Re: [ranchos]Entierros and the Mexican Mother

["v.h.villarreal" <raices_regias@...>]

My grandmother went thru tough times in Totatiche, Jalisco, including
the Mexican revolution during the early 1900s and then the Cristero
Wars some years later. She used to tell us stories of many of the
hardships she and my grandfather had to endure. As my grandfather was
a professor at the catholic seminary he was considered an enemy of the
state during the Cristero Wars. Several attempts were made to kill
him. We were told that during those times they always had a guard
posted at the top of the church, day and night, whose job was to alert
the town whenever any soldiers were approaching. When that happened
they had to flee and hide in the hills for weeks at a time until the
troops left the town. My grandmother recalled how she had to give
birth in the wilderness while they were hiding and how she lost one of
her children consequently. Another one was lost by drowning in the
river. And some other of her children died by disease and lack of
medicines. Out of 18 births only 12 survived to adult age, but she
always counted by name her 18 children. She lived to the ripe age of
102.  May God bless her!
Victor
--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Irma GomezLucero" <igomezlucero@c...>
wrote:
>
> That may be true in some environments, but maybe not in ours.  Growing
> up, I recall many relatives lamenting death of children. I still recall
> my grandfather lamenting the loss of three children who died in infancy.
> I recall him mentioning this on many occasions.  He's the person who
> influenced me most in genealogy.  He always listed these three children.
> My father being the second to the last of ten, always spoke of those
> siblings who died way before he was ever born.  He knew their
> birthdates, cause of death, and death date.  I remember him describing
> their deaths quite vividly.  My guess is that these events were talked
> about frequently.  Otherwise how could a child recall so much.  Does
> anyone else recall such experiences?  Just wonderinfg if my family is a
> fluke or something?  :)
> I do remember an Anglo-American friend  recounting her experience of
> suffering a miscarriage during her stint as a Baptist Missionary in the
> jungles of Ecuador. She was shocked when her miscarried child was
> brought to her in a shoebox.  She was also told the same thing as your
> nurse friend.  The expression that was used was, "Life is cheap."  
> Irma
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: ranchos@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
> Of Alicia Carrillo
> Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 5:57 PM
> To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [ranchos] Entierros
> 
> 
> Dear Ranchos, I too had similar sentiments after 2 days of viewing and
> copying death records. There were sooo many deaths of infants within a
> short time span, some of typhoid fever, some of umbilical infection,
> some had infantile diarrea and it went on and on with the infants that I
> felt very sad for almost a week. My husband thought I was going into a
> depression or breakdown and I think he was worried because I talked a
> great deal about it and a couple of times I even broke down and cried. I
> couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of all the parents but
> especially the mothers who had lost their children. Being a mother and
> grandmother I know how precious and special it is to be pregnant and to
> be a grandmother. I can't imagine the grief of losing a child. 
>  
> After talking about it with a niece who is a nurse in Ensenada she asked
> that i see it from a different perspective. She stated that many of
> these women barely had a break from one pregnancy into the next and in
> many cases they were living hand to mouth and losing one child when you
> have many children and don't know how you're going to feed them is
> almost a relief. When she was studying nursing and had to do community
> service she said she went into so many homes to attend expectant mothers
> or new mothers because this was the only medical care they would ever
> receive because it was free and she experienced the loss of a child with
> these mothers and to most it was a relief not to have to feed another
> child.
>  
> She asked me to look at this from the point of view of an underdeveloped
> country, not from the US perspective which is all I have to go on. I did
> and while I didn't feel good about the deaths it did allow me to see
> things differently.
>  
> Alicia Carrillo de San Jose, Ca
> 
> Peggy Delgado <peggydee@c...> wrote:
> 
> 	Joseph, I felt the same way about my great-grandmother.  She
> died in 1915, I knew it from my mom and grandmother....but when i saw
> the record in black and white, I too felt sad.......I was really sad
> knowing that my grandma, the woman who practically raised me, lost her
> mom so early in her childhood (she was three).
> 	 
> 	Peggy
> 
> 
> 		 
> 
> 
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