I have been a member of this group for a few years now so it past time for me to introduce myself. My paternal grandfather's parents came with his father's family from the small town, village, or Hacienda of San Agustin, Jamay, Jalisco (located on the main road between Jamay and La Barca) to the Houston area about 1920. Before then, the Gonzalez family (my family changed it to Gonzales later after they came to the US) had lived in and around the cities of La Barca, Ocotlan, and Jamay, Jal for hundreds of years. So there is a great likelihood that I am related to many people from those areas. This also means I descend from many of the founding Los Altos families. My maternal grandmother's mother, Epifania Habitud Arteaga, came from family came from Zacatecas, Zac. about 1906 and her family has deep roots in Villanueva, Zac and were involved in the silver mines. I have taken an AncestryDNA test, which I've also transferred to FamilytreeDNA and to GedMatch (id # is A675073) My main family tree is on Ancestry and have been working on it for 5 years.

Some Fun Facts:

Although I do descend from the Gonzalez de Hermosillo family, my direct paternal line may lead to a different Gonzalez family from that area. My 8th great grandfather, Diego Gonzalez de Islas (b. Abt 1673, unknown origins) settled in Ocotlan and married Francisca de Garibay. Their son Joseph Marcos married Juana Geronima Gertrudis Lomelin Carranza, Daughter of Marcos Gonzalez Carranza (Son of Andres Sanchez Carranza and Maria Gonzalez de Hermosillo) and Juana Lomelin (I don't know her parent). Joseph Marcos Gonzalez and Juana Carranza stayed in the Ocotlan area and had at least 10 children including two of my direct acestors, Dionico (1729-1784) and Juan Calletano. Interestingly, these brothers married 2 cousins, Dionicio married Francisca Carillo, daughter of Cristoval Carrillo and Ma Dolores Castellanos, and Juan Calletano married Antonia Godines, daughter of Antonio Godines and Manuela (Lomelin) Carrillo. Cristoval and Manuela were the children of Juan Baptista de Orosco Carrillo and Beatris de Lomelin Vasquez.

I just made several breakthroughs in my family due to the release of the indexed Mexican Civil Registrations on Ancestry. One of them was a confirmation to a rumor that my paternal Greatgrandparents, Jesus Diaz Gonzalez and Ma Concepcion Diaz Sanchez, were cousins. Turns out that their mothers, Ma Concepcion and Ma Eduvigis Estrada Diaz, were sisters. It seems Concepcion's mother (Maria Eduvigis) died when she was a baby. For whatever reason, after her mother died, her father didn't take care of her/want her and so she was taken in by her aunt/future mother-in-law. Anyway after I found her father's name and the records related to him, I then traced his line further and soon found out his father came from Tepatitlan. So I descend from even more Los Altos families to include from another son of Carlo de Lomelinni, Domingo a few times (I already had traced one line on my Gonzalez side to him through his son, Lucas)

Another thing, I have just recently found the exact online images for the 1768, 1770, and 1772 Padrones for the cities and surrounding areas of Ocotlan and La Barca (Jamay is included as Xamain) in the familysearch records for Michoacan, under the city that used to be the Archdioscese of Michoacan, Morelia.

La Barca, 1768: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-6DG9-K
Ocotlan, 1768: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-6DLF-D
La Barca, 1770: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TX-1RT
Ocotlan, 1770: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TX-15FV
La Barca, 1772: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-DZS5-J5
Ocotlan, 1772: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-DCSH-GQ

There have been a few brick walls that have remain unbroken. So I need to make a few posts soon to make better use of the resources and knowledge of the more experienced members on this site.

More to come,

Paul A. Gonzales
Texas A&M '13