Castanon immigration 1916

["Erlinda Castanon-Long" <longsjourney@...>]

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 armies fought through the next day with the villagers 
making box's for the bodies, she said "it was not a war, just a very 
shameful thing for Mexico." By the time both armies left there was 
nothing left in El Durazno.  She said they even stole thier Santos..

Vicente made the choice to leave El Durazno that day when he 
couldn't feed his family. He had money hidden for emergencies so he 
bought train tickets from Aguacalientes and took his wife, 2 married 
children with their families and his 2 young sons. They rode in 
boxcars packed like sardines, when the tracks were gone they sat 
along side the tracks until they were fixed, they went days without 
food or water, it just wasn't to be had by anyone. Arriving in Texas 
they crossed at El Paso and were charged $5.00 to delouse them. It 
took them 6 weeks to get from El Durazno to the boarder.
They did whatever they could to survive in Texas, they worked as day 
laborer's, miners, sheepherders and ditch diggers.  My grandfather 
Epitacio (1894) went to work for the railroad and was sent to Idaho 
where many other people from El Durazno were working too.  They 
lived in a box-car where thier first child died at age 8 months. As 
they traveled they said some people were friendly and allowed them 
to get water and others ran them off like dogs.
The family regrouped in Stockton Ca. in 1920 where my grandfather 
Epitacio got a job he stayed at for 54 years with the California 
Water Co.  My gr-grandfather Vicente's family and his daughters 
family moved on to Cutler Ca. because they didn't like the big city 
lifestyle. Vicente was a merchant so he did what he knew there and 
his daughters famly, the De la Cuevas were farmers and farmed in 
Cutler for 50 years.
In 1935 Vicente decided he wanted to go home to El Durazno to die on 
his own land in his own country but his children did not want to 
leave their new lives in Califoria. Vicente could not leave his 
family and died in Cutler Ca. in 1942..  My father stayed with his 
grandparents as a child and remembered the old men gathering in the 
back yard over a fire with a book someone had brought from Mexico 
which told what happened the "correct" way.. they remembered thier 
lost companions, families, homes, homeland and dreams, my father 
said they cried at the memories. They knew that El Durazno had 
become the city of the dead and starving and they had done what was 
necessary for the survival of their families but they lamented not  
seeing their homeland again.  Vicente said he never would have left 
had it not been for the Revolution, he loved Mexico.
 
Our family, like many others, are very proud that in 80 years we 
went from people who had to start over from scratch, learn a new 
language and lifestyle and not only survived but prospered and are a 
family Vicente Castanon was proud of.

 We are service personel, blue collar workers, management, farmers, 
merchants, health care workers and teachers with a Doctor and a 
lawyer thrown in for flavor.. We now come in all colors and 
religions and celebrate our immigrant ancestors at our Castanon 
Family Reunion held each year for the last 40 years in Stockton Ca.  
We have an average of 200 people and 2 years ago we presented the 
family our genealogy which my first cousin Florence Cuevas Rios and 
I had worked on for 5 years.. it was like reclaiming all those who 
came before us and this time I cried...

It's no wonder that we sometimes get caught between two cultures, a 
history many of us are in the process of learning and reclaiming and 
a life here stateside we love and owe in great part to our immigrant 
ancestors.

Linda in Wa.