My 4th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.
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.
Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.
The theme for Week 4 is: Closest to your birthday — Not too much to think about here. What ancestor has the birthday closest to yours?
My 4th ancestor is my dad’s youngest brother, who I will simply refer to as Uncle Robledo instead of by his full name since he is still living.
Uncle Robledo (far left), Grandma Rose Salas, Aunt Robledo (also still living), and Dad.
This is a brief post, because I have never been close to my uncle and have not seen him in years. But, we share the same birthday, so I do think of him every year on my own birthday.
Uncle Robledo (right) with his father, my grandfather US Navy WWII Veteran Benjamin Robledo.
Buffalo Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York. Lot 3, Section F, Grave 1.
My 3rd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.
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.
Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.
The theme for Week 3, Tough woman — Who is a tough, strong woman in your family tree? Or what woman has been tough to research?
Prayer card for Sarah Kennedy Flanagan.
My 3rd ancestor is my great grandmother, Sarah Kennedy (abt. 1898-1930), and she has been one of the toughest people for me to research.
Aside from Grandpa not knowing his mother, the biggest difficult in researching Sarah has been my failure to locate records for her, and inconsistencies in the records I have found for her.
I have not been able to get a death certificate for her from Erie County, New York. She died in the city of Buffalo.
I have not been able to confirm her birth year or location, or obtain a birth or christening record for her. While most other records indicate that Sarah was born in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, the GRCOH records state she was born in Hyman, Pennsylvania — a locality I cannot even find. The census, death, and marriage records I have for Sarah even list conflicting birth years.
Sarah was not truthful on her marriage record to my great grandfather about a previous marriage. She indicated none, despite marrying first husband Frank Ward 12 years prior.
No other family — of Sarah’s, or of her husband’s — appear to be buried in the same cemetery as her. Someone paid to bury her in the Buffalo Cemetery (this was not an indigent cemetery or grave). The current cemetery operators confirmed Sarah’s site and service were paid for, but they don’t have a record of who paid, and they don’t have a record of any other family buried there.
No Other Researchers
Often I can use clues provided by other family members or even from strangers researching the same person or family to help break through my own genealogy ruts. But these stepping stones just aren’t available for Sarah.
None of my grandfather’s siblings are living, and few of his siblings had children of which I am aware. Because the siblings were split up and became lost to teach other, I don’t even really know which of his siblings had children and might still have living descendants.
Grandpa’s half sister (who was of adult age when their mother died) does have descendants living, with whom I am in contact on Facebook, but they don’t have any info on Sarah.
I have not identified a single other descendant of Sarah who is on Ancestry Member Trees or other genealogy forums. I see her name pop up on some other public trees, but in just a brief reference as a collateral family member– no one has any real facts and records for her, or seems to be actively researching my Sarah. Just me.
Next Steps
Other than finding birth records for her three oldest children (Wards, half-siblings of my grandfather), I didn’t have any Sarah breakthroughs during my research trip last year to the Family History Library. I go again next month, so I will keep looking.
I am pretty sure that further breakthroughs will have to wait until I have the money and time to visit the localities I have identified for her, so I can search for leads and records in person.
Drawing of a soldado de cuero. Cavalry uniform design drawn by Ramón Murillo, August 26, 1804. Public domain image via Wikimedia. Drawing details via the New Mexico History Museum.
My 2nd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.
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.
Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.
The theme for week 2 is King — January 8 is Elvis’ birthday. January 15 is the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Do either of these “Kings” remind you of an ancestor? Or, taken another way, do you have a connection to royalty? Did you ancestor flee from an oppressive king?
My 2nd ancestor is someone whom I am not sure is even related to my family at all — Jose Manuel Nieto (1734-1804). Nieto was part of the Gaspar de Portolà expedition of 1769 into Alta California, which was the first recorded Spanish land entry into and exploration of present day California. In 1784, Nieto was awarded one of the largest Spanish land grants in Alta California — what would become Rancho Los Nietos, located in present day Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Nieto land grant. Courtesy of the National Park Service. Click image to view a larger copy.
The king reference? Nieto was a soldier (soldado de cuera, “leather jacket soldier”) in the Royal Army of Spain. His efforts in the 1769 expedition helped expand the Spanish Empire. And his name is revered almost like royalty among Southern Californians who descend from these Spanish/Mexican founding Alta California families.
Nieto Family Claims
My father is a Nieto, through his paternal grandmother Maria Nieto (1887-1974). My entire life, I have heard his family claim that we are descended from THE Manuel Nieto, this Manuel Nieto. There is still a huge population of Nietos — including many of our cousins — living in Southern California. The obituary for my 2nd great grandmother — Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963), the mother of Maria Nieto — makes claim to this heritage through marriage to my 2nd great grandfather Rafael Nieto. There is a big Nieto reunion in Long Beach, California every year (I have not yet attended), where I am told everyone there claims this same heritage. Any time I talk about family history with my grand aunt (married to Maria Nieto’s last living child), she is adamant that we are descended from Manuel Nieto, and she always seems a bit annoyed (rare for her, she has the sweetest more cheerful disposition) that I don’t just accept this “fact”. I have to gently explain that as a historian and librarian, while this connection may be true, I cannot accept things as historical facts until I can verify through actual documented evidence. We repeat this conversation every year at our family’s big annual Christmas tamale party.
So, after this past December’s conversation with my grand aunt, I decided that I am going to try to prove or disprove our connection to the famous Manuel Nieto — to once and for all verify if we are directly descended from or related to, via a common ancestor, Manuel Nieto.
Christmas 2014 wine tasting with my grand aunt and grand uncle. Left to right: My sister-in-law and brother, my grand uncle and aunt, me and my husband, my parents. The Nietos are my grand uncle, my dad, me, and my brother.
Proving Famous Lineage
If you are a regular reader of Colleen & Jeff’s Roots, you will recall that I did this last year with my husband’s family’s “cousin claim” to Revolutionary War hero Major General Nathanael Greene — I was able to verify through documented evidence that my husband is a 3rd cousins7x removed of the hero. The Nathanael Greene project was a laborious one, but was fairly quick and easy due to how heavily documented Nathanael’s own family history is in various print and online publications. This saved me from having to research and create Nathanael’s family lines myself. I “only” had to continue my existing work of researching and building my husband’s Greene genealogy, then find concrete matching connections with Nathanael’s genealogy. Once I found those key matches, I was able to easily trace back to a shared common ancestor.
I am starting from scratch with Manuel Nieto. I have not yet found a published documented family history for this famous Nieto, only references to the names of his wife, their children, and the spouses of those children. So in all of my “spare time” I now have to build Manuel Nieto’s family tree as a starting point for my investigation into a shared connection with my Nieto family. I have created a new Manuel Nieto tree in my main Family Tree Maker and on Ancestry, on to which I am adding his relations as I discover them. When and if I do find a shared ancestor, I can them merge that Manuel Nieto tree into my own main family tree.
To make matters more complicated on this new Manuel Nieto Project, much of the records and publications are in Spanish, whereas the Nathanael Greene Project files were all in English. I don’t speak, read, or write Spanish — my 2 years of high school and 2 years of college Spanish were so long ago that I can now only ask where the bathroom is located or order a drink at a bar in Mexico. This is where my Spanish-fluent father, who is now retired and has the time to help, will need to be of big time assistance to me.
My hope is to complete the Manuel Nieto Project while my sweet wonderful grand aunt is still alive. And I do hope that my investigations uncover confirmation that my aunt and the family are correct…that we are indeed descended from our related to Manuel Nieto. Because they have believed and been proud of this “fact” for generations. If my investigations prove otherwise, I think it will make me a bit less popular at Nieto family gatherings.
The Manuel Nieto Project
I plan to write about my efforts and discoveries on this blog, under the title “Manuel Nieto Project”. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get a journal article out of this work.
If you are a Nieto who has proven this documented connection to your own family, are a historian who is aware of an already published documented family history for Manuel Nieto, know of any leads for me to trace Manuel Nieto’s family history, or are just an expert in Spanish/Mexican records from the Alta California period, please let me know. I welcome any and all help!
My 1st entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.
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.
Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.
The theme for week 1 is: Fresh start — Seems appropriate for the beginning of the year. What ancestor had a fresh start? What ancestor has been so confusing to research that you’d like to have a fresh start?
I discussed in that post how he was my biggest brickwall at that point in February 2014. That remains true today. It is incredibly frustrating that I have made no further real progress on his history.
I also mentioned in that post that I had recently ordered a DNA kit to test my dad in hopes of identifying some cousin relationships that might provide clues about my great grandfather. It’s even more frustrating that the DNA relations Ancestry has identified for me have no as-yet identified connection to the Robledo surname — just to the Nieto and Compean side (Joe’s wife’s ancestry). I suspect that I won’t make progress on Joe unless I go down to the small town of Armadillo de los Infante in which the family lived in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico…which I am hoping to do with Dad this year.
So, what’s with the fresh start?
A New Country
Jose Robledo, his wife Maria Nieto (1887-1974), and Maria’s extended family immigrated to the United States with nothing, after losing everything — including the family hacienda — during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). According to Jose and Maria’s children, the family had been well to do in Mexico. I have no idea if the family were supporters of President (and dictator) Porfirio Diaz, or if they were simply guilty of being members of the landed class. But, the family was forced to escape Mexico and start over.
According to Joe’s WWI draft registration card, by 1 September 1918, Joe and his young family were living in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California at 123 E. 4th St. (rear house) where Joe worked as a laborer for the San Pedro Habor Department. They were still here at the time of the 1920 U.S. Census, living with five families all in the same rear house (all seemingly related), with great grandfather Joe employed as a laborer doing day work. At time time of the 1930 U.S. Census, the growing family lived on their own in Los Angeles city, but did not own the home, and Joe — previously a laborer in a pottery factory — was unemployed. City directories list Joe and Maria living in Glendale, Los Angeles County from 1931 until 1936, with Joe still identified as a laborer. Joe died on 4 July 1937.
Dad, born after his grandfather died, says that his father (Joe’s son) told him stories about traveling with Joe as a child working as migrant laborers.
Fresh Start Legacy
Although Joe died — according to family — never recovering from losing everything and having to juggle poor sporadic menial work, he did indeed provide his family with a successful fresh start. Joe just didn’t live long enough to witness most of these successes. His wife and oldest daughter became U.S. citizens. His wife and most of his children would go on to own their own homes. At least three of his sons served in the U.S. armed forces and fought for his new country during wartime. My dad (Joe’s grandson) became the first in the family to graduate college, and most of Joe’s great grandchildren are college graduates. Among Joe’s great grandchildren are educators, a nun and pastor, a nurse, and business professionals. Many of his grandchildren, great grandchildren, and now great great grandchildren remain a tight close loving family.
