Family History Essay

I’ve know both sides of my parents family pretty well. But during these six weeks, I learned more about my mother’s side than my fathers. My mother’s father is Florentino Pena, her mother is Concepcion Pena. They were both born in Anahuac, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She has two sisters and two brothers, and she’s the second oldest. All of my grandparent’s children which are my aunts and uncles were either born in Laredo, Texas or Dallas, Texas. At first, I thought that they were all born here in Dallas because this is where they live now. But, my uncle who was born first and my mother who was born second were not born in a hospital. My grandmother had a midwife there at her home in Laredo, Texas. She had my uncle and then went to a lady that wrote birth certificates that were authentic, and legal. The state had certified this lady to write birth certificates. My grandmother then had my mother and she went to this lady again to get her birth certificate. Now when my grandmother went to Dallas, this business with the certified lady was going very slow. She needed money and many people didn’t want to go to her to go get their child’s birth certificate, so this lady went Mexico, started to sell the documents that were already legal in the U.S and made them illegal. Now, this lady sold many certificates and had people cross the border so that they can live here and have freedom. Later on, this lady was caught, she was arrested and had to give up her right to write down certificates and her citizenship.

Later on when my uncle tried to get his passport and they asked for his certificate, they told him that it was fake, and that the lady that “sold it to my grandmother legally” was caught for selling them across the border so, he couldn’t get his passport because they couldn’t figure out whether it was documented before she started selling them across the border or after she did all that. There was no proof that it was real of fake, so they turned him down. When my uncle came and told this to my grandmother, she of course was furious and decided to go all the way to El Paso, Texas and go in front of the judge to solemnly swear that it was real and they had gotten it before the lady went to Mexico to sell them. After that, he was able to get his passport, and now when my mother tried to get hers, they again told her that it was fake and the whole same story came to place, now my mother has to go to El Paso, and do the same thing over again. She hasn’t done it yet but will do it soon.

When I found out this story, I thought they were playing with me at first because they were laughing as they were telling it but then my grandmother who is a full Christian lady told me that it was all of God’s plan so then I knew that it was real. I wouldn’t think something like this would happen to my family, but knowing this world, anything can happen. But what you have to learn is how to fix it.