"Another question to the group is how many
of you are doing lateral research. By lateral I mean across one time span say
in a 50 year range"
Alicia,
In answer to your question above from your
e-mail, I am one of those doing research such as you mention.
In researching, I use both methods; that of
going directly to the record in the film listed in the IGI, then I start looking
at the whole film to get a sense of where people actually lived, and not just
where they were baptized and married. I used to think that if a
christening took place in a certain church in a certain town, that that is where
they lived and where they were born.
I am currently researching my father's
paternal side, since they have unusual names like Olague, Suriano, Quijas,
Tinajero, Flores and Felis (Felix). The given first names were also
unusual. (I cannot do much with his maternal side since his mother's
line consists of Garcias, Rodriquez and everyone was named Jose or Maria
something-or-other, very common names all).
One thing I found out is that even though
the IGI lists people christened in Tepetongo, they really were born and
lived in a community called Salitrillo. When I realized that, then I
zipped through the film easily finding everyone by checking only those listed as
as being from Salitrillo in the margins. It seems that only people with
certain surnames lived in each community. As I went through the film, I
would stop occasionally and read the entries for the other communities such as
Juan Chorrey, Viboras, Salitre, Salitral, Salto, Buenavista, Lo de Nava,
Marecito, Arroyo Seco, etc., etc., but I would never find my father's surnames
in those communities. Looking at entries from other places only gave me a
sense of what surnames are to be found in each one. That would help if I
was trying to help someone else from the general area of Tepetongo. I
think I will make a list of each town with the surnames to be found
there.
It seems that for one hundred
years (1800 to 1900 when they came to this country) my father's people
lived in that community (Salitrillo) only. The Felis and Flores and
Surianos married Olagues and Tinajeros and used those names interchangeably for
each of their children. Both men and women would use any or all of those
names. A few married some Escobedo or Valdez or Munoz or Banegas so I can
keep those straight, although even they sometimes throw in a different
name. I could not find my grand-father Francisco Olague Tinajero, because
he is listed in the IGI as Francisco Olague Felis. I found him only
because I had his birth date from the IGI (1872) which matched the birthdate and
parent's names on his death certificate from the state of Colorado. By
looking for those from Salitrillo, I am finding his siblings who went by another
string of surnames. But the parents always have the same first given names.
My father himself seems to be the only one in his family
born in Jerez (in 1903 as he told it) but his birth record cannot be found. I
cannot yet find my grand-father's father. His name should be Pedro Olague
Suriano (the same Surianos his wife Rafaela Tinajero Flores Felix Suriano
descended from). I don't find him under that name, so maybe by looking at
every entry for Salitrillo I will find him under another name. Only God
knows what that will be. Hampering me is the fact that I don't have a
birth-certificate or death certificate or listing in the IGI, so I can only
guess when he was born. I do have his marriage record.
I am left to wonder why people never moved
from such small communities and intermarried so much. I can understand
that prior to cars and buses it was just too difficult to be mobile, but why did
they stay in just one small community? Were these ranchos set up like the
fiefdoms in Europe? If you were born in a certain duchy (hacienda/rancho)
would societal customs prevent people from moving even into a neighboring
town? Were they like serfs, like property of a duke in Europe? If
your father was a black-smith, was one doomed to have to follow the same
path? My father was educated and literate and spoke Castilian well, but
did that happen only because they moved from Salitrillo to Jerez? I know
he was from Jerez or at least lived there as a child, since he took us to the
house he had lived in and to the church he had attended (the priest there told
him that the records for the time of his birth and baptism had been burned
during the Revolution).
Because of the confusion in the names used,
I have a tedious task ahead of me, but at least I found out something of the
history of my father's ancestors.
Emilie Garcia
Port Orchard, WA
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