Connecting the second family with the first

Back in 2012, distant cousin Pat and I traded messages trying to identify the connection between Antonio Campuzano and my 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Plutarco Campuzano. Antonio was a barber in Tempe, Arizona, and Vicente joined him in Tempe in 1915. According to Pat, Antonio was the son of Ygnacio Campuzano, who was born in Arizpe, Sonora to Vicente Antonio Campuzano and Benancia Gutierrez.

After looking at this further, it appears my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Antonio had a first wife (or civil union) with Benancia Gutierrez in Arizpe beginning in the 1830s, and then a second union with Concepcion Amado about 1850 or 1851 in Altar. This means Ygnacio was a half-brother to Vicente Plutarco Campuzano. Identifying Benancia as first wife of Vicente Antonio opens up a whole other side of the Campuzano tree, one that connects Campuzano descendants to a Mexican President. In order to sort through these two branches of the family, here is my current understanding of the family composition:

Vicente Antonio Campuzano and Benancia Gutierrez had at least the following children:
- Jose M. Campuzano
- Librada Campuzano (born 1829 in Arizpe, died 31 Mar 1921 in Agua Prieta, Sonora)
- Francisco Campuzano (born about 1830 in Arizpe, Sonora)
- Maria Antonia Campuzano (born 1836 in Arizpe, Sonora)
- Crescencio Campuzano (born about 1839 in Arizpe, died 28 Dec 1917 in Agua Prieta, Sonora)
- Maria Jesus Campuzano (born about 1847)
- Ygnacio Campuzano (born about 1848)

Vicente Antonio Campuzano and Maria Concepcion Amado had at least the following children:
- Dolores Campuzano (born about 1851, died 21 October 1853 in Altar)
- Maria Concepcion Gabina Campuzano (born 31 Mar 1852 in Altar)
- Maria Emilia Campuzano (born June 1855, died 23 July 1858 in Altar)
- Maria del Carmen Campuzano (born 1857, died 29 July 1858 in Altar)
- Jose Jesus Campuzano (born 12 May 1859, died 11 Jan 1912 in Tucson, Arizona)
- Vicente Plutarco Campuzano (born 10 May 1862 in Pitiquito, died 31 Oct 1940 in Altar)

The marriage record for Jesus Campuzano, age 16, to Francisco Valdez Calles on 12 February 1864 in Hermosillo lists her parents as Vicente Campuzano and Benancia Gutierrez.

The baptism record for Maria Emilia Campuzano from 26 June 1855 shows Vicente Campuzano and Maria Concepcion Amado:

Source: FamilySearch, Altar, Sonora baptisms, Image 368

The baptism record for Jose Jesus Campuzano does not list Vicente, but does show mother Concepcion Amado. This is from the Altar, Sonora baptism records on FamilySearch, dated 27 May 1859.

Source: FamilySearch, Altar, Sonora baptisms, Image 386

There are quite a lot of documents resulting from these lines. Jose Campuzano went to California and appears in the immigration records in 1889, stating that he arrived in Los Angeles in 1852. Francisco appears in the 1860 US Census in Tubac, Arizona as a tailor, with his family. I will have more on both of these men in upcoming posts.

Update - 8 February 2016 - Corrected this page based on new information showing Librada Campuzano was a child of Vicente Campuzano and Benancia Gutierrez and added a new child Crescencio Campuzano.

Notarized with a flourish

It is great to see documents written in the hand of my 5th-great-grandfather Francisco Suastegui. In 1854, he was serving as a notary in the Catholic Church records for Nuestra Señora de Guadelupe in Altar. His signature shows that he was an educated man and was trusted in the town to officiate important documents.

Source: FamilySearch, Mexican Catholic Church Records. 1854.

On 7 September 1854, Francisco notarized an Informacion Matrimonial where my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano provided his testimony as a witness for Jose Maria Mendes. Vicente wrote that he was 44 years old and a shoemaker. It is wonderful to see two different sides of the family tree on the same paper, sides that wouldn't become part of the same family until February 1890 when Vicente's son, my 2nd-great-grandfather, married Maria Jesus Vasquez, great-granddaughter of Francisco Suastegui.

Source: FamilySearch, Image 23 of 657.

A memorable ancestor goes to Los Angeles

It is rare to find an ancestor who appears in a first-hand historical journal. My 5th-great-grandfather Francisco Suastegui makes a memorable appearance in Narciso Botello's Annals of Southern California 1833-1847 (translated by Brent C. Dickerson from the original Spanish Anales del Sur de la California).

I have previously written about my family connections to California. This blog has also featured regular posts on Los Angeles, one of my favorite cities in the world. But I did not realize how deep my historic connections to the city go, until finding out Franciso Suastegui had traveled to Los Angeles in 1835. His time in LA dates back to the Mexican era of California.

Narciso Botello provided his personal account of his years in Los Angeles in January 1878. If you are interested in Los Angeles history, I recommend picking up a copy of Dickerson's translation. I ordered my copy through Google Play and it is available in e-book form.

In Botello's account, he recalls Suastegui from October 1835, during the search for a new secretary of the city government in Los Angeles (referred to as the ayuntamiento).

"In the meantime, they solicited a certain Francisco Suastegui, a silversmith from Sonora who lived in town, who was believed competent because he sang in church and expressed himself in an educated manner. When he responded to the ayuntamiento about the offer, he said, 'Mr. Mayor, if you want to hear a song during Mass, that I can do; but I'm uneasy about this other position. I have a very sensitive ear. If I am writing, and happen to hear a rooster crow, I will write cock-a-doodle-do. Listen to what happened to me in the town of Guadelupe - Altar, I mean - in Sonora. The mayor wrote me to get me to undertake the office of military leader of the neighborhood. I started writing my reply. A woodcutter stopped in the street with his donkeys loaded; and just outside the window of the room where I was writing, one of the donkeys fell with his load. The woodcutter began to pull the donkey up and beat him, using vulgar and absurd words. I heard the words but kept on writing without thinking; and when I finished I visited the mayor to obtain his approval. He began to read, and found a great portion, like this (and he gestured with his hands), consisting of the woodcutter's words. So you see how sharp my ear is.' These comments of Suastegui made us laugh heartily, and the mayor allowed him to decline the position. Such was the state of things when the ayuntamiento decided that I was to take charge of things as secretary for the time being." (see Page 13 of Dickerson's book).

This is a wonderful passage to see, it shows Suastegui was quite the character. Dickerson notes on page 125 that "Botello's remarks are all we can find on the delightful Señor Suastegui, who seems to have left town before the 1836 padron was compiled."

After finding the book, I wrote to Dickerson to see if an original version of Botello's Annals was available. He quickly replied yesterday, pointing me to a handwritten version from the Bancroft Library that is available for viewing via the Online Archive of California. A copy of the section from the original Spanish transcription is below:

Narciso Botello's Anales, Online Archive of California

Narciso Botello's Anales, Online Archive of California

Based on earlier research from distant cousin Raclare, Francisco Suastegui was born about 1802, so he would have been about 33 years old when he was living in Los Angeles. He likely went there with the silver trade. Others in the Suastegui family worked as silversmiths in Altar, Sonora, Mexico. Francisco married Maria Josefa de la Peña about 1825. Their son Pedro Suastegui (my 4th-great-grandfather) was born in Altar about 1826.

Francisco and Maria Josefa had a daughter, Concepcion Suastegui. , in 1834 (correction 14 August 2015 - Concepcion Suastegui was born on 12 June 1836, after Francisco returned from Los Angeles). He had returned to Altar by 1838, when another son, Jesus Suastegui, was born. Francisco and Maria Josefa had another daughter, Maria Jesus Suastegui, in 1840.

By 1852, Francisco Suastegui appears in the Census in Altar as a widower, still working as a silversmith. He married Concepcion Menendez about 1853. There is more to Francisco's story, and I hope to bring this information to the blog in the near future.

Wordless Wednesday - Reflections in Recoleta

Photo by Patrick Jones. Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires. Feb 2014.

The Blacksmith

While continuing to go page by page through the Sonora, Mexico Catholic Church records, I stumbled across a declaration from my 5th-great-grandfather Ramon Orosco dated 15 November 1862. Ramon provided his declaration on behalf of Francisco Gradias. More important for me, he listed his occupation as herrero (blacksmith), married, and 71 years old. The declaration includes his signature.

Source: Library of Congress, c 1916. Camp Blacksmith in Mexico.

Source: FamilySearch, Image 566 of 586.

Since Ramon says he was 71 in 1862, this would put his birth year about 1791. In the marriage record for Ana Maria Orosco to Pedro Suastegui, Ramon's wife is listed as Reyes Baldes. It is likely she was still alive in 1862, so hopefully as I continue to go through the Catholic Church records I will run across other references to her and others in the family.