MEX-ZACATECAS-L Archives

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Subject: Did your ancestors come from Zacatecas
Date: 13 Aug 2004 21:42:28 -0600

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Did your ancestors come from the Zacatecas? If they did, then you have a lot of company. Many Mexican Americans living in this country consider Zacatecas their ancestral homeland. However, if your ancestors came from Zacatecas
during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), then there is a chance that you may not know exactly what town they came from. And, unfortunately, knowing the exact location of where your ancestors came from is an absolute necessity if you hope to trace your family tree.

So, you may ask, "Where do I begin?" The best way to start is to find out as much information you can from the older generation. But, for some of you, that may not be enough. If the older generation has passed on, your best
sources of information may not be good enough to locate where your family came from. If this is the case, then you have a number of options that may yield results. Did your ancestors become citizens? If they did, you might go the National Archives website and find out which facility to write to. A naturalization record is likely to give you the exact location of the town from which your
ancestor came. And, if your ancestor had another name in the Old Country, it will more than likely give you that information too. Naturalization records after 1907 can offer the researcher a great deal of information about his ancestors. You can Email these facilities to ask them
about your immigrant ancestor. If you decide to Email them, it is always good to try and give as much information as possible about the person concerned, birthplace, birth date, when they arrived in America, where they lived, address, and names of family members. And don’t forget to send your
mailing address. Giving approximate dates is better than giving no information at all. Click here to see the National Archives site.

During the last century, many Mexican American immigrants in United States did not become citizens. If this is the case, you may try to get information from a different office. The Alien Registration Program in 1940 required that all alien residents of the United States register at their local Post
Office. The registrations from July 1940 to April 1944 are on microfilm in INS custody, searchable by name, date of birth, and place of birth. You can request these records by writing to them, stating that you are seeking to obtain this information under the "Freedom of Information Act."
If your ancestor is deceased, it might be good to send them a copy of the obituary, Social Security Death index entry or a death certificate. Tell them everything you know, where they lived in the 1940s, possible aliases, etc. Giving approximate information is better than giving no information at all.

The address where you may submit your inquiry is:


INS Freedom of Information
2nd Floor, ULLB
425 I Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20536

Once you have gathered enough data about your ancestors, you will be ready to begin your research. But, before you begin your research, it is better to understand the geography and history of Zacatecas which is located in
northcentral Mexico and is a land rich in cultural, religious, and historical significance. Surrounded by Coahuila on the north, San Luis Potosi on the east, Aguascalientes and Jalisco on the south, and Durango on the east,
Zacatecas is the eighth largest state in Mexico.
By virtue of its large size (75,040 square kilometers), Zacatecas has contributed its fair share of immigrants to the United States during the last century. In the days preceding and during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), many inhabitants fled Zacatecas for the southwestern United
States. During the height of the Revolution, the capital city of Zacatecas became the focus of national attention when it was seized by the forces of Pancho Villa in the famous battle known as La Toma de Zacatecas (The Taking
of Zacatecas) on June 23, 1914.

In pre-Columbian times, Zacatecas was home to many indigenous tribes. By the time the Spaniards first arrived in the region (1531), the Zacatecos, Caxcanes, Irritilas, Guachichiles, Tecuexes, and Tepehuanes were still making
their homes in various parts of what we now call Zacatecas. After silver was discovered near the present-day city of Zacatecas, a determined effort was
made by the Spaniards and their Indian allies to exploit the mineral wealth of the area. However, the Indians in this area resisted with a ferocity that became legendary in the Chichimeca War (1550-1590). If your ancestors came from
Zacatecas, it is highly likely that you may be descended from people who fought on both sides of this prolonged guerrilla war. A detailed description of this war can be found in Philip Wayne Powell in his "Soldiers, Indians, and Silver."

The Zacatecas of today has more than fifteen mining districts which yield silver, lead, zinc, gold, phosphorite, wollastonite, fluorite, and barium. Even today, Mexico is the world’s largest producer of silver (17% of the world output), in great part because of the silver produced from the Zacatecas mines. The richest resource available to Americans who are trying to find their roots in Zacatecas can be found in the Family History Library (FHL), whose catalog can be accessed at its website,

http://familysearch.org/search/searchcatalog.asp.

When you go to this website, you can utilize the place search by simply entering the name of your
ancestral town. The FHL owns church, civil or census records for at least ninety-four separate localities in Zacatecas, and you can view these microfilmed records at your nearest Family History Center.

The Family History Library owns the Catholic church records for eighty-six distinct locations in Zacatecas. All told, eleven towns in Zacatecas have church records going back to the 1600s, while another sixteen localities have records reaching back into the 1700s. For the most part, the baptism and
marriage records of the Zacatecas churches are remarkably detailed. With few exceptions, starting around 1800, the baptism records listed the abuelos paternos and abuelos maternos. In addition, marriage records will not only
give the age, birthplace, residency, and occupation of the newlyweds, but the same information for their parents and witnesses.

Mexico enacted civil registration in 1859. Within the next decade, nearly all of the fifty-six municipios of Zacatecas started to collect birth, marriage, and death records. The Family History Library has compiled the
municipio civil records for forty-nine of these municipios. Most of their records begin between 1861 and 1867. As an added bonus, the FHL also has the 1930 census records for at least forty-two municipios on microfilm. There are three preliminary steps to take in a successful search for your Zacatecas ancestors: First, you should locate your ancestral town on a map.

Secondly, you need to find out the name of the municipio in which the town was located since civil records were only recorded in the capital city of each municipio. Thirdly, it is important to be aware of the names of adjacent villages where your ancestors may have attended church or baptized
their children. For the first step, it is important to realize that maps of Zacatecas in atlases and tourist brochures only show the largest and most historically
significant cities. For this reason, I strongly advise that you visit a college or university map library to locate a large scale map (preferably 1:250,000). You can also go to Amazon.com and plug in Zacatecas in the book
section. They sell "Guia Roji Mapas Turisticos" for Zacatecas.

A couple of years ago, I was trying to locate the church and civil records for a family that had lived in the small Hacienda de Santa Monica, Zacatecas, during the Nineteenth Century and the first decade of the 1900s. However,
I was unable to find the hacienda on any conventional maps of Zacatecas. My next step was to pay a visit to the UCLA Map Library where I located a
gazetteer of Zacatecas. Having pinpointed the geographic coordinates of Santa Monica in the gazetteer, I subsequently consulted a large-scale present-day map of Zacatecas, which showed Santa Monica as a small town. I made note of the fact that Santa Monica belonged to the municipio of Sain
Alto and was a short distance from the small town of Rio de Medina.

Once I had become familiar with the terrain surrounding Santa Monica, Zacatecas, I was able to check the FHL catalog. I found that the Catholic church records for Rio de Medina went back to 1899. I also checked the FHL inventory for Sain Alto and found that Sain Alto’s civil records went back to
1862, while some of their church records went back to 1792. I was able to locate the family in question in the records of both towns.

The point of this example is to state that a successful search for your Zacatecas ancestors may be contingent on some extracurricular research. If you are able to do the essential footwork and locate your ancestors, you may be able to trace your ancestors clear back to the Seventeenth Century. In
the installments that follow, I plan to discuss the very fascinating history of Zacatecas and the nature of some church and civil archives of certain Zacatecas cities.

Happy hunting.

JP Schmal

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