Out of Mexico: Part 2
Here I would like to take a multi-generational approach in talking about the family of my great-grandmother (descent: Charmaine Darleen Freeman > Wade Benjamin O'Hagan > me), who was born Claudina Feliciana ("Clara") Romo on June 9, 1907 in San Bernardino, CA, to Francisco Romo and Dolores Fimbres. I will begin with Clara's great-grandfather, also named Francisco Romo, who was born circa 1810 in Sonora, Mexico. Very little is known as of yet about the Romo family of this period. At some time in the 1830s, Francisco married Josefa Romo (presumably a relation), and at least seven known children were born to this marriage, in the following order: Francisco, Manuel, Rafael, Antenor, Jesus (female), Josefa and Refugio (male). The family is first attested in the United States on July 9, 1860, living Temecula, CA. Interestingly, by July 18th of the same year (not even two weeks later!), the family had made its way northwest to Santa Ana, where they are also recorded in the Census. It has been suggested (Sylvia Andrews, p.c.) that Francisco & Josefa's family first came north to California in the company of Francisco's brother, Manuel, his wife Agustina Acosta and their family. This latter family is first attested in California on July 17, 1852, in Santa Clara County, and again in Los Nietos (Los Angeles County) on July 13, 1860, the latter site being only some twenty miles to the northwest of Santa Ana, where Francisco's family would surface five days later. There is no evidence either proving or disproving this hypothesis, and the line of Romos beginning with Manuel Romo & Agustina Acosta is outside the scope of this post, although it is interesting in its own right.
In the first half of the 1860s, Francisco & Josefa Romo and family appear to have migrated to Arizona. Sons Manuel and Antenor appear in the April 1864 Territorial Census in the Colorado District (exact location unidentified). Ultimately the family (or some subset thereof) settled in Yuma, AZ, near the Mexican border. Here son Manuel would go on to marry María Jesus Loroña; son Antenor would go on to marry Rosalia Rivera on November 9, 1868; and daughter Jesus would go on to marry José María Mendivil on October 24, 1872. (From Indian Census Rolls in which Antenor's children appear -- e.g., in 1915 -- it seems that the Romo family was of Tohono O'odham descent (aka Papago), although there was likely substantial intermarriage with the Akimel O'odham (aka Pima).) My great-great-great-grandfather, son Rafael Romo, married Isabel Ojeda on May 16, 1867 in Yuma. The text of Rafael and Isabel's marriage license reads as follows:
Rafael had been born in approximately October 1841, in Sonora, Mexico, and with his new wife would move back to California, although the rest of his siblings would remain in Arizona. (The fate of siblings Francisco, Josefa & Refugio is entirely unknown after the 1860 Census; minimally Manuel, Antenor & Jesus remained in Arizona. Where father Francisco and mother Josefa died is also unknown.) Rafael and Isabel would go on to have at least eight children:
-Trinidad: June 17, 1870 -- September 25, 1959
-Rafael ("Ralph"): January 1872 -- September 1, 1930
-Alfredo: 1873 -- September 19, 1892
-Fernando: 1875 -- 1906
-Renulfo: 1878 -- May 1907
-Isidro Francisco ("Frank"): April 7, 1880 -- November 29, 1962
-Alonzo Peter: July 31, 1883 -- May 20, 1935
-Miguel J. ("Mike"): December 6, 1888 -- May 13, 1977
The whereabouts of the family from their marriage in 1867 through 1880 is entirely unknown. They do not appear in the 1870 Census, nor are any baptismal records found for Trinidad through Renulfo at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside (Maricela Rivadeneyra, p.c.). However, the family is attested living in San Luis Rey on June 2, 1880, and son Francisco (my great-great-grandfather), was baptized at Mission San Luis Rey on October 10th of the same year. On November 3, 1882, the family was living in Pala, CA (San Diego County), where father Rafael appears in Voter Registration records. By July 1, 1884, when son Alonzo was baptized, the family had settled in San Bernardino; on September 20, 1886 they were in nearby Colton (again, Voter Registration records); and on December 6, 1888 they were in Riverside, where son Miguel was born. In June 1900 the family resided in the community of Union (Riverside County), and father Rafael died in Riverside city on January 25, 1901 at the age of approximately 59, being buried in Agua Mansa Cemetery in Colton alongside son Alfredo, and later, sons Fernando, Renulfo and Alonzo.
On March 28, 1903, son Francisco ("Frank") married Dolores Fimbres in San Bernardino County. Dolores ("Lola") was a native of Arizona, the daughter of Felipe Fimbres and Guadalupe Montijo. Her parents and elder sister, also named Guadalupe, had been born and Mexico and came north of the border before Lola's birth. The couple would go on to have eight children, including my great-grandmother, Clara:
-Raynoldo ("Ray"): April 5, 1904 -- July 13, 1937
-Louise Mona: July 11, 1905 -- June 16, 1997
-Claudina Feliciana ("Clara"): June 9, 1907 -- September 28, 1980
-Rose Agnes: May 17, 1909 -- July 10, 1974
-Guadalupe (aka Lucille): February 20, 1911 -- February 26, 1986
-Richard Frank ("Dick"): August 9, 1914 -- January 22, 1976
-Violet Lillian ("Lily"): December 15, 1920 -- May 9, 2008
-Dolores Frances ("Doll"): July 21, 1928 -- March 19, 2009
The more recent history of the family I will pass over somewhat quickly. In May 1910 Frank & Lola Romo and their eldest four children lived in Highgrove, CA (Riverside County), but by January 1920 they had moved to Los Angeles. (In the interim, Frank's mother Isabel had died, on July 17, 1918, at the age of 69.) Within the following month the family moved to San Luis Obispo, where they are enumerated in the Census on February 6th, with all but the youngest two children attested.
On February 26, 1928, Clara married Benjamin Franklin Freeman (1905-1986), son of Nathan John Freeman (1844-1923) and Frances Martínez (1874-1923). It appears that by this time Clara's parents had settled in Santa Maria, and it is here that Ben & Clara's first daughter, Frances Gertrude on November 23, 1928. However, by April 1930 Ben & Clara had moved to Monterey, living there for a short time before returning to Santa Maria where son Emil Roland was born on December 31st. My grandmother, Charmaine Darleen, was born on August 13, 1933 in Chico (Butte County), although after a short time the family relocated to San Luis Obispo.
Frank & Lola continued to live in Santa Maria. Lola died there on May 6, 1956, at the age of 70; Frank died there on November 29, 1962, at the age of 82. After Doll's passing in 2009, all of their children are now deceased. In fact, with the passing of Raúl Rafael ("Ralph") Romo, my great-grandmother Clara's first cousin, on August 2, 2011, at the age of 97, there are now no longer any more Romos of that generation living. My main aims now are to track living Romo descendants from a variety of branches as well as to research their Native American heritage.
In the first half of the 1860s, Francisco & Josefa Romo and family appear to have migrated to Arizona. Sons Manuel and Antenor appear in the April 1864 Territorial Census in the Colorado District (exact location unidentified). Ultimately the family (or some subset thereof) settled in Yuma, AZ, near the Mexican border. Here son Manuel would go on to marry María Jesus Loroña; son Antenor would go on to marry Rosalia Rivera on November 9, 1868; and daughter Jesus would go on to marry José María Mendivil on October 24, 1872. (From Indian Census Rolls in which Antenor's children appear -- e.g., in 1915 -- it seems that the Romo family was of Tohono O'odham descent (aka Papago), although there was likely substantial intermarriage with the Akimel O'odham (aka Pima).) My great-great-great-grandfather, son Rafael Romo, married Isabel Ojeda on May 16, 1867 in Yuma. The text of Rafael and Isabel's marriage license reads as follows:
Translation (mine):A los 16 días de mayo de 1867, después de las diligencias ordinarias, no habiendo resultado otro impedimento que el de consanguinidad en tercer grado, sobre el cual dispensé según facultad aún dada por el reverendo obispo de Santa Fe, Don J.B. Lamy, casé y valé a Rafael Romo, soltero, hijo legítimo de Francisco Romo y de Josefa Romo, y a Isabel Ojeda, soltera, hija legítima de Ambrosio Ojeda, difunto, y de Romana Romo, testigos Jesús Contreras y Jesús Amavisca.
On the 16th of May 1867, after due diligence and there not resulting another impediment except that of consanguinity of the third degree, which I dispensed of according to the authority given by the reverend bishop of Santa Fe, Don J.B. Lamy, I married and blessed Rafael Romo, single, legitimate son of Francisco Romo and Josefa Roma, and Isabel Ojeda, single, legitimate daughter of Ambrosio Ojeda, deceased, and Romana Romo, witnesses Jesús Contreras and Jesús Amavisca.
(Source: Index Matrimoniorum, ac anno 1866 usque ad 1888 inclusivo, Church of the Immaculate Conception, Yuma, AZ, courtesy of Vee Marba.)Note from the transcription that Rafael and Isabel's marriage could only proceed with a dispensation from the nearest bishop. This was because Isabel's mother, Romana Romo, was Rafael's father Francisco's first cousin, making the bride and groom first cousins once removed. 'Consanguinity' is a technical term employed by the Catholic Church to calculate degrees of relatedness: what is calculated here is the number of relatives it takes to reach a common root ancestor, in Rafael's case his grandfather and in Isabel's case her great-grandfather. The person furthest from the root ancestor determines the degree of consanguinity, who in this case was Isabel, yielding three degrees. Interestingly, I have been unable to find a record for a prenuptial investigation with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe (Marina Ochoa, p.c.), which typically describe the relevant dispensation.
Rafael had been born in approximately October 1841, in Sonora, Mexico, and with his new wife would move back to California, although the rest of his siblings would remain in Arizona. (The fate of siblings Francisco, Josefa & Refugio is entirely unknown after the 1860 Census; minimally Manuel, Antenor & Jesus remained in Arizona. Where father Francisco and mother Josefa died is also unknown.) Rafael and Isabel would go on to have at least eight children:
-Trinidad: June 17, 1870 -- September 25, 1959
-Rafael ("Ralph"): January 1872 -- September 1, 1930
-Alfredo: 1873 -- September 19, 1892
-Fernando: 1875 -- 1906
-Renulfo: 1878 -- May 1907
-Isidro Francisco ("Frank"): April 7, 1880 -- November 29, 1962
-Alonzo Peter: July 31, 1883 -- May 20, 1935
-Miguel J. ("Mike"): December 6, 1888 -- May 13, 1977
The whereabouts of the family from their marriage in 1867 through 1880 is entirely unknown. They do not appear in the 1870 Census, nor are any baptismal records found for Trinidad through Renulfo at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside (Maricela Rivadeneyra, p.c.). However, the family is attested living in San Luis Rey on June 2, 1880, and son Francisco (my great-great-grandfather), was baptized at Mission San Luis Rey on October 10th of the same year. On November 3, 1882, the family was living in Pala, CA (San Diego County), where father Rafael appears in Voter Registration records. By July 1, 1884, when son Alonzo was baptized, the family had settled in San Bernardino; on September 20, 1886 they were in nearby Colton (again, Voter Registration records); and on December 6, 1888 they were in Riverside, where son Miguel was born. In June 1900 the family resided in the community of Union (Riverside County), and father Rafael died in Riverside city on January 25, 1901 at the age of approximately 59, being buried in Agua Mansa Cemetery in Colton alongside son Alfredo, and later, sons Fernando, Renulfo and Alonzo.
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| Francisco Romo & Dolores Fimbres Wedding, March 28, 1903 San Bernardino Co., CA |
On March 28, 1903, son Francisco ("Frank") married Dolores Fimbres in San Bernardino County. Dolores ("Lola") was a native of Arizona, the daughter of Felipe Fimbres and Guadalupe Montijo. Her parents and elder sister, also named Guadalupe, had been born and Mexico and came north of the border before Lola's birth. The couple would go on to have eight children, including my great-grandmother, Clara:
-Raynoldo ("Ray"): April 5, 1904 -- July 13, 1937
-Louise Mona: July 11, 1905 -- June 16, 1997
-Claudina Feliciana ("Clara"): June 9, 1907 -- September 28, 1980
-Rose Agnes: May 17, 1909 -- July 10, 1974
-Guadalupe (aka Lucille): February 20, 1911 -- February 26, 1986
-Richard Frank ("Dick"): August 9, 1914 -- January 22, 1976
-Violet Lillian ("Lily"): December 15, 1920 -- May 9, 2008
-Dolores Frances ("Doll"): July 21, 1928 -- March 19, 2009
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| Lugarda Luna (godmother) & Clara Romo circa 1910 |
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| Lola, Dick, Doll & Frank Romo circa 1925 |
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| Benjamin Freeman & Claudina Romo (witnesses: Rose Romo & Ernest Minoli) Wedding, February 26, 1928 San Luis Obispo, CA |
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| Dolores Fimbres & Francisco Romo 50th Wedding Anniversary March 28, 1953 Santa Maria, CA |
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