Suzanna Ruiz
English-10
5/10/11
What Is My Family’s History?
I. What I Know
What brought my attention on this particular subject was from the Ancestry.com commercials. Those commercials were everywhere, after seeing them more than a few times it had me thinking. Thinking about where I came from and how my life exists this very day. Not only was this something that brought my full attention to, it also had me thinking about my family, the family I have met and became very close to. On whether they knew something I didn’t.
As a sixteen year old sophomore soon to be junior, I don’t know much about my family’s genealogy. I would think to myself and ask myself, what do I really know about my family’s history? My answer came up to nothing. Then I asked myself if I knew anyone other than my grandparents or younger? I simply answered yes I actually do, I knew my great grandparents on my father’s side. I have met them at the age of five or six in Guanajuato, Mexico, they were pretty old but they still had the ability to keep on farming and fighting to survive. My father’s mother had passed away at an early age, as well as my mother’s mother. So I didn’t really have a grandmother figure in my life, one who I was close to anyway. Yet I did have a grandfather figure for as long as I could remember, on both side of my family. I very close to my grandfather on both sides of my family; I was considered their baby, considering that I was the youngest on my mother’s side and the only daughter from my father’s side at the time.
Thinking back on both of my family’s sides I’ve realized one thing, they both had passed down farming. Framing was something both of my families shared that I take inspirational. The reason I think it is inspirational to me is because they all learned to be hard workers, and it took their commitment and time.
What I remember most about my father’s side of the family is the fact that most of them were born and raised in Mexico in Guanajuato. My grandmother died at an earlier age than expected from an unexpected stroke. My grandfather and her had three children, Jesus Ruiz (My Uncle), Delores Ruiz (My father), and the youngest Leticia Ruiz (My Aunt). After the death of my grandmother, my grandfather had remarried to Graciela, they had six more children, Beto Ruiz (My uncle), Freddy Ruiz (My uncle), Nancy Ruiz (Aunt), Myra Ruiz (My Aunt), Adrian Ruiz (My uncle), and Wendy Ruiz (My Aunt). I had a large Mexican family if you couldn’t figure it out yourself.
What I remember most about my mother’s side of the family was that they were all Native American, well at least from what I know. My grandmother had passed away when my mother was five years old, she didn’t really know her. Before my grandmother had passed away she had five children with my grandfather, Victor Smith. Their children’s names were Vonda Kay Smith (mother), Vivian Smith (Aunt), Veronica Smith (Aunt), Delphina (Aunt), and Christine (Aunt). They almost had a boy, but he became very sick as a new born and passed away, but know they reunite together in paradise.
What I know about my genealogy has pretty much all been said, and is hopefully growing to become larger and more descriptive at the end of this search.
II. What I want to find out
What I want to find out about my family’s genealogy, is mostly everything in a more detailed manner including things I never even knew about my family. I want to know what type of things they were interested in and what they wanted to be passed down through all the younger generations. I want to know who they were and what they did. Knowing what they did while they were alive is one of my biggest questions that I want to be answered. I want to know what they were to me and how important they were in creating this family. Was all of my family the same race, Native American? How important am I to this family?
I chose this topic because it is something I want to research more in to. I want a better understanding on my family’s ways, traditions, stories and goals, but also the family label between them and myself. What are some of the perspectives the Native American have on the Hispanic people back in the old days and how they changed from then to now.
I also want to know the importance of their decision making and there ways of life, and how they come together in the end. I have deep interest in this assignment and am willing to try to figure this out, and get the answers I desperately want to know. This search is worth carrying on throughout my lifetime and beyond.
I hope to accomplish my goal on answering most of my questions and passing it down to further generations. I want to be the beginning of this search and become a part of. I want to know the overall experience of this assignment, and what I learned that I value the most. Also I want to know the one thing I found out about my family’s history that I want to carry on or learn more about. This is only the beginning.
Part III. The Search
Article
YAN-Yavapai-Apache Nation labels the article “the Settlement.” Found it online at http://www.yavapai-apache.org/press.html dated, dated March 3, 2011 on the very top of the page. It is about my tribe and its settlement.
The Yavapai-Apache Nation Indian claims settlement of 1976 on September 12. We were issued a final reward of 685 thousand-8 hundred dollars. The settlement was in response to a petition filled with the commission on February 3, 1948 “for and on behalf of the Apache Nation.
Interview #1
Vonda Smith was the person I chose to interview for this paper. She is my mother, for over sixteen years she has been there for me. She is 43 years old and a mother of four; she is now enrolled at the University of Argosy found in phoenix, Arizona. I know she has to be the only person I can really ask questions about my family’s history, as well as family members. I say this because I live nearly two hours away from my home town (Camp Verde, Arizona) and she is the closest I can get, knowing her a bit more than the rest of my family, this will make it easier for me to understand. So, I asked my mother if she would mind me giving her an interview on our genealogy and of course my dear mother of sixteen years said yes. I was very interested in finding out interesting information about my family that I did not already know. I find surprises that relate to family history amazing, because it’s an experience that will change your perspective on family, including yourself, because you never knew how accomplished your family is or was, plus finding it all on your own makes it even more special. My mother had me nearly sixteen years ago on October 1, 1994; I didn’t start questioning my family till my early teens, about the age of fourteen. Yet I didn’t really question the deeper sort of questions till now, while writing this paper, making me more interested in finding more about it and its background. My mother is 5’2” and has dark brown, thick wavy hair and dark brown eyes. She is full Native American, Yavapai-Apache to be exact, but looks more Mexican than Native. She is light brown maybe a plain brown in skin tone and is very petite. I had interviewed her over the phone while I was writing all my questions and all of her answers down on Microsoft word.
Suzanna: Who is the oldest family member you can remember?
Vonda: My grandparents, Thomas smith and Lilly Smith
S: What side of the family?
V: My dad’s side
S: What do you know about their background?
V: What do I know? That they were farmers and that they had 7 kids.
S: Were you close any of them?
V: Yes, my grandmother, your aunt Vivian and I would visit her when she was very old. Bed ridden.
S: Did she share any stories with you?
V: No, she couldn’t talk, I think she spoke apache but I couldn’t understand her.
S: Is she my great grandmother?
V: Yes, she is your great grandmother. She was the one who was half white, English.
S: Did she have any siblings?
V: The only one I know was Billy smith and Helen smith oh and Margret smith.
S: What was my great grandmother maiden name?
V: Wingfield
S: What are all the sibling married names?
V: Helen was Kwail
S: Helen married who?
V: Harvey Kwail
S: Margret married who?
V: Margret never got married and all of her kids had her last name.
S: Did Billy ever get married?
V: I’m not quite sure.
S: How many kids did each sibling have, and what are their names?
V: Margret had Vida smith, Justin Smith, Richard smith, Scotty smith Sr., Leona Smith.
S: Is that it?
V: That I can remember
S: What about Helen?
V: Annabel Smith maiden name smith, David Kwail who is also chairman of the Yavapai-apache nation, Christopher Kwail…
I wasn’t completely finished with the interview yet it was enough for me to question about. The reasoning for the unexpected ending to the interview was because my mother had to attend her 7:00pm class at Argosy University, which is very important. So, I chose to keep my interview as is and carried on. I learned even more on my family’s history that I never once knew before, although it is very brief it still gave me more than I thought it would have.
Interview #2
Sasha Helen Cook was the second and last person I interviewed for this paper. She is my older and only sister; technically my half sister but I consider her my whole. She is 21 years old going on 22 soon and finished school at Everest College as a medical assistant. She was born in Phoenix and partly raised in Phoenix but mostly Camp Verde and Buckeye, Arizona. She is in a relationship with her 2 year old daughters’ daddy, they as a small family are moving to Washington soon. The reason I interviewed her was because I also understand her more than any other of my family members besides my parents and siblings. We have a sort of connection that not all sisters have, it’s a relationship worth remembering forever. I knew her my whole sixteen years of life and she knew me since she was 4-5 years old. My sister is about 5’2” equivalent to our mother. My sister has dark brown eyes that match her beautiful, shiny, slightly wavy hair. She is also full Native American, but different types. I asked to interview her and she is my family so of course she said yes, I interviewed her over the telephone as well. I was typing my questions and her answers while still on the phone.
Suzanna (Me): Who is the oldest family member you can remember on your grandfather’s side?
Sasha: What? Just Grandpa?
Me: Yes, because you’re other side of the family isn’t my family by blood. And grandma violet passed away.
S: Oh, grandpa
Me: That’s it?
S: Yeah, that’s it.
Me: What do you remember about him?
S: The way he smelled, the way he spoke, the certain words he used, his goofiness, his grumpiness, how he enjoyed being out and about.
Me: What are the names of his six siblings?
S: Your great uncle Theodore Smith, Ernest Smith, David Smith, Buddy Smith, Rebecca Pavatea, Mary Garner, and Elizabeth Rocha. (All of their Maiden name is smith)
Me: Do you know where he came from?
S: Do I know where he came from? His momma I’m guessing.
Me: Where was he born and raised?
S: Born in Cottonwood, Arizona and raised in the Verde valley.
Me: What is one thing you would want to know about moms side of the family?
S: Where their last name came from came from? Wait never mind mom just told me.
Me: How?
S: It was originally Tanto then later changed to Smith
Me: Is there anything else you would want to know?
Me: Is there anything else you would want to know?
S: Not really…Who is the very first smith in this family?
Me: Thank you big sister of mine!
S: Is that all you needed? Was I not helpful?
Me: Everything is helpful in this situation.
Our interview had come to a finish; there was nothing left to say, knowing that she didn’t know much about our family. This did help me, knowing that every little thing counts.
Part IV. What I learned
What I came down to throughout this whole research paper was definitely something and not just anything. I have figure found out that both sides of my family’s were similar to one another. I’ll admit that I didn’t really research my father side so much as I did my mothers. I guess was more interested in my mother’s side, not only was it because I was interested but because I didn’t have connections to my father’s side of the family especially at this hour?
I have found out that our family name “Smith” use to be “Tanto” but was later changed to our current family name “smith”, I thought that this was very interesting.
The furthest, oldest family member I could track down were my great grandparents, Theodore and Lilly Smith, on my mother’s father’s side. They had a total of seven children including my grandfather, Victor Smith. Their names are, Ernest Smith, David Smith, Buddy Smith, Rebecca Pavatea, Mary Garner, and Elizabeth Rocha, My “chew” Elizabeth, meaning grandmother in apache. My great grandmother had the chance to me my mother while she was still alive, even though she could not speak anything else other than apache, which made it harder for my mom to understand.
I’ve learned that my 1st cousin twice is the chairman of the Yavapai-Apache Nation legislative and executive council. Also that our tribe owns the “Cliff Castle Casino” found in Camp Verde, Arizona. The casino is where we get all of our money from, the millions of dollars that is shared with the rest of our tribe members.
My Native American family has a lot to offer and is still making their mark for future generations to look forward to researching. I couldn’t find much but I am not going to give up now, not today, not tomorrow or even in couple of years, but forever.
“Works Cited”
Plunkett, Delores. "Yavapai-Apache Nation." Welcome To The Yavapai - Apache Nation. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://www.yavapai-apache.org/culture.html>.
Ruiz, Suzanna S. "Family Tree - Ruiz Web Site - MyHeritage.com." Free Family Tree, Genealogy and Family History - MyHeritage.com. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-149197932/ruiz>.
"The Settlement." Welcome To The Yavapai - Apache Nation. YAN-Yavapai-Apache Nation. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.yavapai-apache.org/press.html>.
