Maria,

Have you looked in Nochistlan. They are so close and in earlier times, many of
the people in the surrounding areas went to Nochistlan to get married and to
register their children for baptism. Nochistlan has many Chavez and not too many
Leon's that I can recall.

Alicia,
San Jose, Ca

________________________________
From: Maria Leon
To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Fri, April 15, 2011 6:59:50 PM
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Familia Leon-Chavez en Teocaltiche, Jalisco

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to find my way through my family tree. My mother's side
has been okay somewhat, however my father's side has stumped me. I can't go
past my great-grandparents. I'm doing research on the last names of Leon,
Chavez in Teocaltiche and Macias, Tisnado in Huejotitan, Jalisco.

First in Teocaltiche:
My father is the oldest of 11 children born to Jose Guadalupe Leon Chavez
(born 1916) and Ramona Macias. According to family lore, Ramona was a
servant or maid at the Leon household in Guadalajara sometime in the late
1930's (because my father was born in May, 1941) and due to a broken heart
or because the woman he wanted to marry was not allowed to, Jose Guadalupe
instead turned to Ramona and began a very tumultuous and sometimes
violent relationship with her. My father always remembered being extremely
poor and of being hungry all the time, but he said that his father's family
was somewhat well off and originated from Teocaltiche where my grandfather
was born. I don't believe Jose and Ramona married right away because my
father's stories never included his father until later in life.

I get stumped because every search that I've done, never brings back results
for the last names Leon or Chavez or Teocaltiche. The 1930 census on
FamilySearch can be broken down by location in Jalisco, however Teocaltiche
is not listed. My question to the group is, was Teocaltiche a smaller town
that fell under a different, larger town or municipality in 1930? Can
anyone help steer me to a different site to look for information? Ancestry
doesn't help much either.

Secondly in Huejotitan:
Ramona Macias (my grandmother born in 1923) was supposedly the illegitamite
child of Maria Macias and a gentleman with the last name of Tisnado. She
only had one brother who is still alive in Mexico City and is called Tio
Chico. I've never met him as my father and I are estranged. I did a search
in the 1930 census for Maria Macias in Huejotitan and I found something that
totally surprised me. The head of household, Matias Ponce, and his common
law wife, Felipa Tisnado, had the following people living with them: Maria
Macias (listed as being a widow), age 26, Jose Macias. age 23, Efren Macias,
age 16, Jesus Macias, age 14 and then the children:* Ramona Gomes, age 8*,
Francisco Loma, age 6, Wenceslao Loma, age 3, Teresa Estrada, age 2, and
Porfirio Mondragon, age 1 month. Why would there be so many kids with
different last names and with such varying ages living in the same house
with these adults? It has led me to believe that maybe the kids were street
kids, or foster kids? After this I reach a dead end.

I apologize for such a long message, but if someone has any clue as to where
I can go from here, i'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!
~Mari

I can only reply to the question re the children with multiple surnames. I
am a social worker and work with many families with the variety of ages and
surnames such as this one. The older chilidren could be younger full or
half siblings of the adults or children of Felipa from prior
relationships. The younger children could be children of the adults (or
older teens), half siblings or cousins to each other (except for the two
with Loma children, they may be full siblings). They may be "hijo
naturales" of different fathers who gave them their surnames, or "padre no
conocidos" with their mother's surnames. Sometimes they are full siblings
with different last names because the mother had split with the father
before the child was born and she was too angry at him to acknowledge him as
the father of the child, or because the father was angry at her and wouldn't
acknowledge that child. Of course, they could also be step-children of
Matias that he raised himself for some reason, orphaned family members,
godchildren, etc. The bottom line is that you can only make conjectures at
this point in your research. Good luck!

Raquel Ruiz
Massachusetts