Rafael & Antonia Estrada (my Great Grandparents), and Ed Palomares

We know Guillermo Sr. "Willie" Hernandez (my grandfather) was born on 1 JUN 1914 • Jaral de Berrios, Guanajuato, México, and died 6 NOV 1946 • Harris, Texas.  He is buried at Houston's historic Hollywood Cemetery, but does not have a grave marker. If you wanted to visit, they could look up the location for you, approximately. It would be so cool to take up a donation and put a marker there for him.

He had three kids while here and married to Petra, they lived in Houston at the time. Gloria is the oldest, then Bill, then Gilbert.  Petra was still pregnant with Gilbert when Willie died.  They lived at a house in Houston on McKee St. I am not sure if it was a boarding house or a one family house where several families lived, but there were multiple families there according to the death certificates of Willie and his half sister, Euphenia, who died of tuberculosis three years after Willie died. Her and her parents' address is the same as his, and his parents, 814 McKee St. I have even driven by there. There are houses and businesses, but I am sure they are not the original house they lived in.

Of note, Willie and Petra also had a daughter in 1945, Cecelia, who died at 18mos from meningitis.

Willie's father was Rafael Hernandez (my first great grandfather), born 1890 in Mexico, and dying in 1914, two years after Willie left for the US. He died in Jaral de Berrios, Guanajuato, México, where Willie was born, of what looks like "hemorrhagia" or hemorrhage. There is no other information on cause of death.  

Records show he married Antonia Estrada (my Great Grandmother) in Jarral de Berrios also, which at the time was a Hacienda. This was like an estate, or small, self-contained town. This one was known for its Mescal production, and still is!  

Antonia was born in 1894 in Mexico, but we do not yet know a city.  Rafael and Antonia married in 1913, and had only one child together who we could find records for, Guillermo (Willie), who was born about a month after Rafael died, in 1914.  All these events took place in Jaral de Berrios, Guanajuato, México.  Antonia also came to the US in 1914. 

By 1920, Antonia (and presumably, Willie) were in Colorado County Texas, where they were on the 1920 census and lived in Fayette, TX with her uncle and cousins. The same year, she married again, a 25 year old Eduardo Palomares. She was 19.  By family stories he was a native American, but he was born in Chihuahua, MX by his records. Together, they had 6 children between 1921 and 1934. This photo is of Ed, Antonia, and 3 of their kids. 

Ed died at age 50 due to suspected malarial fever. Antonia lived until 1992 when she died in Houston at age 98 of unknown causes. (No death certificate yet).  

Antonia's oldest daughter, Rafaela, lived to the age of 70, and had 8 children with her husband Dave Andrado. They also spent their lives in the Harris County area. They probably lived in the same house as Willie Hernandez, her son by Rafael, and his wife as of 1946, because her daughter Euphenia (Willie's half-sister) would die at age 21 of tuberculosis, the same illness that killed her brother Willie, 3 years earlier.

Antonia also had a daughter or son (Trena or Irena) who died at 18mos of age from pneumonia. They lived in Weimar at the time. Her son Eulalio "Lalo" was in the military, although there are some records that state he was a Marine and one that states he was in the Army. He married and had 3 kids, and lived in the Houston area. He died at age 61.  Her youngest son, Quirino, lived to age 79, and raised 9 children in the Houston/Harris county area.

As well as having 7 children, Antonia had a number of siblings, and half siblings (17 total! ). Most of them were born in central Mexico (Guanajuato and Zacatecas areas), but ended up in the US. I was able to find a photo of one brother, Asencion Estrada, who was a farmer in the Dimmit County area of Texas where he married twice and raised 8 children. 

The Mystery of Susano Palomares

Antonia also had a son named Susano, who died (family stories say) as he attempted to walk home (to Texas) from California. The story was that he had been sent money to come home but spent it. So he tried to walk. 

Death Index records list his place of death is listed as Riverside, CA in 1959. I am trying to get a death certificate to confirm, but that takes weeks.  Even the burial records do not list a cause of death.

What we do know about Susano, is that he was a WWII vet, PFC Battery B, 390th Coast Artillery Batallion.  He had a Bronze Star (for Valor), American Theater Medal, Good Conduct, and European-American-Middle Eastern Campaign medals. Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.

If anyone knows more information about Susano, or anyone for that matter. Please contact me and let me know so we can get the story straight. Photos and other documents are also appreciated.

How Does This Work?

 I have been way into the research for the last week, trying to see how far back I can go, in each branch of the family, before I fill in the details.  But the details are so interesting, I get distracted and off down a rabbit hole before I get back on track.  I will try to provide a general summary of what I have found, then post the details later on.

I am starting from my particular grandparents, but if you have the same family line, for example, Petra and Willie Hernandez' kids (Gloria, Guillermo, and Gabriel),  will have the same relatives (branches) until the point they marry and have children. As long as that person has a direct line to Willie, by blood, they will have the same ancestors as I do. So all of their kids are related to my relatives on Willie's family tree.

 If they have a different grandparent than I do, they will also have that grandparent's ancestry, as far back as they have a direct blood line. So my cousin Joe Blow, who comes from Tony Blow and Mary Smith, and Tony Blow's (parents Petra Hernandez and Jebediah Blow) will have Petra's ancestry, but not Willie's, because he is not Willie's blood grandson. Even though I am cousins with Joe Blow, we have only SOME of the same ancestry, through Petra Hernandez.

Petra Hernandez had three sets of children from different spouses: Willie Hernandez, Martin Perez, and Lucas Lerma.  These will be three separate branches of the family, with shared ancestry of the kids produced from Petra and that husband.  For right now, I am following Willie Hernandez' branch.

If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments and I will try to explain. I am still learning also, and the ancestors are all over the place, but luckily, there are many resources, most online, that save tons of footwork, of going to the library and the state and the church and county for the records, especially in other countries, like Mexico.

The closest relatives are from Mexico.

Willie, the Grandfather I never met

I started researching Willie (Guillermo Hernandez, Sr.) as the father of my mom Gloria, Uncle Bill (Guillermo Jr.), and Uncle Gilbert Hernandez. I remember when Grandma was being moved from her house into the nursing home, we went to her house to help with the packing up. We were talking to Uncle Gilbert, and my mom mentioned she did not remember her birth father as he died when she was 4 years old. Gilbert had a portrait of Willie that my mom had never seen before. She did not remember him. 

He died in Houston at age 32 from pulmonary tuberculosis. My mom was the oldest, then Uncle Bill, then a daughter was born named Cecilia, who died at 2 years of age from meningitis. Uncle Gilbert was their youngest child, as Petra was pregnant with him when Willie died. 

 Another interesting thing at that time, was that there was someone else living at that address, who also died of pulmonary TB. I found out it was Willie's cousin, Euphenia Palomares, who died 3 years later at age 20. It must have been so sad to have multiple people getting sick from each other in the family, and some of them passing away. It seems a lot like now, with COVID 19 affecting households like that in many circumstances. 

 Willie married Grandma Petra in 1944. He was from Guanajuato, Mexico, which is smack in the middle of the country. If Mexico was a leg, Guanajuato would be the knee. His parents were also from Guanajuato, and it seems that his line of relatives came from there for a couple of generations. His father, Rafael and grandfather Santiago Hernandez, were both from the area. His mother, Antonia Estrada was born in the Columbus, TX area. His grandmother, Severiana Garcia, comes from la Noria, Zacatecas, MX. (more like the thigh of the leg that is Mexico). 

Only one, so far, is from the southern area, Oaxaca MX. One thing to remember, there are now a lot more people on Ancestry.com with family trees, and the bulk of the information I am getting, well at least 1/2, is from other family trees. We have lots of relatives out there, and I continue to be amazed at how many kids these people had! The record is 15 so far, but there were a lot of kids born in most of the families. Part of that, I am guessing, is from the Catholic church forbidding birth control, but also, they just did not really have birth control. Many had lots of kids to have help on the farm. That is not scientific, but just my guess. So far, I have traced Willie back to his 5th generation on his father's branch, back to about 1800. The mother's branch looks to go back further, so that will be another story, in time.

Matrilineal Family Tree

Petra Gonzalez De Leon (or DeLeon Gonzalez) born Feb 18, 1922- Died April 16, 2012. She had 9 children: Gloria Hernandez, Guillermo Hernandez Jr., Cecilia Hernandez (who died as an infant), and Gilbert Hernandez with Guillermo Hernandez Sr. She has a son Antonio Lerma (with Lucas Lerma), and with Martin Perez Sr., she had Martin Perez, Jr., Mathilda Perez, John Perez, and Linda Perez.This was my grandmother. Her parents are Petra Rivera Gonzalez (1882-1935) of Laredo, TX and Pedro De Leon Sr.(1877-1931) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In addition to Petra, they had 9 other children (Refugio, Victoria, Severa, Pedro, Pascual, Elvira, Juan, Juana, Merced). You can find their stories in this blog eventually. The family lived in the Laredo area. This was my great-grandmother. Petra's mother was Maria Refugio Bernal (1862-1950) and her father was Francisco Rivera (1862-??). Besides Petra, they had a daughter named Fortunata Rivera (1886-??). Petra Rivera (the daughter) moved to the US in 1901 where her kids were all born. Her parents remained in Mexico, in the Coahuila, Mexico area. This was my 2nd great grandmother. My 3rd great grandmother was Maria de los Santos De Anda (1841-1904) born in San Miguel de Aguayo, Bustamante NL Mexico. She married Ramon Bernal on Feb 3, 1859 in San Miguel, and together they had 6 children besides Maria Refugio; Rafael (1862-??), Jose Santiago (1866-??), Rosa (1869-??), Jose Nicanor (1872-??), Felix (1874-??), and Agapito (1880-??). They were all born in the Nuevo Leon area of Mexico. Maria and Ramon lived their entire lives in Mexico. My 4th great grandmother was Maria Damiana Crespin Mireles born in 1826 (d. 1869) in San Miguel, MX as above. She married Jose Marcos de Anda in 1841 and they had a total of 5 children in the Bustamante, Nuevo Leon area and one in Coahuila, Candela, MX. The children were: Maria de los Santos (1841-1904), Jose Antonio (1846-??), Jose Ramon (1848-??), Jose Cresencio (1851-??), Teodoro (1857-??), and Agapito (1858-??). They all lived in Bustamante, Nuevo Leon MX. Maria died in 1869 in Aguascalientes, MX. My 5th great-grandmother was Maria Petra Tixerina (Unk birth, death dates). She married Jose Guadalupe Mireles on Jan 8, 1925 in San Miguel, Bustamante, NL, Mex. They had two daughters, Maria Damiana Crespin (1826-1869) and Maria Alvina (or Albina) born 25 Dec 1830 both in Bustamante, NL, Mex. My 6th great grandmother was Maria Teodora Saldivar Flores born 1 Dec 1768 in San Miguel, MX. she married Jose Marcelo Tixerina in 1785 in San Miguel. They had two children Joseph Nicolas Tixerina Saldivar (1787-??) and Maria Petra Tixerina. They lived in the San Miguel area for thier entire lives. My 7th great grandmother was Maria Guadalupe Flores de Orosco (1740-??). Born in San Miguel, Bustamante, Nuevo Leon, MX. She had 3 siblings. She married Pedro Jose Saldivar Flores (1735-??) on 28 Apr 1760 in San Miguel. They had 7 children together: Maria de El Rosario (1761-1846), Pedro Nolasco (1763-??), Maria (1768-??), Maria Francisca(b. 1771), Jose Apolonio (b. 1773), Maria Josefa Patricia (b. 1776), and Jose Marcelo de los Santos (b. 1777).All of their children were born in San Miguel. Finally, my 8th great grandmother was Manuela Mathiana de Orosco, born in 1720 in San Miguel, Bustamante, Nuevo Leon, MX. She was married to Faustino Flores (b. 1715) on 22 Sep 1731 in the same city. She and Faustino had four children: Maria Tomasa Flores Orozco (1753-??), Jose Piloto Flores Orosco (1763-1764), Miguel Flores Orosco (1765-1767)and Maria Guadalupe Flores de Orosco (1740-??). They all lived and died in the San Miguel area. As I get updates I will add to this story. I am grateful that Ancestry has done so much work and that other relatives who have ancestry accounts have done so much work. I will try to post photos and other items of interest as I find them.

Nothing much has happened in the past 2 years. Now I am sitting down during the Covid pandemic, over the Thanksgiving holiday, because, well there is not much else to do. I go into my ancestry account and BAM, they have done a lot to help carry my ancestry back several generations! I also have a 23 and me account, which has put me on notice of 1500+ DNA relatives out there in the world. Where to start? So the first thing I want to relay to you all is that I am now able to trace my matrilineal (from the mothers' side) tree back to my 8th Great Grandmother!!! That's right, great x 8! She was born in Mexico in 1720, and her name is Manuela Mathiana de Orosco Flores. She was born in Bustamante, Nuevo Leon Mexico, and had only 4 children. I am also working back to my 8th Great Grandfather (her husband) Faustino Flores, from the same area. I will start posting information as I get time so I can share it all with you, but in case you want to see the tree itself, you can use this link: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pt/RSVP.aspx?dat=MTY5MDE5ODc7OzAxNjc5ZjQ2LTAwMDItMDAwMC0wMDAwLTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDsyMDIwMTEyODE1MTE0ODsx&mac=nol1+oaNhYnnCWAr28qAug== Enjoy!

Pascual DeLeon, PFC

Pascual Deleon was born in Pescadito,TX on May 17, 1918 to Pedro De Leon, Sr (of Mexico, Candela NL) and Petra Rivera, also of Candela. He enlisted in the army 15 Jan 1941, and was killed in action during WW2 on Jan 22, 1944 in Italy. The next of kin was listed as Severa Flores, of Laredo, TX and he is buried in the Catholic cemetery in Laredo, TX. There is an article in the San Antonio Light from April 29, 1944 which listed him as missing in action, however, his remains were eventually returned to the family and he was buried in Laredo. The following documents are available on his ancestry page on ancestry.com:

-1920 census -1930 census -San Antonia Light article 4/29/1944 -US Rosters of War Dead 1939-1945 -Enlistment Records -Death Certificate