Esther's Sons

Arizona Sentinel, 22 Aug 1906.

I have spent much of the month recapping the family of Esther Suastegui Graham, half-sister of my 4th-great-grandfather Pedro Suastegui. After several extensive posts on Esther's daughter, Anita Calneh Post, it is only fitting to provide some background on Esther's sons, Asa Frank Post and John Peter Monson (also spelled Munson).

Asa Frank Post

Asa Frank Post was the son of Esther's first husband, Albert G. Post. He was born in Yuma, Arizona on 4 October 1881. Asa Frank married Maria Giron in Imuris, Sonora on 14 August 1906. Maria was originally from Hermosillo, Sonora. She died in the tragic auto accident with Anita on 10 September 1938. Asa Frank and Maria had at least the following children:
- Albert Ernesto Post (1907-1990)
- Asa Frank Post Jr (1909-1976)
- William Louis Post (1912-1987)
- Henry Arthur Post (1913-1998)
- Maria Laura Post (1915-1993)
- adopted daughter Mercedes M. Velasquez (1918-1996)

Asa was close to Anita and his family regularly visited her in Tucson, and often hosted her in Yuma.

Asa Frank died on 30 April 1966 in Yuma, Arizona.

Peter John Monson (also spelled Munson)

Peter John was the son of Esther's second husband, Swedish immigrant Peter Monson (also spelled Munson). He was born on 5 September 1892 while the family was in Los Angeles, California. Peter John appears in the 1900 US Census in Yuma as 7 years old. In the 1910 US Census, he was a 16 year old boarder in the household of Variela Barney in Yuma.

Like his globe trotting half-sister, Peter John applied for a US Passport and regularly traveled from at least 1917. He applied for a passport at the American Embassy in Santiago, Chile on 12 March 1919 in order to travel from Chile through Panama back to the US. According to the document, he left the United States on 24 March 1917 (another document says he departed on 17 March 1917), arriving in Chile in October 1917 (another document says he arrived in Antofagasta, Chile in April 1917) as chief timekeeper for the Braden Copper Company of New York. The passport application includes a high quality photo of him, and his baptism record. The second document provides more connections to the Suastegui family.

John Peter Munson, US Passport application, 12 Mar 1919.

Certificate of Baptism for John Peter Munson. Issued 12 Mar 1917.

The baptism record was sponsored by Maria Jesus Suastegui Ballesteros, Esther Suastegui's older half-sister. I will have more on her in another post.

By August 1919, Monson had traveled from Sanitago de Cuba to San Juan, Puerto Rico. His second passport was issued in June 1919, showing he would be in Cuba and Puerto Rico to supervise construction for the Texas Company (this would later become Texaco).

US Passport application, 26 Jun 1919.

Monson applied for another passport in August 1920, showing he was planning to travel to Tampico, Mexico to supervise construction of oil tanks and other equipment for the Texas Company.

Peter John later settled in Beaumont, Texas. He married Maggie Williams, and they had at least two children. He died on 6 February 1961.