El Paso

The impetus for the trip was to get connected to what's left of my grandmother's family in El Paso del Norte and Ciudad Juarez.


My mom had warned me that my Tia Romelia (note unspecific "tia" designation for me and "cousin" designation for my dad) would not want us to cross into Juarez -- she has never wanted to go over there with my parents on their previous visits. I was game to do it - although it would have been better to have a guide. I asked my dad to write a letter to the cousin he remembered in Juarez in the hopes that they would at least offer to meet with us somewhere -- maybe even in El Paso. But he didn't get around to writing the letter -- even though we have been planning the trip since August.


As if to warn us, the day before we left, the State Department issued a travel advisory asking that Americans not pass over into Juarez. Apparently the violence had escalated to daytime shootings at the mall and a proliferation of carjackings.

So, I put the plans for visiting Juarez on the back burner -- I didn't want Romelia to be worried or anything to happen to my parents on my watch -- I wasn't sure how to go about researching genealogy in Juarez anyway. But, I would have loved to see the land/house my great-grandfather had owned and hear the recollections of my parents as they both had visited with my grandparents in the 60's and 70's -- before my time. Being in the place sparks memories for them that they don't otherwise share.

I thought we might be able to get some information from my Tia Romelia in any case. My parents had dug out several typed sheets of paper with Romelia's family tree. I scanned them, but there was no connection I could see to my father's mother. When I asked Romelia, she said, my mother and your grandmother were cousins. Great, but how?? After lots of complicated explanations that meant nothing or simply shrugging her shoulders, she tells me, we were related on both sides. Um... both sides? My grandmother and grandfather? My great grandmother and great grandfather?

After many tries asking the question in different ways, I finally decided to just build trees for anyone that she remembered. In that way, I might have another piece of the puzzle that I could use at some later date or compare to other people's recollections. I wasn't sure who else might have information, but there wasn't anything else for me in El Paso.

Next stop, the cemetery -- maybe I will find the date of my great grandmother's death and therefore help me find records on my grandmother in Santa Fe.