Carol,
From what you say, my intuition may be right about why my folks ended
up near Kansas and working on the railroads. Also, my father, after the
railroad work and doing farm labor for others, settled in Brush (Snyder,
actually) and raised wheat and sugar beets! He must have done that work,
why else we he choose to settle down and do that? In what census did you
find all those Mexican families in Texas? Were there any Olague (my
father's surname), Tinajero, Alvarado, Garcia? What immigration papers did
you research? At my mother's request (she was an American citizen) my
father became a naturalized citizen and all I have is the naturalization papers
from 1941. As far as I know, the government did not track him. He
immigrated from Mexico through the El Paso checkpoint in 1916 and he died in
1966 in California, but I found no immigration papers other than the
naturalization papers, a copy of which I obtained from a courthouse in
Denver.
Emilie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 2:25
PM
Subject: Re: [ranchos] Cultural
Identity
Emilie:
My grandfather actually came through El Paso
in 1908
and lived in Canadian, Texas, worked for the
Panhandle
Railroad. I have the census for Canadian, TX and at
that
time there were about 50 to 60 Mexican families
just starting out in this
small railroad town, they
moved north up through New Mexico and then into
KS,
they also worked the beet fields in Nebraska during
the summer
months, but always came back home to Kansas
City. However, my
grandfather had brothers after
leaving Canadian, TX that also went West to
CA., to
live. It's interesting to always find out but usually
when
they came across it was with their neighbors they
had in Mexico that later
became their neighbors in
Canadian, TX and so on, they kept their
neighbors
close to them.
I would say their migration was
about survival and
their jobs, wherever their jobs took them, they had
to
pack up and follow and for my grandfather it was the
railroad.
Emilie, try research immigration papers for
your family if you haven't
already tried this; I got
my grandfather's information and it gave me
his
whereabouts from the time he was in El Paso 1908 until
he died in
1968. This will give you more insight of
their migration pattern and
why they moved around. It
answered many questions for me.
--- Emilie Garcia <auntyemfaustus@...>
wrote:
> Carol,
>
> My story could have been very much
like yours. You
> see, I was born in Brush, Colorado, in
Morgan
> County, way up in the northeast corner by Kansas.
> When
WWII started, my father got a job working in
> the shipyards in Richmond
CA and sent my mother, my
> sister and I to my mother's relatives in
southern NM
> near El Paso TX, then after the war he sent for us
>
and we settled in what is now known as Silicon
> Valley. My
father was brought to Colorado from
> Jerez in 1916 at the age of 13 by
his father who I
> believe arrived earlier. In the census records,
I
> find no other Spanish surnames. When my husband was
>
helping me search census records before they were
> all online, he kept
telling me, "No hay ni un frijol
> aqui! [I don't see a single beaner
here!] Why did
> your folks end up there?". I often wonder why
they
> ended up way up there; maybe you can tell me why
> some
Mexicans ended up so far north then (we are all
> over now).
>
> My father surprised me one day when he told me he
>
had been to Wyoming as a young man. We had been
> talking about
why he and my mother never went out to
> eat, and he said he didn't like
restaurant food,
> that my mother fixed everything just the way
he
> liked it; but he said there was one place in Wyoming
> (I
wish I had asked where and what took him there)
> that served excellent
"chile". I imagine it was
> what they later called chili con
carne, or just
> "chili". He said he and some fellow workers
would
> go there and just say "Chile!" (I don't think they
> could
speak much English if at all) and they would
> be served a bowl of
delicious chili with crackers.
> He said he loved it and would never
forget it, that
> he wished he could have some right there and
then.
>
> So I hope you can shed some light as to why
some
> Mexicans so early in the 20th Century went directly
> way
up to northeast Colorado and Kansas, rather than
> to Texas, NM, CA,
AZ. Maybe they didn't go there
> directly. I think perhaps
they got jobs on the
> railroads in Texas after crossing over (they came
on
> trains from Mexico and maybe inquired about jobs)
> and
perhaps it was railroad jobs that took them so
> far north. I do
recall my father telling me that he
> had once worked in a railroad
roundhouse (where they
> clean and service locomotives) and that it was
the
> hardest work he had ever done in his life and he
> left that
work as soon as he could.
>
> Emilie Garcia
> Port
Orchard, WA --
>
>
> ----- Original Message
-----
> From: Margarita
>
Vallazza<mailto:TeaCozyGran@...>
>
To:
>
ranchos@yahoogroups.com<mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com>
>
> Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 8:00
AM
> Subject: Re: [ranchos] Cultural Identity
>
>
> Carol, I loved hearing about your research
and
> results. You are a true inspiration to me and to
> others. I
enjoyed our having coffee after doing
> research.
Marge:)
> On Jan 20, 2006, at 9:02 AM, Carol Turner
wrote:
>
>
> My story - I always
wondered why do I live in
> Kansas?
>
Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's
> wasn't
easy
> at times. My paternal grandparents
were here by
> 1916
> and my maternal in
the early 1920's in the state
> of
>
KS. In doing my research and going back in
> time,
I
> found many stories that touched my heart of
what
> my
> grandparents had sacrificed,
suffered and what
> their
> lives were
like when they first got here...it
>
wasn't
> easy. My parents were told they
couldn't speak
> Spanish in school and that we
need to try to
> "fit in"
> with the
others. I went from Mexican to being a
>
Chicana to being Mexican American or Hispanic is
>
what
> they call us now. We lived on the
Westside
> Community
> until I was 4 and
then moved to Rosedale in KS
> which
> at
that time was predominately Anglo. They sent
> me
to
> St. Agnes and I grew up in this community
and
> basically still in this community.
Things
> change over
> the years, St.
Agnes is now 35% Hispanic and the
> numbers are
going up. We have more Hispanic
>
celebrations now in in the City because of the
>
growth
> of the Hispanic population.
>
> Being married to an Anglo, I felt the need in
my
> 30's
> and 40's to embrace my culture
which lead me to
> research our family history,
volunteer my time
> at the
> Hispanic
Heritage booth at the Fiestas, support
>
our
> Hispanic veterans here in KC among many
other
> meetings
> or groups I have some
involvement in. However I
> would
>
have to say doing our research has brought me
to
> embracing our culture because we our
embracing
> our
> ancestors and their
stories. Well I guess I
> need to
>
journal more so someone can read these stories
> of
how
> I feel...I doubt my kids will save my
emails. -
> Carol
> Muro
Turner
> --- Emilie Garcia
<auntyemfaustus@...>
> wrote:
>
> > Alicia,
>
>
> > Your story of growing up in a
multi-ethnic
> community
> > sounds so
much like mine. My husband and I
>
were
> > brought to San Jose as small
children in 1947,
> me
> > from New
Mexico and my husband from El Paso,
> TX,
and
> > we grew up in an Italian neighborhood
(the old
> Goose
> > Town area -that
flooded often---near Sacred
> Heart
> >
church--between Willow Street and Alma
> Street),
went
> > to school with Japanese and
Filipinos; I later
> > worked with new Cuban
and Vietnamese
> immigrants when
> >
our country opened up to refugees from those
>
> countries. I still feel close to Italian
and
> > Japanese culture, and remember fondly
all
> their
> > customs and festivals
there in the Valley.
> Perhaps
> > that
is why we learned everything Italian, and
>
we
> > consider it our second adopted
ethnicity.
> Although
> > not all the
Italians initially were friendly
> to
us,
> > they more than the Anglos eventually
embraced
> us due
> > to being
Catholic, and the similarity between
>
our
> > languages. We know of some of
those Italians
> who
> > snubbed not
only Mexicans but their own people
> and
>
> even dropped the final vowel at the end of
>
their
> > surname to make it sound more
Anglo--Diridondi
> > became Diridon).
That is very sad in a
> culture that
>
> is normally very family-oriented and proud of
>
their
> > ethnicity, as are the other groups
I
> mentioned.
> >
> > Emilie
Garcia
> > Port Orchard, WA
--
> > ----- Original Message
-----
> > From: Alicia
>
Carrillo<mailto:alliecar@...>
>
>
> >
To:
> >
>
>
ranchos@yahoogroups.com<mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com>
>
>
> > Sent: Wednesday,
January 18, 2006 10:38 PM
> >
Subject: [ranchos] Cultural Identity
> >
> >
>
> Linda,
> >
> > Just to put in my dos
centavos. I personally
> could
>
=== message truncated
===
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