In East LA

Ancestry. California Voter Registration, 1896.

Digging into the details on Francisco "Frank" A. Campuzano, I have looked at a combination of newspaper articles, census records, city directories and voter registrations. One record provides a clue to his middle name and perhaps parentage. The 1896 California Voter Registration list shows him living at 1936 E. 2nd Street, not far from Boyle Heights. It also shows that he was 5'6", brown, born in California about 1858 and working as a flour packer. I know from other records he had the cigar store or stand at this time. This entry lists his middle name as Arment, which I think should be Armenta, a familiar name from Sonora, Mexico.

Francisco appears on the voter records in November 1884. The 1884 City Directory also lists him as an employee of Lankershim & Company, living at the corner of 1st Street and Wilmington. The 1887 City Directory places him at 21 Wilmington Avenue, and lists his occupation as millhand. In 1890, he had moved to 119 N. Wilmington Avenue, in Compton.

The 1893 City Directory shows Frank working as a flour packer with the LA Farming and Milling Company. This was the successor to Lankershim & Company. Jose Maria Campusano is listed below him in the directory. The 1892 voter registration list shows Frank as 5'8", living at 3419 E. 2nd Street, even more into the heart of Boyle Heights and in East LA.

Frank married Rosario Hinojosa in 1884. She had arrived in Los Angeles in 1882. Rosario appears to have been an industrious woman. She bought her own property and managed to amass a small fortunate, separate from her husband. Rosario and Frank divorced on 6 June 1900. I will have more on Rosario in another post.

The news clipping from 1896 below references Frank's cigar stand:

LA Times, 5 Feb 1896.

There's more to share on Frank's activities as a musician, athlete, and his later life in Los Angeles.