#MD84
1877
Text in Spanish. Quarto (10¼ x 8¼ in). 1 page. Brown ink on bluish wove paper. Some foxing, minor tears along folds, but otherwise a very good letter written in a legible hand.
Historically interesting original manuscript letter by a Mexican female from Puebla de Zaragoza, searching for lost family members in early California.
The author, Susana de Ávalos y Elizalde (ca. 1821–1901), addresses the letter to possible relatives with the surname Elizalde and Erasquin in California. She outlines her family lineage, noting that her grandfather, José Domingo de Elizalde (ca. 1800–1840), married twice and, in 1836, reported having six children from his second marriage (Manuela Erasquin Salazar (ca. 1824-)) in Paita, Peru. Having learned through an intermediary that two Elizaldes were living in California, Susana asks them to respond in order to ascertain if the families might be related.
Based on our subsequent research, only two of the author’s relatives from her grandfather’s second marriage (Santiago Ávalos and Felipa Ávalos) were identified, and at the time the letter was written, both were residing in Lima, Peru, with no apparent ties to California.
Overall, a historically significant example of an early effort to locate and reconnect with family in the 1870s California.
Excerpts from the letter (in English translation): “He was married for the first time to Doña Joaquina Matiauda. He had a daughter named Matilda Elizalde, who married Señor Doctor José María de Ávalos. They had several children; those of us who are still living are Susana, Joaquín, Enrique, Henriqueta, Carolina, Gumesindo and Domitilia. In the year twenty he married for the second time to Doña Doctor Manuela Erauquin. In the year 1836 he wrote to my mother through Señor Don José Domingo Jerdart, informing her that she had five siblings... This was the last letter he wrote from Paita, and since then we have not known whether he is alive or dead. My father, Doctor José María de Ávalos, no longer lives. My mother has also died. I have grown tired of writing and have received no reply at all.”
