A sad story but a happy ending.
Our story is almost the same.  After my grandfather
Alberto Duarte Vasquez died in 1923, in Mapimi, my
grandmother Maria Luz Cuevas Luera gathered all of her
5 kids and headed for El Paso, Texas, where she lived
and eventually died after some 40 years.  The Mexican
civil war of 1915 and the flu epidemic devastated most
of the population of central Mexican states.  Over
half of my dad's family died because of the flu
epidemic, which led of my grandfather's heavy drinking
and eventual death.  

The good part of this story is that my grandmother saw
that there was no future for her kids in Mexico and
did something about it.

But can you imagine, my ancestors to come to the new
world about 1550 and prospered in Zacatecas and
Chihuahua, become ranchers, farmers, generals,
lawyers, governors, teachers, musicians, after a short
time in new Spain and Mexico, but eventually all this
was lost for most of them, and they came to this
country penniless but with hope

I took a trip to look for my grandfather's birthplace and I found it!
The house where he was born is nothing but adobe ruins, but I expected
that, since he was born in 1875 and the family left it in 1917 to come
to California...The ranch, "Los Portales" is located about three miles
south of Jalostotitlan, Jalisco. That town is full of beautiful
girls...The whole town is in a festive mood already. Decorating for
the August 15 Fiesta.
I also found a living cousin in one family line and three others that
I am pretty sure are related. I need to look at

City Hall......
My 3 uncles went to Mapimi, Durango, to get copies of
their birth certificates in and about 1952, also.  The
Mapimi city recording clerk charged them $5.00 for
their certificates; he offer to put any date they
wanted on the births certificates!

--- Emilie Garcia  wrote:

> I have a link to my father's family tree in
> WorldConnect in the files for this group.  My
> grandfather was Francisco Olague and my grandmother
> was Gorgonia Garcia.  I have searched the IGI and
> the LDS films for Jerez, but have not been able to
> find a birth record there for either of them, nor
> for my father. My father obtained a birth
> certificate by going to Jerez and hiring a lawyer
> there prior to his filing for Social Security
> benefits. Francisco's father was Pedro Olague and
> his mother was Rafaela Tinajero.  Yes, that is my
> father's Social Security record you found in the
> SSDI  I was just relating the story of how and when
> my immigrant father came to the

I took a trip to look for my grandfather's birthplace and I found it!
The house where he was born is nothing but adobe ruins, but I expected 
that, since he was born in 1875 and the family left it in 1917 to come 
to California...The ranch, "Los Portales" is located about three miles 
south of Jalostotitlan, Jalisco. That town is full of beautiful 
girls...The whole town is in a festive mood already. Decorating for 
the August 15 Fiesta.
I also found a living cousin in one family line and three others that 
I am pretty sure are related. I need to look at some more data to 
analyze and find the connection to them.  I visited Santo Toribio's 
Church in Santa Ana. It is a beautiful and well kept place of worship. 
I was told by one of the workers there, that since he became a saint, 
everybody named ROMO or GONZALEZ is trying to establish a relationship 
to the saint. "Where were all these relatives when he needed help?" He 
asked...

Note to Irma Gomez Lucero:

I have some specific

Kitty 
How fascinating. I went to Mountain View High
1960-1961... new school Chester F. Awalt last 3
{1961-1964} years. I recall Stevens Creek Dam quite
well. My older brother and I loved the recreational
facilities {fishing},and Barbque pit area.
Permanente Creek...well it was my turf. Poison oak and
all... I would venture that Creek from one sector ro
another...on to Layola Corner and Mc Kelvey Park.

 I've enjoyed the stories immensely(sp).  Real people,
time, suffering, sacrifice, and family.

Thanks for sharing.

Jose Munoz
Yuba City, CA

--- Kitty Cortez  wrote:

> Jose,  
> My father also immigrated in 1920 at the age of
> 7years old.  He along with
> his brother (age 6) arrived with their mother
> Concepcion Tato Chiono.  They
> settled in Santa Clara, California 
> Jul 1914, Concepcion Tato b. Banamichi, Sonora,
> Mexico, married Pietro
> Chiono b. Italy, who was in charge of the silver
> mine in  Banamichi.  In
> 1917 Concepcion Tato lost her daughter Ma. Antonia

My Castanon ancestors left El Durazno, District of Jerez Zacatecas 
in March 1916.  The revolution hit El Durazno when the Federales and 
and Revolutionaries fought each other in the fields around El 
Durazno.  The followers of Madera arrived first, looting the 
village, stealing  food, blankets and anything they could carry, 
they then fled into the countryside.  Later the same day the 
Federales were seen coming from Jerez, the families would hide their 
young women to protect them after a girl was stolen from Los 
Rodartes across the road. The Federales took gr-grandpa Vicente 
Castanon (1866) and trussed him to an ox-yolk, his daughter said it 
looked like they crucified him, they stood him against a wall and 
prepared to shoot him because he couldn't give them the information 
about the Revolutionaries they wanted. For some reason they let him 
go but destroyed everything that the Revolutionaries had missed. 
They even burned the beans and the corn they feed the animals.

 The two