Atotonilco---Pero Cual???

[Joseph Puentes <makas@...>]

canprin wrote:

>     Most recently, I was in contact with Steven Hernandez about a 
> death in the 1780's in the Atotonilco el Alto area.  Now I will be 
> looking for second marriage data in Atotonilco 
I guess I'm grasping at straws here, but I really don't know my moms 
moms name, my maternal grandmother. All I have is a whisper of info on 
her and 3 aliases (Adela Torres, Maria Garcia, Antonia Lopez), one of 
which, the last one,  looks like it really might be her name. . . .then 
again I have an argument or two on why the middle name is the right one 
and a tombstone with the first one that I'm pretty sure isn't her right 
name but might have been a previous somebodys name.
But a tidbit of info that is the reason I'm writing about is that my Tio 
(her son) says that he overheard that she was born in Jalisco. My Tia 
(her daughter) said in one conversation something about Atotonilco, then 
in a different conversation something about "El Alto or El Bajo." The 
above memories are the fuzzy memories of 80 year old people from when 
they were about 10 years old.
I've  heard that there is a third Atotonilco that is just plain Atotonilco.

I guess I need to just order some films and see what I find in either El 
Alto or El Bajo. . .her tombstone says a DOB of 1892 and oral history 
says that she was very much younger than my Grandfather Luis Perez who 
was mostlikely borne in 1872 or maybe 1878 in either Las Cruzes, NM or 
morelikely Juarez, Chihuahua.
I guess I'm looking for what some of the more experienced researchers on 
the list have done when they have been in situation where they are 
unsure how to proceed. Right now I haven't exhaused the US Census 
records where they lived in the US in 1920 and 1930.
. . .but just as soon as I'm done with that I was just thinking of 
rolling some film and seeing if magically she will reveal herself to me. 
(oops I'm not sure a serious researcher would say something like that). 
I'm not exactly sure how she would do that without any more information 
that I have. I'd think to really know that I would have the right Adela 
or Maria or Antonia I'd have to be sure of the DOB or of her parents 
names or of something. . .then again maybe I'll find something that will 
just make me feel good about having done my best at trying to find her 
and I'll at least know I tried.
. . .So back to Atotonilco. Are the records there in fairly good shape 
as far as completeness and legibility? I know the FamilySearch site says 
that El Bajo has church records from 1802 and from 1699 for El Alto. Any 
other thoughts about Atotonilco would be appreciated. Oh and does anyone 
know if the plain Atotonilco had a church or where the people from there 
had to take their life events to be recorded?
Joseph