My name is Josephine Garcia Martinez. I was born and raise in Texas. I have three brothers who also live in the area. My older brother and his lovely wife have been school teachers for about 40 years for a local School District. My 2nd brother has been a City Tech and Welder for about 40 years and his wife is a dedicated wife and mother. My younger brother has a big heart for people and is a talented muscian who plays the Keyboard and the guitar; my 2nd brother also plays the guitar.
I have two lovely daughters and one son. My oldest daughter and my son graduated from the same high school; 1995 and 1999. My youngest daughter is now walking the same halls that her sister and her brother use to walk and the halls that I and my three brothers use to walk. I graduated from a local High School in 1973 as an Honor Student. I ranked 7th in my class which was a real surprise considering when I first started school I did not know how to speak English. My parents did not have any education. They were migrant workers just like their parents before them.
My mother's descendants were from Spain. In 1767, the King of Spain had issued my ancestors about 6,000 acres in Texas but conflicts for the lands and the change of governments resulted in that some of my ancestors had lost their lands. According to our court documentation, Porcion 19, Zapata County, had passed from Maria Josefa Guerra to Jose Santiago Ramirez. Apparently, there was a dispute between the two families regarding the ownership of the lands. Our documentation showed that Jose Santiago owned the land in question which he had distributed among his children. The history of the Garcias started when Jose Alejandro Garcia married Maria Josefa Ramirez. It was through his wife that their children had inherited about 190 acres in Zapata County. Jose Alejandro and Maria Josefa Garcia's children were: Ramon, Mauricio, Guadalupe, Vidal, and Eulalio Garcia. The daughters were not listed but they were: Maria Antonia, Maria Eulalia and Maria Del Refugio. There are unanswered questions as to why some records show Eulalio and other records mentioned Maria Eulalia. Also, Mauricio is named in some documentation and Jose Manuel in other records. Only time will tell if these people are actually the same people.
My mother's ancestors, Jose Guadalupe Ramirez Garcia who had married Lucia Garza left their lands in Zapata County, Texas, to look for more fertile lands and a better life. Another reason might have been to get away from other relatives and avoid being crowded. The Garcias moved to Duval County, which is now the San Diego and Alice, Texas area around 1869. Through my research, I learned that my relatives lived in ranches where they helped with the ranch labor or farm labor. My great-grandparents, Vicente Garza Garcia and Eulogia Alaniz, were married in San Diego, Texas in 1898 in St. Francis Catholic Church. Through my visits with relatives I learned there was resentment among Vicente Garcia's relatives when he married outside the family. The family custom was to married within the family to keep the family wealth between the families and to preserve the Spaniard blood line. Descendants of Spaniards were looked down for marrying Metizoes which is mix between Spanish and Indians.
My grandfather, Eulogio Alaniz Garcia, was born in 1903. My grandfather married, Carmen Prieto, about 1926. It was during this time that my relatives moved to the Floresville area near Poth, Texas, to possibly help cultivate the fields. My mother, Maria Ignacia Garcia (Nacha), was born in this area in Kennedy, Texas, in 1929. I believe my relatives were following the harvest because around 1930 after my Great-grandfather, Vicente Garcia died, his widow, my great-grandmother, Eulogia and my grandfather, Eulogio Alaniz Garcia, moved to Odem, Texas, where they continued to reside until their deaths. I believe they chose to live in this region because of the bountiful harvest.
According to an interview that I conducted for my Geology class. I learned that Odem was a thriving town filled with commerce such as new businesses springing up and new settlers coming in from the North. In my interview with Mr. and Mrs. A.B. Austin, they confirmed the stories that I use to hear from my mother when I was young regarding Odem which I found hard to believe until now. Mrs. Austin said that the first thing she saw when she arrived in a passenger train was the beautiful green scenery of vegetation. At the time, the Austins moved to Odem, the crop production was bountiful. Odem and the surrounding areas grew vegetables like cabbages, lettuce, cantalopes, radishes and onions. The community of Odem was built around the railroad. The railraod companies built warehouses which they leased to major produce companies like KATZ Co. The produce companies hired workers to harvest, clean, and crate their produce. The produce were hauled away in specialized refrigerator engines. Odem was and still considered the major railroad switching station in the area. My relatives worked hard as farm laborers. Since my mother was a female she was not required to work because she had 9 brothers who helped support the family. My mother's brothers were Eulogio Jr., Juan, Eligio, Benito, Pablo, Sylvestre, Eugeno, Arnold, and Pedro Garcia. My mother's sisters were Estefana, Victoria, and Consuelo Garcia.
