Content Areas

United States

Witness to Heritage
Honoring  Leaders
National Issues

Action Item

Business

Education
Bilingual/Bicultural 


Culture
Literature
Books

Military/Law 

American Revolution

Surnames

Cuentos
Family History

Orange Co, CA  

Los Angeles, CA
California  
Northwestern US
Southwestern US 


Indigenous
Archaeology 
Sephardic
African-American


East Coast
Texas
Mexico 

Caribbean/Cuba 

Spain



"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent 
we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
 
George Washington

Somos Primos

FEBRUARY 2010 
122nd Online Issue

Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-2010

Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage 
and Diversity Issues

 
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research

 

¿ George Washington,
Our First Hispanic PRESIDENT ?
Click for the answer.


Society of Hispanic Historical 
and Ancestral Research   

P.O. 490
Midway City, CA 
92655-0490


Board Members:
Bea Armenta Dever
Gloria C. Oliver
Mimi Lozano
Pat Lozano
Cathy Trejo Luijt 
Viola R. Sadler
Tom Saenz
John P. Schmal


Resources:
SHHAR
Networking
Calendar
www.SHHAR.net
www.SomosPrimos.com 
mimilozano@aol.com

 
Somos Primos Staff:   .
Mimi Lozano, Editor
Mercy Bautista Olvera
Bill Carmena
Lila Guzman
Granville Hough
John Inclan
Galal Kernahan
Juan Marinez
J.V. Martinez
Dorinda Moreno
Rafael Ojeda
Ángel Custodio Rebollo
Tony Santiago
John P. Schmal
Howard Shorr 

Contributors to issue  
Belinda Acosta
Fernando Aguilar
Julia Alvarez
Alex Moreno Areyan
Dan Arellano
Mercy Bautista Olvera
Esther Bonilla Read
Christine Brady
Hon.Edward Butler
Jaime Cader 
Roberto Calderon, Ph.D.
Bill Carmena
Oscar Casares
Paul Cool
Jack Cowan
Steve Delgadillo
Joan De Soto
Jim Estrada
 Angelo Falcón
Lucine Fox
D. Miguel Ángel Gálvez Toro
James E. Garcia
Sylvia Garcia
Wanda Garcia
Luis Garza
Bobby Gonzalez
Ainsley Henriques

Helen Harrell
Sharon Hartley 
Walter Centeno Herbeck
Lic. Carlos Herrera de la Garza
Granville Hough, Ph.D.
John Inclan
Lizette Jenness Olmos
Rick Leal
Jose Leon Robles de la Torre
Jose Antonio Lopez
Mike Lozano
Alfred Lugo
Juan Marinez
Erika Martinez
Joe Martinez, Ph.D.
Stan Mirvis
Dorinda Moreno
Carlos Muñoz, Jr., Ph.D.
Miguel Ángel Muñoz Borrego
Paul Newfield III
Rafael Ojeda
D. Manuel Olmedo Checa
Guillermo Padilla Origel 
Nancy Perez
Jose M. Pena
Richard Perry
Juan Ramos, Ph.D.
Angel Custodio Rebollo
Crispin Rendon

Ing. Clemente Rendón de la Garza
Robert Renteria




Viola Rodriguez Sadler
Tom Saenz
John P. Schmal 
Louis F. Serna
Sister Mary Sevilla
Frank E. Smitha
Hon.Robert Thonhoff
Andrés Tijerina, Ph.D.
Carolina Tomkinson
Joey Trevino
Alfred L. Trujillo
Albert Vela, Ph.D.
Margarita B. Velez
Jennifer Vo
Kirk Whisler
Cliver G. Williams 
Vicente Ximenes

chalio.munoz@yahoo.com

ConnieCPU@aol.com
GALLEGOSGOMEZ@AOL.COM.
genealogia-mexico@googlegroups.com 
Presente.org team@aol.com
sancudobaboso@hotmail.com  
sg777@att.net
 


UNITED STATES

Faces of America, first episode to air February 10th
"Living Memorial" in the Jerusalem Forest Hills 
NCLR Annual Conference, July 10 - 13, 2010
RootsTube Channel: Share Your Genealogy and Family History Videos
Hispanic Breaking Barriers, Part XIV by Mercy Bautista-Olvera
Viola Rodriguez-Sadler, A Wise Latina by Mercy Bautista-Olvera
Dr. Hector P. Garcia Honored by the United States Congress
Vicente Ximenes and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s By Erika Martinez
Happy Birthday Dr. Hector by Daisy Wanda Garcia
Faces of America, PBS Documentary, four episodes 
The first episode will air February 10, 2010 on local PBS stations. The documentary will focus on the ancestors of 12 celebrities, one of whom will be Eva Longoria Parker. Her story is similar to that of most anyone with deep roots in South Texas and Northern Mexico.  See a video clip of the program at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica 
Mark your calendars!  Sent by John Inclan

Thanks to Crispin Rendon for sharing the following:

Eva Jacqueline LONGORIA and Tomas SAENZ are 5th cousins 1 time removed. Their common ancestors are Jose Pedro PEREZ and Maria Manuela GARZA.

Eva Jacqueline LONGORIA and Viola RODRIGUEZ are 7th cousins 1 time removed. Their common ancestors are Cristobal VILLARREAL and Maria CANTU.

Eva Jacqueline LONGORIA and Mimi LOZANO are 7th cousins 2 times removed. Their common ancestors are Juan Francisco GARCIA and Ana Maria SEPULVEDA.

Eva Jacqueline LONGORIA and Crispin D. RENDON are 6th cousins 2 times removed. Their common ancestors are Pedro Jose SALINAS and Maria Catarina GARCIA.


"Living Memorial" in the Jerusalem Forest Hills 
Dedicated to 9/11 and those whose lives were taken thru terrorist activities in 92 nations.   Very moving short record of the dedication ceremony held in Jerusalem on November 12,  2009.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRPYTiN50so
 
Sent by Fernando Aguilar 
fernanaguil7@aol.com 
NCLR is thrilled to host the 2010 NCLR Annual Conference and the National Latino Family Expo in San Antonio, Texas, a city with unique traditions, history, and world-renowned entertainment. Join us July 10 - 13, 2010 for what is sure to be an exciting event!   http://www.nclr.org/section/events/conference/registration1

RootsTube Channel: Share Your Genealogy and Family History Videos

The RootsTube Channel on Roots Television allows you to submit and share your own genealogy and family history videos. Share family reunion footage, promote your society or project, share your expert tips for research. The video Making a Family History Video 
demonstrates how easily it can be done with a series of photos and a voice over.  Plus they have segment on getting started. 

They also have a series of interviews. Episode 101 is a wonderful interview with best selling author, Victor Villasenor, Rain of Gold explaining what doing family history did for him. His love of his parents, grandparents, and culture is very deep, and he said it is a result of doing family history research. Villasenor states "Now, my parents are my greatest heroes." 

Do see his very tender, emotional interview.
ttp://rootstelevision.com/players/player_
ancestors-series3.php
 

In addition rootstelevision has a How-to do Hispanic Research, with more advanced than the general how-to Series, with the well-known George Ryskamp among the presenters: 

Family History Library in Salt Lake, Resources 
Spanish Parish Records
Buscando Ancestors Mexicanos
Mexico: Genealogical Research 
Municipal Archives 
http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_hispanic3.php


HISPANICS BREAKING
BARRIERS

Part XIV

By

Mercy Bautista-Olvera

“Hispanics Breaking Barriers”  is the 15th in the series to  present the contributions of current Hispanics in the United States government and in leadership positions. Their contributions have improved not only the local community but the country as well.    Their struggles, stories, and accomplishments will by example illustrate to our youth and to future generations that everything and anything is possible.  

Elias Provencio Vasquez:  Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at El Paso and the  first Hispanic male in U. S. history with a doctoral degree in Nursing  

Noerena Limon:  Staff Assistant, Office of Presidential Personnel, Economic Cluster in the White House  

Lizet Ocampo:  Legislative Assistant, Office of Legislative Affairs in the White House  

Stephanie Valencia:  Associate Director, Office of Public Engagement in the White House  

Yasmin Yaver:  Associate Director for Government Affairs, in the Department of Transportation in Washington D.C.      

 

 Elias Provencio Vasquez, Ph.D

 Elias Provencio-Vasquez, Ph.D., has been appointed as the Dean of the University of Texas at El Paso School of Nursing. He is the first Hispanic male in the country to earn a doctoral degree in nursing and the first Hispanic Dean at the University.  

Elias Provencio-Vasquez, better known as Provencio, is a native of El Paso , Texas . In 1992, he earned his doctorate in nursing from the University of Arizona .   

Provencio-Vasquez was the former director for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas at Houston and at the University of Maryland .   He has served as an Assistant Professor of nursing at the University of Texas , Houston and at the Health Science Center at the same university.  

Provencio-Vasquez has also served as an Associate Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami in Coral Gables , Florida . "We've worked closely together." "He's very energetic and he's very engaging, and he's just kind of a breath of fresh air in terms of getting students excited about nursing," stated Gail McCain, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Miami . 

After a national search, the University of Texas at El Paso appointed Provencio-Vasquez as Dean of the School of Nursing .  "He (Provencio-Vasquez) has all the attributes that we were hoping we would be able to find, and what makes it really special is he's originally from El Paso," UTEP President Diana Natalicio said. "He has a very clear understanding of the region and the students we serve." Natalicio said UTEP could soon begin offering a doctoral program in nursing practice, which could help increase the region's number of nursing faculty and lead to more nursing course offerings for UTEP students. She anticipates that Provencio-Vasquez will take a leadership role in creating the program.  

Provencio-Vasquez stated that one of the largest draws of the University of Texas at El Paso was its push to become a research powerhouse. "The school of nursing is in a very good position to be part of the research arena within the university." “Together, we will build on the great success of the School of Nursing and take the school to new heights.” He is looking forward to working closely with the nursing faculty, staff, students, and alumni.  

He is an advanced practice nurse, specializing in both pediatrics and in neonatal nursing. He is eager to develop, opportunities for community nursing for at-risk women with addiction problems and their children. He is especially concerned with improving the way child protective services works with women with addictive diseases.  

For the last 30 years, Provencio-Vasquez has been a clinician, educator, researcher, and administrator. He is well known nationally and internationally for his work. His background and expertise is primary care and developmental assessments of HIV and drug-exposed infants, children, and adolescents.  

"My vision is to take that to the next level, to really be a big player in research at the university and recruit top scientists and nursing professors from across the country to come and join our school of nursing and to complement the current research being done there," he said. He also wants to help UTEP produce more nurses and become the top university in the nation for its number of Hispanic nursing graduates.”  

   

  

 Noerena Limon

Noerena Limon, of Chino, California, is currently serving as Staff Assistant, Office of Presidential Personnel, and Economic Cluster in the White House with a focus on the economic agencies.  

Noerena went on to pursue her graduate studies in the Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in Massachusetts . She also studied in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, (CHCI) Fellowship program 2005-2006.  

Since leaving, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Noerena moved back to California . She then worked in the office of U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra and on a congressional race in the Inland Empire . After the campaign, she became part of a seven-person start-up team that brought City Year; the largest youth service organization in the country, to the city of Los Angeles .  

She later served at the Democratic National Convention Committee in Denver , Colorado where she served as the Associate Director of Budget and Finance.    

Noerena then moved to Chicago and became the Deputy Communications Director for Hispanic Media for the Obama-Biden Campaign.  

“Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute offered me an invaluable network of

alumni who have served as my mentors, my coworkers, my study partners and the people who have taken chances on me and invested in my future. I thank CHCI for serving as my stepping stool into the world of federal politics.”  

The advice she would give current and future CHCI participants, especially those who also wish to work at the White House or within the Administration is “Don't be afraid to ask for mentorship. Without the mentors in my life who have invested in my professional development, I would not have made the decisions I have made that led me to my current job in the White House. Also, make sure you identify where in the Administration you would like to work and let people know about it. Do your research, identify people who have held similar positions in the past, and ask for an informational interview.”  

 

   

 Lizet Ocampo

 
Lizet Ocampo, of Maxwell , California , is currently serving as a Legislative Assistant, in the Office of Legislative Affairs in the White House.  

In 2006, Lizet Ocampo earned a BA in Political Science and MA in Education from Stanford University in California . She studied at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Fellowship program of 2007-2008.  

“I met President Barack Obama in 2005, and I was fortunate enough to get his autograph in my copy of Obama’s book “Dreams of My Father.” In the book   President Obama, wrote; "Lizet, Dream big dreams!" At the time working for the White House seemed like such a distant goal, but dreaming about the possibility was important for me to work as hard as I could.”    

“My main advice for young people to reach their goals to work in the White House if interested, would be to always work hard, means going above, and beyond and exceeding expectations in your job, finding out every avenue that can lead you to key opportunities. In the case of hiring in the Administration, making the efforts to understand [the] various aspects of hiring is very important. For example, know what departments and positions you are seeking; get to know people who have or have had the position you desire; be prepared and patient.” 

Following Lizet’s fellowship placement from (CHCI), she worked at the Office of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez ( New Jersey ) for a year and a half. On Senator’s Menendez’ staff, she worked on a variety of issues, including budget, appropriations, taxes, telecom, technology, veterans, and small business.

Lizet took a leave of absence so she could work on the Obama Campaign for Change in Orlando , Florida , and volunteered with the Presidential Transition Team as well as with the Education Policy Working Group focusing on English

language learners. “I am proud to have been involved in efforts to increase diversity on the Hill by implementing strategies to increase opportunities for those to gain employment on the Hill as well as those looking to move up.”  

“Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute made it possible for me to work on the Hill. Without this opportunity, I would not have understood the federal policy making process, gained an awareness of the steps necessary to further my career, nor had the experience necessary for the daily responsibilities of working with Congress, which is necessary in my current job. Most importantly, CHCI connected me to people who cared and were invested in my success, who served as resources and role models. I give much thanks to the CHCI alumni who have gone out of their way to provide opportunities to me. I especially thank the Members of Congress who open their doors to us and are key to our professional success.”  

 

 Stephanie Valencia  

Stephanie Valencia, 26, of Las Cruces , New Mexico , is currently serving as Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement in the White House.  

Stephanie Valencia is the daughter of Jack Valencia Jr., and Dianne Rivera-Valencia of Santa Fe , New Mexico . Her father Jack is the Transit Project Manager at the North Central Regional Transit District, an agency in Santa Fe , and her mother Dianne is a program officer at the Con Alma Health Foundation, a nonprofit public organization in Santa Fe , New Mexico . Stephanie is married to Oscar Thomas Ramirez.

In 2003, while Stephanie Valencia was a junior International Studies major, she became a recipient of the Archbishop Oscar A. Romero Scholarship.     

In 2004, Stephanie Valencia graduated from Boston College ; she completed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Fellowship program, during 2004-2005. She then went to work as Press Secretary for U.S. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez. Stephanie served as Special Assistant to the Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. She also worked as Press Secretary for U.S. Congressman John B. Larson, as well as Press Secretary for U.S. for Senator Ken Salazar.  

Stephanie campaigned for President elect Obama and then she reconnected in her local community of Silver Springs , New Mexico . “I want to dedicate my time to help newly immigrated families navigate their way through society. I also want to help mentor young Latinas and show them that the sky is the limit if you work hard and set your sights high,” stated Stephanie.


The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute CHCI exposed Stephanie to a wide range of leaders and a network of Latinos and Latinas that had already helped pave the way. “I learned that we must work twice as hard to prove ourselves and that as we climb up the ladder we must bring more behind us. I learned that communications/press is a place where we need more Latinos and Latinas and it has since become my part of my purpose to help recruit, train, and keep Latinos and Latinas in the communications field. I also learned that hard work and a good attitude are two of the most important skills anyone can bring to the table,” stated Stephanie.  

The advice she would you give current and future CHCI participants would be
“Take in as much as you can. Meet as many people as you can. Learn as much as you can. Find a long-term mentor that will give you honest advice and good guidance. Treat everyone with respect and kindness.  

Last year she and her future husband both worked for the Obama presidential campaign, Stephanie in Chicago as a Deputy Director of the outreach campaign for Latino voters, and Oscar as the Virginia Policy Director in Richmond , Virginia .  

Stephanie and her husband Oscar now work for the Obama administration in Washington D.C. He serves as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis. 

     

 Yasmin Yaver

 Yasmin Yaver is currently serving as an Associate Director, for Government Affairs in the Department of Transportation in Washington D.C.  

In 2005, Yasmin graduated from George Washington University , she earned her degree in Political Science. She has served as Deputy Policy Director at the House Democratic Caucus. During 2005-2006, she completed her studies at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Public Policy Fellow program.   “My experience [with the program] not only opened many doors to new and exciting opportunities in public service, but helped me develop the skills, maturity, confidence, and support network so critical to professional advancement.” 

Yasmin also worked with the Office of Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. She then worked in the Office of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez ( New Jersey ), where she served as a Legislative Aide. She has also served as Senior Policy Advisor for Hispanic Affairs, and previously worked for current White House Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, when he served as the Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Deputy Policy Director.


Viola Rodriguez- Sadler

A Wise Latina  
By Mercy Bautista-Olvera  
Nominated by Mimi Lozano-Holtzman 

 

 Viola Rodriguez-Sadler  

Viola Rodriguez was born in Robstown, Texas (a small town near Corpus Christi). She grew up in a close-knit family. Viola is the daughter of Sam Rodriguez and Ernestina Martinez-Rodriguez. She has a sister, Yolanda, and a brother, Ernesto. Viola is married to Charles Sadler Sr.; they have two grown children Charles Jr., better known as Chuck, and daughter, Cynthia. The Sadler’s have one grandson.

L-R Viola, sister, Yolanda and their mom


Viola’s parents came to the United States from Mexico when they were children. Her father went into business for himself and established “Sam’s Fruit Stand,” where he specialized in fresh produce. He was also a member of the local Knights of Columbus and the local LULAC chapter. He was active in fundraising within these organizations. Her mother, Ernestina, volunteered much of her time in such activities as; chaperoning out of town band students, supplying Christmas trees to church classrooms, and providing corsages to girls in the choir. This kind of upbringing gave Viola the attraction to be a volunteer. Viola and her sister Yolanda attended St. Anthony’s School where they joined “Las Teresita’s” Club. On Sunday’s, the group would wear their uniforms, sit as a group in church, and go to Holy Communion during the Mass.  

 

Viola grew up within a Mexican culture listening to Mexican music, seeing Mexican movies, and seeing such actors and singers such as Jorge Negrete, Luis Aguilar, and others.     
                                             

At Viola’s home, she remembers the traditional calendars on the kitchen wall. One she remembers was a popular picture of a beautiful Indian woman   “La Mujer Dormida,” (the Sleeping Woman) and “Popo,” (the man). Later as a teenager, she learned about the legend of the Aztec couple; Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl . The legend is based on the formation of two volcanoes, whose story is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.
 

After Viola graduated from Robstown High School , her Dad told her very simply, that her parents were unable to pay for her higher education. Viola worked as a Secretary for almost a year. Her mother’s sister, Aurora, and her husband, Othón Garcia, suggested to her that she live with them in Laredo , Texas so that she could attend Laredo Junior College . The Garcia’s were also able to help Viola financially. After Junior College, she attended the University of Texas , earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, with a major in English and a minor in Spanish.    

Viola has fond memories of when she first met President Kennedy. “My first presidential voting opportunity came in 1960; John F. Kennedy came to Austin , Texas , and stopped by the University of Texas campus. I did get to shake his hand and still remember it vividly. Kennedy looked right at me and had a strong but brief hold of my hand. I think everyone in the crowd got the same eye contact and handshake. I also remember Sam Rayburn and Lyndon B. Johnson were the other dignitaries, but I only had eyes and ears for the charismatic, handsome Kennedy,” Viola stated.  

In the summer of 1962, education recruiters went to Austin , Texas , she chose to work at Amarillo . Here Viola found a job at Tascosa High School . Here also Viola met her future husband, Charles Sadler. He was teaching Math and Viola was teaching Spanish. They eventually married in June of 1965. They both volunteered to sponsor several school clubs. In 1966, the couple would enlist in a study abroad program in Madrid , Spain , the trip served as a honeymoon as well.      

In 1967, their first child, Charles Jr., was born. In those turbulent years of the 1960’s, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the “Special Olympics,” made a big difference in their young family and the needs of a physically challenged son. At this time, Viola became involved with organizations that served the disabled. She volunteered many hours with “Special Olympics” programs. She also traveled to Lake Tahoe , Nevada , when her son, Charles Jr., took part in the international cross-country ski events.  

Viola volunteered in many of her daughter’s Cynthia’s Girl Scout activities. These activities included selling cookies, helping with Girl Scout registrations, and chaperoning at campouts. When her daughter joined band, Viola volunteered, ordering band jackets, driving band members to meetings, and even making her daughter’s drum major uniform. Additionally, Viola volunteered to assist at proms, programs, fundraisers, and even served as President of the school PTA. After her children completed public school she continued to volunteer.  

At California State University at Fullerton , Viola worked in the Reference Department of the library as a Librarian’s Assistant. She then went on to become Office Manager for the Dean of School of Communications and for the Department of Music. “They were all lovely people. I especially enjoyed the Music Department because of its wonderful professors and instructors. I also enjoyed the privilege of the concerts all year long. It was great working close to the Department of Theatre and Dance and Department of Fine Arts. Good memories,” Viola stated.  

From the start, Viola has also been a member of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research (SHHAR) along with, “Somos Primos” editor, Mimi Lozano-Holtzman. Viola volunteered in the creation and layout of the SHAAR newsletters, and her husband Charles Sr., volunteered to print the address labels. During a span of ten years, the four-page leaflet, developed into a 28-page newsmagazine. Viola’s skills as the layout editor grew as the newsletter circulation also increased. The Newsletter of course was “Somos Primos” that later evolved into a website and monthly e-zine.  

Co-founder of SHAAR and Editor of Somos Primos, Mimi Lozano-Holtzman, has fond memories of Viola Rodriguez-Sadler as well as for Viola’s husband, Charles Sadler. “It all started with some of us meeting each other at a Family History Center; Raul Guerra, Ophelia Marquez, Tony Campos and I; then all of us met in Riverside at a conference that was organized by George R. Ryskamp for Hispanic researchers. A few months later after a General Genealogy Conference, we decided that we should start a support group for Hispanic family history researchers, and decided on contacting other Hispanics that might be interested. We essentially were the Founders of the Concept.”  

 

“Since 1986, Viola was one of the original organizers for SHAAR, together with her husband Charles Sadler they were at that first organizing meeting and have been with SHHAR since then. We formed a nucleus and started offering workshops and presentations. We started organized meetings in 1987. For much of the time when we were publishing print copies of Somos Primos, Viola did the artistic layout. She did a fantastic job. I learned a lot from her. Since SHHAR started there has always been a Sadler on the Board, either Viola, or Charles. They have been dedicated and loyal supporters of SHHAR and Somos Primos.  I don't know if I could have continued without the Sadler's help.”  

Mimi Lozano-Holtzman,
Co-founder of SHAAR and Editor of Somos Primos

      January 7, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1994, after Viola retired from California State University at Fullerton , she was asked to serve for the Orange County Grand Jury. She made the final thirty candidates, she was eventually chosen as one of the top nineteen in a lottery draw. The   Grand Jury panel eventually served for 18 months.  

In 1998, Viola applied for her second Grand Jury panel term and was again chosen.      

Viola’s third Grand Jury term was from 2002 to 2003; the Environment and Transportation committee was one of the panels on which she sat. She stated,

“Sometimes we called it the Entertainment and Travel Committee we enjoyed each other’s company and we took a few field trips in our charge of investigation.”  

Since 2004, Viola has served on the Office of Personnel Management to assist the Department of Justice in observing polling places in cities or counties that have been found non-compliant of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “It gives me great satisfaction that [at] this time in my life I can assist in making sure that Americans of different colors, ethnicities, religions, disabilities; are not disenfranchised.”    

In 2009, Viola was involved in the Retired Public Employees Association Chapter in Orange County . One of their projects was to collect toys to be distributed to the children of the incarcerated. The project is now in its second year.  

On January 7, 2010, Viola is set to continue her tenure of community service. She will be one of about fifteen community leaders in Orange County ( California ) who will comprise the County Election Working Group; advising the Registrar of Voters.  



Viola has never sought recognition or fame, if she hears of a volunteer job that needs to be done, if she feels she can bring her skills and knowledge, she will find herself filling out the application. Viola dedicates herself to help whenever she can, or whenever anyone is in need; she has learned that from the best; her parents and her mentors; Sam and Ernestina Rodriguez.    


Dr. Hector P. Garcia Honored by the United States Congress

December 17, 2009
ORTIZ, MENENDEZ INTRODUCE LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS HONORING THE WORK AND LIFE OF DR. HECTOR P. GARCIA
WASHINGTON--U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) have introduced legislation in the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, honoring the leadership and historic contributions of Dr. Hector P. Garcia to the United States and the Hispanic community and his remarkable efforts to combat racial and ethnic discrimination in this country.
 
"Dr. Hector Garcia was a pillar in our nation, and it is appropriate we pay our respect to this man who was a fierce advocate of civil rights in this country," Ortiz said. "I thank Senator Menendez for joining me in this effort as we pay tribute to Dr. Hector Garcia in Congress."
 
The bill was filed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and filed in the Senate on Wednesday.
 
"Today we honor the life of one of our nation’s most distinguished civil rights advocates in the Hispanic community, " Menendez said. "A leader of national and international prominence, his pioneering work opened paths and set precedents that to this day are evoked and serve as an inspiration for those that carry on his legacy."
 
Co-sponsors of the bill are U.S. Rep. Joe Baca (D-California), U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-California), U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-New York), and U.S. Rep. Gregorio Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands).
 
"As the only Hispanic Member of the United States Senate I am committed to civil rights--the guiding force in Dr. Hector Garcia’s life--and it is truly a privilege to join my colleague Congressman Ortiz in honoring the life of this exceptional man," Menendez said.
 
The bill has been referred to the committees of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives and Senate.
 
"The life and work of Dr. Hector Garcia will long be remembered and never forgotten, that is why I am so diligent in getting this important and significant legislation passed in the House and Senate," Ortiz said.
 
In 1948, Dr. Garcia founded the American G.I. Forum, a Mexican-American veterans group to redress the injustices done to returning World War II veterans. Through this organization he made his most significant impact with advancements in opportunities for health care, education, veterans’ benefits and civil rights equality.
 
On May 30, 2009, the Governor of Texas established the third Wednesday of each September as "Dr. Hector P. Garcia Day" in Texas.
 
About Dr. Hector Garcia: born on Jan. 17, 1914, in Mercedes, Texas. He was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American G.I. Forum. Dr. Garcia was named alternate ambassador to the United Nations in 1967, was appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1968. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor, in 1984, and was named to the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II in 1990. He died on July 26, 1996. 

Sent by GALLEGOSGOMEZ@AOL.COM.

 


Vicente Ximenes and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s 
By Erika Martinez

Vicente Ximenes (born 12-05-1919) still recalls his days as a Mexican American boy growing up in the 1930s in Floresville, Texas, a town where segregation formed part of his everyday life.

Ximenes also remembers that out of the 100 Mexican American kids who started elementary school with him, only five, including him, made it through high school.

"It was tough growing up," he said. "Coming from an elementary school that was segregated into a non-segregated school ... you experienced discrimination."

The last incident Ximenes and his fellow Mexican American high school friends had to encounter was their graduation banquet, where they were ignored because of their race.

"We all gathered over, and at the corner there were five seats for those five Mexican Americans that had graduated," said Ximenes, laughing. After that, Ximenes and his friends didn't attend their graduation ceremony and decided to get their diplomas by mail. "We had to give a message to our teachers, that things had to change, that we were hurt, but we had graduated," he said.

Ximenes was determined to make it, and even though he said he was aware of what was going on in the system, he added that he never gave up. "There was a certain attitude that said, 'I'll take this but I'm gonna get through and I'm gonna beat you,' that was the attitude I had," Ximenes said.

In 1939, after graduating from high school, Ximenes had no chance of finding a job, but his father, Jose Ximenes, who was a Democratic leader in Floresville, knew Lyndon B. Johnson and arranged for his son to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. He started out as a field worker, clearing mesquite trees, before becoming a chief clerk. In the camps, he also made sure there were enough food supplies, and he wrote letters for those who didn't know how to write so they could communicate with their families.

He says this job was the part of his life that taught him about human relations. "I learned a whole lot about the need for cooperating with each other," he said.

After a year in the CCC camps, Ximenes had saved enough money for his first semester at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he became friends with Dr. Hector Garcia, who would later organize the American GI Forum.

Ximenes lived in a cooperative and worked serving lunches to other students. He also worked another part-time job to get through his first year of college.

Then in 1940, with three semesters of college, Ximenes was able to get a job as a principal at a two-room elementary school in Picosa, Texas. But, Ximenes said, the school merged with a larger Floresville school after only one year.

When World War II broke out in December of 1941, Ximenes volunteered and was appointed a U.S. Air Force cadet in San Antonio, Texas. A week after Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was on his way to Kirtland Field in New Mexico, where he became a 2nd lieutenant at the bombardier school.

"I had no idea about bombs and planes," he said. "We were thrown in a situation where you had to learn, and you had to learn quickly because the Air Force needed people as soon as possible"

After a few months of training with a B-17 crew, they finally took off from West Palm Beach on Christmas Eve of 1942, and Ximenes was on his way to the Mediterranean to "throw out the Germans in North Africa."

"I had no idea where [North] Africa was or who occupied it," said Ximenes, a smile on his face. "That was an awakening for me. I had no idea of what was going on."

Finally in 1943, after flying 50 missions as a lead bombardier in North Africa, and after having received the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery under fire, Ximenes returned to the States. He remained in the Air Force as a cadet flying instructor at San Angelo Air Base in Texas, and four years later, retired as a Major in the Air Force.

But after coming back home, Ximenes saw that discrimination continued to be part of Mexican Americans' everyday life. He said he clearly remembers how Mexican Americans in Floresville couldn’t go to the same barbershops Anglos went to, and how Latinos had to sit in the movie theater’s balcony during Saturday afternoon shows.

But as much as Ximenes wanted to change things, he knew that without education, things couldn't be done. After retiring from the Air Force, he looked forward to enrolling at the University of New Mexico, a school he remembered seeing when he was training in New Mexico. In 1947, he moved with his family to Albuquerque to study economics.

While in school, he never thought a simple vacation trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, would make him get involved with the American GI Forum to fight for civil rights. In Corpus his friend, Dr. Hector Garcia, invited him to attend a meeting. He thought it would be a medical gathering, but it turned out to be a meeting of Mexican Americans trying to form an organization that would fight for human and civil rights.

"Our idea was for our people to have a place where they could come and complain about discrimination," Ximenes said.

In 1950, he received his Bachelor's degree in economics, and his Master's degree a year later. After graduation, he began working as a research economist at the University of New Mexico. After 10 years at the Bureau of Business Research, he realized Mexican Americans didn't own businesses, they didn't have power and they were among the poorest groups in the nation. To him, a lot of these problems had to do with discrimination.

But it was also the memories of his father that helped Ximenes continue with his political causes. He remembers that even though his father had lost their general store, he still had the energy to continue and to help others.

"I tagged along with my father when he became involved in politics," he said. "We needed representation, and one of the ways is to become politically involved."

In 1961, Ximenes was selected by the Kennedy administration to serve as program officer and economist for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Quito, Ecuador, and in 1966, he was named deputy director of the Agency for International Development in Panama City, Panama.

A year later, he was appointed by President Johnson as U.S. commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D. C., where he served for five years. The first Mexican American to be named to the position, he attributes this and other accomplishments to those who encouraged him.

"I give credit to my friend Dr. Garcia, who was the first one to work for the civil rights [of Mexican Americans]," Ximenes said. "I had a good job as an economist, but he insisted that they take me from Panama so they could name me commissioner."

President Johnson also chose Ximenes as the chairman of his new cabinet committee on Mexican American Affairs. He later became the vice-president for field operations of the National Urban Coalition.

Ximenes is aware of all his accomplishments and the good he did, not only for Mexican Americans but also for people in general.

"The things I have done are very significant in terms of integrating everybody," he said.

He’s responsible for including Albuquerque, Austin, Santa Fe, El Paso and other cities with large Mexican American populations in President Johnson's Model Cities Program; jump-started affirmative action in all the federal agencies; and funding bilingual education.

His education is what got him to the White House, Ximenes said. However, he mainly attributed his success to his parents, who were always there for him and his brothers and sisters, who also received good educations.

"They could've easily broken down with the pressure that was placed upon them," said Ximenes of his parents. "But they didn't break, and they held on to their beliefs."

Ximenes is glad he volunteered for military service because he not only served his country, but also learned about the world outside his home.

"During the war, I discovered that we, Mexican Americans, have the same abilities as the Anglos," he said.

Ximenes and his wife, Maria, had four children: Their oldest son, Steve, who graduated from the University of New Mexico and died during the Vietnam War; Ricardo, an artist; daughter Olivia, New Mexico's deputy state land commissioner, Ray Powell; and youngest daughter Ana Maria, a lawyer.

Mr. Ximenes was interviewed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 10, 2001, by Jim Morrison.

http://lib.utexas.edu/ww2latinos/template-stories-indiv.html?work_urn=urn%3Autlol%3
Awwlatin.162&work_title=Ximenes+%2C+Vicente


 Comment by Daisy Wanda Garcia.

The connection between Vicente Ximenes and my father, Dr. Hector P. Garcia extends to their youth.  They lost the connection when Vicente moved to New Mexico .  One summer Vicente was passing through Corpus Christi on the way to a fishing trip.  He stopped to talk to my father and got so inspired that he never went to the fishing trip.  Instead he returned to New Mexico and organized AGIF chapters.  Vicente has been involved ever since.

 

Vicente was the first Hispanic to hold a high-level government job.  He was the Commissioner for EEOC under LBJ.  Though Vicente rose up the ladder to the high echelons of power in D.C.; he always remembered where he came from. Vicente accomplished much in the area of Hispanic Civil Rights. Papa would always fondly mention Vicente and his many accomplishments. One summer my father, my sister Susie and I spent a couple of days in their house in Virginia .  I was in college during that time at home during the summer recess.  The Ximenes family took us on the sights of D.C. We got to know the Ximenes family fairly well.

 

Vicente Ximenes is an icon of the civil rights movement.  Had it not been for his involvement, we Hispanic Americans would not be where we are now.  Mr. Ximenes deserves our respect and admiration.



Sent by Daisy Wanda Garcia: Recently Vicente Ximenes, a dear fried of my father’s notified me with sad news. His wife Maria Castillo Ximenes had passed away.  

 

Dear Wanda: 

Maria Castillo Ximenes died at four twenty five PM on September twenty six in the year of our Lord two thousand and nine. She was 83 years of age. Maria’s death was the result of a fall in the Woman’s Hospital of Albuquerque.

Maria and I met at a country dance hall near Floresville when we were in high school and we fell in love. In September, 1943 we married and for the next sixty six years we continued our love affair.  Maria, born in Floresville, Texas gave birth to Estevan, Ricardo, Olivia, and Ana Maria. Maria was the anchor that held us together and made us all become college educated productive citizens.

The Ximenes family mourned her death and after all the tears were shed we celebrated her life with a Catholic Mass at her La Vida Llena home.  Maria was smiling from above as she watched the joyful crowd of friends and family dancing to the music of the mariachi group. Maria was happy to see her dearest friends, Mondo and Jackie Lopez, come to the celebration of a life that is eternal..

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo
Vicente Ximenes, PhD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. HECTOR
By Daisy Wanda Garcia

Foreword:  This article appears in the February Issue of Somos Primos, though I wrote it to celebrate my father’s birthday that occurred in January.

January is the month of new beginnings and cherished memories.  This is the month to dream, to look forward to the year ahead and the journey within. January 17th is   significant for me because it is the date of my father’s birthday.
 

I cherish the memories of the many years when I was in Corpus Christi and attended Papa’s birthday parties.  His office staff Rosa Ena Gutierrez, Emma Hernandez, Chago Castro threw a “surprise” party at his office on Bright Street and Morgan Ave.  Willie Davila, Jorge Ronge, Oscar Del Rio and other friends would be there to celebrate. Eventually Dr. Cleo, and Xico and Yolanda Garcia, and Tony Canales would drop by the party and bring their gifts.   

The fare was simple, pan de polvo, tamales, arroz and cake. The Mexican music on KCCT radio blared in the background. The fun began when Papa would open his gifts.  Before Papa could open his gifts, he would have to guess what was in each package. The audience was so entertained by his accuracy.  He guessed the shape and color of what was in the box. We were amazed. We tried to figure out how Papa could guess what was in the box.  Later, I concluded it was a form of telepathy.

 


Later, the family took Papa out to supper and then gave him our gifts. Papa would not allow us to pay for the dinner.  This always frustrated me.  When we arrived home, Papa would have to repeat the process of guessing what was in the package again.  This routine continued until the early 1990’s, when Papa became ill and frail. He was no longer interested in guessing what was in packages. 

 

For forty years of my life, I celebrated Dr. Hector’s birthday in this manner.  My father never liked change and liked to preserve the status quo.  He was a simple man enjoying the company of family members and friends. Therefore, he was content with the same scenario year after year until he died in 1996.  

Family photo 1987,  seated L-R
Daisy Wanda, Cecilia, Susie, Dr. Hector and Daisy behind.

 



Since his death, the honors still pour in.  However, Papa’s dream to make his clinic a center for the American G.I Forum has not happened.  The American G.I Forum Archives was his dream.  Fourteen years have passed and nothing has been done. He would be appalled at the state of disrepair of the clinic and the fact that his cherished archives are inactive.  


The building in this condition is an insult to my father’s memory. Recently PBS producer, John Valadez filmed a documentary about the shameful condition of Papa’s clinic.  Perhaps this documentary once aired will bring public awareness to this sorry state of affairs and turn things around.  I hope that a miracle will happen and change the situation. 

 

If you are interested in helping to renovate the clinic, and develop it as a historical museum, please contact me at wanda.Garcia@sbcglobal.net.

Happy Birthday, Papa. I love you!

 

 


WITNESS TO HERITAGE


Our First Hispanic President

 

By Robert H. Thonhoff

 

            Many Americans today wonder when our first Hispanic president might be elected.  Not to worry—we have already had him—and who could be better than George Washington!  Let me explain.

 

            George Washington, our nation’s first president to be elected under the Constitution, was born on February 22, 1722 , some 288 years ago.  In the course of time, Americans have come to remember/commemorate/celebrate his birthday every February 22nd. One of the largest George Washington birthday parties in our nation is celebrated each year in Laredo , Texas . Once considered as an anomaly, a George Washington Birthday Celebration in Laredo , Texas , of all places, is now, with recent genealogical discoveries, a most fitting and appropriate occasion.

 

People tend to be short-sighted when it comes to genealogy, and most people can only go back a couple of generations to their grandparents or great grandparents. But in reality, we all should honestly go back thousands of years of human history to our genealogical roots, and we would find that all human beings are related, at least as cousins. [How appropriately the online magazine Somos Primos has been so named!]

 

To prove the point that George Washington was our first Hispanic President, one needs to follow, in part, the maternal line, which, unfortunately, tends to be disregarded and/or forgotten in most genealogies.  In the case of George Washington, one must follow the line of his maternal great grandmother, Mildred Reade, and then course backwards through time.

 

According to the research and article by John Inclan in the December 2009 issue of Somos Primos and research and writing done by others in the reference section at the bottom of this article, George Washington’s ancestry courses back through time to the three Edwards of England: King Edward III (1327-1377); King Edward II (1284-1327); and to King Edward I (circa 1244-1290), who was and is considered by many people as the greatest of all English kings.

 

Then one must look at the wife of King Edward III , who mothered a number of his children, and we would find that her name was Queen Eleanor of Castile (circa

 1239-1307).

 

Next, one would be quite surprised to learn that the father of Eleanor of Castile was none other than Fernando III of Spain (1199-1252), considered by many to have been the greatest of all Spanish kings.

 

Finally, one would probably be astounded to learn that that King Ferdinand III , called “El Santo” for centuries, was canonized as a saint in 1671 and is remembered as San Fernando, after whom many a church in the Western Hemisphere is named, including San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas, the oldest, continuous cathedral in Texas!

 

It is clear that the “Father of Our Country,” George Washington, was abundantly endowed with some very good Spanish genes that go back to the great Spanish king and saint, San Fernando —and beyond!

 

Based on the foregoing information that was written in an article (referenced below) by Claude Stanush from the genealogy discovered by Retired USMC Lieutenant Colonel Randolph S. D. Lockwood, both of San Antonio , Texas , and both creditable researchers, who would you, dear reader, think was “The First Hispanic President of the United States of America ”?  Was it not George Washington?

 

George Washington was truly an “All-American President” with whom many people of various nationalities and ethnicities can identify, as is shown by the following listing of other ancestors of Washington in descending order from King Edward I:

 

Edward I, King of England, born 1244

Henry III , King of England, born 1207.

Llewellyn the Great, born 1173

William the Lion, King of Scotland , born in 1143

Geoffrey Plantagenet, founded Plantagenet line

      of English kings, born in 1113

William the Conqueror, born in 1027

Malcolm III , King of Scotland , crowned in 1058

Duncan I, King of Scotland, slain by MacBeth in 1041

Hugh Capet, King of France, born in 938

Rollo the Dane, Viking king, died 932

Alfred the Great, born in 849

Roderick the Great, King of Wales, born 844

Sveide the Viking, born in 780

Egbert, First King of all England , died 839

Charlemagne, Emperor of the West, born in 742

Charles Martel, King of France, died 741

Anne of Tintagl Castle, daughter of Uther Pendragon,

     King of Britain, 496; sister of King Arthur of the

     Roundtable, born in 501

Clovis , King of the Franks, born in 466

Boadicea, Queen of Britain , defeated by the Romans, A.D. 62

 

How fortunate we Americans are to have George Washington as our First President, who established many precedents!  He could have chosen, for instance, to be addressed as “King,” “Your Highness,” or some other royal title, but he chose instead to be called simply, “Mr. President,” a tradition which continues today.

 

¡Viva George Washington!

 

REFERENCES

 

[NOTE: I wish to acknowledge two special persons who first brought this interesting story to my attention back in the 1990s: (1) the late Henry Guerra of San Antonio, Texas, who was a pioneer WOAI Radio and TV newscaster still affectionately known as “La Voz de San Antonio; ” and (2) the late Lt. Col. Randolph S. D. Lockwood, USMC, who, to the best of my knowledge, was the first person that I know to perceive that Eleanor of Castile, wife of English King Edward I, was the daughter of King Ferdinand III of Spain, who is better known as San Fernando.]

 

Burke’s Presidential Families of the United States of America (London: Burke’s Peerage Limited, 1975).

 

Costain, Thomas B., The Three Edwards (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1958).

 

Inclan, John, “Genealogical Report on George Washington’s Ancestry, Somos Primos, December 2009.

 

Stanush, Claude, “Cathedral’s Fernando really was fighting saint,” San Antonio Express-News, September 17, 1983 , Page 17-A.

 

Wurts, John S., Magna Charta, (New York: Brookfield Publishing Company, 8 vols., 1942).

Editor:  Judge Robert Thonhoff is a leader in bringing awareness of the Spanish contributions to the American Revolution.  A Texas resident, he has authored books, pamphlets, and is a frequent presenter on the subject. About 15 years ago, when I first  read his "The Texas Connection to the American Revolution," I was so pleased with the historical insight, I tracked him down, called him at home, and have stayed in touch.. He certainly started a revolution in my heart. A retired teacher, his goal is to reach Hispanic children and Let them know that their ancestors were among the builders of the United States of America.   

The George Washington Birthday Parade will be held Feb 20, 2010, Laredo >  http://www.wbcalaredo.org 
For information, call Jack Cowan at 210-651-4709. 

 


HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

Joe R. Nevarez, former L.A. Times Reporter, dies at 97
Antonio Pineda, Mexican modernist silversmith, at 90
Efrain Portillo Marinez, farm labor activist, 87
Angela de Hoyos, grande dame of Chicano poetry, at 86
Esther Chavez,  activist decried murders of women in Ciudad Juarez, at 76
Anthony B. "Tony" Ramirez: Green Beret, Hispanic rights activist, at 72
Emma Barrientos championed Latino community, arts, at 67
Donald Pelotte, First American Indian bishop, 64 
Yolanda DeLeon Garcia, reader comment

Joe R. Nevarez dies at 97; former L.A. Times Reporter
by Elaine Woo,  January 2, 2010

Joe R. Nevarez, seen in 2008 with his wife, Theresa, was "a trailblazer for Latino journalists, joining The Times' staff during a time when Mexican Americans were politically powerless in L.A. and the victims of overt racism and exclusion," says Frank Sotomayor, a former Times editor who is now a senior fellow for at the Institute for Justice and Journalism in Los Angeles. Nevarez retired from The Times in 1977. (Los Angeles Times / April 10, 2008)

Joe R. Nevarez, a copy boy turned reporter for the Los Angeles Times who broke barriers as one of the newspaper's first Mexican American staff writers, died of natural causes Tuesday at his Monterey Park home, according to his daughter Margaret Nevarez. He was 97.

A founding member of the California Chicano News Media Assn., Nevarez joined The Times as a copy boy in 1930 and began earning bylines in the early 1950s as a reporter in the business section. He specialized in coverage of the oil industry and corporate earnings over the next 26 years, until his retirement in 1977.

"Joe Nevarez was a trailblazer for Latino journalists, joining The Times' staff during a time when Mexican Americans were politically powerless in L.A. and the victims of overt racism and exclusion," said Frank Sotomayor, a former Times editor who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism in Los Angeles.

"In the 1930s and '40s, many Mexican Americans referred to themselves as 'Spanish' to avoid being stigmatized as an undesirable minority," Sotomayor said. "But Joe was always proud of his Mexican heritage."

Nevarez was born in Tepejuanes, Mexico, on Jan. 6, 1912, and moved with his mother to El Paso and later Los Angeles when he was an infant.

Growing up in the Boyle Heights area, he attended Lincoln High School, where he covered sports for the campus newspaper. After graduating in 1930, he entered Frank Wiggins Trade School, now Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, to train as a linotypist. He was an excellent typist but his teacher told him, "Don't bother, you won't be hired because you're Mexican," his daughter said.

His break came when a high school friend working in The Times' sports section told him of an opening for a copy boy. Nevarez, then 18, was hired and given the job of assembling the New York Stock Exchange quotations. With the Great Depression underway, he was grateful for the job, which was paid in silver dollars -- $12 for a six-day week.

In 1942, Nevarez was drafted and served in the Army Air Forces at Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he worked as a clerk-typist and wrote for the base newspaper. He later served as a chaplain assistant in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

After completing his military duty in 1945, he returned to The Times, where he helped oversee business section layouts as a makeup editor. He also began writing stories. In 1964, he was recognized as a member of The Times' business staff that earned the Loeb Newspaper Award for distinguished business reporting.

Early in his reporting career, he wrote frequently about new products, including pre-Internet-era computers that could exchange information, vending machines that served hot meals in seconds and an early dishwasher called the Electro-Sink-Center.

Nevarez maintained a fascination with technology until well into his 90s. A few Christmases ago, he requested and received an iPod, which he used to store his favorite music -- everything from Benny Goodman to Donna Summer. But, his daughter said, he never gave up reading the newspaper the old-fashioned way, newsprint in hand.

In addition to his daughter Margaret, Nevarez is survived by his wife of 55 years, Theresa; another daughter, Cecilia Nevarez-Goodman; a son, Daniel; and five grandchildren.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday -- which would have been his 98th birthday -- at St. Stephen Catholic Church, 122 S. Ramona Ave., Monterey Park.

Memorial donations may be sent to the American Legion, Monterey Park Post No. 397, 338 S. Ramona Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91754. elaine.woo@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-joe-nevarez2-2010jan02,0,5321250.story 

Sent by Sister Mary Sevilla, Mercy Bautista Olvera and John P. Schmal     


Antonio Pineda dies at 90; Mexican modernist silversmith
By Dennis McLellan December 20, 2009

His works 'made absolutely beautiful use of semiprecious and precious stones,' and the jewelry was 'beautifully designed to fit the human body,' a museum curator says.

Antonio Pineda, the internationally renowned Mexican modernist silversmith who was praised for his bold, striking jewelry designs and ingenious use of gemstones, has died. He was 90.

Pineda died of kidney failure Monday at his ranch home in Taxco, Mexico, said his daughter Veronica Falzone.

A Taxco native, Pineda was among the most prominent of the many silversmiths to emerge from the mountain mining town beginning in the 1930s.

He was the subject of a 2008-09 exhibition at UCLA's Fowler Museum, “Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda,” which traced the evolution of his work through the 1970s.

"He was certainly one of the major modernist silversmiths in the 1950s, '60s and certainly into the '70s," said Betsy Quick, the Fowler's director of education and the show's in-house curator.
"There was a small cadre of extremely well-known, well-respected and brilliant silversmiths living in Taxco, Mexico, and the rest of those smiths have, at this point, passed away," Quick said. "Antonio really was the last of the great silversmiths of this period."

On display at the Fowler exhibition, which ended in March, were nearly 200 examples of Pineda's silver work, including jewelry, hollowware and tableware.

The show, Times art critic Christopher Knight wrote, "makes a compelling case that the work of" Pineda "represents the art's zenith."

"I completely agree; it's just extraordinary work," Quick said. "The works were individually crafted, individually designed. They made absolutely beautiful use of semiprecious and precious stones. The works that he created were beautifully designed to fit the human body."

In 2007, Quick made a pre-exhibition visit to Taxco to videotape and interview Pineda and other local people about the artist and this period. She was accompanied by Cindy Tietze and Stuart Hodosh of Los Angeles, whose collection of Pineda's works formed the basis of the exhibition.

"He was charming, he was well-traveled, and he had wonderful reflections and recollections of past times," Quick said. "He was very articulate about his work and about the creative process."

One of Pineda's favorite sayings was: "The richness of silver is immortal. It doesn't die."

The third of 10 children, Antonio Pineda Gomez was born in Taxco on July 19, 1919.

At age 11 he had a brief apprenticeship in the Taxco silver jewelry workshop of U.S. designer and entrepreneur William Spratling, who had moved to the area in the late 1920s. ineda later apprenticed with Mexico City painter and silversmith Valentin Vidauretta and returned to Taxco in 1936.

He was involved in mining and worked in sales and management at Spratling's workshop before opening his own silver jewelry workshop in 1939. At his peak, Pineda employed nearly 100 other silversmiths.

A major turning point in his career came in 1944 when his work was included in an exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

Richard Gump, heir to the city's exclusive department store Gump's, purchased the 160 pieces in Pineda's collection and offered to sell his designs exclusively. Other partnerships followed in Mexico, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

Pineda's work grew to include sculpture, and he began exhibiting internationally, including in Chicago, Paris, London, Rome, Amsterdam and Mexico City.

Pineda was married and divorced three times. In addition to Falzone, his daughter from his second marriage, he is survived by children Kathleen Pineda, Debra Pineda and Carlos Pineda from his first marriage and by Antonio Pineda Delgado, Antoinetta Pineda Delgado and Ximena Pineda Delgado from his third marriage. He is also survived by brothers Bruno and Raul; sisters Erma and Carolina; and seven grandchildren.

A funeral was held last week in Taxco. 
dennis.mclellan@latimes.com
  © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-me-antonio-pineda20-2009dec20,0,1738476.story 

Sent by Sister Mary Sevilla  msevilla@ca.rr.com

 
Efrain Portillo Marinez, farm labor activist, 87






"Although, you have known me, you have not known my father who taught me the lesson of Social Justice. He died this past January 4, 2010 here in Lansing, I share so much with you that I wanted to share my father as well. Thank you for being present with me."   Juan Marinez  






Marinez known for meeting challenges, Hispanic leader, friend of Chavez, dies at age 87 For many who knew him, the legacy of Efrain Portillo Marinez is one of overcoming obstacles and standing up for what he believed.

The East Lansing man - a prominent leader in the Lansing area's Hispanic community - died Monday at age 87. "The way to remember him is that you don't give up. Obstacles are to be overcome, not to be barriers, and challenges are only more opportunities," said his son, Juan Marinez, 63, of Okemos.

As a former farm worker, Efrain Marinez was active in the farm labor movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He befriended the movement's renowned leader, Cesar Chavez, who occasionally stayed at the Marinez household when he came to Michigan, Juan Marinez said.  "They had no money for hotels, and so when he came to places, folks would offer hospitality by offering their homes," he said.

Marinez was born in Mexico and grew up in Crystal City, Texas. He, along with his father and brothers, managed farms in Texas and Michigan, including Morrill Farm in Bath Township. Marinez married his wife, Frances, in 1944.

At times, it was a hard journey. Discrimination once forced Marinez to leave a farm he managed in Texas, Juan Marinez said. "They wanted my dad out because he was his own person. He was his own individual. He stood up for what he thought was right," he said. For many who knew him, the legacy of Efrain Portillo Marinez is one of overcoming obstacles and standing up for what he believed.

Came here in 1950s

In the 1950s, the family moved to Michigan, where Efrain Marinez took a job at Lindell Drop Forge, a Lansing foundry, his son said. He retired in 1966.

"He thought Michigan would be a good place to raise a family, that the discrimination would be less oppressive," Juan Marinez said. "He stressed work ethic to all of us - no matter what the job, to always do our best. Not to let issues of discrimination hold us back or prevent us from accomplishing what we thought our goals should be."

Former Lansing Mayor Tony Benavides has known the Marinez family for more than 50 years.

"Mr. Marinez was a well-respected Spanish-speaking leader in this community," he said. "He was a pillar and a rock in our community, and we're going to greatly miss him."

Benavides, 72, of Lansing, worked with Marinez at Cristo Rey Community Center while Benavides was executive director.

"Whenever he had free time from work and the family, he would be with us, going through marches and doing whatever had to be done in order to move our community forward," he said.

Family important

Marinez was part of the original Cristo Rey Church community that informally gathered in migrant camps and houses in the 1950s, the Rev. Fred Thelen said. The church officially became a parish in 1961.

"He's one of the foundation stones of the community that we continue to build on today," he said. "He was a person of very deep faith and very committed to his church and to his family. He was always so proud of his Hispanic culture and his church."  Marinez is survived by his wife, 11 children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100108/NEWS01/1080334/Marinez-known-for-meeting-challenges

·  Efrain Marinez Obituary: Efrain Marinez's Obituary by the Lansing ... Jan 4, 2010 ... Online obituary for Efrain Marinez. Read Efrain Marinez's life story, ... In 1939 he settled in Michigan, working and managing area farms. ... He retired from Lindell Drop Forge in 1966. ... sister, Frances Campos; and son, Efrain. Surviving are his wife, Francisca; children, Juan (Diana), Rafael, ...  www.legacy.com/obituaries/lsj/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory

·  Efrain Martinez Interview Efrain Martinez. 8/16/99. Topics Addressed in this interview. Question: ... I had moved to Chicago when I graduated from high school. ... He had been doing some work in Lansing, Michigan on some issues and that's where my brother was living and ...... Was his fear that you were going to report what he said? Answer: ... www.civilrightsmediation.org/interviews/Efrain_Martinez.shtml   

 


Angela de Hoyos, grande dame of Chicano poetry, dies in San Antonio
2009 September 25

(Express-News File Photo) 

Angela de Hoyos (Angelina Sandoval), poet, publisher, song and writer, born in Coahuila in 1923 and a long-time San Antonio resident just recently died on September 24. At age 86, she was a widely respected poet of South Texas and beyond the state, becoming a an icon of the Tejano Chicano literary movement. Her collections, Chicano Poems: For the Barrio, Woman, Woman, Selecciones, and Arise Chicano!, will be valued. And her contributions, with Moises, her husband, through publishing others via the M&A Press will be prized more as the years pass. Folks with deeper interest may read the work edited by Luis A. Ramos and Jose Armas, Angela de Hoyos: A Critical Look (1979). 

http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/2009/09/angela-de-hoyos-died.html  

Chicana poet Angela de Hoyos, considered the “grande dame of Chicano poetry,” died Thursday September 25, 2009 in San Antonio. In the 1970s, her poet fueled the Chicano Movement and her work continued to inspire generations of poets.

“Angela and her partner Moses Sandoval were always there as the Chicano Movement grew,” says fellow poet and artist Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez. Her poem, “Arise Chicano,” is credited with giving the movement its push, he said. “She was the ‘Frida’ of the Chicano cause.”  

She’s credited with mentoring poets such as San Antonio’s Carmen Tafolla. During a visit to San Antonio, Rudolfo Anaya, author of the Chicano classic, “Bless Me, Ultima,” praised de Hoyos contributions to the canon.

Carnalas y Carnales: As you probably know, Angela De Hoyos, a great lady of Chican@ letters and a personal friend and mentor to me and many of us here in San Antonio and other parts, passed away on September 24, 2009. In her honor and memory, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and many of her friends from the Chicano literary and arts community and various organizations are producing a special tribute to be held on Saturday, January 9 at 7pm at the Guadalupe Theater in San Antonio (see attached invite). The event is free and many of Angela's camaradas will be there to remember her, read from her works, and just to celebrate her life that impacted us all. Among some of the writers, artists and cultural activists that will be there are Carmen Tafolla, Vangie Vigil, Antonia Castaneda, Norma Cantu, Rosemary Catacalos, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Reyes Cardenas, Rosie Castro, Josie Casarez, Bryce Milligan, Juan Rodriguez, Enedina Casarez-Vasquez, Pedro Rodriguez, Patty Ortiz, Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez y muchos mas. Of course, Angela's husband, Moises (Sandy) Sandoval will be there and there will be a ceremonia de la danza Azteca, musica, an exhibit and display of photos and Angela's work, tamales, chocolate y pan dulce and it's free. This is a special invite to you and all of Angela's friends. Spread the word. Gracias. Angela De Hoyos, presente. 
Juan Ramos jramos.swkr@comcast.net 


Esther Chavez dies at 76; 
Activist decried murders of women in Ciudad Juarez
By Tracy Wilkinson, December 27, 2009, Reporting from Mexico City

Esther Chavez, a vocal champion of human rights who against enormous odds drew attention to the killings and rapes of hundreds of women in the violent border city of Juarez, has died. She was 76. Chavez drew attention to the 1990s killings of several hundred women, which were largely ignored by Mexican authorities, and founded her region's first rape crisis center.

Chavez died early Christmas morning of cancer, her hometown newspaper El Diario reported Saturday on its website. Chavez is widely acknowledged as a pioneer, the first activist to document and decry the 1990s murders of several hundred women. Most were young, poor workers in U.S.-owned assembly plants in the border city whose deaths were largely ignored by authorities.

A former accountant for an American food-processing company, Chavez began compiling files in 1993 on women whose bloodied, battered bodies kept turning up in the harsh desert surrounding Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso. She badgered officials, pressured police, comforted victims' families, led street demonstrations and, in 1999,
founded the first rape crisis center in the region.

Juarez politicians were dismissive; they didn't want to do anything that might damage business with the maquiladoras, or assembly plants clustered mainly along the border, and their U.S. and Japanese owners. Police, notoriously corrupt, were uninterested. Most of the dead women were migrants from other parts of Mexico, so they had no local family
to advocate on their behalf. They had only Chavez.

Early in her activism, Chavez speculated that the tendency of the maquiladoras to hire women (smaller hands were better for the assembly work, it was argued by the companies) may have contributed to a macho backlash that explains some of the killings.

"Women are occupying the space of men in a culture of absolute dominance of men over women," she told The Times in 1999. "This has to provoke misogyny."

For years, it seemed in Ciudad Juarez that men could snatch young women from the streets with impunity, rape and kill them and suffer no consequence. The phenomenon came to be known as "femicide" -- woman-killing. Thanks largely to Chavez and a few other activists, a handful of arrests were made over the years. But the killing never really stopped, and most cases went unsolved.

Petite and persistent, Chavez opened Casa Amiga in 1999 for rape victims, and it later developed into a center for women suffering from domestic abuse. She remained highly critical of the complicity or inefficiency of police and other authorities.

In 2008, Chavez won Mexico's National Human Rights Award, and just a few months ago she blasted the decision of President Felipe Calderon to name Arturo Chavez Chavez as national attorney general. Arturo Chavez Chavez had served as state prosecutor overseeing Ciudad Juarez at the height of the killings.

Early this month, in what may have felt like vindication for Esther Chavez, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Mexico violated human rights conventions by failing to adequately investigate the murders of three women in Ciudad Juarez in 2001. The court ordered Mexico to pay more than $200,000 to each of the victims' families.

Lydia Cacho, a journalist and activist who has gained fame denouncing pedophile and human-trafficking rings, said Chavez was a "nurturing and loving mother" for a generation of human rights defenders, and an "international beacon" shedding light on the brutalities of Ciudad Juarez.

"She was the one who showed us the way," Cacho wrote Saturday in El Universal newspaper. "It was Esther who intuited that the symbolic sewers [of Mexico] were not underground, under the streets, but were the institutions of the Mexican state -- men capable of murdering for pleasure and for power."

Chavez was the model for a character in "El Traspatio," a movie about the killings of women in Juarez that is Mexico's Academy Award entry this year. In the movie, a middle-aged social worker hounds the city police, showing up periodically with boxes full of photos of dead women and meticulous reports on their lives and deaths.

Chavez was born in 1933 in the city of Chihuahua, in the state of Chihuahua where Ciudad Juarez is also located. She moved to Juarez in the 1980s.

On the Casa Amiga website, Chavez wrote about her decision to fight on behalf of women.

"The voice of the woman is a reflection of her condition on Earth," she wrote. "Air echoes in a chest that is smaller, vibrates vocal cords that are smaller and that produce a higher, thinner sound. It requires twice the energy, twice the intensity of a man's voice" to be heard.

"This is why I learned to shout for those who couldn't . . . and to cry so many times for and with so many women, girls and boys whose voices and whose lives have been crushed by the impunity of our state and our nation."

Survivors include a brother. A memorial service was held Saturday and another will take place today in the offices of Casa Amiga. Chavez will be cremated today, El Diario reported. wilkinson@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Sent by Dorinda Moreno fuerzamundial@gmail.com

http://www.generaciones.com.mx/
http://gentienda.genealogia.org.mx/eCom/index.php

 

Anthony B. "Tony" Ramirez: Green Beret, Hispanic rights activist
by Michael D. Sorkin 

C:\Users\MIMI\Documents\onyRamirezGreenBeret,Hispanicrightsactivist-STLtoday_
com\onyRamirezGreenBeret,Hispanicrightsactivist-STLtoday_com.mht
 
11/14/2009

Anthony B. "Tony" Ramirez, a former Green Beret who became a lawyer and fought for the rights of Hispanic Americans, died Thursday (Nov. 12, 2009) at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield. He was 72 and lived in Webster Groves.

His family said he had battled bone cancer for about 15 months. Friends said he was passionate about issues affecting the Hispanic community. He co-founded the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here, serving as president and board chairman.

He founded or co-founded the Hispanic Leaders Group of Greater St. Louis, the Mexican American Cultural Commission of Greater St. Louis and HisPAC, a nonpartisan political action committee. "He was a Republican, but he worked with Democrats or independents as long as he felt they had the best interests of the Hispanic community," said Jorge Riopedre, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here.

Last year, Mr. Ramirez helped lead the fight to eliminate a provision in the state's new immigration law that would have barred the children of undocumented workers from attending any state college or university. Years earlier, Mr. Ramirez worked with then-Gov. Christopher "Kit" Bond to create Missouri's first Hispanic Advisory Council.

"Tony was a friend and valued partner in our efforts to expand business and economic opportunities in the city of St. Louis," Bond said in a statement.

Mr. Ramirez's parents emigrated from Mexico. He grew up in Larned, Kan., the youngest of eight children. After earning a history degree from St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kan., he moved to St. Louis. For a time, he sold linoleum at a downtown store. He met a secretary named Marilyn Lee and invited her to the movies. They married in 1964. 

Mr. Ramirez served in the Army Intelligence Corps, the Special Forces and the Green Berets.  He liked adventure. "He loved to jump out of airplanes when he was young," his wife recalled.

He also wanted to help people, and he traded adventure for the law. He graduated from St. Louis University School of Law and eventually opened a small law firm downtown with a bilingual and varied practice.

Mr. Ramirez fought any legislation he felt would harm minority groups. In 2001, the American Jewish Committee gave him its Micah Award for social justice.

He organized Hispanic leaders to meet with legislators in Jefferson City. That led to an annual capitol Hispanic Day. "He wanted to help people, and that's basically what he did" all his life, Marilyn Ramirez said.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday at Kutis Affton Chapel, 10151 Gravois Road. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Annunciation Catholic Church, 16 West Glendale Road, Webster Groves. Burial will be at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Survivors, in addition to his wife, include two sons, Chris Ramirez of St. Louis and Andrew Ramirez of Franklin County; a brother, Joe Ramirez of Murrieta, Calif.; five sisters, Marie Linebaugh of Yellville, Ark., Lu Ulrich of Riverside, Calif., Becky Atkins of Encinitas, Calif., Rachel Clutter of Magna, Utah, and Helen Schwinden of Mount Vernon, Wash.; and one grandson.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Siteman Cancer Center.

Emma Barrientos championed Latino community, arts

Wife of retired state senator died Monday Dec. 28, 2009 at the age 67.
Emma Barrientos, a champion for the arts in Austin and wife of retired state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, died unexpectedly early Monday. She was 67.

Barrientos was an early advocate for the city's Mexican American Cultural Center and served on the founding board of the Mexic-Arte Museum and as board president of the Austin Museum of Art.

"We all believed that the arts bridges communities, and I think that was her way of bringing the arts to every segment of the population," said Travis County District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza, who knew Barrientos for 40 years.

Barrientos wanted cultural options for her five children, but there were few, said Velia Sanchez, one of Barrientos' closest friends.

So the two women helped establish the Ballet Folklórico de Texas, a Mexican folk dance school and company. Barrientos' daughters danced at the school.

Like her husband, Barrientos was a community activist and fought to ensure that the talents of Latinos in Austin were acknowledged and celebrated, Sanchez said.

Gonzalo Barrientos said that she marched with him in the streets for social justice and that they shared a philosophy that he was a public servant, not a politician. "If she ever ran against me, she would have beat me," he said Monday.

She played an active behind-the-scenes role in her husband's political campaigns, beginning with his first — and unsuccessful — bid for the Texas House of Representatives in 1972.  When her husband decided to run again in 1974, Emma Barrientos said it took her three days to swallow the news because the family was financially strapped, according to a 2002 oral history recording at the Austin History Center.

"We were constantly — our life seemed to be driven by things that we thought ... needed to be done, and we worked our finances out," she said in the recording.

He won in 1974 and held that job until jumping to the Senate a decade later . He retired in 2007.

In 1999 , Emma Barrientos served as the president of the Texas Senate Ladies Club, an organization of senators' wives.  "He was a senator for a reason," said Fred Cantu , chairman of the Austin Tejano Democrats. "She was always making sure that things got done."

The Travis County Democratic Party honored her earlier this year for her contribution over the decades to countless political campaigns. At the time of her death, Barrientos was helping plan next month's statewide nominating conference of the Tejano Democrats, of which the former senator is the chairman.

She worked for Travis County for 30 years in various jobs, the last with Constable Bruce Elfant, before retiring in 2007.

Gonzalo Barrientos said his wife died within a day of becoming ill. Early indications are that a staph infection near her heart led to cardiac arrest.  She leaves behind her husband, five children and 10 grandchildren.

A rosary service is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Mission Funeral Home, Serenity Chapel , 6204 S. First St. On Saturday, a 10 a.m. burial Mass will be celebrated at St. Ignatius, Martyr, Catholic Church , 126 W. Oltorf St. , followed by burial at the Texas State Cemetery.

kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618
Sent by Wanda Garcia  wanda.garcia@sbcglobal.net


First American Indian bishop dies after illness
By The Associated Press, 1/7/2010

ALBUQUERQUE — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup says former bishop Donald Pelotte has died at a Florida hospital. He was 64.
 
The diocese says Pelotte, who was the nation's first American Indian bishop, was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale on Dec. 27 and never recovered from his illness.
 
The diocese did not release details about Pelotte's illness. Spokesman Lee Lamb said Thursday that Pelotte's death was not related to any injuries he suffered during an apparent fall in his Gallup home in July 2007.
 
Pelotte retired after the incident in April 2008 and moved to Florida.  Pelotte was ordained in 1972. He became the first American Indian bishop in 1990. His father was a member of the Abenaki tribe.
 
source: SantaFeNewMexico.com
Sent by ConnieCPU

Yolanda DeLeon Garcia

To the editor:
 
I noticed you had an article [Jan09] on the passing of Yolanda DeLeon Garcia.  I'd like to add to the accolades written about her. A friend of mine told me about when she met Yolanda.  "Yolanda DeLeon was a college student.  I was but a high school student.    A friend invited me to join her as she visited Yolanda.  She was one of the most gracious women I ever met.  She asked me to sit after meeting her and treated me as though I were a very important person.  I was in awe of her."

And then I met Yolanda, by now a married woman.  She was a lovely person to meet and converse with.  I, too, loved her instantly.  And to those folks who wish to make an impression on others let me say this:  It is not the car you drive, nor the jewelry you wear nor the expensive clothes you have on that will stay in someone's memory long after you are gone.  The thing a person remembers about you is the way you treated him or her.

Yolanda DeLeon Garcia was one of those folks we will long remember because of her graciousness.

Esther Bonilla Read
6ebonr@sbcglobal.net
12/23/2009 
 

 


NATIONAL ISSUES

We are one step closer to justice for Luis Ramirez and his family
Pennsylvania police chief accused of cover-up ordered held

Latinos lack health insurance
Latinos in America
El Salvador Immigrants
Immigration Policy Center
U.S. Gives Mexico five helicopters to combat drug war
Hispanics in Philanthropy 
Immigrants in the Military
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States
Medical tourism a lucrative possibility
Relatives to the South
Latino Farmers Also Seek Redress, Claim USDA Discrimination
We are one step closer to justice for Luis Ramirez and his family
Thank you for making your voice heard
Dear Carlos --

Earlier this year, you and thousands of Presente.org members called on Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell to speak out against the brutal, racially motivated attack on Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez. You helped raise the call for justice, and now justice is being served: on Tuesday, after a yearlong investigation, the federal government announced hate-crime and corruption charges in the case (1).

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division filed charges against Ramirez's assailants and the local police officers who allegedly covered up the attack. Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky were charged with a hate crime for fatally beating Ramirez while shouting racial epithets, and Shenandoah police officers Matthew Nestor (the town's Chief), Lt. William Moyer and Jason Hayes were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice during the investigation (2).

While the indictments can only soften the pain of Luis Ramirez's family, federal charges send a strong message that racially motivated violence against Latinos will not be tolerated in this country.

As Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said: "Violence motivated by bigotry and hate has no place in America, and yet it remains all too prevalent in many of our communities." The truth of Perez's words is known all too well among Latinos, who have seen a rise in hate crimes over the past five years -- a trend exacerbated by economic tensions and a growing anti-immigrant sentiment.

The injustice of Luis Ramirez's killers being acquitted by an all-white jury in the small town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was the first issue that Presente.org took on because it graphically shows the racism and xenophobia that still smolder in some parts of this country, and the clear need to speak out against bigotry of all kinds. The federal hate crime charges are a vindication of our efforts, and of the power that we have when we speak with a unified voice against injustice.

Please help us share this victory by passing this message on to your friends and family and urging them to become a part of the growing Presente.org community.

Thank you and Adelante!  Favianna, Roberto, Laurie and the rest of the Presente.org team  
info@presente.org
21 Dec 2009

References
1. "Gov. Rendell Asks U.S. Attorney General to File Civil Rights Charges in Shenandoah Beating Death," Office of the Governor, 5/29/09
http://bit.ly/90bynr

2. "Two Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, Men and Four Police Officers Indicted for Hate Crime and Related Corruption," Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 12/15/09 http://bit.ly/5BUuvN

Sent by Dr. Carlos Muñoz, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Department of Ethnic Studies 510-642-9134 http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/faculty/munoz/

Pennsylvania police chief accused of cover-up ordered held
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer, Dec 16, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_re_us/us_immigrant_killing_students/print 

SHENANDOAH, Pa. – A police chief ordered held without bail on charges he tried to cover up the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant by white teenagers was named in a 2006 lawsuit that claimed police beat to death a Hispanic teenager, then made it look like a suicide.

Police Chief Matthew Nestor was never charged, but the allegations contained in the suit, in Tuesday's indictment and in other civil claims depict a police department with pervasive hostility to minorities and a penchant for using excessive force.

Police "acted as feudal warlords in this coal town community that people were afraid of," said attorney John Karoly, who represents the parents of 18-year-old David Vega in their federal lawsuit against the borough. Karoly said he wasn't suggesting police were abusive to everyone, "but I would say the pattern certainly starts to appear that minorities took the thrust of their abuse."

The suit names Nestor and Capt. Jamie Gennarini as defendants, as well as the borough of Shenandoah. The officers have denied wrongdoing. A civil trial is scheduled for next summer.

Nestor, 33, and two other officers were charged Tuesday with orchestrating a cover-up as the FBI investigated the fatal attack on Luis Ramirez by a group of high school football players. Gennarini and Nestor were indicted separately in a scheme to extort money from illegal gambling operations.

On Wednesday, Nestor was ordered held until trial at a bail hearing in Wilkes-Barre. Judge Malachy Mannion called Nestor "clearly, unequivocally a serious danger to witnesses in this case."

At the hearing, a federal prosecutor alleged that Nestor drove a cooperating witness in the extortion investigation to an isolated area and ordered him to strip down before returning him unharmed to his home.

The officers pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate in Wilkes-Barre and the other two were released to home confinement.

A third federal indictment charges teenagers Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak with a hate crime in connection with the July 2008 attack on Ramirez, 25, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Donchak and Piekarsky have an initial court appearance scheduled for Tuesday. Their lawyers did not return phone messages Wednesday.

Donchak and Piekarsky were previously charged in state court with Ramirez's death.

Piekarsky was acquitted in May by an all-white jury of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation; Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault. Piekarsky is scheduled to be released from jail Thursday. Donchak remains locked up.

Early in the Ramirez investigation, Schuylkill County prosecutors determined that they had a serious problem with the Shenandoah police, District Attorney James Goodman said Wednesday. No Shenandoah officers were called to testify at the trial.

"We determined the police did not do their job and they were partly involved with this cover-up," said Goodman, adding that he asked the Justice Department to investigate the force.

"It was pretty troubling and it obviously caused problems with the prosecution in the case and made the case more difficult," Goodman said.

Police in this blue-collar town of 5,000, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, face other accusations of wrongdoing.

Gennarini and Capt. Raymond Nestor — the father of the police chief — arrested David Vega at his home shortly before 8:55 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2004, while responding to a report of a domestic dispute, according to court documents.

"While in police custody ... Vega was beaten to death and then hung from the bars of a holding cell to make it appear as if he had committed suicide," the lawsuit said.

Vega was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.

His father, Carlos Vega, said Wednesday that he had no doubt what happened to his son. Vega, a retired chef who moved to Shenandoah 19 years ago, said he's afraid to leave his own house for fear of the police.

"A big group of Spanish people moved into Shenandoah, and they didn't know how to react to that," said Vega, who was born in New York and is of Puerto Rican descent.

"Were they fair to us? No. They're fair to their own kind. The outsider always had to pay."

An autopsy conducted by the county coroner determined Vega's son committed suicide, but Karoly said the coroner accepted Matthew Nestor's explanation that Vega's bruises had come earlier as he resisted arrest. A second autopsy arranged by the family confirmed Vega "suffered extensive, massive injuries consistent with a profound beating. ... The defendant did not die of hanging," the suit said.

Vega had a new girlfriend and was meeting with military recruiters about earning money for college, Karoly said.

"He had everything to live for," he said. "The kid was on top of the world and had no reason to commit suicide."

Nestor's attorney insists otherwise, writing in court papers: "The only credible independent evidence to date establishes that David Vega committed suicide."

Nestor faces yet another lawsuit, this one filed by a Shenandoah man arrested by the chief and another officer on a drug charge March 11.

David Murphy Sr., who is also represented by Karoly, claims Nestor and another officer made him turn over his prescription blood thinner at the police station, then refused to allow him to take his evening dose. Nestor also punched Murphy in the back, where he had recently undergone spinal fusion surgery, the lawsuit said.

The officers left Murphy in a holding cell overnight. He "started to experience severe pain in his chest and arm ... but there was no one in the station to hear his cries for help," the suit said. He passed out; Karoly said he suffered a heart attack. He spent four days in a hospital.

Murphy, who is black, claims Nestor threatened to kill him if he filed suit.

The chief told Murphy he would not "make it out of the Shenandoah jail alive ... that (he) would end up like that Mexican who 'hung' himself," the suit said.
___
Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.


Current news bits 

 

 

 


Robert Renteria, author of From the Barrio presented his story to over 300 inmates at Cook County Jail. It was an emotional time for Robert, who admitted to the inmates that he could have very easily ended up in the prison system for the terrible things he had done when he was younger. After his presentation, inmates lined up to ask Robert questions ranging from how to overcome their own obstacles to how to find support and where to go when they leave the prison system. Barrio books were distributed to the inmates to share throughout the divisions.

Latinos have the highest percentage of people without health insurance (31 percent or 15 million Latinos in 2008) and collectively have among the lowest incomes in the United States ($15,674 median per capita income in 2008, which is only 55.0 percent that of non-Latino Whites).

 

Source: Angelo Falcón is president of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) and editor of the Latino Policy eNewsletter.  December 26, 2009


 

Latino in America: 'The Mexican in Town'
By Soledad O'Brien and Rose Marie Arce, CNN
NYTimes.com: Immigration Enforcement Fuels Spike in U.S. Cases
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/us/22crime.html?emc=eta1
Extensive article on hate crimes.

According to our analysis of 2008 federal government data: The 1.1 million foreign born from El Salvador in 2008 composed 2.9 percent of all immigrants residing in the United States. This number makes the Salvadoran born the sixth-largest immigrant group in the United States today. Four of every five Salvadoran immigrants in 2008 were adults of working age -- 90.4 percent of Salvadoran-born men age 16 and older participated in the civilian labor force, as did 67.5 percent of their female counterparts. The Spotlight also traces growth trends for Salvadoran immigrants in the United States over time, with the population rising nearly fivefold between 1980 and 1990, from 94,000 to 465,000. 

Source: Migration Policy Institute (MPI). source@migrationpolicy.org
Sent by Rafael Ojeda

Immigration Policy Center provides factual information about immigration in America.

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/
index.php?content=rtnational

Sent by Rafael Ojeda

U.S. gives Mexico 5 helicopters for drug war.  The aircraft are part of more than $604 million worth of vehicles and equipment tht the U.S. plans to deliver in coming months.  The helicopters, worth, $66 million, were funded by the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, which helps Mexico, Central American nations, the Dominican Republic and Haiti fight drug trafficking.
The Associated Press, Dec. 16, 2009


Hispanics in Philanthropy HIP  http://www.hiponline.org
Considered one of the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money for Latino-serving nonprofits across North and South America. Since its founding in 1983, HIP as raised more than $32 million and made grants to 424 nonprofits from Argentina to New Mexico. 
Source: AARP, July/August 2007


IMMIGRANTS IN THE MILITARY: 8 YEARS AFTER 9/11
ESSENTIAL TO THE FIGHT
Report by Margaret D. Stock, November 2009

Conclusions: The United States has been at war for more than eight years. As a war against a highly mobile and global enemy, the conflict has been and is being fought all over the world and in many different languages. Immigrants play key roles in military, intelligence, and information operations. Thousands of immigrants serve in all branches of the military. Without them, the military could not meet its recruiting goals and could not fill the need for foreign‐language translators, interpreters, and cultural experts. Given the unique and valuable functions that immigrants often perform in the military, they are a critical asset to the national defense. Immigrants have been and continue to be essential to the fight.
http://immigrationimpact.com/  
"Immigration Reform" issues. Site has daily updates.

Sent by Rafael Ojeda
Tacoma,WA


Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States

  January 15, undocumented Haitians granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States. Granted to citizens of countries afflicted by war, natural disaster or other calamity, TPS will allow Haitians to get temporary work permits and legally remain in the US for 18 months. An estimated 875,000 Haitians currently reside in the US, with tens of thousands not possessing proper immigration papers. The administration had earlier halted deportations of Haitian nationals. 

With TPS, these immigrants will be able to live and work here legally and send money to help affected loved ones back home. Experts estimate that as much as 60 percent of Haiti's Gross Domestic Product comes from migrant remittances and direct assistance from government and non-government sources.

Source: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
For a free electronic subscription email: fnsnews@nmsu.ed
Sent by Walter Herbeck wlherbeck@gmail.com 

U.S. immigration officials have said they will fast-track applications for a federal designation that will allow illegal Haitian immigrants to live and work temporarily in this country, but only if they were in the U.S. on the day of the Jan. 12 earthquake.  The Associated Press, Wednesday, January 20, 2010

 

Medical tourism - a lucrative possibility
By Miguel Timoshenkov, Laredo Morning Times, December 17, 2009 

NUEVO LAREDO — Officials broke ground Wednesday on a $30 million specialty hospital, designed to attract U.S. “medical tourists” seeking major surgery at significantly reduced costs.
 
“We will treat highly specialized patients, including open-heart surgery and transplants of different organs,” said Dr. Omar Nicolás Aguilar, director of the Baptist-run Hospital México-Americano headquartered in Guadalajara, Jalisco. “We have experience and professional reliability.”
 
Aguilar said the new hospital, which is expected to open in November 2010 in south Nuevo Laredo, also is seeking to attract Mexican citizens who now travel to Monterrey for medical care.
 
At a news conference after the opening, Mayor Ramón Garza Barrios congratulated the investors building the hospital, noting they have found a market on the border for their services.
 
The cost-effective development will provide a better future for all, he said. One of the major advantages of the new hospital will be the cost of treatment, Aguilar said. “An open-heart surgery that costs $70,000 in the United States would be between $25,000 and $30,000 at our rates,” the hospital director said, adding that he expects most medical procedures would be less than 50 percent of the cost in the United States.
 
“That will allow us to compete with Monterrey,” Aguilar said, explaining that his organization is able to offer the low costs because it’s essentially a nonprofit facility. “Our services aren’t focused on profits.”
 
When it opens, there will be 50 beds available, with plans to add 30 more for a total of 80 beds. Infrastructure will include state-of-the-art operating theaters and equipment to provide tomography and MRIs.
 
The hospital will have specialists from Mexico and abroad and will offer the children of local doctors who have studied specialized medicine an opportunity to open a practice at home, he said.
 
In addition to serving U.S. and Mexican citizens, the hospital will give Nuevo Laredo residents the option of staying at home instead of having to travel to the United States or Monterrey for major surgery.
 
Aguilar said the organization plans to seek certifications necessary to accept U.S. medical insurance.  
The U.S. medical tourism is going to India and Thailand,” Aguilar said. “It involves millions of dollars that leave this region.
 
This hospital and its doctors will meet requirements set by U.S. medicine, something that few hospitals in Mexico do.” The new hospital is backed by the 50 years of responsible, professional service provided by its flagship facility in Guadalajara, officials said.
 
Dignitaries at the news conference included engineer José Hernández Villegas of Constructora Muralla, which is building the hospital; several U.S. and Mexico Baptist leaders, including Esther Navarro, vice president of
 
the Mexican National Baptist Convention; and many representatives of the Nuevo Laredo medical community, who were there in support of the new hospital.
 
Dr. Arturo Sandoval Brondo, director of Hospital 11 of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, which provides services to working-class Mexican citizens, said the government-run hospital contracts with private providers for services it doesn’t offer.
 
The new hospital will be greatly beneficial for the local community served by Hospital 11 because they won’t have to make out-of-town trips, with its attendant difficulties.
 
“With this hospital … patients won’t have to be transported to the capital city of Ciudad Victoria (for specialized treatment),” Sandoval Brondo said.
 
For his part, Dr. Lázaro Peña, a well-known local physician, said the new hospital opens the door for more jobs, more investment and increased medical options in the area.
 
(Reach Miguel Timoshenkov at 728-2583 or e-mail timo1@lmtonline.com)
Return to: News « | Home « | Top of Page ^ 

Sent by Jose M. Pena  JMPENA@aol.com


Relatives to the South

Today, Mexico has more traditional full-blooded indigenous (Native American) people than any other country in the Americas. In Mexico, there are more than 20 million full-blooded Native people, and they are aware that they are needed in the United States to work in the hot fields to put food on the tables of all Americans. Most Americans are not aware that full-blooded Native people from Mexico are working in the hot fields in California.

Today, the Native people from Mexico are called “Mexicans,” “Hispanics,” and “immigrants.” It is unfair to put those labels on full-blooded indigenous people from North America and Mexico. Most of the Native people working in the fields do not speak Spanish or English. They only speak their Native languages. Some of the full-blooded Native people working in the fields are the Mixteca, Amuzgo, Zapotec, Yaqui, Cocopa, Pima and Opata.

The office of the California Attorney General and the U.S. government need to investigate United Farm Workers and the treatment of the full-blooded Native people who work in those hot fields in California.

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/letters/78517312.html 
Henry Guzman Villalobos
President and CEO
Aztecs of North America, Inc.
Hayward, Calif.
Sent by Dorinda Moreno fuerzamundial@gmail.com


Latino Farmers Also Seek Redress, Claim USDA Discrimination
By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post, December 21, 2009; A03


In November, the Agriculture Department began negotiations with Native American farmers in a
class-action suit alleging systematic discrimination in the agency’s farm loan program. About
15,000 black farmers have received almost $1 billion since the settlement of a similar classaction
suit, known as the Pigford case.

Latino farmers who have filed similar lawsuits hope this means the government may settle with
them, too, even though a federal judge has denied them class certification. Female farmers also
filed suit but have been denied class certification.
All four groups allege that they were denied farm loans and given loans with impossible
conditions because of their race or gender.

Currently, 110 Hispanic farmers in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado and
Washington are suing the department. But lead attorney Stephen Hill said if the case were
certified as a class, there would be tens of thousands of Latino plaintiffs. He could not estimate
the potential damages they might seek.

“The discrimination followed a pretty distinct pattern,” he said. “Denying applications,
repeatedly discouraging them from submitting applications, refusing to assist the farmer, and if
the farmer persisted and filed an application, it would be dragged-out for months so they couldn’t
get the seed in the ground. And often, for the most flimsy excuses like language problems, they
put Hispanic farmers in supervised accounts.”

Jim Estrada
Estrada Communications Group, Inc.
13729 Research Boulevard, Suite 610
Austin, TX  78750 
Tel: 512.335.7776 / Fax: 512.335.2226
Website: www.estradausa.com

 


ACTION ITEM

People of Color Need to be counted in Census
Committee to Commemorate 40th Anniversary 1970 Chicano Moratoriums Report

Briefs 

 
Rafael Ojeda will be doing a TV show for the Census on  his County TV station and help distribute census information. "I usually invite "People of Color" to seat and tell their own ethnic groups the importance of being counted and also
the privacy security maintained by the Census." For some good talking points on the Redistricting and possible gains and losses of Congressional Seats after the 2010 Census, go to:

Latino Census eNewsletter - January 24, 2010 This newsletter totally dedicated to the census.
www.latinopolicy.org


 

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance 
and conscientious stupidity."

Martin Luther King, Jr.


Report of 1st Meeting of the Committee to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the 1970 Chicano Moratoriums

Compas,

The committee is formed, a mission statement is being written and the word is spreading our next meeting will be held in mid January and will be announced soon!  Join us! Attached is the beginning list of original participants and supporters of the moratoriums 40 years ago, about 500 names so far, we need to get thousands..  For info email me or call 323-229-1994! Rosalio Munoz

Report of 1st Meeting of the Committee to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the 1970 Chicano Moratoriums

The meeting was held on December 20 2009 at Epiphany Church in Lincoln Heights. It was a great success!  It was chaired by Dr Jorge Mariscal of UC San Diego and Gloria Arellanes an organizer of the Aug 29  1970 demonstration.  Twenty nine people attended and 18 had also attended the August 29, 1970 demonstration

1.The meeting opened with introductions by participants who told of their relation to the Aug  29 moratoriums. 
Twenty nine attended. Eighteen were at the August 29 1970 moratorium. Five were members  of the August 29 committee three of whom were organizer staff and another the committee representative from the San Fernando Valley.  One was shot by sherrifs at a moratorium and another clubbed.  One was chief media contact for the committee, another housing coordinator, and one was the chair. At the time of the moratorium, there was a law student who  then worked as a monitor and helping with legal issues, who helped raise bail money, another organized a car caravan from Lincoln Heights, one was a Cal State Mecha student, another active in a Teatro, another wrote for la Raza, one organized a contingent of Viet vets to march, another worked for peace between the barrio “gangs”.  One was a college instructor who brought a delegation of students from out of town.  There were three raza studies professors, two college students, one produced a play about the moratorium, another is an archivist of the movimiento,two represented the UCLA Library oral history project.  Several had organized events, media, and mobilization for other commemorations.

Gloria Arellanes, Rosalio Munoz and Roberto Elias gave brief remembrances of the 1st Moratorium of December 20, 1969 when over 1000 marched and rallied in East LA.  Gloria designed the flyer and got permits for the march and rally from the county.  Rosalio spoke at the rally, wrote the press release and with Roberto had mobilized support from around the state and other states.

Rosalio Munoz and Cindy Aragon made reports on preparations for the commemorations so far. Rosalio reported that about 30 activists had become confirmed endorsers of the committee and would be active on.  The beginning of a list of people who participated in moratorium events from 1969-71 has been started with about 500 names so far

Rosalio presented various proposals for the committee.  That a large event be planned for on or near August 29, 2010 with several other related activities that month, like art shows, symposiums, forums on issues, photo graph, art, music, poetry, drama –teatro events.  Also suggested were key events leading up to August like a commemoration of the February 28 1970 march, another around the moratorium held in San Fernando and perhaps other areas, which held moratoriums.

Also suggested was to propose August 29 be  a holiday in honor of the Chicano Latino struggle for Justice and acknowledging the injustices we have endured like the police riot on August 29, 1970, and 
that the 40th anniversary be dedicated to bring out the leading role of women in the activities, 
that the role of grass roots activists be emphasized, 
That the names of as many participants and supporter of the original moratoriums be gathered and made public.

Cindy Aragon reported that funds would be needed for gathering memorabilia, holding, photos, films, etc, holding events, would of course cost money and suggested that fundraising events be devoted once a month or every two months.  She said a PO box was available, and recommended that a finance committee be established to discuss costs and fundraising.  She passed a questionnaire to the group for each to return on what areas of work for the committee they do.

Discussion: The group felt that a clear mission statement should be developed as a guide for goals and objectives and developing activities, committees fundraising etc.  A committee of volunteers was authorized to draft a mission statement, volunteering were Cindy Aragon, Carlos Callejo, Roberto Elias. Fran Gomez, Jorge Mariscal, Rosalio Munoz, Irene Tovar.

Other issues raised were how to relate to plans of other groups that will or might hold commemorations, whether to hold a march, whether to take position on current issues. 

Attendants,
Susan Anderson, Ray Andrade, Cindy Aragon,,Gloria Arellanes, Pedro Arias, Guillermo Bejarano, Carlos Callejo, Felipe Castruita, Roberto Elias, Virginia Espino, Dionne Espinoza, Carlos Flores &son, Liz Flores, Fran Gomez, Moira Gomez,Lydia Lopez, Ricardo Lopez, Jorge Mariscal, Ricardo Munoz, Rosalio Munoz,Anthony Ortega, Cesar Salazar, IreneTovar, Michael Tovar, Nancy Tovar, Rudy Tovar, Yolanda Tovar-Valenzuela, Will Wauters,  Roger Wood

Sent by chalio.munoz@yahoo.com

 


BUSINESS


Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility release 2009 Findings

LULAC, a Member of HACR Releases The Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility’s (HACR) Corporate Inclusion Index in Partnership with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Corporate America Task Force Study shows Hispanics still underrepresented in Corporate America
 
WASHINGTON, DC – The Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR) released the findings of its 2009 HACR Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) survey demonstrating that Hispanics are still underrepresented on corporate boards and upper management positions at the largest corporations in the country.
 
The survey focused on HACR’s four pillars which are employment, procurement, philanthropy, and governance. A total of 114 businesses which were comprised of Fortune 100 corporations and HACR members were voluntarily invited to survey. Of the 114 companies that accepted the survey, only 34 submitted surveys, 28 of the 34 were HACR corporate members.
 
The findings revealed that only 6% out of 384 open board positions are held by Hispanics. The survey also shows that Hispanics only hold 61 positions out of the 1,281 executive and director available positions.
 
The average corporate giving distributed in 2008 of those who responded, was approximately $31 million. Of these dollars, $1.37 million were directed to the Hispanic community.
 
Hispanics are still facing adversity in their salary when compared to non-Hispanics. The survey shows that on average, Hispanics are earning $12,000 less for a full-time position.
 
“Hispanics, the largest and fastest minority group in the country have a limited voice in Corporate America,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales. “Fortune 100 companies should not ignore Latinos because they have over a trillion dollars in purchasing power.”
 
“HACR commends the Fortune 100 and HACR Corporate member companies for participating in the 2009 HACR Corporate Index Survey,” said HACR President and CEO, Carlos Orta. “We are confident that those companies that did not participate this year will do so in the future; if for no other reason than to lend credence to their claims of being “leaders” in their respective industries.”
 
The 2009 HACR Corporate Inclusion Index survey will be available for downloading on HACR’s website. Companies like Microsoft, Johnson and Johnson, Chevron, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Target all declined to participate. The companies that did respond include McDonald’s, Kraft, Wal-Mart, IBM and Dell. Within the responding group, Sodexo, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Marriott and Verizon scored the best for including Hispanics at their respective headquarters.
 
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.
December 17, 2009 
Contact: Lizette Jenness Olmos
(202) 365-4553 mobile

 


EDUCATION

Robert Renteria reaches out with From the Barrio 
Hispanic College Fund scholarship program
Data on Law School M
atriculants
The Unmelting Pot by Brad A. Greenberg
Dr. Eloy Rodriguez - Natural Products Chemist 
Ambrose Video

Robert Renteria reaches out with book From the Barrio 

The Barrio book/ message and the From the Barrio to the Classroom curriculum have not only changed the lives of boy's, girl's, men and women alike; it has changed my life as well. In 2010, I will be focused on reaching out to pull people from the Barrio's and Ghetto's by teaching them that anything is possible if we believe and that living a productive and meaningful life only comes from making the right choices. There are no shortcuts in life and even though we have had to survive a difficult 2009, all of us must maintain our integrity, respect and honor for the sake of all our fellow human beings. 

Hispanic College Fund scholarship program is now accepting applications! 
Deadline: February 16th, 2010 
Open to students of Hispanic background majoring in business, finance, accounting, computer science, computer engineering, IT, hospitality management, hotel management, culinary, food & beverage, and many more! 
Scholarships awards are up to $10,000. 
http://scholarships.hispanicfund.org  

"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
 
Thomas Jefferson

To wrap up 2009, Robert was invited by Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley to participate in principal for a day at a CPS school. Robert spent the morning at Evergreen Academy Middle School and then met the Mayor and other city leaders for lunch. The foundations big push in 2010 is to have a huge impact on Chicago students and families. We're working closely with the Chicago Public School District and other citywide programs to make a difference. Pictured here is Robert with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Michael Ivers, President of Goodcity Chicago.

The From the Barrio to the Classroom Program was recently adopted by Westmont High School, Fontana High School, Evergreen Middle School, East Aurora Middle School, Quad County Urban League and Taft High School as well as in St. Charles Youth Prison and Warrenville Youth Prison. The book has also been adopted into the Criminal Justice program at DePaul University. Pictured here is Robert at the National Latino Education Institute after he spoke to students who participated in a modified version of the program.


A Columbia study found that among the 46,500 law school matriculants in the fall of 2008, there were 
3,392 African-Americans, or 7.3 percent, 
673 Mexican-Americans, or 1.4 percent. 

Among the 43,520 matriculants in 1993, there were 
3,432 African-Americans, or 7.9 percent,
710 Mexican-Americans, or 1.6 percent. 
http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/salt


The Unmelting Pot by Brad A. Greenberg
UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2008
The dusty boxes lay hidden in the basement of Powell Library, tucked away since the mid-1960s, when their contents were used for a seminal study on Mexican Americans. In 1992, during a retrofitting, workers discovered the stacks and passed them on to UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center.

Vilma Ortiz, then the center's associate director, knew she'd been handed a treasure trove. Inside the boxes were the original questionnaires filled out almost three decades before by 1,576 respondents in Los Angeles and San Antonio, and used for the book The Mexican-American People: The Nation's Second Largest Minority. With them, Ortiz and colleague Edward Telles M.A. '84 could perform a truly intergenerational study on the assimilation of the largest immigrant group in this country's history.

Now, after 15 years locating and interviewing almost 700 of the original survey subjects and about 750 of their children, the scholars have put the research into 400 pages of edited analysis. Ortiz and Telles' findings were published in late February in Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation and Race.

"This population in the 1960s was fairly disadvantaged," Ortiz said. "They were relatively poor, relatively less educated. We expected there would be dramatic change since the 1960s. And we did find that. What we weren't as sure about was what would be the generational differences. And that is where we got the most interesting — yet saddest — outcomes."

While English proficiency, residential integration, intermarriage and political involvement increased each generation after immigration, education and economic status only improved between the first and second generation. For the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of immigrants, these advancements were flat at best, and actually worse in many cases.

The phenomenon was unexpected because it was markedly different from the story of European-American immigrants, whose children and grandchildren often escaped the poverty of previous generations.

"We basically eliminated all the reasons people suggested," Telles said: cultural differences, language barriers, parental education, "and we still found that things only get worse from the second generation on. So what is left? Most people would say racial discrimination."

Education certainly couldn't be understated. In their research, Ortiz and Telles found that later-generation Mexican Americans often attended the poorest-performing public schools, 15 percent to 25 percent dropped out of high school and most did not complete college.

Given better educational opportunities, third- and fourth-generation Mexican Americans would have exhibited assimilation and socioeconomic advancements more in line with the improvements Ortiz and Telles expected.

"If American society wants to incorporate these groups, they really have to focus on educating them. This is a potential underclass in the making," Telles says.


Dr. Eloy Rodriguez - Natural Products Chemist 

My birthplace is Edinburgh, Texas. My mother’s family goes back many generations in Texas, and my father is from Mexico. I have one brother and two sisters, who are all younger than I. I grew up Chicano and bilingual within a strong matriarchal system, where mothers ruled. I had 67 cousins all within a five block radius. Sixty-four of my cousins received college degrees, and eleven got Ph.D.s or master’s degrees. All of my cousins and aunts and uncles were bilingual. Self-esteem in my family was strong, and education was highly stressed, although this was, and still is, the poorest county per capita in the United States. My family is where the ground work for my future academic success was built. There was a high emphasis on honesty, fairness, cooperation, and compassion. Family members encouraged us to be "vivo", which means to think on your feet and use common sense. We didn’t have television while I was growing up, and I think that had a positive effect on how I saw myself and the world around me. 

As I got older, I began to work picking cotton as a migrant farm worker. Being in contact with nature, I was always interested in how the components of an ecosystem work together. However, some of the obstacles I perceived came from the fact that non-minorities ran the schools, the places of work, the government, and every other institution. My mother, because she was bilingual and fluent in Spanish and English, attended all of the Parent-Teacher Association meetings, to make sure we were treated fairly. Many other parents, because of the language barrier, were not able to do the same for their kids. The students at my school were almost all Chicano, but hardly any of the kids in the accelerated learning classes were Chicanos. I knew that something was not right about this situation. Despite the barriers, I was always a very good student, and I especially liked chemistry, art, and English.

When I was in high school, my counselors told me to go to vocational school, even though I hated to fix cars. So when I went to college, I decided I was going to be an accountant. I soon realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I was hired as a work-study student cleaning up a laboratory, and I began to get interested in science. Eventually, I began working in a laboratory where I could actually do research. I decided to major in zoology and minor in organic chemistry. My major professor gave me different tasks to do in the laboratory. Most non-minority professors didn’t know much about working with people of different cultures. However this professor knew when he had a good worker, and he kept them. I did very well in college, and I published three articles by the time I graduated. Later, as a graduate student, I published twenty papers.

Today, I have an endowed chair, it is called the James A. Perkins Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Cornell University in New York state. My research is unique--I do research in both the field and the laboratory. I’m a biological chemist interested in the organic chemistry of natural drugs from plants, insects, and fungi. One of the most exciting things about my research is having developed a new discipline, which in itself is rare. My laboratory has been instrumental in creating Zoopharmacognosy, which is the study of how animals medicate themselves. When animals are sick, they know what plants to use to cure themselves. Most of my research takes place deep in the Amazon and African rain forests, studying primates, plants, and arthropods.

In science, as in any other career you may choose, you must have reading and writing skills, and be able to think critically. You have to be able to think clearly about the destruction of the environment, because it is important that the rainforest not be destroyed simply for a few greedy people. In my laboratory at Cornell University, I have many minority students, but I do not work only with minority students. In fact my laboratory is known as the "United Nations laboratory". We have students from many races and cultures. I try to involve all of my students in the spirit of scientific discovery, which for me, is the most exciting part of being a Chicano professor.

Science is about thinking and solving problems. As a student, it is very important for you to do what comes naturally to you. You should be happy at what you’re doing. I would like to tell young students that reading is vital. Learning to use a computer can come later, but it is essential to read and be able to write and think about what you read. Listening to your elders is also important. Never let yourself be discouraged by negative and mean spirited people. Education will get you what you want in life, but you must work at it. 

Source: Steve Delgadillo stevedelgadillo@sbcglobal.net
Sent by Dorinda Moreno 


Ambrose Video

Editor: Ambrose Video is a huge collection of historical videos for the Middle School, Secondary and College marketplaces.  This is an extensive library of award-winning materials, in social studies, literature, fine arts and the sciences.  Videos are delivered via the internet with Flash Streaming.  

I watched A History of Hispanic Achievement in America, good quality, clarity of  visuals, narration clear, and concise.  However, no mention was made of the early contributions of Dr. Hector P. Garcia in the fight for  Hispanic Civil Rights.  By neglecting to include the efforts of Dr. Garcia, which preceded both the Black and the Cesar Chavez Farmworker movements, the real contributions of Hispanics to the Civil Rights movement is not fully understood..   

"A History of Hispanic Achievement in America" is a rich history that began 500 years ago when Christopher Columbus stepped ashore in the new world, a 7 minute video.  

From the American Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf War, Hispanic Americans have proudly served this country in the Armed Forces. And throughout U.S. history, Hispanics have contributed in building the West; in medicine and science; in entertainment, journalism, business, education, civil rights, politics, in sports and more.

http://www.ambrosedigital.com/component/page,shop.product_details/category_id,10/flypage,
shop.flypage_ambrose/product_id,2391/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,59/index.php?page=
shop.product_details&category_id=10&flypage=shop.flypage_ambrose&product_id=2391
&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=59&vmcchk=1
 ac


Most videos are between 2-7 minutes in length and are $1.99 per video.
The longest videos are 27-29 minutes in length and are $3.99 per video.

License as little as one clip or save up to 50% by licensing a 50 hour Bundle (around 100 programs). And remember, every institutional license for those 50 hours lasts a year.  

 


BILINGUAL/BICULTURAL EDUCATION


Texas meetings about Hispanic inclusion in US History textbooks 
“Dream Act” a new play  by James E. Garcia 


In response to the state of Texas meetings about Hispanic inclusion in US History textbooks 


Those of us Spanish-surnamed descendants of the first citizens of Texas have waited for nearly 175 years for a more balanced telling of Texas history.  It is about fairness; that is all.    
 
In a few years, Spanish-surnamed Texans will again be the majority.  To prepare them for that awesome responsibility, our young people especially need to learn about their lost history that has been kept from them by those who have been writing Texas history books from only an Anglo-Saxon perspective.  As Tejano historians (and many supportive Anglo historians) keep reminding people, our state's history does not begin with the Anglos' arrival.  Nor does it begin at the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, which is the heart of your pitch at the "Alamo".  . . .  Jose Antonio Lopez

January 13, 2009

Today is a day to remember!! There were about 90 persons that presented testimony to the State Board of Education and a very significant number were Mexican-Americans! The G. I. Forum, the LULAC community organizers from the Valley, State Representative Norma Chavez, several history professors, and our own Dan Arellano all gave articulate, passionate testimony about including more Tejano/Mexican-Americans into the Social Studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. I also was tremendously impressed with several young college students attending the University of Texas who demonstrated they can assume the leadership mantle. 
Tomorrow, the State Board will be making amendments so we will have a better idea about the real impact of our efforts. Nevertheless, I now have experienced what I had hoped for---active involvement of our Mexican-American people in the state policy educational process. We will continue until our stated objectives are met! I only wish I could have personally met all of the persons who testified, some at great personal sacrifice.

Please pass this information along to our supporters. Thanks, Sylvia Garcia

 
“Dream Act” a new play  by James E. Garcia 

Dream Act was was performed in Phoenix, Arizona in January. Directed by Luis Avila and Arturo Martinez. Mounted by the New Carpa Theater, Dream Act was sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix, 4027 E. Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley, and the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1407 N. Second Street in Phoenix.  The play was staged in English and in Spanish in separate performances
 
 "Dream Act" tells the story of Victoria Nava, an undocumented immigrant and university student who dreams of practicing medicine. Homeless and afraid of being deported in the face of an immigration crackdown, Victoria's dream of graduating from college is slipping away. (Note that each performance will be followed by a short discussion with the playwright and experts on the Dream Act, a proposed federal law that would provide a path to citizenship for the more than 65,000 undocumented young people who graduate from high school in the United States each year. These performances are open to the public.

New Carpa Theater Co. was founded in 2002 and is dedicated to the development of Latino and multicultural theater works. The company was founded by James E. Garcia. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix has been providing Valley residents liberal religious opportunities since 1947 through worship services, children’s and adult religious education programs and community outreach.

New Carpa Theater offered free tickets to Dream Act for needy and/or at-risk populations, such as families or individuals at a domestic violence centers, homeless shelters, youth programs targeted at at-risk youth or similar programs.We value our role as a community theater company and cherish the opportunity to expose new populations that might now otherwise get to see live theater to this rich experience. If you work with such a group or know someone who does, please email info@newcarpa.org or call 623-25-CARPA (623-252-2772) ASAP to make reservations. Ask for James Garcia.

 


CULTURE

Alfredo Rodríguez, Classical Realism Artist 
At 94, She's the Hot New Thing in Painting
Exploring Colonial Mexico, The Espadaña Press Web site
Sueños Realizados Storytime (Dreams Come True)
Alfredo Rodríguez, Classical Realism Artist 
For Alfredo Rodríguez, painting was as much a part of his childhood development as learning to walk and speak. Now living in California and winning top awards from several of the most prestigious organizations, Rodríguez is a member of the American Indian and Cowboy Artists Association. Alfredo Rodriguez established a studio in Corona, California. His rich and vivid colors depict scenes of the inhabitants of the American West: Indians, Mountain Men, Cowboys, nestled in the mountains, deserts, and Indian villages. Painting has always been a part of Alfredo Rodriguez' life. He was born in the small Mexican town of Tepic, Nayarit which is located in the heart of Mexico and very close to the Huichole Indian reservation. He was born and raised into a family of nine children, and the first gift he can recall was a gift of watercolors from his mother. Some of his earliest memories are of illustrating classroom assignments and painting portraits of family members, he used his talent to supplement his family's income needs. In 1968, an American art dealer discovered Alfredo's art and commissioned him to paint American Indians. The paintings were highly successful and in 1973 Alfredo moved to America. He has been painting American Indians and Mountain Men ever since. Alfredo considers himself a traditional artist and describes his style of painting as Classical Realism with a bit of Impressionism. Now living in California and winning awards from several of the most prestigious organizations, Rodriguez' work is also included in the books "Western painting Today" by Royal B. Hassick and "Contemporary Western Artist" by Peggy and Harold Samuels. Alfredo also has been featured in magazines such as "Art of the West," "Informart," "Western Horseman" and "International Fine Art Collector." Alfredo lives with his wife Cheryl and three daughters in Corona, California.

A professional artist since 1968, Alfredo Rodríguez is enjoying international response by private and corporate art collectors, as well as wide critical acclaim. He is internationally recognized for his outstanding paintings of the American West. His rich and vivid images of mountains, deserts, and Indian villages are admired wherever they are displayed, but it is his portrayal of the inhabitants of the land that provides the focal point of his work. As he paints he captures the dignity of the human spirit elevated by the majestic beauty of their surroundings. He has come a long way from such a humble beginning, yet the critics believe that his masterful treatment of the American West is largely responsible for his success and demonstrates even greater potential for the future. 

Sent by Jose M. Pena JMPENA@aol.com
http://www.legacygallery.com/resale_artwork/alfredo_rodriguez.html


At 94, She's the Hot New Thing in Painting
By Deborah Sontag 

The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010550868_artist20.html 

Carmen Herrera in her Manhattan loft. 
Todd Heisler/The New York Times

After six decades of very private painting, Ms. Herrera sold her first artwork five years ago, at 89. Now, at a small ceremony in her honor, she was basking in the realization that her career had finally, undeniably, taken off. As cameras flashed, she extended long, Giacomettiesque fingers to accept an art foundation's lifetime achievement award from the director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Her good friend, the painter Tony Bechara, raised a glass. "We have a saying in Puerto Rico," he said. "The bus - la guagua - always comes for those who wait."  And the Cuban-born Ms. Herrera, laughing gustily, responded, "Well, Tony, I've been at the bus stop for 94 years!"

Since that first sale in 2004, collectors have avidly pursued Ms. Herrera, and her radiantly ascetic paintings have entered the permanent collections of institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Tate Modern. Last year, MoMA included her in a pantheon of Latin American artists on exhibition. And this summer, during a retrospective show in England, The Observer of London called Ms. Herrera the discovery of the decade, asking, "How can we have missed these beautiful compositions?"

In a word, Ms. Herrera, a nonagenarian homebound painter with arthritis, is hot. In an era when the art world idolizes, and often richly rewards, the young and the new, she embodies a different, much rarer kind of success, that of the artist long overlooked by the market, and by history, who persevered because she had no choice.

"I do it because I have to do it; it's a compulsion that also gives me pleasure," she said of painting. "I never in my life had any idea of money and I thought fame was a very vulgar thing. So I just worked and waited. And at the end of my life, I'm getting a lot of recognition, to my amazement and my pleasure, actually."

Julián Zugazagoitia, the director of El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, called Ms. Herrera "a quiet warrior of her art."  "To bloom into full glory at 94 - whatever Carmen Herrera's slow rise might say about the difficulties of being a woman artist, an immigrant artist or an artist ahead of her time, it is clearly a story of personal strength," Mr. Zugazagoitia said.

A minimalist whose canvases are geometric distillations of form and color, Ms. Herrera has slowly come to the attention of a subset of art historians over the last decade. . Now she is increasingly considered an important figure by those who study her "remarkably monumental, iconic paintings," said Edward J. Sullivan, a professor of art history at New York University.

"Those of us with a passion for either geometric art or Latin American Modernist painting now realize what a pivotal role" Ms. Herrera has played in "the development of geometric abstraction in the Americas," Mr. Sullivan said.

Painting in relative solitude since the late 1930s, with only the occasional exhibition, Ms. Herrera was sustained, she said, by the unflinching support of her husband of 61 years, Jesse Loewenthal. An English teacher at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, Mr. Loewenthal was portrayed by the memoirist Frank McCourt, a colleague, as an old-world scholar in an "elegant, three-piece suit, the gold watch chain looping across his waistcoat front."

Recognition for Ms. Herrera came a few years after her husband's death, at 98, in 2000. "Everybody says Jesse must have orchestrated this from above," Ms. Herrera said, shaking her head. "Yeah, right, Jesse on a cloud." She added: "I worked really hard. Maybe it was me."

In a series of interviews in her sparsely but artfully furnished apartment, Ms. Herrera always offered an afternoon cocktail - "Oh, don't be abstemious!" - and an outpouring of stories about pre-revolutionary Cuba, postwar Paris and the many artists she has known, from Wifredo Lam to Yves Klein to Barnett Newman.

"Ah, Wifredo," she said, referring to Lam, the Cuban-born French painter. "All the girls were crazy about him. When we were in Havana, my phone would begin ringing: 'Is Wifredo in town?' I mean, come on, I wasn't his social secretary."

But Ms. Herrera is less expansive about her own art, discussing it with a minimalism redolent of the work. "Paintings speak for themselves," she said. Geometry and color have been the head and the heart of her work, she added, describing a lifelong quest to pare down her paintings to their essence, like visual haiku.

Sent by Rafael Ojeda


Exploring Colonial Mexico
The Espadaña Press Web site


January 2010

Los Santos Reyes

We start this year of the Mexican bicentennial by featuring, as is our custom, outstanding colonial images and monuments dedicated to Los Santos Reyes, or The Three Kings, whose feast day in Mexico traditionally heralds the New Year, offering the promise of a new beginning, now to be wished for more than ever for our troubled neighbor.
This New Year we look at two related but contrasting images of the Three Kings: first the dynamic early 18th century painting of Los Reyes from the eponymous baroque altarpiece in Mexico City cathedral; and then the exquisite late 17th century relief in the priory church of Santos Reyes Metztitlan.

Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral is perhaps the nation's foremost repository of late colonial art treasures in situ. Among the finest and most imposing of these art works is the stupendous main altarpiece, or retablo mayor.

In 1737, the unveiling of this grand, ground breaking retablo dedicated to the Three Kings, or Los Santos Reyes, caused a sensation. Designed by the flamboyant Sevillian architect and designer Gerónimo de Balbás and constructed over almost 20 years with the help of an experienced team of Mexican artists, sculptors and joiners, this enormous, soaring structure transforms the apse of the cathedral into a gilded grotto.

Based on his earlier design for the Cathedral in Seville, Spain, and infused with the florid, sensuous Andalusian manner of the time as well as Balbás' penchant for the dramatic - a result of his training as a theatrical designer - the Balbás altarpiece was the first, one of the most elaborate, and certainly the most influential work in the new estípite style, so-called because of the complex, eclectic forms of its supporting columns and pilasters.

This seminal retablo ushered an innovative and exuberant style into the New World, consequently commonly called the Churrigueresque after José de Churriguera, another prominent Spanish baroque designer. Its importance for the subsequent development of architecture and altarpiece design in Mexico cannot be overestimated.

 

Santos Reyes Metztitlán. On the 12th of September 1997, at 6.30 in the morning, a major earthquake struck the Barranca de Metztitlán, 70 kms north of Mexico City - a sensitive ecological region home to many rare cactus varieties***. Especially hard hit was the Augustinian priory of the Three Kings (Los Santos Reyes), an imposing 16th century structure in the principal village of Metztitlán.

When Augustinian friars arrived in 1538, the primitive mission was located on the valley floor. Because of endemic flooding in the canyon, the permanent monastery buildings were re-sited on a former temple platform on the hillside above the settlement. (Although a massive drainage scheme was later instituted by the friars, flooding still occurs - as evidence the widespread inundation of 1999.)

Although subsidence and earth movements had damaged the church and its adjacent convento over the centuries, the 1997 'quake threatened the integrity of this gem of early colonial architecture togther with the art works both within and on its walls - the convento is famous for its early murals. Fissures had opened up around the church and cracks appeared in the fabric of the building. Alarmed residents notified the authorities who, under the guidance of Juan Benito Artigas, a noted architect and authority on Mexican colonial architecture, took steps to stabilize the structure and its immediate precincts. While restoration and conservation work to stabilize the priory continue, limited resources and the danger of future subsidence and earth tremors, continue to threaten this magnificent early colonial monument.


We should like to thank our readers and customers for their support in 2009 and look forward to their continued interest in 2010.

Starting January 1st, 2010 for a limited time we are offering a 20% online discount from the list price on all our guidebooks. Take advantage of this offer and order now !

Please review our 2009 pages:
January:
Los Reyes de Juarez (Puebla)
February: La Candelaria (Yucatan) March/April: La Casa de La Cacica (Oaxaca) May: Metepec (Tlaxcala) June/July: Tlatemalco (Hidalgo) August/September: Tilaco (Sierra Gorda de Queretaro) October/November: Acatzingo (Puebla) December: Tiripetio (Michoacán)

To access all our pages go to our archive. If you enjoy our updates you may support our work by ordering our unique guidebooks  http://www.colonial-mexico.com/

Sent by Richard Perry


Sueños Realizados Storytime (Dreams Come True)


Sueños Realizados Storytime was a six-week program that started in January at the Austin Children's Museum. The children were able to hear inspiring, real-life stories of dreams come true in the new Sueños realizados bilingual Storytime program, sponsored by Target®. The activies delivered in both English and Spanish, combines festive songs, activities and inspiring stories from books written and illustrated by acclaimed artist Carmen Lomas Garza. Children and adults can immerse themselves in 3D scenes of Carmen's artwork while listening to the real-life stories of young Carmen who followed her dreams to become an artist with the support of her family.

Place: Austin Children's Museum, 201 Colorado St.
January 13 - February 24, 2010
Wednesdays: 6-6:30pm (excluding 1/27 & 2/10) Sundays: 3-3:30pm & 4-4:30pm
Cost: $1 suggested donation on Wed.; $4.50-$6.50, kids under 12 mos. free; 
4-5pm FREE admission on Sun.
Contact: 512-472-2499

http://www.austinkids.org/Programs/Gallery-Programs/Sueños-Realizados-Storytime.asp
http://www.austinkids.org/Programs/Gallery-Programs/Sue%C3%B1os-Realizados-Storytime.aspx  
Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D. beto@unt.edu
 


LITERATURE

La importancia de la Ñ
Somos en encrito

  La importancia de la Ñ


En el idioma español,
la eñe es muy importante,
y en todo ordenador
debe ser una constante.

Tan importante es la eñe
que sin ella yo no sueño ,
y sin que te parezca extraño
no me estriño pero sí me baño.

Aunque sin eñe no hay daño.
resultaría dañino,
que nos faltara el empeño
y no existiera el cariño.

Para una linda española
no habría una piel de armiño.
Tampoco habría cabañas
para albergar a los niños.

Sin eñe yo no te riño,
y los viejos no se tiñen,
y aunque tampoco existiese el regaño
me sentiría muy triste
sin decirte que te extraño.

Sin sonido de zampoñas,
sin beber un vino añejo
en una peña criolla.
¿qué gracia tiene el festejo? 

¿Acaso habría buñuelos
o churros para la niña
como lo hacía el abuelo
con sus trocitos de piña?

No existiría el otoño
sin la eñe en nuestras letra;.
y tampoco habría moño,
donde prender las peinetas.

Y qué sería España
si no tuviera maños,
fuera tierra extraña
y no de gran tamaño.

Parecía muy extraño
que Bill Gates no la pusiera,
quedaba como un tacaño
¡cómo si tan caro fuera!

Bueno, basta de regaños.
porque ya me vino el sueño
y aunque pongo mucho empeño
los ojos me hacen extraños.

Termino pidiendo a todos
los que hablan español,
defiendan la EÑE. .. . ¡Coño!
y el idioma sea mejor.

Source: Vidal Cantu of Laredo, Texas
Sent by Walter Centeno Herbeck
walterherbeck@yahoo.com 


Somos en escrito

Somos en escrito (www.ollin.com/somos) starts the New Year with a variety of literary works:
a startling confession by a high school English teacher, 
an essay on the inferiority complex among Hispanos in New Mexico and beyond,
an excerpt from a new book about Chicano soldiers in Vietnam, all from one little town in California, 
a campaign to reveal and honor the history of Texas before 1836.

Please read Somos and spread the word about the only Latino online literary magazine. 
Send inquiries and manuscripts to somossubmissions@gmail.com.

Somos en escrito magazine beckons all Latino writers residing in the U.S. as an entirely electronic literary publication open to writers of Chicano, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic origin. The revista is being launched by Armando Rendón, author of Chicano Manifesto. The website is at www.ollin.com/somos. Manuscripts can be submitted for review and approval to the editor at : somossubmissions@gmail.com.

The magazine, Rendón says, evolves from his premise that the Latino community in the U.S. needs to excel in literary endeavors as it has in music, sports, the fine arts, business, and the sciences. He notes that we can boast about having eight astronauts of Hispanic origin, but do we have novelists and poets “among the stars” as well. Not enough literary efforts are going to print, he believes, so Somos will offer immediate access to a national readership.

Somos will serve as a forum dedicated to providing an outlet to new and veteran writers in the various fields of literature: fiction (short stories, novellas, excerpts from novels), essays, poetry (all genre), experimental, and book reviews, written in Spanish and/or English. Its broad purpose is to empower Latino writers to practice their art and give exposure to their works now, through the instantaneous medium of the Internet.

For new writers, Somos will provide an opportunity to publish for the first time. For established writers, it is a virtual venue for disseminating their ideas, trying out new works, and another way they can help encourage and promote literary efforts among Latina communities.

The subject matter need not be about Latinos or Hispanic topics, Rendón explains. “A universal center exists in all of us that impels us to write and which need not be restricted to a particular culture, race, or religious identity. As members of a community with a significant history and connection to values and sensibilities unique to us, of course, we also write about ourselves, our people and our future.”

Contributors retain all rights, except for first-time public at ion in Somos. Copies of all m at erials published in the magazine will be archived for future reference, but no work can be reprinted or electronically copied without the approval of the author.

Visitors to the Somos site can subscribe by posting a comment and then setting up an account. Visitors to the site are invited to contribute manuscripts, read and comment on them, or just enjoy reading the latest in 
Latino writing.

What are the criteria for acceptance of manuscripts? Rendón replies that the rigors of literary standards speak for themselves. The Somos editor expects authors to submit manuscripts which express a high degree of literary value and skill. “We intend to promote the highest standards in writing in English and/or Spanish and, therefore, the content of your writings should be governed by a strong sense of community purpose and recognition of the broad reading public that we seek to expose to these works. We need not resort to censorship; common sense and regard for community values should guide our efforts to excel in our writings.” 

sancudobaboso@hotmail.com

 


BOOKS

Basques in the Philippines
Finding Your Hispanic Roots by: George Ryskamp
The Grass is Greener by Mike Lozano 
La Pinta: Chicana/o Prisoner Literature, Culture, and Politics
Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach & Hermosa Beach, CA by Alex Moreno Areyan
Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta
Amigoland by Oscar Casares

Suggestion of Rafael Ojeda: 
I would like to suggest we request public libraries in our own area to place more Hispanic History books on their shelves. Not only will Latinos be aware of our contributions, but also mainstream America. Many time we  cannot afford our own copy, but we can request our local libraries to buy at least one copy to share within a library system be it a city/county library.


Basques in the Philippines

The Basques, one of Spain's most distinct ethnic minorities, played a remarkably influential role in the creation and maintenance of Spain's vast colonial empire, including the Philippines. Basques were members of the Magellan expedition that discovered the Philippines in 1521, and a Basque-led expedition subsequently laid the foundation for Spain's conquest and pacification of the archipelago. Despite the small population of their native provinces, the Basques' unique skills as shipbuilders, navigators, businessmen, and scribes; their evangelical zeal; and their ethnic cohesion and work-oriented culture made them well suited to serve as explorers, colonial administrators, missionaries, settlers, merchants, and shippers in the trans-Pacific galleon trade between China, Manila, and Acapulco, Mexico. After the Wars of Independence deprived Spain of most of its American empire, many Basques settled in the Philippines, fleeing political persecution and increasingly limited opportunities in their homeland. Basque emigration from Spain to the Philippines continued through the first half of the twentieth century.

Basques played prominent roles in the governance, defense, and cultivation of the Philippines until the end of Spanish sovereignty in 1898, and an active role in Filipino resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.  They were leaders in the economic development of the hinterlands, as well as in the advancement of industry, transportation, interisland trade and shipping, and in the establishment of Catholicism as a dominant national religion. Filipinos of Basque descent continue to contribute in significant ways to the culture and economy of the contemporary Philippines.   

This work breaks new ground with its study of the Basque Diaspora in the far East. It also addresses the long-unappreciated history of the Philippines as a vital part of the Spanish Empire, closely connected through trade and personal ties to the American colonies, and crucial to the European penetration of East Asia. Basques distinguished themselves in many areas of Filipino life, and their story, as told by Marciano de Borja, is rich in vivid characters and fascinating detail, while at the same time filling an important void in the scholarly literature about the Basque Diaspora.

For a google preview, go to http://www.flipkart.com/basques-philippines-marciano-de-borja/0874175909-88w3fnfsrc#previewbook
To order online: www.nvbooks.nevada.edu  contact:  nvinfo@nvbooks.nevada.edu
To order by phone: 775-784-6573


Finding Your Hispanic Roots by: George Ryskamp


Finding Your Hispanic Roots is quite possibly the most useful manual on Hispanic ancestry ever published. Building on the previously published Tracing Your Hispanic Heritage (1984), it provides detailed information on the records, sources, and reference works used in research in all major Hispanic countries. Starting with an examination of basic research principles and techniques, illustrated with examples from actual Hispanic research experience, it goes on to discuss such important subjects as language and handwriting, Hispanic surnames, methods of tracing Hispanic immigrants in U.S. records, and, most importantly, how to conduct Hispanic genealogical research in LDS Family History Centers, where the researcher has access to the largest body of Hispanic records in the United States. 

With this foundation in place, the work proceeds with an examination of the types of records found in all Hispanic countries, using examples from many of them and indicating where particular record types are found. Covered here are such indispensable records as civil registers of births, marriages, and deaths; church records of baptisms, marriages, and burials; census records; military records; and the often under-utilized notarial records. This discussion is enriched by the introduction of numerous documents that have been transcribed and translated, allowing the reader to teach himself to read and work with old records. 

George R. Ryskamp, the author, is an Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Spanish language research and United States probate and legal systems. 

EDITORIAL REVIEWS 

'The handbook is an excellent introduction to research basics as well as a major guide to unique aspects of Hispanic genealogy...and merits a place in libraries' genealogy sections.'--AMERICAN REFERENCE BOOKS ANNUAL (1997). 

'It is obvious that George Ryskamp knows his subject well. For those of Hispanic descent seeking detailed information about how to research family history, Ryskamp's Finding Your Hispanic Roots is the book to consult. It has many more wonderfully detailed graphic illustrations, common-sense instructions, and references to primary sources than earlier guides. Even non-Hispanics with ancestors in areas of the United States once governed by Spain could benefit from learning how to delve into Spanish records for evidence of their forebears.'--FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES FORUM, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 30-31. 

'Finding Your Hispanic Roots is a fine example of true scholarship in any subject area, not just in genealogy. All who have Hispanic ancestry will benefit greatly from having this book as part of their permanent research collection.'--NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol. 85, No. 3, p. 228.

SBN: 9780806315171 
Book Title: Finding Your Hispanic Roots 
Author: George R. Ryskamp 
Binding: Soft Cover   Copyright: 1997  Pages: 290  Size: 6 x 9 in.  This item will fit in a flat rate envelope. 

Collector Bookstore is a retailer of new books located in Leavenworth, Kansas. We specialize in price guides and reference books for the antiques and collectibles industry. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Genealogy-Find-Hispanic-Roots-Immigration-Record-Source_
W0QQitemZ350296525064QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20091223?IMSfp=
TL091223218005r306


Looking for Greener Grass by Mike Lozano

 

Looking for Greener Grass, is the story of my personal odyssey of growth and discovery.  It chronicles my quest to discover the true story of my Mexican roots and to find meaning and purpose in my life.  I had lived the first half of my life focused on the prevalent attitude in our society of wanting instant gratification and materialistic gain.  At the peak of my professional career I nearly died from a life threatening illness.  It took this life-changing experience of looking death in the face to wake me up and jar me out of my attitude of conformity and going along with the program of life in America.?   This forced me to make significant life style changes and forced me to the realization that I needed more fulfillment in my life than I had previously experienced.  

As I became increasingly dissatisfied and disillusioned with my career, I also started to question our country's direction (the Iraq War, immigration policy, prejudice etc.).  It seemed as if my life and our country had both lost their direction.  I have always loved to study history.  


At the height of my disillusionment the country was celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Corps of Discovery, Lewis and Clarks? journey to explore America.  This inspired me to embark on my own expedition of self-discovery.  This pilgrimage would take me through all 50 states, Mexico and Canada.  I would travel over 26,000 miles, mostly with only my dog, Dudley for company.  As each mile is traveled, layer after layer of truth is revealed.  My book takes readers on both a physical journey and a pilgrimage of spiritual self-discovery.  Along the way I would be hospitalized in Paducah, Kentucky, stranded in Mexico and lost in a great fog in South Dakota.  But, I also found my ancestral home and relatives that I never knew I had.  I explored the mystery of my family history and tried to understand why no one in my immediate family knew or cared about it.  In the end I gained inspiration from the whole truth of how both courageous people and villains helped carve a nation out of a wilderness.

To purchase a copy, send a check or money order to Mike Lozano, P.O. Box 69, Randolph, MA 02368.
&29.95 and shipping $3.50 per book.  For information, call 508-904-9811 or email beaglelozano@hotmail.com 

Take a look at my new website and at the Lozano family tree:  http://www.lozanomichael.com 


La Pinta: Chicana/o Prisoner Literature, Culture, and Politics
By B. V. Olguín
http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/olgpin.html
In this groundbreaking study based on archival research about Chicana and Chicano prisoners—known as Pintas and Pintos—as well as fresh interpretations of works by renowned Pinta and Pinto authors and activists, B. V. Olguín provides crucial insights into the central roles that incarceration and the incarcerated have played in the evolution of Chicana/o history, cultural paradigms, and oppositional political praxis.

This is the first text on prisoners in general, and Chicana/o and Latina/o prisoners in particular, that provides a range of case studies from the nineteenth century to the 
present. Olguín places multiple approaches in dialogue through the pairing of representational figures in the history of Chicana/o incarceration with specific themes and topics. Case studies on the first nineteenth-century Chicana prisoner in San Quentin State Prison, Modesta Avila; renowned late-twentieth-century Chicano poets Raúl Salinas, Ricardo Sánchez, and Jimmy Santiago Baca; lesser-known Chicana pinta and author Judy Lucero; and infamous Chicano drug baron and social bandit Fred Gómez Carrasco are aligned with themes from popular culture such as prisoner tattoo art and handkerchief art, Hollywood Chicana/o gangxploitation and the prisoner film American Me, and prisoner education projects.

Olguín provides a refreshing critical interrogation of Chicana/o subaltern agency, which too often is celebrated as unambiguously resistant and oppositional. As such, this study challenges long-held presumptions about Chicana/o cultures of resistance and proposes important explorations of the complex and contradictory relationship between Chicana/o agency and ideology.

“This is the most significant work yet published on Chicana/o artistic production by and/or about prisoners.”  —Renato Rosaldo

“[A]n interdisciplinary, well-theorized, diachronic and synchronic study that is not merely a compilation of case studies but locates the particulars of individual experience and agency in a larger context of an historical struggle against racialized criminal injustice in this country”  
—Louis Mendoza

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/olgpin.html
Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D. 
beto@unt.edu
 


Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach, California
by Alex Moreno Areyan

The century-old presence of Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach is an important, colorful part of the history of Los Angeles County’s South Bay region. This evocative pictorial history documents the ways in which this group left significant marks on the economic, agricultural, academic, religious, professional, and governmental fabric of both communities. World War II heroes, star athletes, lawyers, professors, teachers, city councilmen, a judge, an astrophysicist, and many other professionals have come from this heritage. The first known Mexican American in Redondo Beach was Mauro Gonzales, who arrived in 1900 to unload ships at the city’s old wooden pier. He was followed in 1910 by Domingo Moreno, who fostered 12 children, and Mauricio Colin, who had 13, after they escaped the Mexican Revolution. They initiated a large and vibrant Mexican American community, one that has virtually been ignored by conventional histories.
 
Author Bio: Author Alex Moreno Areyan, a retired human resources administrator with a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco, was a migrant worker in his youth. He conducted dozens of interviews and collected vintage photographs from members of the original families of these Mexican American communities to compile this unique history.

You can view the book at this site: .
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=VPROD
&Product_Code=9780738546995
Click on the state flag for other books located in "California" 
ISBN: 9780738546995 
# of Pages: 128
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
$19.99    

Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta
"Belinda Acosta's Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz delivers all its title promises and more: it's a book about damas of all ages, from teenage girls to the struggling mothers of those teenage girls; it's packed with drama so you don't want to stop reading; it's a novel that deeply and honestly tells the story of Ana Ruiz, her own coming of age as a woman and as a mother. Belinda Acosta is up to all of the challenges of such a rich panorama of characters and events. She's sassy, she's smart, she makes it look easy! But it takes a lot of hard work and a pile of talent to write such an engaging, touching book. A wonderful quinceañera of a novel!" (Julia Alvarez, author of Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA and Return to Sender )

"Lively and perceptive... Acosta empathically captures the innermost feelings of her characters." (Booklist ) "Simply put, Belinda !se aventó! She has gone all out in giving an emotional, spiritual, and feminine Latina perspective of how it is and what it is to grow up in the US Hispanic culture." (Examiner.com )

"Well written, effortlessly utilizing two languages, giving the unaware English reader a lesson in the Spanish language and Hispanic culture, Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz will prove to be "the first prick into the cloth to embroider something big and complicated" in a series of Quinceañera Club Novels. Big, yes! Complicated, only in the sense that cultures are intricate as humans are wondrous beings, as well as curious."(Examiner.com) 

Product Description: All Ana Ruiz wanted was to have a traditional quinceañera for her daughter, Carmen. She wanted a nice way to mark this milestone year in her daughter's life. But Carmen was not interested in celebrating. Hurt and bitter over her father Esteban's departure, she blamed Ana for destroying their happy family, as did everyone else. A good man is hard to find, especially at your age Ana was told. Why not forgive his one indiscretion? Despite everything, Ana didn't want to tarnish Carmen's childlike devotion to her beloved father. But Ana knows that growing up sometimes means facing hard truths. In the end, Ana discovers that if she's going to teach Carmen anything about what it means to be a woman, it will take more than simply a fancy party to do it... 

"Belinda Acosta's Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz delivers all its title promises and more: it's a book about damas of all ages, from teenage girls to the struggling mothers of those teenage girls; it's packed with drama so you don't want to stop reading; it's a novel that deeply and honestly tells the story of Ana Ruiz, her own coming of age as a woman and as a mother. Belinda Acosta is up to all of the challenges of such a rich panorama of characters and events. She's sassy, she's smart, she makes it look easy! But it takes a lot of hard work and a pile of talent to write such an engaging, touching book. A wonderful quinceañera of a novel!"

--- Julia Alvarez, author of Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA and Return to Sender


AMIGOLAND by Oscar Casares 



AMIGOLAND, is a novel set on the South Texas border with Mexico, is the story of estranged brothers Don Fidencio Rosales—querulous, nearly 92 years old, and living in a nursing home—and Don Celestino, twenty years his junior and newly widowed, who finds himself somewhat ambivalently involved with his young cleaning woman, Socorro. 

The housekeeper turns out to be a catalyst for the brothers reconnecting, and the improbable
trio takes off on a bus trip into Mexico, where the siblings hope to settle a long-standing dispute about
how their grandfather arrived in the United States and Socorro hopes to find clarity in her unlikely romance.
The trip stirs up powerful issues of family and pride and about how we care for the people we love.
 
Oscar Casares' is a member of the faculty of the University of  Texas Department of English and the Michener Center for Writers.
AMIGOLAND is published by  Little, Brown & Co. 
 


MILITARY/LAW ENFORCEMENT

"Honor and Fidelity "
Vietnam Veterans Parade slated for March 28, 2010
Robert Renteria with
Command Sergeant Major Victor Rivera, United States Army
YouTube
"Honor at Last... Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez
2009 U.S. Hispanic Service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Current events 

 
YouTube "Honor at Last...  a video about Medal of Honor recipient hero Roy P. Benavidez. The son of a Texas sharecropper, orphaned at 10 who became one of the most decorated soldiers from the Vietnam War. 

Editor: This is an awesome, incredible story of remarkable bravery. Shot repeatedly, shrapnel in his back and face, bayoneted in both arms,  he saved the lives of eight men, placing himself between wounded men  and the Vietcong.  Do watch it.  You will be amazed, proud, grateful.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=RZ7968BbMnU&feature=related

Sent by: Joe Martinez, Ph.D.,  Mercy Bautista Olvera, and Rick Leal

Those of you who have read the book,From the Barrio, by Robert Renteria  know that Robert believes that the military not only changed his life, but saved his life. Here Robert is pictured with Command Sergeant Major Victor Rivera, United States Army, as they discussed ways that Robert can help men and women to successfully transition out of the military and back into a successful civilian life.

 
Camaraderie: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009.
Local veterans (from left) Henry Berverastegui, Mike Felix, David Alvarado and Carlos Aldana greet one another at Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 8620 in West Covina, CA 
to honor WWII service members. 
(SGVN/Staff Photo by Eric Reed)
Sent by Rafael Ojeda



This is the link to place an order: 
Department of Defense report on Hispanics in WWII http://www.ntis.gov/search/product
.aspx?ABBR=ADA272853

 


"Honor and Fidelity "

I read in the latest issue of Somos Primos that the motto of the 65th Infantry Regiment is "Honor and Fidelity ". That also happens to be the motto of The Regiment of Louisiana, a Spanish Army unit formed to defend Spanish colonies in the Louisiana Territories and under General Galvez, and was quite active during the American Revolution in removing the English from the Mississippi River area and the Gulf of Mexico. The Second Battalion was formed , mostly of Canary Islanders in 1778. Two generations of my family served in this unit ( Josef Morales from Aguimes, Canary Islands 1778-1790? and Roumaldo Carmena from Anover de Tajo, Spain 1791-1810 ). I am interested in your comments on the "Honor and Fidelity" motto of the two units. Am including a pdf print of Regiment of Louisiana flag and uniform for your information . 

Thanks . Joseph (Bill) Carmena , Jr. , Lt./Col, USAF (Ret.) 
JCarm1724@aol.com
 

Vietnam Veterans Parade slated for March 28, 2010
  The Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 391 has approved a proposed parade for the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day on March 28, 2010 in Sonora. This proposal was made by Public Affairs Officer George Eldridge soon after California's Governor signed legislation for March 30. California became the first state to ratify U.S. Congress's passage of a bill in 2008.

According to Eldridge, "This is the parade we never received!" He added that this event has been long in coming and thanks to Jose Ramos, a Vietnam Veteran from Whittier, CA; the Vietnam Veteran now has their day. Ramos rode his bicycle from Whittier to Washington, D.C. to bring attention to the fact that the Vietnam Veteran was never welcomed home. The Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day committee is headed by Ramos and Ponce Gonzales of San Jose's VVA Chapter.

Eldridge is chair of the Parade Committee for VVA-Chapter 391 and has also proposed a parade in Sacramento as the co-Public Affairs Officer of the VVA California State Council. He has suggested that Paul Cook, who introduced the bill, be the grand marshal in the Sacramento parade. "The committee has divided the state into four areas…San Diego, Whittier, Fresno, and Sacramento. We've suggested that Sonora be the fifth area," said Eldridge.|

The approval for the parade came December 1 at the Board of Directors meeting. The next step is to talk with CalTrans, Sonora City Council, Board of Supervisors, and Sonora Police Department to make the necessary arrangements for the parade.

According to Eldridge, plans are to invite Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans from all over the state, but in particular, veterans from Stockton, Modesto, Calaveras and Mariposa counties, Ione, Oakdale, Tracy, and the surrounding areas as well as neighboring communities in Nevada to join in the parade. Eldridge added that Vietnam Veterans are all over 50 and many are disabled or unable to walk the parade route which is why there will be a great many vehicles utilized so that as many veterans as possible will be able to be in the parade. The committee has selected Jon Cavaiani, Sonora's own Medal of Honor recipient and former POW as the grand marshal.

To pay for the parade, the committee will be seeking sponsors. There will be two levels - $100 and $200. Both will receive mention in the  Guerillas in the Mist newsletter of VVA-391 and the $200 sponsor will also get s three-foot by six-foot banner to be carried in the parade which will say, "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans" and have the sponsor's name on the banner. These sponsors will also be able to have the banner before the event to display at their place of business or wherever they desire. "There are a few other things we're planning, but nothing has been solidified yet. We think this will not only be something we've waited nearly 40 years for, but it will bring a lot of people to Sonora and thus boost the economy a bit," Eldridge added.

VVA-391 was named Chapter of the Year by the California VVA State Council and is the largest chapter in the state. They are #9 in the nation out of 655 and are fast approaching #8. "This parade will be an example to the other states to also ratify Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day," said Eldridge.

A poster has been designed by Eldridge send it's being distributed throughout the state and work is being accomplished to distribute it over the Internet and VVA National through its Veteran magazine.

For more information, contact:
George L. Eldridge
Public Affairs Liaison
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter 391 Tuolumne County, Caifornia
(209) 984-1378
George@Eldridge.net

Sent by Alfred Lugo
alfredo.lugo@verizon.net
2009 U.S. Hispanic Service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HONRA A NUESTRO CAIDOS: HONORING OUR FALLEN

Please visit the Washington Post web site at:  http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/ to view by state.
For photos and obituaries. List complied by Rafael Ojeda email: rsnojeda@aol.com 
2009 (44)  (Please see Somos Primos Archive for FEB 09 for the other 567 names)
 
1. JAN  9, 2009  Joseph M Hernandez  Army SPC  24 (years old)
Hammond, IN                                      Zabul Prov. Afghanistan.
(First enlisted buried at Arlington under JAN 1,2009 Rule).

2. JAN 18, 2009  Roberto Andrade, Jr  Army SPC  26
Chicago, IL                            Baghdad, Iraq
   
3. JAN 31, 2009  Darrell L. Fernandez  Army SPC  25
Truth or Consequences, NM             Kirkuk, Iraq

(None in FEB, Thanks to God).
 
4. MAR 3, 2009  Jessica Y. Sarandrea  Army PFC  22
Miami, FL                                Mosal, Iraq

5. MAR 15, 2009  Christopher P. Abeyta  Army  SGT  23
Midlothian, IL                              Kut, Afghanistan

6.   MAR  20, 2009  Jose Refugio Escobedo, Jr   Army  SSGT  32
Albuquerque, NM                               Baghdad, Iraq

7.   MAR  31, 2009  Nelson M. Lantiaga  Marine 1st Cpl  20
Miami, FL  (Born in Santiago, Dominican Rep.)   Anbar Prov. Iraq

8. APR 5, 2009  Israel Candelaria-Mesias  Army  SPC  28
San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico (PR)               Baghdad, Iraq

9.  APR 10, 2009  Christopher D. Loza  Army   SGT        24
Abiline, TX                Radqaniya, Iraq  (Died at Walter Reed, DC)

10.  APR 12, 2009  Michael J. Anaya  Army  SPC  23
Crestview, TX                      Bayti, Iraq

11.  APR 13, 2009   Raul L. Moncada   Army SGT  29
Madera (Ronchos), CA               Baghdad, Iraq

12.  APR 14, 2009   Francisco X. Aguila   Army  CPL   35
 Bayamon, Puerto Rico                     Kabul, Afghanistan

13. MAY 11, 2009   Christin  E. Bueno-Galdos  Army  SGT  25
Paterson, NJ (Born in Arrequida, Peru)   Camp Liberty, Baghdad, Iraq
(He was one of the five killed at the Mental Health Clinic)

14.  MAY 15, 2009   Esau I. De La Pena-Hernandez   Army  SSGT  25
La Puente, CA                                               Shank, Afghanistan

15. MAY 31, 2009  Matthew G. Reza  Marine  LCPL  27
Austin, TX                                       Khandahar, Afghanistan

16. JUN 2, 2009  Roberto A. Hernandez  Army  SPC  21
Far Rockaway, NY                                Paktya, Afghanistan

17.  JUN 9, 2009   Eduardo (Lalo)  S. Silva  Army  SPC   25
Greenfield, (Salinas), CA                   Bagram, Iraq

18.  JUN 15, 2009   Joshua W. Soto  Army  SGT   25
San Angelo, TX     (Avenal, CA)         Samawah, Iraq
  
19.  JUN 21, 2009  Rodrigo A. Munguia-Rivas   Army  SPC  27
Germantown, MD  (From El Salvador)    Bagram, Afghanistan

20. JUN 29,2009  Juan C. Baldero-Singh  Army  SGT  30
Newport (Hempstead), NC  (From Santo Dominica Rep)  Baghdad, Iraq

21.   JUL 4, 2009  Justin A. Casillas  Army  PFC   19
Dunnigan, CA                              Zerok, Afghanistan

22.   JUL 11, 2009  Pedro A. Barboza-Flores   Marine  LCPL  27
Glendale, CA                                    Helmand Riou, Afghanistan

23. JUL 19, 2009  Brandon T. Lara  Marine  CPL  20
New Braunfels, TX                      Alanbar, Iraq

24. JUL 21, 2009  Raymundo P. Morales  Army  SGT  34
Dalton, Georgia                        Metharlam, Afghanistan
  
25.  JUL 24, 2009   Heberth A.  Berrios-Campos   Army  SPC  21
Bealeton, VA                                    Salman Pak, Iraq

26.  AUG 2, 2009  Alejandro Granado  III  Army  SFC  42
Longview, TX  (Tatum) (Cuidad Acuna, MX)  Qole Gerdsar, Afghanistan

27.  AUG 5, 2009   Anthony C. Garcia  Navy  PO3C  21
Panama City, FL                                         Farah  Prov, Afghanistan

28. AUG 7, 2009  Chistian A. Guzman-Rivera  Marine  CPL  21
Homestead, FL                                            Farah  Prov.  Afghanistan

 29.  AUG 8, 2009   Javier Olvera   Marine LCPL  20
 Palmdale, CA                           Helmand, Afghanistan

30.  SEP 3, 2009   Christopher S.  Baltazar,  Jr  Marine   LCPL  19
San Antonio, TX                                Kandarhar, Afghanistan

31.  OCT 1, 2009   Roberto D. Sanchez  Army  SGT   24
Satellite, FL                                        Kamdesh, Afghanistan

32. OCT 3, 2009  Justin T. Gallegos  Army  SGT  27
Tucson, AZ                                     Kamdesh, Afghanistan

33.  OCT 10, 2009   Alfonso Ochoa, Jr   Marine  LCPL  20
 Armona, CA                                    Farah Prov. Afghanistan

34.  OCT 15, 2009   Jesus O. Flores   Army  SPC  28
La Mirada, CA                             Kandahar, Afghanistan

35. OCT 18, 2009  Daniel J. Rivera  Army PFC  22
Rochester, NY                               Mosul, Iraq

36. OCT 19, 2009  Bradley Espinoza  Army  SSGT  26
Mission, TX                                            Q-West, Iraq

37. OCT 26, 2009  Josue E. Hernandez-Chavez  Army  SGT  23
Reno, NV                                        Darreh-ye Bum, Afghanistan

38. OCT 27, 2009  Fernando De La Rosa  Army  SGT  24
Alamo, TX                                     Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan
(Ft Lewis,WA  5th Stryker Brigade)

39.  OCT 27, 2009   Luis M. Gonzalez   Army  SSGT     27
South Ozone Park, NY                    Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan
(Ft Lewis, WA  5th Stryker Brigade)

40.   OCT 28, 2009   Joseph L. Gallegos   Army  National Guard  39
              Questa, NM                                                              Tallil, Iraq

41.  OCT 29, 2009   Adrian L. Avila   Army  National Guard  SPEC  19
              Opelika, Al                                                Khabari Crossing, Kuwait

42. OCT 31, 2009  Cesar B Ruiz  Marine  SGT  26
San Antonio, TX                                     Helmand Prov  Afghanistan

43. NOV 4, 2009  Tony Carrasci  Army  SPC  25
Berino, NM   (El Paso,TX)                 Ad Dawr, Iraq

44. DEC 25, 2009  David  H. Guiterrez  Army  SSGT  35
San Francisco, CA                           Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan
(FT Lewis, WA  5th Stryker Brigade)          
 
NOTE: By the end of 2009   5,293 Americans had died. 
In 2009 458 died, of which 44 were Hispanics.


The Honor Roll of Fallen Hispanics since 2001, Global War on Terrorism. |
This list is complied from The Department of Defense, The Military Times 
(Army, Navy and Air Force),  the Iraq War Heroes, Military City and the Washington Post web sites. 
(Copyright materials to be use only for personal non commercial use.)
Credits: http://www.defenselink.mil/casualty.pdf      
              http://www.iraqwarheroes.com 
              http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html 
              http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen  (Faces of the fallen.)
Page 4 of 4    Complied by Rafael Ojeda, USAF Viet Nam Retiree Tacoma,WA 
(Member of WA State Governor Veterans Advisory Committee and WA State
Commander of the American G.I. Forum  (AGIF).

May God Bless and comfort all the families of our Fallen Heroes.
Sent by Rafael Ojeda RSNOJEDA@aol.com 
 

 

 

Ed Butler, SAR National President General interviewed on KTSA
Myths of the American Revolution, Smithsonian, January 2010
Letter to Carey Winfrey from Jack Cowan
Poem by Philip Freneau  
Lest We Forget the Chausseurs Voilontaries
Yo Solo, Asociación Cultural Bernardo de Gálvez y Gallardo, Conde de Gálvez

  On December 29th, Hon. Edward Butler, National President General 2009-2010 for the Sons of the American Revolution was interviewed on KTSA. The entire hour was dedicated to SAR. The broadcast was live on KTSA550AM, but streaming world-wide on www.ktsa.com.   

"Many Spanish soldiers were directly involved  as combatants in the American Revolution.  In fact the list of Spanish patriots extends beyond the military personnel of Spain.  Ranchers, vaqueros, Franciscan preists, members of the militia, privateers, Canary Islanders and American Indians living in tha part of New Spain now known as Texas all contributed  to the victory of the American colonists against the English crown. " The SAR Magazine, Summer 2009, Vol. 104, No.1 pg. 20 
Editor: The January issue of the Smithsonian published  an article, Myths of the American Revolution. Hopefully, after viewing the article and reading my response and that of Jack Cowan, founder of the Texas Connection to the American, you too will send an email comment to the Smithsonian.  

Carey Winfrey
Smithsonian Magazine
LettersEd@si.edu
 

OR
Letters, Smithsonian
The Editorial Offices
MRC 513, P.O. Box 20013
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
202-633-6090


Myths of the American Revolution, Smithsonian January 2010

The Smithsonian published an article, Myths of the American Revolution in their latest issue, January 2010, (available online).  The author John Ferling managed to make all kinds of assumptions about the American Revolution, but at NO time was there any mention of the Spanish support.  There has been considerable criticism.
 
 

Editor: Carey Winfrey
LettersEd@si.edu 
Regarding: Myths of the American Revolution
Smithsonian, January 2010, pg. 48-55
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Myths-of-the-American-Revolution.html 


Dear Editor Winfrey:

Let me suggest that the biggest Myth of the American Revolution is that the Spanish forces were not involved. Ferling's complete lack of Spanish inclusion is shocking.

Proclamations by our President during Hispanic Heritage Months acknowledge what historian John Ferling could not even whisper. 

"Hispanics have served with honor and distinction in every conflict since the Revolutionary War, and they have made invaluable contributions through their service to our country." Pres. Barak Obama Oct 15, 2009

"These proud patriots have fought in every war since our founding, and many have earned the Medal of Honor for their courage." Pres. George Bush, Sept 12, 2008

"Citizens of Hispanic descent have fought in every war since our founding and have taken their rightful place as heroes in our Nation’s history." Pres. George Bush, Sept 14, 2007

"Hispanic Americans have sacrificed in defense of this Nation's freedom, serving in every major American conflict." George W. Bush, Sept 17, 2003

"The Continental Army benefited from the valor of Bernardo de Galvez, who led his frequently outnumbered troops to numerous victories against the British." 
George W. Bush, Sept 28, 2001

If Ferling wondered how the South was not lost to the British, he should look at how the Spanish drove the British out of the Gulf of Mexico, blocking their access to New Orleans and the Mississippi River. Under Spanish General Bernardo Galvez, the Spanish forces captured the British fort of St. Joseph in present-day Niles, Michigan. Then they took Mobile and Pensacola, the capital of the British colony of West Florida. That was why the South was not lost to the British.

I certainly believe that you owe your readers the opportunity of broadening their historical knowledge to include what our Presidents acknowledge, the Spanish were integral to the success of the American Revolution. 

Respectfully 
Mimi Lozano, President/Editor
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research
www.SomosPrimos.com


Letter to Carey Winfrey from Jack Cowan

Editor: Carey Winfrey
Regarding: Myths of the American Revolution
Smithsonian, January 2010, pg. 48-55
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Myths-of-the-American-Revolution.html
 
Dear Editor Winfrey:

In front of the State Department in Washington, DC is a statue of an American Revolutionary War Hero who defeated the British from New Orleans to the Ohio River, and conquered the British Forts at Mobile and Pensacola insuring a life line of supply to Washington’s army. 

                              

He was able to do this remarkable feat because he had an unlimited supply of Texas longhorn cattle which were trail driven from San Antonio to Louisiana. Later he was poised to attack the British at Jamaica when he received a cry for help from General Washington for money and ships to assist in the battle of Yorktown. He answered that call with both, dispatching Admiral Paul de Grasse, who was attached to his army for the invasion of Jamaica, and 4,000,000 reales (500,000 pesos) to Yorktown effectively canceling the invasion of Jamaica in favor of the Yorktown engagement.

 
              

Grasse himself later wrote that the victory at Yorktown on 19 October 1781 happened because of the money supplied by Havana. That money, he wrote, might in truth be regarded as “the bottom dollars” upon which the edifice of American independence was raised.” (Quoted in Stephen Bonsal ,  When the French Were Here) – taken from Thomas Chavez, Spain And The Independence Of The United States.

               

That famous American Revolutionary War Hero was Spanish General Bernardo de Galvez. The question thus begs, why would such a man and Spain be left out of any history of the American Revolution?  To do so is not only disrespectful, but un-American.

 

LTC Jack Cowan

USA (Ret)

Past President, Sons of the American Revolution – San Antonio Chapter

Governor, Granaderos de Galvez – Founding Chapter

Founder, Texas Connection to the American Revolution Association

Poem by Philip Freneau  

 
Dear Dr Hough,
Since including a story outline on the cricket buckle in Somos Primos with Mimi's help in June 2006, the research has continued and considerable new pieces of information have been uncovered. Particularly, I thought you would be interested in a poem penned by a Mr Freneau a one time 'poet of the Revolution' who was a protégé of the third President and author of the Declaration, no less. It is fascinating that so much uncovered by the Buckle Research Program seemingly news to the British Command was in fact known to a close friend of Mr Jefferson and one must presume to the first two Presidents and Dr Franklin too! It turned up on the City University New York Website when I was surfing around for more on George Johnstone, Commodore and one-time Governor of a bit of Florida. I have linked through to Professor Andrew O'Shaughnessy at University of Virginia, who also connects to the Jefferson Institute at Monticello and is very expert on the toeing and froeing of Admiral George Rodney in the West Indies and elsewhere. The CUNY transcript is attached and I hope will entertain you. Very best regards and a happy Christmas and as always thanks. Clive Williams.
 
Granville added  . . this: What I have in my draft of those associated with the maritime effort during the Revolutionary Was is the following:

*Philip Freneau (2 Jan 1752 NY - 19 Dec 1832 Freehold, Monmouth Co, NJ). RM6:237, VirginI:18, 1776-77 resident of St Croix, Virgin Islands, West Indies. H:237, Dandridge:206, 227, poet and shipowner, captured and taken to New York prison ship Scorpion in 1780, later published Poems of Philip Freneau. PierceNJ:185, widow Eleanor Freneau stated she had lived in Freehold, NJ, for 8 years , and that Philip had been a pvt in Rev. in Col Holmes’s Regiment. She appointed attorney Joseph F. Randolph to collect Philip’s arrears in pension pay, which he did 6 Sep 1833. Fowler:126. Morison 317-318.
May we all achieve new insights and understanding in 2010! 
Granville

Philip Freneau

Already well known as a poet, satirist and journalist, Philip Freneau, of New Jersey, was encouraged by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to publish and edit the National Gazette (1791-1793) in Philadelphia. This publication gave voice to Jeffersonian-Democratic-Republican views, largely to counterbalance the Hamiltonian Federalist tone of John Fenno’s Gazette of the United States. Freneau is often called the “Poet of the American Revolution”.

 

                                                      _____________

 

                                                         A SPEECH

                    That should have been spoken by the King of the Island of Britain                                                       To his Parliament

 

 

My lords, I can hardly from weeping refrain

When I think of this year, and its cursed campaign:

But still it is folly to whine and grieve,

For things will yet alter, I hope and believe.

 

Of the four Southern States we again are bereaved,

They are just in our grasp (or I’m sadly deceiv’d);

There are wizzards (sic) and witches that dwell in those lands

For the moment we gain them, they slip our hands.

 

Our prospects at present most gloomy appear

Cornwallis returns with a flea in his ear,

Sir Henry is sick of his station, we know -

And Amherst, though pres’d, is unwilling to go.

 

The HERO that steer’d the Cape of Good Hope

With Monsieur Suffrein was unable to cope -

Many months are elaps’d, yet his talk is to do-

To conquer the Cape, to conquer Peru.

 

When his squadron at Portsmouth he went to equip

He promis’d great things from his FIFTY GUN SHIP;

But let him alone - while he knows which is which,

He’ll not be ready to “die in a ditch”.

 

This session, I thought to have told you this much;

“ a treaty concluded, and peace with the Dutch,”

But, as stubborn as ever, they vapour and brag,

And sail by my nose with the Prussian flag.

 

The empress refuses to join on our side

And yet with the Indians we’re only ally’d;

(Though such an alliance is rather improper,

We English are white, but their colour is copper).

 

The Irish, I fear, have some mischief in view;

They ever have been a most troublesome crew -

If a truce or a treaty hereafter be made,

They shall pay very dear for their present free trade.

 

Dame Fortune, I think, has our standard forsaken;

For Tobago, they say, by Frenchmen is taken;

Minorca’s besieged - and as for Gibraltar,

By Jove, if it’s taken, I’ll take to the halter.

 

It makes me so wroth,I could scold like a Xantippe

When I think of our losses along Mississippi -

And see in the Indies that horrible Hyder

His conquests extending still wider, and wider.

 

‘Twixt Washington, Hyder, Don Gavez, De Grasse,    **

By my soul we are brought to a very fine pass -

When we’ve reason to hope new battles are won

A packet arrives - and an army’s undone!

 

In the midst of this scene of dismay and distress

What is best to be done, is not easy to guess,

For things may go wrong though we plan them aright,

And blows they must look for, whose trade is to fight.

 

In regard to the Rebels, it is my decree

That dependent on Britain they ever shall be;

Or I’ve Captains and hosts, that will fly at my nod

And slaughter them all - by the blessing of God.

 

But if they succeed, as they’re likely to do,

Our neighbours must part with their colonies too;

Let them laugh and be merry, and make us their jest

When La Plata revolts, we will laugh with the rest.

 

‘Tis true that the journey to castle St.Juan

Was a project that brought the projectors to ruin;

But still, my dear lords,  I would have you reflect

Who nothing do venture can nothing expect.

 

If the Commons agree to afford me new treasures,

My  sentence once more is for vigorous measures:

Accustom’d so long to head winds and bad weather,

Let us conquer or go to the devil together.     [1782]  

 **  Bernardo de Galvez ?

 

The Source Book for the above was:

 

“Poems written between the years 1768 and 1794 by Philip Freneau, of New Jersey, a New Edition, revised and Corrected by the Author; including a considerable number of Pieces never before Published.

Monmouth New Jersey Printed at the Press of the Author 1795

And, of American Independence XIX.

 

It was entered in a file of the  City University of New York  (CUNY)

Which was posted August 3rd., 2006  


LEST WE FORGET THE CHAUSSEURS VOILONTARIES
In this time of great turmoil and disaster for the Haitian people, it is well for us to remember how they once fought to bring freedom to America:
 
The Siege of Savannah was the last effort of Count (and French General) Charles Hector d’Estaing to gain some glory in America’s Revolution against England. His lack of success there may be one reason this siege is seldom mentioned. The British defenders had sunk ships to block any entrance to the harbor, forcing d’Estaing’s soldiers to attack over open ground well covered by cannon fire from the defending forts. The Siege lasted from 23 Sep 1779 until 8 Oct 1779. The protecting palisades of the forts were made of palmetto logs, which absorbed French cannon fire like a sponge. The French attacked over and over with everything they had, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and sappers, all to no avail. The carnage for the attackers was great with over 1000 casualties, but the attack continued until Count d’Estaing was so severely wounded he could not longer command.

The French then had to retreat under British counterattack. The Chasseurs Voilontaries, the unit designated to cover the withdrawal, did so with discipline and bravery, making it possible for the French to recover most of their wounded and get back to the safety of their ships. This legion of 800 free blacks and mulattos from Saint Domingue (Haiti) had been formed by Viscount de Fontanges, who commanded it at Savannah. Among these soldiers were five men who later became Haitian generals: Beauregard, Beauvais, Lambert, Andre Rigaud and Villatte. One soldier, wounded during the retreat, Henri Christophe, was later King of Haiti. These 800 soldiers are well-remembered as leaders of Haiti when it broke away from France. It is probable, after six to eight generations, that these soldiers have 80,000 descendants in Haiti, other parts of the West Indies, and in the United States. By virtue of their bravery under the French flag at Savannah, fighting for the freedom of America, these 800 soldiers qualified their descendants to join the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution. We were never able to find a listing of the soldiers. I am quite sure that such a listing would be among the French Archives for that period. 

Granville W. Hough, Ph.D.
En recuerdo y homenaje a tan extraordinaria figura se constituye en Málaga el día 1º de mayo del año dos mil ocho y con la denominación de ASOCIACIÓN CULTURAL BERNARDO DE GÁLVEZ Y GALLARDO, CONDE DE GÁLVEZ, una organización de naturaleza asociativa y sin ánimo de lucro, al amparo de lo dispuesto en el artículo 22 de la Constitución Española, la Ley Orgánica 1/2002, de 22 de marzo, reguladora del derecho de Asociación, el Decreto 152/2002, de 21 de mayo, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de Organización y funcionamiento del Registro de Asociaciones de Andalucía y demás disposiciones vigentes dictadas en desarrollo y aplicación de aquella, así como las disposiciones normativas concordantes. Está por tanto inscrita en el Registro de Asociaciones de la Consejería de Justicia de la Junta de Andalucía y también en el Registro Municipal de Asociaciones del Ayuntamiento de Málaga.

Los fines de esta Asociación son la investigación, el estudio y la difusión  de cualquier manifestación histórica relativa a la figura de la que toma su nombre, así como de su época, y también de la trascendencia que tuvo su destacada intervención en los campos de la milicia, la política y las cuestiones sociales, con el objetivo de recuperar la egregia memoria de Bernardo de Gálvez y transmitirla a las generaciones actuales y venideras.

JUNTA DIRECTIVA DE LA ASOCIACIÓN

Presidente: D. Miguel Ángel Gálvez Toro
Vicepresidente: D. Manuel Olmedo Checa
   

m.olmedo@realacademiasantelmo.org

Secretaria: Dª. Araceli González Rodríguez
Tesorero: D. Francisco Cabrera Pablos
Vocal: Dª. María Dolores Casermeiro
Vocal: Dª. Mirentxu de Haya Gálvez
Vocal: D. Rafael Illa Peche
Vocal: D. Antonio Pedraza Alba
Vocal: D. Manuel Pérez Villanúa
Vocal: D. Siro Villas Tinoco

www.yosolo.org
http://www.asociacionbernardodegalvez.es/index.php 

 


SURNAMES

Sernas of France
Historia del Apellido Borrego

 

The Sernas of France – Pied Noirs…!

By Louis F. Serna,  
sernabook@comcast.net
  (505) 291-0261
Albuquerque, New Mexico

In 2005, I was producing a newsletter that I titled, “The Sernas of New Mexico NEWSLETTER.”  I started the newsletter a few years earlier, as a way to share Serna family history that I had accumulated over many years of research. The newsletter grew exponentially over a short time and I received mail and email from Sernas around the country and from far off places like Argentina , Mexico , Cuba , Spain , the Ukraine , France , and other placess, both asking for information and sharing information from Sernas.   

On June 21, 2005, I received an email from Sophie Serna – Chaume from France , in which she stated that she was pleased to know that there were other Sernas “out there.”  She said that her grandparents had lived in Algeria , and that their ancestors came from Spain , and she thought, Cordoba , Spain . They came from a place where many of the villagers were Sernas. They were cultivators of olive trees. Sophie stated that presently, they lived in the south of France . She visited my website where I have posted a large genealogy of us Sernas, and she was glad to see that.  

On June 29th, Sophie wrote again, this time in Spanish, and stated that although she does speak and write Spanish, the family communicates mostly in French since they live in France . She said her grandparents spoke Spanish fluently, as they were second generation Spanish who had lived in Algeria . She said that her great-grand-parents had migrated to Oran at the beginning of the 20th century from Spain . Oral history in her family is that the great-grandparents had married and immediately left Spain , across the Mediterranean on a boat bound for Oran . At that time, Algeria had been under the control of France for some fifty years and they gave the Sernas citizenship as they were in need of farmers. In 1962, after the Algerian war, Sophie’s entire family relocated to Paris , France where they are now French citizens. Today, Sophie lives with her family at Montpellier , which is about 100 km from Marseille. (Sophie is now 41 years of age.) I responded to Sophie’s letter in Spanish and we continued the correspondence.  

Pictured, are left to right; Delphine, Sophie, and Agnes Serna of France .  On June 30th, Sophie responded that she was very pleased to be in touch with such a distant cousin, both in distance and relationship. She promised to send me more information on her family, as I expressed an interest in wanting to know more about them. She said that her father, Pierre Serna, is 67 years of age and her mother is 63. She has two sisters, Agnes who is 40, and Delphine who is 36. Sophie has a daughter, Sabine, age 13. Her grandparents were Francois Serna and Concepcion Moreno. Francois was named to honor the Frenchman who gave citizenship to his father, Sophie’s great-grandfather, back when they were in need of help.  

I responded to Sophie’s letter and sent her a copy of an article that I had prepared for my Newsletter in which I presented the story of Jacques Lucien Serna, and his family’s migration from Spain to Oran, and then to France, just as her family had done years earlier. I thought she might like to know about another family like hers. I explained to her that I was planning a book in which I would like to include the correspondence I have had with other Sernas, and would like to include her family’s story as well. She graciously approved and said she would send me some photos soon. She said she had discussed our exchanges with her sisters, and they too were interested. She hoped to get some more family history from her aunt.  

Jacques Lucien Serna of France, another “Serna of the world” and descendant of “Pied-Noirs”  

In an email in August 2005, Sophie shared some more of her family’s history with me. Her Serna ancestors had been what is referred to in France as, “Pied – Noirs”, or, French citizens who lived in Algeria . She said her family had been “expelled” from Oran , Algeria in July of 1962, along with many other families in a government “shake-up” of that time. They retained their French nationality as Sophie’s father had fought for France in the war. In 1962, France was obliged to welcome thousands of “Pied-Noirs” from Oran in a “re-patriation.”

 

To better understand the difficulty of the “Pied Noirs” of France , which included the family of Sophie Chaume-Serna, Jacques Serna, and so many others, one has to know a little more about that exodus of the people from Oran , Algeria to France .

 

The Pied – Noirs
( In part, from Wikipedia on the internet)
 

Pied-noir is a term that was used in the 1960’s, perhaps irreverently. At the time it was “coined”, to identify those people of various European nationalities, including Spanish, who migrated to Oran in the 1800’s, and then later immigrated into France from Algeria . Pied-Noir, in French, means “black foot”. The term was used at that time, to supposedly identify those people coming from Oran , because they all wore black shoes and most of the time, with no stockings. The black die of the shoes left a very noticeable black “ring” around the foot of the wearer, as well as all over the foot… thus Pied Noirs or “black feet”! 

These "PIed Noirs" could very well be relatives of any other Hispanic family from the "New World"... Surely there were other Spanish people who went to Oran from Spain in that time period, and then to France like these Sernas did.  

About 1830, Europeans, including Spanish and Jews, began to immigrate to Oran , and other areas of Algeria , partly because of problems in their own countries, and partly because Algeria was welcoming farmers and others into their country, to help their economy grow. Some of those immigrants came from Lubrin in Almeria, Spain, in the region known as Andalucia.

Map of Andalucia , Spain .

 Soon there was a large population of these Europeans in Oran , totaling perhaps one million people. In some areas of Algeria , such as the region of Bone, the population was almost entirely Pied-noir. Most were attracted to the rich agricultural region around Oran , and the possibility of a better life.

 

Map of Oran , Algeria

 When Charles de Gaulle sanctioned the independence of Algeria in the early 1960’s, many Pied-noirs knew they would lose their life’s work, property, and belongings to Algerians and they felt betrayed. Some fought a limited civil war against the government in the 1960’s. In just a few months, in 1962, 900,000 Europeans and Jews were forced to leave the country, bound for France . The French government had not planned for such a huge number of people entering France , so many had to survive on the streets or abandoned farms and elsewhere. Regrettably, most of the Europeans leaving Algeria had to abandon their entire belongings there. Many chose to destroy them in anger and despair! Some drove to the docks and there set their cars ablaze in contempt and disgust! The scene of thousands of people waiting on the docks for space on a boat was common from April to August of 1962. Generally, everyone knew they would never return to what had been their homes in Algeria . Cities like Oran , Bone, and Sidi-Bel-Abbes were left half-empty, creating economic depression for those who remained. City administration, police, schools, and commerce stopped in just a matter of three months. Of the 100,000 or so who chose to remain in Algeria , most left from the 1960’s to the 1970’s. By 1980 there were only some two thousand Pied-Noirs left in Algeria .  

 

Pictured is what is referred to as,

“Old Oran ”.

 

When the French left Algeria , they turned over control of administrative records to the Algerians. This created a huge problem for those who had left, as their birth, marriage, and other records, which they needed, to prove that they were French, were now unavailable! Finally, in the 1970’s, the French government sent a mission to Algeria to copy documents needed by those now in France . Some never did recover their papers.

 

If France , the Pied-noirs felt out-of-place and rejected by the local citizens. In Marseilles throughout 1962, there was outward aggression against them. Political changes soon led to an economic boom during the 60’s and the Pied-noirs began to assimilate into their new homes.  

Sophie’s grandfather lost everything he had worked so hard for in Oran , but he built a new life in Paris . Some of Sophie’s uncles went to the south of France , as did her husband’s family. Sophie’s father met her mother in Paris , and married. When Sophie was15 years of age, the family moved to Montpellier in the south of France .  

In recent times, the French government has acknowledged the difficulties suffered by the Pied-noirs, and has organized ceremonies to commemorate their tragedy. Some Pied-Noirs have even begun to receive compensation from the government for their losses in Algeria , but it will never be enough to equal their actual losses. Sadly, it is rumored that many Pied-noirs choose cremation after their deaths, and that their ashes be strewn on the Mediterranean Sea, near Algeria , in hope that the currents will take their “spirits” back to Algeria !  

Among those families who through their hard work, have prospered in France, the term Pied-Noir has become a sort of symbol of allegiance and pride for a time when they were forced into ruin, only to recover and become solid citizens again. A common "gesture” for them, is to use the old numbers, 91, 92, and 93 on their vehicle license plates. These were the code numbers used by the French, to identify the three old “departements” of Algeria . Other Pied-Noirs still carry old driver licenses, with the stamp of one of the former departements of French Algeria, although those departments no longer exist.  Perhaps, final fond memories of a time past.!  

I received an email on August 7th, in which Sophie stated that some of the “Pied-Noirs” mentioned earlier, had left Algeria after the World War II when problems began to develop in the country. At the time, her family became very poor in view of the war, and couldn’t afford to leave Oran . Her grandparents had seven children at the time, and things were quite bad. Although Francois decided that he should go to France , instead, he was forced to go fight in the war. After the war, many Pied-Noirs left Algeria to go to the south of France and some wanted to return to Spain .  

Flag of the Pied Noirs – commemorating their history of the “Black shoes”.

 

(Flag courtesy of Marc Pasquin)

 

 

I thank Sofie for providing us with this glimpse into a side of Spanish history and extended families that we hardly know about. Just another instance of how Sernas and others have found a way to overcome their adversities in this and other parts of the world, over years and centuries.  

 

 

Pictured above is a group of Pied Noir pilgrims from the French Diocese of Frejus – Toulon , visiting Rome and the Vatican on November 1, 2007. (Note the Pied Noir Flag..!)  

(Picture is courtesy of Ivan Sache and Marc Pasquin, 13 August 2008 – CRWflags.com)

Louis F. Serna
Visit me at www.CimarronPublishing.net 
Visit our Family Calender at http://2010sernafamilycalender.shutterfly.com/ 


Historia del Apellido Borrego

UN TEJIDO FAMILIAR EN LA VIDA PÚBLICA DE COAHUILA
http://borregofam.com/historia/
Miguel Ángel Muñoz Borrego

Julio 21de 2009
Introducción

Agradezco a las instituciones convocantes la invitación a participar en estas Jornadas Culturales 2009. Así mismo a mis amigos y compañeros del Archivo General del Estado que me apoyaron en la elaboración de este breve ensayo; Lucas Martínez Sánchez, Celia Molina Ancona, Linda Rosa Castillo André-Engstrom, Beatriz Ramírez Rendón y José Luis Reyes Meza, así como a Ricardo Elizondo de San José, California, USA.

Quiero hacer una mención especial de agradecimiento a quienes me precedieron en la investigación de esta familia y cuyas líneas muy generales de investigación he seguido, me refiero al Dr. Stanley M. Hordes, a Richard Salazar y a Robert D. Martinez del Sephardic Legacy Project of New Mexico y a mi estimado familiar y amigo don José Antonio Esquibel cuya esplendida publicación “Sanchez de la Barrera, The History and Genealogy of a Northern Frontier Family”, publicada en Wheat Ridge, Colorado, USA, en 2005 es un hito en las publicaciones especializadas en historia familiar acerca de la actual frontera noreste entre México y Estados Unidos.

Es necesario decir, que en la década de 1990, en Nuevo México, se hacia investigación de las familias de dicha región involucrando a algunas de ellas como sefarditas, de ahí el nombre del proyecto de Hordes, Salazar y Martínez. Sin embargo en mi investigación personal en archivos públicos estatales y municipales, mexicanos y norteamericanos, así como numerosos archivos parroquiales de nuestro país, no encontré rastro alguno documental que pudiese ni siquiera suponer que estas familias fueron sefarditas.

Propósito


Esta descripción genealógica con un enfoque de historia familiar pretende describir los lazos familiares que tienen algunos destacados personajes de la vida pública de Coahuila en el siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX: el general Porfirio Cadena Riojas, el general Jesús González Herrera, don Juan de la Cruz Borrego, el general Santiago Vidaurri Valdés, gobernador de Nuevo León y Coahuila, su esposa, doña Juanita Vidaurri Borrego y Borrego, don José Marcial Pablo Basques Borrego Flores, don José Francisco Vidaurri y Villaseñor, ambos gobernadores de Coahuila y Texas y don Macario Basques Borrego Alvarado, terrateniente, ganadero y miembro de la Junta Gubernativa de Coahuila en el periodo del gobernador don Antonio Cordero.

Ciertamente cada uno de ellos se merece mucho mas que los breves párrafos que aquí se les destinan, pero el interés es destacar precisamente las relaciones familiares que existen entre ellos e identificar claramente el valor de la familia en la vida pública de nuestro estado y sus vínculos con el siglo XVIII, más allá del movimiento de independencia, asunto –el de las relaciones familiares- que ya trató de modo ejemplar el Dr. Luis González y González en su libro “La ronda de las generaciones”, en relación no a nuestro estado, sino a todo el país, publicado a principios del último tercio del siglo pasado.


Antecedentes


La inmigración de peninsulares en el siglo XVII a nuestro país tiene notas distintivas a las del siglo anterior. Una de ellas que me interesa destacar es su perfil de pobladores y emprendedores.

La familia que se describe en este brevísimo ensayo tiene su origen en don Diego Basques Borrego quien llega, de Antequera en Andalucía, España, un poco antes de 1674, contrae matrimonio con doña Isabel Rodríguez Ruiz de Olliver, forman una familia y se instalan en Zacatecas. Don Juan Basques Borrego Rodríguez es su primero y quizá único hijo pues muy pronto muere la Sra. Rodríguez Ruiz de Olliver. Este hijo tendrá su descendencia en la Nueva Galicia, especialmente en esa parte que hoy llamamos Zacatecas..

Don Diego inicia en esa época, la década de 1680, los trámites para comprar una escribanía pública puesta en subasta por la autoridad. Lo consigue y recibe su nombramiento, como escribano público de la ciudad de Zacatecas, en 1690.

Sin embargo, antes de 1688 casa con doña Isabel de Figueroa, dama zacatecana con quien procrea a Diego, José y Rosa Basques Borrego Figueroa.

Ya instalado, escribano público y con una familia integrada y propiedades en Zacatecas, Jerez y Valparaíso, los hijos varones del segundo matrimonio, don Diego y don José optan por la milicia, se casan, forman una familia y salen de Zacatecas; don Diego rumbo a Nuevo México y don José a la Nueva Vizcaya. Ambos pertenecen ahora al grupo de pobladores del septentrión novohispano en el siglo XVIII. Don Diego antepasado de los Borrego de Nuevo México y don José, de los Borrego y los Vidaurri del noreste mexicano y Texas.

Esta nueva generación de inmigrantes y pobladores emprendedores va configurando un perfil definido: el proyecto emprendedor, la construcción de su patrimonio y la familia como pilares de su desarrollo personal, base firme de su sueño: formar parte de los pobladores del norte magnético, el septentrión novohispano, Nueva Vizcaya, Nuevo México, Nueva Extremadura, Nuevo León, Nuevo Santander y Texas. El sueño de muchos jóvenes de la época, jóvenes con inteligencia y pasión. No ha todos fue concedido.

Hablemos del capitán José Basques Borrego Figueroa. Casa con doña Josefa Imperial, criolla nacida en Cicacalco, cerca de Tlaltenango de Sánchez Román, Zacatecas. Sus hijos nacen en Zacatecas, Jerez o en Valparaíso sitios donde don José tuvo propiedades. Quizá alguno nace en Cuencamé, Durango, pues los viajes entre Zacatecas y la Nueva Vizcaya eran frecuentes y su cercanía facilitaba el traslado; los intereses comerciales y sociales reforzaron ese contacto.

El primer dato que se tiene de la presencia de esta familia, en la Nueva Vizcaya, es cuando el matrimonio de uno de los hijos de don José en 1724 en Nazas, Durango bautiza a su hijo Valentín. Don Macario Basques Borrego Figueroa había casado un poco antes con doña María Rita de la Encarnación Rubio, perteneciente a una de las familias criollas más antiguas de Indé, Durango. Este matrimonio tiene su descendencia en la Nueva Vizcaya. Años más tarde, en el último tercio del siglo XVIII, don Valentín Basques Borrego Rubio aparece como propietario de minas en Mapimí, Durango.

Muy pronto, en 1731, con el auge de pobladores y las facilidades de la Corona Española para las nuevas haciendas y poblaciones en el norte mexicano, don José compra la Hacienda de San Juan de Casta, hoy en el municipio de Lerdo, Durango, en la población de León Guzmán, junto al Rio Nazas. En ese lugar estaba el casco de la hacienda, sin embargo su extensión era enorme.

Don Eduardo Guerra en su libro Historia de La Laguna, publicado por el ayuntamiento de Torreón en 1932, con ocasión del 25 aniversario de la ciudad, incluye en su libro las escrituras de dicha compra que encontró en el archivo de la Audiencia de Guadalajara y considera a don José Basques Borrego Figueroa el fundador de la agricultura en la región lagunera.

Poco después, don Macario, su hijo, compra la Hacienda del Rosario, situada en las faldas de la Sierra del mismo nombre que está entre Nazas y Mapimí, Durango. Instalan su residencia en el pueblo de Cinco Señores, hoy Nazas, Durango.

El capitán Basques Borrego y doña Josefa Imperial tienen cuatro hijos; Juan José, Macario, Fernando y Manuela.

Don Juan José casa con doña Francisca de la Riva y se asientan en Tamaulipas. Don Macario forma la familia Basques Borrego Rubio y permanece en Nazas, Durango, don Fernando permanece soltero y doña Manuela casa con don Antonio Vidaurri, probablemente en Nazas o Cuencamé, Durango, cerca de 1743.

Don José, en 1738, vende la hacienda de San Juan de Casta al Sr. Cura Rojas de la hacienda de Gogorrón en San Luis Potosí y se desplaza a Coahuila, acompañado por dos de sus hijos, don Fernando y doña Manuela con su esposo.

Al llegar a Coahuila, el capitán José Basques Borrego Figueroa adquiere las haciendas del Señor San José de las Encinas y de Nuestra Señora de San Juan del Río del Álamo. Ahí se traslada con sus 2 hijos y su yerno y será el lugar que desde 1741 hasta 1820 se identificará como las propiedades de la familia Basques Borrego junto con las propiedades adjudicadas a la familia en 1749-50 en Tamaulipas.

Llegaron a acumular aproximadamente 500,000 hectáreas dedicadas a la ganadería, sólo en el Estado de Coahuila. Habrá que sumar las enormes mercedes de tierra recibidas en 1750 en convenio con el gobernador Escandón entre el río Bravo y el río Nueces, lugar donde el capitán Basques Borrego y don Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera fundaron Laredo, entonces en Tamaulipas, hoy en Texas.

Don José, su hija Manuela y su yerno don Antonio Vidaurri, recibieron de la Corona, por instancia de Escandón, títulos de tierra por aproximadamente 300,000 hectáreas entre el río Bravo y el río Nueces, según la “New Guide to Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in South Texas” escrito y compilado por Galen Graser y publicado por Texas General Land Office en abril de 2009,

 


CUENTOS

Impressions by Esther Bonilla Read
Anonymous Success Story
Death By Margarita B. Velez

Esther Bonilla Read's Blog
Impressions

Sunday, November 15, 2009
http://believer-believe.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

Editor:  Esther writes with calm gentleness little gems on her philosophy of life. Have you left your children with a knowledge of who you are?

The teachers told us to get in the bus because they were taking us to meet someone important. We teenagers rode the bus to a nearby town. All of us shook hands with the U.S. Senator. When it came my turn to shake his hand, he looked above my head at someone else. I knew I was totally inconsequential to the politician. He had other important things to do.

My sister in law told me she, as a high school sophomore, was taken to the home of a college coed. “The way she treated me in her nice home, her smiles, her handshake, the graciousness of her manners, I shall never forget. She made me, an insignificant teenager, feel so important.”

It isn’t the fancy clothing. It’s not about the expensive watch. The fancy haircut from the most expensive salon in the city won’t do it for you either. And it isn’t about the beautiful car parked outside.

The part of you that people will remember the best, the element they will never forget, is the way you treated them. The manner in which you spoke to them, the effort expended in dealing with them whether at work, at a business, or in your home. The respect you displayed toward them in your speech and in your attitude toward them. That memory of you will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Anonymous Success Story

Hi Mimi:

When I was in Hi School I had an interest in writing but I never had the right counseling at school, and at home it was about the same. Mom was the one responsible for my finishing high school and a little beyond as my dad felt that women did not need it as they got married and had babies and did not need to work. 

That is the way it is supposed to be, but in today's real world, it is not always like that. All the young girls of the class of 54 were coming to San Antonio to business school and of course I wanted to be part of that world, however, my father had different ideas. My mother (sister to Tom's mom) interceded and I came to San Antonio to business school. There I met a girl from Sanderson Texas (who later became my roomrate) and she had started working for the City of San Antonio, Texas in the Building and Inspections Dept. She later encouraged me to apply with the CIty and I ended up working at the S.A. Police Dept. As a result of that step in my life, I ended up marrying a Police Officer, The marriage ended in divorce several years later. 

We have five children. It was a such a bumpy road that there are no words to describe it. I was without a job, as in those days you had to quit when you are expecting your first child. I left the Police Dept. and did not return until I knew I had to obtain a job for my own security. Six months after that, The marriage ended. It was that gut feeling that only a woman knows that its over. 

I made myself a promise that even though my children would suffer as there was no way to prevent that, I would not have they in low housing, etc. (he kept the house). etc. (long story).

With five kids and two jobs, I bought a house, and the children grew up and the oldest joined the navy and was stationed in San Diego, returned to San Antonio and joined the S.A. Police Dept. He married a R.N. 25 years ago on 12-23rd. The second oldest was already working for the City and transferred to the Police Dept. and became a police officer. The third son is a Deputy with the Sheriff's dept. 

I have two daughters the oldest joined the Sheriff's department as a deputy at the jail, and stayed there for several years, but is now employed at Santa Rosa Hospital. My youngest daughter goes to college and married with 4 children to a S.A Police Officer. She is also employed part time for a tire wholesale distributor.

Mimi, in 1941, when the war broke out I was only 6 years old and have many memories of that time, and we were also facing a very hard economic era. Everything was rationed. We never suffered for want of anything as my father was a very smart and witty man provided extremely for the family. We were not rich, but people sought his help if they needed money to go to the hospital etc, etc.

Can you image my fall from the clouds when I am faced to be on my own with very little help from the children's father. That was a very rude awaking beyond what anyone can describe as you want to give your family the best life has to offer.

I give thanks to God that he has blessed them with health and an abundance of work so that they can properly provide for their families and not suffer from Want and Needs.

DEATH
By Margarita B. Velez

 

I was eight years old when my baby sister died, only a few days after we had blown out the candle celebrating her first birthday.

She was a fair-haired child with sparkling eyes who gurgled when I pushed her in the baby carriage.  Then she became ill; and despite Mama’s loving care, her condition worsened, and she was hospitalized.   Every day Mama would go to the hospital, leaving us at home where Abuelita provided grandmotherly care.

On a hot June day, Mama returned with the news that her baby girl had died.  I couldn’t believe that my healthy sister who squealed with delight when she rode in the baby carriage was dead.  Dead!  I hardly understood the meaning of the word, but knew that I’d never cuddle the sweet child again.

Suddenly the sun disappeared; the wind howled, and scattered litter and dust into a dark mass that matched the black cloud that engulfed our home.  Hot, dusty days still make me blue.

Funeral arrangements were made, and the family walked from the barrio to the Memorial Chapel Funeral Home at Campbell and Myrtle Streets.  Adults led the pilgrimage with children dressed in their Sunday best, trailing behind.  The girls wore white dresses; and I remember feeling festive among my friends and relatives.

Along the way people stood at their doors to watch the procession.  Our white dresses were bright against the mourning black when someone asked, “¿Van a ofrecer flores ?”  The onlooker thought we were going to church to offer flowers to the Virgin Mary. 

“No, it’s my baby sister’s funeral,” I replied with a big smile.  A woman standing at the door shook her head, and disappeared inside.

Shortly thereafter, a playmate’s father died, and the wake was held in the family’s living room.  Chairs were pushed against the wall with the casket occupying the middle of the room.  People approached the sad widow to whisper condolences.

Outside, I joined my Uncle Pete, who was only a year older, to crowd with other kids against the screen door for a better view.  I could see my little friend inside playing with a toy truck, and heard him making engine noises while his mother tried to stop him.

“Dios te salve, Maria…” Mama and Grandmother recited the rosary with other mourners.  Candlelight glowed on the metal crucifixes as the beads moved through their fingers.

We pressed against the screen for a better view until someone told us to move away.  At first we didn’t budge, but the man’s stern voice finally compelled us to step back.

My uncle stood up, stiffened beside me, and said, “No le hace, cuando se muera mi papa, no voy a dejar entrar a nadie…” My grandmother gasped with horror on hearing her youngest child declare that when his father died, he wasn’t going to let anybody in.  The mourners tittered, and Mama covered her mouth with her hand. 

Without a word, Abuelita walked out and marched us home.  Uncle Pete’s outrageous retort almost ruined the solemn ritual.

As troubling as death can be, it is more confusing when children don’t understand, and get no explanation.  My parents refused an autopsy for their baby, and we never knew what killed her.  At my tender age, I thought the funeral was a festive parade instead of a gloomy, final trek.

Uncle Pete’s feelings were hurt when the funeral wake excluded us from a perceived social event; and he reacted in anger.  Now, my blissful ignorance and Uncle Pete’s mischief make me smile, albeit a bit chagrined. 

 

 From “Stories from the Barrio and Other ‘Hoods” by Margarita B. Velez.  Margarita Velez an author from El Paso , Texas also wrote “Border Buster,” a novel about corruption and drug dealing on both sides of U.S./Mexico border.  “Stories…” is $20.00 and “Border Buster” is $29.95 with tax, shipping and handling included.  Contact the author at mbvelez@elp.rr.com for a signed copy or buy through Amazon.com. 

 


FAMILY HISTORY

Are you ready to start researching your own family history? 
Go to:
http://www.SHHAR.NET
http://www.somosprimos.com/resources.htm

www.FamilySearch.org
Book: Finding Your Hispanic Roots by George Ryskamp
NewspaperARCHIVE.com 
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

www.FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch manages the largest collection of genealogical collections in the world.  For decades, FamilySearch has allowed the public to use its collection for free through 4,500 family history centers throughout the world.  In 2005, it began to improve access to its collection by converting microfilm to digital images that could be searched online.  There are literally millions and millions of vital family records accessible online.  

 The next step was to create an online tool that volunteers around the world could use to look at the digital images and extract relevant data that could then be published online in searchable indexes linked to the digital images.  FamilySearch Indexing is that tool.  www.FamilySearch.org 

Today, tens of thousands of volunteers, young and old, log on to indexing.familysearch.org 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from all over the world to help with the ongoing goal to transcribe the world's genealogical records.  Some donate a few minutes a month, others hours a day.  Just a little bit of donated time can help preserve historic information and make it more available for public access. 
Join the core of 150,00 indexers. Sign up by going to FamilySearch.Org,and hit the Index Records tab.  Indexers are currently indexing 1.5 million names per day.

Orange Regional Family History Center Newsletter
Lucine Fox  lucine@cox.net


NewspaperARCHIVE.com
 
NewspaperARCHIVE.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old – including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more – to fill in the life stories you are interested in. And share those stories with others through our community at OurNewspaperARCHIVE. All of our historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable – try exploring above and discover your history today!
http://www.newspaperarchive.com

Our Mission

It is the mission of Heritage Microfilm to be the world's leading provider of historical newspaper content, focusing on individual people and the events that impacted their lives. Through constant improvement, we are committed to providing a high volume of quality content via innovative and useful delivery methods. Heritage Microfilm will demonstrate this commitment by empowering creative employees who possess a high level of personal accountability and a dedication to excellence.


About Us

NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest historical newspaper database online, contains tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1753 to present. Every newspaper in the archive is fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy for you to quickly explore historical content.

NewspaperARCHIVE.com is adding newspaper pages faster than you can search them - with one newspaper page added every second - that's over 80,000 images a day, or about 2.5 million pages per month!

Designed for any individual of any age or profession, NewspaperARCHIVE.com provides a comfortable and safe environment with easy-to-use tools for fast searching and browsing.

Don't just take our word for it; take a look at the NewspaperARCHIVE.com What's New section to read what others are saying about our service. When you're finished, try the Advanced Search and Browse Available Papers tools to start exploring the world's history online.

Want to know more about the Heritage Microfilm family of products, services and partnerships? Visit our Heritage Family of Sites page or our Special Collections, the AccessNewspaperARCHIVE institutional service, or read about our Publisher Partners.

We support Net Neutrality, to keep providing access to all web content to all users irrespective of whether or not they have paid extra rates to Telco and Cable internet access providers.

We also support a National High Speed Internet Policy (click here)

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Welcome to Chronicling America, enhancing access to America's historic newspapers. This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

SO FAR, THE COLLECTION INCLUDES: View newspaper pages from 1880 to 1922 from the following states: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

 

 


ORANGE COUNTY, CA

February 5:  Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research Meeting
Save the Date: March 20th, Family History Fair >> An Information Explosion
Memorias de mi Barrio, Westminster, 1900-1960s by Albert V. Vela, Ph.D. 


HOW TO GET STARTED IN FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH  
February 6:  Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research Meeting

Meetings are open to the public. All are welcomed. 
There are no fees, and no membership is required.
Saturday meetings focus on helping individuals with their family history research.

9:30-10:45 Computer Assistance on Hispanic/Latino family research
10:45-11:30 Special topic: "Planning a Family Reunion" Mimi Lozano and Bea Dever

Orange Family History Center
674 S. Yorba 
Orange, CA  92863-6471
Mimi, 714-894-8161,   mimilozano@aol.com

On March 20th, An all-day FREE family history conference, an "INFORMATION EXPLOSION" 
will be held at this same location. This is an annual event, with 35 classes offered. There will be a Hispanic research track, with 5 classes from beginning to advance levels of Hispanic research.  
Reservations are recommended, but not required.  Lunch and a syllabus can be pre-purchased. 
For more information, call 714-997-7710.

If you are just starting out in family history research, and prefer Spanish language assistance, 
check out http://www.generaciones.com.mx/ .



MEMORIAS DE MI BARRIO: PART II    
BETO’S (AL’S) EARLIEST MEMORIES
WESTMINSTER AND RELATED HISTORICAL PERSONS AND EVENTS, 1900 – 1960s  

By
ALBERT V VELA, Ph.D.  
12 Tarragon Drive 
East Hampton  CT 06424

860.267.1508  

cristorey@comcast.net
 

Special memories of  grandfather, Papa Juan. 

UNCLE VALENTIN, PAPA JUAN, 1917 AND THE LONG BEACH SHIPYARDS.  To our best recollection, the Margarito / Juana Vela family moved into the Westminster Barrioin January or February of 1933.  They had lived in the Mexican barrio of Stanton some five miles north of Westminster.  Salvador (Chavo) was born in the village of Stanton in 1931.  They rented a house from the Arganda family in the alley off Hazard Street. 

                            Destruction of Jefferson Junior HS, Long Beach, CA, March 10, 1933                             
Photo from U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library
 

Julia remembers 1933 because of the “Long Beach Earthquake” that hit Orange County with a magnitude of 6.4 on March 10 of this year.  It rattled a huge area in Orange County causing severe damage to buildings in Long Beach and some damage to buildings in Santa Ana.  It killed 120 persons mostly in Long Beach and four in Orange County.  After shocks continued into March 16.  In 2005 my sister describes the earthquake like this:

Felt the real hard earthquakes in March. God, they were awful!” I wasn’t scared because we didn’t know what was happening. Dolores and I were at the store. Mom was worried. When we got home she was worried and crying!  ‘Ay, los temblores!’ / ‘Oh, the  quakes!’

Grandpa was worried and praying the rosary. That’s when we started crying from seeing mom crying.

 

Aerial View of Sawtelle ca. 1920

::Pictures:SawtelleAerial 1920.gif

In 1926 three years before the Great Depression, dad and mom with daughters Dolores (three yrs old) and Julia (one year old) immigrated to Sotelo (Sawtelle) in west Los Angeles.  Nearby were Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, UCLA and the beautiful Soldier’s Hospital (ca. 1905) built for veterans of the Civil War.  Tío (uncle) Valentín was dad’s older brother, a very handsome young man.  Already living in Sotelo, he encouraged my parents to join him.  Uncle Valentine built trenches for the sewer lines in Beverly Hills. He lived in Sawtelle with his first wife, Sabina.  Our sister Katie was born in this area of West Los Angeles in 1929.  This was dad’s first trip to California. 

Why did my parents leave Irapuato, Guanajuato?  An easy assumption is to say they were motivated by good-paying jobs in Los Angeles.  But most likely it had to do with the religious persecution against the Catholic Church in Mexico (1926-1935).  Evidence of this is in one of the five letters of correspondence in my possession.  They date from August 2, 1926 to April 4, 1927.  One of dad’s sisters, María Guadalupe, wrote the 1927 letter. 

In part she writes,

After greeting you let me tell you the following about the Revolution as you ask us.  It’s true what you over there [Sawtelle, CA] have learned.       Well here in the state [Guanajuato] it’s very dangerous the same as in Tabasco and Zacatecas, and in many other [places].  And so from day to day the situation is getting worse.  And so we don’t know how things will go for us here from one moment to another.  The reverend priest is still in Mexico [City] but we know that he’s all right the same as the rest of the  priests.

PAPA JUAN.  Papa Juan, as we affectionately called our maternal grandfather, lived with us on Olive Street en la Casa Verde, and on Spruce Street too.  Story has it that he eventually went blind from an injury to his eye while picking oranges with dad.  Although he received medical attention, his eye got progressively got worse (Julia, 2009).  Anyway one time my sister Dolores asked me to lead papa Juan back to the house after having used the outhouse. 

I called out to him and because he wasn’t responding, I raised my voice so he could hear me.  I didn’t know he was hard of hearing.  Dolores corrected me saying that I should lead him by the hand. 

About papa Juan’s age, Julia (2005)recalls our grandfather saying, “Nací en mil novecientos sesenta / I was born in 1860.” Hence he must have been 83 in 1943.   Jay (Julia) recalls mom’s story that two unmarried aunts raised our grandfather and sent him to school, adding that Chinacos who raided the town raped one of the girls probably Maurita.  Mom was born in Huanímaro, Mexico and lived in el Rancho de Labor.  Later the family moved to Irapuato, Guanajuato where mom and dad married that is also where Dolores (1923) and Jay (1925) were born.  Irapuato, a neighbor of Guadalajara to its west, is the capital city of the state of Guanajuato and is roughly 150 miles northwest of Mexico City

And here it is noteworthy to quote from my interviews with Jay (2005, 2009).  It’s about relationships with the opposite sex and how marriages were arranged in the early 20th century.

Mom was 20 when she married Dad. There was no dating.  La niña until 15; the brothers pampered her.  They were wealthy.  Your grandfather had lots of peones working for  him.  He had a beautiful horse.

The day they got married, dad asked for her hand in marriage   with the priest.  ‘Come back in three months and we’ll give you the answer,’ he said. A good girl in Mexico was never hugged, arm put around her,or fondled.

Mom had a big wedding. She could see lots of people including peones coming to the wedding. Mom was at one side; dad at the other side .Mom had a big wedding. She could see lots of people       including peones coming to the wedding. Mom was at one side; dad at the other side.

         After eight days, dad visited mom’s family. ‘Okay, hija, your marido is here, it’s time for you to go  
         home with him.’ She knew the family by its reputation.  She really didn’t know how to cook as the  
         youngest in the family. Dad had lots of sisters and brothers who helped her.

Mom and dad communicated by means of letters and trotaconventos.  No such thing as dating back then. The girls were virgin: untouched, unkissed.

Our uncles would sell hats, rebozos, etc.  Grandpa never worked. Even  my tio Trino had beautiful hats with gold letters. He had beautiful horse.  The peones raised corn and garbanzos. They were very well off.

Dad came from a poor family. Grandpa could read well. Dad had a  private school education: they were French teachers, the ones who  remained from the Mexican– French War [perhaps the Marist       Brothers].

While en la Casa Verde, papa Juan would spend time on his bench in the back yard reading the Bible and books of the Mexican Revolution (Julia, 2009).  He was a man of faith because when we rented on Spruce Street he led us in praying the rosary one time that we were afraid during a heavy thunderstorm.  A strong wind drove heavy sheets of rain against the window making a howling noise. 

My hunch is he died 10 years later in 1948 at age 88.  During those five years he’d been living at a care facility in Norwalk State Hospital because our family was unable to care for him at home.  I feel sad I was unable to know our well-read papa Juan more intimately.  In a real way he was my link all the way into the 1840s the fact that he was born in 1860.  Assuming that my great grandparents go back to the 1830s, papa Juan “knew” through oral transmission the Mexican American War of 1846 and the loss of Mexico’s northern territories (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado), the American Civil War, Mexico’s ouster of the French, the execution of Emperor Maximilian,the French Revolution and the Spanish American War. Personages like President Benito Juárez, strong man Porfirio Díaz, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt,.  Now add to the list the various inventions: the locomotive, trolleys, the advent of the airplane and its use in war, electricity, the mass manufacture of the automobile. . .


                                                    The Mexican Hoover School ca. 1930s

AT THE MEXICAN SCHOOL.  It was a short 10-minute walk Spruce Street to the Mexican School.  I was in kindergarten with Gilbert “Chino” Lujan, his cousin Dickie Bermúdez, and Gonzalo Méndez, Jr.  (Gonzalo Jr is one of the sons of the famous plaintiff Méndez family involved in the civil rights suit against the Westminster School district (1945).  Dickie, who introduced me to Chino, was the first person from la Garra I met that first day in kindergarten.  Impressed that I could lift him up, he introduced me to Chino.  Kindergarten was OK.  Without a doubt, recesses were the best part I absolutely enjoyed when we got a chance to play marbles to our heart’s content. 

In class we liked drawing pictures of American fighter pilots shooting down Japanese Zeros, six machine guns blazing.  Red and yellow crayons were perfect for the firing of the machine guns.  Chino was really good at drawing fighter planes and depicting dog fights.  I recall how he included an aerial that ran from the cockpit to the tail, and the bright colors for the American and Japanese emblems on the wings were perfect.  Big wooden blocks with letters were at the back of the room.  I guess they were meant for us to play with but can’t recall having much fun with them. 

SPANISH SPOKEN HERE.  Our teacher’s desk was in front toward the left or eastside by the windows.  I faintly remember she would read to us but in a language hardly any of us understood.  For us kids, the only language we knew was Spanish and we spoke it during recess. 

A LESSON LEARNED EARLY IN LIFE.  A hard lesson I learned in kindergarten was to be careful how I sat at my desk.  One day, after winning my share of marbles, both of my front pockets were full, I mean, no more room for another. I squiggled in my chair a little too much.  Bang, bang, bang.  Three of my precious marbles made a deafening sound as they hit the wood floor, and even more as they rolled to the front of the class where our teacher promptly chased them down and put them in her desk!  My little partners went homeless forever!  Needless to say, there would be no more incidents like this for this barrio kid.

NOT VERY NICE.  Sometime in first grade, Herman Alarcón and I were coming home from school.  For some reason Sammy de la Cruz gave him a model wooden Army Jeep.  Sammy was very likely a 7th or 8th grader at the time.  It was a beautiful toy with lots of detail and with wooden wheels that spun.  Herman, my neighbor across the street, let me hold it until we got home.  I was admiring it, wishing it were mine.  The moment we got home, at that point, to Herman’s consternation,I let it drop.  Why?  I was envious. Sammy made everything better when he fixed the damage.

PLAYING “A LA ESCUELITA.”On weekends I recall going to the Hoover to play on the merry-go-round and titter-totter.  Connie, some friends, and I would play act a la escuelita (school) on the grounds.  One school day there was lots of excitement during recreation.  Seems like everyone was running toward the west side of the grounds toward the street.  Across the street was a dairy whose property was fenced in. 

SAVING ISABEL VARELA.  An older barrio girl, Isabel Varela, had gone across the street to fetch a ball, touched a live wire and got stuck there.  Oh the dreadful commotion of what to do!  Our hero turned out to be our Spruce Street neighbor, Mike González, who “ran to the dairy farmer’s house to have him turn off the electricity. . .” “Mrs Polka (Polk, a teacher) tried using a ruler to force Isabel’s release from the wire” (Sal Vela, 2005).  The low voltage wire was used to keep the cows in the cow pasture.

HOOVER, A TERRIBLE LITTLE SHACK.  A couple of years ago someone referred to Hoover School as a “terrible little shack” next to a “cow pasture. . . full of flies,” and that it didn’t have monkey bars or swings.  As recent as Jan 05, 2010 Wikipedia carries an article where it describes the multi-classroom, Spanish style Hoover School as “a two-room wooden shack”(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Mendez). Although it lacked the beautiful landscaping and the auditorium of the all white school on Seventeenth Street School, Hoover was not at all as depicted.  The school, built in 1928,  had Spanish architectureand though simple in design it was hardly a decrepit building.  In fact when the town became a city in 1957, the city used it for its offices after remodeling its interior.  The wing on the left housed K and first grade classrooms and bordered Olive Street.  The dairy was two blocks west of Olive.

TAUGHT BY THE BEST.  This is the title of a Letter to the Editor of the Orange County Register (March 11, 2007).  The author, Celia Blanco Salas of Anaheim, attended an All Mexican School starting in kindergarten and graduating in 1940. Her school was Magnolia School District’s No. 2. This was one of the 15 Mexican Schools involved in the historic Méndez et al. vs. Westminster et al.  In March 1946 Superior Court Judge John McCormick ruled that the school districts were in violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  

Celia writes                                                                                                                                                           Those were some of the happiest years of my life. We had only Anglo teachers, who loved us and really helped us. They were wonderful.  They [Anaheim HS] were wonderful teachers.  We had no problems in learning because we were taught by the best. I never felt that we were segregated.  I only felt that the County of Orange wanted us safe and close to our families, and for that reason they put a school in our neighborhood.

How does one explain to Celia that 1,000s of Mexican American persons felt cheated by a curriculum that was dumbed down by the Anglo society in order to perpetuate the status quo of unequal relations?  If Celia knew of the big number of Mexican heritage students who dropped out of the Santa Ana schools because they were over-age, chances are good she’d have to rethink her evaluation of Mexican schools. Mexican American students merited excellent teachers, an academically challenging curriculum, high expectations, and the best school facilities—unfortunately, they were treated as second-class citizens. 

In speaking to Catalina Vásquez (2010) about some teachers in segregated Mexican schools, she recalls the following.  “Mrs Polka would have me and someone else in the closet ripping apart quilts all year long, I mean, if it wasn’t us then others would be assigned.” Catalina was in the combination 6-7-8 grades class at the time.  She recollects that they would ask Johnny Pérez, who lived across the street, to go pick apricots for them (the girls).

Perhaps there are many Celias in Orange County who have similar sentiments.  They would profit from reading Lisbeth Haas’ Conquests and Historical Identities in California, 1769-1936 (1996), and Gilbert G Gonzalez’ Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation (1990).  Charles M Wollenberg’s book is also an excellent source:All Deliberate Speed: Segregation and Exclusion in California Schools, 1855-1975(1976).  In an area of life so important to eventual happiness and success, a challenging curricula, up-to-date facilities, and well-educated/prepared teachers are vitally important.  [Article courtesy of Theresa Fasana of Laguna Niguel, Orange County, CA]

BOYS’ CLUB HOUSE.  Sal Vela and Catalina Vásquez (2005) tell of the boys’ club on S/E corner of Olive and Main Streets.  It was a one-room house belonging to one of the Alarcón brothers.  My interest was piqued when I learned that Mr Micelli, their teacher at Hoover School, helped them set it up.  I was even more surprised when Joe Arganda (2009) told me the boys would go to Mr Micelli’s home in Midway City to do yard work for him.When I discussed the great relationship the boys had with Mr Micelli, Catalina confirmed that this was the case (2010).   Mr Micelli’s wife, the former Miss Marcella, was also my kindergarten teacher at Hoover.  

LA LIGA.  The north part of the barrio also had a name, la Liga (the League).  Other than going south on Olive to the Mexican School, most of my wanderings were to the nearby Sigler Park, three grocery stores, a 5 Cent and 10 Cent department store, hardware store, drug store, restaurant, a dry cleaners, shoe repair shop, beauty salon, and post office.

DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY.  Though I couldn’t read in 1943, I enjoyed digging for comic books in a big cardboard box.  My favorite book was the one about Lieut. Commander Don Winslow of the US Navy.  He was my hero.  He fought in the Pacific in WWII, flying fighters known as the Wildcats and later the newer Hellcat.  I also recall listening to the older guys warn us not to pick up steelies (ball bearings).  Reason: They were said to be a Japanese weapon meant to explode and kill or maim.

THE BLACKHAWKS.  Another favorite comic was also about fighter pilots known as The Blackhawks.  They flew two-engine funny looking stubby fighters built by the Grumman Company.  The interesting part of the comic book is that the pilots represented a United Nations.  The nationalities depicted were Chinese, American, French, and Italian.  To date I’ve been unable to find information on the Internet about THE BLACKHAWKS.  Perhaps I have the wrong title.

7431 SPRUCE STREET.  In 1943 my parents, Margarito and Juana (Jane), bought a piece of property two doors from the Southern Pacific RR.  According to the documents at the Orange County Recorder’s Office, they paid $550 to Gozozo  [sic] and Lupe Soto Esparza for our home at 7431 Spruce Street.  [Jay begs to differ as to this amount believing it was closer to $1,400 (2009).] Witnesses to the signing were John T. Alarcón and Carmen A. López.  Lupe Soto Esparza signed the sales contract with an X.  We lived here from August 1943 to the summer of 1955.

  Oldest surving Sister Julia Vela López  
Standing in front of their home on 7431 Spruce St., circa 1949
Julia still lives in Westminster. 

It was an A-frame capboard structure with kitchen and two bedrooms.  A small porch faced south to the street and a dirt alley.  It was close living quarters for the dozen of us.  Looking back it seems impossible that such small living quarters could accommodate us but it did.  Another thing that surprises me is that the small kitchen could hold us during dinnertime. But it did!  It came without a furnace or indoor plumbing.  At first we burned chopped wood for our stove for cooking and the same to heat water to wash clothes.  It would go to Burn’s Market with a tin quart size tin container to buy kerosene that we used to start the fire for our wood-burning stove.  Later we bought a gas range when the Southern California Gas Company brought its gas line into the barrio.

OUR OUTHOUSE.  Long wooden 2” x 10” x 12’ planks placed side by side were used when it rained.  They were our “sidewalk” that led from the back door (kitchen) to the outhouse.  Sometimes a board would slip as one stepped onto it making it precarious for the next person.  In this case it was tricky trying to step onto it with the real possibility of falling in the puddles.  All the boys helped dad dig the 3 x 3 x 6 ft holes for the privy one of which became a two-seater.  We usually hit wet clay at about three feet deep.  We learned to make what looked like Army hats from newspaper to shield our heads from the rain.  Our two westerly neighbor’s outhouses lined up with ours.

A SCARYMOMENT.  Mom washed clothes with a scrub board until about 1949 until Dad bought a new automatic machine with a wringer on top.  Saturday was clothes washing as well as take a bath day.  One Saturday I heard screaming from the washroom.  It was mom.  Her long hair got into the wringer.  I must’ve turned off the machine in time to prevent a scalping.  It was a scary moment for mom and myself.

CHICKENS.  As far as I can remember we always kept chickens.  While living en la Casa Verde I was frightened of two mean roosters who had a habit of chasing after me.  I’d peek out the screen door to check where theywere and I’d venture out in a different direction.  At our new home on Spruce Streetwe had a good-sized chicken coup.  Dad would pick two hens, stretched their necks on a tree stump, and cut them off with a hatchet.  They were good for soup and a chicken dinner on Sundays.  One Sunday morning that dad was on an errand, mom asked, "Beto, see those two chickens?" Brave Beto (nickname for Alberto) rounded them up in a minute.  They were easy to catch.  When it came time to putting their necks on the stump, Beto's spirit left him.  The hatchet became too heavy to lift.

A special wire fencing material kept our chickens in their pen but they also had a coop where they roosted at night.  Somehow they all cackled their way into the coop and disappeared at the same time.  Two rival roosters lorded over them.  At times during the day we’d fold a newspaper, light it up, and go in to kill the gorupos (ticks).

OUR HOG.  Dad also raised a hog kept in an enclosed pen that I’d visit occasionally. One day I got the smart idea of cutting the hog’s wiry hair with dad’s manual haircutting shears.  Saturday was also when dad would give his sons a haircut.  Soon, very soon after my failed experiment, dad saw the defect in the tool while giving me a haircut, and asked, “I wonder how the tooth on the shears got broken?” No answer.  Nothing but cold nervous silence from Beto.

When the hog weighed 300 lbs, men from the barrio arrived one early Saturday morning to slaughter the animal.  He was kept in a big pen built three feet off the ground. After a man put a .22 bullet to its head, the men got busy with the various stages of cutting him up.  The best moment for us little kids waswhen the scrumptious chicarrones (pork rind) were ready to eat.  All who participated took home a share of the hog: blood, tripe, head, hoofs, chops.  Just about every part of the hog was used, nothing thrown out of this all day operation.

SNOOPY, FRECKLES AND DAD.  Before dad took down the old garage and built the new one, in the summer afternoons we’d sit reading the paper in the shady side.  Our family pets, Snoopy and Freckles would find a place near us.  Snoopy was bigger than Freckles.  They were always together like true brothers.  Soon dad would start, Freckles, ¡mira que bonito está Freckles! / Freckles,oh look how handsome is Freckles!  Dad’s attention made Freckles awfully nervous.  He knew dad was stirring up trouble for he knew Snoopy would get angry from being jealousy.  Again dad repeated the words making the jealous one snarl and bark at Freckles.  And although Freckles knew he would lose in a fight, he’d nervously stand his ground barking his case as if to say, I didn’t do anything, please!  This kind of episode never failed. 

MOM ALL FED UP.  One time that we were at dinner, mom was complaining how fed up she was with all the housework.  She stated she felt like going to her cousin, Guadalupe Gonzalez’s house in Wilmington and staying there for a week.  Everyone felt bad for mom becoming seriously quiet.  (Mom also had relatives in La Habra and in the Logan barrio of Santa Ana.)

Of a sudden I was serious when I uttered in Spanish, “Mamá cuando pase el tren, hágalo parar y suba al caboose!” Translation: “Well, when the train (steam locomotive, Southern Pacific) comes by, have it stop and hop on the caboose!” That broke the ice. Everyone broke out laughing at my innocent, simple solution to mom’s complaint.  I don’t know if mom took part in the laughter.

Now it was Dad’s turn to get up early in the morning to make tortillas for the family the whole week mom was gone.   The Southern Pacific locomotive used to pass our house in the afternoons when we’d be home from school.  At the sound of its shrill whistle we’d hurry to find long iron nails to place on the tracks along with a penny or two.  The finished products became our swords.  We’d stand perhaps 8-10 feet from the huge black monster that shook the ground a block away starting at Westminster Blvd.  By the time it got to where we were standing, the noise was deafening and the shaking of the ground underneath rattled our brains.  We liked laying long nails on the tracks so the locomotive would make swords out of them.  It also a neat thing to have the locomotive flatten our pennies.  It was a sad day to see that the locomotive had killed the Bermúdez cow.  It had been tied to a stake but somehow it managed to get loose.  

100 LB SACKS.  Like most barrio families, we kept 100 lb sacks of flour and pinto beans that would last us at least a month.  Rice and beans would be part of our daily menu for dinner that also included flour tortillas, green or red salsa picante (hot sauce), salad and fruit.  Breakfast might consist of fried eggs, bacon, chorizo, tortillas, and Postum (non caffeinated coffee).  By the age of 12 I was able to carry the 100 lb sack up the stairs and into the kitchen just like dad.

My sisters (all older than I) helped the family by preparing dinner.  There was plenty for everyone.  Absolutely delicious were the beans (always pintos).  They washed and left over night to soften in a pan water. A piece of meat would add the right flavor to the soupy bean dish. 

UNA GORDITA, POR FAVOR!  I don’t remember when I first learned about the use of a fork.  Tortillas served this purpose during meals.  And speaking about flour tortillas, mom made a fresh batch every day on the wood stove, I imagine about two or more dozen.  On special occasions she’d make corn tortillas.  But the best tortilla ever made in this world, were the gorditas or tortas.  They were about double the thickness.  I’d stand next to mom and in my most cheerful voice say, Mamá, hágame una gordita, por favor! / Mom, please make me a fat one! 

Nothing like a fresh gordita in the world!  Everyone in the barrio made himself a taco.  You could heat the torilla if you’d like or use it at room temperature.  Then you’d put any kind of food in the tortilla: meat, refried beans (chinitos), Spanish rice, potatoes. . . Or keep it simple by spreading salsa picante on it.  Of course you could also warm the tortilla and spread margarine or butter.  Ever try placing cheese on the tortilla and heating it on a wood stove?  Awesome!  What a surprise to learn that what we called tacos in the barrio were labeled burritos in Mexican restaurants!

MISBEHAVING.  I wouldn’t say I was always an innocent and obedient son.  One time I must have done something that merited a spanking.  Mom was somewhat angry, I mean, just angry enough to show anger in her face.  She called me over a couple of times so she could spank me.  When I was close enough she told me to bend over so she could swat me one.  Well you guessed it.  At the moment when she started her downswing, I ran away!  Not too brilliant because I got it from dad when he got home!  Oh boy!

Dad was the disciplinarian.  We had lots of respect for his authority.  Boys being boys, sometimes dad needed to step in for correction.  First came the request that we explain what we’d done.  The process was unnerving because we knew the spanking was coming up.  Did the spanking hurt?  Yes, but the waiting for dad to come home from work seemed more painful.  Spankings stopped at about 12 years old.  That’s when we reached the age of reason.  Two words would describe dad’s relationship with his children: love and respect in capital letters.

We had a gander that laid eggs at least twice the size of our hens.  I couldn’t imagine they’d taste good so I never had them.  But Felix did and it seemed that just one egg filled his plate. Our geese turned out to be mean birds.  They’d chase you with outstretched wings to cause serious damage.

ADDITIONS TO THE HOUSE.  Somehow dad acquired carpentry skills enough to build a house for our married sister, Maria and her husband Joe Villagómez.  It was a one-bedroom house with a small kitchen and dining area.  It cost them $250.00 for the building materials and perhaps a little something for dad’s labor and skills. 

Joe and Maria would join us for dinner at the table.  Joe was fun to sit next to.  He ate with gusto!  I would marvel at his tolerance in eating the hottest chiles.  For him eating a jalapeño was like having an ice cream.  I can still hear the crunching sound of each bite.  In three bites the darned thing was gone!  Me?  I’d take weeny bites making sure I had food in my mouth.  Even so the sides of my mouth burned, eyes got teary, face turned red, nose ran, and my ears hurt!  And forget about the little red Korean chilies!  No, señor!  

Dad also built a one-bedroom structure without cooking facilities also behind our home, and, a large one-car garage.  Oh, yes, our bed was cold those winter nights.  Even wearing long johns we’d shivered as we crawled into bed.  This is the way it was until the early 50s when the family bought a gas-fired furnace. 

]http://upload.Wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Convair_B-36_Peacemaker.jpg Dec 29, 2009]

HOLY SMOKES, A B-36!  I enjoyed reading articles and photos of military aircraft in Mechanics Illustrated and Popular Mechanics.  Imagine how surprised I was to see the America’s biggest bomber, the Peacemaker, fly a mere 1,000 ft directly overhead in Westminster.  It happened on a clear summer day in 1950.  The beautiful blue skies of Orange County in the 1940s and early 50s were not like in Los Angeles.  Our skies were free of smog.  I looked up to find the source of a droning noise.  Not finding it and with the noise getting louder, I climbed onto the roof of our utility room.  Within minutes, there it was coming fast from the direction of Santa Ana, an enormous bomber, the B-36, on its way to Santa Catalina Island and perhaps to its base in San Diego.  This airplane was so mammoth a B-29 Superfortress could fit under one of its wings.  High school classmates living in Santa Ana and Anaheim don’t recall this occurrence.  Were they were sleeping or something?

HELLO, PANCHO!  Living on Spruce was especially convenient for us.  Or should I say for me because I was asked to go to either Burn’s or Menard’s Market for some daily necessities as milk, bread or meat.  It was easy to find the first two items.  The milk was in the big refrigerator and the bread was on the shelf. 

 But there came a time when I had to order meat from Mr. Burns who was also the “butcher” (el buchi).  This meant speaking in English for the first time.  I was extremely nervous about making some weird mistake of saying the wrong word or mispronouncing something, but somehow I managed OK.  But I didn’t appreciate el Señor Ray Burns calling me Pancho. Why’d he call me Pancho?  I wasn’t the Cisco Kid’s partner.  I didn’t even remotely resemble him.  He was a fat cowboy in the movies.  I was just a handsome skinny Mexican kid who lived on Spruce Street!

SPANISH EN EL BARRIO.  By and by we spoke Spanish at home and all over the barrio.  When they needed privacy, Dolores (first born), Katie and María (Baudelia) closed the door to the kitchen/dining room to speak in English.  I learned a lot of English eavesdropping from behind the door.  My sisters were fluent in English and Spanish.  As a matter of fact all second and third generation barrio residents were bilingual.

BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL EN EL BARRIO.  In general most barrio residents could either understand English but were unable to speak it, or they were fluent in the language especially the second generation.  My dad astounded me once when I saw he could carry a conversation in English.  For most of his working life he labored in the ranchos picking the crop.  Most of his fellow workers were also Mexican Americans who basically spoke Spanish only.  Dad spoke it with an accent but what did it matter?  I was really proud of him. 

PACHUCO TALK: A THIRD LANGUAGE IN THE BARRIO.  It may seem strange to say there was a third language, Pachuco, spoken in the barrio.  It belonged to youths of the second generation.  One learned by word of mouth.  I learned it growing up by the fact I spoke Spanish and by age 12 I had a good grasp of it.  Socially and culturally it belonged to youths who were in their teens to young adults, those in their 20s.  Throughout the Southwest they were known as pachuchos/as.  Hence we may say that we spoke three languages en el barrio.

LOS CHUCOS.  Pachucos were a gang or club, in reality a subculture.  At least that’s what it was in the barrio of Westminster.  Of the Velas only Felix, about 16 at the time, belonged to this group.  When Felix told us he was going to buy a club jacket, everyone at home strongly protested, making it known we weren’t happy with his decision. 

HAY TE Güacho!  Pachucos distinguished themselves by long baggy pants pulled up over their waist with ankle tight cuffs, and held up by suspenders.  A long chain went down below the knee.  A large, extravagant or avant garde rimmed hat and an extra long, loose coordinating jacket, and a tie rounded out the zoot-suiter.  Last but not least are a pair of two- or three-soled calcos (shoes).  With their hair kept long, they combed both sides backward duck-style.  They also had a black tattoo in the shape of a cross with short lines or rays running from the top of the cross.  It was between the thumb and index finger.  Smoking marijuana was associated with pachucos as well as getting in trouble with the law. 

Órale, carnal!  Their fascinating lingo is a major characteristic that distinguished them.  The structure or grammar of their lingo is basically Spanish but its expressive vocabulary seems to come from nowhere.  Antonio Blanco (1971) finds that this pachuco language flowed like a river between the Southwest and Mexico City (p 534).  He adds, “Manners of expression in Los Angeles appear right away in Mexico and vice versa” (p 534).  Blanco studied the Pachuco language and vocabulary in his La Lengua Española en la Historia de California (1971) based on his dissertation that merited an award from the Real Academia Española in 1968.  This is what Blanco says.

Por todo lo que hasta ahora llevamos expuesto podemos afirmir que aún no se ha hecho un estudio definido sobre los pachucos y su vocabulario, el cual creemos que será difícil llevar a cabo debido a que por su dinamismo sufre un constante flujo de palabras nuevas que le proporcionan una flexibilidad extraordinaria.

Recordemos que casi toda la población fronteriza es nueva y procedente de las más variadas regiones de México, de donde han aportado los más diversos provincialismos de expression. Hasta qué punto su lengua usa expresiones y vocablos jergales o loque para algunos son pachucos, es cosa difícil de desligar (p 535).

This is my non-literal translation.

In view of all that that to now we have uncovered, we can affirm  that a definitive study of the pachucos and their vocabulary has notyet been done, which we believe will be difficult to accomplish due to its dynamic nature brought about by a constant flow of new wordsthat give it an extraordinary flexibility.

Let’s remember that just about all the population along the border is new and comes from the most diverse regions of Mexico,  from where the most diverse provincialisms of expression have originated. It is difficult to say to what degree their language uses expressions and slang words or that for some they are [happen to be]  pachucos.

The best way to describe the language is with examples. Consider this short piece, a telegram from a pachucho in Los Angeles to another in El Paso (Blanco, 1971):

Querido carnal, Ruca tiro vuelta. –Guti lágrimas.  Güicho.

Translation: My wife died; lots of tears.  Luis

Here is a longer selection, a Pachuco dialogue.

--Nel, ése, carnal, sabe que dejé la ranfla, ése, sabe, bato, yo guaché esa bata en Los y estoy seguro que si sabe Chavo que esa ruca ta contigo va caldiarse y ponerse locote. Sabe, vale más levanter chancla y a volar no lo vayan a filoriar, ése. Mejor no la guache en la carrunfla.

-- ?Sabe qué, carnal? Al recle me regreso y aguanta la buchaca pa que no haya catos. La güaché en el borlo y nos fuimos a planchar oreja. Ella me regaló el tecuchi y la talla pero no sabía que Chalo estuviera encamicado con ella, ése, ?sabe? me voy de volada porque esta mañana nos diquellaron y ya me andaba apañando la jura. No estuliés con Chavo, ?sabe?, carnal, y así no habrá pedo. Voy a cambiarme estas garras, gay, y descolgarme pa Jariles, sabe.

Nel, ése.Octavio Paz (1950) observed pachucos during a two-year stay in Los Angeles in the 1940s.  He writes about them in his book, El Laberinto de la Soledad: Postdata, Vuelta a El Laberinto de la Soledad.  In describing pachucos’ clothing he notes that “It’s novelty lies in its exaggeration. . . tak[ing] its style to its final end and makes it esthetic (p 18).” He writes that where Americans look for comfort in style, pachucos take it to the impractical.  It is here where Paz finds the aggressiveness and sense of rebellion in the pachuco.  In other words, the pachuco style of dress symbolizes “their decision to separate themselves from their society. . . their clothing isolates and distinguishes them” As a consequence pachucos have made themselves a new and exclusive or closed group as a way of “affirming their singularity” (p 18).

Paz analyzes the pachuco subculture stating that the pachuco “doesn’t want to return to his Mexican origin; not even, it may appear, does he want to fuse with North American life” (p 16).  He adds, “Everything in him is impulse where he denies himself, a knot of contradictions, enigma” (p 16).  As for the word “pachuco,” “The first enigma is the name itself: . . . a word of uncertain source, that says nothing and says it all” (p 16). 

YA ESTUVAS.  This final quote may sound like an exaggeration to some because it seems so definitive.  Paz continues, “The pachuco has lost all his inheritance: his language, religion, customs, beliefs.  The only thing remaining is his body and soul unprotected against the rough elements” (p. 17).  Mauricio Mazón, associate professor and chair of the department of history at the University of Southern California, also discusses the pachuco in his introduction of The Zoot-Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation (1984).  He seems to confirm Paz’ observations.

For a look-see of fascinating pachuco zoot suits, language as spoken en el barrio, and música try this most creative Website, www.elpachuco.com.  It is entertaining.  And if you Google “photos of pachucos,” you won’t be disappointed.

 

 

 


LOS ANGELES, CA


Time Refocused: The Photographs of Luis Garza
Féliz Family: Pioneers of  Los Angeles by Jennifer Vo & John P. Schmal
Southern California: Native Roots By Jennifer C. Vo & John P. Schmal

Pomona Art-walk Preview, 
Opening and Closing receptions of the Latino Art Museum dual exhibition presentation of:
Collector's Choice & Time Refocused
January 30th, February 13 & 27, 2010 6:00~9:00 PM
http://www.lamoa.net  909-620-6009 lcvgarza@yahoo.com 


The Féliz Family: Pioneers of Los Angeles  
By Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal

California Pioneers

The raw materials of Spain ’s settlement of California were Mexican soldiers.  These soldiers were men who left behind their parents and siblings in Sinaloa and Sonora to serve on the northern outskirts of  Spain’s empire during the 1770s and 1780s. One family that contributed several soldiers to Spain ’s colonial effort was the Féliz family of Álamos , Sonora .  

The Los Féliz District

I am Jennifer Vo, and as direct descendant of several early pioneer soldiers of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara , I am fortunate enough to include in my family genealogy the Féliz family, a name recognizable to many Angelinos.  Los Féliz is a district of Los Angeles that is adjacent to Hollywood and only about three miles north of Downtown L.A.  It is the home of Griffith Park and the famous Griffith Observatory. The entire district was once part of the 6,647-acre Rancho Los Féliz Land Grant given to Jose Vicente Féliz in the late 1790s.  

Anastacio Féliz

My first Féliz ancestor to arrive in California was Anastacio María Féliz, who was born in Álamos , Sonora , sometime around 1749 as the son of Juan Blas Féliz and Ana Geronima de Castro.  Anastacio’s cousin Vicente Féliz – a well-known character in the early history of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles – also came from Álamos to California .  

It has been said that one Gerónimo Féliz – who was born around 1654 – came to Álamos from Sinaloa, probably around the time of one of Mexico ’s richest silver strikes near the city in 1683. Gerónimo became a large landholder in the area and is a direct ancestor of both Vicente and Anastacio – and me. Gerónimo was married to Isabela Romero and had several children, including the man who would become Captain Nicolas Féliz. The Féliz family became well known in this part of Sonora and several researchers have accumulated information on the family from the parish records of Purísima Concepción Catholic Church. A little bit older than Anastacio, Vicente Féliz was born around 1741 as the son of José Féliz and María Manuela Esquer.  

In March 1774, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Anastacio María Féliz enlisted in the army and was initially stationed at the Tubac Presidio ( Nogales ) and later at the San Diego Presidio, where he was listed in a roll call of the soldiers there on January 1, 1780. During the 1770s and early 1780s, the one true certainty in the life of a Californian soldier was traveling. Frequently, soldiers had to be moved from one presidio to another to fulfill a security or training need. And Anastacio traveled a great deal during his first years in California . In 1781, Lieutenant Jose Francisco de Ortega brought Anastacio up to the San Gabriel Mission, where he assisted in training new recruits that had just arrived in Sonora .  

The new recruits had arrived in preparation for the establishment of the new pueblo in what was soon to be called Los Angeles .  It was from this group that Anastacio found his wife, Maria Gertrudis Valenzuela, a fellow native of Álamos. Anastacio and Gertrudis were married on August 28, 1781 at the San Gabriel Mission. Soon after this, however, Anastacio was transferred up north to Monterey , where he was listed in a military inventory dated April 15, 1782. This inventory authorized the transfer of Anastacio back south to the Santa Barbara Presidio. Soon after, Anastacio and Gertrudis moved on to the recently established Santa Barbara Presidio, where their first born son, Juan José Anastacio Féliz, was born on May 28, 1783.  

Vicente Féliz

Vicente Feliz arrived in California around the same time as his relative Anastacio. In October 1775, Vicente Feliz and his wife, Maria Ygnacia Manuela Pinuela, took part in the Anza Expedition.  Unfortunately, Manuela died in childbirth (with her fifth child) during the journey and was buried at San Xavier del Bac Mission . The Anza Expedition reached San Gabriel in early 1776 and Vicente would spend the next few years as part of the mission guard at San Gabriel (which was part of the San Diego Presidio Contingent). 

At War with Great Britain

During the revolutionary years, big events were taking place on the east coast of North America and Europe .  The European powers were engaged in war and thirteen small colonies along the Atlantic seaboard had declared independence from Spain ’s traditional enemy, Great Britain . A strong ally of France , Spain entered the war against Britain in June 1779, essentially creating a second front in support of the English colonists in their battle for independence.  

In recent decades, the British had been very successful at seizing control of Spanish and French colonies and ports in some parts of the world (such as England ’s seizure of Gibraltar in 1713 and the conquest of Canada in 1763). In light of these events, all soldiers fighting under the flag of Spain were considered to be at war with Great Britain , regardless of their posting, and an attack by British forces on Spain ’s California possessions was an ever-present threat.  

In addition to protecting the presidio against a possible Indian attack or foreign invasion, the soldiers at the California presidios and missions had many duties, including: “to explore the interior country, catch horse thieves, care for the animals and fields of the King, create their own food supplies and carry the mail.” [Barbara Schneidau, “A Guide to Old Santa Barbara : The Spanish and Mexican Periods” (Santa Barbara, 1977), pp. 6-7.]  

According to a roll call of the soldiers at the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara on July 1, 1784, my ancestor Anastacio Féliz was on duty at San Buenaventura Mission (which was attached to the presidio).  Anastacio’s cousin, Vicente, was now adjusting to new responsibilities.  

Guardian of the Pueblo

On August 18, 1781, Corporal Vicente Féliz was present at the San Gabriel Mission when eleven families of pobladores arrived from Sonora after a seven-month 960-mile journey from his native town of Álamos . Felipe de Neve, the Governor of Alta California, had ordered the establishment of the pueblo alongside the Porcuincula River (now the Los Angeles River ), about eight miles southwest of the San Gabriel .  

Vicente Féliz and three other soldiers were assigned to escort the pobladores to their new home when it was founded on September 4, 1781. Because of security concerns that had been expressed for the settlers, the contingent of four soldiers – under the command of José Vicente Féliz – was supposed to remain with the settlers for the first two years of the pueblo’s existence and then withdraw. Governor Pedro Fages had selected Vicente as the most capable of the four soldiers.  

Little Father of the Pueblo

Showing a talent for administrative duties, Féliz eventually became known as the “The Little Father of the Pueblo and – in effect – might be considered Los Angeles ’ first police chief. However, administrators sometimes antagonize their wards, and Vicente certainly had made a few enemies. In January 1785, less than four years after the pueblo was founded, four pobladores had complained about Vicente to his immediate supervisor, José de Zúñiga, Commander of the San Diego Presidio.  

However, Vicente continued to earn the respect of many of his peers and continued to play his important role in the early history of Los Angeles . In fact, on January 13, 1787, Governor Pedro Fages appointed Féliz to the office of Comisionado de Los Angeles .  In essence, Vicente had become the city manager, the enforcer of laws, and the presiding judge. Vicente Féliz served in this position until 1794 when he retired from the army after 18 years of service.  

By 1795, the small pueblo’s population had grown to 186 residents. For his service to the Pueblo , Vicente was given a land grant of 6,647 acres by Governor Pedro Fages a year or so later. Located in the present day region of Los Feliz and Griffith Park about three miles north of the center of the pueblo, the grant was called El Rancho Nuestra Señora de Refugio de Los Féliz (Our Lady of Refuge of the Féliz Family), but eventually became known simply as Los Féliz.  

Anastacio Féliz Retires

While Vicente served his tenure as Los Angeles ’ top cop, his kinsman Anastacio Féliz had continued to serve in the military. In the censuses of 1785 and 1790, Anastacio Féliz and his family were tallied as members of the Santa Barbara Presidio’s community. As the California soldiers at the Santa Barbara Presidio grew old and retired from the military service, they were permitted to build adobe homes in the Plaza de Invalidos outside of the presidio grounds.  These residences would eventually form the nucleus of the town of Santa Barbara .  

During the 1790s, many of the soldiers facing retirement would move to Los Angeles with their families. In a 1798 census, Anastacio Féliz was listed as an invalid soldier of the Santa Barbara Presidio living in the pueblo. He was listed with his wife in Los Angeles ’ census of 1799 and 1804 as well. At some point, it appears that Anastacio and his wife moved onto the Los Feliz Rancho that Vicente owned. After more than a decade of living in the Los Angeles area, Anastacio María Féliz died at Rancho Los Féliz and was buried at San Gabriel on May 10, 1810. His wife, Gertrudis Valenzuela, died six years later.  

Anastacio’s family continued to serve in the military. In 1807, his daughter, Maria Antonia Féliz, married Antonio María Valenzuela, who was – like her father – a presidio soldier. Maria Antonia and Antonio Maria’s daughter, Maria Gertrudis Valenzuela – bearing the same name as her grandmother (Anastacio’s wife) – also married a soldier of the Mexican Republic , Jose Dolores Olivas.  And for the next seven generations down to me, many members of this family served in the military, first under the flag of Mexico and then of the United States. Even today, my younger sister Amanda is serving as a Petty Officer Third Class in the United States Navy, the latest in a long line of military people in my family.  

The Fate of Los Féliz

The Los Féliz Rancho was eventually inherited by Vicente’s children. The Rancho was the scene of a famous murder in 1836 when Domingo Féliz was ambushed and stabbed to death by his wife’s lover. Eventually, María Ygnacia Féliz – a daughter-in-law of Vicente – inherited the rancho and soon after married Juan Diego Verdugo. At that point, Rancho Los Féliz passed into the hands of the Verdugo and Coronel families and was eventually purchased by Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith in 1882.  

Los Feliz is a well-known community of Los Angeles today but, for my ancestors it was home. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Anastacio María Féliz died almost exactly 200 years ago on that rancho.  Having researched my Féliz, Valenzuela, Olivas, Quintero, Fernandez and Ortega ancestors, John Schmal and I published a book entitled “A Mexican-American Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags,” to recognize the role that the early Mexican settlers of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara played in the history of Southern California. Most of my ancestors did not have any places named after them, but Los Féliz does pay tribute to one branch of my family and their service to the Los Angeles area.  

Copyright 2010 by Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved.  


Sources:
 

Barbara Schneidau, “A Guide to Old Santa Barbara : The Spanish and Mexican Periods” (Santa Barbara, 1977).  

California Archives, “ Provincial State Papers, 1767-1822” (Archives of California , Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley ).  

Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, published at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Feliz,_Los_Angeles,_California  

Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal, “A Mexican-American Family of California : In the Service of Three Flags” ( Westminster , Maryland : Heritage Books, 2003).  

William M. Mason, “Los Angeles Under The Spanish Flag: Spain ’s New World” ( Burbank , California : Southern California Genealogical Society, 2004).  

About Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal:

Jennifer Vo operates her own online editorial business, EditForYou.com, which provides high quality, reliable editorial and proofreading services. Jennifer is a descendant of several Los Angeles pioneers and of the Chumash Indians. John Schmal collaborates with Jennifer on stories about the early Mexican pioneers of Southern California . John does research on indigenous and Mexican lineages from early Los Angeles .  


SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
: NATIVE ROOTS
By Jennifer C. Vo and John P. Schmal

A Sprawling Metropolis

The Greater Los Angeles Area is a sprawling metropolis that contains about 13 million people living in Los Angeles , Orange , Riverside , San Bernardino and Ventura counties.  The bulk of these people inhabit Los Angeles County , which had an estimated 2008 population of 9,862,049 residents.  The city of Los Angeles – occupying the largest portion of the county – had an estimated population of 3,833,995 in 2008.  

From Every Corner of the Planet

For more than a century, the County of Los Angeles has been a magnet for immigrants from every corner of the planet. According to the American Community Survey (published by the U.S. Census Bureau), 3,491,729 residents – or 35.5% of the county’s population – were foreign-born in 2008. Even the native-born residents of the county belong to a multitude of nationalities.  Hispanics – numbering 4,652,748 – represented 47.3% of the population and 77% of that group – 3,583,381 residents – were of Mexican origin.  Puerto Ricans and Cubans made up another 1.7% of that group, followed by a wide range of people whose ancestors came from Guatemala , El Salvador , Spain and South America .  

Asians – who numbered 1,271,962 in 2008 – represented another 12.9% of the county’s population, representing every corner of that continent, including the Philippines , China , Japan , Korea , Vietnam and India . Marketing materials trumpet that the city of Los Angeles has become home to people from more than 140 countries speaking at least 224 identified languages. Within the city itself are a multitude of ethnic enclaves that include Chinatown , Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Ethiopia, Little Tokyo and a sizeable African-American community.  

A Small Pueblo

The Angelinos of the twenty-first century may have roots on six continents, but two centuries ago, the Los Angeles area had a very small population whose primary origins were the indigenous peoples of California and northwestern Mexico . A census completed at the end of 1811 reported that Los Angeles had a mere 354 residents, thirty years after its founding. Some local indigenous people – occupying their native lands in the area – may have not been counted in this census, but it’s likely that their numbers had diminished considerably by that time.  

Ironically, the American Community Survey indicated that only 48,176 Native Americans resided in Los Angeles County , a mere 0.5% of the entire population. However, from the founding of Los Angeles in 1781 to the early 1800s, the pueblo’s residents primarily consisted of persons who were either of Spanish, Native American or African descent – or some combination of these groups. Some inhabitants were descended from local indigenous groups; others were descended from Native Americans that lived a thousand or more miles south in Sinaloa and Sonora .  

In December 1785, 21 adults and 18 children were registered in the tiny pueblo of Los Angeles . Of the 21 adults, 10 were classified as “indios” (Indians) and eight others were classified as other mixtures of Spanish, Indian and African (mulatos, mestizos, coyotes, españoles).  Only three of the adults were believed to be of pure Spanish origin.  This census included only the Mexican settlers and did not count the indigenous Tongva, who lived in a wide area surrounding the pueblo.  

The Tongva (Gabrielino)

The Tongva Indians inhabited the entire Los Angeles basin, parts of Orange County , and several of the offshore islands (including Catalina). Because many Tongva were associated with and baptized at the San Gabriel Mission (nine miles east of Los Angeles), they became known as the Gabrielinos to Spanish and Mexican newcomers to the region. The American anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber estimated that the population of the Tongva/Gabrielino was about 5,000 around 1770 [Kroeber, A. L. 1925. “Handbook of the Indians of California ” (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington , D.C. ), p. 883].  

In his book, The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, author William McCawley indicated that the Gabrielinos may have occupied fifty or more communities across 1,500 square miles of territory when the Spanish first arrived in 1771. Some sources have indicated that there are presently 31 known sites at which the Tongva had established villages. The Tongva – and their western neighbors, the Chumash – were unique in that they built seaworthy canoes and navigated the ocean, which explains their presence on Catalina Island and other islands off the coast of Southern California.  

The Spaniards established the San Gabriel Mission in 1771 in the vicinity of four Tongva communities: Shevaanga, Sonaanga, Sheshikwanonga and Akurronga. When soldiers and settlers arrived at San Gabriel from Sonora and Sinaloa in September 1781, they moved on to establish El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula (now known as the city of Los Angeles) close to a Tongva village called Yangna (now referred to as Yaanga) a month later.  

By 1785, at least a thousand neófitos (neophytes) of the Tongva had been baptized at the San Gabriel Mission, and 843 were living on the Mission grounds. Unfortunately, the mission process drew large numbers of Tongva away from their traditional rancherías (villages). As the pueblo of Los Angeles expanded, retired Spanish/Mexican soldiers received land grants in areas as far away as San Pedro and Malibu .   

This depopulation of traditional Tongva sites and the appropriation of Tongva lands for agricultural and stock-raising purposes led to a rapid decline in Tongva cultural identity. Research of the San Gabriel Mission records reflects hundreds of baptisms and marriages of neófitos and children of gentiles (unbaptized Indians). After having seen these records, one undoubtedly is left with the impression that these indigenous peoples were far more numerous than their Mexican neighbors. But cultural and linguistic assimilation was the ultimate result of all these baptisms and, with time, many of the Tongva communities began to disappear as cohesive entities. Smallpox epidemics in 1840 and 1860 took a further toll on the tribe.  

Today, it is likely that tens of thousands of Angelinos probably descend from the Tongva, but many of the Tongva descendants may not even be aware of their genetic link to the original inhabitants.  At the present time, approximately 1,500 people claim membership in the Tongva tribe, and there are more than 300 enrolled members in the Gabrieleno/Tongva group headquartered in San Gabriel . More information about this group can be found at the following websites:  

http://www.tongva.com/
http://tongvatribe.net/
 

The present-day representatives of the Tongva may be small in number, but many place names from Southern California reflect their Tongva origins, such as Azusa , Cahuenga (Pass), Cucamonga, Pacoima, Topanga, and Tujunga.  

The Tataviam (Fernandeños)

The Tataviam, or Alliklik, are the smallest and least researched indigenous group in the Greater Los Angeles area. The word Tataviam means “people facing the sun,” apparently a description of the orientation of the Tataviam villages.  Because of their association with the San Fernando Mission, they have been referred to as the Fernandeños.  What little that is known about the Tataviam came primarily from the anthropologists Alfred L. Kroeber and John P. Harrington. A more detailed history of the Tataviam can be found by obtaining a copy of and reading the article by John R. Johnson and David D. Earle entitled, “Tataviam Geography and Ethnohistory,” published in the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology (1990, Volume 12, Number 2, pp. 191-214).  

It is believed that 20 Tataviam villages existed north of the San Fernando Valley and in the Santa Clarita Valley.  The San Fernando Mission was founded on September 8, 1797 and, from the beginning, many Fernandeños were baptized at that location. By 1804, nearly 1,000 Indians were living at the Mission . However, the Mission fell into disrepair during the Mexican era (1823-1848) and was completely abandoned by 1847. After this, many of the Tataviam Indians made the journey to Our Lady Queen of Angels Church (La Placita) in downtown Los Angeles to be baptized or married.  

As with the Tongva/Gabrielino, the Tataviam community shrank through cultural assimilation and the ravages of epidemic disease. By 1910, their population was estimated at about 150 people. Today, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians is actively involved in the preservation of the Tataviam cultural identity. More information about the group can be accessed at their website:  http://www.tataviam.org/

The Chumash

The Chumash Indians lived along a wide range of coastal California extending from Malibu ( Los Angeles County ) in the south to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties in the northwest. As a seafaring people, the Chumash Indians became skilled fisherman but were also inland hunters and gatherers. Like their neighbors the Tongva, the Chumash also inhabited islands off the coast (three of the Channel Islands ). Many modern place names have origins in the Chumash language, including Malibu , Lompoc , Ojai, Pismo Beach , Point Mugu, Lake Castaic and Simi Valley .  

When the first Spanish missionaries arrived, there were probably between 10,000 and 20,000 Chumash living throughout their inhabited areas. With the establishment of the San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara Missions in 1782, however, their numbers declined and their cultural identity began to fade. A revolt against the Spanish by the Chumash in 1824 failed. By 1906, there were only 42 known survivors of the Chumash people. Today, approximately 5,000 people have reclaimed their Chumash identity. Information about the Chumash can be accessed at the following websites:

http://www.santaynezchumash.org   
http://www.chumashindian.com/bands.htm
 

The Serrano (Cuahajai)

The Serrano Indians inhabited the San Bernardino Mountains and lived as far east as the Mojave River region and the Tejon Creek. The Serrano were skilled craftsmen and have been called experts in basketweaving. When the Spanish missionaries arrived at the San Gabriel Mission in 1771, they named these people Serrano (“highlander” in Spanish) in view of the mountainous region they occupied. The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber estimated their 1770 population at about 1,500.  

The historian Bill Mason reported that nearly 1,000 Serrano became converts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando Missions between 1795 and 1815. By 1810 about 200 people from various Serrano villages were neophytes at the mission, as indicated by Mason.  But in 1812, the Serrano and their eastern neighbors – the Cahuilla and Yuma tribes – all rebelled against the Spanish system. After eight months of warfare, the Serranos surrendered and many of their tribesmen were moved to missions and presidios, where they were baptized.  

Many of the surviving Serranos were relocated to the missions in 1834. Devastating smallpox outbreaks took their toll on the group in 1840 and 1860, but in the 1860s a reservation was set aside for them. Today, the Morongo Indian Reservation spans more than 35,000 acres and is the home to many of the Serrano, Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians.  

Newcomers from Sonora

Although the Mexican soldiers and settlers who arrived at San Gabriel in 1781 after a 960-mile journey from Álamos were strangers to the indigenous peoples of Southern California , the vast majority of them were also of indigenous Native American descent.  Altogether, roughly 57 soldiers and 44 settlers took part in the Expedition of 1781, even though several of the soldiers were killed in a confrontation with the Yuma Indians in July of that year. The vast majority of the soldiers and settlers had origins in the present-day Mexican states of Jalisco , Durango , Sinaloa and Sonora , with the latter two states donating the most significant portion.  

Angelino Roots in Rosario

Several of the soldiers and settlers came from Rosario in Southern Sinaloa .  One of the Los Angeles pobladores of 1781 was José Navarro, described as a mestizo from Rosario . Basilio Rosas, a 67-year-old Indian from Nombre de Dios ( Durango ), was another pioneer settler. His wife, María Manuela Hernández, was a 43-year-old mulata from Rosario .  

Still another of the original settlers, José Vanegas, was a 28-year-old Indian from Real de Bolaños (Jalisco), and his wife, Maria Bonifacia Aguilar was a 20-year-old Indian born in Rosario . Pablo Rodriguez, a 25-year-old settler was an Indian from Real de Santa Rosa (Jalisco), also had a spouse from Rosario : María Rosalia Noriega, a 26-year-old Indian woman who was born in Rosario .  

Several of the soldiers who accompanied the settlers were also from Rosario . Juan Matias Olivas, a native of Rosario , had volunteered for the Spanish army on August 6, 1780. His military record described Juan as being 5 feet, 2 inches tall, with black eyes, black hair, olive skin and clean-shaven. It is likely that, because he was of predominantly indigenous blood, Juan Matias did not have a beard.  When he arrived in California in 1781 he was accompanied by his wife, María Dorotea Espinosa, and their two children.  

The Totorame of Rosario in Southern Sinaloa

Located in the southernmost corner of Sinaloa, the colonial silver-mining city of Rosario is 38 miles southeast of Mazatlán and almost 200 miles south of Culiacán (the capital of Sinaloa). When the Spaniards first arrived in the area, a large population of farmers and fisherman speaking Totorame, a Cora dialect, inhabited the area.   

Rosario was described in 1686 as “a fine little town of about 60 or 70 houses… chiefly inhabited with Indians,” and an eighteenth century report describes the settlement as a predominantly mestizo-mulato settlement and an important trading center [Peter Gerhard, “The Northern Frontier of New Spain (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982), p. 272]. The big silver strike of 1655 had brought in a significant number of Spanish entrepreneurs and African slaves, and it is believed that the mixture of the Totorame, Spanish and African elements created the mestizo – mulato community that existed when the expedition of 1781 took place.  

Northern Sinaloa

At least thirty soldiers of the 1781 Expedition came from various parts of Sinaloa, with the lion’s share from the towns of El Fuerte and Villa de Sinaloa in the northern part of the state. At least sixteen of the soldiers came from these two cities, which were located in the traditional territory of the Cáhita-speaking Indians.  Speaking eighteen closely-related dialects, the Cáhita of Northern Sinaloa and Southern Sonora inhabited the coastal area along the lower courses of the Sinaloa, Fuerte, Mayo, and Yaqui Rivers .  

The Cáhita peoples included the Sinaloas, Tehuecos, Zuaques, and Ahomes. El Fuerte – located about 110 miles south of Álamos , Sonora – had been settled by the Spaniards in 1564, but the Spaniards were forced to retreat from the area a few years later, largely because of a hostile reception from the local Indians. Even after the Spaniards returned in 1583, they faced serious challenges from the indigenous neighbors (primarily the Zuaques and Tehuecos) who rebelled in 1594, 1599, 1604 and 1611-1613.   

The Mayo of Northern Sinaloa

Eventually war, disease and assimilation took their toll on the Cáhitas and, by the eighteenth century, only the Mayo and Yaquis remained as significant cultural entities in Northern and Southern Sinaloa . The Mayo Indians were the largest surviving Cáhita group to inhabit the region surrounding El Fuerte and Villa de Sinaloa, and it is from this group that many of the Los Angeles pioneers obtained their genetic makeup.  

The Mayo Indians – occupying some fifteen villages along the Mayo and Fuerte rivers – converted to Christianity in the early seventeenth century. From 1740, the Mayo periodically rebelled against Spanish rule, as did their closely related neighbors, the Yaquis. The Mayos eventually became an integral part of the Álamos community (now in Southern Sonora ), from which at least eleven soldiers and several pobladores came from. In 1683, a large silver strike brought large numbers of Spaniards, African slaves, free mulatos and Mayo and Yaqui Indians from the surrounding regions. The soldiers and settlers from Álamos represented a mix of these groups.  

Luis Quintero

The most famous son of Álamos is the poblador, Luis Quintero who, with his wife María Petra Rubio, made the hazardous journey in 1781. At various times, Spanish records classified Luis as either a “negro” or a “mulato.” Some researchers claim that he was the son of an African slave father and a Mayo Indian mother.  However, although the authors have not found solid evidence of this in their own research (yet), it is strongly suspected that Luis did have both African and Native origins. Luis’ death record in 1810 stated that he was a native of Guadalajara (Jalisco), but no documentary evidence has ever been presented to prove this and most researchers believe that he was, in fact, a native of Álamos.  

What is known is that Luis came to Los Angeles and, after a brief stay, moved on to the Santa Barbara Presidio where he resided for the next 28 years, serving as the master tailor for the soldiers stationed there.  Although his own residence in Los Angeles was brief, Luis and Petra had many offspring who lived in Los Angeles and played important roles in its history and development.  It is believed that a thousand or more descendants of Luis and Petra inhabit the Los Angeles area today.  

The Native Americans of Present-Day Los Angeles

Although the present-day administration of Southern California’s cities and counties lay in the hands of many people of many origins, many Native Americans from California and other areas of the country have been drawn to this area to live and prosper. As of July 1, 2007, Los Angeles County led all the nation’s counties in the number of people who were in the “American Indian and Alaska Natives” racial category (146,500). Also of great significance, Los Angeles County had the highest number of American Indian and Alaska Native-owned firms (13,061).  

Tribute

Today, Southern California is home to a vast array of ethnic groups from every part of the planet, but its physical landscape was originally the home and territory of the Tataviam, Tongva, Serrano and Chumash. The people of the Los Angeles Metropolis Area may be a microcosm of the world’s many nations, but the original people who settled and developed Los Angeles and the surrounding areas were largely of Native American stock. Their roots were deeply embedded in the landscape of early California , and the echo of their culture, their language and their spirit lingers today among the skyscrapers and suburbs of modern day Los Angeles .  

About Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal:

Jennifer Vo is a direct descendant of Luis Quintero and Juan Matias Olivas and is a descendant of the Chumash Indians. With John Schmal, Jennifer has been able to proudly share the colorful story of her family and its prominent role in the history of Los Angeles in order to recognize the contributions of Mexican-Americans in our nation's history. Jennifer is currently working towards her master's degree in Communication Disorders and operates her own online editorial business at EditForYou.com, providing editorial and proofreading services to clients from all over the world.   

Notice to Readers: The authors are not experts on the indigenous history of Southern California . The primary purpose of this story is to inform Angelinos about the indigenous roots of Los Angeles and to encourage interested readers to seek more detailed information from the sources that we cite.  

Copyright 2010 by Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved.  

Sources:  

California Archives, “ Provincial State Papers, 1767-1822” (Archives of California , Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley ).  

Jennifer Vo and John P. Schmal, “A Mexican-American Family of California : In the Service of Three Flags” ( Westminster , Maryland : Heritage Books, 2003).  

U.S. Census Bureau, “2006-2008 American Community Survey.”  

William McCawley, “The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles ” (Banning, California: Malki Museum Press/Ballena Press Cooperative, 1996).  

William M. Mason, “Los Angeles Under The Spanish Flag: Spain ’s New World” ( Burbank , California : Southern California Genealogical Society, 2004).  

 


CALIFORNIA
 

Brief California history
Sutro Library Lecture Series
March 6: Nueva Galicia Genealogical Society Conference
The Americas F
oundation - Fundacion de las Americas
Early California Population Project
Conference of California Historical Societies
Mission San Miguel's Christmas miracle
Alta California was first colonized by the Spanish Empire in 1769, and after Mexican independence in 1821, continued as part of Mexico. Following one brief week as the independent California Republic in 1846, and the conclusion of the Mexican-American war in 1848, California was annexed by the United States and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.

Sutro Library, the San Francisco branch of the California State Library, will offer a free series of evening programs on the life and times of Adolph Sutro, a central figure in San Francisco history.  The series will run on the last Thursday of each month from January through April 2010.  For details or visit http://www.library.ca.gov/collections/
docs/SutroLectures2010.pdf

Nueva Galicia Genealogical Society Conference

Members of this group are organizing a genealogy conference for March 6, 2010 in the San Jose area.
The Nueva Galicia Genealogical Society was founded through the efforts of Joseph Puentes of North Carolina and has a national outreach through its website:

 http://nuevagalicia.org/index.htm   

Any interested individuals can contact me.  Sincerely, Jaime Cader jmcader@yahoo.com


The Americas Foundation - Fundacion de las Americas

  

Dear Friends, 

Every year the Americas Foundation sponsors gift giving and holiday celebrations for the schools and community of Colonia La Esperanza in Tijuana, Mexico.   Jessie Meacham, Edwina Johnson and their elves recruit sponsors and gifts for all the children of the schools (kindergarten, elementary and high school), the teachers and separately for the children of the surrounding community. This year Susan Blume, Karen and George Longstreth, MacKenzie, Dana and Isabel helped me distribute the gifts at the school party which also featured musical and dance presentations.

        The previous Tuesday we hosted a Traditional Mexican night time Posada where the kindergartners, elementary school chorus and the student orchestra performed. The Saturday Colonia Volunteer day party was a day of pizza making, pinata breaking and gift giving.   Over 400 people attended.A huge thank you to all of you who contributed gifts and donations to make these days magical and special for the children of Colonia La Esperanza. Best wishes for the new year!  Feliz 2010!

Click on one of the photos to open the album of photos from these events.  Click on a photo in the album to open a slide show of larger photos. http://christine.americasfoundation.net/2009_christmas/base0.html
           





Christine Brady
The Americas Foundation
Fundacion de las Americas
898 Second Ave.

Chula Vista, CA 91911
http://www.americasfoundation.net
H: 619 737 9233  

Colegio la Esperanza  011 52 664 626 4698
Mex Cellular phone  011 521 664 198 1005
Isabel US phone 619 632 0091

Early California Population Project

The Huntington Library, Art collection and Botanical Gardens

 

The Early California Population Project (ECPP), a database developed by the Huntington Library, provides public access to all the information contained in the California mission registers from 1769 - 1850. Within the baptism, marriage, and burial records of each of the California missions sits an extraordinary wealth of unique information on the Indians, soldiers, and settlers of Alta California. But the vast potential of California’s mission records has in many ways remained unexploited. The original registers are scattered across California and too old and too brittle to handle. Microfilm copies of the registers exist in archives but are of poor quality and often hard to locate. Understanding the registers--written as they are in eighteenth-century Spanish script--demands rare skills and enormous effort. Lacking adequate staff and resources to facilitate genealogical and historical research, libraries, archives, missions, and dioceses each year turn away countless individuals who are eager to study early California’s Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo-American inhabitants.

The construction of databases based on mission records has proven to be extremely time-consuming and challenging. And when databases have been created, their structure and design necessarily have been narrowed by specific research questions and, until recently, technological limitations on the amount of information that could be stored and managed in a computer file. Thus, out of the desire to establish a new resource for the study of California before 1850, the Early California Population Project was born.

Through the Huntington Library, the Early California Population Project has obtained generous financial support from a number of granting agencies. The John Randolph Haynes and Dorothy Haynes Foundation, the California State Library (Library Services and Technology Act), the Dan Murphy Foundation, the Giles W. & Elise G. Mead Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, have all supported the project.

The ECPP now offers great opportunities for the study of the people and communities of early California. All basic data entry for the project was completed in June 2006. The project has records on more than 101,000 baptisms, 27,000 marriages, and 71,000 burials performed in California between 1769 and 1850. No other region of colonial America that became part of the United States has a database of such an extensive set of vital records. The database encompasses records from 21 of the California missions, in addition to the Los Angeles Plaza Church and the Santa Barbara Presidio. In its current form, the ECPP database has more than 85 fields related to individual baptism records, 93 covering the marriages of individuals, and 46 concerning burial information. 

The ECPP originated in 1998 when Steven W. Hackel, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, envisioned a comprehensive relational database for early California.  As general editor of the database, Hackel has played a leading role in designing the database, outlining the rules governing data entry, monitoring data entry, and providing content for the website.  Anne M. Reid served as Lead Data Entry Assistant.  Robert C. Ritchie, director of research at The Huntington, oversees the project.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108 Tel: 626-405-2100


Conference of California Historical Societies

The Conference of California Historical Societies' mission is to  preserve California history by unifying and strengthening historical organizations throughout the state.  The CONFERENCE of California Historical Societies was founded in 1954 as a federation of historical societies, museums, libraries, and other history-oriented groups and individuals. 

CCHS helps historians, and others who are interested in history, to connect and share information -- joining efforts to preserve records, artifacts, sites, and buildings. CCHS helps local societies and small museums with skills in management, acquisition, preservation, and restoration techniques. 

CCHS offers members an optional liability insurance policy designed to meet the special needs of history groups at low group rates. Members may also participate in various symposia and workshops offered several times throughout the year in locations alternating between Northern and Southern California. 

In addition to all of the features above, members receive a year's subscription (4 issues) of the California HISTORIAN magazine. The publication offers how-to articles, previously unpublished historical material, book reviews, and news, views, and activities from every corner of the state. 

Associate memberships are available. Associates receive the magazine and may participate in symposia and workshops.  info@californiahistorian.com 

Ben Wirick, Administrator
Conference of California Historical Societies
112 Harvard Ave, #15
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 480-3964

The Table of Contents of previously published the California HISTORIAN Magazine reflects the variety of topics covered:  http://www.californiahistorian.com/magazine.html.  

To read articles previously published, go to:  http://www.californiahistorian.com/articles.html
For events coming up, go to: http://www.californiahistorian.com/calendar-exhibits.html 

CCHS also collaborates with historical societies in mounting Symposiums throughout the state, a Spring and Fall symposium are held every year.

The Spring Symposium this year will be hosted by the Searles Valley Historical Society and the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert in Trona and Ridgecrest on March 4-7, 2010. Local historians plan a variety of activities to introduce the historical sites in their area.   Registration fees are quite reasonable, as are trips and meals.  

For information, please contact Sharon Hartley, tronamuseum@verizon.net or call 760-372-5106.


Mission San Miguel's Christmas miracle
By Steve Chawkins, LATimes, December 25, 2009
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sanmiguel25-2009dec25,0,6330562.story     

After an earthquake days before Christmas in 2003, the tottering 1818 church was declared unsafe to enter. The Diocese of Monterey and the Franciscan order were preparing to close it permanently, saying they couldn't afford to pay for crucial repairs.

Outside, the 16th of California's 21 missions was surrounded by a locked chain-link fence. Inside, the moment of the San Simeon earthquake was frozen for more than a year, memorialized by shattered statues, sheared-off chunks of plaster and two withered, still-decorated Christmas trees.

This week, parishioners in the tiny town of San Miguel will celebrate their first Christmas in the church since the magnitude 6.5 quake, which damaged 480 buildings in the area and killed two people in nearby Paso Robles. With help from an insurance settlement, charitable foundations, individual donors and parish enchilada sales, the church and other buildings on the grounds have been stabilized.

Precious murals by Salinan Indians have survived construction work and are slated for restoration. Some 500 termite-damaged, water-stained pine ceiling planks have been meticulously taken down, preserved and put back up, one by one. Even pig bristles trapped in paint two centuries old have been saved in place, their exact locations documented for future historians.

"It's like a rebirth," said Reimi Campomenosi, a parish member who was alone in the church watering the Christmas trees when the quake hit that Dec. 22. "The roof was lifted up and debris came raining down. Afterward, I turned off the gas and electricity, and went around blowing out the candles."

Last week, choir director Campomenosi played the church organ at a Sunday Mass -- the first time she'd sat down at the instrument, which had been damaged, in six years. Services in the church resumed only a couple of months ago. Until then, a dwindling band of parishioners would worship in the local senior center, in a cramped museum room or outdoors, on blankets and under umbrellas.

San Miguel is not the best-known mission but it's the only one with its original interior more or less intact. Under the direction of a Spanish-born artist, some of the Salinan Indians who lived on the mission grounds are believed to have painted the walls with a stunning variety of garlands, pillars, urns, floral patterns and pink-and-green sunbursts.

Over the years, some of the pigments have turned to dust. In a few spots, candle drippings mar the walls. In other places, friezes are blurred by generations of worshipers brushing against them. Next to one pew, a bored parishioner scratched the image of a schooner in full sail. It's still on the wall -- though graffiti by Indians at other missions has long since been whitewashed over, art historians say.

"Our initial problem seemed to be that the paintings were so fragile that any attempt to repair the building would destroy the artwork," said John Fowler, a San Luis Obispo CPA hired to coordinate the restoration effort. "It took a couple of years just to understand how we'd go about the process while trying to protect the treasures inside."

Bolstering 5-foot-thick adobe walls required heavy equipment and many days of drilling. Meanwhile, seismic experts had concluded that vibrations from trains on tracks across the road could trigger the building's collapse.

In 2006, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the mission on its annual listing of America's 11 most endangered historic sites.

"There were some scary moments," Fowler said, recalling a time when structural work made it necessary for Pat Taylor, an adobe expert from Mesilla, N.M., to slice off -- and later reattach -- 1-inch-thick, 4-foot-wide swaths of ornate decoration.  "We were wondering just how much we'd have to peel back," Fowler said.

Experts converged on San Miguel, peering with high-tech instruments into layers of paint, wood and adobe. Wood conservator John Griswold confronted the same dilemma as other team members: "We had to decide how far to take it," he said. "On the one hand, the damage could be really disfiguring and distracting, but on the other there was something authentic about it."

His solution was a special pigment to partly hide stains without giving a shiny new look to a ceiling that had seen nearly 200 years of hard times.

Reading the church's scarred facade like a rare old book, structural engineer Nels Roselund could trace some deep cracks to the 1859 Ft. Tejon earthquake, and the tilt of one wall to a century of bad drainage. He devised a way of bracing the church's front with a concrete frame but still is uncertain about the future of a sacristy wall that had pulled away from the building by about eight inches. "It's not like you can just go to a handbook for all this," he said.

Perhaps the biggest unknown was financial. Foundations stepped forward with checks, and parishioners held teas and golf tournaments; but an attempt by state Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) to secure state funding for the church repairs failed on constitutional grounds.

Lloyds of London settled the church's claim for about $6.25 million after negotiations attended by an aide to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

"She just wanted to stress how important this mission is to the state of California," Fowler said. So far, about $10 million has been raised, Fowler said, and the hope is to find $3 million to $5 million more for future work.

The mission's history is similar to that of others. Some 3,000 Indians lie in unmarked graves in its cemetery, many of them prey to European diseases. Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen, who founded San Miguel in 1797, believed, as did other missionaries, that his purpose was to save souls. The "neophytes" were housed and trained in various skills. But punishments for infractions like leaving without permission were harsh, for in Lasuen's words, the Indians "shamelessly pursue without restraint whatever their brutal appetites suggest to them."

Some of her ancestors may have been mistreated, acknowledges Shirley Macagni, a retired rancher and Salinan elder who has worked toward the mission's restoration. "But," she says, "the padres' overall motives were good: They were to take care of and teach the native people, and teach them they did. Some of my own ancestors turned out to be the best cowboys in the country."

When Mexico abandoned the mission system in the 1830s, San Miguel declined rapidly. Over the years, the sprawling property housed a dance hall, a sewing machine shop, a saloon and herds of farm animals roaming through empty buildings. In 1848, bandits hacked to death William Reed, then a co-owner of the property, and his pregnant wife, their 4-year-old son, a midwife and a number of his employees.

In 1928, the Franciscans started operating the mission again. Through the decades, they patched up the mission's failing structures; but in the end, their attempts were inadequate.

"We were sitting here watching it crumble," said Father Larry Gosselin, the friar in charge of the mission. "What could we do?" Now there are plans to hold concerts and host community events in a new church hall and to finally preserve the Salinan murals before time erodes them further.

In brown robe and sandals, Gosselin speaks of "a whole new chapter" -- but points to a large window over the choir loft as testament that some things don't change.

"Sept. 29 at 7:24 a.m.," he intones.  That's the feast day of St. Michael Arcangel -- the mission's namesake -- and a time of day when the sun pours through to illuminate an antique wooden figure of the saint in a perfect rectangle of light.  "From the pulpit," Gosselin says, "it's almost blinding."

steve.chawkins@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Sent by Joan De Soto Casa San Miguel
 


NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Tomas Villanueva Sr.'s fought for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic.  

    
Family, friends embrace legacy of Tomás Villanueva
by Melissa Sanchez

SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic
Tomas Villanueva embraces his son, USMC M/Sgt Tomas Villanueva Jr. after his son spoke during a ceremony to honor Tomas Villanueva Sr.'s contributions to human rights on Sunday, December 20, 2009. He has been an advocate since the 1960s, working to get and extend the rights of farm-workers and the poor. Friends, family and fellow activists gathered to remember and celebrate his accomplishments.

TOPPENISH, Wash. — It is with pain that the wiry man with deep lines in his face remembers something he’d tell other activists decades ago.  During meetings to organize farm workers or plan legislative lobbying, some volunteers would bow out early to attend their children’s school plays or athletic events.

“I used to say, ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you believe in the cause?’” said Tomás Villanueva, who turns 68 today. “I was too much involved that I completely forgot the family.”

In recent months, the once tireless advocate for farm worker rights has had plenty of time to reflect on the past and think about the future.  Multiple strokes over the summer have left him housebound and physically unable to use his left arm. To Villanueva’s frustration, that means no typing, and no more of his big customary hugs.

But visitors still stream in and out of his Toppenish home to hear stories from the man credited with helping start what would eventually become the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic.  

“Those times were different, when people would call us agitators or communists or socialists,” Villanueva said. “I don’t know what they expected, if we were going to be trying to take over. All we wanted was equality.”

On Sunday, more than 100 friends from across the state and as far away as Boston celebrated Villanueva’s contributions. Many, including George Finch, a former community and farm worker union organizer, have known Villanueva for four decades.

“Over the years you get to know people. You do things politically, but the reason why you keep them in your heart is them as a person,” said Finch, now a freelance writer based in Yakima. “Tomás has inspired a lot of people over the years because of his dedication, and he’s very articulate and he’s really sincere.”

*******
Villanueva was born in Monterrey, in northern Mexico, and was one of 18 children, although six died before reaching adulthood. His mother was known in their neighborhood as being “La Madrina,” or “The Godmother,” for her ability to persuade authorities to right injustices. He would learn about nonviolent protest from her, as he would again years later from César Chávez.

Villanueva arrived in the United States at age of 13 with his family to begin the life of migrant farm workers — traveling from Texas to Ohio to the Pacific Northwest, always following the crop.

Work kept him from finishing high school, although he would eventually get his GED.

“I think because of that we weren’t ever allowed to get jobs while we were in school. He valued education,” said his son, Javier Villanueva, an insurance salesman and one of Villanueva’s seven children.

He didn’t intentionally set out to become an advocate for other farm workers. He worked as a carpenter and on the railroads and at one time dreamed of becoming an accountant or doctor. Villanueva was always good at math and science, although never English. He still speaks with a thick Mexican accent.

It was in the 1960s at Yakima Valley College that Villanueva befriended Ricardo Garcia, with whom he joined a Catholic social justice group that reached out to migrant farm workers.

“There was an inspiration to really get involved in the community,” said Garcia, who would later help found the nation’s first Spanish-language public broadcaster Radio KDNA. “We were young, excited about doing something for farm workers.”

Around this time, Villanueva met Chávez, the legendary advocate for farm worker rights, in California and decided to bring his example to the Yakima Valley through a food cooperative and the Farm Workers Family Health Center in Toppenish, which eventually became the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. “I didn’t become a doctor, but there’s 200, 300 new doctors here because of what I did then,” Villanueva said.

*******
He also became the local expert on labor law.  “He has such a sharp mind and he’s observing,” Garcia said. “He was the guru on farm worker protection, (Labor and Industries), the (Employment) Security Department, and legislation at the national and state level.

In Olympia, he worked to improve working conditions for farm workers, access to education and improved housing. “He made an impression on Olympia. They knew who Tomás was.”

For a while, he worked as a community liaison for the state Department of Social and Health Services, but his jobs never made him much money. While some of his companions would find full-time jobs and security, much of what Villanueva did was as a volunteer.

For years, his family lived in a two-bedroom house. His five sons shared a garage that was converted into a living area, with old doors serving as walls. His children — all grown now — fondly remember the presents — guns that shot rubber bands, a kitchenette, checkerboards — all carved out of wood by Villanueva.

“Obviously, financially it was just very difficult,” said Villanueva’s wife, Hortencia. “We literally had to go out to our extended families — I would make it a point of going to visit regularly just so my kids could have some thing to eat.  “But the kids never realized how poor we were, and that to me meant everything.”

When he could, Villanueva took his children along to strikes and protests across the state. They handed out fliers, lobbied with him in Olympia and learned from the way their father treated others.

“There was this guy once, yelling at the top of his lungs and dad would just keep smiling,” remembers his son, Jaime Villanueva. “People would yell racial slurs, every name in the book, and he’d be nodding and smiling, saying, ‘OK, brother.’”

*******
Even those in the agriculture industry that Villanueva so often fought came to respect him. Mike Gempler, president of Washington Growers Association, said he met Villanueva when farm worker strikes and labor conflicts were at their height in the 1980s.

“At times Tómas displayed a hard-headedness that served him well, and had the persistence and stubbornness to represent his constituents  — and sometimes that did not serve him so well,” Gempler said.

“Through it all he was able to work toward a solution, and agreement, and never be angry or leave the table. That’s notable.  “There were times when he held the upper hand, held all the political cards, and was still willing to engage the agricultural industry. And then there were times when he had no cards in his hands and was still willing to keep trying.” His example has inspired others in the Valley.

“There are so many of us here who are limited in their ability to speak English, and they don’t have a voice,” said Nestor Hernandez, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Yakima. “I hope others will continue the struggle for equal rights like Mr. Villanueva.

“This great man, for me, is like a César Chávez because of his concern for the farm worker.” Villanueva has never felt that his work was enough.

“As much as I believe that has been done there is still so much to do,” he said. “Much of the poor conditions for farm workers still exist. There is no collective bargaining for farm workers. The union is not active — you hardly hear of it anymore.”

For now at least, Villanueva can’t do much about any of that. He shuffles around the house, rests and hopes for good news from doctors about possible surgeries to fix circulation to his left arm.

Once, many years ago, he’d nearly finished writing his memoirs, but then his computer and other electronics were stolen when his house was broken into. He might do that again, with voice recognition software since he can’t type.  

But mostly he’s grateful for all these moments he now has with family. “Now that I’ve been forced to be at home I think I have spent more quality time than I ever have with my wife,” Villanueva said “And I’ve enjoyed it, and I’ve enjoyed talking with my kids.”

• Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 509-577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.
 


SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES
   

The Great New Mexico Pedigree Database
Convergence, Photo Exhibit: Hope and Action in Centro Mujeres Tonantzin Plutarco 
The El Paso Salt War 
Land Water People Time, documentary
Getting Ready for Spring Planting
By Alfred L Trujillo  
The Great New Mexico Pedigree Database Project: Hispanic Pedigree Database 

SURNAME PEDIGREE PROJECT: 
136,042 individuals, 43,784 families 

What is it? An ambitious project to organize immense amounts of research into one connected genealogical pedigree chart of New Mexico's Hispanic ancestry. It is the result of combining many different GEDCOM files (computer genealogy data format) as well as information from various published sources into one unified database.

Purpose: To enable anyone, anywhere to have access to the most comprehensive, organized and accurate collection of New Mexico Hispanic Genealogical research via the Internet.
http://www.hgrc-nm.org/surnames/surnames.htm

Sent by Nancy Perez nbperez@cox.net
Convergence, Photo Exhibit: Hope and Action 
in Centro Mujeres Tonantzin Plutarco 

More than 50 photos feature women living in Juárez, Mexico in 2009 documenting their experiences in the workplace, households and other aspects of their lives.  The women are part of Centro Mujeres Tonantzin, a community organization in Juarez.

Western New Mexico University Museum, Silver City, NM
 associate professor Dr. Emma Bailey is eager to tell their story. “I have crossed from El Paso to Juárez more than a hundred times,” said Bailey. “Each time I meet head on with the inadequacy of our understanding of Juárez and the life that has been created there through U.S. dominance.”

The exhibition features photographs taken by Alicia Edwards, Executive Director of The Volunteer Center in Grant County. “This project gave me the opportunity to do a large-scale documentary that was focused on a rarely seen view of a mainstream topic, the US-Mexico border,” said Edwards.  www.wnmu.edu/univ/museum.htm

The El Paso Salt War 

 
I tried to do a little educating this week. Ms. Trish Long, the archivist and online columnist for the El Paso Times had responded to a reader's inquiry about the El Paso Salt War by quoting a 1956 EP Times article describing the conflict in the usual fashion, i.e., Mexican mob action.

I responded with a brief correction, including this:

Trish, I am glad to see Old Man Lyon's interest in one of the largest and most dramatic conflicts to result from the American incorporation of Mexican territory and people into the American nation and system of laws.
Unfortunately, that 1956 Times article you quote is based on outdated research that describes the Tejano resistance as amounting to the actions of an unthinking mob. As the author of a recent history of the El Paso Salt War, I would like to clarify a few points for Old Man Lyon and other readers.

First, while the mutual hatred of Charles Howard and Louis Cardis played a part in the explosion of violence that occurred in El Paso County, the war itself was caused by much more than their rivalry. It was the result of a change in the Texas Constitution that permitted individuals to stake legal claims to the salt that had been owned by the people living in the communities at the Pass of the North, property rights that had been grandfathered in by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The Tejanos, with over a century experience of self-governance, much like in the 13 colonies, organized rudimentary political and military formations. Their decision to fight back against the theft of what had always been their property was not a riot but the product of a deliberate, community-based decision squarely in the tradition of the American nation's original fight for self-government.

It is also worth pointing out that Tays and his twenty men fought bravely before surrendering to an organized and competently led force of over 400 men. In fact, the leaders of the insurgent army, including Chico Barela and Sisto Salcido, were former Texas Rangers.

I recommend that interested readers consult "Salt Warriors: Insurgency on the Rio Grande" published by Texas A&M University Press. They can find copies in the El Paso Public Library and at UTEP, EP Community College, and nearby NMSU. Much of my research was conducted in their wonderful archives. 

Thanks, Paul Cool
saltwar77@verizon.net
 
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/el-paso-times/TJV73N2G4P4R1GMUM#lastPost   
Webpage links to the original Times column.


Land Water People Time, documentary 

 
Land Water People Time, a documentary produced by NALIPsters Cynthia Jeannette Gomez (LPA 2009) and Daniel Valerio, and directed by David Lindblom, is featured in the January 2010 edition of Albuquerque ARTS Magazine. Click here to download a PDF of the magazine, and read Bill Nevins' article about the film on page 6.

The film Land Water People Time is a collection of the nearly disappeared stories from Northern New Mexico's diverse cultures, traditions and heritage. People of the northern geography of New Mexico are shaped by historical relationships to natural environments, by neighboring cultures and sustained by the waters of northern New Mexico.

Descendants of Native Americans, New Mexican Spanish and generations of Anglo settlers-whose histories involve the strife of tribal, international and civil wars; periods of famine and abundance, intercultural raiding and peaceful effort-share knowledge and wisdom brought on by deeper understandings of the natural surroundings that shape and sustain the cultures celebrated in Northern New Mexico.

Latinos in The Industry
1/5/2010


Getting Ready for Spring Planting

By Alfred L Trujillo

Nambe , New Mexico

          Olli my younger brother and I were carrying river rock from the rock pile to where Dad was busy building a retaining wall around our house.  Our house, was well over 200 years old and had been built on a little hill on the back portion of our family’s land holdings.  The land had been given to my grandfather Manuel when he married my Grandmother Francis.  The house had been added onto on several occasions. However, the surrounding landscape had nothing much done to it over the years.  
                                   

Alfred Trujillo 

         

 


  In time the land around us had been leveled out by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). In the process of leveling the land, some of the drainage had been diverted to an old arroyo that ran between our house and our Uncle Ramon’s house.  This redirecting of the drainage had created the potential danger to our house of being washed away in the next major rain storm.  

          Dad had not been working regularly and had some free time.  He decided it was time to protect the house from potential disaster and build a wall around it.  Building block was expensive and hard to get and money was short or non existent.  Instead of block he decided he would use river rock, an abundant building material just a mile or so from our little house.  We had been hauling these rocks for what seemed an eternity long before he started building. It was on one of these building occasions that we got our very first opportunity to work as equals with grown men. This opportunity had nothing  at all to do with walls or rock.  

          The Spanish had learned from the Pueblo Indians how to bring water from streams higher up on the valley to remote location for irrigation. They dug a series of ditches along the contours of the land to supply irrigation water to all the tillable land. In order to better distribute the water a set of rules and regulations were created, that not just a few could control its use.  These rules and regulations still exist and form the back bone of all water rights law in the United States . With out the ditches to bring the water to the land, there could be no agriculture.  With out agriculture the people would starve.  

          In the rules and regulations, it was plainly stated that a person was to be elected as the ditch boss.  In Spanish he was called the majordomo.  Over the centuries the ditch boss became one of the most important officials in any agrarian community.  That position decided how much water to allocate to each farm.   This was an important and difficult task, especially in drought years.  However the office of ditch boss did have power to fin and charge for services.  Infringements of the rules could cause one to lose their water rights for any amount of time.  Water was important so everyone followed the rules. 

          Over the years a ditch association had been created. Each land holder had to provide to the ditch association one “man-day” of labor for each acre of land irrigated, or pay its equivalent in cash.  This money was managed by the ditch boss as needed to keep the water running to all farms, big and small.

          Each spring all the water right holders would either send laborers to fulfill their obligation or pay the equivalent in money.  The ditches were dug along the contour of the land and throughout the irrigation season the water flowing through them carried sand and other debris.  Weeds and bunch grass would grow along the banks. In the spring these ditches had to be dug out and made ready to carry water to the farms that lay in its area of distribution.  

     

  Olli Trujillo    


 It was 1962 or 63,  Olli and I were carrying rocks to Dad when a man drives up in an old pickup and stops right in front of him, as he is working. The man says hello to him by waving his hand no higher than his shoulder and saying “Q-vo”. Dad replied in the same fashion.  “Q-vo” He says in Spanish that he is here to pick up the laborer, or to charge for the day.  We only had one acre of irrigated land and were obliged to send one man.  Dad looks kind of embarrassed and says he needs to send a man because he can’t go.  He’s very busy building a wall to protect the house. Dad tells him he thinks he will send his uncle Isadias who often helps Dad with all kinds of odd jobs.  Upon hearing that, the ditch boss says he can’t send him because he is already working for someone else. Dad looks kind of lost for a couple of seconds.  About that time Mom comes around the house with some coffee and water for our guest.  This is a common practice among all the local people of the valley. The guest never need ask for coffee or water.  It is offered at all times. 

          Mom takes in the situation as Dad tells her that he will have to go with the ditch boss because he does not have anyone to send in his place. He will have to leave the wall building for later.  Mom says that the wall is important and must be finished before the end of spring. She tells dad that it will take many more weekends and besides he has already mixed enough motor to last most of the morning.  She then tells Dad to send the boys.  When she said “the boys”, I knew it was us she was talking about. Dad says that we are a little to young.  Mom says that we can do the work and to ask the majordomo.  Dad looks at us and then at the majordomo who had been paying attention to the whole exchange as he sipped on his coffee.  The majordomo asks how old we were.  Dad says that Olli is 10 and Alfred is 11 years old but good workers, he says this without missing a beat. The majordomo says that everyone has to start sometime and that he will accept us as one man.  How ever if we can not do the job, he will send us home and bill Dad for the day. Dad accepts.  

          Mom tells us to go eat as we were going to have a hard day.  While we are eating she prepared some food for our lunch and put it in one of Dad’s lunch buckets. She tells us to share the lunch as there is enough for more than two people. Dad says he will get a couple of shovels ready by sharpening them with a file. He tells us that we will need very sharp shovels because the bunch grass that has grown along the ditch over the year is very difficult to cut if you do not have a good sharp shovel.  We listen to his advise on how to dig the ditch and what a “task” (tarella) means and not to be to playful.  He said we are going to be teased and not to pay much attention to what is said.  He tells us that that is how the Pleve acts (the men) towards new workers. Dad gave me a new file to keep our shovels sharp so we could cut through the tough bunch grass that grew along the side of the ditch.

          The ditch boss had left to visit the other farms while we were eating.  He told Dad to send us to the head of the ditch, up by the McKinney ranch.  Olli and I walked over there and arrived just as the ditch boss stepped down from his pick-up.  

          Some of the men had already started teasing us by saying things like.  “Are you two going to stand on each others head to dig? Ha! ha! ha!-  Are you going to start crying for your mama when you get tired? He! he! he! Others were teasing and laughing at the ones that were teasing us by saying that it would be they who would have to take care of us by changing our diapers and giving us our milk bottles or better yet! “Breast feeding” us, ho ho ho!.   Someone else said that we were just there to eat our lunch and that they would probably have to do our work.  If that were the case he wanted to be paid extra.  This came from a guy in his early twenties with a really red face caused by a severer case of acne.  Olli and I just called him red face.  Later we learned that his name was Jesus.  He was one of those guys that talked a lot, thinking he could do anything but in reality he couldn’t. He kept on teasing us for the longest time until the ditch boss asked him to shut up and keep his opinions to himself.  

          It was good to hear that from the ditch boss because I was tired and didn’t know what I was going to say.  Dad had said that there would be some who would not like us being there at all.  When I asked why he said that some of the men had only that opportunity to make money in the spring, there just wasn’t much work around that paid cash, if there were less people digging they could get more time in, therefore, more money. 

          In those days the pay was one dollar an hour and it was considered good pay.  That was eight dollars; a man’s pay for a days work, a week’s work would provide the basic needs for a family for at least a month.  As for Olli and me, it was a fortune.  We did not expect to get paid anyway as we were working for the family, and Dad didn’t have any cash money, that is why we were sent to work in his place.  
 

          Olli and I stayed close to our uncle Isadias who was working for our uncle Ramon.  Uncle Isadias was my father’s uncle but he was much younger than Dad.  So whenever anyone in the family needed someone to do anything they would call my uncle Isadias.  Our Uncle Ramon had to pay about 20 man days. He farmed much more than we did.   Ours was pretty much just a large kitchen garden. 

          We were asked to line up for the assigning of tasks.  A task was an assigned portion of the ditch, measured off by the ditch boss.  The measurement was a long stride of his legs plus the length of his hoe.  That translated into about ten to twelve feet of ditch for each digger.  

          The ditch boss assigned both my brother and me to a single task.   My uncle Isadias told us what to do, but didn’t spend too much time in his explaining before the ditch boss started marking off the tasks. 

          The way things worked were something like this; as soon as you got your task you would start digging, trying to finish before the others would.  This would give more time to rest and goof off while the slowest digger finished their task. One of the ones who loved to be the first to finish was Jesus. He ran to the front of the line so the ditch boss would mark his task first. 

          There must have been about 30 men working so by the time the ditch boss assigned all the tasks the first diggers were pretty much finished.   The ditch boss would continue marking the tasks trying to get ahead of the men.  Once he got ahead he had time to check the work being done.  He sometimes would ask someone to redo their tasks and others to straighten out their sides.  The straitening out of the sides was a process called shaving or varbiando in Spanish.  It was pronounced with a V not a B; in the old Spanish the V and the B are often interchangeable.  Once the ditch boss was satisfied with the work we would all go to the front and pick out a new task in the same order as we started.  

          Here was the problem with this time proven process, as I saw it.  Just as Olli and I were getting into our task the first fellows were finishing up. Here comes Jesus to give us a hard time.  He would come by and tease us.  He would say that we were not worth the money, or that our work looked like crap.  This would attract the eye of the others and of course the ditch boss. The ditch boss was already keeping an eye on us anyway but it made it

seem as if he was more stringent with us, because of the attention given us by all the teasing. 
 

          In a way it was a blessing in disguise.  Olli and I had been working with all kinds of tools ever since we were much smaller.  We knew how to work and handle a shovel correctly.  Dad had sharpened our shovels razor sharp and could cut through the tough bunch grass as if it were butter.  The majority of the digging was sandy soil that had accumulated over last irrigation seasons.  

          Olli and I would split up the task in half, he taking 5 to 6 feet and I the other 5 to 6 feet.  We would fly through the task as it were butter. We had dug our own ditch from the main ditch to our little farm all by ourselves last year, so we knew what we were doing.  This ditch was wider than ours but it was still dug out the same way.  The process was as follows; first you cut down the vertical sides of the ditch (varbiando), and then dig out the bottom horizontal portion, down to about 8 to 10 inches or one shovel depth. Finish off the task by leveling out any high spots left behind.  Make sure that all the soil removed is stacked neatly on the left side of the ditch in a nice tight row.  The left side is the outside of the ditch, as you go with the flow of the water.   This reinforces the weakest portion of the ditch.  The accumulation of soil over the years makes it good and strong. 

          Olli and I were finishing up before all the other men around us were done.  As the morning worn on the ditch boss stated to notice what we were doing and that our work was good. He never once had to correct us.  On the other hand, old red face had been corrected several times.  Something Olli and I didn’t let him forget. He got real mad especially when the other men started to tease him to no end.  By mid morning he had stopped teasing.   

          The ditch boss told me and Olli that he was going to split us up. He said he was going to assign each of us a task of our own.   Olli and I looked at each other with a slight smile on our lips and a light of pride that shown in our eye, like a beacon in the night.  The other men also noticed and commented on our work which was an additional source of pride.  We now had to work harder but with all that good attention we were ready to take on any amount of physical labor. 

          Lunch time came and we got our lunch box, we were hungry and ready to eat.  We sat down with our uncle and some of the other men.  They were all telling jokes.  We would laugh as if we understood them but most of the jokes just went over our heads.  We opened our lunch and found a gold mine of food.  Tortilla sandwiches made with scrambled eggs, toasted cheese and others with some kind of meat, two bananas and apples. The thermos bottle was full of cold cool aid.  My uncle had a jar of cold beans and some tortillas and nothing else.  We shared with him and some other men.  The only one I remember sharing with other than our uncle was old red face.  He had eaten his lunch at the midmorning break.  It felt so good to be considered one of the men.  All the teasing was now done in a different light.  They teased us about girls and other things dealing with life in general.  Our egos were swelled up way beyond anything we had ever felt before.  It was great.

          We worked the rest of the afternoon laughing and joking along with the other men.  At the end of the work day the ditch boss called Olli and me over to him so he could talk to us.  He explained that Dad had worked the equivalent of two days for the ditch association the previous year which had been credited to his account.  He was in reality one day ahead of his responsibility.  This meant that we had added one more day to his account.  That pleased us as we felt that we were helping out the family.  The ditch boss than surprised us to no end by saying that he had figured that we had worked just as good as the men and better than others and that we deserved a full days pay.  He gave us a little sheet of paper with a note to the Redman family asking them to pay a total of sixteen dollars to the bearer of this note, for two days work by order of the ditch association.     
      

          Olli and I looked at each other with a big smile on our faces and a twinkle in our eyes that were full of pride.  Wow! Eight dollars, a fortune in real money, just for us.   

 


INDIGENOUS

The Indigenous Heritage of Latinos by Bobby González
The Tlaxcalans contributions to the development of Nueva Espana
Uto-Aztecan (Shoshone) Languages of the State of California
Want to Know who is a Native American
Beginning Indian Genealogy 
Cebolla, por si las del indio



THE INDIGENOUS HERITAGE OF LATINOS
by Bobby González

   
When most people hear the term ‘Native American’ they associate it with peoples of North America, i.e.  nations such as the Cherokee, Apache, Navajo, etc.  

Most folks are stunned to learn that more than forty million indigenous peoples originate from Latin America. More than 90% of ‘Native Americans’ come from Central and South America and the Caribbean.  The majority of the populations of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala are aboriginal. In Mexico more than fifty languages are spoken. One of these languages happens to be Spanish. The remainder are Native.

     
The Aztec, Maya, Inca, Taino and many other groups built complex civilizations that have made major contributions to modern society.

     The Aztecs of central Mexico constructed hospitals, courts of law, schools and libraries whose many volumes of scholarly writings and commercial records were tragically lost in a massive book burning.  The Maya and the Aztec (who called themselves Mexica) gave us the gifts of corn, chocolate, tomatoes and chewing gum.  They were brilliant mathematicians who developed the concept of zero many centuries before the Europeans.  The city of Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) was a marvel of advanced architecture and engineering.  There were a number of great urban centers in Central America with over 200,000 inhabitants.  Oral traditions indicate that that Mexican Native traders traveled as far north as Michigan in their economic enterprises.  In addition, they created a calendar that was more accurate than the one which guided their contemporaries in Europe.  Mayan and Aztec astronomers followed the movements of the stars and were able to forecast solar eclipses far into the future.

     The Inca empire in South America was almost as long as the Roman empire.  It included the modern-day countries of Peru and Ecuador and parts of Bolivia, Columbia, Chile and Argentina.  They built the largest highway system in the world at the time. Inca surgeons performed successful brain surgery.  The agricultural technology may have been the most advanced in the world. They perfected terrace farming, inventing the process of freeze/drying potatoes and erected a network of aqueducts to provide water for irrigation and baths.

     The Taino of the Caribbean islands gave the outside world their first glimpse of rubber, their first taste of pineapples and peanuts and their first experience with tobacco. Many words in English and Spanish are of Taino origin. These include hurricane, canoe, barbeque, savanna and hammock. Some of their ceremonial religious practices have merged with African and Christian elements to form what is today called Santeria and Espiritismo.  There has been a Taino cultural revival in the Caribbean and the United States.

      Pharmaceutical companies are sending scientists into the Amazon. These PhD’s literally sit at the feet of Native shamans to draw from their wealth of medical knowledge. These indigenous healers possess a profound insight in the healing properties of jungle plants that are rapidly disappearing every day.

      Latinos should be proud of their indigenous ancestry.  The accomplishments of our Native forebears should motivate us to reach heights of accomplishments in all fields of endeavors.   We should be proud and grateful.

Bobby González is a multicultural motivational speaker and storyteller of Native American/Latino heritage. 
You can visit his website at
www.BobbyGonzalez.com or write to him at BronxTaino@aol.com


The Tlaxcalans contributions to the development of Nueva Espana
Dear Mr. Serna,

Thank you so much for your contribution to Somos Primos concerning the Tlaxcalans. In my book, “Tejano Roots a Family Legend” I have devoted a chapter to the Tlaxcalans that were amongst the earliest settlers of Texas. Like you I have found very few lists of individual names of these earliest arrivals with the exception of the lists of soldiers that were from Alamo de Parras and were formed as a company of soldiers called La Segunda Compania Volente de San Carlos del Alamo de Parras, which were transferred to San Antonio in 1803. Over eighty percent of these soldiers were of Tlaxcalan descent. In this company of soldiers was my 5th generation grandfather, Sgt Francisco Arellano.

In 1519 when Cortes landed off the coast of Vera Cruz in two years and two months the Mexica Aztec Empire would be no more. But Cortes did not conquer Mexico by himself; these Europeans would be the first to use weapons of mass destruction, guns, germs and steel.( Dr Jared M.Diamond) Also they would have 150,000 Tlaxcalan warriors that considered the Mexica as the conquerors, that dominated the valley of Mexico, and saw the Spaniards as liberators. The Tlaxcalans did receive special privileges such as carrying arms and riding horses.

According to Dr David Bergen Adams in his desertion “Tlascalan Colonies,” at the University of Texas archives, there were dozens of towns that were founded in Northern Mexico and Texas, which are too numerous to name here, but among them was San Esteban founded in 1591 adjacent to Saltillo. 

He goes on to say that had it not been for the Tlaxcalans, Saltillo may not have survived attacks from hostile Indians. Since 1591 San Estaban/ Saltillo would supply most of the settlers and soldiers needed to establish colonies to the north. The historian Herbert Eugene Bolton says that Saltillo would become the “mother colony” from which numerous offshoots were planted at the new missions and villages further north, that is in Texas.

Historian Charles Gibson in is book “ Tlaxcalla in the 16th Century.” says that the Tlaxcallans were to participate in great numbers and would come willingly. Carlos Castaneda in “Our Catholic Heritage,” says that “these Indians were used to pacify the hostile Indians of the north. The loyalty, industry and high stage of these Indians was well known. They would furthermore serve as an inducement and example to the uncivilized Indians. The Tlaxcala in Saltillo, Boca de Leones and Monclova had been constantly increasing in numbers, thus the desired quota could be recruited from among them. Thus it was Governor Barrios who suggested the use of the brave and loyal Tlaxcala to advance the Spanish frontier.”

John L Kessel in his book, “Spain in the Southwest,” says “in July of 1540 a thousand or more Tlaxcallans, Aztecs and Tarascan warriors were with Francisco de Coronado during the campaign against the Zuni Indians in New Mexico yet Spanish chroniclers characteristically all but ignored the contributions of these fierce warriors.” He also fails to mention that many of these warriors chose to stay behind and intermarried with the indigenous New Mexicans and provides no lists of names.(note: Tristan de Luna Y Arellano, second in command was one of my grandfathers 17 generations ago)

In his diary “Texas by Teran,” (1828) General Manuel de Mier y Teran says “it is also a shame that we can not do today what the Spanish did before. From San Luis Potosi to Bexar I have not visited a single village or town of any size that had not been a Tlaxcallan settlement, established at the cost to the royal treasury and run by missionary fathers.” 

Apparently these Tlaxcalans were everywhere and I could go on with more examples. More research needs to be done and I hope eventually some scholar or perhaps a student will discover the information needed to finally recognize the contributions of these fierce and loyal Tlaxcalans. I would make one suggestion. Look at the lists of soldiers of the presidios, determine from whence they came and perhaps there lies the answers. 

Dan Arellano
Author/Historian
President Tejano Genealogy Society of Austin
darellano@austin.rr.com
512-826-7569
 
UTO-AZTECAN (SHOSHONE) LANGUAGES OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
The Aztec-Mexica, Shoshone, Paiute, Luiseno, Mono, Cahuilla, Serrano, Monache, Kawaiisu, Tubatulabal, Panamint, Juaneno, Cupeno, Kitanemuk, Tataviam, Gabrielino, Chemehuevi, of the State of California belong to the Uto-Aztecan (Shoshone) North American Indian languages. The name Uto-Aztecan are from two Native American Indian Nations of this linguistic stock, the Aztecs and the Utes.
 
The Uto-Aztecan languages are also found in Utah, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, through Mexico, south to El Salvador and Nicaragua.
 
Some of the other Indigenous Nations that belong to the Uto-Aztecan languages are the Hopi, Yaqui, Cora, Comanche, Pima, Tarahumara, Opata, Tepehuan, Huichol, Pipil, Tubar, Guarijio, Tohono O' Odham, Mayo, and other Native American Nations.
 
Nahuatl, is the language of the Azteca-Mexica, Nahuatl is one of the best documented Native American Indian languages among the Uto-Aztecan languages, and one of the most important Indigenous languages, because of the millions of Aztecs-Mexica Native peoples who still speak Nahuatl.
 
Circa 300 B.C., the Anasazi of the present-day State of Utah, were a Nahuatl speaking people like the Aztec-Mexica Native Americans. The Aztec-Mexica are the descendants of the Ancient Anasazi.
 
The Ancient Homeland of the Azteca-Mexica is the present-day Great Salt Lake, Utah, centuries ago, the Azteca-Mexica embarked on their journey to the southern part of North America called Mexico.
 
Today, as the original Native people of North America, we must look to the future and see a Aztec Native American President of the United States of America.
 
By: Henry Guzman Villalobos (Aztec-Yaqui Native American) President and CEO, Aztecs of North America, Inc., A California Non-Profit Corporation, Hayward, California, (510) 247-9553, (510) 690-5748, E-Mail:aztec65@comcast.net 
 
cc: Indigenous Nations of the Americas, United Nations, Media, General Public
[Sent by Dorinda Moreno fuerzamundial@gmail.com]


Want to know who IS Native American?

Much talk goes on in our office about those who are Native American and those who are not. This is because many people request our services to find their Native American ancestors and most often documentation shows that they are not. This is true because most of the people who submit these requests are Caucasian. Joseph has recently started a series of blog posts on the subject.

Want to know who IS Native American? Most of the people in Latin America. Sentiments toward indigenous groups have not collectively shifted one way or another in Latin America. There are those who are proud of their indigenous heritage and others who pride in having mostly non indigenous blood. In Peru and Bolivia there is a high concentration of indigenous people, whose traditions have been well kept. Whereas, in the countries of Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina the indigenous people are a minority. In Brazil, the indigenous people are concentrated in different areas. Uruguay may be the only country that is almost entirely populated by people of European descent.

Catholic parish registers are the greatest resource for genealogical research in Latin America. These records are rich in information including specific references to the race of the people being recorded. It is common to find different registers were kept for those of European descent and for those of indigenous descent. The indigenous people were most often referred to as “indios” in the records.

Tracing the percentage of indigenous blood in my family lines has not been the motivation behind my research. However, it has been exciting for me to document my mixed family history. I have only traced one of my lines to a Spanish immigrant with the help of some distant relatives. This was exciting and surprising because you can tell at a glance there is much indigenous blood in my family. Maybe as I learn more about the origins of my other family lines, I’ll be more interested to know how many of them are of indigenous blood and how many are not.

Do you have Hispanic ancestry? If so, then you probably are Native American. If you don’t, then you may not be.

http://blog.progenealogists.com/


Beginning Indian Genealogy 
Access Genealogy 
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/

Where to Start?

To assist the beginning Native American researcher we've recently penned the following articles 
Proving Your Indian Ancestry 
Beginning Indian Genealogy 
DNA Testing for Your Native American Ancestry 
Understanding the Final (Dawes) Roll 
How to Register or get your CDIB Card
Genealogy Records 
Genealogy
 
Biographies
 
Cemetery Records
 
Census Records
 
DNA
 
Family Tree Search
 
History Books Online
 
Military Records
 
Native American Records
 
Surnames
 
Vital Records
 
World Genealogy
Indian Genealogy 
Proving Your Indian Heritage
 
Native American Rolls
Indian 
Tribal Histories
 
Indian Tribes by Location
 
Indian Books and Articles
 
Indian Genealogy 
Queries
 
Indian Census Records
 
Indian Cemetery Records
Native American Rolls 
Full List of Native American Rolls 
Armstrong Roll 
Baker Roll 
Cooper Roll 
Dawes Roll - 
Final Roll Final Roll 
Index 
Guion Miller Roll 
Kern Clifton Roll 
Old Settlers Roll 
Reservation Roll 
Ute Roll 
Wallace Roll
Indian Tribes
 Abenaki Indians
 
Algonquian Indians
 
Apache Indians
 
Arapaho Indians
 
Blackfeet Indians
 
Caddo Indians
 
Cherokee Indians
 
Cheyenne Indians
 
Chickasaw Indians
 
Chinook Indians
 
Chippewa Indians
 
Choctaw Indians
 
Comanche Indians
 
Cree Indians
 
Creek Indians
 
Crow Indians
 
Dakota Indians
 
Delaware Indians 
Fox Indians
 
Hopi Indians
 
Huron Indians
 
Illinois Indians
 
|Iowa Indians
 
Iroquois Indians
 
Kansa Indians
 
Kickapoo Indians
 
Kiowa Indians
 
Menominee Indians
 
Miami Indians
 
Missouri Indians
 
Modoc Indians
 
Mohawk Indians
 
Mohegan Indians
 
Munsee Indians
 
Natchez Indians
 
Navajo Indians
 

Nex Percé Indians 
Omaha Indians
 
Onondaga Indians
 
Osage Indians
 
Oto Indians
 
Ottawa Indians
 
Paiute Indians
 
Pawnee Indians

Pottawatomie Indians
 
Sauk Indians
 
Seminole Indians
 
Seneca Indians
 
Shawnee Indians
 
Siouan Indians
 
Sioux Indians
 
Stockbridge Indians
 
Tuscarora Indians
 
Winnebago Indians
 
Zuni Indians


Cebolla, por si las del indio
En 1919 cuando la gripe mató a 40 millones de personas había un médico que visitaba a muchos granjeros para ver si los podía ayudar a combatir la gripe. Muchos de los granjeros y sus familias la habían contraído y muchos habían muerto.

El médico llegó a una granja y para su sorpresa, todos estaban muy saludables. Cuando el médico les preguntó que cosa diferente estaban haciendo, la esposa respondió que ella había colocado una cebolla sin pelar en un plato en las habitaciones del hogar. El médico no lo podía creer y pidió si le podían dar una para ponerla bajo el microscopio.  Ella le dio una, y el médico encontró el virus en la cebolla. Obviamente, había absorbido la bacteria manteniendo saludable a la familia.

También escuché esta historia de mi peluquera. Ella me contó que hace varios años muchas de sus empleadas caían enfermas con gripe y sus clientes también. Al año siguiente ella colocó varios platos con cebollas en el local. Para su sorpresa nadie de su equipo cayó enfermo. Debe ser que funciona... (y ella no está en el negocio de las cebollas).

La moraleja de esta historia es: compre unas cebollas y colóquelas en platps por toda su casa. Si trabaja en un escritorio, coloque una o dos en su oficina o bajo su escritorio o arriba de algo por ahí. Nosotros lo hicimos y nunca contrajimos gripe.

Si lo ayuda a usted y a sus seres queridos a no enfermarse, mejor. Si le da gripe, ésta podría ser más leve... Sea lo que sea... ¿Qué tiene para perder? Sólo unos pesos en cebollas!!! 

Le mandé esta información a una amiga en Oregon, quien colabora conmigo regularmente con material sobre salud. Me contestó con ésta interesante experiencia acerca de las cebollas:

No sé acerca de la historia de los granjeros pero, sí sé que contraje neumonía y, demás está decir, estuve muy enferma... Me topé con un artículo que decía que había que cortar ambos extremos de una cebolla, pinchar con un tenedor en uno de los extremos y colocarla en un plato al lado del paciente a la noche. Decía que la cebolla se volvería negra a la mañana por los gérmenes... Dicho y hecho, sucedió tal cual... la cebolla estaba hecha un desastre y yo comencé a sentirme mucho mejor.

Otra cosa que leí en el artículo es que las cebollas y los ajos diseminados en las habitaciones salvaron de la peste negra a muchos hace años. Tienen poderosas propiedades antibacterianas y antísépticas. 

Sent by Carolina Tomkinson Ctomkinson42@aol.com  

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

Mayan City of Mirador: 
The World's Largest Pyramid Discovered

Video by CNN features the discovery of the world's largest known pyramid in the Lost Mayan city of El Mrador in El Peten, Guatemala.  


EAGLE FEATHER RESEARCH NEWSLETTER,  VOL III, NO. 1, January, 2010
http://eaglefeather.org

Surpassing the Sun pyramid outside of Mexico City as well as the Egyptian Giza pyramid in sheer volume, a new pyramid was recently discovered in Guatemala by archeologist Dr. Richard Hansen. Known by the populacefor some timeas the City of Mirador largely because of its high lookout point, it is only after an archeological dig did it reveal what is reputed to be the largest pyramid in the world. The pyramid is in the center of a large pre-Columbian city comparable to any large city today. Moreover, the city is comprised of 10 square miles of the greatest concentration of civic and religious buildings, carvings and artifacts of the Mayan world. The Danta Pyramid is 72 meters high or 230ft that is representative of one of the earliest and important Mayan sites that flourished from 200 B.C. to 150 A.D.

It is important because it predates the Spanish arrival and subsequent revisionism by more than a millennium. As Director of the Mirador Basin Project, Dr. Hansen projects there are thousands of pyramids yet to be discovered. Assisted by local archeologists, they have founding stone sculpture (dated at 2,200 years), stelae showing images and glyphs from the Popol Vuh, a pre-Columbian document generally seen as revealing data relative to the creation of the planet. This is very significant because the Spanish religious church writers and Inquisition in their proselytizing and hegemonic intent interpreted in their own manner reflecting moreover, a Greco-Roman and Christian paradigm of an essentially non-Western pre-Columbian worldview. Now, if native interpretation or paradigm is allowed by the academics, we may get an entirely different perspective in terms of its real meaning. It may reveal what native
Maestrosand this writer has known all along and that is that it contains scientific astronomic and cosmological data as opposed to religious information.

Now, for the first time we have an attempt at re-evaluation of all the past data reflecting pre-Columbian cultures: “The first step in the NASA Blue Beam Project concerns the breakdown [re-evaluation] of all archaeological
knowledge... of supposedly new discoveries which will finally explain to all people the “error” of all fundamental religious doctrines. The falsification of this information will be used to make all nations believe that their religious doctrines have been misunderstood for centuries and misinterpreted.”

Serge Monast on the NASA Blue Beam Project.

 


SEPHARDIC
http://www.sephardicgen.com/crypto_sites.htm

Texas Mexican Secret Spanish Jews Today
The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean

Texas Mexican Secret Spanish Jews Today
Posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 
By: Anne DeSola Cardoza 


Jewish food, oral traditions, culture, and secret, religious customs are showing up today in the folklore, habits and practices of the descendants of early settlers in southern Texas and the surrounding areas of Mexico. In northern Mexico and what today is Texas, the Jews of Nuevo Leon and its capital, Monterrey, Mexico, lived without fear of harrassment from the Holy Office of the 1640’s and beyond. 

Many of the leading non Jewish families today of that area are descended from secret Jewish ancestors, according to scholar, Richard G. Santos. 

Santos states there are hundreds, if not thousands of descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews living today in San Antonio, Texas, USA and throughout South Texas. Not all are aware of their Jewish heritage. Santos is a renowned San Antonio, Texas scholar in ethnic studies of South Texas secret Spanish Jewry. 

He presented a paper to the Interfaith Institute at the Chapman Graduate Center of Trinity University on May 23, 1973 on secret Sephardic Jewish customs in today’s Texas and nearby Mexican areas. 

Here’s how we know a lot of Tex-Mex Hispanics today are of Jewish ancestry. It’s a well accepted fact that the founding families of Monterrey and the nearby Mexican border area, “Nuevo Reyno de Leon” are of Sephardic Jewish origin. 

If we go back to The Diccionario Porrua de Historia Geografia y Biografia, it states that Luis de Carvajal y de a Cueva brought a shipload of Jews to settle his Mexican colony – with some Jews being converts to Catholicism from Judaism and others “openly addicted to their (Jewish) doctrine”. 

According to the late Seymour Liebman, a scholar on Mexican colonial secret Jews, in his book “Jews in New Spain”, explained why Jews settled in areas far away from Mexico City in order to escape the long arm of the Inquisition in the sixteenth century. 

There’s an old, universally known anti-Semitic Mexican joke, one-liner that says, “la gente de Monterrey son muy judios … son muy codos”. In English it translates, “The people of Monterrey are very Jewish … very tightwad”. 

Secret Jews colonized the states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Tamualipas and good old Texas, USA in the 1640’s-1680s and thereafter. The majority of Texas’s Spanish-speaking immigrants came from Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila (the old Neuvo Reyno de Leon) beginning in the 1680s. 

Seventeenth century secret Jews who settled in what is today southern Texas, particularly around San Antonio took with them their Jewish foods, particularly what they call “Semitic bread” or pan de semita …
Sephardic Jewish foods in old Texas. 

Why do Mexican Americans in Texas and in the Mexican province of nearby Monterrey eat “Semitic bread” on Passover/Lent? According to scholar Richard G. Santos, Tex-Mex pastries such as pan dulce, pan de semita, trenzas, cuernos, pan de hero, and pan de los protestantes (Protestant’s bread) are similar to familiar Jewish pastries eaten by Sephardic Jews today in many other parts of the world. 

Pan de semita was eaten in pre-inquisition Spain by a Jew or an Arab Moor. Today, it’s popular in Texas and in that part of Mexico bordering Texas. It translates into English as “Semitic bread”. It’s a Mexican-American custom in the Texas and Tex-Mex border area today to eat pan de semita during Lent which occurs on or around the Jewish Passover. 

You bake pan de semita by combining two cups of flour, one half to two-thirds cup of water, a few tablespoons of butter or olive oil, mix and bake unleavened. Even among the devout Catholic Mexicans pork lard is never used, that’s why it’s called Semitic bread. Pan de semita is really the recipe for 17th century secret Jewish Matzoth, and it’s eaten by all Mexicans today in the north Mexican/Texas border area, regardless of religion. 
Only in Texas and along the Texas-Mexican border is a special type of pan de semita baked, according to Dr. Santos, who himself is descended from secret Spanish Jews of the area who’ve lived in that part of Texas and Monterrey since colonial times. 

The special Texas pan de semita of the border has special ingredients: only vegetable oil, flour raisins, nuts, and water. The raisins, pecans, and vegetable oil were identified, according to Dr. Santos, as selected ingredients of secret Jews of New Spain. 

You take two cups of flour, a cup or less of water, a handful olive oil and mix with a half cup to two thirds cup each of raisins and pecans. Then you knead and bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned and easy to chew. 
This pan de semita is only found in the Texas/Mexico border area and in Texas. Pastry bakers from Mexico claim this type of pan de semita is unknown in central Mexico. Other pan de semitas are found in Guadalajara made from wheat (Semita de trigo) in which milk is substituted for the water. In Texas and also in Guadalajara, one also finds Semita de aniz (anis). However, semita de trigo and semita de aniz never include raisins and pecans, and to use pork lard is forbidden. Only olive oil or butter can be used to make Semitic bread. 

In addition to the Mexican matzo makers of Texas and Monterrey, Mexico, chicken is slaughtered in a special way. In Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and among Mexican Americans in Texas, two ways of butchering fowl is performed. Chickens can only be slaughtered by either wringing the neck by hand or by taking the head off with only one stroke of a sharp knife, and immediately all blood must be removed from the chicken into a container. The fowl is next plunged into hot water to get rid of any blood. 

This method is the same today as the crypto Jews performed in the 17th century in Mexico as described by scholar Seymour Liebman. The secret Jews of Mexico in the 1640s decapitated their chickens and hung them on a clothesline so the blood would drain into a container of water. Then the fowl was soaked in hot water and washed long enough to remove all the blood. 

In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, there’s a ritual today of using this method of butchering chickens with an added gesture of drawing a cross on the ground and placing the chicken at the center of intersecting lines. 
Eating cactus and egg omelets is a custom during the Passover week/Lent of secret Jews of the 17th century and of Mexican Americans from Texas and northern Mexico today. The omelets are called nopalitos lampreados. It’s a custom to eat only this food during Lent. Is this and old Passover rite of secret Jews as well? 
No other bread except pan de semita was allowed during Lent, and pan de semita is unleavened and contains the same ingredients as Matzoh. 

Rural Mexican Americans in Texas also drink mint tea, fruit juices, or chocolate during Easter week. There’s much evidence in the foods that these people were also observing Passover in addition to Lent and Easter, although many didn’t know it until it was pointed out that they were eating traditional 16th century Sepahrdic foods, especially the bitter herbs added to the meal. 

Mexican Americans in Texas cast the first piece of the ‘masa’ (dough, sounds like Matzoh) into the fire – before cooking up a batch of corn tortillas or bread. These same people also do not eat pork on Fridays. Some Mexican Americans don’t eat pork after 6 p.m. or sundown on Friday. 

Another Lenten/Passover food is ‘capirotada’. It’s wheat bread (pilon-cillo) to which raw sugar, cinnamon, cheese, butter, pecans, peanuts and raisins are added. These are identical ingredients to those used by secret Spanish Jews in the New Spainof 1640 to make their breads and cakes. Even the ingredients and recipes have been recorded by the Holy Office of the Inquisition and saved to this day in the archives. 

Mexican Americans from Texas don’t practice abstaining from meat on Fridays, long before the Catholic church relaxed the rule of not eating meat on Fridays. Zlso older women cover their hands while praying in the same manner as Jewish women cover their heads. The Holy Office never extended its long arm to the area known today as Texas. Descendants of Canary Islanders, 16 families who came to Texas in 1731 established the township of San Fernando de Bexar which today is San Antonio. 

These families intermarried wit the local population of nearby Nuevo Reyno de Leon, many of whom were Spanish and Portuguese secret Jews who moved to the area specifically because the Holy Office of the Inquisition didn’t operate in 18th century ‘Texas’. All Mexicans of the area today are not of Sephardic descent. 

However, a large number still use the oral traditions which are eminently of Sephardic origin. Historical exposure to and intermarriage with Sephardic secret Jews has occurred in the parts of Mexico that were “safer havens” for secret Jewish settlement, and those havens happen to be southern Texas and the surrounding Mexican border and adjacent areas. Today, Texans in the San Antonio area are giving celebration to the secret Jewish origin of some of their foods, culture, and oral traditions.

Sent by Joey Trevino
JTrevino@Halff.com
  

A leader in the field of Sephardic research is Richard G. Santos.  Richard began to lecture and publish articles on the Sephardic New Christians and Crypto Jews of Texas, Mexico and the U.S. Southwest as early as 1968, when the topic was considered controversial. Within ten years, the mistrust of both the Hispanic and Jewish communities had been overcome and Richard was sharing the podium at Trinity University with renown Jewish scholar Seymour Liebman.  Santos is currently finishing his latest work, SILENT HERITAGE - The Sephardim and the Colonization of the Spanish North American Frontier.  


The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean, exploring the history, culture, identity of Caribbean Jewry.
An International Conference was held in Kingston, Jamaica: 
January 12-14, 2010
Tuesday January 12: 
Presentors and Topics:

Opening remarks: Jane S. Gerber, Ainsley Henriques, Swithin Wilmot
Sephardic Trade Networks in the Colonial Caribbean

Miriam Bodian, University of Texas, “The Formation of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish  Diaspora.” 

Jonathan I. Israel, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, “Amsterdam, Curacao and the Rise of Sephardic Trade System in the Caribbean (1600–1670).” 

Gérard Nahon, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, “Amsterdam and the Jewish Nation  of the Caribbean during the Seventeenth Century.” 

Holly Snyder, Brown University, “What Jewish Merchants Contributed to Jamaican Commerce, 1670–1831.” 

Material and Visual Culture of Caribbean Jewry
Chair: Judah Cohen

Rachel Frankel, Architect, “Remnant Stones: The Significance of New World Portuguese Jewish Diaspora Cemeteries.” 

Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig, University of Michigan, “The Crown of our Heads has Fallen: Mourning Customs of the Portuguese Jews.”

Jackie Ranston, Independent Scholar, Jamaica, “Biography as History: The Art of Isaac Mendes Belisario(1794–1849)—Story Pain” 

 
Wednesday January 13: Caribbean Jewish Identity and Heritage: From Conversos to Modern Jews 
Chair: Miriam Bodian
 

Mordechai Arbell, The Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, “The Gradual Disappearance of the  Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities of the Caribbean.” 

Ronnie Perelis, Yeshiva University, “Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna’s Espejo Fiel de Vidas  (London 1720) and the Ghost of Marrano Autobiography.” 

Hilit Surowitz, University of Florida, “Portuguese Jews of the Caribbean and the Question of Early Modern Secularization.” 

Judah Cohen, Indiana University, “Inscribing Ourselves with History: Exploring Heritage in Today's Caribbean Jewish Diaspora.” 

Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Duke Street Synagogue with author and local historian Ed Kritzler


Blacks and Jews in the English Caribbean 
Chair: Eli Faber


James Robertson, University of the West Indies, Mona,  “The ‘Confession made by Cyrus’  reconsidered: Maroons and Jews during the First Maroon War.” 

Stan Mirvis, The Graduate Center, CUNY, “Sexuality and Sentiment: Concubinage between Jewish Males and their Female Slaves in late Eighteenth-Century Jamaica.” 

Swithin Wilmot, University of the West Indies, Mona, “Jewish Retailers and Black Voters in Post Slavery Jamaica: Electoral Politics in the Parish of St. Dorothy, 1849–1860.”

 
Thursday, January 14: Reassessing the Geographic and Ethnic Definitions of Caribbean Jewry
Chair: Jane S. Gerber

Eli Faber, John Jay College, CUNY, “The Jews of Colonial America: How Broad were the Parameters?” 

Matt Goldish, Ohio State University, "Franks Among Franks: Adventures of a Jamaican Ashkenazi in the 1690s." 

Dale Rosengarten and Barry Steifel, The College of  Charleston, “Charles Towne, South Carolina: Northernmost Outpost of the Gulf-Caribbean Plantation Region.” 

Joanna Newman, The University of Southampton; The British Library, “Refugees from Nazism in the Caribbean during World War Two.” 

Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Hunt’s Bay Cemetery with author and local historian Ed Kritzler

The Art of Sephardic Genealogy Workshop
John de Mercado, Independent Scholar, “A Sephardic Odyssey: Four Centuries of the de Mercado Family in the West Indies.”

Panel Discussion: Ainsley Henriques, John de Mercado, David Kleiman
Closing Remarks: Ainsley Henriques and Jane S. Gerber

“The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean”  is sponsored by: 
The United Congregation of Israelites, Kingston Jamaica
The Institute for Sephardic Studies of the Graduate Center, City University of New York
The University of the West Indies
The American Sephardi Federation
The International Survey of Jewish Monuments
The Jamaica Tourist Board
The Commonwealth Jewish Council
Laurence and Ronnie Levine
Dr. John deMercado

“The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean” was co-chaired by Jane S. Gerber (Professor of Jewish History, The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Ainsley Henriques (Director, the United Congregation of Israelites, Kingston). 

For further questions, please contact either the conference coordinator, Stan Mirvis, smirvis@gc.cuny.edu  or Ainsley Henriques, ainsley@cwjamaica.com


AFRICAN-AMERICAN

Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Intercede for your Haitian people!
Mayme Clayton Library Museum & Cultural Center
Trying to Build Bonds With Immigrant Stories

Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Intercede for your Haitian people!

As we pray for the people of Haiti, we can also pray through the intercession of Venerable Pierre Toussaint! 
 


Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766 (circa) June 30, 1853) was born a Catholic slave in Haïti. His master taught him to read and write and he came to New York from Haiti in 1787. In New York, he became an apprentice to one of the city's leading hairdressers.

     Pierre Toussaint quickly became a popular hairdresser to high society women. He was freed from slavery when his owner died in 1807 and later became quite wealthy. He fell in love with another slave, Juliette Noel, and purchased her freedom when she was only fifteen years old. Noel married Toussaint and together they set out to help those in need in New York City. They opened their home as a shelter for orphans, a credit bureau, an employment agency and refuge for priests and poverty stricken travelers. Toussaint also funded money to build a new Roman Catholic church in New York, which became Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street. After the death of his sister Rosalie, he and his wife adopted her daughter Euphemia and raised her as their own.
  

As Toussaint aged, he continued his charity. His wife, Juliette died in 1851. Two years later after his wife's death, Pierre Toussaint died on June 30, 1853, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried alongside his wife and daughter, Euphemia in Old St. Patrick's on Mott Street. In 1941, his grave was discovered by the Rev. Charles McTague. In 1990, John Cardinal O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York had Toussaint exhumed and reinterred in the crypt below the altar at St Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Because of Toussaint's charity and piety, he was strongly supported for sainthood by O'Connor.

     In 1996 Toussaint was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II, the second step toward sainthood.

 

The MIR Group
1 Galleria Blvd., Ste. 744
Metairie, LA 70001
504-849-2570  FAX 504-849-2574  Message Line - 504-849-2572
http://www.themirgroup.org

Sent by Granville Hough, Ph.D. gwhough@oakapple.net

 

Mayme Clayton Library Museum & Cultural Center, 4130 Overland Avenue, Culver City, CA 90230

A research library, museum, repository and media-based cultural center dedicated to the intelligence,
creativity and nobility of the global black community. 
(310) 202-1647

Mayme Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center maintains the largest and most academically substantial collection of rare and out of print books, manuscripts, documents, films, music, photographs and memorabilia on African American culture and history in the Western United States. WSBREC was founded by Mayme A. Clayton, Ph.D., a retired university librarian. Dr. Clayton assembled the collection over a 40 year period and serves as WSBREC’s Archivist and President.

Editor: Westways, January/February, 2010 has published a wonderful article on the history of  Dr. Clayton's collection, life, and her eldest son Avery Clayton who organized and brought forth his mother's dream, the museum.  Avery Clayton passed away November 2009.  Cynthia Hudley, named interim executive director said that the work will continue. 


The Mayme Clayton Library Museum & Cultural Center (MCL) is a division of Western States Black Research and Educational Center (WSBREC), a 501(c) (3) tax deductible public interest organization. 

Description: World's largest independently held collection of African American history and culture; consisting of rare and out-of-print books, documents, films, music, photographs and memorabilia.

Regions Covered:
National in scope. Dating from the 18th Century to the present

Type of Materials:
Architectural Drawings, Artist files, Artworks, Audio Recordings, Books, Cultural Artifacts, Materials & Objects, Databases, Diaries/Journals/Personal Papers, Digital Files, Ephemera, Films/Videos/Moving Images, Institutional Publications, Institutional Records, Large Format Papers, Manuscripts, Memorabilia, Microfiche/Microfilm, Newspaper Clippings, Newspapers, Official Records, Oral Histories, Photographs, Postcards, Press Clippings, Press Releases, Printed Works, Rare Books, Scripts, Serials, Slides, Statistical Data, Unprocessed/Unknown, Yearbooks

Time Periods:
1848-1899, 1900-1920, 1921-1949, 1950-1963, 1964-1980, 1981-Present, Pre-1848

Languages:
English

Sectors of the Population Represented in the Collection:
African Descent, Artistic Communities, At or Below Poverty Level, Business, Clubs/Service/Social Organizations, College/University Faculty, Community Service Organizations, Education, Employment, Highest Income, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Lower to Middle Income, Middle to Upper Income, Musicians, Politics/Government, Professional, Religious, Seniors, Sports, TV/Film/Radio, Youth

Year Round Access: No
OnSite Technology:
No
Workspaces:
Yes
Open to the Public:
No
Public Hours:
Not open to public until late 2009, early 2010, Reservations not required
Open for Research:
Yes
Research Hours:
Very limited access, until late 2009, early 2010 Reservations required
Access Procedures:
By appointment, only
Catalogue System: Library of Congress
Repository/Depository:
Yes
Loan To Others:
Yes
Exhibited:
Yes
Exhibition Frequency:
Infrequently
Makes Purchases:
Yes
Formalized Purchases:
No
Outreach:
Brochures/Flyers/Pamphlets, Class Visits, Community Service, Conferences/Conventions, Directories, Exhibitions, Festivals, Internet, Library Events, Mailings, Meetings, Newsletter, Newspapers, OCLC/RLIN, Online Catalog, Public Lectures & Programs, Publications, Radio/TV/Video, Reports, Student Orientations, Study Guides, Telephone, Word of Mouth 


Trying to Build Bonds With Immigrant Stories
By Samuel G. Freedman
New York Times, December 26, 2009
OAKLAND, CA — On the last Sunday before Christmas, from an altar flanked by Advent candles and potted poinsettias, the Rev. Clarence L. Johnson preached to the Mills Grove Christian Church about the Nativity. A precise and measured man, Mr. Johnson departed just once from his typewritten text.

In the midst of recounting a certain birth in ancient Judea, the minister placed his gaze a dozen rows back into the congregation and rested it on a dark-haired woman in a patterned blouse. He called her by name, Luz, and then he went back into his sermon, to words he had surely chosen with her in mind.

“Joseph was warned by an angel of the Lord that Herod, the king, was searching for the young child in order to destroy him,” Mr. Johnson said. “He was instructed to get up and take the baby and his mother, Mary, and flee into Egypt and remain there until it was safe to return. This, then, becomes a refugee story, a story of immigrants, a young family having to escape the dangers of their native land and relocate to a strange new place.”

Throughout the stucco church, among the hundred worshipers, nobody needed a concordance to grasp the minister’s meaning. Earlier in the morning service, they had heard from Luz Dominguez herself. Or, more accurately, they had heard her through the interpreter who translated the testimony of a Mexican immigrant to a congregation of African-Americans.

“I am a woman of faith,” Mrs. Dominguez, 45, had said from the pulpit, “and I am here to speak to you with my heart in my hands.”

Then she told a different kind of Christmas narrative, one about being suspended from her job as a hotel housekeeper 10 days before the holiday in 2006. Officially, the reason was that the Social Security number Mrs. Dominguez had provided to the hotel did not match federal records. The timing of the suspension, which was followed two weeks later by her firing, also coincided with the efforts of Mrs. Dominguez and dozens of co-workers to have the hotel comply with a local living-wage law that would have reduced their workload.
Three years later, the dispute remains unresolved. Mrs. Dominguez now works at a different job and fears a return visit from immigration agents, who have surprised her at home once already.

And while she said nothing overt about her immigration status, the audience could surmise that even after 15 years in America it fell somewhere short of legal.

Her testimony took just four or five minutes of the service, leaving plenty of time for hymns, poetry recitation by the children, collection of offerings and the distribution of the wine and wafer known in many Protestant churches as the Lord’s Supper. But when Mrs. Dominguez’s brief part ended, there was applause.

Applause was part of the point. So was the response at the congregational lunch after the service. Over rice and gumbo, about two dozen members of Mills Grove signed letters to Bay Area members of Congress endorsing immigration law change, an issue that President Obama is expected to revive in 2010. The letterhead, quite deliberately, consisted of a verse from Deuteronomy: “Therefore love the stranger, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Mrs. Dominguez had spoken at Mills Grove as part of several related programs in the Oakland area intended to enlist African-American churches in support of immigration change and, at a more personal level, to neutralize the resistance many blacks have felt toward advocacy for immigrants, especially illegal ones, who are perceived as unfair competitors for manufacturing and service-industry jobs.

Over the past year, immigrant workers like Mrs. Dominguez have told their stories at 10 black churches in the Oakland area under a program called Labor in the Pulpit, overseen by the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. Another local advocacy group, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, has held dialogues with members of 15 black churches over the past three years.

What underlies both of these initiatives has been the sense of disengagement, sometimes ranging to antipathy, on the immigration issue among African-American churches. In part, these churches see more than enough challenges meeting the needs of blacks during the severe economic downturn. In part, they see Latino immigrants as adversaries.

“We get ‘They’re taking our jobs,’ ” said Gerald Lenoir, director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, recalling his conversations at churches. “We get, ‘They’re overwhelming our social services, they’re taking over our communities, they’re calling it a civil rights struggle, and what about our struggle?’

”Black church leaders have come up with answers both idealistic and pragmatic. Brian K. Woodson Sr. pastors a church, the Bay Area Christian Connection, that is near Chinatown in Oakland and shares its building with a Vietnamese congregation. To him, the immigrants make more sense as allies on issues of economic justice than as rivals.

By bringing immigrants like Mrs. Dominguez into church, sympathetic blacks have been able not only to put a human face on the immigration issue but also a face that is brown-skinned and Christian, affirming two common bonds. The attacks on Latino immigrants on talk radio and cable TV have also encouraged a certain dynamic of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“Whenever we see our brothers and sisters being treated wrongly,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview, “it’s incumbent on us to raise our voices. For those of us who’ve been involved in the struggle and have gained benefits from that struggle, we feel it’s right to pass the benefits along.”

Jim Estrada
Website: www.estradausa.com

 

 

   
EAST COAST

For First Time, Minority Vote Was a Majority
Bobby Gonzalez, multicultural motivational speaker
Nineteen Soldiers Become U.S. Citizens
How is the urban archaeology of Washington, D. C. unique?
Cross-Cultural Marriage  

Briefs

  For First Time, Minority Vote Was a Majority
By Sam Roberts, New York Times, December 26, 2009

NEW YORK, NY — Much of the focus on the results of last month’s New York City elections was on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s small victory margin, despite the more than $102 million he spent to secure a third term. But the elections also produced a seismic political shift that so far has gone largely unnoticed: Black, Hispanic and Asian residents made up a majority of voters in a citywide race for the first time.

That turnout is a milestone in a city where minority groups make up both a majority of the population and a majority of those eligible to vote. The transformation of the electorate also signals the growing political importance of the city’s diverse tapestry and the challenges that citywide candidates will face as they strive to stitch together successful voting blocs.

Jim Estrada
Website: www.estradausa.com

Bobby Gonzalez, multicultural motivational speaker and grassroots community philosopher based in New York City.  Event coordinator & master of ceremonies for the annual Bronx Native American Festival. "As an individual proud of his Native American, Latino, African and European ancestry, Bobby Gonzalez is a messenger of hope, pride and love of diversity."

 He has given presentations at: Carnegie Hall, The National Museum of the American Indian, The Museum of Television & Radio, University of Alabama-Huntsville, The Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Yale University.

Website at http://www.bobbygonzalez.com/  and facebook http://www.facebook.com/bronxtaino email   BronxTaino@aol.com

                                                                                

"The only way that humanity can survive and thrive is if more of us embrace diversity in others and within ourselves."  Bobby Gonzalez

                

Nineteen Soldiers Become U.S. Citizens
By Paradise Afshar
MiamiHerald.com, December 14, 2009
KENDALL, FL — Private First Class Dimas Rama, and 18 other soldiers take the oath of citizenship, Monday, December 14, in Kendall. When Julio Roque watched his son take the oath of citizenship on Monday, it felt like a dream. “He came here a child; now he’s taller than me,” Roque, 41, of Little Havana said.

His son, Pfc. Hesler Roque, was one of 19 soldiers from 12 countries who became naturalized citizens on Monday during a ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) office in West Kendall.
The soldiers are from the Florida National Guard 1124 Infantry 53rd Brigade, based in West Palm Beach. They will be deployed to Kuwait on January 2. All of them are originally from Central America, South America or the Caribbean, including seven from Cuba and two from
Haiti.

Jim Estrada
Website: www.estradausa.com

How is the urban archaeology of Washington, D. C. unique?
The founding adn development of the city itselfis based on a grid laid down in 1791 east of the tobacco port of Georgetown on the Potomac River.  But what really kicked off developingment was the civil War.  Escaped slaves flocked to D.C. and set up their own camps, called freedman or contraband camps.  After the war, these developed into the African-American neighborhoods that are still here today. 

Archaelogy, Nov/Dec 2009, pg. 16

Cross-Cultural Marriage  

Alfredo Lenskin

n. 1870 Italia.

 

Encontré en la lista de pasajeros de Nueva York (Línea.- 31, Serie.- M237,  Rollo.-M237_620) que Alfredo Lenskin de nacionalidad Italiano, de 23 años de edad y de oficio carpintero arribó el 13 de noviembre de 1893 a Nueva York en el barco Werra procedente de Génova Italia con una maleta y al parecer viajaba solo  declarando estar  con destino a San Francisco. A él le correspondió ser el pasajero numero 412. 

        

Alfredo Lenskin se casó en Nueva York con Carmen Curti, procreando

      a: Juan Lenskin Curti

         n. a. 1901 Mexico D.F. y 
         Elisa Lenskin Curti 

 

Juan Lenskin Curti se caso con Ema Salas Hernandez, procreando

      a: Armando Lenskin Salas

Source: genealogia-mexico@googlegroups.com

 


TEXAS

Tejano Monument Construction to Begin
George Washington Birthday Parade, Feb 20, 2010, Laredo
Houston part of Hispanic oral history effort
Digital record of family gravesites 
Prospects for establishing a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley.
South Texas Ranch Cemeteries - Brooks County

Laredo George Washington Parade 
Presentation in January to the Texas State Board of Education by Dan Arellano
Antonio Zavaleta honored with prestigious Mexican award 
The Ayala-Guerrero-Sanchez-Puig Family of Kerrville, Texas
The U.S. War against Mexico, Texas and the Alamo

TEJANO MONUMENT 

Gov. Rick Perry and the State Preservation Board today, January 5, 2010,  officially passed the final approval to construct the Tejano Monument on the state capitol grounds.  The monument has cleared many hurdles since the effort began nine years ago.  See www.tejanos.com for the full story on this effort.  Earlier government actions approved the design, the funding, the laws authorizing the monument on the south capitol grounds, and other critical decisions.  The unanimous vote today officially releases our funds and authorizes us to let the contracts to the sculptor, the architect, the engineer, the bronze foundry, and other contractors to begin the actual construction.

The construction will take about a year and a half, projecting the unveiling for mid-2011.  The unveiling promises to be a major festival on the grounds of the capitol with speeches and fanfare.  It will be costly, so we continue to solicit public donations to the effort through our web site.  Please help us spread the word that the Tejano Monument has received its final official approval from the Governor, and is now going into construction.  

On behalf of Dr. Cayetano Barrera and the rest of the Tejano Monument board of directors, thank you all for your unwavering support. 

Andrés Tijerina, Ph.D.
andrest@austincc.edu
Tejano Monument, Inc.

Briefs

  Don't forget the George Washington Birthday Parade
Feb 20, 2010, Laredo.  http://www.wbcalaredo.org
For information, call Jack Cowan at 210-651-4709. 

Houston part of Hispanic oral history effort
The Associated Press, 12/14/2009

HOUSTON—The way it was is being remembered by about 150 Hispanics in Houston in an oral history project by the nonprofit group StoryCorps. 
The national Historias initiative is an effort to archive Latino culture. 

A mobile recording studio, in Houston through Saturday, will travel the U.S. for a year. The results will be archived in Washington. 

StoryCorps founder Dave Isay says the "commitment and the desire to honor other family members is extremely strong in the Latino community."  , A StoryCorps site supervisor helps record the 40-minute conversations. 

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, and his mother Maria Garcia, were the first Houstonians to sit down for a session. She told of growing up in Mexico City as "a mischievous child" and eventually moving to Texas. 
Source: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com


We are Maria Alvarado Russell and Hiram Garcia, and our goal is to provide quality photos from our surrounding area of South Central Texas, for those who wish to have a digital record of their family gravesites before the years pass and time takes its toll on their memorials.   http://gravesitephoto.com/
 Dorina Moreno dorinat@earthlink.net

AUSTIN, TX — Responding to demographic realities and some prodding from the Texas state
legislature, officials of the University of Texas System have begun to sketch out the prospects for
establishing a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley.

UT System officials also will consider expanding programs in science, technology, engineering
and math at the Valley’s two public universities, UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American. Neither campus has a full complement of graduatelevel
programs. The need for a medical school serving the Valley and other
parts of South Texas is well-documented.

Source: American-Statesman, December 27, 2009
Sent by Jim Estrada
www.estradausa.com

 


South Texas Ranch Cemeteries - Brooks County
Spiral bound, 8 x 11, book for sale


South Texas Ranch Cemeteries - Brooks County compiled and researched by Dorina Alaniz Thomas, Ph.D., is a survey of 20 ranches cemeteries found in Brooks County located in South Texas.  Incorporated, also, is a brief history of Brooks County, Texas area.  The lineage for some of the deceased of nine of these 20 cemeteries is integrated.  Also, built-in are maps showing cemetery location, pictures of tombstones and entrances to cemeteries and reproduced documents from originals.  A map of the Starr County area during the years 1873-1903 sketched by the compiler's great grandfather, Lino Olivares Treviño, and a map of the Paisano Land Grant Partition are included.

The 9 cemeteries that include lineage are Los Olmos Cemetery, Don Pedrito Jaramillo Cemetery, Loma Blanca Cemetery, La Mesa Cemetery, Los Caballos Cemetery, Brethren Farm Cemetery, San Mateo Cemetery, Antonio Villarreal Cemetery, and El Lucero Cemetery.    The other 12 cemeteries, which were surveyed by the Brooks County Historical Society in 1979 and their report shared with this compiler, list the deceased.

There are 133 pages including 11 pages of Descendants of Estanislada Navarro and Cayetano Olivarez López Tree; 1 page of Ancestors of Estanislada Barrera Navarro Tree; 1 page of Ancestors of Ramón de la Garza Tree; 1 page of Ancestors of Lino Olivares Treviño Tree; 1 page of Ancestors of Marcela Gonzales Galindo Tree; 9 pages of Ancestors and Descendants of Victoriano Jesús Caballero Martínez Tree; maps; 26 black and white photographs and other illustrations; two Appendix (4 pages); six pages of Index with approximately 400 names; 3 pages of References, and one page of Endnotes.
CEMETERIES INCLUDED IN THE BOOK:

LOS OLMOS CEMETERY
CHAPA CEMETERY
DE LA GARZA CEMETERY
DON PEDRITO CEMETERY
FALFURRIAS BURIAL PARK CEMETERY
LOMA BLANCA CEMETERY
LOS CABALLOS CEMETERY
OLD FALFURRIAS CEMETERY
PALO BLANCO CEMETERY
FLOWELLA CEMETERY
BRETHREN FARM CEMETERY
JOHN RILEY CEMETERY
CUELLAR CEMETERY
BARRERA CEMETERY
AREVALO CEMETERY
SAN MATEO CEMETERY
LA MESA CEMETERY
ANTONIO VILLARREAL CEMETERY
EL LUCERO CEMETERY
FAMILY CEMETERIES
Copies of South Texas Ranch Cemeteries- Brooks County can be ordered from:
Dorina Thomas
1822 Gross Road
Dallas, Texas 75228

Spiral Book Cost $45.00 plus $3.00 postage and handling
CD $25 plus 2.00 postage and handling

Make Checks payable to Dorina Thomas.
Contact at: E-mail: dorinat@earthlink.net
Cell: (214) 642-0739
Fax: (214) 324-4268       

At this time, I am compiling information for a second book, which will include the cemeteries of La Parra Ranch - The Cowboy Cemetery (Vaqueros and family interred), the Kenedy and Turcotte cemeteries. All three are located at the Kenedy Ranch, also known as La Parra Ranch, which is approximately six miles East of Sarita, Texas.

Laredo George Washington Parade 
  The Washington's Birthday CelebrationTM, founded in 1898, is the largest Celebration of its kind in the United States with approximately 400,000 attendees annually. The month-long celebration includes parades, a carnival, an air show, fireworks, live concerts and many other fun and exciting events for every member of the family; so, join us for a blast on the border as we throw the biggest party for George Washington and find out why we're the Celebration with Something for Everyone!

After one hundred and thirteen years, the Washington's Birthday Celebration AssociationTM has become a Laredo institution, with its history closely tied to the history of the community. Our focus is to foster a greater understanding between the people of the Americas, to promote Laredo as one of Texas' most patriotic and culturally alive cities and to facilitate a greater sense of civic and national pride within our community and region. We consistently strive to encourage economic growth, tourism and awareness of our great City through the organization of our annual events.

http://www.wbcalaredo.org/home/


Presentation in January to the Texas State Board of Education by Dan Arellano

The Green Flag Republic and the Battle of Medina
April 1812-August 18, 1813 

These comments address the Proposed Draft of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Social Studies, Grades 4-8.

The official Texas State Historian, appointed by Governor Rick Perry and head of the History Department at Texas State University, Dr. J. Frank de la Teja, says in the April edition of Texas Monthly that “when we celebrate March 2nd as Texas Independence Day, we should also remember April 6th 1813.” 

Author, Historian and Past President of the Texas State Historical Association, Robert Thonhoff, says that this era in Texas History has “been swept underneath the proverbial rug of history.” 

Texas History does not begin with the arrival of Stephen F. Austin, there were not six flags over Texas, there were seven and Texas is the only state in the union that can proudly boast that we were a Republic before we became a state in this great nation, however, the truth is we have been a Republic on two different occasions, we have three Declarations of Independence and three written constitutions. 

In April of 1812 when the Republican Army of the North crosses the Sabine River into Spanish Texas, flying the Emerald Green Flag of Liberty, Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara and Augustus Magee bring with them 142 American and 158 Tejano volunteers. This all volunteer rag tag army would be successful in every battle and every skirmish beginning with the capture of Nacogdoches, Trinidad, the four month siege of the presidio in Goliad, the Battle of Rosillio, the capture of San Antonio and the Battle of Alazan.

Unfortunately, Spain was still a super power and would send an army to quash the revolution. As the Republican Army of the North sets out on August 18th, 1813 to confront the enemy, it consisted of approximately three to four hundred Americans, two to three hundred Native Americans and eight to nine hundred Tejanos. The well trained and disciplined Spanish and Mexican Army, under the leadership of General Joaquin de Arredondo, had approximately 1800 combatants. The Republicans were ambushed and out of the 1400 only one hundred would survive, ninety of those survivors would be Americans, which proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the ones with the most to lose would fight the hardest and that the Tejanos and their Native American allies stood and fought to the last man. 

The following day as the victorious Spanish Army marches in to San Antonio four hundred Tejanos would be arrested and crammed in to a make shift prison and over night, seventeen would suffocate in the scorching heat of night. The next day several would be released, however three hundred twenty seven would be detained and executed. Three a day would be taken out and shot, beheaded then their heads were displayed around the square for all to see as a lesson to those that revolt against their Spanish Monarch. 

No one would be spared the wrath of Arredondo, not even the women and children. Around three hundred of the wives, mothers and daughters of the Tejanos would be imprisoned, many of them would be brutally and repeatedly raped, several dying as a result of the brutality. The women were forced on their knees from 4 in the morning till 10 at night to grind the corn to make the tortillas to feed the despised Spanish army. And through the windows of their make shift prison the mothers could see their children searching for food and shelter. 

Short lived as it may have been, this Republic was a real Republic and this was a real revolution, a revolution of the people, by the people, and for the people and these were my ancestors, they were your ancestors, they were our ancestors, and they paid a tremendous price for wanting to be free. 

We must teach our students that freedom has never been free and we firmly believe that depriving our students of this piece of Texas history is an injustice and an insult to their integrity. 

Respectfully submitted, Dan Arellano
Author/Historian darellano@austin.rr.com
512-826-7569


Antonio Zavaleta honored with prestigious Mexican award 
By Travis Whitehead, The Brownsville Herald
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/zavaleta-106189-antonio-award.html

Antonio Zavaleta feels honored to receive an award from the Mexican government for his work on behalf of immigrants.

"It feels so wonderful because in many ways it affirms my career, more than 40 years of working on the border," said Zavaleta, special assistant to the provost and a professor of anthropology at The University of Texas Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Zavaleta said he was "walking on clouds" after learning he would be awarded Saturday with Mexico’s Premio Ohtli award. The government of Mexico gives the award to non-Mexicans who work to improve the quality of life for Mexican citizens living abroad.

"It was totally unanticipated," Zavaleta said. "I mean, it’s not something I thought about; it just was announced to me."

Zavaleta would not speculate on why he received the award.

"It would be totally inappropriate for me to say, ‘Well, I think I got this award because I did this or I did that.’ Because, that’s not the way it is," he said. "I didn’t fill out an application; I didn’t apply. I know that someone along the line must have nominated me, and I know that my curriculum vitae was reviewed by a panel in Mexico City."

He did, however, say that for the past 40 years he has been involved in issues concerning immigration, poverty, housing, health care and nutrition.

"It affirms my career, more than 40 years of working on the border, working with the press in terms of doing interviews, having people understand really who Mexicans are, and Mexican culture. And I’ve been doing that for more than 40 years, so I’m very excited to hear about this," he said.

Zavaleta has been a graduate professor of anthropology at UTB-TSC since 1992, said a press release from Letty Fernandez, director of News and Information for the university. Zavaleta, she said in the release, has also been an interim dean, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, interim divisional vice president, vice president for External Affairs, interim provost and is currently the special assistant to the provost.

Zavaleta is a graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy in Brownsville. He has an associate of arts degree from Texas Southmost College and a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctoral degree in anthropology from The University of Texas at Austin.

The award will be presented 7 p.m. Saturday at the Education and Business Complex on the UTB-TSC campus.


Last Will and Testament of Captain Joseph de Urrutia, 

July 4th, 1740

Will of Joseph de Urrutia
(Cross)
In the Name of God Almighty, and of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, Amen.

Be it known to all whom this testamentary document may concern that I Don Joseph de Urrutia, captain of this royal  presidio of San Antonio de Bejar, with tenure for life, being sick in body but sound in mind and will, and in my normal judgement and memory, believing as I do, firmly and truly, in the high and sovereign mystery of the Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons and only one true God, and all the other tenets and beliefs of our Holy Roman Catholic Mother Church, do hereby make public declaration that I have lived, am now living, and expect to die in that faith; and that fearing death, to which all living beings are subject, and desiring to save my soul, I do hereby grant this my testament in the following form and manner:

First, I bequeath and commend my soul to God, Our Lord, who created and redeemed it with the infinite price of His most precious blood, and I beseech His Most Holy Majesty to take it to Glory, for which it was created; and my body, I bequeath to the earth from which it was made, that it may return thereto.

Item, I command that, when by the will of God, I shall be taken from this present life to eternity, my body be buried in the chapel which is used as a church by this villa and presidio, that the priest attend my funeral wearing his surplice, with a raised cross and the additional ceremonial befitting the office which I now hold, that a mass be sung and its vigil observed on the day of my burial, if the hour is adequate, and, if not, on the day after my funeral, and that the alms be paid from the best secured part of my estate.

Item, I command that my body be shrouded in the habit of our Seraphic Father Saint Francis and that the alms for same be paid from my estate, and I now make this request by the love of God.

Item, I command that on the nine days following my obsequies, nine masses be said for my soul with the tolling of the bell in this said church, and that the alms be paid from my estate.

Item, I command that one peso from my estate be given, once only to each of the following compulsory bequests: the Holy Church of Jerusalem, the ransom of captives, the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament, and orphan girls.

Item, I declare that whereas I have long-term accounts with Don Juan de Angulo, a resident and merchant of Mexico City, who has supplied this my company during the time that I have held the office of captain of same, I order my executors to determine from the memoranda which he has remitted to me whether I have been charged more than the cost of the goods which he has sent me and to liquidate and adjust said accounts with said Don Juan de Angulo, being guided altogether by the just prices for which those goods sold regularly in that city at the time they were sent to me. My executors shall collect whatever amount said Don Juan de Angula may owe me after he has been paid the amounts I have designated for him.

Item, I command my executors to collect and receive all the property within my house such as account books and other papers that may be verified as belonging to me.

Item, I declare that I was married according to the precepts of our Holy Mother Church to Dona Antonia Ramon, a resident of Rio Grande del Norte, now deceased, and from said marriage I had our legitimate daughter Dona Antonia de Urrutia.

Item, I declare that my said wife, Dona Antonia Ramon, did not bring into my possession any property or dowry; I declare this in order that it may be recorded.

Item, I declare that I did not give any property whatever nor dowry to my said daughter, Dona Antonia Ramon de Urrutia; I declare this in order that it may be recorded.

Item, I declare that I was married a second time, according to the precepts of Our Holy Mother Church, to Dona Rosa Flores de Valdez, a resident of the villa of Saltillo, and that the children of our marriage are: Dona Rosa de Urrutia, Don Joseph Miguel de Urrutia, Dona Cathalina de Urrutia, Dona Juana de Urrutia, Don Thoribio de Urrutia, Don Joachin de Urrutia, Don Pedro de Urrutia, Don Ignacio de Urrutia, and Dona Juana Gertrudis de Urrutia, who I declare to be my children by my said wife.

Item, I declare that the said Dona Rosa Flores de Valdez, my wife, did not bring into my possession any dowry or property whatever; I declare this in order that it may be recorded.

Item, I declare that to none of my sons and daughters who have married have I given any property or dowry; I declare this in order that it may be recorded.

Item, I declare that to my son-in-law Don Ignacio de Ynclan, the husband of my daughter Dona Juana de Urrutia, I have assigned five hundred pesos and food for him and his wife for his services during each of the six years that he has been my cashier. I order my executors to audit the accounts of said Don Ygnacio; to charge to his account whatever he may have bought either from my store or from Mexico City; and that the amount in excess of the assigned salary of five hundred pesos for each of the six years during which he has worked for me, be added to the property that I may leave after my death to be divided equally among all the other heirs, share and share alike; and my executors shall exercise the necessary and conscientious care to comply with my will by so doing. And I appoint as my testamentary executors Don Joseph de Plasa and Don Pedro Godoy, (my sons-in-law), residents of the real and mines of San Pedro de Voca de Leones, to both of whom and to each one severally I give the necessary power in order that from the best secured part of my estate they may sell enough with which to comply with and pay the legacies and bequests of this my testament. I charge them to do so conscientiously; and I command that whatever they may do by virtue of same shall be as valid as if I had done it. And when this my testament shall have been complied with and the bequests and legacies contained herein shall have been paid, I institute and name as my legitimate and universal heirs to the residue of all the property, rights, and actions which now belong to me, or which may belong to me in the future, Dona Rosa de Urrutia, Don Joseph Miguel de Urrutia, Dona Cathalina de Urrutia, Dona Juana de Urrutia, Don Thoribio de Urrutia, Don Joachin de Urrutia, Don Pedro de Urrutia, Don Ygnacio de Urrutia, Dona Gertrudis de Urrutia, and Dona Antonia de Urrutia, my legitimate children by legitimate marriage, in order that they may have and inherit same equally with the blessing of God and my blessing, and whatever part of my property each one may have squandered shall be included herein and partitioned. I revoke, annul and declare to be worthless and of no effect any will or wills, memorandum or codicil whatever which I may have made prior to this, in writing, by word of mouth, or in any other form; and I wish that only this, which I am now granting shall be valid as my Last Will and Testament, in the best manner and form according to law.

Captain Don Joseph de Urrutia thus granted and signed it before me, the present notary and the following witnesses who were present:

Lieutenant Don Matheo Perez Signed
Joseph de Urrutia
Alferez Don Juan Galban (Rubic)
Don Joseph Bueno de Roxas
Don Fermin de Ybiricu
Antonio Lopez

I certify, Done in my presence Francisco Joseph de Arocha
(Rubic) Notary Public and Secretary

Contributed by Helen Harrell
The Canary Islands Descendants Newsletter, Vol. 6, Issue # 3

 

The Ayala-Guerrero-Sanchez-Puig Family of Kerrville, Texas
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/a/n/Robert-G-Sanchez/index.html

The Homepage of the Sanchez-Puig Family. This is the family of Florencio Benavides Sanchez-Puig and Petra De Leon Ayala Sanchez of Kerrville, Texas. Both the Ayala and Benavides Families were originally from the areas around Monterey, Mexico. Both family came to Texas in the early 1870's. Florencio was born in San Diego, Texas in 1884. Petra was born in Monterrey, Mexico on August 1, 1885. She came to Kerr County, Texas in 1888.

She and her Ayala cousins and Uncles were the Mexican Family to settle in Kerr County. From this family grew the present day Mexican American community of Kerrville, Texas.
 
We are also related to the Puig Families of Duval, Jim Wells, Webb, Nueces and Bexar Counties. And to the Vaello Family of Benavides, Texas. The two branches of the Puig Family come from the brothers, Juan and Valentine Puig and a sister, Maria Teresa Puig. They were baptized with Spanish-Catalán names, Joan Joseph Ignaci Puig Capella born October 16, 1841 and Valenti Manuel Esteve Puig Capella, born on March 15, 1837. Their place of birth was Vilanova De La Roca, Spain which is today called, Vilanova Del Vallés in the Province of Barcelona.
 
The Puig Family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana arriving at that port city in 1857.The Puig brothers, Juan, Valentin and Francisco were young Calatalonian merchants eager to aventure into the world of business. Four years later, the American Civil War broke out. They had to swear allegiance to the Confederacy and join a local city Confederate Militia in which they served until April 1862. They served in the 9th Company, 5th Regiment of the Spanish Eropean Brigade.
 
My maternal side of the family came from the Mexican States of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.My maternal grandparents were Pedor Guerrero García and Jovita Villarreal Ancira. Familylines include , The Guerreros, Garcias, Ramos, Ancira, Villarreal ,Gaunas, Fuentes, Lozano and several others.
 
Pedro Guerrero was the son of Epifanio Guerrero and Nicolasa García. Jovita was the daughter of Reymundo Villarreal and Josefina Anicra.

Sent by Rafael Ojeda
Tacoma,WA

The U.S. War against Mexico: Texas and the Alamo
Mexico's migration policy for Texas was similar to that for California and New Mexico. Stephen F. Austin, from Arkansas, acquired land that had been granted his late father, Moses Austin, in 1820. In 1823, Mexico confirmed Austin's land grant and allowed Stephen Austin to sell plots to settlers so long as they were of good character, and Austin began advertising for settlers in frontier newspapers. He had no trouble finding takers. The land could be bought for 12.5 cents and acre -- one tenth the cost of unwanted land in the United States. Austin's land was good for farming crops such as cotton, sugar, corn, potatoes and fruit trees. Word spread, and from Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, Illinois and Ohio people came to Texas to buy land that Mexico was offering. Mexico responded by applying new restrictions. Foreigners could hold title to no more than 49,000 acres (which amounts to land 8.7 by 8.7 miles). A head of a family could acquire 4,428 acres of land (2.6 by 2.6 miles) for a fee of 30 dollars, paid in installments of from four to six years.

In 1828, awareness of Texas in the United States led its president, Andrew Jackson, to offer to buy Texas, but Mexico refused his offer. Austin's migrants were an industrious lot. Many arrived with their own tools and machinery. Most had some education, and the migrants were setting up schools to educate their young. Concerning Texas, Mexico was handicapped by its gap between its elite and its poor. Mexico's elite had no desire to move to Texas and take up farming. Mexico's poor had not been led to believe that they had opportunity to succeed as farmers in Texas. Extremely poor Mexicans already in Texas were not climbing any such ladder of success. The total population of Texas in 1829 was about 20,000, which left much of it still unsettled. There were about 1,000 slaves and about 5,000 Mexicans.

Leaders in Mexico City became worried about immigrants taking over Texas, and they considered settling convicts in Texas or inviting Catholic migrants from Europe. In 1829 President Guerrero abolished slavery in Mexico's territories as a way of discouraging Yankee migration. In 1830, during the presidency of Anastasio Bustamante, Mexico's Congress passed a law prohibiting foreigners from settling on Mexican territory unless they had a passport issued by Mexico. Mexico vowed strict enforcement of laws against a further introduction of slaves, and it reimposed customs duties.

Mexico did not begin arresting settlers with slaves, but it began to encourage Mexicans and people from Europe, particularly from Switzerland and Germany, to settle in Texas. This upset the Anglos in Texas. They were concerned about preserving their own culture and their ability to express themselves politically, including a demand that slavery be allowed.

Mexico was in political turmoil again. President Bustamante was unpopular, in part because of the execution of the Guerrero. Santa Anna backed an uprising against Bustamante in early 1832. Liberals sided with Santa Anna, seeing him as one of them -- the man who had proclaimed a republic back in 1822 and had defended Mexico against the Spanish. Santa Anna rode into Mexico City in early January, 1833. Elections were held, and Santa Anna won in a great landslide. A liberal, Valentín Gómez Farías, became Vice President. Santa Anna found the duties of the presidency burdensome and returned to the comforts of his estate, while remaining officially president. Presidential duties were left to the liberal vice president, Gómez Farías, and he began a bold move against conservative forces: the army and the Church. He reduced the size of the army and put the army under more restrictive governmental controls. He moved to secularize education and denied the Church its right to collect an involuntary tithe, leaving what people gave the Church a matter of conscience.

Anglos in Texas had cheered Santa Anna's electoral success, believing like others that he was a liberal. The Anglos held a convention in 1833, at San Felipe (130 miles east of San Antonio), attended by around 56 delegates. It called for repeal of the anti-immigration section of the law of April 6, 1830. Texas had been united with the state of Coahuila back in 1824, and the convention called for Texas to become an independent state within Mexico. It called also for judicial reform, habeas corpus, trial by jury, freedom of the press, universal suffrage and improved mail service. The convention sent Stephen Austin to Mexico City with their request for reform.

On June 1, 1833, Mexico's military, led by General Gabriél Durán, rebelled against Gómez Farías and kidnapped Santa Anna, declaring the great hero Santa Anna to be dictator. Santa Anna went over to the side of the conservatives and overthrew the government from which he had been absent.

Austin had arrived in Mexico City in July and was received with hostility. On his way back to Texas, in Saltillo (70 kilometers southwest of Monterrey), he was arrested and put into prison, accused of inciting insurrection in Texas.

Santa Anna repealed the constitution of 1824, and in May, 1834, he sent Gómez Farías into exile. For months Santa Anna's military attacked in various states, Santa Anna allowing his military to run wild to intimidate those inclined to rebel. In July 1835, Austin was freed under a general amnesty law and returned to the United States through New Orleans, but in Texas the unrest continued. In November, the Anglo-Americans defied Santa Anna by voting to defend Mexico's 1824 constitution, and volunteers began arriving from the United States to take part in a war against Santa Anna.

Santa Anna sent his brother-in law, General Cós, with 500 troops to Texas to disarm the settlers and to expel "troublemakers." Cós and company arrived in September, 1835. Fighting erupted, and in November, during the fighting, the Anglo-Americans created a document known as the Organic Law, outlining a provisional government for Texas. Then in December, on the outskirts of San Antonio, at a fortress in a place called the Alamo, a horde of armed Anglo farmers defeated Cós, who surrendered.

Santa Anna finished putting down a rebellion in the state of Zacatecas. He led an army toward Texas, losing half of his more than 6,000 ill-clad and ill-fed men across desert and through winter weather, and in February he suddenly appeared in Texas with his army of 3,000. When Cós surrendered he promised to take his men with him out of Texas and to fight the Anglos no more, but Cós joined his few hundred men with those of Santa Anna. The military leader of the Anglos, Sam Houston, advised fighters to abandon San Antonio, proclaiming that standing there was futile, but a couple of hundred of them refused. They decided to hold up at the place of victory against Cós -- the Alamo. Most of the Anglos at the Alamo followed the romanticism of the commander there, Colonel William Travis -- the kind of romanticism rejected by modern professional soldiers.

Santa Anna raised a scarlet flag on the belfry of San Antonio's church, indicating that he would not be granting mercy to any Anglo who surrendered. Among the Anglos at the Alamo words were spoken about fighting to the death. In the fighting that followed around 78 Mexicans died, 26 of them officers, and 251 Mexicans were wounded. Only six of the 188 or so Anglo men survived. Santa Anna provided the women and children at the Alamo safe passage through his lines. He gave them protection, a blanket and a little money for survival. The six who surrendered - one of whom was Davy Crocket -- were cut down the following day with swords. Crocket was a celebrity in the United States, and people there wanted to believe that Crockett had gone down fighting to the end.

Santa Anna assumed that he had defeated the Anglos of Texas, and he relaxed. He dispersed his army and ordered that all Anglos caught bearing arms were to be executed as pirates and that expenses for his campaign were to be raised from confiscated property. One of his generals, Urrea, ambushed 41 Anglos at Los Cuantes de Agua Dulce, and most of the 41 were killed, with no casualties among the Urrea's force. Urrea captured 400 Anglos near Goliad (85 miles southeast of San Antonio) and requested amnesty from Santa Anna. Instead, Santa Anna ordered all to be executed, the executions taking place on March 27, 1836. The Anglos in Texas, meanwhile, on March 2, had issued their Declaration of Independence.

On April 20, Santa Anna, now with a force of around 1,110 men, met a force of 800 men led by Sam Houston, near the San Jacinto River (on the eastern side of what is now the city of Houston). Santa Anna's force was overwhelmed and Santa Anna was taken prisoner -- while napping. Some Anglos wanted him killed. Santa Anna was unnerved and asked for, and was given, some opium. Houston treated Santa Anna as a guest, and he won from Santa Anna a pledge to end the fighting and to withdraw Mexico's army from Texas. A second pledge by Santa Anna remained secret, an agreement by Santa Anna to prepare Mexico City to receive a peace delegation from Texas for formal recognition of the independence of Texas.

One of Santa Anna's generals obeyed Santa Anna and withdrew Mexican military personnel from Texas. In November, 1836, Houston allowed Santa Anna to travel to Washington, where Santa Anna met with President Andrew Jackson and a delegation from Texas. There, during a dinner, Santa Anna tried unassertively to sell Texas to the United States at a bargain price, but Jackson was not buying. He saw Texas as already independent of Mexico, and he sent Santa Anna back to Vera Cruz aboard a U.S. warship.

In 1837, the United States officially recognized Texas as independent. Mexico refused. France established a trade agreement with Texas and recognized it as independent in 1839. Trade agreements and recognition by Great Britain, Holland and Belgium followed months later.

Source: Macrohistory and World Report
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h41-mex.html


Copyright © 2002 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.

 


MEXICO
http://www.genealogia.org.mx/

Joining Generaciones.com.mx
Mexican Airlines direct to Dulles Airport
Sacerdotes que Oficiaron Servicios Religiosos en la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de
       Loreto,  por: Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza      
Origen del apellido González en Burgos, Tamaulipas,  
      por: Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza      
Félix de Sonora por: Guillermo Padilla Origel
Domecq por:  Guillermo Padilla Origel
Hacedor de árboles genealógicos, por Azahel Jaramillo Hernánde
Crónicas  y remembranzas… La Virgen de Guadalupe, 

      por Clemente Rendón/Tamaulipas En Línea.com

La Alianza de Pancho Villa y Emiliano Zapata,
por Clemente Rendon     
Bernabé de las Casas
Canadian Rio Alto Mines, formerly Mexican Silver  Mines  to explore  Nuevo Leon

Recommended websites: 
http://www.generaciones.com.mx/
http://gentienda.genealogia.org.mx/eCom/index.php

PERSONAJES EN LA HISTORIA DE MÉXICO

Por: JOSÉ LEÓN ROBLES DE LA TORRE

RUMBO AL BICENTENARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA DE MÉXICO
Y EL CENTENARIO DE LA REVOLUCIÓN MEXICANA
José Justo Corro, Presidente de la República Mexicana
Nicolás Bravo 

 

 

José Justo Corro  
Presidente de la República Mexicana

Datos del Tomo III de XIII, Libro 16 de mi obra inédita: "La Independencia y los Presidentes de México", relacionados con el Lic. don José Justo Corro, Presidente de México, nacido en la ciudad de Guadalajara, Jal., probablemente en 1780 ó 1784, según algunos historiadores, pero sin confirmarse por no haber encontrado su acta de nacimiento.

Estudió la carrera de Leyes hasta recibir su título de Licenciado en Derecho, perteneció al Partido Conservador y era muy religioso.

En 1823, fue electo Diputado Local en el Congreso de Guadalajara, Jal., y después de ese cargo, fue candidato y obtuvo la Senaduría en 1827 por el Estado de Jalisco y duró en el cargo hasta 1832, pero en 1828 en una votación del Congreso fue electo, por 27 votos contra 12 fue nombrado vicegobernador de Jalisco en sustitución de don Ignacio Cumplido. Posteriormente fue secretario particular del Gobernador don José Ignacio Cañedo.

El presidente Miguel Barragán, nombró a Corro como Ministro de Relaciones Interiores y Negocios Eclesiásticos el 18 de mayo de 1835, pero habiendo caído gravemente enfermo el presidente Barragán, el Congreso de la Unión puso a votación para suplir al presidente, resultando el Lic. José Justo Corro con 51 votos, 18 para el General don Nicolás Bravo, 12 para el General Parrés y 1 para Mengino, protestando ante el Congreso como presidente sustituto el Lic. Corro el día 27 de febrero de 1836 y Barragán murió el uno de marzo siguiente.

El Papa don Gregorio XVI envió una carta al presidente Corro el 13 de julio de 1836, felicitándo lo por su ascenso a la presidencia y dándole las condolencias por la muerte de Barragán.

Durante su mandato, se publicaron las siete leyes constitucionales el 30 de diciembre de 1836, aprobadas por el Congreso. También le tocó el suceso de la declaración de Independencia de Texas el dos de marzo de 1836.

El 14 de marzo de 1837, el presidente presentó su renuncia ante el Congreso, porque la reacción del pueblo en su contra era muy dura con motivo del proyecto de ley de reducir la moneda de cobre a la cuarta parte de su valor, pero el Congreso no aceptó la renuncia y siguió en el poder, pero el 19 de abril de 1837, dejó la Presidencia en manos del General don Anastasio Bustamante.

El nueve de mayo de 1837, fue nombrado miembro del Supremo Poder Conservador. Y el 31 de mayo de 1842, fue electo Diputado Suplente, y en 1844 fue nombrado Magistrado de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación.

En 1864, el Emperador Maximiliano de Habsburgo lo nombró Miembro del Consejo de Estado. Su último cargo oficial fue el de presidente del Supremo Tribunal de Justicia del Estado de Jalisco, muriendo el 18 de diciembre de ese mismo año de 1864.

Sus restos fueron llevados al Panteón de Belén y depositados en la gaveta 5, arco número 27, de Guadalajara, Jal., a donde me trasladé para fotografiar su lápida que dice:

"Aquí yace Sor Licdo don José Justo Corro.

Falleció el 18 de octubre de 1864, E.T.D.". Esta foto que obra en el libro citado al principio, la tomé el año de 1855.  

Nicolás Bravo

Datos tomados de mi obra inédita: "La Independencia y los Presidentes de México", relativos al General de División don Nicolás Bravo Rueda, Presidente de México No. 17, del Tomo II de XIII, Libro 17.

Nació don Nicolás el día diez de septiembre de 1786 en Chilpancingo, Gro., siendo hijo de don Leonardo Bravo y de su esposa doña Gertrudis Rueda. Su padre era uno de los hombres más ricos del lugar con tierras, ganados y su hacienda de Chichihualco. La familia de Nicolás, especialmente su padre, querían que fuera sacerdote, por lo que lo llevó con el párroco del lugar para que le enseñara latín y otras materias, pero Nicolás no aceptó porque le gustaba la vida del campo y allí creció.

Su matrimonio. En 1810, se quedó en Chilpancingo donde conoció a la señorita Antonia Guevara y pronto se casaron, en junio del mismo año de 1810, dedicándose al comercio.

A raíz del Grito de Independencia de Hidalgo en Dolores, Bravo, no obstante ser rico, sintió simpatía por los insurgentes que reclamaban el derecho a la libertad, por lo que cuando Morelos reclutaba gente para la causa, se unió a los Galeana, que también eran hacendados en Tecpan, y eran don Hermenegildo, Fermín y Evan y su sobrino Pablo. Todos se unieron a Morelos. Se despidió Bravo de su esposa y su familia y se fue a alcanzar a Morelos en el rancho La Unión y Morelos lo nombró Alferes.

El cuatro de enero de 1811 acompañó a don Julián de Ávila y asaltaron un campamento relista que estaban en el paso para el cerro del Veladero, con bastante éxito, que Morelos lo felicitó, ya que allí se ganó el espacio para el campamento de Morelos. El 1o. de marzo de 1811 Bravo recibió el grado de Capitán y lo mandó con don Hermenegildo Galeana y ya lo acompañaban su padre don Leonardo, sus hermanos, Miguel, Máximo y Víctor y su secretario Renato, disponiendo de sus bienes para la campaña.

El 16 de mayo de 1811, todos los Bravo participaron en la Batalla de Chichihualco, saliendo victoriosos. Después Bravo participó en la Batalla de San Agustín del Palmary en agosto de 1812, fue nombrado comandante militar de Veracruz.

Don Leonardo fue hecho prisionero y no obstante las gestiones de la esposa doña Gertrudis, don Leonardo fue muerto a "Garrote Vil" el 13 de septiembre de 1812 y en respuesta, se ordenó pasar a cuchillo a trescientos prisioneros realistas, pero don Nicolás les perdonó la vida y Morelos aceptó ese perdón noble del valiente Bravo. En 1817, participó en la Batalla de Cóporo; entró a la Ciudad de México con el Ejército Trigarante en 1821; en 1823, Bravo junto con Guerrero, estaban en contra de Iturbide. Formó parte del Supremo Poder Ejecutivo; del diez de octubre de 1824 hasta diciembre de 1827, fue vicepresidente de la República.

Del diez de julio de 1839 fue presidente interino de México hasta el 17 del mismo mes. En 1841, fue Diputado al Congreso Nacional.

Del 26 de octubre de 1842 fue Presidente de México hasta el tres de marzo de 1843. Fue Gobernador de Veracruz y de México. Nuevamente Presidente de México a partir del 28 de julio de 1846.

Murió el 22 de abril de 1854 y su esposo también murió un día antes, al parecer ambos envenenados con un medicamento que les recetó su médico Bravo fue sepultado en la parroquia de Chilpancingo, Gro., hasta el cinco de septiembre de 1903, luego a una rotonda y finalmente a la Columna de la Independencia.

Source: El Siglo de Torreón newspaper www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx

By Mercy Bautista-Olvera

 

BRIEFS

Generaciones.com.mx
About a year ago Mimi recommended Genealogia Mexicana, an organization devoted to researching Mexican genealogy.  This was a free website up to about three months ago.  They have now changed their name to Generaciones.com.mx and they charge the nominal fee 50 pesos per year which translates to about four dollars.  

It may take several efforts to establish your account and if you run into problems you can write the administration for help.  Although Genealogia Mexicana is a basically a forum for researchers who want to research their Mexican ancestors. There are also some cultural and historical benefits that can be derived in joining. 

First: Set Up a Gmail account by going to: mail.google.com/mail/help/open.html   
Second:  To your Gmail account you will add an e-mail account for Generaciones.com.mx using the following steps:

1. Visit Genealogia.org.mx store (Tienda)
2. On the catalog go to "Cuentas de E-mail"
3. Select Generaciones.com.mx (where it says "Comprar Ahora")
4. Follow the steps given making sure to include all the required fields
5. Where it says "Agregue los comentarios sobre su orden" write your user name (usuario) and password (contrasena)

Steps to pay for your order
1. Pay Pal (Recommended)
2; Credit Card   
3. Bank transfer

Tomas Saenz saenztomas@sbcglobal.net

Mexican  Airlines is now the only Mexican airline flying into the Dulles airport,  launching direct flights between Washington, D.C. and Cancun.  Seven weekly, non-stop flights will be scheduled between Washington, D.C. and Cancun and continuing to Mexico City.  As the first Mexican  airline to operate out of the Dulles airport, Mexicana has solid reasons for  choosing this terminal, namely industry data that points to a 12%-plus  increase in passenger volumes between Washington, D. C. and Cancun since 2005, with at least  60% of passengers flying from Washington  D.C. to destinations in Mexico preferring Dulles. Business  passengers flying in from Washington will  also find that these new flights are conveniently scheduled to coincide with  connections to Mexico City, allowing them to  make the most of their time in Mexico.
 
In 2008, Cancun's  International Airport received 41% of the Americans that traveled  to Mexico by plane. Because of its  strength in numbers, a total amount of $67 million dollars has been invested  this year to add an additional runway, an entirely new control tower and  taxiway bridge. The airport's capacity will increase to such an extent that it  will eventually be fit to welcome about 28 million passengers per  year.
 
During 2010,  Mexicana Airlines together with the Mexico Tourism Board and the State of  Quintana Roo will carry out varied  promotional programs to help kick start travel to Mexico from Washington, D.C. targeting industry partners within the  leisure and meetings segment.
 
Kirk Whisler
Hispanic Marketing 101




Sacerdotes que Oficiaron Servicios Religiosos en la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Loreto de Burgos, Tamaulipas: 1751-1816.
por: Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza
cherrera1951@hotmail.com 
fray Simón del Hierro: del 21 de febrero de 1751 al 28 de julio de 1759. 

fray Juan Martínez de la Parra: del 1 de noviembre de 1759 al 27 de octubre de 1763. 

fray Joseph Abad de Jesús María: del 8 de enero de 1764 al 22 de octubre de 1764.

fray Simón del Hierro: del 3 de marzo de 1765 al 6 enero de 1767. 

fray Antonio Jurado Caballero: del 29 de enero de 1767 al 14 de junio de 1770.

fray Felipe Segovia: del 12 de agosto de 1770 al 8 de mayo de 1771.

Fr. Francisco de Uzelay: del 2 de junio de 1771 al 31 de diciembre de 1774.

Fr. José Ignacio Álvarez: del 14 de abril de 1775 al 22 de agosto de 1775.

Fr. Manuel Roldán: del 3 de septiembre de 1775 al 11 de marzo de 1777.

fray Antonio Jurado Caballero: del 5 de marzo de 1777 al 10 de agosto de 1778.

Fr. Santiago Antonio Pastor: del 20 de septiembre de 1778 al 23 de agosto de 1779.

Fr. José Ignacio Álvarez: del 14 de septiembre de 1779 al 27 de julio de 1794.

Fray Alejandro de la Garza, visita de la Sagrada Mitra de Monterrey: 28 de junio de 1783.

Fr. Mariano Larreta: del 1 de agosto 1794 al 11 de septiembre de 1794.

Fr. José Ignacio Álvarez: del 6 de noviembre de 1794 al 14 de noviembre de 1795.

Fr. Vicente Santisteban: del 22 de diciembre de 1795 al 17 de marzo de 1796. 

Fr. Manuel García: del 30 de marzo de 1796 al 9 de noviembre de 1796.

Fr. Francisco María Pantión: del 28 de septiembre de 1800 al 24 de mayo de 1802.

fray Antonio Esteban: del 30 de mayo de 1802 al 3 de febrero de 1807.

Fray José Fabián Ramos: del 9 de febrero de 1807 al 11 de noviembre de 1815.

Fray Sebastián Manrique: del 20 de noviembre de 1815 al 23 de mayo de 1816.

Fr. Carlos Luengo y Castillo: del 6 de junio de 1816 al 14 de junio de 1816.


Origen del apellido González en Burgos, Tamaulipas

por: Lic. Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza     cherrera1951@hotmail.com

(en memoria de María de Jesús de la Garza de la Garza, vda. de Herrera 1919-2009)

1.- Francisco González; se casó con Cipriana de la Garza. 

1.1.- Luís González de la Garza; se casó con Evarista Treviño; casó con María Antonia Cepeda Selvera.

1.1.1.- Margarita González Treviño; se casó con Miguel de la Garza de León*, hijo de Ramón de la Garza

           Cepeda e Irenia de León Díaz de la Madrid.

           Ramón de la Garza Cepeda era hijo de Miguel de la Garza y Gertrudis Zepeda.

1.1.1.1.- Candelario de la Garza González*; se casó con Apolonia González de la Garza, hija de Dionisio

              González Treviño y María del Refugio de la Garza Silva.

1.1.1.1.1.- Rafael de la Garza González*; se casó con Eduviges de la Garza Flores, hija de Justo Rufino de

                 la Garza Treviño y Eloísa Flores Treviño

1.1.1.1.1.1.- María de Jesús de la Garza de la Garza*, nació en Aldama, Tamaulipas en 1919 y murió en

                    ciudad Victoria, Tam. el 28 de octubre de 2009 ; se casó con Agapito Herrera Acuña.

1.1.1.1.1.1.1.- Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza.

1.1.2.- Dolores González Treviño; se casó con Francisco Adame.

1.1.3.- Dionisio González Treviño; se casó con María del Refugio de la Garza Silva.

1.1.3.1.- Longinos González de la Garza; se casó con Cipriana Treviño; casó con Juana Barrera Treviño.

1.1.3.1.1.- Marcos González Barrera; se casó con Brígida Palacios Cavazos.

1.1.3.1.1.1.- Jesús González Palacios

1.1.3.1.2.- Agapito González Barrera.

1.1.3.1.3.- Román González Barrera; se casó con Senaida de la Garza.

1.1.3.1.3.1.- Sofía González de la Garza.

1.1.3.1.3.2.- Aurelia González de la Garza

1.1.3.1.4.- José Loreto González Barrera; se casó con María Luciana Rivera Coronado.

1.1.3.1.5.- Juan González Barrera; se casó con Adela Palacios de León.

1.1.3.1.5.1.- Petra González Palacios

1.1.3.1.6.- Eduarda González Barrera.

1.1.3.1.7.- Rafael González Barrera; nació en 1883 y murió en 1885.

1.1.3.2.- Apolonia González de la Garza; se casó con Candelario de la Garza González*.

1.1.3.2.1.- Rafael de la Garza González*; se casó con Eduviges de la Garza Flores, hija de Justo Rufino de

                 la Garza Treviño y Eloísa Flores Treviño

1.1.3.2.1.1.- María de Jesús de la Garza de la Garza, nació en Aldama, Tamaulipas en 1919 y murió en

                    ciudad Victoria, Tam. el 28 de octubre de 2009 ; se casó con Agapito Herrera Acuña

1.1.3.2.1.1.1.- Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza.

1.1.3.3.- Guadalupe González de la Garza; se casó con Florentino Cavazos Rodríguez.

1.1.3.4.- Modesto González de la Garza; casó con Simona Treviño; casó con Esiquia Manrique Treviño.

1.1.4.- Felipe González Treviño; se casó con Severiana Flores Flores.

1.1.4.1.- María Bárbara González Flores; se casó con Félix Cano Solís.

1.1.4.2.- Herculano González Flores; se casó con María Ignacia Treviño de la Garza.

1.1.4.2.1.- Amadeo González Treviño.

1.1.4.2.2.- Herculano Pantaleón González Treviño.

1.1.4.3.- María Victoriana González Flores.

1.1.4.4.- María de los Santos González Flores.

1.1.4.5.- Gaudencio González Flores; se casó con Gertrudis Garza Cano.

1.1.4.5.1.- Arturo González Garza; se casó con Ramona Sepúlveda.

1.1.4.5.2.- Carolina González Garza

1.1.4.5.3.- Gaudencio González Garza

1.1.4.5.4.- Abelardo González Garza; se casó con Laura Sierra Bustamante.

1.1.4.5.4.1.- Abelardo González Sierra.

1.1.4.5.4.2.- José Gaudencio González Sierra

1.1.4.5.4.3.- Víctor González Sierra.

1.1.4.5.4.4.- Carlos Enrique González Sierra.

1.1.4.5.4.5.- Raúl González Sierra.

1.1.4.5.4.6.- Laura González Sierra.

1.1.4.5.5.- Leopoldo González Garza

1.1.4.5.6.- Rubén González Garza; se casó con Zoila Medina.

1.1.4.5.7.- Severiana González Garza; se casó con Librado Salinas

1.1.4.6.- Anastacia González Flores; se casó con Marcelo Ramírez.

1.1.4.7.- Nieves González Flores; se casó con José de Jesús Cano Solís

1.1.5.- Serapio González Treviño; se casó con María Marcelina Flores Treviño.

1.1.5.1.- Eusebia González Flores.

1.1.5.2.- Martín González Flores.

1.1.5.3.- Severo González Flores; se casó con Modesta García  Treviño.

1.1.5.3.1.- Ciro González García

1.1.5.4.- María del Refugio González Flores.

1.1.5.5.- Dionisio González Flores.

1.1.5.6.- Jacinta González Flores.

1.1.5.7.- María Santos González Flores; se casó con Rafael Leal Treviño.

1.1.5.8.- María Francisca González Flores; se casó con Máximo Flores Villafuerte.

1.1.5.7.- Jesús María González Flores; se casó con Aurora Gutiérrez  Robles.

1.1.5.7.1.- Gudelia González Gutiérrez.

1.1.6.- José González Treviño.

1.1.7.- Santos González Treviño; se casó con Nicolasa de la Garza de la Garza.

1.1.7.1.- María Julia del Refugio González de la Garza.

1.1.7.2.- Eutimio Luis González de la Garza.

1.1.7.3.- Evarista González de la Garza.

1.1.7.4.- Elvira González de la Garza.

1.1.7.5.- Raúl Tarquino González de la Garza.

1.2.- Magdalena González de la Garza.  


FÉLIX DE SONORA

Guillermo Padilla Origel

I.-Don Joseph Concepción Félix, nace por 1838, en Álamos, Sonora, y se casa con doña Cleta Encinas, y fue su hijo entre otros:

II.-Don Fernando Félix Encinas, bautizado el 7 de febrero de 1863,  en Álamos, Sonora, y se casa con María de la Paz Flores, y fue su hijo entre otros:

III.-Don Bernardo Félix Flores, nace por 1873, en Álamos, Sonora, y muere en 1951, y se casa, por 1898, con doña Josefa Güereña Rosas, h.l. de Don Amado Güereña y doña Marcela Rosas, y fueron sus hijos de don Bernardo y doña Josefa, todos nacidos en la hacienda de “el Quiriego” cerca de Álamos , Sonora:

IV.-Don Miguel Félix Güereña, nacido en 1900.

IV.-Don Fernando Félix Güereña, nacido en 1902

IV.-Don Bernardo Félix Güereña, nacido en 1904

IV.-Doña Paz Félix Güereña, nacida en 1906

IV.-Doña Ana María Félix Güereña, nacida en 1908.

IV.-Doña Josefina Félix Güereña, nacida en 1910

IV.-Don Pablo Félix Güereña, nacido en 1912, murió joven.

IV.-Doña María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña, nacida el 8 de abril de 1914, actriz de cine nacional e Internacional , conocida como María Félix, y muerta en la ciudad de México el 8 de abril de 2002, casada en primeras nupcias en Guadalajara, Jalisco , en 1933, con Don Enrique Álvarez Alatorre, y fue su hijo el también actor Enrique Álvarez Félix, nacido en Guadalajara en 1935 y muerto en la ciudad de México en el año de 1996, soltero.

IV.-Doña María Eugenia Félix Güereña, nacida en 1916, casada con un sr. De apellido Paz, y fue su hija : María del Rocío Paz Félix, casada con Manuel Becker Cuellar, y fue su hijo a su vez: el artista : Eduardo Kuno Becker Paz, nacido en la ciudad de México el 14 de enero de 1978.

IV.-Don Ricardo Félix Güereña, nacido en 1918, casado con una señora de apellido Camba; radicó en la ciudad de León, Gto, por el año de 1968, donde fungió como gerente regional de Banamex y fueron varios hijos entre ellos: Pablo, radicado en Monterrey, y Ricardo, funcionario Bancario, casado con la Lic. Lourdes Cásares Espinoza, escritora y conferencista, con sucesión y radicados en León, Gto.

IV.-Don Benjamín Félix Güereña, nace en 1920.


DOMECQ

Guillermo Padilla Origel

I.-Don Pedro Pascual de Domecq y Lambéye, nació el 10 de septiembre de 1824, en Saint Glade, (Francia), y murió el 5 de septiembre de 1894, perteneció a la nobleza de Francia  llamada “Urgain” , desde 1385; se casó en Jerez de la Frontera, España, con doña Carmen Núñez de Villavicencio Lostaú  y Olguer Feliú, y fueron sus hijos nacidos en Jerez de la Frontera:

II.-Don Pedro  Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, nace en 1869 y se casa con doña María Rivero O´neale y Soto, con sucesión.

II.-Doña Mará de Jesús , nacido en 1875; doña María de los Ángeles, nace en 1883, y doña María Josefa , nace en 1874, Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, solteras.

II.-Don José Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, nace en 1870, y se casa con doña Petra de la Riva y González de Tagle, con 4 hijos, entre ellos :

1.-Don Pedro de Domecq y de la Riva, nacido en 1916 y muerto en 1985, casado con doña Paloma Urquijo y Álvarez, y fueron 5 hijos entre ellos:

11.-Don Pedro Domecq y Urquijo, nace por 1948, y se casó con doña Rosario Márquez Amilibia y a su ve z fueron dos hijos entre ellos:

111.-Doña Rosario Domecq y Márquez, nacida en 1980 y se casa con don Julián López y Escobar, apodado “El Juli”, matador de toros, nacido en 1982 y casado el 20 de octubre de 2007, en Jerez de la Frontera.

II.-Don Luís de Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, nace en 1880, y se casa con Isabel Ibarra, con sucesión.

II.-Doña Carmen Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, nace en 1872,  y se casa con don Fernando de Soto Aguilar Ponce de León, con sucesión.

II.-Don Juan Pedro Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio,  nace en 1881,  y se casa con María Diez y Gutiérrez,  y fueron sus hijos :

1.-Don Pedro, Carmen, María, Juan Pedro, Salvador  y Don Álvaro Domecq y Diez, nacido en 1917, rejoneador , murió el 5 de octubre de 2005, vinicultor, casado con sra. Romero, y fue su hijo:

11.-Don Álvaro Domecq Romero, rejoneador, vinicultor, casado con Maribel y fueron sus hijos:

111.-Don Luís y don Antonio Domecq.

II.-Don Manuel Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, nace en 1877,  y se casa con doña María de las Mercedes González y Gordón , tuvieron varios hijos entre ellos:

1.-Don Beltrán Domecq y González, nace en 1922, y se casa con doña Anne Williams, de origen inglés, y fue su hija :

11.-Doña Sandra Domecq Williams, nacida en 1953, y muerta en 2004, casada con don Norberto Ortiz Osborne, apodado en el medio artístico como “Bertín Osborne”  y fueron sus hijas:

111.-Alejandra, nacida en 1979, casada con Joaquín Buendía; Eugenia, nacida en 1986 y Claudia Ortíz Domecq, nacida en 1989.

Sr. Guillermo Padilla Origel
padillaoguillermo@prodigy.net.mx 
León, Gto. México
tels. 7-16-65-92 y 7-16-64-38 fax


Hacedor de árboles genealógicos

Publicado en DIÁLOGO, por Azahel Jaramillo Hernández

Periódico El Expreso- 27 de diciembre de 2009- ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas.

¿Cómo están?

En estos días en que la familia es nuestro orgullo y todo nuestro querer platicamos con Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza, un apasionado genealogista, especializado en los apellidos del noreste de México y sur de Texas.

En la colonia Sosa, antiguamente conocida como “La loma del muerto” Carlos Martín vive con su esposa e hijos en una casa con muy amplio jardín. Ahí evoca sus años de estudio de medicina en Tampico y su afición por el rock que lo llevo a formar la banda “Los Shame” en el fatídico 68.

Alejado de la medicina, pero nunca del rock, ahora licenciado para historia, ex docente en Ciencias de la Educación, Carlos Martín tiene por comisión personal ofrecer a la comunidad en general los nombres y apellidos de todos quienes fueron nuestros antepasados, con referencia específica de los lugares y fechas de sus nacimientos, matrimonios y defunciones.

“La investigación genealógica de cualquier apellido, exige implícitamente el estudio de otros apellidos correlacionados entre sí; de tal manera que es imposible ignorar el desarrollo genealógico de todos los apellidos que en conjunto al paso del tiempo se han ido emparentando”, anota.

Deja en claro que sus investigaciones han ido al sur de Texas debido que Tamaulipas comprendía, hace muchos años, hasta el Rio Nueces en el confín de lo que hoy es la ciudad de Corpus Christi, Texas; territorio  todavía hoy habitado por personas que llevan  apellidos del noreste de México.

Y ejemplifica: “Apellidos presentes desde tiempos inmemorables; como  Montemayor en la persona de Estefanía de Montemayor que nació en Saltillo, Coahuila en 1569; de Domingo de la Fuente que nació en Saltillo en 1578; de los Hinojosa; los Martínez, los Guajardo, los Navarro, los Rodríguez, los Flores, los Valdéz que igual vivían en Saltillo por 1580; los Leal y los de León que llegaron a Monterrey en 1635; los Villarreal que llegaron a Monterrey en 1613; los Treviño con historia en México desde 1550; los González, en Saltillo desde 1630; los Cavazos que llegaron a Monterrey en 1628; los Cano en Cadereyta, NL desde 1700.”

“Burgos, Tamaulipas —dice-- es la tierra de mis ancestros por el lado materno. Fue fundado el 20 de febrero de 1749 por el capitán José Antonio Leal de León y Guerra, con familias que llegaron de Nuevo León, convocadas a participar de la aventura pobladora de Antonio Ladrón de Guevara, luego que José de Escandón obtuvo el beneficio de la Real Corona Española para el proyecto de colonizar la Costa del Seno Mexicano, luego llamado Nuevo Santander y finalmente Tamaulipas.

“En mis once años de investigación genealógica me he relacionado al través del internet con personas, instituciones y organizaciones que comparten esta misma loca aventura mía por buscar los nombres de quienes fueron nuestros antepasados. Hoy día se han publicado mis colaboraciones en somosprimos.com un portal electrónico de hispanos con residencia en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica.”

“En 2007 fui invitado por The Spanish American Genealogical Association, en Corpus Christi, Texas  para dictar una conferencia sobre la historia del apellido De La Garza ; y desde 2008 soy miembro honorario de esa Asociación Genealógica”.

“Me complace haber recibido correo de personas que viven lejos en los Estados Unidos, con raíces mejicanas, que allá nacieron y que no conocen México; de ellos ha resultado que venimos siendo primos, algunos muy cercanos y otros de diferentes generaciones; y esos méxico-americanos añoran los pueblos de Tamaulipas que en los relatos y cuentos de sus abuelas les platicaban habían vivido cuando eran niñas.

Que no ha sido un trabajo sencillo es fácil de comprender, porque hay que consultar las fuentes de las partidas originales en el registro parroquial y civil; y también entrevistar a personas que hayan conocido a la gente de antaño.

Es menester agradecer públicamente la buena disposición de la comunidad de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, que amablemente me ha permitido la consulta en su Centro de Historia Familiar.

Las personas que se interesen por saber quiénes fueron sus antepasados pueden escribir a Carlos Martín; e-mail: 
Carlos Herrera  cherrera1951@hotmail.com .

NOS VEMOS.  
[27.12.2009]


Crónicas y remembranzas… La Virgen de Guadalupe

Clemente Rendón/Tamaulipas En Línea.com

Existe un antiguo dicho que dice que en México la mayoría somos católicos, pero el 99% somos guadalupanos. Ciertamente la Virgen de Guadalupe es venerada y forma parte de una gran tradición y culto, en México y en los países de América latina, así como en muchos otros países en donde hay comunidades mexicanas o latinoamericanas.

La fiesta de la Virgen de Guadalupe es el 12 de diciembre, fecha en la cual se atribuye su aparición al indígena Juan Diego en el cerro del Tepeyac en el año de 1531. En éste día la Virgen es visitada en su recinto de la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en la ciudad de México y en una gran cantidad de templos e iglesias dedicadas a su culto en todo el país,  por millones de peregrinos y fieles. La festividad de la Virgen de Guadalupe representa una de las celebraciones religiosas tradicionales más significativas del calendario litúrgico.

En casi todas las iglesias de México existe un altar dedicado a la Virgen de Guadalupe. En la región del valle de la desembocadura del río Bravo y Grande existen varias iglesias dedicadas a la Virgen , también llamada ‘Reina de América’: a).-En Matamoros tenemos la Iglesia de Guadalupe y en la Catedral , que es el recinto oficial de la Diócesis de Matamoros, hay un altar lateral dedicado a la Virgen de Guadalupe. b).- En Brownsville, Texas, hay una parroquia dedicada a la Virgen de Guadalupe y también se le venera en la Catedral de la Diócesis de Brownsville. Asimismo existe una parroquia de Guadalupe en Mission, Texas. c).- En Reynosa, la iglesia principal tiene la advocación de la Virgen de Guadalupe. d).- En Cd. Valle Hermoso, también existe una parroquia de Guadalupe.  

I).- Los Orígenes de ésta devoción en México


La tradición histórica nos dice que en los inicios de la Colonia de la Nueva España , tuvo lugar una serie de apariciones a un humilde indígena llamado Juan Diego, en el cerro del ‘Tepeyac’, que en Náhuatl significa “en la punta o en el principio de los cerros”. La Virgen pidió a Juan Diego que avisara a las autoridades religiosas, para que le construyeran un templo en ese sitio.

En la cuarta aparición de la Virgen a Juan Diego, el 12 de diciembre de 1531, fue cuando éste pidió a la ‘Gran señora’ que mejor enviara a otra persona más importante que él, ya que los sacerdotes católicos no le creían, además de que tenía que atender a su tío enfermo. La Virgen le indicó que él debería ser el portador de la noticia y que su tío Juan Bernardino ya estaba curado, por lo cual ya no tenía que preocuparse. Le pidió que como prueba les llevara a los sacerdotes unas rosas; para el asombro de Juan Diego, repentinamente habían aparecido unos bellísimos rosales, llenos de rosas. Juan Diego llenó de hermosas rosas su tilma –especie de delantal-, porque era la forma de llevar más flores. Cuando llegó con los sacerdotes y abrió su tilma para entregar las rosas, se encontraron con una bella imagen de una Virgen morena, plasmada en la tilma; todos se postraron de rodillas en el suelo, avisándole inmediatamente al Obispo, fray Juan de Zumárraga. Los sacerotes españoles encontraron que esa bella imagen tenía mucha semejanza con la Virgen de Guadalupe venerada en Extremadura, razón por la cual le dieron ese nombre. Otra versión es la que cuenta que Juan Diego les dijo en Náhuatl, el nombre que él escuchó – o creyó escuchar- de “Coatlxopeuh”, que significa “la que pisa la cabeza de la serpiente”. A los sacerdotes españoles les pareció que, fonéticamente, había una semejanza con Guadalupe y pensaron que Juan Diego no había podido pronunciar dicho nombre correctamente.

II).- La Virgen de Guadalupe de España

Una antigua leyenda de España narra que en el año 1326 un humilde pastor de Cáceres, encontró la efigie de la Virgen morena en una ladera del río Guadalupe. Se dice que esa imagen había sido tallada en madera de cedro por San Lucas y cuando murió en Asia menor, se le enterró con la imagen. Posteriormente, en el siglo IV, fueron trasladados, cuerpo e imagen a Constantinopla. El papa Gregorio magno trasladó dicha imagen a Roma y se le atribuyen varios milagros. El papa envió esa imagen a Sevilla, como un obsequio especial, en donde fue entronizada en la iglesia principal. Con motivo de la invasión musulmana en España. Varios religiosos que huyeron hacia el norte, en el año 714, llevaron la imagen de la virgen y varias reliquias de santos, mismas que enterraron junto a un río. Los árabes invadieron casi toda España y estuvieron posesionados de esa nación por siete siglos. En ese largo período los árabes dejaron una profunda huella en España, misma que se refleja en la toponímica y en muchas palabras incorporadas al español, que son de origen árabe. Así muchos ríos de España tienen nombres árabes como el Guadalquivir, el Guadarrama, el Guadiana, el Guadalajara, el Guadazón, el Guadiola, el Guadalupe y otros.

Los prefijos Guad ó Uad, significan en árabe río ó valle, de tal forma que Guadalquivir significa río grande y Guadalajara significa río de lajas o río pedregoso. En el caso de Guadalupe tiene tres posibles significados; en los tres casos el prefijo Guad significa río: 1).- El sufijo ‘Lupe’ es una palabra derivada de ‘lupum’ que en latín significa lobos, de tal forma que Guadalupe sería una palabra compuesta que significa ‘río de los lobos’. 2).- El sufijo ‘Lupe’ es una contracción de la frase ‘lux – speculum’, que en latín significa espejo de luz y, de acuerdo a éste significado, Guadalupe significa río espejo de luz. 3).- En árabe el afijo ‘al’ y el sufijo ‘UPE’ significan oculto y corriente encajonada, respectivamente, de manera que Guadalupe quiere decir río oculto ó de corriente encajonada.

El caso es que cuando el pastor encontró la imagen en el siglo XIV, los clérigos construyeron una ermita en el sitio del hallazgo, que fue interpretado como aparición y a la Virgen morena se le llamó Guadalupe, por el río en donde fue encontrada. El pastor fue bautizado con el nombre de Gil Cordero. Alrededor de la ermita se fueron asentando los primeros pobladores de Guadalupe y el rey Alfonso XI les otorgó tierras a los primeros pobladores y mandó construir un Santuario. La población creció y para 1347 se llamaba “La puebla de Santa María de Guadalupe”. Desde 1389 el santuario fue encomendado a los padres jerónimos, quienes custodiaron las instalaciones hasta 1835. El santuario estuvo varias décadas abandonado, hasta que en 1908 los franciscanos se hicieron cargo de él, combinándolo con un monasterio. En la actualidad Guadalupe es un municipio de la provincia de Cáceres, la cual está ubicada en la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura, al poniente de España.

La Virgen de Guadalupe  ha tenido gran participación en eventos históricos de España: 1).- Fue nombrada patrona de Extremadura en el Siglo XIV; 2).- En 1492 Cristóbal Colón recibió en el Monasterio de Guadalupe el decreto de los Reyes Católicos, mediante el cual lo comisionaron para que emprendiera su viaje a “las indias”, por lo que Colón llevó una copia de la imagen de  la Virgen de Guadalupe  en sus viajes; 3).- En 1493 Colón bautizó con el nombre, que aún subsiste, de Guadalupe a una de las islas del archipiélago de las Antillas menores; 4).- Hernán Cortés traía consigo una imagen de la patrona de su natal Extremadura, la Virgen de Guadalupe; 5).- La Virgen de Guadalupe  fue nombrada patrona de la hispanidad.

III).- La Virgen de Guadalupe   en México

Las apariciones de la Virgen de Guadalupe al indígena Juan Diego marcaron para siempre la religiosidad y veneración del pueblo mexicano. En el cerro del “Tepyac”  ó Tepeyac, como se conoce en la actualidad, los Aztecas veneraban a una de sus diosas a la que llamaban Tonacoyahua, que en Nahuatl significa ‘la que nos sustenta’ ó Tonatzin, que significa ‘Nuestra Madre’. Todo éste simbolismo amalgamado, viene a ser profundamente representativo del mestizaje implícito en el pueblo mexicano; por un lado el nombre compuesto de Guadalupe que es muestra del mestizaje ocurrido en España, muchos años antes de que los españoles vinieran a América; por otro lado, en México se fusionó la tradición religiosa mexicana con la española, representada por un ser extraordinario, mezcla de diosa y mujer, que escogió la imagen de una virgen morena, es decir mestiza, para poder convencer a los mexicanos no evangelizados.

Aún existen en México y en otros países detractores y jacobinos que niegan las religiones y sus simbolismos. A pesar de su intransigencia, en México la tradición y fervor guadalupano ya va a cumplir 500 años y está tan arraigado al pueblo de México en una gran mayoría –noventa y nueve por ciento-; esto nos da idea precisa de la insignificancia de esa minoría que no reconoce lo que significa Fe, Esperanza y Caridad, todo ello representado con excelencia por la Virgen de Guadalupe.

IV).- La Virgen de Guadalupe en la Historia de México


Además de la historia de la aparición de la Virgen de Guadalupe y todo lo relacionado con su advocación, en la historia de México el nombre Guadalupe se repite con frecuencia y amplitud. Islas, sierras, municipios, ciudades, poblaciones, haciendas y ranchos han recibido como toponimia el nombre de Guadalupe. Lo mismo sucede con personas de ambos sexos. Para muestra unos ejemplos: la Villa de Guadalupe en el Distrito Federal; el Colegio de propaganda de la fe, que dio el nombre a Guadalupe, Zacatecas; la ciudad y municipio de Guadalupe, Nuevo León, cuna y residencia de mi querido maestro Don Israel Cavazos Garza; la Ciudad de Reynosa que fue fundada como Reynosa de Guadalupe.

En la Historia de México Independiente el nombre de la Virgen de Guadalupe aparece repetido constantemente:

1].- El explorador español Alonso de León “el mozo”, portó un estandarte de la Virgen de Guadalupe en todas las campañas que emprendió en el noreste mexicano a fines del siglo XVII, en lo que actualmente son los estados de Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas y Texas. En Texas existe un río en la parte central que se llama Guadalupe, mismo que fue bautizado por Alonso de León, en honor a la Virgen , no como repetición del río ubicado en Extremadura

2].- El padre de la patria, don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla utilizó como estandarte de la Guerra de Independencia, una imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe.

3].- Casi todos los insurgentes fueron Guadalupanos, principalmente los sacerdotes que participaron en la Guerra de Independencia, entre los que destacan don José María Morelos y Pavón y don Mariano Matamoros Guridi.

4].- Morelos llamó la Reina de México a la Virgen de Guadalupe, en “Los Sentimientos de la Nación ” y señaló el 12 de diciembre como celebración obligatoria.

5].- En el Imperio de Agustín de Iturbide se creó ‘La orden de Guadalupe’ para reconocer a los mexicanos que habían consumado la Independencia de México.

6].- El primer Presidente de México se llamó Guadalupe Victoria, en honor a la Virgen de Guadalupe. Estableció el 12 de diciembre como día de Fiesta Mexicana.

7].- En la Guerra de los Estados Unidos contra México, se firmaron los tratados de paz de Guadalupe en 1848, para terminar la Guerra.  

8].- La batalla del 5 de mayo de 1862 se ganó en los fuertes de Loreto y Guadalupe de Puebla. Durante la Intervención francesa los chinacos enarbolaban la imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe junto a la enseña Nacional.

9].- En el porfiriato fue coronada como Reyna de México, el 12 de diciembre de 1895, por las autoridades eclesiásticas, con plena tolerancia por parte del gobierno.

10].- Durante la Revolución Mexicana , fue firmado el ‘Plan de Guadalupe’ en Coahuila, para desconocer al usurpador Victoriano Huerta.

11].- Los revolucionarios, principalmente zapatistas y villistas, utilizaban su imagen para que los protegiera.

12].- En la Revolución Cristera los combatientes religiosos utilizaron la imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe como su patrona.

V).- La Basílica de Guadalupe

En 1831 fray Juan de Zumárraga ordenó la construcción de una ermita en el sitio de la aparición, en el cerro del Tepeyac.

En septiembre de 1609 se colocó la primera piedra del Santuario de Guadalupe y se concluyó varios años después. En 1694 el Arzobispo Francisco Aguilar ordenó se demoliera el Santuario para construir una nueva parroquia, que fue inaugurada el 1º de mayo de 1709.

Por bula papal del 9 de enero de 1729, del papa Benedicto XIII, fue eregida la Colegiata , con un convento de capuchinas anexo.

La parroquia fue elevada al rango de Basílica menor por el papa Pío X el 9 de febrero de 1904. La Virgen fue llamada “La celestial Patrona de México”, por el papa en 1910.

En 1945 el papa Pió XII la designó “Emperatriz de América”.

En la década de 1951-1960 fue construida la enorme “Plaza de las Ameritas” en el frente de la Basílica de Guadalupe.

En la década de los setentas fue construida la nueva Basílica de Guadalupe por el Arquitecto Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, la cual fue inaugurada en 1980 por el papa Juan Pablo II.

Todos los días visitan la Basílica miles de personas que tienen muy arraigada la fe guadalupana. El día 12 de diciembre de cada año las peregrinaciones de todo México y de otros países, suman millones de personas que van a festejar el aniversario de la Virgen de Guadalupe, que próximamente cumplirá 500 años, en una fecha que es celebración oficial para los mexicanos desde el 12 de diciembre de 1746.


Ing. Clemente Rendón de la Garza

Cronista Municipal de Matamoros

 

 

La Alianza de Pancho Villa y Emiliano Zapata

POR Clemente Rendón/Tamaulipas En Línea.com
Conmemorando el Centenario de la Revolución Mexicana

Introducción.-

Las grandes batallas de la División del Norte, que en realidad era un Cuerpo de ejército, fueron las que mas daño hicieron al ejército federal de Victoriano Huerta.  Las victorias de Villa, aunadas a las batallas del Cuerpo de Ejército del noroeste, comandado por el Gral. Álvaro Obregón y su Jefe de la División de Caballería, Gral. Lucio Blanco, así como las batallas ganadas por el Cuerpo de Ejército del noreste, al mando del Gral. Pablo González, y los logros militares del Ejército libertador del sur, al mando del Gral. Emiliano Zapata, desquebrajaron al ejército huertista, por lo que Victoriano Huerta tuvo que renunciar y huir del país el 15 de julio de 1914.

El 13 de agosto se firmaron los tratados de Teoloyucan, mediante los cuales el ejército Federal se rindió incondicionalmente y el Presidente provisional Francisco Carvajal renunció a su puesto.

El 20 de agosto, el Primer Jefe Venustiano Carranza hizo su entrada triunfal a la Ciudad de México, acompañado por las tropas de los Cuerpos de Ejército del noreste y del noroeste, sin que se invitara ni a las tropas del Gral. Francisco Villa ni a las tropas del Gral. Emiliano Zapata. Don Venustiano Carranza asumió el Poder ejecutivo, de acuerdo a lo estipulado en el Plan de Guadalupe.

 

I).- La soberana Convención de Aguascalientes.-


El primero de octubre se convocó a una Convención de Generales afines a Carranza, en la Cd. de México -en la que no estuvieron representados todos los Generales con mando de tropas en el país-, la cual ratifica a Venustiano Carranza como encargado del Poder ejecutivo. Los militares que no estuvieron presentes, desconocieron esos acuerdos y pidieron se trasladara la Convención a un lugar neutral, por lo que se tomó la determinación de trasladar la Convención a la Cd. de Aguascalientes, en el centro geográfico de la República , el 10 de octubre.

En Aguascalientes se eligió Presidente de la Convención al Gral. Antonio I. Villarreal y se juró respetar los acuerdos. Debido a que no había delegados del Ejército Zapatista, se nombró una comisión para que fuera a Cuernavaca a invitarlos. Al llegar la delegación Zapatista se declaró Soberana a la Convención de Aguascalientes y eligieron como Presidente provisional al Gral. Eulalio Gutiérrez, quién tendría la principal encomienda de convocar a elecciones para elegir Presidente Constitucional de la República.

Don Venustiano Carranza salió de la Cd. de México; pasando por Tlaxcala, Puebla y Orizaba, llegó a Córdoba, Veracruz, en donde recibió la comisión que le notificó los acuerdos de la Soberana Convención. Carranza desconoció dichos acuerdos y se retiró al Puerto de Veracruz, en donde estableció su Gobierno “constitucionalista”, por lo cual fue declarado rebelde por la Soberana Convención. El Gral. Eulalio Gutiérrez exclamó: “estos que ahora se estan rajando, se parecen a los jugadores fulleros. Si hubiera sido ratificada la elección de Carranza... muy contento; pero no habiendo salido su carta, dicen muy orondos ‘siempre no jugué’ y extienden el brazo para retirar su apuesta...”

Como consecuencia de la rebeldía de los carrancistas, el Presidente provisional Eulalio Gutiérrez nombró al Gral. Francisco Villa, Jefe de las Operaciones y comandante de todos los ejércitos Convencionistas, que sumaban alrededor de 50 mil hombres, porque al reagruparse muchos generales “constitucionalistas” decidieron apoyar la Soberana Convención de Aguascalientes. Las tropas Convencionistas iniciaron la marcha hacía la capital de la República ; fueron combatiendo para tomar las posiciones que los carrancistas del Gral. Pablo González abandonaba, teniendo estos una desastrosa retirada hacia Veracruz, que ya había sido evacuada por los norteamericanos. El Gral. Lucio Blanco quedó en posesión de la Cd. de México, apoyando a los Convencionistas. Las tropas Zapatistas entraron pacíficamente a la capital a partir del 26 de noviembre, mientras el resto de los Convencionistas llegaron los últimos días de noviembre.

Los Geniales Villa y Zapata habían tenido comunicación epistolar y tenían mutuas simpatías, pero no se habían conocido personalmente, por lo que se planeó una reunión de ambos en Xochimilco, el día 4 de diciembre.

 

 

II).- La entrevista Villa – Zapata


Villa y Zapata se encontraron en Xochimilco, suburbio de la Cd. de México, al mediodía del 4 de diciembre y se dieron un abrazo, con el cual simbolizaban la alianza de los revolucionarios del Norte con los del Sur, porque ambos representaban genuinamente al pueblo, como caudillos netamente populares. Mientras que Villa representaba la fuerza física para hacer valer los postulados del Maderismo, Zapata representaba el ideal social y el simbolismo de la Revolución.

 

Se trasladaron a la escuela del pueblo y fueron recibidos por niños y niñas con flores. Pasaron a una gran mesa en donde los acompañaron varias personas, entre otros el Gral. Eufemio Zapata, el Cor. Palafox, secretario de Emiliano Zapata, y el Gral. Roque González Garza, cuyo secretario Gonzalo Atayde tomó unos apuntes en taquigrafía, de los comentarios que allí se dijeron, en una plática informal que duró más de una hora. Zapata ofreció a Villa una copa de Coñac, que fue rechazada por Villa, por ser abstemio, sin embargo recapacitó y brindó con Zapata “por el gusto de conocerlo”; el licor causó tal reacción y carraspera a Villa, que tuvieron que traerle un vaso con agua. Los comentarios, al principio parcos, se hicieron más fluidos, de los cuales destacamos los siguientes:

Francisco Villa: “Siempre estuve con la preocupación de que se fueran a quedar olvidados (los zapatistas), pues ya tenía empeño en que entraran en esta Revolución. Como Carranza es un hombre tan, así tan descarado, comprendí que venían haciendo el control de la República , y yo, nomás esperando...”

Emiliano Zapata: “Ya han dicho a usted todos los compañeros: siempre lo dije, les dije lo mismo, ese Carranza es un caballa.”

F.V.- “Son hombres que han dormido en almohadas blanditas. Donde van a ser amigos del pueblo que toda la vida se la ha pasado de puro sufrimiento.

E.Z.- “Al contrario, han estado acostumbrados a ser el azote del pueblo.

F.V.- “Con esos hombres no hubiéramos tenido progreso ni bienestar, ni reparto de tierras, sino una tiranía en el país. Porque, usted sabe, cuando hay inteligencia, y se llega a una tiranía, y si es inteligente la tiranía, pues tiene que dominar. Pero la tiranía de esos hombres era una tiranía taruga y eso sería la muerte para el país.

Carranza es una figura que yo no sé de donde salió para convertir a la República en una anarquía.

Palafox.- “Lo que hicieron en la ciudad de México no tiene precedente, si hubieran entrado los bárbaros lo hubieran hecho mejor que ellos.

F.V.- “Es una barbaridad.

E.Z.- “En cada pueblo que pasan...

F.V.- “Sí, hacen destrozo y medio. No había otro modo para que se desprestigiaran, para que se dieran a conocer. Tenían algo de prestigio, pero ahora...Estos hombres no tienen sentimientos de patria.”...

Los caudillos Villa y Zapata continuaron conversando y después se trasladaron a un salón privado en donde no se oía la música ni el barullo de la gente; solamente los acompaño el Coronel Palafox y no se sabe con certeza lo que allí trataron, pero se infiere por el proceder y por algunos comentarios de ambos en los días siguientes.

De acuerdo a una versión oral del Gral. Roque González Garza y otros personajes que estuvieron muy cerca de los Caudillos, Villa y Zapata celebraron alianza formal entre la División del Norte y el Ejército Libertador del Sur; división militar del territorio de la República : de la Cd. de México hacia el Norte sería territorio controlado por Villa y sus tropas y de la Capital hacia el Sur, incluido Puebla, sería territorio controlado por Zapata; aceptación del Plan de Ayala, excepto los ataques a Madero, en lo referente a la repartición de tierras; Villa tendría el compromiso de procurar material de Guerra a Zapata. Además se comprometieron a apoyar la elección de un civil identificado con la Revolución , para que ocupara la Presidencia de la República.

Después pasaron a disfrutar un banquete netamente mexicano; al terminar un orador les dio la bienvenida, para dar pasó a varios discursos entre los que destacan lo dicho por el Gral Francisco Villa, el periodista Paulino Martínez, el Lic. Soto y Gama y finalizó el Gral. Roque González Garza.

 

III).- Villa y Zapata cabalgan juntos

El día 6 de diciembre los ejércitos Convencionistas, que se encontraban en el valle de México, sumaban aproximadamente treinta mil hombres, realizaron un desfile triunfal en la capital de la República , encabezados por Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Juan G. Cabral, Lucio Blanco, Rafael Buelna, Tomás Urbina, Felipe Ángeles y otros connotados revolucionarios que apoyaban al gobierno emanado de la Soberana Convención de Aguascalientes. Marcharon por el Paseo de la Reforma , avenida Juárez y la calle Plateros -misma a la que Villa cambiaría de nombre días después, para llamarle Av. Francisco I. Madero-, que desemboca en la gran Plaza llamado Zócalo y de allí llegar a Palacio Nacional, en cuyo balcón principal se encontraba el Presidente provisional, Gral. Eulalio Gutiérrez presenciando el imponente desfile que se significó por su excelente organización, espíritu marcial y demostración de poder y fuerza. En Palacio Nacional desmontaron los principales jefes para pasar a presenciar el desfile y después asistir al banquete ofrecido por el Presidente Eulalio Gutiérrez allí mismo. El desfile fue muy largo y tuvo una duración de ocho horas.

Cuando los Generales Villa y Zapata entraron a los salones de la Presidencia , Zapata le dijo a Villa que le permitiera quemar la silla Presidencial a lo que Villa preguntó extrañado que cuales eran sus motivos. Zapata contestó: “Gral. Villa mi gente piensa que esa silla está ‘embrujada’, porque los políticos cuando son candidatos ofrecen muchas cosas y tan pronto se sientan en ella, se les olvida todo lo que prometieron.

Por eso les ofrecí quemarla en cuanto estuviéramos en Palacio Nacional”. Villa para demostrar que no había tal ‘embrujo’ se sentó en ella, dándoles gusto a varios fotógrafos para que inmortalizaran ese momento, ahora ampliamente conocido. Los enemigos de Villa dicen que se quería apoderar de la Silla   –entiéndase la Presidencia de la República-, pero Villa estaba consciente de sus limitaciones y exclamó: “yo no necesito puestos públicos porque no los sé ‘lidiar’.” 

Pareciera ser que la codiciada silla si estuviera ‘embrujada’, porque la buena estrella de Villa llegó a su máximo nivel aquél memorable día y de allí empezó a declinar. Zapata y su gente “por si las dudas’ quemaron la susodicha silla en el patio central de Palacio Nacional. La silla que se encuentra en el Museo Nacional de Historia en Chapultepec es una réplica de aquella silla con sortilegio.

En el banquete ofrecido por el Presidente Gutiérrez, ofreció un asiento a Emiliano Zapata a su izquierda y a Francisco Villa a su derecha. A la derecha del Gral. Villa se sentó el Lic. José Vasconcelos. Después del banquete Villa y Zapata se concentraron en sus respectivos cuarteles.

El Gral. Felipe Ángeles aconsejó a Villa que el ejército Convencionista debería continuar su marcha hacia el puerto de Veracruz, para consumar el triunfo sobre los carrancistas, pero Villa no hizo caso de esa buena recomendación militar, argumentando que los zapatistas se encargarían de contener a los carrancistas en Puebla, lo cual no sucedió. Villa se sobrestimó porque “el poder enferma” y pensó que fácilmente derrotaría a los carrancistas, pero mientras éstos se preparaban y fortalecían en el puerto de Veracruz, Villa se dedicó a celebrar su triunfo en la Cd. de México, descuidándose de las cuestiones militares.

El Presidente Eulalio Gutiérrez no pudo contener las actitudes y procedimientos de Villa ni de Zapata, por lo cual decidió salir de la Cd. de México el 16 de enero de 1915, acompañado por las tropas de Lucio Blanco, Eugenio Aguirre Benavides, José Isabel Robles y otros jefes que lo apoyaban, pero su campaña fue un fracaso rotundo. Con esa postura del Gral. Gutiérrez se diezmó la Convención de Aguascalientes, quedando acéfala, por lo que se nombró al Gral. Roque González Garza como Presidente provisional.

Aunque tuvieron varias victorias a fines de 1914 y en las primeras semanas de 1915, solo seis meses fueron suficientes para que el poderoso ejército convencionista fuera derrotado en varios frentes, porque Villa fraccionó su ejército y en lugar de fortalecerse en una o dos posiciones, se debilitó peleando simultáneamente en varios sitios.
Ni siguió sus propias tácticas, que tan buenos resultados le habían dado en la lucha contra los huertistas, consistentes en concentrar el mayor número de tropas, para ir arrollando en los diferentes puntos en donde tenían resistencia; ni escuchó los consejos del Gral. Felipe Ángeles que le decía que se fortalecieran en Torreón y Chihuahua y allí esperaran, bien atrincherados, los ataques de los carrancistas comandados por Álvaro Obregón, que estaría muy alejado de su base de aprovisionamiento que era el puerto de Veracruz.

Los zapatistas se concretaron a realizar una guerra de guerrillas, circunscrita al estado de Morelos y sur del Distrito Federal, que en muy poco ayudaban a la lucha que tenían los villistas en muchos lugares del territorio nacional. Villa y Zapata no se volvieron a ver jamás en este mundo, la leyenda dice que ahora cabalgan juntos hasta la eternidad. Han pasado 95 años desde aquel día histórico en que se reunieron por primera vez.



En ese mes de diciembre de 1914 Francisco Villa y Emiliano Zapata pisaron los umbrales del triunfo total, pero no lo pudieron alcanzar plenamente por las circunstancias, sin embargo entraron a la Gloria reservada para los seres extraordinarios de México, llamados héroes mexicanos. Además conquistaron el amplio y pintoresco ámbito de la Leyenda Nacional y en ella vivirán por siempre y para siempre.

 

¡Viva Villa!

Viva Zapata!

 

Ing. Clemente Rendón de la Garza

Cronista Municipal de Matamoros, Tamaulipas. 

 

Clemente:
 
Que articulo tan bueno ese de "La Alianza de Pancho Villa y Emiliano Zapata."  Me gusto mucho.  Hay un pasaje en tu articulo en el que dice Emiliano lo que sigue
 
Quote:  Cuando los Generales Villa y Zapata entraron a los salones de la Presidencia , Zapata le dijo a Villa que le permitiera quemar la silla Presidencial a lo que Villa preguntó extrañado que cuales eran sus motivos. Zapata contestó: “Gral. Villa mi gente piensa que esa silla está ‘embrujada’, porque los políticos cuando son candidatos ofrecen muchas cosas y tan pronto se sientan en ella, se les olvida todo lo que prometieron. 
 
(se sienta Villa en la silla para demonstrar que esa creencia es falsa), pero.....
 
Zapata y su gente “por si las dudas’ quemaron la susodicha silla en el patio central de Palacio Nacional. La silla que se encuentra en el Museo Nacional de Historia en Chapultepec es una réplica de aquella silla con sortilegio.
 
Mi comentario:  Lo que dijo Emiliano Zapata era verdad en ese tiempo, lo es verdad ahora, y sera verdad siempre.  Los politicos ofrecen muchas cosas y tan pronto se sientan en el poder, se les olvica to lo que prometieron. 
 
 
Gracias mi Amigo,  Jose M. Peña
Bernabé de las Casas
De las CASAS

Bernabé de las Casas
enlisted as a soldier in the army of don Juan de Oñate in 1597, giving his age as 25 in January 1598 and declaring he was a native of the Tenerife in the Canary Islands and a son of Miguel de la Casas. From other records we learn that his mother was María López. Bernabé de las Casas distinguished himself in the colonization of New Mexico and earned the rank of captain. He was one of the soldiers who escape the attack of the Acoma Indians in January 1599.

After the death of fellow soldier and colonist don Alonso de Sosa Albornoz, Casas married his widow, doña Beatriz Navarro, daughter of Juan Navarro and María Rodríguez Castaño de Sosa. Leaving New Mexico in October 1602, Casas and Navarro made their way to Saltillo where her father had successfully established himself as a rancher. 

By 1604, Bernabé de las Casas was the administrator for the Hacienda de Santa Ana which had been left to doña Beatriz Navarro and her two sister by their father, Juan Navarro. Casas acquired and operated a wheat mill in the area of Saltillo and ran a train of wagons to Zacatecas, transporting grain and ore. In 1608, Casas was elected as alcalde ordinario of Saltillo and served as Teniente de Alcade Mayor from 1609-1610. By 1615, Bernabé de las Casas had discovered silver in the Valle de Salinas in Nuevo León, and had an ore smelting mill constructed on his Estancia de Salinas to process the silver ore.  

By the 1620s, Bernabé de las Casas was a vecino of Neuvo León where he owned property, including the silver mine of San Nicolás de Tolentino. In 1626 he was alcalde ordinario of Monterrey and then was alcalde mayor of the town from 1627 through 1630.

Bernabé de las Casas and doña Beatriz Navarro were the parents of five children:

1.   Bernabé de las Casas

2.   Marcos de las Casas married with Getrudis de la Vega. This couple had four known children: Juan de las Casas, María de las Casas, Margarita de las Casas, and Mencia de las Casas 

3.   Beatriz de las Casas married with Diego de Villarreal. This couple had seven known children: 1) Sargento Mayor Diego de Villarreal who married four times (i. María de la Garza; ii. Inés de Rentería; iii. Tomasa Flores; and iv. Mariana Cortinas); 2) Capitán Juan Bautista de Villarreal who married Luisa de la Garza; 3) Capitán Bernabe de Villarreal who married Isabel dela Garza; 4) Capitán Juan de Villarreal who married Juana de la Garza García; 5) Francisco de Villarreal who married Ursula de Isaguirre Urrutia; 6) Capitán Cristóbal de Villarreal who married first with Micaela de Treviño Rentería and second with Aldonza (Ildefonsa) Martínez Guajardo; and 7) Luisa de las Casas who married Alonso Rodríguez de Carvajal

4.   Doña Juliana de las Casas married with don Diego Fernández de Montemayor.

5.   Doña María de las Casas married with don Juan Alonso Lobo Guerrero, native of Córdoba, Spain, and a son of don Juan Lobo Guerrero and doña Juana Fernández de Córdoba. Doña María de las Casas and don Juan Lobo Guerrero were the parents of seven children: 1) don Luis de Córdoba; 2) don Juan Lobo Guerrero; 3) doña María Lobo Guerrero; 4) doña Margarita Lobo Guerrero married; 5) don Fernando Lobo Guerrero; 6) don Antonio Lobo Guerrero; and 7) don José Lobo Guerrero.

Bernabé de las Casas established himself as a successful miner and rancher and became one of the most prominent and influential men of Nuevo León. At the time of his death in 1632 he held extensive properties which he divided amongst his five adult children. The lands of Icamole and San José de la Popa, today in the area of the town of García, Nuevo León, went to his two sons, Bernabé and Marcos. Both of these sons also received shares of the mines of Nuestra Señora del Rosario. The hacienda of San Francisco de las Cañas, today the villa of Mina, Nuevo León, as well as a share in the mines of San Nicolás de Tolentino, were given to doña María de las Casas. Doña Beatriz de las Casas inherited the haciendas of Magdalena and Nuestra Señora de Eguía, and share in the mines of Nuestra Señora del Rosario. The hacienda of Chipinque, today the villa of Carmen, Nuevo León, was inherited by doña Juliana de las Casas, who also inherited her father's encomienda of the Cacuilipalina Indians.

Researcher: José Antonio Exquibel
Sources: José Cuello, Dissertation: "Saltillo in the Seventeenth Century: Local Society on the Northern Mexican Frontier," University of Berkeley, 1981: 139-143; Raul J. Guerra Jr.; Nadine M. Vásquez, and Baldomero Vela, Jr., Index to the Marriage Investigations of the Diocese of Guadalajara: Provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Nuevo Santander and Texas, Volume 1: 1653-1750, privately published, Edinburg, Texas; Municipal Archives of Saltillo: Ramo Civil, Volumen 79.Exp. 2, fol 35 a 39 (Testimonio de doña María de las Casas); Israel Cavazos Garza, Diccionario Biográfico de Nuevo León, Tomo I, A-L, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, Capilla Alfonsina Bibleoteca Universitaria, Monterrey, México, 1984: 87; Israel Cavazos Garza, Calálogo y síntesis de los protocolos del archivo municipal de Monterrey, 1599-1700, Publicaciones del Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, 1966: 267.

S
ent by John Inclan, fromgalveston@yahoo.com 
For a complete genealogical tree on Captain Bernabe de las Casas, prepared by John Inclan, go to
This is my work.

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - May 24, 2007) - Mexican Silver Mines Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:MSM) is pleased to announce an update on the exploration plans for its three 100-percent held concessions in the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Work on the Ral, Providencia and Anillo de Fuego concessions has commenced and activities will increase over the coming months. The three concessions, a total of 322,580 acres, cover an historic silver mining belt which remains unexplored in modern times. The geology of the properties is very favorable for large manto and replacement type silver deposits. Mexican Silver Mines will be the first company to identify and drill test these high grade historic mines and districts. 

 


CARIBBEAN/CUBA

Cuban Papers
Costa Rica - Academia Costarricense de Ciencias Genealógicas
Julia de Burgos, 2010 US stamp

Briefs

  Full text of "Descriptive catalogue of the documents relating to the history of the United States in the Papeles procedentes .  This is a web presentation of the Rosco Hill's book on the "Cuban Papers'" , a great reference work to find the file ( Legajo) on a specific subject on the Spanish period in Louisiana. Gives a summary of what's contained in each file . Many of the microfilmed Legajos  are to be found in the Hill Memorial Library at LSU . Hope this will help in your research . 
Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com

Costa Rica - Academia Costarricense de Ciencias Genealógicas - A website worth exploring

La Academia Costarricense de Ciencias Genealogicas ha realizado en los últimos años, además de su Revista (último número 41), dos tipos de publicaciones alternativas: Boletines (Boletines electrónicos a partir de abril de 2007):
Ediciones realizadas por los Académicos de Número y Académicos Correspondientes. Revistas electrónicas (disponible a partir de abril de 2007):
Ediciones realizadas por los Académicos de Número y Académicos Correspondientes.

Paul Newfield III  skip@thebrasscannon.com 

Julia de Burgos

With this 26th stamp in the Literary Arts series, the U.S Postal Service honors Julia de Burgos, one of Puerto Rico’s most celebrated poets. The stamp goes on sale in September. A revolutionary writer, thinker, and activist, de Burgos wrote more than 200 poems that probe issues of love, feminism, and political and personal freedom. Her groundbreaking works combine the intimate with the universal. They speak powerfully to women, minorities, the poor, and the dispossessed, urging them to defy constricting social conventions and find their own true selves. The stamp features a portrait of de Burgos created by artist Jody Hewgill.   
Sent by Rafael Ojeda RSNOJEDA@aol.com 


"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as  Europe."
                               Thomas Jefferson

                               
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
          
                     Thomas Jefferson

 

 

 


SPAIN

Spain inspires student art
Aquellos viajes por Angel Custodio Rebollo 
Libros por Angel Custodio Rebollo 
La Iglesia y Huelva por  Angel Custodio Rebollo 
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo de Malaga -Publicaciones
Spain inspires student art
by Claudia Koerner, The Orange County Register, December 22, 2009
                                                                                                                 Katy Betz, graduate student CSU Fullerton 
LAGUNA BEACH – Students from the Laguna College of Art and Design brought back more than souvenirs from their summer trip to Spain. The group of about 20 will exhibit their artwork inspired by Spanish landscapes, culture and artists in The Splendor of Spanish Art at the college's gallery. The exhibit runs Jan. 7 to 16, with a closing reception on Jan. 15.

Over the summer trip, students moved between Spanish cities, visiting museums, cathedrals and learning about the culture. After reflecting on their experiences, they began to create art based on what inspired them from the trip. Professor Betty Shelton, who created the study abroad program in 1995, led the group with William Havlicek, an art historian. "We really have a global world and for them to get out of their comfort zone and to see the history, see the art work and meet the people," she said. "I think it's life-changing."

Gemma Magdalugo, a current student, said the strength of Spanish culture stood out to her. "You feel how proud they are about their country," she said. "Every sense is about Spain."  Learning about her culture reminded her of her family's roots in the Phillipines, which Spain controlled for years. "I've never been to my homeland, but when I went to Spain, it kind of reminded me where I come from," she said.         

The feeling of family also resonated with student Terri Ruiz, who was particularly drawn to work by Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla. Much of his work focuses on everyday scenes, often around the ocean. "I want my work to relate to my family and grandchildren," she said. "That's what I find myself really attracted to."  The trip also gave her a chance to get closer to the work of the masters, she said. "It gets you excited about all the famous artists we read about," she said.

Leslie Sollberger, a student, added the group often spent long hours in museums. After studying Diego Velazquez's painting "Las Meninas" for years, she was able to see it in person. "It was really amazing to be able to see it and look at it from the perspective of the king and queen he painted it for," she said.

Katy Betz, a graduate student at Cal State Fullerton and alumna of LCAD, said she went on the trip to find a very specific inspiration to write her thesis. She found it in the flamenco shows the group saw. Dancers talked about the concept of duende, a feeling of inspiration in performing that can be hard to define. I'm wondering if visual artists can feel something like that," she said. "I feel it in Spain. This place is really passionate."

Ryan Schroeder, who graduated from the college in May, said the emotion of a painting of St. Theresa inspired his water color of the same topic. In much of the art, he said he saw years of artistic history and events building upon each other. 

"In Europe, everything is so old," he said. "You have that range of thousands of years, where everything here is so new."  The contrasts in Spain's environment jumped out to student Megan LeMaster, who painted a wall of graffiti in the shadow of a tall tree.  "It wasn't just an urban scene," she said. "There was this eloquence of nature."

Documenting the culture of Spain appealed to photographer Michael Weitzman, who went on the trip with his wife Jodi, a student.  "It was really special to document the people," he said.  

In addition to photographing Spanish people and landscapes, Weitzman took pictures of the Laguna Beach students as they interacted with each other or sketched. A slideshow of his photos will play during the exhibit. "We were just like a family," he said.  Next summer, the college will go to Venice. The experience of traveling with other artists is another benefit of the trip, Shelton said. "That is a rare opportunity," she said.

Sent by Granville Hough, Ph.D. 
Aquellos viajes por Angel Custodio Rebollo

Cuando vemos de cerca la reproducción a tamaño natural de alguno de los barcos que hace quinientos años surcaron los mares desde nuestra provincia para llegar al continente americano, nos preguntamos como serían aquellos viajes, que nuestros paisanos emprendieron para descubrir una vida incierta, pero que la esperaban sería mejor y como tendrían que acomodarse para las largas travesías.

Hace unos días he visitado las copias de las carabelas que tenemos en La Rábida y he considerado como podía dormir o acomodarse una familia, como las muchas que desde aquí partieron y, de verdad, es que en una era de comodidad y confort como lo que buscamos en todo, es algo inconcebible. Por supuesto que somos una generación que estamos influidos por el cine y en los filmes cuando vemos  escenas dentro de los barcos, especialmente cuando hay por medio bellas pasajeras, advertimos unos camarotes que en la realidad no existieron.

El único camarote que había era el del capitán y después se fueron añadiendo a los barcos, unos pequeños habitáculos, donde se podía uno refugiar, pero no descansar, porque aquello se movería como un flan,. La tripulación dormía en las cubiertas refugiándose  de las inclemencias atmosféricas con lo que podían.

Así, cuando en un interesante trabajo del Profesor Juan Gil, de la Universidad de Sevilla leo **…los documentos no indican el lugar que le fue asignado en la nave a cada pasajero. Cabe pensar que se habilitara un camarote para Leonor de Porras y su séquito y que los mas pobres se acomodaran como buenamente pudiesen, pero nada consta**, pienso lo que sería para Leonor, que al parecer era de clase acomodada, hacer tan tremendo viaje.

El Profesor Gil también informa sobre un tal ** Diego de Zuñiga, que  el 11 de marzo de 1506,  pagó 32 ducados por una “cámara debaxo de la puente” y otros 32 más por el pasaje de otras tres personas y lugar para el matalotaje”**

Aquellos viajes debieron ser insufribles y nada baratos para los pasajeros y especialmente si eran mujeres, pues no había zonas singularmente adaptadas para ellas y las tripulaciones no la formaban, precisamente, licenciados universitarios.

                            Ángel Custodio Rebollo 

 

Publicado el 22 diciembre de 2009 en Odiel Información, de Huelva


LIBROS

 

Muchas veces he imaginado como serian los envíos de mercancías en los siglos XVI y XVII al Nuevo Mundo y concretamente, como sería el comercio del libro entre España y aquellas tierras. Esto hace que cuando encuentro en algún libro o articulo cualquier dato referente a este tema, lo anoto detenidamente para ir recopilándolos y así llegar a una información lo mas amplia posible.

He sabido que el negocio de libros con América se hacía a través de Sevilla, desde donde partían barcos con mercancías y pasajeros para  diferentes rutas Se hacía desde Sevilla, casi todo, porque además allí estaba la Casa de la Contratación y dado el complejo trámite que se empleaba con los libros, era “casi necesario” partir de allí.

Una vez establecido el contacto entre el proveedor y el destinatario en América, se acordaban los libros que se querían enviar y se llevaba todo el papeleo a la Contaduría de la Casa de Contratación y una vez autorizado el envío y pagados los impuestos correspondientes, se entregaban los cajones con los libros en la Aduana para su doble inspección; una por los agentes de la aduana sevillana y otra por los inquisidores sevillanos, (ya que sin la autorización expresa de estos últimos no era posible embarcarlos) y de allí iban directamente a los barcos.

No solo se enviaban libros impresos, también se remitía papel, libros en blanco, botellas de tinta, y los artículos de escritorio que existían en la época, pues de todo ello había una gran demanda.

Era un negocio muy lucrativo y como es natural aprovechado por gente preparada, como por ejemplo un tal Pedro de Lyra que residía en Guatemala y que recibió un gran número de envíos. Pedro era Regidor en Santiago de Guatemala y además familiar de la Inquisición.

Los libros que mas se enviaban eran religiosos, pues se habían editado nuevos libros de rezos y misales después del Concilio de Trento, así como cartillas escolares. Otro tipo de libro mas determinado, se enviaba bajo pedido especifico. También y para los párrocos y organizaciones religiosas se recibían partituras musicales, muy necesarias en las iglesias..

Se hicieron verdaderas fortunas con el negocio librero.

                      Ángel Custodio Rebollo

 

Publicado en Odiel Información. Huelva,  el 13 de enero de 2010

 


LA IGLESIA Y HUELVA

 

En diferentes ocasiones me he referido a naturales de la provincia de Huelva, que hicieron carrera dentro de la Iglesia Católica y llegaron al obispado. Unos se quedaron en nuestro País y otros fueron para América, donde ejercieron su apostolado con gran dignidad.

Hace días, en uno de mis artículos me refería a Bartolomé García Jiménez, natural de Zalamea la Real y que fue Obispo de las Islas Canarias, construyendo la primitiva iglesia para Virgen de la Candelaria, patrona del archipiélago. Hablamos del año 1680 y, lamentablemente, esta iglesia fue pasto de las llamas y sobre ella se ha construido la actual Basílica que acoge a la Patrona.

Hace unos tres años, me referí a Manuel Azamor y Ramírez, nacido en Vllablanca, el 22 de octubre de 1733, quien en el año 1786 fue designado como Obispo de Buenos Aires, donde además de una gran labor apostólica y su participación en la construcción de la Catedral bonaerense,  tuvo una gran importancia en la base cultural en Argentina, ya que su extensa biblioteca fue la iniciación de la actual Biblioteca Nacional Argentina.

Pero hay mas obispos que también proceden de la provincia de Huelva, como Juan de Moya, que nació en Aracena en 1731 y desde 1799 a 1801  fue Obispo de la Diócesis de Burgo de Osma, en Soria..

También en Aracena nació el 25 de octubre de 1725, Gabino Valladares Mejía, que ingresó en la Orden Carmelita y fue ordenado Obispo de Barcelona, el 29 de octubre de 1775, recién cumplidos los 50 años de edad. Murió siendo aún Obispo de la Ciudad Condal, el 13 de febrero de 1794.

El 3 de marzo de 1762, nació en Galaroza Isidoro Domínguez, (en algunas fuentes figura como Isidro), que el 23 de agosto de 1819 fue nombrado Obispo de Santa Fe de Bogotá, en Colombia, pero que dadas los problemas que existían en aquella zona por luchas intestinas para conseguir la independencia, fue aconsejado no embarcarse y hacer una penosa travesía sin ninguna seguridad, por lo que terminó  quedándose en España,  siendo nombrado Obispo de Palencia, donde murió en 1822.

Hay más, pero como aún tengo que confirmar los datos, me referiré a ellos en  un futuro articulo.

                              Ángel Custodio  Rebollo
 

Publicado en Odiel Información de Huelva, el 20 de enero de 2010

 

 

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo de Malaga -Publicaciones http://www.realacademiasantelmo.org/publicaciones.php

La Academia de Bellas Artes de Málaga fue creada a consecuencia del real decreto de 31 de octubre de 1849, siendo ministro de Fomento don Manuel Seijas Lozano.

Dos años después, la Academia organizó la Escuela Provincial de Bellas Artes, que quedaba bajo su inspección y vigilancia, clasificada como de estudios menores y con título de segunda clase.

Solicitó y obtuvo para instalarse la segunda planta del edificio del desaparecido Real Colegio Náutico de San Telmo, que estuvo situado en lo que fue colegio de Jesuitas. El presupuesto de instalación importó 32.909 reales.

La primera sesión de la que se conserva acta es la del 8 de junio de 1850. En la de 21 de noviembre del mismo año se determinó que serían dieciocho el número de sus Académicos, de ellos cinco para la sección de pintura y grabado en dulce, dos para escultura y grabado en hueco, dos para arquitectura y nueve para aquellas personas que lo merecieran por sus conocimientos artísticos y amor a las Bellas Artes.

Se daba así con ello cumplimiento a la R. O. de 20 de junio de 1850, que señalaba su composición y número de Académicos. Su primer presidente fue el Excmo. Sr. don José Freüller y Alcalá Galiano, marqués de la Paniega, quien la dirigió desde su fundación hasta su muerte.

El 20 de enero de 1851 se inauguraba la Escuela Provincial de Bellas Artes, pronunciando en dicho acto un discurso el Presidente de la Academia, don José Freüller, quien hizo notar que en sólo diez meses y doce días se había cubierto la matrícula y formado una lista de setenta y cuatro aspirantes para las vacantes que surgieran.

La R. O. de 22 de junio de 1851 marcaba las atribuciones de la Academia en materia artística, ordenando: ... que no se ejecute ningún edificio, ni monumento público de arte, ni se autorice a colocar en las fachadas de los que ya existan, ni en el interior de las iglesias y capillas abiertas al culto, siquiera sean de propiedad particular, estatuas, efigies, ni bajo relieves, sin someter previamente sus diseños a la Academia de Bellas Artes ... Una disposición que no creemos derogada y que debiera ser recordada en nuestros días, en homenaje al buen gusto.

La preocupación estatal por el buen funcionamiento de las Academias lo demuestra la R. O. de 7 de julio de este mismo año, que establece: ... que siempre que un académico varíe de domicilio por más de seis meses, se conceptúe vacante su plaza, y se prevea en otro, quedando aquel con la consideración de supernumerario. El académico que por espacio de un año deje de asistir voluntariamente a las sesiones de la Corporación, se entiende que ha renunciado al cargo.

En abril de 1854 el obispo de Málaga concedió al presidente, académicos, profesores y alumnos usar de la tribuna de la iglesia del Santo Cristo, para ellos y sus familiares.

Pocos meses después, alarmada la Academia por haber salido a subasta el edificio de San Telmo, comprendido en la ley de Desamortizaciones, gestionó y obtuvo que por R.O. de 13 de julio de 1855 se exceptuara de la venta el edificio referido.

En diferentes ocasiones la Academia solicitó elevar su calificación a primera clase y aumentar con ello las enseñanzas de la Escuela, sobre todo en las artísticas, creándose a sus instancias las secciones de dibujo de antiguo, clase de colorido y composición, anatomía artística, modelado y vaciado, paisaje y perspectiva, y una sección especial para impartir enseñanzas artísticas a señoritas. También se instalaron las sucursales en los barrios del Perchel, Santo Domingo y Molinillo.

El 5 de junio de 1879 se determinó que sólo serían académicos natos los profesores de la Escuela que tuvieran estudios superiores. Bajo la directa inspección de la Academia, la actividad docente de la Escuela de Bellas Artes fue muy importante en la Málaga del siglo XIX, hasta que, tras el decreto de 7 de julio de 1892, que separaba las Escuelas Provinciales de Bellas Artes de sus respectivas Academias, trajo como consecuencia que la Academia cesara en tan importante cometido, languideciendo consecuentemente en los años posteriores el desarrollo de su vida corporativa.

Por real orden de 28 de noviembre de 1880 el ministerio de Fomento concedió el uso de la medalla de académico, de acuerdo con el modelo aprobado por real orden de 2 de enero de 1858 para las de Barcelona y Valladolid.

El 7 de agosto de 1882 tuvo lugar una borrascosa sesión dimitiendo los caballeros académicos señores Guillén Robles, Rivera, Rucoba, Tejón y Rodríguez, Martínez del Rincón y los consiliarios señores Ávila y Moreno Massón, al dar cuenta el presidente de la real orden en la que se advertía a los académicos se abstuvieran de criticar la labor presidencial.

Otro desagradable incidente tuvo lugar en la sesión de 27 de octubre de 1890 entre el consiliario don Juan Nepomuceno de Ávila, arquitecto provincial, y el pintor don Bernardo Ferrándiz. Horas después se produjo la agresión al señor de Ávila por el citado compañero de Academia. Este suceso trajo como consecuencia la separación del señor Ferrándiz como director de la Escuela de Bellas Artes y su baja como académico.

El 25 de septiembre de 1883 el marqués de la Paniega propuso que a la Academia se le denominara de San Telmo, por el edificio en el que tenía su sede, situado en la malagueña plaza de la Constitución.

Con destino al salón de sesiones de la Corporación el 16 de marzo de 1883, el joven pintor don José Moreno Carbonero entregó el retrato del rey Alfonso XII y el del ministro Seijas Lozano.

Por estos años se pensó en organizar un Museo Provincial, gestiones que no dieron resultado alguno hasta bien entrado el siglo actual. Quizá la primera de las adquisiciones pudo tener lugar el 23 de febrero de 1866, en el que la Academia compró dos óleos representando floreros del pintor Bracho Murillo, en precio de 4.000 reales.

El escultor y académico don Rafael Gutiérrez de León entregó en la sesión de 27 de abril de 1888 un busto del Presidente, Sr. Freüller, y en la sesión de 21 de noviembre de 1888 la Academia adquiriría en 750 pesetas dos cuadros ofrecidos por la viuda del pintor don Bernardo Ferrándiz.

En el último decenio del siglo pasado el Ayuntamiento reunió los cuadros que poseía en una dependencia de sus Casas Consistoriales, que entonces se encontraban instaladas en el Colegio de San Agustín. Casi todos los cuadros eran de pintores malagueños contemporáneos, y así se formó el Museo Municipal de pintura, del que fueron restauradores don ]osé Ponce, don Rafael Murillo Carreras y don José Ruiz Blasco, padre del genial pintor que hoy conocemos por su apellido materno: Picasso.

En abril de 1901 falleció el marqués de la Paniega, que desde su fundación ocupaba la presidencia. Tras su muerte la Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo entró en una fase de letargo, y no se conservan datos sobre la actividad que por entonces pudo desarrollar, durante la cual ocupó la presidencia don Rafael Romero Aguado.

El cinco de diciembre de 1910 fue nombrado presidente don Ramón Martín Gil, y en la misma fecha fueron cubiertas las 20 vacantes existentes, pero la vida académica continuó siendo muy escasa, aunque de estos años data el plantear la creación de un Museo de Bellas Artes.

El real decreto de 24 de julio de 1913 que establecía la creación de Museos Provinciales, dio motivo para que tras activas gestiones del entonces Presidente de la Academia Don Ricardo Gross, Marqués de Casa Loring, y del secretario señor Murillo Carreras, Málaga consiguiera al fin ver satisfecha tan añeja aspiración.

En el año 1915, por un real decreto de 5 de diciembre, refrendado por el ministro malagueño don Rafael Andrade, se le otorgó a la corporación el título de primera clase, con el calificativo de Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo, elevándose el número de académicos a 28.

El carácter predominantemente artístico que habían presidido sus iniciativas, tomó derroteros políticos, al no cumplirse a la letra el porcentaje establecido al fundarse sobre académicos profesionales. Éste hecho se repitió después en otros períodos, trayendo como consecuencias colapsos y dificultades que en varias ocasiones la pusieron en peligro de desaparecer.

Para el Museo de Bellas Artes el pintor Muñoz Degrain ofreció varias de sus obras y otras de su propiedad, y con ellas, los cuadros que conservaba la Academia y algunos otros del Estado, se inauguró el 17 de agosto de 1916 el Museo Provincial en unos salones de una casa de la calle del Cister, esquina a Pedro de Toledo, cedida por un módico alquiler por la Casa Larios. Solo se contaba entonces para su sostenimiento con una pequeña subvención, y un guardia municipal cedido por el municipio para que actuara de conserje.

En 1920 fue vendido este edificio a la Institución Teresiana, y ante el riesgo de quedar sin local para su instalación, la Academia, en sesión de 22 de mayo, accedió a la solicitud del Patronato del Museo para que fuera instalado en el propio edificio de la Academia y en sus salones, aunque para ello tuviera que sacrificar su propia instalación.

El 30 de enero de 1922 se dio lectura en una de sus sesiones de la real orden de 23 de diciembre, expresando su Real Agrado por la patriótica labor del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Málaga y por las importantes donaciones al mismo de los pintores Muñoz Degrain y Nogales Sevilla.

En la sesión del 2 de septiembre de 1926 se dio lectura a las reales órdenes admitiendo la dimisión del cargo de Presidente a don Ricardo Gross Orueta y nombrando en su lugar a don Fernando Guerrero Strachan. En la sesión de 11 de agosto de 1927 la Academia conoció y se congratuló del nombramiento de su entonces Presidente como Alcalde de Málaga.

En sesión de 25 de junio de 1928 se nombró Académico de Honor al arquitecto Don Antonio Palacios Ramila no sólo por sus relevantes méritos y su prestigio profesional como miembro de la Real Academia de San Fernando, sino como justa y bien ganada recompensa por el extraordinario interés que había mostrado en favor de esta provincia y de sus monumentos históricos.

En la sesión del 5 de abril de 1930 se dio cuenta del fallecimiento del Sr. Guerrero Strachan y en la de 25 de abril del nombramiento para la Presidencia vacante de don Salvador González Anaya. En años que no ha sido posible precisar debieron ocupar la presidencia don Diego Salcedo y don José Estrada y Estrada, más tarde ministro de Justicia y de Fomento, porque desde el año 1918 hasta febrero de 1937, por las incidencias de la guerra civil, según antecedentes de nuestro archivo, desaparecieron las actas, si bien el Secretario don Antonio de Burgos Oms, valiéndose de algunos borradores salvados, pudo rehacer las actas de determinadas fechas. No existen sin embargo antecedente alguno desde septiembre de 1933 a febrero de 1939.

El 14 de mayo de 1931 la corporación se constituyó en sesión extraordinaria para salvaguardar los restos que pudieron salvarse de las obras de arte destruidas en el incendio de las iglesias de Málaga.

El 23 de enero de 1940 se dio cuenta de la declaración de monumento artístico del palacio de los Condes de Buenavista, y en sesión de 10 de noviembre de 1945 la Academia conoció haber quedado formalizado el contrato de dicho Palacio para ser destinado a Museo Provincial, consiguiéndose con ello la vieja aspiración de que Málaga contara con un Museo instalado con el decoro que su población exigía.

En la sesión de 5 de febrero de 1955 se comunicó a la Academia el fallecimiento de su Presidente e insigne novelista don Salvador González Anaya, que durante su mandato consiguió del Ministerio que fueran ampliados los fondos de cuadros con importantes donativos y depósitos del Estado.
En diciembre de 1957 los cuadros del antiguo Museo de San Telmo fueron trasladados al palacio de los Condes de Buenavista, nueva sede del Museo de Bellas Artes y de la Academia.

En la sesión del 30 de julio de 1958 se dio lectura a una comunicación de la Caja de Ahorros Provincial de Málaga ofreciendo sufragar los gastos que ocasionara la instalación en el patio del palacio de Buenavista del mosaico romano descubierto en una casa de la vecina población de Cártama.

Ciriosamente, un siglo antes apareció también en Cártama el famoso mosaico de los trabajos de Hércules, que los marqueses de Casa-Loring trasladaron a la Hacienda La Concepción, y sobre el que se edificó el Museo Loringiano, en cuya creación tanto influyó don Manuel Rodríguez de Berlanga, primer analizador y traductor de la Lex Flavia Malacitana, el bronce que contenía parte del ordenamiento jurídico del municipio malagueño promulgado hacia el 82 a.D., y hoy conservado en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional.

El Museo de Bellas Artes fue inaugurado el 28 de abril de 1961 por el jefe del Estado, don Francisco Franco Bahamonde, con lo que se veía definitivamente cumplida la añeja aspiración de la Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo de que Málaga llegara a tener un museo digno y en un entorno adecuado.

Pocos años después, el 30 de noviembre de 1966, el pintor don Luis Bono y Hernández de Santaolalla propuso que el premio que la Academia había de conceder en el III Salón de Invierno se denominara Picasso, en recuerdo del 85 aniversario del nacimiento del genial pintor, y que se organizara una exposición en nuestra Ciudad con los cuadros que el Estado poseía de nuestro glorioso paisano, los del Museo y los de colecciones particulares, dándose a su vez un ciclo de conferencias relativas a su obra.

En la sesión de 29 de diciembre de 1967 la Academia conoció la relación de obras y objetos recibidos de la familia Moreno Carbonero, que serían expuestos en la sala del Museo dedicada a este insigne pintor.

El 29 de octubre de 1971 la Academia nombró Académico de Honor a Pablo Ruiz Picasso, y en la sesión celebrada el 8 de noviembre mostró su júbilo por la noticia de haberse aprobado la creación de la Universidad de Málaga, uno de los más añejos y anhelados deseos de nuestra ciudad.

Con fecha 2 de junio de 1977 S.M. el rey don Juan Carlos I aprobó el nuevo Reglamento de la Academia, que quedaba integrada por 34 académicos de número, divididos en seis secciones: Pintura, Arquitectura, Escultura, Música y Poesía, y la sexta, en la que se integrarían quienes, sin ser profesionales de las Bellas Artes, se hubieran distinguido por su amor a ellas.

Las actividades de la Academia fueron cada vez más en aumento: se solicitó y consiguió una subvención para la rehabilitación de la iglesia y cripta de los Gálvez de Macharaviaya, se nombró Académico al Obispo Sr. Buxarrais que había cedido el Palacio Obispal para la instalación de un Museo Diocesano, se recibieron para nuestro Museo las donaciones de óleos de Murillo Bracho, Leoncio Talavera, Sánchez Vázquez, Rafael González Sáenz y Jules Grau. Se formularon informes sobre el estado de la capilla de Zamarrilla, sobre el convento de Santo Domingo y sobre la conservación y restauración de la Iglesia y el convento de la Trinidad y su aprovechamiento para fines culturales, solicitando su declaración de Monumento Histórico Artístico.

Otras iniciativas fueron la adquisición de la casa natal de Salvador Rueda en Benaque, la aprobación de mociones sobre la estética urbana, afectada por la proliferación de marquesinas, rótulos y anuncios, sobre construcción de casas en la plaza de la Merced, petición de declaración de Monumento Histórico Artístico del hipogeo fenicio de Trayamar y del Alminar de Archez. Se intensificaron las gestiones para el rescate del Convento de la Trinidad y se solicitó que el Estado adquiriera la que fue Casa Taller de Pedro de Mena en la calle Afligidos.

Entre las donaciones recibidas cabe hacer notar la debida a la voluntad del difunto don Antonio de la Huerta, consistente en una magnífica montura que perteneció al Gran Capitán, con sus arreos, alforjas y gualdrapas y una artística vitrina que la presenta, siendo instalada la misma en el salón de sesiones de la Academia, dada la importancia artística e histórica de dicha donación.

Para conmemorar el centenario del pintor Pablo Picasso, la Academia organizó una exposición de fotografías de nuestro genial paisano, presentada por el Académico correspondiente D. Juan Gyenes. La Academia estuvo presente en el Primer Congreso de Academias Andaluzas celebrado en Granada en el mes de noviembre de 1979, con una intervención de su Presidente sobre la historia de nuestra Academia. Descargar Historia como documento PDF

Sent by D. Manuel Olmedo Checa
m.olmedo@realacademiasantelmo.org