Artigo Revisado por pares

The Origins of Mexican Families in Utah, 1911–1947

2024; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 92; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5406/26428652.92.1.08

ISSN

2642-8652

Autores

Arturo Cuellar González,

Tópico(s)

Archaeology and Natural History

Resumo

This article identifies the migration of some of the first Mexican families in the state of Utah and their relationship with the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City during the first half of the twentieth century. It also discusses the records kept by the consular office of the significant events in the lives of these families and highlights the importance of having these historical records available today in order to understand their origins and their respective ancestral lines, which, in some cases, can be traced back to the end of the eighteenth century.The analysis of the origins of these first families provides us with more information about the patterns of concentration and dispersion of migrants. And just as these incipient migrant networks helped the Mexican community expand in Utah between 1911 and 1947, these family connections also provided support before and after arrival in Utah.I used the consulate's historical records to analyze more than 250 families in Utah and their places of origin, occupations, dates of arrival in the United States, and more. In addition, the historical records of the FamilySearch.org databases as well as some online publications and books have provided information to trace the ancestral lines of each person and re-create the lives of these families.At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Mexican population in the state of Utah benefited from consular representation by the Mexican government. These were not easy years for the young nation of Mexico, which was in the midst of a revolutionary crisis, an event that contributed to the emigration of thousands of compatriots who sought a safe haven for themselves and their families. While departures from Mexico to the United States had been on the rise since the end of the nineteenth century for economic reasons, the Mexican Revolution triggered an alarming increase in the number of people leaving the country.On January 4, 1896, Utah became the forty-fifth state to join the United States of America. By that time, there were already several Mexican families settled in what was previously known as Utah Territory. The majority of Mexicans in the state worked in mining, agriculture, railroads, or cattle ranching. Without a doubt, the hard work of Mexicans helped strengthen the economy of the recently created state.Since its earliest years, the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City has been that "little piece of Mexico" to which all nationals abroad turn when they need to carry out official procedures such as registering the birth of a new family member. According to many of the cases in the consular records, parents were often late to register their children following their birth. Normally, this was due to the difficulty involved in getting to the consulate, not only because of distances but also because of having to go on a workday, which would reduce the household's income. In each of the cases analyzed, the parents fulfilled the requirement to notify the authorities of the county of birth of their child. It is because these families went to the Mexican Consulate in person to register their children that we have a record of the individuals, of their origins, and of the different generations over time.The information that follows has been obtained from the files of the Genaro Estrada Diplomatic Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which allows us to delve into the details of the composition of Mexican families from that time. Below, I present the details of just three of the cases, chosen at random, from the families who are part of the study.José García Hinojosa was born on October 14, 1922, to Manuel García1 and Norberta Hinojosa, who took him for registration along with their two other children, Raúl and Rosa García Hinojosa, born on October 22, 1924, and December 20, 1926, respectively, all originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. The García Hinojosa family went to the offices of the Mexican Consulate in the state, and the event took place on April 5, 1932. The consul at the time was Raúl G. Domínguez.2Historical records allow us to re-create this family's history, beginning with José García Hinojosa, who can be found in the Salt Lake City census for 1930 and 1940, along with his parents and siblings. At the age of nineteen, José García Hinojosa decided to enlist in the United States Army to fight in World War II.3Manuel García Acosta was born on June 7, 1880, in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, Mexico, and was baptized on June 13 of the same year at the local parish. His parents were Doroteo García and Lucía Acosta, and his grandparents were Severiano García and María Guadalupe Martínez on the paternal side, and Fulgencio Acosta and Marta Cervantes on the maternal side.4Manuel García Acosta married Norberta Hinojosa, daughter of Antonio Hinojosa and Sabina Zavala, on October 1, 1904, in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, Mexico.5In 1920, Manuel García was living in the state of Kansas, United States, with his wife and four of his children. Manuel worked in the railroad industry in Kansas, an industry that would later lead to his emigration to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he would work for the remainder of his life.6At the age of fifteen years old, Lucía Acosta Cervantes, the daughter of Fulgencio Acosta and Marta Cervantes, married Doroteo García, the son of Severiano García and Guadalupe Martínez, on July 1, 1868, in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, Mexico.7The death of Lucía Acosta Cervantes is recorded as having occurred in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 27, 1927. The same certificate confirms the names of her spouse and parents, and establishes that she was born on August 18, 1852, in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, Mexico.8Fulgencio Acosta Padilla was born around 1825 and, like the rest of his family, was originally from Ojocaliente, Zacatecas. The baptismal certificate belonging to his daughter, Manuela, states that Fulgencio is the son of Estanislao Acosta and María Padilla and that his wife, Marta, is the daughter of Rafael Cervantes and Silveria Aguilar.9María Inocencia Padilla was born around 1811 and was originally from Aguascalientes, Mexico. She lived for a time in Zacatecas, and some of her children were born in that state. She married Estanislao Acosta, and they had the following children: Fulgencio, María Néstora, José Viviano, Eulalio, and María Alvina. Their daughter Alvina's baptismal certificate states that Estanislao's parents are Juan de Dios Acosta and Tiburcia Palos, and María Inocencia's parents are Juan Padilla and Manuela Aguilar.10María Inocencia Padilla died of pneumonia at the age of seventy on May 6, 1881, in Cosío, Aguascalientes, by which time she had already been widowed.11María Manuela Aguilar was born on January 1, 1791, in the town of Aguascalientes, state of Aguascalientes, and was baptized that same day at the Asunción de María parish. Her parents were José Luciano and María Micaela de Aguilar.12This ancestral line shows that the García Hinojosa family was one of the families that was part of the Mexican community in Utah in the first half of the twentieth century, and the same family that went to the Consulate of Mexico to register the births of their children. The research into this lineage in particular not only allows us to trace their ancestral lines back to the 1700s but also reveals more about the factors that influenced Manuel García's decision to make the state of Utah his new and permanent home. Place of origin had a strong influence over Manuel's decision to become part of the incipient migratory network emerging in the state of Utah. Dr. Fernando Saúl Alanís states that these emerging migratory networks consisted of an initial group of people who contributed to relatives, neighbors, friends, and compatriots choosing to move to the United States thanks to their previous experience in the country.13These initial migrants create communities and mechanisms when they move to a new region or place of work, and they thereby make it easier for others to relocate, cross borders, and arrive in a new location where they can safely find employment and housing. While the networks facilitate their movements and reduce the costs of relocation, they are also a factor that influences whether or not a person settles permanently in a new location. Although job opportunities in the railroad and mining industries provided the initial attraction for the families mentioned in this study, these were not the only industries to benefit from Mexican labor: the agricultural, livestock, and sugar industries were other major sources of employment.Rubén Mora de León was born in the city of Ogden, Weber County, Utah, on February 27, 1930. According to the birth registry of the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City, his parents, Guadalupe Mora and María de León, went to the consulate in March 1932 to register the birth of their son.14 As in the case of the García Hinojosa family, the Mora de León family registered four of their children on two consecutive dates, March 2 and 3 of that year. Guadalupe Mora worked in the railroad industry, which was very active at the time in the state of Utah.The 1940 census of the interior of Davis County, Utah, lists Rubén Mora as the son of Lupe and Mary Mora (née León). It also includes the names of Rubén's siblings: Ramón, Lola, Lupe Jr., and Julia.15Later, in a 1957 directory for the city of Ogden, Utah, there is a listing for Rubén Mora de León and his wife, Angelina P.Guadalupe Mora and María de León were married on December 17, 1926, in Ogden. Guadalupe's parents were Zeferino Mora and Inocencia Rivera, and María was the daughter of Nicolás de León and Julia Magdaleno. The document also states that María was born on January 7, 1907, in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco.16Julia was born on April 11, 1873, in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco. She was baptized on April 12, 1873, at La Encarnación parish and was the daughter of Sixto Magdaleno and Fernanda Trujillo.17 Her grandparents on her paternal side were Antonio Magdaleno and Dolores Martin, and on her maternal side were Pedro Trujillo and Marcelina Martín.When she was eighteen years old, Julia married Nicólas de León, on November 14, 1892, at Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, Mexico. Julia de León died in Ogden, Utah, on June 6, 1931, at fifty-seven years old.18Fernanda Trujillo Martín was baptized on June 4, 1849, at the La Encarnación parish in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, Mexico. Her parents were Pedro Trujillo and Marcelina Martín, and her grandparents were Enrique Trujillo and Francisca Parga on the paternal side, and Rafael Martín and Petra González on the maternal side.19When she was seventeen years old, she married Sixto Magdaleno, son of Antonio Magdaleno and María de los Dolores Martín, and her own parents were recorded once again as Pedro Trujillo and Marcelina Martín.20Like the rest of his family, Pedro Trujillo lived in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, where they had resided for many generations. It is in fact one of the regions of origin that can be found on the records of several migrants to Utah. This study revealed the blood connections between several of the Mexican families that settled in the state. Pedro married Marcelina Martín on November 1, 1826. The parents of the groom were registered as Antonio Enrique Trujillo and Francisca Parga, and those of the bride were Rafael Martín and Petra González.The historical records of the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City and those available from FamilySearch have allowed us to trace this family back to the 1700s and have revealed the family connections, occupations, regions of origin, and migratory route of the Mora de León family.Ausencio Rosales Bautista was born December 18, 1929, in Bingham Canyon, Utah. His parents, Salvador Rosales and Eulalia Bautista, went to the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City on February 7, 1933, to register their son as a Mexican citizen.21Ausencio appears in the 1930 census as the son of Salvador and Eulalia Rosales (née Bautista).22Eulalia was born on February 13, 1911, in Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco. Her parents were Eulalio Bautista and Maricela Ramírez. Her paternal grandparents were Benito Bautista and Petra Delgado, and her maternal grandparents were León Ramírez and Lugarda González.23Salvador and Eulalia arrived and settled in Utah at the end of 1929. Prior to moving to the state, they were married on March 22, 1929, in Arizona, where Salvador worked for the mining industry.24 Contrary to the two previous families detailed above, Salvador did not work in the railroad industry, but instead worked for a copper mine in Bingham, Utah.Eulalio Bautista and Marcela Ramírez, both age nineteen, were married in Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, Mexico, on December 22, 1909. Their parents were Benito Bautista and Petra Delgado, and León Ramírez and Lugarda González, respectively.25Lugarda was the daughter of Pánfilo González and Apolonia Gómez. By the time she was born, her family had moved from Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, to Cañadas de Obregón, in the same state. It was there that Lugarda married León Ramírez de Rueda, on October 26, 1889. The groom's parents were Hilario Ramírez and Concepción de Rueda.26 Based on the information above, Jalostotitlán can be identified as the home of a multitude of migrants who moved to different destinations in the western United States, including California, Idaho, Wyoming, and, of course, Utah.Apolonia was the daughter of Telesforo Gómez and Francisca Mercado; this information has been derived from the marriage certificate of her daughter, Lugarda, where they are listed as her grandparents. The records also shows that the parents of Pánfilo González were Domingo González and Petra Regalado.27On May 24, 1849, Francisca Mercado and Telesforo Gómez were married at the age of sixteen years old in Jalostotitlán, Jalisco. The groom's parents were Victor Gómez and Lugarda Villalpando. The bride's parents were Rafael Mercado and Clemencia Gómez.28José María was born around 1790 and married María Candelaria de Alva on February 17, 1806. Their marriage certificate states that the groom's parents were Rafael Mercado and María Gómez, and those of the bride were Ricardo de Alva and Apolinaria Macias.29 Although these documents do not reveal José María's occupation, it can be inferred that he worked in the fields, since this was the predominant activity in the region.These documents provide direct evidence for a kinship relationship between Ausencio Rosal Bautista and his ancestors from the late 1700s in the Altos de Jalisco region. It is not surprising that the wide variety of surnames that can be found in Ausencio's family tree are also present among other Mexican families in the state of Utah as well as in the state of California.The documents obtained from the Genaro Estrada Diplomatic Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have allowed us to identify the dates on which the families included in this article first interacted with the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City. Likewise, the records show that in two of the three cases presented, the families followed the same pattern of registering several children at the same time, even though they were born in previous years, thus showing that families took advantage of the possibility to make a single trip together to the consular offices. The same trend has been observed for most of the families found in the birth records obtained from the archives.The family, friend, and neighborhood connections between the groups analyzed in this study corroborate the existence of early migratory networks in the state of Utah. It has also allowed us to expand on the knowledge of these interpersonal relationships before and after their dates of migration. The sharing of essential information among the members of these networks in order to make decisions on where to live and work was a crucial element in each of their lives. From there, they made decisions that impacted their individual and family development. The factors that attracted these groups to Utah (the mining, agricultural, livestock, and railroad industries) were a decisive factor in Manuel García, Guadalupe Mora, and Salvador Rosales establishing their places of residence in Salt Lake City.The prevailing circumstances in the state of Utah during the 1911–1947 period was, as in the rest of the United States, a period of contrasts, especially in terms of socioeconomic matters. The Great Depression and the two world wars contributed to periods of high demand for Mexican labor as well as to massive deportations during difficult times in the United States. Throughout all those years, the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City was a fundamental support, as evidenced by the documents found in the historical archives during this investigation, which is ongoing.

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