Almada Family History / Historia de la Familia Almada

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to the first ever online Blog concerning Almada family history. Into this Blog I will

include all pertinent knowledge pertaining to the Almada family, not just in my own neck of the

woods (Southern California) but around the world.

Indeed, I named this Blog the Almada Diaspora because, like the African Diaspora or the Jewish

Diaspora, the Almada surname scattered outward from the Kingdom of Portugal to myriad

locations around the world. The name "Diaspora" itself refers to a scattering.

I should begin with my own lineage, which encompasses the family names of Almada, Crawford,

Mckinnon, Bautista, Johnson, Ronquillo, Verdugo, Encinas, Guerena, Salido, Alvarado, and

others that I have yet to research.

SECTION ONE: PORTUGAL AND SPAIN

My paternal line began with Rui Fernandes de Almada, a Portuguese of the 17th century and a

cousin to the Counts of Almada-Abranches (the most famous branch of the European Almadas).

Rui's descendants remained in a newly liberated Portugal (as in liberated from Spanish

hegemony)for two more generations before Antao de Almada migrated to Villa de Aspe, in what

is now Valencia, Spain. The young Portuguese supposedly sought better economic conditions

in the adjacent kingdom, and capitalized on family connections with the Osorio Moscoso family of

Astorga to do this.

This connection with the Spanish Grandee family of Osorio Moscoso has never been described in

convincing detail, however the "Armorial Lusitano" a weighty tome encompassing the

genealogies of Portuguese Grandees---in the genealogy of the Portuguese Osorios---mentioned

a "Domingo Antues de Almada married to Maria Peres Osorio."

Whatever the actual connection, the Almadas settled in Villa de Aspe, and from the the early

1700's to the 1780's, built their lives around agriculture and raising their families.

A famous relative of the Spanish Almadas, Antonio de los Reyes from the nearby town of Elche,

became a Catholic priest, and in this capacity preached powerful sermons to his fellow Spaniards,

and then to the indigenous peoples of New Spain.

SECTION TWO: NEW SPAIN AND MEXICO

It was on his second trip to New Spain that Antonio de los Reyes, by then an influential church

leader, brought along his three nephews: fellow priest Jose de Almada, his younger brother

Antonio and their cousin, Lieutenant Antonio de los Reyes.

After making an arduous journey overland from the port of Veracruz into the heart of New

Spain, Fray Antonio was consecrated First Bishop of Sonora by Viceroy Mayorga in Mexico City.

His two Almada nephews (the fate of his Reyes nephew is unknown ) , who were staying in

Culiacan, Sinaloa, rejoined their newly consecrated uncle, and from there trekked north, to the

province of Sonora.

Reyes was to take up his episcopal seat in the town of Arizpe, but as the rainy season had begun

in Sonora, his soldier escorts refused to ride any further, and thus Bishop de los Reyes and his

two Almada nephews remained in the town of Alamos, a place that had much to entice

penninsulares newly arrived from Spain.

The younger nephew, Antonio Almada y Reyes, established his family in Alamos and became,

with the guidance of his wealthy father-in-law and mentor, Don Bartolome Salido, the wealthiest

miner in Sonora.

Bishop de los Reyes, a pious man with a sweeping vision of reform for the Spanish mission

system, was plagued by resistance from the established religious powers in Sonora--most

notoriously Father Barbastro--but lived long enough to christian two of Antonio Almada's sons:

Jose de Jesus (Chuy) and Antonio Jr (Antuco).

It is from the younger sons of Antonio Almada that I descend:

Ignacio Almada and his brother Jose Maria Almada.

One of Ignacio's many sons--Jesus Pioquinto--married his cousin, Maria Tomasa Cornelia,

daughter of Jose Maria Almada.

Pioquinto and Cornelia grew up in the households of wealthy men, and were perhaps products of

a very conservative, very Catholic Mexican culture. In those days--in the middle 19th century--

it was an expected convention of northern Mexican culture that different branches of the same

family intermarry; both to continue the family name and to maintain a pure bloodline.

Pioquinto Almada, an educated man, assisted his cousin, Gregorio Almada, in the running of his

Liceo de Sonora, a Boarding School in Alamos. Pioquinto was also one of the signatories on a

document objecting to the oppressive tax system imposed by the Pesqueira government.

Of his wife, Cornelia, less is known. She was the mother of a sizable tribe of Almadas: Valeriano,

Jesus Marcelino, Guadalupe, Cornelia, Ricardo, and one or two more daughters. In keeping

with the traditional roles of married women in a conservative culture, Cornelia Almada likely

maintained the household and saw to the raising of her children. When her father, Jose Maria

Almada was arrested by the Pesqueira government, it is quite possible that she was among the

many relatives to accompany him from Alamos to Navajoa, where the Almada patriarch was

held under house arrest.

Cornelia's older brothers, Jose Maria Tranquilino and Antonio Anselmo, involved themselves

in the wars of the French Intervention--supporting the forces of the French Imperium---but

her thoughts concerning these matters are not recorded.

Her son, Jesus Marcelino Almada, is my great-great grandfather, and he was apparently quite

close to one of his aunts, Ascension Almada, who had no children of her own but who took an

active role in her nephew's education.

Marcelino Almada, born in Alamos in 1853, married Dolores Guerena, oldest daughter of

Modesto Guerena and Dolores Chavez. Later, for reasons unknown, Marcelino left Alamos and

moved to Culiacan, Sinaloa, sometime in the late 1800's.

Some of his relatives were already established there: Ponciano Gregorio Almada and his wife

Laura de la Vega. They were the grandparents of Jesus and Jorge Almada Salido, who together

would found the Almada Sugar Refining Company.

There is a genealogical question-mark concerning Ricarda Diaz Martinez. According to the

death certificate of Marcelino's son Carlos, she is listed as Marcelino's wife, and this further

confirmed in a genealogical tree made by my paternal grandparents where Ricarda is again

indicated as the wife of Jesus Marcelino.

This was all wonderfully consistent until I came across the Testamento or Will of Dolores

Chavez, mother of Dolores Guerena, where she indicates Jesus Marcelino Almada as the

husband of her daughter Dolores.

Confused? Good.

It is easy to speculate that Ricarda Diaz Martinez might have been Marcelino's second wife,

whom the latter wed in Culiacan, but hard evidence must be found to ascertain the absolute

truth.

SECTION THREE: NORTH AMERICA

Carlos Almada, son of Jesus Marcelino, was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, but did not stay there.

Born towards the end of the 19th century, when opposition to President Porfirio Diaz was

growing to dangerous levels, Don Carlos Almada trekked north to the Sonoran borderlands,

crossing over to Arizona on his own at the turn of the century.

He lived for a time in Nogales, AZ, struggling hard to earn a living in an environment that was

by no means entirely pro-Mexican; I'm certain my grandfather Carlos did encounter anti-

Mexican sentiment sometime and somewhere in Arizona.

In time, Carlos met and married Maria Susana Ronquillo, a daughter of the Mexican

rancher and musician Manuel Ronquillo. Don Manuel worked for Pete Kitchen, a famous

American frontiersman who for many years successfully fought off Apache raids against his

fortress home of El Portrero.

Manuel Ronquillo originally hailed from the town of Cucurpe, Sonora, but his ancestry possibly

connected to the Ronquillos who served as Spanish presidial soldiers in Chihuahua, and even

further back to the Ronquillos of the town of Aldeaseca, in Arevalo, Spain.

Carlos Almada and Maria Susana Ronquillo began their family in Nogales, AZ, but eventually

moved further north to Tucson. Eventually, the couple produced nine children: Charles,

Julia, Gilbert, Robert, Estela, Harry, Alfonso, Peter and Richard.

In Tucson, Carlos Almada worked various jobs: from bartender to boiler-maker helper for the

steam railroad.

His son, Charles, eventually left Arizona for Oxnard, CA. His brother Harry Almada moved to

Downey, and older sibling Gilbert, a decorated WWII veteran, lived for a long time in Minnesota.

Their sister, Julia Almada, remained in Tucson and married Ramon Santa Cruz. Sadly, brother

Alfonso died in a car accident. Estela Almada married in Tucson and became the proud mother

of many children.

Peter Almada, my beloved grandfather, also wedded in Tucson, marrying Rita Bautista, my

beloved grandmother.

In my grandfather's case, he grew up in early twentieth century Tucson, raised more so by

his older brothers than his parents. Obligated to work at an early age, the young Peter Almada

worked for a time in a Chinese Laundrymat, and from either the owners or his co-workers,

learned how to eat with chopsticks.

Like his brothers Gilbert and Richard Almada, Peter served in the U.S. armed forces, and during

WWII was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Dace, a submarine.

He was also an avid golfer, and I remember as a little boy, seeing a set of my grandfather's

golf clubs.

Peter Almada was something of an outdoorsman as well, for my family still has photographs

of him out in the Arizona desert teaching his wife Rita, and his oldest son, Peter Jr, how to

aim and shoot a rifle.

Between them, Peter and Rita Almada had four boys--later adopting a girl named Maggie---

and their individual lineages will be continued in the next Blog entry.

Stay Tuned!