SOMOS PRIMOS: Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues


“George Lopez ,” A New Mid-season comedy series premiered on ABC George Lopez,” a family comedy starring popular standup comedian George Lopez is a television series starring Lopez as an assembly line worker who’s been promoted to manage a Los Angeles airplane parts factory and whose job and busy family life are complicated by the presence of his stubborn, insensitive mother (Belita Moreno, “Perfect Strangers,” as Benny). George has appeared on over 70 television programs including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Showtime's, "Latino Laugh Festival" and ABC's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher." He is a frequent host on Univision's "Que Locos." Mr. Lopez hosted his own radio show in Los Angeles where he was the first Latino to headline the keystone morning radio slot on an English-language station. Lopez was born in Los Angeles and currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and family. Sent by Brent Wilkes bwilkes@lulac.org http://www.LULAC.org

Delegation of influential migrants is lobbying Mexican leaders for the right to vote from abroad. Article by Minerva Canto, The Orange County Register, March 13, 2002 Immigrant leaders are wielding their political clout on both sides of the border as they renew the fight for the right to vote in Mexican elections from abroad. The years- long campaign gains new steam today, when a delegation of about 40 immigrants begins 4 days of lobbying in Mexico City. Several prominent Orange County residents are part of the group set to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox, legislators from the country's three main political parties, electoral officials and others. Immigrants are hoping to start sending in their votes from the United States and other countries as early as the 2003 elections. "This time, we have widespread support," said Carlos Olamendi, a Laguna Niguel business owner and member of political groups including the GOP Lincoln Club and the bipartisan Hispanic 100. During the 2000 presidential elections, Olamendi campaigned for Fox and for George W. Bush. Last week, he was in Washington, where Bush appointed him to an advisory committee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts. Other Orange County- based immigrants slated to form part of the political lobbying group, organizers say, include Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, head and founder of Lulu's Dessert Factory; the Rev. Martin Garcia of the Assemblies of God Church; and Lupe Gomez, a Santa Ana business owner and president of the Federation of Zacatecan Clubs of Southern California. The delegation also includes residents of Canada and at least six other U.S. states, primarily those with high Mexican immigrant populations. Most, if not all, of these immigrants are active in their local communities. Some, like Olamendi, also are active at the national level. "It's very clear to many of these activists that, first and foremost, they have to be active politically in the United States," said Patricia Hamm, a professor at the University of California, Irvine. Critics, especially those concerned that Mexican immigrants may not be assimilating into the U.S. culture, point to the campaign as evidence that the newcomers' loyalties are primarily with their native country. But Mexican immigrants are not treading new ground when it comes to seeking the right to vote from abroad. More than 40 countries now allow their expatriates to vote, according to the International Foundation for Election Systems. "It's a kind of activism that can be seen as worrisome, but there are many cases of expatriates from other countries voting from abroad or even helping shape politics, like people from Afghanistan are now doing," Hamm said. "And nobody is accusing them of being traitors." Mexican immigrants living in the United States first began demanding this right in the late 1920s, during a period of high emigration. But Mexican leaders largely ignored the plea until 1996, when legislators approved a constitutional change allowing Mexicans abroad to vote. This is what made it possible for some immigrants to vote in the 2000 election in Mexican border cities. Still, it wasn't until 1998 that officials began studying how immigrants could do this. Shortly thereafter, a study conducted by the Federal Electoral Institute found that it would be expensive and unwieldy to establish a voting system in the United States. Another setback came when a congressional measure to establish such a system failed to gain approval. Opposition parties blamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled the country for 71 years until Fox, of the National Action Party, was elected. He's promised to help emigres in their fight for the vote. Juan Hernandez, Fox's adviser for the Office of Mexicans Abroad, said the president met with him last week and reiterated his support. "I told him I wanted to make it one of the priorities for my office in the coming year and he said, 'Yes, Juan. Absolutely!'" said Hernandez, in Santa Ana for a visit last weekend. "We have to figure out the best way to do this. Not whether it's possible, but how to do it." Momentum has been building recently. Last month, the Mexican Senate Commission on Border Affairs sponsored a conference to discuss the topic and set up regular meetings to further the work. "Conditions are better now because the president is in favor of this and congressional representation is more balanced," said Raul Ross Pineda, a Chicago-based leader of the lobbying effort. "And opinions seem to be changing. I haven't heard anyone from PRI oppose this." To subscribe to this group, derechospoliticossinfronteras-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

An Unusual Advocate Tries Pitch in Mexico Immigration Entrepreneur Carlos Olamendi will present his vision of emigre rights to President Fox. by Jennifer Mena Times Staff Writer, Orange County Section, March 15 2002 When President Vicente Fox meets a group of U.S. residents in Mexico this week, Orange County restaurateur Carlos Olamendi will be among them, lobbying for immigrants' rights. The Republican from Laguna Niguel wants immigrants like himself to have the right to vote in Mexican elections and to be able to cross the border freely. But he opposes government assistance, such as welfare or housing subsidies to immigrants and others. Instead of invoking the name of former Gov. Pete Wilson, who tried to crack down on illegal immigration during his tenure in the 1990s, Olamendi says Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are his role models. He promotes a U.S. immigration policy that he said "will allow immigrants to pull themselves up instead of relying on the welfare model," a term he uses to refer to the network of government and social service agencies in the United States that give assistance to the poor. Olamendi has become a regular at meetings with legislators in Mexico City and Washington, pushing for measures to give Mexican immigrants a greater voice in the two countries. Immigrants should be able to vote in Mexico because they provide one of the greatest sources of foreign exchange through remittances to family members, he contends. Although some may view his positions as contradictory, Olamendi says he is living his beliefs. He invests in U.S. restaurants that sell food made from his mother's recipes. He also has a capital investment project to provide companies with credit in Mexico. To critics who wonder how he can simultaneously salute the White House and Mexico's presidential seat of power, Los Pinos, he quips, "We are not going home. We are already here. That's the new reality. We [immigrants] are a thread tying two nations together." Olamendi and his group, the National Council of Mexican American Professionals and Business Leaders, have repeatedly visited Mexico City to push for a law that would allow emigrants to vote by absentee ballot. This week, they are bringing nearly 100 people to meet with Fox, congressmen, election officials and cabinet members, said Omar de la Torre, director of Mexico's federal Office of Migrant Assistance. The group has advocated for voting rights before. Now, however, they have Fox's support. The Mexican legislature has yet to back a proposal. In 1998, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed a law allowing Mexicans outside the country to vote in the 2006 presidential election, but the Senate did not approve the measure. The law did not specify how migrants, some of whom obtained so-called dual nationality after becoming American citizens, could vote, and the issue was never formally taken up again. Luis Pelayo, president of the Hispanic Council in Chicago, will be part of Olamendi's group. He said Olamendi's presence will help garner interest in the measure again: "He's one of the most important supporters of Mexicans and their right to vote in Mexico. "He has an important vision of what affects Mexicans. There's no contradiction in what he advocates. He comes from the poverty that many immigrants come from. He's a self-made man with a vision of what others can do." Olamendi, 46, came to the United States illegally as a teenager and worked in restaurants, earning $2.25 an hour. He received a law degree in Mexico, then returned to the United States illegally to be near his dying mother. He followed in the footsteps of his brother, who had opened a restaurant in Capistrano Beach in 1973, and opened his own Olamendi's in Laguna Beach in 1985. He later sold it to a sister. He became a legal U.S. resident through the 1986 amnesty law, and later sought citizenship. Now a father of two children, ages 7 and 12, he owns Olamendi Express restaurants in Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita, as well as larger Olamendi's restaurants in San Clemente and Phoenix. In 1999, he started COR International, a capital financing company that offers U.S. financing to Mexican firms at lower rates than are available in Mexico. On a recent visit to Mexico, Olamendi met a priest who told him how coffee growers in Chiapas state were unable to profit on their crops. So he began investing in cooperatives representing 1,500 Chiapas coffee producers. He said the coffee, to be known as Maya Magic and instant Cafe El Encanto, will be imported and sold in U.S. markets this spring. The investment will make him money, he said, but he believes it also could stave off migration from one of the poorest regions in Mexico. Closer to home, Olamendi has invested in three immigration counseling centers in Santa Ana, Fresno and Salinas. The centers help immigrants regularize their U.S. status, for a fee. "He's a very successful businessman who is concerned about what's happening in the community," said Miguel Angel Isido, the Mexican consul in Santa Ana. "The way he thinks is not conventional.... He sees that without [immigration] papers, people can't develop themselves and participate." Olamendi's persistent attention to Mexican immigrants and their culture has not gone unnoticed. Recently, he was one of 36 people nominated by President Bush to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture for the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center last week. Members serve as long as Bush is president. Olamendi says he owes his success to Ronald Reagan, who was president when the immigration amnesty was approved, and to Republican legislators he lobbied for immigration laws to give Mexican families the ability to get residency for their members. He also applauds Bush for his proposals to legalize more Mexican workers in the United States. "I was fortunate to get residency through amnesty," Olamendi said. "Your life changes so drastically. You can go out on the street and walk with confidence. We could get loans, deal with businesses. It was incorporation into the real life of the United States. " I realized that our community must be legitimized for people to get ahead." If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights Sent by Carlos Olamendi

Searching for Home Movies of Latino Families I'm searching for home movies of Latino families in the United States for use in a PBS documentary series about racial inequality and the construction of ideas about race in America. The series is being produced by California Newsreel. We are using home movies of families of many different "races" as a motif throughout the third hour of the series. We are looking for home movies from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. We are particularly looking for films of families with small children, and intergenerational family activities on VHS. Further information please contact me: Julia Elliott, Associate Producer, julia@raceproject.org Sent by Anthony Garcia amigos@latinola.com

Mexican Americans: Forgotten Americans by Leonard Pitt, Cal State University, Northrop We Americans, Vol. II, 1865 to the Present, Extract from Chapter 28: Race, pgs 288-291, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., first published in 1976. [Editor's note:I thought this segment from a chapter in the Pitt text will encourage all of us to realize positive changes are taking place and it still centers on the Mexican capacity and desire to work.] After World War I a great wave of Mexicans hit the country. The migration of Mexicans and of blacks shared a common cause. When congress cut off European immigration in 1921 and 1924, a shortage of labor in the U.S. created job opportunities for both groups. The influx from south of the border was spurred by two forces: the push of the Mexican revolution between 1910 and 1920 and the pull of U.S. labor needs, mainly in the Southwest. The flow of migrants peaked in 1924, but slowed significantly after 1929, and remained low through the depression. In the four and a half decades from 1900 to 1944 an estimated 730,000 Mexican immigrants entered the country, half of them arriving during the twenties. By the 1940s the Mexicans had become the second largest racial or ethnic minority, second only to blacks. In many respects they were the least- known minority, the forgotten Americans. Most Mexican immigrants were "wetbacks"-migrant workers who swam or waded across the broad, shallow Rio Grande River instead of entering the country legally. There were no immigration quotas for Mexicans, but those who planned to stay in the United States had to present a visa, pay a head tax, and pass a literacy test at a border-crossing station-- all of which took time and money. Most of the newcomers were peasants or poor city people. They settled in the southwestern states, where the need for cheap manual labor was greatest. They worked as copper miners, farm hands, and railroad section hands. Many farm irrigation systems and railroad lines were built or maintained by Mexican workers. Sometimes entire families migrated; more often it was single men. After the wetbacks had jumped the border, labor contractors, called "coyotes" or man snatchers, transported them at night by truck to their jobs. These contractors arranged with fruit growers and others to deliver a certain number of workers at a given time for a given rate. The migrants paid the contractor for his service. In this way the Mexicans avoided dealing with border guards. Many employers preferred Mexican labor. They worked for little pay, arrived in large numbers, and seemed passive. Illegal immigrants were not likely to risk their jobs by complaining or by joining unions. They often spent their paychecks in the U.S., carrying finished goods home to Mexico. One grower wrote to the California governor in 1919: "I will say that if the white farmer, or white men in the State of California, could get an ample supply of Mexican labor, they could do all the truck gardening, raising of sugar beets, cantaloupes, vegetables, and other products which the Japanese and Hindus and Mohammedans are now doing. . . . " In spite of what the whites thought, the Mexicans were not always so docile. In the 1920s and 1930s dozens of small Mexican unions emerged in farming, coal and copper mining, canning and packing, and even sheep shearing in New Mexico. The unions frequently struck in the 1930s, especially in agriculture. In California farm wages sometimes dropped as low as nine cents an hour during the depression. AFL unions would have nothing to do with the Mexicans. Radicals, including Communists, tried to organize them. During strikes, California farm employers and local law officers pulled out all the stops to destroy the unions. Indiscriminate arrests, excessive bail, deportations, and beatings by vigilante groups were used to intimidate the strikers. So Mexican workers who tried to gain control over their own lives by forming unions had little success. Some of the older Spanish-speaking families drew away from the new Mexican immigrants. They felt threatened by the job competition and falling wages near the border. They were citizens. Yet whites lumped them together with the new wet-backs and treated them like greenhorns. Some of the old-timers in the Southwest, especially those who spoke English, began drifting farther north in search of better jobs. They followed the crops in the Pacific Northwest or got work in the mills and factories and on the railroads in the upper Midwest. By the time World War II began, there were sizable colonies of Mexicans in and around Chicago, St. Louis, and other major cities. Inching toward the mainstream Compared to other immigrant groups, Mexicans were slow to adopt American ways. Many expected to return to Mexico. Of those who stayed, the "illegals" suffered the most. They lived in constant threat of exposure. They feared not only the immigration authorities but all authorities-teachers, social workers, census takers, and police· Anyone who might learn the truth and have them deported was a threat. This fear rubbed off on their children, many of whom were U.S. citizens by birth. Migrant laborers rarely stayed long enough in one place to buy land, pay taxes, or acquire a stake in society. Often they lived in isolated places in housing provided by railroads, mining companies, or growers, so they seemed "invisible" to most Americans. Because they moved frequently or lived in isolation, Mexican Americans never built the political base which had brought social and economic advancement to many groups of European immigrants With few exceptions, Mexican American voters had no power. They were given few patronage jobs and had little or no representation in state or local government. Self-help groups were traditionally weak. The number of Mexican-born people in the U.S. actually declined in the thirties, from about 640,000 in 1930 to 377,000 in 1940. The depression sharply reduced migration from Mexico. Also, to lighten the welfare rolls and reduce the labor surplus in the U.S., federal and state officials sent a half million people back to Mexico. A great many were native-born American citizens. It cost Los Angeles County $425,000 to pay public assistance to six thousand Mexicans but only about $77,000 to deport them. In short, the local governments saved money by paying the train fare of Mexicans and Mexican Americans to "go home." Some left voluntarily, some had to be coaxed, and a few were physically removed. For several years a monthly train, filled with repatriados, traveled from southern California to Mexico City. About 200,000 left the country in 1931 and 1932 alone. Not all who went back to Mexico lived in the Southwest. Half of those of Mexican descent in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana were among those who left the country in the thirties. The zoot suit riots Mexican Americans who remained in the States faced discrimination in jobs, housing, schools, and public places throughout the country. At restaurants, swimming pools, theaters, and hotels in the Southwest the "White Only" sign applied to the Spanish- speaking as well as to blacks. Racial incidents were not uncommon. The first such episode wide coverage were the "zoot suit riots," or "pachuco riots," in Los Angeles summer of 1943. After the internment of the Japanese a year earlier the Los Angeles press methodically attacked a segment of the Mexican community. These were the "pachucos"- youths who spoke a mixture of Spanish and English and who were accused of "shirking war duties" and of "gangsterism." Newspapers ridiculed the "Zoot suits" worn by the young males - wide, baggy, high-waisted pants with narrow cuffs, long-tailed jackets, and broad-brimmed hats. In June 1943, incidents flared on street corners between servicemen and young Mexican Americans. Groups of sailors cruised the downtown area in taxis searching to "zoot suiters." They stripped and beat their victims. The police made wholesale arrests of the zoot suiters. The servicemen, who were later shown to have provoked the incidents, were not arrested. For a time the rioting brought the normal business of Los Angeles to a complete halt. the Germans broadcast news of these incidents labeling the Americans as racial hypocrites. Other Mexican Americans did their share of the fighting and dying in the war. Because a hitch in the service brought economic security - and to Mexican nationals it also brought U.S. citizenship--young men of Mexican background crowded the recruitment centers. About 750,000 Mexican Americans served as GIs in the war, probably the highest proportion of any ethnic or racial group in the armed forces. They encountered little racial discrimination. Unlike blacks, they were assigned to combat duty in all parts of the globe. Many died or were captured in the Philippines in 1942. On the island of Saipan, Guy Gabaldon, a GI raised by a Japanese family in Los Angeles, persuaded about a thousand Japanese soldiers to surrender. This won him the Silver Star. Seventeen other Mexican Americans earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Braceros imported by agreement The war created a labor shortage in southwestern agriculture. the whites who might have worked in the fields found higher paying jobs elsewhere. The Japanese (who normally did not work for whites as field hands) were detained behind barbed wire. and immigration from overseas had stopped. to relieve the shortage, the U.S. in 1942 agreed with Mexico to import braceros (field hands) on a regular basis. Wages and working conditions were set by negotiation. there were abuses in the program, but it significantly helped solve the farm labor shortage and improved the earnings of the Mexicans who came. In June, 1943, these pachucos--dressed in typical "Zoot suit" style--drove through Los Angeles waving American flags and white flags of trace to signal their willingness to end the hostilities between Mexican Americans and Anglo servicemen. (Wide World Photos)

Deaths of Hispanic Workers Soar 53% Extract from article by by Jim Hopkins USA TODAY March 25, 2002 SAN FRANCISCO -- The Labor Department is intensifying efforts to stem an alarming rise in workplace deaths among Hispanics. Deaths were up 53% in 2000 from 1992. The latest data show that deaths dropped 10% for non-Hispanics. Fatalities fell in most of the nine years among non-Hispanics. But they rose steadily for Hispanics. Construction is the leading source of workplace fatalities: Hispanics, who make up about 11% of the workforce, hold 17.4% of all construction jobs -- up from 9.6% in 1990. In 2000 it accounted for almost 20% of fatalities. About 620,000 construction workers are illegal immigrants, says the National Council of La Raza, a civil rights group. Many don't complain about unsafe work because they fear deportation. 'Employers are able to take advantage of them,'' says Michele Waslin, an analyst for the group.

Humberto Silex 1903-2002 Humberto Silex was born in Managua, Nicaragua in 1903. On November 7, 1920, at the age of seventeen, he arrived in San Francisco on the SS Newport. He volunteered for the US Army from 1921 to 1922 where he served as a private in the 47th Infantry at Fort McDowell, California. The end of WWI prompted a reduction in enlistments and Silex was released from service with an Honorable Discharge. After working in a variety of jobs Silex settled in El Paso in 1929 where he married Maria de Jesus Renteria. As a labor organizer, Humberto Silex was no stranger to a wide variety of working conditions. He worked in a variety of jobs over the course of his life including servings as a fireman, airline mechanic, cook, miner and smelter worker, and finally in the vending industries. However, it was his work as a union organizer in the mining and smelter industry where he made major contributions to the struggle against low wages and poor working conditions, which were fueled by a labor market that was segmented by race and class. In Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology & Identity, Mario Garcia writes "When Silex first worked at the AS & R (American Smelting and Refining Company) plant in 1937, Mexican common labor received $2.06 for a 10-12 hour day and worked six days a week with no vacation time." Silex officially joined the Mine Mill Smelters Workers Union in 1939 and remained a member until 1950. In 1942 Silex was one of the principle labor leaders that organized the mineworkers at both the American Smelting and Refining Company and Phelps Dodge. In 1946 he led a successful strike that resulted in better working conditions and benefits for the largely Mexican and Mexican American workers. As a member of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers he traveled widely throughout the United States and northern Mexico. One of his central organizing strategies was the need to organize for better wages at both the national and local levels. He had experienced large difference between wages in working at similar jobs in Chicago and El Paso. While he was unable to fully accomplish this goal, the strategy did result in local victories. Even though he received recognition for his war efforts, he faced much adversity for his organizing efforts. On January 10, 1946 he received a War Service Award for the support his union provided in stabilization of the economy during the WWII. During the "Cold War" period he was falsely labeled a communist, arrested by the Sheriff on trumped up charges that were later dismissed, and as a non-citizen was scheduled to be deported. He successfully fought the charges and was allowed to stay in the United States, but was not allowed to continue as an organizer. Many members of the local Mexican community of El Paso continued to seek him out for support. He spent the rest of his life stocking and repairing vending machines in an attempt to support his family. He often mentioned that he missed being able to fight for better working conditions. Although Silex had been in the United States since 1920, his journey to citizenship was not fulfilled until the eleventh hour. In 1947 he applied and was recommend for citizenship. However, in 1949 the government reversed itself and denied his appeal for citizenship on the grounds that he was a subversive. In was not until 1991 that his reapplication for citizenship was finally granted. He was a devoted husband and father who never received proper recognition for his contributions to bettering working conditions for Mexican and Mexican Americans. He died on March 14, 2002 at age 99 in El Paso, Texas from complications due to pneumonia. His wife and seven children, Humberto, Lupita, Victoria, Olga, Emma, Elenor and Hugo, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren survive him. also see article in the El Paso Times http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20020318-183141.shtml Richard Chabran, University of California, Riverside URL for REFORMA web page: http://www.reforma.org/ Forwarded by John Ayala

Immigration Museum for New Americans (IMNA) is in the planning stage http://immigrationmuseumfornewamericans.com Dedicated to honoring and celebrating the contributions of migrants to the United States since 1945. The museum will be located in either San Diego or Los Angeles, California. The museum is intended to complement Ellis Island, focusing on post-World War II immigration. The museum will provide a place where families register their own histories, discover more about their ancestors and pay tribute to their forebears' heroism. IMNA will educate the public, especially the children of previous generations of immigrants, about the stories and contributions of their newer brethren. Annual pilgrimages to IMNA will entice children to understand the immigration experience and see geography and history as tools to understanding the world, their families and themselves. Perhaps most importantly, they will come to know their own place in a larger cultural continuum-their own family history. The location has not been determined; Los Angeles and San Diego are being considered. Sent by Dr. Refugio Rochin, Director of the Latino Initiative, Smithsonian Museum

History of Immigration Policies 1921, Quota Law, Limited the number of newcomers allowed to enter the U.S. annually from each nation to 3% of residents from that nation living here in 1910. 1924, National Origins Act, Dropped the quota to 2% of the residents from any foreign country living in the U.S. in 1890. 1929, A law was enacted that limited annual total immigration from outside the Hemisphere to 150,000. 1952, McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, approved over the veto of President Truman. Designed to screen out "alien subversives," it retained the national origins formula developed in 1924. 1965, Immigration Act, Did away with the national origins quota and gave every country an equal numerical limit of 20,000 people. 1986, Simpson-Mazzoli Act, Amnesty for illegals (who had lived in the U.S. steadily before 1982) and sanctions against employers (who knowingly hired illegals). We Americans II (Third Edition) by Leonard Pitt, pages: 299, 467-468, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1987

IMMIGRATION QUOTAS TO THE U. S. 1924-1930 We Americans II, Pitt, page 299
County Germany Great Britain Ireland Sweden Norway Poland Italy Russia Asia Africa All Others Greece	1924 National Origins Act 51,227 34,007 28,567 9,561 6,453 5,982 3,845 2,248 1,300 1,200 621 100	Per Law of 1929 25,957 65,721 17,853 3,314 2,377 6,524 5,802 2,784 1,323 1,200 600 307	[These figures caught your editor's attention. Mexico, Central America and Spain are not listed, they are counted among all others countries and total: 77,184 Germany 99,728 Great Britain 1,221 entered from all others countries Since the quotas were based on the U.S. census of 1910, it suggests that the exceedingly low allotment reflects the possible under- counting of Hispanics, which might have been influenced by attitudes based on the Spanish- American War and the Philippine-American War.]

Historical Race in Texas The race for the Democratic nomination for the governor of Texas is more than a race between two Hispanics, Dan Morales and Tom Sanchez. It will be the first time a major party in Texas has nominated a Hispanic for governor and it may include the first Spanish-language debate in a major political race. 32% of Texas residents are Latino. Hispanic, March 2002

United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO postcard reads. Cesar Chavez founded the Juan de la Cruz Pension Plan in 1975. but some union workers moved away and retired without ever knowing that they qualified for a pension. We've been looking for these men and women to give them their money! We recently discovered vegetable workers Leonardo Briseño (70) and Mfaria Carmen Gonzalez (77). On January 28th they were awarded their back pensions of $26,799 and $14,474 respectively. Thank you for your help. Arturo S. Rodriquez, President P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531

Extract from article: Asking for What Braceros Are Due, Protesters Want Return of Pay Yakima, WA Herald-Republic, March 19, 2002 When North American men went off to fight in World War II, the United States experienced a shortage of field and railroad workers. Mexican men were invited to take those jobs until the war was over under a guest worker program that involved withholding 10 percent of their salaries. The money was to be returned to the workers once they went back to Mexico. And all the pickets Monday said they kept their end of the bargain -- working hard in the field as braceros and then returning to their homeland. Over the ensuing years, they returned to the Yakima Valley, to live, to work and to retire. The bracero program continued until 1964, eventually bringing 5 million men to the United States for the jobs. But the withholding plan was discontinued after 1949. The money taken from the workers was never distributed. Bracero supporters have organized protests outside Wells Fargo Banks in California and Texas, as well as protests outside Mexican banks trying to pressure the financial organizations into recognizing the problem. They estimate the sum owed at $500 million. Wells Fargo released a statement saying it fulfilled its responsibility in the financial agreement with the bracero program, since it was the duty of the Bank of Mexico to return the money to the braceros. It also said that the search for documents involving the bracero program is ongoing. . . . the focus is on the 400,000 braceros who were in the program from 1942 to 1949 and whose money was funneled through Wells Fargo Bank to Mexican banks, said Dolores Ponce de Leon, who works with the legal arm of the Justicia Bracero Project in Chicago. Justicia Bracero is one of the groups that helped organize a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco last year. Farm worker advocates plan a caravan that will begin in Yakima on April 5 and end in Guanajuato, Mexico, sometime in the spring. They plan to expose the public to former braceros . . . and their families to tell their stories.

Immigration Labor-Rights Limits In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court decided that a Mexican man was improperly awarded back pay by the National Labor Relations. The man had been fired for supporting union-organizing activities. The decision was based on the fact that the worker was an illegal immigrant and had used fraudulent documents to obtain employment. "Awarding back pay in a case like this not only trivializes the immigration laws, it also condones and encourages future violations," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote in the court's opinion. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer said invalidating the back-pay punishment would encourage employers to take advantage of illegal-immigrant workers, estimated at more than 7 million. Extract from article by Minerva Canto, pg 1, O.C. Register, 3-28-02

Mexico and U.S. launch new bilateral trade program, Efe - March 11, 2002 Hipaniconline, 3-14-02 Calexico, California - Mexican Commerce Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are launching a new program to ease cross-border trade between the two countries. The new program includes the implementation of a new system to allow certain Mexican goods to cross the border without the need for U.S. Customs Service inspections, the senior Mexican trade official said. The official estimated that in the next several years, trade between Mexico and the United States will double from the present $250 billion a year.

Latinos take lead on environmental issues: Voting Shows Emphasis Shifting to Inner-city Need By Paul Rogers San Jose Mercury News, March 11, 2002 The future of California's environmental movement is not wearing a backpack or hiking in the woods. It is running back and forth in hundreds of crowded inner-city gyms. Driven by a yearning for clean water, reduced smog and more places for kids to play, Latino voters are turning out to be the most devoted environmentalists in California. The latest illustration came last week, when exit polls showed that 74 percent of Latino voters approved Proposition 40, a $2.6 billion parks and open space bond measure on the statewide ballot that won by 57 to 43 percent. In contrast, just 56 percent of white voters approved it. ``There is a myth that parks are a luxury and that lower income communities don't care about the environment,'' said Robert Garcia, an activist with the Center for Law and the Public Interest, based in Los Angeles. ``But Latinos are like everybody else. Nobody wants to live surrounded by warehouses where they can't see trees or grass or clean water. They want livable communities. And they are willing to pay to create those communities.'' Parks leaders recommend cities have 10 acres of parks per 1,000 residents. But the figure is 0.3 acres per 1,000 in East Los Angeles, Garcia said. In San Jose, it is 6.8 acres; in Fresno, 2.7 acres, according to a study by the Trust for Public Land. ``We want a place for our children to grow up and have a better life like anybody else,'' said Gil Hernandez, a former fruit picker who now is president of South Bay Bronze Aluminum Foundry, in San Jose. `Latinos aren't against saving the spotted owl, they just want some open space for their kids to play in too,'' said Leo Briones, president of Centaur North, a Los Angeles political consulting firm. ``It wasn't about protecting owls vs. jobs,'' said pollster John Fairbank, a partner in the polling firm Fairbank, Maslin & Maullin. `` It was about cleaning up drinking water and toxic areas. They are health issues for urban voters. A more affluent voter can go to a cleaner beach or can afford bottled water.'' ``The environmental movement became an elitist movement. This is a breakthrough back to common folks.'' Sent by Howard Shorr HowardShor@aol.com

Why Hispanics Lag In School Hispanics are now America's largest minority, as their number grew 50% in the last decade. When it comes to college however, just 10% of Hispanics aged 25-29 hold bachelor's degrees, compared to 32% of whites. And their high school dropout rate is expected to double in the next decade, to 32%. why? A study by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and RAND says 67% of Hispanic kids live in families where neither parent has a high school diploma. More public spending on scholarships would improve the graduation rate and thus benefit America economically as a whole, says the Fund. But it adds that Hispanic communities must get involved and promote education. For details, visit www.hsf.net. OC Register 3-10-2002

Brewers Hire 'Common Guys' to Do Beer Ads USA TODAY, March 14, 2002 Boxer Fernando Vargas and the Kumbia Kings are among the new stars being tapped by the Big Three U.S. brewers to star in TV ads targetting the new generation of beer drinkers.

Human ID Chip A Florida technology company is poised to ask the government for permission to market a first-ever computer ID chip about the size of a grain of rice that could be embedded beneath a person's skin. Those who have long advanced the idea of implant chips say it could someday eliminate counterfeited ID cards and dozing security guards. Other uses of the technology on the horizon, from an added device that would allow satellite tracking on an individual's every movement to the storage of a sensitive data like medical records. Eight Latin American companies have contacted Applied Digital and have openly encouraged the company to pursue the internal tracking devices. OC Register 2-27-2002

US LAND & PROPERTY RESEARCH : http://users.arn.net/~billco/uslpr.htm Sent by Johanna de Soto

USGenWeb Archives Special Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ This site includes, specific approaches to researching, such as census images, church project, marriages, project, maps project, newsletter, obits project, pensions project and special collections project. Sent by Johanna de Soto

Census Information: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/ This site, made available with the cooperation and consent of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is An Arbor, Michigan, is a source of detailed information on every U.S. census year through 1960, on national, state and county levels. There are terrific search capabilities for extracting summary date from these censuses. There is NO information on any named individual, but there is a wealth of data giving the researcher a feel for a county, for in a particular year. California State Genealogical Alliance Newsletter, Vol. 20, No. 3, (March 2002).

2002 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will be hosted by the California State Genealogical Alliance

Ontario Convention Center, Ontario, California, 7-10 August 2002
For information on the classes/workshops: http://www.fgs.org/2002conf/FGS-2002.htm

This 2002 Conference will celebrate the ethnic diversity of this country since its foundation. Nowhere is this multi-cultural environment more apparent than in California, the venue of this conference. Lectures and activities will emphasize all the many cultures in our society today and how they influence the work of today's genealogists.

Governor Davis Releases $2.9 Million for Naturalization Services

GOVERNOR DAVIS CONTINUES RECORD OF HELPING IMMIGRANTS SUCCEED
Nearly $3 Million Invested in Outreach/Education Programs 3/6/02

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gray Davis announced today the release of $2.9 million in State funds for Naturalization services to assist legal California permanent residents in becoming U.S. Citizens.

These naturalization services will include outreach, skill assessment, English-as-a-Second-Language instruction, citizenship preparation, coordination and referral to other agencies, and direct advocacy and follow-up with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

"Naturalization services will help thousands of legal California permanent residents realize their dream of becoming U.S. Citizens," Governor Davis said. "It is an important step toward empowering
immigrant families as vital members of California's communities."

A total of 57 contracts were awarded to non-profit organizations to provide naturalization services throughout California. These organizations have staff with multiple linguistic capabilities, technical knowledge, as well as extensive experience in helping legal permanent residents become U.S. Citizens. The Naturalization Program is part of the California Department of Health and Human Services. The California Department of Community Services and Development administers the program.
Zeke Hernandez zekeher@juno.com

Cesar Chavez Holiday

In California we have added Cesar Chavez's legacy to the school curriculum, Celebrate a State Holiday in his honor, named a down town plaza in his name, & a California State University, Sacramento Quad. also in his name; many of us who teach at the Univ. are veterans of his marches.
Included among us was our first Chicano mayor of Sacra, Dr. Joe Serna (RIP). It was only befitting that one of the new city govt. buildings be named In Joe's name because Joe and Cezar worked so closely together. Now they are `honored side by side in the business world and the world of "Academia" No student in Ca. will ever answer the question, "Who was Cesar Chavez" with an incorrect answer.

Dr. Armando A. Ayala; CSU, Sacramento
"Ora es cuando! Le da EL CHILE savor al caldo"
A.K.A ; "El Hueso" de Laredo DrChili@webtv.net
http://community.webtv.net/DrChili/DrArmandoAyala
Sent by Walter Herbeck, epherbeck@juno.com

Guinn's Pueblos http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/GuinnsPueblos.html

The following extract from a 1915 book discusses the background and development of the three official pueblos founded in California while under Spanish domination. Of the three, San José and Los Angeles survived while the third, Villa de Branciforte, near the Mission of Santa Cruz, disappeared.

The extract, Chapter VII in its entirety, is taken from J. M. Guinn, A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Vol. I (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1915), 73-78. Sub-captions have been added.

CHAPTER VII. PUEBLOS.

The pueblo plan of colonization so common in Hispano-American countries did not originate with the Spanish-American colonists. It was older even than Spain itself. In early European colonization, the pueblo plan, the common square in the center of the town, the house lots grouped round it, the arable fields and the common pasture lands beyond, appears in the Aryan village, in the ancient German mark and in the old Roman presidium. The Puritans adopted this form in their first settlements in New England. Around the public square or common where stood the meeting house and the town house, they laid off their home lots and beyond these were the cultivated fields and their common pasture lands. This form of colonization was a combination of communal interests and individual ownership. Primary, no doubt, it was adopted for protection against the hostile aborigines of the country, and secondly for social advantage. It reversed the order of our own western civilization. The town came first, it was the initial point from which the settlement radiated; while with our western pioneers the town was an afterthought, a center point for the convenience of trade.
Sent by Johanna de Soto

If you suspect or know that you have Early California Roots, speed your research up by contacting Los Californianos and or Los Pobladores 200. They will help you find your cousins among them.

Los Californianos hold quarterly meetings, scheduled this month, April 26-28, Santa Barbara/Goleta
For more information, contact President Ray Dall dall26@inreach.com (559) 591-3561
http://www.loscalifornianos.org

If you have family roots in Los Angeles, contact Los Pobladores 200. They hold general meetings and organize celebrations recognizing historical events in the Los Angeles area. For more information contact Bob Smith, editor of their publication, El Mensaje. regriffith6828@aol.com

Are you Living and/or Researching in Sacramento
Would you like to contact other Hispanic researchers in the Sacramento area,
send en email to Robert at > xp16@juno.com

The following research facilities were compiled and published in the California State Genealogical Alliance Newsletter, Vol. 20, No. 3, (March 2002).

Sacramento Central Library and G.A.S. Genealogical Book Collection, (8th & 'I" Streets) 828 "I" Street, 4th Floor, Sacramento, CA; phone 916-264-2920

California State Library, California History Room, Library and Courts Bldg. II, 900 "N" Street, Room 200, Sacramento, CA 94214: phone 916-654-0176

Sacramento City Archives & Museum Collection Center (SAMCC), 551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95814-0299, phone 916-264-7072

Sacramento/LDS Family History Center, 2745 Eastern Ave., Sacramento, CA; phone 916-486-2090

El Grove/LDS Family History Center, 8925 /Vintage Park Drive, Sacramento, CA 95829; phone 916-688-5554

University of California, Davis - Shields Library, 100 North West Quad, Davis, CA; 530-752-6561

California Vital Statistics Dept. of Health Services, 304 'S' Street, P.O. Box 730241, Sacramento, CA 95244-0241; 916-445-1719

America Hurrah by Bill Roddy http://www.americahurrah.com

[Varied files and time periods of California history. Below is the introduction to THE SANCHEZ FILE]

Synopsis: Jose Maria Sanchez drowned in the Pajaro River in Monterey County, California, on Christmas Eve, 1852 at the place called the Malpaso, the evil path. He left his beautiful, 28 year old widow, Encarnacion Ortega and their five children an estate worth over $300 thousand. (1852 dollars). Encarnacion, who could not read or write and spoke little English, became the victim of a plot to swindle her estate by corrupt politicians. The probate judge in Monterey, Josiah Merritt, appointed the sheriff as guardian of her children and a gambler as the administrator. They began to appropriate money for themselves by selling off cattle and other property.

Encarnacion married her attorney, but within a few months he died in a steamboat accident. She married a doctor, but the sheriff's brother in law killed him in a gun battle in a Monterey saloon in which he was also shot dead. In the lust for her treasure eight men would die in a little over four years.

Convinced she was Malpaso, she sold her entire estate to the man who became her fourth husband. for a five dollar gold piece. He was George W. Crane, the second of her lawyers she married. He was my great grandfather.

The final mystery occurred when the sheriff's body was found at the bottom of a Watsonville well.

A CALIFORNIA FAMILY: IN THE SERVICE OF THREE FLAGS
By
Jennifer C. Vo and John P. Schmal

My name is Jennifer Celeste Vo and I am - at the very least - a tenth-generation Californian. Many of my ancestors were among the soldiers and settlers who made their way in 1781 from Sinaloa and Sonora in northwestern Mexico to Los Angeles. Many of my people took part in the founding of Los Angeles in that year and the founding of Santa Barbara during the next year. Among my ancestors was the Olivas family from Rosario, Sinaloa.

My Olivas ancestors came from a very poor family from Sinaloa. But, in 1774, King Carlos III of Spain took action that would alter the destiny of my family and bring my ancestors to California. In that year, the Spanish monarch authorized the settlement of the California communities we now call San Gabriel, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. Although Spain had claimed California as her sovereign territory as early as 1542, her vast diversified interests in other areas of the Western Hemisphere kept her preoccupied for two centuries.

By 1774, however, the Spanish Empire had been in decline for some time. On the other hand, the power and strength of the British, French, and Russian empires had increased substantially. It was the fear of their encroachment into California or - worse yet - into the rich silver mines of northwestern Mexico that prompted the King's decision to settle this area, then known as Alta California. Carlos believed that the establishment of pueblos, missions, and presidios in these areas would serve as a bulwark against the looming threat of the Russian and British empires.

My first Olivas ancestor to come to California was Juan Matias Olivas. He was born near Rosario, some 76 kilometers southeast of Mazatlán and 299 kilometers from Culiacán. Today, Sinaloa, with an area of 58,487 square kilometers (22,582 square miles) is the seventeenth largest state of Mexico, encompassing 2.9% of Mexico's total territory.

The State of Sinaloa is a long narrow state, extending along the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. Its narrow coastal lowlands are cut by eleven rivers and many smaller streams that flow westward from the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains. Sinaloa has 656 kilometers of coastline.

Sinaloa's rich mineral resources include a multitude of silver, gold, and copper mines. Rosario, the city from which my Olivas ancestors originally came, is a small silver-mining center along the central lowland of Sinaloa. Rosario was founded in 1655 when silver was struck. It has been said that more than seventy kilometers of underground arteries were dug in a time span of 290 years. Rosario lies along the railroad and its agricultural products include cotton, sugar cane, fruits, and vegetables.

Most people don't realize that the earliest Hispanic settlers of California were almost exclusively from the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora. The author and historian, Dr. Antonio Ríos-Bustamante, has written that "the original settlers of Los Angeles were racially mixed persons of Indian, African, and European descent. This mixed racial composition was typical of both the settlers of Alta California and of the majority of the population of the northwest coast provinces of Mexico from which they were recruited." In the century preceding the Expedition of 1781, Dr. Ríos-Bustamante tells us that many Indians in this region had been "culturally assimilated and ethnically intermixed into the Spanish-speaking mestizo society." This appears to have been the case for my family.

During most of the Sixteenth Century, Spain's domination of the high seas was virtually unchallenged. But, starting with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the English, Dutch, and French fleets began a sustained effort to supplant the Spaniards as masters of the "Seven Seas." By the 1770s, the English colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America had increased in both size and power. In addition, English and French fur traders were now pushing into the western watersheds of the Mississippi River. But most importantly, the Russians were now exploring resources along the northwestern coast of North America in the area of present-day Oregon with their eyes pointed toward the coastline of Alta California.

Then, in 1768, the Spanish ambassador to Russia reported that the Russians were planning to occupy the area around California's Monterey Bay. The potential value of Monterey's harbor had already been discovered several years earlier, and the news of this proposed Russian move sounded alarms in Madrid. In order to counter this serious challenge to Spain's claims on the California coastline, King Carlos III in 1774 issued an edict calling for the fortification and settlement of Alta California.

My ancestor Juan Matias Olivas was born around 1758 near Rosario, Sinaloa, as the son of Francisco Olivas and María Goralsa. Olivas is a common Spanish surname in many parts of the world, including California. The singular form, Oliva, is an ancient surname that was found principally in Roussellon, Catalonia, Valencia, Majorca, and the Canary Islands. Derived from the Latin word oliva (fruit of the olive tree), it has several variations (including Olivas, Olivares, Olivera, and Olvera). In the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries a person assigned the surname of Oliva or Olivas may have had an olive complexion or he may have grown and sold olives. He may also have been the son or descendant of one named Olivo.

On May 25, 1777, Juan Matias Olivas was married at Nuestra Señora del Rosario Church to María Dorotea Espinosa. Three years later, my ancestor, José Pablo Olivas, came into the world as the second child of Juan Matias and María Dorotea. According to the Catholic Church records of Rosario, Sinaloa, José Pablo Olivas was born on January 25, 1780 as the legitimate son of Juan Matias Olivas and Dorothea Espinosa. Listed as a mulato in the church's baptism records, José Pablo was baptized on February 20.

The reign of King Carlos III (1759-1788) was one "characterized by a perpetual state of war." Given the widespread military expenditures required to fight the wars and maintain the empire simultaneously, efforts to pacify the northern frontier of Nueva España "had become prohibitively expensive." Therefore, in an effort to cut expenses, Spain's plan for the settlement and occupation of Alta California depended upon three interdependent institutions: the mission, the presidio, and the pueblo (civil settlement). Each of these institutions was considered an essential element in the Spanish conquest of the American Southwest.

Professor Leon G. Campbell, in describing the "California soldiery," referred to them as "a tough and hardy breed... well-suited to endure the deprivations of frontier life. Most were men of mestizo, or mixed-blood parentage, recruited from ranchos, villages, and presidios of northern New Spain."

Sidney B. Brinckerhoff and Odie B. Faulk, in Lancers for the King, described the "great potential" of this mestizo soldier of northern New Spain: "In the majority of cases he had been born on that frontier and thus was accustomed to the harsh desert climate and was an expert horseman. He had been so subjected to governmental discipline all his life that he could regard soldiering as the best life available to him. A soldier in the Spanish army had retirement benefits, a pension for his widow in case of his death, and the right to skilled medical attention. There was also the bright hope for promotion... Additionally, the soldier could easily obtain land near the presidio for himself and his family during his 10-year enlistment. The laws also encouraged him to remain permanently on these acres following his discharge. Finally, the soldier had high social standing. His was a vital and necessary function in a society that in actuality was a military hierarchy... Soldiering was an honorable profession."

Each leather-jacket soldier was armed with a lance, a short sword with a wide blade (espada ancha), a short-barreled, muzzle-loading rifle (smoothbore), a carbine (escopeta), and a leather shield (adarga). Both the sword and the lance were excellent against an army that stood and fought hand-to-hand, as was traditional in Europe, but useless against Indian attack. Spanish regulations provided that each soldier be issued only three pounds of gunpowder annually. As he was charged for all powder in excess of this amount, he had little interest in target practice.

In December 1779, Governor de Neve had sent an expedition under the command of Captain Fernando Rivera into Sinaloa and Sonora to recruit 59 soldiers and 24 families of pobladores (settlers) for the founding of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Upon completion of his task, Rivera would assemble the whole company of recruits at Alamos in Sonora. From Alamos the recruits and their families would move on by sea or land to California. In addition to recruiting soldiers and settlers, Rivera had to purchase equipment and supplies, as well as 961 horses, mules, and donkeys, to accompany the soldiers and settlers.

By August 1, 1780, Rivera had recruited only 45 soldiers and seven settlers. But, by August 25, he was able to recruit eleven farm families (numbering 44 people in all) and 59 soldiers. Three months later, in November 1780, Captain Rivera arrived in Rosario, still seeking recruits for his planned expedition to Alta California. At this time, Juan Matias Olivas signed up for the long assignment.

Rivera's entire expedition of settlers, soldiers, and livestock were assembled at Álamos in January. At this point, he decided to split the expedition into two groups. First, he assigned seventeen of his soldiers under the command of Lieutenant José de Zuñiga to accompany the eleven settlers' families in their march up the Baja Peninsula. When this party left Álamos on February 2, 1781, Juan Matias, his wife -María Dorothea Espinosa, then 23 years old - and their two infant children, María Nicolasa and José Pablo - took part. They arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on August 18, 1781 after a journey of 950 miles.

The second part of the expedition did not leave Álamos until April 1781. At that time, Rivera started out with forty-two soldiers and thirty families. The expedition traveled the long, arduous overland route through desert brush and hostile Indian Territory. Progress was quite slow, in accordance with their directive, to avoid needless fatigue and hardship to the families, and to keep the livestock in good condition.

When the expedition arrived in July at the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, Rivera sent the troops and their families ahead to the San Gabriel Mission. With several men still under his command, Rivera camped on the eastern (Arizona) bank of the Colorado River on the night of July 18, 1781 in order to rest and feed his livestock before crossing the Colorado Desert. That night, Rivera and several of his soldiers were massacred by Yuma Indians. At the same time, the Indians also attacked two nearby pueblos, killing a total of 46 people.

In the months following their arrival at the San Gabriel Mission on August 18, 1781, Juan Matias Olivas and his family were housed near the mission. While Juan Matias attended to his soldierly duties, young María Dorotea cared for their infant children. On the morning of September 4, 1781, the Pueblo of Los Angeles was founded, with forty-four settlers and several soldiers in attendance. It is likely that the services of several soldiers - including Juan Matias Olivas - were needed to help the small pueblo get started. Juan Matias, as a matter of fact, would - after his enlistment ended - make his retirement home in the small pueblo.

Early in the next year, Juan Matias Olivas and forty-one other soldiers made their way to the Santa Barbara Channel, where, on April 21, 1782, the Santa Barbara Presidio was founded. Although his wife and children had stayed behind at the newly founded San Buenaventura Mission, they joined him soon after. Their third child, Juan de Dios de la Luz, was born during the next year and was the eighth child to be baptized at Santa Barbara on March 28, 1783.

The rest of my ancestor's military career would be spent at the Santa Barbara Presidio. The Presidio had been founded to guard the narrow Spanish route going from Los Angeles to northern California. In addition, the presidio's location allowed the military to carefully monitor the very dense Chumash population of the area. But - unknown to many - the duties of the presidio soldiers were very multi-faceted in nature. A look at the July 1, 1784 "Disbursement of Presidio," as compiled by Captain Goycoechea, provides us with a good example of the many duties of presidial soldiers in the early days. The summary showed the activities of the sixty officers and men who were stationed at the presidio on that day:

On guard in the presidio 10
Guarding the horses 5
On duty in San Buenaventura 15
Watchman for the town of Los Angeles 1
On the frontier of the Californias 1
With the mail service to San Diego 4
Cutting timber in Monterey 1
With the mule train to the town of Los Angeles 5
Available for duty 18

In the first complete census taken at the Real Presidio de Santa Barbara on December 31, 1785, Juan Matias Olivas was listed as a 26-year-old mestizo. The census listed his wife, M. Dorotea Olivas, as a 27-year-old mestiza. They had three children. But four years later, Dorotea died, leaving poor Juan Matias a widower with six children: Nicolasa, Pablo, Cosme, Juana, José Delores and Madeline. Not long after he was widowed, Juan Matias Olivas was tallied in the 1790 census of the Real Presidio de Santa Barbara. Listed as a 31-year-old widower, Juan Matias was classified was an Indian and a native of Rosario. Four of his six children were listed as living with Juan Matias. By now, the entire population of the Santa Barbara Presidio had reached 230 individuals, comprising 24 percent of the entire Hispanic population of Alta California.

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

On June 1, 1794, Juan Matias married his second wife, Juana de Dios Ontiveros, at the San Gabriel Mission. After their marriage, Matias and Juana had several children. Then, on November 23, 1798, Juan Matias Olivas, now 40 years of age, was discharged from the military after eighteen years of service. Two years later, Juan Matias Olivas and his family took up residence in the small pueblo of Los Angeles. By this time, the small pueblo had seventy families, 315 people, and consisted of 30 small adobe houses.

In 1804, Juan Olivas was listed in the Los Angeles census as a retired soldier. Living with him were his wife, Juana Ontiveros, and their children: Cosme, María, and Juana Olivas, and Pedro Ontiveros. Juan was given lands in the Pueblo, which he was cultivated until his death in 1806.

My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, José Pablo Olivas, the son of Juan Matias and Dorotea, grew up within the walls of the Santa Barbara Presidio. Living at close quarters with fifty other families was no easy chore, but the inhabitants of the garrison were united in their camaraderie as the families of soldiers. As a child, José Pablo attended the same church services as his future wife, María Luciana Fernández, the first-born child of the presidial soldier, José Rosalino Fernández, and his wife, Juana Quintero.

By the year 1800, the entire population of the Santa Barbara Presidio had grown to 370 people, which represented more than 21 per cent of the total Hispanic population of the state (1,533). By 1810, the population of the Santa Barbara Presidio increased to 460. Around the turn of the century, José Pablo stepped into his father's footsteps and became a soldier of the presidio. In a roster of individuals dated February 17, 1804, Pablo Olivas was listed as one of the fifty-four soldiers on active duty at the Santa Barbara Presidio.

On January 7, 1800, José Pablo Olivas was married at Mission Santa Barbara to María Luciana Fernández. Between 1801 and 1812, José Pablo and María Luciana had eight children, including my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, José Dolores de Jesus Olivas, who was baptized on Nov. 3, 1802 at Santa Barbara.

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

During these years, Spain's many American colonies, having grown tired of excessive taxation and restrictions on trade with powers other than Spain, made bids for political and economic autonomy that quickly developed into full-fledged wars of independence. By 1810, Mexico, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, and Venezuela had raised the standard of revolt, quickly depriving Spain of its chief source of income. During the next decade, the wave of independence movements in the Western Hemisphere gained momentum and, by 1820, had swept the entire Spanish Americas into rebellion and civil wars that would not end until Spain had lost its last continental possession. Venezuela and Colombia would gain their independence in 1819, followed by Mexico in 1821. By 1826, Central and South America had disintegrated into eight free and independent states, shrinking Spain's once extensive and rich American empire in the New World to Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Because of numerous wars of liberation going on throughout Latin America, the arrival of Spanish supply ships in California became sparse and undependable. As the supplies dwindled to a mere trickle, the California presidios became dependent upon the missions for food surpluses and manufactured items. By 1813, the Commandant of Santa Barbara informed the Governor that his soldiers were without shirts and had little food; in addition, the presidio soldiers received no pay for three years, and pensions were suspended.


April 20, 2002, Family History Fair, Orange Family History Center, 674 S. Yorba, Orange 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. A variety of 35 classes are offered, some of a general nature, some ethnic specific. Peter Carr is presenting the Hispanic researching class, offered in the afternoon, 1:20-2:20 p.m. Classes free. Optional: Syllabus, $9.50. Box lunch, $7.25. Information, 714-997-7710

April 25, 2002, Thursday, Moms Resource Center Celebrates Moms. 1212 N. Broadway St. Suite. 150, Santa Ana. (714) 972-2610	May 4, 2002, Saturday Gala Opening of Delhi Community Center, 505 E. Central Ave, Santa Ana, 6 p.m. (714) 481-9600.	June 8, 2002 ADELANTE GIRLS, Saturday at Santa Ana College. To participate, leave name and phone number. Nellie: (714) 564-6450,

Josie Montoya, Community Activist March 16, Josie died with a $100 bank account, but had earned the respect and love of the entire Hispanic community. Her activism was long-standing and varied. She started her own food-distribution program, and a children's learning program. She fought for immigration rights and women's rights. Former President Carter recognized and honored Montoya for her long history of community service. She was an outstanding example of unwavering devotion to uplifting the Hispanic/Latino community in every aspect of social and political need. She will be missed.

Orange County-Mexico Trade Since 1993, the year before the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, the amount of Orange County exports to Mexico has nearly tripled. Mexico is now Orange County's biggest trade partner, with electronics, industrial machinery, computers, and scientific and measuring instruments as the top products exported to Mexico in 1999. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce The Mexico Trade Center in Santa Ana, marked its first anniversary in March. The center has promoted about $8 million in trade, either by creating import streams for products or helping set up U.S. subsidiaries. The sizes of the deals have ranged from $800 to more than $1 million. What matters, says Alfredo Cruz, director of the Santa Ana Center, is that the center has assisted companies from 29 Mexican states. Nationally, U.S. imports from Mexico have tripled since 1993 to $135 billion, with more than $247 billion in trade between the countries. Jesus Alvarez Gomez who represents Sociedad de Produccion "Rural de Teonochtli made contact last May to market tunas (cactus fruit). By the year's end, the growers had exported $500,000 worth. O.C. Register, 3-14-02

National Fund for Promoting Crafts, FONART Extract from article by Minerva Canto, The Orange County Register, March 10, 2002 A new store opened in Santa Ana to promote the work of Mexican artisans - The first of its kind in the U.S., it aims to stem migration and help maintain traditions. "This is a wonderful thing that we'll be able to do here," said Juan Hernandez, adviser to the president for the office of Mexicans Abroad in Mexico City. "We'll be able to help poor people in areas with high migration rates." "We believe that Orange County is one of the most successful places in the country, and it's no coincidence that it's also one of the places with one of the highest Latino populations in the country," said Juan Hernandez, explaining how Orange County was chosen as a site for the first of what government officials hope will be several stores. The store is a franchise of The National Fund for Promoting Crafts, a Mexican federal government agency charged with rescuing and promoting traditional arts. It is the first in the United States, with others planned in Miami and other cities. It mirrors stores already operating in Oaxaca and other Mexican states. The wares featured in the store will promote and sell the work of Mexican artisans from the country's 32 states. This is more than just another retail store, however. The store has a lofty mission: to help stem emigration in some of Mexico's poorest areas by helping artisans sell their wares in the international marketplace. The FONART store is on the ground floor of the International Business Center, at 900 N. Broadway near the Mexican Consulate. FONART now offers scholarships, contests, schooling and market opportunities for artisans to encourage them to pursue their craft and pass it on to their children.


If you have family roots in Los Angeles, contact Los Pobladores 200. They hold general meetings and organize celebrations recognizing historical events in the Los Angeles area. For more information contact Bob Smith, editor of their publication, El Mensaje. regriffith6828@aol.com

San Fernando Valley: http://www.valleyofthestars.net Study by Pepperdine's School of Public Policy reveals that the San Fernando Valley has evolved from a mostly white suburb into the "ethnic kaleidoscope of a new Los Angeles and new America." The population of the 1.7 million is divided into the following divisions by the study:
Caucasian 45%	Latino 38%	Asian 9%	Black 4%

CISNEROS: An ancient name found throughout the Iberian peninsula and the Americas. It is also spelled Cisneroz and Sisneros. The origin of the surname can be traced back to the place of swans, or he/she that tends swans. Three Cisneros (Cristobál, Diego and Juan) are found among the encomenderos of Nueva España in the early 1500s. In the 1700s records of Cisneros families are found in present-day Texas and California.



El Caballero Don Jose Cisneros Jose Cisneros, internationally renown artist, will be receiving the prestigious National Medal of Arts. He is one of seventeen recipients who will be honored by President Bush at the White House on April 22, 2002. Mr. Cisneros is known for his accurate, well-researched depictions of historical personages of the colonial period in New Spain A life-long fascination with horses has been the inspiration of his beautiful, detailed pen and ink drawings. Currently out of print, his Riders across the Centuries-Horseman of the Spanish Borderlands (1982 Texas Western Press) is an outstanding work of art. A collection of the 100 original drawings of the book grace the fourth floor of the University of Texas at El Paso Library. The vast majority of the local historians have had their books illustrated by Jose Cisneros. The long list includes such authors as: Fray Angelico Chavez of New Mexico, Carlos Castaneda (Our Catholic Heritage), Marc Simmons, C.L. Sonnicksen, W.H. Timmons, John West, Felix Almaraz, Rick Hendricks, Cleofas Calleros, and many more. An Artist's Journey by John West (Texas Western Press) is a fascinating biography of Jose Cisneros. Those of us who enjoy family history will find familiar anecdotes of life during the Mexican Revolution. Jose Cisneros exemplifies the qualities of that generation of men who survived the struggles of the Mexican Revolution, emigrated to the United States to face other challenges and endure the Depression. In spite of all, impeccable manners, attitude, and philosophy of life remain intact. Men who received limited educational opportunities but whose thirst for knowledge seek self education and know by far more than many with University credentials. At soon-to-be 92 years of age, Cisneros memory is superb. One is always enthralled with the details of his story telling. He can recall verses he learned in his beloved elementary school in Valle de Allende (formerly Valle de San Bartolome), Chihuahua. It was there where his great interest for history was born thanks to a teacher who made history come alive. His recall of names of people and places is remarkable. Visiting with him in his home, like I have on many occasions, has been an unforgettable experience in my life. His modesty, generosity, and kindness never cease to amaze those who come in contact with him. Due to deteriorating eyesight, he no longer is able to draw. A great deal of satisfaction is derived from going over his collection of papers, books, photographs, etc. Although Cisneros is known for illustrations of historical events, it is not limited to such. He has an extensive repertoire. A few years back he even illustrated a bilingual children's book, El Ratoncito Pequeno/The Little Mouse. Many honors have been bestowed to this very deserving man. King Juan Carlos of Spain knighted him for his work depicting life in Colonial New Spain. The State of New Mexico proclaimed January 28, 2002 Jose Cisneros Day at a ceremony in Santa Fe when 120 acres of land were given to the construction of El Camino Real International Heritage Center. Last year the state of Chihuahua recognized his work in a ceremony and exhibit. At that time Valle de Allende recognized him as "Hijo Predilecto" (Favorite Son). He was declared a Living Legend by Westerners International. Pope John Paul II honored him for his contributions to the Catholic Church. The City of El Paso and the El Paso County Historical Society are among many others who have recognized his merits. We salute you, Caballero! by Ivonne Urueta Thompson

ORANGE COUNTY, CA
Upcoming Events Josie Montoya, Community Activist Orange County-Mexico Trade	National Fund for Promoting Crafts, FONART Union Leaders

LOS ANGELES, CA
Los Pobladores 200 San Fernando Valley: Union Leaders	Museum of Latin American Art Zacatecans in Los Angeles

CALIFORNIA
Ontario Convention Center - FGS/CSGA Conference $2.9 Million for Naturalization Services Cesar Chavez Holiday Guinn's Pueblos	Early California Roots Researching in Sacramento America Hurrah by Bill Roddy A California Family, in the Service of 3 Flags