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Por Pat Silva Corbera |

My son-in-law's paternal maternal great-grandfather, Rosario Barron (Paura) worked the Quik Silver Mines in what was known as the Redwood Township Almaden Precinct of Santa Clara Co. CA. in the 1920s.

Rosario Barron b. abt 1884 Mexico, died bef 1930, son of (father's name not known to me) and mother Preciliana Paura b. abt 1860. Rosario married Macaria Perales Rodriquez, she b. 24 March 1889 Jesus, Zacatecas, Mexico daughter of Luis Perales and Victoriana Rodriquez. Verbal history has Rosario being born in England, and traveling to Mexico in the late 1800s. The 1920 Santa Clara Co. Federal Census indicates that he was born in Mexico, as were his parents.

1920 Santa Clara Co. CA Census, Sosario (Rosario) Barron head of household, Macaria wife; sons Marcello, Cipriano, Tomas, Manuel and daughter Natalia, also listed is Preciliana Paura (Rosario's widowed mother); Emilio Perales (Rosario's brother-in-law) and Victoriana Rodriquez (Rosario's widowed mother-in-law.)

On the 1930 Santa Clara Co. CA census Macaria is listed as a male/head of household, along with children Sipriano, Natalie, Thomas, Manuel, Albert, Alexandria and Emilio; and mother Victoria Perales. One can only assume that from 1920 to 1930 Rosario Barron and his mother Preciliana Paura had passed away.

Pat Silva Corbera

Pat,

I presently live in the Almaden Valley which was named by the Spanish settlers and about 2 miles from where I live is what is now called New Almaden. It was named new Almaden after the original Almaden in España. There is a Feria de Benalmadena in Malaga España and takes place from June 24 thru the 31st.
The spaniards were brought here to work in the quicksilver mines. We are surrounded by many creeks, dams and hills. Loma Prieta is on the southwest side and the Santa Teresa Hills on the southeast side. Loma Prieta is where the quake of 1989 was centered, quake of "89" is the earthquake where everyone saw the car that dropped off into the collapsed portion of the bay bridge.
In these creeks and dams fishing for food consumption is still banned due to possible mercury or quicksilver water contamination as a result of the mining.

Alicia

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Jose Aguayo Ortega

Hace 18 years 4 months

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To all of you Californios:
It is interesting for me to read your reminisces about old times. I am
founder and former director of a Latino museum in Denver, Colorado and
really appreciate reading about your individual histories. We all need to
preserve those stories and, of course, our genealogies for future
generations.
I can relate in a limited way to your stories. My brother, Al Aguayo, was
superintendant of the Alum Rock School District in the early 1990s, I
believe. My oldest daughter was a graduate student at the University of
California at Santa Cruz in 1989. When the earthquake occurred, she tried
to apply what little disaster training she had learned in Colorado. Here we
have tornados and we are told to get under a piece of heavy furniture or
under a door frame for safety. She told us that she tried to stand under a
door frame on the campus but the door frame kept moving! Keep the
interesting stories coming. I enjoy them.
Jose Aguayo

Alicia,

I remember New Almaden. We used to go to dinner at the French restaurant there, and I loved going to the little museum there. I grew up with many of the descendants of the early Californios: the Bernals, Fatjos, Chaboyas, etc. There were stories of haunted places there and I always would get an eerie feeling looking over the hills where the quicksilver mines were. They said that Joaquin Murrieta would hide out there. They said that if you dug around the foundation of one of the older homes you could hear a baby cry, etc. It would be interesting to see where these Californio families originated in Mexico. When I used to talk to the descendants about their family history, they did not seem interested in the genealogy, but they did know they were 8th generation Spanish Californians, which towns, etc their ancestors had founded, but they didn't know where in Mexico they originated. They probably thought they were Spanish and not formerly Mexicans. To them, they were early Spanish pioneers, and several had married into the early American settlers' families and were members of Sons and Daughters of the Golden West societies.

Emilie

Genealogy Research