Esteban Arroyo - Ancestor #4 - Part 2

Esteban’s death record was my last hope of finding a document that definitively identified his parents.  The information in death records is uneven, so it wasn’t a guarantee that I would hit the jackpot if I found it.  I started my search by narrowing down the years of when he could have possibly died.

The marriage informational records of his children provided me with helpful hints to track down his death record from the Catholic Church.  Refugio’s Arroyo’s MI from 1894 provided me with my first clue.  It listed her father, Esteban Arroyo, as deceased.  I decided to work backward from that date. Unfortunately the records were not indexed at the time, so I searched the digital microfilm documents page by page.  I searched for hours to find his record. 

Jackpot!!!  Well, a bittersweet jackpot.  It's a bit sorrowful searching death records because I'm familiar with the feelings that accompany the records.  

I knew it was his records because it listed Leandra Jimenez as his spouse.  Esteban Arroyo passed January 18, 1895, in Tarimoro, at the age of 51.  

I was elated, almost to the point of being teary-eyed, when I read the names of his parents at the bottom of the record. His parents were listed as Manuel Arroyo and Antonia Contreras.  Other than the trill that comes with finding a record after hours of research, my favorite aspect of family research is learning the names of my ancestors.  I first great pride in resurrecting the relationship within a family.  I wonder about the last time someone mentioned Manuel and Antonia as the parents of Esteban. Additionally, I now could add the names of another set of great-great-great grandparents to my family tree. 

This record provided that definitive proof that Bacilia Lara and Bacilia Alvarez were indeed the same woman.  Mystery solved.   With the names of his parents and the biographical information from his first MI, I was able to locate his baptism record.

Esteban Arroyo was baptized on August 2, 1843 in Tarimoro.  The record is from Salvatierra because Tarimoro did not have a parish at the time.

Below is his record from Tarimoro's 1883 padron.  He is listed as living with his wife and kids, Leandra Jimenez, Josefa, Refugio, Conrado, and Maria.   The ages in the document are not accurate.

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Esteban Arroyo Death Record

"México, Guanajuato, Registro Civil, 1862-1930," images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-23321-10800-46?cc=1922031 : accessed 27 February 2016), Guanajuato &gt; Tarimoro &gt; Defunciones 1894-1896 &gt; image 47 of 540; Archivo General del Registro Civil del Estado Guanajuato (Guanajuato Civil Registry State Archives). 

Citation

"México, Michoacán, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1555-1996," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18784-10196-9?cc=1883388&wc=3NYG-MNP:178285301,178658501,219552601 : accessed 27 February 2016), Morelia > Arquidiócesis de Morelia > Padrones 1831-1896 > image 416 of 684; parroquias Católicas, Michoacan (Catholic Church parishes, Michoacan).

 

Ancestor #4 Esteban Arroyo (Great Great Grandfather) – Part 1

Esteban Arroyo, my great-great-grandfather, lived in Tarimoro, Guanajuato in the 1800’s.  Unfortunately, I do not have any photographs of him. 

I’m writing about Esteban because finding and confirming the names of his parents required extra genealogical research.  The records I typically use to find the names of my ancestors, the marriage information (MI) records, were not fruitful in his case due to inconsistencies in the surname used by his first wife.  I located two MI records for Esteban Arroyo, he was married twice, but I could initially only positively attribute one of the two records to him.  I know he was married twice because in the MI record with my great-great-grandmother, Leandra Jimenez, it states that he was a widower of 14 months, previously married to Bacilia Lara.  Esteban Arroyo and Leandra Jimenez married on November 7, 1872 in the San Miguel Arcangel church in Tarimoro, Guanajuato. 

Esteban y Leandra

Extra research is required to discover the names of the parents of a bride or groom when the only record known of them is their second marriage information record.  A marriage record usually lists the parents of both the bride & groom.  In the case of Esteban, in the section normally reserved for the names of the groom’s parents, it listed the details of his previous marriage.  I used that information to work backward to try to locate his first MI record.  I was unsuccessful at finding an exact match.  However, I did find a record for an Esteban Arroyo and Bacilia Alvarez.   Bacilia’s parents are listed as Ygnacio Alvarez and Antonia Lara.  His parents were listed as Manuel Arroyo and Antonia Contreras. 

Esteban y Bacilia

Everything for the marriage record for Esteban and Bacilia Alvarez matched except her surname. Perhaps the priest incorrectly wrote down her name as Lara (her mother’s maiden name) instead of Alvarez during Esteban’s marriage informational session with Leandra.  I wanted to be certain, so I continued to look.

I decided to research his first wife’s death record, hoping to find useful additional.  My search again came up empty for an exact match.  The closest match I found was for a deceased woman named Bacilia Perez, who was survived by a husband named Estaban Arroyo. Bacilia Perez passed away in Tarimoro on September 1, 1871, approximately 14 months before Esteban and Leandra were married.  The record was around the estimated time and place of the passing of Esteban’s first wife.   

Bacilia Perez

I had three records for Esteban Arroyo, each showing him married to a woman named Bacilia, and each with a different surname.  I began to wonder, was it possible that there were two or three Esteban Arroyos who lived in the same place, at the same time and married a woman named Bacilia.  Likely not, but I wanted more definitive proof that Bacilia Lara and Bacilia Alvarez were the same person. 

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citations:
1. Esteban y Leandra:
"México, Guanajuato, registros parroquiales, 1519-1984," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-20592-29266-79?cc=1860831 : accessed 20 February 2016), Tarimoro > San Miguel Arcángel > Información matrimonial 1870-1873 > image 520 of 645; parroquias Católicas, Guanajuato (Catholic Church parishes, Guanajuato).

2. Esteban y Bacilia
"México, Guanajuato, registros parroquiales, 1519-1984," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-20415-44091-80?cc=1860831 : accessed 20 February 2016), Salvatierra > Salvatierra > Información matrimonial 1863-1865 > image 387 of 450; parroquias Católicas, Guanajuato (Catholic Church parishes, Guanajuato).

3. Bacilia Perez
"México, Guanajuato, registros parroquiales, 1519-1984," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-20589-8090-59?cc=1860831 : accessed 20 February 2016), Tarimoro > San Miguel Arcángel > Defunciones 1870-1878 > image 79 of 444; parroquias Católicas, Guanajuato (Catholic Church parishes, Guanajuato).

Draft: Ancestor #3 Refugio Arroyo

This post is a work-in-progress.  I have to interview my eldest aunt to gather more information about Refugio's life.  My Tia told me that her Mama Cuca (as Refugio was known to her grandchildren) loved her grandchildren very much.  My Tia Came called her a “abuela de verdad.”

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Refugio Arroyo was born and raised in Tarimoro, GTO.  Her baptism record states that she was baptized on February 26, 1878, at San Miguel Arcangel church. Her parents are listed as Esteban Arroyo and Leandra Jimenez. 

She married Apolonio Trejo on April 3, 1894 in Tarimoro, GTO, at the age of 16. 

As mentioned in a previous post, she was widowed in 1916, at the age of 38.  She never remarried.

She was living with her son, Guadalupe, at the time the 1930 Mexican Census was taken.

Below is a picture of Refugio with her grandson, Apolonio. 

Apolonio Trejo & Refugio Arroyo

She passed away around 1960.  I believe she was laid to rest inside the San Miguel Arcangel church, pictured below.

Baptism Record Citation:

"México, Guanajuato, registros parroquiales, 1519-1984," database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-20400-42964-12?cc=1860831 : accessed 13 February 2016), Tarimoro &gt; San Miguel Arcángel &gt; Bautismos 1877-1882 &gt; image 97 of 728; parroquias Católicas, Guanajuato (Catholic Church parishes, Guanajuato).

Draft: Ancestor # 2 Apolonio Trejo

Apolonio Trejo, my paternal great grandfather, was born and raised in the Tarimoro region of Guanajuato.  His baptism record states that he was baptized with the name Jose Apolonio de Jesus Trejo Lara on April 10, 1874, at San Miguel Arcangel in Tarimoro.  He was born in Encinal, a very small rancho in the municipality of Tarimoro.  His parents are listed as Pedro Trejo (25) and Crispina Lara (22). 

The 1883 padron of Tarimoro list Apolonio living with his immediate family in Barajas, a small rancho near Huapango.   Also listed in the padron living with the family is Rafael Trejo, his grandfather. 

                                                

Apolonio has been an important name in the Trejo family, along with Guadalupe, over the last four generations.  Guadalupe Trejo named his first son after his father, and my father named his oldest son after his oldest brother.  I don’t foresee any more Trejos named Apolonio, at least not in the US. 

On April 3, 1894, he married Refugio Arroyo in the San Miguel Arcangel church in Tarimoro.  He is listed as a 20 year old laborer from Huapango.  Refugio Arroyo is listed as a 17 year old bachelorette from Tarimoro. I imagine the wedding would have been a relatively simple affair by today standards.

Based on the records I have found online and the names provided to me by my father, Apolonio and Refugio had eight children together: Encarnacion (1897), Mercedes (1900), Guadalupe (1901), Ascencion (1905), Soledad (1913), Concepcion, Juliana, and Modesto (I have been unable to locate records for the last three children).  Apolonio’s occupation was likely related to agriculture and his income comparable to a lot of folks in town.   His home in Huapango, a really small & rural community, was likely a simple structure made out of bricks. 

I do not have any second-hand accounts about Apolonio, however I do have one unfortunate story.   I was told that he was taken from his home during the Mexican revolution, and along with his younger brother Crispin, killed in Salvatierra.   His death had something to do with supporting rebels against the government during the time of the Mexican revolution.   The story goes that his brother was killed first and he died from sight of his fallen brother.

The record about his death states that he was killed by a firing squad in Salvatierra on May 29, 1916.  His brother’s record also states that he met the same fate.  His body was not returned to Tarimoro, but he received his final sacraments at San Miguel Arcangel.  From what I gather, his burial site is unknown, somewhere in Salvatierra.