Mexico – Page 4 – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

#52Ancestors: My Great Grandfather Jose Robledo (1875-1937), Still a Brick Wall

My 8th week in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

This week’s ancestor is my great grandfather Jose Robledo (1875-1937). Jose was married to Maria Nieto (1887-1974), my great grandmother who raised my father. Jose “Joe” died before my father was born, so Dad never knew him and knows very little at all about Jose. We do not know his birth place or his parents’ names. Unlike his wife Maria, I have not been able to find any record of him on any of the Mexico parish or civil registers, except for his marriage record.

Jose married my great grandmother Maria Nieto in 1908 at Santa Isabel Church in Armadillo de los Infante, a municipality in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. That is the only record I find of him in Mexico. Searching for records is a bit tough without parents’ names to cross-search by.

While I have his wife Maria’s border crossing record (October 27, 1915, in Laredo, Texas), Jose does not appear to have crossed with her and their baby Refugio. I have been unsuccessful in finding any immigration records for him, and my family does not believe he became a U.S. citizen. His wife Maria didn’t become one until 1955.

The first U.S. record I find for Jose is his 1918 World War I draft registration card. I blogged about that in 2012. He lived in Long Beach, California at this time. He was employed as a laborer with the City of Los Angeles, working for the San Pedro Harbor Department.

Joe still lived at this same Long Beach address with his family at the time of the 1920 U.S. Census. He and his family moved to Los Angeles by the 1930 U.S. Census.

He apparently died 4 July 1937. The wife of his sole living child told me that Jose died of pneumonia. She also told me that Joe and Maria lived on a large hacienda in Mexico, and that he never recovered from losing everything and having to settle for menial jobs to support his family when he came to the U.S.. Dad has told me that his father told him stories about traveling with his own father (Jose) as a child seeking migrant laborer jobs.

Because Jose has been a brick wall for so long, I recently ordered an Ancestry DNA kit to test my dad. While this won’t identify Jose’s parents, it will hopefully tell us a bit more about our Robledo origins.

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Maria (Nieto) Robledo And The US-Mexico Laredo Foot Bridge

On October 27, 1915 — one day shy of her 23rd birthday — my great-grandmother, Maria (Nieto) Robledo (1887-1974), immigrated to the United States from Mexico via the foot bridge connecting Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Despite being married and having two children, Maria only crossed into the U.S. with one child — her infant son Refugio Robledo.

I discovered this fact sometime between 2003 and 2005, during one of many in-person research trip to the Pacific Region of the National Archives, when I found Maria’s naturalization certificate (I got to hold the actual original signed certificate in my white-gloved hands!). My family knew that she had immigrated from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but we didn’t know her point of entry.

I still have not uncovered when Maria’s husband (my great-grandfather Jose “Joe” Robledo), or their oldest daughter Guadalupe (“Lupe”, my godmother) crossed into the U.S. I also don’t know why the family did not cross together.

Laredo Foot Bridge — This photo is undated, but looks like it could have been the bridge that stood between 1905 and 1932. [International Foot Bridge, Laredo, Texas], Postcard, n.d.; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth13260/ : accessed June 20, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Laredo Public Library, Laredo, Texas.

According to Wikipedia, the foot bridge (now called the Gateways to the Americas International Bridge) was first constructed in the 1880s, was destroyed by a flood in 1905, then repaired, and was rebuilt in 1932, continuing this cycle through present day.

Since finding her original naturalization certificate, I have been able to obtain the actual border crossing record on Ancestry. According to that record, Maria Nieto (I don’t know why she isn’t recorded under her married name of Robledo) entered into the U.S. on October 27, 1915 at the Laredo bridge, accompanied by her baby Refugio Robledo (no one else). She was 23 years old, married, Mexican, from San Luis Potosi, and had no occupation. Maria was able to read and write. She claimed never to have been in the U.S. before. I think the entry record states that she was visiting the U.S. for “shopping”, and she had $5.05 in her possession (I assume that’s U.S. dollars rather than Mexican pesos).

Maria Nieto Border Crossing 1915 — Border crossing record, courtesy of Ancestry.com. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.; Nonstatistical Manifests and Statistical Index Cards of Aliens Arriving at Laredo, Texas, May 1903 – November 1929; Record Group: 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Microfilm Serial: A3379; Microfilm Roll: 70.

I hope to one day visit the Laredo foot bridge. Although it’s not the same bridge (except in name) that carried my ancestors to their new life, I’d still like to walk across it and try to imagine what they felt. Were they scared? Were they worried? Were they relieved? Were they hopeful?

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Anniversaries: Maria Aurelia Compean Born 154 Years Ago Today

Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963)

One-hundred fifty-four years ago today, on January 1, 1858, my great-great-grandmother Maria Aurelia Compean was reputedly born (I don’t yet have an actual birth record for her). Maria, who went by her middle name Aurelia, is better known to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren as “Little Grandma”.

Biographical Snapshot

Maria Aurelia Compean was born January 1, 1858, in the municipality of Armadillo de los Infante, located in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The village in which she was born is referenced as Tomascal in my records, but is also spelled Temascal and Temazcal in other sources. Her parents were Santiago Compean and Eutimia Sanches, who were married on September 14, 1859 in the same town — meaning that 1) Aurelia was born out of wedlock, or 2) that our family records list an incorrect birth date for her or wedding date for her parents. Since the only sources of birth I have for Maria Aurelia Compean are the 1920 US Census and death-related records (California Death Index, a phone interview with her mortuary, and her 1963 obituary), I do not put a whole lot of faith in the birth date I have for her. As of yet, I have been unable to locate an actual birth record for Maria Aurelia Compean — just the Mexico Catholic Church Parish Records for her baptism and possible marriage.

This family photo of Maria Aurelia (far right) with (R-L) her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter illustrates why she was affectionately called “Little Grandma”. The daughter standing next to her, my great-grandmother, wasn’t much taller than my 5’1″ tall frame.

I am not certain of the name of Maria Aurelia Compean’s husband. Family records indicate his name was Rafael Nieto, but Mexican Catholic Parish records show a possible marriage to Jose Refugio Nieto on October 18, 1883 in Villa De Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. A distant cousin that connected with me about five years ago, who still has living family members in Tomascal that remember Aurelia, says that her living relations in that village indicate there was some sort of local scandal involving Aurelia’s husband or husbands. Family members and my research indicate that Maria Aurelia’s final husband died in Mexico. Surviving family members say that Maria Aurelia told them she came from a wealthy ranching family, that she gave birth to 21 children (including my great-grandmother Maria Nieto Robledo), and that she was able to care for this many children with the help of their many servants.

What Maria Aurelia Compean Nieto’s hometown of Armadillo de los Infante looked like in 1909.
I’ve had this photo for years, and forgot to make note of the original source, so I apologize for the lack of attribution. I will take the photo down of sharing is contested.

A more contemporary look at Armadillo de los Infante.
Photo copyright Flickr user Armadillo de los Infante S.L.P.

Both the 1920 US Census and Aurelia’s obituary indicate that Maria Aurelia Compean Nieto immigrated to the United States in 1919; family members say as a result of the Mexican Revolution (I have not yet located a border crossing or naturalization record for her). US Censuses and family members confirm that she first settled in Long Beach, California. Her obituary and family members confirm that she later lived in Glendale and Norwalk, both in Los Angeles County, California.

Maria Aurelia Compean is thought to have lived to 105 years of age.

Research Roadblocks

Missing any type of actual birth record.
Missing the names of all 21 children.
Missing her date of immigration in to the US.

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