You may wonder about the name of this website and ask yourself why I decided on “texmexgenealogy” for the name of this site.  Well, yes, I am a Mexican-American, and yes, I love Tex-Mex food as many of you all do, however, it’s a bit more than that, if you can believe it. As I mentioned earlier, most of my ancestors stayed within a certain geographic area for the better part of 200+ years. When they did move, it usually wasn't far and I suspect that it was for more and/or better opportunities or for marriage, in most cases.  It wasn't until the mid 1800's, that movement from northern Mexico into Texas, New Mexico and the greater Southwest began to accelerate, mainly as a result of rail transportation coming to central Mexico in the mid 1800's, as well as other forms of transportation later.  My site name became a product of my research as I discovered the movement of the majority of my ancestors from Chihuahua into Texas in more recent history.  Going back even further in time, my Ancestry DNA origins (shown above), take me back to Europe but collectively tell a story of a blending of people from all over the world that made their way to the Americas over the last 500 years.  I am quite certain that the migration patterns of my family are not much different from many of your families that came from Mexico.

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​​​​​​​​​​I started my genealogy journey “from scratch”, during Covid in early 2021.  I wasn't real sure how and where to start so I just created an account on Ancestry.com and I began plugging in what little information I had.  I didn't really have a plan other than to just jump in and see what I could find out.  Just to be clear, I am one of those people that either goes straight to the Quick-Start Guide when I buy something or I spend more time than I should trying to figure things out without directions.  Don't be like me!  Anyway, as I began to fill in the names of my great grandparents, which unfortunately happened to be the last generation of known names, I began to realize how little I really knew about my family and how little any of my family really knew about our distant relatives. There were no stories beyond my grandfather's generation. That really bothered me. 

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Over the next several weeks as I discovered more and more information, my interest began to change. I went from just wanting to know who my ancestors were, as names I could put on my tree, to needing to find out more about them as actual people even though they were long gone. Through my own research plan, I have managed to find out much more than I could have ever imagined when I first started my search.  When I found out that my great grandfather Benigno Quintela, was killed in a firefight supporting Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution in December 1916 (see below left), I couldn't help but try and imagine what his life was like during this time and what that scene must have looked like.  When I discovered a Spanish military document of the members of the Dragones Provinciales de San Carlos from 1779 (see below middle) and one of my ancestors, Fabian Quintana, is listed along with his height, age, hair color, eye color, skin color and nose shape, how can I not try and visualize what he must have looked like and what his life was like during this period?  When I found the marriage record of my 9th great grandfather, Alonso Botello y Serrano and his wife Juana Vera dated May 3, 1640 (see below right) indicating he was born in Malaga, Spain, how could I not be excited about finding my first connection to Spain?​  These are the kind of exciting finds that continue to fuel my search!!

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My goal with this website is to provide a single place for the most useful tips and information for anyone that would like to begin to discover more about their own family history from Mexico.  For those that have already started and perhaps reached the proverbial brick wall, I think you will find some useful information here as well.  Along with the "how-to", I hope to add some historical perspective to this site because they go hand-in-hand and it would be difficult to separate the two from each other. Understanding the history of how we arrived at today is critically important to me and I hope many of you feel the same way.

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Much of the information that resides here is a result of my own trial and error, the many mistakes I made and the information I wish I had known prior to my beginning. One of the biggest obstacles in doing family research is that of what is yet to be discovered.  The amount of information that has yet to be transcribed and studied, sitting in government files and universities is enormous.  Even more important for those of you just beginning or early in your search, is the matter of poorly-indexed or unindexed records which leads to those brick walls that people hit every now and then searching for that missing record.  It will be difficult to know about, or much less, find a missing family member or some other vital piece of information when search doesn't work or records have yet to be indexed.  Because of this, I have worked to transcribe thousands of my own records, mostly from the state of Chihuahua, and have found much more information than is readily available online.  This has helped me to close many gaps in my research.  I hope that the information on this site will provide you with some helpful direction for your own journey.  While I can't possibly provide tips or resources for every obstacle that you may encounter, I have tried to provide enough information for a good start.  If you need support, just contact us and we will help you get started. Good luck as you explore your roots! ​