Skip to main content

The Beginning of My Beginnings

To get right to it, this blog was created to document my research into where and who I came from. I've always wanted to conduct a personal history of my family, but never actually sat down to do it. I can't tell you what made me decide to do it now. Maybe it was a combination of things. Maybe it has something to do with my Grandmother, Josephine, passing this past September. I'm not really sure why but the most important parts about this is I plan to find out information that I never knew before, to satisfy my nature of always asking "why, how, who, when, and where" - Equally important, I'm doing this for my parents. I can't understand why they never asked these questions before but they want to know now.

Before I get started I guess I should tell a little bit about myself. I was born to Lynn and Luanne Lujan on February 5th 1983 in La Mirada California. I grew up in Pico Rivera, California where I currently reside at the age of 27. I went to Whittier College where i studied History and Art. I graduated with a dual degree in 2006 and am currently STRUGGLING to get into Grad School to study Ancient Greek/Roman Art History.

My fascination with history started with my mother's father, Ernest Avila. He was a Marine in WWII. As a child that made me feel special. I thought very highly of him and his stories. I can't tell you how many times I took his purple star to class for show and tell.

My regret now was that I never asked him more questions back then. Even in High School when I lived with him and my grandmother, I never thought to ask deeper questions as we stayed up late talking about his past. Grandpa had trouble sleeping. I think he was worried because he knew his lung cancer was getting worse. Grandma had Alzheimer's so my time to ask her questions ran out long before I even knew to ask her any questions.

I now have to rely on the small snippets of memories I have of speaking with my grandfather and the stories others have to relay to me.

My father's side is equally, if not more interesting. I am not as close with them as I am with my mother's side, and even then there are family secrets that will undoubtedly prove to be a great obstacle for me.

As I stated before, my educational background is in History. I live for this stuff. I love research, I love finding answers, I love hunting and searching for the truth. So, well see where this quest will lead me, and hopefully in the end I will have answers and information to tell my family, while documenting my past for future relatives.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Development

Palomares Cemetery To whom it may concern, I am currently doing research on a family member by the name of Francisca Lopez Arvizu. I found that her grave is at the Palomares Cemetery by way of FindAGrave.com from a list that was done by a Mrs. Ethel Curtis in 1951 by the Pomona Valley Genealogical Society. However this list was entered in to the website by someone other than Mrs. Curtis (Sharyn Hay in 2005). My question is, does this cemetery still exist? I've read that it might have been turned into a park. Also, if it is still in existence and some tombstones still remain, is the property closed off to the public? My main objective is to visit this site and get a photo of Francisca Lopez Arvizu's marker. Any information you can offer is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance, Lynelle -------------- -------------------------------------------- Lynelle, Most all of the tomb stones in the Palomares Cemetery are missing and have been for decades, since the 1970...

The Return

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...

Trip to Azusa, California.

Speaking of my past...I recently found an old picture of myself from about 5-7 years ago. Although I could have afforded to lose more weight at the time, I of course was significantly thinner than I find myself today. I made a plan and a deal with myself to go to the gym and while I was ready to go after work yesterday, my more distant past pulled me to something else instead. Instead of working toward a me I knew a long time ago, I jumped on the 605 headed north to the Azusa hills towards the Azusa City Library. It's the only place that holds both of John Arvizu's books and having found out yesterday that my great grandmother's picture is in the book, I decided to skip the gym and seek out my more interesting and unknown past. It took me quite a while to get there but I eventually did. While I drove through the old part of Azusa I wondered how it looked when my relatives lived there. I was a little upset that I couldn't remember the address of the house t...