An Ancestral Hunt: "Raised by Her Grandmother"

Doing my best Sherlock Holmes impression to crack a mystery in a friend's family tree.

“Angelita was raised by her grandmother, Genara Lujan, in Jaconita, NM.”

This sentence kicked off a two-hour genealogical hunt to find Angelita’s parents. She was my close friend's great-grandmother. Angelita's obituary only mentioned her grandmother, but no parents.

Angelita Roybal Catanach’s obituary.

The first clue of her parents’ identities I found was Angelita in the 1920 census. Sure enough, she lived with her grandmother, Genara Lujan. Angelita’s two sisters, Ruby (13) and Ofelia (11), lived there, too.

Angelita, 16, in the 1920 census, living with her grandparents.

Strangely, Angelita Roybal did not appear in any more census records. She should have in the 1910 census, since she was 6 in 1910. But it was a dead end. 

My first idea was to backtrack. Could I find Geneva Lujan’s daughters and see which one married a man named Roybal?

Angelita’s grandparents’ family in 1900. One of these people had to be her mother.

Geneva had three daughters in 1900: Victoria (15), Francisca (13), and Escolatica (12). One of them had to be Angelita’s mother.

I tracked down Francisca and Escolatica. For sure, it was neither of them. Victoria disappeared after 1900. She did not live with her parents in 1910. There was no marriage record. No death record. No mention in the newspaper archives.

Then, I tried something different — tracing Angelita’s sisters, Ruby and Ofelia. I started with Ruby and managed to find her obituary. Ruby died in 1962, and her obituary mentioned her sisters Angelita and Ofelia. But it did not name her parents.

I turned to the youngest sister, Ofelia, hoping for a miracle. We got it!

Ofelia’s, Angelita’s baby sister, obituary, listing her parents.

Ofelia’s obituary proved that Victoria Lujan was their mother! Armed with Angelita’s father’s name — Vicente — I returned to the census. There they were in 1910, a young family already hit with tragedy. Vicente, widowed, supports four daughters — Angelita (7), Ruby (4), Ofelia (1), and Victoria (1 month). Given his daughter Victoria was an infant, Victoria Lujan — the mother — must have died within the month. She would have been only 25.

Angelita living with her father and sisters in the 1910 census.

There are still holes in the mystery. What happened to Vicente between 1910 and 1920? He disappears after 1910. By 1920, Angelita, Ruby, and Ofelia live with their grandparents. How did Victoria die?

But we are a little closer to finding the answer. The thrill of uncovering the story, piece by piece, will keep you going. Hopefully, more research will shed light on the story. But, for now, we got a few answers, and have new questions.

Tip: There were times within the past two hours that I thought this mystery was a dead end. Keep at it! Go at it from a new angle. Use different databases. Test new hypotheses. Investigate a different person — a sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandparent. Be creative!

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Jack Palmer is a History and Psychology double-major at Duke University. I’ve done genealogy research since I was 10 and love writing about it for family, friends, and anybody else who might enjoy a blast from the past.