)  

Your comments about these pages are appreciated: Jesquibel@yahoo.com
Web site established 5/1/98

BLACK

Duke University Cathedral

Aztecs in a genealogical tree 
From: jmcader@yahoo.com

Dear Mimi, I hope that you are doing well. Are you familiar with this website? It belongs to a Spaniard in Spain, and when you click to see the photographs on the maternal side, -you can see that there are Aztec ancestors.

Sincerely,  Jaime Cader  http://www.amirola.com

NATIVE AMERICAN RECORDS COMING SOON

Glayton Library will have some new microfilm concerning Native American records by May. Clayton Library Friends has purchased the following rolls of microfilm at the direction of Clayton Manager Marje Harris.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society (each item is a single roll):
AMD 026 Emmet Starr, Manuscripts, Old        Cherokee Families and their            Genealogies, Index to Surnames, "B-Z." No index for "A."
AMD 028 Emmet Starr, Manuscripts, Old Cherokee
Families and their Genealogies, Family
Histories.
 AMD 029 Emmet Starr, Manuscripts, Old Cherokee
Families and their Genealogies, Miscellaneous
Notes.
(Note: Clayton Library already has AMD 027.)
KA 1 Kiowa Agency Census & Enrollment: Census of Kiowa, Comanche, Apache and Wichita & Affiliated Bands, Undated & 1869-1883 (oClayton Microfilm rolls cover 1895-1939).
KA 2 Kiowa Agency Census & Enrollment: Census of Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo & Wichita & Affiliated Bands. 1883-1890.
KA 3 Kiowa Agency Census & Enrollment: Census of Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo & Wichita & Affiliated Bands. 1890-1894.
KA 4 Kiowa Agency Census & Enrollment: Census of Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo & Wichita & Affiliated Bands. 1893-1901.
KA 52 Kiowa Agency Births, Marriages, Divorces, Deaths, Wills and Related Records (1869-1925): Wills (1890-1924); Cemetery (1896-1924): Vital Statistics (1893-1919):
Births (Undated and 1895-1924); Marriage Register (Volume) (1893-1901); Marriage Licenses (Volume) (1905-1907), Marriages (1871-1901); Report of Legal Marriage (Undated and 1902-1924); Divorce Docket (Volume) (1917-1919).
PA 1 Pawnee Agency Census & Enrollment, letters
and documents sent and received June 4, 1894 through March 28, 1927. Census volumes and lists for the Nez Perce, Kaw, Tonkawa, Pawnee and Oto and Missouri, 1880-1926.

QA 1 Census and Enrollment. Letters and documents received December 10, 1877 to June 11, 1897. Census volumes and lists for the Cayuga, Miami, Modoc, New York, Nez Perce, Ottawa, Confederated Peoria, Potawatomi, Quapaw, Seneca, Eastern Shawnee and Wyandot.
SFSA 1 Sac and FoxShawnee Agency census and enrollment. Letters and documents, sent & received. December 6, 1865 through May 5,
1924. Census volumes and lists for the Iowa, Mexican Kickapoo and Oto 1881-1920. SFSA 2 Sac and FoxShawnee agency census and enrollment. Census volumes and lists for the Citizen Potawatomi, 1883-1921.
From the National Archives:
T 500 Records of Choctaw Trading House, 1803-1824,
6 rolls.
 T 1029 Letter Book of Natchitoches Sulphur Fork
Factory, 1809-1821, 1 roll. 
M 142 Letter Book of the Arkansas Trading House,
1805-1810, 1 roll. 
M 1059 Selected Letters Received by the Office of
Indian AffairsRelating to the Cherokees of
North Carolina, 1851-1905, 7 rolls. 
M 234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs,
1824-1881, Rolls # 113-18,143-44,185-87,
237-40, and 806-07.
These seventeen rolls represent the records and corre-spondence relating to the removal of the "Five Civilized Tribes" or nations into the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The material represented is as follows:
Cherokee Agency, 1824-80
Cherokee Emigration 
Roll #113........1828-36
Roll #114........1837
Roll #115........1838
Roll #116........1839-54
Cherokee Reserves 
Roll #117........1828-40
Roll #118........1841-50
Chickasaw Agency, 1824-70
Chickasaw Agency Emigration 
Roll #143........1837-38
Roll #144........1839-50
Choctaw Agency, 1824-78
Choctaw Agency Emigration 
Roll# 185........1826-45
Roll #186........1846-49
Roll #187........1850-59
Creek Agency, 1824-76
Creek Agency Emigration 
Roll #237........1826-36
Roll #238........1837
Roll #239........1838-39
Roll #240........1840-49
Seminole Agency, 1824-76
Seminole Agency Emigration. 1827-59 
Roll #806........1827-46
Roll #807........1848-59

Extracts: Brazil's Indians turning to politics
The Orange County Register
Wednesday Nov 2004

By Axel Bugge, Reuters
BRASILIA, BRAZIL From isolated villages in the Amazon jungle to far-flung settlements in the vast savannas of the interior, Brazil's Indians are venturing as never before into mainstream politics.

Initial results from last month's local elections show that four Indians were chosen as mayors and five as deputy mayors, while final results are expected to give Indians more than 100 posts.  The numbers may seem small but they represent a jump from the one Indian mayor elected in 2000.

The 1988 constitution, which restored democracy after more than two decades of military rule in 1985, gave Indians the right to vote for the first time in their history.

Although Indian politicians do not yet have one group uniting them, the political aims of their various parties are similar - to get their lands marked off, to have health services and education, and to gain full access to the mineral riches on their lands.

Sebastiao de Souza Konohum, joint coordinator for the defense of indigenous rights at the government's Indian agency, Funai, said the improving results for Indian candidates is largely thanks to better organization.  "We started organizing in 1980 and boosted that; work after the 1988 constitution," said Konohum, himself an Indian from Matto Grosso state. "In the future, our aim is to create an Indian party to look after our interests."'

Konohum expects that more than 100 Indians will be elected in these polls to office as mayors and local council members, up from 89 in the last vote. The full results are not yet ready. Nationwide there are nearly 5,600 municipalities in the country of 180 million.

The latest census in 2000 put Brazil's Indian population at 734,000, up from 400,000 at the end of the 1980s. Those numbers in themselves reflect the political ambitions of Indians as many more were willing to define themselves as Indians in the 2000 census, said a spokes-woman for the Catholic-run Indigenous Missionary Council. Brazil lets individuals define their race.

SEPHARDIC

Delores Nancy Ramona 
Montoya Montoya Esquibel

The 2003 conference of SCJS in San Antonio, TX offered a rich mix of scholarly research and personal stories of Crypto-Judaic discovery. And for a few, it was also a time of reunion.

Rabbi Samuel Lerer, now retired to San Antonio after a 51-year career mainly working with anusim descendants in Mexico, led off by welcoming Rabbi Joshua Stampfer of Portland, OR as "my friend for 50 years." The two rabbis had not met for many years but were born blocks apart in the Old City in Jerusalem and each went on to head synagogues in the American Northwest

Early in the conference, Rabbi Lerer came face-to-face with SCJS member Yaacov Gladstone who, as an activist for black Jews, once hitch hiked with knapsack on his back, from New Orleans to Mexico City to meet the Rabbi,  already recognized for his pioneer work.   That was in 1967, reminisced Gladstone, who lives in New York and still works with anusim.  "No, it was 1968," corrected the 86-year-old Rabbi as the pair embraced.

Rabbi Lerer, speaking with youthful fervor, confided that, even as a boy , he felt destined to become a rabbi. He remembered that when he was ordained by the Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem, he was instructed: "Remember to help your brothers wherever they are."  

He likened his mission to ha lapid, “the flaming torch.” It would take him to Mexico's large cities and remote communities as rabbi of a Mexico City congregation. There he found descendants of anusim who had fled the Spanish Inquisition 500 years earlier, many still living hidden lives. Over the years, he taught and converted more than 3,000, returning to Judaism.

For complete report and information about their activities, go to http://www.cryptojews.com/2003_san_antonio_conference_high.htm

TEXAS 

SouthPark Mall Tejano Book Festival    

From: Larry Kirkpatrick  elindio2@hotmail.com 

SOUTHPARK MALL OCTOBER BOOK FESTIVAL
A Tejano Heritage Month Event

Saturday October 8th 10AM-4PM and Sunday Oct. 9th 12Noon-4PM
IH 35 at SW Military Drive San Antonio, Texas

South Park Mall proudly presents Author Dan Arellano with his book "Tejano Roots."  A book about the "Battle of Medina." The untold story of Tejanos who can finally claim their rightful place in the history of our country.

Author Gilda Herrera, "Four Dogs with a Bone and The Trip of the Eight Escapades."
Author Imelda Zapata Garcia, "Cielitos and a Peace in the Corazon."
Author Grady Dubose, With an Autobiography and Two Westerns
Author Joela Jenkins, "A Bucket Full of Prop Wash."

South Park Mall October Book FestivalA Tejano Heritage Month EventSaturday Oct. 8th 10AM-4PM and Sunday Oct.9th 12Noon-4PMIH 35 at SW Military Drive, San Antonio, TexasSouth Park Mall proudly presents Author Dan Arellano with his book, "Tejano Roots." A book about the "Battle of Medina." The untold story of Tejanos who can finally claim their rightful place in the history of our country.Also Authors : Gilda Herrera, Imelda Zapata Garcia, Grady Dubose, and Joela Jenkins each presenting their writings. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT; Chris Gutierrez Event Manager 1-210-921-0534 chris.gutierrez@am.jll.com or Dan Arellano 1-512-826-7569 darellano@austin.rr.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chris Gutierrez Event Manager South Park Mall 1-210-921-0534 / 
chris.gutierrez@am.jll.com or Dan Arellano 1-512-826-7569 / 
darellano@austin.rr.com

By Joe Martinez

Most South Texans have never heard of Scotus College, a landmark building in the Brush Country. Scotus College is located in Hebbronville and is the most prominent and historical structure in town. However, many Hebbronville residents, as well as other South Texans, do not know that Franciscan friars setup the seminary college in 1929, after fleeing Mexico to avoid persecution during the Cristero War.

The Cristero War, 1927-29, was a bloody 30-month-long conflict brought about when Elías Plutarco Calles, newly elected president of Mexico, setout to exterminate Catholicism in Mexico. Basically, Calles sought to enforce five anti-Catholic articles in the 1917 Constitution, plus he added anti-Catholic legislation of his own. In response to Calles drastic measures, the Church instructed faithful followers to boycott certain governmental and private enterprises. In the meantime, the Mexican Episcopate voted to suspend all public worship in Mexico, effectively closing down all Catholic churches in Mexico. Not unexpectedly, the Church then resorted to armed retaliation against the government by means of all-out rebellion. This armed conflict is officially known as the Cristero War. The Cristero War quickly spread throughout Mexico and as a consequence thousands of lives were lost. The War came to an end after the inauguration of a new Mexican president, the former governor of Tamaulipas, Emilio Portes Gil, bringing about the ringing of church bells in Mexico again.

In 1929, towards the end of the Cristero War, Franciscans sought refuge in the United States for fear of reprisals from the Mexican government. The Franciscans found sanctuary in three Texas locations, El Paso, Dumas (near Amarillo) and Hebbronville.

Bernardino Madueño, a Franciscan friar, was among those seeking refuge. He was also seeking to establish his own parish in Texas. Madueño arrived in Laredo by train from Mexico, however, this first stop in Texas was a failure since the local priests turned him away. He then ventured to San Antonio, but once there the bishop informed him that he had to wait 8 days for a response. In desperation he traveled to El Paso, but found that Franciscan refugees were already established there and did not want to jeopardize their efforts there. So it was back to San Antonio, only to find out that they had not reached a decision as yet. Finally, he traveled to Corpus Christi where he struck luck. The Bishop of Corpus Christi graciously turned over to Friar Madueño the parish in Hebbronville - fellow friars Pasqual Ruiz and Jose Guadalupe Torres joined the parish soon afterward.

Once in safe haven, the Hebbronville Franciscans setout to build a seminary, with jurisdiction out of Guadalajara, that ultimately would help replenish the priests lost during the Cristero War. Justo Alvarez, a local architect who learned his trade through correspondence courses, was hired to carry out the construction project - in spite of not having formal architectural schooling, he did an excellent job. Concrete blocks needed to wall the building were manufactured on site and the completion date went as scheduled.

Once completed, the college was aptly named in honor of John Duns Scotus, (c.1266-November 8, 1308) a theologian and philosopher. He was one of the most important Franciscan theologians. Scotus taught at Oxford, Cambridge and lastly at Cologne France. He founded Scotism, a special form of Scholasticism, a medieval theological and philosophical works that sought to bridge the gap between religion and reason. It’s generally accepted that Scotus was born in Scotland, but Ireland and England are laying claim to him also. Pope John Paul II beatified Scotus in 1993.

Scotus College at one time had as many as 50 students studying theology. The success of the college prompted certification by the State of Texas. Once seminary students finished theology instruction in Hebbronville, they were ordained by the bishop in Corpus Christi, and afterwards they departed Texas for church assignments in Mexico.. The college closed as a seminary in1957, but the magnificent building stands today as testimony to the turbulent times that engulfed Mexico for most of 1927 through 1929. Today the Scotus College Building is owned by the Guadalajara, Mexico Provisional of the Saints Francisco and Santiago under the direction of Antonio Porres.

The Spanish style three floor structure recently received a $50,000 renovation grant from the Kenedy Foundation. Restoration work has begun and once renovation is complete, the college will be used for CCD classes (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) confirmations and quinceañera (15^th birthday) classes.

The panoramic view from the upper level is magnificent. On the northeast corner, across from the college, is the oldest building in Hebbronville, a building that once housed the first nuns that came to Hebbronville in 1927. The complex, church and Scotus College Building are still run by the Franciscans with jurisdiction out of Guadalajara, Mexico.

(This information was mostly furnished by Friar Oscar Villalobos, Franciscan priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, that sits adjacent to Scotus College. Friar Oscar recently conducted a tour of Scotus College for the Texas Cactus Council. During this tour he provided much of the information for this article. Friar Oscar was recently transferred to Mexico City, and he is almost finished writing a book on Scotus College. For information about joining the Texas Cactus Council, contact J. T. Garcia at 361-256-3571) (Photos by William Foerster and Robert McAnear)

San Antonio: The Story of an Enchanted City, I have a great deal about the Hispanics of San Antonio -- their history and cultural contributions to our city. The book is on Internet on Barnes & Noble, 400-page book by Frank Jennings     Sent by From: jenninform@aol.com

Hidalgo County Historical Society and Hidalgo County Historical Commission will hosted the seventh annual HCHS/HCHC Book Festival and open house on Sunday, November 20, 2005. 
The event was held from 2 - 5 p.m. at the 1886 County Courthouse and Texas State Bank Lobby at the corner of Bridge and Flora Streets in Hidalgo, Texas.  

This year’s theme is "Music and Memories." Music will be provided by Mario Alemán, guitarist. Some of the authors sharing their memories will be John Mora from Austin who wrote Through My Eyes - A Retrospective, a book about growing up in Donna, Texas; Mona Sizer from Harlingen whose book Border Bandits – Real to Reel is hot off the press, and Jan Seale who will give a slide presentation of photos of Valley flora and fauna from Valley Ark, which is due off the press just before Christmas.  

Twelve-year-old Kirsten Rawson is the youngest author. She and her grandmother Kathleen Carrizal-Frye recently self-published Dia de los Muertos, after three years of avid study of Mexican Day of the Dead traditions.

Glenn Harding and Becky Lee, authors of Rails to the Rio, are from Raymondville. Their book studies the development of several Valley towns as the railroad came to the South Texas 100 years ago. Harding is an avid collector of books on South Texas history.

John Hawthorne from Brownsville will round out the group of eight authors. He will have tee-shirts inspired by his two volumes of Brownsville Ghost Stories, as well as his books.

Books on the history, genealogy, cooking, folklore, literature, plants and wildlife of the Rio Grande Valley will be available for sale. This includes books on South Texas and Northern Mexico, in both English and Spanish. Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Virginia Haynie Gause at 686-3914 or email vgause@panam.edu

Texans in the Civil War

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/RandysTexas/
Sent by Johanna De Soto

Do not get discouraged if you have difficulties in finding Hispanic surnames on this site. According to the historian Dr. Jerry Don Thompson, significant numbers of Hispanic were involved in the war. 
"In many ways, by 1863, the Civil War in South Texas had become a civil war within . ." 
http://www.southernnationalist.org/hispanics_in_the_confederacy.htm

Vaqueros in Blue and Gray
Jerry Don Thompson Introduction by Félix Almaráz ... "This new edition fills a conspicuous gap in the saga of Civil War Texas."—The Victoria Advocate ... www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2004/thompson.htm 

ETHNICITY #2a Contents Irish in US Military History ...
Hispanics in the Civil War. Brochure, 1991. 2 p. Bibfile (Ethnicity). Sevilla,
Exequiel R. "The ... Thompson, Jerry D. Mexican Texans in the Union Army. ...
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/mil_hist_inst/e/ethnic2a.asc

New Mexico Genealogy Mine
... Southwest: Recollections of the Sibley Brigade ~ book by Jerry Thompson;
Civil War ... Union Regimental Index: New Mexico ~ from The Civil War Archive ...
home.ptd.net/~nikki/NM.htm

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Hurricane Katrina
Like ancestors, Islenos survivors persevere 
September 18, 2005
BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter document.write('');
Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com

ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. -- For centuries, fishermen have spoken an archaic Spanish patois in the villages that sprouted up amid the emerald green palmettos and tawny marshes here.

Their ancestors immigrated from the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory off the Moroccan coast, in the 1760s.

They're known as Islenos, and their blood courses through the veins of at least two-thirds of the nearly 70,000 people in St. Bernard Parish, which is next door to New Orleans and winds down the Mississippi River.

They are the leather-necked oystermen.

They are the hardened refinery workers.

They are the salty politicians with names like "Junior" who are as comfortable on a shrimp boat as in council chambers and don't mind using the F-word.

Fewer than 2,000 Islenos speak their grandfathers' Spanish these days, experts say. But all of them remember the stories of their ancestors' perseverance in the devastating hurricanes of the early 1900s.

Now it is their turn in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"Our great-great-great-grandfathers lived in palmetto huts, and they got through these damn hurricanes," said one Isleno, Don Serpas, bare-chested as he tinkered with a generator in front of his white clapboard home last week.

He and seven family members rode out Katrina in the attic. "We know how to survive."

Washed away? Not one home in St. Bernard Parish was spared the wrath of Katrina, parish officials say.  Some people rode it out on their boats or in their homes, but most fled the storm. It's still too early to tell how many have died here. But the toll stood at 67 late last week.

Flood surges of up to 25 feet washed over parts of the parish, as counties are called in Louisiana.
In the city of Chalmette, which borders New Orleans, rescue workers have marked many doors with fluorescent orange paint, a sign that dead people or animals are inside.

Twenty-one miles closer to the Gulf of Mexico, there were no homes or businesses to paint.  A Baptist church was nothing but piles of cinder blocks in Alluvial City. A once-bustling general store was a jumble of metal siding in Reggio Junction.  

A sign to Delacroix Island was gone, along with the rest of the town. It had said, appropriately, "Fin de la Tierra," meaning End of the Earth. Bicycles and washing machines clung to trees.

No dogs hungrily roamed the streets, as in other towns closer to New Orleans. There was no life, except for the sea gulls cawing over the wreckage of the fishing industry and the homes where the fishermen had lived.

The odor assaulted the senses -- a cross between cotton candy and raw sewage. For St. Bernard Parish, the looming question is not just about whether these buildings will be replaced. It is whether a little-known but vibrant Louisiana culture has been washed away.

Louisiana's colonizers

A decade before the American Revolution, Spain took possession of New Orleans and the surrounding lands. 

The Spanish learned the British were planning to invade southern Louisiana, so they sent about 700 recruits from the Canary Islands to populate the province and defend it.

One Spanish fort still looms above the marshes near Yscloskey.

Canary Islanders settled into four parts of south Louisiana, but over time, three of the communities either disbanded or assimilated into the French culture. The fourth, in St. Bernard Parish, thrived.

Islenos here continue to cook a soup called caldo, a bread called pan canario and other dishes native to their island motherland.

And at their wine-soaked dances, they slip on the colorful gowns and brimmed hats of their ancestors and sing romantic ballads in an archaic dialect of Spanish.

In St. Bernard Parish, the names Gonzales, Rodriguez and Fernandez are as common as Smith and Jones in other parts of the South.

"Their speech has features common to the Caribbean and southern Spain," said Arnulfo Ramirez, a linguistics professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "Instead of saying 'dos' for two, they would say 'doh.' "

Most Americans know about the French legacy in Louisiana, but the Spanish influence is everywhere in the New Orleans area, too.

Even in the French Quarter, buildings are modeled on Spanish architecture, down to the pastel-colored stucco walls and the black wrought-iron balconies. Louisiana's legal system borrows heavily from Spain. And foods like jambalaya are based on Spanish dishes like paella.

All over Louisiana, people like Baton Rouge Metro Councilman Darrell Ourso claim Isleno roots.

"In the 1700s, my ancestors settled in Donaldsonville," he said of a Mississippi River town 65 miles west of New Orleans. "But we share a culture with the Islenos in St. Bernard Parish. My 93-year-old grandmother died in 1996. Her first language was Spanish, then French, then English."
'All we have is ourselves'

Others, like Joseph DiFatta Jr., never left St. Bernard Parish.  DiFatta, chairman of the parish council, bears the physical features of an Isleno: salt-and-pepper hair, burly forearms and a strong chin.

"This culture has banded together to help itself," said DiFatta, who survived for three days on the roof of a government building in Chalmette after the storm flooded the streets Aug. 29.

DiFatta and about 80 others who were trapped on the roof had commandeered boats to save 300 or 400 more people, he said, in a makeshift parish command center at a Chalmette oil refinery.

"The U.S. government is there in 24 hours when a foreign country has a disaster," DiFatta spat out in his Isleno accent. "The world ignored us for three days. All we have is ourselves."

That us-against-them attitude will draw residents back to St. Bernard Parish and keep the Isleno culture strong, said William Hyland, whose home in Meraux was destroyed. Furniture in his family since the 1840s was waterlogged.

Hyland, an 11th-generation Canary Islander, is the parish historian and director of the Ducros-Islenos Museum complex.

Towering at 6 feet 4 inches in his rubber boots, Hyland surveyed one of the museum buildings, its walls crushed by a giant water oak.  "At least the Canary Islands flag survived," he said.

Across the lawn, a muddy feral pig emerged from a swamp. To escape it, a member of Hyland's entourage kicked in the door to a mold-filled building. They watched from safety until the pig wandered off.

A hungry feral pig can be a man-killer, Hyland said.  "To understand us, you must understand our animals, our relationship to the water, our Spanish heritage," he said. "We are part of this land."

For years, Hyland has been building a bridge between the people living in the Canary Islands and their distant relatives here in St. Bernard Parish.

In early August, the mayor of Ingenio, a town in the Canary Islands, visited the parish to form a student exchange program. There is still talk of sending a group of St. Bernard Parish high school freshmen to the Canary Islands this year.

Sergio Ramos, who is from the Canary Islands, teaches Spanish at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge. He planned to drive to St. Bernard Parish this weekend to help in the relief effort.

"They look like us, and they talk like us -- at least the grandparents who still speak Spanish," said Ramos, 26. "Everybody thinks of New Orleans, but nobody thinks of St. Bernard. I want to help my brothers and sisters there."

As he toured the devastation, Hyland spoke in a genteel Louisiana accent peppered with Spanish expressions like "dios mios," meaning "oh my God."

"This was a genuine Isleno fishing village until the hurricane," he said with resignation in Yscloskey. "Oh my gosh, where is Mr. Molero's house, the oldest one in Yscloskey? Where is it? . . . There's Joe's place. The house is gone, but the boat is there. I hope Joe isn't still in there. . . . That was Blackie's marina, all gone. . . . There's the Campos place, nothing left."  'We shall all be back'

Then, on the road back to Chalmette, he visited his cousin Don Serpas and rejoiced that the lanky retired fisherman seemed to be getting along fine after the storm.

Serpas, 64, and his daughter, Kathy, railed at the government for keeping open an underused ship canal called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. The waterway runs along the east side of St. Bernard Parish to the Gulf of Mexico.

"They need to fill up that canal with sand," Serpas said angrily. "I'm going to run for parish president to get it done."

Serpas thinks the hurricane sucked up a 15-foot wall of water from the canal. The roiling water tore holes in his driveway, tossed around his trucks and flooded his house. His family spent two days in the attic in 100-degree heat, doing little other than eating sandwiches and sleeping.

Two weeks later, the floors and walls in the house were clean with the smell of Clorox and antiseptic. Liquor bottles lined the kitchen counter. Shrimp was in a cooler. A generator hummed. Life was going on. In the attic were a washstand the family had hauled upstairs, a tarp where they slept, a battery-powered TV set, a stuffed muskrat and oil paintings of swamp scenes by Serpas.

"That's our state bird," he said with a laugh as he pointed to a mosquito in one of his paintings. "He's tough like us."

As Hyland drove back to a friend's home in Baton Rouge, where he is living until he can rebuild in his beloved St. Bernard Parish, he thought of Serpas.

"He is a living vestige of the Spanish colonization," Hyland said. "Spain's presence lives on in the Canary Islanders like Don. Spain will live on in me. We shall all be back."

Inspection Tour of Arabi 
skip@thebrasscannon.com

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Hi Catherine,

Nancy and I returned home to Metairie on Sunday (September 18th). Lots of work to do, but the house is basically in good condition, with no damage to speak of.

Yesterday (Monday, September 19th, 2005) I made an inspection tour of my aunt's home in Arabi (St. Bernard Parish), in the Caroline Park Subdivision. It was a disaster. In 1965, I was there when the waters came up during Hurricane Betsy; we were able to wade away from that flooding and later rebuild and return. That was in 1965.

In 2005, I do not have that same feeling about Caroline Park in the aftermath of H. Katrina. In Aunt Gin's house, the waters came up into the attic. The insulation became saturated with water, and as the flood waters receded, the water-logged insulation crashed thru the saturated ceiling into the house. As the waters were rising, wooden furniture floated about the rooms. Nothing remained upright. Besides the debris, the floor was covered with a silty layer of sludge. 

Outside, the land and lawn are ashen color of death. All of the homes there are marked with a large spray painted " X " to indicate that the property was inspected for dead people, and where there were " O "'s it indicated that there were none found. One house, however, showed a " 3 ", and I knew what that meant. In my aunt's area of Caroline Park, it was the Georgia Natioinal Guard who performed this grisley function.  

But my mission to Arabi yesterday was threefold:
1) I had to inspect the house;
2) I had to retrieve certain papers (if possible); and
3) I had to retrieve my uncle's (Msgr. John L. Newfield's) historic
chalice which dates from the late 1700s, and which has a history all of its own. In truth, this was my primary goal, and I knew that I would not leave until I found it.

I did inspect the house; it is a total loss.
I did retrieve those papers - wet but usable.
And, I did retrieve the chalice.

There was so much loose debris in the house, about waste high, that I could not walk about in the house. In order to gain access to the room where the chalice was located, I had to pry off the entire window frame so that I could enter. I removed not only the screen, but the glass and the windows, and part of the framing itself. Then, I could stand upright in that window opening, so as to pry the closet doors off of their hinges with a garden shovel. I cast the doors across a fallen dresser and used it to support my weight inside of the room. I then searched for the chalice inside of that closet, and I found it wrapped in a protective (Ha!) plastic bag, and brought it outside and set it on
the ground.

Although the wood and leather case that held the chalice and patten were so badly weakened by the waters that it fell apart at the touch, the sacred vessels were saved. When I unwrapped the chalice and patten from their protective coverings, I cried.

On the way out of St. Bernard, I stopped in at a military medical facility to get a Tetnus innoculation. While there, I saw Junior Rodriguez coming from a meeting; I asked him, "Hey, Junior, How about a
photo?", and he answered, "Why? Do you have roaches in your house that you want to try to chase them away??" Great sense of humor. I told him that I was part of the Canary Islands group in Baton Rouge, and he told me how caring and concerned the people in the Islands for our condition. He said that there was even a Spanish reporter somewhere about.

That's about the extent of it for my one day visit to "Da Parish". The people there are strong, and I hope that they will be able to come back. There was a building there, with a message painted on the roof, "Chalmette Spirit -- Salt of the Earth". How True!!!

Paul "Skip" Newfield
skip@thebrasscannon.com

Announcements from Michigan 
Sent by Dorinda Moreno

A jazz composition by MSU Jazz Studies instructor Diego Rivera honoring national labor pioneer Dolores Huerta will premiere in a special concert in East Lansing, Mich., Oct. 5. 

"A Conversation with Dolores Huerta” Wednesday, October 5 
12:15 - 1:30, Brown bag: 4th Floor Conference Room, Michigan State University Library 

Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez in 1962 and has dedicated her life to the struggle for justice and dignity for migrant farm workers. She remains one of the most powerful advocates and voices for her community to this day and serves as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing. 

A jazz composition by MSU Jazz Studies instructor Diego Rivera honoring national labor pioneer Dolores Huerta will premiere in a special concert in East Lansing, Mich., Oct. 5. 

The Diego Rivera Quartet performs "A Salute to Dolores Huerta" on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, East Lansing. Tickets are available at the door: $20 and $10 with student ID. A reception with Dolores Huerta is also included in the evening's program. The event benefits the Mexican American Culture Endowment in Memory of Pedro Rivera, DO at the Center for Great Lakes Culture/MSU Museum. 

Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez in 1962 and has dedicated her life to the struggle for justice and dignity for migrant farm workers. She remains one of the most powerful advocates and voices for her community to this day and serves as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing. Huerta will visit mid-Michigan Oct. 4-5 for a series of educational programs at MSU and Lansing-area schools, and the jazz premiere caps her stay in town. 

Diego Rivera, on the faculty of MSU School of Music's Jazz Studies Program and member of the "Professors of Jazz" combo, drew from his family's own migrant worker experience in composing the jazz suite. His father Pedro worked as a migrant farm worker in Calhoun County before going on to earn a medical degree at Michigan State University, and serving as a lifelong social activist and working to improve the lives of Mexican Americans. Diego Rivera, a saxophonist, studied under jazz great Branford Marsalis and has performed with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and other leading jazz acts. 

The educational endowment in Pedro Rivera's name and the benefit concert help draw attention to the cultural influences and contributions of Chicanos and Latinos have had on the Midwest, its daily life and its culture. National Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15-Oct. 15 and October is National 
Arts and Humanities Month. 

Related links: 
o Dolores Huerta Foundation: http://doloreshuerta.org/ 
o Diego Rivera, MSU School of Music: 
http://www.music.msu.edu/faculty/faculty.php?id=31 
o MSU Museum and Center for Great Lakes Culture: http://museum.msu.edu 
o Hispanic Heritage Month 2005: 
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features
_special_editions/005338.html 
o Arts and Humanities Month: 
http://ww3.artsusa.org/get_involved/visibility/visibility_002.asp 

ARTES UNIDAS DE MICHIGAN WEBSITE 

Artes Unidas de Michigan is happy to announce the latest release of its website: www.artesunidas.org. 

Highlights of this new release include: 

- Online and mail order forms for the full-color print edition of El Calendario de Michigan 2006: The Artes Unidas Calendar of Michigan Latino History, Arts and Culture 

- Artes Unidas Online Calendar of Historical Events - an interactive database of over 2,000 historic events that chronicle our people's contributions to Michigan's art, music and media, political, literary, civic, business and athletic realism dating from the Spanish conquest of Fort Niles in 1782. 

This online version allows readers to contribute historical events they know of in their area of the state. This feature can be found at: http://www.artesunidas.org/history.php 

- Artes Unidas Online Announcements/Happenings Calendar - an interactive announcement and events calendar that allows you to enter events, click ahead to see what's happening this weekend and print out a month's worth of Latino events across the state. 

In development over the next month you'll see...enhanced artist's directory page, education resources, and links. Bookmark the site, visit regularly, and let them know what you think about the Artes Unidas website's new release! 

EAST COAST

Coming to America! Columbus Day Family Program

Coming to America! Columbus Day Family Program

Monday, October 10 from noon to 4 pm

The National Archives is proud to offer a day of fun family programs and activities celebrating the theme Coming to America! Join us for performances, demonstrations and activities throughout the National Archives Experience related to genealogy, immigration, and preserving family history.  Experience the sights, sounds, and excitement of arriving in a new place by attending Destination: America in the McGowan Theater, learn how quilts can tell you the story of your grandmother’s life, design a colorful fraktur, try your hand at stitching a sampler, trace your family’s origin through maps, use copies of original records to apply for naturalization, and create your own family tree!  

Genealogy Information Center (Constitution Ave. Lobby)

Noon to 4:00 pm

Are you curious about your family tree? The National Archives is the perfect place to start! Stop by to pick up information on where to begin, what to look for and what resources to use to discover your roots.

Performance (McGowan Theater)

Destination: America

1:00pm

Destination: America explores the immigrant experience endured by people searching for a better life in America between 1900 and 1920. The audience is packed into the theater lobby like immigrants packed onto a steam ship heading for America. Once they "arrive," an immigration official comes out and speaks to them in a language they do not understand. Writer and actor Steve Kohrherr expresses the sights, sounds, and feelings of these world travelers in a moving performance. This program was created with support from The Chrysler Museum of Art. (Limited to 100 participants)

Activity (Public Vaults Entrance Lobby)

Make a Fraktur

Noon to 4:00 pm

Frakturs, a kind of Pennsylvania German folk-art, are beautifully illustrated documents that recorded marriages, births and baptisms in the 18th century. You can design your own birthday fraktur at the National Archives Coming to America! family day.

Demonstration (Public Vaults Entrance Lobby)

Fraktur Artist

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Fraktur artist Geraldine Knock-Paul will present "Decorative Arts in Colonial Times” and will demonstrate with audience participation the process of creating a beautiful fraktur. An original 18th century fraktur from the holdings of the National Archives is on display in the Public Vaults.

Activity (O’Brien Gallery Lobby)

Make a Family Chart

Noon to 4:00 pm

A family chart is a fun way to keep track of your relative’s names, birthdays and birthplaces and is a perfect place to start exploring your family tree. This is a great activity for children, parents and grandparents to do together.

Activity

Create a Map (O’Brien Gallery Lobby)

Noon to 4:00 pm

Show everyone where your family originated on a map of the world and then show where they immigrated to on a map of the United States. Find all the places you, your parents and your grandparents have lived. Connect those cities and you will see the path your family took in their journey across the World to America. This activity is great to work on with the whole family.

Activity (O’Brien Gallery Lobby)

Apply for a Naturalization, Land Grant or Pension

Noon to 4:00 pm

Imagine yourself an immigrant in a strange land. Use what you know about your family history to fill out reproductions of original records to apply for naturalization, a land grant or pension. Imagine what it would have been like to fill out the information knowing little to no English, having no documents to assist you and no family around to ask about your history. Live the history that your ancestors experienced. 

Activity (Presidential Conference Room Lobby)

Design a Quilt Block

Noon to 4:00 pm

Did you know that the pictures on quilts are symbols that tell part of a story? Or that quilts were used as maps on the Underground Railroad? Choose to color in a traditional pattern such as a Picket Fence or a Monkey Wrench, or design your own quilt square that tells part of your family story!

Demonstration (Washington Room)

Annapolis Quilters Guild

2:00pm to 4:00pm

Members of the Annapolis Quilters Guild will be at the National Archives to discuss the historical, cultural and artistic significance of quilts in America. They will also demonstrate some of the timeless skills used in quilting, and examples of historic quilts will be available for viewing.

Demonstration (Jefferson Room)

Traditional Sampler Stitching

1:00pm to 3:00pm

Since colonial times, samplers have been passed down through generations and even today artists use the same patterns that their ancestors did.  Artist Alyce Schroth will discuss the history and demonstrate the techniques used in creating samplers. Visitors will view some traditional samplers from around the U.S. and have the opportunity to stitch a row or two on a demonstration sampler.

Genetic Science Activities with the Marian Koshland Science Museum

Noon to 4pm in the Public Vault Exit Lobby

Join the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences for hands‑on science activities at the National Archives' Coming to America! celebration. The Koshland museum will offer activities for guests to learn more about DNA, genes, and genetic traits through a series of hands‑on science programs. Geared toward children and families, these activities will show how your DNA and genes have helped you become who you are in a fun and informative way. Programs include.

See Your DNA

This hands‑on Science activity gives you the opportunity to see and keep your own DNA. Using a simple procedure, you will isolate visible DNA from your own cheek cells and take it home with you in a laboratory‑grade pendant.

Take Inventory of Your Genetic Traits

Ever wonder how you "got" your mother's eyes or your father's chin? Find out how genetic traits are passed on from generation to generation as you take inventory of your own physical traits. From earlobes and hair whorls, to "super taster" abilities, you will learn how these genetic traits can be dominant or recessive, and find out which versions you have.

Create Your DNA Alias

Interested in creating and breaking codes?  Learn about the genetic code as you translate your name into a DNA alias. After determining your DNA alias, you can create a bracelet or key chain with your alias encoded on it to take home.

The National Archives is located between 7th and 9th Sts. on Constitution Ave. NW .

The nearest Metro stop is Archives/Navy Memorial, serviced by the Yellow and Green lines.

Please use the Special Events Entrance off the corner of 7th and Constitution for all public programs. All events listed in the calendar are free; reservations are not required unless noted. For reservations, e-mail reservations.nwe@nara.gov or call 202-501-5000.

For more information on public programs at the National Archives, please visit www.archives.gov

National Archives and Records Administration
Film and Lecture Programs Office
202-501-5000

MEXICO

[[Editor:  I don't know if this is one of the many legends associated with Pancho Villa, but the picture and the story of this robot was so unusual, it needed to be shared.]]

Tlazocamati! my grandfather was born in Zacatecas. When 'la marcha de Zacatecas' is played with sounds of booming trumpets and coronets-- it moves me in pride in the history of Pancho Villa and the great Emiliano Zapata...

My grandfather passed on when I was l6, and would hear of the revolution and that he fought alongside villa. he retold stories of being wounded and coming across the Rio Grande to settle in new Mexico. not too long ago at an event in the bay area for Cesar Chavez (where I along with some l0 others received the 'Cesar Chavez legacy award' at the l0th anniversary of his death and unveiling of the Chavez stamp), a special guest was in the audience, Ernesto Nava-Villa, the son of Pancho  Villa. Ernesto, who is nearing 90 years young and is still vital and coherent... and recovering from a recent heart attack.

What an honor, we talked... then Ernesto mentioned places, and I would say oh yes, my grandfather talked about that... then I mentioned a town in New Mexico and he responded, 'I know that place'. then I mentioned my grandfather's name, and his eyes lit up and joyously remarked,  'I knew him' and proceeded to name each member of my family, aunts, uncles and mother who he said was about l4-25 when he last saw them... I could not believe my ears, this man was a friend of my grandfather who passed away when I was just l6. I have a picture of him with my daughter, at her christening... and to think that 'Ernesto Nava-Villa' is still alive and lucid, and whose son Raul also sent me a birthday greeting... 

Ernesto, Raul and I, last saw each other at the 37th anniversary celebration of 'el teatro campesino', with the legendary singer-songwriter of 'Zoot-suit' fame, the great Lalo Guerrero (who passed away earlier this year at age nearing 90.) an era of greats who carried the history of their people, of revolution and struggle. a legacy to pass on to the youth of today.As Zapata said, it is better to die on our feet for our principles and not as slaves of men...

Today, am supporting a project to bring to film, of the history of Chiapas through the eyes of the writer Rosario Castellanos, and which a Zpatista gifted screenwriter the book from which the present day uprising took place, based on earlier resistance in the l800's and later, which is a history not known... all we need is hope, funds, and supporters who believe as we do that these stories must be told. in search of producers and backers for this gold strain that ties us all together in a history of struggle and resistance.

Mexican Army Brings Aid to Victims

Our Neighbors to the South 
Sent by Cindy LoBuglio lobuglio@frontiernet.net
Source: Carmen Zamora Nordlund, President Organizations Leadership Alliance (HOLA)

Mexican troops cross into U.S. for hurricane relief Thursday September 08,
2005 By ABE LEVY Associated Press Writer LAREDO, Texas (AP) A Mexican army
convoy began crossing into the United States on Thursday to bring aid to
victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Carrying water treatment plants and mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people daily, the convoy bound for San Antonio is the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846.

The first green tractor-trailers, with Mexican flags attached to the tops of their cabs, crossed the international bridge at Laredo at about 8:15 a.m. The rest of the 45-vehicle convoy was in a staging area on the U.S. side in about 15 minutes.

The convoy will be escorted by the U.S. Army and the Texas Department of Public Safety. It was scheduled to leave after the leader of the convoy, Gen. Francisco Ortiz Valadez, greeted the head of the U.S. Army unit in charge of the escort, Brig. Gen. F. Joseph Prasek.

Military engineers, doctors and nurses are among the 200 people headed to San Antonio. The Mexican government was already planning another 12-vehicle aid convoy for this week. It has sent a Mexican navy ship toward the Mississippi  coast with rescue vehicles and helicopters.

Mexico has sent disaster relief aid missions to other Latin American nations, but not to the United States. In 1846, Mexican troops briefly advanced just north of the Rio Grande in Texas, which had then recently joined the United States. Mexico, however, did not then recognize the Rio Grande as the U.S. border. The two countries quickly became mired in the Mexican-American War, which
led to the loss of half of Mexico's territory in 1848.

http://www.guanajuato.gob.mx/ingles/histoinde.htm

[[Editor: This is a brief segment of fascinating history, a perspective on the conflicts in Mexico with the Spanish government.]]     Sent by Richard Ortiz  ol_coach@cox.net 

Personajes de la historia 
Gobernadores de Zacatecas 
Por: 
José León Robles de la Torre 

Sent by Mercy Bautista Olvera 
scarlett_mbo@yahoo.com

Ing. Pedro Ruiz González, nacido en Luis Moya, Zacs., el día 25 de mayo de 1928, siendo hijo de don Salvador Ruiz Barrios y de su esposa doña Guadalupe González de Ruiz. Sus estudios primarios los realizó en su tierra natal y los preparatorios y profesionales en la Escuela Particular de Agricultura, Hermanos Escobar de Ciudad Juárez, Chih., hasta recibir su título de ingeniero agrónomo. 

Ing. Don Pedro Ruiz González, 
Gobernador de Zacatecas, 1968-1974. 
Foto oficial que se encuentra en la Galería del Palacio de Gobierno de Zacatecas.

Family Pedigrees in Mexico and Texas 
By John Inclan fromgalveston@yahoo.com
Suggestion: Do an edit-mode search on any surname of interest

Dõn Francisco Javier de Alcorta
Dõn Francisco Joseph de Arocha and Dona Juana Ramirez Curbelo Umpierre
Captain Francisco Baez de Benavides and Dona Isabel Martinez Guajardo
Dõn  Nicolas Balli Perez II and Dona Josefa Manuela Guerra de la Garza
Captain Pedro Botello de Morales
Dõn Juan Canales 
Dõn Juan de Caliz and Dona Catalina Gomez de Coy (Santos Coy)
The Descendents of Captain Bernabe de las Casas And Dona Maria Beatriz Navarro Rodriguez
(Part 1: Generations 1-5)
(Part 2: Generation 6)
(Part 3: Generation 7)
(Part 4: Generation 8)
(Part 5: Generation 9)
(Part 6: Generation 10)
Dõn Juan Cavazos del Campo and Dona Elena de la Garza Falcon
Dõn Juan Bautista Chapa and Dona Beatriz Olivares de Trevino
Dõn  Pedro Duran y Chavez and Dona Isabel de Baca
Dõn Antonio de Ecay y Muzquiz and Dona Vicenta Vera
Dõn Juan Fernandez de Jauregui and Dona Isauel de Aldama
Pedro Flores- de-Abrego
Dõn Juan Galindo Morales And Dona Melchora Sanchez Navarro
Dõn Blas Maria de la