One Man's Musings

My grandfather Felipe n. Brambila wrote a note on June 2, 1925. He notes that according to the parochial records of Tenamaxtlan, there were 772 Spaniards and 1,763 Mexican residents in the year 1757. By the year 1855, the population had increased to 5,658. He does not mention the ethnicity of the population at this time. My mother told me once that grandpa enjoyed documenting information with regards to the town of Tenamaxtlan, where his father and grandfather lived for many years.

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...

Antecedentes, explicaciones, aclaramientos, advertencies, y comentatios. Este es el t í tulo de una p á gina que encontr é en las notas de mi abuelo. Parece ser una advertencia a los lectores del futuro en referencia a la dificultad que el tuvo en obtener datos de la familia Brambila. Parece que el confia en la tradici ó n oral de sus antepasados. Pues leamos sus palabras: Segun relacion verbal que me hizo mi tio bisabuelo materno don. Jose Maria Brambila Rosales (a) el cuate, alla por el a ñ o de 1881, con la que me di ó Gregorio M. Medina, hoy tres de Enero de 1923, que vive en Tecolotl á n, el capit á n don Francisco de la Brambila y un soldado Diego Brambila, fueron unos de los Soldiers que en 1527 acompa ñ aron al primer Alcande de Colima Francisco Cortez de la Buenaventura, sobrino del Marques del Valle - don Hernan Cort é z, seg ú n relacionada de la historia del Licenciado (illegible) de la Mota Padilla, entre noventa soldiers escogidos a conquest las provi...

The Long Road to a Masters Degree I remember thinking how hard it would be to enroll in Graduate school. This occurs to me in late December, 2001, a month short of my fifty fifth birthday. I dreamed of securing a second career due to my upcoming retirement. My work schedule is hectic. I am a data entry clerk. I work third shift, ten hours a day, six days a week. I graduated from Northwood University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration on May 11, 1996. Sometime in January, 2002, I decided to pursue my Master’s degree in Organizational Management.. Several of my supervisors, who were pursuing an advanced degree, recommended I enroll with the University of Phoenix on-line, since attending a brick and mortar school would be impossible with to my work schedule. No one told me the difficulty that I would encounter working full time and taking master’s degree courses simultaneously. The first obstacle that I encountered is self doubt. I realized that my aca...

What I want to talk about is the content of this blog. My original intent is to convey some of the history of who I am and where I come from. I do this by providing some data that was originally written by my grandfather and the long conversations I had with my dearly departed father and mother regarding our family history. The other topic I want to cover is the wonderful journey that I have traveled as an immigrant to the United States for fifty-five years. I am so interested in the cultural differences of my country of birth in contrast to the values and mores of the people of this country; it is a fascinating subject. What has encouraged me so much to excel, regardless of my economic condition, is the number of Americans who have mentored me and encouraged me to attain my goals. My gratitude to Bill Baker, my long- time friend and mentor. I also include some information regarding DNA test results that might clarify some the information that I provide in this blog. I ho...

Un dato que mi abuelo tal vez no sabia es que estamos relaciodos con Anton de Arriaga y Diego de Arriaga. Estos Espanoles acompanaron a Hernan Cortez.. De acuerdo con la fuente del Internet llamada http:grayfelix.tripod.com, Anton se caso con Ana Quintero (tal vez Quinteria). La pareja tuvieron cuatro hijas, una de ellas se caso con Juan Antonio Brambila, el cual eventualmente fue el Viceroy de Espana en lo que hoy es el estado de Oaxaca.. De acuerdo con la informacion The Genealogy of Mexico, parece que mi familia desciende de Diego de Arriaga. Diego de Arriaga, quien se establecio en la ciudad de Puebla con una dama Espanola, tuvo cuatro nietos: Capitan Pedro Muniz de Arriaga, Juan Brambila, Capitan Jaime Herades, Fransisco Brambila, Antonio Herades, Agustin Brambila y Bernardino Brambila. ((htttp://garyfelix.tripod.com) The Genealogy of Mexico. Segun mi prima Alma Rosa Magallanes, Agustin se caso con Juana Colmenero. Uno de sus hijos se llama Agustin como su padre. El se caso ...