Mercedes Ballesteros

On Sunday I started following the family of Maria Jesus Suastegui Ballesteros. It was the obituary of her daughter Mercedes Ballesteros which provided the backstory to their journey across the desert from Sonora to California after 1862, more likely closer to 1864. She was born on 30 June 1862 in Altar, Sonora, the last child of Merced Ballesteros and Maria Jesus Suastegui. At her baptism, her name was listed as Maria Mercedes de los Dolores Ballesteros.

Source: Ancestry. Baptism record, 2 July 1862. Altar, Sonora, Mexico.

 In 1913, Mercedes made a land claim on four lots outside Tucson.

Arizona Daily Star, 14 Jun 1914.

It looks like Mercedes never married. She was a successful dressmaker in Tucson and owned her own home and rented rooms to others. She was close to her cousin Josefa Vasquez, and it looks like Mercedes and Josefa applied for naturalization around the same time as their applications are filed next to each other in the Arizona Naturalization Records on Ancestry.

Source: Ancestry. Petition for Naturalization.

Source: Ancestry. Petition for Naturalization.

Mercedes took the Oath of Allegiance on 2 January 1917.

She passed away on 13 January 1936. Here is the top third of the obituary (the middle and bottom portions were included in my post on her mother on Sunday):

Arizona Daily Star, 15 Jan 1936.

For now, this concludes my series on the extended families and descendants of Francisco Suastegui.