Most of the data, photos, and anecdotes about our ancestors have been collected by our cousin Fernando Cruz Paredes. While writing this narrative, I received additional input from my cousins Martha Paredes Navarro, Alicia Paredes Scribner, Eugene Paredes Olache, Eduardo and Guadalupe Paredes Shotte and Sol Ordorica de Mendoza. My objective is to complete this project with the participation of all cousins, nephews, and nieces. I distributed 20 copies so that corrections and contributions will help to complete the history of our family. Now that it is in the Web, I hope to receive additional and valuable information to enrich it.

      On our grandfather’s side, we go back to the end of the 18th century, when our great-great-grandfather, Antonio Paredes, was born around 1795. He had two sons: Eduardo Maria, our great grandfather, born in 1823, and Eugenio, born the following year. Both died when they were 62 years old.

      Antonio Paredes married Ignacia Castellanos and had 8 children. Eduardo Juan, our grandfather, born in 1863 followed by Genaro, Enrique, Ignacio, Arturo, Cristina, Angela, and Maria del Carmen. I never saw my grandfather, but I met his brother Genaro at the home of the Garcia Paredes cousins. I remember him as a well-built man with a big white moustache. My grandfather died in 1921, but Genaro lived beyond 1940.

From our great-grandmother’s side we do not know who mamá Vicentita’s parents were, but fortunately we do not share Maximilian’s blue blood; as some of us had wished to believe, referring to an affair that the emperor supposedly had with a courtesan. This is untrue, simply because our great-grandmother was born years before Maximilian came to Mexico. History tells us that Maximilian was not a person of many virtues so perhaps we saved ourselves from carrying this legacy.       A copy of a painting of Vicenta Villanueva as a child is displayed in the living room of our house in Cuernavaca. The original is owned by Fernando Cruz Paredes. She looks like a very fair and distinguished young lady, so let our imagination take us back 150 years to México in 1853, and based on what we know, why not develop a story of what could have happened? And then narrate what we know about the life of both our grandparents and parents add some historical facts and close with a listing of their descendents, which now can be registered and edited by each participant in this Web site.   Gustavo Saavedra Paredes

Antonio Paredes

April, 1863

      After the war with the United States, México was in crisis. The authority of the central government was limited to Mexico City. The states were threatening to pull out from the federation, just as Texas had done. With the payment of the foreign debt, the fiscal disorder, the cost of a heavy bureaucratic burden and Santa Ana’s mismanagement, the 15 million dollars the Americans paid that year for the 76,750 square kilometers of the Mesilla territories between the city of El Paso and the Colorado River, simply disappeared.

      Between 1848 and 1853, there was a succession of eight presidents of the Republic, all appointed by the Congress. On April 20th1853, Manuel Maria Lombardini passed on the presidency to Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana who a decreed to govern the country without a congress or elections. He implemented a military dictatorship; all the important posts, including governorships, remained under the military.

      Jose María Eguiluz y Lanciego, or Chema for short, was a wealthy rancher who lived in his house in Tacubaya with one son. Tacubaya was a small town about 10 kilometers SW from Mexico City where several families from the elite of the society resided. The Teresas, the Escandons, the Dublans and many other wealthy families lived far from the capital, in magnificent mansions. Chema Eguiluz’s house was a big house on Primavera Avenue, very wide with many trees. In that year, the population of Mexico City and neighboring towns was under 300,000 inhabitants.

      Late one afternoon, an unannounced visitor arrived at the house of Chema Eguiluz. It was his old friend Rogelio Escandón, whom he had known for many years. -“I come to ask a favor to my life long friend,”- Rogelio said as he entered the living room. -“After giving much thought, I have decided to travel to Paris and remain there until Santa Ana either dies or is deposed. You know the problems that I have had with him and now that he is back in power as an almighty monarch, it is a matter of days before I will be arrested. He has never forgiven me for criticizing his many foolish actions which have cost us so dearly. I am leaving for Veracruz with all my family tomorrow morning and in spite of the heavy demand for tickets to leave the country, I have obtained staterooms in a ship sailing in two days to Marseilles stopping in New York.”-

      Chema replied, - “I understand your concern and decision, but how can I help you, when you have a staff of capable people to manage your businesses and properties?” -“Well, do you remember Danielle Montigny whom we saw together about a year ago at the Principal theatre?”- -“ Yes of course, how can I forget her?”- - “Well, you must know that I had a beautiful romance and I persuaded her to remain in Mexico. The problem is that she is pregnant and about to give birth. It hurts me very much to leave her under these conditions, but I have no alternative. I would like to ask you if you could take care of her and help her in anything that may be necessary. I would be thankful if you would deliver this letter to her in which I explain the need to leave the country. -

       -“I also tell her that you are my best friend and that you will provide all the support she may need, until she is in a condition to follow me to France. In the envelope I have written her address, in Niza Street, in Mexico City.” – “I am giving you this check which should amply cover all expenses including doctors, hospital, and her fare to France.”- Chema was obviously surprised, but gladly accepted to help his friend.

      The next day, Chema Eguiluz went to Mexico City and found Danielle as beautiful as he remembered her, but suffering her pregnancy. The doctor had recommended that she should remain in bed and besides, she suffered severe headaches. She looked emaciated and preoccupied. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she read the letter. Then, in a French-accented Spanish, she thanked Chema for his help. He immediately went to introduce himself to her physician, Dr. Escontría, whose office was nearby. The doctor expressed concern about Danielle’s health and said he was expecting the birth of the baby to take place within 2 weeks. A week later, a courier delivered a letter from the doctor informing Chema that Danielle unfortunately had died in the hospital from a brain hemorrhage after giving birth to a baby girl. The child was fine, but the doctor expected further instructions.

      He spent the night thinking about the request of his friend, who was now crossing the Atlantic on his way to France. What would he do with his friend’s daughter? In the morning, he called his accountant, Brígido Villanueva, who was recently married and asked him if they would be interested in adopting and educating the little girl in exchange for a monthly stipend. Villanueva’s economic situation was tight and this income would help him considerably. His wife, Marciana Aguado, willingly accepted and the three of them went to the hospital. Chema Eguiluz made the arrangements for Danielle’s funeral and delivered the baby girl to the Villanuevas. The next day, they registered her as their own daughter and named Vicenta, which was the name of Marciana’s mother. Chema Eguiluz allowed them to move to a small detached apartment he had in the back of his house.

15 Years - 1854 to 1869

      The months went by and almost a year later, he was able to locate a safe currier to deliver a confidential letter to his friend in Paris. In the letter, he wrote about Danielle’s death and about the arrangements he had made with the Villanuevas. He added that occasionally he sees the little girl and appears very happy with her adopted parents who treated her like a real daughter. Aware of paternity rights, Chema requested from his friend, further instructions for the child. Two months later, Chema received a reply which read:

“Dear Jose Maria:

      First, a thousand thanks for helping me with this problem. I regret Danielle’s death because we had a loving and deep affection for each other. Since I met her she suffered from bad headaches. With regard to the little girl, it would be a mistake to change the arrangements that you had made, which I think are excellent. I remember meeting once Brigido Villanueva and he appeared to be an intelligent and able young man. My only concern is that she does not lack anything important but above all, that she receives the best education possible. I am giving instructions to my office to give to you the amount of money that you think is adequate for her upkeep and wish that the child should never be a burden to the Villanuevas or to you.

      Please talk to my accountant Quiñones in the office, who is waiting to hear from you. Also, it seems to me absurd to tell the child the names of her true parents. Let us keep this secret between us forever. Here, we do miss our Mexico, but we are getting accustomed to the life in Paris. Our children are in school and we have made a few new friendships with the French and with other Mexicans who are in similar situation as ours. Once again, I thank you for your help. I hope we see you soon, to give you an “abrazo.’ You have been a real friend, and I will be indebted to you forever.
Signed,
Rogelio Escandon”

      Jose Maria Eguiluz Lanciego, Chema, for short, was born in 1810 and inherited a small ranch near Tacubaya. Through his hard work and dedication, the property grew considerably. He cultivated corn and oats and because of its proximity to Mexico City, his most profitable crop was produce. He also owned property in Apan in the state of Hidalgo dedicated to the production of “pulque”, a popular alcoholic drink in those days. He was an intelligent and educated man, married to Maria Arguelles, a woman from Santander, Spain, with whom he had two children. Several years ago she had traveled to Spain to visit relatives but suffered a fatal accident. His married daughter lived in the city of Puebla. He lived alone with his young son.

      Chema’s house in Tacubaya on Avenida Primavera was spacious and built according to the design of the time. This included a study, a living room, several bedrooms and a large bathroom, all one after the other. Each room had a door to the adjoining room, as well as a door which opened to a wide, covered deck overlooking the garden with a fountain in its center. The dining room adjoined the kitchen. In the rear there were servants’ quarters, stables, and the apartment where the Villanuevas lived. Facing Avenida Primavera, the house had a large two-panel door for carriages and one of the panels had a smaller door for pedestrians. In those days, transportation was provided by horse and carriage. There were mule trains in Mexico City, but they did not reach Tacubaya. There was a train from San Lazaro to Tacubaya, but service was sporadic. There was a railroad track alongside the Dolores Cemetery, but this was only used to transport corpses, which were plentiful in those days.

      From 1854, and for the next 15 years, Mexico’s situation was chaotic. In March of 1852, the federalists opposed Santa Ana’s rule and led by Florencio Villareal and Ignacio Comonfort, they proclaimed the Plan de Ayutla, against Santa Ana and his military forces. The revolutionary army appointed Juan Alvarez as president and he surrounded himself with valuable young men such as Melchor Ocampo, Ponciano Arriaga, Benito Juárez, and Santos Degollado. Due to his old age, Alvarez was unable to cope with the country’s demands when Santa Ana finally surrendered and went into exile abroad. Alvarez resigned the presidency in 1855 and Ignacio Comonfort became interim President.

      Comonfort governed from December 1855 to November 1857. His accomplishments included starting the construction of the railroad to Veracruz, gas lighting of Mexico City, founded the National Library, the School of Architecture, the School of Commerce and Brokerage, the School of Arts and Trades and established the Department of Weights and Measures, which adopted the metric system. Comonfort was a person who could not ward off the pressures from his opponents and was unable to enforce and defend the Constitution adopted on February 5th of 1857. In December of that year, Brígido Zuloaga, a general of Benito Juárez, marched into Mexico City, announcing his arrival with cannon fire. Thus began the Reform War, which lasted three years.

      The U.S. Government supported Benito Juárez’s government and by 1860 his armed forces gained victory. From 1858 to 1861, Benito Juárez became interim president and in 1859 decreed the Reform Laws, nationalizing all church properties, instituted the Civil Marriage law, the separation of Church and State, the law of Records Registry and the freedom of worship.

      In 1861, after he was elected President, Juárez tried to establish law and order. Because the coffers where empty, he suspended the payment of interest of the foreign debt acquired by previous governments. Annoyed, France, Spain and Great Britain decided to intervene military to protect their interests. The first to take action was Napoleon III from France. In 1861, the Port of Veracruz was occupied by a French expeditionary force. When Napoleon’s ambitions became known, the British and the Spanish armed forces withdrew.

      It took the French one year to move their armed forces from Veracruz to Mexico City and finally occupied the capital in June 1863. Juárez and his cabinet escaped while a Conservative Provisional Government, backed up by the monarchist sectors in the country, proclaimed the Mexican Empire and by request of Napoleon III, the crown was offered to Maximilian of Austria, a brother of Emperor Franz Joseph.

      From 1864 to 1867, Maximilian I and his wife Carlota governed the empire. In 1867, under pressure from the U.S. government, which continued to recognize Benito Juárez and his government, the French decided to withdraw their troops. Juárez forces regained control of the country and the Republican troops under the command of General Porfirio Díaz occupied Mexico City. Maximilian I was defeated and surrendered in Querétaro. After a court marshal, he was executed on June19,1887 at the Cerro de las Campanas in Querétaro.

      Mexico City was not safe and people lived in constant danger and fear. The carriages, which traveled between Mexico City and Tacubaya, were frequently assaulted, and as a result, an escort system was established with one or two fully armed horsemen riding with the carriages, especially when the travelers were wealthy. Since there was no security, few people would venture out at night. Life was confined to the homes and the get-togethers infrequent. The family of Chema Eguiluz, as well as that of the Villanuevas, was cloistered. Chema would go to his ranch, accompanied by one or two of his aids and the servants would do the grocery shopping at the nearby Cartagena market.

      It was 1863, and Chema’s son Carlos was unhappy living at home in Tacubaya. He was 16 years old, and due to the situation in the country, he had not been properly educated and lacked personal discipline. Therefore, he had lost interest in his studies and showed no desire in participating in his father’s businesses. His mother’s family was from Santander in Spain and Carlos day-dreamed about going back to his relatives in the old country. Chema decided to use Carlos’s interest to study in Spain as a pretext to send him away from Mexico. After arrangements were made, Chema took Carlos to board the carriage to Veracruz, said goodbye and promised he would look for him in Spain once the current situation in Mexico had improved.

As a child, Vicentita loved to roam all over Chema’s house and to spend time with him in his study. Her grace and brightness captivated him. He enjoyed reading stories to her and answering any questions she might pose. Whenever ill health prevented her from going to school, arrangements were made so that the teacher would come to the house and give the lessons to Vicentita in the company of her young friends. When she was 10 she made her first communion in a chapel in a neighbor’s home.       In 1863, in Tacubaya, our grandfather, Eduardo Paredes, was born to Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Maria Paredes and Ignacia Castellanos. We lack details about his childhood, but know that he had four brothers and sisters. He chose a military career, and attended Mexico’s Military College starting in 1878. While in school, good grades brought him a promotion to second Lieutenant of Artillery and in December, 1884, he graduated as a First Lieutenant.

Vicenta Villanueva Aguado when she was 13 years old

      In 1868, when Chema Eguiluz was 58 years old, he decided to marry Vicentita, his 15-year-old protegé. Her cloistered life, loneliness, and the great admiration she felt for him contributed to this union. They had four children: Beatriz, our grandmother, Aurora, Luis, and Luz. When their first child was born, Marciana Villanueva, whom everybody called her Nanita, moved to the Eguiluz household, and became Vicentita’s housekeeper and nanny to all her children. Chema died in 1886.

José María Eguiluz y Lanciego 1875	Vicenta Villanueva de Eguiluz 1875

End of the XIX Century and Porfirio Díaz

      Benito Juárez tried to establish order, but many factions were opposed to his government and liberal beliefs. In 1871, after a doubtful election, Congress elected him President, but General Porfirio Diaz, one of the defeated candidates, headed an unsuccessful military coup. Benito Juárez died in 1872 and was followed by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, President of the Supreme Court. In 1876, when Lerdo de Tejada was seeking reelection, Diaz led another military coup, which succeeded and led to his election as President of México.

      Porfirio Diaz’s autocratic regime began in 1876 and ended in 1911; although, from December 1880 to December 1884, the country was governed by General Manuel Gonzalez, one of his collaborators. In his 35 year regime, important economic and commercial developments were implemented. Among them, the establishment of new industries, extension of railroad lines, an increase in public works, improvement of port facilities and construction of electric trolley service to Tacubaya in 1900. Many of the new enterprises were established and managed by foreign interests from France, the United States, and Great Britain. In a short time, they monopolized the mining, petroleum and railroads and only offered limited opportunities for Mexicans to attain management positions. This caused discontent among the people with low wages, no fringe benefits, long working days and unjustified firings.

Porfirio Diaz favored the rich landowners and helped them to increase their holdings by appropriating the common lands owned by the Indians, who were forced to become low-paid workers for the new owners. The dictator paid little attention to any programs to educate the people and favored the church and its interests. General discontent and thoughts about rebellion spread throughout the country. This led to public demonstrations, which were promptly and violently put down.       In 1908, due to the general discontent among the people, Porfirio Diaz, trying to demonstrate a semblance of Democracy, sought an opposition candidate for the Presidential elections of 1910. Francisco Madero became the candidate of the Liberal Party, but lost the election. Later he continued to voice his opposition against Porfirio Diaz and when he began to be recognized as the leader of the revolutionary movement, he was jailed. Public discontent continued to spread, and in 1911, Porfirio Diaz resigned the presidency and went to live in exile, never to return.

Brigido and Marciana Villanueva with Vicentita

      During the 35 years of Porfirio Diaz’s regime, the Paredes Eguiluz family of Tacubaya started and flourished. In 1887, Lieutenant Eduardo Paredes married Beatriz Eguiluz Villanueva. He was 24 years old and she was 17. Since his father-in-law Jose Maria Eguiluz y Lanciego had passed away a year before, Mama Vicentita, 34 years old, gave her daughter away in marriage. We do not have details about the wedding or who took part in it. We can imagine that our grandparents’ brothers and sisters, as well and relatives and friends, were present.

      About our grandfather’s brothers we know that Genaro married Esther Pérez de León, Cristina was married to Jose Guillaumin, Angela was married to a Mr. Arreyuve and Maria del Carmen to a Señor Sánchez. We know nothing about Enrique, Ignacio and Arturo.

      From our grandmother’s side, we know that her sister Aurora was married to Luis Esparza and they had five children: Irene, Inez, Leopoldo, Alfonso, and Luis. Her brother Luis was married to Asuncion Arredondo, who became a famous obstetrician in the city of San Luis Potosi, but they had no children. Her sister Luz was married to Lieutenant Jose Olache, and they had 11 children: Sergio, Catalina, Beatriz, Eduardo, Columba, Francisco, Luz, Eulalia, Jose, Maria, and Vicente.

      Going back to our grandfather, in 1890 he was promoted to Captain and attached to the 2nd Artillery Battalion. In 1891 he was chosen to study Stereometry, the art of measuring and computing the cubical contents of bodies and figures, then to Mexico Military College for courses in military architecture and drawing. Later on he was sent to the Sorbone in France for advanced studies in artillery. He became an expert in this specialty and headed many assignments in ballistics, assessments in the quality of artillery pieces and judged many artillery exercises. In 1902, he and his family moved to a house inside Chapultepec Park, close to the main lake. In 1913, he was promoted to Brigadier General under Divisional General Manuel Mondragón.

General Brigadier Eduardo Paredes	Beatriz Eguiluz de Paredes

      Our grandparents had 12 children: Avelina, Esther, Mario, Eugenio, Cuauhtemoc, Raquel, Francisco Alejandro, Matilde, Luis, Magdalena, Eduardo, and Lucrecia. Francisco Alejandro was born in 1898 and lived four years. Lucrecia was born in 1913 and lived one day.

The Revolution

      Madero was elected President in 1911, but he could not handle the political and military pressures or solve the country’s problems. Other rebel leaders, in particular Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa refused to accept the President’s authority and a U.S. ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson, withdrew backing Madero when he perceived that he could not control him so switched his support to General Victoriano Huerta, chief of Madero’s army, who conspired with other rebel leaders, took over Mexico City in 1913, assuming the position of Dictator. Four days later Madero was murdered.

      The Mexican revolution was provoked by the increasing discontent of the poor, which was the great majority of the population. In the factories, as well as in the farms, the workers and farmers were exploited. With a few exceptions, the growth of the population increased as fast as its problems, and day by day, their situation became increasingly intolerable. The continuity of the colonial system produced a bubble which finally burst. There was also the interest of those few who were playing the power grab game and in a short time there was an exchange of wealth but it never reached the poor, which was the objective of the revolution.

      Within this difficult environment, the troops and perhaps those military officers of medium rank had little to say or do but simply changed commands, while upper rank officers, who represented a threat to the usurper, were persecuted, as in the case of grandfather, who was loyal to Porfirio Diaz and later to Madero, but could not ideologically accept the change. Artillery General Felipe Angeles, who was respected among his peers, was even thinking about joining Villa. At this time, my uncle Eugenio Paredes, already 21 years old, was working in a secret office that Villa had in Mexico City. Through him, our grandfather received an invitation to join Villa and to utilize his artillery experience against Huerta. He spent almost a year in Villa’s army, but was not able to accept Villa’s demeanor and behavior and resigned his commission. Since there was no longer a Federal Army to rejoin, he had to escape to Veracruz and sailed to New York, making stops in Havana and New Orleans. I can imagine the problem of my grandmother Beatriz when she had to leave the country with all her children to avoid possible reprisals and join her husband.

      By 1914, all her children had been born. Esther, 24 years old, was married to Miguel Ordorica. He also was a Federal Military Officer being persecuted by Victoriano Huerta, and due to threats against him and his family, they had fled to live in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey, close to New York, where they had some friends. Avelina, the oldest daughter, had married Julio de la Serna, a Colonel. When Carranza dissolved the army in 1915, he also left the country with his family to return many years after to live in their house in Tacubaya on Manuel Dublán Street

      In 1916, Grandmother Beatriz was 48 years old, and had eight children living with her: Mario, 26, was married to Esther Rojo, Eugenio, 23, Cuauhtémoc, 22, Raquel, 20, Matilde, 13, Luis, 9, Magdalena, 5, and Eduardo, 5. Grandmother and children, accompanied by Nanita, took the train to Laredo and from there to New Brunswick to join Esther and her husband. Planning the cost of this move, and a prolonged stay in the U.S., grandmother sold her furniture and mortgaged her house. I imagine her plight in reaching the border, going through towns in turmoil with the threat of being held up or detained. Actually, it was a lucky break to be able to cross the border facing such unfavorable conditions.

      I imagine that they got to New Brunswick via San Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte, Richmond, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. New Brunswick was a small town between Philadelphia and New York. I wonder how long this trip was, and considering delays, customs, immigration, and train changes, it must have taken at least ten days. Telegraph contact had been made with Esther and Miguel Ordorica, and after a short stay in New York City, they moved to the house that Esther had leased for her mother and brothers. Grandfather, frustrated and sad, was already there, living in the attic.

      For a high ranking military man like grandfather, being in exile must have been very painful. Then, having no work to do, bored, unable to speak the language, and having no desire to learn it, he felt depressed and decided to return to Mexico and avoid to be a burden to his family. With the excuse to look for work or obtain his military pension, he sailed from New York to Veracruz aboard the S.S. Esperanza on September, 1920. Since the new Constitution prevented the reenlistment of those servicemen who had betrayed the new Constitutional cause, this was the drop of water which spilled the glass. On January 5,1921, grandmother received by telegram the news that her husband was seriously ill. She immediately took a train, arriving in Mexico City on January 11 and found her husband very sick. He took his last breath in the house of his brother-in-law, Jose Olache on February 1,1921. Eugenio had been traveling in Chile, but returned to Mexico in time to be at his deathbed. Shortly thereafter, in April, Eugenio and Grandmother Beatriz returned to New Brunswick.

      Returning to 1917, Venustiano Carranza, the Mexican army chief-of-staff, was appointed President of Mexico, but could not attain peace, as there were guerillas and armed opposition on all sides. Francisco Villa continued to be a major headache. After holding up a train and killing 15 Americans, he marched into Columbus, New Mexico, where he sacked and burned the town. The U.S. sent General Pershing, and four army columns to search for Villa. That was a punitive expedition, but they never found him. Carranza sent his minister of defense to negotiate with General Scott the withdrawal of the American troops.

      By 1920, the negative political acts against Venustiano Carranza and his government increased. On April 8, the Mexican Congress published a declaration rejecting the executive’s decision to appoint state governors and Bonilla as his successor. On the 23rd, General Plutarco Elias Calles, published the Plan de Agua Prieta, ignoring the president and asking for his resignation. On May 7, Carranza escaped from Mexico City and unable to reach the port of Veracruz, hid in the ridge of the Puebla Range and on May 20, was murdered in the town of Tlaxcalantongo. On May 24, Adolfo de la Huerta was appointed interim President to finish the term and to invoke new elections. In July he obtained Pancho Villa’s surrender in exchange for the Canutillo hacienda and on November 30 General Alvaro Obregón became President of México for the 1920/1924 term.

      Unfortunately, I do not have much information about the life of the Paredes Equiluz family in the U.S. From what my mother told me, their life in New Brunswick was pleasant but perhaps a little difficult at the beginning, as the older sons Mario, Eugenio, and Cuauhtémoc had to find employment quickly to support the family in a foreign country. The younger children, Matilde, Luis, Magdalena and Eduardo, went to school. My mother told me that when they returned to Mexico in 1923 she spoke more English than Spanish.

       The older sons found jobs in the Latin American operations of Johnson and Johnson and Abbott Laboratories. Jose H. Garcia traveled from Mexico to New Brunswick to marry Raquel in 1916. Teresa, Mario’s daughter, was born in 1918 and her mother and Mario’s first wife, Esther Rojo, died in 1919. Cuauhtémoc married Ida Anzolut days before the U.S declared war against Germany, and she was my mother’s best friend from her in school.

      In 1923, Grandmother Beatriz returned to Mexico from the U.S. to live again in her house in Tacubaya. This was the same house where she was born and had lived before, paying off the mortgage with the money she had saved and with financial help from her three older sons. In that house I met my grandmother, Nanita and Teté, Mario’s daughter. My cousin Eugenio Paredes Olache tells me that in 1932, grandmother moved for a few months from the house to live in the apartment number 10 of the Edificio Isabel, the same building where we lived, while the house was divided into two dwelings, one for her and the other for her second son, Eugenio and his family. Grandmother Beatriz Paredes Eguiluz, a woman of strong beliefs and a domineering personality, died in her house in 1933 at the age of 63 years. Later on that year, Nanita died in the same house, but she was 103 years old!

      Shortly after the Paredes Eguiluz family returned to Mexico, General Plutarco Elías Calles assumed the Presidency in 1924. During the next four years, major developments took place and for good or bad, they forged Mexico’s future for the next 72 years. At the beginning of his term, he confronted the Church, which refused to abide the limitations imposed by the Constitution of 1917. There were confrontations against the Government, religious zealots began a religious uprising called Cristeros, and so Calles suspended the right to worship and expropriated all church property. The Bank of Mexico was founded in 1925. In February 1926, Francisco Villa was murdered and at the end of Calles term, General Alvaro Obregón won the Presidential election to succeed him. However, he was murdered on July 7,1928. The other two presidential candidates, Francisco Serrano and Arnulfo Gómez began to conspire against the Government. Serrano was murdered near Cuernavaca, and Gómez was shot in Veracruz. Calles created the national revolutionary party, or PRN, and invited participation from the labor, farming, popular and military sectors. Its bylaws, which were not written, gave the president of the republic and his successors the responsibility to lead the party and the power to designate its succession. In 1946, the party changed its name to Institutional Revolutionary party, PRI, and maintained the political power in México until the year 2000.

      About my uncles, I remember visiting Aunt Avelina’s house, also in Tacubaya, located close to the Cuernavaca railroad tracks which used to run in that area, now parallel to the Mexico City Ring Road or “Periférico”. The house had a garden with a few big trees. I vaguely recall the presence of a man whom I never heard speak and who must have been uncle Julio de Serna. We lived close by and mother went to visit her sister often. I enjoyed going on these visits and playing with cousin Lola who was about my age, but I had plenty to learn from her.

      At this point, perhaps it would be a good idea to write what I remember about my mother’s brothers and sisters, starting from the oldest to the youngest. Several times my parents took me to the beautiful and spacious apartment that Aunt Esther had on an upper floor of the Edificio Viscaya in Bucareli Street. There I met Uncle Miguel Ordorica who talked very loud because he was deaf but, in spite of his handicap, he was a well-known newspaper man who founded and managed Ultimas Noticias de Excelsior, Mexico City’s daily newspaper published by the Soles de Garcia Balseca chain. Also, I met Beatriz, Sol, and Eduardo, three of their children who were older than me. I remember that Eduardo was studying medicine and played the marimba. Years later, while attending Miguel Ordorica’s funeral I met Miguel, their oldest son. I met Rafael, another son when he came to Mexico City and many years later I saw him again in his house in Connecticut. Perhaps at the same time I met, Esther and Angela, their other daughters. Rafael was, for many years Vice president of the Associated Press of New York.

      I do not recall ever meeting Uncle Mario. He was the oldest of grandmother’s sons. He married Esther Rojo but their marriage did not last long as she died in 1919, leaving a 13 month old baby girl that grandmother reared. My cousin Martha, a daughter form his second marriage, told me some details about her father’s life. After becoming a widower, he moved to Brazil to represent Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company and lived there most of his life. After grandmother’s death, Teresa joined her father in Brazil and lived there until her death. In 1931, during a business trip, he came to Mexico and married Emilia de Olmo. They returned to Brazil on the day they were married. They resided in Sao Paolo and then in Rio de Janeiro where their children Martha, Mario and Maria Cristina were born.

      His daughter Teresa married Carlos Cardoso in 1941 and they had a daughter, Diana. Mario and his family returned to Mexico in 1942 and he died the following year when he was 54. In Brazil, Teresa’s husband died in 1945. She married Claudio Crato in 1946 and they had a son, Maxio. Back in Mexico, Maria Christina married Armando del Olmo, but she died from an embolism in 1963 at the age of 25. Teresa, her step-sister, died in Brazil in 1968 when she was 50 years old.

      I vaguely remember uncle Eugenio and aunt Luz. I am sure that they attended many Sunday dinners at the García household, but I do not remember ever going to their house. They were married on May 5,1925 and, after grandmother died, they remained at the house in Tacubaya until 1936, when they moved to a house they had built on Tuxpan No. 6. I also could not remember cousin Eugenio with whom I have just established contact. He tells me that he was working in Mexico City in 1951 and we did a business that has vanished from my memory. He tells me that his parents lived in New York City from 1949 to 1951 when they moved back to Houston, where the uncle joined his brother Luis in a business called Paredes Lumber Company, which sold lumber and pre-cut structures. They moved from Houston back to New York City in 1953 and settled down in San Antonio, Texas in the early part of 1955.

      Aunt Luz died in Mexico City in 1955 while visiting her sisters and friends. Fernando Cruz tells me that, from what he heard, Uncle Eugenio always put forth a determined effort in his business ventures. He represented Johnson and Johnson in Mexico for many years. In 1936 established a factory to manufacture absorbent cotton, gauze and a variety of medical specialties in Colonia del Valle, a suburb of Mexico City. With this enterprise he had serious problems with a competitor who was a protegé of a former President of Mexico and when a serious accident took place in his factory, the competitor used political pressures to force the closing of his business. Then he established a factory to manufacture children’s furniture, a saw mill in Zitácuaro and founded a company to manufacture Lava Matic mechanical clothes washers. In 1946 he became part owner of the Imperial Hotel in Tampico and lived there until he and Aunt Luz moved in 1949 to New York City. Years later in San Antonio, already a widower, he managed a tortilla factory and had a small restaurant. His sister Magdalena traveled from Mexico City to see him and found him in ill health and depressed. She brought him to her house in Mexico City and after a few months, he died in 1961.

      I remember uncle Cuauhtémoc and Aunt Ida very well because we visited their house in Lomas de Chaputepec several times. He was President of Johnson & Johnson de Mexico. In his house, I met his son, my cousin Eddy, who was studying at Notre Dame University. I have not heard from Eddy in many many years.

      Regarding my uncle Luis Paredes and Aunt Consuelo, I knew them well. I believe that when he was living in the U.S. he established a connection with Shell Oil Company and came back to Mexico to work for a subsidiary that Shell had in Coatzacoalcos, previously known as Puerto Mexico. Luis married Consuelo Damián in 1938 in Coatzacoalcos. They were both divorced. Consuelo had two daughters, Ruth and Irma, from a previous marriage and were adopted by uncle Luis. He had two daughters with Aunt Consuelo, Alicia and Consuelo. In March 1938, when the petroleum expropriation took place, Shell Oil Co. closed all operations in Mexico and Uncle Luis was hired by Petroleos Mexicanos, PEMEX, and worked there for many years.

      When they moved to Mexico City, we went to visit them at a house they had in Bahía de Morlaco 82 in the Verónica Anzures residential district. Later on, they moved to an apartment in the Condesa, another residential district. I was a student at the School of Engineering and on two or three occasions I went to visit them to pick up Cousin Ruth, my date, to the famous Engineering Ball held at the Mining Palace and showed off her grace and beauty.

      Years later as a businessman, I had dealings with Uncle Luis who was one of the senior purchasing agents for PEMEX. When he left PEMEX he opened a hardware store on Bucareli Street and named it Palux. Apparently he did not do well in that business and moved his family to Houston where he founded Paredes Lumber Company. His brother Eugenio joined him later. I saw him again in Los Angeles. They lived on Long Street and the uncle was sales manager for Phoenix Furniture Company, a large furniture enterprise, and was very successful with his Mexican-American clients. He died in 1968 and my mother and I went to his funeral which lasted three days. At the funeral parlor, many of his clients who came to express their condolence,s thought I was his brother and said we looked very much alike. We were there for three days in the daytime because all evenings we had supper with his family and their friends. That was the first trip I made with my mother, as a grown man and had a good time even though obviously this was not a pleasure trip.

      About aunt Magdalena and uncle Fernando Cruz, I also saw them many times. I vividly remember their beautiful house in Avenida Insurgentes. Uncle Fernando was a surgeon and had his doctor’s office in Avenida Revoluciòn in Tacubaya, later on he moved across the street to an office in the Hipódromo Building.

      As for Uncle Eduardo and Aunt Guadalupe Schotte, I was very close to them. The uncle was the youngest among his brothers and although he was 15 years older than me, we maintained a deep fondness for each other. He also worked for Shell Oil Co. in Coatzacoalcos and married Maria Schotte in 1936. She was from Frontera, Tabasco. I remember that when he came back from the southeast, after the expropriation, he opened a produce store in Colima Street, in the Roma residential district. I will never forget him wearing his white produce apron. Then, for years, he had a business selling English automobiles. Quite often, we went to his house on Pedernal Street, which was four blocks from ours.

      About my parents, I will try to summarize the highlights from their lives. My father, Gabriel Saavedra Becerra, was born in 1887 in a little town near Buga in Colombia’s Cauca Valley. He had two older brothers, Luis and Inés. His mother died during a yellow fever epidemic when he was a baby. His father remarried and he was reared by a great aunt. At the age of 16, he decided to seek other frontiers, embarked in a freight ship at the Port of Buenaventura and ended up in San Francisco, California in the U.S. He was able to obtain a job as a linotype operator in a French newspaper because someone thought the French language was similar to his Spanish.

      In 1906 he lived through the earthquake and fire in San Francisco and probably in 1912, moved to Chicago where he got a job at the Union Special Company, a manufacturer of sewing machines. In 1922 he obtained the representation of their products in Mexico and set up a sewing center at a rented place in the corner of what was Puente de Alvarado and Humbolt Streets. There, at the beginning of 1924, Matilde Paredes showed up to learn how to use a sewing machine and met the business owner. Apparently they fell seriously in love and got married in September of the same year.

      At the beginning, they lived in an apartment on Marti Street in Tacubaya where I was born. Then in an apartment on Humbolt Street and, two years later, getting close to Tacubaya, we lived first on Acapulco Street and then in Juan Escutia, in the Condesa residential district. My brother Gabriel was born on January 1929 and in 1931 we moved to the Isabel Building, on the corner of Revolución Avenue and Martí Street at scant 50 meters from the place where I was born, and where my grandmother was living temporarily.

      Probably the sewing machine business did not work out as my father had wished and he formed a partnership with Jose Tarditti to represent mainly foreign companies, producing or selling automotive spare parts. Their office was on Ayuntamiento Street, close to Bucareli Street. I remember that my cousin Rosa de la Serna worked there. In 1938 my father sold his business share to his partner and in December, the Saaavedra family drove to Chicago, accompanied by my cousin Antonio García Paredes who was going to South Bend, Indiana, close to Chicago, to pick up and drive back to Mexico a new Studebaker, which was to be delivered to him at the manufacturing plant.

      Close to the town of Pearsall, near San Antonio in Texas, we flipped over but luckily only suffered small cuts and bruises. The car remained in a repair shop and we continued the trip by train. From Chicago we went to New York City before Christmas, where, my mother, my brother and I, lived alone for 9 months, in a nice little house they had rented in Forest Hills, in the New York City suburb of Queens. My brother and I attended the Public School of this residential district and my father went back to Mexico to return until September 1939, with the repaired car. In October we embarked, with car and everything, in the steam ship Santa Rita from the Grace Line to the Port of Buenaventura, Colombia, where my father had left 36 years before.

      In Colombia my father established a business with top of the line representations and we remained in Bogotá for three years. My mother missed her country and her people and after her first cancer operation, they decided to return to Mexico. My father sold his business to one of his employees, a very capable young man, who knew how to take advantage of the mine he had purchased which throughout the years generated many dollars in profits to him. For many years he paid my father a percentage from his sales commissions. We returned to Mexico in December 1942 and in January 1943 I entered the University of Mexico to study Petroleum Engineering. A few years after, my brother pursued a career in Chemical Engineering. My father established another representation business, but not even by naming it Saavedra and Sons, was he able to obtain good representations and for years we lived from the commissions he received from Colombia.

      Adding to this, my father was a self taught person. He had read a lot and had a good memory. He was an excellent conversationalist and when he talked about Europe, for example, before having visited it, apparently he knew more than someone who had visited it several times. My mother was well educated and had the gift for writing. They made a beautiful couple. Many of her letters and descriptions about her trips are extraordinary and very interesting. In 1949 my father decided to try another business and the four of us went to Los Angeles. My father had the idea to establish an export business and tried unsuccessfully to obtain representations from American companies that had no export experience. He then decided to return to México and established a company where I could participate. We obtained several representations which required some engineering and the sales increased.

      Because of the difference in ages, at the age of 63, my father’s preoccupation was to leave a safe income to my mother and in 1950 I participated in the construction of an apartment building, in the Nápoles residential district. It was a building with four apartments. They lived in one and leased the other three.

      In 1958 I associated myself with a British company and we established a wire rope factory in Mexico City and even though my father did not participate in the venture as shareholder, he was its main distributor. Probably in 1964, perhaps a bit tired at 77, he sold his distributing business to our manufacturing company and it was the first time he had some money at hand. They built a house in Cuernavaca and went to Europe several times. My father died in 1976 at the age of 89 years due to complications of a prostate cancer. My mother had three serious cancer operations and in spite of this stigma, was the one who lived the longest from all her brothers and sisters and the last to die. She died in 1991 due to pulmonary insufficiency, very likely caused by the progressive hardening of the bronchial tubes from the radiation she had in Bogotá many years before. She was also 89.

      For now I close this narration, but with pleasure I will be glad to revise this family history as many times as may be necessary to add more photographs to the gallery and all the information my cousins, nieces and nephews would like to send me to complete the information about their parents. Also, in this Website the Directory program has been laid out so that each relative can enter the information about himself and his family. We were 40 cousins of which 6 died young. Without being able to confirm it, I believe that today, in April 2004, we remain 18 living cousins but more than 100 direct descendants including my sons and daughters and those of my cousins. This directory will introduce many relatives that have never met and could encourage the basis to develop a constructive and interesting communication between the descendants of Eduardo and Beatriz Paredes.

Gustavo Saavedra Paredes

April 2004.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This translation from the Spanish version was finished on December 6, 2003 by Eugenio Paredes O., who in turn, wishes to thank his grandsons Nathan and David Fernández for their professional proofreading and typing.