Family skeletons

Hello Alicia,
Don't know if you remember me, but I met you when I hosted the first So. Cal meeting of Rancho members in my home.  I haven't been able to devote much time to my genealogy searches lately but I try to keep up with the group by reading the postings.  I found your question a very valid one.  I first started by searching my maternal ancestry in 1970.  From the time II was very small my maternal grandmother would often speak of her early days in Mexico.  As a young adult I would often stop by her house after work and she would tell me stories of days passed.  It was then that my interest in my ancestry began.  As the years passed and I began asking questions of my aunts I came across some resistance from a few of the elder aunts.  I thought this very odd since my grandmother had been very candid with me when she spoke of her life.  In fact eight days before her death a video was made of my grandmother as she told her story.  At the age of 92 she
was very accurate in her facts and very forthcoming of many details of her life.  As years have passed many of my "successes" can be directly attributed to information passed on by her in the video.  As I've continued my research I have found that it was quite common for the men in the family to have had more than one family with two or more "wives."  Such was the case with my grandparents (both paternal & maternal), and perhaps.  There were families left in Mexico, and new families established in the United States.  These "skeletons" no doubt were the reason for the reluctance of some family members to share memories of the past.  It's too bad  because regardless of origin, there is so much richness in our family lines.  It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I actively started search my paternal side and, unfortunately, the relatives still living have very sketchy memories of their parents and grandparents.  Some, on this side too are
reluctant to share information.    But, I keep searching.  We never know what will be uncovered.  Good luck in your searches to all Rancho members.

Saludos
Olivia Jaurequi-Reyes
Rowland Heights, CA

--- On Sun, 2/22/09, Alicia Carrillo wrote:

From: Alicia Carrillo
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Family skeletons
To: general@nuestrosranchos.com
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 9:35 PM

Richard,

I didn't intend to pry in to sensitive material for anyone......just wondered if this was problematic for anyone else. I know in my family there is a lot of lore that has some truth to it and I've been asked by some family relations "why are you doing this"? Some believe that I'm trying to uncover some dirt and that has never been my intention.

As far as I know there are a couple of other distant family members doing Genealogy but I have yet to meet them in person. Most of the family is intrigued by the findings and how it is that we can trace our ancestry. It has been a pleasure to share what I have with different branches of the family. To see the wonderment in their eyes when they see the actual documents that trace back several generations and to hear them say, no wonder my father or mother used to say, "THIS IS YOUR TIO OR TIA or YOUR COUSIN" but I never knew how they were related to me.

I did find one skeleton but rather than flinch, they were intrigued and wanted to know more about my Ggrandfather's out of wedlock child and where might they find this individual and his descendants.

Thanks Ricci,

Saludos,
Alicia, San Jose, Calif

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