July 2005 
Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-5

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

NCLR Dedicates Raul Yzaguirre Building: 'Aqui Estamos y No Nos Vamos'

The National Council of La Raza cemented a new chapter of its existence June 1 with the inauguration of the Raul Yzaguirre Building named after its civil rights leader of 30 years. "This is more than just a building. It is a symbol of our permanence and presence in the nation's capital," Yzaguirre told Weekly Report. During the ceremony, he emphasized that housing La Raza's headquarters a mere four blocks from the White House was a matter of making a statement as a community, "Aqui estamos y no nos vamos."  

While the festivity symbolized a culmination of Yzaguirre's political acumen, it also celebrated the Latino advances he has helped energize, such as the May 17 Los Angeles mayoral race triumph of Antonio Villaraigosa. The mayor-elect flew to Washington to join in the ribbon cutting ceremony.
During his speech, Villaraigosa, who assumes office July 1, credited his success to pioneers like Yzaguirre who paved the way.  "Make no mistake. I stand here today on the threshold being mayor... on the shoulders of Raul Yzaguirre and people like him," he said. Yzaguirre returned the praise, crediting Villaraigosa's victorious campaign "for not just talking about obtaining power" but also talking about taking on the serious responsibility of serving every community in the polyglot city of angels.

NCLR president Janet Murguia commented on La Raza's move to a new stage:  "The National Council of La Raza has transformed from a Hispanic organization into an American institution."
NCLR board chair and La Opinion CEO Monica Lozano praised Yzaguirre and Villaraigosa for their dedication to the Latino community.

The seven-story edifice located at 1126 16th Street NW cost $13.9 million plus $21.9 million on renovations. In addition to housing the organization's more than 80-member staff, it leased out some of its space. Its building campaign involved dozens of corporate and community contributors.
The second phase of construction, to be completed next year, will include la plaza de los afiliados dedicated to the work of affiliates around the country. Additionally, the building's lobby will be designated la galeria del movimiento.  It will highlight the organization's milestones with pictures and cultural artifacts.

  Letters to the Editor : 

Absolutely great….enjoy your moments spreading the joy of discovering Hispanic history, culture and events.

Saludos,  Dennis Keesee Bermudez
denniskee@cox.net
§

Hi Mimi,  I just wanted to say how amazed and grateful I am for your dedication in constructing such a wonderful and extensive newsletter. Where do you find the time? You are truly an asset to our continuing heritage.

Thank you for your hard work.
David L. Duran davelduran@comcast.net  
Denver, Colorado

Dear Mimi, I have enjoyed your very informative news letter for many years...Keep'em coming. Please change my address to: joural@tampabay.rr.com

Thanks and good luck, José R. Oural
§

 Mimi;  Thank you for the fantastic information you are posting on "SOMOS PRIMOS". I am printing them out and putting them in binders. I know you get a lot of e-mails, but I would like to remind you I wrote to you several years ago and told you I have about 85 binders of church records translated to English, I have gotten from the Mormons Library in the past 15 years. I will be sending you some more information in the future.

Your Tejano primo, George de la Garza 
george.delagarza@gte.net

UNITED STATES

Janet Murguia 
President and CEO, NCLR

To fulfill this mission of bringing the American Dream to everyone who is willing to work hard, play by the rules, and commit him or herself to this nation, the Hispanic community must be at the table when decisions are being made.

'We need to challenge everyone - the Administration, the Congress, and both political parties - to help us promote equal opportunity and invest wisely.

With so much at stake for our community, we don't intend to stay on the sidelines. We will reach out to the White House and President Bush, to both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, and to the friends and even the adversaries of the Latino community.

Some may not think this is necessary or the right thing to do, but I respectfully disagree. We have too much on the line. So we're here to participate. We will listen and we will weigh in. We will offer our ideas and we will keep an open mind. And we're ready to get to work.

When I became President and CEO of NCLR in January, a new chapter had begun in our organization's history. We will continue to hold those in positions of power and authority accountable for their policies and their actions, but we also pledge to hold ourselves equally accountable.

One way we will do that is by doing a better job of telling our story so that we can do a more effective job of telling our community's story. It is astonishing to me, for instance, that some people can say we are a "threat" to this nation, that we are resisting the integration of Latinos into American society.

The reality is that throughout our history NCLR has supported our affiliates in helping Hispanics enter the mainstream. Virtually every one of our multiservice affiliates provides English-language classes, civics courses, or naturalization assistance, and they can't keep up with the demand.

We want to tell our fellow Americans about how this country would not be the nation it is today without two centuries' worth of contributions from millions of Latinos to our economy, to our culture, to our society, in peace and in war.

We need to let everyone know that America's most cherished values - family, a strong work ethic, sacrifice, faith, and patriotism - are the same ones that my family and millions of other Hispanic families have passed down from generation to generation.

If this evening's event marks a new era for our organization, it is because we recognize that together we can accomplish what we could never do alone.

This is an amazing time. We are at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium. It is an historic time for our organization, for our community, and for this nation. I truly believe that we have a unique opportunity to write a special chapter in history. My hope is that history will record that we as a community stepped up, that we reached out, that we built the coalitions, the bridges, and the partnerships which allowed us to move not only our community, but an entire nation, forward.

    AGENDA, Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring 2005
    Publication of the National Council of  La Raza

Source: 
Hispanic Trends January/February 2005 Pg. 16

U.S. Now 14% Hispanic; Fastest-growing minority

One of every seven people in the United States is Hispanic, a record number that probably Will 
keep rising because of immigration and a birth 
rate outstripping non-Hispanic blacks and whites.

The country's largest minority group accounted for one-half of the overall population growth between July 2003 and July 2004, according to a Census Bureau report.

Statistics: AP via OC Register, 6-9-05

• There are 41.3 million Hispanics in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau's new estimate. The number includes both legal and illegal 
residents.

• At the beginning of July 2004, the U.S. 
population was an estimated 293.7 million with 
the following racial and ethnic breakdown: 240 million whites, 39.2 million blacks, 14 million Asians, 4.4 million American Indians and Alaskans, and 980,000 native Hawaiians and other islanders.

Santa Ana will honor Manuel Esqueda, who has donated time and money and bolstered literacy, by naming its new school for him.

By Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writer

When Santa Ana's newest elementary school opens this fall bearing Manuel Esqueda's name, it will be the latest mark that the barrio-raised philanthropist will have left on his community.

From the funding of hundreds of scholarships to donating tens of thousands of dollars worth of artwork to a local community center and spearheading literacy efforts, Esqueda's legacy echoes in the city.

Esqueda, 82, says his good deeds are a payback to the many mentors who helped him transform himself from a Spanish-speaking student learning English in a school without heat or lights to a Navy sailor during World War II to a bank executive. 

"I just want my people to get ahead," he said. "And the only way you can get ahead is through education."

Santa Ana schools Supt. Al Mijares said Esqueda was an obvious choice when the district was considering for whom to name its new school."He is a leader who is absolutely genuine and a man of integrity," Mijares said. "His sole motivation is for the welfare and education of the children in our school district. He really is the patriarch of this community."

The Manuel Esqueda Elementary School, on more than eight acres at Warner Avenue and South Main Street, will serve 1,200 students from kindergarten to third grade, including many English-language learners from impoverished homes.

The library will feature a mural of Esqueda's wife of six decades, Dolores (Romo) Esqueda, who died last year, while reading to one of the couple's 12 grandchildren.

Esqueda, who was born in Kansas, moved with his family to Santa Ana in 1924 when he was 2 so his father could work as a laborer for the railroads.

The family settled in the working-class neighborhood of Delhi, where Esqueda attended Delhi Elementary School. The school lacked heat or lights and was run by a British principal with a firm hand, Fanny Bragg. She installed showers for the children and washed their mouths out with soap if they spoke Spanish.

"At first we hated her, but I wouldn't be speaking the way I am" without Bragg's guidance, Esqueda said, noting that such measures would not be appropriate today. "It started a new life for many of us."

Though Esqueda excelled in school, his home life was difficult. His father, who drank heavily and argued violently with his mother, abandoned the family when Esqueda was 11, Esqueda said. He didn't see his father again for nearly two decades. 

Esqueda joined his brother Jose toiling in the lima bean fields where South Coast Plaza now is. His brother gave him two options: be a good student or a good worker. Esqueda chose the former, and with his mother's blessing, moved to Huntington Park to attend high school part time while working as a dishwasher, waiter and bolero singer on Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

When the United States entered World War II, Esqueda joined the Navy and was assigned to the Princeton, an aircraft carrier that was sent to help retake the Philippines. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, a Japanese plane dropped a 500-pound bomb on the carrier's flight deck. Esqueda was thrown into the ocean and clung to ship debris as the Princeton sank.

"I started praying because I could see the arms and legs and heads of my buddies that had been killed," he said. "I told the man upstairs if he spared my life, I would dedicate my life to helping mankind. I've done that. I've kept my promise."

Esqueda stayed afloat in the frigid water for more than three hours, until he was rescued by the crew of a destroyer. After returning to San Diego and recovering from his injuries, Esqueda married Dolores, his high school sweetheart, and took an entry-level bookkeeping job with Bank of America. 

With typing skills he learned from his sixth-grade teacher, Esqueda steadily climbed the ranks and eventually became a bank manager. While working, he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics.

Seeing increasing gang activity in his Santa Ana neighborhood, Esqueda wanted to make good on the promise he made during the war. He formed the Gemini Club with four friends in the early 1950s to fund scholarships for Latino youths. In the 1980s, the effort gained corporate sponsors and was renamed Serafines de Orange County — Angels of Orange County.

Through the years, money from corporations, donors and Esqueda himself have funded more than $900,000 in college scholarships for nearly 1,200 Orange County students. 

"It's a matter of saying, 'We believe in you. Now you have to believe in yourself,' " Esqueda said.

Among the scholarship recipients are Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido, Superior Court Judge Frederick P. Aguirre and UC Irvine Vice Chancellor Manuel N. Gomez.
Gomez, who grew up in the Santa Anita neighborhood of Santa Ana, received a scholarship in 1965 and majored in history at Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay). 

The first in his family to attend college, Gomez earned a doctorate in higher education. He recalled being moved by Esqueda's focus on picking students who would return to put their education to work in their communities.

"It was a very impressionable action for a community organization from my own community to provide me with a scholarship to go on to university," he said. "I think it did, in a pretty direct way, mark my continued interest in the Latino community's concerns…. At UCI, I have really dedicated part of my professional interest to building better partnerships with underrepresented communities."

Esqueda still promotes literacy in the immigrant neighborhoods of Santa Ana. Some Sundays, he speaks to church congregations urging parents to read to their children in English. 

"So as long as the man upstairs keeps me here, I'm going to work. It's something that my wife would want me to do," he said. "Someone has to do it. Nothing happens unless you make it happen." 

Delhi Center
542 East Central Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92707
Phone: (714) 481-9600

Programs & Services Offered, include the following:

• Information & Referral
• Counseling
• Support Groups
• Parent Education Classes
• After School Programs
• Human Services
• Kinship Support Services
• Case Management
• PC.FRC Health Access Services for Children (0-5)

The Delhi Center works in partnership with Santa Ana College, the City of Santa Ana, the school district, the University of California, Irvine, the Private Industry Council, and local residents to implement a three-year Housing and Urban Development grant, which promotes social and economic opportunity. Delhi Partnership have three primary objectives: 1) to re-create the social fabric of the community around the common values held by local residents; 2) to use the network to create better access to economic opportunity; and 3) to foster a better understanding of intra-ethnic relations at the local level.

The Delhi Center was founded in 1969 through the efforts of local residents, church members, the Junior League of Newport Beach, and the National Guard. The Delhi Center is a community effort, which addresses social, economic, and immigration issues in Santa Ana, California.  The Delhi Center offers its services from two facilities: Delhi Center and Delhi Casa. The Delhi Center promotes community solidarity, collaboration, and participation through culturally relevant interventions, to strengthen leadership and build capacity for self-help.

Delhi Center provides family support services, including case management on social services, referrals to other human service agencies, and monthly food distribution. Delhi also provides workshops on immigration, and naturalization, job search, civic participation and voting education. Among the primary services offered by Delhi are HIV prevention and care services. By providing case management and workshops to the Hispanic community on HIV prevention and how to live with HIV/AIDS, Delhi helps destroy the stigma associated with the disease and provides culturally sensitive services. The Delhi Center works in partnership with Santa Ana College, the City of Santa Ana, the school district, the University of California, Irvine, the Private Industry Council, and local residents to implement a three-year Housing and Urban Development grant, which promotes social and economic opportunity. Delhi Partnership have three primary objectives: 1) to re-create the social fabric of the community around the common values held by local residents; 2) to use the network to create better access to economic opportunity; and 3) to foster a better understanding of intra-ethnic relations at the local level.

A few blocks away from Delhi Center is a new elementary school named after Manuel Esqueda.

MY FATHER MAY HE REST IN PEACE
Sent by Carlos Ray Gonzalez, clearwaterr@earthlink.net

Rafael Mejia GONZALEZ
Given Name: Rafael Mejia
Birth: Oct. 27, 1909 in Atil Sonora, Mexico
Death: Aug. 10, 1971 in Tucson, Army Veterans Hospital, Pima Co. AZ.
Burial: Aug. 13, 1971 South Lawn Cemetery, Tucson, Pima Co. AZ.
Census: Ancestry.com 1930 Census Tucson, AZ. Dist. 54 page 09
CONF: Tubac, Pima Co. AZ. Sep. 14, 1919
Social Security Number 527-10-9812

Event: Sent to Ft. MacArthur, from there to Camp Abbot, Oregon, to an Enlisted Specialist Training School. Military Induction Jul. 22, 1943 Reported to the American Legion Hall Tucson, Pima Co. AZ.

Event: Pvt. 1st. Class Ser. # 39--862-524, was under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in the Eastern Mandates, Western Pacific CO 33 WD 45 Ryukyus CO 40 WD 45, Asiatic - Pacific Theater. Military Honorable Discharge Oct. 9, 1945.

Note:At Camp Abbot, Oregon, he was trained in Demolition, to built or destroy roads and bridges. With Company C 1341 Engineer Battalion. Received the Purple Heart, having been wounded in Saipan, was sent to the Army Hospital in Oahu, Hawaii. and returned to action, received Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal, had a Marksman M-1 Rifle award on Nov. 1943. His duties at time of need, was to drop his tools and get his rifle. Incase of retread to lay land mines.

He helped built in Tinain Island, the runway, that was used to bomb Japan, from where the Super fortress the Enola Gay, and the Bock’s Car dropped it’s Atomic bombs in Japan.

Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) -- The combat heavy engineer battalion is normally assigned to an engineer brigade within a corps or theater army. The combat heavy engineer battalion has equipment and personnel skilled in earthmoving and construction. The battalion primarily works in rear areas on sustainment engineering tasks. However, its earthmoving capabilities may be effectively used to provide combat support in forward areas when not under direct fire (i.e. tank ditches, etc.). Missions include the construction of roads, airfields, structures and utilities for the Army and Air Force.

Here's a health to the Army. And here's a health to our Corps;
Here's to the Flag flying up on the hill, And the bird flying over our door:
Stand by with your glasses all brimming, Here's health, and here's how, and here's luck.
And here's to the Castles of Silver we wear. And "the Eagle that looks like a Duck."
Author: Sherwood A. Cheney, Brigadier General, U.S. Army, 1898

After the capture of Saipan the fighting continued elsewhere in the Pacific for another 13 months. Camps on Tinian were constructed to house 50,000 U.S. troops and 1.2 million pounds of crops were produced all of which was consumed on the island. 

On August 6, 1945 an American Superfortress flying from Tinian dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima which hastened Japan's surrender. The war ended with Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945 but it was not until December 1, 1945 that the final surrender on Saipan took place when Army Captain Sakeo Oba, leading 46 of his men all of whom had continued to hold out in the mountains as guerrillas, finally surrendered his Samuri sword to Major Herman Lewis and Colonel Scott, USMC. Rota was one of the islands which had been bypassed. It was not occupied until after V-J day, (Victory Over Japan). 

There was massive punishment for the Japanese, but there were no overtures for surrender; let this be clear. America had no option except to invade the mainland, and it prepared three Marine divisions and eleven Army divisions under General MacArthur for this dirty task. The orders were to invade Japan in November 1945! It turns out that there were over 2,350,000 tough, well-disciplined troops in 60 divisions left on the home islands, who were willing to die to save their country and the Emperor. Our generals predicted 1,000,000 American casualties, and my battalion was tasked as part of the invasion force! Imagine 1,000,000 black body bags coming back to America for a war we did not start. As luck would have it and with the ingenuity of the American scientists and their able workforce on our side. Two atomic bombs were delivered to Tinian on July 16th, 1945, after a high speed run over the Pacific Ocean by the Cruiser USS Indianapolis.

On August 6th a B-29, the Enola Gay, flew from the Tinian runway to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima causing 78, 000 deaths in seconds. The world would long remember this event. In the "cold war" which followed WWII, the world would never drop another one as they now tasted its massive destruction first-hand. Following this raid on the 9th, another B-29, Bock's Car, took off from Tinian with the second still larger atomic bomb, called Fat Man. Its target was Nagasaki and another 70,000 people died as the mushroom-shaped cloud rose twelve miles into the sky.

There were only two big ones in his arsenal, but General LeMay was very smart. He knew if he dropped them in a close time frame the Japanese would think he had more to use...How many generals would dare drop his last two bombs together on vague targets?

Could Tokyo be next, the Japanese would wonder? As irony would have it, the Indianapolis was torpedoed on July 29th with a loss of 872 men after she left Tinian on an operation to Leyte Gulf and would never see the product of her noble efforts.

It is most fitting and proper that we honor those who died in this great battle of Saipan and in the other battles of this war. Thus, in closing, the following poem by PFC Carl Dearborn (address unknown) of the 4th Marine Division which went over the Saipan beachhead should be cited and left for the historians to ponder. It is titled: 

I Died For You Today.

I died for you today on a far off Pacific Island.
If you are concerned, to say the least, I'll tell you who I am...
I'm the soldier and the sailor - I'm the airman and Marine...
I'm the life blood of your nation - you sent me to this scene...
I'm the one who loads the Amtracks...I'm the pilot, just as well...
I'm the dedicated corpsman saving leathernecks who fell...
I'm the trooper of the airborne, I'm the Seabee with a trade...
I'm the wiry American medic dodging steel to give first aid...
I'm the tail gunner in the airplane, I'm the crew chief and the crew.

Note that in his poem, he placed first our three Heritage’s. I’m Catholic, I’m Indian and I’m Mexican.

I'm the cannoneer and mortar man in the field defending you...
I'm the man of different races clinging to a rumbling tank...
I'm Catholic, Jew and Protestant, and I serve in every rank...
Call me Dominic, Smith or Kelly or pronounce my foreign name...
And regardless of my color - When I'm hurt, I bleed the same...
I'm Indian and I'm Mexican. I'm Polish, Dutch, Italian and Greek...
I'm every inch American and your freedom's what I seek...
I'm the southern boy from Florida, I'm the northern lad from Maine...
I've toiled in Georgia's orchards, and I've cut Montana's grain...
I came from every walk of life - from mountains to the slums...
I've lived, by God, through dust and drought, and I've prayed aloud for rain.
I've known hardship and depression; still I've watched our country grow...
But when Uncle Sam came calling I was proud that I could go...
I've watched demonstrations and the people who protest...
And I said "Thank God for freedom!" - my country's still the best...
So take your banners and your slogans. Raise your placards to the sky...
I'll defend your right to do it... Though in doing it. I'll die...
I'm your fathers - sons - and brothers...I'm the arm of Uncle Sam...
And I died for you today, my friend...On an Island called Saipan...

A Lifetime of Service and Achievement Duly Recognized
Hispanic Magazine honors U.S. Army Colonel Norma P. Tovar; eight other notable Latinas

Sala de Prensa de HISPANIC PR WIRE (866-477-9473)
http://www.HispanicPRWire.com

New York, NY--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)--June 2, 2005--The 14th annual celebration of HISPANIC Magazine’s Latina Excellence Awards will honor U.S. Army Colonel, Norma P. Tovar with its 2005 Leadership Prize, in recognition of outstanding accomplishments over a lifetime of service in our armed forces. 

Created in 1991, the Latina Excellence Awards annually showcases Hispanic women whose achievements in the areas of business, youth, community service, communication, and leadership, among others, exemplify the best qualities and contributions Latina women have made to American culture and society.

A native of La Puente, CA, COL Tovar currently serves as Director of Training Operations Management Activity at the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command headquarters in Fort Monroe, Virginia, helping to oversee planning, scheduling and logistics for all Army personnel training programs. In all, the Army has developed over 1600 training courses that aid in the preparation and training of its forces. Last year, the Army filled over 450,000 places among its personnel for said purpose. Leading a staff of fifty, COL Tovar ensures that a timely and effective implementation of these programs takes place.

As a second generation Latina of Mexican descent, COL Tovar credits her parents with much of her success. “From an early age, my parents taught me key values like respect, integrity, teamwork and loyalty. I found in the Army an organization that echoed these values and this has helped me to advance my professional career and succeed in life,” she recently said.

COL Tovar earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and then enlisted in the Army in 1981 under the College Option Program. She was commissioned through the Officer Candidate School in March of 1982. Under the auspices of the Army, COL Tovar has also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Her military career has included a variety of command and staff assignments, both in the Continental United States and overseas, to include: Commander, Company B (Fitness Training Unit), Fort Bliss, Texas; Chief, Mission and Market Analysis Branch, 1st Recruiting Brigade, Fort Meade, Maryland; Commander, 19th Adjutant General Company (Postal), Yongsan, Korea; Army Research Fellow, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California; Program Analyst, Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army, The Pentagon; Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs and Vice-Director, Programs and Resources Directorate, U.S. Southern Command, Miami, Florida; and Professor of Military Science, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California.

"I accept this award on behalf of all Hispanic women who wear the uniform and who embody, on a daily basis, the core values of the U.S. military.  Hispanics have built a legacy of courage, patriotism and service in the U.S. Army,” COL Tovar said. “I am also grateful to HISPANIC magazine for recognizing the efforts and great sacrifice Hispanic women make in both serving our country and carrying out their responsibilities as wives, mothers or professionals,” she added.

Celebrating its 14th anniversary, the luncheon gala, to be held at the St. Regis Hotel from 11:30 AM to 2 PM on June 7th, is HISPANIC Magazine’s way of recognizing the achievements of Hispanic women. Along with COL Tovar eight other notable Latinas will be recognized.

About HISPANIC Magazine: HISPANIC Magazine is the largest English-language, general-interest monthly in the United States, with a circulation of more than 290,000 copies.  It is owned by Hispanic Publishing Associates, which also publishes HISPANIC Trends, a business magazine and HispanicOnline.com, a Latino web pioneer featuring updated news, information and entertainment for Hispanic Americans.  Hispanic Publishing Associates is 100% Hispanic-owned.

NOTE to editors, a high-resolution image is available at: http://www.hispanicprwire.com/index_in.php

CONTACT: For Hispanic Magazine, Inc, Aida Coro 305-871-6400, Ext. 564  acoro@hisp.com
For U.S. Army, Gustavo A. Bujanda  210-892-0733 gbujanda@thecartel.com
Distributed on : 06-02-2005

Elma Gonzalez grew up in a small ranching town. in South Texas where youngsters typically tried to escape the local poverty by joining the military, finding some menial job or leaving altogether in the hope of a better life. Gonzalez, instead, sought refuge in college, largely because of an almost sacred childhood memory: Her father, a cowboy who supplemented his meager income by picking crops in the summer, read to her regularly from two cherished books.

These weren't the works of Cervantes or Shakespeare but tattered geography textbooks he had kept as the only mementos of his brief six months in school. In a charmless town without even a stoplight, let alone a bookstore or library, and where cows outnumbered people 20-to-l, the texts were Gonzalez's sole window to the outside world. "I wanted to see how the other half lived outside my small town," she says. Her father's "dreamy kind of marveling at people in distant lands" has been a theme throughout her life, she adds, inspiring her to travel to a dozen foreign countries she could only have fantasized or read about in her youth.

Gonzalez, a professor of biology, has taught at UCLA for 30 years, and for nearly 10 of them she has been director of UCLA's Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. A federal plan funded by the National Institutes of Health, it provides financial support to 12 UCLA undergraduates annually. The idea is to help them prepare for graduate and doctoral studies — a journey that Gonzalez herself undertook against enormous odds 40 years ago.

Her life's story, from a backwater town to the distinguished halls of academia, is almost epic — a tale of courage, determination and optimism overcoming grave adversity.

Every summer, for eight years, Gonzalez picked crops alongside her parents and three siblings, harvesting cucumbers, cherries, beans, tomatoes and cotton in states like Nebraska, Michigan and Wisconsin. The family slogged for three months, six days a week, up to 10 hours a day, spending the nights in cramped labor camps that every now and then filled with the cries of women being beaten by their husbands. By the end of the harvest, "we finally had enough money to buy books and clothes," says Gonzalez. Once, heavy rains in North Dakota destroyed the entire potato crop just as Gonzalez and her family got there. "It was cold," she recalls. "We used up all our savings and had to come home empty-handed"

Despite all the hardships, Gonzalez excelled at school, but even there the odds were stacked against her. In her English-speaking school, ethnic Mexican students like her were punished if they spoke Spanish. At her home in Hebbronville — the seat of Jim Hogg County, in the midst of the flat scrub and chaparral landscape of Texas' Rio Grande Plain, 65 miles west of the Gulf Coast and 28 miles north of Mexico — no one spoke English. Because there wasn't anyone to help her learn spelling, Gonzalez had to memorize entire lists of words after carefully studying them in a textbook. Then she would put the book aside and call up the words from memory. The exercise did have the benefit of eventually making her a very good speller, and a stickler for grammar.

Gonzalez's academic and professional success has not been without some personal cost. It has, at times, been a contentious issue within her family, particularly with her brother, who, unlike Gonzalez's sisters, chose not to pursue a college education. And her father, even though he has been supportive, had at times been mystified by her choices, particularly when she's spent time during vacations doing research or writing papers. Academic life, she told him, "is a little like owning your own business — if you're not there to move it forward, it won't move."

The issue of marriage has also dogged Gonzalez. "I never had a compelling offer," she says. "It's tough. You have a career, you spend a lot of time on it and you become very independent." There was certainly pressure for her to wed — her mother generally started conversations on the phone by remarking on how many children and grandchildren her neighbors had. "I was so fed up with my mother's exhortations that I always thought marriage was a disease," Gonzalez says. After a pause, she adds: "I guess I immunized myself too well."

Gonzalez now looks forward to retiring in two years — she'll be 63 in June — and spending time with her family, especially with her father, who is 90 years old and lives in a nursing home in Fort Worth, Texas. She also looks forward to traveling, visiting friends and working on an autobiography she has already begun, a project involving seven other women. "My big hobby is gardening," she says, and she plans to build a house and create a garden from scratch on a three-acre plot in Oklahoma, right next to where her brother lives.

It sounds like the perfect retirement plan. And if at some point in Gonzalez's private Eden, she were to be handed a magic wand with which she could change one thing in the world, she knows exactly what she'd do. "I would do away with poverty" she says unhesitatingly. "People who are born poor don't deserve to be poor. Its the most unfair thing in the world." D

Technological advances have boosted many aspects of executive efficiency. But for Ana Ventura Phares, time management begins at a more basic level. "The critical part of managing time is being able to say no and delegating to responsible people," says Ms. Phares, the newly elected mayor of Watsonville, California, and one of only 36 Hispanic women mayors across the United States, 12 of which are in California. And for Ms. Phares - who gave up her Palm Pilot for a leather Day-Timer with two pages for each day ("So I can take notes on one side.") - managing time is crucial to meeting her obligations to the 50,000-member community 95 miles south of San Francisco. The 44-year-old created a flex schedule, cutting her job as an Equal Employment Opportunity officer for Santa Cruz County to 32 hours a week to accommodate new mayoral duties (where she earns $400 a month) that include tackling issues from land use and affordable housing to community development and pollution. So adept at time management has she become that the wife and mother of two still finds time for her family and two daily walks. Her efficiency extends to donning red power suits when required ("If you are tired, it wakes you up and brings more energy!") and adapting her wardrobe to her duties: "If I'm going to a controversial meeting, I wear pink - psychologists say it lowers people's anxieties." Time management also means looking ahead, and Ms. Phares already is thinking about her next steps after her mayoral term ends in 2006. Her goal is to run for supervisor or the state legislature, where she can effect broad societal change through policy. Says the efficient Ms. Phares, "I've got to start planning now."

Everyone thought I was out of my mind when I started Viva the Chef," says Gina Martinez—which of course was a great sign that her studio for teaching kids to cook healthy food was headed for success. A new idea has a way of looking weird until it succeeds—and then everybody wonders why they didn't think of it.

The truly amazing success that is Viva the Chef all began when Martinez took a hard look at one of today's big nutritional problems.

"Obesity is the No. 1 preventable cause of death," she says. "Twenty percent of our kids are obese. We have to do something about it or they are not going to live as long as we are. It's my mission to change kids' nutritional habits."

Like any true entrepreneur, Martinez soon saw her mission as a business opportunity—and not a minute too soon, because she needed an economic boost like never before in her life. The former special-education teacher and her two children were living with her parents in the wake of a devastating divorce.

It was a season of change in her life during which she stayed up late at night reading self-help books and contemplating her future.

"In the middle of the night I made a list of everything I loved to do, as the book suggested," recalls Martinez, 38, whose family left Cuba in 1960 and opened Cuban-style restaurants in South Florida. "The first two things on the list were teaching kids and cooking. I began trying to figure out how to fuse the two together—and Viva the Chef was born."

In June 2003, Martinez opened the doors to Morristown, New Jersey-based Viva the Chef, a kid-friendly franchise that teaches youngsters to create tasty dishes from scratch with a curriculum that combines education and fun.

There were no venture capitalists or angel investors to fund the entrepreneurial dream. Just a small divorce settlement and a solid business strategy that paid dividends almost overnight. She knew she had a hit on her hands when opening day saw a full house, with 12 birthday parties pre-booked and rnore in the pipeline.

Branching out

Indeed, in less than two years Viva the Chef has held more than 1,500 events and opened six franchises, with 27 additional franchises under development. Martinez is also launching a cartoon-based national television cooking show, DVD cookbooks, numerous kid-friendly culinary products, toys and a licensing agreement with a national apparel company

There's no looking back now. President and CEO Martinez intends to make Viva the Chef a household name.

2005 LBA Gala!
Only  19 days left until the LBA's Sol Business Awards Gala. This year's theme is "Celebrating Latino Business Success" and it will indeed be a wonderful celebration honoring the best of Latino entrepreneurship. This black-tie awards dinner has become one of the most prestigious events in the Latino community, attended by Latino business owners, representatives of major corporations and government leaders. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Date: Saturday, May 21. Location: Century Plaza Hotel, Avenue of the Stars, Century City. Get more information by calling Gala Co-Chair Carlos Alfaro at 213-628-8510 or send email to: cea@alfaroandalfaro.com

Mexican Business Leaders Invite you to Ensenada – for Under $400!  
Business and political leaders from all over Mexico will gather in Ensenada, Baja California, on May 18 through 20 for Expo Industria 2005. The Latin Business Association will be an exhibitor at the event and LBA Chairman Ray Durazo is among the featured speakers. Mexican President Vicente Fox will be among the political leaders in attendance. The event’s focus is on business and trade and if you have any interest in U.S –Mexico trade, this is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss. And, the low cost of attending makes this a tremendous bargain. For a total investment of just $390 you get two nights in a first-class hotel, one dinner, two lunches, two breakfasts and one cocktail reception, as well as admittance to all seminars and programs! Spouses get the same for an additional $185. LBA members are strongly encouraged to attend. For more information, call 714.564.5414 or e-mail torres_jetza@rscd.org or visit the event at:  www.canacintra-ens-2005.org

Seminar for Small Business Success!
Seminars for Success presented by the partnership of Blue Cross of California and the U.S Small Business Administration. Learn how to maintain cash flow, how to obtain a business loan, as well as other very interesting topics. RSVP now to attend on Wednesday, May 11 at The Queen Mary Hotel, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, CA 90802. From 8:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Please join us for a FREE tour of the Queen Mary after the Seminar. Complimentary parking and continental breakfast provided. For more information contact Carina Lozano: 818.552.3209, Fax: 818.552.3283 or visit: www.sba-bcc.com     For registration form, click here.

UCLA Hosts Three Former California Governors!
Three former governors of California will discuss the challenges facing California government in the 21st century. Participants: Jerry Brown, Gray Davis and George Deukmejian. Moderator: Kevin Starr, state librarian emeritus. Wednesday, May 4 at 8 p.m. at the DeNeve Auditorium, UCLA Campus (at the campus entrance at Gayley and Strathmore avenues).  Parking must be arranged in advance. Park in UCLA Structure 8, at the corner of Gayley and Strathmore avenues in Westwood. For more information, call Laura C. Romero at: 310.794.6819

Doing Business in China
LBA members, PMF Bancorp and CoFace provide Global Finance Solutions on May 12th at the City Club (Bunker Hill), 1st PMF Bancorp and CoFace North America will be holding a unique forum for business owners and executives to interact and learn about doing business in China and learn about solutions to domestic and global finance growth. This forum will be geared only for business owners/executives, and other key advisors in order to insure that each business owner has time to interact with the desired professionals. This is a private RSVP event. If you would like to be placed on event guest list, please email: SEMINAR@PMFbancorp.com   More...

The LBA Uses Microsoft Project to Plan the Expo!
As the Expo approaches, Microsoft Project allows the LBA to make sure everything is on track.  The project plan gets updated quickly, and the LBA leadership can track and analyze the Expo's planning status.  For free Internet training on how you can manage projects faster, smarter, and easier please check out the following link, clicking here.  For more information on Microsoft Project go to: http://office.microsoft.com/project
Scheduled for May 21, 2005, at the Century Plaza Hotel. www.LBAusa.com LBA Expo
Scheduled for October 14 and October 15, 2005, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. www.LBAusa.com

Matchmaking Program!
June 7 & 8 in Pasadena will take place at the Western Regional Business Matchmaking Conference.  For more information, please go to: www.businessmatchmaking.com

Encyclopedia Latina Debut!
Scholastic Library Publishing a division of Scholastic, the global Children’s publishing, education and media company, announced the release of Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture and Society in the United States, the first interdisciplinary reference book to chronicle Latino contributions to art, culture and commerce in the United States. More...

Driving Force
HispanTelligence, reports Hispanics spent nearly $35 billion on automobiles in 2002, making up 8% of the market. Fueled by increased purchasing power, that share could grow to 13% by 2020, according to J.D. Power and Associates estimates. Source: "Driving Force", www.Hispanicbusiness.com, April  2005.

National University Ranks 1st in California in Granting Master's Degrees to Hispanics!
For the sixth consecutive year, National University leads all California colleges and universities in granting master's degrees to Hispanics, according to the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education's annual rankings of "Top Grad Schools & Programs for Hispanics." The private non-profit University also ranks second in the United States in that category. The rankings, which were published on Monday, April 11, also indicate that National University has the third-largest enrollment of Hispanic graduate students in the United States. Hispanic Outlook's rankings were based upon fall 2003 data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for

Educational Statistics, which accounted for a total of 2,229 Hispanic students at the San Diego-based university.

National University More...
U.S. Census Bureau statistics reveal that approximately one-third of all U.S. Hispanics reside in California, where their ranks have grown by 43 percent to more than 11 million people since 1990. With academic centers located in 11 major metropolitan areas throughout California, National University is uniquely qualified to serve some of the state's largest Hispanic communities, with campuses located in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, as well as Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield. National University's innovative evening-based, once-course-per-month format is frequently attributed to placing higher education within reach of a large and diverse population of working adults.

The Real Deal
By Linda Pligas 
Extract:  Hispanic, January/February 2005 Pg. 31 

Discussing homeownership by Hispanics 

 . . . . .  But the culprit, experts say, is not discrimination against Hispanics; it's simply a lack of knowledge and experience. Specifically, a lack of information from trusted sources is a key barrier facing Hispanics from achieving the American Dream of homeownership, according to a new study from the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. Entitled "El Sueno de su Casa:" 

The Homeownership Potential for Mexican-Heritage Families," the report found that a lack of familiarity with the mortgage process was the No. i source of confusion for Latinos. Other factors that contributed to the low homeownership rate includes the inability to save for a down payment and not being able to find a trustworthy advisor, says the report, which was funded by Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages.

Census data reveals that in the U.S., 1 in 7 Residents Is Latino

Latinos now account for one of every seven Americans and will continue to drive overall population growth, posing numerous economic challenges and benefits, according to demographers' analysis Wednesday of preliminary U.S. census estimates.

The article below by Pauline Jelinek was sent by Howard Shorr  
Associated Press Writer,   Jun 9  On the Net: Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/popest
In addition, Viola Sadler vrsadler@aol.com  sent an article published in the L.A. Times http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-census9jun09,0,701776.story
and John Inclan an article published in Galveston  fromGalveston@yahoo.com    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050609/ap_on_re_us/census_hispanics

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hispanics accounted for half the 2.9 million U.S. population growth from 2003 to 2004 and now constitute one-seventh of all people in the United States.

A Census Bureau report issued Thursday said that trend probably will continue because of immigration and a Hispanic birth rate outstripping non-Hispanic blacks and whites.

The agency estimated there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the U.S. The bureau does not ask about legal status so its numbers are intended to include everyone.

The population growth for Asians ran a close second. Increases in both groups are due largely to immigration, but also higher birth rates, said Lewis W. Goodman, an American University expert on U.S.-Latin American relations.

"If we didn't have those elements, we would be moving into a situation like Japan and Europe ... where the populations are graying in a way that is very alarming and endangering their productivity and endangering even their social security systems," he said.

Most immigrants to the U.S. tend to arrive in their 20s, when many people have children. A far greater percentage of whites than Hispanics is 65 or older; the opposite is true of those under 18.

Immigration has become a volatile issue in Congress and border states, as well as in Georgia and other places where there has been a surge in new arrivals. Critics say lax enforcement of immigration laws has allowed millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally, take jobs from legal residents and drain social services.

The Hispanic growth rate for the 12 months starting July 2003 was 3.6 percent compared with the overall population growth of 1 percent. Kochhar says he's not surprised that a new Census Bureau report shows one-seventh of the U-S population is now Hispanic.

The growth rate was 3.4 percent for Asians, 1.7 percent for native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, 1.3 percent for blacks, 1 percent for American Indians and Alaska natives, and 0.8 percent for whites.

That meant that at the beginning of July last year, the population was an estimated 294 million with the following racial and ethnic breakdown: 240 million whites, 39.2 million blacks, 14 million Asians, 4.4 million native Indians and Alaskans, and 980,000 native Hawaiians and other islanders.

The numbers for all races and ethnic groups do not add up to the total because 4.4 million people listed themselves as having more than one race.

The Census Bureau counts "Hispanic" or "Latino" as an ethnicity rather than a race, so Hispanics can be of any race. The population of non-Hispanic whites indicating no other race increased just 0.3 percent in the past year, to 197.8 million.

"Looking toward the future, we see a different face of the U.S. population," said Audrey Singer, an immigration and census specialist at the Brookings Institution. "But I don't think that's necessarily new. It's a confirmation that this hasn't stopped or changed much."

The size of the Hispanic population and, to a lesser extent, the Asian population, rose in nearly every state over the 1990s. Also, the Census Bureau projected last year that whites and minority groups overall would be roughly equal in size by 2050.

"Sometimes this is portrayed as a problem for the United States - that the ethnic composition of the country is changing and that new people are coming to take jobs," said Goodman, dean of American University's School of International Service.

"My view is just the opposite: increased fertility of young people makes the (social) structure one that is more sustaining of economic production and enables older people to be in a culture where their retirements can be financed."

The Census Bureau estimates population change using annual data on births, deaths and international migration

The Orange County Register Sunday June 5, 2005
Picture by Dario Lopez-Mills, The Associated Press

Juarez calls seniors, not police, for help
By Olga R Rodriguez

Grappling with a wave of kidnappings and killings, including the brutal slaying of two children, authorities in the border city of Juarez and recruiting people over to patrol outside elementary schools.

They hope this armed "policia adulto mayor," or elder police force, will gain the trust in a city whose police force is seen as corrupt.

The elders are armed only with a cell phone and a uniform of black paints and shirt with a police logo.

They work in parks outside their neighborhood elementary schools, watching for suspicious activities and alerting police to problems. On weekends, they patrol Ciudad Juarez's three biggest parks.

"What we want is to have police who are close to people and at the same time learn about the problems in each community." Said Gustavo Zabre, director of preventive police for Chihuahua state, where Juarez is located.

Some 300 people applied for the jobs, but only 35 retirees ended up patrolling in Juarez city of 1.3 million across form El Paso, Texas, where crime is as common as police corruption.

PHILADELPHIA, PA --  4 May 2005 - What do Men – especially Men who are Fathers – really want and need?  Why are Men – especially Men who are Fathers – fired up?  How do we and why should we acknowledge a man’s humanity?  Did you know that the international community is engaged in an intense dialogue about Fatherhood?  What’s going on with Men? 

The Author’s PenTM presented by Turn The Page ProductionsTM will feature a one-hour panel discussion and author interview which will answer these questions and give the audience a chance to have their say on Saturday, 4 June 2005 from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. at The Nile Book Store at 6008 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Sent by Diane Sears bsi-international@earthlink.net 

Diane A. Sears  is the author of In Search of Fatherhood® -- Transcending Boundaries, a member of the University Council of Akamai University’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies Program in Hilo, Hawaii, and Managing Editor of a quarterly international male parenting journal – IN SEARCH OF FATHERHOOD® Forum For and About the Fathers of the World (www.bsi-international.com) which facilitates an International Conversation on Fatherhood by providing Men from all Walks of Life with an interactive forum to explore and exchange information, ideas, issues and solutions about issues directly and indirectly related to Fatherhood.

SURNAME GONZALEZ

Extracts:  Hispanic Surnames and Family History by Lyman D. Platt, Ph.D.

Gonzalez is the second most popular Hispanic Surname in Latin American and the United States.

                                                  The History of Surnames, Pg. 27 

Spanish surnames have originated from three basic classifications:1) family names (patronymics), 2) place names, and 3) descriptive names. Nearly every surname has various spellings, and it can be a very difficult task to identify all of them. This is further complicated in the United States where Spanish surnames may become altered to give them an English sound. There is also the possibility that a Spanish surname may have derived from English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, or Portuguese surnames.

"Patronymic" refers to the phenomenon common in the post-Gothic (after 710 A.D.) history of the Iberian Peninsula as surnames were developing, when the az, as, ez, es, iz, is, oz, os, uz, and us endings were placed on given names to indicate that a certain person was the son of another.⁹ Smith says that in Spain "the majority of the names are patronymic"¹⁰ but this is not true. Even though, as was noted above, the Arabs' surname base was patronymic, the majority of surnames originated from place names and descriptive names and are not patronymic. As a general rule, the as, es, is, os, and us endings are more commonly Portuguese endings, whereas the az, ez, iz, oz, and uz endings tend to be attached to Spanish surnames. For example, Martin, son of Rodrigo, might have been known as Martin Rodriguez. Surnames in the beginning of their development were not static. For example, Diego, son of this same Martin Rodriguez, might have been called Diego Martinez, Diego Rodriguez, or even another surname totally unrelated to this patronymic system, but rather based on the illustriousness of the mother's or the grandmother's lineages.

Galvez Patriots

Laredo Parade,  February 19, 2005

During the American Revolution, the Province of Texas under New Spain drove over 11,000 of longhorn cattle over a three year period to Louisiana to support American's fight for independence from the England. The first of many trail drives occurred in August 1779, and consisted of over 1,700 head of Texas longhorns and is the very first trail drive in American history.

TCARA, the Texas Connection to the American Revolution is a non-profit historical association devoted to memorializing that important event in American history and those involved in that heroic effort.

The purposes of this Association are to be patriotic, historical, and educational, and shall include those intended or designed to perpetuate the memory of those patriots who by their service or sacrifices during the war of the American Revolution, achieved the independence of the American people; to unite and promote fellowship among fellow Texans, to inspire them and the community-at-large with a more profound reverence for the principles of the government founded by our forefathers; to encourage historical research in relation to the Texas involvement in the American Revolution; to acquire and preserve the records of the individual services of the patriots of the war, as well as documents, relics, and landmarks; to mark the scenes of the Texas involvement in the American Revolution by appropriate memorials; to celebrate the prominent events of the Texas involvement and the Texas colonial period; to foster true Texas and American patriotism; to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom and to carry out the purposes expressed in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America.  http://www.tcara.net/

Re: July 4^th Parade

Dear Mr. Best:

Thank you for including The Texas Connection to the American Revolution (TCARA) in the National Independence Day Parade on July 4, 2005.

TCARA will provide approximately 15 members dressed in 1776 period uniforms and dress both adult and children.

I would appreciate a very brief pause of about 10 seconds at the reviewing stand to induct a descendant of the very first trail drive in American History into the Sons of The American Revolution of which I am a Past President.

Enclosed is the necessary information requested and release.
Thank you again for inviting TCARA to participate in the National Parade.

LTC Jack V. Cowan
USA (Ret)
President, TCARA

Few Americans view the American Revolution as a part of a world war, but that is exactly on what General George Washington and our Founding Fathers banked all their hopes and prayers. There was little hope for an American victory without the aid of France and Spain, as only a third of the colonist and an inexperienced, undisciplined and ill-equipped band of brothers had virtually no chance of defeating the world’s most powerful army and navy. But before such support would be forthcoming, the colonist would have to prove their strength and resolve. This was done at Saratoga, which most historians believe, was the most important battle in American and perhaps world history. It was this battle that induced France and later, its secret partner, Spain, to openly declare war on England in support of the colonist.

The details of the Battle of Saratoga are best left to military annalist of that period. However, the humiliating defeat of Burgoyne and his British army proved to the world that there was, indeed, a viable revolution verses a manageable rebellion going on in America. It would soon become obvious that it would take more of an army than King George was willing to spare to put it down. To be sure, King George’s decision in this regard, was tempered by his being involved in a world war which included battles in the Mediterranean (Minorca and the Great Siege of Gibraltar, 1783), Indian Ocean, Central and South America, the Bahamas, the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi River and a threaten invasion of England. To say that England was stressed beyond that which its army and navy could handle is a gross understatement.

Background: Going into 1776, Britain dominated the world having defeated the French and Spanish in the Seven Years War or the French and Indian War as it is known in America. France lost Canada along with valuable fishing rights off Newfoundland and all but a few of its world colonies. Spain, who came into that war when it was all but over, lost Minorca, Gibraltar, Jamaica, timber rights in South and Central America, the Bahamas, all of Florida to the Mississippi River and other world colonies. Both France and Spain were financially depressed from the war and could ill-afford to get involved in another tangle.

The New World, however, was viewed not only as a valuable trading partner but also as a balancing world power and Britain had gobbled up everything east of the Mississippi and was threatening to move west and south. France had a powerful land army and was secure from Britain in Europe but did not have a navy capable of dueling with the British.

Spain, on the other hand, still had numerous colonies to defend as well as valuable shipping routes across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. In fact, this shipping route had become the envy of the world due to the gold and silvers mined in Mexico and the lumber harvested in Central and South America. Goods from the Far East were also shipped across the Pacific Ocean to Nicaragua and ferried overland to the Gulf of Mexico and then on to Spain. While France had temporarily allowed Spain to occupy New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory to keep it out of British hands, Britain had lost no time in establishing settlements all along the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. There can be little doubt that this "back door" to the colonies was eyed as a key to controlling the trade to and from the New World and Spanish New Orleans was the only obstacle to that British enterprise.

To say that the Gulf of Mexico was the center of world attention is not a rash statement. Indeed, England had used its "lumber harvesting rights" as an excuse to establish settlements in Spanish Central and South America and was encouraging privateers to plunder Spanish shipping in the Caribbean and thus well on the way to world control.

With this in mind, our Founding Fathers had every hope that the "Bourbon Kings" (France and Spain) would support a new "world balancing" government. Separately, the French and Spanish navies were helpless against England’s numerically stronger ships-of-the line but combined, the naval forces of France and Spain could cause great havoc to the English Navy and open the British blockade of the colonist. Most importantly, however, the growing wealth of Spain was to be the catalyst that kept the revolution afloat, won the battle at York Town and guaranteed American Independence.

There was, of course, another reason Washington and Congress believed the Bourbon Alliance would come to their aid. Upon declaring their independence in 1776, Spain began covertly shipping money, gunpowder, and other supplies to the American warriors via the Mississippi River and Philadelphia. Later both France and Spain would set up a covert, independent company that would ship money and supplies to the Americans via the Atlantic. Further, Washington had developed secret trading arrangements via the Mississippi River through an American, Oliver Pollock, and the Spanish Governor of New Orleans, Bernardo de Galvez.

It is well to reason that France and Spain were not helping America without selfish design. Motivation for self-sacrifice comes in all forms of inducements and surely France and Spain saw America’s struggle against England as one of their own against a world controlled by Britain. The fact that America was attempting to overthrow a King was no easy spoon of revenge for supporting Kings to swallow. As time writes history, France would soon find its own Kingdome without a head.

World politics, like the weather, chance with time. America gains its Independence, France overthrows its King, Bonaparte’s France invades Spain and starts another world war (known in America as the War of 1812), a ruined Spain then loses Mexico, and America and England become the best of pals.

Next: The story of the "South Carolina", The American Revolution’s own privateer and a touch of naval politics.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

We welcome all G. I. Forum members, family and friends to the 2005 National Convention on July 27 – 30, 2005. The Convention will be held at the beautiful Coast Anaheim Hotel in Anaheim, California. For our members and families we are planning the 2005 Convention to be memorable, enjoyable and productive. This includes corporate exhibitors, workshops, prominent speakers, receptions, music, entertainment and a gala awards banquet. If you plan a game of golf don’t forget to sign up for the July 26 tournament at a nearby country club. 

This official National Convention website has all the hotel and Convention information you need. Don’t forget to reserve you hotel room early. Your host G. I. Forum Chapters -Larry Amaya and Rudy Escalante – will make the 2005 Convention as comfortable and pleasurable as possible. 

We’ll see you at the in July at the 2005 National Convention in Anaheim, California.
For a schedule of the agenda, please go to: http://www.agifanaheim2005.com/

Sincerely, Fred R. Rodriguez, Chairman, 2005 National Convention
Tony Gallegos, Honorary Chairman 
Sent by Debbie Salazar 

The publication rankings - based on 2003-04 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education - list colleges and universities by number of bachelor's and master's degrees awarded, as well as by subject areas.

Last year, CSUF was listed in sixth place and was the second highest California State University campus ranked. In 2003, the university was in eighth place.

In specific academic programs, Cal State Fullerton ranks third nationally for the number of undergraduate degrees awarded to Hispanics in communications, public administration, and the visual and performing arts. CSUF is fourth in education; sixth in business and marketing, and protective services; eighth in area studies and home economics; and ninth for mathematics and foreign language degrees awarded to Hispanic students.

In the same edition, Hispanic Outlook ranked Cal State Fullerton 35th in the top 100 for the number of master's degrees earned by Hispanics.

Hispanics account for 25 percent of Cal State Fullerton's 33,413-member student body.

  
Los Angeles' first Spanish-language newspaper, El Clamor Publico, was founded 150 years ago by an 18-year-old printer.

A procession of admirers filed past Antonio Ruiz's deathbed to bid him a tearful farewell. Deputy Marshal William Jenkins had shot Ruiz after the two scuffled over a guitar Jenkins tried to repossess.

After Ruiz died, Mexicans in Los Angeles rioted for more than three days, storming the jail where Jenkins was being housed in a failed attempt to have him lynched. A trial followed, and an all-white jury acquitted Jenkins in 15 minutes. The year was 1856.

The city's English-language newspaper gave the shooting and trial an obligatory nod, while its Spanish-language counterpart, led by an enterprising young printer, Francisco P. Ramirez, chronicled the uprising in meticulous detail.

That's one of the findings of Paul Bryan Gray, a Claremont attorney writing a biography of Ramirez. This week marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of Ramirez's scrappy publication, the city's first Spanish-language newspaper.

El Clamor Publico, or the Public Outcry, debuted June 19, 1855, when Ramirez was just 18. The four-page weekly tabloid went bankrupt after four years, but it continues to provide a "Mexican window" into 19th century Los Angeles, Gray said.

The paper noted, for example, that the guitar Jenkins tried to repossess belonged to Ruiz's common-law wife and was a cherished family heirloom.

In 1855, seven years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the U.S.-Mexican War, California's former Mexican occupants, known as californios, struggled to define themselves as new citizens of the United States. They found a voice with the dawning of the Spanish-language press, said Jose Luis Benavides, a journalism professor at Cal State Northridge.

"The interesting thing about El Clamor Publico was that there was nothing in the English-language newspapers about the life of Latinos at the time," said Benavides, who features the tabloid in his class on Spanish-language news.

The paper initially campaigned for cooperation between whites and Mexicans, Benavides said. Ramirez, who was born in Los Angeles in 1837, was "a real Angeleno in the truest sense."

"He wanted [Mexicans] to participate in his democratic process. He was advocating for them to become enfranchised," said Benavides, while hovering a respectful distance above the newspaper's leather-bound first issue preserved at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

El Clamor Publico also chronicled everyday news, including land transactions, bullfights and noteworthy trials. Ramirez also translated articles from English-language newspapers into Spanish, Gray said.

Before founding El Clamor Publico, Ramirez was a printer and an editor of the Spanish section of the local newspaper, the Los Angeles Star. He struck out on his own after the Star decided to scrap its Spanish section, Gray said.

Ramirez would later complain that the Star insulted Mexicans by unfairly characterizing the "tendencies of our Mexican population toward armed riot, scuffling and robbery."

El Clamor Publico relied on $5 annual subscription rates and advertisements, which sold for $2 for 10 lines. In addition, the paper received state subsidies for publishing local ordinances in Spanish. Ramirez took advantage of the opportunity to educate californios on U.S. history and politics. One Fourth of July, he translated the entire Declaration of Independence, Gray said.

The Jenkins trial provided Ramirez an opportunity to explain the purpose of juries and the U.S. legal system to his readers. He wrote in one editorial, "It is necessary that there be union in this city in order to have security. Let us all work together in the same spirit to carry out the laws."

With virtually no formal education, Ramirez adopted a surprisingly literary flair to his writing, quoting Latin poets and philosophers along with abolitionists of the day, Gray said.

"All the issues relevant to African Americans at the time, he empathized with," said Benavides. Those issues included lynchings and exclusionary laws. "He empathized with their struggle."

In an 1859 editorial titled "The crime of being born black," Ramirez rallied against a local legislator who called for a law prohibiting freed slaves from immigrating to California.

"This is more than shameful, it's dishonorable. How could blacks avoid being born under the limits of the great Republic, a model of excellence?" Ramirez wrote. "Is it fair that they are punished for committing the crime of not being born white? Is this civilization? Is this Christianity?"

In 1856 he wrote about a series of lynchings of Mexicans by white mobs:

"Oh, fatalidad! Only Mexicans are the victims of the people's insane fury! Mexicans alone have been sacrificed on gallows, raised to launch their poor souls into eternity…. Is this the liberty and equality of the country we have adopted?"

In all, about 80 Mexicans, Chileans, Peruvians, native Americans and blacks were lynched in California during the years the paper was in print, said Rodolfo F. Acuña, founder of the Chicano studies department at Cal State Northridge.

"Racism was even more virulent than it is today. Mexicans couldn't be on juries, they couldn't testify in court," he said. "The paper recorded it all."

Ramirez also used the newspaper as a tool for his political ambitions, advocating his own candidacy to the state Assembly in 1859. Within months of losing the election, his second failed bid for office, he sold the printing press.

Ramirez died at age 71 in 1908 in Ensenada. All but about nine months of his newspaper survived.

The final issue of El Clamor Publico, on Dec. 31, 1859, contained a bitter editorial by Ramirez that attacked the Mexicans who had not supported him, Gray said.

Although he viewed his newspaper as a champion of the californios, Ramirez placed part of the blame for their plight squarely on their shoulders, Benavides said. In a city of shifting ethnicity, racial tension festered, and few, if any, Mexicans dared to vote. Still, Ramirez lambasted them for their timidity.

"And you, imbecile californios! You are to blame for the lamentations that we are witnessing," wrote Ramirez in 1858. "We are tired of saying: Open your eyes, and it is time that we demand our rights and interests."

Shroud of Silence 
The Los Angeles Black Plague-Cover-up
By Frank Feldingei  April 2005, 6x9  290 Pages 

"'Frank Feldinger is a throwback to the old sty/e of investigative reporter who researches a story until he knows every detail from every angle. And he's got a great story here."- Michael Harris

Dramatic true story of the last outbreak of bubonic plague in North America; this is the first expose of the cover-tip of the Los Angeles Black Plague outbreak of 1934.

Local government discovered the outbreak in haws, and ordered a hard quarantine to suppress it. Fire hoses cordoned off several blocks of Hispanic citizens and World War I Army vets patrolled the perimeter, condemning the healthy people inside the quarantine area to exposure….and death Los Angeles city fathers, real estate developers and the backers of the newly-built San Pedro harbor successfully pressured the newspapers to downplay the disease and the deaths. Few people 'knew about the outbreak when it happened; and almost no one found out abou it, until now.

Frank Feldingar is a TV news producer and investigative journalist based in LA. He won several awards, including the AABP and Maggie for his investigative work. His byline has appeared in .Fortune, spy, California Business and The National Enquire.

For More information contact:
Allen Adrian
Sundance Books 
Phone: 209-956-1811

Sent by Lorraine Hermandez   Lmherdz@msn.com
Posted by Dick Eastman on May 04, 2005 |

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2004 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

Index to LA County Burial Permits 1870-1892 Online

The Southern California Genealogical Society has recently added searchable databases to its redesigned website. The data is free and available to all.

One important database lists Los Angeles County Burial Permits from 1870 to 1892, which documents deaths that occurred long before the state required that death records be maintained.  Data was extracted by Southern California Genealogical Society and Family Research Library volunteers from burial permits on file at the Los Angeles County Vital Records Department, now located in Norwalk, California.

The permits cover the years 1870 through 1892 for persons who died in Los Angeles County. They were signed by Catholic priests, ministers, doctors, pastors, medical attendants, health officers or Justices of the Peace of Los Angeles County who took the information about the deceased or were in attendance when the person died.

Those listed here may not be all the permits prepared during this period of time. Some of the records were hard to read because of the handwriting and faded ink.

I took a look at this new database and found it simple to use. You do not search this site like most databases. Instead, the data is stored as one big web page and has 26 bookmarks, one for every letter of the alphabet. I clicked on "F" and all the entries for last names beginning with that letter soon appeared. Here is a typical entry that I will use as an example:

Most of the data is self-explanatory. One exception is the abbreviation of "NHDVS" but a quick visit to the site's list of abbreviation shows that it stands for "National Health Department of Veteran Services." From that we can surmise that Michael Farrel was a veteran and was born about 1839 (since he was 52 years old at his time of death in 1891.). That means that he probably was a veteran of the U.S. Civil War.

In short, this data is extracted from original source documents and is easy to use. The Southern California Genealogical Society is offering a great resource of interest to anyone tracing ancestors in Los Angeles County. You can access the to LA County Burial Permits 1870-1892 at http://www.scgsgenealogy.com

State of California: Los Angeles County Cemeteries 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/california/losangeles.html
Sent by Johanna De Soto

This website appears to be a very complete collection of cemeteries in the Los Angeles County. I would assume that the same kind of project is underway for the whole state. The California Tombstone Project State Manager
Peggy Hooper, ask that those wishing to register a cemetery, send her a message giving the name of the cemetery, the county and state where the cemetery is located and the names of the people who will be doing the transcribing. If you already have transcribed cemetery data and would like for your work to become part of this project, just let me know.

A Cemetery Registration form is online, the cemetery name, town and county name can be entered on the subject line. Photo Submissions help page. Cemetery Transcriptions help page 

Some cemeteries may be repeated in the various lists, some names have since been changed, some cemeteries are know by more than one name. I offer these lists to aid in your research. 

by Ellen Calomiris

The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers didn't always follow their current courses.

When Manuel Nieto's land grant was first mapped and recorded, the San Gabriel River designated the western boundary, and his property encompassed an extensive coastal plain dotted with marshes, lakes and shallow ponds. This coastal plain was an area rich in plant and animal life including willows, cottonwoods and marsh vegetation, and deer, foxes, coyotes and many varieties of waterfowl. Today, the Los Angeles River runs through the San Gabriel River channel and the San Gabriel River lies east, near the 605 Freeway. Before the rivers were "cemented in," heavy rains frequently caused them to flood and explore new routes.

Before the rains of 1824-25, the Los Angeles River ran below a high bluff between the present Main and Los Angeles Streets in downtown Los Angeles, turning westward on its meandering way to the "cienegas," the great marshlands that lay between the Bddwin and the Beverly Hills; the river entered the ocean just north of Playa del Rey. Flooding that winter caused the Los Angeles River to divert south and eastward to join the San Gabriel River north of present day Long Beach and flow into San Pedro Bay. The two rivers used the same channel into San Pedro Bay for many years. During the "great flood" of 1861-62, when the rain fell steadily for 30 days and registered at nearly 50 inches, the San Gabriel overflowed its banks and formed a secondary channel to the west of El Monte. The entire area from Los Angeles to the ocean, as far south as San Pedro, became a great lake. Adobe houses crumbled, vineyards were buried, and at least four people died. It was during this time that many ranchers, including John Temple, experienced the loss of thousands of cattle from drowning.

The next major flood, in 1867-68, caused the San Gabriel River to break out of its main channel, cut into this new channel south from Whittier Narrows and along an irrigation ditch, and discharge into Alamitos Bay. It became known as "New River." In the process, the last seven miles of the old

San Gabriel Channel gradually assumed the name of the Los Angeles River.

Subsequent floods in the 1 880s and 191 Os prompted Los Angeles County to think seriously about flood control. The public called for creation of a flood control district, bonds were passed, and the first stage of work was begun after World War I. During the 1930s, WPA projects addressed additional flood control measures. Then in 1938, after four steady days of heavy rain, the 5th largest flood in the history of the area occurred. 1 13 lives were lost and damages were estimated at $40 million, demonstrating the need for even greater controls. Finally, the Army Corps of Engineers began channelizing the Los Angeles River, applying 3,000,000 barrels of concrete by hand, and the Sepulveda Flood Basin and dam were built to catch excess water before it jumped into the channel down stream. The river was transformed, straightened and confined between levees and concrete walls. While the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers no longer change course or overflow in heavy storms, the lush vegetation and wildlife is long gone, and the rivers are faint reminders of what they used to be.

CALIFORNIA

[[ Editor: Below is the information concerning History Day for 2004-2005.  The national winners are honored in Washington, D.C.. This information is shared to start preparing for 2005-2006.  Lourdes Morales, Program Manager for the California Constitutional Rights Foundation, said the theme for 2005-2006 is TAKING A STAND IN HISTORY.  Full information will be coming out in the fall.  I hope that all of you that are associated with schools will promote student involvement. 

One strategy to support Hispanic involvement in History Day is to give a cash award for a project focused on a Hispanic topic.  That can be done on a county level or state level. On a local level or county level, the awards could be $25. or $50. dollars.  

The California Constitutional Rights Foundation distributes an award for $100, but sometimes it might be more.  Lourdes Morales, Director said that this year a person wanted to contribute additional money for their award and the award was $500. ]]


California Historian
Volume1 Number 1 Fall 2004, Pg. 2

"Making beautiful history together"

We stole that line from The History Channel. We trust they will forgive us but has there ever been a more inspiring banner for historians to rally under! Our historical societies are encouraged to reach out to our young people.

The year 2005 is the 25th anniversary of National History Day — 1980-2005. During this quarter century what has your group done for youth — for the students who are your future and will carry on when you are gone?

As a starter the National History Day office is leading a program of activities for winners during these 25 years. Did you have winners in your area? Find them and feature them.

To leam more about these activities, go to the website, www.nationalhistoryday.org and click on "Students & Alumni" then "Alumni Sign-In."

Now to current events. The theme for students in 2005 is Communication in History: the Key to Understanding.

Annual History Day is a year-long program that fosters academic achievements and teaches students to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to help them use information now — and in the future.

You can help your young people. As finders and keepers of local history, go to your area schools and tell administrators and teachers about this program. Offer your resources, offer research training, pull in professionals to volunteer their expertise, give awards and make students an important part of your society's activities.

History Day starts in local schools at the beginning of each school year. Competitions are held in February at the school level, in March at the county level, in May at the state level and in June at the national level.

Your personal action is needed NOW to draw students into working on 2005's "beautiful history" competition.  

For information and materials, contact:  
California History Day

Lourdes Morales, Program Manager
Constitutional Rights Foundation
601 South Kingsley Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Phone:(213)316-2125 E-mail: lourdes@crf-usa.org Website: http://www.crf-usa.org

 

Descendants of Early California Lugo families
honor their ancestor at graveside gathering.

Spanish Explorers claimed California in the 1500s but it wasn't until 1769 that King Carlos III of Spain mandated colonization. Father Junipero Serra then began to establish missions, which functioned as the center of activities from San Diego upward, between 1769 and 1823. The Native Americans in this area traversed this valley in search of food. Because of their proximity to the San
 Gabriel Mission, (est.1771), they were called The Gabrielinos.

In 1781, a nearby settlement began as "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles". Early families that settled in La Ballona Valley came on different expeditions. Francisco Salvador Lugo, for example, came on Rivera's 1774 trip from Sinaloa, Mexico, and was one of the soldiers present at the founding of the pueblo of Los Angeles in 1781. He and his descendents served in different places before they arrived in this valley. Another soldado, José Manuel Machado and his wife, Maria, traveled from Sinaloa, Mexico on the Rivera expedition of 1781. Machado continued to serve as a soldier in different locations until he retired to the pueblo of Los Angeles in 1797. Jose Machado's death in 1810 forced the sons to provide for the family's future. Agustín and his brother Ygnacio Machado, after unsuccessful attempts to acquire land near the pueblo, decided to settle in this valley and raise cattle on Rancho La Ballona which they established in 1819 with two partners, Felipe Talamantes and his son Tomás. Landgrants became confused under Spanish and Mexican rule, and eventually California won independence, becoming our 31st state in 1850. Culver City was formed from portions of the 14,000 acre Rancho La Ballona (Machado/Talamantes property) and Rincón de Los Bueyes (Higuera/Lopez property).

It was Harry H. Culver, from Milford, Nebraska, who dreamed of a balanced city. He started plans for the city that carries his name in 1913, and it became an incorporated entity in 1917. He established the city in a temperate zone, along a transportation route, alongside railroad tracks, halfway between the growing pueblo of Los Angeles and Abbot Kinney's resort of Venice. Culver City began to do the business of developing itself, as a 1.2 square mile area, centered about our little Main Street. In the early days of the city, the trustees concentrated on the actions necessary to form the city. City tracts and streets were named and paved, a numbering system was adopted, and employees hired to take care of the business of the city. The Fire and Police Departments were established. The economic balance had begun, with the studios forming the early economic base. Industry came in the form of Western Stove in 1922, then the Helms Bakeries in 1930, and then the Hayden Industrial Tract was established in the 1940s. Prohibition spawned a plethora of night spots and bootlegging in the 1920s and 1930s, with World War II stalling growth in the 1940s. Car Dealerships replaced the night spots on Washington Boulevard in the 1950s.

Over the years, more than forty annexations increased city size to about five square miles. Culver City transitioned from a general law city to a charter city in 1947. In addition to city government, schools became a part of the community, and by 1949, Culver City had its own Unified School District, meaning that education was available through secondary school. The five-member Board of Education governs Culver City's public schools just as the five member elected City Council governs the city. Other elected city officials include the City Clerk and City Treasurer. By 1971, the City Council became aware of the need for redevelopment, and formed the Culver City Redevelopment Agency. The first major project accomplished under the Agency was the Fox Hills Mall, which opened in 1975. Redevelopment is ongoing. By the year 2000, the city had quadrupled in size and became a community of nearly 40,000 residents.

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE CALIFORNIOS : 
THE END OF CHICANO REPRESENTATION

By John P. Schmal

In California, the Mexican-American War ended with the Treaty of Cahuenga, signed on January 13, 1847. A year later, on February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo forced Mexico to hand over to the United States 525,000 square miles of landing, including all of present-day California.

Of the treaty’s twenty-three articles, four defined the rights of Mexican citizens and Indian people in the territories. Californians were given the freedom to live in ceded territories as either American or Mexican citizens. The new American citizens would be entitled to "the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the principles of the constitutions."

A year later, forty-eight delegates met in Monterey to put together the first California Constitution. For six weeks from September to November 1849 the Constitutional Convention created a constitution that would guarantee rights to all citizens living within California’s borders.

Article XI, Section 21 of California’s 1849 Constitution reflected the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo’s guarantee, declaring, "All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions… shall be published in English and Spanish." Article II, "Right of Suffrage," Section 1, stated that "Every white male citizen of the United States, and every white male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States, under the treaty of peace… who shall have been a resident of the State six months next preceding the election… shall be entitled to vote at all elections..." Eight Californios – six of them Mexican Californians – represented Hispanic interests at the Convention. They were as follows:

1. Antonio M. Pico from San Jose
2. Jacinto Rodriguez from Monterey
3. Pablo de la Guerra from Santa Barbara
4. M.G. Vallejo from Sonora
5. José Antonio Carrillo from Los Angeles
6. Manuel Dominguez from Los Angeles
7. Miguel de Pedrorena – a native of Spain – representing San Diego.
8. José M. Covarrubias – a native of France and a naturalized citizen of Mexico – representing Santa Barbara.

The sad reality of this bilingual convention is that the gradual disenfranchisement of the Chicano population was already beginning. During the next three decades, several prominent land-owning Californio families of Spanish and Mexican origin shared the reigns of power with the foreigners who were arriving in their territory in ever-greater numbers. A steady stream of American, English and French immigrants started moving into various sections of the state where their increasing numbers would eventually give them political clout in their respective communities.

The First California Constitutional Legislature, which commenced on December 15, 1849 in San Jose, was a harbinger of what was to come. This landmark event was attended by nineteen delegates who came from the northern states of the U.S. Another ten representatives hailed from the southern states, but only two men with ties to Old California were involved in the Assembly. The first legislative session lasted four months and adjourned on April 22, 1850. Less than half a year later, on September 9, 1850, California would be admitted as the thirty-first American state.

One of two Californio delegates at the first Convention was Jose M. Covarrubias, who was recognized far and wide as a Californio landowner from the Santa Barbara area even though he was born in France. Well respected by his political peers, Señor Covarrubias would represent his Santa Barbara District in the California State Assembly off and on between 1849 and 1862 and hold other important offices in the County.

The first session of the California Legislature after statehood commenced on January 6, 1851 and lasted until May 1, 1851. One of the delegates representing Los Angeles for the Whig Party was a well-known Californian named Andres Pico. Andres – the brother of the last Mexican Governor, Pio Pico – was the Mexican military officer who had fought the American forces under his commander, General Jose Maria Flores. In the early days of 1847, General Flores, recognizing that he was losing control of the situation, turned over command of his forces to his deputy, Andres Pico, and fled south to unoccupied Mexican territory.

On January 13, 1847, Andres, seeing his own situation as untenable, met with Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Fremont, the commander of the American forces who was occupying the San Fernando Mission. On this date, Fremont and Andres Pico, Commander-in-Chief of the remaining Mexican forces in California, signed the Treaty of Cahuenga in the San Fernando Valley.

Andres Pico became the first Californio to be elected to the Assembly as the representative of District 2 (Los Angeles) in the 2nd (1851) and 3rd (1853) legislative sessions. He changed his party affiliation to Democrat and was elected to the Assembly from District 2 once again for the 9th (1858) and 10th (1859) legislative sessions.

For the first three decades after statehood, educated and well-bred Chicanos in various parts of the state were able to run for office and represent their districts in the State Assembly. Pedro C. Carrillo of Santa Barbara served as a delegate from the 2nd District in 1854-55. Manuel A. Castro served as a delegate from the 2nd District (San Luis Obispo) in 1856-57 and from the 6th District (Monterey) in 1863. Esteban Castro from Monterey served in the State Assembly as a delegate to the 3rd District (1857-58) and the 6th District (1863-65).

For almost two decades, Chicanos were able to wield power on a local level in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Twenty-two persons with Spanish surnames served on the Los Angeles Common Council – now known as the City Council – between 1850 and 1886. Some of these councilman included well-known members of Californio society: Manuel Requena (served 1850-54, 1856, 1864-68), Julian Chavez (1850, 1865-66, 1871-72), Cristobal Aguilar (1850, 1855-56, 1858-59, 1861-62), Pio Pico (1853), and Eulogio de Celiz (1873-75).

One of the most recognized Chicano politicians of Los Angeles during these years was Antonio Franco Coronel who would serve as a member of the Los Angeles Common Council for several years between 1854 and 1867, as State Treasurer from 1867 to 1871, and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1853 to 1854.

But the position of Mayor itself soon became the domain of the Americans. Between 1848 and 1872, 13 men served as Mayor of Los Angeles, but only three of these mayors were of Hispanic descent and heritage. After Cristobal Aguilar’s term in office ended in 1872, no Chicano would hold the title of Mayor of Los Angeles for 133 years (until the election of Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005).

For more than two decades, Santa Barbara also remained a stronghold of Chicano representation. Joaquin Carrillo served as Santa Barbara County Judge from 1851 to 1853, a position later held by José María Covarrubias (1861-1863).

Raymundo Carrillo was elected as the first known Public Administrator for Santa Barbara in 1852 and served in that capacity until 1855. Joaquin de la Guerra was elected as Santa Barbara County Sheriff in 1857 and served for two years. Thompson and West’s "History of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties" gives very detailed information on Santa Barbara’s early elections and, as such, illustrates the gradual elimination of Chicano candidates from the general elections during the 1860s and 1870s. After the 1873 elections, Chicano representation in Santa Barbara was effectively ended.

Several native Californians also held important positions in the judicial sector of California’s local government. Ygnacio Sepulveda of Los Angeles who served in the California State Assembly in 1863-65 as the representative of the 2nd District went on to become a Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial District (one of the first two Superior Court Justices in Los Angeles County).

The Mexican-American Pacheco family of California produced two notable figures who held office in Sacramento. Mariano G. Pacheco served as a representative of California’s 3rd District (San Luis Obispo) from 1852 to 1854. But it is Mariano’s brother who stands out as the most spectacular Chicano legislator during California’s Nineteenth Century. Born in Santa Barbara in 1831, Romualdo Pacheco was a proud Californian who also had roots in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Señor Pacheco originally served as Superior Court Judge in San Luis Obispo from 1853-1857. Romualdo moved on to serve in the State Assembly in 1853-55 and 1868-70. In 1857, he first started serving in the California State Senate and he continued to serve intermittently, also in 1861-63 and 1869-70.

But Romualdo Pacheco’s best days were ahead of him. Governor Leland Stanford appointed him as a brigadier general in command of the First Brigade of California’s Native Cavalry during the American Civil War. During the Republican State Convention of 1863, Governor Stanford nominated Pacheco for the position of state treasurer. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Romualdo Pacheco was a popular politician who got along well with both Californians and Anglos-Americans.

In June 1871 Pacheco received the Republican Party nomination for Lieutenant Governor of California. In 1875, when Governor Newton Booth was elected to the U.S. Senate, Pacheco became the Governor of California. His stay in the Governor’s office was relatively short and, in November 1876, Romualdo ran for and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve in the Forty-fifth Congress (1877-1878), winning by a margin of one vote. He later served in the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879 to March 3, 1883).

During the 1860’s and 1870’s, the gradual erosion of Mexican-American’s rights became more pronounced. The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States had promised "the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

However, California delegates to the 1869 Democratic state convention rejected the 15^th Amendment to the Constitution, stating that "if adopted," the Amendment would "degrade the right of suffrage" and bring "untold hordes of Pagan slaves… into direct competition with [the White man’s] efforts to earn a livelihood." Although the wrath of these politicians was primarily directed at Chinese and African Americans living in California, there was little doubt that Mexicans and Eastern Europeans could easily be included in their definition of undesirable people.

A further erosion of Chicano rights actually became embedded in the law with the adoption of the 1879 California Constitution. The revised Constitution officially rescinded the linguistic protective provisions of the 1849 Constitution, providing that "no person who shall not be able to read the Constitution in the English language and write his or her name, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this State." With one fell swoop, the guarantee of bilingual publication of laws was revoked and no documents relating to elections were thereafter published in Spanish.

Then, in 1891, Assemblyman A. J. Bledsoe introduced an English literacy requirement as a proposed constitutional amendment in the State Assembly. Bledsoe had earlier belonged to the vigilante Committee of Fifteen that had expelled every person of Chinese ancestry from Humboldt. In his introduction, he lamented "the increased immigration of the illiterate and unassimilated elements of Europe" and stated "that every agency should be invoked to preserve our public lands from alien grasp… and to protect the purity of the ballot-box from the corrupting influences of the disturbing elements ... from abroad."

Although the Assembly voted down the proposal on January 21, 1891, a flood of petitions from the public favoring the literacy requirement flooded Sacramento. With such overwhelming support from their constituents, the Legislature hastily adopted Bledsoe’s proposal as a constitutional amendment subject to ratification at the next general election. In 1894, the people of California voted to approve the English literacy requirement, which henceforth before part of Article II, Section 1.

The anti-immigrant attitude – directed at Asians, Mexicans and Eastern Europeans – prevailed well into the Twentieth Century to the point that it was even written into the California election laws. Section 5567 of the California Elections Code, as adopted in 1941, required that elections be conducted in the English language and prohibited election officials from speaking any language other than English while on duty at the polling stations.

Such actions violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, therefore, were unconstitutional. But the literacy law remained on the books in California until it was challenged in the California courts many decades later.

Between 1870 and 1963, only one Hispanic politician was sent to Sacramento to represent his district. Miguel Estudillo was born in San Bernardino in 1870 as the son of a prominent California family that had produced several political figures in the San Diego area both before and after 1848. A graduate of Santa Clara College, Mr. Estudillo became County Clerk in San Diego County in 1890, before moving to Riverside, where he was appointed as Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. After studying law, Mr. Estudillo became a prominent attorney in the Riverside area.

On November 8, 1904, Mr. Estudillo was elected to the California State Assembly from the 78^th District and was reelected two years later.

On November 3, 1908, he was elected State Senator of the 39^th District, serving his Riverside and Orange County constituency until January 1, 1913. Senator Estudillo would be the last Latino to serve in the State Legislature until the election of Philip Soto and John Moreno in 1962.

An important factor in the resurgence of Chicano power during the latter half of the Twentieth Century would be the coming of World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican-American Californians served in the U.S. military, many receiving numerous decorations for their service. These proud veterans returned to their native land, but still experienced various forms of discrimination and prejudice. But, for the first time in a long time, one piece of legislation presented Chicano veterans with an opportunity for advancement in California.

The G.I. Bill Act of June 22, 1944 – or the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act put higher education within the reach of thousands of Mexican-American veterans. The Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952 provided similar privileges to Korean War veterans. Over the next decade, Mexican-American veterans attended local and nationwide colleges and universities to obtain college degrees. In many cases, these vets were the first members of their families to receive a higher education. Armed with the weapon of education, many of these Chicano veterans became the politicians of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. By the dawn of the Twenty-First Century, Latinos represented a quarter of the representatives serving in the California Legislature.

Suggested Readings:

"History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties, California, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers" (Berkeley, California: Howell-North, 1961).

Holmes, Elmer Wallace. "History of Riverside County, California, With Biographical Sketches" (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1912).

Library of Congress: "Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822-1995: List in Chronological Order." http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/congress/chron.html

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and William C. Velasquez Institute. "California Congressional Redistricting Plan" (Submitted July 17, 2001, Los Angeles). Online: http://www.maldef.org/publications/pdf/Congressional_Plan_Supplement.pdf

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

  Los Californianos July  22-24 Meeting  
Sent by Benita Gray  GRAY850@aol.com
 
Mission Hills Inn
10621 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, CA 91345    
Telephone: 818-891-1771

Make reservations direct with the Inn deadline: July 1, 2005
PROGRAM
Friday, July 22
    3 - 6 p.m.            Registration                                      Lobby
    3 - 9 p.m.            Hospitality                                        Room 163
    3 - 8 p.m.            Traveling Genealogy Library        Granada 4 - across parking lot
Saturday, July 23
    8 a.m. - 5 p.m.    Traveling Genealogy Library        Granada 4 - across parking lot
    9 a.m. - noon      Board Meeting                                  Room 163
    10 a.m. - noon    Registration                                       Lobby
    noon - 5 p.m.      Registration/Hospitality                     Room 163
    1 p.m.                 Tour of Museum of American West (Autry Museum)
                               Meet in hotel lobby for car pool
    6:30 p.m.             No Host Bar & Dinner                    Granada 1/2/3 
                               Speaker: Dr. Louise Pubols, Historian at Museum of American West
Sunday, July 24
    10 a.m.                Brunch                                                Granada 1/2/3
                                Report of the President
                                Speaker - Ken & Carol Pauley - slide presentation on their book
                                The Making of San Fernando, Rey de España: An Illustrated History
                                Opportunity Drawing -- please bring contributions
                                (white elephants, wine, food, books, crafts, plants, etc.)
Reservation Fees
deadline: July 1, 2005
Please include names, number for each activity, and for name tags -- status (member /guest) & relationships of guests.Make checks to Jane Cowgill and mail to
               4520 Van Dyke Ave.
               San Diego, CA 92116 
Registration $3 per person (age 18 or over) Must register if over 18 and participating in any activity or meal Western Heritage Museum Tour $4.25 per person Saturday dinner -- Mexican Buffet -- Casual $25 per person Sunday Brunch Buffet $22 per person  Hosts: Jane Cowgill and JoAn and Jack Guthrie Questions ?????
Guthries: j.guthrie@worldnet.att.net or 619-582-3664
Jane Cowgill: jane.cowgill@cox.net or 619-281-9222

El Rancho Moraga Newsletter Feb/Mar 2005

Blue Book of California
reprint from California Blue Book 1909
State Printing Office, Sacramento. CA
W. W. Shannon, Superintendent of State Printing
researched by Les Krames

At the time when the question of designing the great seal for the new State was being agitated in the Constitutional Convention which met in Monterey in 1849, there happened to be sojourning temporarily in that little town an accomplished and cultivated officer of the United States Army, Major Robert Selden Garnett. He was a gentleman of modest demeanor, and excelled in the use of his pencil. One evening he sketched a design for a seal of the State, and it was exhibited to various members of the Convention. One of the delegates asked leave to present it to the body, but the quiet Major declined, upon the ground that he believed that knowledge of the source whence it had come would prevent its adoption. There existed at that time quite a hostility between the military authorities and the nascent civil powers, and there was an especial distrust of the secret mission of Thomas Butler King, with which Gamett was understood to be connected. Caleb Lyon, one of the clerks of the convention, learned of the design, and readily obtained the consent of Garnett to appropriate it and present it as his own production. As the design came from the hands of its author, it was chaste and beautiful, and somewhat different from the present seal. It represented the figure of Minerva, with the Golden Gate, and a ship in full sail in the foreground, and the Sierra Nevada range in the background, with the word "Eureka" above. The design was referred to a committee, and on September 29, 1849, the report of the committee was considered by the Convention. W. E. Shannon deemed the design a most happy one, but more appropriate for a coat of arms than for a seal. He said that it was unusual for a seal to contain a motto, and that it ordinarily comprehended the main emblems, and the words "Great Seal of the State." An explanation accompanying the design was entered in the Journal, as follows:

Around the bend of the ring are represented thirty-one stars, being the number of States of which the Union will consist upon the admission of California. The foreground figure represents the Goddess Minerva, having sprung full grown from the brain of Jupiter. She is introduced as a type of the political birth of the State of California, without having gone through the probation of a territory. At her feet crouches a grizzly bear feeding upon the clusters from a grapevine, emblematic of the peculiar characteristics of the country. A miner is engaged with his rocker and bowl at his side, illustrating the golden wealth of the Sacramento, upon whose waters are seen shipping, typical of commercial greatness; and the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada make up the background, while above is the Greek motto "Eureka" (I have found it), applying either to the principle involved in the admission of the State, or the success of the miner at work.

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

The Huarte de Jauregui Spanish Civil War Archive in Reno

By Jose Luis De La Granja

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

INDEX TO HISTORIC UTAH DEATH CERTIFICATES ONLINE
Sent by Lorraine Hernandez Lmherdz@hotmail.com

A computer index to hundreds of thousands of historic Utah death certificates is now available online, greatly improving access to one of the most valuable resources to family historians.
The electronic index facilitates searching for death certificates
issued by the Bureau of Vital Records between 1905 and 1954. The computer search engine is available via the Utah History Research Center web site,

http://historyresearch.utah.gov/indexes/20842.htm

Because of their genealogical significance, death records are
among the most useful records to family historians. Since the historic death certificates became available at the Utah State Archives in 1998, they have become one of the most heavily used records in the Archives collection.

Prior to going online last month the computerized index to Utah death certificates was available only in the Utah History Research Center, located in the remodeled south wing of the historic Rio Grande Depot. Using information from the index, researchers may obtain reader printer copies from microfilm of Utah death certificates issued more than 50 years ago. Self-service copies are 25 cents each. Patrons may also order copies by mail, e-mail, or telephone. The cost is 50 cents per page, plus mailing. (Costs are outlined at http://historyresearch.utah.gov/services/costs.htm


In 1905, the Utah Board of Health assumed responsibility for creating death certificates for all individuals who died in Utah. In 1998, HB84 permitted Utah death certificates to become available to the public "if 50 years or more have passed since the date of death."  

For additional information contact: Glen Fairclough at (801) 531-3841

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Brother and sister reunited  after 30 years
The Rubi-Lopez Family Genealogy
New Mexico DNA Project  
Latino Underwater Robot
Captain Lugardo G. Lozano Memorial
The Huarte de Jauregui Spanish Civil War Archive in Reno
Leather Men
Colorado Coalfield Massacre
Spanish-Language Newspapers in New Mexico, 1834-1958
Border Conference, 2006
Sacred Hoops: The Story of Basketball in the Barrio 

Brother and sister reunited  after 30 years

Sent by Carlos Ray Gonzalez
(Ray is the 12 year old buying WWII War stamps, under U.S. file.)
clearwaterr@earthlink.net

Using incredible innovation and cheap materials, 16year-old Cristian Arcega, Lorenzo Santillan, 16, Luis Aranda, 18, and 17 year-old Oscar Vazquez decided to enter the third annual Marine Advanced Technology Education Center's Remotely Operated Vehicle Competition. The four Hispanic high-school students from Phoenix, Arizona were able to build an underwater robot successfully and control it to perform seven different tasks underwater. The foursome was up against teams from all over the country including the revered MIT team of 12-six ocean-engineering students, four mechanical engineers, and two computer science majors. The Carl Hayden Community High School Falcon Robotics Club, as they called themselves, won third place in the the underwater tasks, then went on to pick up a judge's special prize, Design Elegance, Technical Report and the Overall Winner Prize.

Captain Lugardo G. Lozano Memorial
Sent by Robert Silas Griffin  griffinrs@hotmail.com
4/28/2005

Greetings;
April 28, 2005

The students of the CAS History Club along with the administration and staff of Center for Academic Success High School in Douglas, Arizona hereby extend a cordial invitation to you to attend a headstone dedication and memorial ceremony for Captain Lugardo G. Lozano (1847 – 1922) a veteran of the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, and of the war against the French Intervention in Mexico. The commemoration of this event is internationally known as the Cinco de Mayo. Captain Lugardo G. Lozano retired from 35-years in the military service of Mexico and resided in Douglas five years until his passing on May 31, 1922.

 The memorial ceremony will begin at 12:00 noon on Thursday, May 5, 2005, in Section K of Calvary Cemetery at 1501 -5th Street in Douglas, Arizona. Catered refreshments on site will follow the dedication ceremony. Please contact Instructor- Silas Griffin at the Douglas Campus of the Center for Academic Success High School for any additional information concerning this cultural and historical event. 

Yours sincerely,

Robert Silas Griffin  
Instructor of History and the US Constitution
Douglas Campus – CAS High School 
510 G Avenue
sgriffin@cpic-cas.org

Program for the Captain Lugardo G. Lozano Memorial Thursday, May 5, 2005, 12:00 Noon, Section K, Calvary Cemetery, Douglas, AZ Master of Ceremony to open the memorial ceremony with a formal greeting to the public and a review of attending Lozano family members, dignitaries, officials and music group. Master of ceremony to introduce the remaining elements of the ceremony. (decision pending for Howard Henderson as MC on 4/28 or 29/’05) All in attendance stand, uncover heads, and come to attention for the entrance march of Douglas Fire Dept. color guard with the Stars and Stripes to position followed by USA Pledge. Agua Prieta school color guard  march to position with the Mexican flag followed by MX Pledge/Himno, CAS Senior Student Color Guard enters with AZ state flag, and final posting of flags. 

Invocation by: Marine Corps veteran &former Chaplain of the American Legion SE AZ District- George Reyes. Comments by: Teacher/Historian/Writer- Silas Griffin. Possible comment by Historian / Writer- Cindy Hayostek. Music by La Union during the unveiling of headstone by: Agua Prieta Mayor- David Figueroa and Silas Griffin. Lighting of candles by veteran- Anthony Paez. Keynote speech by: Cronista de Agua Prieta- Sr. Juan V. Rivera. Music by La Union during the placing of two memorial wreaths at graveside. (US wreath by Paul Newman and CAS- History Club Pres. Jhaimy Gonzalez) & (MX wreath by A.P. Mayor- David Figueroa and Cinco de Mayo student) Agua Prieta Mayor- David Figueroa to have opportunity to make comments. Music by La Union as CAS-Middle School- Student Council places fresh flowers in two vases. Moment of silence followed by: Amazing Grace on Scottish bagpipes- (CD) 

Benediction &dismissal by: Mr. Floyd Segar- Vietnam Veteran Music by La Union / Refreshments at nearby tables at one side of the circle. Let no soldier go unloved, Let no soldier walk alone, Let no soldier be forgotten! (anon.) "A MAN IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN," AND SOME OF US WILL NEVER FORGET! Program compiled by Silas Griffin and Sr. Juan V. Rivera March &April ‘05

http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/caldronspain/CONFEDERATE.htm


Dear Robert: 

Congratulations on making history alive. I am sure that your students will never forget the experience. I just got onto a website which included your speech.

I will be including most of the information that you sent.  It will be included under the Southwest file.

I would like to do a follow-up article in June. Could you send some photos, and maybe some quotes from your students. We could augment with information that is available online. I was touched by your reason for selecting Lugardo Lozano. .

Maybe it will inspire other educators to celebrate in their areas, touching on the reality of history . . . we are walking in the footsteps of our grandparents.

Regards, Mimi
Mimi Lozano, Editor, Somos Primos E-magazine

Leather Men
Archaeology, September/October 2004, Pg.14

Rock art in Colorado and Kansas has offered up evidence for armored cavalry among the Plains Indians. Doctoral student Mark Mitchell of the University of Colorado identified the petroglyphs, which depict leather-armored warriors, most likely Comanche, astride similarly clad horses. Plains Indians like the Comanche first obtained horses from the Spanish in the mid-seventeenth century. Native Americans also probably got the idea for protecting themselves and their mounts with leather "armor" after seeing Spanish horse soldiers. Leather armor fell out of use as firearms became available to American Indians . in the mid-eighteenth century. Mitchell notes that while the existence of leather-armored horsemen has been long known (a Jesuit priest in present-day New Mexico showed leather-armored mounted warriors battling Apache foot soldiers in a 1720 painting), these petroglyphs are the first depictions thought to be crafted by Plains Indians. "There is some recorded history but virtually no archaeology of the Comanche, which makes these rock-art depictions very valuable," says Mitchell. "They should point us to additional places to look for Comanche sites containing artifacts associated with horses."

BLACK

Abolitionist minister Henry Highland Garnet preached to a packed chamber in the U.S. House of Representatives, the first African-American to speak there, in 1865. "Emancipated, enfranchise, educate," he cries in a Sunday morning sermon against slavery, and calls or the ratifications of the recently passed 13th Amendment banning it. By year's end it is ratified. Garnet dies in Liberia in 1882.

Smithsonian, February 2005 Pg. 44

Heritage Newsletter, February 2005, 
California African American Genealogical Society, Volume 17 Number 2

It costs about $80 to produce and eliminates smoke from the home, terrible burns by the babies/children, saves 70-80% firewood, frees up two days from cutting/hauling firewood for more production use of time and slows the destruction of the forest.  We have each family pay $30 towards the cost in the form of cash, kind or community service.  We will be producing 90,000 a year by the end of the year but need to install about 750,000 to see a dramatic change in the indigenous Maya people.  it’s the biggest bang for the buck I’ve ever seen.  

Mimi,  Long time no hear.  I have been in Mexico, 6 months a year these past 3 winters (water supply, waste treatment, vegetation control on Mexico's largest lake. This winter I will have a detour to Nigeria as I direct the construction of a 215 ft. timber bridge I have designed to cross a river - all to be done by hand, no machines. May be back in Mexico by Jan.

My only past work in Guatemala was my being there 30 days to design and start the building of  a resettlement village, and my advice on hand operated deep well pump options.  I have also advised some on long distant water pipelines and the needed pump details.  My focus remains on humanitarian service in the Developing World. Water supply is my major press, but I find much interest in many other engineering and technology transfer topics.  Let me attach some files on my 200 ft. long timber bridge project for Nigeria

[[ Dr. Stong is a retired engineer who has been volunteering his expertise in projects all over the world. He retired soon after I met him about 10 years ago, in Washington, D.C.. He was kind enough to assist me in a presentation for the U.S. Senate Task Force on Hispanic Affairs.

Todd has dedicated himself to improving the living conditions of the villagers through water  purification strategies.  He designed and implemented a small and simple-to-build, inexpensive unit which home owners could easily maintain to supply the water needs of their family.  

If you are looking for a meaningful project to support, either of these should be considered.  Please contact them directly.]]

Todd D. Stong PhD, P.E.
3167 Glengreen Drive
Lancaster, PA 17601
TEL/FAX: 717-285-1323
tdstong@juno.com

Todd D. Stong, PhD, P.E.
Dr. Stong's distinguished career included being the director of the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory with a 420 person civilian staff, from Alaska to Panama, for 3 yrs, the Technical Director, for the US Army Strategic Defense Command "Star Wars Program" with a $1.2 billion/yr budget and as a colonel in the US Army Corps of Engineers. Dr. Stong retired in 1989 with 2 Legion of Merit Awards, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Medals for Meritorious Service, 3 Joint Service Medals, a Vietnamese Public Works Medal, and six Vietnam Campaign Medals. He worked as a Technical Director for Coleman Research Corp in Virginia, working in Environmental Technologies from 1989-1996 and Humanitarian Services (water supply, Africa/Latin Am + small business creation for poor) from 1996-2002. He is currently writing a book on water in the developing world and advises Urgent Africa on water and engineering projects. Todd Stong is the advisor on developing appropriate technology in rural water systems in Nigeria.  He is the father of 6 engineer sons and 21 grandchildren!!

Want the word on Buffy Sainte-Marie? Looking for the best powwow recordings? Wondering what else Jim Pepper cut besides "Witchi Tai To"? This book will answer those questions and more as it opens up the world of Native American music.

In addition to the widely heard sounds of Carlos Nakai's flute, Native music embraces a wide range of forms: country and folk, jazz and swing, reggae and rap. Brian Wright-McLeod, producer/host of Canada's longest-running Native radio program, has gathered the musicians and their music into this comprehensive reference, an authoritative source for biographies and discographies of hundreds of Native artists.

The Encyclopedia a/Native Music recognizes the multifaceted contributions made by Native recording artists by tracing the history of their commercially released music. It provides an overview of the surprising abundance of recorded Native music while underlining its historical value.

With almost 1,800 entries spanning more than 100 years, this book leads readers from early performers of traditional songs like William Horncloud to artists of the new millennium such as Zotigh. Along the way it includes entries for jazz and blues artists never widely acknowledged for their Native roots-Oscar Pettiford, Mildred Bailey and Keely Smith-and traces the recording histories of contemporary performers like Rita Coolidge and Jimmy Carl Black, "the Indian of the group" in the original Mothers of Invention. It also includes film soundtracks and compilation albums that have been instrumental in bringing many artists to popular attention. In addition to music, it lists spoken-word recordings, including audio books, comedy interviews, poetry and more.

With this unprecedented breadth of coverage and extensively cross-referenced, The Encyclopedia of Native Music is an essential guide for enthusiasts and collectors. More than that, it is a gateway to the authentic music of North America-music of the people who have known this land from time immemorial and continue to celebrate it in sound.

To experience change on the Navajo Reservation, one need only close one's eyes and listen. Today an increasing number of Navajos speak only English, while very few speak only Navajo. The Navajo language continues to be taught, but it is less often practiced. Deborah House asks why, despite the many factors that would seem to contribute to the maintenance of the Navajo language, speakers of the language continue to shift to English at such an alarming rate—and what can be done about it.

"This thought-provoking study... provides an in-depth examination of the role the Navajo language plays in perpetuating Navajo cultural identity.... This insightful study, with potentially practical applications, is highly recommended for anthropology and Native American studies collections in academic libraries." —Library Journal

"House's book is important because it represents a more accurate picture of contemporary Navajo society, and it offers a new voice on Indian education.... She is acutely aware of the attitudes of young Navajo scholars who desire to tell the stories of their people themselves." —Anthropology (S- Education Quarterly

"This book addresses far more than the matter of language shift; it delves into issues that are not only complex but also controversial, especially among the Navajo people themselves. For this reason it is a brave book, and one that should be useful not only for Navajo readers but also for those interested in contemporary issues in American Indian studies, postcolonial discourse, and the social construction of identity." —Language in Society

NATIVE AMERICAN RECORDS COMING SOON

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

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

SEPHARDIC

The Last  Sephardic Jew

Film Directed by Miguel Angel Nieto
9th New York International 
Sephardic Jewish Film Festival 

American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic House 
15 West 16th street 
New York, NY 10011
Http://www.asfonline.org

Belmonte is a small town in the Estrela Mountains of central Portugal. It is similar to many other towns in this region except for one thing: it is home to the only community in Portugal that has maintained its Jewish identity for more than 500 years. Since the forced conversion of Jews in 1496, this small, isolated group never forgot their ancestry and continued to practice Jewish traditions in secrecy. In 1989, this congregation of 120 finally dared to proclaim their heritage to the world, wanting nothing more than to openly practice their beliefs without fear of persecution. With the help of funds from Jews outside of Portugal, they built a beautiful synagogue, obtained prayer books and enlisted the help of a temporary rabbi. This community is now ready for the next step.

Jose Joao (Yosef) Mendes Rodrigo, a young man from Belmonte, is presently studying at the Sephardi Rabbinical School in Jerusalem, Israel. When he completes his studies and returns to his people in Portugal, he will become the first native Portuguese rabbi in over 500 years. Yosef  has successfully completed two years of study thanks to a partial scholarship, but he cannot finish without additional help. Your contribution to this event will ensure that Yosef can fulfill his dream of becoming a rabbi and the Jewish community of Belmonte, Portugal will become stronger and more vibrant than ever.

Emily Taitz, The Belmonte Project
June 8th, the American Sephardi Federation with the Sephardic House and Portuguese Culture and Education Foundation held a staged reading and U.S. Premiere of the play Disobedience by 
Luis Francisco Rebello.

TEXAS 

Los Bexarenos research trip to Saltillo
"Border Bandits" film inspires legislation
Founding of Nuevo Santander & Laredo
Starr County, Texas: Boys kidnapped in 1850's leave lasting legacy  
Nos Unimos Project
Inclan Pagina Web
Woman collects rosaries
Texas Family History Research, Hidalgo Co
The story behind El Corrido de  Oliveira 
Valley of Tears
Tejano Music History, Laura Canales, And Other Tejano Music Legends
Poet, but not such an angry one now
     Ode To EmilIano Zapata
     Cesar and Me 

Make the check payable to "Los Bexareños Genealogical Society" and mail it with a filled-out "Emergency Information of Participants Sheet (see next page) to my home address, shown below.

Proof of citizenship will be required at the Mexican border. Acceptable documentation includes: a passport, original birth certificate, or a voter registration card. A picture id., such as a driver's license, will also be required with the latter two documents.

Additional information will be sent to all participants at least one month prior to the trip.

Please call or send me an email if you have any questions.

Sincerely, Joel Escamilla
Saltillo Trip Coordinator
1715 Sage Run
San Antonio, TX 78253
Cell: 210-364-2391

"Border Bandits" film inspires legislation
By Elizabeth Piers Byon, The Brownsville Herald
Sent by Mira Smithwick, SagaCorpus@aol.com

AUSTIN, January 9, 2005 — One Texas legislator filed a bill that could bring public recognition to the seedy side of the Texas Rangers, who historians say killed and terrorized thousands of Tejanos.

Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, Thursday filed House Bill 317, which would designate Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, as Tejano Heritage Day. The day would commemorate the history of Tejanos and the contributions they have made to history in Texas and the world. He is working with historians and families of the victims to develop some type of memorial, he said Monday.

The recent interest by legislators was spurred largely by the 2004 film "Border Bandits," which depicted the 1915 story of two well-respected Tejano landowners who were shot in the back near the McAllen Ranch in Hidalgo County by Texas Rangers after Mexicans came to raid the ranch.

Their killer, Bill Sterling, has a historical marker at his grave in Corpus Christi, but the victims, Jesus Bazan, 67, and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, have ordinary roadside graves on FM 1017 in northern Hidalgo County.

But Peña will stop short of introducing the bill to require that Texas children learn in their required state history classes about the questionable activities of the Texas Rangers.

Changing curriculum to reflect what many historians know to be true would be politically difficult considering the romantic lore of Texas Rangers, he said.

He said he wants to take steps to recognize the history without risking losing support for the bill in a state where Texas Rangers are respected in the history books for their bravery.

"… The middle ground is where we have to find, because this is not a bunch of South Texans getting together to decide what happened," Peña said. "These are people who have a vision of Texas as being glorified and pure."

Peña is also exploring the possibility of working to have a highway named in honor of Tejano heritage. He would not say where that highway is, saying the discussions are preliminary.

The issue is near to Peña, who has studied it since seeing the film last fall in Harlingen. After the screening, grandchildren of each of the two men killed said they want recognition of the deaths.

A New York Times reporter was also in the audience, and Peña’s office later was flooded with e-mails from across the country from people who said they knew of relatives killed by the Texas Rangers, Peña said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which includes the Texas Rangers, said the history has nothing to do with the Rangers of today. Tom Vinger, spokesman for DPS, said he had not seen the movie, but was familiar with the story it tells.

"That was a historical event that took place before the Rangers were part of DPS, so it doesn’t have any relation to the modern rangers," he said.

The Texas Rangers merged with the highway department in 1935, Vinger said.

Dallas filmmaker Kirby Warnock created Border Bandits based on the story told to him by his grandfather, a 19-year old cowboy working on the Guadalupe Ranch near present-day Edinburg. His grandfather Roland witnessed the Rangers from Company D shoot the two unarmed men in the back, according to the film.

The Rangers said they were seeking justice for an earlier raid by Mexicans on the McAllen Ranch, but the men were Valley landowners and American citizens. One was a postmaster and another a respected 67-year-old, Warnock said.

Warnock first recorded his grandfather’s story in 1973 when he was a senior history major at Baylor University taking a course in oral history. He held onto the recordings and later spent five years researching the story to back up his grandfather’s account with facts.

The screening in September at Cine Sol in the Valley, along with other screenings around Texas have received strong responses from audiences who were either shocked that their history books misled them or glad to have attention paid to their ancestors’ stories, he said.

"The Anglo people in the audience, they’re just dumbfounded, but the Hispanics, they are both angry and relieved," he said. "They’re angry it’s taken so long to tell the story, and relieved that someone is finally telling it."

Warnock said he’s not out to dispel the contributions of the Texas Rangers, but only to tell his grandfather’s story.

"I’m not some crusading liberal," he said. "I own a Suburban, seven guns, I drink beer, and I go hunting, so please don’t call me the Michael Moore of Texas, because I’m not."

Since the release of the film, Warnock has had at least 70 calls from families, many in the Valley, saying the Texas Rangers killed their relatives, he said.

Rudolfo Rocha, professor of history and the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas-Pan American, appeared in the film and has studied Texas Rangers and Tejanos for 20 years.

In his research, Rocha has documented 3,000 Tejanos killed by the Texas Rangers. Other historians estimate the number was twice as much, he said.

He was asked by Peña to be part of an advisory team to decide what type of memorial or grave marker should be erected for the two men who were killed. Like Peña, Rocha wants recognition of the event to serve as an important reminder of an ugly chapter of history, not to nullify the positive accomplishments of the Texas Rangers or change history.

"We should have some sort of a memorial to them as a symbol, not just to those two individuals, but symbolic of what happened to way over 3,000 Mexican-Americans," he said.

With Hispanics set to eventually become a majority in Texas, the time is right to tell their story, Rocha said.

"In this country, when we think of racism, or segregation or integration, people probably think of black and white," he said. "However, in Texas, it really hasn’t been black and white, it’s been brown and white, so it’s time that we recognize that."

For more information, visit Warnock’s Web site at http://www.bigbendquarterly.com
epierson@link.freedom.com

  Founding of Nuevo Santander & Laredo 
Sent by Mercy Bautista-Olvera  scarlett_mbo@yahoo.com

Nuevo Santander, one of the last northern provinces of New Spain, was established by Jose de Escandon. Upon receiving a commission to conquer this northern frontier, Escandon organized an entrada (expedition) of 1,750 soldiers that resulted in the founding of 20 towns and 18 missions between 1749 and 1755. By occupying this territory, comprised of what would become Tamaulipas, a piece of Nuevo Leon, and a portion of South Texas, New Spain hoped to convert the indigenous people to Christianity and to discourage French and English expansion.

The Spaniard, Jose de Escandon, born in 1700, served in a mounted regiment at Merida, Yucatan. Later he conquered the native inhabitants of Sierra Gorda for New Spain. As Lt. General, he received a commission to inspect the land between the San Antonio River and Tampico, known as the Seno Mexicano. Appointed governor, Escandon was responsible for settlements along the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo): Camargo (1749), Reynosa (1749), Dolores (1750), Revilla (1750), Mier (1752), and Laredo (1755). Laredo is the only remaining Spanish colonial settlement on the northern bank of the Rio Grande.

Laredo was founded on May 15, 1755, when Captain Tomas Sanchez, with three families, was granted permission to settle 15 leagues of land near an Indian ford on the Rio Grande. Sanchez lived across the river from Dolores, a large ranching settlement, and journeyed to Revilla to petition for a new villa. Born in 1709 in Nuevo Leon, Sanchez was a military veteran and had managed a rancho in Coahuila. The Sanchez estate ran cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, and oxen.

Jose Maria Garcia, son of Bartolome Garcia, Circa 1880 Courtesy of Mrs. Alberto Guerra plaza mayor and Delia Guierez   

NOS UNIMOS PROJECT.... 
From: cisneros@dcci.com
210-533-2912

Mimi... It has been about a year since I last reported on our eMUSEUM project here in San Antonio.  It has been moving along steadily since Fall  2002.  The PHASE I work has reached a wonderful level of sustainability and PHASE II is moving toward a September 2005 benchmark.

Our project team has spent the last six months rebuilding the software (which we created) so as to accommodate an embedded database.  This will allow more images to be uploaded to the site, more text descriptions and even video and audio clips.  We have over 3,700 picutres n the collection but only are small percentage have dates and identities.  Now that the software is capable to handling more data we  are initiating a renewed effort to get names and dates on every image.

PHASE II is a gallery exhibit which is being prepared for travel.  The exhibit consists of 28 framed images, a large photo-montage room divider, three rear-projection video screens and an internet-connected server with scanner. The Premier exhibit of NOS UNIMOS will be in September 205 at the Centro Cultural Aztlan Gallery which is located in the old Las Palmas Shopping Center. This two-month exhibit will allow visitors to bring their images to the gallery and input their photos into the website.  In Spring 06, the exhibit goes to Austin and then onto Santa Fe.  This is all very exciting.   George. . 

By Jose (Joe) C. Martinez as published in the Alice Journal Magazine
Texas Cactus Council members visit Benavides Cemetery

Benavides -- Three time-weathered tombstones in the Benavides Cemetery are testament to a once violent period in the history of South Texas. From about 1915 and into the early 1920’s, the Texas Rangers were the scourge of South Texas, inflicting havoc among the Tejano population. Shoot first and ask questions later seemed to be order-of -the -day. It is estimated that between 1500 and 3,000 Tejanos were killed by the Rangers in the early 1900’s along the South Texas frontier. Thus, El Corrido de Oliveira.

April 1, 1920, the date inscribed on three tombstones in a cemetery in Benavides, Texas, denotes the fateful day when the Texas Rangers shot and killed three Tejanos who were on their way to Paras, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The three tombstones are located within feet from each other. Cresencio Oliviera, Jr., Dionisio Maldonado and Vicente Aguilar were killed in the community of Bruni by the Texas Rangers, who opened fire from behind the cover of a mesquite corral, ambush style. Maldonado, Aguilar and Cresencio, Jr. dismounted their horses, at which time the rangers opened fire. Two others who had not yet dismounted raced away unscathed. The two riders that escaped were the father and a brother of Cresencio Oliviera, Jr. It was a chilly, drizzling day so the riders were wearing oil cloth capes that opened up and spread out when the two hastily galloped away. To their amazement, upon dismounting, they discovered that the flapping parts of their capes were riddled with bullet holes.

The corral at Bruni was a stop-off point (a place to rest and water the horses) for those traveling by wagon or horseback on their trek to Mexico or other South Texas points. Here the group of five stopped to water and rest their horses. The three who were killed were also accompanied by Cresencio, Jr.’s, brother Doroteo and their father, Crecencio, Sr. Earlier, their departure point was Rancho Palo Blanco located 3 miles from Benavides, a ranch owned by Crecencio Sr.’s brother. Their destination was the town of Paras, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where Cresencio, Jr. was to wed Chucha Gutierrez, his beloved sweetheart. All plans for the big wedding were complete, the calf was already butchered, the wedding cake all decorated, and the rest of the arrangements finalized. The only thing pending was the arrival of the bridegroom who was traveling from Texas, Crecencio Oliveira, Jr.

Upon hearing about the treacherous death perpetrated on Crecencio, Jr., everything went into disarray in the town of Paras. “Not to worry,” said Crecencio, Sr., “I have another son that will marry Chucha,” “the wedding will proceed as already scheduled.” The other son and prospective groom, Doroteo Oliveira, however, was committed to his own girlfriend and thus refused to follow his father’s wishes. Fortunately, there is another son, Corando, the younger brother of Doroteo, who is coerced into marrying Chucha, although she was five years older than him. The wedding proceeded on schedule and the bride and groom lived happily thereafter. They had three sons and one daughter.

Members of the Texas Cactus Council were honored to have TCC member Dr. Crecencio Oliviera present at the Benavides Cemetery during their historical tour of Benavides recently. Dr. Oliviera is the nephew of Crecencio Oliviera, Jr, referred to above as one of three killed by the Texas Rangers. The preceding true story was passed on to the TCC group by Dr. Oliviera.

Other interesting anecdotes offered by Dr. Oliviera and others about the 1920 incident at Bruni are as follows:

The Oliviera families from both Texas and Paras decided to honor Crecencio Olivera’s memory by naming the first boy born to the family with his name. So, Dr. Cresencio Oliviera was named Cresencio for that reason. However, in Paras, Nuevo Leon another boy was born about the same and he too was named Crecencio, not knowing that a boy had already received that same in Texas. Today, many of the Oliviera’s descendents are named Crecencio.

Maldonado, Aguilar and Oliveira were buried in the Benavides cemetery at night for fear of reprisal from the Texas Rangers.

The three bodies were left where they were shot for several days because in those day the Texas Rangers would shoot anyone going near the bodies of their victims.

Rumors follow that during the Laredo, Texas George Washington Celebration held on February 22, of each year, that in 1921 in a cantina, the captain of the Texas Rangers was shot and killed. He was the commander of the rangers who killed the three in Bruni. Crecencio Oliviera, Sr., who escaped the bullet barrage at Bruni was brought before the law and interrogated as the likely suspect in the killing of the ranger captain. Oliviera, Sr. testified that he had upwards of 300 witnesses that placed him in Monterrey the day of the killing. Judging the hatred for the rangers among Tejanos and Mexicans during that period, there is no doubt that he could recruit that many witnesses.

While at the cemetery, the TCC group also visited the burial plot of a once powerful dynasty, the Parr family. Prominent among the several headstones was the one of the famed “Duke of Duval,” George B. Parr. This brought memories of the often talked about incident concerning the notorious Box 13 in Alice, Texas, a maneuver that threw the election for the U. S. Senate to Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1948, when he ran against Cokes Stevenson. The rest is history.

           Valley of Tears

Hart Perry (Director of Photography - "Harlan County, USA"), has documented the lives of Mexican-American migrant farm workers in Raymondville, [Willacy County] TX since 1979 when the onion workers' strike broke out. What followed was a fight not only for higher pay but also for equal rights and representation. For 24 years, the county's Mexican-American residents were determined to fight for what is right. "Valley of Tears" is a complex story of the long journey of individuals who endure hardship in order to make a better future for their families. 77 minutes. 

Information sent by George Gause
ggause@panam.edu

Tejano music has slowly been losing its popularity and flavor in South Texas, as well as the South West. However, to really understand Tejano music, one has to understand the roots or origins of this musical phenomenon or tidal wave. Although one could quote and cite many sources as to when the first Tejano group or singer(s) appeared on the musical stage. it is redundant because opinions and facts would vary from state to state. That is, other states besides Texas can claim to have started Tejano Music. For example, the states of Arizona, Nevada, California, and even New Music can claim to be promoters of this new musical sound. 

What is a common denominator is that Tejano music started simply with a drum, a six string guitar called a bajo sexto, and an accordion. None of these instruments were imported from Mexico but were influenced by the Germanic sound in Texas. As first the music sounded very German, but soon it was called called conjunto music, which means playing with someone for some special occasion. At first this type of music was only heard by the illiterate and uneducated people who were usually migrant workers. Slowly, it was adopted and absorbed by the rising middle class of Mexican Americans. 

In Texas, the early Tejano musical legends were Tony de La Rosa, who was often referred to as the King of the Conjunto sound. Also, there was Isidro "Indio" Lopez, who added the orchestra sound to conjunto music. That is, trumpets, saxophone, and trombones change the sound and direction of Tejano music. Other names which emerged during the early Tejano musical wave were Paulino Bernal who turned to gospel singing later on his life, Laura Canales, Carlos Guzman, Sunny Ozuna, Agustine Ramirez, Freddie Martinez, Eligio Escobar, Linda Escobar, Emilio Navairra, Jay Perez, etc. Of course, before long big bands started to emerge throughout the state such as the bands Mazz, Los Fabulosos Cuatro, etc. Most of them flourished during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. 

Some of them are still around today, such as Mazz, Agustine Ramirez, Freddie Martienz, Carlos Guzman. Of all of these pioneers and legends, one female voice emerged and thundered by itself----Laura Canales (La Reina/Queen of Tejano Music). Although Selena, who was tragically assassinated on March 31, 1995, is also often referred as the Queen of Tejano Music , it was Laura who earned and was the undisputed queen of Tejano Music. Incidentally, Laura , like Selena, also died in Corpus Christi, Texas.

(Part II---Laura Canales Competes with Male Tejano Singers in Texas)

Perez, who encourages his eighth and ninth grade students to try writing poetry, said it was his 11th grade English teacher who inspired his own interest in poetry.

His students, he said, often don't take poetry very seriously. "But," he said, "once they get into the process of creative writing, they trust me. They share things with me they wouldn't, share with their parents."

ODE TO EMILIANO ZAPATA

I
"Cesar and Me"
by wilecoyote

Like Cesar, I am a poor Chicano 
Who never understood justice.........
Until I first saw injustice's ugly smile??????
Injustice snickered, laughed insanely,
And inflicted untold pain on my brothers and sisters......

I do not eat meat!
Although fajitas and carne asada
Still smell "de aquellas..."
I am a vegetarian............

I oppose the War in Iraq, 
Not because I love America less
Or am afraid to die for a second time 
In a Bastard War (Vietnam Being the first)
BUT BECAUSE I LOVE MY FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS MORE.....

Cesar is dead.....
Gandhi is gone.....
Martin Luther King continues to haunt America.....
But Cesar Chavez and me live for justice, love, and compassion....

The boycott on grapes and lettuce 
Has come and gone, 
The segregated buses in Alabama are now 
In History books, 
India's hunger continues.....
Farm workers are still second class citizens, 
Blacks still "have a dream"
And La Causa will continues for 
Cesar and Me....................................................................................
Cesar and me.............................................................................................

at 4:00 A. M., Wednesday, May 18, 2005. Corpus Christi, Tx.--Wilecoyote

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Sometimes 60 minutes of instruction on a focused topic can help you push through a particular question or task in your research project. This seminar is designed with genealogy researchers in mind. You can take all eight sessions, or simply choose those that most appeal to you. Research in the second floor Reading Room between seminar sessions (Saturday hours: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.). 

Instructors Marsha Peterson-Maass is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and Jack Simpson is Curator of Local and Family History at the Newberry Library.

Saturday, July 23
9:30-10:30 a.m. “Tutorial of Family Tree Maker 2005 Software”
11:00 a.m.–12:00 noon “How and Why to Build a Medical Family Tree”
1:00–2:00 p.m. “Yes, You CAN Develop a Research Plan!”
2:30–3:30 p.m. “City Directories: More Than Just Names”
 
Saturday, July 30
9:30-10:30 a.m.  “Tutorial of Bygones Research Log Software”
11:00 a.m.–12:00 noon “The Most Helpful Genealogy Reference Tools You’ve Never Used” 
1:00–2:00 p.m. “Using Technology for Newspaper Research”
2:30–3:30 p.m. “What to Do When They Seem to Have Disappeared”

There are 8 one-hour sessions.  Registration is $15 per session; $100 for both days; $50 for one day.  Friends of the Newberry, $12 per session; $90 for both days; $45 for one day.
 
Space is limited and prepayment is required.
NEW! – Register online at www.newberry.org/nl/programs/L3sems.html
or call 312-255-3700 or 312-255-3592. Payment accepted at the door while space is available. 

The Newberry Library is located three blocks west of Michigan Avenue and three blocks north of Chicago Avenue.  Discounted parking is available at three locations: 100 W. Chestnut, 100 E. Walton, and 1035 N. Clark ($8 for up to eight hours with validation).  Travel information and directions are available online at http://www.newberry.org/general/L3atravel.html. 

The Newberry Library ~ 60 West Walton Street ~ Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324 ~ 312-255-3700 http://www.newberry.org

 

The overwhelming majority of militia members are of French ancestry, but since  becoming Spanish subjects after King Louis XV ceded Louisiana territory to the King of Spain on Nov 13, 1762, their names have been "hispanicized" (translated into Spanish).  Other nationalities included are Spanish, Italian, and American. It is not completely possible to sort out those with true Spanish versus French ethnicity. While it is easy to differentiate those who were born in France versus Spain, those born in "Nueva Orleans" (New Orleans) may have been of either background. New Orleans was predominately French but significant Spanish did settle there as well. Those listed as being born in "Ilinueses" are from "Upper Lousiana", primarily Missouri and adjacent western Illinois. Louis Houck in 1909 identified many of the individuals from Upper Louisiana. He has included genealogy information where known. I have listed his notes following the name entry as  "LH Notes". These were taken from his book, 
"The Spanish Regime in Missouri".

 Information listed in the following order: Rank; Name; Age; Birthplace; Occupation

Officer in charge was:   Capt. Don Juan Baptista Martinez

The roster was recorded in Royal Spanish records  in the General Archives of the Indies, Cuba. San Luis de Ilinueses, December 22, 1780

Cajun Genealogy in the 18th Century
http://www.acadian-cajun.com/gencaj18.htm
Sent by Johanna De Soto

The 7 Ships Passenger Lists
http://www.landrystuff.com/ships.htm
Sent by Johanna De Soto

In 1785, Spain paid for 7 ships to transport Acadians to settle in Louisiana.  For Spain, it meant settlers to buffer the zone between Spanish land and the British land.   For the Acadians, it meant a chance to join their fellow Acadians and to regain some of what they lost during the Exile.

The following information is from the efforts of Tim Hebert.   In no way do we wish to take credit for his works; however, this information is of enough importance to researchers to make it accessible to those interested.  Rather than re-write the lists here, links have been created to each ship's list.  These lists are also available in print.  Milton & Norma Reider first published The Crew and Passenger Registration Lists of the Seven Acadian Expeditions of 1785.   Rev. Don Hebert recently published a book listing both the embarkation and debarkation lists.

LE BON PAPA

The first ship left France on Tuesday, May 10, 1785.  It arrived in Louisiana on July 29, 1785, after 80 days at sea.

LA BERGERE

The second ship left France on Saturday, May 14, 1785.  It arrived in Louisiana on August 15, 1785, after 93 days at sea.

Le BEAUMONT    

The third ship left France on June 11, 1785.  It arrived in Louisiana on August 19, 1785, after 69 days at sea.

Le SAINT-REMI

The fourth ship left France on Thursday, June 27, 1785. It arrived in Louisiana on September 10, 1785, after 75 days at sea.

L'AMITIE

The fifth ship left France on August 20, 1785. It arrived in Louisiana on November 8, 1785, after 80 days at sea.

La VILLE D'ARCHANGEL

The sixth ship left France on August 12, 1785.  It arrived in Louisiana on December 3, 1785, after 113 days at sea.

La CAROLINE

The final ship left France on October 19, 1785.  It arrived in Louisiana on December 17, 1785 after 54 days at sea.

EAST COAST

Natives in Brooklyn

Natives in Brooklyn
Archaeology November/December 2004
Photo: Wooded ladle from 19th-century British Columbia

Fans of indigenous art from North, South, and Central America may be surprised to learn that the Brooklyn Museum of Art houses one of the most extensive collections in the world. And with Living Legacies: the Arts of the Americas, the first phase of a permanent reinstallation of the collection (to be completed in 2006), it becomes available to the public. Located in the renovated Hall of the Americas, its three-story-tall walls painted bold purples and yellows, the exhibition showcases a rich array of objects from 900 B.C. to the present that range from the ceremonial to the everyday. Text panels in English and Spanish explore the themes common to native life across two continents and almost three millennia. Oriented to art and anthropology rather than archaeology, Living Legacies is nevertheless a thoughtful exploration of native life.

Drawn from the early-twentieth-century expeditions of Stewart Culin, then the museum’s ethnology curator, Living Legacies is divided into three sections. "Threads of Time: Woven Histories of the Andes" features textiles ranging from the pristine to the threadbare; "Enduring Heritage: Art of the Northwest Coast," presents, among other pieces, totem poles, hinged masks, and an oversize wooden ladle with a skull carved in it, largely from present-day British Columbia; and "Stories Revealed: Writing Without Words" has a host of examples of native pictorial storytelling from Alaska to Mexico created on hides, pottery, cloth, and paper.

While striking objects are found in all three—a hinged wooden whale mask nearly the size of its wearer, dramatic narratives of the hunt etched on walrus tusks—"Threads of Time," one of the most important collections of its kind outside of South America, will most appeal to the archaeologically minded. Textiles from the Paracas, Nazca, and Chimu cultures of the Peruvian coast are on display, including a tattered but intricate mantle from A.D. 200—600 known as the Paracas Textile ("Fabric of Time," March/April 2000) and a fragment of a 1,000-year-old Chimu loincloth featuring a pattern of canoeing men with the countenances of fierce elves.

by Timothy Cartin Gyves, 
former museum conference coordinator for the American Federation of Arts

MEXICO

Caterdral de Guadalajara

Catedral de Morelia

Lugar que ocupa en el mundo

Source- Newspaper form Mexico- Domingo 2 de julio de 2000 Article by Luis Armando Corza Hernandez

Zamora and Morelia are two different cities in Michoacan.  The article from which this information came is about the cathedral in Xamora, but the dimensions he gives appear to be on the cathedral in Morelia? I may have misunderstood the article, he does give the total dimensions of tile cathedral in Zamora.

The 12,533-foot volcano erupts Sunday, showering ash over the nearby city of Colima, Mexico.

The volcano, which straddles the line between Colima and Jalisco states 430 miles west of Mexico City, has had six spectacular eruptions in the past three weeks.

The largest, late Monday, shot glowing lava three miles above the crater of the 12,533-foot volcano and showered ash over the nearby city of Colima.

"The ground shook, and there was this roar, and people came running out of their houses,'' said Maria de Jesus Chavez, a 17-year-old high school student, as she sat outside her home in San Marcos.

Authorities handed out surgical masks to prevent people from breathing the fine grit, and so far the volcano has caused no major injuries or damage.

Seismologist Tonatiuh Dominguez said the increasing frequency of the eruptions and their intensity signaled the volcano was returning to an explosive stage like one that started in 1903 and climaxed with a massive explosion 10 years later that left a 1,650-foot-deep crater at the volcano's peak and scattered ash on cities 240 miles away.

The 1913 eruption killed dozens of farm animals, but records aren't clear on whether there were any human casualties.

"I think that we're seeing something similar to what occurred a century ago,'' said Dominguez, of the University of Colima. "We are comparing it to 1903, when there were more than 200 explosions in one year.''

"It's possible that we will see another one like 1913 in the coming decade,'' he added.

Federal Civil Protection Coordinator Carmen Segura headed to the volcano zone Wednesday and said officials planned to improve their monitoring.

Residents of Juan Barragan, El Borbollon and Yerbabuena, all within five miles of the peak, were asked Monday to leave the towns voluntarily. Most have complied, although about 50 stayed in Yerbabuena.

The Colima state government has been trying to relocate Yerbabuena's residents to safer ground, offering them free land. More than 100 have left in the past two years, but those who remain have declared themselves an independent municipality and refuse to leave.

"Our Mother Earth has no price,'' said Antonio Alonso Ocegueda, a beekeeper and faith healer. "If there are explosions, our Father Sun will set up magnetic fields and nothing will happen.''

Only a few residents of Juan Barragan and El Borbollon remain and about 60 others have been temporarily moved to an improvised shelter in San Marcos, 7 1/2 miles from the summit.

"People had become pretty skeptical in recent years, because they have been evacuated before and then nothing happened,'' said Luis Rodriguez, civil defense coordinator for the state of Jalisco.

But he said attitudes had changed with the latest eruptions. Many witnessed Monday's explosion while waiting for buses to take them away.

"People who hadn't got on the bus said suddenly, 'Hey, make room for me,''' he said.

Before dawn Wednesday in San Marcos, families sat outside their homes, looking anxiously at the volcano.

"There are a lot of people who would like to leave, because this time they think it could really reach us,'' Chavez said.

A few families have insisted on staying, concerned their few possessions might be stolen or that they might be forbidden to return. About 300,000 people live within 25 miles of the volcano.

Authorities have established an off-limits zone 4 1/2 miles around the crater, and an alert zone is in effect for seven miles.

The volcano has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago.

It came to life again on May 23, sending a stream of burning gas and rock fragments more than 2 1/2 miles down the slopes and shooting clouds of ash two miles high.

Similar eruptions occurred on May 30, June 2-3 and June 5.

Ash coated cars and streets in the state capital, Colima, 20 miles from the peak, and authorities recommended residents wear masks and sunglasses or goggles to avoid respiratory and eye irritations.

The Volcano of Fire is considered to be among the most active and potentially the most destructive of Mexico's volcanoes.

Archivo Historica Arzobispado in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon .
011-52-811-158-2575 [NEW telephone number]
SOURCE: Jimmy Vallejo Santiago_Vallejo@contractor.amat.com
Sent by George Gause  ggause@panam.edu

Villa never raided Valley
From the McAllen Monitor, 6/13/2005
Sent by Joe Guerra  joguerra@hispanicgs.com
 

To the McAllen Monitor editor:

Re: "Street Stories: Cleo Dawson’s mark on local history more than a stroll down memory lane" (May 30).

Patti Golden is quoted in a local history article on Cleo Dawson as stating that "She lived here when Pancho Villa set fire to the area."

Despite many local myths and legends, there is no historical documentation that Pancho Villa was ever in or near the Rio Grande Valley, much less that he "set fire to the area." The only documented raid by Villa into the United States was at Columbus, N.M., in March 1916.

There were, of course, Villa sympathizers on both sides of the border in this area, including some "Villistas" from Reynosa who attacked Matamoros in March 1915.

Victor M. Carrera,  McAllen

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Examples specifically for Mexico
http://www.history.vt.edu/Arnold/AGN/Civil/sigloxix.htm

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AÑO VOL. EXP. ASUNTO.

1800 25 2 MEXICO. MARIANA DEL CASTILLO CONTRA MARIA GUADALUPE RUIZ Y SUS DEUDOS, SOBRE INJURIAS.

1800 38 5 PUEBLA. CAUSA CRIMINAL INSTRUIDA CONTRA DON JOSE MANUEL GARAY POR ATENTADOS Y EXCESOS QUE COMETIO EN EL PUEBLO DE CHIAUTLA.

1800 41 2 EXPEDIENTE FORMADO A PEDIMENTO DE DA. ISABEL DE CHACON Y CUEVAS VIUDA DE DON JOSE ANGEL DE CUEVAS AGUIRRE Y AVENDAÑO CONTRA EL ALBACEA DON IGNACIO DE LA PEZA, A EFECTO DE QUE EXHIBA EL TESTAMENTO DE SU FINADO ESPOSO, PARA DEMANDAR Y DEDUCIR CON SU VISTA LAS ACCIONES QUE LE COMPETAN.

1800 43 10 JUICIO CIVIL DE DEMANDA INSTRUIDO A INSTANCIA DE DA. MARIA JOSEFA VELASQUEZ, CONTRA EL PRESBITERO DON JOSE GUERRERO, SOBRE PESOS, CAUSADOS POR EL ARRENDAMIENTO DE UNA CASA SITUADA EN EL PUENTE DE PEREDO DE ESTA CIUDAD.

1800 94 5 VEINTIUM COMPROBANTES, QUE SE CITAN, EN LA CUENTA DE DATA, QUE SE PRESENTA CON LA DEL CARGO; DE LOS PRODUCTOS Y GASTOS DE LA CASA DE DON FERNANDO MONTOYA QUE SE ASIGNO AL CUIDADO DEL DIFUNTO DON THOMAS FERNANDEZ MUNILLA.

1800 160 3 REGISTRO DE INSTRUMENTOS PARTICULARES PERTENECIENTE AL OFICIO DE CAMARA MAS ANTIGUO DE LA REAL AUDIENCIA DE ESTA NUEVA ESPAÑA.

1800 183 3 DON JUAN MARCELINO DE ARELLANO, CONTRA DON NICOLAS RAMIREZ DE ARELLANO, SOBRE PESOS PROCEDIDOS DE LA COMPRA DE UNA BOTICA EN LA CALLE DE SAN JUAN.

1800 183 4 PRUEBA DADA POR DON NICOLAS RAMIREZ DE ARELLANO. TOCA A LOS AUTOS QUE CON EL SIGUE DON JUAN MARCELINO SOBRE RECISION DE LA COMPRA DE LA BOTICA DE LA CALLE DE SAN JUAN.

1800 187 5 RECURSO DE FUERZA INTERPUESTO POR EL ALCALDE ORDINARIO MAS ANTIGUO DE LA CIUDAD DE PUEBLA, DE LA QUE DICE HACER EL SEÑOR PROVISOR Y JUEZ DE TESTAMENTOS DE AQUEL OBISPADO, EN CONOCR Y PROCEDER EN LOS AUTOS FORMADOS A INSTANCIA DE DON MATIAS MUÑOZ, CON DON MANTIAS GONZALEZ SOBRE EL USUFRUCTO DE UNAS CASAS SITUADAS ALLI, FUERON DEL PRESBITERO DON PEDRO GODOY.

1800 191 2 TLAXCALA. DON MIGUEL LECONA, ARRENDATARIO DEL RANCHO DE LA JUATLAPANGA CONTRA DON ANGEL GOMEZ ELOSUA, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 202 3 AUTOS CREADOS A SOLICITUD DE DON MANUEL FRANCO, SOBRE FALTA DE CUMPLIMIENTO DEL SR. GOBERNADOR DEL CARMEN, DE DIFERENTES ORDENES DE ESTA INTENDENCIA.

1800 232 2 CUENTAS PARTICULARES DE CARGO Y DATA DE ESPECIES Y LA GENERAL DE REALES, EN TODAS SE REUNEN, Y POR FALLECIMIENTO DEL TENIENTE DON JOSE BARREDA, LAS DAN DON MANUEL DE OVIEDO A NOMBRE DE DA. JOSEFA DILICADO, VIUDA DEL CITADO TENIENTE Y DON JOSE TERCERO DE ROSAS OFICIAL DE LA REAL ADUANA Y MARIDO DE DA. MARIA JOSEFA BARREDA Y DELICADO, DE LO QUE FUE A CARGO DEL REFERIDO TENIENTE COMO ADMINISTRADOR DE LA HACIENDA NOMBRADA SAN MARTIN EN LA PROVINCIA DE CHALCO, PROPIA DE LA TESTAMENTARIA DE DA. MARIA FRANCISCA DE GAMEZ Y SU ALBACEA LICENCIADO DON LUIS GONZAGA DE IBARROLA, LAS RECIBE, COMPREMSIVAS DE TRES AÑOS DIEZ MESES, DESDE 1O. DE JUNI DE 1796, HASTA 31 DE MARZO DE 1800.

1800 232 3 CUENTA DE LA HACIENDA DE SAN JUAN DE DIOS DE 1O. DE JUNIO DE 96 A 31 DE MARZO DE 1800.

1800 298 1 EXPEDIENTE FORMADO A INSTANCIA DE DA. MARIA DOLORES VERASTEGUI, VIUDA QUE FUE DE DON VICENTE PEZQUERA, Y HOY MUJER DE DON JUAN LOPEZ CANCELADA, SOBRE ALIMENTOS Y OTRAS COSAS QUE SOLICITA LE ENTREGUE EL MISMO DON JUAN LOPEZ.

1800 298 5 DILIGENCIAS PRACTICADAS EN SILAO PARA EL RECONOCIMIENTO DE EXISTENCIAS EN AQUELLA TIENDA. [ASUNTO DE JUAN LOPEZ CANCELADA].

1800 302B 3 AUTOS A INSTANCIA DE LOS HEREDEROS DEL SARGENTO MAYOR DON RODRIGO ANTONIO DE NEIRA CON LOS DE DON LUIS DE FREJOMIL SOBRE PESOS.

1800 358 3 EXPEDIENTE FORMADO A PEDIMENTO DE DON MANUEL DE ANCHIA SOBRE PESOS EN LOS AUTOS DE INVENTARIOS DE DON JOSE LOPEZ TENORIO Y SU MUJER DA. GERTRUDIS MEJIA VECINOS QUE FUERON DE CHOLULA.

1800 466 10 TLAXCALA. DON JOSE MUÑOZ Y OGAZON POR DON JUAN ANTONIO IÑIGUEZ DE BETOLASA, VECINO Y DEL COMERCIO DEL PUEBLO DE SANTA ANA CHAUTEMPAN DE LA JURISDICCION DE TLAXCALA, PIDE SE LIBRE REQUISITORIO AL GOBERNADOR DE TLAXCALA PARA QUE IMPUESTO DE LA AMPLIACION DE LA INHIVITORIA SUSPENDA TODO PROCEDIMIENTO EN TODAS CAUSAS CIVILES O CRIMINALES RELACIONADAS CON SU PARTE.

1800 469B 1 TEHUACAN DE LAS GRANADAS. CORRIENTE DE LOS AUTOS QUE SIGUE DA. MANUELA VALLADARES CON DON BASILIO DE LAS MAZAS, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 519 4 AUTOS FORMADOS A INSTANCIA DEL BACHILLER DON JOSE IGNACIO GUEDEA CURA DEL PARTIDO DE PUNGARABATO, CONTRA DON DIONICIO GARCIA CARRASQUEDA, VECINO DE VALLADOLID, SOBRE AGUAS.

1800 527A 1 DON JOSE IGNACIO PAVON CONTRA IRIARTE, DEMANDANDOLE POR REALES QUE PERDIO EN JUEGO PROHIBIDO DE CARTAS.

1800 527A 2 MEMORIAL AJUSTADO DE LA CAUSA DE JUEGO PROHIBITIVO, SEGUIDA EN VERACRUZ, Y VENIDA POR A;ELACION A LA REAL SALA DEL CRIMEN.

1800 527A 3 INCIDENTE DE LOS AUTOS DE PEDIMENTO DE DON JOSE PAVON CONTRA DON JUAN MIGUEL DE IRIARTE, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 527A 4 OCURSO POR PARTE DE DON JUAN MIGUEL DE IRIARTE PIDEINDO
SE LE AYUDE POR POBRE, EN LOS AUTOS CON DON SEBASTIAN ROMERO, SOBRE PESOS GANADOS EN JUEGO PROHIBIDO.

1800 527A 5 INCIDENTE DE LOS AUTOS QUE SIGUE DON JOSE IGNACIO PAVON CONTRA DON SEBASTIAN ROMERO POR GANANCIA DE PESOS, EN JUEGO PROHIBIDO.

1800 527A 6 CUADERNO 5O. DE LOS AUTOS FORMADOS A QUEJA DE DON JOSE IGNACIO PAVON CONTRA DON JUAN MIGUEL DE IRIARTE Y DON SEBASTIAN ROMERO.

1800 737 3 QUEJA DE DON JUAN LOPEZ CANCELADA CONTRA JOSE SOLANO SOBRE SEGUIRLO CON OTROS DOS ASALARIADOS POR SU MUJER Y RECIBIR ESTOS CIEN PESOS POR EL AVISO DE HABERLO VISTO METERSE EN LA CASA DE ALGUNA MUJER SOSPECHOSA.

1800 737 5 DON MARCELINO MATEO DE GUADARRAMA VECINO DE LA CIUDAD DE TOLUCA, CONTRA DON ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ COLECTOR DE DIEZMOS DEL PUEBLO DE TENANCINGO, JURISDICCION DE MALINALCO, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 737 6 DON JOSE RAMON LEBARIO ALFEREZ DEL REGIMIENTO PROVINCIAL DE CABALLERIA DE QUERETARO EN LOS AUTOS DE INVENTARIOS DE DA. MARIA JOSEFA ZUVIETA.

1800 737 13 EXPEDIENTE DE DON RODRIGO MARIA DE NEIRA, SOBRE 700 Y TANTOS PESOS, EN QUE SALIO ALCANZANDO SU DIFUNTO PADRE, DON FERNANDO MESIA.

1800 737 14 EXPEDIENTE DE DON JOSE MARIA CABREN CON DON ANTONIO DE NIEVA, SOBRE FIANZA.

1800 742 4 JOSE MARIA ORTUÑO, POR DON GREGORIO MARIANO AREVALO, DEL COMERCIO DE VALLADOLID, HACIENDO RELACION DE HABER ALQUILADO SU PARTE UN LOCAL PARA PANADERIA DE DON IGNACIO SOTO, HABIENDO CUMPLIDO SIEMPRE CON EL PAGO DEL ARRENDAMIENTO, QUE DESPUES DEJO DICHA SU PARTE A CARGO DE UN MAYORDOMO EL NEGOCIO, Y QUE NO SABIENDO EL PORQUE, LE INTENTAN EMBARGAR Y HACER DESOCUPAR EL LOCAL.

1800 760 7 XILOTEPEC. AUTOS A PEDIMENTO DE DON IGNACIO DIAZ DE LA VEGA, COMO APODERADO DE DA. MARIA ANTONIO HERNANEDEZ VECINA DE MEXICO, CONTRA EL ADMINISTRADOR DE LA RENTA DEL TABACO, DON JOSE ANTONIO PEÑA, SOBRE LA EXHIBICION DE CANTIDAD DE PESOS, QUE RESULTO DEBIENDO AL FINADO DON JOSE RAMIREZ.

1800 870 6 DON TOMAS SUAREZ SUBDELEGADO DE ZACUALPAN CON EL ENCARGADO DE JUSTICIA DEL PUEBLO DE IXTAPAN, DON RAFAEL MEJIA SOBRE PESOS.

1800 870 8 DON FELIZ RUIZ DEL COMERCIO DE MANILA, CONTRA DON JOSE MARIA SALCEDO, ADMINISTRADOR DE ALCABALAS DE ACAPULCO, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 870 9 DON JOSE VILLEDA, VECINO Y DEL COMERCIO DE ESTA CAPITAL CON DON JOSE MARIA MUÑOZ, SOBRE PESOS.

1800 870 11 DON FELIZ RODES, VECINO DE ESTA CAPITAL, CONTRA EL GUARDA DON JOSE MARIANO PAVIA, SOBRE PESOS PENDIENTE.

1800 870 15 JOAQUIN QUIRON VECINO DEL PUEBLO DE TEMOAYA, JURISDICCION DE IXTALHUACA, SOBRE QUE SE DECLARE EL JUEZ QUE DEBA CONOCER, EN LOS AUTOS QUE SIGUE CON DON ANDRES CURZ, MANJARREZ, SOBRE CUENTAS DE LOS PRODUCOTS DE LA COMPAÑIA QUE TENIAN EN EL COMERCIO DE CERDOS.

Table of Contents
Helps For Using This Research Outline
     References To The Family History Library Catalog
     References To Other Family History Library Publications
Internet
     Finding Resources On The Internet
     Map Of Mexico
Archives And Libraries
     Archives In Spain
     Mexican Archives
     National Government Archives And Libraries
     State Archives
     Local Civil Offices/municipio Records Offices
     Catholic Church Archives
     Inventories, Registers, Catalogs
Biographies
     Mexican Biographies
Cemeteries
Census
     Searching Census Records
Church Directories
Church History
     Roman Catholic
     Chronological Table Of The History Of The Catholic Church In Mexico
Church Records
     General Historical Background
     Information Recorded In Church Registers
     Locating Church Records
     Protestantism In Mexico
     Church Record Inventories
     Church Records At The Family History Library
     Records Not At The Family History Library
     Search Strategies
Civil Registration
     General Historical Background
     Information Recorded In Civil Registers
     Locating Civil Registration Records
     Locating Records Not At The Family History Library
     Search Strategies
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
     Records Of The Colonial Period (1492–1810)
     Finding An Emigrant’s Town Of Origin
     Emigration From Mexico
     Immigration Into Mexico
Gazetteers
     Finding Place-names In The Family History Library Catalog
     Historical Place-names
Genealogy
     Major Collections And Databases
     Family Histories
     Genealogical Collections
Historical Geography
History
     Local Histories
     Calendar Changes
Land And Property
Language And Languages
     Language Aids
Maps
     Using Maps
     Finding The Specific Town On The Map
     Finding Maps And Atlases
Military Records
     Military History
     Military Records Of Genealogical Value
     Spanish Military Records
     Locating Other Military Records
Minorities
     Mennonities
     The Latter-day Saints (mormons)
     Jews
     Chinese
     Middle Easterners
     Europeans
Names, Personal
     Surnames
     Given Names
Native Races
Nobility
Notarial Records
Periodicals
Probate Records
Public Records
Social Life And Customs
Societies
     Genealogical Societies
     Historical Societies
Other Records
For Further Reading
Appendix A
     State Archives Addresses

Appendix B
     State Civil Registration Offices Addresses
Appendix C
     Mexican Dioceses Archives As Of 1994
Appendix D
     Civil Records In The Federal District, 
     Guererro
     Oaxaca
     Mixe District (created In 1938)
     Sola De Vega District (created In 1918)
     Zaachila District (created In 1939)
     Present-day Districts And Their Municipios:
Appendix E
     1930 Census Of Mexico
Comments And Suggestions

APPENDIX B
STATE CIVIL REGISTRATION OFFICES ADDRESSES:

Aguascalientes
C. Oficial del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno 
20009 Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, México

Baja California Norte
Registro Civil
Apartado Postal 475
22820 Ensenada, Baja California, México

Baja California Sur
C. Oficial del Registro Civil
Degollado 820
23007 La Paz, Baja California, México

Campeche
Dirección del Registro Civil
Edif. D.I.F. Depto.9
24000 Campeche, Campeche, México

Coahuila
Dirección Estatal del Registro Civil
Aldama y General Cepeda
25009 Saltillo, Coahuila, México

Colima
Archivo General de Gobierno
Venustiano Carranza 180
28009 Colima, Colima, México

Chiapas
Dirección General del Registro Civil
2° Piso, Palacio de Gobierno
29009 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México

Chihuahua
Oficina Central del Registro Civil
1° Piso, Palacio de Gobierno
Aldama y Carranza
31009 Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México

Distrito Federal
Registro Central del D.F.
Depto. del Distrito Federal 
Arcos de Belén y Dr. Andrade
06870 México, Distrito Federal

Durango
Archivo General de Gobierno
Zaragoza y Bruno Martínez
34009 Durango, Durango, México

Estado de Mexico
Dirección General del Registro Civil
Lerdo Poniente 101, Piso Baja
Edificio Plaza Toluca
50000 Toluca, Estado de México, México

Guanajuato
Dirección del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
36009 Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México

Guerrero
Dirección General del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Av. Miguel Alemán y Nicolás Bravo
39009 Chilpancingo, Guerrero, México

Hidalgo
Dirección General de Gobernación
Plaza Juárez S/N
Palacio de Gobierno 3° Piso
42009 Pachuca, Hidalgo, México

Jalisco
Secretaria General de Gobierno
Dirección del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno, Planta Baja
Av. Corona y Morelos
44009 Guadalajara, Jalisco, México

Michoacán
Jefe del Archivo General del
Poder Ejecutivo
Palacio Clavijero
58000 Morelia, Michoacán, México

Morelos
Dirección del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza de la Constitución Centro
Av. Galeana y Rayón
62009 Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

Nayarit
Archivo Estatal del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Avs. México y Abasolo
Col. Centro
C.P.63000 Tepic, Nayarit, México

Nuevo León
Oficialia Mayor
Dirección del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Av. Zaragoza y 5 de Mayo
64009 Monterrey, Nuevo León, MéxicoOaxaca
Dirección del Registro Civil
Plaza de La Danza S/N Exnormal
68009 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México

Puebla
Dirección General del Registro Civil
4 Norte 203
Ex-Cancha de San Pedro
72009 Puebla, Puebla, México

Querétaro
Dirección Coordinadora del Registro Civil
Palacio de La Corregidora
Andador 5 de Mayo y Pasteur
76009 Querétaro, Querétaro, México

Quintana Roo
Depto. del Registro Civil
Palacio Municipal
22 de Enero y Héroes
77009 Chetumal, Quintana Roo, México

San Luis Potosí
Dirección General del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Allende y Venustiano Carranza
78009 San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, 

Dirección General del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Insurgentes y J. Aquiles Barraza
80129 Culiacán, Sinaloa, México

Sonora
Archivo General del Registro Civil
Obregón 58
83009 Hermosillo, Sonora, México

Tabasco
Dirección del Registro Civil del Estado
Hidalgo 112
86009 Villahermosa, Tabasco, México

Tamaulipas
Dirección del Registro Civil
Palacio de Gobierno
Av. Juárez y 5 de Mayo
87009 Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México

Tláxcala
Director de Coordinación del Registro Civil
Lardizabal 8
90009 Tláxcala, Tláxcala, México

Veracruz
Depto. Central del Registro Civil
Calle JJ Herrera 1, Altos
91009 Xalapa, Veracruz, México

Yucatán
Depto. del Registro Civil
Recinto del Poder Judicial
Calle 35 501 62 62A
97009 Mérida, Yucatán, México
Zacatecas
Archivo General del Gobierno
Palacio del Poder Ejecutivo
Plaza de Armas
98009 Zacatecas, Zacatecas, México

By George R. Ryskamp, J.D., AG¹

^{Genealogical Journal 
An international Publication Utah Genealogical Association 
Volume 32, 2004, Number 4}

As border crossing controls began. Immigration and Naturalization Service kept records of both immigrants and non-immigrants crossing the Mexican border. Passenger lists used at port cities had proved inefficient in keeping records of crossings on the Canadian border which varied from one person in some cases, to groups of thirty or forty individuals crossing at the same time in others. A new system, using individual one page manifests or two-sided cards, was instituted in the 1950s. Those persons crossing the border were also classified as statistical or non-statistical, based in large part on whether they were required to pay the alien head tax, but also on factors such as how long they intended to stay, if they had been in the United States before, and their reason for coming. (Before 1930, residents of Mexico were not counted as immigrants if they planned to enter the United States for less than six months.) In short:

Statistical arrivals were immigrants or non-immigrants who were subject to the head tax and generally not from the Western Hemisphere. Non-statistical arrivals were immigrants and nonimmigrants who usually were natives of the Western Hemisphere and not subject to the head tax. Arrival of the latter was not included in immigration statistics, but an arrival record may still have been made. It cannot be said with certainty that statistical and non-statistical arrivals definitions were applied uniformly at any particular port on Canadian or Mexican Borders.²

1. Cards are arranged alphabetically by surname and then by given name.

2. Double surnames were filed as if the second surname did not exist, but if you do not find someone and know the maternal surname, check under that to be certain.

3. All given names beyond the first were ignored.

4. Women usually appear in crossing manifests under their maiden surname rather than their husband's, as that was the surname system they knew.

5. Surnames beginning with de, del and de la were filed under the main surname rather than the preposition.

Perhaps the easiest way to consult border crossing records would be to order the desired films to a local LDS Family History Center. Due to an incredible inconsistency in cataloging, the records can be hard to find through traditional Locality or Subject searches. The chart at the end of this article gives film numbers for those microfilms held by the Family History Library Catalog [FHLC] at the date of publication of this article. Search in the Family History Library Catalog at <www.familysearch.org> under the beginning film number of a collection for details about films in that particular collection. A copy of this chart was submitted to the Family History Library and personnel there indicated they would purchase the 410 rolls of film they did not have at the time the chart was prepared. Check periodically in the FHLC for these acquisitions under Mexico-Emigration Records or United States-Immigration Records.

One researcher, in the border crossing record of his grandfather, found that he came to the United States with a group of eleven other family members, among them his great-grandmother. Although he had previous information about her, he learned from her border crossing manifest that she had been born in a different town from other members in the family, which was located in a neighboring state. Border crossing records had not only given him a view of his family members on a pivotal day of their lives, but opened previously unknown research possibilities. The vast amount of information given in border crossing records makes it well worth the effort of searching them out.

1* Associate Professor of History, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602. ' For a detailed discussion of Canadian Border Crossing records see Marian L. Smith, "By Way of Canada: U.S. Records of Immigration Across the U.S.Canadian Border, 1895-1954," http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/fall_2000_canada_immigration_records_l.html

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly 
Volume XXIII, Number 2, Spring 2005
Uncovering History's Secrets

Saint Domingue's Sweet Tooth: The Sugar Industry during the French Colonial Era
By John H. Lawrence

Sugar—that crystalline, white substance sweetening everything from iced tea to cake frosting—has a complicated history that belies its ubiquitous nature. It is hard to imagine that sugar, now taken for granted and deemed replaceable by a host of natural and synthesized products, once served as a catalyst for change in global politics and geography. Believed to be native to Indonesia, sugarcane had been known and cultivated for centuries in Asia before being introduced to Europe in the llth century. Later, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the world's demand for sugar rendered it a precious commodity and a building block of empire in the New World. Nowhere was sugar's impact more strongly felt than in the French colony of Saint Domingue.

Hispanola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti), the second largest island in the Caribbean, was claimed for Spain by Columbus in 1492. On his second transatlantic voyage, in 1493, Columbus introduced sugarcane, transported from cuttings in the Canary Islands, to the eastern portion of the colony. Yet by the end of the 16th century, sugar production languished, and would not revive until a new colonial power established its hegemony. The Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, brought the western portion of Hispanola under French control—though French encroachment and settlement along the northern coast and smarter offshore islands had been going on for some decades. By the 18th century, French ptanters had plunged, with gusto, into the cultivation of sugarcane in Saint Domingue. Among the major cash crops—coffee, indigo, tobacco, and sugar—sugar commanded the most attention, both in terms of its cultivation and its prominence in the world market.

As with virtually any colonial plantation model during the 18th century, slave labor made up a large part of the equation in Saint Domingue; the traffic in human cargo from western Africa flourished in order to satisfy the world's sweet tooth. The majority of slaves served as field hands, engaging in the arduous work of planting, tending, and harvesting the sugarcane. A smaller percentage of the slave population dealt with the technical aspects of producing a consumable product from the raw juice yielded by the crushed stalks of the cane. The desire for sugar, especially in the more refined state in which it was stripped

of molasses, provided the economic engine that drove colonial policy toward Saint Domingue.

Sugar production created a tremendous increase in the value of arable land in Saint Domingue, as well as the need for more slaves. By the mid-18th century, slaves accounted for 150,000 of the nearly 165,000 inhabitants of Saint Domingue. The proportion of slaves to the total population grew even greater by the last decade of the century. Owning a sugar plantation in the colony was tantamount to having a license to print money. But as principles of the Enlightenment gained a foothold on the continent of Europe, it became inevitable that social and economic change would soon visit Saint Domingue.

The revolutionary outcry against a privileged class that erupted in France in 1789 was heard in Saint Domingue as well. From 1791 until the declaration of Haitian independence on New Year's Day 1804, a series of revolts in the colony laid waste to the plantations, resulting in widespread destruction of property and dispersion of the planter class to parts of Cuba and the United States. Vast fires in cities and fields prompted British prime minister William Pitt to comment wryly: "It seems as if the French will be drinking their coffee with caramel."

If insurrection effectively destroyed the leading industry of what had often been described as the wealthiest colony in the world, its effect in Louisiana proved different. The successful sugar production on Etienne de Bore's New Orleans plantation in 1796, assisted byAntoine Morin of Saint Domingue, marked the beginning of Louisiana's modern sugar industry, which through more than two centuries of change, exists today.

SPAIN

Trejo, from Spain to the Americas by  Paul E. Trejo

I am sending this letter to distant primos (cousins) as well as my own immediate bloodline and hence, the general salutation. I have been doing research into the origin of the TREJO family and family name and thought I might share some of my findings. It may assist those of you that are interested in the subject in your research. My feeling is that this type of material is useless buried in the files.

THE SPANISH HERITAGE

My source of information about the early Trejos in Spain comes from a remarkable work called "Blasones y Apellidos" (Coats of Arms and Surnames) that was authored by Joaquín Porrúa, a recognized genealogist and researcher of high reputation. Published in Mexico City in 1987, this Tomo includes the origin and some history of many of the original Spanish families that immigrated to New Spain.* In the case of the Trejos, the period covered is basically between 1500 and 1700. The section of "Blasones y Apellidos" that included the Trejo family is appended, along with my English translation. It is my understanding that "Blasones" has been out of print for some time, and should you find a copy expect to pay at least $150.00 for it. The Trejo pages were provided to me by Ophelia Marquez, secretary for the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research. I have also included information from other sources.

All of the early Trejos were natives of the town of Plasencia in the Province of Cáceras,** Spain, from which they traveled and settled in the surrounding villages and provinces. Plasencia is located approximately 240 miles north of the port city of Cadíz. The modern population of Plasencia is about 21,300. Together, the provinces of Cáceras and Badajoz comprise that part of Spain known as Extremadura.* Until 1821, when Mexico declared its independence from Spain, this part of the Spanish territories in the New World was known as New Spain.

** Do not confuse the Province of Cáceras with the city by the same name which is the capital of the Province.

The provinces of Extremadura are rugged in nature and have always required additional effort to subsist on. Even today Extremadura is relatively near the bottom of Spain's economic ladder. It was only natural that large numbers of farmers, herdsmen and disenfranchised noblemen, realizing that the future at home was bleak, volunteered in large numbers for service in the New World. Little did they know that the lands to which they traveled were similar in nature, arid, open and hard. It can be said that Extremadura's "golden age" occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries, when men of Extremadura returned home, using wealth acquired in the New World to build the mansions and palaces for themselves, particularly in the city of Cáceras.

Extremadura is referred to by some historians as "the Cradle of the Conquistadores" because so many of the most famous discoverers/ explorers/conquerors of the New World were born there. Among them were Hernán Cortez who marched through Mexico; Francisco Pizarro who conquered the Inca Empire of Peru; Pedro de Alvarado who subdued the Maya Indians of Guatemala; Pedro de Valdivia who founded Santiago (Saint James), but failed to master the Mapuche Indians of Chile; Vasco Núńez de Balboa who first viewed the Pacific Ocean from the Isthmus of Panama; Francisco de Orellana, the first explorer to navigate the Amazon, and Hernando de Soto, discoverer of the Mississippi River and conqueror of Florida. 

It is evident from "Blasones" that Trejos were involved in more than one military campaign in the Conquest of South America and New Spain, including the expedition of Cabeza de Vaca.The ancestors of these 16th and 17th century conquistadores were the veterans of the legions of Emperor Caesar Augustus who in 23 BC gave them lands around Merida to farm upon their retirement from active duty. Thus, there is a solid basis to the claims that many of the early Spanish families have strong Italian bloodlines. 

During the Middle Ages the sons of Extremadura filled the ranks of such Christian corps as the Knights Templar, the Knights of Santiago (Saint James), and the Knights of Alcantara who fought the battles of La Reconquista (the reconquest), which in the 15th century finally drove the infidel Moors from Spain after an occupation of 800 years. As noted in "Blasones" a substantial number of important Trejos were Knights of Santiago (Saint James), Knights of Alcantara, and Knights of Calatrava. Of some interest and possible speculation is the single reference in "Blasones" that the Trejos may originally have come from Rome or the ancient Italian village(s?) of Triciviam, Tricium, Tricio. As previously noted, many of the Roman legionnaires settled in this part of Spain making a strong "Italian Connection" not unlikely. Also, "Blasones" points out that don Gabriel Trejo Paniagua, Onroy y Trejo was made Archbishop of Salerno in Naples at the request of King Phillip IV; don Fernando of the Cerda, Trejo, Monroy and Bermudez Grimaldo was a member of the Council of Italy, and don Francisco of Trejo stated that he owned the Barony of Baluf in Italy.

TREJOS IN THE NEW WORLD

It is evident on reading "Blasones" that many of the early Trejos were primarily warriors, clergymen, mayors, magistrates, judges and the like. Positions of title, power, and influence were often a matter of inheritance. The eldest son in most cases inherited the lands and titles, while the younger sons had to fend for themselves. Thus, there were a number of these disenfranchised members of prominent families among the hordes of volunteers that settled in New Spain and South America.

Between 1493-1519 over fifty-six thousand settlers migrated to the Indies, that is, the islands of Santa Domingo (Cuba), Hispanola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and the like. Many of these including Trejos eventually traveled from there to South and Central America, and the provinces of New Spain (Mexico). From 1520-1539 another forty thousand migrated to the New World, especially to Peru and New Spain. Data on these settlers is published in Peter Boyd-Bowman's monumental works Volumes I and II from which the Trejos listed in a subsequent paragraph were extracted.  There were only a few outposts guarded by presidios on the rugged Northern Frontier of New Spain, and hence the population was concentrated in the larger villages/pueblos of Sonora, Sinaloa, Nueva Galicia and the like. Many of the Trejos that I have met in California are from Chihuahua and villages in Sinaloa and Sonora. There are numerous Trejos in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico that are recorded in the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Family History Centers. 

The first Trejo in California was a female of the bloodline. She was Maria Angela Trejo* and came to San Francisco in 1776 with the famous Juan Bautista de Anza expedition. Maria Angela Trejo was born at the San Miguel de Horcasitas Presidio in Sonora about 1745. She was married to Domingo Alviso, a corporal in the San Miguel company. Domingo was also born in Horcasitas, Sonora about 1740, and was recruited there by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza on 5 May 1775 to occupy and settle the port of San Francisco, Alto California.

Angela Trejo and Domingo Alviso had four children ranging in age from five months to fourteen years with their parents to San Francisco.On arriving in San Francisco in 1776, Domingo Alviso died, as did the wife of Pedro Antonio Borjorquez (Bohorquez) another member of the expedition. Maria Angela Trejo, widow of Alviso, promptly married Pedro Antonio Borjorquez at Mission Delores in San Francisco on 20 July 1777. Pedro and Angela had three sons who married into the families of Villavicencio, Linares and Pacheco. One of these latter Maria Angela Trejo is sometimes listed as Maria Angela Cumacero or Chumasero as her husband Domingo Alviso was also known as Domingo Chumaseromarriages, that of Bartolome Francisco Borjorquez to Nicolasa Linares produced ten children. 

Between Angela's children by Alviso and those by Borjorquez the genes of Maria Angela Trejo flow in the blood of many, many of the early California families. Maria Angela Trejo was buried 4 January 1803 at Mission San Carlos, Monterey at 58 years of age. Anyone interested in this line should see Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Marie E. Northrup, Vol. I, 1976, Vol. II, 1984, (Both Reprinted), Southern California Genealogical Society, Burbank, California.

My own bloodline of Trejo originates in Sonora, Mexico. My great grandfather, Julian Trejo was born in 1838 in Arispe, Sonora, Mexico. His parents were Jacinto Trejo and Maria Josepa Lopez. Julian Trejo married Catalina Bielmas at Mission San Luis Obispo on 23 October 1867. They had ten children of which my grandfather Santos (Tibo) was one. Equally as exciting is my father's mother's side which I have been able to trace back to Molina, Valencia, Spain, 1727, El Fuerte, Sinaloa, 1755, and Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, 1769. There are many famous/historic personages on this side, and if any of my Trejo cousins of my line are interested in more details, they should communicate with me.

PETER BOYD-BOWMAN'S WORKS

The following list of Trejos. were translated from Peter Boyd-Bowman's works: Indice geobiografico de mas de 56 mil pobladores de la America Hispanica, Volume I, 1493-1519 (Geographic Index of more than 56 Thousand Settlers of Hispanica America 1493-1519) and Volume II, Forty Thousand Settlers, 1520-1539.It should be noted that on this list are found some of those same individuals that appear in "Blasones", and that some are listed in Volume II as later traveling from the Indies to South America and New Spain. The order of data for each entry is name, Peter Boyd Number, Province of Origin, Town, Occupation, Numerical Listing, and Parents or Other Data.Vol. I 1493-1519

1. Juan de Trejo, Boyd No. 868, Cáceres, Almaraz, son of resident, to Indies 1513, Catalog I, passenger No. 934, parents Martin de Trejo, Beatrice la Jusdada.

2. Fernando (Francisco ??) de Trejo, Boyd No. 955, Cáceres, Coria (de Galisteo),resident,son of resident of Perales in Cameras, to Indies 1513, Catalog I, passenger No. 1025, Father Fernando de Trejo (see entry 5 below).

3.Rafael de Trejo, Boyd No. 1057, Caceres, Plasencia, son of resident, to Indies 1514, Catalog I, passenger No. 1697, parents Juan de Toro (Trejo), Maria GonzalezVol. II 1520-1539

4. Cristobal de Trejo, Boyd No. 2886, Cáceras, Coria (de Galisteo), native of Coria, to Indies 1528, Catalog I, passenger No. 3714, parents Pedro Sanchez, Marie Suarez de Trejo.

5. Francisco de Trejo, (see entry 2 above), Boyd No. 2887, Cáceres, native of Coria (de Galisteo), conquistador in Santa Domingo (Cuba) 1520-1535, to Mexico 1535, resident Guadalajara (New Galicia), pacificatio of New Galicia 1541, (with the Viceroy), resident Guadalajara 1547, (Ic numero 1130), parents Fernando de Trejo, Isabel Gonzalez.

6. Pedro de Trejo, Boyd No. 3074, Cáceras, native of Plasencia, to Mexico about 1537, pacification New Galicia 1541 (with Viceroy), married to daughter of discharged soldier, de la Torre (widow of the Conquistador of New Galicia Francisco Barron), was alive in 1547, (Ic numero 543), parents el Capitan Diego de Trejo and Isabel de Contreras.

7. Pedro de Trejo, Boyd No. 3075, Cáceras, resident of Plasencia, to Mexico 1537 (II, 3645) in Mexico 1568 (Med, Primit Inquisition, 283;The Jews in New Spain, 149) parents Pedro de Trejo and Isabel Gutrerrez.

THOSE TREJO "FAMILY" BOOKS

There are a couple of books published on the Trejos by Halbert's Publishing Company of Bath, Ohio. I have seen one called "The Amazing Story of The Trejos in America" by Sharon Taylor. Another is called "The World Book of Trejos" by a Lewis Trejo, also published by Halbert's. I have not seen this second book, but from the descriptive literature it sounds like a rehash of Sharon Taylor's book. These books purport to give you a family history for a tidy sum. Taylor's did not. Lewis Trejo's book sells for $49.50. If anyone has purchased Lewis Taylor's book and it provides more information than I have provided to you free in this letter, please let me know.  Taylor's book on Trejos appeared to be organized in such a general fashion that it would fit any surname. It told nothing about the Trejo surname in particular or Trejo history. It did provide a general dissertation on how surnames are formed. In this way any surname could be plugged in and the book sold. However, this book also provided some very good basic information on elementary heraldry, but nothing beyond that which can be found in any complete city library.

The Coats of Arms found in "family history" books should be consistent, especially if the family surname originated in a country such as Spain that maintained accurate heraldic records. There are two basic differences between the Trejo coat of arms found in Sharon Taylor's "Amazing Trejos" and that shown and described in "Blasones". One difference is the color of the crescent moons on the shield and the other is their position. Sharon Taylor's source is the Rietstap Armorial General which states the crescents are silver and turned to the right and left (diagram appended). Blasones states that the crescents are red and pointed downward. I favor the "Blasones" version which is quoted as being from a manuscript by don Bias (1610) and found in the Royal Academy of the History of Spain. This seems very close to the time frame and true source of the coat of arms grant which had to be from the King of Spain. Perhaps a later Trejo did not like the color of the moons or the direction they pointed and arbitrarily changed his crest. 

My own description of a family crest would be as follows: On a field of Gold (a gold shield) a Silver Castle (or tower) upon a sea of Blue with ripples of Silver, the Castle flanked by six Crescent Moons of Red arranged as follows: two vertical bands, three on each side with the Crescents pointed downward. Since the rest of the crest is arbitrary, I would choose a silver knight helmet with a plume of red (to match the crescents) and green leaf work surrounding the shield.

I am attempting to have such a crest produced in color by an artist friend of mine. Anyone interested in a copy let me know. Time to close. Your comments on this epistle are welcome, as are any additional contributions.

Sincerely,

PAUL E. TREJO  PGBlueCoat@aol.com

Source: Translation of Trejo Family origin and early family history from BLASONES Y APPELLIDOS (Coats of Arms and Surnames), First Edition, By Fernando Munoz Altea, Publisher JOAQUIN PORRUA, S.A. DE C. V. Mexico (1987).

[An] extremely nobel and old line, with important manor house in the town of Plasencia (Province of Cáceres), from where they traveled to other places in this region, Castilla, Andalucía and America. In the listed population, the Trejos are conspicuous with [the] highest offices (posts) from the 13th century, especially as possessors of Commissions of the Orders of Calatrava and Alcántara.

Some genealogists pretend (claim) that this family came from Rome, indicating next from Tricivium, Tricium, Tricio.

One of the most important personages of this house was don Gabriel Trejo Paniagua (Bread and Water), Onroy y Trejo, native of Plasencia, Knight of the Military Order of Alcantara (1602), Senior Professor/ Student in the (college) of the Archbishop of Salamanca where he was Professor of Vespers, Attorney General of the Royal Chancery of Prisons, Attorney General of the Council of the Orders (of Knights), Judge of the Royal Council and Inquisitor (examiner) and Deputy General of the Santa Cruzada. On the final (years) of his life (he) was elevated to the episcopal (bishop) seat of Malaga and made Cardinal at the request of Felipe III by the Pope Paul V, the 2nd of December of 1615 with the title of San Nereo and Achileo. The King Phillip IV gave to him the Archbishopric of Salerno, in Naples.

Don Francisco of Trejo Monroy and Paniagua, Knight of the Military Order of Calatrava in 1610, native of Pasencia, Mayor (magistrate) of Burgos and Malaga, was granted by Felipe IV with the titles of Marqués of the Moto (lands) of the Trejo in 1629 and with the (title) of Marqués of the Rose in 1628. The Royal Dispatch of this utmost honor was expedited (issued/sent) by Carlos II, to his (Trejo's) descendents (offspring) don Fernando of the Cerda, Trejo, Monroy and Bermúdez Grimaldo, of the Council of Italy, Knights of the Military Order of Saint James and Knight Commander, of the Houses of Córdoba in Córdoba by Royal Decree of the year 1683. This branch of the family preceded the Trejos to Peru.

Don Francisco de Trejo stated that he was baptized in (the place of) the Houses of San Millán (Province of Cáceras) the 12th of January of 1570, and was Mayor (master/lord) of the town of Chamartín of the Rose (Madrid) and possessor (owner) of the Barony of Baluf, in Italy. He gave (was able to make) this testament in Madrid, the 14th of January of 1648, before the actuary (notary public) Juan Núñez Guerra, being married with doña Isabel de Jaurequi y Martínez of Salazar, with whom he fathered a son don Gabriel de Trejo Monroy, Principal Professor/Student of San José in Salamanca, II Marqués of the Mota (lands) of the Trejo and of the Rose (Madrid), an illustrious religious man that redeemed the obligation (burden) of Arcediano of Béjar, in the bishopric of Plasencia.

In the Royal Academy of the History of Spain, exist a notable/noteworthy work/manuscript upon (about) the Trejos, written (carried out) by don Bias of Salazar in 1630, dedicated to don Luis Bermúdez of Trejo, the fourth gentleman (lord/master) of this name. Knight of the Monks (order of) Saint James, Lord/Master of Crimaldo, Castle and town of Almorfrague, Las Corchuelas, Aguas Vertientes (Flowing Waters), Atajo and other country estates that comprised this house, and furthermore he stated (expressed) he was Head and Senior Kinsman of this house.

The authorities that ratify (the) different Royal Coats of Arms of distinct periods organize themselves in this manner:

IN A FIELD OF GOLD, A CASTLE OF YOUR FAMILY (NATIVE) COLOR, LAYERED DOWN OF SIX UPSIDEDOWN (REVERSED) CRESCENTS OF RED, THREE TO EACH SIDE (BORDER) UPON WAVES (RIPPLES) OF A SEA OF BLUE AND SILVER.

The nobleness of blood of this family was proved by entering in the order of Saint James of the following knights:

(1) don Luis Trejo y Gasca, native of the town of Alcántara, Mayor of Grimaldo, Grand Master of the Military Order of the Third Regiment of Spanish Infantry in Italy and Governor of the Knights in Andalucía, in 1623.

(2) don Pedro of Trejo and Gasca, Plasencia, 1613.

(3) don Antonio de Trejo and Monroy, Plasencia, 1629.

(4) don Andrés of Trejo and of Monte, Toledo, 1652.

(5) don Juan of Trejo and Verdugo, San Agustín, 1700.

(6) don Francisco Doroteo Daza and Bermúdez of Trejo, Madrid, 1682.

(7) don Juan Antonio Daza and Bermúdez of Trejo. Port of Santa María, Cadiz, 1682.

(8) don Gabriel of Paredes and of Vargas, Balbuena and Trejo, Plasencia, 1702.

(9) don Vicente of the Cerda and Denti, of Trejo and Casteli, Madrid, 1697.

(10) don Antonio of the Serna and Quiñones, Trejo and Frias, Madrid, 1625.

(11) don Antonio de Figueroa and Zafra of Trejo and Sánchez, Badajoz, 1628.

(12) don Fernando of the Cerda and Trejo, of Ibarra and of Jáuregui, Vitoria, 1666.

The Robes of the Military Order of Calatrava clothed in 1610 the before mentioned don Francisco de Trejo Monroy, native of Plasencia, and he of Alcántara, don Alvaro of Trejo, in 1520; don Felipe of Trejo and Carvajal and don Gabriel of Trejo and Paniagua, in 1602, both of Plasencia.

In the presence of (before) the Court of Justice of the Noblemen of the Royal Chancery of Vallodolid, fighting for the recognition of their nobility, before the justices (judges) of this court they expressed themselves (stated their case):

Don Alonso Trejo. Villafáfila (Province of Zamora), 1740;

don Andrés of Trejo. Villasbuenas (Caceres), 1537; don Antón and don Hernando of Trejo, Almaraz (Cáceres), 1542, and don Alonso of Trejo Monroy, Toro (Zamora), 1774.

Don José Florencio Fernández Barragán and Trejo, native of the place of the Purísima Concepcion of Maíz, in San Luis Potosí, Captain of the Body of Provincial Militiamen of the Frontier of New Santander, where he was born the year 1758, (he) entered previous proofs (evidence) pertaining to the nobility of their (the Trejos) linages in the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Military Order of Carlos III, in 1800. By maternal line (he) came from one old branch of the family(that) settled in Huichapan.

The Captain don Diego of Trejo, native of Plasencia, valiant military man he combated in the service of the Catholic kings in the surrendering of Granada, married with do'na Isabel of Contreras, and he had by this lady a son don Pedro of Trejo and Contreras, of the same temperament (disposition), newly married in his turn with doña N. of the Torre. This last knight (cavalier) passed (traveled) to New Spain in 1537, and had one prominent (outstanding) action in the pacification of Jalisco, marrying there.

Don Diego of Trejo and of the Torre, son of the above, was settler and perpetual councilman (alderman) of the City of Chiapas and his son of the same (equal) name the Captain don Diego of Trejo, took part in 1561, counting 24 years of age, in the conquest of Costa Rica, where he had great tasks and left extensive and illustrious offspring.

Don Francisco of Trejo, Gonzáles, native of Coria (Cáceres), also was in the role of the conquerors of New Spain, who came from the Island of Española (Hispaniola, i.e., Haite, Dominican Republic) (he) arrived in Mexico in 1536, participating in the pacification of New Galicia with the Viceroy, being in 1547 a resident of Guadalajara.

Conspicuous in the Conquest of the River of the Silver, the Captain don Hernando of Trejo and Carvajal of Figueroa, native of Plasencia where he possessed the right of the first born son, expeditionary in the armada of Sanabría, married with doña Ana de Mendoza and doña María of Sanabría. He made a will (willed) in 1557, of his primary connection (relationship), he had between other sons don Hernando of Trejo, Bishop of Tacumán. In addition, in the aforementioned conquest appear don Sancho of Trejo, killed in 1541, and don Sebastian of Trejo, expeditionary with Cabeza de Vaca (Head of Cow), that we encountered in the foundation of the Port of San Juan, the year 1542.

In addition don Pedro of Trejo belonged to this distinguished line, born about 1534 in Plasencia, he traveled (passed) to New Spain in 1556, notable poet and writer, author of the "Cancionero General," sentenced by the Holy Office in a sensational case for blasphemy. Married with doña Isabel Corona, with her he had (fathered) a son don Francisco and a son don Esteban of Trejo and Corona, residing in the cities of Zacatecas and Guadalajara. In 1575, (Pedro de Trejo) left to perform the sentence of a forced soldier, ignorant of his destiny (luck).

INTERNATIONAL 

Brazil's Indians turning to politics
by Axel Bugge
Orange County Register, Nov 10, 2004, Photo Craldo Peres, AP

EMERGING CLOUT: While Brazil's Indians cling to traditions, like Xingu warriors performing this dance In tribute to the dead, many are becoming politically active 
in the nation. More than 100 are expected to win posts
in local voting.

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

Initial results from last month's local elections show that four Indians were chosen as mayors and five as deputy mayors, while final results are expected to give Indians more than 100 posts.

The numbers may seem small but they represent a jump from the one Indian mayor elected in 2000.

Indian organizations see the results as a critical step in pushing back the centuries of abuse and prejudice they have suffered since the Portuguese first landed in Brazil in 1500, bringing enslavement and ill-nesses that slowly killed off many Indians.

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

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

Sebastiao de Souza Konohum, joint coordinator for the defense of indigenous rights at the government's Indian agency, Funai, said the improving results for Indian candidates is largely thanks to better organization.

"We started organizing in 1980 and boosted that; work after the 1988 constitution," said Konohum, himself an Indian from Matto Grosso state. "In the future, our aim is to create an Indian party to look after our interests."'

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

Indians' best-yet political results came in parallel with a historic rise in their numbers - the first after a steady decline from the estimated 6 million people when the Portuguese first arrived.

The latest census in 2000 put Brazil's Indian population at 734,000, up from 400,000 at the end of the 1980s.

Those numbers in them-selves reflect the political am-bitions of Indians as many more were willing to define themselves as Indians in the 2000 census, said a spokes-woman for the Catholic-run Indigenous Missionary Council. Brazil lets individuals define their race.

HISTORY

EL CORRIDO TEJANO – PART II
EL CORRIDO TEJANO – PART III

EL CORRIDO TEJANO – PART II

By Richard G. Santos
cheolmart@aol.com
Sent by George Gause  ggause@panam.edu

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

In reference to people who lost their money, the ballad says the property of Juan Benítez "will now have to be sold at auction". Meanwhile, one of Mosqueda’s partners named Simón García reportedly told his fellow train robbers they were going to spend the stolen money in Mexico. Obviously feeling unsafe, the song adds that García moved from Tamaulipas on the Texas border to the State of Sinalóa on the Pacific coast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The one-sided Corrido del Capitán Hall favoring the rebels does not tell the rebels actually lost the battle. Those who did not escape were arrested and sent across the border where the rurales promptly executed them as "border bandits". Meanwhile, Catarino E. Garza managed to escape and in 1893 reappeared in Costa Rica. The following year (1894) he published his famous booklet against President Díaz titled La Erá de Túxtepec en México o séa, rúsia en américa (The Era of Túxtepec or, Russia in America). Soon after releasing the booklet, Catarino E. Garza moved to Colombia where he reportedly died in May 1895. To this day, his descendants reside in Duval, Jim Wells, Nueces, Jim Hogg, Hidalgo, Starr and Cameron counties. Descendants of the rebel Uribe reside in Webb, Strarr and Cameron counties and can count in their present extended family numerous teachers, business people and a former Texas State Senator. It was at San Ygnácio, Texas where the Uribes (including the former Senator) allowed me to record them singing El Corrido del Capitán Hall.

Next week in Part III, we will deal with the corridos Tejanos at the dawn of the 20^th Century before the arrival of the Mexican refugees and political exiles. There is a certain overlap of time, but there are issues of Tejano history and society which stood separate and apart from the concerns of the Mexican citizens in exile. To again paraphrase the 755 year old El Romance de la Delgada, "ya con ésta me despido a la sombra de un mesquíte (under the shade of a mesquite tree, I now say farewell) aquí se acaba cantando la história de los corridos (this brings an end to the history of the corridos).

EL CORRIDO TEJANO – PART III

By Richard G. Santos
Sent by cheolmart@aol.com

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated while driving through Sarajevo, Bosnia. Because of a series of treaties among the European countries meant to protect and support each other, the world was soon lunched into the First World War. Germany, Austria-Hungry and the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire joined forces to battle France, England and Russia. The United States declared itself neutral but after the sinking of passenger ship Lusitania by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson and the public began to reconsider their non-aggressive stance. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany on February 1, 1917. On February 25, the British Secret Service handed the U. S. Government a copy of "the Zimmermann telegram" which set in motion a series of historic events affecting Texas and U.S. – Mexico relations. The telegram was supposedly sent by Arthur Zimmermann, German Minister of Foreign Relations to the German Ambassador in Mexico who had forwarded the wire to Venustiáno Carranza and was reportedly intercepted by British intelligence. The wire revealed Zimmermann was asking Mexico to ally itself with Germany in case of war between itself and the United States. If Mexico sided with Germany, Mexico would be allowed to regain "the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona." According to the British government, the telegram had been intercepted at Monterrey, Nuevo León where German spies were known to be active. The fact German spies had been arrested at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio and the parish priest at Río Grande City, Texas was a known paymaster for the German spy ring operating out of Monterrey, Nuevo León did not help matters any.

Making the telegram more credible was the 1915 Plán de San Diego reportedly written by Luís de la Rosa of Monterrey, Nuevo León. The Plán supposedly tied to the Masonic Lodge of San Diego, Texas called for the Tejanos to declare independence from the United States! The Plán also encouraged the Tejanos to establish a republic and later annex itself to Mexico. El Corrido de los Sediciósos (ballad of the seditious men) and El Corrido de los Bandidos de Nórias (ballad of the bandits from Nórias) tell the story of the international incident which occurred in August 1915.

The second stanza of Los Sediciósos reveals the battle which occurred at Nórias, Texas near Kingsville followed skirmishes at Mercedes, Brownsville and San Benito. However, being written by a Tejano, the composer recorded his concern. "Ya la mecha está encendida por los puros mexicanos (the match has been stricken by real Mexicans) y los que van a pagarla son los mexicotejanos" (the ones who will pay for this will be the mexicotejanos). In the following stanza the song repeats the match has been stricken and "y los que van a pagarla son los de éste lado" (and the ones who will pay for it are the [Hispanics] of this side of the border). Further emphasis is given on the following stanza to the fact innocent Tejanos would pay for the actions of the Mexican invaders. "y la vamos a pagar los que no debemos nada" (and we who are not involved will pay for this).

The second half of the ballad reveals leader Luís de la Rosa had lost control of the invading group. Aniceto Pizana, Teodoro Fuentes, Vicente Giro and Miguel Salinas were individually given a stanza of their own in which they claim the Texas Rangers and riders of La Kineña (King Ranch) were cowards. They also refer sarcastically to de la Rosa as breaking down in fear and crying throughout the shootout. In one stanza Teodoro Fuentes tells de la Rosa not to go with them to Mercedes, Texas which they planned to raid. "Vale más que Usted no vaya porque nomás va a llorar" (it would be best for you [de la Rosa] not to join us for you will only cry). The corridor then reveals the bandits passed through Mercedes and San Benito, Texas planning to raid the train depot at Los Olmitos. Although the ballad does not say if the depot or any other community was assaulted, it does note that "ya se van los sediciósos, ya se van de retirada, de recuerdo nos dejaron una veta colorada" (the seditious men are leaving in retreat and have left us a red [bloody] trail to remember them).

El Corrido de los Bandidos de Nórias starts off by giving Sunday, August 8^th as the date of the shootout at Rancho de las Nórias, Texas. The shootout had occurred at a small building on a loading ramp by the side of the railroad tracks. Anglo and Tejano cowmen from the King Ranch had battled the invading Mexican force under Luís de la Rosa. Someone had apparently sent a telegram to the Texas Rangers because as the song says, the Rangers came aboard a train. "El trén que viene de Bránsbil viene dando pitadas (the train from Brownsville arrived blowing its horn) y en ése llegaron los rinches a buscar los bandidos" (and on that train were the Rangers looking for the bandits). According to the composer, the Rangers were mounted and ready to pursue the invading Mexican bandits by three in the afternoon. The Ranger Captain is mentioned by stating "y les decía Tomás Mósli estamos bién preparados" (Thomas Mosley said to them "we are well prepared").

The Tejano ballad composer included personal jabs at the Mexican bandits. "Bandidos de Tamaulipas… ay que susto les han dado los rinches de la Kineña" (Oh bandits of Tamaulipas, how the Rangers of the King Ranch have frightened you). The ballad then tells how the whereabouts of the bandits were unknown. He theorized they might have gone via San Benito, Járlingen (Harlinger), Reimonbíl (Raymondville) to Las Tenerías before the Rangers caught up with them at Los Cerritos. "Dicen que allá por el río en un ratito fuéron rodeádos (they say they were quickly surrounded at the river) les agarraron a balazos y no fuéron muchos los escapados" (in the shootout which occurred not many [of the bandits] managed to escape). The composer made an interesting statement in the last stanza. "El que compuso estos versos no sabía lo que decía" (the person who composed these verses did not [personally] know what he was saying). "Estos versos son compuestos por los rinches y los bandidos" (these verses were composed by the Rangers and the bandits). Apparently the composer was not present at the battle but gathered the information from the Rangers and bandits. However, the composer was correct in fearing innocent Tejanos and Mexican laborers would suffer. Pancho Villa’s raid of Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916, set off another series of international incidents on the U.S. – Mexico border.

Ironically, it was not until the late1980’s that British intelligence revealed the Zimmermann telegram was a fake! England needed the United States to enter the war against Germany and Turkey. Therefore, the British intelligence service made up the telegram and managed to get President Wilson and the public to believe it. The battle at Las Nórias, El Plán de San Diégo and Villa’s raid of Columbus, New Mexico gave credence to the fake telegram. Hence, the U. S. declared war against Germany and the Ottoman Empire in April 1917.

Today, historians suspect the Plán de San Diégo was also a fake. Residents of Duval County and especially San Diégo, Texas do not know of any local family involved in the Plán or the famous shoot out at Las Nórias Ranch. Many are descendants of the families who settled the land grants along the eastside (i.e. Texas side) of the Río Grande from 1749 to 1775 (under Spain) and in the Duval County – Coastal Bend area from 1776 through 1821 (under Spain). As many Tejanos note with orgullo y terquedad (with pride and tenacity) their families have been on "this side" of the Río Grande since BEFORE there was a United States (1776), Republic of Mexico (1824) and Republic of Texas (1836). However, many of the Anglo and Tejano families of the lower Río Grande from Laredo to Brownsville on the Texas side of the border were involved in the attempts to create (1) the Republic of the Río Grande in 1841, (2) Republic of the Seven States of the Sierra Madre in 1849 and petitioned the U. S. Congress in 1850 to create "The State of Nueces". The proposed state was to be bordered on the east by the Nueces River and west by the Río Grande. The Gulf of Mexico was to be the southern border extending north to the headwaters of the Río Grande in Colorado. One of the signers of the petition was none other than Juan Nepomuceno Cortinas (mentioned in a previous column) who after the U. S. Civil War would be declared a "border bandit" by the U.S. government. The Tejanos considered him a folk hero (ala Billy the Kid and Jesse James) while the Anglo longtime residents of the lower Río Grande called him "the Robin Hood of the Río Grande". Unfortunately, he and many others are excluded in the Texas and U. S. history textbooks, movies and TV.

FAMILY HISTORY

PAF Companion prints color charts
Your Family History on TV
Military Maneuvers
How to Request Authorization for a Medal
Labeling Photos

Search simultaneous with Yahoo, Google, All the Web Alta Vista, Hot Bot, Lycos, etc. - anywhere in the world.  http://www.rat.de/kuijsten/navigator/usa/index.html

Sent by Janete Vargas  magnaguagno@gmail.com

Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News

April 13, 2005

New DNA studies suggest that all humans descended from a single African ancestor who lived some 60,000 years ago. To uncover the paths that lead from him to every living human, the National Geographic Society today launched the Genographic Project at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

The project is a five-year endeavor undertaken as a partnership between IBM and National Geographic. It will combine population genetics and molecular biology to trace the migration of humans from the time we first left Africa, 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, to the places where we live today.

Ten research centers around the world will receive funding from the Waitt Family Foundation to collect and analyze blood samples from indigenous populations (such as aboriginal groups), many in remote areas. The Genographic Project hopes to collect more than a hundred thousand DNA samples to create the largest gene bank in the world. Members of the public are also being invited to participate.

"Our DNA tells a fascinating story of the human journey: how we are all related and how our ancestors got to where we are today," said American geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells, the project leader. "This project will show us some of the routes early humans followed to populate the globe and paint a picture of the genetic tapestry that connects us all."

Wells, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, feels a certain sense of urgency. Wars, environmental disasters, and increasing globalization are causing more people to move, and the world is gradually becoming less culturally and genetically diverse.

"We need to take a genetic snapshot of who we are as a species before the geographic and cultural context are lost in the melting pot," Wells said. He cites language as a measure of the disappearance of cultures. "There are around 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, and by the end of the century, between half and 90 percent of those are going to be gone."

IBM, as the technology partner of the project, will participate in collecting the data, storing it, and analyzing it.

"We have some indications, from prior studies about the migration of people, how the diversity and similarity that we see in peoples of the world might have happened in the last 50,000 to 10,000 years," said Ajay Royyuru, a senior manager of IBM's Computational Biology Center. "But what is missing is the detail, the ability for everyone on the planet to be able to see, understand, exactly how they got to be where they are."

Tracking Genetic Markers

Each human parent contributes half of a child's DNA, which combines with the other parent's DNA to form a new genetic combination. This so-called recombination gives each of us a unique set of attributes: hair, eye, and skin color; athleticism or lack thereof; susceptibility to certain diseases; and so on.

However, the chunk of DNA known as the y chromosome, which only males possess, is passed from father to son without recombining. The y chromosome, therefore, remains basically unchanged through generations, except for random mutations. Similarly, women pass mitochondrial DNA, which also does not recombine, on to both their sons and daughters.

Random mutations to DNA, which happen naturally and are usually harmless, are called markers. Once a marker has been identified, geneticists can go back in time and trace it to the point at which it first occurred. This way, they are able to determine when and where a new lineage began.

If they can be traced to a particular region, these lineages can be used to track prehistoric migration patterns. However, indigenous identities are being lost as more and more people move from their ancestral villages.

"And when they do [leave], their kids [absorb] the dominant culture in that [new] city and lose touch with the old ways," Wells said. "So what we lose is the context in which their genetic diversity arose. The genes are still going to be there, but without the geographical context, we can't infer anything historical from the genetic data."

Battur Tumer, a descendant of Genghis Khan and one of the participants at the project launch today in Washington, D.C., exemplifies the importance of finding indigenous populations in their ancestral lands.

Wells's team collected y chromosome data in a region of Asia once ruled by the 13th-century Mongolian warrior. Their analysis identified a marker that originated about a thousand years ago and was carried by about 8 percent of the men living in the region. The marker was found in only one population outside of Asia_the Hazaras tribe in Pakistan. The Hazaras have a long oral tradition that says they're Khan's direct descendants.

Tying the marker to a geographic location and looking at the region's history_Genghis Khan's armies often raped the women of vanquished villages, and his descendants later expanded the empire_suggests that today roughly 16 million men carry a genetic mutation that probably originated with Khan's great-great-grandfather.

The spread of that particular mutation was the result of a cultural artifact_military success combined with a culture in which men could have many wives and concubines_but it exemplifies much of the impetus of the Genographic Project.

"The shared marker was identified because a focused effort was made to sample specific populations, going after populations like the Hazara, who have this oral history and want to test it to see if it's true," Wells said.

"In addition, the people in the region had lived there for centuries, and enough samples were collected to do an analysis. The indigenous groups participated because the wanted their stories told."

Public Participation

The Genographic Project is designed to tell everyone's story, though, not just the stories of indigenous cultures. What is unique about this project is the extent to which it relies on public participation.

"Most research happens through the hands of researchers, and the public at large gets to hear about it and learn about it on occasion, but there isn't a way for them to participate. This project is actually inviting individuals all over the world to be sort of associate researchers," Royyuru said. "Success is actually going to be determined by how many and how diverse the people are that participate, which is a fascinating thing."

The DNA data being collected places a person in a "haplogroup"_a lineage or branch on the human family tree that is defined by a set of genetic markers. Haplogroup R, for instance, is identified by a y chromosome mutation known as M173. Roughly 70 percent of English men have this lineage, 95 percent of Spanish men, and 95 percent of Irish men.

"The reason a lot of western Europeans have it is because it defines an expansion in the end of the last ice age as people moved north out of Iberia [ancient Spain]," Wells said. "The cool thing is that the penultimate marker_if you go back one step from M173_is M45, which arose in Central Asia, so it tells you about this journey your ancestors took through the steppes of Central Asia hunting mammoths and so on. Before that they were down in the Middle East."

The Middle Eastern marker, M89, represents a wave of migration out of Africa that occurred around 45,000 years ago. The Haplogroup R lineage ultimately traces all the way back to marker M168.

"Every non-African has M168, which appeared in eastern Africa around 60,000 years ago," Wells said.

"Some geographies have been better studied than others," Royyuru said. "In Europe we have a much better understanding of the genotypic diversity that exists and how that population happens to be so diverse_who came from where at what point in time. That is not the case with a large majority of Asia and Africa. There is certainly some understanding of the possible waves of migration and the routes that people might have traveled to populate North and South America, but even those are not definitive."

Should you want to get an idea of your own origins, National Geographic is selling kits that allow an individual to take a cheek swab, send it to a laboratory in Arizona, and then track the information on the Genographic Project Web site.

The kits will sell for U.S. $99.95 plus shipping and handling. The net proceeds from sales of the kits will fund additional research and the Legacy Project, which will aid indigenous cultures.

Legacy and Controversy

"The three main pillars of the project are field research, public participation and communication, and the Legacy Project," Wells said. "We see this as a collaborative effort with the indigenous populations."

The Legacy Project will provide indigenous groups participating in the Genographic Project with direct help through development projects, education, and public-awareness campaigns aimed at preserving traditional cultures.

The idea of creating the world's largest DNA database and collecting blood samples from indigenous groups could raise objections.

Genographic was specifically designed to dispel many of these concerns. The kits are designed so that there's no way to tie a kit's identification number to a specific individual.

Wells emphasizes the public nature of the project.

"We want this to be a very open project. We want to tell the public what it is we're doing, the goals, the methods, and we want to explain the results," Wells said. "We're not doing anything medically relevant, not patenting anything," he added.

"We see this as information that's part of the [common heritage] of our species. It's going to be released into the public domain, and people can go back and reanalyze it and query it and learn about it. We're hoping to create a virtual museum of human history."

SOURCE: John Inclan fromgalveston@yahoo.com

Family History for Kids ...
Sent by Janete Vargas  magnaguagno@gmail.com

Here are a few web pages I found about teaching kids genealogy. There are hundreds and hundreds!!!

http://www.rootsweb.com/~wgwkids/
http://www.digupyourroots.com/just_for_kids.html
http://www.genealogyspot.com/features/kids.htm
http://genealogy.allinfoabout.com/subjects/subgen_kids.html
http://www.genealogyweb.com/juniorgene.htm

(At the very bottom are 2 pages that will probably be something great to use with the girls.)
http://www.genealogyspot.com/resources/kids.htm
http://genealogy.allinfoabout.com/features/kids_genealogy.html
http://www.cyndislist.com/kids.htm#General
http://www.kidsturncentral.com/links/genealogylinks.htm
http://www.zeal.com/category/preview.jhtml?cid=522091

Your Family History on TV
By California African American Genealogical Society, Volume 17, Number 2
Heritage Newsletter, February 2005

Did your family make its mark on history? Your genealogy research could land you on History Detectives, the hit PBS program, produced by OPB TV, which returns for its third season this summer.

Is your family history connected to a significant moment in America's history? If your genealogy research has turned up clues that your ancestors played a key role in a history-making event. History Detectives wants to help you piece the puzzle together. You and the ghosts of ancestors past could appear on PBS's hit series this summer!

History Detectives will also feature a school-kid History Detective this summer along with their cool case. The detectives are looking for stories about old houses, family heirlooms, or local legends that might contain a fascinating mystery from our nation's past. If your story is chosen, you'll appear on the programs and solve your mystery right alongside our detectives on TV.

Unit operational records, 1954-present for units which did not serve in Southeast Asia; Organizational History Files, 1955- 1979

Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts Office
SAIS-IDP-F/P, Suite 201
1725 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202-4102
DSN 327-3377; (703)-607-3377

Organizational History Files, 1980-present
Organizational History Branch
U.S. Army Center of Military History
1099 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-3402
DSN 763-5413; (202)-761-5413

Unit rosters, 1917-present, Army Reserve

Veterans: Army Reserve Personnel Center
ATTN: ARPC-SFR-SSD
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200

Public: U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center
ATTN: ARPC-IMP-F (FOIA)
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200

Unit Lineages and Honors
Organizational History Branch
U.S. Army Center of Military History
1099 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-3402
DSN 763-5413; (202) 761-5413

Awards for active duty personnel:
Military Awards Branch
Hoffman Building II, 200 Stovall Street, Alexandria, VA 22332-0400
DSN 221-8699; (703) 325-8699

Awards for veterans:
U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center
Veterans Services Directorate
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200

Official photographs, 1861-1988
Still Picture Branch
Special Archives Division
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 713-6660

Official photographs and videos
Defense Visual Information Center
1363 Z Street Center, March Air Force Base, CA 92518-2727
DSN 348-1505; (909) 413-1505

Motion pictures, 1898 to present:
Motion Picture, Sound & Video Branch
Special Archives Division
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 713-7060

Official papers:
US Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks PA 17013-5008
DSN 242-3611; (717) 245-3611

Official US Army publications
Official publications:
US Army Publications Center
2800 Eastern Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21220-2896
DSN 584-2272; (410) 671-2272

Information concerning flags, colors, streamers,
guidons, insignia, & uniforms (AR-840-10)
US Army Institute of Heraldry
9235 Gunston Road, Room S-112, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5579
DSN 656-4968/4969; (703) 806-4968/4969

US Army Air Forces records:
US Air Force Historical Research Agency
600 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424
DSN 493-5834; (205) 953-5834

Operations Reports/Lessons Learned (ORLL) and other primary source material about Army units in Vietnam such as radio logs, unit journals, and after action reports, are stored at the Textual Reference Branch, National Archives, MD 20740-6001, 301/713-7250, fax 301/713-7482.

There are several resources available to assist your search for a VETERAN, MILITARY PERSON, OR UNIT/VESSELl. If you have any questions about using the 21 million name/20,000 unit association database, telephone the Library's Help Desk 310-532-0634, 10am to 3pm, Pacific Time. Use your web browser to view/print the attached reference card.

The worldwide accessible U.S. Military/Veteran Personnel Registry which contains over 19 million listings. New names/info are added everyday. Existing names/info are updated as new info arrives. Over 20,000 unit associations also listed. The Registry can be accessed by any computer modem, 24 hours/day. The modem number is: 1-310-715-2912.

Information about The Registry, please see URL: http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib46.htm
You can register a veteran you are seeking at URL: http://members.aol.com/veterans/registry.htm
The Veteran Photograph Registry: http://members.aol.com/veterans/vetsrch.htm
RECORDS AND MEDALS: http://members.aol.com/forvets/htom.htm
PRESIDENTIAL MEMORIAL CERTIFICATES: http://members.aol.com/forvets/vvssp4.htm
SPN/SPD Codes: http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib25.htm
http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib45.htm
RECORDS: http://members.aol.com/forvets/htomr.htm
AMERICAN HEROES: http://www.amervets.com

This was in our paper from St. Louis Mo. How true it is and very important for people to put names on there pictures and dates . I have been working on all my Mothers pictures of 100s for some time now and she is 83 and can help me name all the people before me I am thankful to God that Mother is still hear to help me. Its so important for family history and Genealogy . Bonnie Chapa

Dear Readers:

One thing I'll never regret is a visit to a frame shop just before closing time a couple of winters back. I had in hand four black-and-white 5x7 portraits taken of my mother, my sisters and me in our 20s, most from about the time we got married. The framer matted them side by side in a narrow rectangle -- one, two, three, four, oldest to youngest.

The black frame, almost fortyish in style, hangs in my foyer above the leather-topped table that held my grandmother's phone for so many decades. Not that my home is a shrine, but like many of you I do honor the few family pieces I've wound up with through the years.

The family female portraits, though -- that's something I'd have to grab on the way out the front door if my home were falling down around me. These aren't wedding gown pictures (thank goodness -- I'd hate to be immortalized in that long polyster beige print fiasco). They're just wistful moments of long-haired girls as captured in the '40s, '70s and '80s. How our lives have changed -- and not. The family resemblance in looks and deeds remains strong.

This Mother's Day, with our mother seriously ill, my sisters and I will be thinking a lot about who we are, and why we are. Where we got our sense of organization, our sociability (and our equal need for privacy). Where we got our love of hard work and good food and good times.

Of course, all of this sifted down to us from our mother, who got it from her mother, who, presumably, got it from her own. Is she the strikingly dark-eyed woman in the aged portrait I have in my guest room? It came from my grandmother's attic. No one living knows who she is, but I strongly suspect she's the mother of four who died 93 years ago after her husband brought home a puppy from his job on the railroad. It had rabies.

Thinking of this makes me realize I'd better get some names and dates on the back of my frame in the foyer. You really want someone to know who you were.

Nancy Miller, Lifestyle Editor
May 2005, Post Dispatch

ARCHAEOLOGY

As contemporary Native Americans assert the legacy of their ancestors, there is increasing debate among archaeologists over the methods and theories used to reconstruct prehistoric identity and the movement of social groups. This is especially problematic with respect to the emergence of southwestern tribes, which involved shifting populations and identities over the course of more than a thousand years.

Wesley Bernardini now draws on an unconventional source, 

Hopi traditional knowledge, to show how hypotheses that are developed from oral tradition can stimulate new and productive ways to think about the archaeological record. Focusing on insights that oral tradition has to offer about general processes of prehistoric migration and identity formation, he describes how each Hopi clan acquired its particular identity from the experiences it accumulated on its unique migration pathway. This pattern of "serial migration" by small social groups often saw the formation of villages by clans that briefly came together and then moved off again independently, producing considerable social diversity both within and among villages.

Using Anderson Mesa and Homol'ovi as case studies, Bernardini presents architectural and demographic data suggesting that the fourteenth century occupation of these regions was characterized by population flux and diversity consistent with the serial migration model. He offers an analysis of rock art motifs—focusing on those used as clan symbols—to evaluate the diversity of group identities, then presents a compositional analysis of JedditoYellow Ware pottery to evaluate the diversity of these groups' eventual migration destinations.

Evidence supporting serial migration greatly complicates existing notions of links between ancient and modern social groups, with important implications for the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Bernardini's work clearly demonstrates that studies of cultural affiliation must take into account the fluid nature of population movements and identity in the prehistoric landscape. It takes a decisive step toward better understanding the major demographic change that occurred on the Colorado Plateau from 1275 to 1400 and presents a strategy for improving the reconstruction of cultural identity in the past.

The University of Arizona Press 1-800-426-3797
Wesley Bernardini is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Redlands
256 pp., 10 halftones, 32 line illus.  

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