My Grandmother, Camerina Velez Padilla (Interview)

I decied to sit down with my grandmother and explained to her that I would be interviewing her for my project. My grandmother Camerina Velez Padilla born in a small "Pueblo" as we call it in Mexico, or a town, which is Lagunillas, Michoacan Mexico on July 26, 1934. Her parents went by the name of Domingo Velez, my great grandfather and Loreto Padilla, my great grandmother. When she was growing up she lived on a "Rancho", a ranch, with her other 8 siblings: Zara, Catalina, Lucia, Gracia, ofelia, Gavino, Alfonso, Catarino. She helped her mother maintain and keep the ranch clean and functioning as she described to me that being her everyday routine after school. She helped milk the cows, feed the chickens, gather the eggs, etc. Since my Grandmother lived out in the country she had to take the bus al the way into town to go and come back from school. She only attend school up to the thrid grade where she left school becasue her parents couldn't support her anymore and she had to help out on the ranch with her family. When I asked her about how it was living on a ranch and what there was around, she told me that she loved living on the ranch with her family and that if she still could she wouldn't think of it twice, well back in the day she didnt drive or not even have any transportation so there wasn't much around. She said the closest store was and hour and a half away from where they lived, so either they waited for the bus to come by at 8 am, 12 pm, 5 pm, and 8 pm to come and go into town. When she was 14, she met my grandfather Agapito Munoz and one year later when she turned 15 they married and moved to Mexico City, Mexico. Here in Mexico City my grandmother and grandfather raised their 11 children, here was where all my aunts and uncles including my father went to school. Through out my grandmothers life she told me that the most difficult situation that she had to overcome was when her husband died at the age of 50. This she said was the most tragic situation that has happened to her. Raising 11 children by herself without her husband she said was the most difficult problme she had, but yet she made it work out somehow. Today my grandmother is 77 and is currently living in Mexico City, and very healthy. This interview really opened up my eyes to the stories and the life of my family of which i never knew and i am very thankful that I still have the chance to talk to my grandmother about her past because now I will be able to pass that on to my children and all throughout my family.

Making a food, Flan

Las Pyramides de Teotihuacan en Mexico (The Pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico)

I can honestly say that I am one of the very fortunate and few people in the world that can say I have visited the Teotihuacan Pyramids of Mexico. This national and can maybe even  be considered a global or world wide historic site is the preservation of the great pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico that were built by the Aztec Empire long ago, the city is thought to have been established around 100 BC. The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries, and to this present day still exist and have been kept in the most preserved conditon. This site is said to be historic due to the fact that here in Teotihuacan was where the Aztec Empire and along with the Mayans basically lived and based their entire lifestyles around this "city" of pyramids that they had so how "built" themselves and was considering one of the most advanced civilizations of the current time in both the America's and  in the world. Which has lead many scientist and archivist to question this strange phenomenom. On this national site there are no plaques, the only standing structures are the amazing pyramids that stand as tall as an 8 story building. Although there is being as much done to keep and preserve the pyramids in the best quality as possible, there are some rules that must be followed in order to help preserve these extraordinary structures. For example, there are signs that say to keep off certain pyramids or structures because they are deterioring and falling apart, so in order to prevent this they do have rules ot abide by. Here at the Teotihuacan Pyramids of Mexico there is one partticular reason as to why people from all over the country and the world come to Mexcio to see these incredible pyramids for themselves. The main reason many come to see these pyramids is to witness and walk up "la Pyramide del Sol" or "The Pyramid of the Sun". This pyramid is at about the  equivalent of a 9 to 10 story building, and once you are at the top of the pyramid you are supposed to set you hands on the power source of the sun that gives energy to the pyramid and also fills you body with new and helthy energy, whiping out all of the bad energy that is in your body. I speak from experience, I actually had the chance to climb this enourmous pyramid and set my hands on the source of the pyramid to be "filled with new energy".

Milking a Cow!

I can now say that I got the chance to milk a cow!!!! During thanksgiving at my uncles ranch!

The Genealogy of the "Munoz" Family

Looking back and tracing my family's geanology as far back as my family can remember, my oldest relative betweeen both sides of my family was my great grandmother who happenes to be my mothers grandmother.

She went by the name of Aurora Brena and her husband who was my mothers grandfather, Leandro Brena. My great grandfather died at the age of 89 and my great grandmother died at the age of 60, these were my oldest relatives of both sides of my entire family that I could trace back. One daughter of my great grandparents are my grandmother Estella Brena Pantoja, my grandmothers husband who is my grandfather Enrique Pantoja Alcantara died at the age of 75. Now only my grandmother lives, my mom Lucia Munoz Alcantara is the 2nd oldest of 4 children, my uncle Enrique Pantoja is the youngest, my aunt Rocio Pantoja, and my oldest aunt Gabriella Pantoja. As goes for my father's side of the family my oldest family member of this side is my grandmother Camerina Velez Padilla and my grandfather Agapito Munoz, these were the oldest relative if my geanology of my fathers family that I could trace, as my father was explaining to me his family never really took pictures so therefore there isnt much known of his family except only for those in his family who know and remember people of his family. The children of my grandparents: Roberto, Alfredo,Carlos, Jose Luis, Gilberto, Javier (my dad), Martha, Lourdes, Minerva, Chela, and Elva. All who are my aunts and uncles.

The Salem Lutheran Cemetery

The cemetery that I decided to visit was The Salem Luthern Cemetery that is located in Tomball, TX. This cemetery was started by German immigrant families who cam to the United States and had built the cemetery for their families to use. As time went by the German families moved and eventually donated the cemetery to the Salem Lutheran Church in the year of 1869. Over time after the German immigrants had moved away, the language on the tombstones was changed from German to English and this was done to reflect the dominant language of the area. Yet there are still a few tombstones that are still written in German but the majority of them were in English. Once inside the cemetery I began to walk around to observe the tombstones and take pictures of the cemetery, one thing that I noticed in particular was that there were many Civil War, World War 2, and Korean Vets that were buried here in this cemetery. Along with this observation I read many of the tombstones and also found out that many children and infants died and were buried in the cemetery, but the stange fact was that almost all of the children then were buried here in the cemetery all died before the year 1940 and there were no tombstones that showed children's deaths after the 1940's. As I looked around the cemetery I could not find any famous people who were buried here, but there were three man who died in a accident when a power mill exploded along the creek that runs next to the cemetery, Spring Creek. This was on a plague that was inside the cemetery descrobing the accident and the names of the three men. At the cemetery there was two differnet kinds of stone which were granite and marble tombstones, with the age of the cemetery the condition of the many tombstones were not all in good condition. As seen in the pictures above there were some tombstones that were in very poor conditon, many had mold and were very weathered down. The overall condition of the Salem Lutheran Cemetery was okay taking in consideration how old the land was, and also the cemtery is kept very clean and neat.

The Base Immigrant Roots of the "Munoz" Family

For as long and far back that my family immigrant roots can be traced to Mexico it all began when my aunt Martha Muñoz, who also happens to be my godmother, decided to migrate here to the United States from Michoacan, Mexico in search of a better life for her family and a new experience in her life.
My aunt Martha was the first of my relatives on either side of both of my families to take the risk of migrating to the United States. With my aunt once living here in the United States, my family and I would visit her here in Houston, TX over the holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. With every visit I began to get the feeling that my parents were amazed and seemed more and more convinced to move here to the US, besides the fact that my aunt would try and convince my parents to come live in the US every time we would visit.
Well as time went by I was right, in the summer of 1994 my parents decided to move to Houston, TX from Mexico City, Mexico. For the most part it was my dad's decision to move here to Houston, but also for my family and I to live the so called "American Dream" that all immigrants dream of Living.
As Spanish being the most common language spoken in Mexico, this was the only language that my parents, my brother, and I could speak at the current time. When we first arrived to the United States, I was only 1 year old but my brother on the other hand was 6 years old. For him coming to the US was a challenge having to learn English as it was also for my parents, and from him is whom I learned to speak English which was my second language. Still to this day my mother has not become entirely fluent in English but has learn as much as possible. For my father he had no choice but to learn English due to the fact that here in Houston, TX was where we successfully opened his first very own automotive mechanic shop. Giving my family the American Dream that both my father and family wanted.
When I one day become a father and have a family of my own, I will show and teach my children the ways and traditions of those of which I grew up doing with my family. It is very important that my children learn the traditions and language that I once learned. With the traditions that I have grown up with is crucial that my children learn them simply because these traditions and ideals have been passed down for many generations and I would never want them to end or disappear.

The "Munoz" Family Story

For however long it has been told and written down in historical documentation form the days so far back as early as the 1400's of Mideveal times in Spain, the surname "Munoz" for which both my fathers family and my family has grasped its genealogical and also its immigrant roots from.

The surname of "Munoz" which has been traced all the way back to origins of the 15th century and maybe even earlier in the European country of Spain where the last name "Munoz" had been used for the very first time. Here in Spain was where my family's last name originated, but to be specific the "Munoz's" in Spain settled mostly near cities like La Coruna, Santiago, close to Barcelona in the northern part of Spain. Munoz in Spain isn't very common of a last name used since it is manily found in northern Spain. As i found in archives many Munoz family branches are found all over Latin America, U.S., and Spain because Munoz named ancestors started coming to the America's in the 1500's. One of the main reasons this has happened is because Munoz named conquistadores who were in the conquest of Central America and with the Pizarro Empire in the conquering of the Inca and Aztec Empire in the mid 1500's. With the research I was able to find, Munoz's started immigrating to Mexico in the Bourbon period of the Spanish monarchy, and continued well into the mid 1800's from Spain to Mexico as well as to other places. One Interesting fact that I did find to be very true was that my family is form Mexico City and in the research i found many Munoz's settled and are still setteled in Central Mexico mostly in San Luis Potosi to Mexico City and Veracruz. This information I found to be very accurate since I was born in Mexico City, Mexico and I can compare this information with thay of my fmaily origin.
Looking back at the history of my family's powerful and importnat last name, the only evidence that was left behind and has been passed down through the generations was the "Munoz" Family Crest of Spain and the written document which explains and defines significance of the 'Munoz" surname (top image). Unfortunately there are not any famous people that are related to me but what I can say is that there was one Spanish conquistador who was a  Munoz to have taken this last name. He went by the name of Gonzalo Munoz who arived in San Juan Island in 1511, he was a Spanish Conquistador set out with Pizarro in the Conquring of the America's.