I do not have a lot of information about his upbrining, but based on my knowledge of the time and place where he lived, he did not likely have an education beyond elementary school, if that. As the son of a farmhand, he likely spent a lot of time in the fields, perhaps picking cacahuate. At the age of 18, he became the oldest male in his home when his father was killed in 1919.
Within a year after his father died, he migrated to the US in search of work in 1920. The 1920 trip was the first of two trips to the United States, with the second trip being in 1926. The 1920 record surprised me because I had previously been under the impression that he only migrated once, in 1926. I do not have return or exit dates for both trips, so I don’t know how much time he spent in the US.
I do not have any records or stories of how much money he earned while in the US or how he used his money. I suspect he used it to support his mother & siblings.
A short time after returning to Tarimoro, he married Angelina Rodrigues, his first wife, on April 9, 1921 at the parish San Miguel Arcangel in Tarimoro. Guadalupe and Angelina had two children together, Esperanza & Apolonio (named after his grandfather). Esperanza was born around 1923 and Apolonio was born in 1925. They lived in Tarimoro.
On April 6, 1926, Guadalupe entered the United States for the second and final time in Lorado, Texas. Along with other Mexicans from Guanajuato, he made his way to Chicago. From what I understand, the Mexicans in Chicago worked in the meat processing and steel industries. My Tio Lupe told me that he worked in the meat processing industry. My uncle also mentioned that his father did not talk much about his time in the US, except that he worked a lot.
By my estimate, there were nearly two dozen men from Tarimoro working in Chicago around the same time as Guadalupe. My uncle (Tio Lupe) mentioned that my grandmother’s oldest brother, Jesus Maldonado, was also in Chicago. The hometown connections in Chicago’s Mexican communities were important for migrants. For example, a fellow resident of Tarimoro (Refugio Acevedo) taught him how to read & write.
I have one picture of Guadalupe in the US, where he is sitting down in a formal studio portrait with two other men. My tia came told me that he is the man sitting down and that his brother, Ascencion, is one of the two men standing in the picture. I do not know the identity of the other man. Perhaps it could be Lorenzo Arciniega, one of the witnesses for my grandfather’s second marriage who testified to living with him in Chicago.
Sadly, Angelina passed away on May 5th 1927, due to pneumonia. I’m uncertain if he returned to Mexico prior to her passing. If he learned of her passing while on Chicago, there would have been insufficient time for him to return to Tarimoro to attend her funeral. Its somewhat difficult to imagine the range of emotions he experienced after her passing.
At the age of 26, he was a widower and a single father to two small children. (The picture below was provided by Alejandra Garcia, Apolonio's granddaughter.)
The stories about Guadalupe Trejo were provided by Carmen Trejo, Luis Trejo, and Jose Guadalupe Trejo Jr.
for more information about Mexicans in Chicago in the 1920's:
Mexican Chicago
Steel Barrio
No comments:
Post a Comment