NR FB Workgroup: Join Today

Just in case you have not heard - There is a Workgroup for the NR Group. The Workgroup currently has 205 members and these members will be working on how exactly the nuestrosranchos.org website/group will survive into the future. So if you want to have a say in what happens to the website/group please join now:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/213314714210083 pw: Jalisco

mt-DNA haplogroup U6a7a1b in Zacatecas and Jessica Alba

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Season 2, Episode 10: Decoding Our Past Through DNA, featured actress Jessica Alba. The episode focused on her father Mark Abla’s ancestry. What was intriguing was that his matrilineage stemmed from Zacatecas. This got me thinking that many people with ancestry from Zacatecas, including many Nuestros Ranchos researchers, probably share a link with the Albas.

The episode traced Mark Alba’s matriline back to Josefa Laves (b.ca. 1837), daughter of Jose Maria Laves (b.ca. 1820) and Carmen Carrillo (b.ca. 1820). This is where the episode hits the brick wall, but it did add one extra piece of crucial information: Mark’s mt-DNA haplogroup was U6a7a1b, a marker commonly found among Sephardic Jews. This would mean that Carmen Carrillo also carried mt-DNA marker U6a7a1b, as would all of her matrilineal ancestors.

Armed with the information from the episode, I began to focus on how to break down the brick walls, while tracing up this matriline.

1st brick wall:
Initially, no information for Josefa Laves (b.ca. 1837) or her father Jose Maria Laves (b.ca. 1820) could be found. Careful observation revealed that the surname “Laves” was actually “Lares” – an understandable misreading, considering the style of penmanship in the original documents. Also, Josefa Lares was actually born closer to 1847 then 1837.

Jose Maria Lares and Carmen Carrillo were married in Jerez, Zacatecas the 28th of May, 1845, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-DZ95-4L?i=84&wc=3PSJ-9…
This record reveals that Carmen Carrillo was the daughter of Isidro Carrillo and Nepomucena Fernandez (b.ca. 1790).

2nd brick wall:
No marriage record for Isidro Carrillo and Nepomucena Fernandez could be found. It was time to look closer at the baptism records of their children. (Note: Some of the solutions for this 2nd brick wall were scattered among research notes shared years ago by Erlinda Castanon-Long.)

Carmen Carrillo’s 1821 baptism revealed her paternal grandparents but not her maternal grandparents, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-1Z32-H?i=122&wc=3PS8-6…

Luckily, the baptism record of Carmen’s brother Lucas Carrillo named their maternal grandparents, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-1ZQ6-S?i=465&wc=3PS8-6…
That meant that Nepomucena Fernandez was the daughter of Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa Torres (b.ca. 1757).

(Nicolas) Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa (de Jesus) Torres were married the 12th of September, 1782, in Jerez, Zacatecas, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-GHYP-D?i=301&wc=3P9C-P…
This record reveals that Felipa de Jesus Torres was the daughter of Alejo Balvino de Torres and Antonia Bernardina de Avila (b. ca. 1732). It also adds a note that Nicolas Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa de Jesus Torres were related in “tercero con quarto grado” or in “third and fourth degree” meaning that the groom was three generations away, and the bride was four generations away from a common ancestor. I was unable to locate a corresponding dispensa record for this marriage, but this tiny detail would prove instrumental later.

3rd brick wall:
Going back another generation, no marriage record could be found for Alejo Balvino de Torres and Antonia Bernardina de Avila. Looking through the baptism records of their children would not work this time because they did not list grandparents in this time period. It was time to find an ulterior route. (This would be a tricky one.)

If Mark Alba’s mt-DNA haplogroup was U6a7a1b, then so was Carmen Carrillo’s, and ultimately Antonia Bernardina de Avila’s. I thought to myself: Could there be another Zacatecas lineage carrying the U6a7a1b mt-DNA marker?

Yes. There was one connected to Katy Brecht in a roundabout way:
Katy Brecht’s maternal grandfather had an autosomal match to another anonymous person. That other anonymous person had the mt-DNA marker U6a7a1b, and a matrilineage that passed through Zacatecas. Brecht shared that the other anonymous person was the matrilineal great-grandchild of:
Librada Arellano (b.ca. 1872), daughter of:
Refugio del Real (b.ca. 1850), daughter of:
Eduviges Quiros (b.ca. 1812), daughter of:
Josefa Sanchez (b.ca. 1785), daughter of:
Andrea Escobedo (b.ca. 1760), daughter of:
Ygnacia Ulloa (b.ca. 1730), daughter of:
Juana Acevedo (b.ca. 1710), daughter of:
Ursula de la Torre (b.ca. 1680), daughter of:
Josefa Gonzalez de Aro (b.ca. 1650), daughter of:
Mariana de Quero (b.ca.1630), presumably the earliest traceable carrier of the U6a7a1b haplogroup for Zacatecas.

How would Antonia Bernardina de Avila (b. ca. 1732) connect to this line? I could not trace backwards through her, but perhaps tracing forward from Mariana de Quero would reveal some possibilities. The task was to keep an eye out for matrilineal descendants of Mariana de Quero who married a de Avila/Davila within a time period appropriate to possibly being be the parents of Antonia Bernardina de Avila.

There turned out to be three possibilities:
1. Mariana de Quero’s matrilineal granddaughter Cecilia de Trejo had married Bernardo de Avila on the 15th of July, 1724, in Jerez, Zacatecas.

Wills, Testamentos, Bienes de Difuntos

I am trying to get a copy of Antonio de Aguayo's will. Antonio de Aguayo was a soldier in Nuno Beltran de Guzman's 1531-32 expedition to the area that became Nueva Galicia. He was an encomendero and vecino of Purificacion and presented a Probenza de Meritos to the Royal Audiencia of Nueva Galicia in 1572. I believe that he probably died between that year and 1600.
Sometime ago, a list of microfilms containing testamentos that are in the vaults of the library in Salt Lake City was posted on this site. I contacted Eduardo Soanes for assistance in searching these microfilms, but he was informed that they cannot be accessed by the public. Eduardo referred me to the Archivo General de la Nacion in Mexico City. He says that this institution is generally given courtesy copies of Mormon microfilms.
I also remember a Nuestros Ranchos member from Mexico offering research help in Mexico, but have not succeeded in recalling who that was. Does anyone know who this person is? Can you provide contact information?
Jose Aguayo Ortega

MEXTICACÁN: SIMÓN GARCÍA cc CLARA DE MAYA

Hola prim@s,

Simón García and Clara de Maya were early residents of Mexticacán. I mentioned them in an earlier thread regarding the Benavides/Cortes/Aguayo clans. Their names had come up in the proceso against vicar Francisco de Veas of August 1570 - Simón García presented witnesses against the accused, and Clara de Maya was one of the women who refused to confess with him.

I came upon their names again while going through the notarial archives of San Luis Potosí. On 14 Oct 1593, Clara de Maya - at the time, a widow and living in San Luis Potosí - grants power to her son, Juan Bautista de Meneses, to handle all of her legal affairs. There are a number of documents regarding their efforts to collect moneys owed to them through probate, including her carta de dote and Simón García’s testamento.

On 15 Jun 1568, in Guadalajara, Simón García submitted the carte de dote of Clara de Maya (on image 41), “his legitimate wife, daughter of Pedro de Maya, deceased, who was a resident of this city… having received 1,000 pesos … 552 of which were given to him by Diego de Colio, executor of Pedro de Maya.” I’m assuming that Pedro de Maya is the same who participated in the Conquest of Mexico alongside Cortés, seeing how Diego de Colio was his executor (though, according to other records, he lived in Antequera, Oaxaca).

On 12 Oct 1585 in Mexticacán, Simón García submitted his last will & testament (image 46). He declared that he was the son of Diego Marín de Cubas and Isabel Álvarez de Meneses, naturales de Santa María en los Reinos de Castilla (according to the testamento of one of his daughters, Simón García was from Canary Islands, so this would probably be Santa María de Guía de Gran Canaria). He names his and Clara de Maya’s six children: Isabel Álvarez de Meneses cc Pedro Rincón Granado, Diego Martín, Juan Bautista de Meneses, Martín Ramírez, María Cortés and Catalina de Meneses. Of interest, are the names of his debtors and executors:

  • me deve joanes de arrona Residente en la cañada de san Joan quinientos y treinta y tres psº y un tomin
  • me deve Pedro narvaez Residente en el Pueblo de xalostotitlan lo que dixere en su conçiençia porque le tengo por buen cristiano porque no me acuerdo lo que es sino que le e ydo dando dineros y sal y lo que declare se cobre del
  • me deve Joan muñoz Residente en el pueblo de xalostotitlan lo que el dijere y declare en su conçiençia de vacas y Ropa que le fui dando que no me acuerdo lo ques que lo quel dixere eso sera y cobrese del
  • me deve baltasar garçia cuñado de joanes de arona treinta y dos psº de oro comun de tomines
  • yten declaro que yo tengo enpeñado en poder de diego flores señor de suchipila un jarro de plata de los nuevos en veinte y çinco psº mando se le den los dichos veinte y çinco Psº y se cobre del el dho Jarro
  • me deve alº de Robalcava veinte y seis psº de oro comun de vacas y Ropa que le di mᵈº se cobren del
  • me deve Luis de benavides mi cuñado noventa psº y quatro tomines q le preste en plata mando no se los pidan hasta el dia de pasqua de Resurreçion
  • yten declaro que me deve Luis de benvides El moço veinte y seis ffanegas de maiz de un cavallo q le vendi mando se cobren del
  • yten declaro que ansimesmo me deve francº hernandez Residente en mytic onçe ffanegas de maiz que le preste
  • nonbro por mis albaçeas y testamentarios y tenedores de mys bienes a Pedro de Umendia e a Luis de benavides su cuñado

What caught my eye, were the two men named Luis de Benavides, one whom Simón García identified as “el mozo,” and the other whom he identified as his cuñado (and who is likely the same who was his executor). If Luis de Benavides was his cuñado, then he was either: a. married to Simón García’s sister, b. the brother of Clara de Maya, or c. married to the sister of Clara de Maya. If it were “c,” in the aforementioned causa contra Francisco de Veas, one of the witnesses was Andrea Cortés, born around 1540, who was identified as the wife of Luis de Benavides. I mused that she could be another daughter of Pedro Cortés and a sister of Catalina Cortés, but is it possible that she was a daughter of Pedro de Maya? One of the daughters of Simón García and Clara de Maya was named Maria Cortés, who could have received her surname from Clara de Maya. Hmmm. I wonder what Pedro de Maya’s wife’s name was?

Simón García’s and Clara de Maya’s daughter, Catalina de Meneses, later used the name “Catalina Ramírez.” She was married to Juan Navarro “el Viejo,” of San Luis Potosí, where they lived (from them descend the Navarro of Sierra de Pinos, through their daughter Mariana Ramírez cc Melchor de los Reyes). In some records, Catalina appears with the surname “Ramírez de la Campaña.” One wonders if there is any connection to Juan Ramírez de la Campaña cc doña Francisca de Temiño de Velasco?

I hope you all find these puzzle pieces useful!
Manny Díez Hermosillo

Finding Your Roots | Mexican Roots

A couple of nights ago, PBS aired an episode of Finding Your Roots titled, Mexican Roots. The episode focused on the genealogy of two Mexican-American entertainers, Mario López and Melissa Villaseñor. The show's researchers discovered that Mario descends from one of the founders of Zacatecas, Baltasar Temiño de Bañuelos, and that Melissa descends from Diego de Ochoa Garibay. One can imagine, then, that the two are distantly related to many Nuestros Ranchos members.

If you haven't already seen the episode, or any of the episodes in the series, they’re definitely worth a look. The same was true for the show, Who Do You Think You Are?, until it went off the air.

The 2016 episode of Finding Your Roots that profiled the genealogy of Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros was, for me, a revelation. It sparked my genealogical journey. I watched the episode and thought, "Wait, what? Mexicans can do their genealogy, too? How?" Before then, I just assumed deep knowledge of my ancestors was lost and unrecoverable. (I’m overjoyed that this wasn’t the case.) One of the first places Google pointed me to along the way was to Nuestros Ranchos. Glad to have you back.

2 Additional Members Donated

David Serna and Susanna Leniski join the following members in donating to the previous call for donations to get the website updated and back online. At this point there is no call for further donations as the NR Workgroup (https://www.facebook.com/groups/213314714210083 pw: Jalisco) has not decided an exact procedure to collect funds. Note: the $776.24 collected so far will be used to directly to keep the website up and running into the future, but later in 2022 I expect meetings of the Workgroup will be held to determine how the funds should be allocated. Thanks again to the previous members that contributed funds:

Aliesha Sandstrom
Gus Mesa
Jeanette Vasquez
Sara Rodriguez
Linda Vasquez
Patricia McGill
Jorge Minchaca
Rita/Saul Navarro
Olga Allison
Martha Gavela
George Esqueda
Sean/Rebekah Sales
Esther Medrano
Ruben Rojas
A Perez
C Alvarez
David Sanchez
Anselmo Perez
Glenn Alvarez
Alex Mercado
Erlinda Castanon-Long
Virginia Carrola

Cataño Families from Mezquitic, Huejuquilla, Totatiche areas

Hello everyone,

Has anyone found records showing any relation between the 3 following Cataño families? I descend from the first two (Juan Cayetano Cataño and Vicente Cataño) of the following families, but found no records of their relation to each other.

Huejuquilla el Alto Area

Juan Cayetano Cataño (b. abt 1720) (m. Maria Guadalupe de Haro Flores) My 6th GGPs
Children:
1. Nicolas Francisco Cataño (m. Maria Gertrudis Navarrete)
2. Maria Josefa de la Trinidad Cataño (m. Joseph Rafael de la Paz)
3. Juan Joseph Eucebio Cataño
4. Jose Policarpio Cataño (m. Maria Carmen Orozco)
5. Juana Gertrudis Cataño (m. Feliciano de la Paz)
6. Juan Manuel Cataño

Totatiche/Colotlán Area

Vicente Cataño (b. abt 1700) (m. Petra de Cárdenas) My 6th GGPs
Children:
1. Maria Rufina Cataño (m. Antonio Marcelo López)
2. Gertrudis Juliana Cataño
3. Juan Francisco Cataño
4. Francisca Paula Cataño (m. Santiago Carlos Delgado)
5. Juana Inés Cataño (m. Phelipe de Santiago Delgado)
6. Juana Gertrudis Cataño (m. Francisco de Bobadilla)

Mezquitic/Colotlán/Monte Escobedo Area

Pedro Cataño (b. abt 1580) (m. Maria Madera)
Children:
1. Andrea Cataño (m. Diego Bañuelos)
2. Joseph Cataño (m. Catharina de Soto)
3. Juan Antonio Cataño (m. Juana Teresa de Espain)
4. Inés Cataño (m. Antonio de Carbajal)

Thanks for any input
RRojas

New Member Introduction

Hello All. I was quite thrilled to find this website, as I have just recently started to research my son-in-law's family, which is Romo. I have already been able to trace him back to Diego Romo de Vivar, but of course there are many other family lines I would like to fill in. Just a few of the other surnames are Delarosa, Delgado, Jayme, Moran, Villalobos, Palacios, Gonzalez, Aguilera, de la Mora, and many more. The main locations are Aguascalientes, Rincon de Romos, Encarnación de Diaz, and San Juan de los Lagos. I am very experienced in German and New England genealogy, but this is all new to me, in particular the combination of paternal and maternal surnames; never quite sure which to search. The link to my folder is

http://www.nuestrosranchos.org/netchemist

Glad to join you here. Walter G. Blenderman

Juan Felipe Cabral (Jerez de García Salinas) ca. 1760

Does anyone has information regarding Juan Felipe Cabral? He gave origin to the Cabral surname in Zacatecas, arriving ca. 1760 to Jerez de Garcia Salinas, Zacatecas, Mexico, and marrying Josefa Saldivar. Presumably he came from Portugal or Spain, and changed his original surname "Hijar y Bracamontes" to Cabral during the trip. Roberto Cabral del Hoyo (1913-1999), the poet from Zacatecas, also mentions this story in one of his published poems. Juan Felipe Cabral had several offsprings including my grandmother's ancestor Pantaleon Cabral, who was born in 1788 in Jerez de Garcia Salinas. I have extensive information about the Cabral family from Zacatecas, that I'm happy to share.

Saludos!

New member Intro

Muchas gracias por aceptarme

Soy Irma Miraceti Jiménez Ugalde

Mi bisabuela materna llegó a CDMX de Ixtlahuacán del Río, Jalisco, hacia 1920 y también mi abuelo materno era de Zacatecas. He seguido a mis ancestros a través de Familysearch encontrando muchos pueblos que no conocía en el área de Jalisco, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes y Michoacán.
Entre los apellidos encontrados están: Pérez de Frías, Martín del Campo, Mora y de la Mora, así como Rentería, Flores de la Torre, Sánchez de Porras (o Porres), Villaseñor, de Silva, Montenegro.

I´m Irma Miraceti Jiménez Ugalde

My gggrandma arrive to Mexico City from Jalisco about 1920 with their children. Also my granpa from mother was from Nieves,Zacatecas.
I´ve been searching and notices that there are a lot of towns and ranchs that a I didn´t know in Jalisco, Zacatecas, Aguascaliente y Michoacán.

I´m founded surnames like: Pérez de Frías, Martín del Campo, Mora y de la Mora, así como Rentería, Flores de la Torre, Sánchez de Porras (o Porres), Villaseñor, de Silva, Montenegro.

I hope you can help me in my research and I can contribute too.

(Sorry for my english)

This is my link to my files
https://www.nuestrosranchos.org/IrmaJimenez

Who are the parents and grandparents of Christobal Villaseñor?

I descend from"Juana Gertrudis de Villaseñor y Franco de Paredes" y "Joseph Thoribio Muñoz de la Barba", I am looking for information on her father, Christobal Villaseñor's parents and grandparents.

Yo desciendo de "Juana Gertrudis de Villaseñor y Franco de Paredes" y "Joseph Thoribio Muñoz de la Barba"

Juana "Ana" Gertrudis de Villaseñor y Franco de Paredes fue bautizada el 6/Aug/1724

Joseph Thoribio Muñoz de la Barba fue bautizado el 28/Apr/1718 en San Juan de los Lagos. El murio el 22//Nov/1779

Thoribio y Juana Ana Gertrudis se casaron el 9/Oct/1743

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joseph Thoribio Muñoz de la Barba is the son of Diego Muñoz de la Barba and Antonia Gomez Hurtado de Mendoza

Diego Muñoz de la Barba is the son of Cap. Luis Munoz de la Barba and Antonia Martin del Campo

Antonia Gomez Hurtado de Mendoza is the daughter of Cap. Agustin Gomez de Mendoza and Maria Leal de Ayala

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Juana "Ana" Gertrudis de Villaseñor y Franco de Paredes is the daughter of Christobal Villaseñor and Gertrudis Franco de Paredes

Gertrudis Franco de Paredes is the daughter of Juan Antonio Franco de Paredes and Ana Gomez Hurtado de Mendoza

My big question is "Who are the parents and grandparents of Christobal Villaseñor?"

R.A.Ricci

Tree Trolls - Adding profiles here to prevent new comers from perpetuating mistakes.

Few days ago we were commenting on how in Family Search there is been a huge amount of records modified and wrongly merged (on purpose) by trolls, been the most notorious "Mbarrena" who also goes by other names.

One of the problems in Family Search is the "volunteering" that seems to give "points" to LDS Church members, who many been inexperienced end up confusing names and merging people generations apart. This is still understandable. I'm not referring those here in this topic. I'm exclusively talking about people who intentionally change data even when sources are given to prove it.

This are definitely trolls, they just do it for fun or out of jealousy, they have no intention on helping or collaborating, they just want to mess around with the information.

In that conversation we had in the other topic (which I didn't continue, as it was kind of hijacking the main topic) there was a suggestion to use WikiTree, I checked it out and give it a try, well, it only takes a few moves before you get bombarded by this trolls such as "Don Ximenes", you can tell they hide under silly nicknames, they every connect themselves to the tree, and they spend quite a bit of time changing information instead of researching, in fact they will not add real information, they just go after what has already been posted.

The consequential problem and one that is becoming more eminent is that new comers may think that the data that is been wrongly modified is correct and they en up perpetuating wrong information (without intention) due to the lack of experience.

This is why I think we need to point out this profiles so people are aware of this and hopefully prevent inexperienced researchers from taking data for granted.

Once again, there is nothing better than posting genealogy on personal website and for everyone to keep the records safe in your own files.

The Shame List (please add the ones you had found)
Mbarrena aka JGPS aka NataliaFranco6 (and more to discover)
Jovanni Ramos
Don Ximenes

Padron Terms Help Request

I'm looking at the 1754 Padron for Tlaltenango (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDG-434W?i=6&cat=6850…) and need help understanding what the words are after the names in these two images:

1) http://www.nuestrosranchos.org/node/25021 On this one what is "Cajero" surely it doesn't mean "Cashier" does it?

2) http://www.nuestrosranchos.org/node/25022 On this one what do the words "Haredo" or is it "Naredo"? And what does "Riestra" and down near the bottom I can't make out the letters "Fixuto or Fixoto or Sixoto"

Is there someplace where the Padron abbreviation and word meanings are explained?

thanks,

Joseph

Geneology How accurate are they?

I have recently done a genealogy test, where I sent some swabs with saliva via mail, and I received results that were a bit surprising. Well, very surprising to me, as a matter of fact. While I know that most of my direct ancestors are from Jalisco and Zacatecas, I understand as well that some came from further like Spain and Italy, as I have heard. But when I saw that my genome was 12 percent Peruvian, well that was unexpected.
How accurate are these tests? I sent it to a reputable place I think. I Have been researching for a bit, and have been lucky to find ancestors up to the fifth generation, but so far all I get is "Yndio," Español", "Mestizo. None say Peruano. I also have North European, and some French and German, I expect that. I have no paper trail however.
Has anyone else found there research does not match their genome ?

General Digest, Vol 43, Issue 12

Buenos dias....

No entiendo bien como debo usar este servicio:

Esto en busqueda de antepasados mios de Talpa de Allende y Mascota, asi como de Cuquio, Jal.

En Talpa y Mascota, buscando familiares NUNGARAY. y en Cuquio SANTA CRUZ.

Alguien tiene alguna informacion.

Suerte es lo que pasa cuando la preparaciòn encuentra a la oportunidad. Sèneca.
Enrique Nungaray LUTCF
Promotorias 20/284/296

LOS MUÑOZ DEL MUNICIPIO DE CALVILLO, AGUASCALIENTES

Me he dedicado a rastrear en estos días a los Muñoz, residentes del municipio de Calvillo, Aguascalientes. He detectado la línea de origen hasta Miguel Muñoz de Hermosillo y María del Carmen Alonso, que tuvieron por lo menos estos hijos:

-José Antonio Muñoz Alonso. Nació en Milpillas el 7 de julio de 1771. Se casó en San José de Huejúcar (hoy Calvillo) el 13 de julio de 1793 con María Josefa Salazar Valdivia.

-María Rosalía Tiburcia de los Dolores Muñoz Alonso. Bautizada en Aguascalientes el 26 de abril de 1774.

-José Ignacio Muñoz Alonso. Nació cerca del año 1776 en el rancho Milpillas. Se casó en Aguascalientes por el año de 1806 con María Josefa López de Nava Ortega, originaria de dicha Villa.

-Joaquín Muñoz Alonso. Nació en Milpillas, se casó en Aguascalientes el 19 de diciembre de 1799 con María Ruiz Tagle; originaria de Tayahua y viuda de José Valentín Muñoz, residente de Milpillas desde 1794.

-María Guadalupe de Jesús Muñoz Alonso. Nació el 25 de diciembre de 1779.

Me gustaría conocer a los padres y ascendentes de Miguel Muñoz de Hermosillo, que supongo por los apellidos, descenderá de los González de Hermosillo de la región de los Altos. Igualmente, supongo que doña Carmen Alonso es de las familia Alonso de los Hinojos, pero no he podido encontrar mas datos al respecto. Agradeceré cualquier ayuda.

New Member Intro

Hi everyone! My name is Aliesha. My 2nd great grandmother, María Dolores Magallanes, was born in Momáx, Zacatecas.

Most of my ancestors were centered in Momáx & Tlaltenango, Zac. There are other areas in Zac. and some in Jalisco (Colotlán, Nochistlán).

The main surnames I’m researching are: Álvarez, Amaya, Aro/Haro, Beltran, Cornejo, Estrada, Herrera, Magallanes, Márquez, Martines, Miramontes, Mota, Muñoz, Romero, Sandovál, & Serrano.

You’ll find other areas, surnames, and a short genealogy in my file: http://www.nuestrosranchos.org/Aliesha

It's nice to be here. ;-)
Aliesha

19 Thanks, But Still Disappointing. . .

I'd like to thank the 19 members that responded to my request for a $10 donation (some told me they enclosed more, thanks) to update the website.

Many thanks to:

Sean and Rebekah Sales
George Esqueda
Linda Vasquez
Martha Gavela
Glenn Alvarez
Sara Rodriguez
Alex Mercado
Olga Allison
Jeannette Vasquez
R. Navarro
Erlinda Castanon-Long
Anselmo Perez
David Sanchez
Esther Medrano
A. Perez
C. Alvarez
Ruben Rojas
Patricia McGill
Jorge Minchaca (all the way from France)

The group is right at 1000 members now. And my request for financial support to upgrade the site messages to the group have been read over a 1000 times and so far I've physically received 19 letters to my PO Box (one letter all the way from France, Thank you Jorge).

Now I'm more or less using this effort to gauge interest in the NR group and so far I'm very disappointed, but such is life. So since it is not about the money here is what I'm willing to do. Maybe the $10 is too much to ask since with Covid and other responsibilities tugging at your bank accounts. So if it is too much I'd like to ask 11 other members to do this: Get a piece of paper and write "IOU $10" and sign it and I'll consider it payable at some time in the future.

If I can get 11 more participants in this effort I'll go ahead with the upgrade and consider the effort a success.

Send your "IOU's" to

Joseph Puentes
PO Box 72524
Durham, NC 27722

ps: I don't take Apple Pay, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, but I will take a blank piece of paper with the words "IOU $10" with your signature on it.

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