Perrotin – Many Branches, One Tree

Letter to My Great-Great Grandparents

My Dear Great-great Grandparents, François and Catherine, A reminder popped up on my calendar today that you, Francois, died of meningitis 127 years ago, on May 26, 1891. It prompted me to reflect on your lives and the values you imparted to your descendants, now seven generations strong. As one of those descendants, I write … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past

Do you know this soldier? This photograph of an unidentified young soldier was in a frame with a family tree group, hanging on a wall in my Aunt’s living room. Is he English? When my family and I traveled to Mexico City to visit our Huesca family in June 2003, I spotted a large … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: To the Mothers in Our Lives

Happy Mother’s Day Feliz Día de las Madres Bonne Fête des Mères Buona Festa della Mamma Hyvää äitienpäivää Lá na Máthar Shona ar No matter what your language, “Mother” is the sweetest word of all. Margaret McCoy Born Ireland (abt. 1823 – abt. 1857) Catherine O’Grady Born Waterford, Ireland (abt. 1835 … Continue reading

Traveling Tuesday: California Here We Come

California Poppy, Flickr Photos, courtesy Brian Having packed our 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon to the hilt for the long drive to California, my father, Gilbert Cayetano Huesca, stopped one last time at my grandmother’s home so our family could give her one last goodbye kiss. She was 68 years old by then and had … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: Family Treasures

When we moved from Mexico City to California in the spring of 1967, what I dreaded most was being far from our extended Huesca family. Cause for Celebration: Our family got together for holidays but also birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions, such as this one, taken between 1956 – 57. My mother wrote the names on … Continue reading

Family Recipe Friday: Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)

Mmm…that feeling you get when “comfort food” takes you back. Rice Pudding, also known in Spain and Latin America as Arroz con Leche. Courtesy Wikipedia; in the public domain. Having cooked for her family’s two hotels in Veracruz state in the 1920s and 30s and for her family of 13 every day for much of … Continue reading

Wisdom Wednesday: A Grandmother’s Love

Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca (1893 – 1998) “Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever.” – Author unknown My grandmother, Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca, Chicago, about 64 years old, 1956. One of my earliest – and warmest – memories of living with my grandmother, or Abuelita Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca was our first night … Continue reading

Family Recipe Friday: Abuelita’s Mexican Rice

María Angela Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca (1893 – 1998) My grandmother or “Abuelita,” shown here at her apartment in about 1983, when she was 90 years old. She lived independently until her death a month before her 105th birthday. I am back to posting after a hiatus of several weeks. It is true that remembering … Continue reading

Amanuensis Monday: It Came Back to Me in a Dream

Gilbert Cayetano Huesca (1915 – 2009) [Note: Amanuensis is an ancient word meaning one who performs the function of writing down or transcribing the words of another. Derived from the Latin root manu- , meaning manual or hand, the word also has been used as a synonym for secretary or scribe.] My father, Gilbert Huesca, August 2008 My father’s earliest memory … Continue reading

Those Places Thursday: North to Chicago

Gilbert Cayetano Huesca (1915 – 2009) My father, Gilbert Huesca, on one of his business trips, climbing up a Pemex Mexican Petroleum oil tank, Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico In 1947, the man who would become my beloved father, Gilbert Huesca, was a 32- year-old commercial artist from Mexico City who was eager to see the world and … Continue reading