My Ancestral History

It has been quite sometime since I've looked at my genealogy project, and even longer that I last posted an entry here. Since beginning graduate school, finishing, and starting my career teaching history, I haven't had time to really dig deep into this. Sure I would briefly search around ancestry.com but never really sit down and spend a lot of time on it. Even now I haven't really spent a lot of time on it. As I wait for my new job at a new school to start I have some time, so last night I began with my father's side of the family - somehow I ended up here with my mother's side of the family. I also purchased 6 months of the international membership (for the first time) on ancestry.com. Now I can trace my families back to Mexico and England. Ok some things I have found so far: I did my DNA testing from Ancestry and let me just say, I was disappointed, more on that in a separate entry. I also found that my father's side of the family I can trace back to th

As some of you  many know, I took a break from my genealogy to finish graduate school. While I wish I could have done both, I'm glad I made that decision. As it was, I had to quit all of my jobs eventually in order to finish school. I'm proud to day however, that I am finally done and graduated with my Master's and my single-subject credential. While I haven't gone full force back into my genealogical history, I'd like to leave the following information I recently found. I've been doing a lot of work in substitute teaching and I have constantly been asked (by children and adults) if I am Hawaiian because of my last name. I've been told that Lujan is not a mexican name because this one person had never heard of it. That can easily be false (its not like she knows every single Mexican surname that exists) but I have always wondered....where does the Lujan name come from? What does it mean? I found this: Lujan is a spanish geographical name that derived fro

I've recently started Graduate school, so I'm not sure how much I will be able to get around to continuing my research. So much so that I've sadly canceled my monthly subscription to Ancestry.com for now. I'm a poor starving student again! Well not starving but poor nonetheless. I have till February 15th to use up my subscription and I've decided today to use it on the one person who has alluded everyone mysteriously. With the help of Auntie Carol and an amazing distant, distant non-relative (its hard to explain) I got some leads on Mr. Andres Avila! Here is what I know: Parents were Isabila Yebara and Manuel Avila as stated on his marriage license to Lupe Avila. They were married in LA County then immediately moved to Bakersfield (Delano) and had Grandpa Ernie. His mother and sibling appear in the 1920 and 1930 census in Gallup, New Mexico. ...then with a tip from a friend, I found him in a census in 1920 and things took off from there. I started followi

Ancestry.com is a great website. It really has helped me in ways that I never knew possible. Aside from the little annoying emails I get trying to get me to buy some of their other products, they do provide inspiring stories they receive from people doing their own research. This story is just one of the stories that fascinates me. I personally am at the tip of the iceberg in my search. I'm only really finding facts rather than stories, but hopefully I will get to that point soon. Perhaps one day I will have an interesting story to send to the people at Ancestry.com and who knows, they may make a little article like this one.

Hello Family and Friends, As I mentioned in earlier posts, I have sort of neglected my research on my family history due to applying for Graduate School. Well it has paid off. I have (officially) been accepted to Claremont Graduate University in the spring! I start in mid January of 2011. I wish I can say that now that I've been accepted I will have some time to continue my research but unfortunately I don't think that will be the case. I will still try to gather information, but the time in which I have to do it will be slim to none. BUT...I still have till January, so let's see how much more I can get done until then....

FindAGrave.com is a wonderful site. It allows you to view graves of relatives you've just discovered online or to request a picture to be taken of relatives who are buried far away. I recently got an email alerting me that someone in Bakersfield, CA received, accepted and fulfilled my photo request for the headstone of Lupe Avila. Thanks to "Diane H" for this photo, now completing Lupe Avila's FindAGrave profile. I still hope to actually see it in person. I'm still not sure what she died of, how or where. Hopefully that will be listed on her death certificate, but for now, we finally know what her headstone looks like..."at Rest With Jesus"