Sunday, August 31, 2008

Dear Corrine--

I loved your email. It reminded me of the discussions I have had about certain members of the family--things like if you are left-handed you are probably with this family, or if you are long and lean in the face, probably from that family, if you have a long torso but short legs, you are from yet another family. Then the eyes are interesting because some have blue or green or brown and look like their so and so cousins.

In our family, from my husband's side and mine, we come from many nations. Then you throw in the daughter-in-laws (we have four sons, no daughters) and you find representatives from the Philippines, Shites in Ohio, and the founders of San Diego, California. While some people seem to only have family lines from a few countries, ours are many. One advantage to that comes every four years when it is time for the World Soccer Cup. We can almost always find some team to cheer for into the finals, even if that part of the family tree is very small.

Discrimination is an evil. It comes in many forms. Some people still practice the "I am better than you are because....." I find that dull and dreary. I would rather take each new culture and find the best parts and add it to our family's beliefs. The bad, we just throw away.

September is coming...

We are almost to September and I am looking forward to the discussions we can have about Mexican Independence from Spain in 1810. Many years ago, when I was researching my husband's side on the GARCIA family, I told someone that Ramon was related to the GALLAGAS. That person did not believe me. He suggested a few other names instead. Nope, it was GALLAGA.

Yes, my husband is related to Padre Miguel Hidalgo, from whom we get the grito and repeat it on September 16th and yes, he is also related to some of the others in New Spain/ Mexico who were against the fight for independence.

Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ygnacio HIDALGO
Bap. 8 May 1753
Correlejo, Guanajuato, Mexico

Son of Cristobal HIDALGO y Costilla and
Anna Maria GALLAGA Mandarte born in Michoacan

Grandson of Juan de San Pedro GALLAGA born 4 Feb 1703
La Barca, Jalisco, Mexico and
Joaquina de VILLASENOR y LOMELIN CORTES ENRIQUES de SILVA

Greatgrandson of Fernando GALLAGA MANDARTE Y LOMELIN
born about 1670 in Ahualulco de Mercado, Jalisco, Mexico
and Maria NAVARRO de SAMORA y SOLIS
born 27 Mar 1671 in La Barca, Jalisco, Mexico.

The Godinez connection is with Fernando GALLAGA MANDARTE Y LOMELIN
and the second wife,
Francisca Xabiera SANCHES Cabrales
born about 1695
and their son, Geronimo Nasario GALLAGA
born 3 Feb 1724 in Santa Clara, Ocotlan, Jalisco and
married to Anna Mariana ROMERO on 2 Jan 1749.

Please note--Geronimo Nasario GALLAGA was also the great, great, grandson of Carlo LOMELINI of Genoa, Liguria, Italy and Maria BENAVIDES of Nochistlan, Zacatecas.

Sincerely,
Patricia Burton
Patricia Diane GODINEZ
San Diego, Ca.

--- On Sun, 8/31/08, Corrine Ardoin wrote:

> From: Corrine Ardoin
> Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] What Got Me Started- Race & Family History
> To: general@nuestrosranchos.org
> Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 5:59 PM
> Great discussion!
>
> What got me started with family history research, was the
> fact that people
> always tell me that I don't look Mexican, but always
> ask me if I am Native
> American (Indian), because of my high cheekbones, my
> profile, dark skin and
> long black hair. So, I decided to start searching for my
> "Roots" a few
> years ago. (Now, this whole family history research is an
> obsession...er...
> a very important interest to me.) People ask me what tribe
> I am, etc. I
> don't know what to say to them, except the usual
> answer, "Well, my mother is
> Mexican and so, ya know, I probably have some native, er,
> uh, indigenous, er
> uh, Mexican Indian in me, ya know?"
> My grandmother, surname Martin del Campo (de la yegua rusa)
> from Jalisco,
> was red-haired, white skinned and freckled, but not
> blue-eyed. I don't look
> like her except for the tendency to get freckles. Over the
> past few years,
> as I have worked my way slowly back in time in my research
> in the areas of
> Chihuahua, Sonora, and Jalisco, I have yet to find any
> indigenous roots. In
> Chihuahua, there is certainly a possibility of Raramuri
> (Tarahumara), but I
> don't look anything like them, or Yaqui. In Sonora,
> there is a possibility
> of Opata, though I haven't seen any photos of the
> Opata. If there was any
> Apache, well, that would certainly explain my fiestiness
> and rebelliousness,
> also the fact that my ancestors, the Frias's in
> Chihuahua were among the
> early instigators of the Mexican Revolution and, on my
> father's side, his
> ancestors were among the early American Revolutionaries!
> So, yeah, I'm a
> bit rebellious, you might say ;) And... any Native
> American on my
> German/Scottish father's side, well, hmmm, he never
> found any in his own
> research on his roots.
>
> Well, in the mean time, my mother's side of the tree
> just gets bigger and
> bigger with more and more "Espanolas." So, why
> do people think I am Indian?
> Well, I recently met one of my grandmother's nieces.
> My mother took a
> picture of us together and, wow, we look more like sisters
> than my real
> sister and I did (she is deceased now). I just marvel at
> this picture.
> Now, the only family we have in common is the Martin del
> Campo's. Her
> mother and my grandmother were sisters. She has the same
> shape to her face
> as mine, so my facial features had to come from that line,
> though my
> research is stuck still in Guadalajara. My research is
> very slow with that
> family. Then, I thought of my mom's great-grandmother,
> Rita Robles. She
> was my grandmother's grandmother who married Ismael
> Martin del Campo.
>
> Then, I realized, what am I doing? I'm just a
> "Heinz 57." That's all there
> is to it and, whether or not there is any native blood in
> me, all I can say
> to that is this: We are all descended from indigenous
> peoples somewhere in
> the world, indigenous Celts, Welsh, Irish, European, Middle
> Eastern, etc.
> etc. We were all once indigenous to someplace.
>
> So, race no longer drives my research. There was something
> that John Schmal
> wrote that, if you have Mexican ancestry, the chances of
> having indigenous
> blood is pretty certain and you won't be able to find
> out what, because it
> was not always recorded. I beg to differ, somewhat. I
> have found Huichol
> Indian baptism records in my research in Huejuquilla El
> Alto. And, I have
> found Apache baptism records in my research in Chihuahua
> and there have been
> others. This could go on and on.......but like others have
> said, there are
> a few "Josefa Valenzuela's" in my family
> tree, those generic Spanish names
> assigned to the native peoples of Mexico.
>
> Well, this is a discussion that is a long one.
> Later, gators!
> Corrine Ardoin
> Santa Maria, California