A Mexican Family Story

Exploring Mexican history through genealogy, research, photos, and the stories of our Mexican ancestors. This is a story about you and me, our parents, our friends, our grandparents, our cousins, our Padrinos, our brothers, our sisters, our past, our present, and our future. This is A Mexican Family Story.

La Cristiada - The Cristero War 10/03/2025

La Cristiada - The Cristero War In the early 20th century, Mexico emerged from revolution with new promises of liberty—but also with a war against the Catholic Church. The 1917 Constitution stripped priests of rights, banned religious schools, and restricted worship. For millions, it felt like an attack on their very identity. By the 1920s, President Plutarco Elías Calles enforced the laws with ruthless force. Churches were closed, priests killed, Mass celebrated in secret. Civilians rose up, calling themselves “Cristeros”—soldiers of Christ. Poorly armed, they fought for faith and dignity. Women, through the Feminine Brigades, smuggled weapons, carried messages, and nursed the wounded. The war produced martyrs: fourteen-year-old José Sánchez del Río, executed for refusing to renounce his faith; San Toribio Romo, a priest hunted and killed in 1928. By 1929, nearly 90,000 were dead. The Cristero War ended in compromise, but its echoes of faith and sacrifice remain. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/38452190

The Valdés Brothers 10/02/2025

The Valdés Brothers Mexico is a land of cultural fusion, where history breathes through music, street life, and comedy. Few families reflect this better than the Valdés dynasty—four brothers who reshaped Mexican entertainment. Tin Tan brought pachucoswagger and Spanglish charm; Don Ramón embodied the beloved underdog; El Loco Valdés turned chaos into comedy; and El Ratón, the quietest, still carried the legacy. Their roots trace back to Angela Elisa Angelini Stark, an Italian-American matriarch who married into Mexico’s Valdés family, blending Old World lineage with New World grit. The result? Icons born from Mexican, Italian, and American blood—each one a product of cultural collision, survival, and reinvention. Their story is Mexico’s story: wild, complex, and unforgettable. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/38436515

Marilyn Monroe's Mexican Connections 06/08/2025

Marilyn Monroe's Mexican Connections There are stars—and then there’s Marilyn Monroe. Born Norma Jeane in 1926, into foster homes and uncertainty, she clawed her way into the spotlight. She wasn’t just the blonde bombshell—they never saw the girl reading Dostoevsky, starting her own production company, or chasing peace in Mexico. There, she found brief joy, and love with Jose Bolaños. Her family story included the Mexican town of Piedras Negras, where her mother Gladys was born—fragile, brilliant, haunted. Marilyn ran from fame, from madness, from myth. But it caught her. Now, she lives on—etched in pop culture, tragedy, and the quiet ache of those who saw her humanity. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/36904390

Germans in Mexico 05/03/2025

Germans in Mexico In the quiet corners of Mexico’s past, Germans left fingerprints—engineers, farmers, and refugees who came not to conquer but to survive. They built coffee plantations in Chiapas, shaped Monterrey’s steel industry, and gave northern Mexico its brass bands and accordions. Some fled war. Others faded into Mennonite colonies or mixed into the music and machinery of modern Mexico. There’s no parade for them, no headline history. But listen closely—in a polka beat, a German surname, a bottle of Pacifico—and you’ll hear it: a story absorbed, not erased. In Mexico, staying becomes part of the legacy. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/36418355

The Miners of Mexico 04/27/2025

The Miners of Mexico Mexico’s miners shaped empires but lived in shadows. Since colonial times, they have toiled in brutal conditions, enriching Spain and later foreign powers, while enduring poverty, danger, and exploitation. Strikes like the 1906 Cananea revolt sparked labor movements and revolution, yet even today, mining remains perilous, with environmental destruction compounding hardship. Despite this, miners carry a fierce pride, a legacy passed through generations. They are survivors, builders, and fighters, carving lives from stone and sacrifice. Their story is one of resilience, a reminder of humanity’s enduring spirit amid struggle. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/36325465

William Henry Ellis 04/19/2025

William Henry Ellis 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 banking and mining, navigated elite circles in Mexico City, and even pitched deals in Wall Street boardrooms. All the while, he kept his origins close to the chest, cloaked in charisma and fluent deception. But beneath the business suits and aliases was a man trying to beat a rigged system, a ghost in plain sight playing by his own rules. William Henry Ellis was more than a man—he was a myth in motion. A living contradiction. And like all good stories, his was messy, brilliant, and filled with the kind of risk that only the bold or the desperate ever dare to take. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/36228650

Wonder Woman & Daisy Duke 04/01/2025

Wonder Woman & Daisy Duke 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 their Hollywood glamour, both women embodied the resilience of their ancestors. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/35953530

Emerguildo Marquis 03/18/2025

Emerguildo Marquis 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 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. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/35742200

Mexicans in the U.S. Civil War 03/03/2025

Mexicans in the U.S. Civil War 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 contributions, often overlooked, played a crucial role in shaping the war’s southwestern frontier. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/35497440

Mexican Divorce 02/16/2025

Mexican Divorce 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 for broken hearts and fresh starts. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/35300795

1930's Mexican Repatriation 02/02/2025

1930's Mexican Repatriation 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. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/35113940

Rebeca Mendez Jimenez - Part 1 11/10/2020

Rebeca Mendez Jimenez - Part 1 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”. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/16751132

Roman Castro 07/03/2020

Roman Castro 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. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/15075302

Ted Williams: Mexican-American 01/13/2020

Ted Williams: Mexican-American In this episode, we explore the Mexican side of baseball legend Ted Williams' family and uncover some mysteries about his ancestry. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/12713678

European Connections 11/11/2019

European Connections 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. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/11985170

Richie "The Boogeyman" Martinez 08/21/2019

Richie "The Boogeyman" Martinez My very first podcast guest is Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Richie “Boogeyman” Martinez. He is an active Jiu Jitsu competitor, breakdancer, and the head coach of 10th Planet San Diego. We learn about his life and dive deep into his unique ancestry. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/10939253

Introduction 08/21/2019

Introduction This is a quick introduction and description of the podcast for new listeners. /episode/index/show/amexicanfamilystory/id/10938047

A Mexican Family Story

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