William Henry Ellis
A Mexican Family Story
William Henry Ellis was a man who lived on the edge of borders—legal, racial, and geographic. Born in the late 1860s to formerly enslaved parents in Texas, he rewrote his own story with the cunning of a seasoned hustler and the soul of a rebel. In an America shackled by Jim Crow, Ellis refused to play the part society had assigned him. Instead, he slipped through the cracks, re-emerging as “Guillermo Enrique Eliseo”, a wealthy Mexican businessman who spoke fluent Spanish and moved effortlessly between worlds. Ellis didn't just cross boundaries—he blurred them. He built an empire in...
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Wonder Woman & Daisy Duke
A Mexican Family Story
The American Southwest is a land of endless horizons, where history lingers in family names. Lynda Carter and Catherine Bach, though Hollywood icons, carried deep roots in this rugged terrain. Born in Phoenix, Carter, the future Wonder Woman, had ancestry stretching from Arizona to Spain. Her family survived revolutions and frontier hardships long before she graced the screen. Bach, best known as Daisy Duke, was born in Ohio but had a legacy tied to both the Mexican and American sides of Arizona’s borderlands. The Verdugos, like the Cordovas, lived in the Southwest for centuries. Beneath...
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Emerguildo Marquis
A Mexican Family Story
Emerguildo Marquis was a ghost of war, a kid from Mexico who clung to the Pennsylvania Volunteers as they marched home, a stowaway in history. Shoeless, nameless, a relic of America’s first imperial war, he was taken in by Captain James Nagle, a house painter turned soldier who raised him in the coal fields of Pottsville. He learned English, learned a trade, learned to be an American. But war pulled him back. When the Civil War erupted, he enlisted, first as an infantryman, then as a bugler in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry—the sound of battle itself. Nagle, now a general, hadn’t forgotten...
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Mexicans in the U.S. Civil War
A Mexican Family Story
During the American Civil War, thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans fought on both sides, driven by ideology, survival, and regional loyalties. In Texas and California, many Tejanos and Californios joined the Union, opposing slavery and seeking to defend their communities from Confederate expansion. Others, particularly in Texas and along the border, sided with the Confederacy, seeing economic and cultural ties as reasons to fight. Figures like Colonel Santos Benavides, who led Confederate forces in Texas, and Mexican volunteers in Union regiments exemplified this divide. Their...
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Mexican Divorce
A Mexican Family Story
In the mid-20th century, Juarez became the ultimate escape hatch for Americans seeking a quick divorce. You’d cross the border, where the rules were looser, the lawyers more than willing, and the paperwork shockingly easy. No waiting period, no drawn-out court battles—just a couple of signatures, a stack of cash, and boom, you’re free. The city's cheap motels, smoky bars, and bustling street corners became the backdrop for this legal loophole. It was the perfect storm of desperation, opportunity, and good old-fashioned American ingenuity. Juarez wasn’t just a city—it was a factory...
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1930's Mexican Repatriation
A Mexican Family Story
During the 1930s, the U.S. government forcibly deported or pressured over a million Mexicans and Mexican Americans to leave the country in response to the Great Depression. Framed as “repatriation,” this mass expulsion disproportionately targeted American citizens, reinforcing racial discrimination and shaping Mexican-American identity for generations.
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Rebeca Mendez Jimenez - Part 1
A Mexican Family Story
Released in 1997, “En El Muelle de San Blás” became one of the biggest international hits for iconic Mexican Rock band, Maná. Their album, Sueños Liquidos, went Platinum once in the United States, 3 times in Mexico, and twice in Argentina. It is one of the most recognizable songs in their catalog to this very day, and in its wake, it has left behind a legend, or in reality, a mystery. In this Episode, we begin the exploration into the real story of Rebeca Mendez Jimenez: “The Madwoman from the Wharf of San Blás”.
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Roman Castro
A Mexican Family Story
Today’s guest is well-known Fisherman, Podcaster, Photographer, and YouTube content creator Roman Castro. Roman and I have been close friends for over 20 years and we had a long conversation about growing up as first-generation Americans, discovering our passions and learning how to share them online, staying productive during the pandemic, and of course, we take a look into his ancestry and Mexican roots.
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Ted Williams: Mexican-American
A Mexican Family Story
In this episode, we explore the Mexican side of baseball legend Ted Williams' family and uncover some mysteries about his ancestry.
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European Connections
A Mexican Family Story
In this 10 minute episode, we briefly explore how European settlers shaped the history and genetics of Mexico's population since their arrival in the 1500's.
info_outlineEmerguildo Marquis was a ghost of war, a kid from Mexico who clung to the Pennsylvania Volunteers as they marched home, a stowaway in history. Shoeless, nameless, a relic of America’s first imperial war, he was taken in by Captain James Nagle, a house painter turned soldier who raised him in the coal fields of Pottsville. He learned English, learned a trade, learned to be an American. But war pulled him back. When the Civil War erupted, he enlisted, first as an infantryman, then as a bugler in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry—the sound of battle itself. Nagle, now a general, hadn’t forgotten the boy he brought home and pulled him onto his staff. War ended, and Emerguildo faded. No records of what came next, just a grave beside the Nagle family, buried as one of their own. No monuments, no speeches—just the quiet proof that he existed.