By Carlos A. A. Mendoza
I was wrong or rather, I hastened to terminate the series on my personal reflection about ethnic identity based on my own family history. Turns out, after several months of avoiding "wasting time" in the endless pursuit of information about my ancestors, I found that the Mormons have already accessible via the Internet many of his microfilms of Guatemala. The civil records are available from 1877 to 1934 for almost all municipalities. We're talking more than 2 million images of births, marriages, divorces and deaths.
As I mentioned in my second installment , my Indian ancestry me parecía más evidente –desde el punto de vista del fenotipo– en mi familia paterna, pero no tenía –hasta ayer– alguna evidencia documental al respecto. Los documentos me guiaron hacia mis ancestros mayas yucatecos e itzaes –o, más precisamente, kowoj– y posiblemente aztecas, pero en mi rama materna del árbol genealógico. Ahora, gracias a los documentos que las creencias mormonas han rescatado para la posteridad, encuentro la primera evidencia escrita de mi ascendencia indígena en la Verapaz.
Encontré la partida de nacimiento de una de mis bisabuelas paternas en el Registro Civil de Salamá, Baja Verapaz. Dice así –el énfasis es añadido:
“Partida No.718 folio 173
In the city of Salama, to February 16 of 1898, before the undersigned civil registrar and witnesses assistance, Don Hermenegildo William appeared and said that yesterday at half past three in the Later a daughter legitimate daughter of José María Martínez and Timotea Morales, who put his name Faustina, both indigenous and residents of this city. Before the respondent read the content ratified and signed. López. H. Guillermo. "
contains several notes in the margin. Including for the marriage, in 1945, with Alfonso Mendoza.
Source: Civil Registration Guatemala, 1877-1934, Baja Verapaz, Salama, Births 1896-1902, Image 185. Available in https: / / www.familysearch.org
The image of the paper is as follows:
So it is confirmed in a documentary that I was Indian Cotina bisabuelita Verapaz, although their names is of Castilian origin. Now I find out which group they belonged Mayan parents, meaning my grandparents. My guess is they were from San Miguel Chicaj or Rabinal-overlooked places, thus Quiché-Achi ', but I should not rule out the possibility that they might be Poqomchi 'and Q'eqchi', and Salama have reached the North. I do not know.
interesting thing is when we saw the birth of my grandfather (1916), he has already been classified in the Civil Register as Ladino, ie inheriting his father's ethnic identity and not that of his maternal grandparents. Certainly, I find the family of my grandfather some indigenous cultural marker itself. So, sadly, in the course of two generations of indigenous identity was lost, but never geographic or regional level of bajaverapacenses.
Purulhá My dad was born in and grew up in Salamá to twelve years, when he was sent by their parents to Guatemala City to continue their secondary education "in the Central Normal School for Boys. In this new context is that he always remembers his grandmother as a strict woman who raised him in those difficult years of transition as a teenager and in the Capital.
graduation picture of my dad as a teacher (right). Accompanying my grandfather (left) and a brother of my dad (center). Circa 1959.
The 5 previous installments here:
What is my ethnicity? (5th and final part)
18 May 2010
What is my ethnicity? (4th part)
February 3, 2010
What is my ethnicity? (3rd part)
October 8, 2009
What is my ethnicity? (Part 2) 15 September 2009
What is my ethnicity? (Part 1) 06 May 2009
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