The number of people researching their roots in Mexico is ever growing. What I wonder is, do people who were born in Mexico and still live there have any interest in genealogy. On another forum, I read a post by a member who voiced his disappointment that there doesn't appear to be any genealogy interest and that it would be great if someone cared enough even for something like Find a Grave in the US. I responded that maybe they are so close to their past and ancestors that it isn't that important or resources are easily accessed which did not help this person's attitude at all. What are you thoughts?
Genealogy Research in Mexico
I began asking questions of my relatives in Mexico more than 30 years ago, but did not write it down. 10 years later, realizing most of my maternal line had ceased to be, I started asking questions and writing it down. Mom had the most amazing memory, along with my Aunt who traveled extensively between California, San Antonio and Mexico City where she had contact with extended 2nd cousins. Everyone of my cousins were gracious and had a great interest in the knowledge collected. Even an Aunt whom I had never met and did not seem very interested, sent me a picture of our great grandmother no one had ever seen and her shawl still in its original box. I can tell you I did not think there was any way to find out anymore than what I was told and so the years went by and my relatives would ask where are the results but I really didn't have much. They stopped asking. I finally found time to enter info on ancestry and send access to all my cousins of their family and my progress which they love getting.
I would think there is a strong interest in Mexico based on the marvelous books written by Mariano Gonzales Leal, Israel Cavazo Garza, Rafael Morales Bocardo, MARIA DE LA LUZ MONTEJANO HILTON "la Mitra de Guadalajara, and the many books others have mentioned on this site.
Genealogy research in Mexico
Victoriano and Sarod,
How interesting to read about your experiences. Many Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to spread the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch are available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for people to reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work. Just a thought.
Gloria
Genealogy research in Mexico
It's not that uncommon to have our families in Mexico be disinterested in
genealogy, one of the reasons may be that they have always been deeply
connected to their family and heritage, thus they don't feel the need to
find out about the past, they are more connected to their past than we are.
They most likely live it and hear about it every day. They know how things
were then, it's passed on through each generation.
Those of us who are more distant are more disconnected, thus the need to
reach back, to try and learn more about our roots. Having said that, even
here, there are many of our family members who don't care about their
history and genealogy..........this is a case of to each his own.
Alicia,
San Jose, Ca
On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 11:40 AM, wrote:
> Victoriano and Sarod, How interesting to read about your experiences. Many
> Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their
> families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to spread
> the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch are
> available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for people
> to
> reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work.
> Just a
> thought. Gloria
>
Genealogy research in Mexico
I believe my prima Alicia's description is very much true. Not only is it
apparent in genealogy research, but this phenomenon has been written about
in relation to religious ceremonies and other cultural events. One specific
example is how African descendants in Brazil kept their religious
ceremonies, music and dance so pure that very little to no change was
realized in these events over centuries. Their same peoples slowly changed
religious practices, music and dance back in Africa. Much of this
phenomenon is due to the longing people have of their homeland and wanting
to maintain a link to their heritage. On the other hand, I have found a few
relatives in Mexico extremely excited about genealogy. Some of their
acquaintances have reached out to me so that I can help them with their
genealogy.
As I’m thinking about it, you also see a huge interest in mariachi music in
the United States. So much so that mariachi conferences dating back to the
1970s have led to the adoption of mariachi programs at all levels of our
educational across this nation. These mariachi programs in middle school,
high school, college and other cultural centers are far more numerous here
in the United States than they are in Mexico. The root of their success is
largely due to our longing to maintain our culture, not to mention that
it’s the most beautiful music in the world. I’m a little biased though.
Saludos,
Juan Carlos Aguayo
On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 1:49 PM, Alicia Carrillo
wrote:
> It's not that uncommon to have our families in Mexico be disinterested in
> genealogy, one of the reasons may be that they have always been deeply
> connected to their family and heritage, thus they don't feel the need to
> find out about the past, they are more connected to their past than we are.
> They most likely live it and hear about it every day. They know how things
> were then, it's passed on through each generation.
>
> Those of us who are more distant are more disconnected, thus the need to
> reach back, to try and learn more about our roots. Having said that, even
> here, there are many of our family members who don't care about their
> history and genealogy..........this is a case of to each his own.
>
> Alicia,
> San Jose, Ca
>
> On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 11:40 AM, wrote:
>
> > Victoriano and Sarod, How interesting to read about your experiences.
> Many
> > Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their
> > families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to
> spread
> > the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch
> are
> > available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for people
> > to
> > reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work.
> > Just a
> > thought. Gloria
> >
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
Genealogy research in Mexico
I am hoping our family in Mexico will want to communicate and meet with us
once I find out who they are.
On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 2:51 PM, Juan Aguayo
wrote:
> I believe my prima Alicia's description is very much true. Not only is it
> apparent in genealogy research, but this phenomenon has been written about
> in relation to religious ceremonies and other cultural events. One specific
> example is how African descendants in Brazil kept their religious
> ceremonies, music and dance so pure that very little to no change was
> realized in these events over centuries. Their same peoples slowly changed
> religious practices, music and dance back in Africa. Much of this
> phenomenon is due to the longing people have of their homeland and wanting
> to maintain a link to their heritage. On the other hand, I have found a few
> relatives in Mexico extremely excited about genealogy. Some of their
> acquaintances have reached out to me so that I can help them with their
> genealogy.
>
>
> As I’m thinking about it, you also see a huge interest in mariachi music in
> the United States. So much so that mariachi conferences dating back to the
> 1970s have led to the adoption of mariachi programs at all levels of our
> educational across this nation. These mariachi programs in middle school,
> high school, college and other cultural centers are far more numerous here
> in the United States than they are in Mexico. The root of their success is
> largely due to our longing to maintain our culture, not to mention that
> it’s the most beautiful music in the world. I’m a little biased though.
>
>
> Saludos,
>
> Juan Carlos Aguayo
>
> On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 1:49 PM, Alicia Carrillo
> wrote:
>
> > It's not that uncommon to have our families in Mexico be disinterested in
> > genealogy, one of the reasons may be that they have always been deeply
> > connected to their family and heritage, thus they don't feel the need to
> > find out about the past, they are more connected to their past than we
> are.
> > They most likely live it and hear about it every day. They know how
> things
> > were then, it's passed on through each generation.
> >
> > Those of us who are more distant are more disconnected, thus the need to
> > reach back, to try and learn more about our roots. Having said that, even
> > here, there are many of our family members who don't care about their
> > history and genealogy..........this is a case of to each his own.
> >
> > Alicia,
> > San Jose, Ca
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 11:40 AM, wrote:
> >
> > > Victoriano and Sarod, How interesting to read about your experiences.
> > Many
> > > Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their
> > > families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to
> > spread
> > > the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch
> > are
> > > available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for
> people
> > > to
> > > reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work.
> > > Just a
> > > thought. Gloria
> > >
> > > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> > >
> > > To post, send email to:
> > > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> > >
> > > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
Genealogy research in Mexico
I believe my prima Alicia's description is very much true. Not only is it
apparent in genealogy research, but this phenomenon has been written about
in relation to religious ceremonies and other cultural events. One specific
example is how African descendants in Brazil kept their religious
ceremonies, music and dance so pure that very little to no change was
realized in these events over centuries. Their same peoples slowly changed
religious practices, music and dance back in Africa. Much of this
phenomenon is due to the longing people have of their homeland and wanting
to maintain a link to their heritage. On the other hand, I have found a few
relatives in Mexico extremely excited about genealogy. Some of their
acquaintances have reached out to me so that I can help them with their
genealogy.
As I’m thinking about it, you also see a huge interest in mariachi music in
the United States. So much so that mariachi conferences dating back to the
1970s have led to the adoption of mariachi programs at all levels of our
educational across this nation. These mariachi programs in middle school,
high school, college and other cultural centers are far more numerous here
in the United States than they are in Mexico. The root of their success is
largely due to our longing to maintain our culture, not to mention that
it’s the most beautiful music in the world. I’m a little biased though.
Saludos,
Juan Carlos Aguayo
On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 1:49 PM, Alicia Carrillo
wrote:
> It's not that uncommon to have our families in Mexico be disinterested in
> genealogy, one of the reasons may be that they have always been deeply
> connected to their family and heritage, thus they don't feel the need to
> find out about the past, they are more connected to their past than we are.
> They most likely live it and hear about it every day. They know how things
> were then, it's passed on through each generation.
>
> Those of us who are more distant are more disconnected, thus the need to
> reach back, to try and learn more about our roots. Having said that, even
> here, there are many of our family members who don't care about their
> history and genealogy..........this is a case of to each his own.
>
> Alicia,
> San Jose, Ca
>
> On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 11:40 AM, wrote:
>
> > Victoriano and Sarod, How interesting to read about your experiences.
> Many
> > Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their
> > families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to
> spread
> > the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch
> are
> > available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for people
> > to
> > reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work.
> > Just a
> > thought. Gloria
> >
> > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> > Nuestros Ranchos Research Mailing List
> >
> > To post, send email to:
> > research(at)nuestrosranchos.org
> >
> > To change your subscription, log on to:
> > http://www.nuestrosranchos.org
Genealogy research in Mexico
It's not that uncommon to have our families in Mexico be disinterested in
genealogy, one of the reasons may be that they have always been deeply
connected to their family and heritage, thus they don't feel the need to
find out about the past, they are more connected to their past than we are.
They most likely live it and hear about it every day. They know how things
were then, it's passed on through each generation.
Those of us who are more distant are more disconnected, thus the need to
reach back, to try and learn more about our roots. Having said that, even
here, there are many of our family members who don't care about their
history and genealogy..........this is a case of to each his own.
Alicia,
San Jose, Ca
On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 11:40 AM, wrote:
> Victoriano and Sarod, How interesting to read about your experiences. Many
> Americans of Mexican descent have the same problems with some of their
> families not showing much interest. It would be great to be able to spread
> the word and show people in Mexico that resources such as Familysearch are
> available free of cost. And course, there is always this forum for people
> to
> reach out to make connections though I'm not sure how that would work.
> Just a
> thought. Gloria
>
Genealogy Research in Mexico
I'm a Mexican living in Mexico and I've met many people interested in genealogy. Many used to post in a genealogy group in Spanish, but little by little people left the group, including me. I know there is a genealogical society in Monterrey. I would search for Mexican genealogists living in Mexico in forums in Spanish.
Victoriano Navarro
Culcural difference?
I wanted to "find" something like Find a Grave as well; but instead I ended up having someone take pictures of every gravestone in a small town's cemetery. This was something of a foreign idea to my cousins out in Mexico and found it odd. That research help me make a few missing connections in my tree (and are considering adding it to the Find-A-Grave in the US; but dont know the privacy/permissions side of it).
They were also amazed and surprised at all the data/docs available for research, but they seemed to think it's out of their reach for usage (just didn't have enough time to train others). Perhaps just a comfort level with tech for some and the younger kids are just interested in Facebook connections.
As for the elders they have what I call "Spoken Genealogy" which is an oral history of ancestors and family lineage. I found some stories interesting and they ended up linking people that had no written records along with some stories to go with them.
In the end I think its a cultural thing to have family history spoken and told in stories. A few were OK with transcribed/recorded interviews as I was testing the waters.
That's my 2 cents...
Genealogy research in Mexico
You just reinforced my original thinking and thanks for sharing your first hand experience. This is the type of response I was hoping for. I hope we hear from more folks.