In the history of the family there are many things that remain a mystery simply because there is no documentation for what they did or why they did it. We can deduce some things about their lives, from reading the civil and church registrations of births, deaths, and marriages and in some rare cases from records of property transfers and real estate sales. One can also sometimes find government and other historical records to learn about such things as political, economic, social and even weather conditions of that time period and try to make some sense as to what happened to the families living at that time as to why they might have done what they did. The objective of this research is to just simply understand, and not necessarily solve this family historical puzzle. That is what is interesting in genealogical investigation.
One such mystery is the case of Pedro Rivera and (Maria) Loreto Gomez, they would have been my great-grandparents on my father side. They lived in the Hamlet of San Cristobal within the municipality of Catorce and about 8 miles from the silver mining town of Real de Catorce, in the State of San Luis Potosí. Pedro was born about 1858 and Maria Loreto was born in 1861. They grew up in a small hamlet of less than 200 people and got married in 1881. They had at least six children and it seems that five of them were born in San Cristobal and in Real de Catorce and at least one was born in Parras de la Fuente, in the State of Coahuila de Zaragoza.
The first set of questions, among many, are: why did Pedro and Maria Loreto move? Why did they choose Parras de la Fuente? How did Pedro's family end up in such isolated little hamlet of San Cristóbal in the middle of what seems nowhere. San Cristóbal a hamlet in the municipality of Catorce is located in central Mexico, in a semi-arid climate and at an altitude of about 7000 feet - very marginal conditions for farming.
It seems that the Rivera Family was well established in the town of Catorce since Pedro's father (José Hipolito Rivera) was born there in 1830. That implies that his grandfather Juan Nepomuceno Rivera was also living there. Moreover, by inference in the baptismal record, Hipolito's grandfather, Jose Policarpo Rivera and his wife, Maria Fasibia(?) Lucia (my great-great-great-great grandparents) might have also been residents of that town. Also, by another implication of baptism records by comparing Hipolito's record with the baptism record of Maria Loreto Gomez Banda who was baptized there thirty one years later, it is possible that the parish of the "Purísima Concepción de Catorce," had not been built or maybe not completed when Hipolito was baptized in 1830 because the priest does not mention it on the registration. All other registrations I have read have included the name of the church. Although I have not found birth records of Hipolito's father and grandfather, it is possible that the Rivera Family had been living there since the early 1800s and possibly the late 1700s, during the time when Jose Policarpo was born (approximately 1787).
It's clear that these conclusions are based on inferences from two simple records of baptisms and a marriage registration, but it supports a logical deduction of Pedro's life. My only conclusion is that the original Rivera family that moved there, maybe Juan Nepomuceno or his father Jose Policarpo, were attracted to that area for several reasons: First, it offered them the opportunity to a possible claim of land, although the land is marginal, it did support some farming. The community of Catorce was a way-stop for travelers from Monterrey and Texas in the north, and San Luis Potosí and Mexico City to the south, that provided a possibility for some business and growth. The region was relatively safe from Indian attacks from tribes in the northwest, and probably most important, there was silver mining in the mountains about 8 miles to the west in the area that would later be called Real de Catorce.
The marriage record of Pedro Rivera and (María) Loreto Gómez indicates that both were from San Cristóbal. Although in the state of San Luis Potosí there are two San Cristóbal, one is a locality (or town) within the municipality of Catorce, which also contains the town of Real de Catorce. The other is a town at a distance of almost 100 kilometers to the south, and about fifty kilometers from the city of San Luis Potosí. For this discussion, we will assume that the records are from San Cristóbal near Catorce and Real de Catorce.
Pedro was 23 years old and Loreto was 15 years old when they married on June 13, 1881. The age of Maria Loreto is the first of several inconsistencies I found in the records. The marriage registry states that Maria Loreto was 15 years old, but her baptism record indicates that she had to be 21 years old when she married. It is possible that they, or the Priest who registered them, made a mistake. What is not possible, is that in a population of less than a thousand people, there were two women with the same name and two families whose names are the same; both sets of parents and grandparents having the same names and surnames.
Thinking about their lives during that period of time, it is difficult to consider the life of a teenage girl in the mid-1800s. Seeing it through the eyes of the 21 century and after 150 years of cultural evolution, living in an agricultural hamlet with a population of less than 200 inhabitants, hundreds of kilometers from an urban center, they had no television, or radio. They didn't have video games, there were no cinemas, opportunities for an education didn't exist, they couldn't travel, they didn't have access to books or libraries, and their peers and friends were very limited. A young girl must have had chores around the house, helping with planting and harvesting, feeding the chickens and other animals kept close to the house. It is fairly certain girls did not work in the mines. I think men had a responsibility to prepare the land, plant and harvest the crops, take care of the animals, provide general maintenance around the farm, and have the opportunity to work in the mines.
Pedro Rivera, a young man, almost isolated from the rest of Mexican society, with the opportunity to work in the silver mines most probably following the example of his father, Hirohito Rivera. It is easy to imagine that Pedro went to work in the mines in Real de Catorce when he was 12 or 14 years old. He, his father and perhaps his brothers or uncles who worked in the mines, probably stayed near the mines in Real de Catorce at night during the week and returned to be with the family in San Cristobal, about 8 miles away, on Saturdays and then returned back to work in the mines on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.
Pedro and Maria Loreto continued to live in San Cristobal after they got married and about a year later, Anastasio, their first son, was born in 1882. Although I have not found the birth records, it seems that Delfina, their daughter, was born in 1883. She was followed Catarino, who was born on April 30, 1885 when Pedro was 28 years old and María Loreto was 26 years old (The record says that Maria Loreto was 16 years old when Catarino was born, but that must have been a mistake because her age does not coincide with the dates). Two other children were born between 1886 and 1888. They lived in San Cristobal until 1888. Something had to happen at that time that caused them to move to Parras.
At a national level, beginning in the 1870s, the price of silver began to decline so that by the early 1900s the value of an ounce of silver had diminished by more than fifty percent. The impact on the silver mines in Real de Catorce was immediate and they began to close down. Working in Real de Catorce was no longer viable. Moreover, the low quality farmland may not have been able to support the growing population and Pedro and Loreto, with their five children decided to move. Politically, Porfirio Díaz had become the Dictator of Mexico and although it was bad for the working people, his policies did allow a lot of foreign investment, including the development of the railroad that provided the ability to move freight and people around the country. Transportation became something that was feasible for ordinary people. Part of the economic boom in Mexico in the 1870 to 1910 that allowed more financing and technology to come in to Mexico, resulted in the production of textiles in Parras de la Fuente. During the 1860s, the Aguirre family installed 100 hydraulically run Danford looms for the production of denim (mezclilla) and other textiles. in 1870 the textile plant was bought and became the "Fabrica La Estrella." and Parras became a textile center in Mexico.
Working in the silver mines for 10 to 15 years would have allowed Pedro to save some money and by taking advantage of the new railroad they were able to easily migrate to a new location. Maybe Monterrey and San Luis Potosí might have been too much of a change for a "country family" like Pedro and Maria Loreto, but Parras would have been about the right size. This, of course, is all speculation, but somehow the information about opportunities in Parras got to Pedro, most likely either through a family member or a friend having gone to work there and then coming back to talk about it. That might have encouraged Pedro and he might have gone there by himself first, found a job, worked for a while, and then came back and got the family. I have not found any other Rivera family contacts in Parras prior to this move around 1888, so this is a possible for this scenario to explain the move to Parras. It is clear that they had moved by sometime in early 1889 and were living in Parras when their son Manuel was born on the 23rd of May 1890.
Below is part of the Rivera Family tree showing the links in relationships between Catarino Rivera, my grandfather, at the bottom of the page, born in 1885, to Jose Policarpo Rivera, my great-great-great-great grandfather, born about 1787, at the top of the page.
For those interested on where most of the information for this blog came from, I have also included copies of the baptismal records for Hipolito, Maria Loreto and Manuel Rivera, the Marriage Presentation of Pedro and Maria Loreto, and the birth registration for Catarino Rivera. Other information on the economy, politics, geography and weather came from historical records.
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