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).