RE: [ranchos] Mexico Trip Report Part I

["Josie T. Trevino" <Josiett3@...>]

Arturo.......it sounds like your trip was great even though you could not visit the Archivos.  Thank you for sharing your experience and I look forward to reading about the rest of your "adventure".......it makes me feel as if I was there also!

 

Josie in San Antonio

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From: ranchos@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Arturo Ramos
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 10:51 AM
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ranchos] Mexico Trip Report Part I

I just got back from two and a half weeks in 
Mexico.

Though I did not spend them in "working" on genealogy or 
historical 
research, as I did have the need to spend time with my family and 
decompress at the beach for some days, I did get a fair amount of 
work 
done.

I arrived in Guadalajara, Jalisco on Dec. 17.  I met up with 
my 
brothers and my younger brother's Japanese host-mother to celebrate 
our birthdays in Tlaquepaque with mariachis.  The singer had lived in 
Japan for three years and sang to my brother's Japanese host mother 
in 
Japanese.

The next day I attempted to visit the Archivos Publicos del 
Estado de 
Jalisco.  They were closed early because of staff shortages 
due to 
the holidays.

I headed to Villa Guerrero, Jalisco on Dec. 19 
(where my parents have 
now built a beautiful house on the edge of town where 
they plan to 
live half-time).  The next day, we travelled to Bolanos (a 
mining 
town dating to circa 1550) at the bottom of the canyon by the same 
name.  The town is is serious disrepair as the mines have been shut 
down for some time and there is no other real source of economic 
sustenance.  There are remnants of beautiful buildings throughout, 
however.

From there, we headed over the Sierra de los Huicholes to 
Tuxpan de 
Bolanos (an indigenous wixarika village three hours by dirt road 
from 
Bolanos) where we explored a very poor settlement that now has 
phones, electricity and running water.  The locals were very shy, but 
we managed to speak to a woman who spoke Spanish who introduced us to 
some handcraft makers.  Noticeably, there is no church in the town, 
as I understand is the case in most wixarika towns.

The next day, my 
father, Esteban Valdes (cronista of Totatiche, 
Jalisco) and Leonardo de la 
Torre Berumen (municipal archivist of 
Jerez, Zacatecas) headed to Colotlan 
to attempt to see and photograph 
the records of the old Franciscan Convent 
that was founded there in 
1591 and served as the primary base for the 
missionaries in the 
area.  We waited over an hour for the priest to 
show up and then he 
called in to say he would not be coming in that day and 
that we would 
not be allowed to see the records... for no good reason.  
I had been 
forwarned that he was not the friendliest of people.  It was 
a real 
shame because many of the records have not been filmed.

I 
spoke at length with both of the gentlemen and confirmed suspicions 
that I 
had a lineage that led to the sister of Miguel Caldera, one of 
the first 
mestizo officials of the viceroyal government and Justicia 
Mayor del Valle 
de Jerez y Tlaltenango.  I also found out that my 
mother's lineage 
(PINEDO) was one of the first in Jerez, dates back 
to the 1580s or 90s in 
the area and also leads to Miguel Caldera.  
There are many records in 
Jerez that were not filmed by the Mormons 
because they were not bound and/or 
were in disrepair including 
several decades of marriages and all of the 
confirmation records.  In 
addition there are will/testament and 
protocol records to which Mr. 
de la Torre has access.  Thus the 
genealogical information in Jerez 
exists to trace families back to 
settlement in the late 1500s.

I interviewed Esteban Valdes Salazar, who 
spoke about the work of 
Cronistas and the lack of support for it from 
government agencies.  
He is currently trying to publish a new edition 
of his "Historia de 
Totatiche" which is a very well researched and written 
book that was 
purchased by many U.S. libraries and whose first edition has 
sold 
out.  The State of Jalisco who published the first edition is not 
helping him so he is trying to raise money to do so himself.  He also 
has several other genealogical manuscripts on the PINEDO, GARCIA and 
ORTEGA lineages which he would like to publish.  He is a prolific 
researcher and writer.  I will be forwarding my interview to Joseph 
for posting on his site.

I told him I would approach the group about 
obtaining some sort of 
support for him, so if anybody is interested in 
helping out, 
especially those of you with Totatiche or Colotlan lineages, 
please 
let me know.

I also visited the asilo (convalescence home) in 
Tlaltenango, where I 
went to deliver some items for Helyn 
Sparkman-Castaneda.  The 
intended recipient of one of the items (a 
renowned local scholar and 
historian) had passed away, but my father and I 
spoke at length with 
the home director who gave us great insight on his life 
and work.  
Helyn had informed me that he had a great collection of 
historical 
manuscripts and books.  These have been donated by his 
survirors to 
the Universidad de Zacatecas in the city of 
Zacatecas.

In my father's town I interviewed a great-uncle of mine who is 
83 
years old and has been keeping diaries of deaths, historical events, 
etc. in the town for decades.  He also had an incredible amount of 
oral history about the family (PINEDO) and local history dating back 
to 
the Mexican Revolution.  I knew that the family came from Jerez, 
Zacatecas but asked him if he knew and he did, even though the 
migration 
happened in 1730...  When I showed him the genealogies I 
had compiled, 
light bulbs went off when he read names of people who 
lived in the 1820s and 
1830s, whose names he remembered from family 
histories told to him by his 
grandfather.

I have four hours of recordings from my meetings with him 
which I 
plan to transcribe.

I also have pictures and will try to post 
these when I get a chance.