The Commercial Attache

Healdsburg Enterprise, 21 May 1925

Before I turn my attention away from this branch of the Suastegui and Vasquez families, I thought it would be good to look back on Francisco Suastegui, who was appointed to be the Commercial Attache of the Mexican Government in 1925. He was born Manuel Francisco Suastegui on 17 June 1884 in Altar, Sonora, Mexico, a son of jeweler and silversmith Rafael Suastegui and his second wife Elena Rodriguez. Rafael was a grandson of Jose Antonio Suastegui and Maria Ignacia Canete, my 6th-great-grandparents.

I had not planned to go down this far along the line, but I kept finding interesting documents and articles and so think this part of the line is worth recalling here on the blog. There are very likely descendants or relations of Francisco Suastegui around today, so hopefully they will find this interesting and useful as well.

Francisco Suastegui likely spent part of his early childhood between Altar and Hermosillo, Sonora and Tucson, Arizona. Rafael Suastegui regularly appears in newspaper clippings in Tucson advertising his workmanship in jewelry, watchmaking and engraving, and he was based in Hermosillo. In 1907, Francisco married Laura Vasquez, daughter of Adolfo Vasquez and Amelia Herras. The affidavit for a marriage license signed on 15 October 1907 in Tucson, Arizona includes his signature.

Arizona, County Marriage Records on Ancestry.

They were married on 16 October 1907 in Tucson. The marriage certificate was witnessed by Francisco's half-sister Clara Suastegui Cordis and her husband Thomas.

Arizona, County Marriage Records on Ancestry.

Francisco and Laura had a daughter, Amelia Suastegui, on 15 August 1908 in Tucson, Arizona. Francisco and Laura were married again in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico on 28 October 1910. Francisco next appears in the newspapers in January 1924, when he was sent to head the Mexican Trade Bureau office in San Francisco, California as the commercial agent of the Mexican government. At the time, Plutarco Elias Calles had become President of Mexico. It is likely Francisco got this position after working for Calles in Hermosillo, although I don't know for certain. In any case, it is interesting for me as I have a family connection to Plutarco Elias Calles through my Campuzano side of the tree.

Santa Ana Register (CA), 10 Jan 1924

Francisco must have done a good job as the head of the San Francisco bureau, as a year later he was appointed to be the Commercial Attache for Mexico and was placed in the Mexican Embassy in Washington DC.

New Castle News (PA), 6 May 1925

During his time in Washington, articles and quotes featuring Suastegui regularly appear in newspapers in 1925. He tried to encourage development and cooperation between the US and Mexico. The one below from the Albany Democrat-Herald is a good example:

Albany Democrat-Herald (OR), 8 Jun 1925.

Sometime after 1929, Francisco returned to Mexico, where he worked in the government in Mexico City. Francisco and Laura moved back to the US in 1943, and Francisco filed a petition for naturalization to become a US citizen in 1954. Laura's brother Gustavo Vasquez served as a witness to his affidavit. Francisco died two months later, on 15 November 1954 in Tucson, Arizona.

Francisco's wife Laura Vasquez de Suastegui appears in several records on her own, and these are worth highlighting in a separate post to follow.