The Quest to Know

Over the past week and the long Thanksgiving break I have taken a detour from my initial writing reminders for the month to do a deep dive into the Mexican records available on FamilySearch. This has resulted in several huge finds, and connected me with several extremely helpful and knowledgeable researchers of these lines. In mapping out the grand puzzle that our families leave us, having exchanges with others who have been down the same path is important, and I greatly appreciate it.

For me, this research is driven by the quest to know - where the families came from, what they experienced, how they lived, and more. I do hope others in my family become as interested in these stories as I am, so I try to take the time to present the nuggets of information or threads of a story in a way that might spark some thought, or provide context. That takes time, which I never have enough of due to the life in the present, whether that be my own family or my primary field. This research is done at late hours and very early mornings, but I don't mind trading that time when the results are so often rewarding like the past week has been.

The next couple of weeks will be pretty full in the present, with some distant travel, projects due and talks to give. The writing reminders that I highlighted for November remain the same for December, with a few additions based on the new finds from Mexico. My goal to submit documentation to the First Families of Tennessee program is still there, but I need to spend some time at the Library of Congress and National Archives before that can happen. Those visits will have to wait until vacation time at the end of December.

As months go, November has been big, with an overwhelming amount of new information on various lines of the family. It is worth the time to slow down and digest this before marching down different paths at once. The quest doesn't stop, there's more to learn. Thanks for reading.

Travel Tuesday - A Chilean Connection

A wonderful researcher sent me a report showing the marriage of Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui in Altar at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on 17 December 1863. The marriage record revealed a surprise, that Gabriel Vasquez was not born in Mexico, but instead Valparaiso, Chile. The record shows the names of his parents as Jose Vasquez and Agustina Rojas, and that he had only been living in Altar for the past five years (since 1858). Now I know the names of my 4th-great-grandparents.

Source: FamilySearch.org, Mexico, Catholic Church Records, Sonora, Altar, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Informacion matrimonial, 1863-1868, Image 91-92 of 507, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-159382-84884-3?cc=1410092&wc=6816819. 

The marriage record states that Gabriel was 25 years old, which puts his birth year approximately 1838. Below is a lithograph from the Wikipedia entry for Valparaiso, Chile, showing the Bay of Valparaiso in 1830 (original source, Museo Histórico Nacional de Chile).

Source: Wikipedia, Valparaiso lithograph from 1830

Gabriel and his parents would have arrived in Sonora sometime in the late 1850s at the Port of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, directly south from Hermosillo.

More from the Marriage Record
The marriage record shows the parents of Maria Jesus Suastegui as Pedro Suastegui and Anna Maria Orosco. Pedro and Father Bartolome Suastegui were cousins, descended from the same grandfather, Jose Antonio Suastegui (born approximately 1775). 

There are three testimonials included in the marriage record that I need to translate, and will not post for now.

Marriage of Vicente and Maria Jesus

After searching for so long to find information on my Granny's side of family, it's a bit stunning to see the records were there all along, in Mexico, just waiting to be made available online. On 5 February 1890, my 2nd-great-grandparents Vicente Campuzano and Maria Jesus Vasquez were married (*correction - they filed an Informacion Matrimonial as their intent to marry) at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Altar.

Source: FamilySearch, Mexico Catholic Church records

This document comes from the Mexico, Catholic Church Records on FamilySearch, from Altar, Sonora, Marriages 1889-1893, Image 102 of 576. This record confirms the parents of Vicente Campuzano as Vicente Campuzano and Concepcion Amado, who I mentioned in a post from May 2012 titled From the Land of the Fire Ants. The next page, Image 103, confirms the parents of Maria Jesus were Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui. I have also included the witness pages, as it shows other connections.

 

The marriage was certified by Father Bartolome Suastegui (2 Nov 1834-25 Jan 1902), the priest of Altar. Maria Jesus Vasquez and Father Suastegui were related (I'll have more on this as well).

In 1889, Vicente Campuzano witnessed a marriage in Altar and his signature appears on the page with Father Suastegui (I'll save this for a future post).

This is a fantastic record. I'm thankful that the records were preserved and scanned, and made freely available by FamilySearch. I wasn't sure I would ever find this, and now I know the family goes much further back into Mexican history. 

Correction - 10 August 2015: The actual marriage of Vicente Campuzano and Maria Jesus Vasquez occurred on 2 May 1890. See the marriage record below. Thanks to Raclare for pointing me to this document.

Source: FamilySearch, Matrimonios, Sonora, Mexico.

 

Breakthrough on the Vasquez Line

On my Granny's Mexican side of the family, a big brick wall has been my 2nd-great-grandmother and first wife of Vicente Campuzano, Maria Jesus Vasquez (also spelled Vazquez). Over the weekend I posted an entry showing the birth records for Vicente Jr and Plutarco Campuzano. After further digging in the records for Pitiquito, I've finally been able to open up this branch of the family.

I first found an entry from 24 November 1906, showing of the death record for Jesus Vasquez, wife of Vicente Campuzano. My Spanish is fairly poor, but it shows that she was approximately 35 years old, and her death was recorded at about 4am. I'm having difficultly with the translation on her cause of death.

Source: FamilySearch.org, Sonora, Civil Registration, 1861-1995, Pitiquito, Defunciones 1900-1994, Images 195-196 of 1997.

This record places her year of birth about 1871. Fortunately the birth records for Pitiquito exist for 1871, and thanks to Mexican naming conventions, I have names for my 3rd-great-grandparents on her birth record. The record shows that Maria [?] Vasquez was born the daughter of Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui in Pitiquito on 20 May 1871. *Correction 6 Sept 2013 - Helpful Suastegui researcher Raclare has corrected me, the birth record was for a younger sister of Maria Jesus Vasquez. An earlier record confirms Maria Jesus Vasquez was born on 1 October 1866 in Pitiquito and baptized on 21 November 1866.

Source: FamilySearch, Sonora Civil Registration, Pitiquito

Source: Sonora, Civil Registration, 1861-1995, Pitiquito, Nacimientos.

In the Pitiquito death record for 1906 there were three persons named Vasquez. On the entry for Pedro Vasquez, dated 28 May 1906, it listed his age as 40 years old. In checking the birth records for Pitiquito, I found a Jose Pedro Vasquez born on 1 July 1868, to Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui. Thankfully this entry is easier to read.

Source: FamilySearch, Sonora, Civil Registration, Pitiquito

The Vasquez family was clearly in Pitiquito for a long time. There is a Francisco Vasquez and a Jesus Vasquez who appear as judges in the early Pitiquito records. I'm looking for more entries on Gabriel Vasquez and family. It is great to finally see further back on this line.

A Witness to Marriages, 1892

As I look through the Sonora Civil Registration files, I continue to find many examples of my 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano as a town leader. This entry from the record of marriages in Pitiquito from 1892 stands out for his signature on the page, marking the end of another year.

Source: FamilySearch, Sonora, Civil Registration