Dear Rancho Researchers--

For years, I followed my husband's family lines back
many centuries. Now I find what gives me great
pleasure is turning to more recent times. For some of
us, the 1930 Mexican Census is like the day before
yesterday in genealogical thinking.

My husband was born in the small village of Santa
Rita, Jalisco. In March, I talked to some of his
friends and got a little information on them. I was
able to visit the cemetery and started putting things
together before we left to come home. It was fun to
talk to one of the oldest residents and ask about this
person and that. Even better was being able, as a
stranger, to tell them things that they were surprised
I knew. Together we are finding out more.

In a few days, I will again be researching in Santa
Rita, of the municipio of Ayotlan. I think the
current population is near 4,000. My goals are to
work backwards from the 1930 Census to find out who
the founding fathers were and to help others get
connected to their past.

Some of the names I am very interested in are
Barragan, Mendoza, Nolasco, and Zaragoza. I have
numerous gaps because I don't have all the films I
need yet recently, I was able to view at the local
Family History Center, the 1850 marriages of some of
the residents of the Hacienda Santa Rita.

Ultimately, I would like to put enough names into
circulation so that when others come along, it will be
easier for them to find their roots. I don't have any
relatives in this village. My husband has only one
line that he is distantly connected to but the joy and
excitement about doing this and sharing it with the
people who call Santa Rita their home is immeasurable.

Thirty years? I probably won't be researching at that
time, even if I am still around. However I have had
the pleasure of working on some of the Canadian
Censuses where you can enter a name and the province
and all the possible connections come up or not as the
case may be. If you are lucky, you find the person
you are looking for and the rest of their family
members. Additionally, there is an opportunity to let
others know of corrections to the record and that you
are researching that line. I have found the Canadian
system to be a pretty good one. I am trying to do my
part, only turning my attention now more to the
Hispanic side of the work and sharing it with others.

The 1930 Mexican Census is wonderful but it doesn't
help everyone, as was mentioned recently by someone
who needed information from the Aguascalientes,
Aguascalientes area. We'll just have to use other
records and assistance in the meantime.

Hope this has given you another way of looking at
Family History.

Sincerely,
Patricia Burton
AKA Patricia Diane Godinez