After telling stories about other people for so many years, I wanted to uncover the story of my own family. With the help of Diane Reid, a volunteer genealogist at the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, I was able to trace my descendants all the way back to the 1500s.
But let's begin with my father. In his college days, he had an uncanny resemblance to a 1950s pioneer of rock 'n' roll.
My dad looks like Buddy Holly, a Mexican Buddy Holly, I told Diane. He thought he looked so sly with his thick black framed glasses.
In all seriousness, I was curious to find out when my family first stepped foot on American soil.
According to records, several of my great-grandparents became fearful during the Mexican Revolution and made their way north to Texas.
Most of them came between 1911 and 1913 to escape from Pancho Villa, Diane told me.
She found it interesting that some of my ancestors came to the United States to get away from that and there is a distinct possibility that some of my ancestors were fighting alongside him.
It also turns out, I had something in common with my great-great grandfather, Buena Ventura Salazar. A border crossing record contained a simple three word description: extra large nose.
Local
It made me laugh so hard. I admitted to Diane that years ago, I got my nose fixed because it was so big. I remember telling my mom I was self-conscious about its size and she told me someday I would grow into it. I never did.
Nose job admission aside, I also discovered that nearly 400 years ago, I had several ancestors named Cano.
It turns out they might have originally been Jewish and lived with the last name Cohen. During the Spanish Inquisition, they perhaps migrated from Spain to Mexico and converted to Christianity.
All together, I was able to trace my ancestors back to Italy, Spain and Mexico. We were sheep herders, onion farmers, ranchers and oil men. To this day, we still enjoy the family ranches my great-grandfather was savvy enough to purchase back then. Another great-grandfather of mine was a physician who had his own drug store.
It was invaluable information I discovered about "mi familia."
