I have found out more about Leonardo simply by finding his sisters. From his showing up in 1898 in Ventura County until his death in 1915, these two families were practically one Family. I see Leonardo and Anna loved each other. She is the one who purchased his tombstone, or at least had it enscribed. They had been through much together. They planned, trained and worked together. Finding Anna helped me see where Leonardo came from.

While ancestry.com is one of my big gun tools, every once in a while I wander over to the free LDS website, familysearch.org. It has been a great resource with documents from Mexico. This proves to be a tiny bit difficult for me to use as I cannot read or speak Spanish. Dora the Explorer is about my limit, but I use a web-based Spanish/English dictionary on special occasions.

During the last 6 months I found the wedding documentation between Maria Ana Escalante and David Romo. (Her mother was Mariana, so I believe Anna was used to differentiate them around the home.) These particular pages filled in so many blanks, it boggles the mind.

David’s Background before wedding at La Catedral in Hermosillo.

In August of 1880, these two are petitioning to get married. He is from Ures, Sonora. His father is Manuel Romo and his mother is Juana Bustamante. I love his young signature at the bottom of the page.

Anna’s wedding information, along with witnesses.

In the upper-left corner, you will see Anna’s information. She’s a legitimate child (whew) from Hermosillo born to Leonardo Escalante and Mariana Bustamante. The other three sections are either witnesses or padrinos. (I would love some help from some Spanish translators.)

And my little heart is beating all fast as I’m pretending to read these sheets. I am aware of enough of the language, and previous research, that these are the right people. Then I turn the page….

A gift of more family tree, because they are distantly related!

I’m cruising down the page, imagining all of the families together at the joyous occasion. (Have I mentioned I was a history minor? This stuff is just too cool.) Anyway, at the end of the left page there is a lot of “written in” stuff. And what I do recognize is the term “Arbol genealogico,” or “Family Tree.” My brain processes…what?? Oh, yeah! The mom’s have the same last name.

So in order for the Chruch to allow this marriage, there has to be an acceptable amount of generations to have passed for these distant cousins to marry. We get to find out more about Mariana Bustamante’s family.

Juan de D. Bustamante had two sons: Marcial and Antonio. Each one had two daughters: Juana and Mariana. Each of those had: David and Anna. The church gave it’s blessing. As a researcher, I am so grateful they had this little “dilemma.” It allowed me to go back another two generations on the Bustamante side.

So when I ponder why Leonardo loved the whole Romo clan, it’s no wonder. They truly were Family. With a great big Capital “F.”

Anna and David fly under the radar for the next 14 years. They pop up again in Ventura County in 1894.