April  2002
Editor: Mimi Lozano, mimilozano@aol.com

          Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
          Publication of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research © 2000-1
http://members.aol.com/shhar      714-894-8161

In the late 1990s, NSDAR formed the Spanish Task Force to identify Spanish nationals who contributed to the Revolutionary cause.  Orange County, California educator, Dr. Mildred Murry lead the research effort, with a 2-fold goal: 1) to aid in genealogical research of Spanish connections to the Revolution, thus opening new avenues for NSDAR membership, and 2) to encourage donations to the NSDAR Library concerning these ethnic connections. NSDAR  http://www.dar.org

In addition, another Orange County, Californian Dr. Granville W. Hough, a retired West Point graduate and retired professor commenced research studies.  In 1998 the first volume of the Hough series on the Spanish Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England was published by the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research.  The series consists of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Patriots of the West Indies, and the latest book, Northwestern New Spain. Each book (about 180 pages) includes a listing of all the Spanish soldiers present in those locations during that time period. To order go to http://members.aol.com/shhar/press.htm

Dr. Hough's research continues. In addition to the books, Somos Primos has published on-going research.  This issue includes the Spanish soldiers in Guatemala and the March 2002 had a study
concerning the Philippines.  Check the yearly indexes of Somos Primos for other articles.

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, 
we should soon want bread." -- Thomas Jefferson

Sent by Odell Harwell  hirider@wt.net

Immigrant leaders are wielding their political clout on both sides of the border as they renew the fight for the right to vote in Mexican elections from abroad. The years- long campaign gains new steam today, when a delegation of about 40 immigrants begins 4 days of lobbying in Mexico City.

Several prominent Orange County residents are part of the group set to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox, legislators from the country's three main political parties, electoral officials and others. Immigrants are hoping to start sending in their votes from the United States and other countries as early as the 2003 elections.

"This time, we have widespread support," said Carlos Olamendi, a Laguna Niguel business owner and member of political groups including the GOP Lincoln Club and the bipartisan Hispanic 100. During the 2000 presidential elections, Olamendi campaigned for Fox and for George W. Bush. Last week, he was in Washington, where Bush appointed him to an advisory committee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts.

Other Orange County- based immigrants slated to form part of the political lobbying group, organizers say, include Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, head and founder of Lulu's Dessert Factory; the Rev. Martin Garcia of the Assemblies of God Church; and Lupe Gomez, a Santa Ana business owner and president of the Federation of Zacatecan Clubs of Southern California. 

The delegation also includes residents of Canada and at least six other U.S. states, primarily those with high Mexican immigrant populations. Most, if not all, of these immigrants are active in their local communities. Some, like Olamendi, also are active at the national level.

"It's very clear to many of these activists that, first and foremost, they have to be active politically in the United States," said Patricia Hamm, a professor at the University of California, Irvine.

Critics, especially those concerned that Mexican immigrants may not be assimilating into the U.S. culture, point to the campaign as evidence that the newcomers' loyalties are primarily with their native country. But Mexican immigrants are not treading new ground when it comes to seeking the right to vote from abroad. More than 40 countries now allow their expatriates to vote, according to the International Foundation for Election Systems.

"It's a kind of activism that can be seen as worrisome, but there are many cases of expatriates from other countries voting from abroad or even helping shape politics, like people from Afghanistan are now doing," Hamm said. "And nobody is accusing them of being traitors."

Mexican immigrants living in the United States first began demanding this right in the late 1920s, during a period of high emigration.

But Mexican leaders largely ignored the plea until 1996, when legislators approved a constitutional change allowing Mexicans abroad to vote. This is what made it possible for some immigrants to vote in the 2000 election in Mexican border cities.

Still, it wasn't until 1998 that officials began studying how immigrants could do this. Shortly thereafter, a study conducted by the Federal Electoral Institute found that it would be expensive and unwieldy to establish a voting system in the United States.

Another setback came when a congressional measure to establish such a system failed to gain approval. Opposition parties blamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled the country for 71 years until Fox, of the National Action Party, was elected. He's promised to help emigres in their fight for the vote.

Juan Hernandez, Fox's adviser for the Office of Mexicans Abroad, said the president met with him last week and reiterated his support.

"I told him I wanted to make it one of the priorities for my office in the coming year and he said, 'Yes, Juan. Absolutely!'" said Hernandez, in Santa Ana for a visit last weekend. "We have to figure out the best way to do this. Not whether it's possible, but how to do it."

Momentum has been building recently. Last month, the Mexican Senate Commission on Border Affairs sponsored a conference to discuss the topic and set up regular meetings to further the work.

"Conditions are better now because the president is in favor of this and congressional representation is more balanced," said Raul Ross Pineda, a Chicago-based leader of the lobbying effort. "And opinions seem to be changing. I haven't heard anyone from PRI oppose this."

To subscribe to this group, derechospoliticossinfronteras-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

[Editor's note:I thought this segment from a chapter in the Pitt text will encourage all of us to realize positive changes are taking place and  it still centers on the Mexican capacity and desire to work.]

After World War I a great wave of Mexicans hit the country. The migration of Mexicans and of blacks shared a common cause. When congress cut off European immigration in 1921 and 1924, a shortage of labor in the U.S. created job opportunities for both groups.  The influx from south of the border was spurred by two forces: the push of the Mexican revolution between 1910 and 1920 and the pull of U.S. labor needs, mainly in the Southwest. The flow of migrants peaked in 1924, but slowed significantly after 1929, and remained low through the depression. In the four and a half decades from 1900 to 1944 an estimated 730,000 Mexican immigrants entered the country, half of them arriving during the twenties. By the 1940s the Mexicans had become the second largest racial or ethnic minority, second only to blacks. In many respects they were the least- known minority, the forgotten Americans.

Most Mexican immigrants were "wetbacks"-migrant workers who swam or waded across the broad, shallow Rio Grande River instead of entering the country legally. There were no immigration quotas for Mexicans, but those who planned to stay in the United States had to present a visa, pay a head tax, and pass a literacy test at a border-crossing station-- all of which took time and money. Most of the newcomers were peasants or poor city people. They settled in the southwestern states, where the need for cheap manual labor was greatest. They worked as copper miners, farm hands, and railroad section hands. Many farm irrigation systems and railroad lines were built or maintained by Mexican workers.

Sometimes entire families migrated; more often it was single men. After the wetbacks had jumped the border, labor contractors, called "coyotes" or man snatchers, transported them at night by truck to their jobs. These contractors arranged with fruit growers and others to deliver a certain number of workers at a given time for a given rate. The migrants paid the contractor for his service. In this way the Mexicans avoided dealing with border guards.

Many employers preferred Mexican labor. They worked for little pay, arrived in large numbers, and seemed passive. Illegal immigrants were not likely to risk their jobs by complaining or by joining unions. They often spent their paychecks in the U.S., carrying finished goods home to Mexico. One grower wrote to the California governor in 1919: "I will say that if the white farmer, or white men in the State of California, could get an ample supply of Mexican labor, they could do all the truck gardening, raising of sugar beets, cantaloupes, vegetables, and other products which the Japanese and Hindus and Mohammedans are now doing. . . . "

In spite of what the whites thought, the Mexicans were not always so docile. In the 1920s and 1930s dozens of small Mexican unions emerged in farming, coal and copper mining, canning and packing, and even sheep shearing in New Mexico. The unions frequently struck in the 1930s, especially in agriculture. In California farm wages sometimes dropped as low as nine cents an hour during the depression. AFL unions would have nothing to do with the Mexicans. Radicals, including Communists, tried to organize them. During strikes, California farm employers and local law officers pulled out all the stops to destroy the unions. Indiscriminate arrests, excessive bail, deportations, and beatings by vigilante groups were used to intimidate the strikers. So Mexican workers who tried to gain control over their own lives by forming unions had little success.

Some of the older Spanish-speaking families drew away from the new Mexican immigrants. They felt threatened by the job competition and falling wages near the border. They were citizens. Yet whites lumped them together with the new wet-backs and treated them like greenhorns. Some of the old-timers in the Southwest, especially those who spoke English, began drifting farther north in search of better jobs. They followed the crops in the Pacific Northwest or got work in the mills and factories and on the railroads in the upper Midwest. By the time World War II began, there were sizable colonies of Mexicans in and around Chicago, St. Louis, and other major cities.

Inching toward the mainstream

Compared to other immigrant groups, Mexicans were slow to adopt American ways. Many expected to return to Mexico. Of those who stayed, the "illegals" suffered the most. They lived in constant threat of exposure. They feared not only the immigration authorities but all authorities-teachers, social workers, census takers, and police· Anyone who might learn the truth and have them deported was a threat. This fear rubbed off on their children, many of whom were U.S. citizens by birth. Migrant laborers rarely stayed long enough in one place to buy land, pay taxes, or acquire a stake in society. Often they lived in isolated places in housing provided by railroads, mining companies, or growers, so they seemed "invisible" to most Americans.

Because they moved frequently or lived in isolation, Mexican Americans never built the political base which had brought social and economic advancement to many groups of European immigrants With few exceptions, Mexican American voters had no power. They were given few patronage jobs and had little or no representation in state or local government. Self-help groups were traditionally weak.

The number of Mexican-born people in the U.S. actually declined in the thirties, from about 640,000 in 1930 to 377,000 in 1940. The depression sharply reduced migration from Mexico. Also, to lighten the welfare rolls and reduce the labor surplus in the U.S., federal and state officials sent a half million people back to Mexico. A great many were native-born American citizens. It cost Los Angeles County $425,000 to pay public assistance to six thousand Mexicans but only about $77,000 to deport them. In short, the local governments saved money by paying the train fare of Mexicans and Mexican Americans to "go home." Some left voluntarily, some had to be coaxed, and a few were physically removed. For several years a monthly train, filled with repatriados, traveled from southern California to Mexico City. About 200,000 left the country in 1931 and 1932 alone. Not all who went back to Mexico lived in the Southwest. Half of those of Mexican descent in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana were among those who left the country in the thirties.

The zoot suit riots

Mexican Americans who remained in the States faced discrimination in jobs, housing, schools, and public places throughout the country. At restaurants, swimming pools, theaters, and hotels in the Southwest the "White Only" sign applied to the Spanish- speaking as well as to blacks. Racial incidents were not uncommon.

The first such episode wide coverage were the "zoot suit riots," or "pachuco riots," in Los Angeles
summer of 1943. After the internment of the Japanese a year earlier the Los Angeles press
methodically attacked a segment of the Mexican community. These were the "pachucos"- youths who spoke a mixture of Spanish and English and who were accused of "shirking war duties" and of "gangsterism." Newspapers ridiculed the "Zoot suits" worn by the young males - wide, baggy, high-waisted pants with narrow cuffs, long-tailed jackets, and broad-brimmed hats.

In June 1943, incidents flared on street corners between servicemen and young Mexican 
Americans. Groups of sailors cruised the downtown area in taxis searching to "zoot suiters." They stripped and beat their victims. The police made wholesale arrests of the zoot suiters. The servicemen, who were later shown to have provoked the incidents, were not arrested. For a time the rioting brought the normal business of Los Angeles to a complete halt. the Germans broadcast news of these incidents labeling the Americans as racial hypocrites.

Other Mexican Americans did their share of the fighting and dying in the war. Because a hitch in the service brought economic security - and to Mexican nationals it also brought U.S. citizenship--young men of Mexican background crowded the recruitment centers. About 750,000 Mexican Americans served as GIs in the war, probably the highest proportion of any ethnic or racial group in the armed forces. They encountered little racial discrimination. Unlike blacks, they were assigned to combat duty in all parts of the globe. Many died or were captured in the Philippines in 1942. On the island of Saipan, Guy Gabaldon, a GI raised by a Japanese family in Los Angeles, persuaded about a thousand Japanese soldiers to surrender. This won him the Silver Star. Seventeen other Mexican Americans earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Braceros imported by agreement

The war created a labor shortage in southwestern agriculture. the whites who might have worked in the fields found higher paying jobs elsewhere. The Japanese (who normally did not work for whites as field hands) were detained behind barbed wire. and immigration from overseas had stopped. to relieve the shortage, the U.S. in 1942 agreed with Mexico to import braceros (field hands) on a regular basis. Wages and working conditions were set by negotiation. there were abuses in the program, but it significantly helped solve the farm labor shortage and improved the earnings of the Mexicans who came.

In June, 1943, these pachucos--dressed in typical "Zoot suit" style--drove through Los Angeles waving American flags and white flags of trace to signal their willingness to end the hostilities between Mexican Americans and Anglo servicemen. (Wide World Photos)

Immigration Museum for New Americans (IMNA) is in the planning stage

http://immigrationmuseumfornewamericans.com

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

Sent by Dr. Refugio Rochin, Director of the Latino Initiative,  Smithsonian Museum 

1986, Simpson-Mazzoli Act, Amnesty for illegals (who had lived in the U.S. steadily before 1982) and sanctions against employers (who knowingly hired illegals).

We Americans II  (Third Edition) by Leonard Pitt, pages: 299, 467-468, 
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1987 

1924 National
Origins Act

51,227
34,007
28,567
9,561
6,453
5,982
3,845
2,248
1,300
1,200
621
100

Per Law of
1929

25,957
65,721
17,853
3,314
2,377
6,524
5,802
2,784
1,323
1,200
600
307

Since the quotas were based on the U.S. census of 1910, it suggests that the exceedingly low allotment reflects the possible under- counting of  Hispanics, which might have been  influenced by attitudes based on the Spanish- American War and the Philippine-American War.]

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

The money taken from the workers was never distributed. Bracero supporters have organized protests outside Wells Fargo Banks in California and Texas, as well as protests outside Mexican banks trying to pressure the financial organizations into recognizing the problem. They estimate the sum owed at $500 million.

Wells Fargo released a statement saying it fulfilled its responsibility in the financial agreement with the bracero program, since it was the duty of the Bank of Mexico to return the money to the braceros. It also said that the search for documents involving the bracero program is ongoing.

. . .  the focus is on the 400,000 braceros who were in the program from 1942 to 1949 and whose money was funneled through Wells Fargo Bank to Mexican banks, said Dolores Ponce de Leon, who works with the legal arm of the Justicia Bracero Project in Chicago. Justicia Bracero is one of the groups that helped organize a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco last year.

Farm worker advocates plan a caravan that will begin in Yakima on April 5 and end in Guanajuato, Mexico, sometime in the spring. They plan to expose the public to former braceros . . .  and their families to tell their stories. 

Mexico and U.S. launch new bilateral trade program, Efe - March 11, 2002 Hipaniconline, 3-14-02

Calexico, California  - Mexican Commerce Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are launching a new program to ease cross-border trade between the two countries.

The new program includes the implementation of a new system to allow certain Mexican goods to cross the border without the need for U.S. Customs Service inspections, the senior Mexican trade official said. The official estimated that in the next several years, trade between Mexico and the United States will double from the present $250 billion a year. 

Latinos take lead on environmental issues: Voting Shows Emphasis Shifting to Inner-city Need
By Paul Rogers San Jose Mercury News, March 11, 2002

The future of California's environmental movement is not wearing a backpack or hiking in the woods. It is running back and forth in hundreds of crowded inner-city gyms. Driven by a yearning for clean water, reduced smog and more places for kids to play, Latino voters are turning out to be the most devoted environmentalists in California. 

The latest illustration came last week, when exit polls showed that 74 percent of Latino voters approved Proposition 40, a $2.6 billion parks and open space bond measure on the statewide ballot that won by 57 to 43 percent. In contrast, just 56 percent of white voters approved it.

``There is a myth that parks are a luxury and that lower income communities don't care about the environment,'' said Robert Garcia, an activist with the Center for Law and the Public Interest, based in Los Angeles.  ``But Latinos are like everybody else. Nobody wants to live surrounded by warehouses where they can't see trees or grass or clean water. They want livable communities. And they are willing to pay to create those communities.''

Parks leaders recommend cities have 10 acres of parks per 1,000 residents. But the figure is 0.3 acres per 1,000 in East Los Angeles, Garcia said. In San Jose, it is 6.8 acres; in Fresno, 2.7 acres, according to a study by the Trust for Public Land.

``We want a place for our children to grow up and have a better life like anybody else,'' said Gil Hernandez, a former fruit picker who now is president of South Bay Bronze Aluminum Foundry, in San Jose.

`Latinos aren't against saving the spotted owl, they just want some open space for their kids to play in too,'' said Leo Briones, president of Centaur North, a Los Angeles political consulting firm.

``It wasn't about protecting owls vs. jobs,'' said pollster John Fairbank, a partner in the polling firm Fairbank, Maslin & Maullin. ``  It was about cleaning up drinking water and toxic areas. They are health issues for urban voters. A more affluent voter can go to a cleaner beach or can afford bottled water.''  ``The environmental movement became an elitist movement. This is a breakthrough back to common folks.''

Sent by Howard Shorr   HowardShor@aol.com

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

Surname

CISNEROS: 

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

April 20, 2002, Family History Fair, Orange Family History Center, 674 S. Yorba, Orange 
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.  A variety of 35 classes are offered, some of a general nature, some ethnic specific.  Peter Carr is presenting the Hispanic researching class, offered in the afternoon, 1:20-2:20 p.m.  

Classes free.  Optional: Syllabus, $9.50.  Box lunch, $7.25.   Information,  714-997-7710

Since 1993, the year before the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, the amount of Orange County exports to Mexico has nearly tripled.  Mexico is now Orange County's biggest trade partner, with electronics, industrial machinery, computers, and scientific and measuring instruments as the top products exported to Mexico in 1999. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

The Mexico Trade Center in Santa Ana, marked its first anniversary in March.  The center has promoted about $8 million in trade, either by creating import streams for products or helping set up U.S. subsidiaries. The sizes of the deals have ranged from $800 to more than $1 million. What matters, says Alfredo Cruz, director of the Santa Ana Center, is that the center has assisted companies from 29 Mexican states.

Nationally, U.S. imports from Mexico have tripled since 1993 to $135 billion, with more than $247 billion in trade between the countries. 

Jesus Alvarez Gomez who represents Sociedad de Produccion "Rural de Teonochtli made contact last May to market tunas (cactus fruit). By the year's end, the growers had exported $500,000 worth.
O.C. Register, 3-14-02

A new store opened in Santa Ana to promote the work of Mexican artisans - The first of its kind in the U.S., it aims to stem migration and help maintain traditions. "This is a wonderful thing that we'll be able to do here," said Juan Hernandez, adviser to the president for the office of Mexicans Abroad in Mexico City. "We'll be able to help poor people in areas with high migration rates."

"We believe that Orange County is one of the most successful places in the country, and it's no coincidence that it's also one of the places with one of the highest Latino populations in the country," 
said Juan Hernandez, explaining how Orange County was chosen as a site for the first of what government officials hope will be several stores.

The store is a franchise of The National Fund for Promoting Crafts, a Mexican federal government agency charged with rescuing and promoting traditional arts. It is the first in the United States, with others planned in Miami and other cities. It mirrors stores already operating in Oaxaca and other Mexican states.

The wares featured in the store will promote and sell the work of Mexican artisans from the country's 32 states. This is more than just another retail store, however. The store has a lofty mission: to help stem emigration in some of Mexico's poorest areas by helping artisans sell their wares in the international marketplace. 

The FONART store is on the ground floor of the International Business Center, at 900 N. Broadway near the Mexican Consulate. FONART now offers scholarships, contests, schooling and market 
opportunities for artisans to encourage them to pursue their craft and pass it on to their children. 

Caucasian     45%

Latino           38%

Asian              9%

Black              4%

The first training drew rank-and-file members from unions representing janitors, hotel housekeepers, nursing home workers, construction laborers and security workers. Expenses for the seminar, and a week's lodging and meals, were covered by the center, while wages were paid by the various unions who sent members.

Extract from article by Nancy Cleeland, L.A. Times, pg. C2,  3-8-02
Sent by Dr. Granville W. Hough

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER VII.   PUEBLOS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1821, General Agustin de Iturbide declared Mexico to be independent of Spain and made himself Emperor. In April 1822, California was notified of Mexico's successful revolt against Spain and the California presidios lowered the Spanish flag and California became a province of the Empire of Mexico. On April 13, 1822, the soldiers at the Santa Barbara Presidio took their oath of allegiance to the new government in Mexico City. On November 19, 1823, Emperor Iturbide was deposed and the Republic of Mexico was established.

Pablo Olivas died on December 16, 1817 when his son José Dolores Olivas was only fifteen years of age. It was during this period of intense upheaval that José Dolores Olivas, stepped into his shoes and served as a third-generation soldado de cuera. José Delores Olivas was actually the first of my Olivas ancestors to be born in California. José would become the third generation of Olivas men to become a soldado de cuera at the Santa Barbara Presidio. It was his destiny to see the transition of California as it passed from the hands of the Spanish empire to the newly independent Mexican state. And he would serve as a soldier to both nations. 

On June 14, 1829, José Dolores de Jesus Olivas was married to María Gertrudis Valenzuela at Mission Santa Ynez. Dolores Olivas was listed as a single soldado de cuera and a native of the Santa Barbara. His bride, Gertrudis, was listed as the legitimate daughter of José Antonio Valenzuela and María Antonia Feliz. María Gertrudis Valenzuela had been baptized sixteen years earlier on June 7, 1813 at the San Gabriel Mission. Like her husband, she was the daughter of a presidial soldier and had spent most of her early years growing up at the presidio.

As José Dolores and Gertrudis prepared to start their family in 1830, they took their position as members of the growing Santa Barbara presidial community which now numbered 604. This population represented over one-third of the entire California presidial population (1,806) and over 17% of the entire Hispanic population of the state (1,664). Between 1830 and 1850, José Dolores and Gertrudis became the parents of twelve children. My great-great-great-great-grandmother, María Antonia Olivas, was the fourth-born child and a twin sister.

After serving out his term of enlistment, Dolores Olivas retired from the military and became an agricultural laborer. He and his family continued to live in the vicinity of the presidio. By 1840, the presidial community had now grown to 920 people, some 21% of the entire Hispanic population of the state (4,380). It was during this time that President James K. Polk of the United States devised a strategy for snatching California from Mexico's hands.

At first, President Polk sought to purchase California outright. In the fall of 1845, President Polk sent his representative John Slidell to Mexico. Slidell was supposed to offer Mexico $25,000,000 to accept the Rio Grande boundary with Texas and to sell New Mexico, Arizona, and California to the U.S. However, the President of Mexico, preoccupied with internal dissension and suspicious of American intentions, refused to see Slidell. At this point, President Polk devised a new strategy, by encouraging revolution among the Mexican and American Californians in the hope that they would then seek admission to the Union. If the first two steps failed, Polk envisioned the forcible seizure of California through war.

In the meantime, Polk had ordered Major General Zachary Taylor, with 3,000 men under his command, to advance from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande. He reached the river in April 1846. A Mexican force crossed the river to meet him. On April 25, the small body of American cavalry was defeated by the superior Mexican force. This incident gave President Polk the pretext he needed. Claiming that Mexico had "invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil," he asked Congress to declare war. They did so on May 13, 1846.

The Mexican-American War in California ended on January 13, 1847 with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga. A year later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848. By the provisions of this treaty, Mexico handed over to the United States 525,000 square miles of land, almost half of her national territory. In compensation, the U.S. paid $15,000,000 for the land and met other financial obligations to Mexico. By the provisions of this treaty, my ancestors became American citizens. 

Two years later, on September 9, 1850, California would be admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state. During the Federal Census of the same year, my ancestor, José Dolores Olivas - now an American citizen - headed a household of 11. Dolores, by this time, was 48 years old, while my great-great-great-great-grandmother, María Antonia Olivas was 15 years of age. María Antonia Olivas was truly a daughter of the Californios. She was descended from five pioneer California families (Olivas, Fernández, Valenzuela, Feliz and Quintero) and lived at the Santa Barbara Presidio which four of her soldado ancestors had helped to found.

On November 30, 1849, María Antonia Olivas was married to José Apolinario Esquivel, a native of Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, at the Santa Barbara Mission. By 1860, Apolinario and María Antonia were living in the San Buenaventura Township of Santa Barbara County. Listed as a 50-year-old laborer, Apolnario was tallied at the owner of $250 of real estate and $300 of personal estate. Living with Apolnario and his 30-year-old wife, María Antonia, were six daughters, including 10-year-old Regina Esquivel, my great-great-great-grandmother.

When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, the allegiance of Mexican Americans was deeply divided. Initially, some 2,500 Mexican-American citizens went to war for the Confederacy, while 950 volunteered for service in the Union Army. By the end of this bloody struggle (1865), almost 10,000 Mexican Americans had served in regular army or volunteer units. Of the 40,000 books and pamphlets written about the Civil War, only one book Vaqueros in Blue and Gray, has been published about the role of Mexican Americans.

As the war between the states raged in 1863, a call was sent out to the people of California to guard the West from Confederate incursions. At this time, the U.S. Government established four companies of Mexican-American Californians in order to utilize their "extraordinary horsemanship." Company C of the First California Native Cavalry was organized under Captain Antonio María de la Guerra. The younger brother of María Antonia Olivas, José Victoriano Olivas, joined this company, which was made up of native troopers from Santa Barbara County. María Antonia's brother would thus become the fourth generation of the Olivas family to serve in the military. And this service had now been extended to three flags (Spain, Mexico, and the United States).

Regina Esquivel was born in 1851 as the daughter of José Apolinario Esquivel and María Antonia Olivas. She was the first member of my Olivas lineage who was born as an American citizen. Nineteen years later, on January 3, 1870, Regina Esquivel was united in marriage with Gregorio Ortega at the San Buenaventura Mission. Gregorio was a laborer who had immigrated from southern Mexico in the 1860s. 

In the Federal Census of 1880, Gregorio Ortega was listed as the forty-year-old head of household in the Ventura Township in Ventura County, California. By this time, Regina was thirty years of age and had given birth to nine children, including my great-great-grandfather Valentine Ortega, who was five years old. Eleven years later, on April 23, 1891, forty-year-old Regina Esquivel died, after having given birth to a total of 18 children. With the loss of Regina, Gregorio Ortega was left a widower with many children.

When tallied in the 1900 Federal Census, Gregorio still headed a household of ten, including eight of his children. When Gregorio Ortega died of a cerebral hemorrhage on February 22, 1916 at the approximate age of 78 years, the Ventura Free Press published a very extensive and flattering obituary for this California pioneer, saluting him as a "patriarch" of Ventura County.

My great-great-grandfather Valentine Ortega was born on September 16, 1875 as the fifth child of Gregorio Ortega and Regina Esquivel. He was baptized shortly thereafter at San Buenaventura Mission. Eighteen years later, Valentine married 18-year-old Theodora Marta Tapia. It is through my Tapia ancestors that I have inherited my Chumash Indian heritage. 

When the new century began, Valentine and Theodora lived in Hueneme Township of Ventura County where Valentine found work as an agricultural laborer in the same fields worked by his father, Gregorio Ortega, and his grandfather, José Apolinario Esquivel. The very rich soil of the Oxnard Plains, combined with the mild climate, permitted the growth of a wide variety of crops, especially barley, beans, and beets. The nearby deepwater port in Hueneme had been constructed in order to provide the farmers with an outlet for their agricultural products. Over time, the Oxnard/El Rio/Saticoy area would become one of the major agricultural areas in the state.

By the time of the 1910 census, Valentine Ortega was 36 years old and his 34-year-old wife, Theodora, had given birth to a total of eight children, of which five were still alive. Of these children, my great-grandmather Isabel Ortega, was now a young child, having been born on January 3, 1902 in Saticoy. Then, in 1918, at forty-three years of age, Valentine Ortega fell victim to the world-wide influenza epidemic that ravaged the American continent at the end of World War I. His widow, Theodora, was now forced to raise her family by working odd jobs and with the generous help of her relatives. Theodora lived a long life, meeting her end in an Oxnard hospital at the age of 88.

My ancestor, Isabel Ortega, was actually married three times. The man with whom she spent most of her life, however, was my great-grandfather, Refugio Melendez, an immigrant laborer from Penjamo, Guanajuato. Refugio had come from a prosperous family that met with problems during the Mexican Revolution. He had sought refuge in the United States in 1914 and never returned to his native land.

My grandmother, Theodora (Dora) Melendez, was born in November 1927 at a time when Refugio and Isabel had split up for a time. As a result, Dora was sent to live with her godparents, Casimiro and Refugio Delarosa. Eventually, however, Refugio and Isabel would have a total of seven children together. While Refugio was a docile, gentle person who found great enjoyment in gardening, Isabel, the fifth-generation Californian, thrived on household chores such as plumbing, carpentry and electrical work. She also raised chickens, goats, pigs, and canaries. 

During the years of the Great Depression (1929-1941), both Refugio and Isabel had to work hard to make ends meet. While Isabel worked at a packing house in Saticoy, Refugio worked at a nearby ranch as an agricultural laborer. Not until April 25, 1956 did my great-grandparents officially tie the knot. On that day, 63-year-old Refugio Gonzales Melendez was officially married to 53-year-old Isabel Ortega Hernandez at the Santa Barbara Municipal Court. Eight years later, Refugio died at the Bellinda Hospital in Saticoy from coronary thrombosis. When Isabel died in 1979, she died from the complications of diabetes, which had plagued so many members of our family.

As American citizens in the Twentieth Century, the descendants of the Olivas family continued to serve as soldiers. When the Korean War began in 1950, my grandmother Dora's three brothers - Simon, Donald, and Raymundo Melendez - also served their country. For Raymundo and Donald, their service would mark the beginning of long careers in the American military. During the extended Vietnam Conflict (1963-1973), approximately 80,000 Hispanic Americans served in the American military. Although Hispanics made up only about 4.5% of the total U.S. population at that time, they incurred more than 19% of the casualties. My mother's brother, Eusebio Javier Antonio Basulto, enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War and later served as a military reservist. 

My grandmother Dora had married one Eusebio Basulto, by whom she had two daughters and one son. My mother, Sarah Basulto, was born in 1949. At a very early age, Mother was intrigued and interested to learn that our family had been a part of California's history for so long. In 1967, Mother was married to David Charles Kunkel, a native of Texas. On March 12, 1968 I got my first look at the world from inside the Granada Hills Hospital in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

I was born as Jennifer Celeste Kunkel, but today, I have my own family. My husband, James Dung Vo, was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam. We met at Van Nuys High School and were married in 1993 at St. Didacus Church in Sylmar. When my children, Ryan James Vo and Jessica Saramai Vo, were born in 1995 and 1998, they represented the tenth generation of my Olivas family who were born in California. A total of twelve generations of Olivas family members, however, has actually lived in this state. Through their Chumash ancestry, Ryan and Jessica have even greater longevity in California. 

Today, I am a Senior Editor Supervisor at a publishing company in Chatsworth, California. Everyday as I drive to work, I pass by the City of Los Angeles sign. On that small sign that many people don't even pay attention to, I see the words "Established 1781." To me, these words are significant because my family was at the founding of Los Angeles in 1781.

As a person whose California roots are so deep and significant, I feel that this is the only home for me. Twelve generations of my family have served under three flags: as soldiers, tailors, farmers, laborers, machinists, editors, quality assurance managers, and domestic engineers. My family has been intimately involved in the military campaigns of both California and the United States. And I will forever be proud of these roots.

Copyright © 2002, by John P. Schmal and Jennifer C. Vo. This article has been derived in large part from A Pioneer Family of California: In the Service of Three Flags. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved. Reproduction of this article in whole or in part without the express permission of John P. Schmal is strictly prohibited.

Sources:
Interviews with Dora Basulto, Sara Basulto Evans and Franceska Shupe.

California Archives, Provincial State Papers, 1767-1822. Archives of California, Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley.

Sidney B. Brinckerhoff and Odie B. Faulk, Lancers for the King. Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona Historical Foundation, 1965.

Leon G. Campbell, "The Spanish Presidio in Alta California During the Mission Period 1769-1784," Journal of the West, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (October 1977), pp. 582-595.

Leon G. Campbell, "The First Californios: Presidial Society in Spanish California, 1769-1822," Journal of the West, Vol. XI (October, 1972), pp. 63-77.

Odie B. Faulk, "The Presidio: Fortress or Farce?" Journal of the West, Vol. VIII, No. 1 (1969), pp. 21-28.

Daniel J. Garr, Hispanic Colonial Settlement in California: Planning and Urban Development on the Frontier, 1769-1850. Cornell University, Ph.D. Thesis, 1971.

Maynard Geiger, "Six Census Records of Los Angeles and Its Immediate Area Between 1804 and 1823," Southern California Quarterly, Vol. LIV, No. 4, pp. 311-341.

Carolyn Gale McGovern, Hispanic Population in Alta California. Unpublished Master's thesis - California State University at Northrdige, 1978.

Max L. Moorhead, "The Soldado de Cuera: Stalwart of the Spanish Borderlands" Journal of the West, Vol. VIII, No. 1 (January, 1969), pp. 38-55

Marion Parks, "Instructions for the Recruital of Soldiers and Settlers for California - Expeditions of 1781," Quarterly of the Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. XV, Part II, 1931.

Antonio Rios Bustamante and Pedro Castillo, An Illustrated History of Mexican Los Angeles, 1781-1985. University of California Monograph No. 12. Los Angeles: Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 1992.

Antonio Rios-Bustamante, Mexican Los Angeles. Encino, California: Floricano Press, 1992.

Meredith Stevens, The House of Olivas. Ventura, California: Charon Press.

Thomas Workman Temple, "Soldiers and Settlers of the Expedition of 1781, Genealogical Record," Southern California Quarterly 15 (I, November 1931).

Robert S. Whitehead, Citadel on the Channel: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara: Its Founding and Construction, 1782-1798. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Trust for Historical Preservation, 1996.

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

THE DOMINGUEZ FAMILY OF KANSAS: AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
By 
Donna S. Morales and John P. Schmal 
Dedication to 
Mary Dominguez (1922-2002)

Into the turmoil and uncertainty of these times was born the man who would become the patriarch and the founder of the Dominguez family in Kansas City. At 8:a.m. on April 22, 1862, as the French moved their forces inland from Veracruz, a 22-year-old laborer named Marcelino Dominguez appeared before the Judge of the Civil Court in Sain Alto to report that his son, Aniceto Dominguez, had been born five days earlier in the Hacienda de Santa Monica. Aniceto's mother was 19-year-old Petra Salas, the wife of Marcelino. Two weeks later, on May 5, French troops marching inland from the Gulf Coast were defeated near the village of Puebla, approximately halfway between the Gulf Coast and Mexico City. 

My great-grandfather Aniceto Dominguez was born to a poor family of laborers who worked the silver and gold mines near Sain Alto. However, forty-seven years later (1909), this poor Mexican citizen would forever alter the destiny of his family by bringing his children and grandchildren across the Mexican border into the United States. Then, seven years later at the age of fifty-four, Aniceto Dominguez would spearhead his family's migration from Texas to the railroad yards of Kansas City. 

In his life, Aniceto Dominguez would see great technological advances, including the invention of the telephone, airplane, moving pictures, and the gas-driven automobile. However, Aniceto would also live to see his adopted country take part in two terrible and devastating world wars. In the Second World War, he watched as two of his American-born grandsons marched off to war to defend their native soil. With both pride and sorrow, Aniceto watched as one grandson was killed in action, while the other was captured by the enemy. By the time he died on October 9, 1946 at the age of 84 years, five months, and 24 days, Aniceto Dominguez had left behind seven grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Shortly after he turned twenty in 1882, Aniceto Dominguez took as his bride one Martina Segovia. They prepared to start a family and, two years later, on September 30, 1884, my maternal grandfather, Geronimo Dominguez, was born to the young couple. Unfortunately, Martina died a few years later and in 1903, Aniceto would take a second wife, Dorotea Serna.

At the turn of the century when Geronimo Dominguez turned sixteen, the Dominguez family still lived in the Hacienda of Santa Monica near Sain Alto. It was during this time that Geronimo took an interest in Luisa Lujan, a teen-aged girl who had also been born and raised in Santa Monica. It seems likely that both Geronimo and Luisa may have attended the small chapel at the hacienda. It is equally likely that Geronimo and Luisa occasionally saw each other at religious festivals at San Sebastián Church in Sain Alto. 

On November 28, 1903, 19-year-old Geronimo Dominguez was married to 17-year-old Luisa. They soon moved to Paso de la Cruz, in the southeastern section of the Sain Alto Municipio. Employed in the nearby mine, Geronimo and his wife started to attend church at the small chapel in Río de Medina. Their first child, Pablo Dominguez, was born on April 2, 1905 and baptized six days later in the chapel.

Half a year earlier, Aniceto and Dorotea's first child, Carlota Dominguez, had also been baptized at the chapel in Río de Medina. But, the baptisms of Carlota and Pablo would be the last known Zacatecas baptism records for the Dominguez family before their departure to Chihuahua and - ultimately - to the United States. By this time Mexico had begun to experience fundamental economic and cultural changes that would affect the lives of every Mexican individual. 

Several sectors of the Mexican economy started to decline in 1903. The first decline started with the mining industry but, by 1907, a serious economic depression, accompanied by a devastating three-year drought (1907-1909), had severe repercussions that left thousands of migrant workers without jobs. The economic problems of this first decade would play a role in the starting of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The Revolution itself would last ten years and the cost the lives of one in eight Mexican citizens and initiate the first mass migration of Mexican laborers to the United States.

A transportation revolution on an unprecedented scale set in motion the processes that eventually led to my family's immigration to the United States. In 1877, President Porfirio Díaz had initiated the construction of a modern rail network for Mexico. As a result, the railway trackage in Mexico increased from 400 miles in 1876 to over 12,000 miles in 1900 and to more than 15,000 miles in 1910. Professor Mark Wasserman, the author of Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War, writes that "the completion of two major north-south lines, the Mexican National and the Mexican Central, were largely responsible for creating a boom in agricultural and mineral exports." 

Although Diaz had hoped to attract foreign investment and "assert stronger control over the northern regions of Mexico," his railroad-building program had "an unexpected outcome." The new rail networks cut transportation costs and made it easier for poor Mexican people to travel long distances from home in search of work. Thus, the railways inadvertently began to draw thousands of Mexican workers steadily northward. 

The Mexican Central Railway ran from Mexico City through Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, and Chihuahua to the border towns of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas. This railway, which was controlled by the mighty Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (ATSF) Railroad, would bring my family to El Paso, Texas in 1909.

Cynthia Mines, in her book Riding the Rails to Kansas: The Mexican Immigrants commented that "Mexican emigration to the United States was essentially an economic phenomenon" resulting from "a demand for inexpensive labor in one country and an unlimited number of unemployed laborers in another." In the Early Twentieth Century, writes Ms. Mines, "Mexico's unemployment rate, coupled with the political disorders, religious disturbances, poverty, and revolutionary unrest, provided plenty of incentive for hundreds of Mexican men to travel northward to find a better life."

According to the historian Juan R. Garcia, author of Mexicans in the Midwest, 1900-1932, "a curtailment of immigration from Asia and the Europeans' preference for year-round employment and higher wages had led to a severe labor shortage." To fill the void left in their work forces, the railroad companies began a campaign to enlist Mexican labor for their work forces. Many Mexican laborers were qualified to take on railroad jobs in the United States because of their prior experience in Mexican railroad work. 

Mr. Garcia writes that "Before long Mexicans were laying tracks and constructing roadbeds for most of the major rail lines." When my family left Mexico in 1909, it is believed that there may have been several factors influencing their move. According to my Uncle Jesse Dominguez, my great-grandfather, Aniceto Dominguez had run into some problems with the authorities. There is evidence of this because it is believed that my ancestors crossed the border using the name Salas, not Dominguez.

After leaving Zacatecas, the Dominguez family spent several years working on the railroads in Chihuahua, where Luisa Lujan Dominguez gave birth to my Aunt Felicitas Dominguez on August 8, 1909. In November of that year, Aniceto crossed the border in El Paso with his family, followed a month later by Geronimo and Luisa with their young family. My family crossed just as the Mexican political situation was reaching a dangerous point of crisis. Both Dominguez families quickly made their way to the city of Canadian in Hemphill County, Texas. Canadian, located in the rolling plains on the eastern edge of the Texas Panhandle near the border of Oklahoma, was a stop along the Santa Fe Railroad. It was this railroad center, 120 miles northeast of Amarillo, that had encouraged settlement of the area for two decades and it was here that my family made its first American home.

My Uncle Jesse Dominguez was born to Geronimo and Luisa on January 1, 1912 in Texas, followed on January 15, 1915 by my mother Pabla Dominguez. During these years in Texas, my grandfather Geronimo, who had worked the silver mines in Mexico, became a laborer for the Santa Fe Railroad. However, in 1918, Geronimo hurt his back when a door from the locomotive building fell on him. For awhile, he was forced to sell tamales for a living.

According to Uncle Jesse, sometime around 1916 or 1917, everyone in the entire town of Canadian became sick, supposedly from mustard gas. My family, to this day, believes that experiments in biological warfare were taking place in the area around Amarillo and Canadian and that this event was responsible for the widespread illness that affected everyone in the area. Considering that gas warfare was legal in these days, this theory seems to be a valid one. During this time, my Uncle Raul Dominguez had become very ill and died when the doctors prescribed the wrong medicine for him. It was around this time that my family decided it was time to move on to Kansas.

"The railroad brought to Kansas," writes the author Cynthia Mines, "a new age in transportation" and an "exposure to a different culture and people, an ethnic experience not welcomed by everyone in the small Kansas towns early in the century." The 1900 Federal Census showed that only 71 foreign-born Mexicans lived in the state of Kansas. However, the completion of the Brownsville-Kansas City Railway line in 1904 brought in significant numbers of Mexican laborers. In addition, the Santa Fe Railroad, headquartered in Topeka, began to actively recruit Mexicans from Texas. The two principal conduits of Mexican labor into the Kansas City area were the Santa Fe and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroads.

In Kansas, many cities recorded the first significant influx of Mexicans between 1905 and 1910. Initially Mexicans were hired as section crews, who worked from May to October and then returned to Mexico. By 1910, 55% of all track laborers in Kansas City were Mexicans, a figure that increased to 85% in 1915 and to more than 91% in 1927. Eventually, the Santa Fe Railroad became the largest employer of Mexican labor in Kansas. According to figures released by a national railroad official to the U.S. Senate Committee on Immigration, the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific railroads employed almost 20,000 Mexican track laborers in 1928. 

According to the 1910 census, most of the 8,429 foreign-born Mexicans living in Kansas were employed by the railroad. In this year, only Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico had more Mexican immigrants than Kansas. The number of Mexican immigrants living in Kansas rose to 13,570 in 1920 and 19,042 in 1930. Their primary population concentrations were in railroad centers. Over time, more of the Mexican laborers started to bring their families north to stay with them.

When my great-grandfather Aniceto Dominguez first arrived in Kansas, he moved his family to the West Bottoms Barrio in Ward I of Kansas City and started to work for the Ice Plant in Argentine. Grandpa Geronimo brought his family to Kansas City three years later in 1919 and went to work for the Swift and Company Packinghouse in Kansas City. By 1921, the packing industry in Kansas City was employing between 200 and 300 Mexicans. 

In the 1920 Federal Census, Aniceto Dominguez was listed as the 64-year-old head of household at 61 North First Street in Precinct 2, Kansas City, Wyandotte County. By this time, Aniceto's wife, Dorotea, had died and Aniceto was raising their young family. Nearby at 78 North First Street lived Aniceto's son, 38-year-old Geronimo Dominguez. Geronimo now headed a household of seven family members and two boarders. By this time, Luisa was 32 years old. The children listed in the household were Paul (son, 14 years old), Feliz (daughter, 9 years old), Jesus (son, 7 years old), Pabla (daughter, 5 years old), and Albera (son, 2 years and one month in age). The first two children gave Mexico as their place of birth, while the last three were listed as natives of Texas. 

According to estimates provided by Judith Fincher Laird, 17.86 percent of the Mexican laborers in Kansas City during the 1920s gave Zacatecas as their state of origin. The largest number of Mexican immigrants to Kansas had come from Guanajuato (31.25%) and Michoacán (25.89%). After Zacatecas, the other states contributing immigrants to Kansas were Jalisco (9.82%), Durango (3.57%), Aguascalientes (2.68%), and Coahuila (2.68%).

In contrast, Manuel Gamio, writing in Mexican Immigration to the United States, stated that in 1926 immigrants from Zacatecas made up only 4.8% of the total Mexican immigrant population of the entire United States. By 1930, the Mexican and Mexican-American population of Kansas comprised the second largest immigrant population in the state after Germans. However, in spite of their increasing numbers, Cynthia Mines writes that the "Mexican settlers were set apart linguistically, economically, religiously, and culturally from the mostly white, Protestant, middle class Kansans with which they were surrounded. They tended to stay within their colonies, some eventually building their own schools and churches, and ventured out only to buy necessities."

Mexicans, according to Ms. Mines, "had a higher ethnic visibility, because of their darker skin complexion, and they were not as easily assimilated into society as were the Germans, the largest immigrant group to Kansas." Professor Robert Oppenheimer of the University of Kansas, writing about the Mexican experience in Kansas, stressed that "until the 1950s, in virtually every Kansas town and city, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans remained segregated in movie theaters and were often restricted from some sections of city parks, churches, and other public facilities."

Unfortunately, the segregation in Kansas included Catholic churches. Ms. Mines lamented the fact that "Mexican Americans were not allowed to attend some masses and rather than be banished to the back of the church at services they did attend, many chose to worship in their own homes." My family, having experienced some of these problems, became interested in the mission work of some Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian ministers. 

Ms. Mines, in discussing these proselytizing efforts, writes "Some Mexican immigrants may have become Protestants because they had been helped in some material way by Protestant organizations - almost out of gratitude." In 1924, Grandpa Geronimo started to attend sermons by a Baptist preacher in Missouri. Because Grandpa Geronimo was very sickly from his years of working in the silver mines, he had a terrible cough. But when Geronimo prayed with this minister, he would feel better. Because of this my family felt that this minister had important healing powers and they started to attend his Baptist services. 

During the 1920s, Geronimo continued to work for the packing plant, while Grandma Luisa grew weaker and weaker. During the 1920s, Geronimo and Luisa had more children: Aunt Effie (Ephifania Dominguez) was born on April 7, 1920, followed by Uncle Erminio Dominguez in 1922. After Erminio came Marshall Dominguez, born on July 3, 1924. Luisa's last child was Louis Dominguez, who was born on July 30, 1926. Unfortunately, Luisa did not survive the birth of Uncle Louie. At the age of 39, she died from postpartum hemorrhage, leaving her grieving and ailing husband Geronimo with nine children who ranged in age from 21 years (Pablo) to one day (Louis).

My family has suffered through its fair share of tragedy and sorrow. In the 1930s, the teachers at the schools in the Kansas City area were very adamant about the use of the Spanish language in school. They told the parents of their students not to speak Spanish at home. To do so might interfere with their English-language education. My uncle, Marshall Dominguez, had apparently spoken Spanish at school a few times and got on the wrong side of a woman teacher. This woman singled out my uncle for ill treatment and hit him several times. We believe that several terrible blows to his kidneys led to his premature death from kidney failure. On March 27, 1939, at the age of 14 years, 8 months and 23 days, Marshall Dominguez died from acute general nephritis at Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. My family has always believed that this was a needless death. 

On April 13, 1943, age the age of 59, Geronimo Dominguez died from pulmonary tuberculosis. In his last years, his physical condition had deteriorated and the hacking cough that he had developed in the silver mines of Zacatecas had worsened. Geronimo, having survived his wife by 17 years, was survived by four sons and four daughters, his brother Ned Dominguez, his half-sister, Carlota Dominguez, and his father, Aniceto Dominguez. Geronimo's services were held at the Mexican Baptist Church.

My great-grandfather Aniceto Dominguez died at the age of 84 years, 5 months, and 24 days on October 9, 1946 at Bethany Hospital. Like his son Geronimo, Aniceto also died from pulmonary tuberculosis. Aniceto was survived by his daughter, Carlota Calzado of Brady, Texas and his son, Ned Dominguez of Turner. In addition, he left behind seven grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. His services were held at the Methodist Mexican Mission, followed by burial at Maple Hill Cemetery.

My mother's oldest brother, Pablo Dominguez (also known as Paul L. Dominguez) was born in Zacatecas and crossed the border into the United States in November 1909. In 1919, he accompanied his parents and siblings to Turner, Kansas. In 1926, around the time that his mother Luisa died, Uncle Paul became a coach cleaner for the Santa Fe Railroad in Kansas City. He eventually became a car inspector and worked for the Santa Fe Railroad for a total of 44 years. Uncle Paul became a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen and attended the Church of God Prophesy. When he died on April 12, 1970 at the age of 65, Uncle Paul was survived by his wife, Manuela, four daughters, two sons, two brothers (Erminio and Jesse), four sisters, and 15 grandchildren.

Felicitas Dominguez, the second-born child of Geronimo and Luisa, was born on August 8, 1909 in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Four months later, her parents carried her across the border at El Paso, Texas. In the late 1930s, Felicitas married Celestino Morales, the older brother of my father, Daniel Morales. Celestino had also been born in Mexico and came to the United States in 1912 with his parents. Celestino and Felicitas eventually moved from Argentina, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri, where they attended the Spanish Church of the Nazarene and raised their family.

For 23 years, Uncle Celestino serviced the presses of the Nazarene Publishing House, before retiring in 1973. On February 10, 1988, at the age of 78 years, Aunt Felicitas died at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She had been sick with diabetes and heart problems and the immediate cause of death was cardiac failure. At the time of her death, Felicitas was survived by her husband, Celestino Morales, five sons, one daughter. Two years later, on July 14, 1990, Uncle Celestino died at the age of 82. By the time of his death, Celestino and Felicitas left behind a total of 21 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. 

My Uncle Jesse Dominguez turned 90 on January 1st of this year and remains the kind-hearted soul that he has always been. Like many other members of my family, Jesse still has a full head of hair. Jesus Dominguez was born on January 1, 1912 in Texas and came to Kansas City in 1919. In 1936, like is father and his brothers, Jesse started to work for the Santa Fe Railroad. He spent the next 39 years as a car inspector for the railroad, retiring in 1975. 

As a young man, Uncle Jesse had worked in the beet fields of Mitchell, Nebraska. It was here that he met and fell in love with María (Mary) Basilia Chavez. On March 14, 1935, they were married in Gering, Nebraska. Eventually they raised nine daughters and six sons in the Kansas City area. Both Jesse and Mary attended Baptist churches.

Mary Dominguez died on March 3, 2002 at the age of 79 after a lengthy illness. Mary had a great passion for religion and enjoyed being involved with her churches (the Spanish American Baptist Church and Amazing Grace Baptist Church). She served as a choir member, an assistant and as the leader of the Women's Missionary Society. For many years, Mary's Christian testimony provided strength and direction to her entire family and community. Aunt Mary also loved to sew and cook. Aunt Mary, in fact, taught me how to sew. At the time of her death, Mary was survived by eight daughters, six sons, 49 grandchildren, 58 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

My mother, Bessie Dominguez, is a sweet and wonderful human being. In 1938, she was married to my father, Daniel Morales and, together, they brought into the world eight daughters. At birth, my mother had been named Pabla. However, as a small girl in grammar school, the schoolteacher had trouble pronouncing her name. As a result, the teacher started to call her Bessie, a name that has stayed with her since.

Mother's early life was difficult. After school, she and her brothers and sisters were frequently confronted by angry children who threw rocks at them. Mother felt that these schoolmates felt hatred towards them as Mexican Americans and eventually she had to quit school. Mother had to work hard for most of her life, but she became stronger from it, and, it is from my mother that I learned about endurance. Like most of the other members of her family, my mother loves to cook. She even made a video of herself, cooking tamales, chilies, and enchiladas, to present as a gift to my sisters and me.

My father, Daniel Morales, had been born in Texas. He was an energetic and compassionate man who practiced the principles of Christian charity for much of his life. In addition to working for the Rock Island Railroad in Kansas City, Father also worked as a waiter at the Muelbach Hotel and taught Sunday school for over forty years. When my father died in 1996, he left behind my mother, eight daughters, 16 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. 

My mother's younger sister Julia Dominguez was married to Eleno H. Salazar, who had been born on August 18, 1908 in Leon, Mexico, as the son of Salvador Salazar and Augustina Hernandez. Uncle Eleno had come to Kansas when he was very young and worked as a clerk of the Santa Fe Railway for 27 years. Eleno was also a member of the First Spanish Church of the Nazarene for many years. 

My family is a very patriotic family and, like many other American families, we have been willing to make great sacrifices for the country we love. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, forcing America into war. Within days, we were at war with Germany, Italy, and Japan, a formidable alliance. On September 2, 1942, my Uncle Erminio Dominguez, at the age of 20, enlisted in the Third Ranger Battalion. He was sent overseas, where he took part in the Italian campaigns of 1943 and 1944.

However, in early 1944, the Rangers met with disaster near the Italian resort of Anzio. The Germans surrounded my uncle's unit and the men of the Third Rangers were forced to fight for their lives. Outnumbered, the Rangers fought bravely and inflicted many casualties. However, eventually they ran short of ammunition and were forced to fight hand-to-hand with the enemy. 

Uncle Erminio's unit took heavy casualties and soon after, the Third Rangers had to be disbanded. At that time, Erminio was assigned to the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, which had joined General Mark Clark's Fifth Army in April 1944. The 117th soon took its place along the Italian front, some 100 miles south of Rome. Two months later, on June 5, 1944, Erminio Dominguez and the 117th Division entered Rome in triumph.

Meanwhile, back home in Kansas, my Uncle Louie Dominguez celebrated his eighteenth birthday on July 30, 1944. Louie had watched the progress of the American armies with great interest. He admired and emulated his older brother. To his friends and family members, Louie talked incessantly about his longing to become a soldier and serve his county like his older brother Erminio. 

Finally, on August 15, 1944, Louie followed his dream and enlisted in the Army. Louie joined the Seventy-Fifth Infantry Division and prepared to leave for foreign shores. It is fortunate that my Uncle Louie had a childhood friend, Esperanza Amayo, a Kansas City resident who has contributed articles about the experiences, tribulations, and contributions of the Mexican-American community to Kansas.

In describing her youthful memories of Louie, Esperanza Amayo wrote "It seems like only yesterday that we were children, my friends Isabel, Louie and I. In daily ritual we ran across cow pastures and climbed over barbed wire fences on our way to Turner Grade School. Our life was happy and carefree in the '30s and early '40s. Louie was our next-door neighbor on the hill where we lived." Commenting on the day that Louie left for overseas service, Esperanza wrote: "Louie looked fine in his Army uniform the day he walked across the dirt road, never again to return. He went to war radiating youthful and patriotic eagerness. How sad - he died soon after in the carnaged wastelands of Germany."

Soon after, a new development shocked the Dominguez family. Word reached Kansas City that Erminio Dominguez had been captured by the Germans in early September 1944. As part of the invasion of Southern France in August 1944, the 117th had moved steadily to the north through French territory, meeting with fierce resistance from German forces. In the first days of September, the 117th seized the city of Montrevel with the hope of holding it until reinforcements could arrive.

However, in a daylong battle, the German 11th Panzer Division launched a fierce counterattack that overran Montrevel. Erminio Dominguez and his fellow soldiers of the 117th were captured and immediately transported as POWs to Germany. Within days, Erminio was interned at Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria for the duration of the war.

Uncle Louie became incensed at the capture of Erminio and promised that he would help liberate his brother from German captivity. In January 1945, Louie and the 75th Infantry Division joined the American forces in France. Because the 75th Infantry Division was one of the last units to join the American forces in Europe, it was nicknamed the "Diaper Division." But the 75th made up for lost time, spending 94 consecutive days in contact with the enemy. 

As the American forces moved closer to the German homeland, the enemy's resistance grew more determined. In an attempt to halt the Allied advance on their native soil, German forces counterattacked more frequently and with increasing intensity. Finally, on March 31, 1945, the 75th Division stood on the border between Holland and Germany. At a small border town called Marl, on the German side of the border, they approached a hill on which the Germans were entrenched. Louie's Captain surveyed the situation and came to the conclusion that, in order to take this elevated stronghold, he would have to send an advance unit forward to locate the enemy's exact position. 

When the Captain asked for volunteers, Louie quickly stepped forward. Soon after, Louie and several other soldiers of the 289th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division, advanced up the hill towards the German positions. Suddenly enemy fire targeted the American soldiers and several of them fell to the ground. On this day, five weeks before the surrender of Nazi Germany, 18-year-old Louie Dominguez died for his country. Uncle Louie was buried at the military cemetery in Margarten, Netherlands, and was awarded the Purple Heart for his ultimate sacrifice.

In the middle of April, the news about Uncle Louie reached Kansas City. His family and his friends were devastated. Esperanza Amayo, in her anguish, struggled to understand the loss of her childhood friend and pondered over the meaning of it all. Many years later, reflecting on Erminio and Louie's service to their country, she wrote: "Statistics say that Mexican Americans died completely disproportionate to our numbers... They told me that Louie died in the name of peace and liberty." But Esperanza observed that Mexican-American servicemen returning home from World War II "did not earn one ounce of respect for their war duties. Instead of a confetti and ticker-tape welcome, these conquering heroes were blatantly denied the liberties and ordinary human rights guaranteed to Anglos."

Over the years, however, Esperanza saw a change in attitudes and a new appreciation of the contributions of Mexican Americans. Half a century after the end of World War II, Esperanza noted that Mexican-American veterans "can stand tall and proud of their contributions in war and peace." Writing for the Kansas City Star, she stated that Mexican Americans "were free to struggle and rise above our adversities. And now in this era of racial justice I finally know that indeed my friend did die for me. His memory will live with me always."

On May 8, 1945, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces. Soon after, American POWs throughout Germany were released from captivity. Erminio Dominguez, one of 90,000 American POWs, returned home to Kansas City. The brave veteran of the French and Italian campaigns received a warm welcome from his family. However, when Erminio found out that his younger brother Louie had died in combat, his sense of loss was overwhelming. 

Uncle Erminio's treatment at the hands of the Germans had been terrible. He once told his brother Jesse that the Germans had treated the POWs at Moosburg like animals, sometimes throwing food to the American soldiers as if they were dogs. Although Erminio received four bronze stars, the Purple Heart, the service ribbon and a good conduct medal for his extraordinary service to his country, he never spoke of his experiences in World War II to anyone ever again. However, proud to have served his country, Erminio did become a member of the Kansas City VFW. Two years after being released from German captivity, Erminio Dominguez was married to Carmen, the half-sister of my father. For the rest of his life, he worked as a forklift operator for the Santa Fe Railroad. On June 8, 1996, Erminio Dominguez died, leaving behind two children.

Nine servicemen surnamed Dominguez died in the service of their country in World War II. Three of these men came from California, two from Arizona, one from Ohio, one from Florida and one from Illinois, while my Uncle Louie Dominguez had entered the service from the state of Missouri. Sergeant Ygnacio O. Dominguez of the 89th Infantry Division was killed in action only five days before Uncle Louie. Today, I realize that when my Uncle Louie died on that hill in Germany, he paid for my freedom. I will remain forever grateful for his sacrifice.

My uncles, with great pride and determination, served their country in a time of need. They are merely two among many who served proudly. Writing in "Hispanic Heritage Month 1996: Hispanics - Challenging the Future," Army Chaplain (Capt.) Carlos C. Huerta of the 1st Battalion, 79th Field Artillery stated that "Hispanics have always met the challenge of serving the nation with great fervor. In every war, in every battle, on every battlefield, Hispanics have put their lives on the line to protect freedom." 

Erminio Dominguez and Louie Dominguez served as roll models for all of their nephews and nieces. Five years after the end of World War II, my cousin Eleno Salazar, Jr., served in the Korean War. In the years to follow, many family members, including my daughter Gina, have followed in our family's proud patriotic tradition by serving in the armed forces of the United States.

The Dominguez family has been in the United States for ninety-two years and in that period of time, we have earned an important place in American society. In seeking to convey to you my feelings about my family, I will borrow the words of Esperanza Amayo. Discussing the Mexican-American community of Kansas City, Esperanza wrote that "There is a grace to our achievements because, in spite of educational barriers and the subjugation of job restraints, Mexican-Americans in this area prevailed. We contributed in war and in peace to the productivity and stability of this community and now enjoy a self-fulfilling and respectable place in its society."

Copyright © 2002, by Donna S. Morales and John P. Schmal. This article has been derived in large part from My Family Through Time: The Story of a Mexican-American Family. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved. Reproduction of this article in whole or in part without the express permission of John P. Schmal is strictly prohibited.

Sources:
Interviews with Jesse Dominguez, Bessie Dominguez Morales, Carole Turner, and Louie Gonzalez.

Esperanza Amayo, "Mexican-American Vets Deserve to Be Honored," Kansas City Star.

Esperanza Amayo, "All Equal in Death," Kansas City Star.

Esperanza Amayo, "Mexican-American Roots Have Grown Deep in County," Kansas City Star, June 12, 1997.

Lawrence A. Cardoso, Mexican Emigration to the United States, 1897-1931. Tucson, 1980.

Department of Defense. The Hispanics in America's Defense. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Printing Office, 1990.

Judith Fincher Laird. Argentine, Kansas: The Evolution of a Mexican-American Community, 1905-1940 (University of Kansas, Ph.D., 1975). Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1979.

Manual Gamio, Mexican Immigration to the United States. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1930.

Juan R. Garcia, Mexicans in the Midwest, 1900-1932. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, 1996.

Louie Gonzalez, The Dominguez Chavez Family History. Kansas City: 2000.

Cynthia Mines, Riding the Rails to Kansas: The Mexican Immigrants. Kansas, 1980.

Donna S. Morales and John P. Schmal, My Family Through Time: The Story of a Mexican-American Family. 2000, Los Angeles, California.

Larry G. Rutter, Mexican Americans in Kansas: A Survey and Social Mobility Study, 1900-1970. Master's Thesis, Kansas State University, 1972.

Mark Wasserman, Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press, 2000.

To stimulate western settlement, Congress in 1878 passed the Timber and Stone Act; this measure, which applied to land in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, allowed private citizens to buy at the low price of $2.50 per acre 160-acre plots "unfit for cultivation" and "valuable chiefly for timber."  Taking advantage of the act, lumber companies hired thousands of seamen from waterfront boardinghouses to register claims to timberland and then them over to the companies.  By 1900, claimants had bought over 3.5 million acres under Timber and Stone Act provisions, and most of that land belonged to corporations.

Extracts from A People and a Nation, a History of the United States, Vol II: Since 1865, page 454,  published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.  Authors: Mary Beth Norton, David M. Katzman, Paul D. Escott, Howard P. Chudacoff, Thomas G. Paterson, William M. Tuttle, Jr.

The Seventh Annual Conference in Celebration of the life of JUAN BAUTISTA DE ANZA will return again this year to Arizpe, Sonora, Mexico. The dates for this year's symposium are May 2-5, 2002. Conference attendees from the United States will board vans on the morning of May 2nd in Tucson, Arizona and will travel to Arizpe visiting historical sites along the way. [The four days are jammed back. It looks like a wonderful trip.]

Cost of the conference is $350.00 per person, which includes room, meals,
transportation from Tucson, Arizona, and interpretation by the tour guides. Limited number, call right away because the cut- off was April 1st.

Tumacácori National Historical Park, P.O. Box 67
Tumacácori, Arizona, 85650 
(520) 398-2341, extension 23, gabby_cook@nps.gov

Sent by jguthrie@worldnet.att.net  Los Californianos

Last month a small group met to become updated on the progress of this Project.  Included in the group were members of your El Paso Genealogical Society and local L.D.S. Family History Centers, and Mimi Lozano, editor of the Somos Primos Web Site.  Mrs. Claudia Rivers, archivist for Special Collections at the University of Texas, El Paso Library, gave us an overview of the collections and resources available.  Special Collections is working with the Project to collect and preserve documents and artifacts, such as photographs.  Currently, some students are working with the Casasola collection, digitizing numerous photo negatives, which in time will be available on-line.  Mr. Casasola was an early South El Paso photographer, well known to many of us who grew up in El Paso.  The majority of the negatives are categorized only by events (weddings, baptisms, communions, etc.) and are not dated and only incompletely identified.

We were able to go to the Undergraduate Learning Center building and observe computer students digitizing some of the photographs.  This photo collection is extensive and will take some time to complete.  Once on-line, viewers can help identify individuals shown in the photographs.  This will become a tremendous resource for genealogists and historians alike.

An integral part of this Project is the Institute of Oral History which was established in 1972 to preserve the history of the El Paso and Cuidad Jurarez region.  In Partnership with University of Texas, Austin, the "Latino Project" interviews are being conducted to augment what is already one of the largest border-related oral history collections in the U.S. Interviews are being recorded, filmed, and transcribed.  They are subsequently indexed and cataloged and will be digitized for computer use by researchers, scholars, writers, students, and the general public.  The Institute has interviewed many El Paso and Cuidad Jurarez residents and has a waiting list.  This effort is time consuming and requires much planning.  University of Texas, Austin assists with equipment and student resources.  More than 1,000 interviews are currently part of the Oral History Collections.  They include a variety of topics ranging from immigration, the Mexican Revolution, World War II, the history of University of Texas, El Paso (U.T.E.P.),m African Americans in El Paso, the Chamizal Treaty, Hispanic Entrepreneurs, and many more.

Presently the office of the Paso Al Norte Project is located on the U.T.E. P. campus, but work is being done to obtain funds and a separate downtown building.  The Fall 2001 edition of the NOVA, the quarterly U.T.E.P. alumni publication, has an excellent article on this entire subject.  For additional information, you are encouraged to call the office of Paso Al Norte at (915= 747'8679, or contact by email at PasoAlNorte@utep.edu.   

Henry Parker enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry on May 18, 1867 in Memphis, Tennessee by Captain Davis for a period of five years. He was 21 years old and listed his occupation as a groom. His description included black eyes, black hair and a complexion listed as mulatto. Henry's height was recorded as 5'9 1/2". He was assigned to Company D of the Tenth U. S. Cavalry and was discharged on May 18, 1872 at Ft. Sill, Indian Territory * as a private. Fort Sill ca. 1827-1876, Fort Sill today. Remarkably, he never reported for sick call during the first two years and four months of service.  

[Sent by Johanna de Soto]

African American. Predominantly black or special colleges, high schools. and grade schools are obvious research points. Do not overlook the Freedmen's Bureau Schools. These schools for black children were separately financed by taxes on property owned by blacks. According to Roseann Hogan's "Kentucky Ancestry: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research" (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1992), "At the end of the war, 54 schools for freedmen were established in Kentucky" alone. 
[California African-American Genealogical Society Heritage Newsletter January-February 20, 02] 

Anishinabeg or Ixachilank.  In recognizing a tie between all Native people of this continent, many have suggested using the words Anishinabeg or Ixachilank as words that describe all people of the continent. These words allow us to describe people from South America to Alaska without basing ourselves in a foreign identity.    Hector Chavana, Jr.

Chicanismo Press: http:// www.chicanismopress.com
Online newspaper about current events that are important to followers of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, activistas, nationalists.  Editors The publishers of Chicanismo Press, Claudia and Hector A. Chavana, Jr. (e-mail/bio) are ex-Mechistas and current members of the Mexika Eagle Society ...

The millions of buffalo (bison) that roamed the American West helped to feed railroad workers, but they also were bothersome and dangerous.  Foraging herds slowed construction, the bulky animals knocked over telegraph poles, and a stampede could derail a train.  Railroad operators tried to remove the nuisance and raise money a t the same time by sponsoring buffalo hunts for eastern sportsmen.  There were hardly sporting events: rifle-toting men sat on slow-moving trains and shot away at the huge targets.  Some hunters collected the $1 and $3 offered by tanneries for hides, Burt others did not even stop to pick up their kill.  As a result of these  activities, by the 1880s only a few hundred remained of the estimated 13 million buffalo that had existed in the 1850s.

As buffalo became more scarce, the natives were forced to assume a different way of life, where they were more dependent on white traders and the government for their subsistence and where their hunting and territorial claims posed less of a threat to white ambitions for land and profit. 

The buffalo were victims of expansion, and their fate, along with that of the Indians, exemplifies what happened when white Americans transformed the West and South in the late nineteenth century.

Extracts from A People and a Nation, a History of the United States, Vol II: Since 1865, page 452,  published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.  Authors: Mary Beth Norton, David M. Katzman, Paul D. Escott, Howard P. Chudacoff, Thomas G. Paterson, William M. Tuttle, Jr.

[Editor's note:  For three hundred years there was a Spanish presence on the continent, and the bison had not been affected by their presence.]

Antonio Piña.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that my web page is up and running.  
To view my most recent painting, visit, http://www.antoniopina.com 
Please send me your comments and forward the address to your friends.  Thanks, Antonio Piña.
 6609 Quail Cove Court, El Paso Texas, 79912 USA,
All artwork and text in this web site copyright © 2001 Antonio Piña

Sent by Maria Dellinger  Tbdelling@aol.com

The first European to have visited Corpus Christi is believed to have been Spanish explorer, Lieutenant Alonso Alvarez de Piñeda in 1519.  [Texas Department of Transportation, pg. 13]

Lt. Alonso Alvarez de Piñeda was commissioned in 1519 by Francisco Garay, governor of Jamaica, to explore the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.  Piñeda mapped the coast line from Florida to Vera Cruz, giving the name of Amichel to the portion between Apalachee Bay and Tampico, Mexico.  He arrive in Vera Cruz in August, 1519, and found Hernando Cortés already there.  Cortés attempted to capture the Piñeda party, but Piñeda escaped, sailed north again, and stopped for forty days at a river, probably the Rio Grande, before he returned to Jamaica. [The Handbook of Texas, Vol. II, pg. 380]

Plaque from the S.S. Juan N. Seguin in 1944: http://seguinfamilyhistory.com/ssjns.html
Please use: Seguin Family Historical Society,  aseguin2@aol.com
Best regards,  Albert Seguin C. Gonzales

October 5th for Family History Month, classes will be offered on Beginning Genealogy, Organizing Your Research, Census Research, Newspapers, Periodicals, and and Indices

Sent by  Walter Herbeck epherbeck@JUNO.com

Aguilar, Nepomuceno 
Alameda y Gonzales, Rita 
Alameda, Jose 
Almance, Bruno 
Alsbury, Y. Perry 
Amador, Tomas 
Area, Alexander 
Arocha Pena y Cruz, Maria Jesusa 
Arocha, Macedonio 
Balle, Antonio 
Bela, Juan 
Benites, Miguel 
Bernal, Agustin 
Blancas, Santos 
Buquor, P.L. 
Bustillo, Clemente 
Cabasos, Albino 
Cadena de Ariola, Guadalupe 
Canales y Hernandez, Manuela 
Cantu, Agapito 
Cantu, Melchora R. 
Carillo, Matias 
Carr, Anistachio 
Carrera de los Reyes, Rita 
Casanova, Remigio 
Casas, Joaquin 
Casillas de Zunigas, Marina 
Casillas, Gabriel 
Casillas, Mateo 
Casillas, Pablo 
Castanon, Luis 
Castanon, Rumalda 
Castillo, Cayetano 
Castillo, Francisco 
Cerbera, Manuel 
Cervantes, Agapito 
Chacon, Carlos 
Chavez, Leandro 
Cobarrubio, Julian 
Contis de Tejada, Juana 
Contis, Julian 
Cordova, Jose 
Coro, Marsales 
Coy y Cassillas, Anastacia 
Coy, Alexander 
Coy, Antonio 
Coy, Martha J. 
Coy, Trinidad 
Cruz Silvera, Pilar de la 
Cuellar, J. Francisco 
Curvier, Angela 
Curvier, Fernando 
Curvier, Matias 
Curvier, Rita 
De Cordova & Son 
Delgado, Martin 
Dias y Zuniga, Juana 
Dias, Canuto 
Dias, Francisco 
Dias, Julian 

Sent by Walter Herbeck  epherbeck@JUNO.com

For information about the Louisiana Canarios, contact:
Joan Alemán 749-3253 or Catherine Prokop (924-0845) 
Sent by Bill Carmena

About 60  members of MXSDAR attended. Former VPG Carlos Ricketson served as Master of 
Ceremonies. He presented the charter and inducted the officers and some 12 members. An American flag was donated by VPG Rod Hildreth. A SAR flag was donated by Comp. Ralph Nelson, and a Mexican flag was donated by new compatriot Richard Sheffield, of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. The keynote speaker was Dr. Mariano Gonzalez Leal, former Chief Justice of the Guanajuato, Mexico Supreme Court. Since he spoke in Spanish, and some of those in the audience were "linguistically impaired", an English translation of his speech was passed out. He was presented with an SAR Bronze Good Citizenship Medal. Medals were also presented to the ladies who had been instrumental in the success of the event.   

Sent by Granville W. Hough  gwhough@earthlink.net

PROYECTO SAN FERNANDO
Calle Ecuador 148 Sur
Colonia Partido Romero
32030 Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua México
Tel. 612.16.80 E-mail: proyectosanfernando@yahoo.com

Thank you to Roberto Camp . . . 
for sharing this March 14, 2002 letter which he received concerning the San Fernando Mission.  

The San Fernando Mission, which is now a capilla, is a beautiful facility in a historical poblado that time has passed by, yet its 35 families continue to demonstrate their devotion in the maintenance of a beautiful church that is in excellent, white washed condition, and which is filled with priceless religious relics. It is quite large, given that it once was the parroquia for that region, and was the northern Chihuahua point of the Nueva España Camino Real that went on to El Paso del Norte and Santa Fe. Yesterday two van loads of students and professors from the Spanish Department of the University of New Mexico were there, and they had visited Camino Real points from Valle de Allende north. It also demonstrates a respect for traditional earth architecture principles.

The nearby cemetery, while located in a somewhat desolate, arid area, also reflects the basic goodness of chihuahuenses. It is completely free of vandalism, in spite of the fact that it also contains invaluable historical relics.

Father Manuel Vega of the Santa María Magdalena Parish of Villa Ahumada, which covers a vast rural area that is served by three priests, and which has a primary and secondary school staffed by Franciscan nuns, gave me a complete tour of El Carrizal. I will be returning on a regular basis to begin a documentation of that historic town’s history, which extends from the 1700’s through the visit of Don Benito Juárez in 1865 and to the Batalla de El Carrizal in 1916 during the Mexican Revolution.

We later had dinner with Notario Humberto Guerrero Bernal. Notarios are highly specialized and trusted attorneys who are given the special distinction of notario, and their role as ultimate jurisprudence authorities extends all the way back to the Siete Partidas and Justiniano principles of legal codes that began in Spain with King Fernando III el Santo and his son, King Alfonso X el Sabio, and which in turn had Roman Law derivatives.

Mexican law is based on centuries of legal and administrative evolution. Common Law principles pale in comparison with the finely tuned mercantile codes such as the Sociedad Anónima, and the manner in which the Mexican legal system handles real estate transactions is beyond reproach. While title companies abound in the U.S., in Mexico one only needs to obtain the services of a notario to ensure secure, ironclad property transfers. Notario Guerrero Bernal also has a strong interest in history.

We will soon be taking the steps to formalize the Proyecto San Fernando as an Institución de Beneficencia Pública under the laws of the State of Chihuahua. This alternative will be utilized, as opposed to incorporation as a nonprofit corporation (Asociación Civil). The IPB structure is one that is highly regulated by the Chihuahua State Government. It allows for a framework that can open its membership to community members. In terms of community development, and from what we witnessed today, this would be an excellent option to use to immediately move the Proyecto from a family patrimony and somewhat unipersonal endeavor to one that centuries from now, will continue to exist. One cannot think of a more appropriate New Millennium honor for San Fernando, whose 750-death anniversary will be celebrated on May 30.

Beyond the matter of covering expenses, the Proyecto will not have a fundraising focus. Rather, it will procure second party support for third party projects. While it obviously has ties to San Fernando, it will not be a religious organization, nor limited to a Catholic orientation. For example, three weeks ago we donated a year of Prodigy Internet service to El Albergue para Niños y Ancianos, an Apostolic Holiness project that is carried out in conjunction with the Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF) office of Cd. Juárez. Likewise, we are also sensitive to the contributions Jewish, Arab, Mormon, Mennonite and Asian communities of Cd. Juárez and Chihuahua. Chihuahua and New Mexico also have a very significant Sephardim history.

The Proyecto will sponsor community development projects that will include:

The Proyecto will render support for the amplification of the existing convenio between the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and the Universidad de Sevilla (US), and for established cooperative ties between the law faculties of both institutions, and will work to initiate a broad-based relationship with the History Faculty of the US.

Effective immediately, the Proyecto will begin a technical support system for the Santa María Magdalena Parish of Villa Ahumada, and the San Fernando Chapel and community of El Carrizal, beginning with the procurement of a computer system for the parish. Once direct local call Internet service is established, the Proyecto will assume annual Teléfonos de México and Prodigy Internet de México service for the parish office.

The Proyecto will provide adobe and other earth architecture consultation for both Villa Ahumada and El Carrizal families , which will be coordinated by Roberto Camp, with the professional backup of Arq. William Sorke Mena of Gómez Palacio, Durango. Arq. Sorke has just returned from a six-month professional program in compressed adobe brick production in Auroville, Madras, India. Effective March 23, he will be initiating a new professional construction project in McAllen, Texas, but will retain regular Web contact with the Proyecto, and will make periodic visits to Cd. Juárez, Villa Ahumada and El Carrizal. In addition, from Sevilla I will be bringing back Spanish techniques para el estuco y la cal.

Effective April 2002, a new Web diffusion of the life and influence of San Fernando will commence, beginning with a summary of the presence of San Fernando in Chihuahua, and remarks from Dr. González. This will initially appear on www.segundobarrio.com in Spanish, and in English in May as part of that month’s digital organ of The Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research, www.somosprimos.com.

This diffusion will later cover other Mexico areas where San Fernando is present, such as San Fernando, Tamaulipas; the San Fernando Church in Mexico City where Don Benito Juárez, his family and other Illustrious Mexicans are buried; San Fernando de los Tuxtlas, Vera Cruz; San Fernando, Chiapas and its coffee cooperative, which is the only Mexican ejido to have a Web page; the Plaza de San Fernando in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, and the abandoned San Fernando Mission in Baja California Norte. Eventually, these different segments will coalesce into a separate San Fernando Web URL, the first of its kind in history.

At a later date, the Web diffusion of San Fernando in the Américas will incorporate two Puerto Rico communities, San Fernando de Toa Alta and San Fernando de Carolina, the extensive San Fernando activities that are carried out in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela, and other presences of San Fernando in the New World.

Effective July 2002, the Proyecto will encourage Web-based diffusion of genealogical ties from Spain to El Paso del Norte, and will recognize the concentration of New World Spanish migration and commercial activities through Sevilla and out of the Port of Cádiz to San Juan de Puerto Rico, Santiago de Cuba and La Habana, Cuba to Veracruz, through Puebla de los Angles, la Ciudad de México and up the Camino Real through El Carrizal to El Paso del Norte.

Establishment of a Hermandad agreement that will include Ciudad Juárez and the contiguous communities of the Distrito Bravos and Distrito Miguel Ahumada, and the governments of both the Sevilla City and Sevilla Province Governments. In such a manner, we will encompass Villa Ahumada and El Carrizal, and also the historical areas of Praxedis Guerrero, Guadalupe and El Porvenir, among others. This geographical coverage will beyond a doubt offer a link between two of the world’s most historically significant areas.

On a long-range basis, an Hermandad agreement between the State of Chihuahua and the Autonomous Government of Andalucía.

On a much more ambitious level, the Proyecto will serve as the catalyst for the development of the Instituto de Estudios Hispano-Mexicanos "María de las Mercedes de Borbón" the late mother of King Juan Carlos. In her memory, it will acknowledge the special role that Doña María de las Mercedes played in the evolution of Spain in the last century, and upon her death January 1, 2000, the lasting vestige that she left for the Third Millennium.

The purpose of the institute will be to trace Spanish and Portuguese history to Chihuahua, and in turn, diffuse Paquimé, Tarahumara and other pre-Colonial and Indigenous Mexican, and the history of Chihuahua, in Spain. There is a 92-year-old resident of El Carrizal with whom we will make arrangements to start an oral and video history documentation. As you can well understand, he would be able to give us first hand accounts of the 1916 Batalla de Carrizal, and also pass on invaluable oral history recollections of Carrizal ancestors on down from the 1700’s, and give us onsite documentation regarding the Carrizal cemetery, which has relics going back to the 1700’s, if not earlier.

The institute will also promote the acquisition of Spanish history books, and encourage the further development of Mexican history publications, and in particular, of the Distrito Bravos and Distrito Miguel Ahumada sections of Northern Chihuahua. It will likewise encourage a broad-based diffusion of the history of Fernando III el Santo and Alfonso X el Sabio.

Como quien dice, para aprender porque somos lo que somos...  Enhorabuena, Roberto Camp

Libro Nuevo: Andariegos y Pobladores, Nueva España y Nueva Galicia, SIGLO XVI
de José Miguel Romero de Solís.

Este libro lo recomiendo a todos aquellos que busquen sus orígenes en el siglo XVI, sobre todo en el área del antiguo Obispado de la Nueva Galicia y Antiguo Obispado de Michoacán. El maestro Romero de Solís, quien es el director del Archivo Histórico del Municipio de Colima, hizo un excelente y minucioso registro de este archivo y sacó los documentos más relevantes para la identificación de muchos personajes que residieron en esa área o que en su momento estuvieron en tránsito por ella.

Hoy me llegó un ejemplar de este libro, obsequio de tan generoso amigo y no pude evitar leer una buena parte de él, a pesar de que en el año 2000 vi su preparación y gran parte del material que se utilizó para su elaboración.

Y como los buenos libros, vale la pena difundirlos, aquí les mando una muestra que saqué con scanner y convertí a texto para que vean como está escrito.

Su costo todavía lo ignoro, ya le pedí al autor que me avise, si se quiere comprar en la Ciudad de México, háganmelo saber, se consigue por $300.00 pesos, y para que ustedes investiguen bien y puedan informarse de los otros libros del mismo autor, (les recomiendo "Archivo de la Villa de Colima de la Nueva España Siglo XVI" Tomo I, Colima 1995) les doy una dirección de correo electrónico para que pidan de mi parte que les den el precio directamente en el Archivo y cómo enviárselos archicol@volcan.ucol.mx

Andariegos y pobladores.   Nueva España y Nueva Galicia (Siglo XVI)

Guacan donde residía para trasladarse a la Villa de Colima, en la que pocos días después habría de fallecer, dijo tener más de 4,000 pesos. De hecho, entre las cosas que se llevó en el viaje, había 2 cajas cerradas, muy pesadas, que solamente podían tener dinero, por tanto peso; que ella temía que se desfondasen, y mandó que las cargasen con mucho cuidado. "Donde hacían paraje -asegura el negro Gaspar luego dicha su ama las mandaba poner junto donde ella estaba, y dormía junto a ellas": AHMC 422.

Falleció en la Villa de Colima, el 20 de agosto, 1589: AHMC 417.

Ruiz de Monjaraz La Moza, Isabel [=Rodríguez, Isabel]

Acaso hija de Martín Ruiz de Monjaraz El Mozo: Juan Cornejo se obliga a las cargas del matrimonio de su sobrina Isabel de Monjaraz con Alonso de Vinuesa (12 de abril, 1598): AHMC 10 15.

Hija de Martín de Monjaraz El Viejo.

Casó con Bartolomé Garrido, y luego con Pedro Ruiz de Vilches, con quienes tuvo por hijos a Francisca y Pedro Ruiz de Monjaraz: AHMC 311; también Elvira Ruiz de Monjaraz La Moza fue hija de Bartolomé Garrido y María de Monjaraz, quien casaría con Pedro Gómez de Nájera: AHMC/Reyes 27.

Era propietaria de la mitad de la Huerta de Zapotlanejo que "por otro nombre se decía Santiago", porque, a tenor de un testigo, "se la 
vio tener y poseer en vida de Bartolomé Garrido, 

su primer marido, e por fin y muerte del susodicho, quedó en poder de la dicha María Ruiz de Monjaraz, e ansimismo le conoció por suyas las casas e negro, llamado Antón": Diego de Contreras, tutor y curador de los menores hijos de Pero Ruiz de Vilches y de María Ruiz de Monjaraz, difuntos, reclama los bienes que les pertenecen (23 de abril, 1579): AHMC 311.

Ruiz de Monjaraz, María [=Cáceres, María]

V' de Colima, según el Padrón de 1532.

"Martín de Monjarás pasó con el Marqués. Es persona honrada. Hallóse en la conquista de la ciudad [de México] y otras provincias Ha sido aprovechado de sus indios": VP 7.

OB 313 confirma su venida con Cortés y lo presenta como "tío" de Gregorio Monjaraz, "hermano del capitán Andrés [-estaba buboso": OB 3451, ensordeció en la guerra de México; buen soldado": oB 342,- BI, reg' 4722.

"Dize que es vezino, de Colima, y natural de la villa de Durango, e hijo legítimo de Martyn de (Camallua y de Doña María rruyz de Monjaráz, e que pasó a esta Nueva Spaña con el Marqués, y se halló en la conquista del rrio de Grijalua y Cenpual, y despues en la toma desta cibdad de México y prouincias a ella comarcanas, y en las de Mechoacán e Yopelcingos e Cacatula e Colima e Jalisco, e otras probincias que nonbra; e que es casado e tiene cinco hijos y padesce necesidad": le 25; 1sabel de Monjaraz, dize [ ... ] que el dicho su padre fué vno de los primeros conquistadores

Don Martín De León was born in Burgos (then known as New Santander) Mexico in the year of 1765. His parents were Don Bernando De León and Madame María Galvan. Both parents were from aristocratic and influential wealthy families of Spain. Burgos, Mexico was named for the City of Burgos, a province of Spain where Martín De León and his bride's families resided prior to their move to Burgos, Mexico in the year of 1750. Don Martín De León, as he grew to manhood was a striking, dignified man of extreme military bearing. He received a fine education to prepare him for business. He was offered further college education at Monterrey and to the disappointment of his parents he declined and elected to engage in business for himself. He stood a full six feet in height, his complexion was fair and he possessed a symmetrical well-proportioned form. Most of his life was spent in the saddle and he was a renowned and skillful horseman. He possessed an abundance of love for his family and also his religion. A more honest, courageous and determined Texan has never been recorded in Texas history.

The above is the first paragraph in this website whose source of  information is 
The Empresario by A.B.J. Hammett, 1973   [Sent by Johanna de Soto]

LAS HACIENDAS

Lic. José Alfredo Villegas Galván
Director
Archivo Historico del Estado San Luis Potosí

7.- Pedraza Montes José Francisco Archivo personal. Haciendas

SPANISH PATRIOTS  in GUATEMALA  
FIGHTING THE BRITISH IN CENTRAL AMERICA DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
UNDER THE OTHER GENERAL, GÁLVEZ. 
(First Part)
by Dr. Granville W. Hough

Brief History: The struggle between England and Spain over the Central American coast from Yucatan to Columbia began with the attacks by British corsairs in 1560 and continued into the nineteenth century.  England established a trading post on the coast at Cabo Gracias a Dios
in 1633 and the English Providence Company trading ships attacked the Spanish fortified town of Trujullo in 1643. In 1655, British occupied Jamaica, and the Spanish established Fort San Felipe as their first important fort in Central America. In 1675, the Spanish built Fort Inmaculada Concepción on the San Juan River to protect the entrance to Lake Nicaragua and the Spanish Inland settlements. The British gradually won over the Indian tribes of the coastal areas and established a buffer zone of allied Indian tribes between their coastal trading posts and the Spanish. The English settlers, timbermen, and traders were known as Baymen and Shoremen, and their area of activity was along the Caribbean coast of present day Quintana Roo through
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. When Spain declared war on England in June 1779, much of the Central American Caribbean Coast was under control or strong influence of the Governor of Jamaica through his Baymen and Shoremen and Indian allies. One of the declared aims of Spain in its declaration of war was to reduce or eliminate this English presence. It sent Matías Gálvez to do the job as the Captain-General of Guatemala. Matías Gálvez was brother to José Gálvez, Minister of the Indies, and father of Bernardo Gálvez, Governor of Louisiana. Matías Gálvez was a superb organizer and he eventually had 15,000 militia under arms and in training and as many more in reserve. He did his work so well that he was promoted to become Viceroy of New Spain in 1783.

Geography. As Captain-General of Guatemala, Matías Gálvez had nominal control of the present areas of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, San Salvador, and Chiapas, but the Spanish were concentrated on the Pacific Coast and in the valleys of the highlands. Indian tribes
of these areas had largely become Catholic and Hispanic; but those of the northern jungles and lowlands, the Sambos, Miskitos, and Caribs, remained anti-Spanish and pledged allegiance, periodically, to the British traders.

Wartime Battles and Campaigns included the Jeremiah Terry Peace Mission (to hostile Indian tribes) in August 1778 and his massacre with all party members except two sailors; the capture by the Spanish on 15 Sep 1779 of St. George’s Cay and attack on logwood cutters in Belize by the
Campeche coast guard and soldiers from Fort Bacalar; British recapture of St George’s Cay on 16 Sep; British capture of Santo Tomás on 22 Sep; British capture of Fort Omoa on 19 Oct; Spanish recapture of Fort Omoa on 29 Nov; British San Juan River Campaign of March-April, 1780 and the capture of Fort Inmaculada (Nicaragua) on 28 Apr 1780; Spanish recapture
of Fort Inmaculada (Nicaragua) on 4 Jan 1781; Spanish capture and reoccupation of Trujillo in April 1780; Spanish Coastal Offensive of 1782 with its capture of Roatán on 17 Mar 1782, the Black River Campaign with its capture of Fort Dalling and the main fort (soon renamed Fort
Inmaculada Concepción de Honduras); British recapture of Fort Dalling (the Quepriva massacre) on 21 Aug 1782 and Fort Inmaculada (Honduras) on 31 Aug 1782; and the removal of British Shoremen from the Caribbean coast to Belize under the Anglo-Spanish Convention of 14 Jul 1786. Wartime military installations which were not attacked included: Fort San Carlos, Presidio Peten, and the Castillo of San Felipe on the Gulf of Honduras.

As representative of the coastal units, el Castillo de San Felipe del Golfo dulze de Honduras in 1778 had 122 persons, 4 of them Spanish, 68 mulattos, 44 mulattas, and 6 castizos. 31 of the mulattos were soldiers, and 27 of the mulattas were their wives. The soldiers were indeed mostly married. The listing also indicates the prevalent racial mixtures on the Caribbean coast.

The Spanish stronghold on the Caribbean coast was Fort Omoa. The climate and health conditions of Fort Omoa were so poor that two Captain-Generals of Guatemala died from infections received there during routine visits. It was even more devastating for British troops and
became known as a hospital for Spanish troops (acclimated) but a graveyard for British troops (not acclimated.) The 1776 census for Omoa is included below because its garrison was taken prisoner when the English attacked in 1779 and sent to Jamaica where three survivors stayed until 1781. Two officers and forty soldiers, the remaining prisoners from Fort Omoa, drowned in a hurricane which struck the port of Savannah la Mar in Jamaica and submerged the town.

The names of the wartime units have not been recovered, but the units under the Captain-General of Guatemala for certain years between 1791 and 1799 included: Infantry Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1799; Batallon de Infanteria, Milicias Provinciales Disciplinadas de la
Provincia de Quezaltenango, 1796; Regimiento de Dragones, Milicias Provinciales Disciplinadas de la Capital de Guatemala, 1794; and Milicias Arregladas de Inf de Granada de Nicaragua, 1793.

*Joaquán Abadia (1757 Lorca - ). Entered service 1776, in 1791 in Infantry Garrison of Guatemala, SubLt in 1793, Commander of the Castillo de San Felipe del Golfo, “dulze el ordunas,” single in 1793, Legajo 7269:II:112.
*Luís Abeita/Abella (1756 Cataluña - ). Entered service 1773, SubLt of Bandera, 1781, Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-1799, Legajo 7269:II:7.
Tomás de Acosta. Floyd:215, Governor of Costa Rica 1797. (One person with this name was in 1795 Capt of the Infantry Garrison of Louisiana, Legajo 7292:II:15.)
Manuel de Aguilar (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at Omoa in 1776, married.
*Juan Alegria (1760 - ), entered service 1782 as SubLt, Militia, SubLt in Bn Inf, Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:16.
Jazinto Alfaro (1749 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, employee at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Fray ??? Alvarado. BancroftVII:614, a priest of Catargo who tried to explore the Mosquito country in 1782.
*Josef León Álvarez (1757 Badajoz – c 1791), entered service 1776, 2d Sgt, Aug 1783, Lt in Infantry Garrison of Guatemala, unmarried, in 1789, Legajo 7269:II:92.
Pedro Martir/Martin Amaya (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Isidro Andara (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Isabel María Agrames (1756 - ), and one son and one dau.
*Ramón de Anguiano. Floyd:184, 216, Intendant of Honduras, 1793-1812?.
*Cayetano de Ansoategui (1749 Vizcaya - ), entered service 1757, Sgt Major, grade Lt Col, 1781, Col in Inf Garrison of Guatemala in 1799, married, Legajo 7269:II:43.
*Antonio Antonioti. MP:39, a SubLt in prison in Jamaica in 1780 from the captured garrison at Fort Omoa. He and two other captives contacted Saavedra, the King’s representative, who was also in Jamaica.
*José Nazario Arauz (1759 Masaia - ), entered service 1779, SubLt, 4th Comp, 1781, in 1793 in Bn de Inf of Ciudad de Granada, married, Legajo 7269:V:6.
Francisco Arellanos (1742 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at San Fernando de Omoa, 1776, widower.
*Vincente Arizabalaga. Floyd:158-159, Lt Col, head of a force countering invading British in 1779.
*Domingo Arostegui (1752 Granada, Nicaragua - ), entered service 1779 as Lt, Lt in Granada Militia, 1793, married, Legajo 7269:V:3.
*Fray Julián de Arriaga. Floyd:102, 114, 118, 125-126, involved in clandestine support, 1776.
Cayetano de Ayala (1741 - ). LDS 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married to Juana María Hernández (1743 - ), with two daughters.
Clemente Antonio Ayala (1757 - ). LDS 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Francisco Aybar. Floyd:216, Governor of Honduras, 1780-83.
*Pedro de Aysinessa (1741 Valle de Bastan Liga/Zigu - ), entered service in 1781 as Lt, Lt in 1794 in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, married, Legajo 7269.
*Juan de Ayusa. Floyd:144-147, 179, 217, Lt Col, Commandant of Fort Inmaculada of Nicarauga when the British invaded, 1780, Governor of the Castillo de San Juan de Nicaragua in 1779, Governor of Nicarauga, 1783-86, Intendent of Nicaraugua, 1786-89. MP:39, while a prisoner in Jamaica, reported to the King’s Representative, Saavedra, the entire sequence of events relating to the capture of Fort Omoa by the British in 1779.

*Blas Baena (1756 Andalusia - ), entered service 1773, took part in the Expedition of the Rivers Paun and Tinto in 1780, 1st Sgt, Fusileros, 1782, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, single, Legajo 7269:II:151.
Pedro Balderas (1746 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married to Ana María Fortin (1751 - ).
Manuel Balenzuela (1747 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, a pardo at Omoa in 1776 married to Rosa (1752 - ).
Simón Balenzuela (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Reymundo Ballecillo (1746 - ). LDS 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, widower.
Juan Josef Banegas (1754 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Pedro Bardales (1746 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Phelipe Bardales (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, married to Marzela Zerzo (1750 - ), with one son.
*Juan del Barrio (1767 - ), entered service, 1781, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-93, Legajo 7269:II:16.
*José Anselmo Barrios (1765 Masaya - ), entered service as a SubLt in 1779, SubLt in Bn de Milicias Arregladas de Granada de Nicaragua, 1793, married, Legajo 7269:V:7.
*Juan Ignacio Barrios (1762 Masaia - ), entered service as SubLt, 4th Comp, 1779, Lt in Bn   de Milicias Disciplinadas de la Ciudad de Granada, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:V:4.
*Victoriano de Barrios (1742 - ), entered service 1762, SubLt in 1782, SubLt in Inf Bn at Quezaltenando, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:13.
Ramon Barrueta (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776.
Fray Francisco Barruta Juterino. LDS Roll 0741891, in Guatemala in 1777.
*Basilio Barrutia (1761 Guatemala - ), entered service as a Lt in 1781, Lt in Dragoons of the Capital in 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:13.
*José María Barrutia (1758 Guatemala - ), entered service as a Lt in 1781, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital in 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:10.
*Fray Manuel Barrutia. Floyd:179-182, high-ranking priest who tried to convert the Indian tribes of the Gulf Coast of Nicaragua in the 1780 decade.
*Pedro José Beloranassa (1743 Valle de Bastan, Zuxeta - ), entered service as a Capt in 1781, in the Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, Legajo 7269.
Josef Ilario Benavides (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776.
Santiago Benavides (1716 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Geronima Juares (1746 - ), and two sons.
*Pedro Benedi (1768 - ), entered service 1775, 2d Sgt in 1779, 1st Sgt in 1782, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793 and 1799, Legajo 7269:II:1.
*Felipe Benitez (1756 Guatemala - ), entered service 1781 as SubLt, SubLt in Dragoons of the Capital in 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:23.
*Mateo de la Besa (1766 León de Nicaragua - ), entered service 1782, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, Legajo 7269.
Thomas Beteta (1755 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Manuel Borbon (1749 Madrid - ), entered service 1780, Sgt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-91, married, Legajo 7269:II:82.
*Domingo Brito (1753 - ), entered service 1771, in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, Legajo 7269:?????
*Pedro Bricio/Brizzio (1739 Parmaven, Lombardia - ), entered service 1761, Lt in 1780 imprisoned in Jamaica, Capt “con sueldo de vivo” in 1781, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, perhaps in 1791 “se la ha dado Prebenda en la Cathedral de Nicaragua,” single, Legajo 7269:II:95. MP:39, contacted Saavedra in 1780 while in Jamaica where he was a prisoner; Floyd:146, 169, 177, 181, prepared stockade at outflow of Lake Nicaragua into San Juan River in 1780.
*Salvador Buergo (1756 Asturias - ), entered service 1771, 2d Sgt in 1782, Sgt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala in 1780-1799, single, Legajo 7269:II:28.
Joaquín Buitrio (1737 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, married.

*Juan Antonio Caballero de Góngora. Floyd:175-178, 181, Archbishop-Viceroy of New Grenada (1782-1789) who tried to assist in establishing Spanish control over the Mosquito Coast.
Thomas Caballero (1742 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Juana Francisca Miranda (1746 - ), with two sons and one dau.
*Domingo Cabello. Floyd:124-129, Governor of Nicaragua (1763-1777), then later wartime Governor of Texas.
Josef Cabrera (1751 - ). LDS roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Francisca Ortega (1740 - ).
*Francisco del Campo. LDS roll 0741892, Captain of Infantry ordered to begin collecting the Alcabalas (taxes) in 1781.
*Juan Josef Cano (1749 Lorca - ), entered service in 1769, Lt in 1781, Capt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:5.
*Jacinto Cardenas (1734 Totonicapam - ), entered service 1765, Lt in 1782, Lt in Bn Inf, Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:7.
*Juan Cardenas (1755 - ), entered service 1772, SubLt of Bandera in 1782, SubLt in Bn Inf, Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:14.
*Rafael Cardenas (1748 - ), entered service 1762, Lt, grad Capt, in 1781, 2d Comandante for defense of Valle de Matina, 1780, Col, 1793, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, but transferred to Inf Malaga, single, his health broken, Legajo 7269:II:115.
Antonio Carrasco (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife María del Carmen Ramos (1741 - ).
Manuel Carrasco (1742 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Manuel Casasola (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Tadeo Casasola (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married to Benita Martinez (1749 - ) and two children.
Benito de Castro (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widowed.
Juan Antonio de Castro (1746 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Petrona Quintana and ad least one son.
Juan de los Santos Castro (1758 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan Francisco de Castro (1752 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Ramon Castro (1757 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Ambrosio Cerdán. Bancroft:VII:715, appointed Regent of the Audiencias in Guatemala.
*Juan Manuel Cerezo (1747 - ), entered service by 1781, when he was Portaguion, SubLt in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, Legajo 7269:III:63.
Lorenzo de Chabez (1742 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, white, married.
*Matheo Clavo (1762 Castilla la Vieja - ), entered service 1775 as soldier and Cpl, Navarra, soldier and Cpl, Guatemala, 1777-83, in Expedition to the Rio Gauyape, 1780, Sgt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, single, Legajo 7269:II:180.
*Jacinto Colomer (1757 Cataluña - ), entered service 1773, 2d Sgt, 1779, 1st Sgt 1782, Sgt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793-99, married, Legajo 7269:II:24,bis.
Josef Concepción (1731 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Manuela Castro (1749 - ).
*Josef Coquet. Floyd:157, one of two commanders of the Black River campaign in 1781.
*Matías Coronado (1758 Guatemala - ), entered service 1781 as Lt, Lt, Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, single, Legajo 7269:IV:16.
*??? Corral. BancroftVI:615, priest with Frays López and Alvarado in exploring the Mosquito country in 1783.
Theodore Corralez (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, white, widowed.
*Pedro Cortéz y Larraz (Belchite, Aragon – 1786 Tortosa). Bancroft:VII:730, Archbishop of Guatemala, Feb 1768 – 1779, then Bishop of Tortosa.
*Agustín Crame. Floyd:130, Brigadier, Committee of Fortifications in New Spain, inspected Fort Omoa in 1779 to determine its readiness for war. He recommended immediate reinforcement.
Gregorio Cribas (1740 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 as a married servant.
*Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabañas y Crespo. BancroftVII:617, Bishop of Nicaragua for a short time in 1794.

*Manuel Dambrine (1756 La Montaña - ), entered service 1773, SubLt, grad Lt, in 1781, in the reconquest of Castillo de San Juan de Nicaragua and was wounded in the arm there, Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala in 1789-93, single, son of an official, Legajo 7269:II:3.
Francisco Dávila Galindo (1747 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Gregoria Rodríguez (1751 - ), and two daughters.
*Simón Desnaux. Floyd:131, Italian-born engineer who took command of Fort Omoa in 1779, but soon had to surrender it to the British forces on 19 Oct 1779.
Phelipe Días (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Guillermo Dobles (1739 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife María Angeles Padilla (1746 - ), and one dau.
*José Domás y Valle. Floyd:183, Bancroft:VII:728, former chief of naval squadron, Captain-General of Guatemala, 1794-28 Jul 1801.
*Ildefonso Domezain. Floyd:157, one of two leaders in the Black River campaign in 1781.
*Josef Doral (1756 Valencia – c 1793 ), entered service 1773, 2d Sgt Fusileros, 1782, taken prisoner while guarding the Criba corbeta Europa, SubLt, in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, single, broken health, Legajo 7269:II:111.
Miguel Durán (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with second wife Juana Padilla (1759 - ), and two daus.

*Antonio Echeverria (1758 - ), entered service 1774, SubLt, grad Lt, 1782, Capt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793-1799, Legajo 7269:II:6.
*Miguel José de Eguizabal (1734 Guatemala - ), entered service 1768,
Col in 1781, Col in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala in 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:1.
*Tomás Eraso/Heraso (1754 - ), entered service 1774, SubLt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Legajo 7269:II:153.
Martín Eredia (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Nicolás Escobar (1719 Quezaltenango - ), entered service 1739, Lt in 1782, Lt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango, 1796, widower, health broken, Legajo 7269:III:4.
Vizente Escobar (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Manuel de Espinosa (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*José de Estacheria. Floyd:165, Bancroft:VII:728, Brigadier General and former Governor of Nicarauga, Capt-General of Guatemala, 3 Apr 1783-29 Dec 1789.

Manuel Fariña (1725 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single. 
*José Fernández (1760 Zueta - ), entered service 1775, Distinguished
Soldier, Cavalry of Zueta, 1775-1791, SubLt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:22.
Antonio Fernández. LDS Roll 0741891, prepared 1778 census for Castillo de San Felipe del Golfo dulze, Honduras.
*José Fernández Gil (Sintroniss, Navarra - ), Lt in 1781, health infirm, demented since 1791, Lt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:15.
*Juan Fernández Bobadilla. BancroftVII:622, Governor of Costa Rica in 1780.
*Rafael Ferrer (1752 - ), entered service in 1781 as Portaguion, SubLt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:25..
*Juan Flóres (1747 - ), entered service 1766, Sgt Major, grad Col, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Legajo 7269:II:118. BancroftVII:622, Governor of Costa Rica in 1782.
Francisco Fortuni (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married.
*Cayetano Francos y Monroy (Villa of Villavicencio de los Caballeros – 17b Jul 1792). Bancroft:VII:726, former canon of the cathedral of Plasencia, Archbishop of Guatemala as of August, 1779.
Francisco Manuel Frenque (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married to María Rita Frenque (1726 - ).
*Torivio Fuentes (1760 - ), entered service 1782 as SubLt of Bandera, SubLt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:15.

Pablos Galban (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Rosa Paredes (1746-).
Joaquín Gallardo (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Christóval de Gálvez (1746 Guatemala - ), entered service in 1781 as Capt, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:4.
*Josef de Gálvez (1744 Cañete la Real - ), entered service 1763, Lt Granaderos, Militia, in 1780, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Capt, 1793, named Comandante of the Presidio de Peten de Itza on 14 Feb 1794, widower, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:102.
*Matías de Gálvez ( - 3 Nov 1784 Mexico City, New Spain). Floyd:many references, appointed Capt-General of Guatemala 5 Apr 1779, and served until 10 Mar 1783, when he became Viceroy of New Spain, soon to die in Mexico City.
*José Gálvez y Betetta (1770 Guatemala - ), entered service as SubLt in 1781, SubLt in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, single, probably relative of the Captain General, Legajo 7269:IV:21.
Francisco Gamboa (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, free negro at Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef Isidro Gamboa (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, free negro at Omoa in 1776, with wife María Silberia Gamboa (1746 - ), and five children.
Pedro Gamboa (1761 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, free negro at Omoa, 1776, single.
*Bernardo García (1748 Castilla la Vieja - ), entered service 1766, 1st Sgt Fusileros, 1779, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1791-93, single, Legajo 7269:II:9.
Manuel García (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, married.
*Andres Gil Taboada (1760 - ), entered service in 1782 with Inf of Granada, in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, probably Adjutant Mayor, Mil Prov Inf de Zacatepeques in 1794,Legajo 7269:??? and Legajo 7278:IV:3.
*Juan Manuel Gil (1745 - ), entered service 1769, Sgt 1776-1789, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1791, transferred in 1793 to become Adjutant of Militias in Santa Ana, Legajo 7269:II:110.
*Bartholomé Gómez (1744 La Mancha - ), entered service 1766, 1st Sgt Grenadiers, 1782, Lt, Inf Garrison of Guatemals, 1789, single, Legajo 7269:II:142.
Euzevio Gonzáles (1740 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef Gonzáles Ferminor. LDS Roll 0741891, Comandante, San Fernando de Omoa, in 1776.
*Juan González Bustillo y Villaseñor. Bancroft:VII:717, interim governor of Guatemala in 1771-73, then in the audiencia of Mexico, then to the India House at Cádiz, then to the supreme council of the Indies.
*Pedro González (1759 Castilla la Vieja - ), entered service 1776, Grenadier and Cpl, Rs Guardias de Inf Española, 1776-1786, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-99, single, Legajo 7269:II:10.
Ramón González (1758 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, pardo at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Isidore Gordon (1740 Estremadura – c 1793), entered service 1762, Lt, Grad Capt, 1782, Col, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:105.
Cayetano Granadales (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan de Guebara (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife María Millon and one son.
Juan Nerio Guebara (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Enrique de Grimarest. BancroftVII:634, Spanish Colonel sent as Commissioner to assure the removal of all British to Belize in 1786.

*Manuel de Haverri (1758 Guatemala - ), entered service as SubLt, 1781, Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, single, Legajo 7269.
Juan Pedro Henriques (1712 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa with wife Monica Zuñiga (1740 - ), and one dau.
Adriano Hernández (1753 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Alexos Hernández (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Josef Hernández (1754 New Spain - ), entered service 1771, was 2d Sgt, Corona Regt, when it was moved from Mexico to Havana, thence to Guarico in 1782, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1791-93, single, Legajo 7269:II:19.
Vincent de Herrera. BancroftVII:714, appointed Regent of the audiencias in Guatemala in Jan 1778.
*Gabriel de Hervias. Floyd:165-166, 174-176, Lt Col, veteran of the coastal campaigns against the English, selected to enforce the Convention of 1786, by which the English left the Nicaraguan Coast.
*Salvador Huerbo (1756 Asturias - ), entered service 1771, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:28.
José Antonio de la Huerta Caso. BancroftVII:617, Bishop of Nicaragua, 1798.


*Juan Ibarra (1750 Vizcaya - ), entered service as Lt in 1782, Lt in Bn Inf Quezaltenango, 1796, single, Legajo 7269:III:8.
*Mateo Irungarai (1739 Garzuine, Valle de Bastun - ), entered service as Lt in 1781, Lt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, married, Legajo 7269:IV:12.
Marcos de Isaguirre (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, free negro at Omoa in 1776, with wife Ana María (1743 - ), and 4 daus.
*Salvador Javalois (1757 Lorca - ), entered service 1770, 2d Sgt 1778-84, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, married, Legajo 7269:II:145.
*Tomás de Juliá. Floyd:151-152, 156, 159, 161, Capt who led the force which captured Fort Inmaculada in Nicaragua from the British in early 1782 but had to surrender it on 31 Aug 1782.

*Miguel Lacayo (1753 Granada, Nicaragua - ), entered service in 1779 as Lt, Militia of Granada, Nicaragua, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:V:1.
*Pable Laguna (1756 - ), entered service 1778, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1791, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:89.
Balthazar dela Lama (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, employee at Omoa in 1776, married. Fray Antonio Lancusa. LDS Roll 0741891, cura propio in Guatemala, 1777.
*Pedro Leiva (1753 Andalucia - ), entered service 1773, 2nd Sgt 1782, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, transferred in 1793 to the Presidio Peten, widowed, Legajo 7269:II:85.
*Estévan de León (1717 Quesaltenango - ), entered service 1736, Lt in 1782, Lt in Bn Inf of Quesaltenango, 1796, health “acha cosa,” Legajo 7269:III:3.
*Bernardo López (1754 Estremadura - ), entered service 1775, 1st Sgt in 1782, took part in reconquest of Omoa in 1779, was at Castillo San Juan 1781, transferred as Lt to Inf Garrison of Guatemala to be “Ayudante Milicias Segobia” in 1793, single, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:114.
Lucas López (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, employee at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Raphael López (1752 Castilla la Vieja - ), entered service 1767, SubLt in 1782, in reconquest of Castillo San Juan, 1781, and in the capture of Roatán and la Criba in 1782, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, health broken, single, Legajo 7269:II:108.
*Tomás López. BancroftVII:614, priest who tried to explore the Mosquito country in 1778 and 1782.

*Pedro Maceyra (1746 Galicia - ), entered service in 1782 as Capt, Capt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango in 1796 as Capt, married, health broken, Legajo 7269:III:1.
Julio Bernardo Manzana (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, employee at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Antonio Marin (1767 - ), entered service in 1780 as Cadete of Dragoons, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793-99, Legajo 7269:II:15.
*Miguel Marin (1761 Ciudad de Zamora - ), entered service 1774, SubLt, Dragoons of Guatemala, 1781, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, actually absent as a student of mathematics in Barcelona, Legajo 7269:II:140.
Alonzo Marquez (1747 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, with wife Francisca Zuñiga (1751 - ).
*Benito Martín (1757 - ), entered service 1776, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789-91, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:78.
*Francisco Martínez Pacheco (1748 San Martín, Valle de Toranzo - ), entered service in 1781 as a Lt Col, Lt Col in the Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, widower, Legajo 7269:IV:2..
Josef Antonio Martínez. LDS Roll 0741891, Treasurer at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, married to María Calderon de la Barca.
Lazaro Martínez (1749 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, with wife María Salbadora, (1756 - ).
*Manuel Martínez (1741 Naxera - ), entered service 1781 as a SubLt, Lt in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, married, Legajo 7269:IV:19.
*José de Mata (1732 - ), entered service 1759, SubLt in 1782, SubLt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:11.
*Martín de Mayorga. Floyd:128, 131, Captain-General of Guatemala until 5 Apr 1779, when he was appointed Viceroy of New Spain, where he was able to provide a million pesos to the defense of Guatemala.
Josef Antonio Medina (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife María dela Paz Carrasco (1754 - ), and one dau.
*??? Mejia. BancroftVII:615, priest with Frays Lopez, Corral, and Alvarado in exploring Mosquite country in 1783.
*Manuel de Mencos (1762 - ), entered service 1779, Capt in Inf Garrison, Guatemala, 1789-1793, transferred to Inf Arica in 1796, Legajo 7269:II:106.
*Blas Mendez (1720 - ), entered service 1740, SubLt in 1782, SubLt in Bn Inf, Quezaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:10.
Fray Thomas Merales. LDS Roll 0741891, in Guatemala, 1777.
Manuel de los Merzedez (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Francisco Millon (1755 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef Millon (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Manuel Millon (1752 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widowed.
Antonio Molina (1740 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Rosa Barrientos (1744 - ), and 3 daus.
Francisco Molina (1734 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, widowed.
Miguel de Molina. LDS Roll 0741891, Chaplain at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776.
*Miguel Molina (1750 Guatemala - ), entered service as Lt in 1782, Lt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango, 1796, married, Legajo 7269:III:9.
Isidro Monteagudo (1728 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Jorxe Monteagudo (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Antonio Montenegro (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Ignacio Montero (1747 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married.
Manuel Montiel (1745 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, with wife María Catha Andara (1758 - ).
Blas Morillo (1729 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, widowed.
*Fernando Moya (1762 Andalucia - ), entered service 1779, serving as soldier and Cpl in the Galicia Regt, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789 and 1791, Legajo 7269:II:79.
Andrés Muelle (1743 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Thadeo Muniesa (1756 Andalucia - ), entered service 1767, Capt of Fusileros in 1781, on Expedition against la Criba in 1780, in the reconquest of the Castillo de San Juan, Nicaragua in 1781, in the taking of Roatan and la Criba in 1782, Capt, grad Lt Col, Inf Garrison of
Guatemala in 1789, 1793, 1799, single, Legajo 7269:II:2.
Fray Joseph Muños. LDS Roll 0741891, cura propío in Guatemala, 1777.
Antonio Murga. Floyd:122, builder of Fort Omoa, c 1770 and later.

*Manuel de Najera (1758 Guatemala - ), entered service in 1781 as a Capt, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, single, Legajo 7269:IV:6.
Juan Natibi (1732 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, single.
*José Joaquín de Nava. Floyd:156, former governor of Costa Rica and Comandante of Fort San Carlos, and a leader in the campaign against the English in 1781.
Manuel Castillo Negrete. Bancroft:VII:714, appointed post-war Regent of the Audiencias in Guatemala.
Agustín Nolasco (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Christobal Noriega (1740 - ), LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Juana Antonia Duarte (1748 - ), and two sons.
*José P. Nowalon (1757 - ), entered service 1778, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Legajo 7269.

Bartholomé Obeso. Service from 1792 as a SubLt, prior service in Inf Regt de Corona, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793. Dates of prior service not known. This officer may have been transferred by 1793, Legajo 7269:II:116.
Arturo O’Neill. Governor of Yucatan in 1796 when England declared war against Spain.
*Juan de Orea (1733 Aragon - ), entered service 1751, grad Capt in 1781, Capt, grad Lt Col in Inf Garrison, Guatemala, 1789, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:124.
??? Orihuela. Bancroft:VII:715, oidor of the audiencia of Mexico, appointed as Regent of the Audiencia of Guatamala after Herrera. B (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Aparicio Ortega (1716 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widower.
Gregorio de Ortega (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan de Ortega (1752 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan Antonio de Ortega (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Geralda Antonia Hernández (1747 - ), and one dau.
Juan Antonio Ortega (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married.
Juan Tiburcio Ortega (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan Vizencio de Ortega (1711 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Serafina dela Peña (1736 - ), and 7 daus and one son.
*Jean Pedro de Oyarzabal (1744 Monasterio San Salvador, Urdass, Navarra - ), entered service as a Lt in 1781, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, married, Legajo 7269:IV:9.
Juan Pedro de Oyos (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Esteban Ozequeza (1752 - ), LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Mariano Ozeta (1743 Bilbao, Vizcaya - ), entered service as Capt in 1781, in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, married, Legajo 7269. Benito de Ozorio (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.

*Cayetano Pabon (1757 Guatemala - ), entered service in 1781 as Capt, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital, 1794, married, Legajo 7269:IV:8.
Francisco Pacheco Beteta (?? 1773 Guatemala - ), entered service as a SubLt in 1781, Lt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, single, Legajo 7269:IV:20. This may have been a minor cadet, a child, entered on the rolls by a doting father who was also an officer.
Josef Pacheco (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776 with wife Petrona Escamilla (1752 -).
Manuel Pacheco (1753 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Patricio Pacheco (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, 
Francisco Padilla (1740 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, married.
Juan Antonio Padilla (1730 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*José Panigo (1771 Guatemala - ), entered service in 1779 as Cadet of Dragoons, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala in 1789 through 1799, Legajo 7269:II:113.
*Luís Pardo y Quiroga (1752 Galicia - ), entered service as a Capt in 1782, Capt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango in 1796, married, Legajo 7269:III:2.
*Miguel Pareja (1759 Murcia - ), entered service as a volunteer Noble in the Dragoons of Tarragona of S. M. Siciliana in 1779, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, 1799, Legajo 7269:II:21.
Pedro Pascacio (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Juana Ubalda Rodríguez (1748 - ), with one son and 2 daus.
*José Patiño ( - died c 1793), service from 1792 as a Lt Col, prior service in Inf Vets ???Guiana???, Legajo 7269:II:104.
*Pablo Payan (1757 Granada, Nicaragua - ), entered service in 1779 as Lt, Capt Bn Milicias Inf, at Granada, Nicaragua in 1793, single, Legajo 7269:V:2. *Juan Payes y Font (1748 - ), entered service as Portaguion in 1781, SubLt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala in 1794, Legajo 7269:IV:28.
Juan Antonio Pego (1758 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at Omoa in 1776, single. 
Josef de la Peña (1754 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at San Fernando de Omoa as a employee in 1776.
Josef de la Peña (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Juan de la Peña (1716 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Juana Baptista de Ortega (1741 - ), and 3 ch.
Pablo Joseph de la Peña (1758 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Francisco Pérez Brito (1753 Andalucia - ), entered service 1763, Lt veterano of Milicias, 1773-1784, Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1799, married, Legajo 7269:II:4.
Narciso Pérez (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widower.
Vincent Pérez (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*José Perié. Floyd:129-130, Spanish officer who attempted in 1779 to woo the Coastal Indians to the Spanish side. BancroftVI:622, Governor of Costa Rica in 1779.
Fray Francisco Pícarco. LDS Roll 0741891, priest in Guatemala, 1777.
*Juan Pinillos (1741, La Rioja – c 1791), entered service1759, Capt, grad Lt Col 1781, in Reconquest of the Castillo de Omoa, 1779, Capt, grad Col, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, single, Legajo 7269:II:98.
*Tadeo Piñol (1754 Guatemala - ), entered service as Capt in 1781, Capt in Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala in 1794, married, Legajo 7269:IV:7.
Alberto Pinto (1754 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Benito Pinto (1746 -).LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Ana de Santiago (1746-).
Isidro Pinto (1751-).LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776 with wife Lucía Joll (1756 - ).
Juan Pinto (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Sebastiana Rodríguez (1841 - ).
Joseph de Plazada. LDS Roll 0741891, Lt in Guatemala in 1777.
Josef Luíz Portillo. LDS Roll 0741891, accountant at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, single.
Vizente Portillo (1758 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef del Puerto (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Romualdo del Puerto (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Sebastián del Puerto (1742 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.


Manuel de Quiropa. LDS Roll 0741891, prepared Granada, Nicarauga, census in 1778.

Josef Apollinaro Ramires (1748 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at San Fernando de Omoa, 1776, single.
*Pedro Regalado (1757 Valladolid - ), entered service 1774, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:29.
Balentin de los Reyes (1754 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Joaquín de los Reyes (1739 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef Ribera (1746 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, married.
*Luís Rico (1756 - ), entered service 1775, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:12.
*Juan Rios y Hube (1751 Valencia - ), entered service 1768, 1st Sgt in 1779, SubLt of Grenadiers in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, married, Legajo 7269:II:18.
*Domingo Rito (1753 Llerena - ), entered service 1771, took part in reconquest of Castillo de San Juan, 1781 and the capture of Roatán and la Criba, 1782, 1st Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, single, Legajo 7269:II:30.
*Manuel Rivas. Floyd:161, only Spanish soldier to survive the Quepriva Massacre, a surprise attack on Fort Dalling on the Black River, 21 Aug 1782.
*Roberto Rivas Vetancur. BancroftVII:631, governor of Yucatan in 1779, who organized an expedition against Belize.
*Benito Robles (1742 - ), entered service 1772, SubLt in 1782, SubLt in Bn Inf of Quezaltenango in 1796, Legajo 7269:III:12.
*Roque Robles. Soldier and Cpl, 1779-1790, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1799, Legajo 7269.
Agustín Rodríguez (1757 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776.
Dionicio Rodríguez (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776.
*Josef Rodríquez (1760 - ), entered service 1774, 1st Sgt of Grenadiers, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:27.
José Rodríquez Carvallo. LDS Roll 741891, scribe for a 26 Feb 1777 letter for Antonio Lopez Peñalver y Alcalá.
Luís Rodríguez (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Phelipe Rodríguez (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Urbano Rodríguez (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Juan Roldan (1756 Andalucia - ), entered service 1773, took part in the capture of the Islands of Santa Cathalina and Colony of Sacramento and the Expedition of Buenos Ayres in 1776, 2d Sgt Fusileros, 1780, 2d Sgt Granaderos, 1782, 1st Sgt of Grenadiers,Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793, health broken, single, Legajo 7269:II:25.
Francisco Romero (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at Omoa in 1776, single.
*José Rosado. Floyd:133, Lt Col, Comandante at Fort Bacalar attacked logwood cutters on the Rio Hondo, north of Belize and captured St George’s Cay on 15 Sep 1779. He was Col Grad, Comp Vet, Garrison of Presidio del San Felipe de Bacalar, 1784, Legajo 7296:XVI:1.
Juan Agustín Rossas (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant at Omoa in 1776, single.
José Rossi y Rubia. Bancroft VII:648, Spanish officer who recaptured Roatán in 1797.
*Lorenso Jensen Rubio (1752 - ), entered service as SubLt in 1781, Dragoons of the Capital of Guatemala, 1794, married, Legajo 7269.
*Ricardo Ruíz 1753 Burgos - ), entered service 1774, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:35.

??? Saavedra. LDS file 0741891, mentioned as a doctor in 1777 letter. *Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis (1746 – 25 Nov 1819, bur in the sacramental chapel of the church-convent of La Magdalena, ? Seville). MP:many references, Representative of King Carlos III in the West Indies
from June, 1780 until June, 1783, made significant inputs into the planning for the reinforcements for General Bernardo Gálvez at Pensacola, the campaigns in Central America of Capt-General Matías Gálvez, the financing of the Expedition to Yorktown by the French, and to the planning of the invasion of Jamaica.
*Francisco Salablanca (1748 Cataluña - ), entered service 1764, Lt Col in 1781, Col grad and Capt of Grenadiers in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1799, married, Legajo 7269:II:44.
*Manuel de Salas (1756 Santander – c 1791), entered service in 1775, Capt, 1782, in Reconquest of Omoa 1779, Expedition against la Criba, 1780, Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, single, Legajo 7269:II:93. 
*Roque de Salas (1729 - ), entered service as SubLt in 1782, SubLt in Bn Inf of Quesaltenango, 1796, Legajo 7269:III:10,bis.
Andrés Saldivar (1750 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant of Omoa in 1776, married.
*Pedro Saldivar (1758 Castilla la Vieja - ), entered service in 1774, 2d Sgt 1778-1790, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1791, 1793, 1799, single, Legajo 7269:II:33.
Sebastián Saldivar (1756 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Antoine Samper (1749 Navarra - ), entered service 1763, Capt Agregado
in 1780, Col grad and Capt, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, apparently
transferred in 1791 to become Governor of the Province of Santa Marta, Legajo 7269:II:94.
Antonio Sánchez (1726 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant of Omoa in 1776, married.
Josef Antonio Sánchez (1756 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Diego Sánchez (1761 - ), entered service 1779, Sgt Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:31.
*José Sánchez (1758 Toledo - ), entered service 1775, soldier and Cpl, 1775-1791, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, 1799, single, Legajo 7269:II:39.
*José Sánchez Fernández (1758 - ), entered service 1776, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, Legajo 7269:II:34.
Leandro Joseph Santa Ana (1761 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776.
Thomas Santa Ana (1734 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Lorenza Rodríguez (1750 - ), and three children.
*Phelipe de Sesma (1739 - ), entered service 1753, Capt Agregado of Dragoones, Jan 1783, Col grad and Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1799, Legajo 7269:II:103.
*Josef Sirvent (1757 - ), entered service 1775, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Legajo 7269:II:84.
Miguel Geronimo Soaso (1751 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife Sabina Quintana (1760 - ).
*Josef Solano. Floyd:157, Chief of Squadron at Havana Naval station who provided thirteen ships for the Black River Campaign in 1782.
Juan Santos Sosa (1762 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, pardo at Omoa in 1776, single.
Jazinto Suares/Juares (1746 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant of Omoa in 1776 with wife María Concepción Hernández (1750 - ), one son and two daus.


*Nicolás de Urrutia. Floyd:158, Lt Col commanding 500 troops in the Black River Campaign.
*Juan Antonio de Uruñuela. Bancroft:VII:715, minister of the Supreme Council of the Indies, appointed Regent of the Audencias in Guatemala following Vincent de Herrera.
*Joseph de Vacas (c 1747/49 Andalusia – died c 1793), entered service in 1771, SubLt in 1782, took part in the capture of Roatán and La Criba in 1782, Lt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:107.
*Pedro Valdes (1729 Asturias - ), entered service as Lt in 1782, Lt in Inf Bn of Quezaltenango in 1796, single, health bad, Legajo 7269:III:5.
*Juan Valero (1749 - ), entered service 1767, Adjutant of Militias, 1782, Lt of Grenadiers, Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789,1791,1799, Legajo 7269:II:57.
*Gonzalo Vallejo. Floyd:165, Captain and second commissioner to Lt Col Hervias sent to the Mosquito Coast to enforce the Convention of 1786, by which the British were to leave.
*Matheo de la Vega (1766 León de Nicaragua - ), Cadet in 1781, SubLt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, single, Legajo 7269:II:17.
Romualdo de la Vega (1744 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, servant at San Fernando de Omoa in 1776, single.
Joseph Nicolás Velasco. LDS Roll 0741891, prepared Guatemala census, 1777.
*Francisco Vera (1745 Merida in America - ), entered service 1768, Grad Capt in 1782, took part in reconquest of Castilla de Omoa in 1779, Lt of Grenadiers, grad Capt, in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, single, Legajo 7269:II:133.
Francisco Vila (1721 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widower.
Francisco Vila, Jr (1760 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Josef Vila, Jr (1761 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Ventura Villarpriego (1739 Galicia - ), entered service 1771, 2d Sgt in 1781, Sgt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1793, single, Legajo 7269:II:32.
Bazilio Villazis (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
*Fray Juan Félix de Villegas. Floyd:178-180, 182, wartime Secretary of the Inquisition at Cartagena, appointed in July 1785 as Bishop of Nicaragua. Bancroft:VII:732, archbishop of Guatemala, from 8 May 1794 to 3 Feb 1800.
Josef Antonio Vizente (1736 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, widower.
*Fernando Vizcaino (1745 Andalucia - ), entered service 1766, Sgt, Dragoons of Guatemala, 1780, captured by the British at the Castillo de Omoa, 1779, SubLt, grad Lt, in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, single, health broken, Legajo 7269:II:150.

*Thomas Wallop (1754 La Havana - ), entered service 1773, SubLt, Agregado, Dragoons of Guatemala, 1777 to 1783, Lt of Grenadiers in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, 1791, 1793,single, Legajo 7269:II:8.
*Simon Wbau (1755 Aragon- ), entered service 1769, Grad Lt in 1782, Capt in Inf Garrison of Guatemala, 1789, Legajo 7269:II:129.
Josef Joaquín Xiron (1753 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, inhabitant of Omoa in 1776, single.
Manuel Zerrano (1723 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776, single.
Francisco Zoreño (1741 - ). LDS Roll 0741891, at Omoa in 1776 with wife María Cruz (1754 - ), and one son.

References:

Bancroft:VII:page. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Works: Vol VII, History of Central America, Vol II, 1530-1800, San Francisco, The History Company, 1886.

Floyd:page. Floyd, Troy S. The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia, The University of New Mexico Press, 1967.

MP:page. Morales Padron, Francisco. Journal of Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis during the commission which he had in his charge from 25 une 1780 until the 20th of the same month of 1783, translated by Aileen Moore Topping, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, FL, 1989.

LDS Roll 0741891 and 0741892, Guatemala Census Records.

Legajo 7269, LDS Film 1156333.

Legajo#:section:page. Magdaleno, Ricardo. Hojas de Servicios Militares de America, Catalogo XXII del Archivo de Simancas, Secretaria de Guerra (Siglo XVIII), Valladolid (Spain), 1958.
Guatemala, 24 Mar 2002.

Railroad executives argued that their activities were benefiting the public interest and that the government should aid them by giving them land from the public domain.  Congress was sympathetic.  In order to encourage constructions, the government gave  railroad companies over 180 million acres, mostly to interstate routes chartered between 1850 and 1871.  These grants usually consisted of a right of way plus alternate sections of land in a strip twenty to eighty miles wide along the right of way.  Railroad corporations financed construction by using this land as security for bonds or by selling it for cash.

State land was frequently offered to railroads by legislators eager for the advantages railroads could bring - to them personally as well as to the state.*  Total state grants amounted to about 50 million acres.  Counties, cities, and towns also assisted railroads, usually by offering them loans or by purchasing railroad bonds or stocks.

A People and a Nation, A History of the United States, Second Edition, Vol II, Since 1865,  by Norton, Katzman, Escott, Chudacoff, Paterson, and Tuttle, pg 460  [Editor's note: In many cases, the railroads were not built:  The land was sold to individuals and the money pocketed by promoters.]

Extract from article, A More Civil War by Andrew Curry,U.S. News & World Report, pg. 58, 3-11, 2002

Nuese Letters  communications@vitalsearch-worldwide.com   Sent by Johanna de Soto
http://www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com
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http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/or/_vitals/ordeathm.htm
http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/tx/tx_/txdeathm.htm
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[Editor's note: I am not totally in agreement with this irreverent funny, historical synopsis, but chuckled enough to share it. 

Originally published as e.mail. Nota: Investigacion de Guillermo Gómez-Peña con la ayuda de Beth Hass, Carolina Ponce de León, Elaine Katzenberger, and Roberto Sifuentes. Web Published 3.7.2002

Have you ever felt ignorant of, or threatened by US Latino culture? Pocha Nostra has put together a comprehensive user-friendly chronology of US Latinos to help you understand who they are, why they are here, and how come they are so pinche dammed complicated. If you find it useful please forward it to your colleagues.

BC 10,500: Humans populate the Americas from Alaska to Patagonia, including East LA and Tijuana.

1500-1000: Olmec people create the first great Meso American civilization. At the same time, their hairy European contemporaries are still roaming around naked with stone axes.

AD 00: Jesus Christ Superstar is born. Chicano abuelitas revere him ever since.

120: Puerto Rico settled, probably via Florida, by the Igneri people, militant swingers and makers of delicate pottery and cave porn iconography.

500: Mayan civilization at its height in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. They practice astronomy, licantropy and performance art. Actors are killed during the actual performances. Centuries later Mayan performance will inspire the Vienna action group and assorted US cults.

1325: Aztecs found great city of Tesmogtitlan; they trade precious metals, macaw feathers, wrist watches and other goods with tribes to the North. Present-day US Southwest inhabited by the Chichimecas or norteños who were the pre-Columbian Chicanos.

1300-1350: Vigorous trade links the independent countries within Chumash territory more closely together as a language for commoners and nobles emerges.

1400: Height of Inca civilization in Peru. According to the Aztec census bureau, the indigenous population of the Americas reaches 90 million.

1420-92: Europeans begin voyages of exploration in the Atlantic Ocean. They get systematically lost and misname everything they come across according to what little they know. They mistake dolphins for mermaids, Chihuahua dogs for midget jackals and the inhabitants of the "New World" for cannibals.

1491: Ciboney, Arawak, and Carib peoples inhabit all Caribbean Islands. They are great guaguanco dancers. Same sex couples are allowed.

1492: Columbus visits present-day Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. He uses trained dogs to pacify "the Indians." The genocide of Indigenous Americans begins. Gringo historians believe that Columbus actually landed in Ohio.

1519: Cortez lands in Veracruz and marches west. In the midst of bloodly battles, four Tlaxcalan emperors are baptized and join in the conquest of the Aztec empire. Cortez conquers Montezuma and Tenochtitlan with the help of other indigenous peoples, disease, horses and guns.

1520: Cortez and la Malinche become "the Mexican couple of the year," and la Malinche "the first bilingual secretary of the Americas."

1522: First Africans brought to Cuba as slaves. Buena Vista Social Club is founded clandestinely

1527: Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked on Texas coast; begins his lunatic journey across
the Southwest. After 8 years he goes mad and becomes "the first hippie of the
Americas." He tries out several ritual drugs and changes his name to "Cabeza de Pollo".

1533: Pizarro betrays Atahualpa and conquers the Incas.

1535: Viceroyalty of the New Spain establishes Spanish Empire throughout the Americas; system of forced labor for Native Americans codified.

1538: Hernando de Soto explores area between Florida and Louisiana. He kidnaps Indian empress Lady Cofitalchicue (misspelled) along the way, making her his sex slave.

1540: Coronado searches Oklahoma and Kansas for cities of gold described by Cabeza de Vaca; finds only poor villages and lunatic proto-militiamen. His Indian scouts give him bad directions.

1565: The first Spanish city in present day-US, San Augustine founded in Florida, an hour from Daytona Beach, capital of Biker America.

1650: A poor frontier colony, New Mexico becomes a haven for Jews, Arabs, genisaros, gypsies, Gnostics, transvestites, performance artists and other infidels unwelcome in New Spain. New Spaniards refer to this bohemian milieu as "la olla podrida."

1725: Missions are being established way before the first Anglo Texans were even imaginary sperms.

1789: First play in Spanish performed in San Francisco. (We are currenlty looking for funders to re-stage it. Any clues?)

1800: California mission system well on its way to complition. The goal: 21 missions, each a days walk apart. The legend of El Zorro is born.

1821: Mexico wins its independence from Spain - kind of.

1836: Tejanos (Texas Mexicans) lose control of their region to Anglo settlers, in spite of the fact that some of them fought at the Alamo for an independent Texas Republic. Texas becomes an independent republic, and has remained one since.

1846: War with Mexico initiates the first US military campaign throughout the Southwest. The excesses of the gringos are well documented by Chicano historians like Rudy Acuña. Californios wage a guerrilla war against the gringos; after seven months they sign a treaty allowing the United States to occupy the territory.

1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo cedes half of Mexico's territory to the US; former Mexican citizens in the area suffer from sweeping loss of human rights. They suddenly wake up one day in a new country. They/we haven't been able to sleep properly since.

1849 Anglos pouring into California during the Gold Rush displace Mexican and Indigenous residents (see 1997)

1870: The Texas Rangers raid Mexican villages, lynching Mexicans and putting them in cages. It's like an "extreme sport." The History Channel forgets to document it.

1892:  Martí organizes Cuban independence movement from New York.

1898: Spanish American War turns Cuba and Puerto Rico into US possessions. Guerrilla war lasts four additional years in the Philippines before the US claims victory

1902:  Cuba granted independence by the US.

1903: Panama Canal Treaty increases US contacts with Central America. US engineers go crazy with the local "señoritas".

1910: Turmoil of revolution in Mexico and growth of labor-intensive agriculture in US increase Mexican immigration to Southwest. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata kick some serious ass.

1912: First US Marine incursion in Nicaragua; dozens of others will follow; Cuban mulatto baseball great Adolfo Luque begins 23 year career in US big leagues.

1917: Puerto Rican residents acquire US citizenship and begin first wave of immigration into Nuyo Rico; deportation of Mexican Americans begins with striking massacre of striking copper miners.

1929: League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) formed in US.

1932: Collapse of sugar boom combined with the population explosion sends massive wave of Puerto Rican immigration to the US; depression-era deportation of Mexicans continues, including US-born Chicanos, and a few Southern Italian immigrants along with them. First pizzerias in Tijuana and Juarez are established.

1935: New Mexico elects Dennis Chavez the first Latino in the US senate. Orale!

1940: Machito forms the Afro-Cubans in New York. Young ultra-lounge Latino hipster Juan Garcia Esquivel arrives in Las Vegas; his orchestra will influence all of US popular music.

1941: WW2 brings thousands of naive Mexicans into US armed forces with the promise
of citizenship.

1943: "Zoot Suit riots" begun by US military personnel in Los Angeles; the Navy on leave from Europe comes back ready to kick some "meskin" ass.

1948: American GI Forum founded to protect rights of Mexican American veterans.

1954: Operation Wetback begins "forced removal of 1 million brown people from US to Mexico" (including US Latino citizens), even as "bracero" program continues.

1955: Cuban revolution begins. "El Mexterminator" born in Mexico City; his jaina Carolina "La Leona" born in Bogota, on the same week.

1958: Mambo king Perez Prado reigns in Mexico City. Gabachos will discover him 48 years later as part of a retro-lounge trend.

1959: Castro takes power in Cuba; first wave of what is known as "the great gusano evasion" to the US begins.

1961: Pressured by the US, Castro embraces Russian communism; US military and Miami Cuban exiles join up to stage Bay of Pigs invasion. Les sale mal.

1962: Number of Cuban refugees to US reaches 1/4 million.

1965: The Immigration Act of 65 grants equal immigration status to Latinos, Asians and Europeans; the third-world-ization of the US begins. Cesar Chavez founds UFW in California and begins grape boycott. 

1967: Puerto Rico votes to maintain Commonwealth relationship with US, rejecting
independence; Don Juan is getting young Castañeda high every day.

1968: MALDEF and "La Raza" party founded as Chicano movement formally begins. Cheech and Chong become known for their "mota" humor. The Mexican army massacres students at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City

1971: Family Unification Program brings 330,000 more Cubans to US. Santana rocks the US; while Javier Batiz and Los Dug Dugs rock Mexico. Oscar "Brown Buffalo" Zeta Acosta dissappears mysteriously.

1972: Chicano mural art movement in full swing. Rock & Roll goes "mainstream."

1973: Roberto Clemente elected to Baseball Hall of Fame. ¿Y qué!?

1975: Cesar Chavez and UFW achieve passage of California Agricultural Labor Relation Act; first "Nuyorican Poets" anthology published in New York.

1976: Economic crisis in Mexico causes new wave of immigration to US.

1979: Political turmoil in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador increases US population from those countries. Chicano barrios are flooded with Central American refugees, redefining Chicanismo for good.

1980: Castro scores big time, allowing 120,000 "marielitos" to flee to US. Amongst them are ex-prisoners, locos, chavos y chavas del talón, and dissidents. Little Havana loses its provincial tranquility.

1985: Earthquake in Mexico City. 200,000 dead. Immigration to US increases; rock en
español movement begins.

1987: Frida Kahlo canonized by Galeria de La Raza, San Francisco. 2000 Gringa cult followers gather in Dolores Park to pay homage to the ethno-feminist saint.
Social wrestler Superbarrio fights for expanded housing programs in DF.

1989: Manuel Lujan named Secretary of the Interior. Eddie Olmos finally makes it in Hollywood; the Berlin Wall collapses; the US/Mexico metallic border wall project begins.

1993: Horny Tejano Henry Cisneros named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

1994: Nafta comes into effect. The Zapatista uprising erupts in Chiapas.

1996: New (anti) Immigration Act criminalizes Latinos and multiplies obstacles for Latin Americans to migrate to the US.

1997: Selena murdered at the hands of deranged fan club president, becoming an "instant saint." Anglos pouring in during the 2nd California Gold Rush displace Mexican and Indigenous residents (see 1849). President Clinton looks to the right

1998: Hurricane Mitch destroys Honduras and Nicaragua; immigration to US increases; Taco Bell Chihuahua becomes "the most popular Mexican in US history;" Clinton busted lying to the Grand Jury about a coitus interruptus with ugly intern named Monica Le(n)winski - a daughter of Salvadoran immigrant father and Gringa mother. American dignity hits rock bottom. All Latinos applaud.

1999: Prototype cyborg Ricky Martin becomes Numero Uno Latino entertainer in the US
pop music industry. Intelligent Latinos smell conspiracy.

2000: The PRI, Mexico's ruling party, finally collapses; replaced by coalition government sponsored by Fox Entertainment Inc. After wining infamous Florida Demolition Derby, George W. Bush becomes president of the US, despite his minute IQ and bad Spanglish.

2001: The much touted "New Economy" collapses, así nomás. A fringe fundamentalist Muslim "cell" stages unthinkable attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Bush declares war on Afghanistan. Hundreds of Arab-looking Latinos are rounded up in US airports.

2015: Latinos make up 25% of US population. "Gran Vato" becomes 1st Chicano president of US. Spanglish becomes Official Language.

2030: Latino population of the US reaches 120 million, o sea 1/4 of the US and 1/5 of Latin America. Anglos become nomadic minorities and are forced to learn Spanish to obtain menial jobs in the food, construction, and porn industries.

---To Be Continued --

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