Some family/Mexican/American history

[Brisketexan 104511]

My old man was digging through some old stuff over the holidays, and brought some of it over to our house at Christmas to check out. It prompted some discussions about family history. For example, our family had places in Mexico City and Del Rio in the early 1900s. But we were closely aligned with the Porfirio Diaz regime, so once the revolution got hot enough, we had to scoot from the DF. For a time during the fighting, it was really only safe for the kids to be out in the streets, as the combatants would leave them alone. You know that famous picture of Zapata and Villa in the presidential palace, as the revolutionaries took it? Family legend is that my grandfather (a kid at the time) was in the next room at the time, along with many other locals just checking shit out:

 

 

(Photo from the web, it’s not one of ours)

 

But being aligned with the Diaz regime, we had some cool shit, like these Mexican centennial postcards:

 

 

And on one of my grandfather’s stays in Del Rio, he was quite worried about his chickens, who he had left back in the DF in his sister’s care (note sent on a Diaz postcard, of course):

 

 

It’s good to hop that non of your chickens has dide, I think we can all agree.

 

We left the DF during the revolution under a flag of truce, and although some family members live there now, it took them a long time to return.

 

A really cool bit of Del Rio history to follow….

[Brisketexan 104511]

We also have a Val Verde county book, kind of a “promo material” put out by the county, from 1900 (it says 1800 on the cover…presume that’s a typo).

Check out one of the ads:




It also lists local economic activity, including in the little town across the river, Las Vacas (later to be Acuna). Shows that my great great uncle owned 1000 head of goats, which led to another family story. There was a big time livestock rustler operating on the border at the time, and he stole some of our stock (well, it was known, but couldn’t be proven). My other great great uncle was the police chief of Juarez at the time, and he encountered said rustler on the street one time. Words were exchanged, he told the rustler that the next time he saw him, he was gonna kill him. Which is not a smart threat….as the rustler decided to avoid that outcome, and soon after ambushed and killed my great great uncle.
Moral of the story: never tell someone you’re going to kill them. Just kill them.

[Brisketexan 104511]

More images from Del Rio from around that time (early 1900s):




And a reminder that we (like many) were people of both sides of the border, both Mexican and American. And around that time, another big event was taking place:

[RDCanecutter 26245]

24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Moral of the story: never tell someone you’re going to kill them. Just kill them.

Can't remember how many times I've overheard some upset student talking about how they were gonna "kill" so-and-so.

I'm always like "Don't say that. That's how they prove First Degree Murder."

Back to the theme of Ancient Days, one great-great-uncle was a professor at what later became Vanderbilt. Some dude was sneakin around to see uncle's wife. Uncle told dude "If I ever see you again, I'll shoot you and kick your body into the gutter." They say that uncle would have gotten away with just shooting the guy, which he later did, but the fact that he actually kicked the guy into the gutter complicated the case and forced the family to sell land to lawyer uncle out of the situation.

[RDCanecutter 26245]

Back to Mexico, Don Brisquete, I don't know how current your Meskin is but one way to whip it into shape would be enjoying Mariano Azuela's Las tribulaciones de una familia decente. Azuela was a university student who got swept up as a medic for a band of illiterate revolutionaries, then later became a doctor in a Mexico City slum. Anyway, the family in the story are Huerta supporters from Zacatecas who flee to Mexico City, where they navigate getting knocked down a few pegs in the new order.

Louise Lilly McBride made an English translation for your convenience in 1951.

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3246&context=etd

[Not a cat 5612]

56 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

There was a big time livestock rustler operating on the border at the time, and he stole some of our stock 

These guys?

[butthurt 1520]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Moral of the story: never tell someone you’re going to kill them. Just kill them.

[Armybrat 40695]

Cool stories.

All I have is this Winchester 1894 (made in 1914) that my dad bought from an old caballero who owned a coin shop in Monterrey up until the early 1960s. He was getting ready to close shop & retire, so he sold a lot of his things off.

Anyway, the old gent claimed he was with Carranza’s forces in the revolution and carried this rifle. He also claimed his twin brother rode with Villa.

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13543]

Very cool. Stupid question amnesty- What's "DF"?

[pantone159 712]

5 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Stupid question amnesty- What's "DF"?

Distrito Federal, aka Mexico City, or the semi-state that most of the city is part of. (Kind of like DC in a way.)

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13543]

6 minutes ago, pantone159 said:

Distrito Federal, aka Mexico City, or the semi-state that most of the city is part of. (Kind of like DC in a way.)

Thanks. Stuff like this as you get older gives you a greater appreciation of how compressed what as a kid you thought was far away history. 

Come this August, it will be the 43 year anniversary of MTV's debut. Using the 1910 year in one of the pics as a time mark - move forward 43 years and Elvis is walking into Sun Records to make his first recording. Go back 43 years from that and Congress is passing the first Reconstruction Act. 

[RDCanecutter 26245]

1 hour ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Thanks. Stuff like this as you get older gives you a greater appreciation of how compressed what as a kid you thought was far away history. 

Come this August, it will be the 43 year anniversary of MTV's debut. Using the 1910 year in one of the pics as a time mark - move forward 43 years and Elvis is walking into Sun Records to make his first recording. Go back 43 years from that and Congress is passing the first Reconstruction Act. 

You want some real fun, figure out how many years it's been since your high school graduation. Then subtract that same number of years from the graduation year. eg The kids on Dazed and Confused are about as close to Hitler's rise to power as they are to today. Maybe this is their grandmother:

 

 

[Gatorubet 30081]

All of my grandparents were born in the 1880s.  This makes my self-image as a non-old much, much harder to carry off.

Here is my grandmother, the sexy fox that she was:

 

[RDCanecutter 26245]

Just now, Gatorubet said:

All of my grandparents were born in the 1880s.  This makes my self-image as a non-old much, much harder to carry off.

Here is my grandmother, the sexy fox that she was:

 

1,1

[Gatorubet 30081]

Pussy as a recruiting inducement is as powerful a PR strategy as can be devised for 18 yo males. Kudos to Don Draper’s dad.

[miguelito 11207]

When my people came over, 

 

[Gatorubet 30081]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

1,1

To be fair, none of us today have witnessed a woman removing her whalebone corset in a slow dance, all the while provocatively holding a bottle of Dr. Thompson‘s Ladies Love Lotion purchased from a gypsy on a horse-drawn cart. 

Well, except Army Brat. 

[F250 28665]

8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

 

My old man was digging through some old stuff over the holidays, and brought some of it over to our house at Christmas to check out. It prompted some discussions about family history. For example, our family had places in Mexico City and Del Rio in the early 1900s. But we were closely aligned with the Porfirio Diaz regime, so once the revolution got hot enough, we had to scoot from the DF. For a time during the fighting, it was really only safe for the kids to be out in the streets, as the combatants would leave them alone. You know that famous picture of Zapata and Villa in the presidential palace, as the revolutionaries took it? Family legend is that my grandfather (a kid at the time) was in the next room at the time, along with many other locals just checking shit out:

 

 

(Photo from the web, it’s not one of ours)

 

But being aligned with the Diaz regime, we had some cool shit, like these Mexican centennial postcards:

 

 

And on one of my grandfather’s stays in Del Rio, he was quite worried about his chickens, who he had left back in the DF in his sister’s care (note sent on a Diaz postcard, of course):

 

 

It’s good to hop that non of your chickens has dide, I think we can all agree.

 

We left the DF during the revolution under a flag of truce, and although some family members live there now, it took them a long time to return.

 

A really cool bit of Del Rio history to follow….

 

Cool story. I was raised to despise Pancho Villa and all the morenos. My great grand father was a small child when they were forced off of their property in Mexico. We have some family that returned to reclaim lost property in the 1950's.

Things get really interesting when discussing the theft of property by the whites on the Texas side.

 

[F250 28665]

2 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

All of my grandparents were born in the 1880s.  This makes my self-image as a non-old much, much harder to carry off.

Here is my grandmother, the sexy fox that she was:

 

Your grandma would get it, musky pelt and all.

Also, holy shit, you are Brat old.

[Gatorubet 30081]

10 minutes ago, F250 said:

Your grandma would get it, musky pelt and all.

Also, holy shit, you are Brat old.

Not quite Brat old.  For reasons unknown my family breeds like Galapagos tortoises.  We usually have kids in our 40s or 50s. There are no 36 year old grandmas like Bobert in the Ubet family.  

Still, vague young boy memory of President Ike on my folks’ black and white tv.  So most def old-ish.   Pictures of my dad’s Sherman tank was a clue. 

[Tailgate 3017]

Good learnings today with our guide in CDMX. Never knew…

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-mexico-loved-lincoln-180962258/

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13543]

3 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

All of my grandparents were born in the 1880s.  This makes my self-image as a non-old much, much harder to carry off.

Here is my grandmother, the sexy fox that she was:

 

'sup

[chainsaw 9835]

5 hours ago, pantone159 said:

Distrito Federal, aka Mexico City, or the semi-state that most of the city is part of. (Kind of like DC in a way.)

was a part of.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170721155716/https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/federal-district-is-now-officially-mexico-city/

[Willfully Horn 7913]

Wife’s grandfather and grandmother met and married in Torreón, and were warned to leave the country. Family lore claims the warning came from Villa, himself. 

[Rockwell Torrey 1277]

8 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

To be fair, none of us today have witnessed a woman removing her whalebone corset in a slow dance, all the while provocatively holding a bottle of Dr. Thompson‘s Ladies Love Lotion purchased from a gypsy on a horse-drawn cart. 

Reads like turn of the (last) century Penthouse Forum. 

[Armybrat 40695]

8 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

To be fair, none of us today have witnessed a woman removing her whalebone corset in a slow dance, all the while provocatively holding a bottle of Dr. Thompson‘s Ladies Love Lotion purchased from a gypsy on a horse-drawn cart. 

Well, except Army Brat. 

Grandma Maggie didn’t need any stinkin’ love potion…. she was a sweet lady who didn’t put up with any crap. 
Here she is, all hot to trot on her 21st birthday in 1898.

 

[Armybrat 40695]

8 hours ago, F250 said:

 

Things get really interesting when discussing the theft of property by the whites on the Texas side.

 

And then I’ll bet those damned gringos used it to start a “pigs for rent” business - despite what their sign proclaimed.

[Longhornstampede 3173]

Posted this pic in another thread before. Center is my great grandfather, 2nd from left is my grandfather. He was born in Mexico in 1900 and my Great grandparents brought the children over to flee from Villas revolution. This picture was taken on a ranch near Del Rio where they lived. My grandfather and his brother look to be in their teens(standing, far left) and married 2 sisters and lived the rest of their days on Bean Street in Del Rio. Both brothers worked for ranchers in the area so I got to spend a lot of time hunting and fishing out there. Some of the best catfish I've ever caught came out of Pinto Creek! I was born in the hospital on Laughlin AFB and spent most of my life in Del Rio. That's some cool stuff you posted @Brisketexan

Edited December 31, 2023 by Longhornstampede

[Armybrat 40695]

FWIW - my nephew & his yankee wife adopted a pure blood little Mayan baby girl out of Guatemala years ago.

She recently graduated from a Cincinnati high school where they’ve lived, but are fixin’ to move to Central Texas.

[Gatorubet 30081]

10 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Grandma Maggie didn’t need any stinkin’ love potion…. 

You need to blow up Maggie’s picture and look at her face. That glow is likely related to Dr. Thompson’s Genuine Ivory Carved Gentleman Friend. 

The Gypsy peddler covered a large territory. 

[Armybrat 40695]

No dildos for Grandma…. she was French.

[Gatorubet 30081]

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

No dildos for Grandma…. she was French.

[luke duke 6381]

No dildos for Grandma…. she was French.

I think they called them French Ticklers.

[Brisketexan 104511]

Amendment to my earlier story about the GG Uncle - I heard it wrong (to be fair, it was recited in spanglish).  Turns out, GG uncle was just a local fellow, pissed off that said rustler was taking his brother's livestock (and lots of stock from their friends and neighbors).  Encountered rustler at a crossroads, told him that if he saw him in that area again (Del Rio/Acuna), he'd kill him.  Some months later....he comes across rustler in the area, and shoots him dead, plain old vigilante justice (and not exactly legal).  The local ranchers gather some money together so GG uncle could GTFO there.  He departed to Juarez.  Where he eventually became the police chief.  He was indeed killed while he was the chief, but it was just a "in the line of duty" thing, not a "rustler got the drop on him because the chief had threatened him."  I mean, in both versions of the story, he ends up dead, so it probably doesn't matter to him.

[Armybrat 40695]

 

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Amendment to my earlier story about the GG Uncle - I heard it wrong (to be fair, it was recited in spanglish).  Turns out, GG uncle was just a local fellow, pissed off that said rustler was taking his brother's livestock (and lots of stock from their friends and neighbors).  Encountered rustler at a crossroads, told him that if he saw him in that area again (Del Rio/Acuna), he'd kill him.  Some months later....he comes across rustler in the area, and shoots him dead, plain old vigilante justice (and not exactly legal).  The local ranchers gather some money together so GG uncle could GTFO there.  He departed to Juarez.  Where he eventually became the police chief.  He was indeed killed while he was the chief, but it was just a "in the line of duty" thing, not a "rustler got the drop on him because the chief had threatened him."  I mean, in both versions of the story, he ends up dead, so it probably doesn't matter to him.

Which relative did your .38 revolver belong to?

[Brisketexan 104511]

Just now, Armybrat said:

 

Which relative did your .38 revolver belong to?

It belonged to my mom's adoptive father (the man I knew as my grandfather).  He used it to shoot himself when the time came.

It did NOT belong to the man I THOUGHT was my natural grandfather (an abusive NOLA alcoholic, who was my mom's father till her mom left him and ran away to S. Texas).

Nor did it belong to my ACTUAL natural grandfather....a randy NOLA physician who had a penchant for screwing and impregnating his patients (including my, ummm, apparently quite persuadable grandmother).

My NOLA family history may be sketchier than my mexican family history.  I do have an old .32 revolver from the Mexican side, provenance unknown.  I've never fired it (have you found .32 ammo around the past century?  I sure haven't).

[Armybrat 40695]

14 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It belonged to my mom's adoptive father (the man I knew as my grandfather).  He used it to shoot himself when the time came.

It did NOT belong to the man I THOUGHT was my natural grandfather (an abusive NOLA alcoholic, who was my mom's father till her mom left him and ran away to S. Texas).

Nor did it belong to my ACTUAL natural grandfather....a randy NOLA physician who had a penchant for screwing and impregnating his patients (including my, ummm, apparently quite persuadable grandmother).

My NOLA family history may be sketchier than my mexican family history.  I do have an old .32 revolver from the Mexican side, provenance unknown.  I've never fired it (have you found .32 ammo around the past century?  I sure haven't).

Yes, I found a few boxes of S&W Long at Academy just before the pandemic. 
It can be fired through a .327 magnum.

Says here there is some at the Research 183/Oak Knoll store.

https://www.academy.com/p/aguila-ammunition-32-s-w-long-98-grain-centerfire-ammunition-50-rounds

Edited January 2 by Armybrat

[RDCanecutter 26245]

My dad had a fake M-16 that shot .32 pistol ammo.

Its origin was a mystery to me and so was its disappearance.

[Armybrat 40695]

6 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

My dad had a fake M-16 that shot .32 pistol ammo.

Its origin was a mystery to me and so was its disappearance.

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/products/63860-armi-jager-ap74-32-acp-caliber-rifle-rare-italian-made-ar-style-rifle-in-scarce-32-acp-caliber-very-good-condition-r10092.html

[RDCanecutter 26245]

2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/products/63860-armi-jager-ap74-32-acp-caliber-rifle-rare-italian-made-ar-style-rifle-in-scarce-32-acp-caliber-very-good-condition-r10092.html

Looks about right. That was back during my Dad's homemade-witness-relocation days. I was told some garbled story about how he was never going to Mexico again, ever. Another family member mentioned the family being chased north on the interstate. Then, in another tale that ties in with all that, appears to be that they made it home to the Hill Country, my Dad got this .32 cal faux-16 and showed himself to whoever was coming over the rise. They left. May not have happened like that, but I doubt Beowulf actually wrassled with Grendel. We still sing about it in the mead halls.