Naturalization of my Grandmother, Maria

My Mama Mere came to Eagle Pass in 1919 with her husband Sabino Rodriguez. He brought the family from Mexico, just as many others were doing because of the Revolution and the unrest in that country. The employment that he could find was working in the Seco Mines digging for coal. There were other crossings, but by the early 1920s the family had gone to do farm labor in Petronila and Robstown farms before moving into town in the biggest little town in Texas, Robstown. Picking cotton was what brought many families to Robstown. Many were there only during cotton-picking season and moved away. Our family  built roots in the community. My dad and his uncle worked at the McCarrick sheds packing produce for shipping to other parts of the country. Then my dad had his own business on Main Street. And, they lived in Robstown until their death.

It took my Grandmother about 48 years to finally petition her intent to become a US citizen. I don't think she ever intended to go back to Mexico to live, although she did at times talked about  some land that might have been her husband's because he had been a Capitán Primero in the federal army. I never heard her ever state that she thought life would be better in Mexico.

Last month I contacted the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Corpus Christi. I asked for and received a copy of the stub for the certificate of admission of several members of my family. Below is the record for Mama Mere.

 

Looking back on her life, I hope that Mama Mere had a good life. I could never be sure of the stories she told us when we were young children. That's difficult when as a genealogist one likes to have precise dates, places, etc. This card states her birthdate as 10/2/1898, but her baptismal certificate indicated she was baptized on 1/8/1897 and that she was born 12/25/1896.