My Mother's Journey To Mexico

The person I interviewed for my project was my grandma, Esther Casco. Both of her parents immigrated from Mexico in the early 1900’s, but my grandma only has knowledge of her mother’s journey to America. My great-grandmother was someone very important to my grandma. She would and still constantly tells me about her and how great of a person she was. My grandma always wishes that I could’ve met her mother because I would’ve loved her and she would’ve loved me. My grandma tries to keep her mother’s spirit alive by cooking the food that was made for her as a kid. The food she makes is something I enjoy eating and it brings joy to my grandma when she cooks it. She uses the same recipes that her mother taught her and they produce the same comfort

She was born in 1907 in Durango, Mexico. My mother was the youngest child out of 13 children in a family 0f 15. She grew up on a ranch in a small town outside of Durango called San Lucas de Ocampo. The ranch is still there today and your Uncle Art and I have our names under the property title. My mother was very financially stable in Durango yet lived a simple life on the ranch. I am not sure what year the smallpox epidemic began, but this was the beginning of my mother’s journey to America. Her family soon went from 15 members to 5 members. The smallpox killed the rest of her siblings and her mother. My mother’s 3 oldest brothers, Zenon, Antonio, and Miguel, and her father were the other 4 members that survived. My mother’s father soon remarried after the smallpox epidemic. Her new stepmother didn’t want to keep her. I think she wanted to start a new family with my mother’s father instead of having to look after her. My mother’s father decided to ask his oldest son, Miguel, if my mother could come live with him in the United States. Miguel was already in America due to him being in the Mexican Revolution. My mother’s brother agreed and sent after my mother. He first brought his daughter Rose to the United States then my mother joined them. Rose was 3 years older than my mother and they both moved to Flagstaff,

I am guessing she arrived in the United States by train or even horse drawn carriages. She came to the States alone and left behind her father and stepmother. A lot of people affected by the epidemic in Mexico also moved to Flagstaff. When she arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona, it was a big adjustment for her. It was very cold during the winter and at night and it was one thing she didn’t enjoy. My mother wasn’t old enough to have a real job when she arrived so she cooked and cleaned for Miguel and his daughter. This is where she learned how to make all her great food and recipes. Throughout her whole time growing up in Flagstaff, her brother Miguel worked in the lumber camps. Before 1925, my mother met my father, Silverio Villegas, who was also working in the lumber camps. In 1925, my mother and father got married. She was 19 and he was 21 years old. She said “when I married your father, my freedom came.” My mother finally could live her life and not worry about anything. Years later, my two siblings, Ines and Ernesto, were born in Flagstaff, Arizona. My father then got a job offer from the Santa Fe railway in Pittsburg, California. My mother, father, and two siblings soon moved to California. Many people who were in Flagstaff from Mexico also moved to California as