Tootsie (aka Isabel) is the daughter of Carmen, one of my grandmother's oldest siblings (there were nine kids in all, seven who lived past infancy). Tootsie has firsthand knowledge regarding my great-grandparents, since they were still alive when she was a child. She was able to give me the names of everyone in my grandma's family, as well as some of their birth years, and a few anecdotes about them, which I was quick to jot down. For instance, according to Tootsie's mother, my great-grandpa Graciano Gonzalez was originally named Graciano Tovar when he lived in Mexico. And he didn't come to the United States in search of "the American Dream" as I had assumed. He came as a fugitive.
What sort of crime he supposedly committed in Mexico, Tootsie didn't know. But by the time Carmen and her siblings crossed the border with their mother, Eloisa Diaz (aka Moda), they found Graciano with a new last name, working in southern Texas. He found work on the railroad, laying track that pointed west. According to Tootsie, the family "followed the railroad to National City," a San Diego suburb. That's where they settled, where Tootsie was raised, and where some of the family still remains. From there, the descendants spread out throughout the San Diego area, up to Los Angeles where Tootsie and many of her children and grandchildren reside, and all the way up to Washington state and beyond.
But this is only the beginning of the story for me. I have a few pages of notes from my conversation with Tootsie, and my appetite for uncovering more of my family history has been whetted. I just might have to go to the family reunion in San Diego later this summer.
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| A photo from Tootsie. She's in the middle of the back row. My dad's oldest brother, Dennis, who turns 70 this year, is front and center. |
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