Each of us has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and 16 great-great-grandparents. Fourteen generations ago – around 1540 – you had 16,384 12th great-grandparents.
Many people need to research their Mexican ancestors in America back two, three or four generations to the point at which they came to America. This involves research in American records: county histories (biographies), census records, church records (baptisms, marriages, and burials), county records (vital statistics), border-crossing records, immigration records, obituaries, land records, etc.

This article discusses the age-old question of how many languages are spoken in Mexico? The answer is not an easy one because none of the sources are in agreement about that topic. This article will discuss INALI’S three-tiered approach to Mexico’s languages, as well as the estimates provided by other sources.

This presentation will discuss certain research techniques and websites for researching your ancestral surnames. Common surnames are hard to track through surname databases, but if some of your ancestors had surnames that were not very common, a surname database may help you locate where those ancestors came from. Databases for Germany, Spain, England, Ireland, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Italy will be discussed.

From 1521 to 1821, Mexico was a colony of Spain. During this period, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards crossed the Atlantic to begin new lives in the Americas. But the newly independent nation of Mexico – bitter from three centuries of sometimes oppressive colonial rule – enacted legislation to ban and expel many Spanish immigrants. However, relations between Spain and Mexico improved after Spain recognized Mexico’s independence (1836). Recognizing the similarities of their linguistic and cultural heritage, millions of Spaniards would make their way (or flee) to Mexico during the next century-and- a-half.

This article explores the genealogy and history of a mixed-race family within its historical context. It includes discussions of past events, social norms, and terminology that were used during different periods. We approach these historical aspects with the intention of providing historical insights. We aim to foster understanding of diverse historical experiences while respecting sensitivities.

Before delving into the historical intricacies of the Mexican Casta system, it is crucial to acknowledge the sensitive nature of this topic. The Casta system, with its complex layers and implications, was a product of colonial rule that deeply influenced societal structures and racial perceptions. Studying this part of history is not an endorsement of its principles but a recognition of its significant impact on the formation of modern Mexican society and culture. Understanding our past, however uncomfortable, is essential for appreciating the diversity and resilience of cultures shaped by historical events.

Mexico’s 2020 Population and Housing Census was conducted in March 2020. More than 147,000 interviewers traveled the nearly two million square kilometers of the national territory, visiting all Mexican households to obtain information about the demographic, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the people of each state. Finally, in January 2021, Mexico proudly became the first country in the world to announce the results of its 2020 census. The censuses of many other countries had to be delayed or postponed because of the COVID Pandemic.

My name is Donna S. Morales, and I am a Mexican American woman born and bred in America's heartland, Kansas City. I am as American as apple pie and my family is proud to be American. It's almost hard to believe that 110 years ago, my family was still living in Mexico, speaking the Spanish language, and working as laborers in the mines of northern Zacatecas and on the haciendas of Aguascalientes and Jalisco. But, like most American families, we came from another place, and we adapted to our new environment.

Today, Jalisco is the seventh largest state of Mexico with the fourth largest population. Its diverse terrain gave rise to an incredible diversity of tribal groups. Professor Eric Van Young has noted that the area of central Jalisco “supported relatively dense populations” and a “considerable ethnolinguistic variety prevailed within a fairly small geographic area.” But thanks to the Spanish conquest, Dr. Van Young also notes that “the extensive and deep- running mestizaje of the area has meant that at any time much beyond the close of the colonial period the history of the native peoples has been progressively interwoven with (or submerged in) that of non-native groups.”

Exploring the genealogy of an Indigenous family in Ayutla, Jalisco, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries highlights the vital role of post-1800 baptism records from Jalisco in advancing genealogical research. Ayutla, situated within Jalisco, was home to Indigenous communities fluent in Náhuatl and Cuyuteco languages. This journey reveals intriguing patterns, where some Indigenous individuals maintained consistent surnames across generations, while others embraced surnames solely upon marriage or the birth of their children.

Researching the ancestry of Indigenous families in historical Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes presents unique challenges. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was common for many Indigenous People not to have consistent surnames. This inconsistency could be attributed to various factors, including changes in employment or land ownership. Unlike the Spanish who typically maintained a strong attachment to their surnames, Indigenous People often adapted or altered their surnames, sometimes opting not to use one at all. This fluid approach to naming makes tracing lineage a complex but fascinating endeavor.

Tracing an indigenous family backwards in time can be an interesting challenge for the Jalisco Researcher. Many Indigenous people in the 17th and 18th Century Jalisco, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes did not even have surnames. Or they had surnames that changed from generation to the generation, possibly depending on their employer or owner of the land they lived on. In many areas, Indigenous people – for very understandable reasons – did not have the same loyalty to their surnames as Spaniards did. Hence, one surname might be discarded for another surname… or no surname at all.

According to Aztec legends, seven Náhuatl-speaking tribes migrated from the northwest to what is now central Mexico. One of these tribes were the Tlaxcalans. Over time, from the 1420s until 1519, another Náhuatl tribe came to dominate most of the region and developed the powerful Aztec Empire by subduing neighboring city-states.

By 1519, the Aztec Empire had become a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual realm stretching more than 80,000 square miles throughout central and southern Mexico. Living to the east of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, the Tlaxcalans inhabited about 200 semi-autonomous villages.

The year 2020 marked the 499th anniversary of the first Tlaxcalan migration of the 16th century to other parts of Mexico. Starting on June 6, 1591, selected families from Tlaxcala left their native soil to populate various locations in central and northern Mexico.

The Tlaxcalans had first assisted the Spaniards in destroying the mighty Aztec Empire in an extended campaign (1519-1521). As a reward, the Spaniards awarded the Tlaxcalans special rights and privileges. In fact, the Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance soon evolved into a “stable, institutionalized pact” in which “Tlaxcala became a state within the empire.”

New Mexico Expeditions (1539-1583)
From 1539 to 1583, four separate expeditions passed through New Mexico. The most famous expedition was the Coronado Expedition of 1540-1542, in which 300 soldiers and 800 Indian allies from New Spain (Mexico) passed through the Rio Grande Valley while looking for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.

Famous men and women of Mexico have gained the attention of both the nation and the world. But all of Mexico’s famous historical characters started out the same: as the infant children of two parents. The following are extracts from the baptism records of several famous Mexican individuals. The following baptisms have been reproduced and translated, but some Spanish words have been misspelled in the documents. The English translations are approximate translations, not literal translations, and include the spelling out of some abbreviated terms. Several words that were not clearly understood were left out.

According to Professor Jürgen Buchenau, Mexico has proven to be a "salad bowl," instead of a "melting pot“ mainly because "most immigrant families sought to retain their native languages and customs.“ Many of the European immigrant groups in Mexico – with the possible exception of the Spaniards – formed “enclaves” in which they could maintain their own cultural integrity.

Mexico’s 1921 General Census of Inhabitants was the fourth of its kind to be carried out in the country. The census presented information as of November 30 of that year. Mexico’s 1921 census asked its 14.3 million inhabitants to categorize themselves by three primary categories: Pure Indigenous, Indigenous Mixed with White, and White.

Today, more than 7 million of Mexico’s 126 million people speak 364 Indian linguistic variants (dialects), but almost 90% of those people are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and an Indigenous language. Those who do not speak Spanish are called monolingual.

The census of 1895 was the first national census of Mexico. Its tabulations provide us with the first window into the condition of the indigenous languages spoken in the Mexican Republic before the dawn of the Twentieth Century. The census also provides some perspective on the presence of extranjeros (foreigners) and their languages two decades into the Porfiriato of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911).