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Subject: [Michoacán] Mexican Research
Date: 22 Sep 2002 09:01:22 -0600

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/BaC.2ACI/669

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Dear Friends:

I have an update on the recently-released "Mexican-American Genealogical Research" (coauthored with my friend, Donna Morales).

I teach a volunteer class on Mexican Genealogy in Los Angeles. With some exceptions, many of the Mexican Americans who come to me seem to have the preconceived notion that many records were destroyed in the War of Independence (1810-1821) and the Revolution (1910-1920) and during other upheavals, like the Cristero Rebellion and the War of the Reform (1858-1861) and the French invasion in 1861.

The reality is that, while a few records were indeed destroyed, the vast majority were not and an unbelievable number of those records are available for Mexican Americans to look at through the resources of the Family History Library at Salt Lake City which sends out copies of the microfilm to its branch Family History Centers.

Donna and I go into some detail trying to dispel this myth of "destroyed records." The preconceived notion is that Mexican roots are almost impossible to trace. And, the reality is that the records of colonial Mexico from about 1600 to 1821 and the Republic of Mexico are amazingly rich in detail. In two chapters ("The Best Records in the World" and "The Indians of Mexico") we illustrate that.

My ancestors lived in Illinois, New York, and Minnesota in 1870 and Donna's ancestors lived in Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Jalisco. And I can tell you that I have much, much more detailed information on her family than my German immigrant ancestors who lived in small towns in the Midwest and New York. Most American counties did not keep very good death or birth records until the Twentieth Century, but civil registration started in Mexico (by law) in 1859.

For the many people who are convinced that there are no records left that can tell the name of the city or hacienda their grandparents or great-grandparents came from back in 1910, 1920 or 1930, we also have several chapters giving suggestions.

Donna Morales and I also collaborated on the touching and emotional story entitled, "The Dominguez Family of Kansas: An American Experience" in.....

http://www.somosprimos.com/spapr02.htm

And, if you go onto www.Somosprimos.com, Sept. issue...you will find another joint article by the two of us.

http://www.somosprimos.com/spsep02.htm

The book, written by John Schmal and Donna Morales is now on the market and available for UPS delivery. You can locate it at this website:

heritagebooks.com/

"Following the Paper Trail" is listed as Number S2139 at Heritage's CD-Store.

The ISBN Number of the book is 0-7884-2139-5. I has 148 pages, divided into the following chapters:

1. Following the Paper Trail
2. Finding Vital Records
3. Other Sources of Vital Information
4. Naturalization Records
5. Alien Registration Records
6. Crossing the Border
7. The Best Records in the World
8. Passengers to the Indies
9. The Indians of Mexico
10. In the Service of Their Country
11. Getting Prepared

It also has 62 documents: Alien Registration, Naturalization, border-crossing documents (ranging from 1905-1952), Mexican Church records, obituaries, maps and military records. We present a large array of documents from colonial Mexico, starting in the Seventeenth Century. We also have two chapters that discuss the racial classifications and Indian records of colonial Mexico.

We hope that you enjoy this. Thank you.

Sincerely,


John P. Schmal
Coauthor, "Mexican-American Genealogical Research"
Email:
Work phone (818) 734 3509

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