The WikiTree Challenge 2022 Challenge 9

Date: 28 Apr 2022 to 5 May 2022
Surnames/tags: wikitree_challenge challenges Parra

Contents 1 WikiTree Challenge Week 9 1.1 Notes From The Guest 1.2 Needs Work 1.3 Photographs 1.4 FamilySearch Image Look-ups 2 Tell Us What You Found!! 2.1 Interesting Finds 2.2 Free Space Pages 2.3 Military Profiles 3 Ancestors 3.1 Brick Walls 3.1.1 Paternal Brick Walls 3.1.2 Maternal Brick Walls 4 Resources

WikiTree Challenge Week 9

Guest Star: Derek Parra

Notes From The Guest

• He was raised in his father's home. His dad was dating someone when he was younger, then remarried when he was about 8 or 10. He has a younger brother (he was 10 or 12), then a younger sister born after that. He doesn't get along with his older brother now; they don't talk. He is closest to his sister.
• His father didn't appreciate his book, but he explained that he needed to tell his truth. Now that he's older, he understands that they love him no matter how they parented him as a child. He is thankful that things were hard, because it taught him to survive when he was poor.
• His dad's parents (Pablo & Bebba/Genevieve) he saw all the time. They watched us a lot, and really they raised us. His uncle Pat would tease us a lot, just kids being kids. His grandma really protected him as he was so small.
• He didn't see his mom's family much, only when she came to town and took us to visit them. She had 10 or 11 siblings, so it was a big family.
• There wasn't any real branching out into the family. His grandparents loved him unconditionally, where he didn't get that from anyone else.
• His family really didn't impart the importance of family. Major holidays when he was younger, had a few relatives there, but they weren't memorable. His good family memories came later when families around him (his friends families) took him in like one of their own, and he realized that not all families were like his. The Doolies were one of those families.
• He never really learned about their culture. He doesn't speak Spanish, and he was never taught to cook 'family' recipes, like his favorite (enchiladas).
• His daughter is 20 now, and he tries to do everything with her that he didn't get (communicate, express affection, cook together, etc).
• He doesn't know the names of his great-grandparents, he never met his greats. His great-grandma on his dad's side they called "Ma-maw." Her husband died before he was born, or around them. I remember her making Menudo. He had his dad's parents as his grandparents, and that was all he really new. His mom's mother didn't speak English, and he didn't speak Spanish, so the one trip they took was really awkward.
• He took a DNA test through 23andMe but hasn't gotten the results back, or he would have let us look at his matches.
• He isn't setting limits on who we research (so please follow challenge standards on not creating recently deceased ancestors, and not listing children on profiles that may be living). If you have questions on closer ancestors, please message me directly.
• He wants to know if he has any Dutch genes.

Needs Work

Photographs

Note: Please check with your captain, Christine Daniels, if there are any questions about the images being protected by copyright.

• add image link here

FamilySearch Image Look-ups

Tell Us What You Found!!

Interesting Finds

List interesting finds to share with the guest at the end of the week

1. That Derek's great grand uncle, Baldomero Diaz was living in Saint Joseph, Missouri and paid the money for his brother (Derek's great grandfather) Gilberto Diaz, his first wife, Agustina, their daughter, Luz and his sister-in-law, Maria Jaquez to come to the United States. They crossed the border at El Paso, Texas. They did make it to Saint Jospeh as their son, Jorge was born there.
2. Gilberto's wife Juana (Nuñez Mendoza) Diaz (1907-1995), outlived him by twenty-seven years, never remarrying. She was survived by six sons and four daughters, as well as her brother, Lalo Mendoza, thirty-five grandchildren, fifty-six great-grandchildren, and thirty great-great-grandchildren! (Liz Carson)
3. Pedro Serrano (1881-1964), Derek's great-grandfather, came to the United States on foot (we learn from his Application for Resident Alien's Border Crossing Identification Card issued 23 Aug 1949 in Los Angeles, California.) He entered the country lawfully at El Paso, Texas on foot on 18 May 1901 after traveling from his hometown of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico (some 800 miles to the SSW. He may have travelled via train like some of his other relatives did. We do not know. But we do know he arrived on foot.) In 1930 they rented their home for $7 a month and did not have a radio. Pedro was a blacksmith for a steam railway, Vicenta was the proprietress of a hotel, Brigida was a law office helper, and Jesus was a tire repairer at a garage.
4. Derek's great grandfather Cipriano Parra (1875-1933) had a wide variety of occupations during his lifetime: day laborer, wood chopper, laborer for County Road Department, farmer, Bailey School janitor, and street sweeper.
5. Paula Guerra (1885-1930) was a United States citizen, born in Texas. She married Cipriano Parra in 1906. The following year the Expatriation Act of 1907 was passed by the United States Congress. The law stated that women who were United States citizens lost their citizenship and in most cases were required to take on the citizenship of their husband. Since Cipriano had not become a naturalized citizen of the United States, that happened. The law was not repealed until the Nationality Act of 1940.
6. Derek's great-granduncle, Secundino Guerra (1890-1956) died in a rather unfortunate manner; he lost control of his tractor one day while working on his farm, & it fell into a drainage ditch, killing him instantly by decapitating him.
7. A 2c4r of Derek was Abraham González Casavantes, a politician & one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution in Chihuahua. González was considered a mentor to Pancho Villa, & served as Governor of Chihuahua until he was arrested in 1913 by Huerta, the new President of Mexico who had taken power through a violent coup against the revolutionary & democratically-elected Madero government that González supported. Under the guise of transferring him to a Ciudad de Mexico prison, Huerta had his officials murder González along the train tracks en route to that location.
8. Maria Ascencion Estrada was 14-years-old when she married Derek’s 3rd great grandfather Lino Guerra in January 1880. He was in his 50s, his first wife Claudia Sanches had died in 1876, she had been the mother of at least seven children born between 1847 and 1868. Ascencion would have eight more children between 1883 and 1896, the last born when Lino was in his mid-70s. Only three of Ascencion’s children lived to be adults.
9. Derek's grand uncle Private John Diaz was a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippines and was among the 139 men killed in the Palawan Massacre in a Japanese prison camp on 14 Dec 1944.^[1]
10. Derek's grand uncle Staff Sergeant Felix Diaz was gunner on a bomber. He died after being hit by shrapnel over Germany. The rest of the crew was able to parachute and survived.^[2]
11. In June 1956, Derek's great uncle Baldomero Diaz Muñoz had "the most distinguished beard" at the Osage, Iowa 100th anniversary parade.
12. Esquipulas Rascón Brother of María Concepción Rascón Derek's Great Great Grandmother raised Goats in New Mexico which is still popular today. He died in 1910 from a self inflicted stab wound. His Son Francisco Rascon had a stock ranch in New Mexico.
13. Alonso Rangel de Loaysa was an early migrant. He left Spain to Mexico in the 1500s. He is Derek's 12th great grandfather (Paternal) Finder Austin Pérez (Pérez-224)
14. Diego Romo de Vivar also through is Paternal side. He is Derek's tenth great grandfather, He migrated from Spain C early 1600s Finder Austin Pérez (Pérez-224)
15. Capitán Luis Tiscareño de Molina Luis another Paternal Ancestor is the 11th great grandfather of Derek. He left Spain to Mexico in the early 1600s. Finder Austin Pérez (Pérez-224).
16. 12th great grandfather of Derek. Lope Ruiz de Esparza ledt Spain to Mexico in the late 1500s. He even as his own Wikipedia Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_Ruiz_de_Esparza Finder Austin Pérez (Pérez-224).
17. Don Lope Ruiz de Esparza (above) married Ana Francisca de Gabay y Moctezuma, daughter of Martín de Gabay and doña Petronila de Moctezuma, believed by most experts to be a direct lineal descendant of the last Emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma II.

Free Space Pages

List of Free Space Pages created for or linked to members of this family.

• Presidio Chapel of San Elizario
• The Baldomero Diaz Family

Military Profiles

Did any of the guests' family serve in the military or military conflicts?

TEXAS INDIAN WARS

• Derek's 3rd great grandfather Lino Guerra served in Company D of the Texas Frontier Forces from 1870 to 1871, defending against Native American attacks.

WORLD WAR 1

• Derek’s great-grandfather Cipriano Parra’s sister Espectacion’s son Pedro K. Maese (1898-1955) served as a Private in Company M of the 64th United States Infantry during World War I (profile has a nice photo from newspaper).
• Derek's great grandmother's brother Sabino Guerra served in the United States Army during World War I.

WORLD WAR II

• In August 1942, Derek’s grandfather Pablo Parra, his grandfather’s three brothers: Francisco Parra, Jose Ruperto Parra, and Cipriano Parra, along with their first cousin Fidel Parra, were all serving in the United States Army during World War II (Parra-268 has newspaper article with photos). The fourth Parra brother Sabino Parra also served in World War II.
• From December 1940 through November 1943 Derek's grand uncles John Diaz, Lupe Diaz, Phillip Diaz, Felix Diaz, Richard Diaz and their half brother, Alvin Davila were in the US Army during WWII.

Ancestors

Brick Walls

Remember to claim any brick wall bounties in the G2G!

Paternal Brick Walls

1. Paula Durán (abt.1822-)
2. Sisto Guerra (abt.1800-)
3. Ramón Martínez (abt.1805-)
4. Fermin Nuñez (abt.1880-)

Maternal Brick Walls

1. Juan Moreno (abt.1805-1876)
2. Marcos Ruiz (abt.1779-abt.1859)
3. (father of Francisca (Mediano) Serrano (1907-))
4. María Concepción Rascón (abt.1839-)

Resources

• Dispensations - Guadalajara, Mexico the archives of the Catholic Diocese of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
• Dispensations - Valladolid, Mexico Now Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico
• Guadalajara Marriage Indexes
• Introduction to Hispanic Research Free webinar from FamilySearch
• Mexico Baptisms, 1560-1950 FamilySearch
• Mexico Deaths, 1680-1940 FamilySearch
• Mexico Historical Records FamilySearch
• Mexico Marriages, 1570-1950 FamilySearch
• Mexican Newspaper Archives website
• Mexico Project on WikiTree
• Online Resources for Mexico Free webinar from FamilySearch
• Spanish Naming Conventions guidelines
• Spanish Vital Record Translations This resource on WikiTree was created by members from four countries, and will aide in records from Mexico as well as Spain. It teaches you what to look for in a vital record, and provides a Glossary of often-used terms
• U.S. Hispanic Immigration Free webinar from FamilySearch
• WikiTree BEE App This will allow you to change the settings so that it automatically selects "No middle name" when you work on a profile. It also allows you to add a stub bio so you can add to it and create nice narrative. There is a WikiTree BEE extension available for Chrome and Firefox users.