About 90 years ago, my great-grandparents moved to Texas from Mexico, along with their children. A short time later, in the town of Hearne, a stone's throw from Austin, my great-grandmother gave birth to Anita, my grandmother. Anita, or Anne as she would later be known, would eventually move to San Diego and live a life that my dad would tell me about in fascinating snippets as I grew up. There were tales of guns, alcohol, car crashes, unpaid electricity bills, hobos, and tapeworms. But until now, these stories have only been an oral history.
My goal, over the next several months, is to compile a comprehensive written history of the "Legend of Anne" as my dad calls it, along with stories from my aunts, uncles, and cousins, about our forebears. Right now, a lot of the information I know about my ancestors is murky. And scant. I'm also detached from a large group of my great-grandparents' descendants, because I live in Washington state and most of them live in Southern California. I hope that, as I begin to research and talk to my dad and other relatives, I'll be able to flesh out some of those fascinating stories and get a better idea of who my ancestors were, why they crossed the border, and how my family history has played out in the lives of those who are still living.
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