One Man's Musings

My grandfather was Juan Jose Araiza. He was married to Maximiana Fregoso Fernandez. She married Juan Jose Araiza in 1888 when she was 20 years old. Juan Jose was born circa 1850. He was baptized on June 26, 1851 in Talpa, Jalisco, Mexico. His parents were Jose Maria Salome Araiza and Francisca (aka Franca)  Reynoso Delgado. His maternal grandparents were Jose Antonio Bictor Reynoso Contreras and Maria Tomasa Delgado Aguilar. (My source is Erik Reynoso, professional genealogist.) The passing of my grandfather happened on October 5, 1906. He passed away in the town of Sebastian del Oeste, Jalisco, Mexico. He passed away of bronco-pneumonia, The death certificate states that he passed away without medical assistance. He was 55 years old.  My father was two years old when his father passed away.  My parents once told me that my widowed grandmother suffered greatly due to his passing. I have been told she was a chamber maid.  It must have been difficult to ...

Recently, I had the pleasure to meet a great story teller. Gabriel Brambila reminds me of my uncles in the Brambila side of my family. He is my first cousin twice removed. He had a story to tell about his grandmother Josefina Garcia. We knew through oral family tradition and genealogical research, that she became a widower at a young age. She was married to my uncle Gabriel Brambila in the early 1900s. Gabriel died in a horrible train accident in northern Mexico. Somehow, he relates, his grandmother Josefina migrated to the United States with her two children. She then remarried a grocer named Joseph P. Garcia (a.k.a.) J.P. Garcia. The grocery store was located in Laredo, Texas. My cousin relates with vivid recollection that his grandmother had a stoic appearance; not much of a talker. I remember, he reminisced, one could always find her behind the counter at the store, dressed in a crisp, heavily starched apron. Always cognizant of the patrons and their needs; perpetually recordin...