When my mother’s family entered the United States from Mexico around 1916 it was the last leg of a journey of over a thousand miles that began in Zacatecas. José Sanchez and Remedios Sanchez y Cabrera werre lucky to be alive—ten sons and daughters died in Mexico from hunger and illness. Only five-year-old Flora survived to cross the border with them. Together with José's brother Tomás and sister Macrina they made their way to El Paso, Texas. A cousin, Pancho moved to Anthony in southern New Mexico where he became a farmer and land owner. Other family members continued on to California.
Remedios’s dream was to own a mercantile store in prosperous El Paso. The story passed down to us was that her parents were merchants in Queretaro, a large town north of Mexico City. If that’s true, then Remedios might’ve learned to read and do math while working in the family store. She never learned to write, however and later on her wish was for her children to go to school to be properly educated.
José was a skilled blacksmith. Growing up in the pueblo of Guadalupe de Zacatecas he longed to find a similar community where he could establish himself in business. José was a likeable man who made friends easily. He played the violin and wherever he went he would start a band to perform at parties and cantinas. My mother Angelita was José and Remedios' second child born in El Paso. She was named little Angela in memory of a deceased sister. Eventually each of the Sanchez families left El Paso and moved north, into New Mexico. José moved around the state, stopping wherever he could find work. Remedios and the children went with him. It was not an easy life. In a mining camp at least one more child is known to have died.
A longtime Belen family, the Gabaldons, befriended José. They provided work for him and a place for the family to live. Their positions in life could not have been more different. The Gabaldons were land owners who had been in the area for generations. Gabaldon road leading into Belen is named for them. Their roots were as deep as the long history of Hispanic New Mexico. The Sanchez family were landless refugees with little money, no prospects and no experience dealing with the Anglo American world. They didn't speak English. In bilingual El Paso language was not a problem for the new immigrants but in Belen the dominant language was English. As a result, José could only deal with the Hispanic world so his prospects for work were low. His children would have to cross this language barrier if they were to improve their lives in the United States.
Eventually Jose and Remedios bought a lot in Belen and built a small house. He established his blacksmithing business there and traveled throughout the area repairing farm equipment and building wrought iron fences.
Over time José became a heavy drinker particularly of homemade alcohol which was readily available. His drinking led to mental instability and abuse of his family. His violence came to a head when he forced Remedios into his truck and drove her to a remote place on the mesas west of Belen where he tried to shoot her. The following week José was in such a deteriorated mental state that he was unable to speak or interact with anyone. After being evaluated by a local doctor my grandmother made the difficult decision to commit him to the state hospital in Las Vegas, New Mexico where he remained until his death in the 1960s.
Everyone in the family was affected by this. Angelita was only ten when it took place but her memories of that period remain painfully clear. José's brother Tomás never forgave Remedios for committing Jose. He refused to visit her although he maintained a connection to the family through his sister Macrina, who was more understanding. Remedios knew her decision was justified; the fate of her five children was in her hands. They were her life and she had to keep them safe.
Remedios decided to stay in Belen to provide the children with a permanent home where they could go to school, make friends and be part of the community. She wanted all of them to get high school diplomas but under such difficult conditions it wasn't possible. Flora, by then a teenager, was already helping to support the family. Ventura the next oldest, attended school but dropped out to do the same. Their sacrifices made it possible for the youngest children to stay in school. Angelita never forgot her family's support. Her mother's faith in education became hers, too.
She, her brother Genaro and sister Margarita earned their high school diplomas but my mother remembers how difficult those first years in Belen were. The railroad industry brought a level of prosperity to Belen and the surrounding farming communities but the Sanchezes were not part of it. As immigrants they were barely clinging to the bottom rung of the economic and social ladder. The family lived first in a borrowed garage. At school Angelita felt extremely self conscious; her impoverished appearance was in obvious contrast to the middle class and working class Hispanic and Anglo kids who attended with her. What's more, Spanish speaking students were punished if they spoke their native language on the school grounds, making school more fearful for her than educational.
Because of these traumatic experiences Angelita vowed her children would never go to school poorly dressed and they would speak English. In light of her unhappy experiences her decisions were justified but as a result of not being bilingual my three brothers, sister and I could not communicate with our Spanish speaking family members, especially our grandparents, whom we never got to know well.
Losing our native language meant we would be unable to navigate the Spanish speaking world, which not only included family but all of Hispanic New Mexico where there was immediate acceptance for those knowing Spanish. The forfeiture of our language, however, was made with our best interests in mind, as Mom knew them to be.