Hello Al:

The municipio of Zacoalco de Torres is located in the southern part 
of Jalisco. The main pueblos in the municipio are Zacoalco, Santa 
Catarina, 3 Barrancas (Santa Clara, Otates, Laureles) and San Marcos 
Evangelista. Most of my family lines come from these pueblos and 
surrounding municipios.

Zacoalco is about midway between Guadalajara and Ciudad Guzman. The 
pueblos nearby Zacoalco de Torres are: Santa Ana Acatlan, Villa 
Corona, Techaluta, Atoyac, Atemajac, Amacueca, and Teocuitatlan. 
Also, Jocotepec, Ajijic and Chapala are really close.

I hope that helps you to locate Zacoalco on the map. And here's some 
history: It was on this municipio, actually on Santa Catarina, where 
my Apodaca ancestors are from, where a very important battle of the 
war of independence took place. A couple months after the Grito de 
Dolores, the insurgentes were trying to take control of a big city 
to maintain their strenght. In Jalisco, a man called Jose 
Antonio "El Amo" Torres was in charge of the insurgent army. In 
Zacoalco, he fought and defeated the Spanish forces (lots of indios 
from Zacoalco helped him), and thanks to that, he arrived to 
Guadalajara and took control of this city. Then, he offered the 
command to father Miguel Hidalgo. I'm not faking it, this is on the 
history books. The name of Jose Antonio Torres is not as known as 
Miguel Hidalgo, or Ignacio Allende, or Vicente Guerrero, but thanks 
to him and his army of indios and mestizos, the insurgentes 
controlled the second most important city in the colonia.

That's why my pueblo is now called Zacoalco de Torres, to honor this 
brave man and his army. It is really cool just to think that some of 
my ancestors and cousins probably fought with "El Amo" Torres, and 
helped Mexico to be an independent nation.


--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Al Duarte" <aduarte@c...> wrote:
> Good write up.
> 
> By the way, where is Zacoalco?  I know you said it is Jalisco, but 
where?
> 
> Alberto.
> 

Indeed, menudo and pozole is part of my maternal family history. 
Probably my great-grandmother Ambrosia Frias (she died before I was 
born, but my older brothers and sisters knew her and tell me that she 
was a wonderful woman, they call her Bochita), learned her cooking 
from her mother Pascuala Aguilar, but I am not so sure about it. I am 
going to Zacoalco on January and ask my grandma about it. However, 
this could go even two generations before my great-grandmother 
because Bochita, according to my grandma, used to refer a lot to a 
woman she called "Mi Jacobita". Later on my research, I found that my 
great-grandmother's grandmother,(my third great grandmother?) was 
named Jacoba Castro. 

I completely agree that we must ask our viejitos about the family 
personal history. On 2000, my great grandmother Elena Curiel died at 
age 100. I never had a close relationship with her. Today, I hit my 
head on the wall every time I think about all the stories, names, 
events, and stuff that went away to the grave along with her. I 
learned my lesson, and now I try to spend lots of time talking with 
both of my grandmothers. Also, my father knows a lot of stuff from 
his dad, and we usually spend hours talking about those stories while 
arguing about our different political views (we both love politics, 
and our beliefs are totally opposed, but still we have a great time 
talking).

And Joseph, you are always invited to eat menudo at Fonda Dona Mago 
in Zacoalco, if you ever visit this town. You invited me to join this 
group, so I guess that the least I could do. Just let me know to tell 
my parents in advance. Another member from this group visited 
Zacoalco recently and as soon as I found out I called my father so 
that he could invite him lunch and take him to some places in 
Zacoalco and Catarina.

Saludos a todos,

Steve G. Apodaca Tapia Gomez Curiel Martinez Frias de Albiano y Ursua.



--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, Joseph Puentes <makas@n...> wrote:
> 
> Wow cool, I can just taste the Menudo and the history you related 
makes 
> me really think. Now your Great Grandmother had to learn her 
culinary 
> skills from someone. . .maybe her mom? Reasonable assumption 
wouldn't 
> you say. I'd just love to learn why some recipes came 
about. . .meaning 
> the social forces at work at different time periods. Maybe at 
certain 
> times there was an abundance of hominy but no pigs and some of the 
> different recipes started to develope. I wish we could find history 
> books that might trace the food from the specific areas of "our" 
> research. Also I'd love to read more about the diseases that 
plagues our 
> areas. . .I remember looking over the death records for Santa Maria 
de 
> Los Angeles and found a group of over 100 people in a row that died 
of 
> Cholera in the 1830's. I could only imagine the horror of living 
there 
> at that time with disease all around you. I also read about some of 
the 
> horrific earth quakes that destroyed many of the iglesias in the 
late 
> 1700's. Surely times of terrible agony and sorrow over loss of life 
for 
> our families of yesteryear. Genealogy is more than just names. . 
> .genealogy is the history that is associated with those names and 
the 
> things that our families went through and sacrificed to give us our 
> heritage. Tengo Amor de mi Sangre!
> 
> joseph
> 
> ps: so who is going to invite me over for some menudo?
> 
> sgapodaca wrote:
> 
> >Hello to everyone. What's going on with all this talk about menudo 
> >and nopales? I thought this was a genealogy group, not a cooking 
> >book................................I'm just kidding.
> >
> >By the way, in Jalisco we also cook white menudo, not only the red 
> >one. The last messages brought my attention because menudo as well 
as 
> >pozole is closely related to my family history.
> >
> >You see, my mom Margarita Tapia lives in Jalisco, Zacoalco de 
Torres, 
> >and she owns a restaurant where one of her specialties is menudo. 
> >Fonda Dona Mago, if you ever go to Zacoalco.
> >
> >A generation back, her mom, my grandma Manuela Martinez, was also 
> >known because of the delicious menudo she made. Even today, some 
old 
> >folks refer to my mom's menudo as "el menudo de Manuela", even 
though 
> >she has been retired for more than a decade.
> >
> >And this doesn't stop with my grandma, because her mother, my 
great-
> >grandmother Ambrosia Frias Aguilar, was also famous for her 
> >restaurant and especially for her pozole. A couple years ago, my 
> >mother saw an old photograph from Zacoalco's old mercado. This 
> >photograph belonged to someone else outside our family, but my 
mother 
> >bought it from this person because in it there's a sign that 
> >reads "Cenaduria Bochita". That was the name of my 
greatgrandmother's 
> >restaurant, and up until then, my family did not have any picture 
of 
> >it.
> >
> >Well, it is just a comment.
> >
> >About the poll, I think it shoud stay the same. I submitted my 
family 
> >tree a while back in pdf format, but I have found new ancestors, 
so 
> >I'll put an updated version of this file soon. I don't know if you 
> >agree, but I think pdf is a cool format if you want to show your 
tree 
> >to other people. It lists your direct ancestors, the surnames, the 
> >places of origin, and you can move around it with the little hand 
> >tool. What do you think of this format?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  
> >

Hello to everyone. What's going on with all this talk about menudo 
and nopales? I thought this was a genealogy group, not a cooking 
book................................I'm just kidding.

By the way, in Jalisco we also cook white menudo, not only the red 
one. The last messages brought my attention because menudo as well as 
pozole is closely related to my family history.

You see, my mom Margarita Tapia lives in Jalisco, Zacoalco de Torres, 
and she owns a restaurant where one of her specialties is menudo. 
Fonda Dona Mago, if you ever go to Zacoalco.

A generation back, her mom, my grandma Manuela Martinez, was also 
known because of the delicious menudo she made. Even today, some old 
folks refer to my mom's menudo as "el menudo de Manuela", even though 
she has been retired for more than a decade.

And this doesn't stop with my grandma, because her mother, my great-
grandmother Ambrosia Frias Aguilar, was also famous for her 
restaurant and especially for her pozole. A couple years ago, my 
mother saw an old photograph from Zacoalco's old mercado. This 
photograph belonged to someone else outside our family, but my mother 
bought it from this person because in it there's a sign that 
reads "Cenaduria Bochita". That was the name of my greatgrandmother's 
restaurant, and up until then, my family did not have any picture of 
it.

Well, it is just a comment.

About the poll, I think it shoud stay the same. I submitted my family 
tree a while back in pdf format, but I have found new ancestors, so 
I'll put an updated version of this file soon. I don't know if you 
agree, but I think pdf is a cool format if you want to show your tree 
to other people. It lists your direct ancestors, the surnames, the 
places of origin, and you can move around it with the little hand 
tool. What do you think of this format?