RE: [ranchos] Book

["Al Duarte" <aduarte@...>]

My trip to Los Altos in 1993 was very much like yours (Mexico Jalisco, Los
Altos-Tepetitlan, Pegueros) in that I found most of the people from that
region very fair.   My wife's family is from Pegueros/Tapitatlan, Jalisco.
And of course, I stood out since I'm a moreno just like my late grandmother
from Zacatecas, Zacatecas.  The people from Tepatitlan and Pegueros were
very cordial, nice, and accommodating, to me and my wife, and my children.

Her uncle claimed their fairness can be attributed to the French influence
left by the French back in the  1860s.  But I corrected him on this.  Most
of the French troops in Mexico were not French but Germans (Hessians) that
were hire by Napoleon to fight the Mexicans. I found no German or French
names in either of the two towns.

If any of group has information on any my wife's family names, Gutierrez,
Padilla, Gonzalez, Casillas, from Los Altos, will you please share it.

Thank you.

Alberto Duarte Prieto.



-----Original Message-----
From: Guillermo Valdez [mailto:valhdez@...]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 10:31 AM
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ranchos] Book




Thanks Steven for this light you bring about Los
Altos. My first visit to Los Altos was to Atotonilco
in 1980 and I was surprised of many relatives on my
Mom's side with blue and green eyes and blonde hair.
Mostly the Abarcas. I was clear to me that the surname
was spanish, but I was misled as this was mostly of
French inheritance and I believed that for a long
time.

Recente research and conversations with some Abarcas
and Valles living here in Los Angeles made me realize
that the region was mostly inhabited by spanish
people, and some indios and mestizos, of course. But
nothing about French presence during Maximiliano's
empire in Mexico in the 1860's.

I recently had a conversation with my uncle Eliseo
Valle (he is 95 years old) and lives in Whittier. He
told me, and correct me if this is incorrect, that
some Hacienda owners in Jalisco were attacked by the
French and they moved to the Highlands running away
from them and established in the region at that time
(1860's).

Looks like you have a lot of knowledge about Los
Altos. We might even be related, my Mom's last name is
Hernández (from San José de Gracia). Can I pick your
brains? Where could I find more books about the
region. I'd like to start my study on books taking
about Los Altos, but I need some guidance. I'd really
appreciate any help.

Guillermo Valdez Hernández.
--- Pacorro73@... wrote:

> As a long time researcher of Los Altos genealogy, I
> can honestly say that in
> reality the majority of the population of Los Altos
> is really of old Spanish
> extraction, with the lingering possibility that they
> were crypto-Jews, hiding
> the secret all the while.  I simply have never seen
> any evidence of Judios in
> alteno records.  Now there were lots of indios,
> mestizos, mulatos (libres y
> esclavos), coyotes, lobos, and the usual assortment
> of castas.
>
> Of the various example of actual Jewish lineage is
> that of the Ha-Levi family
> of Burgos, whose lineage later became part of the
> Cadena, later Zaldivar and
> On~ate lineages of Zacatecas, Nochistlan.  Another
> is that of Mariana de Vera
> y Medina, wife of Conquistador
> Gaspar de la Mota y Mena, and later poblador of
> Nueva Galicia around
> Guadalajara, Jalisco.  Don~a Mariana was the
> daughter of Don Juan de Vera, a known
> Judio converso who later became a Catholic.  Don
> Juan de Vera, was, if I remember
> correctly, a member of the Audiencia.  Based on the
> evidence, it seems that
> his family was quite wealthy, being as he was a
> Jewish converso, and member of
> the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia in Guadalajara.  You
> had to be from a very
> influential family, have tons of money, or be very
> crafty, to become a member of
> most government offices.  The daughter of don Gaspar
> de la Mota y Mena and
> don~a Mariana de Vera y Medina, Anna, used the
> surname "de la Mota y Vera."  She
> would then marry don Diego Padilla Davila.  Only his
> descendants used the
> compound surname "de la Mota y Padilla," the surname
> which persisted the longest.
> Most of them just kept the surname Padilla.  So many
> Padilla's from Los Altos
> have Jewish blood running through their veins.
>
> Aside from these quite obvious examples from the
> 1600's, I have not seen
> other examples of Jewish lineage, much less French.
> The exquisitely detailed
> research conducted by don Mariano Gonzalez Leal,
> throughout Los Altos, detailed in
> his book Reton~os de Espan~a en la Nueva Galicia,
> has shown us that the whole
> French thing, and that there was a lost batallion of
> French soldiers in Los
> Altos, during the French invasion in the 1860's, is
> nothing but a myth.  How
> could such a late arrival, cause the diffusion of
> French blood or surnames to
> become pervasive in a little over 100 years?  The
> "French" army was little more
> than German and Austrian conscripts in service of
> Maximilian von Habsburg,
> Emperador Maximiliano of Mexico.  These troops never
> saw active service anywhere
> near Los Altos, in Jalisco.  Practically every
> battle of the French
> Intervention took place right around Mexico City, in
> places like Puebla, Hidalgo,
> Queretaro, etc.
>
> Genealogical evidence going back to the foundations
> of Guadalajara and
> Valladolid (now Morelia, Michoacan) in the mid
> 1500's, clearly shows that because of
> the extreme close proximity to the Inquisitorial
> Offices in these cities, as
> well as Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Mexico City,
> among others put Jewish
> conversos at risk of being exposed.  The settlers of
> Los Altos, at this time, were
> Espan~oles rancios and many, many Basques.  You see
> the disctinctive Basque
> surnames all over the place, Jauregui, Esparza,
> Orozco, Mendizabal, Ibarra,
> Aguirre, etc, all over the place.  There are even
> Italian surnames, like Lomelin
> (Lomellini), Lavezares (Lavezzari), Verdin
> (Verdini), y Sigala.  The first three
> are from Genoa, and the latter is from Naples.  But
> no Jews, and less French.
>  Just pure Espan~oles (whatever that was), mixed
> with some indios, mestizos,
> and mulatos.
>
> So be skeptical of books that make
> over-generalizations such as this.  I
> would take what this Hernandez (so what if he has my
> last name) has to say with a
> grain of salt.  Now I'm curious to see what it has
> to say.
>
> Regards,
> Steven H.
>




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