Familia Maldonado

Our history...

 

 
On January 6, 1749 Jose de Escandon and Helguera, Count of Sierra Gorda and Lieutenant Captain General of the New Santander and its Borders (now Tamaulipas), founded the Villa de Padilla which later would be under water by the construction of the water dam Vicente Guerrero in favor of the population. In the town of Padilla around 1805, ie 56 years after its foundation, a child was born, son of Juan Bautista Maldonado (cc, 1777) and Agustina Salome (cc, 1777) who was to be named Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome (cc, 1805). I must add that the Maldonado family was not part of the founders of the town of Padilla, they do not appear in the founding population census which mentions all those families who migrated from Valle del Pilon, Linares, Queretaro and San Luis Potosi to form this Villa. Therefore it is presumed that the grandfather of Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome comes from a place called TANCANUITZ SANTOS, SAN LUIS POTOSI.
 
Tancanhuitz de Santos:
A Huastecan name whose meaning is "Place of Flowers" or, "Canoe of yellow flowers" 
.
HISTORY
Historical review
The Huastecos, of Mayan decent, founded Tancanhuitz in 1522, "Canhuitzn" was the original name. It is a Huastecan town that dates to the pre-Conquest period initially inhabited by Indians. 
 
In the late sixteenth century it had a population of 800 people and had 1700 by 1746 between huastecos and Mexicans. There are religious in chronicles or repeated reports of wardens and religious missions or doctrines, but do not shed light on the situation of indigenous peopls in the region of Tancanhuitz.
 
Well ... .Tancanhuitz geographically speaking, would become the birthplace of Andres Maldonado (cc, 1750), father of Juan Bautista Maldonado and grandfather for Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome.
 
Due to the scarcity of employment that prevails during this time and without any real estate or patromony, Jose Francisco, like many others migrate north to reach the Congregacion del Refugio (Es.t 1794) today Matamoros, Tamaulipas in search for a better future. Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Est May 14, 1834) began to have a boom in employment, trade and social development around 1820, 10 years after the proclamation of independence. Mexico finally is independent from the Spanish crown and begins to develop on its own merit. Once in the Congregacion del Refugio, Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome meets a young woman named Maria Rafaela Flores Vega (cc October 30, 1807) daughter of Jose Enrique Flores Garcia (18 July 1775) and Maria Petra Canuta Vega Conde (cc Jan 19, 1776) originally from Rancho La Colorada, jurisdiction of Real del Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon.
 
On April 18, 1831, in the still called Congregacion del Refugio, Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome marries Maria Rafaela Flores Vega. By this time Juan Bautista Maldonado and Agustina Salome had passed away as well as Maria Rafaela's father, Jose Enrique Flores Garcia. Children did not take long to arrive in the family and by January 3rd, 1832 Jose Genovevo Maldonado Flores was born and was baptized on January 10 the same year in the Congregacion del Refugio church.A few years later Florencia Maldonado Flores was born and unfortunately do not have much data and or birth registration for her. One question that I asked myself at some point is why was the first child named Genovevo and not Jose Francisco like his father ... On January 3rd is the celebration for St Genovevo, hence the name of the child!!
 
The Rancho San Rafael
 
The Rancho San Rafael was founded, according to calculation and genealogical analysis, by Jose Francisco Maldonado Salome and Maria Rafaela Flores Vega probably between 1832 and 1840. Why was it named San Rafael ?? The theory is that the name is assigned in honor of or love for his wife Maria Rafaela, which sounds very consistent. The ranch was a simple piece of land with adobe houses that gave the Maldonado family the basic means to live. The family was also donated a piece of land by the Trevino family in order to put their loved ones to rest and it was called SAN RAFAEL cemetery not Las Pitas as most people know it now a days. The surrounding ranches really were very few and are probably the oldest around the area. Goliad, La Mesa, San Juan among others are about 175 yearsold. The geographical location of the ranch is in the premises of the Trevino family, better known as San Vicente de la Mesa, an area that had dimensions in kilometers from the banks of the Rio Grande south to San Fernando, Tamaulipas and from the edge of Reynosa, Tamaulipas to the limits of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Please note that the Treviño family was and is a direct descendant of the owner Vicente Trevino who acquired this land during the distribution of the "porciones" by the Spanish Crown between 1767 and 1769. These same lands around 1846 subsequently became part of the Asociacion Agricola La Sauteña, owned by the Count of Sauto, Don Antonio Vicente and Inigo Noriega Uriza his main partner. The Rancho San Rafael has passed through several hands since its founding and their owners at different times have been Jose Francisco and Jose Maria Rafaela,Jose Genovevo Maldonado Flores, Eleuterio Maldonado Trevino,Lazara Maldonado Yarrito and today is owned by Reynalda Gonzalez Maldonado.
 
 
 
The seed is spread ...
 
Around 1864, having reached maturity in years, the eldest son, Jose Genovevo marries Maria Rita Sosa daughter of Lino Trevino Trevino (cc, 1813) and Maria Antonia Sosa (cc, 1817) and come to live in the Rancho San Rafael. Maria Rita is a native of Rancho La Mesa, which is located northeast of Estacion Canales in Tamaulipas. This area was known as San Vicente de La Mesa or just La Mesa(within this area there were many ranches). Maria Rita belongs to the line of TREVINOS that decended from Vicente Trevino, who owns one of the largest land portions of the region which he distributed to his children and hence the name spreaded like wildfire throughout the region. The Maldonado Trevino marriage was comprised of the following members.
 
Jose Genovevo Maldonado Flores, (cc, 1832) and Maria Rita Trevino Sosa, (cc,1841)
 
Their children were;
 
Tomas Maldonado Trevino, cc Mar 7, 1865 - 1950
Cirildo Maldonado Jose Trevino, cc, November 10, 1867
Maria Rafaela Maldonado Trevino, cc, 1870 
Maria Antonia Maldonado Trevino, cc 1876 - 1954
Maldonado Genovevo Trevino, cc 1880 - 1948
Eleuterio Maldonado Trevino, cc, 1881 
Jose Encarnacion Maldonado Trevino, cc, Jan 1, 1887
 
 
Let's talk about Florencia Maldonado Flores ...
 
Florencia Maldonado Flores, sister of Jose Genovevo, had 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl and they are:
 
Felix Maldonado Maldonado, cc, 1868 (Father, Genovevo Maldonado)
Cristobal Maldonado, cc, September 9, 1878 (Father unknown)
Generosa Maldonado Trevino, cc, Apr 14, 1881 (Father, Severiano Trevino)
Alonzo Maldonado, cc, Jan 3, 1884 (Father unknown)
 
It is unclear how Florencia managed her life, we can not tell whether there was marriage, live-in boyfriend or even a serious relationship ... what we can clearly see and understand is that the four children were fathered by different fathers being one of them from Severiano Trevino, her sister-in-law Maria Rita's brother, the younger brother of the Trevino family. Two of her children adopted their mother's surname rather than bearing their own father's last name .Cristobal and Alonzo were the two children that adopted the surname MALDONADO.
 
 
The Rancho Las Pitas and Maldonado cousins.
 
By the late 1800's through mid 1900's 3 different lines of Maldonado existed and inexplicably they could not be linked together despite the fact that they were all neighbors of Ranchos San Rafael, Las Pitas and Santa Elvira; (1) Alonzo Maldonado, (2) Felix "Chano" Maldonado Maldonado and (3) Genovevo Maldonado Trevino. No one knew where they came from, if there was any kinship or any actual blood relation among them. To this question the answer was the same, "we're the same people" - Florentina "Florita" Maldonado Suarez, 1922-2012 cc, but no one ever knew who was a cousin of who and why. I dedicated myself to the task of searching and researching for literally days and nights to see if I could link all these Maldonados who lived around the ranch belonging to Felix Maldonado Maldonado, Las Pitas. After many sleepless nights and coffee cups, I was finally able to disentangle and expose that Felix and Alonzo were brothers from the same mother Genovevo Maldonado Trevino was their first cousin!! Florencia (Felix and Alonzo;s mother) and Jose Genovevo (Genovevo's father) were brothers!!! what an amazing find!!! If you know who were your grandparents or great-grandparents you understand that it is extremely odd that our grandparents did not known the relationship with the rest of the Maldonado clan. Rancho Las Pitas is clearly established that originally belonged to Felix "Chano" Maldonado, father of Felix Maldonado Gonzalez. In the beginning the ranch did not have much land and basically was a piece of land where you could build a hut and have the basics to live. It was not until the 1940's when the distribution of land came about by the Mexican Government and Las Pitas ranch finally expanded and as well as the creation of Rancho Santa Elvira, property of my uncle Antonio Maldonado Rodriguez in honor of his mother Elvira Rodriguez Anzaldua, daughter of Casimiro Rodriguez Garza and Maria Antonia Anzaldua Zepeda.
 
The Myth of the Cortina last name...
 
For many years it was an open secret that one of these three lines was not Maldonado. According to conversations with my uncles, grandparents and descendants of this very own family, their last name should not be Maldonado but rather Cortina. Once again, no one knew anything ... Nobody knew who, how or when the name was lost, people only knew that the decending line of Alonzo Maldonado should have really been Cortina. Where do I start?? who to ask ?? was it really true?? ... I once again got into heavy reserach mode and visited religious archives of the parish of Our Lady of Refuge Matamoros, Tamaulipas, websites and read any document that might shed some light on this story. I realized this was going much farther back than I imagined. Finally found it!!! After years of researching and being 5: AM on a Saturday I found what was to prove everything that was said about this Maldonado. Within the Catholic Church records I managed to get my hands on and rescue a baptismal certificate dated June 4, 1884 which clearly indicates that Alonzo is the "natural son of Flora Maldonado and unknown father ...". The father's name was never awarded to the newborn and chose to adopt his mother's surname. c'est la Vie!!
 
 
The Maldonados begin to disperse in the are since the beginning of the century where some are registered in both the US and Mexico just like Tomas Maldonado Treviño, eg A Hidalgo County, Hidalgo County B and Rancho La Mesa, Tamaualipas. In pursuit of better living standards and employment most Maldonados migrate to the US border, Reynosa and Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas. Places like Mercedes, TX, New Gulf, TX, Corpus Christi, TX, La Feria, TX were the first platforms that catapulted Maldonados away from their roots as far as Avondale, Arizona, the Carolinas, Florida and California among other places. Today in the area near Rancho San Rafael lives Santos Trevino Salazar grandson of Maria Rafaela Maldonado and MateoTrevino. The MALDONADOS were always characterized as reluctant, friendly, elegant, formal, serious and very honorable people. Some of us still retain these characteristics and some of us have left them in oblivion. After 10 generations and 265 years of genealogical history, I finally come to a close on my family's research and investigation. Identify your family line and see how many generations you can come up with. Thank you very much for taking your time to read this story!!