Friday, June 30, 2006

Jose Gil Alberto Cayetano Huesca

Jose Gil Alberto Cayetano HUESCA

Born September 1, 1888, in Canada Morelos, Puebla (State), Mexico
Died September 11, 1937, in Mexico City, Mexico



My grandfather, known to all as simply "Cayetano" HUESCA, had an ingenious way of solving arguments between his 11 children when they were young. He would hand them newspapers and assign them to clean the windows of his hotel in Orizaba, one child working from the inside and the other on the outside. The result was that not only did he and my grandmother have some of the cleanest windows in Orizaba but the children, forced to look at each other through those windows, eventually burst into laughter, forgot their differences, and learned to work together.

This love for his family, sense of fairness and strong work ethic permeated Cayetano's life. I never met my grandfather but have felt close to him all my life because, in part, of my own father's deep reverence and esteem for him. He loved his family deeply and was an honest and hard worker who would have been proud of his children's strong family values, character, successes, closeness to and support of their mother and each other.

Jose Gil Alberto Cayetano Huesca was one of six children born to Jose Enrique Florentino HUESCA and Maria de la Luz "Lucecita" MERLO, in Canada Morelos, Puebla. He learned to work with wood from his father, who was a master wood craftsman, and he showed an interest early on in mechanics. How he came to Veracruz, I do not know. One day, however, needing a cup of coffee and a pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), he walked into a small bakery-cafe in Orizaba, owned and operated by my great-grandmother, Maria (nee Amaro) PERROTIN. When he left, he had filled not only his stomach but also his heart, having fallen in love with Maria's beautiful daughter, Maria Angela Catalina PERROTIN. The two were married shortly afterward in 1908 and had the first of their eleven children in 1909.

A humble man, his actions spoke volumes about his life. He was first and foremost a devoted husband and father, a devout Catholic, a hard-working railroad worker, a pioneer advocate for the organizing of unions and workers' rights, and a successful businessman and entrepreneur. Perhaps due to his business acumen (he owned two hotels, a casino, a roller skating rink, and a restaurant), six of his eleven children ran their own successful businesses. My mother, who never met my Abuelito, or "Grandpa" in Spanish, felt a special kinship with him during her married life, prayerfully believing that he was in Heaven watching over the three babies she had lost. (Coincidentally, my mother died 50 years to the day after my Abuelito's death.)


Cayetano Huesca worked for the local railroad in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz (State), on Mexico's east coast. With the demise of the steam engine, there was a lessened need for railroad workers, and the railroad laid off many workers in 1919, Cayetano among them. Needing to feed his wife, Maria Angela Catalina Perrotin (known as "Catalina") and their five children, he moved the family to Orizaba, Veracruz, where he worked for "Ferrocarril Mexicano." The family lived at 48 Calle Abasolo.

In 1923, Cayetano again was laid off. My father, who was about 8 years old at the time, recalls helping his father count the silver pesos he received as severance pay and watching his father cry as he wondered how he was going to support his family.

He decided to move again, this time back to Tierra Blanca. Cayetano found railroad work again, but by now he understood the instability of the changing industry. With the severance he received in Orizaba, he opened a hotel and restaurant, called "El Buen Gusto (Good Taste)." All the children in the family worked in the business. Some washed dishes, while others swept and mopped floors. My father made beds before heading off to school. (To this day, no one makes a bed as well as he did.) There were no allowances but a general satisfaction that all were contributing to the good of the family.

In 1925, with General Plutarco Elias Calles as President of Mexico and a struggle for labor rights beginning, Cayetano Huesca appeared as an actor in a union play, demonstrating the advances made by workers since 1900. Shortly thereafter, he joined other railroad workers in a strike for better conditions. They lost the strike and were fired. As he always did on such occasions, Cayetano went out of his way to feed the strikers, often without charge. Word of his actions spread throughout Orizaba and Tierra Blanca.

One warm morning, he was leaning against the front wall of his hotel, his beautiful young daughter, Victoria, at his side, when a small mob of strike-breakers made its way toward him. Wild-eyed and hungry for blood, the men brandished sticks, guns and knives, determined to make an example of Cayetano. If he was frightened, he did not show it. One of the men caught sight of the innocent Victoria and stopped the others. "Not now, not today," he said. "She shouldn't see this." The men put their weapons down and walked away, never to return. My father used to say that all the younger children of the family owed their lives to their sister Victoria, without whom Cayetano would have surely been killed and they would not have been born.

Despite his bravery, Cayetano was a quiet, gentle man who believed his actions spoke louder than his words. He never had to raise his voice to his children; rather, they knew when they had done wrong just from the look of disappointment on his face. He adored his children and could not bear the thought of having them away from him, even for a night. When my father was about five or six years old, a voice teacher heard him sing and asked my grandfather for his permission to take my father to Vienna Austria, where he promised to train him as a classical singer. Cayetano turned down the offer without hesitation. A child's place was with his parents.



In 1930, Cayetano and Catalina moved their family from Tierra Blanca to Loma Bonita, Oaxaca, where Cayetano leased land to grow pineapples and peppers.  They stayed in Oaxaca for three years, moving to Perote, Veracruz, in 1933.  There, Cayetano established the "Gran Hotel" - bigger than the "Buen Gusto."

Like his father, he was an officer in the local Freemason chapter. He preferred obscurity to boastfulness and taught his children to “never let your right hand know what the left hand is doing” and that “whatever you do in this life will always come back to you.”

For all his humility, sometimes it seemed that everyone either knew him or knew of him. When I was growing up, I remember that no one spoke of him without a hushed sense of reverence and awe. Cayetano Huesca helped many people, among them a struggling young doctor, José Felipe FRANCO. Cayetano welcomed him as one of his own family, feeding him and helping him establish a small practice in Tierra Blanca. 

Some forty or so years later, when my family was living in Mexico City for a time, my sister became quite ill and my anguished parents called a nearby clinic to request that a doctor come to the house to help her. A hunched, stout, man of about sixty years old, with salt-and-pepper hair arrived at our doorstep and was shown in. He examined my sister and exchanged pleasantries with my parents. 

When he learned my father’s name, a look of amazement came across face. He excitedly asked if my father was related to Cayetano Huesca. “Then I cannot take your payment, sir,” he said, explaining that my grandfather had helped him years before. Thanks in part to Cayetano’s faith in him, he had gone on to become a successful doctor and a wealthy man, building a children’s clinic and hospital, “Clínica Dr. Franco,” located on Avenida San Cosme near Colonia San Rafael in Mexico City, where he cared for poor children and their families, often free of charge. He and my parents became close friends and stayed in touch until he died in the 1980s.



About six months after Cayetano and Catalina's youngest child, Edilberto, was born in Perote in 1937, Cayetano fell ill with pneumonia. The family decided it was time to move again, this time to Mexico City, where Cayetano entered the Sanatorio Espanol, or the Spanish Hospital. But the treatment of the day was futile, and he died on September 11, 1937. He was 50 years old. He is buried in Mexico City with his wife, Catalina, and three of their children, Enrique, Mario, and Victoria.

Many years after his father's death, my own father visited a friend at the railroad workers' union hall in Mexico City. Recognizing his name, the receptionist asked him if he was the son of Cayetano Huesca. When my astonished father answered in the affirmative, the excited clerk led my father to a large hall, where he found his father's name engraved on a plaque honoring the work he had done to defend the union.


Cayetano Huesca's legacy of devotion, fairness, loyalty and hard work live on today through his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren, who surely have honored his memory by living lives of integrity, generosity, and charity.



Did you know Cayetano or Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca or their children, or are you a member of the Huesca or Perrotin families?  If so, share your memories and comments below.


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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Huesca: Origin of the Name

Huesca

Origin of the Name

It is believed that the Huesca family originated in Spain, in the province of the same name. Huesca lies in the northern Spanish region of Aragon. The city of Huesca is the provincial capital. The city goes back to pre-Roman times, when it was known as Bolskan, but the name was changed to "Osca" by a Roman general to honor its victorious efforts in battle. The city became known as "Urbs Victrix Osca," or Victorious City of Osca. The name took on the form "Wasqah" or "Waska" during the Arab domination of the region, and the city was fortified against the Christian counts and the kings in the Pyrennees. Peter I of Aragon conquered the city in 1096, after which its name took on its now Spanish version.

Although the earliest members of the Huesca have been in Mexico, I surmise that someone, perhaps of that Spanish city, must have come over with one of the early expeditions to New Spain, or Mexico, sometime between 1500 and 1700. There were quite a few persons with the Huesca surname during that time. I am, however, able to trace our Huesca family back to Mariano Pantaleon HUESCA of the city of Puebla, Mexico.



Huesca Family




From what I can tell, our Huescas came from the state of Puebla in Mexico.Jose Calletano de la Trenidad Huesca




Mariano Pantaleon HUESCA was probably born somewhere between 1765 and 1780, perhaps somewhere in Puebla? He married Ana Antonia Gertrudis CARPINTERO on November 18, 1801, at the Sagrario Metropolitano, in Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla (State), Mexico. They had at least one child, a son, Jose Calletano de la Trenidad HUESCA, who married Josefa Rodriguez, daughter of Felipe RODRIGUES (note the different spellings between father and daughter). I do not know who her mother was.

Jose Calletano de la Trenidad HUESCA and Josefa Rodriguez had at least fourr sons and two daughters: Jose Agustin de Jesus, Jose de la Luz Felipe, Clotilde Blandina de Jesus, Maria Beatriz Carolina, Jose Enrique Florentino, and Jose Antonio de Jesus.

1. Jose Agustin de Jesus HUESCA, who was christened on January 30, 1840, in the Sagrario Metropolitano, in Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico.
2. Jose de la Luz Felipe HUESCA, christened May 28, 1841, in the Sagrario Metropolitano, Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico.
3. Clotilde Blandina de Jesus HUESCA, who was christened on June 4, 1843, at San Jose Church, Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico.
4. Maria Beatriz Carolina HUESCA, christened on November 8, 1844, in the Sagrario Metropolitano, Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico.
5. Jose Enrique Florentino HUESCA (shown here at left), who was either christened on May 5, 1847, in the Sagrario Metropolitano, Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico. Other accounts say he was born in 1850 in the state of Puebla, Mexico. He married Maria de la Luz "Lucecita" MERLO, who was born ca. 1865 and was the daughter of (Unknown) MERLO and Teodora "Teodorita" (UNKNOWN). The name "Luz" in Spanish means "Light." My father remembers that his grandfather used to say that "me levanto con Luz y me acuesto con Luz," or "I get up with Light and I go to bed with Light." I am told by my father that Jose Enrique was a craftsman who made beautiful cabinets and furnishings for many of the churches in the city of Puebla, as did his father before him. He died August 20, 1920, in Canada Morelos, Puebla (state), Mexico.


The children of Jose Enrique Florentino HUESCA and Maria de la Luz MERLO were:

a. J. Gil Alberto Cayetano HUESCA , born September 1, 1888, in Canada Morelos, Puebla (State)., Mexico, and died September 11, 1938, in Mexico City, D.F. Married Maria Angela Catalina PERROTIN on February 21, 1912, in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, Mexico. He was my grandfather and a very special person. More to come about him in my next post.

b. Enrique HUESCA - also a craftsman -- made my grandmother's wardrobe.

c. Jesus HUESCA - His wife's first name was Maria. They lived in Jalapa, Veracruz. They had a son, Cayetano, who died in the mid-1920s. Maria died in about 1936. Jesus lived into about his 80s. In his later years, he lived with his nephew (my uncle), Enrique HUESCA, who owned and operated a linen embroidery business, Sabanas y Manteles Huesca, in downtown Mexico City. Uncle Jesus worked with his nephew and lived on the same floor as the business, which was on the fifth floor of 93 Venustiano Carranza Avenue in Mexico City. He always dressed in khaki shirts and matching pants and sometimes wore a light beige cowboy hat. He was loving, quiet, humble and gentle, and I remember always wanting to be around him when I was a young child.

d. Domitila HUESCA - She married Vicente CAMPOS and and lived in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. They had a son, Willivaldo, who committed suicide in the 1970s. Villivaldo had a daughter, Yolanda CAMPOS, who was very good to her grandmother and cared for her when Aunt Domitila grew too old to care for herself. Aunt Domitila was one of the family historians and wrote fascinating letters. Her penmanship was of the old Spanish style and was elegant and meticulous. She died in the late 1970s, possibly into her late 80s or 90s.

e. Rosario "Charito" HUESCA - Her husband's last name was MONTORO, and they lived in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.

f. Carlos HUESCA - had the following children:

* Elvira HUESCA - married Adolfo CAMPOS, a general during the Mexican Revolution (my father remembers he had a large handlebar moustache). They later moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. They had no children.
* Enrique HUESCA
* Amalia HUESCA

* Delfina HUESCA
* Charles Delfino HUESCA - married MARIE in Chicago. They were very close and were excellent dancers. They had one son and later moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where Charles died of a heart attack in his back yard, in about 1986.

* Margot HUESCA - married and had a daughter

6. Jose Antonio de Jesus HUESCA - christened on June 14, 1849, in Santo Angel Analco Church, Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico. He married Emilia BENITEZ, whom he called "Emilita." Antonio, as he was called, and Emilia had two sons and a daughter, Gonzalo, Agustin, and Delfina.
a. Gonzalo HUESCA - was a lawyer, known as a "Licenciado" (a title given to lawyers). My father recalls meeting him in Veracruz in about 1933 or 1935. Gonzalo would have been 40 or 50 at the time.
b. Agustin HUESCA - was born in about 1881, in the town of Jalapa Enriquez, Veracruz (state), Mexico. He was an architect who married Dolores CORTES (daughter of Antonio ROCHA and Francisca CORTES BAZURTO, born September 30, 1885) in 1913, in Jalapa Enriquez, Veracruz, Mexico. They had two sons, Agustin and Enrique. Agustin Huesca died on February 11, 1964, at age 83.
c. Delfina HUESCA - was born Mach 4, 1888, in Jalapa, Veracruz; married an engineer, Lorenzo YANEZ.  Lorenzo's great-great grand-daughter, Luciana Toledo, recalls that he was "an engineer of the road constructions in the state of Veracruz.  In the small town of Cardel, Veracruz, one of the main streets is named after him." 

Lorenzo and Delfina had four children, a son, Lorenzo Alfonso, nicknamed "Pocho,"  born August 26, 1917; and three daughters, Clara Elena, born in about 1920; Delfina; Ana María.   My father, who was two years older than Alfonso, told me he was burned badly in the kitchen while he was very young.  A 1948 United States Border Crossing card, issued in Nogales, Arizona, notes that Alfonso was born in Hermosillo, Sonora. It identifies him as being 30 years old and married, with burn scars on his face and hands.  Employed as a federal employee for what may have been the national highway agency, he was traveling on business and pleasure. 

Postscript:  On April 15, 2015, I received an e-mail from "one more member of the Huesca tree," Luciana Toledo.  In her her e-mail, Luciana observes that I originally mis-identified her great-grandmother as María Elena and left out her father's first name, and she graciously provided the correct information.  Luciana also proudly writes that her great-grandmother, the last surviving of the Yañez-Huesca siblings, is about to turn 95 years old and lives in Mexico City.  Felicidades, prima María Elena!  How I wish my father were alive to see this!  It is a thrill to hear from my "new" cousin, and I am grateful to Luciana for reaching out to share more about our beloved Huesca family.  Connecting to each other and sharing our heritage: this is what Many Branches, One Tree is all about!  L.H.T.



Next: J. Gil Alberto Cayetano HUESCA



Did you know, or are you a member of the Huesca family?  If so, share your memories and comments below.



Thursday, June 22, 2006

Some of the Families Included Here

Some of the Families Included Here

Amaro
Barron
Bennett
Cherry
De la O
Fay
Gaffney
Hoppin
Huesca
Kangas
Makepeace
McCormick
McGinnis
McGoorty
Merlo
Olson
Perrotin
Riney
Ryan
Sannella
Schiavon
Schiavone
Tully


Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Welcome


Welcome to Many Branches, One Tree!

In one of Aesop's fables, an old man brought his three sons together and handed the eldest a bundle of sticks, asking him to break it.  Though the first son tried with all his strength, he could not break the bundle.  The second and third son also tried, but to no avail.  


The father took back the bundle.  Untying it, he handed a stick to each son and again asked them to break the sticks. This time, the sons broke the sticks easily.  The father said, "You see, if you are of one heart and one mind, you will be as strong as this bundle and no one can break you.  But if you are divided, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."

As with the bundle of sticks, our family tree is made up of many branches, each with its own character, history,  and traditions.  Though each of these branches is special and unique in its own way, they all share common burdens, sorrows, hopes and dreams. Together, they form a strong unit, rich in history, heritage, and values.   This site will introduce you to the numerous dimensions of this tree, including the Huesca, Tully, Perrotin, Fay, McGinnis, Riney, Schiavon/Schiavone, Hoppin, Gaffney, Kangas, and Makepeace families; and many others connected with them.

It is said that life is a work in progress, and so it is with this website. Although I do my best to ensure accuracy, I invite you to contact me if you have additions or corrections to what you find here.

If you are unfamiliar with some of the family stories or traditions published here, I hope you will enjoy them. If you know of any other family stories or items of interest, I hope you will share them so that others may be enriched by them, too.

To me, there is nothing more precious than our family. If you are still reading this, chances are you feel the same way. Knowing who came before us can give our lives meaning and can help us understand who we are and who we can become; but this knowledge brings with it the great responsibility honoring our ancestors by handing on our heritage, traditions, and identity to our own future descendants.

I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to e-mail me at CasaTully@gmail.com

Linda Huesca Tully
California, USA



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