Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Travel Tuesday - A Chilean Connection

A wonderful researcher sent me a report showing the marriage of Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui in Altar at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on 17 December 1863. The marriage record revealed a surprise, that Gabriel Vasquez was not born in Mexico, but instead Valparaiso, Chile. The record shows the names of his parents as Jose Vasquez and Agustina Rojas, and that he had only been living in Altar for the past five years (since 1858). Now I know the names of my 4th-great-grandparents.

Source: FamilySearch.org, Mexico, Catholic Church Records, Sonora, Altar, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Informacion matrimonial, 1863-1868, Image 91-92 of 507, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-159382-84884-3?cc=1410092&wc=6816819

The marriage record states that Gabriel was 25 years old, which puts his birth year approximately 1838. Below is a lithograph from the Wikipedia entry for Valparaiso, Chile, showing the Bay of Valparaiso in 1830 (original source, Museo Histórico Nacional de Chile).
Source: Wikipedia, Valparaiso lithograph from 1830
Gabriel and his parents would have arrived in Sonora sometime in the late 1850s at the Port of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, directly south from Hermosillo.
More from the Marriage Record
The marriage record shows the parents of Maria Jesus Suastegui as Pedro Suastegui and Anna Maria Orosco. Pedro and Father Bartolome Suastegui were cousins, descended from the same grandfather, Jose Antonio Suastegui (born approximately 1775). 
There are three testimonials included in the marriage record that I need to translate, and will not post for now.

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not sure I did this right. Enjoyed your article. The map and picture of the harbor make it more interesting. I'm transcribing some old letters of my gg grandfather and trying to built a little history around him. I've been on GeneaBloggers for about two months. It is a great community.

    Regards,
    Grant

    thestephensherwoodletters.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.