We Are Cousins - South Texas and Northeastern Mexico Genealogy

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Family Tree Builder - My Favorite Genealogy Software

I have been using Family Tree Builder since I can remember, for sure since before 2005. As time goes on it has evolved and for the good. If you are looking for a good program to manage your family's information you are in luck. This program is completely free, and if you ever want to get its full functionality you can, but then you would have to pay extra. So far I am very happy with the free version and have not seen the need to upgrade. Give it a try. I have tried several paid programs and won't mention them but I just feel (my own opinion) that they are too cluttered and navigation is kind of cumbersome. I currently manage over 15,000 names and Hundreds of Photos and Documents with it.

Family Tree Builder in Action with sample Gedcom:

Download the free software:
http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

1881 index of Marriages in Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

The following is the 1881 index image of marriages of the Civil Registry of Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon Mexico. Please note that the official at that time just listed the names that appeared on that year by male or female and in alphabetical order. I listed them in male and female columns and wrote their last name followed by first name.

Cut out of Original Image:

FamilySearch > Mexico, Nuevo León, Civil Registration, 1859-1962 > Los Aldamas > Matrimonios 1881-1901 Pages 1 -34

Transcription of names from above image:

Males: Females:

Martinez, Asension Cantu, Alejandra

Guerra, Anastacio En , Angeles

Salinas, Andres Reyna, Antonia

Lopez, Antonio Alanis, Andrea

Garcia, Antonio Vela, Eclilia

Trevino, Blas M , Florencia

Garza, Bacilio Maldonado, Francisca

Pena, Victor Ramos, Francisca

Alanis, Bonifacio Salinas, Hermenegilda

Castillo, Francisco Elisondo, Ysabel

Alanis, Felipe Pena, Ysabel

Cantu, Guadalupe Ledesma, Juana

Pena, Gabriel Reyna, Jesusa

Leal, Higinio Rangel, Leocadia

Castillo, Juan Ayala, Nestora

Salinas, Lumano Resesndes, Natividad

Rios, Macario Pena, Nieves

Barrera, Matias Garcia, Paula

Cantu, Narciso Rios, Refugio

Garza, Pablo Elisondo, Rafaela

Sanchez, Pedro Cantu, Susana

Lopes, Refugio Cantu, Sanjuana

Carrion, Santiago Pena, Tiburcia

Source: FamilySearch

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Victor Garcia and Guadalupe Alanis – A Love Story

This guest post is brought to you by Michael Garcia.

After reading a recent post by Moises about his great grandparents’ relationship, I thought I would follow in kind and share a love story from my own family’s history. The following story was told to me by my aunt, with additional information added by her cousin:

My grandfather Victor Garcia was born in 1926 in Los Aldamas, Nuevo León. When Victor was 10 years old his father, Bernardo, died from a gangrenous infection. After his father’s death Victor started traveling between Mexico and the U.S. as a migrant worker.

As a young man Victor fell in love with a beautiful girl from Los Aldamas named Guadalupe Alanis. Victor would later describe her to his daughter (my aunt) as being very beautiful with black hair and green eyes. Victor asked Guadalupe to marry him and she agreed. Needing money to build a life together Victor returned to the U.S. for work. When Victor returned to Los Aldamas he discovered that while he was gone Guadalupe had passed away from tuberculosis.

Distraught over Guadalupe’s passing Victor left Los Aldamas. A year later Victor met and married a girl (my grandmother) he had met in Texas and spent the next 50 years of his life with her.

Using the information I got from the story I tried to find any additional information about Guadalupe. All my aunt knew was what she had heard from my grandfather – and that Guadalupe had a brother named Jose. I searched the 1930 Mexico Census and found two girls around my grandfather’s age in Los Aldamas, both of which had brothers named Jose.

Guadalupe Alanis #1 was born on December 5, 1928 to Antonio Alanis and Maria Alanis and lived just one street over from my grandfather as a child. Her known siblings were: Dorotea (1915), Rosa (1917), Josefa (1918), Carmen (1920), Jose (1921), Antonio (1922), and Ubaldo (1925).

Guadalupe Alanis #2 was born on May 23, 1929 to Alejandro Alanis and Maria Luis Pena and lived a couple of miles from Los Aldamas in Estacion Aldamas. Her known siblings were: Ramon (1920), Alejandro (1922), Jose (1924), and Maria (1926).

Apart from the above information I could only assume that since my grandparents were married in 1949 Guadalupe most likely died between 1946-1948.

If anyone knows anything about this story, or is perhaps related to either of these Alanis families please let me know.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Crimson Editor for Genealogy

Ok i'll be honest this might not be nearly remotely related to genealogy, unless you count modifying your genealogy website, then it is a great tool. I use Crimson Editor to modify the template to this website. Also it is excellent to modifying templates for Wordpress. I discovered this great tool years ago and use it to develop and modify websites.

It also provides search functionality to search text within text files or if you need to replace a certain word on multiple documents. Best thins it highlights in different colors markup languages.

Best of all it is completely free!

Description from their website:

Crimson Editor is a professional source code editor for Windows.

This program is not only fast in loading time, but also small in size (so small that it can be copied in one floppy disk).

While it can serve as a good replacement for Notepad, it also offers many powerful features for programming languages such as HTML, C/C++, Perl and Java.

Syntax Highlighting for HTML, C/C++, Perl, Java, Matlab and LaTeX. Also, it can be extended for other programming languages based on custom syntax files.

Other features include undo/redo, user tools, macros, spell checker and more.

Get Crimson Editor:
http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

Sunday, November 13, 2011

1923 Marriages of Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

The following images are of the index of the marriages that took place in Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon, Mexico in 1923.

FamilySearch > Mexico, Nuevo León, Civil Registration, 1859-1962 > Los Aldamas > Matrimonios 1909-1923

Marriages for 1923

I have transcribed the names in the above document and have matched each couple to make it easier to search for them.

Number Page Male Female

12 16 Salinas, Antonio Tanguma, Guadalupe

13 20 Garcia, Apolonio Rios, Rafaela

18 28 Salinas, Benigno Salinas, Maria

4 6 Trevino, Catarina Guerra, Cesarea

8 11 Trevino, Emeterio Garcia, Martina

15 22 Garza, Espiridion Garcia, Felipa

16 22 Ramirez, Francisco Guerra, Juana

19 29 Martinez, Felipe Garza, Josefa

6 8 Aguilar, Gumercindo Salinas, Eufemia

10 14 Lozano, Guadalupe Pena, Maria

29 41 Leal, Guadalupe Pena, Maria E.

28 39 Alanis, Hipolito Narela, Margarita

7 10 Lopez, Jose Alanis, Guadalupe

11 15 Alanis, Jesus Alanis, Elisa

22 31 Salinas, Jose Pena, Ynes

25 37 Flores, Jose Maria Pena, Leonides

21 30 Vasquez, Luis Garcia, Jesusa

27 38 Garza, Luis Cantu, Beatriz

2 3 Garza, Nazario Rios, Paula

3 5 Loepz, Narciso Alanis, Martina

23 32 Lopez, Pablo Garza, Conrada

24 33 Lopez, Panfilo Salinas, Gullerma

26 37 Manzanares, Pablo Carillo, Josefa

30 44 Rios, Pablo Rios, Catarina

1 3 Lopez, Roberto Salinas, Olivia

14 21 Guerra, Regino Garza, Concepcion

20 29 Garza, Regino Salinas, Eulalia

5 7 Leal, Trinidad Salinas, Ramona

9 13 Salinas, Trinidad Rios, Ernestina

17 23 Zarate, Tomas Garcia, Juana

Source: FamilySearch

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Updated the Resources Page

I have just finished updating the resource page on this blog. I will be doing the updates once a month, that way I list every resource I mention the previous month. Check them out, by the way should I some how mark the new resources added with new label or just list them with no indication of which are the new ones? Any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

Resource Page:
http://www.wearecousins.info/p/resources.html

Friday, November 11, 2011

Remembering Our Heroes

Since the birth of this country countless men and women born in this country and other countries have paid the ultimate price to protect our ideals, our freedoms, and our way of life. Here are some resources to help us never forget them and at the end are some links to help support our soldiers who are still and currently defending our country. For a full list of all American Wars follow this link.

World War One

World War One Memorial Foundation
World War One Museum

World War Two

The World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home. Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th Century, the memorial is a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people. The Second World War is the only 20th Century event commemorated on the National Mall’s central axis.

Vietnam Veterans

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Since it first went on line in 1996 it has evolved into something more. It is now also a place of healing for those affected by one of the most divisive wars in our nation's history.

Support Our Troops

Don't forget of our current military forces deployed around the world.

http://www.supportoursoldiers.org/
http://www.operationgratitude.com
http://www.supportourtroops.org/